The overarching plan was to neutralize the commanders, confuse and harass the army, free everyone we need to fight back, and ultimately raze Faust's palace down around his ears. With that many places for things to go wrong, it's a question of when, what and how big of a boom will the result be.
This was the general pattern of my thoughts as Cubellios and I snuck through the high alert palace avoiding guards and making our way to where I could meet with Pantherlily.
The difference between the effects of my ninja headband and the child Link hat was profound and very obvious. While I had avoided some fights back then, I had still gotten spotted more often than not. Now, I could literally feel when someone would have perceived me, but the enchantment on the item I wore prevented them from doing so. Naturally, if I was being really obvious about it, it drained my magic at an astonishing rate, but for the most part, this whole stealth approach was actually working.
Through copious abuse of the fact that no one ever seemed to look up, we made it to the tower. There, we hunkered down, Cubellios wrapped around my shoulders as we scanned the sky.
I need a way to draw Pantherlily's attention, but only his.
There were men flying through the air in jetpacks, circling the perimeter.
Mystogan showing himself to Knightwalker has convinced most people that they are to be looking for an external invasion, not an internal sabotage.
So long as they didn't look too closely at the Anima, we ought to be fine.
:We seek a large cat, correct?: Cubellios inquired, lifting her head and scenting the air. :He has been close by recently:
:How recently?:
The violet snake shifted her coils, head swaying side to side.
:His scent is potent. He passed by earlier this day:
I...had a very funny idea to try and get him to come back and only him. But I wasn't sure how happy he would be to see me if I used catnip to lure him in. Or at least that concept, translated to a runic form. He was the only Exceed in the palace, no one else would be drawn by the beacon if I used that as a foundation. (I'd only seen Happy on the stuff once and while it was four times as funny as with a normal cat, it was something everyone mutually agreed would not be repeated.)
I felt eyes on me.
You are being watched.
My natural and instinctive reaction was to look around, but Cubellios hissed and struck at the wall, her blunt nose smashing the bricks into gravel where she impacted it.
:An unnatural eye: She hissed, growing a little larger. :Prepare yourself, hatchling:
Scrying magic? Who was watching, how had they?
A command tact can be used to activate scrying spells if they are placed in eyes, ears or other sensory organs.
Hughes apparently had one of those.
G2's warning was not verbalized, more a flash of the floor opening up beneath me.
I jumped, Cubellios did too, but the wall I jumped on crumbled beneath my touch and I fell down anyway. I wasn't that bothered by this actually. According to G2, if I stayed on this slide, I would end up back in the amusement park. Plus, it was kinda fun, zooming through the walls like this. I heard Cubellious sliding down the chute as well. It didn't take long before she caught up to me and passed me. I grabbed hold of her as she passed and she easily held herself steady for me.
Well, so much for finding Pantherlily.
I guess it was what I had coming for equating my task with Tora Retrieval. It seems I unwittingly invoked the curse of Team Seven.
I didn't sense any immediate danger, and actually I sensed a transition of materials as I spied a light at the end of the tunnel.
I gave a short whoop as I dropped out of the slide's exit and directly into a...Roller coaster car that sped off, accelerating even faster than before. And the way it was looping, twisting and turning, there was definitely no way this was a normal ride.
"How do you like the Hell Coaster little rat?" Someone called from below in a sadistic, taunting tone.
Nausea pending in 10 minutes, 46 seconds.
Motion sickness? I never get motion sickness.
But the timer was still there. Maybe it was some kind of magical effect. Wendy had a spell to soothe that. Troia, she called it...I wouldn't need it for now, though. I just had to get my bearings while moving at high speed.
I managed to focus on who was down below and recognized Hughes and Sugar Boy. Hughes was holding the Command Tact, and the coaster appeared to be following his motions. His smile was not a very pleasant one.
Sadist, huh. Well, there was a very easy way to mess with a sadist. And I didn't even have to lie in order to pull it off! Not really at least. Just selectively misdirect.
I held up my hands and cheered. It was like being back at Akane only with some new coaster I didn't already have memorized! And it changed a lot, rolling here and there...This might have phased me once, but I was now used to flying, both under my own power and not. Training myself to stay oriented was something Mira had actually insisted on, given her own penchant for pulling out wings while using Satan Soul.
If you can stay oriented while someone else can't in aerial combat, then you've already won.
"Come on, is that all you got?" I yelled challengingly as the coaster whipped through a gravity defying loop, corkscrewing even as it turned upside down. Cubellios tucked herself down inside the car, which had locked restraints onto my shoulders, but not my hands. I still had my hands free.
Ok...Ok I think I have an idea.
"Cocky little intruder, ain't ya? Ok, I'll play with you! Let's see how you're feeling in a few minutes when you're tossing your cookies all over the place!" The car sped up even more. I yelped as though in shock and slapped my hands down on the bar in front of me.
Nausea pending in 8 minutes, 7 seconds.
So that was my time limit. G2 said that I would be restrained into the car if I tried to leave and the more I struggled, the faster the car would go.
I activated my headband with a short jab of thought to send magic into it, basically turning it on.
Ninja reflexes meant you had to have ninja like orientation to keep yourself from getting all turned around in the jumps and crazy maneuvers ninja did.
My timer whirled back and up to 15 minutes with change to spare.
Ok, so the Hell Coaster being able to make someone sick is based on an Edolas estimate. With no magic circulatory system to help stabilize the body's regular functions.
The HellCoaster normally makes someone sick within five minutes. Time remaining: 4:48.
I paused and glanced over what made her say that, and my smile took on a bigger cast as I held on.
Hughes was a sadist, like I had guessed. He was planning on stopping the coaster once he was certain I was sick and helpless. So, I just needed to have some surprises ready for him and his partner when that happened. From what I could hear, Hughes was jeering up at my mobile prison, Sugarboy just looked a little bored to be honest.
He likes an audience.
So he is actually the court jester instead of an officer.
He is an army commander and legitimately earned his position and the use of his weapon, the Rosa Espada.
How?!
She had no immediate answer to that one. But I didn't have time to look for one.
I hissed my plan to Cubellios and she writhed in anticipation, tucking herself around my legs as I worked as quickly as I could with the limited supplies I had available.
I need to get them out into the halls where my traps are. Hughes has too much he can control in this room. Though once I'm outside, Sugarboy will be a bigger problem than he is in here. In this room, there's room to maneuver and avoid his spell's area of effect. So I'll need to take him out first.
Actually, given that I was channeling Naruto and there was one deceptively useful technique that was actually...pretty darn good at stalling people long enough to get an opening. I had the perfect idea!
-vVv-
Hughes waited until he was certain the kid had been sick at least twice, judging by what had flown out of the car. He chuckled, slowing it down and lowering it, eager to see his handiwork.
"I don't get what's so nice about this, but whatever floats your boat." Sugarboy muttered.
"Aw shaddup, just get them and cuff em. We don't have time to really have some fun." The pink armored knight glided up to to car and peered inside.
"Hello there. Oiroke no Jutsu!" The words were accompanied by a puff of white smoke. But what he mostly noticed was the voice didn't sound sick in the least. And whatever the kid had just said, Sugarboy froze. His back was to Hughes, so he couldn't see his face but something was definitely up here.
"Hey, what's wrong?" He fingered his Command Tact, ready to bring on some convenient gorillas to trap the brat in the car.
"S-s-s..." Then the pink armored knight keeled over, dead to the world with a blissful expression on his face and a bloody nose. What?
"I can't believe that actually worked..." The kid's voice sounded briefly. Hughes didn't have time to react or ponder what had just happened. A blur of green and purple shot out of the motionless car and was already making for the exit.
What the-!?
-vVv-
That worked a lot better than I thought!
Going in chronological order of Naruto's progression, he had started in pranks and then expanded to his first actual ninja art. The Oiroke no Jutsu. Loosely translated: The sexy technique.
Since I wasn't Naruto, I had avoided styling it to turn me into an older busty woman. In the minutes of private working time I had on my ride, I instead tailored it to instead transform into whatever the target found attractive. Automatically reading what the ideal was and altering the illusionary appearance accordingly. It was not usable on groups but for targeted attacks like this? It was ridiculously effective. It had worked beautifully on Sugarboy, G2 said he wasn't going to be waking up for several hours! Cubellious had provided some venom which I had then disguised as vomit with a few tiny illusions. Hughes wouldn't stop the ride until I was sick, so I had needed to fake it without actually sacrificing any of my food. I needed my energy!
Safe(r)!
I cheered internally as I made it to the door, Cubellios around my shoulders.
My traps were everywhere around me. I just needed to line things up right. And get him to come out. Because while I could lead him on a fine chase through the whole palace, he had already proved that he could reach me even from very far away.
That won't be easy.
"Franken Hands!" Several green skinned zombie like monsters lumbered out of the room behind me.
:All yours: I told Cubellios. I needed time to get actual weapons. My traps were meant to harry, confuse and demoralize. Against non living opponents, they weren't as effective.
:Such a thoughtful hatchling: the snake crooned before lunging off my shoulders, growing to an immense size in midair and impacting the frontmost monster doll with a crash. If animation spells worked about the same here as they did back home, sufficient damage to the puppets would render them inoperable.
Cubellios took up most of the hall, expanded to a massive 30 foot long poisonous purple viper that moved far faster than anyone wanted to see. She was a very effective distraction. But some of the smaller, quicker constructs managed to get past her.
Need weapon. STAT.
I ran to a suit of old scale armor.
All ninja have kunai knives even if they don't specialize in using them.
So, while I had the Link hat, I could repurpose various items in my surroundings to suit my character and my purpose. I started to pull the armor apart, focusing and muttering...
Kunai, throwing knives with way more leverage than their size should allow. Seemingly unending supply-nope, magic cost too high. Just a few kunai then...
The pointed pieces of metal in my hands glowed faintly and reshaped into the iconic throwing knives. Perfectly balanced and ready to use.
Alright!
It cost some magic to transform them, but not even as much as transfiguring them with a Potter-verse spell.
The constructs Hughes had gotten past Cubellios were small, nimble monkeys and lizards.
Stopping the equivalent of their brain function will render them inoperable.
OK. Aim for the head it is.
There were only eight or so opponents who had managed to get past Cubellios. Half chimps and half lizards.
The fastest chimp took a flying leap. I moved to punch it out of the air and it wrapped it's wiry arms around my arm, tail reaching forward to try and get at my throat.
Vicious!
I threw two knives, impacting some apes in the forehead and used the one grappling my arm as a shield against the first lizard's bite. For lack of a better thing to do, I bit the tail waving around my face to keep it from getting at my neck.
To my amazement, the chimp screeched and released me, tumbling back with deep, noticeable marks in its tail.
Realistic reactions to pain or fear stimuli.
The other lizards came at me, slower than the others but with sharp, pointy teeth.
I flared my magic inside my body. An instinctive trick all combat wizards could learn to deflect damage by keeping an attack from making direct contact. It turned a sword cut into a bruise or maybe a broken bone instead of a bloody wound. Much more manageable in the long run. Some could time it enough to even inflict a small counter attack against their opponent. Or, if you were Gildarts, just disintegrate anything that came too close.
Getting bitten by komodo sized lizards was still an unpleasant experience. I spun two fresh kunai into my hands, slashing across two extended necks. The remaining lizard jerked back out of my reach when it's fellows fell inert. I kicked a fallen lizard into the grasping arms of another chimp before running my kunai through its neck, dodging the flying leap of another monkey that would have managed to wrap its spindly but uncomfortably strong arms around my neck.
Naruto is a brawler. Free for all fights is what he, as a stamina fighter, lives for!
I was scolding myself even as my heart raced uncomfortably. The two chimps I had knocked back initially were circling to try and trap me in a pincer movement. They seemed to be capture and immobilizing constructs while the lizards were supposed to do damage.
Naruto is known for being hyperactive, unpredictable and kinda dumb.
Well, just being in a fight with these odds makes me kinda dumb. Hyperactive is a fairly loose term, but unpredictable...
Hughes was directing these things. Hughes could probably see me through all their eyes as well.
Just like Bixlow could through his dolls.
I smirked faintly, drawing out a small pellet. I muttered the words to enchant it. It was a ninja like enough tool to be supported by the headband's enchantment.
"Flash-bang."
Then I closed my eyes and smashed the pellet on the ground.
The burst of light and sound made Hughes grunt. It also made the enemies around me falter for a split second.
Naruto rarely thinks things through. He just goes. If he takes too long, he overthinks things.
My fist slammed into the side of one monkey's head. I caught it's arm as I drew my fist back, slashing my kunai across it's neck. I jumped, trusting my strength and reflexes to give me what I needed, and landed on the retreating lizard's back with my knee. I felt it snap and go limp. Then, somehow, I braced my hands on the ground and kicked up and over like a scorpion, with a flexibility I wouldn't have had normally, and caved in the face of the last monkey.
Three seconds to dispatch the last three opponents once I went on the attack and just attacked.
Ok, for future reference: For any combat item I make, I have to at least partially discard my own fighting style and adopt the character's to make the most of it.
Some more stragglers were trying to slip through, but Cubellios was using her venom now to melt large sections of the floor and constructs alike, creating a bottleneck between us and the majority of the park. I disabled the handful of lizards that had managed to get through with kicks, breaking their backs as I tried to think. (I ignored another bite at my leg. I'd have some nice bruises around there later) So long as I kept moving, I would self regenerate a small amount of magic power.
Hughes wouldn't leave his place of power even if we tried to draw him out by feigning a retreat. With his lifeless army at his disposal, he was safest in the amusement park. He knew it and wasn't about to leave.
I need to lure him into the open...get him to move.
I gauged the distance and threw one of my paint bombs towards him.
My range was good, and I had a better throwing arm with the ninja strength backing it up. But a pair of turtles, wielded like shields by some stereotypical tribesman blocked the harmless splash of color from even getting close to its intended target.
Darn. New plan...
Wait...
The monkey whose tail I had bitten had reacted. It had felt pain. What else could they feel?
Fear.
Ok...New plan.
Naruto was about charging in headlong. But so long as that was my goal, I could probably pad my side a bit with some tactics.
:I have an idea to reach their leader, but I need your help:
Cubellios lashed out the most concentrated rank of constructs coming her way. They were starting to thin out, run, shuffle hop or roll forward in smaller groups so she couldn't get as many with a wide spray of acid.
:Do it:
I didn't know everything about how curses and magic interacted, but it couldn't hurt to get consent before doing this in hopes that it would mesh right.
"Cubellios: Use NightShade!" Normally, I would need to be within touching distance of something in order to enchant it like this. But Cubellios already had some of my work on her, on the collar I had made for her. I just needed to alter the way it was being used right then.
It's not permanent by any stretch. It'll only last for a few seconds before resuming it's previous pattern in the collar.
Orange script wound from the personal climate control band on Cubellios's neck, using my words, spoken in the context of a Pokemon Battle, as a new way of shaping itself. What I needed right now was an illusion, a fear effect.
Cubellios seemed to grow even more, the thirty foot long snake doubling in size and girth, mouth gaping with serrated fangs and dripping with venom and her eyes alight with predatory intent. Her next hiss was deep enough to be a roar and a malevolent darkness thrashed beneath her bulk, as though even her shadow wanted to flee from her presence. And her presence was the bowel loosening, mindless fear everyone felt when waking up from a nightmare, but still finding themselves caught in sleep paralysis.
The effect was instantaneous.
All of the constructs within striking distance turned and fled as quickly as they could directly away from Cuebllios and myself.
So the Command Tact isn't perfect puppetry. It animates them in every sense, allowing them to be more effective soldiers, but it doesn't dominate them completely.
But the point was: I had an opening. And I saw as I darted forward, makeshift weapons in hand, that as soon as the constructs left a certain area around Hughes, they went inert.
He has a maximum distance of effect. At least if he's using so many.
Hughes himself was looking up at Cubellios with wide eyes. Even he wasn't unaffected by the nightmarish sight. There was a bit of black in the red bar floating-
What?
There was an honest to goodness HP bar hanging over his head now. And there was a similar blue bar linked to the baton in his hands. How much magic power the item had left in it.
Similarly, there was a green bar in the corner of my vision, marred by a small section of red, and a mini map of the room in the opposite corner. My position was marked by a small feather, Cubellios by a proportionately large snake and Hughes by a large horned skull. The constructs were marked with smaller skulls.
I saw this and processed it all in a flash even as I ran forward.
I just turned this into a freaking boss fight in a video game. If that includes hints on how to beat him, I'm ok with that!...For now. Provided I don't always see things like this.
It is a temporary effect given your utilization of a Pocket Monster attack command.
Great!
The kunai were nothing like the swords Erza had me training with. It was mostly Natsu's straight forward brawling that came out as I charged alongside Cubellios for Hughes. The headband guided my hands and feet, letting them impact with a surprising amount of force. Metal, wood and some sort of plastic gave way under my assault and I managed to make it to Cubellios, who was still guiding the Night Shade illusion.
:Fly, hatchling:
Cubellios lunged out of the illusion with wings spread. As she beat them to give herself some upward lift, I springboarded off her back to launch myself over the last line of defenders Hughes had. Two kunai daggers left my hands in an instinctive throw once I had the right angle. The man himself had his teeth bared in a grimace as he slashed his baton twice.
The staffs that had been in the hands of his personal guard broke free, spinning into position with greater speed and dexterity than I would have thought possible to swat the kunai out of their trajectory.
"Naughty brat, illusions are cheating! And you're definitely being arrested instead of just hanging out in a cell for a few days."
Illusionary items are highly controlled in Edolas.
Cubellios managed to get under me, catching me on her back as she glided through the air. Now we were airborne and had a better angle. But Hughes also knew that Cubellios could fly and that meant...
"Have fun with my Razor Wind!" He called, slashing the Tact around behind him in an arc. The birds and other flying creatures, which had previously been motionless, started up and did so quickly. As did a number of rockets from some kind of space themes ride.
Those explode.
Of course they do! What kind of amusement park is this!? There is literally not enough paper in this world or Earthland to write up all the health and safety violations here!
Cubellios shrank down as small as she could and still carry me and we started evasive maneuvers in the air above the park, swiftly gaining height to give us more room.
Eric had listened to his opponents thoughts to predict where they would strike and what they would do. In turn, Cubellios had been so in tune with him as to interpret his smallest movement as a command. They had been untouchable together.
I could do about the same thing, predict where something would be or how it would approach. It took a bit more focus and attention to their 'stories' and where they would intersect with ours. But Cubellios and I hadn't been together for nearly long enough to have the same kind of seamless partnership that she and Eric had enjoyed. She avoided most attackers, and I used my handful of kunai, whose numbers were swiftly dwindling, to take out those that she didn't manage to avoid. Magic in my feet kept me firmly attached to her back, no matter what maneuver she needed to do.
But this was just a stalemate, a very mobile stalemate.
Ok, pros of this situation.
We're not dying nor in any real danger of doing so right now.
There's a finite number of things Hughes can throw at us.
Cons:
In terms of my magic supply vs his, he's got the advantage.
We still haven't actually gotten a hit on him.
Shinobi were primarily hand to hand fighters. Hughes looked fit but not athletic. If I could just get close enough...
What would Naruto do?
Charge in headlong.
Tried that. Didn't work, though it got closer than anything else.
Subvert his enemy via superior morality.
Hughes is a control obsessed sadist who is willing to kill children. Naruto's Motivational Therapy Jutsu thing works when he genuinely believes there are redeemable qualities in his opponent. I don't believe it!
Overwhelming force via several hundred Shadow Clones until it gives up. Followed by subversion via morality.
Shadow Clones. They and Rasengan were Naruto's signature moves. Rasengan was a devastating close combat strike, which would certainly do the job here but...Naruto only mastered it as quickly as he did through the creative use of Shadow Clones.
OK...Sorry Mystogan, I'm trying it.
In a moment of temporary insanity, (I was claiming that in case I ever had to explain myself) I released my hold on Cubellios's back as she looped around a dive bombing, strangely cartoonish, red breasted robin. I was in free fall. I had only seconds to act.
First, I pulled out a smoke bomb, one of the ones I had kept on hand instead of rigging into a trap, and broke it open between my hands. Thick white smoke filled the air, concealing everything. But I could still pick my landing place perfectly, bouncing off of an eagle to land in a free space on the ground, just to the left of Hughes inside his wall of goonies and very mobile weapons.
I landed in a proper crouch to spare my knees.
:Hide, quickly: I hissed softly, watching on my tiny map as she wound away through the mist and to the side. Then I shifted slowly to avoid making a lot of sound. Index and middle fingers tight together, then crossed before me. Reaching mentally for the item and the story I had written to guide it...and then pushing it's furthest boundary until it expanded.
'I don't quit and I don't run.'
Konoha's #1 hyperactive knucklehead ninja.
'I'm gonna be Hokage! Believe it!'
I can do this. I have to do this! I will do this! Believe it!
I believe it!
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
There were a lot of poofing sounds all around me. That and the appearance of dozens of tiny orange dots on my map and a large loss of magic power were the only signs that I had managed to do anything.
"Don't go getting shy on me now, We're almost to the best part!" A gesture I only saw dimly through the mist that had come as a side effect of the jutsu and the movement in the air above us shifted.
The ceiling literally split open, drawing back like a massive set of jaws and letting the daylight and circulation inside. The flock of flying enemies shifted and started flying in a circle, the updraft cleared away the smoke of my diversion.
And revealed an army of Fae's. At least two for every construct still standing. It was quite bizarre to see my own face set in such an apathetic expression. And none of them were even looking at me. But it seemed to be even more unnerving for Hughes.
For a sadist, the one thing they couldn't stand was someone who denied them control and wasn't afraid of their power.
And I had done that basically from the beginning of our little skirmish. From when I was captive in the Hell Coaster to when I refused to get scared by the odds I was facing.
Now, he was not only faced with one defiant child who wasn't scared...but an army of them.
Nothing moved. Hughes recovered his composure and scoffed, one hand on his hip as he looked around himself.
"More illusions? And this many? Kid, you're burning through enough power you're gonna get the death sentence for wasting something so important as magic." he sounded vaguely disappointed...then he smiled. "Maybe if I'm lucky I'll get to play with you properly before that happens. Make up for this little disagreement."
He just means torture. He just means torture. He is not actually a pedophile...
No he is not. Just a sadist.
Oh good.
Because my clones and I had all shared the same idea, we managed to act almost in perfect unison.
We gave an answering smile to his unpleasant one. Bright, sunny and warm, and we slowly started to move. All to be positioned properly for the attack. One clone spoke up.
"Oh, you really aren't very good at this game. You've got it all wrong." The lioness construct that leapt for her was intercepted by two other clones.
Hughes's grip slackened on his Command Tact as his eyes widened, staring at the two 'illusions' that clearly had no trouble holding his very solid and real construct back.
"For one, I'm not just a kid. I'm a wizard. And for another..." The smiles sharpened into a promise of violence as every Shadow Clone spoke in unison
"We are not illusions."
Then I spoke, independent of my clones.
"Fairy Barrage."
The room exploded into motion.
There were two ninja trained clones for every construct and six for Hughes himself. What they all did, I couldn't tell you. Shadow Clones were autonomous. Each thinking for herself as I would, if I had the mindset of being merely a temporary energy construct.
Cubellios struck from hiding and was quickly decimating part of Hughes army with vicious efficiency. About ten clones were watching her extremely long back. They were what I was least worried about.
I grappled one of the tribal warriors while a clone leapt at the thing's face with a kunai, because everything I had been wearing and carrying had also been copied. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the clones taking on Hughes were coordinating themselves to hit one right after the other. He just didn't have the reflexes to defend himself from that kind of steady assault. It took a fraction of a second for one of my clones to attack, which meant the other five had time to place themselves for their next attack. Four of them kept Hughes off balance while two of them held a trip wire back and behind him. When he took a step back to try and get some more room-
A quick whip of motion and Hughes was down on his back. Then there came a cry of triumph as one of my clones, stomping on his wrist, managed to get the Command Tact away from it's owner. Another snatched it up and her eyes went vacant for a second-
The Command Tact is controlled through a series of preprogrammed movements. G2 began.
Woah. She's connected to all of us? I had to duck away from an overhead swing from a still mobile and active enemy to keep from getting knocked out. Sure, my clones could take care of me, but they were still me. Funny things would probably happen while I was unconscious.
"Alright, everybody, stop!" The clone holding the baton flicked her wrist in an upward gesture and all the constructs froze in place.
Then the cheering started.
"Tie him up!"
"Gag him!"
"Take his coat!"
"Knock him out all the way first."
"Oh right."
:Hatchling, you are in many places: The snake slithered through the now stationary crowd, scenting and trying to locate me.
:New magic, my friend. I'm right here: Though if she couldn't tell which one was me by smell, that meant a great deal of interesting things for me to possibly do in the future. Namely: False Trails you are gonna get a makeover.
Note to self, the clones appear to be a little less focused than I do. How many are there?
145.
Right...
"Alright..." I pulled out my rune syllabary and transferred my mental map of the area to that as I began to speak. "Sonorous: Can I have everyone's attention please?"
My voice boomed out and made all the clones look at me.
"Quietus. We gotta get organized, we've still got a lot to do. You all will be Group 1." I touched the dots that represented them on my slate, outlining about twenty of them. "We've captured a signature enemy weapon and we're gonna use that to our advantage. If we can make Edolas think Hughes is still up and active, then they'll be that much more surprised when the others get here and he doesn't show up to help." The clones saluted and ran, the one who had suggested taking Hughes coat doing so and then clasping her hands together to henge into a copy of him. Others then transformed into various constructs that were standing around and began to accompany her.
They not only had a Hughes look alike with his clothes and magic weapon, but also some very well controlled constructs that Hughes would be able to manipulate with masterful skill.
"You all are Group 2." I traced another circle, but this time around a much bigger group. "Partner up in twos and threes, and scatter around the palace and city, if you can get into it. You are now the spotters and lookouts. Friendlies, you direct and help as best you can, any lacrima you find, you defend and keep anyone from taking it away."
"Boss, we should also have someone mimic Sugarboy!" One clone volunteered with a raised hand.
"Good call, you just volunteered. Use henge. If not, have a few more sisters dispel and get the magic you need from them to write a good cover illusion. You gotta be convincing. Actually, two people sit down and read whatever you can off of our guys here! The more we know the better we can make this look." I turned to the rest of the clones, the 70 or so that were left, then I checked my own magic reserves.
I was tired. I had used more magic that Mystogan had wanted me to while here. Clones had a personal allotment of energy that they used to live and stay solid. Any special techniques, or spells in this case, would burn through the magic that much faster. But everyone else got whatever was left over when a clone did dispel so...
"Half of you, dispel. We need the extra magic more than the extra hands. Sorry girls." Some simply poofed away, others grumbled a bit before doing so. The bit of magic returning to me was most welcome. I was not in the danger zone, though shielding from those bites had been more costly than I liked, but given Mystogan's concerns about my brain lacrima, better safe than sorry.
"The rest of you? You know where the storage closets are." I grinned, tapping my forehead. "Channel Naruto and turn this palace upside down." They cheered, matching smiles appearing on their faces.
Then, I sat down on Cubellios and took a few deep breaths.
Clones were temporary. They weren't meant to focus on more than a few thoughts at a time. If they didn't have instructions, they would run wild and do crazy things. But me? I was the main one. The control node. I still had to think about things in the long term.
I popped another X-ball, the third one of the five I could take today, and let the bit of magic slide into my system, further bolstering me.
My clones were busy, and now: I needed to see what had been happening while I took care of Hughes and Sugarboy.
Mystogan has defeated Knightwalker. Gajeel has freed several members, including Erza and Gray, from lacrima-
The dissonant screech in my head was echoed by the outraged scoff of the clone that had been reading information off of Sugarboy.
"-moldy, gnome bitten ash-hole! I need paint, string, and four gallons of itching powder and starch!" G2 showed me what her plan was and-
"Woah girl, don't go damaging the info dump until we're done with him!" I didn't read anything about what set her off by just touching the clone. I guess it'd be like looking in a mirror. The only reason I could see what she planned was because it involved Sugarboy and he was on my mind at the moment.
"It won't kill him! It'll just restore balance to the universe!" She yelled, thrashing violently. "No one screws with Fairy Tail like he did except for Fairy Tail!" Suddenly everyone else was paying attention.
I hauled her back,
"Ok! But we need info before we do anything too crazy to him. And we're on a time limit so talk fast."
She gave me an indignant look.
"It's backwards here. Edo-Gray can't stand going anywhere without at least three layers of clothing and this creep-" She pointed at Sugarboy. "-is the reason why."
"...Sorry, busy processing the idea of Gray wearing clothes for longer than a few minutes at a time. Get to the reason you feel...that, is appropriate." It involved putting some starched, itching powder covered string in some very inopportune places, and even hiding some inside the weave of his own clothing.
"He hit on him! It's the same here in that Gray likes girls and only girls and it makes him super awkward to have a guy coming on to him. Sugarboy flirted with him, he said no and he didn't take that well. Started picking on him and pushing him around, attacking his self image. So he started wearing more and more clothes and layers but it didn't help! The harassment is why he joined Edo-Fairy Tail in the first place. To get away from this piece of garbage!" She punctuated the last words with a hard kick to the man's side.
None of us said anything else...
But I did glance at three clones.
Edolas Gray isn't my Gray. But Fairy Tail is Fairy Tail.
Gray had a thick skin. The one I knew at least. An outsider's opinion wouldn't matter to him, but if Edo-Gray hadn't had a guild to back him up when the harassment started, that kind of treatment was poisonous.
And allowing the plan my clone had hatched to come about would pretty effectively neutralize Sugarboy until he managed to take a shower and get new untainted clothes.
"Alright. You've convinced me. You three, take care of him." I ordered casually. "Make it funny, but no maiming." They pouted at the restrictions before one of them hurriedly whispered to the others and they ran off giggling.
If it had been my Gray, I'd have shown more mercy, simply because Gray would exact his own revenge in a blood chillingly effective way. The most I could do right now is give Edo-Gray a chance to get in some personal payback. And that was not a priority right now. I'd mostly given the order to make myself feel better and keep the other clones focused knowing that something was being done to avenge our Edolas comrade's dignity.
Though part of me was still scratching my head at the bizarre concept.
Gray keeping clothes on. And if he does it here to the same extreme that my Gray strips, then it has to be a once in a lifetime sight to see him less than fully dressed.
It is. They are identical in almost all other aspects. It's why Sugarboy fainted.
I froze midstep, trying to connect my thoughts with what G2 had just said.
Sugarboy fainting...has something to do with shirtless Gray being a rare sight here.
Realization dawned.
When I had used the Oiroke no Jutsu...it had been tailored to whatever Sugarboy thought was attractive.
He was attracted to Gray.
Ten minutes on the Hell Coaster, and I'm fine.
Tell me I turned into a mostly naked Gray and the sight was enough to make a guy pass out...and I feel nauseous.
The Gajeel(s) have freed Erza, Gray, Jellal and Simon from stasis.
Mystogan has defeated Knightwalker
Natsu, Wendy and Lucy are en route back to the city to begin the outside assault.
Yay. Update. More information. The information meant that trouble was already starting and I could no longer afford to be subtle in my search for Pantherlily. Any chance of being covert was already pretty well blown away, with the chaos that surrounded me of destroyed animal and monster statues and large sections of melted floor.
In fact...
Barracks.
I tapped twenty dots on my map that were clones.
Trap everyone who was off duty inside the barracks and there would be no reinforcements for the army. And no reinforcements meant no extra confidence boost.
"Go crazy girls." The clones cheered as they ran off.
I looked at Cubellios, checking her over briefly.
:Are you hurt anywhere?:
She made a soothing sound and nosed my hair gently.
:I will survive, hatchling. I have used a lot of my venom and do not have much left. I will have produced more in a few hours:
I hugged her tightly, her cool scales bringing a soothing relief to my excitement.
:I'm glad you're unharmed: She hummed in agreement, winding around me in a pseudo snake like hug. I pulled back and looked up at her.
:Can you still fly? We must find my tutor's ally, and stealth is no longer an option:
She flexed her back and her wings emerged. Actually, she also gave a long shake and a low ridge lifted from her back. The kind that would allow her more precise control while in flight.
She's got a lot more control over her body than any transformative curse I know of should allow. She's really a work of art.
Cubellios took flight with a surge of muscle and I jumped to her back as we soared through the corridors.
I could see some clones as we rushed by below. They were either rigging more pranks and traps, or they were shepherding staff into rooms and barring them inside, out of harms' way.
There were a few skirmishes between clones and guards, but those were more funny to look at than actually concerning. Some clones had apparently found the guard's training area with a bunch of paint throwing spears and were having a grand time putting a huge Fairy Tail guild symbol on the ceiling of a large, important looking ballroom.
They've got fifteen minutes to wreak havoc before I want this oversized, pretentious, waste of space palace to be in ruins.
-vVv-
Mystogan couldn't move as quickly without his Air Magic. And he didn't dare use Wind Walk again, he had to conserve the energy so he could get home with his guild once this was over. Getting out of the sealed wing had been a bit more challenging than he anticipated, but a blast from Ten Commandments had cleared him an escape route. He also had to retrieve his other staves, and find Fae.
So he was running and not really paying attention.
"Halt!" The challenge made him react without thinking.
The spear in his hands had a form that allowed access to Gravity Magic. Gravity Core came to life in his hands as he slashed out in a wide crescent, flinging the six airborne guards back and down with a crash. But someone had managed to ascend out of range of his attack. Mystogan shifted his grip on his new weapon, lifting his gaze-
"My prince..."
The man sized black Exceed hovered in midair, hand lifted to his weapon but seemingly having frozen in shock.
"Lily." Mystogan responded to his shock, though he didn't relax. "When you get the chance, Knightwalker will need medical attention. I left her unconscious in the nursery wing."
"Prince Jellal lives?" One guard exclaimed, struggling to sit up. "His majesty said he died in an assasination attempt years ago!"
What?
Mystogan had shifted Ten Commandments into Silfarion form, ready to flee at the highest speed he could manage. But the looks on the soldiers and Lily's faces were too...sincere to be a trap. The Exceed descended, hand moving away from his weapon.
"My prince, we feared you lost to us forever..."
What?!
There were any number of questions stampeding around in Mystogan's mind, not the least of which was whether or not he should still be running from this.
"It would seem rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated." He said slowly, still in a defensive posture.
"The weren't rumors, your Highness, the lord king found your body fallen defending the Anima, with two fallen assassin's from Ferven, may their memory be lost forever!"
"Ferven? Ferven is no one, or was, they're a collection of farming and mercantile city states." He had to figure out what was going on here. All the guards he had downed were back on their feet, he hadn't been trying to kill them after all, and they like Lily were all regarding him with joy.
"So we thought as well, then they sent four men into the palace to steal our magic and destroy the Anima. You fell, or, were believed to have fallen defending it."
He turned me into a martyr. Mystogan realized. The entire time he had been gone, he had assumed his father had blamed him, as was right, and had him declared a traitor.
No. Instead, Faust turned his son into a martyr and used his 'death' to raid the peaceful lands of Ferven, securing draftees for the army and fertile farming ground to bolster their supplies. He had probably even spun Prince Jellal's tragic death trying to save the Anima as a way to get more support for research in rebuilding the project.
His name had been used as an excuse to further the cause of war. War he had wanted, and tried, to stop by leaving Edolas and taking the Anima piece with him. Mystogan had never felt this kind of fury before. Yes, he had felt angry, but never like this. Like everything he had never wanted in his life was being presented as dedicated to him. Every war crime, every atrocity since he had left...had been as good as committed in his name and in his memory.
"That...is a complete and utter lie." He said in a flat, neutral tone, meeting the gazes of the men and finally Pantherlily himself. "I was not attacked, nor kidnapped. I destroyed the Anima myself and ran away. I was tired of the warmongering and the cost of using the Anima." He hefted Ten Commandments, ready to defend and move should their attitude towards him change with his revelation-
"It is true then." One guard, a younger one said face falling. "The Anima...converts actual lives into magic?"
"And when it is tapped, they die. Yes." Mystogan would have loved to break the news more gently, but he was on a time limit. "The lacrima they just brought through is the inhabitants of the town where I lived, and the people who took me in after I left Edolas, destroying the Anima behind me. You look and see years worth of magic power, easy lighting and heat and plenty of fuel for your vehicles." The spear in his hands hummed as he drew on more of its power. "I see thousands of innocent people who do not deserve to die victims of Faust's bloodlust. So you, soldiers in the Edolas army, will have to tell me here and now where you stand. Because if you stand with the madman who led you through carnage, and built his kingdom with the bones and ashes of the deceased...then you stand against me."
Pantherlily and the soldiers looked at Mystogan. The Exceed commander appeared deep in thought, studying his face carefully.
"And if we stand with you?" This...was not something Mystogan was counting on hearing and he looked at Pantherlily, shocked into silence for a moment. Then he shifted his gaze to the other soldiers that surrounded them.
They saluted.
"We are with Prince Jellal!"
"We shall follow where you lead, no matter the cost."
"Down with Faust!"
Mystogan had a slow, sinking feeling that he would regret being found by Pantherlily and brought back from the dead in the eyes of Edolas. But he couldn't spare more thought for it right now.
He tightened his grip on the haft of his new spear.
"Then keep up."