Sorry this one took so long. I hope you all enjoy!
Zale must have fallen about two floors before landing on a large boulder.
"OW!" Zale exclaimed. "What did I…"
Zale looked around to see a bunch of boulders and rocks littered about the area, but then Edolas Callista landed on her feet on top of him.
"GAH!"
"I've got you now, Zale Aeon!" Callista said. "Welcome to my rock garden!"
"Who has a garden for rocks?" Zale questioned, still under the weight of Callista. "And indoors no less?"
"I DO!" Callista stomped on his back.
Zale growled and with a sudden surge of strength, he grabbed Callista by the leg and hurled her into another huge boulder across the garden. The force left a crater in the shape of her body into the boulder and as she looked at it with worry, she started to become angrier.
"How dare you?" She angrily asked. "… How DARE you hurt my precious rocks?!"
"Oh, crap, I pissed her off…" Zale groaned to himself.
She stabbed her broadsword into the ground. "DIE, ZALE AEON! GRAN SPIKE!"
The floor below Zale rose up as a spike and he fell out of the way before it could pierce through his body, barely missing his crotch as he flipped backward to maintain his balance.
"I presume that weapon is what allows you to control the earth around you?" Zale inquired.
"This is the magic weapon Grandbreaker." Callista replied as she held out her weapon. "I can impale it into the ground to control any form of earth around me. But it can just as easily cut off someone's head."
Callista swung the broadsword at Zale and he ducked down on all fours to avoid the attack.
*This lady's hell-bent on killing me.* He thought. *If I'm going to save my friends, I have to defeat her first." "To answer your earlier question, the water I produce isn't polluted. It's holy, infused with the power of the gods."
"With water that black, how can it possibly be holy?"
"Black is only a color people usually associate with something evil or malevolent. Don't label something just because of its color."
"I still don't forgive you for hurting my precious rocks! Gran Collapse!"
Callista stabbed her broadsword into the ground again and the ceiling above Zale started to collapse.
"Water God Hunter!"
Zale surrounded his hand in black water and formed a claw shape with it. He swung the claw at the debris falling on top of him and they were sliced into tiny pieces before they could crush him.
"Do you really intend to let an entire world be plunged into chaos just to save your friends?" Callista asked.
"What do you mean?"
"For years now, Edolas has been running on the last of its magic power. Unlike your world, only Exceeds can use magic."
"What are Exceeds?"
"They're cats born with magical abilities."
*That sounds like Happy…*
"It seemed that about seven years ago, the Exceeds sent one hundred of their unborn children to Earthland to bring the Dragon Slayers to us. We've tried to extract magic from Earthland since your world has unlimited magic. A few days ago, we extracted an entire town's worth of magic and created a giant lacrima. Once Byro collects the Dragon Slayers' magic, we can use the Dragon Chain Cannon to send the lacrima crashing into the Exceed home of Extalia. The resulting explosion will fill all of Edolas with eternal magic and our world's survival is assured."
Zale began to glare at Callista and clenched his fists. "How could you? You lecture me about preventing other people from living happily when you're doing the exact same thing?" He surrounded his entire right arm in black water. "That lacrima contains the lives of hundreds of innocent townspeople, my friends… and Juvia…"
"… You mean your world's Juvia?"
"When I saw the entire town of Magnolia had vanished, I thought I had lost Juvia forever… Without ever getting the chance to tell her how I feel about her. For years I've feared the rain… and she's the only person who tried to help me overcome that fear. I would do anything to save her… Even if it costs me my life!" He charged at Callista with fury. "Water God…"
Callista stabbed her broadsword into the ground again. "Gran Guard!"
A square of the floor in front of her rose up and created a wall to block Zale's attack.
"Haymaker!"
Zale's lunging fist struck the wall, the black water burst forth and the wall was blown to smithereens as his fist and the water knocked Callista right in the face and sent her flying clear across the room and into a wall. When the dust settled, Callista's body was covered by the wall's bricks and she was unconscious. Zale was panting heavily for several seconds.
"That last attack really took it out of me." Zale said. "But I can't take a break now. Natsu, Lucy, Juvia, the rest of the guild and Magnolia are counting on me."
Zale walked off so he could get moving while catching his breath.
For what felt like an hour, Zale had wandered around to find his friends, but to no avail.
"This castle's structure is really odd." Zale said to himself. "The dungeon's at the top instead of at the bottom. This world really is a topsy-turvy version of our world."
"Zale Aeon!"
Zale turned around and saw Erza Knightwalker dragging a bound Natsu and Gray walking towards him.
"Natsu… Gray…" Zale gasped.
"Don't worry. I'm Earthland Erza."
"Huh?"
"I fought Knightwalker and took her clothes so we can fool the King and use the Dragon Chain Cannon to save the guild and Magnolia."
"How do I know you're our Erza?"
"Four years ago, you accidentally tripped and grabbed my breast and I punched you for it."
"… Okay, you're Erza."
Erza then judo chopped Zale on the head and knocked him unconscious.
When Zale finally regained consciousness, he saw a giant flying behemoth nearby and snapped awake.
"What the hell is that?!" Zale exclaimed.
"Get on!"
Zale took a closer look at the behemoths and saw Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Erza and a young girl riding on its back. He wanted to ask what was going on, but there didn't seem to be much time as he saw soldiers scrambling around and what appeared to be Erza Knightwalker among them. So he jumped onto the monster's back with the others and they flew off toward the moving floating island containing a massive lacrima that was making a collision course for another floating island with a city on it.
"Hey, Natsu, why aren't you getting motion sick?" Zale asked.
"Because this Legion is our friend, not a mode of transportation." Nastu replied.
"And yet you still get sick when Lucy carries you…" Zale groaned in exasperation, but then looked toward the young girl. "Wait, who're you?"
"That's Coco." Lucy replied. "It's okay. She's on our side now."
The monstrous Legion rammed into the moving island to try and stop its momentum.
"You can do it, Legi!" Coco said to her Legion.
"It's not working!" Gray shouted. "It's not even slowing down!"
"We'll have to release our magic power against it!" Erza commanded.
"Erza's right!" Zale said. "It's our only option at this point!"
Natsu charged along the neck of the Legion and slammed his head against the huge island, trying his best to push it back.
"Natsu!" Happy came flying in from the lacrima island.
"Happy?!" Zale exclaimed.
"Natsu, I'm… I'm…" Happy tried to say.
"Huh?" Natsu just smiled. "Help me out, buddy!"
Happy just looked at Natsu for a few seconds before smiling and flying to his side. "Aye, sir!"
Then Zale saw Gajeel jump down from the island and help them push it.
"Gajeel? You're here, too?" Zale asked.
"I could ask you the same thing!" Gajeel replied.
"We'll have to talk later!" Zale said. "Right now we've got to keep this thing from hitting Extalia!"
"Gajeel, why didn't you change the others back like you did for us?" Erza asked.
"That black cat got in the way!" Gajeel shouted.
"It doesn't matter!" Gray said. "It'd take too long to get them back!"
"We have to stop this thing no matter what!" Lucy shouted.
Zale tried shooting streams of black water from his hands to better push the lacrima island away, but it still wasn't slowing down.
*Dammit!* Zale thought. *At this rate, we're going to be crushed! But we have to do this! For the people of Magnolia! For Fairy Tail!*
Zale then thought back to his memories of growing up with his friends in Fairy Tail, but then his mind trailed off to his first meeting with Juvia, her joining the guild and their heartwarming moment after he saw Callista again.
"GRRAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGH!" Zale growled at the top of his lungs and he began to release more magic power than before.
"WE WILL STOP IT!" Natsu screamed.
Just as his morale had gone up, a flock of flying cats began to rally with them and help push the lacrima island away from Extalia. Pushing the island along with them was a young girl with blue hair tied into pigtails and being carried by a white female cat. After a bit more pushing, they finally managed to push the lacrima away from Extalia and it suddenly vanished into thin air. Every one of the Fairy Tail wizards was being carried by an Exceed and they all looked into the gaping hole that the lacrima once filled.
"The lacrima… vanished?" Zale gasped.
"What just happened?" Lucy wondered.
"It's returned to Earthland."
In front of them standing on the back of a large bird was Mystogan.
"I'm sorry it took so long to find traces of an Anima large enough to return everything back to normal." Mystogan said. "I'm also grateful for your efforts. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have made it in time."
"Mystogan!" Erza exclaimed.
"Back to the way it was?" Happy asked.
"Yes." Mystogan nodded. "The lacrima has passed once again through the Anima and returned to its original form in Earthland."
Everyone began to smile, even Zale.
*So they're all okay…* Zale sighed with relief.
The Exceeds and everyone else cheered.
"The Prince has returned…" Coco began to tear up.
"Prince?!" Lucy exclaimed.
*It's starting to make sense now." Zale thought. *Mystogan looks like Jellal because he's actually his Edolas counterpart.*
Suddenly, a black and brawny Exceed was shot by a magic blast through his ribs and everyone looked shocked, especially Gajeel.
"My cat!" Gajeel shouted.
"It isn't over yet!"
Flying toward them on an army of Legion were Erza Knightwalker, now fully clothed, and hundreds of royal soldiers.
A/N: I'll end the chapter here since it's a good spot to do so and you've all waited long enough. Next chapter, you'll definitely see Zale's Edolas counterpart, Lisanna's return and something stirring in Zale's heart. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Stay tuned for next time!