A/N: Happy Halloween, everyone! I hope you've got your candy lined up from your outings, cos what's a good show without some snacks to enjoy with it?
... Sorry, I'll stop.
The response video for last chapter's reviews has just gone up, so if you left a review last time, be sure to check it out on my YouTube channel (link is in my bio page). The current story cover image will only be up until Thanksgiving weekend (during which I will release the next chapter for this story). If you like it, you can also check it out (along with other examples of my artwork) on my Instagram account, the_red_swordsman
I will be releasing the image of Lisanna and Mirajane fused around the same time that this chapter goes up (yes, I know, that one has been a long time coming), although her appearance still won't be for a few months.
Now, let's get on with the saga!
Dread Waters Arc: Chapter 2
The Dead Sea
"You're serious?" Captain Bartholomew asked dubiously.
Gorun opened his mouth to speak, but Azura elbowed him and growled, "If you say 'dead serious', I'm going to stab you in the eye."
"Er-hem," he coughed, glaring at his cousin for a second before addressing the commanding officer's question. "As I was going to say, I am sure," he told the experienced seaman. "Azura and I have both encountered the dead among the living before, and the energy we are both detecting is not that of someone who belongs in this world."
"Why'd it have to be zombies…?" Sting groaned. He was shaking badly, and the saiyan hybrids knew it wasn't motion sickness.
"Something wrong with him?" Marcos asked with a small frown.
"Nothing he won't get over in the next fifteen minutes, Commander," Gorun answered, shooting Sting a pointed look. "We have that long before we come within firing range of the other vessel, so I suggest we get your men ready for battle."
"How do we defeat something that's already dead?" Bartholomew demanded. "I've seen many a sea beast in my day, but undead soldiers? That's new waters."
"We vaporize them," Gorun and Azura said simultaneously. Glancing at one another, Gorun remembered his talk with Kinana only minutes prior, and inclined his head toward his relative. "Go ahead," he said, surprising her a little.
She frowned, no doubt wondering what his motive was, but turning back to the captain and commander to say, "We're not entirely sure what method was used to give these soldiers artificial life again, so normal kill techniques probably won't cut it. To be certain that they are gone, we may have to destroy them down to the last cell that makes up their bodies. Otherwise, it may be possible for whoever is doing this to simply resurrect them again."
"Is there no chance that we can save them?" Marcos asked warily. "I'd rather not fire on troops wearing the same uniform as my own men, especially if this is not of their own doing. If they were traitors, that might be one thing. But this…"
"We've tried to sense for the necromancer responsible for this, but whoever it is, they are somewhere far from here," Gorun answered. "They're not stupid enough to be close at hand when a real fight is about to break out. Conjurers like that are usually weak when it comes to doing their own fighting."
"Besides, the odds are more than likely that killing whoever brought them back would only end the spell placed on those cadavers," Azura added. "It would do nothing to restore the lives that have been taken."
"I think what these guys are trying to say," Sting interrupted, "is that whether or not we can save these undead soldiers, you need to get your crew ready for one hell of a fight. Keep the enemy ship from getting too close, and let us worry about the… zombies… aw, man…"
"We'll get the ship prepped for combat," Bartholomew told them, pointedly ignoring Sting's predicament. "Make sure you're all set to go when the enemy shows up."
"Keep it together, man," Gorun told Sting, a trifle annoyed as the dragon slayer started to tremble again while they walked off of the bridge.
"Sorry," the blond man muttered feebly. "Weisslogia used to tell me stories about zombie dragons when I was kid… scared the crap outta me every night."
"Well, these are zombie humans, so that's not as bad, right?" Gorun offered.
"Still zombies."
"Grow a pair already," Azura muttered as she stormed past the both of them.
"What's her deal?" Sting asked as he turned to Gorun, who sighed heavily and rubbed his brow as if exhausted.
"Trying to figure out how to make more progress," he mumbled.
"So what's the actual plan of attack?" Rogue asked once they had finished debriefing with the others. "Or were you just planning on charging at an entire warship full of undead soldiers, guns blazing?"
"Have you seen these guns?" Romeo grinned as he pointed at Gorun's bicep, which the older boy then flexed with a goofy smile. Everyone else rolled their eyes, although Yukino and Kinana couldn't hide their own smiles. Then the young fire mage added, "If I recall, he did a better job killing a dragon than either of you guys."
"What was that?" Sting asked warningly, but Rogue held him back.
"Unfortunately, the kid's right," the shadowy mage muttered. "That doesn't change the fact that we need a plan if we're going to disable that ship before it can target our vessel. We're wasting precious time as it is."
"We need to obliterate that plague from existence," Azura asserted. "I know the captain said he wants to save these guys, but based on what I've heard of resurrections around here, only the body can be reanimated, not the soul."
"Well, there is one way to do that, but it costs hundreds of lives in exchange for a single life, and if that were the case, I really doubt that we'd be sensing the amount of soldiers that we did," Gorun pointed out. "For a crew that size, you'd need to kill off an entire nation's worth of people, by my estimate."
"And they would register as normal energy on our radar, since it'd be a true resurrection, not just someone living on borrowed time," Kinana added. "This is the work of a proper necromancer."
"Great…" Sting muttered, clearly dismayed by the news. "So how do we blow 'em up without putting the Hydrangea and her crew in danger?"
"We go on the offensive," Gorun replied. Glancing at Kinana, then Azura, he added, "Unfortunately, that's not really my forte, so I'm going to defer to the resident expert on attack patterns." Here, he gave Azura a meaningful look.
She raised a single eyebrow before asking, "Really? You're going to trust me with this?"
"I am," he nodded. "You're the one who knows the attack strategies from home like the back of your hand. I usually get by on raw power and individual skill, not through meticulous planning."
"If you're trying to smooth things over between us, this will not cut it," she said flatly.
"Yeah, I figured," he shrugged. "But my point still stands."
Azura glanced around at the others, all of them watching her expectantly, before muttering, "All right, fine. Here's what we do…"
"I take it back, I wanna make the plan," Gorun said as he and Azura shot across the water, mere inches from the ocean's surface.
"Too late, Kaidon," she grinned viciously. "Any longer and the Hydrangea will be in range of this ship's cannons."
"How do zombies even know how to use weapons?" Romeo asked from under Gorun, the bigger boy keeping a tight hold on him as not to drop him into the unforgiving sea. "Aren't they just supposed to be all 'Blagh! Me want brains!' Right?"
"I've met specters before, not zombies," Gorun answered. "I honestly don't know."
"Then how do you tell them apart based on their energy signatures?" Yukino asked. She was being carried by Kinana while Sting and Rogue were flying with their exceeds' help.
"Zombies have a more convoluted energy signature," Azura answered. "Specters feel pretty similar to people that are alive, just, I dunno…"
"Feels more like an echo than the original sound, right?" Gorun offered.
"Yeah," his cousin agreed, though she still refused to look his way.
"Are they gonna want our brains?" Sting inquired nervously.
"Give it a rest, Sting," Rogue told him.
"Both of you, stay focused," Azura ordered. "Remember, this ship won't have the field effect that suppresses your nausea, so it's up to your cats to keep you from puking anything other than breath attacks."
"Breath attacks are not-"
"They kinda are," Romeo giggled. "You eat your element, then send it right back out, mixed with some of your own juice, right?"
Sting and Rogue glanced at each other, blanched, then muttered together, "We don't wanna talk about it."
"Thought so."
"Shut up!" Azura hissed as she pointed ahead of them in the fog. "We're nearly there. Split up and wait for my signal." With an extra burst of speed, she shot up into the mist, the rest of them quickly losing sight of her.
As soon as she was gone, Kinana asked Gorun in as low a tone as she could manage, "Why did you let her take the lead? I know from experience that you're more than capable of planning this kind of attack."
"This seemed like an appropriate time to try and give a little," he answered with a slight grin as he sped away from her and Yukino. His sensitive ears picked up on her soft laughter before he zoomed around to the stern of the battleship and he was no longer able to perceive her presence with any of his normal senses. He could still feel her energy, which helped him to quell his growing anxiety.
He wasn't really worried about himself or Azura, but as for the others who lacked their extensive training and frankly absurd power levels, he couldn't help but worry just a little.
However, there was no time to dwell on such thoughts as he and Romeo hovered just a few feet above the water, all but holding their breaths in an attempt to keep as quiet as possible. On the starboard and portside of the vessel, he knew that the other pairs would be getting into position.
"Hear anything yet?" Romeo asked in a hushed voice.
"I think I hear the sounds of their guns moving into position," Gorun replied in an equally quiet tone. Azura, you had better be able to make good on your assurances.
The blue-haired Saiyan girl allowed herself to hover in the void of the mist, eyes closed, her breathing calm and even. It was as though she existed in a forever nothing, the only sensations registering with her mind being the sound of the waves below her and the slight breeze that stirred the soupy fog all around her.
She counted the seconds, having memorized the speed of the enemy vessel as it headed for the Hydrangea a few miles behind her. She allowed herself a few more breaths to calm her racing heart and suppress her urge to act now, instead of at the right time.
When she could feel the moment was ripe, she let out a yell that blasted the mist away from her body and disturbed the waters below her out of their normal patterns. Her hair shot upward and turned yellow before settling down somewhat while lightning danced across her body and she opened her emerald eyes to see dozens of magic cannon blasts headed her way, no doubt aimed to destroy Fiore's battleship.
"I don't think so!" she snarled. Her energy exploded, sending her rocketing toward the nearest missile at speeds too fast for the human eye to follow. In the span of three seconds she had either hit all of the magic projectiles hard enough to send them back at the enemy ship or neutralized them with her own bolts of etherion.
The returned fire slammed into the approaching ship with enough force to knock it slightly off-course and damage the engines. Just for good measure, she fired a Kamehameha at the rear of the vessel, where Marcos had informed her the engine room would be, crippling it.
"Go!" Azura roared, her voice reaching her companions where they lay waiting for her signal. She felt several bursts of energy from the Fairies and Tigers as they flew over the railing to land on the deck of the ship while she looked on with grim approval.
"You had all better do your jobs right," she muttered before the guns began to fire at the Hydrangea. Giving vent to another growl, the ascended Super Saiyan shot off to play interference again.
"This is just how I pictured a swarm of zombies to come at me!" Sting yelped as he unleashed a Holy Ray spell at a dozen undead men dressed in tattered uniforms as they ran at him and Rogue. "Actually, I take it back- I never expected them to move that fast!" For indeed, these monsters actually moved as fluidly as any man normally would, not in the jerky, stilted movements that old legends would have one believe. However, they did sport the pale gray-green flesh that he had expected, complete with exposed patches of muscle and unhealed blood vessels splashed across their bodies.
"So this is worse than you imagined?" Rogue muttered before unleashing a breath attack that tore a trio of the growling corpses asunder. He and Sting were both being carried by their exceeds mere inches above the deck of the ship as to avoid triggering their motion sickness.
"Not helping, man!" Sting yelped as one managed to get through his attack. In response, he lashed out with a White Dragon Talon, paralyzing the dead man long enough for him to axe kick the zombie through the deck and into the cargo space below, where a few disembodied grunts of complaint could be heard.
"Some fearless leader you are," the shadow dragon slayer chuckled.
"Shut up, Rogue!"
"Yeah, give the guy a break!" Lector added.
"I wanna go home…" Frosch whimpered.
"Soon, buddy," Rogue told him. "This won't take much longer, I promise."
"Okay…"
"Get some!" Romeo shouted as he torched a zombie headed his way, blood and spittle dribbling down its mouth before bright red flames consumed it and turned it to ash. "Yes!"
"That's new," Gorun commented as he bowled over a squadron of deckhands with a Double Sunday. "What does that fire do, exactly?" He was using the Kaioken at level five, a relatively small power-up for someone with his skillset, but he didn't want to use up too much of his energy just yet.
"Normally I don't break it out, cos I don't wanna kill someone on accident," Romeo explained as he lassoed a duo of the undead people with his purple flames to hold them back from Gorun so that his leader could focus on another trio that had charged out of one of the doors. "My red fire instantly burns up most things that it touches, which is why I have to be careful with what I target whenever I use it."
"Good to know," Gorun grunted as he brained one zombie with his etherion-covered hand while hitting the other two with a Tyrant Lance. Turning around, he beheaded the ones that Romeo had captured with a Kienzan, causing the younger wizard to wince at the sight of the limp bodies slumping to the deck, twitching randomly.
"Gross," the younger wizard muttered.
"Sorry, pal," his leader sighed. "I wish we didn't have to do this, either."
"It's okay," Romeo shrugged, though he still appeared uncomfortable. "Not every job can be so… heroic, right?"
"Unfortunately not."
"Kind of wishing Lucy was here right now," Yukino grimaced as she witnessed Libra crush another quartet of the undead soldiers with her gravity magic. "As Lucino, we probably wouldn't feel so bad about all of this."
"Well, I don't know about Lucino, but if this kind of job bothers you so much," Kinana said as she zapped an oncoming soldier with a Dodon Ray, "then I think it means you've got plenty of humanity left in you." Heaving a sigh of relief when the dead man stayed down, she added, "Don't let horrors like this make you lose sight of what's good in life."
"I'll try," the white-haired mage replied just before a series of loud booms announced the third attack on their allies' ship in as many minutes.
"C'mon," Kinana said as she grabbed Yukino's hand and led her toward the middle area of the ship. "We need to disable this ship's artillery next."
The goal was to take out all of the undead people on board, but salvage the ship if at all possible. It was, after all, one of Fiore's military vessels. Parts could be replaced, guns repaired, but it was a lot harder to make a ship from scratch.
Azura watched from afar as one by one, the weapons on the ship were disabled by a combination of small explosions, backfire, and disabling of the creatures manning them. By her estimate, they had managed to take out about a third of the undead forces on the ship. Powering back down to her base form, she headed toward the ship, intent on helping them to finish the job.
So far, so good, she thought to herself. So why does it feel like something can still go horribly wrong…?
She landed on the deck next to Kinana and Yukino, who were having trouble dealing with a couple dozen of the undead. It would have been easy enough for either of them to obliterate the zombies, but they risked doing critical damage to the vessel if they unleashed too much magic power. On the other hand, they would soon be overwhelmed by sheer numbers if someone didn't do something.
Extending her right hand out in front of her, Azura shouted, "Duck!" The other girls didn't bother questioning her- they hit the deck with all possible speed even as a blue energy blade sprang out of their ally's hand, sharper than any of Erza's weapons could hope to be. Whirling herself in a full three-sixty, Azura quickly cut the lot of them in half.
"That's better," she said as she cancelled out her spell, brushing her palms as though ridding them of dirt. Turning to her teammates, she asked, "I take it Kaidon and the others have already disabled the other guns?"
"If the explosions we heard earlier are anything to go by, yes, they've done their part," Kinana nodded as she got to her feet, Azura helping Yukino to stand while she did.
"Good," the blue-haired warrior nodded curtly. "Then we start sweeping the decks. Far as I can tell, we've still got about twice the number you've all already dealt with to go before this nightmare ship gets retired."
"Ugh…" Yukino gagged, though she managed to refrain from throwing up. "Wonderful."
"Sorry, but we need to be thorough," Azura shrugged.
"About that…" Kinana said, a strange warning note in her voice. "I think we're going to have to be even more thorough than we originally thought."
"What makes you say- holy mother of Shenron!" Azura's exasperation turned into a startled exclamation as they noticed that the top halves of the monsters she had cut apart were dragging themselves toward the girls.
"I think I can sympathize with Sting now," Yukino said in a trembling voice. "This is just awful!"
"Normally I pride myself on simply blasting my problems into dust, but even I'll admit, this is unnerving," Azura said as she began to vaporize the moving parts of the monsters with pinpoint control. Apparently even when rattled, she had excellent control over her powers.
"Crap, crap, crap!" Sting yelped as he and Lector beat a hasty retreat, only to run into Rogue and Frosch.
"What are you doing?!" his partner demanded. "We're supposed to be standing guard at the bridge so we can keep an eye out for stragglers!"
"Remember how I put a bunch of holes in those undead freaks earlier?" Sting asked while looking over his shoulder nervously.
"What about it?"
"Apparently it didn't take," Lector answered.
"What-? Oh," Rogue scowled as a mass of the walking dead came running and shuffling around the corner. "So what does it take to kill them?"
"If I knew that, d'ya think I woulda come back here so I could listen to you be all judgmental?! Sting demanded angrily. "Throw me a bone!"
"Seems like the only ones that stay down are the guys we completely torched!" Romeo yelped as he leaped backwards to avoid being disemboweled by a growling zombie that was missing its left arm.
"Yeah, even when we take their heads off," Gorun growled as he vaporized a few of the monsters. At least it's just the heads that remain active at that point, he thought to himself. Those were easier to deal with, seeing as they couldn't really move, but they were still annoying when they tried to bite at the wizards. Whoever did this is one twisted son of Jenemba.
Gradually the wizards were all forced toward the middle deck from sheer numbers, whereupon Gorun met eyes with his cousin and said, "Holding back isn't working. These things are too difficult to kill when we're trying to avoid damaging the ship any more than it has been."
"I know, I know," she snarled. "Okay team, new plan. We're gonna waste all of 'em in one shot, to hell with the ship."
"Are you sure?" Sting grunted as he brained a zombie that got too close for his liking. "The navy isn't gonna like that."
"As far as they were concerned, this vessel was already lost to them weeks ago," Azura pointed out. "We'll just have to change the status from 'M.I.A.' to 'O.F.E.'"
"O- what?" Rogue asked, confused.
"Obliterated From Existence," Gorun answered heavily. "Much as I hate to admit it, she's right. We can't chance these things making it on board any other vessels that come through here, and we could spend days trying to search every nook and cranny on this ship, even with our ability to sense them."
"So then how do we do that?" Lector demanded. "Cos in case ya haven't noticed, we're totally surrounded on the ship that you wanna blow up!"
"Grab on!" Gorun ordered once Azura gave him a pointed look. No one questioned him, each member of the combined teams grabbing onto his arm or placing a hand on his back. He swiftly engaged instant transmission, and in the next second, they were all safely aboard the Hydrangea once again, though several of them fell over as soon as their feet touched the deck.
"Well…" Sting grumbled as he got to his feet. "That sucked." Around them, soldiers were muttering among themselves at the disheveled state that the wizards seemed to be in.
"At least we disabled their weapons," Kinana pointed out.
"I didn't expect those things to be so resilient," Azura admitted begrudgingly as she got to her feet. "I suppose we should go inform the commanding officers of what must be done next."
"Can I offer a piece of advice?" Gorun asked as she turned away, ignoring the soldiers looking at them inquisitively.
"No matter what I say, you're going to give the advice, right?" she muttered, though she did turn around to face him with a guarded expression.
"Even the best laid plans can go wrong," he replied. "But the job we were hired to do states that we need to eliminate or negate the threat to ships in this area."
"Your point?" she snapped, low on patience.
"Better to ask forgiveness than permission," Gorun smirked. "We weren't able to negate the threat. So now we eliminate it."
"Kaidon, if we blow that ship up with as close as it is now, we might well sink the Hydrangea from the waves we would generate," Azura snorted. "And we can't sink it because those things would probably just swim either over here or to the land and create another problem for us to deal with."
"Fortunately, we have another option," the black-haired saiyan hybrid said, his grin widening. Turning to Sting and Rogue, he said, "You two, get ready. Kinana, Yukino, and Romeo, I need you to tell the CO's on the bridge to change the Hydrangea's course to point her stern directly at the enemy ship."
"What are you up to?" Azura asked him while Sting and Rogue shifted in place uncomfortably.
"I have a plan to destroy the enemy craft without harming this ship," Gorun told her. "Unless you have an idea yourself? It's your call."
She glared at him for a few seconds while the other girls left with Romeo to do as Gorun had asked. Then, her expression softened ever so slightly as she muttered, "What do you have?"
"You said you wanted to hit something the other day," Gorun said with a devilish grin. "Will a battleship do?"
"…Ah."
"He wants us to do what?" Bartholomew asked disbelievingly. "We need to keep our guns facing the enemy, not turning tail and running."
"I won't put my men in unnecessary danger," Marcos said with an adamant shake of his head. "I would rather we keep these monstrosities in our sight while we pass them by than allow them a chance to get on board and kill us, like they have so many already."
"Sir, with all due respect, our mission is to get rid of this threat, and we stand the best chance of doing that with your help," Kinana said tightly.
"Need I remind you that you were hired to protect this ship and her crew?" Marcos shot back. "Not to mention that ship is still the property of the Fiore military, and we cannot in good conscience aid in its total destruction."
"Actually sir, we weren't hired to protect you," Romeo answered defiantly, drawing surprised looks from the two commanding officers. "The Magic Council wants this threat dealt with, not identified and then passed on to someone else. So you better believe that if they've ordered something to be blown up, there's no one better than the Fairies and Tigers to do it. And we will do it, with or without your help. We just thought you might appreciate not having this ship getting damaged in the process."
"Is that a threat, young man?" Marcos demanded sternly.
"No," he said with fire in his eyes. "We will get you and all of these men home safely, but the Hydrangea will be another matter, depending on your own choices. We're just here to let you know that if you don't get away from the upcoming fireworks, this ship is going to need extensive repairs."
"If you were a soldier, you'd be thrown in the brig and stripped of your rank for that kind of insolence," Bartholomew said gravely.
"Good thing I'm not a soldier, then," Romeo smirked. "I'm a Fairy Tail wizard- and we don't do well with people outside our guild trying to pull rank on us." Turning on his heel, he said over his shoulder, "Turn the boat or don't. I'm done trying to convince you to do the right thing."
Yukino and Kinana glanced at each other, then at the officers, shrugged wordlessly, and followed the young man off the bridge, leaving behind a pair of flabbergasted men. As soon as they caught up to him, Kinana said in a low tone to Romeo, "That was very gutsy. I'm impressed."
"It's like Gorun said," Romeo chuckled. "After you've helped to slay an immortal phoenix, just about everything else seems like a cakewalk."
"Even dating?" Yukino giggled, causing Romeo to nearly trip over his own feet.
"I said 'just about everything'," the boy grumbled. "Not everything, everything."
They rejoined with the others moments later, Gorun having just finished explaining his plan to Sting and Rogue. "Everyone clear on their parts?" he asked. They had found a part of the deck unoccupied by any of the men that were standing ready for an attack, but they spoke in lowered tones to avoid arousing suspicion, just in case.
"We're pretty much on standby from here on out," Romeo shrugged. "By the way, I don't think that they're going to turn the ship like we want them to."
"Huh, I thought that they'd be more cooperative than that," his leader frowned. "Well, that changes things slightly, but we'll still get this ship turned yet."
"What'll you and Azura be doing?" Kinana asked. "That's the only thing I don't get."
"We're going to push the other ship as far away from the Hydrangea as we can," Gorun answered. "As soon as Sting and Rogue are ready, I'll use instant transmission to get us back here."
"That sounds like you'll be cutting it pretty close," Yukino said worriedly. "Why can't you and Azura just push it far enough away and then blow it up yourselves?"
"In order to totally obliterate it and those freaks on board, we would need to output a lot of power," Azura answered. "A lot more than Kaidon is comfortable with. However, since Sting's magic is holy by nature, it should be able to accomplish the same thing without as much power, hence less of an explosion."
"On the other hand, it's still gonna be one hell of a blast, and the waves made by it could grow big enough to swamp the Hydrangea," Gorun explained, deciding to ignore his cousin's slip-up for the time being. "Maybe even flip her over. And we can't risk this zombie horde getting away, so we need to do this now."
"So how do we turn the ship?" Kinana asked. "Because talking didn't seem to do it with the commanding officers, like Romeo said."
"If they haven't started turning this thing by the time Azura and I make contact with the other ship, I'm going to need you to turn it by force," Gorun said seriously, his face grim.
If it weren't for the look in his eyes, Kinana would have laughed at the thought. However, it was all she could do to squeak out, "You want me to…? But I'm not strong enough to push a warship!"
"Yes, you are," he said encouragingly. "If you use a Kikoho at the right power level and angle, you can knock the ship off its current course without putting a hole in the hull."
"B-But…" she stammered. "I've never… It's too much, Gorun!"
"Hey!" Azura snapped, surprising everyone. "If Kaidon says you can do it, then it's within your power. He might be a lazy runaway, but his instincts are what sets him apart from the normal run of warriors, even where we come from. So stop allowing insecurity to hold you back from what needs to be done!"
Everyone stared at her unblinking for several seconds before she growled, "Stop it."
"Sorry!" Romeo yelped while everyone else averted their gaze, with the exception of Kinana.
"Thank you, Genora," she said gratefully. "I suppose I still need a reminder of how far I've come every now and again."
"Yeah, yeah," Azura snorted, though it was clear to Gorun that the sound of her Saiyan name pleased her. "Let's get a move on, Kaidon."
"After you," he grinned. She rolled her eyes, then shot into the fog, where the looming shape of the undead ship could now be seen, though not quite clearly yet. Letting out a whoop, he took off after her, giving Kinana a thumbs-up in the split second before he left.
Letting out a shuddering breath, Kinana turned to the others and said, "Okay. Yukino, I'm going to need you as a lookout and to stop any custody enforcement members that try to get in my way. Romeo, stand guard for Sting and Rogue. They're going to need all the concentration they can muster for this."
"You don't have to tell us twice," Sting muttered. "I still can't believe we're going through with this. It's so weird."
"I agree, but I see the necessity," Rogue muttered. Turning to Lector and Frosch, he added, "Help Yukino and Romeo if they need it."
"Okay!" Frosch said happily as he followed the girls.
"You got it, boss!" Lector said as he stood dutifully by Romeo's side, who struggled to contain his laughter at the exceed's serious expression.
"Ready?" Rogue asked his partner.
"As I'll ever be," Sting muttered as he lined himself up with his friend so that they were a few paces apart, shoulders parallel to one another. Letting out a deep breath, he added, "Here we go."
Bartholomew and Marcos were deep in conversation about what to do regarding the wizards, and whether or not they could or should comply with their suggestions, even if they were rudely given. Their conversation was cut short when a blinding light erupted from the rear of the vessel, made all the worse for the fact that they had been used to the dim lighting that was all the fog allowed. "What in the name of the gods is that?!" the captain demanded.
No sooner than he had spoken than did the light vanish, though it would take a few moments for the soldiers' sight to return. As soon as it did, there was some exclamations of surprise from the men monitoring the ship's equipment, which led to a thrill of alarm in the commanding officers.
"Ensign, what's going on?" Marcos demanded.
"The enemy ship seems to be getting further away at a speed that shouldn't be possible!" the man reported. "It's possible that the instruments are malfunctioning after that light hit us, sir!"
"No, sir!" another officer objected. "We had partial visual of the enemy craft only moments ago, coming at us from the side, but now we've lost them. They've gone, sir."
"Sir, what are our orders?" a warrant officer asked.
Marcos turned to Bartholomew, who muttered a curse as he spared a glance toward the stern of the vessel, where he thought he could make out a pair of figures through the fog, but he couldn't be sure. "Damn kids," he scowled. However, when he turned back to the men, he said, "Turn the ship ninety degrees away from the enemy craft, then all ahead full. Our friends from Fairy Tail and Sabertooth are preparing a surprise for the enemy that I think we'd be better off observing from far away."
"Yes, sir!" the officer said with a salute before he opened a radio channel and began to relay orders to the engine room.
"Are you certain, Captain?" Marcos asked.
"No, but the wizards have taken the choice out of our hands," Bartholomew sighed. "I only hope that they know what they're doing."
"Whoa," Romeo grinned as he beheld the newly-born fusion of Sting and Rogue, who wore a blue vest, plus white pants that complimented the trim of the same color, with a black sash, boots, and wrist guards. "So what do you guys call yourselves now?"
Lector was in total shock, his mouth hanging open as he stared at the merged form of his best friend and Rogue, the man's spiky black hair streaked with blond highlights ruffling in the slight breeze that managed to make its way through the fog.
"Gorun had us going at this for an hour and a half before we got it right, and then he had us practicing a new move just for situations like this one," the fusion answered with a wry grin as he closed his eyes, one blood red, the other indigo. His voice was bizarre, even by fusion standards- Rogue's deeper tones mixed with Sting's more nasally voice made for a strange union. "We never got around to giving ourselves a name. But all things considered…" The muscular man grinned and said, "How about Fang?"
"Fang?" Romeo snorted with laughter. "How'd you get that?"
"Well, there's not much we can do with Rogue Cheney and Sting Eucliffe," he answered. "We figured an homage to our guild was better."
"Oh… Fang," Romeo nodded. "Like a saber tooth. I get it now. Hey, by the way, d'ya know that there's like twenty magic custody enforcement guys coming up behind us?"
"Oh, yeah," Fang grinned toothily. "We still got a couple of minutes before Gorun and Azura get far enough away. I say we have some fun."
"I heard that," Romeo grinned as he turned to face the men in their flowing uniforms, purple flames dancing in his hands. "I guess since the captain didn't keep these guys in line, it's up to us to remind 'em who's the boss around here."
"I like the way you think, kid," Fang said, white shadows enveloping him.
"Fairy Tail and Sabertooth wizards!" one of the men shouted from the rear of the group as they fanned out. "You are hereby ordered to stand down by the authority vested in me by the Fiore Magic Council!"
It was here that Lector finally found his voice so that he could shout, "What's goin' on here?!"
"How're you holding up?!" Gorun shouted to be heard over the sound of the rushing waves, his golden hair whipping wildly behind him as he and Azura continued to push back the enemy ship in their Super Saiyan forms.
"Fine!" she replied curtly. "Why? Do you need a rest stop already?!"
"Only when you do," he grinned, even though she couldn't see his face. They were slightly separated by the bow of the ship, having taken to either side in order to shove it straight back and give Rogue and Sting's fusion a clear shot.
"I still can't believe that you taught those two the fusion dance," Azura more or less growled at him- as much as one could when shouting to be heard above the forces of nature.
"I trust them!" he shouted back. "At least, well enough to know that they aren't fond of sharing secret techniques with other people! Besides, Yukino vouched for them!"
"And just because she's Fairy Tail, you'll take her word for it?!" his cousin snorted.
"That's part of it, yeah!" Gorun admitted. "But my future wife wouldn't have asked her to be the Maid of Honor if she wasn't trustworthy!"
"You place a lot of trust in people you haven't known very long!"
"That may be, but they still understand me better than anyone in the Time Patrol ever did!"
"Hmph!" Azura snorted again, but she did not voice an actual rebuttal, instead choosing to say, "I suppose you always were the misfit."
"Stand down!" the mage from the council demanded as Romeo and Fang stared them down with mischievous smiles. "Comply or we will be forced to take action!"
"Do you want this bunch, or can I take care of it?" Romeo asked his companion.
"Much as I would love to, I also don't wanna damage the ship while I waste these losers," Fang answered. "Show 'em what you got, kid."
"Take them in!" the lead officer shouted, his men already on the move.
"Ha!" Romeo grinned as a crimson magic circle appeared over his head. "I've been saving this one!" He grunted with exertion as a red aura enveloped him before shouting, "Now I'll show you guys my Kaioken!"
"Whoa, did Gorun teach you that?" Fang asked, sounding impressed.
"Nah," Romeo grunted as the council soldiers eyed him warily. "I figured it out by watching Gorun… Not the first time I've done something like this, either… Now if you don't mind… I've got work to do."
Without another word, he leaped forward, bowling over a custody officer with unnatural speed. He skidded to a stop, breathing heavily as he looked at the rest of the men defiantly for a second before he moved again, roping several of them together with his purple flames before slamming them into the deck, head-first, knocking them out cold.
"Ha…" he gasped as he stumbled to a stop next to Fang, who looked at him with concern.
"You okay, kid?" he asked, even as more of the officers rushed at them, magic staves glowing with various elemental powers.
"Yeah…" Romeo gasped. "Just… not used to this spell…" Giving vent to another growl, he unleashed a black flame that exploded when it hit the nearest officer, throwing him and several of his companions back with burn marks on their bodies, leaving them smoking, groaning messes on the deck. However, there was still about half of the soldiers left, and Romeo didn't look too good.
Just as Fang was about to step in, the rest of the officers collapsed to the ground, grunting as their gravitational pull increased threefold, rendering them helpless before Kinana and Yukino, who strode onto the scene with severe looks on their normally peaceful faces.
"Sorry we're late," the silver-haired celestial mage said.
"You're just… in time," Romeo gasped before he released the Kaioken and fell to his knees, clutching at his heart.
"Romeo!" Kinana cried as she moved swiftly to catch him. "What did you do?!"
"He used that amplification spell that you and your boyfriend use," Fang informed her. "He didn't look too good, but I get the feeling that he wouldn't have stopped, even if I had said something. Is he gonna be okay?"
"I'm not sure," Kinana said worriedly as Romeo slipped into unconsciousness, mumbling feverishly. "The Kaioken is very powerful, but it puts a heavy strain on your muscles, particularly your heart. I had to train for almost a year before I could use it in battle, and even then it was really difficult for me to use. What was Gorun thinking, teaching that to a wizard as young and inexperienced as him?"
"He didn't," Fang answered, surprising the girl. "The kid said that he learned it by watching Gorun in battle."
"It wouldn't be the first time…" she sighed heavily.
"He said that, too."
"All right, I need to get him to the infirmary," Kinana said as she scooped up the boy with a strength that belied her frame. "Yukino, can you handle watching this guy's back while I'm gone?"
"The name's Fang," the fused warrior interjected.
"I can," Yukino nodded firmly. "Don't forget, I used to be an S-class wizard when I was with Sabertooth."
"Thank you," the purple-haired girl said with relief right before she ran off.
"You know, if you wanted to come back, we could restore your S-rank," Fang offered. When he received a glare that rivaled Minerva's sternest expression, he swiftly said, "Sorry. I'll just get ready to blow the ship up."
"I think that would be wise."
"How much longer?!" Azura shouted at Gorun.
"Should be any second now!" he answered. "Just keep pushing!"
"Don't tell me what to do!"
"Okay," Fang muttered to himself as he gazed into the swirling fog behind them. "Moment of truth." Taking in a deep breath, he began to growl as he exerted effort into the two magic circles he needed to construct.
The growl quickly turned into a raw-throated battle cry as the wind picked up speed and began to swirl around him, forcing Yukino to retreat a few paces away from the fused warrior. A black magic circle that shone with white light appeared above his head before enveloping him in a brilliant void of luminance. With one last scream, the magic circle and the bizarre energy dissipated, leaving a transformed Fang in place, a huge grin on his face.
"Hehehe…" he smirked as he flexed his arms, now covered in the white and black dragon force markings of Sting and Rogue. "Let's get this party started!"
Taking a stance that mimicked Gorun's Kienzan technique, he willed another single magic circle into existence above his hand that was stretched up to the heavens. It was black as pitch, yet it shone as if with starlight. "Time to end this nightmare," he declared.
"Now!" Gorun shouted as he drew back from the boat, Azura immediately following suit. "Grab on!"
"I said to stop giving me orders!" she snapped, but reached out to clutch at his shoulder anyway. The second they made contact with one another, Gorun engaged instant transmission, taking them out of what was about to become the firing range.
"Twilight Dragon's…" Fang growled out as white shadows swirled above his head, congealing into an orb no larger than one of earth's dragon balls. With a mighty heave, he sent the little projectile out across the ocean at supersonic speed, the wind from his throw buffeting those close to him as he bellowed, "SOUL PUNISHER!"
"What the-?!" Lector yelped as he was nearly blown away by the technique, only managing to stay where he was by grabbing onto Yukino's leg and hanging on for dear life. "I knew Sting and Rogue were a couple a strong guys, but I never seen 'em do somethin' like this!"
"That's because the fusion dance doesn't just add two people's powers together!" Yukino shouted to be heard over the rushing wind. "It significantly multiplies them! In terms of raw power, Fang could probably match Gorun, even at Super Saiyan 2!"
Off in the distance, they saw a brilliant light darken the fog behind them, the sound of a monstrous explosion quickly following, one that saw the waves increase in height and ferocity as they chased after the retreating war vessel.
"That strong?!" Lector cried.
"Yep!" a familiar voice answered, prompting the exceed and the girl to look over and see the two saiyan hybrids standing by in their Super Saiyan forms as if energy blasts of this magnitude were no different than standing out in the rain. Gorun grinned and added, "Might make for an interesting fight during the next Grand Magic Games!"
"You're insane!" Lector shouted at him. "D'ya wanna blow up the whole country?!"
"We can always fight it out over the ocean!"
Somewhere far away in the depths of a castle, in a room unseen by human eyes in hundreds of years, a dark, robed figure sat, watching a lachryma vision with rapt attention. He watched through eyes without pupils as the ship full of men that he had reanimated was overwhelmed and torn to shreds, until not even a single atom remained of the once-proud Fiore vessel and her crew.
He frowned then, sinking back into his rocky seat, clenching his fists that lacked skin and muscle. It wasn't that he cared about the cadavers that had been destroyed- he couldn't care less, in fact. No, what disturbed him was the power itself that had rendered his undead troupe inert. No mere human could have mustered that much power, he thought, placing his stark white chin in his fingers. It should have taken the so-called 'Sacred Light' of the Magic Council to generate such a blast.
He pondered for a few more moments before he concluded, Perhaps we should have given more credence to Silver's report than we initially did. If this Fairy Tail guild can call upon such warriors as these, we may have to take new precautions. The thought that any single human could overpower one of him or his compatriots was absurd, especially given who their leader was. However, it did not do to be overconfident- such arrogance could only lead to death.
Of course, being a necromancer, he knew all there was to know about death.
Soon these Fairies and Tigers will experience my knowledge on the subject firsthand, he thought as a small smile stretched his fleshless lips.
"So they're gone?" Bartholomew asked as the wizards assembled before him, with the exception of Romeo, who was resting in the med bay.
"Without a trace, sir," Gorun answered with an emphatic nod. "Azura and I scanned the area where the enemy ship went down. There's no trace of the undead or the vessel."
"The king won't like that you sunk one of his ships," Marcos said with a frown.
"Your king had already declared that ship sunk and its crew dead," Azura said sharply. "Far as logistics go, you've already covered that loss."
"The lass makes a fair point," Bartholomew said with a wry grin. "It's not an ideal outcome, but I'll take it. None of our men were harmed, and you all managed to make this place safe waters for our ships again." He inclined his head toward them and added, "Thank you."
"No sweat," Fang grinned as he gave the Captain a thumbs-up. "This was a lot of fun, Bart. Let's do it again sometime."
"Let's not," Lector begged. "Zombies were bad enough one time, I don't ever wanna see one ever again!"
"They were really gross!" Frosch said in agreement.
"Well, we weren't able to identify the necromancer responsible for this, so until we do, that remains a distinct possibility," Kinana pointed out, causing the others to blanch at the thought, with the exception of Azura.
"We'll deliver our report concerning the nature of our attackers to the Magic Council," Gorun said after he had recomposed himself. "I get the feeling that they'll be putting together another coalition before long if there's a necromancer running loose somewhere in Fiore."
"What about those council goons that tried to jump us?" Fang demanded. "I get the feeling that they won't exactly be singing our praises when we get back to the council!"
"I've had a word with them," Marcos said grimly. "Apparently they had a hidden agenda, given to them by the council when they found out it was Son Gorun leading the team from Fairy Tail."
"Lemme guess," Gorun said heavily. "They wanted to see if I constitute a threat to the country?"
"More or less, from what I could gather," the commander nodded. "For what it's worth, I am sorry that we didn't keep a closer eye on them."
"And I am equally sorry that I did not consider your plan the wisest course until it was nearly too late," Bartholomew added. "Your guild's reputation, Fairy Tail…"
"Yeah, yeah, I know we have a habit of blowing up more than we're supposed to," Gorun said irritably.
"Even so," the Captain said with a barely contained smile. "We will hold the custody enforcement officers in the brig until we make the return trip to the capital, where they will be held accountable for mutinous behavior."
"Understood," Gorun nodded. "We appreciate it."
"Just be glad that you're not in the navy," Marcos reminded them as they turned to leave. "You may have done what was right, and your gamble may have paid off, but it is important in every unit of the military that the commanding officer be obeyed without question."
"As you said," Fang snorted as they walked off the bridge. "We're not the military."
"Shut up, discount Gogeta," Azura snapped.
"That's who he looks like!" Gorun exclaimed, much to everyone else's bewilderment.
A few days later, the ship docked in at the southern border post, whereupon the Fairies and Tigers took their leave. Romeo had spent most of the trip sleeping off the effects of the Kaioken and allowing his damaged muscles time to repair themselves.
Gorun had been furious upon learning that the boy had copied the amplification spell without his knowledge or consent. As soon as Romeo had been allowed to have visitors, the saiyan hybrid was ready with a lecture for the startled young wizard.
"You could have killed yourself!" he shouted. "That spell takes a year to master, and even then it can cause your heart to give out if you don't use it properly! How would you expect me to break it to your father if you got killed using a technique of mine?!"
"I didn't know!" the boy had protested weakly. He had never seen his leader so angry at him before. Mildly annoyed and exasperated, yes, but never real anger.
"I know you didn't know!" Gorun growled. "Which is why you shouldn't have been messing around with my magic in the first place! How many times have you heard me say that it's very dangerous to use, even when doing it correctly?!"
"A lot…" Romeo said, subdued.
Realizing that he was probably taking it a little too far again, Gorun forced himself to calm down as he sat by the boy's bedside, taking deep and measured breaths. When he felt like he was a little more in control of himself, he had said, "Like I told you, I spent a year training Kinana before she was able to use the technique without hurting herself. Unlike the Masenko you copied from me, which still utilizes your own magic style, the Kaioken can only be powered by the raw ethernano that courses through your body. You haven't trained your body to handle that kind of magic power- that's why it nearly killed you."
"I'm sorry, Gorun, I really am," the boy said plaintively.
Gorun waved the apology aside and said, "I know you are. …I suppose I owe you an apology, not having paid closer attention to what you were learning from me besides life lessons. This came about because of my carelessness, but if you use that spell again, the consequences will fall on your shoulders alone."
"I won't, I promise," the boy insisted. Then, after a moment of thought, he added, "But if you taught me how to-"
"Focus on getting better right now," Gorun said to cut him off. "We'll see about training you to use the Kaioken some other time, if I think you can handle it." Any protests that Romeo might have had were stilled as soon as Gorun fixed another stern glare at him and said, "That's final."
"Yes, sir…" Romeo mumbled as he sank further into his blankets.
Now, the combined group stood in front of the Sabertooth guild hall, Gorun having teleported them there in order to drop off Sting, Rogue, and their exceeds.
"Man, it's good to be home," Sting grinned as he and Rogue stepped away from the group. "Though I do gotta say, it was pretty fun working with you guys again. Wanna come in for a drink before you head back to Fairy Tail?"
"We appreciate the offer, but we should really get Romeo back to see Wendy so he can finish healing," Gorun answered politely. Despite taking it easy for the rest of the voyage, the boy was still having trouble walking, and now relied on a pair of crutches to get around. "Besides, Kinana and I have an important announcement to make to the rest of our guild now that Team Natsu should have returned."
"What's this?" Rogue asked curiously.
Gorun and Kinana shared a look before the young man shrugged and said, "Well, everyone else is gonna know soon, anyway." Turning to the dragon slayer duo, he told them, "We'll let you in on the secret, but only if you promise not to speak of it until someone else from our guild mentions it to you."
"You got it," Sting grinned again. "So, spill."
"We're getting married!" Kinana giggled happily, flashing her engagement ring proudly at the two stunned wizards and exceeds.
"You seriously didn't notice her ring the whole time?" Azura scoffed. "Not to mention all the insufferable public displays of affection?"
"Well, they've always acted like that, far as I know," Sting said, a blank look still on his face. "Also, congratulations. I, uh… Huh, I've never actually met anyone that's getting married? How about you, Rogue?"
"Not that I can recall," the shadowy wizard shrugged, regaining his composure a little more quickly than his friend had. "And I believe that congratulations are in order, yes." He actually smiled at the pair, surprising them. "I wish you many long and happy years together."
"Can I be the flower frog?" Frosch asked hopefully.
"Yes, of course!" Kinana laughed, bringing a chuckle out of Gorun. Looking back up at Sting and Rogue, she added, "I do hope that you two will be able to attend the wedding."
"Let us know the date and we'll mark it on our calendars," Sting laughed back. "We'd be honored to attend!"
"It will be nice to have your team there," Yukino said with a small smile of her own. "It'll certainly keep things lively, I imagine."
"I think Fairy Tail is already lively enough as it is," Rogue smirked, though they could tell he meant nothing negative by it. "In any case, Sting and I have a report to write, and I imagine Gorun has to do the same. Until we meet again." With that, he turned on his heel and started up the path that led to his guild.
"Later, guys!" Sting waved as he went to catch up with him, followed by Lector and Frosch.
"Bye-bye!" the green exceed chirped.
"We'll see ya when we see ya!" Lector added.
The Fairies waved good-bye before Gorun asked, "Ready to go home?"
"I'm ready to have a proper shower," Azura grunted. The others muttered various agreements as their leader placed his fingers on his forehead and teleported them back to Magnolia, many of them excited to greet their friends and tell them the good news.
After arriving in town, Azura immediately took her leave to head for the girls' dorms so she could retreat into her own room to be alone for a bit. The others, however, made straight for the guild hall, all of them wearing large smiles on their faces.
The smiles widened when they ran into Team Natsu, but quickly died on their faces when they saw that the usually exuberant team was somber, grim even. Frowning, Gorun called out to them, saying, "Hey! Guys!"
Their guild mates looked surprised to see them, if grateful. "Hello, everyone," Erza said by way of greeting, even managing a small smile as they drew closer to one another. "How was your mission?"
"Great, except for the part where we almost got eaten alive by zombies, and I messed up my body trying to use the Kaioken," Romeo shrugged. Grinning at Wendy, he asked shyly, "Uh… Would you mind trying to heal me once we get a chance?"
"Of course!" the blue-haired girl exclaimed as she knelt to look more closely at the wounded limbs while Carla scoffed, clearly unimpressed.
"Uh… Zombies?!" Happy and Lucy exclaimed, though everyone mostly ignored them.
"You should know better than to play with magic outside your area of practice!" Carla scolded Romeo, also ignoring her teammates. "Just think of how distraught poor Wendy would be if you-"
"Okay, Carla, that's enough," Wendy told her, surprising everyone. "He looks like he's had a hard enough time without the rest of us yelling at him."
"I already lectured him, so let's let him be," Gorun informed the white exceed. "Forget about that for right now, though. What happened during your trip? You all looked like someone died, but everyone here looks okay."
"Uh, funny you should mention that…" Gray said as he scratched his head awkwardly. Something in his expression sent a shiver down the Saiyan's spine, and it wasn't from his friend's ice magic.
"It seems that one of our old foes has returned with a vengeance," Erza informed them. "Gorun… While investigating a frozen village… Minerva attacked us."
"…What?"
Azura:I'm surprised that you managed to put up this new chapter, what with how little sleep you've been getting the last week.
Mataras: I write several months in advance for a reason- rainy day and all that.
Gorun: I still can't believe that you're a dad- again!
Mataras: Join the club.
Azura: How is it treating you, aside from the constant fatigue?
Mataras: I'll let you know when I wake up.
Gorun: Next time- The Best Laid Plans
Azura: Hold on, are you not awake right now?
Mataras: I'm very good at sleep-walking.
Next time on Saiyan Tail...
Gorun looked at Gray, and asked, "Do you want to, or shall I?"
"No, please, I insist," the ice wizard chuckled as he tossed his shirt into the fire.
"Gray, that's not kindling, and Natsu, you two get to fight each other for the position of my best man," he said while Gray cursed as he watched his purple shirt get eaten up by the voracious flames. "Loser gets to be my other groomsman."
"All right!" Natsu grinned as he leaped to his feet, sparks flying as he slammed his fist into his palm. "Now you're talkin' my language!"
"Yeah right, like I'm just gonna let you have the position," Gray snorted as he stood up. "Let's go, Salamander."
Saiyan Tail Profile
Subject: Romeo Conbolt
Age: 13 yrs
Author's Commentary:
So yeah, clearly I'm not Romeo's creator, but like with all the other characters in Golden Tail that were created by Hiro Mashima, I felt that it was time for Romeo to get his due turn. I was disappointed by how we were shown the potential for a great brotherly relationship between him and Natsu, which was left largely unfulfilled. I even hoped that at some point, Natsu would become something of a mentor figure to Romeo, much like how Gildarts was with him, but that's not what we got, and to be fair, Natsu has plenty of other things going on that don't really leave a lot of room for being a teacher. It's a minor gripe of mine, but it is there, and I decided to do something about it.
Hence why I decided to have Gorun take him under his wing, which, given the circumstances that saw to Gorun joining the guild in the absence of the Tenrou Team, I thought would make sense. Romeo doesn't really have much of a role model in his father, and we never see his mother, so I wanted to see how he would do with a stronger moral presence in his life. I'm not saying that Gorun is top mentor material (he clearly has a lot of his own issues to deal with), but he is doing his best to help the kid.
Known Techniques:
-Fire Magic
+Purple Flame; a fire that sticks to anything that it touches without burning the target, unless the caster wishes it
+Dragon Fart Flame; a sickly green fire that releases a foul odor, often nauseating its victims
+Scarlet Flame; a dark red fire spell that instantly incinerates whatever it touches
+Cold Flame; an odd spell that freezing instead of burning
+Scorching Masenko; a spell that Romeo created after witnessing Gorun's technique, a concentrated beam of fire is released from the users hands, and explodes on contact with anything solid (has been shown to be powerful enough to kill infant dragons)
Known Transformations/Enhancements:
-Kaioken (imperfect)
Accomplishments
-Successfully mimicked and altered one of Gorun's spells without the input of Mavis, before any of his guild mates even considered it possible
-Killed several infant dragons alongside his peers during the Dragon King Festival
-Became one of the founding members of Golden Tail alongside Gorun
-Assisted in the battle against the Immortal Phoenix
-Assisted in the battle against the Undead Fiore Navy
Stats
-Power: 2/7
-Speed: 2/7
-Technique: 4/7
-Intelligence: 4/7
-Cooperativeness: 6/7
Fun Facts:
-Romeo has actually worked out the Metamoran fusion method for himself, but as there is no one in the guild with a power level or build similar to his, he has yet to actually attempt a fusion