A/N: Hullo, one and all, I hope you had a pleasant Memorial Day Weekend. I would have had this out sooner, but I had work and other junk getting in the way... In any case, I'll let you get on to the fun part in just a moment!
Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who left a review over the last couple of chapters, and to remind you that I have begun putting up response videos on my YouTube channel. The last one covered chapters two and three, and I was joined by my wife since she is the editor storyboard consultant for this fic. If you have questions, comments, or concerns, I'd be happy to answer them in the next video that will cover any reviews put up for this chapter!
Now, on with the Fairy Tail!
OP Song: Reach for the Stars by Shirley Bassey
Magic Battle Nexus Arc: Chapter 1
Reach for the Stars
"Just so you know, I'm not going to be held responsible for what happens when I kick your sorry butt," Gorun told Natsu as they squared off in the yard. "You really sure you wanna do this?"
"Haha, yeah I do!" Natsu laughed. "I've been all fired up since yesterday just thinkin' about throwin' down with ya!"
"I don't remember when was the last time I saw Natsu so excited about a fight," Lucy muttered from the sidelines. She, Kinana, Gray, Wendy, and the two younger exceeds of Fairy Tail were waiting for the match to start.
"He was pretty fired up when he fought Gildarts," Happy remarked. "Hopefully this fight will go a little better than that one did."
"I doubt it," Kinana giggled. "Gorun's pretty fierce when he fights. He's never failed a job since he started working for the guild, and most of them were pretty crazy picks."
"I haven't seen much of this Gorun fellow, but if I know one thing about the Salamander, it's that he's quite tenacious in battle," Carla mused. Lucy and the others looked at the white cat in surprise, causing her to raise an eyebrow and ask, "What?"
"N-Nothing!" Wendy exclaimed. "It's just that you usually don't say anything nice about Natsu…"
"Oh?" Carla shrugged. "I was simply stating the facts, there was nothing personal about it."
"What's going on out here?" Max asked curiously as he approached from inside the guild hall. He was followed by Warren and Nab, who looked over at Natsu and Gorun, who were both stretching their limbs in preparation for combat.
"Natsu and Gorun are gonna do a little sparring," Gray answered. "It's perfect weather for some outdoor activity, don't you think?"
"Natsu is… gonna fight Gorun?" Warren asked, paling.
"Yeah, what's the big deal?" Lucy asked. "Natsu's a strong wizard, I'm sure he'll be fine. He gave Hades quite the beat down seven years ago."
"Key phrase there being 'seven years ago," Max winced. "I think Natsu may be in over his head."
"Hey! Get ready to eat those words!" Natsu shouted at him, and they all realized that he had been listening in on them. "After I roast Gorun, you turkeys are next!"
"If you can manage a fight with Happy after a match with Gorun, I'll have seen everything," Max laughed.
"Huh?" Natsu and Happy exclaimed. "What's that supposed to mean?!" the blue cat demanded.
"All right, talk time over!" Gorun called out. "Ready, Natsu?"
"Hehe, yeah! I'm all fired up!" the pinkette laughed as he ignited his fists.
"Please don't hurt him too bad!" Kinana called out.
"Isn't my girlfriend supposed to wish me luck?" Gorun asked, cocking his head slightly.
"You don't need it, now seriously, be nice!" she told him.
"Aw, fine," he sighed. Refocusing his attention on Natsu, he called out, "Your move, Salamander!"
"Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" Natsu shot forward like a flaming bullet, his fist aimed to send Gorun to the nearest dentist's office. Gorun's eyes narrowed briefly before he sidestepped the attack, grabbed Natsu by the wrist and used his arm like a lever to throw him in the dirt hard enough to leave a small crater.
"Wha-?!" Natus yelped before he noticed the yellow ki blast about to knock his lights out. Lighting up his feet with his magic, he kicked at the energy bolt as it launched, causing an explosion that threw up dust and temporarily blocked his view of Gorun.
Off to the side, the members of the Tenrou team were shocked. "I've only seen a few people match Natsu's speed so effortlessly," Gray muttered. "I saw his power on display at the Magic Ball, but his level of control is crazy good, too."
"You haven't seen anything yet," Kinana grinned. "That show he put on last night was only a fraction of his full power."
"Are you talking about that magic power amplification thing he did?" Lucy asked as Natsu launched a Brilliant Flame attack through the dust. It was cancelled by a Big Bang Attack that set everyone's ears ringing from the force of the explosion, and forced them to shield their eyes against the dust and wind.
"Not bad," they heard Gorun call through the dust. "You're definitely more on-point than I expected from someone who spent seven years in stasis."
"Hah! I wasn't in the S-class trials for nothing!" Natsu laughed as the dirt in the air began to clear. "And I'm just getting' started!"
"So am I," Gorun smirked, setting his feet wide and taking a deep breath. "Three layer magic circle: Kaioken!" The magic blazed to life, and they all sensed his magic power increase.
"Kaio-what?" Natsu asked. His answer was a beating delivered so rapidly, the onlookers couldn't keep track of the individual punches that sent the dragon slayer sprawling in the dust. Far from giving up, though, Natsu leaped to his feet, looking mad. "Okay, now you're just pissing me off!" He let loose with a wing attack, one that actually forced Gorun to leap backwards to avoid getting burnt.
Sensing an opportunity to advance, Natsu took it, launching himself forward again, shouting, "Fire Dragon Iron Fist!"
"Barrier!" Gorun shouted in return, a blue force field taking shape in between him and Natsu's attack.
"Rrrgh…!" Natsu strained, trying to shatter the energy with his fire magic.
"That all you got?!" Gorun taunted him. "C'mon, Salamander! Everyone told me stories of your destructive powers! Don't tell me they just got exaggerated in your absence!"
This seemed to strike a nerve with Natsu, because he let out a scream of such fury that the onlookers did a double-take as he leaped backwards to give himself space. "You want destruction?!" he spat. "I'll give you a show you'll never forget!"
"Then do it!" Gorun laughed, preparing the magic formula in his head again.
Flames bellowed from where Natsu stood, but now Gorun sensed a new movement in his power- and it was visible in the form of the lightning that danced in his fire. "Lightning Flame Dragon Mode!" he screamed at the top his lungs.
"That's new," Gorun muttered, intrigued. He'd never seen a wizard capable of wielding two elements simultaneously. Guess I better play this one safe. "Five layer magic circle, Kaioken!" The red aura surrounding his body flared with new life, and he felt his heartrate accelerating with the strain of the technique beginning to affect him.
"Wait, he can push that spell even further?!" Lucy shouted in shock. "How many times can he use it in one go?!"
"I've seen him go up to ten magic circles, but that puts a serious strain on his body!" Kinana shouted to be heard above the roaring energies. "He usually doesn't go above three, so I guess Natsu really is about to use something pretty amazing!"
She was not wrong.
"Lightning Flame Dragon ROAR!" Natsu bellowed, a plasma blast erupting from his maw in a path so wide, it would have swallowed a house whole.
At least, it would have if Gorun hadn't acted then. "KamehameHAAAAA!" He screamed, the blue light shining from his hands to counter and then push back the oncoming electric flames like a tidal wave. The incredible energy blasts were at a stalemate for a moment, but in the end, Gorun's energy reserves far outlasted Natsu's.
The Kamehameha wave engulfed Natsu for a second before the energy surge ceased flowing from Gorun's hands, leaving a very bruised and very shaken Natsu lying on the ground, stunned into silence. Or was it…?
"Okay, before anyone freaks out, I didn't knock him out," Gorun said as he released the Kaioken, taking deep breaths to settle his erratic heartbeat. "He did it to himself."
"How?!" Happy demanded as he flew over to check on his friend, Wendy close behind him. "You totally blasted him with your crazy death laser!"
"First of all, it's not a death laser," Gorun sniffed, slightly offended at the crude description of his favored attack. "Second, he knocked himself out from magic power depletion- at least, a mild version of it."
"He used too much energy in one go," Lucy realized aloud while Wendy focused on healing the downed slayer. "Makes sense, the same thing happened last time he tried to use it. But wait, how are you still standing after a crazy spell like that?!"
"A lot of practice," Gorun laughed softly. "I've been using those techniques on a daily basis since I was a little kid." He embraced Kinana from the side as she came up to give him a hug.
"Are you feeling okay?" she asked him urgently. "Using it that much puts a strain on your heart, doesn't it?"
"Nothing that a good meal and a sit-down in a chair won't fix," he grinned, wiping sweat from his brow. "Natsu put up a good fight- I'm impressed with him."
"Aye, sir!" Happy said with a salute in Gorun's direction. "Natsu's a tough customer!"
"All right, who's next?!" the boy suddenly shouted, wide awake and sitting up with his fists raised. "I'll take the whole guild on!"
"You lost, flame-brain," Gray muttered, though his mind seemed to be elsewhere. "Give it a rest."
"I'll give you a rest!" Natsu shouted, on his feet in a flash.
"Natsu, don't you think you've had enough fighting for today?" Lucy asked nervously.
"Well, I guess I've seen everything," Max muttered, looking surprised as Natsu and Gray started to wrestle in the dirt. "I faced that attack myself when Gorun first joined, and I thought it'd kill me if I took it head-on like that."
"To be fair, Natsu is a dragon slayer," Lucy laughed a bit. "I don't think he'd know how to die if it came to it."
"Well, at least they remembered to keep up their end of the bargain," Kinana said as she sat down next to her boyfriend at one of the guild hall's tables. She set down a platter of food piled high with his favorites and slid it towards him. "And you did manage not to completely trash the farm- and Natsu. I'd say that job was a success."
"Thanks," he grinned before he dug in, hungrily tearing apart the roast beef and mashed potatoes. Every few seconds he'd pause to take a drink or breathe before going back to demolishing his plate. Even though he was more polite and kinder than the average Saiyan, Gorun still possessed that black hole that they all called a stomach, which demanded it be filled as quickly as possible.
"My goodness, I don't think I've ever seen anyone eat that fast," Mirajane said as she came to collect his plate. "And that's coming from someone who's seen Natsu eat hundreds of times."
"Most of my job money goes to food," Gorun admitted with a grin. "Although after that job capturing Velveno, I don't need to take another job for some time."
"Planning on going on a vacation?" Mira asked with grin. "Bring someone special along…?" She gave him and Kinana a suggestive wink that set them both to blushing.
"A-Actually, I was thinking about dedicating my free time to some hardcore training," Gorun replied, looking very closely at the bottom of his mug.
"Training?" Lisanna, Mira's younger sister, interjected as she strode up to the table, having just come back from a job. "Why's that? From what we've heard, you're pretty much the guild's strongest wizard other than Gildarts."
Gorun laughed lightly before saying, "Training never hurt anyone, Miss Strauss. Besides, settling for second place doesn't sit well with me- actually, third place if I'm being honest."
"Wait, who else is stronger than you in the guild?" Mirajane asked.
"Master Makarov, right?" Kinana guessed, to which Gorun nodded.
"I'd be hard-pressed to beat him, that's even if I could," he admitted. "Not to mention his grandson would give me a solid run for my money."
"Laxus?" Lisanna asked, surprised. "He's stronger than you?"
"Not by a lot," Gorun shrugged. "But he is. The point is, I want to train until I could take on Gildarts and come out victorious. Maybe even go beyond that."
"You're talking reaching the level of a Wizard-Saint," Kinana murmured softly. "And those guys are the top ten in Fiore- maybe even the world."
"Top ten registered wizards, maybe," Gorun shrugged again. "Last I checked, Gildarts wasn't one of them, and I know for a fact that he's stronger than most of the people with that title. Although that Jura fellow seemed to be about on par with him in terms of raw power."
"Oh wow," Mirajane said, eyes wide. "I knew he was one of the Wizard-Saints, but I had no idea he'd grown that much in the seven years we were gone."
"Well no offense, but did you think that everyone just rested around while you guys were gone?" Gorun smiled wanly. "You might have been the top dogs back in the day, and don't get me wrong, you'll still put the average wizard to shame. However, most of your friends that came to visit us the other day all outclass you now. As in it's not even close."
"Yikes," Lisanna winced. "When you put it that way, it sounds like all of us should be focused on playing catch-up like you want to catch up to Gildarts and the rest of them."
"Hey, maybe the guild can go on a retreat, get some solid training in," Gorun suggested. "I'd even be willing to train some people if they wanted."
"That sounds like fun, I'll talk to the master about it," Mira grinned. "And if we end up going to a beach or something, I'm sure there'd be plenty of opportunities for romantic walks and-"
"This conversation is now over!" Gorun cried, standing up abruptly and grabbing his girlfriend's hand in order to lead her away from Mirajane's gossip-hungry ears.
The two of them spent the day simply strolling through Magnolia, enjoying the sights and entering any shop that struck their fancy. It wasn't a planned date, but neither one of them minded. In some ways, it was more fun just to see where their feet would carry them. It wasn't until the sun was nearly set in the horizon that they returned to find the guild hall in an even bigger disarray than usual, which could only mean one thing.
"So, what are celebrating?" he asked as they walked in, arm-in-arm.
"Laxus is back in the guild!" Freed shouted, raising a mug filled with beer of some sort, because he was clearly drunk.
"My old man is gone!" Cana laughed, tipping the barrel she had claimed for herself in an imitation of a toast.
"Makarov is the guild master again!" Macao cheered from another table.
"And you're the newest S-class mage of Fairy Tail! Hiccup, hooray!" Makarov slurred before his face met the table and he passed out.
"Man, how many of those has he had?" Gorun laughed.
"Not enough to be wrong," Erza said as she walked up to greet the pair. "Congratulations, Gorun. You're the newest elite mage of our family."
The boy blinked a couple of times at the redhead in disbelief. "Wait, he's serious?!" he asked, eyes wide. "But I thought that there was a trial that I had to pass or something!"
"Things got a little crazy today, so I'll give you the short version," Erza smiled. "Gildarts was supposed to be the new guild master, but he only took the position long enough to reinstate Laxus and make you S-class before handing the job back over to Master Makarov."
"Don't forget the last part!" Mirajane said as she approached with a big smile. "We're entering the Grand Magic Games this year to try and reclaim our position as Fiore's number one guild."
"The Grand Magic Games?" Gorun chuckled. "Er, no offense, but I don't think the guild is exactly ready to-"
"The games are in three months, and Master is making arrangements for all of us to go to places outside of Magnolia to train nonstop until then," Erza interrupted him.
"Three months of hardcore, uninterrupted training?" Gorun asked with a light of delight in his eye. "Count me in!"
"That's the spirit!" Mira smiled again. "Congratulations on your promotion to S-class, by the way. We're all proud of you, even if some of us are too tipsy to say it right now."
"Thanks," Gorun chuckled as he rubbed his neck sheepishly. S-class… wow.
As Erza walked away with the promise of filling him in on the details of the training plans later, and Mira went back to tend to the bar, Kinana stood up on her tiptoes to kiss her boyfriend briefly before saying, "I'm really proud of you, Gorun. You deserve this."
"Thanks, Kinana," he grinned, still turning a bit red when she kissed him in public. "Will you come train with me for the Grand Magic Games?" He had missed the guild's last, dismal attempt to compete due to a job that had lasted him a few weeks during the previous summer. Now the thought of a competition where he could potentially let loose with his full power had him very excited.
"Of course I'll go," she smiled sweetly. "Just don't expect me to keep up with you."
"Don't sell yourself short," he said. "You're plenty strong- it'll just take some time to develop your power to its maximum potential." She giggled before giving him a kiss on his nose.
"Not everyone wants to be the strongest, Gorun," she reminded him. "I'm glad that I can use magic and be useful to Fairy Tail, but I don't want to be able to keep up with Gildarts like you do."
"Oh, right," he grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, I guess I just sort of assumed that you'd be there with me on my training the whole time."
"Hey, I said I'd go with you," she told him with a gentle shove. "Just don't expect me to be flying laps around the planet with you."
"As long as you're close to me, I'm happy with that," he said, his smile growing.
The guild was broken up into groups of varying size in order to train for the upcoming Grand Magic Games. Makarov sent a notice to the Magic Council that would put the guild as an organization on hold for receiving job notices from then until mid-July. He also called in a few favors from old contacts that he still knew in order to provide lodging for the different teams while they left Magnolia to train.
Max, Warren, Vijeeter, and Nab went to the countryside while Bisca, Alzack, their daughter, and Laki left for some of the woodlands to hone their skills. The Thunder Legion and Laxus went to a city in the northern reaches of the country. The smallest group consisted only of Gajeel and Pantherlily, who went somewhere in the mountains to train. The Strauss siblings and Cana also took to a more mountainous terrain to practice their magic, though it was a different area than where the Iron Dragon Slayer and his exceed were going.
The last group was massive in comparison. It consisted of Teams Natsu and ShadowGear, plus Juvia, Kinana, and Gorun, all of them planning to spend the next three months at Akane Beach.
The Saiyan boy offered to train with everybody if they wanted to. Erza immediately agreed to practice with him, since she was eager to see how her newest peers' skills matched her own. After all, they were both S-class, and she felt it was her duty to have an idea of how dependable he would be in the days to come. Also, while Natsu was nearly her equal in terms of raw power, she had much more control over her abilities than he did, which meant that she would likely make the best workout partner for him.
The day that they arrived at the beach, they were all quick to check into their rooms- boys in one and girls in another- before changing into their beach attire and running outside to check out the resort.
"Nice digs," Gorun nodded as he looked around at the pristine blue water, the sheer cliffs a few miles up, the tropical jungle faunas, and the fine sand beach. "Plenty of places to train out here." In his typical fashion, he was wearing a blue-and-green camouflage-style swimsuit that still kept his tail hidden.
"We're not here to sightsee, we're here to train," Droy said haughtily.
"Don't forget it," Jet added.
"Right, when you two make S-class, let me know- I'll join you on your workout regime," the Saiyan sniggered as he glanced pointedly at Droy's large frame.
"He might be a tub of lard, but there's nobody faster than me," Jet said confidently, much to his friend's irritation. No sooner had he said it than he was bowled over by Natsu and Gray, who were shouting something about a swimming contest.
"You know, there's about twenty different ironic jokes that I could make right about now, but that's beneath me," Gorun grinned as the pair picked themselves up, grumbling after the fire and ice wizards.
"Don't worry about it," Erza said from where she was standing in the water, clad in a black bikini. "There's plenty of time to train- we'll play hard, work hard, sleep hard, and eat hard!" She leaned back to recline in a yellow floaty, apparently content to spend the first day working on a tan.
"What about train hard?" Jet asked, though his tone was greatly reduced in hostility from when he had tried to reprimand Gorun. Apparently the Titania was still more feared by the menfolk of the guild that the newest S-class mage.
"Whaddya think she meant by working hard?" Gorun grinned, cracking his knuckles. "Also, training can be really fun if you know what you're doing."
"How do you figure that?" Droy asked grouchily.
"All right, here's a demonstration," the Saiyan smirked, getting a little tired of their attitudes. After all, they'd had seven years to train, and unlike Max and Warren, they'd done little to improve their abilities. In the eyes of a warrior like him, that kind of inaction was anathema.
"Basic combat one-oh-one," he said, raising his palms above his head. "Dodging."
"Wait, what?" Jet asked, sweat lining his brow.
"You claim to be the fastest in Fairy Tail, which might be true if I wasn't around, and only when running in a straight line," Gorun said, maintaining his smirk. "Your reflexes leave a lot to be desired. Now… Dodge!" He hurled a Masenko blast at the speed mage, who barely dashed out of the way in time.
"That all you got?" he taunted the young Saiyan.
"You never wanna see all I've got," Gorun muttered under his breath before spamming Jet with ki blasts. The older mage dodged the first couple of energy bolts, but he was quickly overwhelmed and sent sprawling in the sand, smoke coming off of his body.
Gorun raised his eyebrows at Droy, as if inviting him to challenge the new S-class mage. The plant mage, however, had seen enough. He laughed nervously as he turned around and went to check on his fallen teammate, whistling some random tune that just further showed how tempted he was to make a run for it.
The Saiyan sighed heavily to himself and muttered, "All bark, no bite, those two. Shame, really. They have decent potential, if only they'd actually do something other than just maintain their current level."
"That's one of the reasons you've become S-class, even though you've been part of the guild for a relatively short time." Gorun was slightly startled to notice that Erza had come up behind him, and had likely been watching the entire thing. She smiled at him and added, "You have the drive to push yourself beyond your current limits, and aim for heights that others only ever dream of, never actually try to reach."
"It's not in my nature to be satisfied with where I'm at," Gorun shrugged.
"Well, if you would rather a better practice partner, I suppose we can do some sparring if you have the time," Erza offered. "I've seen very little of you in action, and I'd like to see what you're really made of, Gorun."
"Now, Erza, I saw him first," said a familiar voice. As the two elite wizards turned towards Kinana, she added, "I was promised a walk on the beach before any potential injuries."
"Hi Kinana, I- Oh, wow…" Gorun stopped, openmouthed like when Kinana had approached him on the dance floor at the Balsamico's Magic Ball. She was dressed in a two-piece forest green bathing suit that was similar in style to Erza's own attire. The Saiyan boy was finding it very difficult to speak, and even harder not to stare- she looked very nice in beach getup, he thought.
"I bought it for the trip," Kinana said while blushing at the attention he was giving her. "I take it from the face you're making that you like it?"
"Y-Yeah!" he said quickly. "It looks good on you- as do a lot of things, I'm sure. I mean, I can't really think of anything that would make you look bad- you're just amazing in general… I'm rambling aren't I?"
"Just a bit, but I can understand why," Erza chuckled. "You've got quite the catch, Gorun. Treat her well."
"I will," he grinned back while taking hold of Kinana's hand. "Mind if we save the training session for after lunch? I do have a promise to keep."
"Of course," Erza nodded. "Go, have fun."
"Thanks, Erza," Kinana said as she and Gorun began to walk down the beach.
The walk was pleasant, and the company was even more so, Gorun thought later that day. It was probably the first time in his life that he felt a tinge of regret as he headed off to train. Sure, he might have been a reluctant Time-Patroller-in-training, but combat practice had always been fun for him. Now, as he watched Kinana walk away while humming a merry tune, he almost felt tempted to skive off from the training he had committed to.
No, no, nope! He thought with a vigorous shake of his head. Gotta get trained up for the tournament and what lies beyond it.
He found Erza swinging two of her swords at practice dummies that she had created out of palm trees on a more isolated part of the beach, where there were currently no other people. He watched her work for a few moments, taking note of patterns that he could later exploit before deciding to make himself known. "You're swinging too hard on the follow-through for those backhand strokes," he said casually as he walked towards her.
His sudden and silent appearance startled her, causing her to swing her blade at his neck with unrestrained vigor. Fortunately, his reflexes were faster than lightning, which enabled him to catch the sword between his fingertips while simply raising his eyebrows. The sudden cessation of momentum caused the redhead to lose her balance and forced her to let go of the sword as she tried to regain her balance.
Gorun thought about pressing an attack to further his point, but he simply grinned at her and said, "I trust that you see the problem with putting too much force into any one blow?" He flipped the sword in his grip so that he caught it by the handle as he spoke.
"I believe in putting everything you have into whatever it is you are doing," Erza replied breathlessly as she realized that she was not under attack. "If you aren't fully committed to the task at hand, why bother even trying?"
"Committing your complete resolve and committing excess energy to a single task are usually counterproductive," Gorun argued as he tossed the sword back to its owner. "If you miss your target, like you did just now, you're horribly open to attack."
"I usually don't miss," Erza replied.
"Usually isn't good enough," Gorun said with a shake of his head. "You're talented, I'll admit that, and plenty strong, but with room to grow."
"You speak as though from experience," Erza said with a slight frown. "That or overconfidence."
Gorun's eyes lit up with a challenging spark as he asked, "Is that a challenge, Titania Erza? You think I'm full of it?"
"I'm not sure, to be honest," Erza shrugged. "Most people in the guild don't have the gall to criticize my fighting style while I'm beating them senseless, so I suppose it could be that I'm not used to being analyzed like this. Either way, you did say that you would like to spar with me, so let's have at it." There was a bright flare of light that shielded her body from view, and when it faded, she was wearing her Heaven's Wheel armor.
Gorun noticed the spike in her power level and decided to respond appropriately. Five red magic circles appeared overhead for a brief instant before they empowered the boy, who waited for a couple of moments to get used to his accelerated heartbeat.
"Ready, Erza?" he asked as he settled into his combat stance.
"I am," she answered, even as two-dozen swords appeared around her, all of them leveled at him, and ready to fly at her command. "May the best wizard win!"
"Barrier!" he shouted as her blades began to shoot towards him. All of them bounced off the blue energy field harmlessly, none of them even denting his protective measure. "That all you got?" he laughed. He could already tell that this was going to be fun.
"Requip!" he heard Erza shout, just before a gigantic spear was thrown into his shield, nearly forcing its way through the energy field, though it too dropped to the ground, useless against his defense.
As soon as it did, he launched himself forwards, taking flight while lowering the energy field. He threw a right hook at where he had seen Erza's blurred face through the energy barrier, and was met with a massive yellow-and-blue gauntlet that actually checked the force of his blow, surprising him a bit.
"How do you like my Giant Armor?" Erza grinned as she quickly grabbed his wrist and swung him up, over, and down into the beach. "It's my strongest physical enhancement armor."
"Not… exactly," Gorun gasped, though he managed a weak laugh, despite the wind being knocked out of him. He recognized a familiar shift in her power level, and it was almost identical with a mistake born during the age of Perfect Cell while his ancestor, Trunks, strove to defeat the bug-man. "That armor has a gaping weakness."
"Oh?" Erza asked as she tightened her grip, determined not to let him escape. "What's that?"
"Gimme a sec," he grunted as he felt the pressure on his arm increase. Willing himself to fly, he shot under her legs, forcing her to do a summersault and let go of him at the same time, despite her best efforts. Before she could pick herself up, he had delivered more than a dozen blows between one breath and the next and blasted her with a Double Sunday.
"Seeing it yet?" he asked her as she picked herself up with a groan. Her body glowed, and she was now clad in what was basically an armored bikini with giant wings- her Black Wing Armor, as he understood it.
"You seemed much faster for a moment there," she panted as she floated up to be a few yards above the ground, facing him again.
"Almost, but not quite," he grinned. "If you'll recall, I didn't amplify the Kaioken in that moment. Fact is, that armor does grant a respectable boost in strength, but you lose more speed than it's worth when you wear it."
"Interesting, I feel like I can learn quite a bit from fighting you," Erza smiled respectfully. "That won't stop me from trying to beat you, though. After all, I can't let Natsu see me defeated so easily!" She came at him at high speed, her sword coming up and glowing light blue. "Black Wing Moon Slash!" she cried at the top of her lungs. Two energy arcs flew from her sword as she continued the charge, flying right at her opponent.
"Kienzan!" Gorun bellowed in retaliation, the yellow disc forming above his hand before he hurled it at the oncoming wizard. The disc swiftly cut through the two oncoming blasts and continued on to shear through Erza's sword like a hot knife through butter, finally dissipating before it could harm the girl herself.
"Y-You… destroyed my sword!" Erza gaped as she stopped in the air and stared at the broken weapon. Her shock quickly turned to rage as she shouted, "Do you have any idea how long it's going to take to repair that?!"
"Hey, after my attack made mincemeat out of yours, you should've had the sense to dodge it instead of trying to muscle your way through," Gorun shrugged. "Were this the tournament, do you think one of our opponents is going to care if they break your equipment?"
Erza growled but conceded the point. She could see what he was trying to do, but it didn't make the loss of her sword any more acceptable. "I suppose I should take the kid gloves off," she smiled coldly. "You're clearly taking this seriously, so I suppose I should, too."
"What happened to giving a hundred percent to everything you do?" he laughed. "If you've been holding back, I guess there's not as much claim to your words as I thought."
"With each set of armor I don…" Erza replied as her body glowed while she lowered herself to the ground and stood on the beach once more. "…I have been pushing its abilities to the furthest that it can go against you. Yet you have shrugged everything off that I can throw at you so far."
"Ah," he grinned. "Well, to be fair, I suppose seven years of complete stasis would make anyone rusty."
"I am not rusty!" Erza shouted, a vein pulsing in her forehead. The light had faded, and she had donned her Purgatory Armor.
"Coulda fooled me," Gorun shrugged as he landed about twenty yards away from her, eyeing the black, spiky armor with caution. Unlike her other sets of armor, this was one he had seen before, even if it had only been a moment. Both then and now, he recognized just how much stronger it made her, and he knew that if she caught him a good blow with that mace as he was now, it was going to hurt. A lot.
"Hyah!" Erza screamed as she ran at him, bringing the mace back for a full-powered blow to his chest, or maybe his head. She didn't really care which at this point, she just wanted to actually manage to hit the guy. It had been some time since she had been unable to land a hit on an opponent, and Gorun pointing out everything that she was doing wrong only wounded her pride as a warrior even more.
Yep, better play this one safe! He thought as he raised his right index and middle fingers to his forehead. He vanished just before her wickedly spiked club swiped through where he had been standing. Having been expecting him to at least dodge, Erza rammed her mace into the ground as soon as he disappeared to avoid overbalancing herself again.
"I gotta say, you learn quick," Gorun called from up above. Erza followed the sound of his voice and saw him floating directly overhead, about thirty meters up. Even more importantly, she saw the position that his hands were in, and the blue energy that was pooling between them. "This has been an interesting match, Erza- thanks."
"You speak as though it's over," she smirked, already knowing how to counter his best attack.
"It will be in a second," he called down.
"I've seen this attack of yours, and despite the fact that I cannot match its strength, I can certainly endure it," she told him as she engaged a requip. When it was done, she stood clad confidently in her Adamantine Armor. "This can withstand a direct shot from a Jupiter Cannon- and I doubt even you can output that much power, Gorun!"
"Then get ready for a world of disappointment!" he laughed as the energy in his hands flared even brighter. In addition to this, more red magic circles appeared above his head. "Ten layer magic circle: Kai… o… KEN!" The red aura surrounding him was practically coming alive with energy while the blue ball in his hands continued to grow.
Erza sensed the energy gathering above and continued to smile- finally, she had a way to beat Gorun. He was strong, certainly, and perhaps she would even emerge with bruises from this session, but he was clearly not on the level of a Jupiter Cannon. She slammed the two halves of her shield together and shouted, "Bring it on, Gorun! Show me what it is you can do!"
Chest heaving, heart pounding, Gorun responded to the challenge. "Ka…me… ha… me…" he growled out, every breath a labor now. The last time he'd used the Kaioken ten times, he had been floored for nearly three days, but he'd gained a significant zenkai boost from the ordeal. He noticed that it wasn't as hard to wield as last time, but he was still going to spend the rest of the day taking it easy.
But first I beat her, he promised himself. Drawing in a deep breath, he finished gathering up the magic formula in his head and roared, releasing the pent-up energy in a titanic blue beam. "HAAAAAAA!"
The ki waves slammed into Erza's shield from above, causing her to grunt with the effort of holding it up against the attack, but she held fast. It felt like the old guild hall had been dropped on her armor, but the Titania of Fairy Tail refused to concede. She would not lose, even to another S-class like Gorun, despite his own amazing strength and stamina. She could outlast him, she knew she could.
Up above, Gorun felt sweat streaming out of every pore in his body. Her shield wasn't breaking like he had thought it would, and he wasn't going to last much longer as he was. What is that stuff made of?! He wondered with wide eyes. Not even a times ten Kaioken-Kamehameha is making her budge with that shield she has!
He blinked away some sweat from his eyes, grinning wryly to himself. And right after I lectured her about overcommitting to any one act, he thought with a bit of irony. I suppose there's a time and a place for everything.
With that thought came an idea. It was a terrible idea, admittedly, but he knew from history that it would very likely work. If I can pull off a times twenty… he thought, his muscles shaking and his chest feeling like it was going to burst. A technique that was strong enough to injure Frieza himself… there's no way anything in this world can stand up to that unscathed, right?
There was only one way to find out. Gorun knew it was a big risk, increasing the Kaioken that much- it could very well cause his heart to fail- but he knew that Goku and the other Saiyans throughout history had only gained significantly through big risks like this one.
I guess there are some things about my heritage that even I can't escape, he thought with a dry grin. We Saiyans love taking stupid risks.
"Hey, Erza!" he called down.
"Yes?!" she called back.
"Last chance to give up, or I'm going to have to get serious!" he shouted.
"You're bluffing!" she called back without hesitation. "According to Kinana, you've never gone past ten magic circles since it strains your heart too much!"
"According to Kinana," he echoed. Then, with a tired smile, he added, "Not according to me!"
"What do you-?"
"Twenty layer magic circle!" he screamed, bracing himself as much as he could. "KAIOKEN!" The Kamehameha doubled in size, bearing down on Erza like a glowing blue volcano eruption. Gorun's body shone like a red comet, and his scream could be heard all across the beach.
Down below, Erza let out a cry of her own as she felt her armor begin to crack. This was definitely as strong as a Jupiter Cannon blast, and it was being fired from a much closer range. Before she had thought it was like having a building dropped on her armor, now it was like trying to lift a mountain!
Perhaps it was luck, then, that Gorun had already used so much of his power trying to break through her armor, not to mention the fact that he had essentially crippled himself for the purpose of sparring by using the Kaioken instead of his Super Saiyan form, a far more imprecise way of using his energy than the golden aura exclusive to his people.
In any case, the result was that as soon as Erza's shield finally gave out, Gorun's body was unable to take the strain of the massively multiplied technique of King Kai's. He collapsed from the strain, the blue beam ceasing to be as he fell to the earth, landing a few feet away from Erza, who was mildly wounded, but conscious.
She winced as she felt that perhaps one of her arms was fractured, but it hardly mattered. "You are quite the wizard, Gorun," she breathed, forcing herself into a sitting position. "I… underestimated you. I apologize, and offer the promise that I won't do so again."
When he neglected to respond or even stir from where he was, Erza's eyes widened as she realized that she could not tell if he was conscious or not. Scrambling over to his side, her alarm went up even further as she realized that she could not tell if he was even breathing.
"Gorun?!" she cried, requipping back into her swimsuit as she felt at his wrist for a pulse. "Gorun, answer me!" She felt a pulse, but it was weak and very erratic. "Gorun!"
"Ungh…" he groaned softly, bringing her some measure of relief. "Sa…el…"
"What?" she asked, straining to understand him. "Did you need something?! Hold on, I'll get you to Wendy!"
"Sat… el…" he mumbled, still incoherent.
"Try not to talk," she told him. "Save your strength." She hoisted him up on her back, her limbs shrieking in protest as she began to carry the wiry teenager back to the hotel. "I'm taking you to Wendy so she can heal you."
Again, he tried to say something, but the effort was still too much, and she couldn't make heads or tails of what he was trying to tell her. More than likely he was hallucinating, she decided.
As she walked back, she berated herself for making such a stupid mistake. They had both gotten out of hand with their sparring session, she knew, but she blamed herself for allowing him to goad her, then worse, goading him right back. It was a childish mistake, one that she expected from Natsu, or even Gray. Now Gorun's life may be in danger, she thought somberly. I wanted to be a good example to him, but instead I wound up acting like a little girl.
"Hey, Gorun!" She was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of a familiar voice. "Erza, can you hear me?!" It was Kinana, by the sound of things.
"I smell 'em, they're close!" That was Natsu. While he wasn't the dragon slayer she wanted to see at the moment, she would be glad of the extra hands. Her own were somewhat battered at the moment, and carrying Gorun was proving to be more difficult than she preferred.
"Over here!" she called out. "Gorun needs help!"
"Help?!" Kinana cried as she rose over the ridge with Natsu right behind her. "What happened to him?!" When she saw the state that Erza was in, she added, "What happened to you?"
"We got carried away during our sparring match," Erza admitted as she slumped to the sand. "He pushed his enhancement spell to twenty layers of magic circles."
"T-Twenty?" Kinana paled, her hands covering her mouth.
"Is it really that bad?" Erza asked.
"Wait, he went up to twenty with you?!" Natsu interrupted, looking down at the collapsed Saiyan mage. "He only used five on me! Does this cheap jerk think I'm not worth it?!"
"Natsu, focus," Erza said sharply, instantly rendering him still. "I can't carry him anymore… We need to get him to Wendy so he can be healed."
"Satch… el…" the semi-conscious boy mumbled.
"Satchel?" Natsu asked as he hauled Gorun up and over his shoulder. "What's he talking about?"
"Oh, I know what he's talking about!" Kinana exclaimed, bringing her hands down. "Start bringing him back to the hotel, there's something I need to get him." Before either one of the other wizards could ask what she was talking about, she was up and flying away at high speed back to the lodge.
"I don't suppose you know what she was talking about?" Erza asked Natsu.
"Man, why do you get all the cool fights?" the pinkette pouted, apparently still wrapped up in the fact that it had taken a lot more for Gorun to beat Erza than it had him.
"I didn't think so," Erza sighed.
They had nearly made it back to the hotel when Kinana descended from above, something clenched tightly in her right hand. "I've got it!" she told them.
"Got what?" Erza asked. "Why did you leave when Gorun could have used your help?"
"I am helping him," she insisted. "Lay him down and help me get his mouth open." Confused but curious, Erza and Natsu did as she asked, laying Gorun down on the sand so that he faced upward. The redhead pried his mouth open and looked expectantly at the wounded boy's girlfriend, still wondering what was going on.
She didn't have to wait long. Kinana loosened up her right hand and dropped something small that looked like a green bean into her mouth, chewing it quickly with a series of small crunches before placing her mouth against Gorun's. Whatever was in her mouth must have fallen into his, because he swallowed a bit, coughed, sputtered, then sat up straight, nearly knocking into Kinana in the process.
"Whoa!" he gasped, eyes wide. "I forgot how effective those things were."
"Gorun, you're awake!" Erza, exclaimed, surprised. She then noticed that not only was he awake, he was completely unmarked from his fall to the earth, and his breathing had instantly become regular again. "You seem… healthy."
"Good as new," he grinned as he leaped to his feet. "Thanks for carrying me all the way over here, both of you. I guess I got a little carried away with my attack and wound up overusing the Kaioken."
"You guess?" Kinana demanded, looking more than a little cross with his reckless behavior. "Erza told me you went up to twenty layers! You could have killed yourself!"
"I know, I'm sorry," he said with a deep bow towards her. "That's why I was asking for my satchel. I figured a senzu bean was the surest way to recover from that attack." Seeming to remember something, he turned swiftly and bowed to Erza. "Also please pardon me for destroying your armor. I got carried away in what was supposed to be a training exercise."
"We both did," Erza said with a smile. "Don't worry, my armor will be repaired by the time the Grand Magic Games begin. Until then, I suggest we hone other skills."
"Agreed," Gorun nodded. Turning back to his girlfriend, he bowed again and said, "I really am sorry, Kinana. I didn't think my actions through, and I realize that. I hope you can forgive me."
"Of course I forgive you," she sighed as she embraced him. "Just… You usually think smarter than that. What happened?"
Glancing quickly at Erza, who still didn't know about his origin, he said, "Let's just say that I chose the wrong ancestor to mimic in that fight."
"Goku?" Kinana guessed. By this time, Gorun had told her about some of his more prominent relatives, and she was trying to remember which one was the one that had a bad habit of challenging his own limits at the risk of his health.
"Vegeta did that sometimes, too, but yeah, him," Gorun admitted.
"Hey!" Natsu grumbled. "What was up with that kiss? Does Kinana have healing magic, too?"
Gorun laughed before answering, "No, it had more to do with what she put in my mouth with that kiss. It's a very rare food called a senzu bean- it instantly restores all your stamina in addition to healing any wound just short of death itself. Also in regular people, it'll keep their bellies full for ten days."
"Regular people?" Erza asked.
"Have you seen Natsu and I eat?" Gorun deadpanned. "No amount of magic is gonna keep us full for more than a few hours."
"Fair enough," Erza laughed, but quickly winced as pain shot through her arms. Apparently she was sorer than she thought.
Seeing her pain, Gorun immediately took action. "Hold on," he said right before he disappeared with instant transmission. He reappeared a second later, holding his free hand out, which held another small, green bean. "Eat this," he told her. "I only use them for emergencies, but since I did this to you, I feel responsible."
"No, it'll be all right," Erza tried to protest, but Gorun wasn't having it.
"Please eat it, Erza," he insisted. "I won't take no for an answer."
"Very well, if you insist," she sighed heavily. Looking up at Kinana as she accepted the item from his hand, she asked, "Is he always this stubborn?"
"Usually only when friends are concerned," she smiled.
"Hmm…" Erza smiled slightly before popping the bean in her mouth and eating it. It was crunchier than she had expected, and it didn't really have a flavor. Once she had ground it up, she swallowed, and a feeling of immediate relief washed over her, soothing her body and making it feel as though she had never fought Gorun. Looking down at herself, she was surprised to see that her arms were completely unharmed, and every scrape and other bruise had vanished as well.
"Ooh, ooh! I want one!" Natsu grinned, holding his hands out like a kid asking for candy.
Gorun frowned at his guild mate, then said, "No wounds, no senzu."
"Man, I thought we were friends!"
"I only have a few of those, and they are for emergencies!"
The senzu beans were one of the things he had taken before leaving Conton City. He had originally been planning on buying them from the Capsule Corp. shop out in the plaza, but he didn't for two reasons.
Firstly, he needed something that only a select few beings in the multiverse would have as a precaution for future disasters. Two, he was still very angry at the Elder Kai for giving away his identity, so if he was going to steal anything, it was going to be from the old man. As it just so happened, the vault containing the belongings of the ancient Kai held precisely what he needed. That and a lot of perverted magazines, which he torched because why not?
There had been thirty-eight beans in the pouch that he had taken and stored in a capsule which he later transferred to a satchel that he travelled with before destroying the container. The other item that he had taken was also in the satchel, but it was sealed in a lachryma container that would only open in response to ki magic. Since only he and Kinana used it, he was confident that the chances of someone getting it open were next none- especially since the only other condition which it might open was under an etherion blast, which might or might not destroy the item inside… he honestly didn't know, nor was he planning on finding out.
He had used four of the beans now, twice over the last eighteen months, and two just now to heal himself and Erza. He knew that she didn't need it, but he did feel guilty about taking the training too far and hurting his comrade, so he knew that he needed to make it right.
Not to mention, even though he had hurt himself pretty badly with the Kaioken, it had paid off exactly as he had hoped. He felt stronger than before, strong enough to use the Kaioken ten times without any major strain, though it would still be tiring.
That wasn't his goal, though. His sights lay beyond the technique of King Kai, in the realms of power that only a Saiyan could know.
I need to reach at least Super Saiyan 2… he thought as he floated over the ocean. It was past midnight, and everyone back at the lodge was asleep. He had used instant transmission to get out without anyone noticing him leaving so that he could train alone- and really push his limits.
"Okay, here goes…" he breathed as he reached what seemed like a safe distance. Clenching his fists tightly, he willed a golden magic circle into existence beneath his feet, already feeling the amazing power that it would grant rushing through him. Time to go Super Saiyan again… and beyond it! Golden light filled the nighttime horizon of Akane beach.
The next day, everyone was dressed up in their beach clothes again and ready to do more training. "Man, I can't believe how much stronger I feel after only a day of training!" Natsu grinned. "And we get to do this for three whole months?! Haha, I'm all fired up!"
"Y'know, at first I thought, 'wait, three months, that's all we have?" Lucy added. "But now I think that's more than enough time for us to catch up to the other guilds in the country."
Gorun had to admit, their power levels had all risen a respectable amount from when he had first encountered them. Still… "You're on the right track, but you're not there yet," he told them. Before anyone could retort, he added, "If you keep training like you did yesterday, though, you'll be on a level you never dreamed of by the time we head to the Grand Magic Games."
They all grinned in agreement before breaking up to begin training for the day. Kinana approached Gorun and beckoned to him that she wanted to talk in private. Once they were relatively alone among some trees, she asked, "So how did the zenkai boost work out?"
He looked at her, startled that she had remembered that particular detail about his biology and the fact that he would have already tested it. "Umm… I didn't get what I was aiming for," he admitted. "Although on the plus side, I can use the Kaioken at ten times without any major strain now."
"But you were trying to reach the… what was it called?" Kinana frowned slightly. "Super Saiyan Advanced?"
He smiled and chuckled a bit before saying, "Super Saiyan 2, actually."
"Wait, I forget…" she muttered. "How many of these transformations are there? I know you've shown me the basic one."
"Yep, there's good ol' Super Saiyan, multiplies my power by fifty," he nodded. "Super Saiyan 2 doubles that, though it doesn't really look different from the first form except that my hair stands up a little straighter and you start seeing lightning mixed in with the yellow energy."
"Then there's… a third one, which is the strongest of the Super Saiyan forms, right?" she asked, trying to keep what he had told her straight.
"Yep, and that's the one where the hair gets really long and the eyebrows disappear," he grinned. "Honestly, it looks kinda stupid, but the plus side to it is that it's four times stronger than the second transformation."
"So that's…"
"A total of four hundred times more powerful than I am right now," he nodded firmly. "Yeah."
"But that's not the one you're aiming for, right?" she asked. "There's a fourth form?"
"Yeah, in the timeline that it was discovered in, they called it Super Saiyan 4, but I don't think that's really the right term for it. I've taken to calling it Super Saiyan Prime."
"Why not?" she asked him. "It's even stronger than the third form, right?"
"Oh, much stronger," he nodded emphatically. "The thing is, the process for achieving the form is completely different to the others. Also, it would look nothing like my usual Super Saiyan form."
"Okay, so what's different?" she asked, not sure if he had gone over this before or if she was just being forgetful.
"Remember the Oozaru?"
"The Great Ape form," she nodded.
"I have to transform into that, then engage the Super Saiyan power, transforming me into a Golden Great Ape," he explained. "That's step one, which isn't that hard. I could probably do it during a full moon if I wanted."
"Then why bother going through the other forms first?" she wondered, puzzled.
"Mental conditioning," he said tapping the side of his head. "Haven't you wondered why I don't just use the Super Saiyan form all the time?"
She paused, trying to understand his reasoning. She had seen the form in action once, and so she knew of its power firsthand. Now that he mentioned it, it didn't seem to make sense that he would rely on the Kaioken as much as he did when he held such power in his grasp. Looking up at her boyfriend, she shook her head and said, "I don't know. I hadn't really thought about it much since even with the Kaioken you're pretty much unstoppable."
"Fair enough," he nodded with a slight grin. "Well, the reason is that the Super Saiyan transformation removes my inhibitions to a degree- makes me more violent than I normally am, and with each transformation, my reason is whittled away more and more."
"I thought that only happened if you lost control in your Oozaru form," she said, eyes widened slightly in alarm.
"It's not enough to make me lose my sanity entirely," he said quickly, trying to reassure her with a hand on her shoulder. "And in my Super Saiyan form, I've had enough practice and exposure to the form to keep ahold of myself, mostly. But if I were to go straight for the Golden Oozaru…" He paused, waiting for her to put the pieces together.
"You'd have a harder time keeping yourself together than if you first practiced with Super Saiyan 2 and 3," she realized.
"Exactly," he nodded. "The mental strain of either form is no big deal on their own. But put 'em together, without the right training, and you've got a recipe for disaster."
"I see now," Kinana whispered. "So once you've mastered level three, then comes the Golden Ape, which is Super Saiyan 4?"
"Not quite," Gorun laughed. "It's all a little complicated, isn't it?"
"Just a little," she laughed back.
He smiled a moment longer before sobering up and saying, "Once I enter the Golden Ape state, I need something to focus on- a strong memory, a long-awaited goal- in order to trigger the final stage in the transformation. I'll return to a more humanoid state, but most of my body will be covered in reddish or dark pink fur while my hair returns to its black color. Though if past experience says anything, it'll look only a little bit like my usual hairdo."
"And the power increase?" she asked curiously.
His face remained passive before saying, "Ten times that of Super Saiyan 3… That, or in simpler terms, four thousand times stronger than I am right now."
Her eyes widened as he described the magnitude of his increase in power. After working her jaw up and down a few times, she asked, "And… do you stay yourself? Or do you lose your mind again?"
"I retain my conscious self, though no one that's mastered the form before has been very reasonable once they attained it," he said quietly. "They're quick to violence, and they care little for the collateral damage that they cause. Even Goku, who first mastered the transformation, admitted that it was dangerous to use."
"I see now why you'd be so methodical about how you'd want to attain it," the purple-haired girl said as she leaned into a hug from the boy. "You could end up hurting something or someone you care about if you tried to use a shortcut."
"Yeah…" the Saiyan boy said with a barely suppressed shudder as he thought of what might happen to his friends should they try to stop him in his Oozaru state, much less the golden form.
"Well, at least I have all of that straight now," she smiled up at him. The smile was quickly replaced by another puzzled look as she added, "That is all of the forms you can use… right?"
"Yep," Gorun nodded. "There are other advances for a Saiyan's power, but it's impossible for me to pursue them in this world, so I won't bore you with the details right now."
"Oh, jeez," she laughed. "How many transformations are there in total for your people?"
"Umm… including the two ape forms…?" he muttered out loud. "Nine. Then there's something called Ultra Instinct and having your potential unleashed, but the first one can only be obtained by someone with divine ki- though it doesn't have to be a Saiyan - and another one requires the magic of an experienced Kai. Neither of those are available to me."
"Sheesh, you almost sound like Erza with the amount of transformations you can do," Kinana grinned. "Speaking of which, didn't you want to learn some requip magic from her?"
"Oh yeah!" Gorun said with a click of his fingers. "Mind if I go talk to her about it?"
"Go ahead," she smiled before planting a kiss on his cheek. "I was going to practice combat with Juvia today."
"Cool," he said before returning the gesture of affection. "After lunch, would you like to work on any of your techniques?"
"I could use some help with the Solar Flare," she admitted. "After lunch works great." They stepped out of the trees to go meet their friends when they were surprised to see them all putting on clothes from a pile that had randomly appeared on the beach.
"Uh… what?" Gorun asked.
"Oh thank goodness you're here!" Lucy exclaimed. "Quick, find some clothes and put them on! The spirit world is in trouble- they need our help!"
"The spirit world?" Gorun repeated, his mind immediately flashing to Otherworld back in his home dimension. "Like where dead people are?"
"No, it is the home of we, the celestial spirits contracted to the Princess," remarked a girl with light purple hair and startlingly blue eyes. Said girl was dressed in a maid's outfit with manacles hanging from her wrists. "Hello there. Please put on some of these clothes so that we may be on our way."
"Umm… hi?" the boy replied, waving awkwardly. Looking at the others, he asked, "Anyone wanna explain this?"
"Lucy's a Celestial Wizard whose contracted with a majority of the Zodiac spirits, some of the most powerful and influential spirits in their realm," Erza explained.
"Their world's in trouble, so we're gonna go pound whoever's causin' trouble!" Natsu declared. "C'mon, Gorun! Put on an outfit so we can get going!"
Gorun blinked once and said, "Okay, I still feel like I'm missing something, but just because he got my name right, I'm gonna put on the clothes and go with it."
A few minutes later saw the whole group- minus Jet and Droy, who were nowhere to be found- dressed in Spirit World attire. As soon as the last article of clothing had been straightened, the maid- who Lucy introduced as Virgo- created a massive magic circle that Gorun quickly recognized as a fast travel technique used by the gods' attendants that sent them whirling through time and space to land in the Spirit World.
It was beautiful, there was no other word for it. The sky was the richest shade of royal blue that they had ever seen, and there were more stars than one could ever hope to count. Not all of them were in the sky, either. Some of them were quite close, but they did not burn with the fierce intensity of an earthly star, but more with a gentle, welcoming light. There were planets, too, of all size and color, whirling through the air and skies like comets.
"Welcome, Lucy Heartfelia and friends," said a powerful, sonorous voice. Everyone whirled to see a man that towered over them all, dressed in magnificent armor with a sword at his waist. His eyes were red like rubies, and his skin was a pale sky blue, though one could barely see it because of the gigantic moustache he was sporting.
I can think of a certain Pride Trooper that would be very jealous of that moustache, Gorun thought, even as he reached out to sense the being's power level. To his surprise, when he tried to sense the energy that the titan should have been emitting, he felt… nothing. That's weird, he thought with a guarded frown. He has a certain presence about him, but no power lev- Oh.
"I'd guess that you're in charge here?" he called up.
"Hey, that's the Celestial Spirit King!" Lucy said, swatting his arm. "Be polite!" Turning back to the giant man, she called out, "Sire, Virgo told me that the Celestial Spirit World is in danger! We've all come to help any way we can!"
To their surprise, the King just stood and stared at them all for a long moment. Then a broad grin split his face and he simply said, "Smile." Suddenly a whole host of beings that Gorun guessed were other celestial spirits appeared around them, many of them greeting the members of Fairy Tail as old friends.
"Tonight, we celebrate the return of our good friend, Lucy Heartfelia, and her guild," the king declared, and he swept aside his cape to reveal a bountiful feast that would easily feed all of them, including Gorun and Natsu. "We were gladdened to hear of your return, and to mark the occasion, I have invited you here, to my home, where we may eat and sing and dance!"
"Wait, what?!" Lucy cried, astonished. "What about your world being in danger?!"She looked accusingly at Virgo, who remained passive.
"I lied," she said with just the slightest of smiles.
"We wanted to make it a surprise party!" a surprisingly normal-looking young man dressed in a suit with shaded glasses called out. "Welcome back, gorgeous! And everyone else, too! Glad to see ya!"
"Hey, Loke!" Gray said as he stepped forward to give the other boy a hi-five. "How ya been?" Several of the others moved to say hello to him, leaving Gorun with Kinana and Levy.
"Who's that guy?" he asked.
"That's Leo, the leader of the Zodiac spirits," Levy answered him quickly. "He's contracted to Lucy, but he's also a full-fledged member of Fairy Tail in his own right."
"Wait, was he the one that used to be our guild's residential lady killer?" Gorun asked, a memory of some his readings about Fairy Tail's past coming to the forefront of his mind.
"That's the one," Kinana laughed. "I'm glad he's okay. I wasn't sure what was going to happen to him since Lucy had been gone for so long. But it seems like all of her spirits are okay."
"And the Celestial Spirit King?" Gorun asked. "Is he contracted to Lucy, too?"
"No way, are you kidding?" Levy laughed. "The king doesn't have a key, and a wizard needs a gate key to summon a celestial spirit. He's probably the only spirit in existence that can't be summoned."
That also makes sense, considering… Gorun mused silently.
"Hey, who's the new guy?" Leo asked, finally spotting Gorun. "I think I recognize Kinana- lookin' good, by the way- but I've never seen this kid before."
"That's Gorun, he joined the guild about a year and a half ago," Lucy told him. In a slightly lowered tone that was flavored with a laugh, she added, "He's Kinana's boyfriend, and he's really protective of her, so I'd watch it if I were you."
"Hey, you know I've only got eyes for you, beautiful," Leo winked at his master. From what Gorun could tell by the quick rolling of Lucy's eyes, this seemed to be a routine thing between them.
"Let the feast begin!" the king declared.
It was a party unlike any Gorun had ever been to- and he'd been to a lot of parties made from a lot of different cultures. His parents' heroics had seen him as a guest at parties with Namekians- who admittedly didn't eat much of anything but knew how to put on a good show- Frost Demons- there was a lot of wine involved in those occasions, he remembered- the Majin people- their festivities involved a little too much candy for his taste- Saiyans- where fights always broke out, and usually ended with his mother and father knocked someone silly- and of course, humans- who had the best food for any occasion.
At least, that's what he thought until now. "Kinana, please tell me you can get the recipe for this stuff!" he said as he ripped through some sort of mutton. "Have you tried the fish over there? It's amazing!"
"I think my cooking just got dumped by my boyfriend," Kinana said as she stared with slightly wide eyes at the speed with which Gorun was devouring his food. She'd seen him eat quickly before, but now it was like he was trying to set a record for 'fastest buffet eaten'.
"I can send you home with a cookbook from our library," said Virgo, who was waiting hand and foot on Lucy with a blank, incurious expression. "You won't be able to get all of the ingredients in your world, of course, but I can make some notes with substitutes if you'd like."
"Wow, you'd do that for me?" Kinana asked, touched by the kind gesture. "Thank you, Virgo."
"Of course," Virgo said with a bow. "A friend of the princess is a friend of mine." She left to go complete her self-appointed task.
"Hey, Gorun!" Natsu called over through a mouthful of bread. "I bet I can fit more of these awesome bread rolls in my mouth than you can!"
"Oh, it is on!" Gorun declared, reaching for a plate that had appeared, full of the freshly baked goods. "This is one challenge I will never lose, Salamander!"
"My money's on Natsu!" Leo laughed as he approached with a glass in hand, a girl that had ram horns growing out of her head at his side. "How about you, Aries?"
"U-Umm…" the girl stammered, turning red from the attention she was receiving from so many people. "I-I guess L-Lady Lucy's new friend looks… hungry?"
"I'm betting on Gorun," Gray said as he pulled up a chair to watch the show. "Beat that flame-brain, man!"
"If my darling Gray is placing his faith in the new S-class wizard, then so shall I!" Juvia declared.
"No way, Natsu's stomach is the resident black hole at Fairy Tail!" Lucy shouted in support of her teammate. "Go, Natsu!"
"Yeah, show the new guy what you're made of!" Happy added. Before long, the members were divided into two groups, one cheering for Natsu as he began stuffing his face full of bread rolls while the other half encouraged Gorun as he matched the dragon slayer loaf for loaf.
"You got this, Gorun!" Kinana yelled in encouragement, though she and most of the others were all having a hard time not laughing at the two boys as they continued to force more bread into their mouths.
Things really reached a fever pitch when Leo and Gray started getting into an argument over how many rolls Gorun and Natsu had in their mouths, respectively, and an unexpected voice joined the debate.
"The contest stands at seven loaves in Natsu's mouth, and eight- no, nine- in young Gorun's," said the king, looking down at them from across the table with a giant grin on his face.
"Your excellency…?" Leo asked, open-mouthed. "You were keeping count?"
"Such a contest has not happened here in our world," the king remarked. "I find it very entertaining!" At that point, everyone burst out laughing, including the two contestants, causing them to spew out their accumulated rolls. Seeing this, the king declared Gorun the technical winner, since he had more bread in his mouth when they had both spit out their food.
"Aw man!" Natsu pouted. "First he beats me, then he beats Erza, then he beats me again! Not fair!"
"Nah, that fight with Erza was her win," Gorun conceded. "I did it to myself, but I haven't beaten her yet. So maybe you'll still get to beat her before I do, huh Natsu?" He knew that it was a longtime dream of the dragon slayer's to beat Erza in a fight, and how important that was as a measure of his own strength and self-worth.
It's good that he has dreams that he can hold on to and strive for, he thought as he watched the salmon-haired wizard perk up and accept a drink from Lucy, though Gray froze it while he thought he wasn't looking. This led to a scuffle breaking out between them, and another round of belly laughs echoed across the table.
While the fight continued in the background, Gorun turned to Virgo, who he noticed was now holding a 'Go Natsu!' flag while standing beside Lucy. "Miss Virgo, mind if I ask you something?" he asked after his idle curiosity went away.
"Of course," she said, her face remaining stoic.
"Why do we need to be wearing clothes from this world?" he asked. "Lucy said something about it earlier."
"Humans would find it very difficult to breathe in our world without them," Virgo replied flatly. "Our atmospheres are very different, and so your bodies require magic garments to help filter the air around you."
"Oh, okay," he said. It actually wasn't a wild thought to him. He knew of another place with similar properties, a realm where time moved differently than it did back home… I thought the atmosphere was familiar, he thought. The air… it feels like the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. I wonder if time moves differently here like it does back there? It would make sense.
Before he could ask any more about it, the desserts were brought out, and all other things seemed to lose significance in the face of such delights. Spirit food is awesome! He thought as he grabbed a heaping helping of what looked like some sort of ice cream that glowed like the moon and brought it over to share with Kinana.
The party lasted for a full day in the Spirit World. There was, as promised by the king, dances performed by several of Lucy's spirits, enough food for everyone to stuff themselves to excess, and some of the most beautiful music Gorun had ever heard.
He wasn't exactly a music lover, but something about the melody and words sung by the harpist spirit Lyra made him think of his life with the struggling Fairy Tail guild, and despite all of their troubles, about how happy being among them made him. Looking around, he was all the happier as he saw friends and family, not just peers and admirers that would never know the real him.
Some of the other highlights of the event included an impromptu group dance put on by a lot of little spirits that the others referred to as 'Plu', which was led by Happy and Carla, a tour of the Spirit World Library, where Gorun and Levy each received a book that piqued their interest, and an archery contest between Sagittarius and Erza.
At some point, Natsu refused to eat any more food, and he looked as though someone had told him he'd been poisoned, though when anybody asked him what was wrong, all he would do was point at the feast and mutter something unintelligible in a high-pitched voice. Gorun ignored him and kept eating- who knew when they'd be invited back again?
As it turned out, humans in general were not invited often to the Celestial Spirit World- or ever before, really.
"Seriously?" Gorun asked, eyes wide as he looked up at the king. They were in the midst of preparing to head back to the human world when he overheard part of the king's conversation with Lucy. "We're the first ones to come to your world?" Now he felt even more in awe of his surroundings and the circumstances in which they had arrived.
"Yes, and it is because of Lucy's heart and will that you stand here today," the king nodded imperiously. "Her bond with my subjects is stronger than any that I have ever seen before in the eons that I have lived. It is her that I wished to honor today with these festivities."
"The honor is all mine," Lucy said with a deep bow. "Thank you so much, sire." Turning to the other spirits, who were smiling at her, she added, "Thank you all for having us here. I love you so much." The spirits made no reply, but their smiles widened, as did the king's.
"Thank you for extending the invitation to the rest of us," Gorun said with a deep bow of his own to the king. "I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we've all had a great time today." The others gave a hearty chorus of agreement, several of them adding bows of their own as they paid homage to the King of the Stars.
"You are all welcome," the king replied. Addressing Lucy again, he added, "Know that no matter where it is that you go, we shall always be with you."
"I will take you back to the human world now," Virgo said, everyone having been gathered together. "Be aware- time moves differently in our world than it does in yours."
"Wait, really?" Gray asked, the others muttering in surprised tones. "Does it move faster here?"
Called it! Gorun laughed to himself. Just like the Time Chamber.
"Well if time moves faster here, we should just do our training in the spirit world!" Natsu exclaimed, a sentiment that Gorun shared. "That way we can get way more done, and with more time!"
Ten minutes later had them standing on the beach that they had left… with only a week until the Grand Magic Games were supposed to take place.
So… Not like the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Gorun thought dully.
"Hey, you guys are back!" They heard Jet and Droy approaching from behind, and much to Gorun's annoyance, he was fairly certain that they had gone and gotten slightly weaker while they were gone.
"Where'd you go? Did you get any training done?" Jet asked.
"It's… all over…" Lucy whispered before half of the group collapsed on the beach.
"Dammit…" Gorun growled, his subconscious already drawing the necessary magic circle to vent his frustration. "This means… This means…" A golden light shone from underneath his feet in the form of a magic formula, but he seemed not to notice.
"We lost all the time we could have had… just for a party…" Levy groaned out.
Kinana seemed to notice something was off at that moment, because her eyes widened and she tried to warn her boyfriend, "Umm, Gorun? You're about to-"
"A deity of all people, messing with people's timelines like that?!" he shouted at the sky, cutting her off unintentionally. "Of all the stupid!" A golden flame spurted to life around one of his clenched fists.
"Gor-"
"Asinine!" he bellowed, apparently deaf to the purple-haired girl's attempted pleas as his hair began to stand on end.
"Please-"
"Shark- jumping bullcrap!" he screamed, clenching his fists hard enough that his nails cut into his palms.
Before anyone could interfere, they were all forced to avert their gazes as golden energy erupted violently from his body, kicking up wind and dirt in their faces.
Immediately, all of them felt Gorun's magical pressure increase dramatically. It reminded Natsu of the time that he had fought with Gildarts on Tenrou Island, though the power he was sensing now was not as great as Fairy Tail's strongest member. Still, he was easily as strong as Gramps as when he took on Master Hades, which was nothing to sneeze at.
When the dust settled, they all were shocked to see that Gorun's appearance had changed dramatically. His hair was no longer black and hanging on either side of his face, nor being held back by a ponytail. It was yellow and quite literally standing up on end while his eyes had changed from their usual shade of a gentle gray into a fierce emerald color. His muscles were also a bit thicker and more defined, but only a couple of them noticed this. Most of the present wizards were too busy still being in awe of his enormous growth in magic power.
Looking around at his comrades, then at himself, then at Kinana, who was simply giving him an 'oh well' look, and back at the others again, Gorun only had one thing to say. "Oops."
Closing Song: Closer to the Truth by Cryoshell
Mataras: You said it- oops.
Gorun: I slipped.
Mataras: Yeah you did. How're you gonna explain this one to them?
Gorun: You do realize that this is a world where takeover magic and other transformation magic exists, right?
Mataras: That... Actually, that works. Still, somebody's gonna ask questions at some point.
Gorun: Well, if worse comes to absolute worse, I can just pull a you.
Mataras: Awesome! I should write that down.
Gorun: Ha! Irony.
Mataras: Next time- In Preparation.
Gorun: Be on the lookout for Mataras' response video to any reviews posted within the next few days. Next chapter will be up by the end of June.
Next time on Saiyan Tail...
"I hope he doesn't do anything stupid…" Kinana winced as she sat down at the foot of one of the beds.
"What makes you say that?" Erza asked.
"He gets kind of irrational when someone he cares about is hurt," she answered as she looked out the window to see him leaving the building, his shoulders hunched, his frame tense.
"Don't we all?" Erza smiled, but the expression was dropped when Kinana looked back at her sharply.
"You don't get it," she told them, standing back up. "That golden takeover form of his? I've only seen it twice in the entire time I've known him. The first time he showed it to me, he was sharing a part of his secret with me. The second time, we were on a job together and some bandits nearly kidnapped me when he wasn't looking. He went berserk trying saving me from them- most of them didn't survive."
"He killed them?" Lucy asked, eyes wide.
"I hope he doesn't do anything stupid…" Kinana winced as she sat down at the foot of one of the beds.
"What makes you say that?" Erza asked.
"He gets kind of irrational when someone he cares about is hurt," she answered as she looked out the window to see him leaving the building, his shoulders hunched, his frame tense.
"Don't we all?" Erza smiled, but the expression was dropped when Kinana looked back at her sharply.
"You don't get it," she told them, standing back up. "That golden takeover form of his? I've only seen it twice in the entire time I've known him. The first time he showed it to me, he was sharing a part of his secret with me. The second time, we were on a job together and some bandits nearly kidnapped me when he wasn't looking. He went berserk trying saving me from them- most of them didn't survive."
"He killed them?" Lucy asked, eyes wide.