An Underdog's Knighthood (Story 3 of 4 of my Underdog Series)

by The Legendary Dragon Reaper

During the events of the Ridonculous Race, Adam takes this chance to prepare for Mal's inevitable return. But preparing for this fight will test him in every way imaginable, and the start of it all involves him learning about himself. The age of the Cosmic Knight is upon us. Third story in this series. Multiple crossovers including TMNT 2012, Ben 10, Kung Fu Panda and Fairy Tail.

13. Dragon Cry: Part II

(Takes place between during chapters 20-21 of the Ridonculous Underdogs)

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"Since the beginning of time, before the event you have come to know as the Big Bang, there have always been 6 singularities, 6 forces of ultimate power. Then the universe exploded into existence with the Big Bang and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated physical forms each with a consciousness of its own. These beings have come to be known as the Cosmic Elemental Masters. Each being has mastery over one of the 6 elemental forces of the universe: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning and Metal. These beings are the most powerful in all of the universe and cannot be defeated by any normal being lest their existence be wiped from the face of the universe upon contact, and the only being capable of defeating a Cosmic Elemental is a Cosmic Elemental, or one with the powers of a Cosmic Elemental. Many eons ago, a great war was raged between the Daagons, the inhabitants of the cosmic ocean Varuna and their ruler Hiidrala, and Metallum, the Cosmic Elemental of Metal. With them were their greatest protectors, the Wind and Lightning Cosmic Elementals known as Tatsumaki and Kaminari. The two clashed in an epic battle that scarred the very universe itself, but before a victor could be decided Metallum betrayed Kaminari and attempted to take both their powers for himself in order to conquer not only Varuna, but the entire universe itself. In the face of this betrayal, Tatsumaki and Kaminari agreed to combine their power to face Metallum and end him, and in doing so they performed an ancient ritual known only to the Cosmic Elementals: Elemental Fusion, in which they would fuse into one new being altogether with both of their powers but at the cost of their fusion being permanent. With this they forged a new being with a new elemental force: Tempestatis, the Cosmic Elemental of the Hurricane. The battle was fierce and ravaged the universe, but the the end the battle was lost. Metallium was badly injured nearly beyond recovery but he had triumphed. With his dying breath, Tempestatis made a vow: even if it took him thousands upon thousands of lifetimes, he would see that Metallum would fall for his betrayal. However, that is not the whole story. What very few are aware of is that there are two other Cosmic Elementals who refused to take part in the war, two who refused to take sides because they were unsure of how the evolution or mortals would turn out in the end. These two were known as Illuminare and Tenebris, the Cosmic Elementals of Light and Darkness. As the war between their fellow Cosmic Elementals raged on and ravaged the universe, they had retreated into the shadows to observe how the mortals would react. They had wondered if the mortals of the lower realms of each universe were creatures that were truly deserving of the protection of the gods. I have observed the dealings than I would care to count. Mortals thrive, they quarrel, they perish, and they repeat this same cycle time and time again on an endless loop. At that time it seemed to me that for them to keep doing this would be the height of futility. I had even gone so far as to wonder what sense there was in protecting such flawed beings when they would consistently repeat the same tragic mistakes time and time again without showing any signs of developing, and ponder if it were to be more merciful on our part to put an end to such hopeless cycles once and for all. However, after the fated battle between Metallum and Tempestatis had at last come to a close and the mortals began to rebuild the remains of their civilizations across the universe, that was when Metallum appeared and offered a solution to their dilemma. They would pool their power into one point and create a warrior that was mixed of both light and darkness, intended to follow the spirit of Tempestatis for as long as he reincarnated through over one hundred lifetimes in over one hundred different races. Now the mission of the Warrior of the Hurricane has become much more grave, and if both Metallum and his warrior of darkness are not slain then the legacy of the Cosmic Elementals will be forever tarnished and lost to the memory of time."

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The vastness of Earth Land, lush green forests as far as the eye could see, with waters so clear that one could see all the way to the bottom of the deepest ocean.

The latter of which was being travelled by Bridgette and a majority of the rest of the party on a small boat, and she marvelled "It's so beautiful, it's like it's almost…"

"Please do not say magical." Alejandro snapped her out of her thoughts "I believe that is far too easy."

"Well yeah, the whole point of this world is magic. So what do we know about this place?"

"From what the king informed us the economy of this Kingdom of Stella is largely based on the export of Stellanium, one of the hardest minerals this world has to offer. It is said that the more starlight it absorbs the greater the brilliance with which it glows."

"Sounds majestic, and kind of romantic too."

"Speaking of romance, I heard the night skies there are absolutely breathtaking." Cody let out a heavy sigh "I bet Gwen would love to sketch it."

"Well she's still in that race, but anyway Stella sounds like a wonderful place to me."

"I just hope their fish is yummy in my tummy." Happy looked around "Hey where are Natsu and the other guy?"

"You mean Adam? See for yourself." Mike pointed off of their boat.

As it turns out, Adam was swimming all the way alongside the boat, with Natsu trailing not far behind him "See I told you this was better than taking a boat!"

"Yeah no kidding, this is super kickass!" Natsu used his Fire Dragon Iron Fist Booster to propel himself forward "Plus it helps with the training, how do you come up with this stuff?"

"My mentor taught me that you can make anything into training if you look at it in the right sort of way."

"Huh. Sounds like a cool guy."

"He was the best. But now I'm trying to honor his legacy by helping one of his teachers by coming here, and the first step to that is finding the guy who stole the Dragon Cry."

"Which raises the question, how are we gonna find him?"

"Well I have one idea, I doubt Bridgette is gonna like it though."

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Later, in a bar in the city of Altair, within the Kingdom of Stella…

As it turns out, the plan involved Bridgette distracting every drunken moron in the bar on stage while dressed like a harem dancer, blushing heavily all the while at the attention that she was receiving "I can't believe I'm doing this, this is so embarrassing."

"Don't worry about it Bridgette you're doing great." Cody poked his head out from behind the curtain, clad in a bartender's uniform, his comment causing her to blush even further.

"Come on you two, you have to stay focused." Alejandro was at the other end of the bar amongst the crowd, using a communication lacrima (what people use as cell phones in the world of Fairy Tail) to contact them while he was working as a waiter "From what I have been able to gather thus far Zash is known to keep all of his stolen goods locked away inside of a tower of some sort and he unlocks it through use of a special magical ring that he wears. Keep in mind that he is a high ranking official, taking the ring by force while on a mission for the King of Fiore could spark an international conflict, which is the main reason why we've come here to his favorite bar to steal it from right off of his finger. You have to keep him distracted."

"Yeah we know, and Bridgette that's where you come in."

Bridgette nodded "Yeah, I know."

"Now come on, it's time to get this started."

"Right, let's do this." and once the light shown on her, Bridgette started dancing once again, drawing cheers from the drunken crowd of morons who had no real lives, and she started making her way down the stage, earning her the admiration of Zash from where he was sitting at the bar nearby.

Seizing the chance using his lightning fast reflexes, Alejandro snatched Zash's ring right off of his finger, his voice low as he walked away "One copy please."

'Right.' so using her ice powers, Bridgette created a duplicate right that she was able to slip right onto Zash's finger before he ever noticed anything, and continued drawing admirers in the drunken crowd, still blushing as she did so 'Well at least they don't have video in this world or anything.'

Behind the curtain, Cody was filming the entire thing on his phone 'Oh Adam is so gonna love me for this.'

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As this happened, Alejandro met up with Happy in another room backstage and handed him the ring "Alright my little amigo, the rest is up to you now."

"You got it, I'll get this ring over to Natsu and the others ASAP special delivery!" and so Happy took off out the window.

'Good luck amigo.'

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Frosch looked up and saw Happy flying down the street "Huh?"

"What's the matter Frosch?" asked Rogue.

"I think I saw Happy down there."

"Does that mean that Natsu is here too?" asked Sting "Word is nobody's seen him since the end of the whole thing with Tartaros."

"Yeah I think so too!"

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Happy arrived at the rendezvous point and found a piece of bamboo sticking up out of the ground like someone was using it to breathe "Hey Natsu you're not trying to hide like a ninja again are you?"

"NINJA!" Natsu burst out of the ground wearing his scarf like a ninja mask, with Adam just calmly lowering himself to the ground "You cannot see me, for I am one with the shadows!"

"Wrong." Adam dealt him a karate chop and sent him to the ground "We can see you for you are one with stupidity, and Mike will you stop playing along already."

Sure enough, Mike revealed himself from trying to blend into the wall using some sort of camouflage cloak "Well I did say that this plan wasn't going to work."

"No I said that only an idiot would think this plan would work when you suggested it with sarcasm, something that Natsu obviously doesn't get. Now come on guys let's go, we've got work to do." he grabbed both Natsu and Mike by the backs of their shirts, as well as Happy by his feet, and flew upwards using his wind powers until they were high above the tower, revealing the door to the tower being protected by two guards "So who wants to punch out the guards?"

"Oh I've got this-"

"It was a rhetorical question, I'm letting letting a human firecracker or Mike handle something that delicate. FORE!" he threw them high into the air, blitzed behind the guards and knocked them out with one chop to the neck for each of them, before Mike and Natsu both hit the ground with a thud.

"Ow."

"Don't be such a drama queen you pansy, you're a Dragon Slayer for f*ck's sake." Adam stuck the ring into the keyhole in the door, opening it and granting them access "And we're in, now let's get to it."

"Well don't waste time jackass, find the damn thing already!" Natsu started digging through random treasure trying to find the Dragon Cry.

"Yeah we could try and do it that way, or we could try going down the shady doorway at the end of this room that's radiating with a crap load of magic power." so to prove this point, Adam shoved open the door with one hand, revealing the golden light coming from the Dragon Cry in all of its magnificent glory, leaving the other three schmucks in awe "So this is it then, this is the Dragon Cry." he gripped the staff, only for it to suddenly send out an electrical surge that made him stagger back slightly "Okay that kind of hurt." this was followed by the entire room glowing with red markings along the walls "And that can't be good."

Mike was quick to realize what was going on "Oh man it's a trap, they must've rigged the staff to activate some sort of Magic Circle."

"Hey you've been reading up on your magic techniques, good for you man. But crack addict levels of insanity aside we really should get going before they start shooting at us." and so the four of them made a beeline out of the chamber.

"Enemies spotted, they broke into the vault! Don't let them get away!" this was when reinforcements showed up and started shooting at them.

"Well look at that, we're too late. Story of my f*cking life."

"Take your combat positions! Magic Auto Cannons! Ready! Aim! FIRE!" they started firing blasts of pure magic energy from automated cannons, narrowly missing them "Rifle squad fire when ready!" and they started literally shooting at them.

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Bridgette on the other hand found herself in a very uncomfortable situation, with Zash pressing her against the wall in a menacing way "Sorry sir but I think you may have the wrong idea."

"Oh I've got all kinds of ideas." Zash got even closer to her, leaving her even more disturbed by this.

"I mean I'm just not that kind of girl."

"Well then what kind of girl are you? Maybe you're the kind of girl that wants to be my kind of girl, how about that."

"Excuse me senor." that was when Alejandro stepped into the room "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave the dear senorita alone in peace."

"And if I don't?"

"SIR!" that was when a bunch of Stella knights barged in "I'm sorry sir but it's the staff, some wizard intruders broke into the vault and they stole it!"

"Is that so?"

'Adam you idiota, your newfound confidence is going to get us all killed!' Alejandro quickly let a fist fly.

Zash caught it without even batting an eye "And who the hell do you think you are?"

"I could give an intimidating line about how I'm a simple bartender that could shatter your skull with one blow, but you may refer to me as Jaguar. El Directo!" Alejandro fired a crimson blast of energy from his right arm, blowing Zash clear through a wall "And smoking is forbidden to anyone backstage."

"Not a bad line." Cody poked his head into the room as the guards in front of him fell to the ground in an unconscious heap "Come on guys we'd better move before Adam ends up getting himself killed."

"Right." and so the three of them took off.

Almost immediately after they left, Zash burst up from the rubble, his eyes blazing with power and anger "No doubt about it, those three are aligned with Fiore. That little c*** Aurora must've sent in a few lapdogs.

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The chase continued along the streets of Altair.

Natsu was quick to lose patience "You know what screw it, let me hit these assholes with a fireball and that'll get rid of them."

"Hey lay off of them Natsu, these small fry aren't our enemies and they're just doing their jobs like a bunch of mindless sheep. Besides it's not like they hurt any of us." Adam looked over to where Happy got shot with an arrow "Scratch that."

"Oh that is IT, those assholes just made an enemy out of me! Nobody hurts my friends! You guys take the staff and go, I'll roast these pricks and catch up to you!" so Natsu whipped around and charged towards the soldiers "YOU ASSHOLES ARE GONNA PAY FOR THAT!" and to prove his destructive point he fired off a massive fire fist at them.

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Adam and Mike were still running, with Happy lagging behind a little bit "It's kind of weird, I feel like something is seriously off about this staff."

"Well what happened in the movie version of this whole thing?" asked Mike.

"I don't have a f*cking clue, I never actually saw this movie."

"What?!"

"Hey cut me some slack dude, with college being a bitch and already having my normal training to deal with I don't have time to binge on everything that pops into my head! If I did have that time then I'd be some cowboy party dude reject from Vegas!"

"...You mean like Geoff?"

"Exactly!" this was followed by a number of soldiers firing magic rifles at them, but Adam quickly cut them down using Ascalon, knocking them all out cold in an instant as he looked up and noticed Bridgette, Cody and Alejandro catching up to them "Hey Bridge I think these guys could afford to let this slide a little bit." he received dull looks from the others "What? I can't come up with these things very fast."

"I'm on it!" so Bridgette used her ice powers to freeze the roof she was running on, slowing down the soldiers on her tail a great deal, catching the Dragon Cry as she did so, sliding beneath the legs of one soldier as she did so "Alejandro!"

"Si!" Alejandro caught the staff right before he his way was cut off by soldiers "Forgive me for doing this, I bear you no ill will but I simply do what I must to save not only your world, but all worlds from this threat! El Directo!" he fired a blast at the soldiers, resulting in an explosion, only to suddenly receive a graze across his right shoulder from within the smoke "Que?!"

And then Zash emerged from the smoke "So it turns out you're the kind of punk who likes to steal things."

"You would know."

"And that little bitch that was with you just getting close so that the lot of you could take my ring and get inside of my personal vault, and what else would you and your pals go for but the fabled Dragon Cry. Trying to fight back against me would be a very unfortunate decision for you, do you have any idea why this kingdom put me in charge of their national defense? Go ahead, take a guess."

"The fact that you blackmailed your superiors into giving you the position coupled by the fact that you have no sense of shame?"

"Well aside from that. It's because from the moment I first came to this kingdom I showed the higher ups that I was as powerful as I am ruthless."

"I see. I actually have an older brother and you remind me a great deal of him, he is as skilled as he is ruthless and he will stop at nothing until he gets what he wants no matter who he has to hurt in the process. I made a vow on the grave of my eldest brother that I would never become like him, so to see someone like you with a heart as black as the night sickens me to my very core. And that is just one of the reasons why I'm going to defeat you. Cero Oscuras!" he fired a quick red and black energy blast from his fingertip, hitting Zash at point blank range and engulfing him in an explosion.

Zash emerged from the smoke unscathed and dealt Alejandro a quick uppercut, sending him flying backwards.

Alejandro quickly rebounded before he hit a wall and began trading even blows with Zash, only to get blown clear through a wall.

Zash entered through the wall, his eyes glowing crimson, his Mind Control magic affecting all of the civilians in the area.

'Zash must be using his magic to control these people and use them as pawns, he thinks that he can hide behind them. And I thought Jose was dishonorable, this man makes him look like a saint among saints. You would really resort to using innocent people and manipulating them to do your dirty work?"

"All's fair in war punk, now hurry up and fork over what you and your pals stole from me before I lose my temper."

"That staff was never yours to begin with, you stole that staff from the royal family of Fiore and attempted to overthrow them using a power you know next to nothing about."

"And here you are, trying to retrieve it for him like some mindless dog. That stupid little king never realized how much potential that thing had but I did, what's the point of power if it's never used?"

"There is more to life than just power. I can't get to him without going through these people but I can't hurt any of them, I suppose for now the best option would be for me to retreat and rendezvoused with the others. Crimson Drive!" he activated his Crimson Drive "I believe we will have to settle this score at a later date." and so he leapt into the skies and disappeared beyond the horizon.

'Well isn't that unfortunate for him that little bastard and his friends have managed to piss off the most powerful man in the kingdom.'

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Nightfall came, and rain was pouring down over the kingdom of Stella.

Animus, the king of Stella, was less than please when he heard from Zash the details of what had happened "Well well Zash, it would seem that you've managed to make quite a mess of this situation."

"Please your majesty, you need not worry." Zash bowed his head "All of this will be cleared up soon, once Sonya locates the thieves I will force them to return what they've stolen-" he suddenly froze in place, paralyzed by Animus and his magic power.

"Do not forget that Sonya is mine as well and I will not allow her to be harmed by your incompetence and ineptitude. Am I making myself clear to you Zash?" Animus released his paralysis "Although I can feel that our time is starting to grow dangerously short, we may be forced to make use of the gift that Sonya possesses. Take the Three Stars with you."

"Yes my lord."

"If you must be forced to make use of her gift then Sonya will need far more protection than you alone are capable of providing. Her safety in this leisure is paramount, it is your top priority above all else."

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Sonya stood in her chamber, staring out at the rain covered kingdom of Stella 'I can feel it, our time is growing short.'

"Lady Sonya." Animus made himself known to her, causing her to jump.

"You startled me King Animus, once again you are able to enter my private chamber without making a sound and without me noticing."

"Have you forgotten that I am a wizard as well my dear? The kingdom of Stella is in a great deal of peril, the only hope that we have rests within the power of the Dragon Cry."

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By this point, the group had set up camp for the night, far away from the city.

Alejandro studied the staff closely, pondering the next course of action "Now that we have acquired this staff the real challenge comes with returning it to Fiore, after all now our cover has been blown."

"So what the hell are we gonna do?" asked Natsu "Personally I vote that we blow through every single guy we come across like a bunch of angry bulls."

"That would risk the magic energy within the staff becoming volatile, which is something that we cannot afford. Perhaps we could just try and take it back to our dimension and return to Fiore through another portal that Lady Aurora can create for us."

"Not a chance, with that much residual power in our possession it could screw up the trip and leave us trapped between dimensions." Adam told him "I was there for just a few minutes during my fight with Vilgax but it f*cked me up pretty bad."

"It is pretty interesting though." Bridgette picked up the staff "It's pretty hard to believe that this staff has enough power in it to destroy an entire country."

"And that's just what people think they know about the Dragon Cry, if what Aurora says is true then it has enough power to destroy an entire planet."

"Not to mention you sensed beforehand what it's capable of." Mike pointed out "What did it feel like?"

"I don't know how to explain it but when I touched it I felt, it's like a burning sensation inside of me trying to claw its way out." he leaned back "Well who gives a crap about that right now anyway, the point is that the thing is insanely powerful so we just can't use it recklessly like a bunch of jackasses, which means that Happy should stop using the thing to draw fish."

Happy suddenly froze and dropped the Dragon Cry "I wasn't thinking about fish while holding a thing that can destroy a planet!"

"Which means that you totally were." and now he didn't have a shirt on.

"Why did you take off your shirt?" asked Mike.

"I wanted to see what Ice wizards find so appealing about it, plus I was king of sweating through the shirt anyway."

"Because Stella is at a higher geographical level of elevation compared to what we're used to dealing with." explained Cody "That's why it stands to reason that it would be a lot colder compared to the likes of-"

"NERD!"

"...I hate when you do that."

"Why do you think I do it? And Happy farted by the way." he looked up "You know I think I get why some people call this place the Island of Stars, the skies are pretty majestic."

"Oh you think so?" Natsu looked up, only to see clouds covering the sky "Well I think you're liar."

"And I think you're an idiot, just try to imagine it without the clouds using what little brain cells you actually have-" he suddenly bolted up and snuffed out the fire with a snap of his fingers as he drew Ascalon from its sheath "Guys get ready, we've got company closing in fast. Nobody let down your guard."

"Behold, for I am the true vision of beauty!" that was when Swan of the three stars burst onto the scene and started firing energy blasts at them with her feet.

"Oh that is hacks, I call total hacks!" Adam swatted off one of her kicks using Ascalon "So you're using Stellanium on your armor? Dammit I can't believe I never thought of that."

"I am poetry in motion!"

"Of course you are."

And then Doll of the Three Stars showed up on the scene "Playtime has come to an end for all of you now. FranCoise Catelyn!" he summoned his two dolls and had them unleash two simultaneous blasts of fire in the direction of Cody and Bridgette as he flexed his muscles "Yeah that's it, keep on going, don't stop for anything.

"Alright assholes I'm done screwing around with you." Adam prepared to unleash a blast of fire from the blade of Ascalon.

And then Gapri of the Three Stars bounced onto the scene, literally, using some kind of gigantic metal ball made of Stellanium and then proceeded to literally flatten Adam "Man you're one slow son of a bitch."

"At least I'm not compensating, and I'm also not slow enough to blow this little move. Super Cyclone!" Adam slammed one hand into the ground, unleashing a tornado that ended up blowing Gapri a great distance away.

"You think that's gonna stop me?!" to prove his point, Gapri promptly rammed Alejandro using his Stellanium ball.

"I've been wanting to try out this technique! Hero's Slicer!" pointing his Yin Yang Staff at his opponent, Cody fired a blast of chi at Doll, hitting him dead on and sending him skidding backwards, but only slightly wounding him.

"Excellent work my dears, now close in on him! FranCoise Catelyn!" Doll unleashed another blast of fire from his dolls, scorching Cody in the blast as he flexed his muscles "We're not really known for playing around."

"And neither am I." Natsu ate the blast of fire, increasing his flame reserves and allowing him to enter Dragon Force, just as he spotted a familiar figure "Oh hell no!"

Sure enough it was Zash, with Sonya right beside him, the former holding the Dragon Cry in his possession "And now I'll be taking back what belongs to me!"

"Not on your life bastard!" Natsu charged at Zash in a rage, only to suddenly freeze as he fell victim to Zash's mind control magic, causing him to set his sights on Mike as the flames of his Dragon Force intensified.

"Natsu hold on a minute, snap out of it!" Mike tried to get through to him, but her cries fell on deaf ears.

"Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Hidden Fire Form: Crimson Lotus: EXPLODING FLAME BLADE!" with a dragon like roar, Natsu attacked Mike using one of his most powerful techniques in the form of a massive swirling blast of fire.

"Mike get out of the way!" blitzing forward as fast as he could without bothering to think it through, Adam burst towards them and shoved Mike out of the way full force, knocking him out cold with the force, before taking the full brunt of the blast himself, burning him heavily across his body and sending him tumbling backwards and crashing to the ground in a smocking heap, completely unconscious.

"Adam!" Bridgette and Cody both desperately tried to come to Adam's aid, only for the two of them, along with Natsu to be engulfed in a blast of fire from Doll and his FranCoise Catelyn, wounding them and knocking them out cold.

"Everyone just hold on!" now the only one left standing against their enemy, Alejandro tried to rush over to their aid.

"You know you Mystic Art errand mongrels really know how to drop the ball." managing to catch Alejandro by surprise, Swan dealt him a swift barrage of kicks to the gut, causing him to cough up a large amount of blood and knocking him out cold, leaving the last standing member of the team down for the count.

Zash looked on in approval "Excellent work, you've done very well Three Stars. Now go ahead and kill these worthless pieces of trash."

"No please don't, there's just no point." Sonya pleaded with him "All we came here to do is take back the Dragon Cry, to kill them like this just wouldn't be right."

"We came here in order to punish them, they have to pay the price for their crimes against the kingdom of Stella. If we granted them mercy then people would just think that we're growing soft on our enemies."

"The cries of their souls, I cannot bare hearing anymore pain and anguish." she looked over at the unconscious form of Adam "And the pain in his heart is so much it nearly overshadows that of all of the others."

"Oh for f*ck's sake."

"Hey you do realize that King Animus is gonna be really mad if you make Lady Sonya upset again." Gapris pointed out "Remember what happened during my sister's quinceanera?"

"...You agreed not to bring that up again. But if it'll shut you guys up then fine, just send these criminals to the Bird's Nest." he looked over towards Bridgette "But take that girl and put her with the others."

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Morning came, and the sun had long since risen over the Kingdom of Stella.

Natsu opened his eyes and found himself in a dimly lit room, covered in blood and burns and bound by chains "What the f*ck?! Hey is anybody there?!"

"If by that you mean can they hear you all the way back on Tenrou Island, then YES you f*cking moron!" a voice sounded through the air.

"Adam is that you? Where the hell are we? Where the hell are you?"

"In another room, that asshole Zash and his lapdogs locked us up in some kind of airborne prison and they took the others- You know what hold that thought." using his pure physical strength alone, Adam bashed opened the wall between their cells, revealing himself to be badly burnt across the front "Sup?"

"Okay that answers where the hell you are, but where in the name of hell are we?! And where are the others?"

"Hold on a second." Adam bashed opened another wall, revealing themselves to be flying through the air in a rock prison being carried by a gigantic predatory bird "Are you satisfied now?"

"NO! This isn't the answer that I was hoping for!"

"When the hell is it ever?" with little to no effort Adam shattered the chains that had appeared to be binding him, his burns healing almost instantaneously in the process, and he fed Natsu the torch on the wall that was lighting up the room "Now eat up."

So Natsu did, allowing him to break free and power up "Alright now that's the stuff, now let's get this pigeon from hell!"

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15 minutes and one anime style scene that could be interpreted as animal cruelty later, now on the ground…

Adam looked down at the scorched form of the bird in front of the two of them "Just for the sake of being clear, Bridgette never finds out about this or I'll send you to join Hades in wherever the hell he ended up. Deal?"

"Yeah sure, whatever…" Natsu looked away, his expression forlorn.

"So you remember everything that happened last night?"

"Yeah." Natsu gripped his fists to the point where they started bleeding, his teeth grinding furiously "It's my fault, I let all of this happened. Adam… I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it, what's done is done and getting super angsty won't change anything that happened."

"But you didn't hurt your friends because of some other asshole."

"Actually… that's not true."

"What do you mean?"

"Natsu… I told you about how I lost my parents when I was only 8. I didn't tell you how though did I?"

"No I don't think so."

"Mike was the one who did it."

Natsu froze "What…?"

"Not by choice I can assure you, he was being controlled."

"Like that guy Zash did to me?"

"Not exactly. You remember that guy Brain from the Oracion Seis?"'

"The creepy prayer guy with the weird Split Personality?"

"Yeah it's actually kind of similar to that, Mike has what we call Multiple Personality Disorder but he has 5 other personalities, one of which has been heavily suppressed for about five years or so now. His name is Mal, and he was the one responsible. There's a lot more to it as I found out recently but that's for later. To know that my best friend, even if not by choice, had taken my family from me just ripped me apart inside. My heart was shattered, any emotions I had were nonexistent, and that was the way I stayed for about six years, even after I met Carlos. He was the only person I came even close to trusting."

"So what happened to change you like that?"

"I met my friends Devin and Carrie, Devin in particular. It took him a long time to get me to let out my pain, but he did manage to about a year before I met Bridgette."

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(Flashback- 1 year before the events of the Rise of an Underdog)

Adam sat on the hill outside of Ocean Falls, his entire body shaking 'It's that day again, the day that I've been dreading every single year.'

"Carlos told me I'd find you up here."

Adam looked back to see Devin standing behind him, but he didn't turn around "I thought you had that date with Shelly right about now, what are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you that. Everyone else is getting worried about you so I offered to come and check up on you."

"...It's that day again. It's been 9 years since I lost my parents that day."

"Oh. Yeah. Right."

"Look I just wanna be alone right now Devin, I'll be fine tomorrow so can you please just drop it and go on your date with the bitch from hell?"

"You know better than everyone except for Carrie that I can't do that if I know you're here in so much pain. I know you're not ready to tell me about the burden that you're bearing but I know enough to know that it's something that you can't bare by yourself. You're not the only one who's suffering and you're not the only one who's feeling pain, you have people who care about you Adam. You've spent 2 years trying to endure all of this on your own with no help from anyone except for Carlos, me and everyone else like Carrie and Cody want to help you but we can't if you don't let us. You're trying to be strong for our sakes so we don't have to worry about you but sometimes you've gotta learn how to let it out, after all that's what makes us friends isn't it? All of those things that make us happy or sad or anything like that, you have to share them with the people that you care about." he put a hand on Adam's shoulder "After all, even if you're trying to be strong it doesn't mean anything if you're not strong enough to let out all of the pain that you're holding in."

Very slowly, Adam turned around and faced Devin, revealing that he had tears streaming down his face, and he buried his face in Devin's shoulder as he sobbed quietly.

Without any hesitation, Devin proceeded to comfort Adam to the best of his ability "Just don't forget that stuff like this is what friends are for."

(Flashback end)

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Adam let out a sigh filled with nostalgia "That's something that I've never forgotten, not even for a second. But even so I lied to so many of my friends for so long about Mal, and even though he knew I had been hiding something Devin has remained patient for years. He's special for a number of reasons." he gripped Natsu by the shoulder "But in regards to your situation, let me just say this. You can't prevent your friends from even getting hurt, we're all teenagers and getting hurt is part of the job description. But what really matters is that you're there for them and you'll step up when it really counts, and that's the kind of guy that you are."

"You think so?" asked Natsu.

"Hell yeah. Now come on, let's go find the others and save the world."

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45 minutes later, after busting Cody, Mike, Happy and Alejandro out of prison…

"Lightning King Iron Hammer!" Adam thrusted Ascalon forward and unleashed a powerful blast of lightning, blowing down one of the castle walls "Okay what gives you guys, where the hell is Bridgette?"

Natsu nodded "Yeah and why is she the only one missing, and why just her?"

"I'll give you two guesses, it's because she's a woman and he's the scum of this world."

"I fear that it may be worse than we believe." Alejandro muttered "While we were imprisoned I heard a few things about that man Zash, or more specifically the magic that he had used in our battle last night to control Natsu."

"And he's gonna use that on her."

"I fear it is much worse than that."

"...Let me make this clear to the rest of you guys before we go barging in like a stampede of angry fangirls." Adam's body began crackling with electricity and radiating fire from his pure rage "We're gonna go find Bridgette, we're gonna get the Dragon Cry back, and we're gonna bring it back to Fiore. And if Zash hurt her in any way, shape or form then don't hesitate to put that sick mutt down."

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Sony peered down a water filled well, her mind drifting to the events of last night 'That man's heart was filled with such pain, and yet his soul is as pure as the light of the sun itself. Perhaps he could be able to do it.'

"Lady Sonya." that was when Animus appeared behind her.

"You startled me King Animus, what may I do for you?"

"Where is the Dragon Cry?"

"Sir Zash still has it in his possession, he insists on holding onto it until we conduct the ceremony tomorrow."

"That's not right, he should've brought the staff directly to me immediately." Animus suddenly gripped the side of his head in pain and agony.

"What is the matter?"

"We don't have much time left, I need the Dragon Cry in my hands. I need you to bring it to me at once."

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Bridgette opened her eyes and found herself in a dungeon "What the… Where am I? Is this some kind of jail? Where are Adam and the others?" she looked over and some girls sitting in another cell on the other side of the hall "Those girls…"

The girls looked over at Bridgette, their eyes filled with pity "Looks like he picked up another new one, the poor thing has no idea."

"What?"

"I'm sorry, but this place is nothing short of a living hell." it turns out that their bodies were all littered with scars.

"What happened, did someone do this to all of you?"

"You got a problem with that missy?" that was when Zash showed up with the Dragon Cry on his back, causing the other girls to cower in fear.

Bridgette on the other hand remained defiant "Hold on, what do you want with me and all of these other girls?"

"You'll find out in a minute." with a quick glance Zash used his magic to place Bridgette under his control "Now come with me."

"Yes sir." she followed him out of the prisoner hall and into a chamber further back into the dungeon, her eyes glowing blood crimson due to the effects of the magic being used to control her "Now stand over there and raise your arms."

"Yes sir." she went over to a nearby column and raised her arms which, along with her legs, were suddenly bound by chains.

"Tell me something, what do you think I want with you and the rest of these girls?" he gained a wicked smirk "All I need from you is just a little bit of blood every day, sure it's gonna leave a few scars but at least that way it won't kill you. In order to practice the dark arts requires that a form of blood sacrifice be given daily, besides the screams get more enjoyable." he pulled out a small dagger "Just hold still."

"Y-Yes sir…" despite the mind control, Bridgette was shaking in fear.

"Alright, let's get to the good part." Zash raised the blade when…

"Sir Zash I need the staff!" that was when Sonya burst into the room.

"Back off girl, just let me-"

"LET BRIDGETTE GO!" that was when Adam burst into the room in his full power Cosmic Knight form, disrupting the mind control and snapping Bridgette back to reality as he quickly slammed Zash into the ground and pierced him in the chest, causing blood to pour from the wound "Natsu get her out of here while I take out the trash."

Sure enough, Mike rushed into the room and freed Bridgette from her shackles "Come on, let's get you out of here Bridgette."

"Remember my shtick, hurt her and I'll rip out your throat with a huge Erza levels of crazy smile on my face." the deadly serious expression on his face nearly made Mike shit bricks.

Sonya studied both Adam and Mike "One of their companions outside must be a Dragon Slayer, but this one with the sword… He possesses a power that I have never seen before."

"It's called the power of a Cosmic Lacrima, and nothing personal chica but for what your boi just tried to do to the woman that I love your entire kingdom is about to pay the price. Okay I see that was going too far but the point still stands, anyone who tries to hurt my friends doesn't live to tell the tale." he pulled Bridgette into a tight embrace before lifting her up into his arms bridal style "Natsu, Cody and Alejandro are dealing with a bunch of soldiers outside so let's not waste any more time in here than we have to?"

"But there are a bunch of other girls in here too, we can't just leave them here. We have to help them." Bridgette told him.

"We'll be sure to come back for them, Mike take Ascalon and Bridgette and get her out of here while I take out the trash." he handed Ascalon to Mike "The warning still applies."

"Got it, come on let's go." so Mike took Bridgette by the hand and led her away to get her to somewhere safe.

"And now to take out the trash."

"You little bastard!" Zash pulled himself back to his feet "How the hell did you break out of the Bird's Nest and how did you find us in here?"

"I can sense where my friends are from across any of the ten dimensions. Yeah that's right, you're about to be slaughtered by a guy from another dimension. Let that sink in while I'm ripping out your still beating heart."

"Only after I reduce you to a burning corpse along with all of your companions!" Zash prepared to unleash the power of the Dragon Cry.

"No please don't do it Sir Zash, you'll kill all of us!" Sonya pleaded.

"Shut up! Anyone who dares to get in the way of my objectives! will be wiped from the face of Earth Land forever!"

"You wanna bet?" thinking quickly, Adam grabbed onto Sonya and blitzed away right before the area was engulfed in an explosion.

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Adam looked around "Is everyone alright?"

"Define your definition of okay." Alejandro spat out a little bit of rubble "Where are we right now anyway?"

"Looks like some kind of underground tunnel." Adam shot a glance over at Sonya "So what's your deal then, you from Stella?"

Sonya nodded, blushing slightly as she briefly locked eyes with Adam "Yes I am, my name is Lady Sonya-"

"You can't hide from me forever you worthless pieces of scum! When I find you you're as good as dead!"

"...Sir Zash is coming. Please follow me, I know of a way out."

"You know normally I would be against running from a fight." Adam got to his feet "But even though we have to get the staff back from that piece of scum the first thing to do right now is rendezvous with Mike and Bridgette."

"Yes, now please follow me." and so Sonya began leading what was left of the group down the tunnels, using her magic power to detect the presence of Zash and his men "This way, let us hurry."

"So you have the ability to sense where people are or something?" asked Cody.

"That is the magic power that I possess."

"Which means that they used your powers in order to locate us before our rather taxing battle last night." Alejandro noted.

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It wasn't long before Sonya had led the group out of the tunnels "You and your companions should be safe here, for the time being at the very least."

"We really gotta thank you for helping us out like this." Adam told her "You said before that your name is Sonya right?"

"That is correct, I am Lady Sonya and I am an advisor to King Animus."

"So then why would you help us escape like this?" asked Alejandro "Surely you must have some sort of reason."

"Yes I do, it's because I cannot idly stand by and watch as my people suffer any longer than I already have."

"Yeah tell me about it, living with Zash must be hell for anyone." Adam commented.

"That is not what I am referring to. King Animus and I have known each other for as long as I am able to remember, he was once a truly kind hearted man until the day came in which he became obsessed with getting his hands on the magic power of the Dragon Cry. Sir Zash told him about the magic power that it holds. I even had to help him steal it and tried to force myself to believe that it was for the good of the kingdom."

"How could something like that possibly help your people?"

"Do you happen to know anything about Stellanium?"

"You mean aside from the fact that it packs one hell of a punch, it's the kingdom's special mineral and it can absorb a crap load of starlight?"

"The more starlight that is absorbed by the crystals, the more illustrious and therefore more valuable they can become."

"And the problem is?"

"The problem is that for the last few years the Stellanium has been crying out, it seems that a great deal of it has been absorbing too much starlight and our kingdom now faces the threat of having all of that light released at once."

"Is that a bad thing?" asked Cody "It's just light, what's the big deal?"

"When Stellanium absorbs a certain amount of starlight it ends up gaining magic power, if all of that built up energy were to suddenly be unleashed then the entire kingdom of Stella could be wiped out in one brilliant flash. In order to prevent our destruction we desperately need the power of the Dragon Cry. According to the legends the Dragon Cry is capable of extinguishing all light, there is a certain ceremony and the king plans to perform it tomorrow night in a temple in the northwest part of the city."

"Would that not make your kingdom suffer?" asked Alejandro.

"But it is also the only way that it can be saved, though it may mean that we lose every Stellanium crystal that we possess. Do you understand? That is why we need the power of the Dragon Cry, without it my people will surely perish."

"It belongs to the kingdom of Fiore and our mission is to ensure its safe return, that is why we've come here in the first place."

"That may be true, but right now the power that it holds is the only hope for the future of the entirety of Stella."

"You're dead wrong about that lady." Natsu outright snarled, taking her by surprise "I didn't even need to touch it to be able to feel it, the anger and the suffering of the dragons. We can't let that kind of power be released."

Adam nodded "Natsu is right, I myself touched it so I know better than anyone what he's talking about."

"But if we don't then our kingdom will be destroyed!" Sonya protested "Do the two of you not have hearts?"

"Of course we do, but we also have brains." this left her taken aback "I think it goes without saying that we're both more than willing to destroy all of the Stellanium on this island to save your people but we need you to give us the Dragon Cry. It's way more powerful than you think it is, if its power is unleashed then it could destroy not only your kingdom but also this entire world as a result. We need you to give it to us."

"I… I'm so sorry but I can't do that, I just can't!" and then she ran off, leaving Adam and the others alone.

"Well now I feel like an ass. And now it's passed. Come on, let's go find Mike and Bridgette before they get themselves killed."

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Nightfall came, and the tension in the air was thick.

Animus was in the process of punishing Zash for his actions during the day by using his magic to paralyze him in a painful way "I thought I made it clear to you Zash that Sonya was not to be put in harm's way, and yet in your mindless and impulsive stupidity you dare to use the power of the staff in her presence."

"Please… forgive me… your majesty!" Zash managed to get out through the pain "It was merely… a lapse of judgement…" he was released from the paralysis by Animus.

"The ceremony is going to be held tomorrow night and surely our intruders will be there without fail, see to it that they do not survive. Do I make myself clear?" and he took his leave without bothering to wait for a response, leaving Zash fuming.

'Oh those scum won't live to see the morning, and neither will you my so called king. I swear that.'

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By this point the team had regrouped and was about to settle down in a camping spot for the night in the middle of a forest.

Cody looked around in awe "This forest is so beautiful and the fruit is literally glowing, I feel like I'm in Toriko."

"We should camp here for the night." Alejandro suggested "However in case that they manage to find us again I suggest that we sleep in shifts."

"Don't worry about it guys I'll take the whole damn night." and then Natsu promptly lost consciousness.

"That was fast."

"Yeah like anyone who's actually watched Fairy Tail didn't see that coming, just let me take the first watch." Adam told them "But for now let's move onto more important things."

"Agreed. From what we know so far based on what Lady Sonya has told us they plan to use the Dragon Cry to extinguish all of the Stellanium, but how could that even be possible."

"And say it does work by some miracle what do they do then, let their entire kingdom go bankrupt as a result?"

"Regardless of what the outcome will be we cannot allow them to use the magic power within the staff."

"Well that goes without saying."

"You guys said that she said they were going to use it as part of some kind of ceremony tomorrow night." Mike pointed out.

"Which means that we have to steal it back before then."

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Hours passed, and most of the group had already fallen asleep.

Well, all of them except for Adam that is, who was lying on the ground gazing up at the night skies of Stella with his eyes being covered by his bangs 'I swore that I would never let them see me like this.'

"You having a hard time sleeping too?"

Adam glanced over and found Bridgette leaning against another tree "No not really, but it's my turn for guard duty isn't it?"

"Actually it's Mike's turn."

"Uh huh."

"...I see your point."

"Yeah well, I've just been doing some thinking. About why we were sent here, among other things."

"I know what you mean, if we fulfill our mission then this entire island could be destroyed in an instant."

"...You know what screw the conversation, come with me." he suddenly lifted her into his arms and leapt up to the top of a tree, revealing the majestic starlights of the kingdom of Stella covering the skies above them.

Bridgette could only look on in awe at what she was seeing "It's… It's so beautiful, I've never seen anything like it."

"Yeah, you did say that you wanted to see them didn't you?" he picked up a small piece of Stellanium and crushed it in his hand as tears began streaming down his face, something that took her by surprise "Chances like this are why you have to keep your chin up and it's why you have to know when to share your pain with others."

"...You know it's been a year since I fell in love with you Adam, but even now you continue to surprise me." she pulled him into a tight embrace as they continue to gaze up at the night sky.

Down on the ground, Mike looked up at them and gave a small smile 'Way to go Adam, you're finally entering the last stage of healing. I knew it was only a matter of time.'

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Morning came, and the sun had long since risen over the Kingdom of Stella.

Sting and Rogue were quick to notice some soldiers on the prowl like a pack of pissed off tigers roaming the city "Hey Rogue what gives with all of these guys giving us the stink eye? I mean it's not like we did anything since we've been here."

"You mean aside from the fact that Lector started 3 bar fights in one night and you had a threeway one night stand with two bunny waitresses in that bar?" Rogue pointed out dryly "The point I'm making is that Frosch and I haven't done anything, you and Lector have made yourselves into criminals just by being yourself you man child."

"Oh come on that's not fair!"

"We passed fair the minute you tried to drag me into a four way."

Frosch nodded "I think so too."

"See? Even Frosch thinks so."

"Halt, you four identify yourselves!" and then the soldiers started charging at them like a bunch of blind idiots.

"What the?"

"Beats me, we literally haven't done anything." Sting received a look "Okay fine you haven't done anything."

"I don't think they're part of the welcoming committee." Lector commented.

"Well that's too bad for them cause if they're looking for a fight-"

"Then we'll give them one." Rogue summoned a shadow sword "You can smell Natsu and a few others nearby can't you?"

"I gotcha. I'll go meet up with him, you deal with these guys and catch up to us when you're finished with it." and he left, taking Lector and Frosch with him.

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Adam was leading Natsu and the others towards what would be the battlefield when they heard the "What the hell is going on up there?"

"I'll go check it out, just make sure that the rest of you guys don't do anything too reckless for now." and so Natsu took off just as a squad of Stella knights prepared to advance on the main group.

"Looks like we've got ourselves one hell of a welcome wagon!" in a matter of seconds Adam had already disabled all of them without killing any of them "I'm guessing the Three Stars can't be too far behind, you guys head onto the temple while I stick around and handle the lot of these assholes."

"Are you sure about this?" asked Bridgette.

"Remember what I said to you last night, now get going and get that staff!"

"Aye sir!" the now red colored Happy and Cody both saluted, the two of them both now sporting red skin.

"Ay dios mio!" Alejandro looked increasingly weirded out "What in the name of El Diablo happened to you two?"

"Wait what?" Cody noticed it and nearly lost his shit "Oh man it must be because of that fruit that I ate last night!"

"Let us just hope that the effects are temporary."

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At the same time, Adam was easily subduing the soldiers attacking him using a few swift pressure point attacks, knocking them out cold in seconds "Alright show yourself lap dogs, I know you're waiting to get the jump on me."

"So you noticed us glasses wearing swordsman." that was when Swan of the Three Stars revealed herself.

"The leg fighter who uses the Stellanium armor in battle, this is gonna be good."

"That is where you're wrong my fellow warrior, for I am the lovely leg wizard and you would be wise to remember such a thing!" and so Swan took off through a set of ruins, with Adam following hot on her heels.

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The sun was setting over the Kingdom of Stella.

Natsu was racing through the streets of Stella until he noticed three familiar figures in front of him, much to his surprise "What the hell… Sting?!"

Sure enough, standing in front of him was Sting, with Frosch and Lector both standing on either side of him "Son of a bitch, Natsu what's up?"

"Sting what the hell are you doing here?"

"Me and Rogue and these two came here on a job a few days ago and Frosch said that he saw you and Happy, what are you guys doing here?"

"Dealing with some crap for the king involving a magic staff, I actually met some new guys from this other dimension because of it. They use this weird kind of magic they call Cosmic Slayer or something, stuff like wind, lightning, fire, ice, blah blah blah."

"Sounds interesting."

"I even fought the strongest one using my Lightning Flame Dragon Mode and Dragon Force and that wasn't even enough to beat him."

"Your playtime is over." that was when Doll of the Three Stars revealed himself "FranCois Catelyn!" he summoned his two dolls.

"And we've got this asshole to deal with now."

"So what's this guy's deal?" asked Sting "Have you and this giant walking bicep been playing with dolls or something?"

"Hell no, what do you think I'm insane? You know what screw it, I'll explain that later. Right now I've gotta with some people, you think you can take care of this guy while I go meet up with them?"

"You've got it, I'll have this guy taken care of in no time flat."

"Great, thanks." and so Natsu took off running.

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The race to obtain the Dragon Cry went on, with Cody, Mike, Bridgette, Happy and Alejandro as the only ones in the group remaining "There's another one coming towards us, get ready you guys!"

"Coming in hot mother f*ckers!" that was when Gapri of the Three Stars burst onto the scene on top of his metal ball "Good god you guys are so slow."

Cody stepped forward "I've got this guy, the rest of you go on ahead and I'll catch up with you once I'm done here."

"Are you sure about this?" asked Happy.

"Does this answer your question?" Cody summoned his Yin Yang Staff "Now go ahead and do what Adam would do."

"...We'll be sure to come back for you." and so the three of them took off.

'Just watch me Gwen, this one's for you.'

"You're not getting past me!" Gapri charged at the group.

Cody suddenly blitzed in front of him and pointed his staff at him "Hero's Slicer!" he fired a blast of energy from the end of the staff, hitting Gapri dead on before he could react and blowing him backwards, engulfing him in an explosion.

When the smoke cleared, it revealed Gapri sporting minor burns across his body "Well what the hell do you know, you're not too bad kid."

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Now there were only four left on the chase for the Dragon Cry.

Bridgette looked over to Mike and the others "Sorry you guys but I have to go and help those girls that are still trapped in Zash's dungeon."

"Are you going to be alright alone?" asked Alejandro.

"She's not going to be alone." Mike told her, his eyes radiating a surprising amount of determination and resolve "Alejandro I think you should go with her."

"But Mike you don't have any powers, you would never be able to stand by yourself if you were to encounter someone like Zash when you're alone."

"That's where you're wrong Alejandro, I'm not alone." Mike shot him a smile filled with renewed confidence "I've got Happy with me, and I've got my spirits keeping me up when I get down. Not to mention that I have my personalities."

"...We'll be sure to meet up with you once the senoritas have been freed." and so Alejandro took off after Bridgette towards the dungeon.

"Well Happy, I guess it's up to the two sidekicks to stop this thing and save the world this time around."

Happy nodded "Aye sir, from now on just call me Crimson Happy!"

"And you can call me Multiple Mike." and to prove his point, he suddenly transformed into one of his personalities, this one being Svetlana "Is time for Svetlana to show zis dragon man what we are capable of!"

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The time for the ceremony was drawing near.

Sonya stood in front of the Dragon Cry as she thought about what Adam and Natsu has said to her before 'They said that they were able to feel the anger and the suffering of the dragons from the staff, and if its power were to be released then this entire world could be destroyed. I have to know if it's true.' she braced herself and gripped the staff, and tears suddenly began streaming down her face.

"Sonya." that was when Animus got her attention.

"Your majesty."

"There is little time, I need you to give me the Dragon Cry this instant."

"But King Animus if we use the staff then more people are going to suffer, I'm sorry but I cannot let you have it."

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By this point Bridgette and Alejandro had freed the other prisoner girls and were guiding them out of the dungeon "You have to hurry, get out of here before he comes back! Now is your chance to get back the freedom that he stole from you!"

"Thank you." one of the women shot them a small smile "Thank you both so much for saving us."

"You can thank us by getting out of here."

"And quickly, he's coming." Alejandro noted.

Sure enough, Zash burst into the dungeon, literally foaming at the mouth from the pure rage he was feeling "WHERE THE HELL IS THE DRAGON CRY?! What in the name of hell is going on here?!"

"Your schemes are at an end Zash, that is what's going on."

"This time I will kill you you little punk!"

"I wouldn't be so sure." he glanced back "Bridgette listen to me, go rejoin Mike and the cat while I deal with Zash."

"Just watch out for his eyes, and make sure this jerk gets what he has coming to him." with that being said, Bridgette rushed off with the rest of the girls.

"And now it's just the two of us Zash, just as was intended."

"Don't you dare mock me you little punk!" Zash tried to take control of Alejandro using his magic power.

However, faster than he was able to react, Alejandro slipped on a pair of shades, covering his eyes and making him immune "Such a shame it truly is senor, your spell fails to effect those whose eyes are covered. And that is why you are going to lose this battle." to prove this point he blitzed forward and dealt Zash a quick kick to the face, sending him crashing straight through the wall behind him.

Zash quickly burst out from the rubble, pissed as hell "I don't have the time to be dealing with your little revolution, Red Knife come on!" he summoned a large red dog and took off while riding on top of its back.

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Another battle was about to begin.

Adam brandished Ascalon against Swan and her Stellanium leg armor "You know I usually prefer not to have to harm a woman being one of the few guys from my world who still believes in chivalry, but that rule goes out the window if anyone tries to hurt my friends so don't think I'm gonna hold back. You hear me?"

"Loud and clear swordsman! Grand Fouette" and so Swan charged at Adam and fired off a barrage of energy blasts with her feet.

Adam deflected every blast that was thrown at him, running along the side of a nearby cliff as he charged an attack through his sword "Lightning Beast Chase!" he summoned a barrage of lightning dragons and fired them forward.

Swan disabled them using her Stellanium leg gauntlets and attempted to deal Adam a solid kick to the torso.

Adam caught her foot with one hand and threw her away without breaking a sweat, taking her aback with this "Okay now I'm done screwing around, now I'm fighting seriously." and without a moment's hesitation, he flashed into his Cosmic Knight form, shattering the ground beneath him and leaving her frozen in awe and fear "Well now you've seen true power, so what do you think?"

"But… But how? My lovely kicks should've left you mesmerized."

"You've got nice kicks I'll give you that much chica but something is lacking in your overall execution, and because of that the seven stars will judge you even more harshly." and with that being said, Adam dealt Swan a powerful blow to the gut, causing her to fall over and lose consciousness, before he transformed back "Remember this pain and let it activate you. That one is for you Christopher Sabat." and he rushed off to join the others.

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The second battle was raging onwards.

"Now Francois! Now Catelyn!" using his own Dolls at his command, Doll attacked Sting using powerful blasts of fire.

"White Dragon's Roar!" Sting unleashed his signature dragon roar in the form of a blast of light.

"Simple mere light tricks will not be nearly enough to stop me!" Doll continued to fire off random blasts of fire, causing major amounts of damage throughout the city.

"What the f*ck?! This is his city dude!"

"LOOK OUT!" seeing a random child cornered, Lector rushed over to defend her, only to end up taking the blast in her place."

"LECTOR!"

"Another masterful job Catelyn." Doll noted "You have done well and you have pleased me as a result."

"...Oh that is it, now your shit is about to get wrecked." and to prove his point Sting went over to a nearby burning building and ate the flames of the fire, thereby granting him the power of these flames "How do you like this? Change Mode: White Flame Dragon!"

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"You really think you've got what it takes to stop me you little punk?!" Gapri continued with his assault on Cody as he shot forward, the shockwave of his advancement blowing Cody back a great distance.

However, Cody suddenly blitzed behind him before he could react "I've had more than enough of you!" he slugged Gapri across the face, sending him hurtling to the ground.

Gapri quickly rebounded and charged at him, only for his iron ball to be sent flying away from him by a mere sweep of Cody's hand "What the-?!"

"Hero's Slicer!" Cody hit Gapri with an energy blast to the gut at point blank range, causing him to cough up blood "Whatever you do it's not going to work. I don't care how fast you might be, it's nothing compared to what powers I've been granted by the universe." he dealt Gapri a fierce barrage of punches and kicks, sending him hurtling high into the air, but Cody could feel his chi beginning to face "I'd better try and conserve for the fight to come, I'm gonna end this one in one shot!" he prepared a one handed energy blast "Hold it… Hold it… Hold it…"

"YOU'RE MINE YOU LITTLE SHIT!" now back on his ball, Gapri charged towards Cody in a blind rage.

"HERO'S IMPACT!" Cody fired off a one handed energy blast, engulfing Gapri nearly at point blank range and resulting in a massive explosion.

When the smoke cleared, Gapri was face down in a large crater "Ow…"

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"White Flame Dragon's Iron Fist!" Sting dealt Doll a light and fire enhanced fist to the face, sending him crashing to the ground.

Doll pulled himself out of a crater "This shouldn't be possible, how is it that he's as strong as this?!"

"You wanna know how? White Drive!" Sting activated his White Drive, increasing his power even further.

"But that heat should've melted you away completely, you shouldn't even be alive right now let alone able to fight!"

"You really shouldn't underestimate the power of a wizard of Sabertooth, or a Dragon Slayer for that matter. We know how to take a lot of heat, especially from some reject playthings like those things you're always carrying around."

"You… HOW DARE YOU! YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO RIDICULE MY PRECIOUS DAUGHTERS?! SHOW HIM WHAT YOU CAN DO AND RIP HIS HEART OUT!" now thoroughly enraged, Doll sent his dolls at Sting in a blind rage, attacking him with numerous blasts of fire.

"Yeah I've had enough of you! Time to show what this technique is really capable of! Advanced Dragon Slayer Secret Art: CRIMSON NOVA!" Sting hit Doll at point blank range with a flame enhanced version of his most powerful attack, blowing him away in a powerful explosion, destroying his dolls in the process.

"FranCois… Catelyn… No…" and then Doll passed out.

"And that's why you don't f*ck with my cat." Sting went over and scooped up the unconscious form of Lector "Don't worry little buddy, I've got you."

"How is he?" Frosch made his way out of his hiding place.

"I think he'll be alright, but listen to me Frosch because I need you to do something. Can you take him back to Rogue while I go join up with Natsu?"

"Yeah, sure." so he did, leaving Sting to join the main frey.

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Animus glowered at Sonya, his eyes filled with burning rage "Tell me Sonya, just what is it that you're trying to prove? Hand over the Dragon Cry before I lose my patience and do something that we'll both regret."

Sonya remained firm in her defiance "I'm sorry King Animus but that's something I simply cannot do.

"I'm not going to ask you again Sonya, give to to me."

"Give it up, zis is the end of zhe line!" that was when Svetlana and Happy arrived on the scene ready for a fight "You have no chance of victory in zis fight!"

"What?" Sonya whipped around to face them, only to notice that Animus had suddenly disappeared "What the- Where did his majesty go?"

"Listen to me girl, let go of zhe staff before you end up hurting yourself because you cannot handle its power."

"But I don't understand, King Animus was just here."

"I don't want to have to take zhe staff from you girl, please give it to me."

"No, I can't just give up the staff… I-"

"You must not let them take the staff!"

Sonya froze and slowly turned around, voices screaming throughout her mind as she slowly turned to see the reflection of Animus staring at her, only for it to suddenly morph into her own reflection "I-I don't understand… your majesty… you and I… are one in the same?"

"I would have thought that you would have realized it much sooner than this.'

"So then… we were always one?"

"The time has come for you to face the truth Sonya, and that truth is that you and I are one in the same."

"No… No… I…" she gripped her head in agony.

"Sonya no!" Happy cried out.

There was a pulsing vibration and Sonya suddenly whipped around and tried use the Dragon Cry to electrocute both Happy and Svetlana with a blast of magic energy.

Svetlana managed to dodge the blast, reverting back to Mike in the process "Tell me something, just who are you really?."

Sonya let out a chuckle full of malice "If you must know I am Animus, and I am the soul of a dragon that lives within the body of Sonya."

"You're a dragon? You mean like Igneel or Acnologia kind of dragon? You're saying that you're that kind of dragon?"

"Indeed I am one who is not of this world!" Animus began surrounding himself with magic energy from within the staff.

"What is it that you're planning? You're not actually going to stop the Stellanium from exploding all at once like Sonya said are you? Was what she said even true?"

"Poor naive little Sonya, to think that she believed in such nonsense. How incredibly foolish of her. All this time my goal has been to finally free myself from this pathetic human body and live as I was intended, as a true dragon!"

"But you need the Dragon Cry to do it, Igneel could do it on his own but you can't. Tell me, why is that?"

"You know Igneel, as in Igneel the fearsome king of the fire dragons? Igneel had the luxury of being able to enter the most compatible type of humans, he was allowed to choose a Dragon Slayer. I however did not have the time to carefully choose my vessel, I had to pick the nearest living human at the time. This was Sonya, the little girl who lay on the ground with grave injuries and it was because of this that I was never able to leave Sonya of my own will. But now that I have the Dragon Cry staff in my hands that changes everything!" he unleashed a massive burst of magic energy "For its true purpose is to amplify the power of a dragon, after all of this time freedom will belong to me!"

"NO WAY IN HELL!" that was when Natsu and Sting both burst onto the scene and attacked with a three way combination of fire, lightning and light.

Animus was quick to notice something about the two of them "So it's you two, you were the ones chosen by Igneel and Weisslogia?" but then Sonya managed to take back control of her body and called off the blast "Natsu, Mike, please hurry and take the staff!"

"Sonya?" Mike slowly stepped forward.

"Hurry before it's too late!"

"R-Right!" so Mike, along with Natsu and Sting, tried to reach for the staff.

"SONYA!" that was when Zash burst onto the scene on top of Red Knife and snatched the Dragon Cry from them "The power of the Dragon Cry belongs to me and me alone, you understand?!" this left Happy, the only other one on his feet, terrified at the sight of such a large dog.

"Sir Zash…" Sonya tried to pull herself to her feet.

"King Animus, or is it Lady Sonya speaking to me right now? As the ruler of this kingdom you were the one giving me orders and as Lady Sonya I was the one giving you orders, but to be quite honest your bothersome identity crisis has really gotten on my nerves."

"I don't understand… what do you plan to do with the magic power of the Dragon Cry? What are your intentions?"

"What do you think? I'm going to enact my revenge on the kingdom of Fiore, the Dragon Cry is a highly condensed form of Ethernano and once its magic power has been released the destruction and magic power that it rain downs will be greater than that of a dozen blasts of Etherion! This is their punishment for expelling me from my homeland, with this power at my disposal I will wipe Fiore off of the map forever! I will show them the true power of the dark arts! Now Red Knife these worthless scraps of flesh are yours to feast upon while I obtain my revenge!" and he rushed off to unleash the power of the Dragon Cry.

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"Mike. Rise."

Slowly, Mike pulled himself back to his feet and looked around as he tried to find the source of this menacing voice, ,only to find himself inside of his own mind "What… Who's there?"

"Face forward."

Mike did so, and found a window before him showing him the outside world, revealing the events going on outside, and then shifting to Adam rushing towards the location where the Dragon Cry ceremony was to take place "That boy, he is your enemy."

"What? No he's not, Adam is my best friend and we've been that way since we were kids! Why would I ever think something like that?"

"Do not try to delude yourself. You must kill Adam, only then will you truly be free of your pain and on the path to unlimited power."

"Who are you? Where are you? Why can't I see you? Where are Svetlana and the rest of my other personalities?"

"You have to kill Adam, it is your destiny."

"Alright stop it, show yourself! Mal if this is you then stop hiding and let me see your face already!"

"Mal was weak, he couldn't handle the power that I gave him and that set off this path of events over nearly a decade. But you are strong. Look down."

Mike looked down at his shadow, only to find it staring back at him, as if it were a shadowy reflection of himself "No way, it can't be… You're my…"

"Yes that's right Mike, I'm your shadow. I'm willing to lend you my power, now go and strike that fool Zash down along with the dragon Animus, and then Adam will follow them into the afterlife."

"No… No!... NO!" Mike suddenly started to clutch the sides of his head in pain and agony over the temptations.

"Go on and kill Adam and anyone else that would stand in your way, you have to do it for it is your destiny!"

"NOOOO!" Mike was suddenly surrounded by black flames, covering his entire body in strange black marks.

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"STOP!" Happy tried to rush off to stop Zash from unleashing the power of the Dragon Cry, only to find himself frozen with fear while having to deal with Red Knife "I'm not gonna let you gobble them up like they're dog food, you don't wanna mess with Red Happy okay? You're gonna regret it, you hear what I'm saying?" he was met with a roar from Red Knife but managed to power through it, and with a brave roar he hit the dog with a blast of fire, knocking it out cold and causing Happy to turn back to his normal blue form.

"Good good, who let the dogs out." that was when Adam showed up, with Alejandro, Bridgette and Cody right behind him "Crappy reference I know but still, nice work. You okay?"

"Yeah I think so, thanks…" and then he passed out.

"Points for effort, not much else." he knelt down besides Mike "Hey Mike you okay? Can you stand?" he tried slapping him a few times.

"Yeah… Yeah…" Mike pulled himself to his feet, using his shirt to cover the black marks covering his shoulder thanks to the shadowy figure from within his mind.

'He's hiding something, I'm sensing something coming from him and whatever it is it's dark and powerful.' Adam pulled Mike back to his feet 'No focus Adam, dealing with Zash and Animus comes first and then I'll beat the shit out of whoever did that to him.'

"Damn you Zash…" Animus, once again controlling Sonya's body, struggled to pull himself back to his feet "You'll pay for your betrayal with your life!"

"So you're gonna go full dragon now right?"

"SILENCE HUMAN!" with a mighty roar Animus emerged from Sonya's body and took on his true dragon form, that being a dragon covered in Stellanium crystals "AND NOW ALL OF YOU WILL DIE!" he started climbing the tower in order to find Zash and kill him for his betrayal.

Bridgette fell back in disbelief of what she was seeing "A dragon… a real life dragon… This is too much, even for me…"

"Hey remember what I said Bridge, you've gotta keep your chin up at times like this." without even batting an eye Adam flashed into his Cosmic Knight form "Come on guys, we've got a world to save. Let's show them what the power Cosmic can do."

"Not so fast." Natsu stood back up, with Sting doing the same "This is our world and we're gonna be the ones to save it."

"Believe what you want dipshit, now let's go kick some dragon ass already."

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Zash continued making his way to the top of the tower, only to find himself in a struggle to survive as he dodged several attempts by Animus to crush "Well greetings your majesty, it would seem to me that the form you currently reside is a bit lacking in terms of appreciation for royal architecture."

"Enough of your games Zash, hand over the Dragon Cry this instant you traitorous wretch!"

"But this transformation and now your goal has been achieved, isn't that right? Why continue to pursue the Dragon Cry?"

"Because my true goal has not been achieved, what I desire is the ultimate freedom to do as I please!"

"Well then allow me to grant you that freedom, how very fortunate that I just happened to have mine held!" Zash then proceeded to warp Animus' mind with his Black Magic, causing him to go on a rampage "You're free to rampage as much as you want, how much of that is all up to you now." and he continued on his way.

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Adam and the rest continued their climb up the tower, only to notice a large figure diving down towards them "Oh crap."

"DIE!" Animus charged down at them and unleashed his colorful Dragon's Roar blast at nearly point blank range.

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Zash continued his way to the top of the tower "By the looks of it it would seem that those meddlesome lapdogs of Aurora's are hell bent on getting in my way, I knew this would someday come to pass and therefore the time has come for me to unveil my secret weapons." he held up his magic ring "Come forth my Quartum Soldiers!" he proceeded to awaken his Quartum Army, an army of artificial soldiers made from Dragon Slayer Lacrimas, or Fourth Generation Dragon Slayers.

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Adam looked around as the Quartum Soldiers started to spring up from the ground all over the Kingdom of Stella "God it's like go go dancers at a Charlie Sheen party. Or Coachella. Or a rave."

"Are you done?" asked Sting.

"Yeah I'm out of f*cked up analogies, so we're gonna have to split up in order to take down the hookers and the pimp." he received several odd looks "My point is we're gonna have to split up for now, we'll split into two teams. Bridgette, Mike and Natsu are with me and we're gonna go stop Zash and Animus. Alejandro, Cody and Sting go back up Rogue and take care of whatever the hell these things are. Got it?"

"Got it, let's go!" so without any arguments, Sting grabbed Cody and Alejandro and pulled them back down towards the ground.

"Alright now that leaves us to take down a traitor and a dragon, and maybe something else if it rears its ugly head." Adam glanced back at Mike 'The question is, when is it gonna make its move?'

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Now covered in some light wounds, Rogue glanced around at the bodies of some of the Quartum Soldiers and those that were still standing 'Well this isn't good, for every one that I take down two more pop up in its place. And on top of that there were hundreds of them to begin with, I'm gonna need some sort of plan.'

"White Flame Dragon's ROAR!" that was when Sting arrived on the scene, using his new White Flame Dragon Mode to annihilate a good number of them "You need a helping hand partner?"

"You took your time getting back."

"Well I ran into Natsu and his new possy."

"Did you seriously just say possy?"

"Yeah that's right I know terms."

"That's not the point!"

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"Quartum Soldiers, keep those worthless peons busy until they either give up or meet a gruesome and agonizing death!"

Cody and Alejandro reached ground level, only to find that there were at least hundreds of Quartum Soldiers waiting for them "Okay that looks seriously unnerving, what the heck are these things?"

"They're Quartum Soldiers…" Sonya slowly lifted her head "They're artificial soldiers that were created by Zash, they're Fourth Generation Dragon Slayers."

"Wait, Fourth Generation? I didn't even know those were a thing!"

"Zash was able to create an entire army of artificial soldiers using Dragon Slayer Lacrimas at his disposal."

"Well then all of that effort is about to go to waste, are you ready Alejandro?"

"Indeed I am little one. Lanza del Relampago!" using his Crimson Jaguar powers and energy manipulation, Alejandro created a crimson colored energy javelin and fired it off at the Quartum Soldiers.

"HERO'S BURST!" pointing his Yin Yang staff forward, Cody unleashed a massive blast of Hero's Chi, colliding with the Quartum Soldiers and dealing their army a massive amount of damage, which was increased by the effects of Alejandro's Lanza del Relampago, effectively cutting their numbers in half "Nice work."

"The same to you amigo. I can imagine Gwen would be quite pleased to hear about your heroics when she returns from that race."

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Adam watched as Animus circled around for another attack and looked up towards the top of the tower "Zash is headed up there to unleash the power of the Dragon Cry, he's gonna try and destroy Fiore."

"Not if I can help it." with black energy radiating from his body, Mike suddenly burst upwards towards the top of the tower.

"I've got a bad feeling about this. Bridge you stick around and help Natsu with the dragon, I have something that I wanna check on." and so Adam burst upwards to follow Mike.

Bridgette watched him go "Just be careful." then she activated her own semi Cosmic Force form to help Natsu battle Animus.

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Adam continued his way up the tower, only to screech to a halt when he noticed a figure in front of him as the area was bathed in white light "Really again with this Mal?"

Sure enough, Mal stood before him looking as deadly serious as always, only with a white aura gathering around his body "Your confidence is leaps and bounds beyond what it was the last time we met each other like this."

"Like I told Mike, I'm done doubting myself, I'm done fearing the what ifs of whatever choices I make, no more living in self pity, no more hiding what I truly am. I'm a knight in shining armor protecting his king."

"...Remind me to come back to that part later but right now we have bigger cosmic fish to fry, the shadow is making its move right now."

"I saw those black marks Mike was trying to hide earlier, the power I sensed is nothing like anything that I've ever felt before. I don't know if I can stop him but I'll be damned if I don't give him one hell of a fight."

"And that's all the incentive that I need in order to do this." Mal slammed his fist into Adam's gut and the white aura surrounding him was transferred into Adam "I have a feeling you're gonna like this one."

"That depends, what the hell is it?"

"Energy from a Cosmic Lacrima of Light, you can manipulate pure energy thanks to absorbing this power now."

"So that means that-"

"You can steal techniques straight out Dragon Ball or Yu Yu Hakusho? Yes, yes you can and I have no doubt that you will."

"...Yeah this is gonna be one hell of a fun fight."

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Zash stood at the top of the tower ready to activate the power of the Dragon Cry "I besiege thine power Dragon Cry, unleash your divine power onto this world and use it to eradicate all of my enemies! The time is upon us oh long departed dragons, transform your anger and hatred into weapons of unmatched destruction and suffering!" he prepared to unleash the power of the Dragon Cry, only to freeze when he found a black claw like hand sticking out of his chest, drenched in his own blood "Wh-What… How could… this wasn't…" he slowly glanced back and his eyes widened "Y-You…"

Sure enough, it was Mike, his body radiating an even greater amount of black energy, his eyes having turned blood crimson with a malicious smirk plastered across his face "Let me guess, you wanted to cover this entire continent in magic circles and get revenge on those you think wronged you. Well let me tell you something you power hungry fool, you don't know the true meaning of power. Here, let me give you a little taste of what true power can be like." and with a simple wave of his hand he eradicated Zash with a black blast of energy, killing him on the spot and erasing his mind control magic "And you think that you know what it means to have power."

"You say that like you do." that was when Adam dropped down in front of him in his Cosmic Knight form his body radiating white energy "Looks like you managed to get one hell of a power up though Mike, I'd like to say that I'm proud of you but I know that's not you in there. So what do I call you then?"

"A difficult question to answer. In one sense I am simply a means to an end, a way to make sure that the people of this universe fear and respect my masters, the Cosmic Elementals who understand the superiority that they hold over all mortals, but if you must refer to me as something then call me Sordibus. I need only to latch onto a suitable consciousness and then I can prove just how superior this power is!"

"So that means that you latched onto Mal for years, and now you're doing the same by trying to make Mike into some kind of pawn. Which means that you killed my parents that night 11 years ago." Adam clenched his fists, his teeth grinding furiously, his body crackling with white electricity.

"Indeed I did and I took a great deal of pleasure in hastening their journey to the Netherworld if for no other reason than to make you suffer. As for Mal, he had outlived his usefulness but never truly understood the power that I could grant him but Mike is a different story. His feelings of helplessness and hatred for his own weakness were all the incentive that I needed. Now we are one, a shadow whose purpose is to shape the destiny over all dimensions of this universe. Our first act for that to take place is to take your life here and now Adam, or should I call you by your original name: Tempestatis."

"Does it look like I give a rat's ass what you call me? To protect my friends I'd throw all of it away without a second thought, so if it's a real fight you want then it's a real fight that you're gonna get. And now to prove my point. Spirit Gun!" he fired off a blast of energy from his fingertip.

"Cosmic Shadow Slash!" Sordibus summoned a sword made entirely of shadows and batted away the Spirit Gun, the force sending him skidding backwards a few feet, but he quickly morphed into a shadow and travelled along the blast and attacked Adam with a torrent of shadows, sending him crashing to the ground and leaving him bleeding heavily "And that would be my Cosmic Shadow Waxwing Flash."

"So what?" Adam bolted back to his feet, only to see that Sordibus had disappeared "Where the hell did he go?"

"I'm right behind you. Cosmic Shadow Laser Circus!" Sordibus rose up from where he had merged with Adam's own shadow and fired a barrage of black shadow lasers, dealing Adam a great number of wounds and knocking Ascalon out of his grip "So it would seem that that everyone was wrong about you, you're nothing but talk after all. You're nothing but that same scared little brat just like you've always been."

"Think whatever the hell you want."

"I'm only speaking the truth, not that you could be any match for me even if you did have the power to backup all of your irritating talk."

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Bridgette stopped herself from free falling after an attack by Animus by driving an ice sword into the side of the tower, only to look up "Okay that's not good."

"The staff's magic energy is going out of control?" Natsu guessed "So what the hell are Adam and Mike doing up there?"

"I don't know but we can't waste anymore time, Adam and Mike can take care of themselves but we still have those Quartum Soldiers to worry about. I'm gonna try and slow down the dragon as much as I can while you go help the others with the soldiers."

"Say what? You'll get yourself killed, I'm the Dragon Slayer so if anyone should take on the actual dragon then it's me!"

"Don't underestimate me Natsu, I may not be as strong as Adam and I may not be a fighter but I'll do everything in my power to protect my friends!" and as if on cue Bridgette's eyes turned a deep ocean blue as she awakened her own Cosmic Force "Now go."

"...Just don't do anything stupid like I would." and so Natsu started free falling back down towards the ground.

"I can't make any promises like that.

"GET OUT MY WAY WENCH!" Animus shot forward and bit down on Bridgette's arm as he dragged her down towards the ground "The staff belongs to me and me alone you human wench, you shall not lay your hands upon it!"

"You think so huh? Ice Demon Zero Longsword!" Bridgette slashed at Animus using a sword made of ice, causing him to throw her into a nearby wall, but she recovered in time to avoid being crushed to death as she raced Animus down the side of the tower.

"So it is as I had anticipated girl, you and that boy with the sword both wield the power of the Cosmic Elementals do you not?"

"What does that matter to you?"

"Vermin like you truly believe that you can compare your strength to that of our mighty race of dragons? We already fell from power thanks to those pathetic Dragon Slayers and now you want to imitate those wretches? Well now is the time for you to see just how inferior you truly are, you shall feel the full ferocity of a dragon's FURY!" and on that fury filled note, Animus hit Bridgette with his Dragon's Roar at point blank range, engulfing her in a massive explosion.

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By this point, Sordibus had grabbed Adam by the throat and was choking the life out of him with a sadistic smile on his face "It's hard to believe that this pitiful excuse for a host actually bothers to look up to you, you're just pathetic. It won't be long until my shadows have eaten you away, once they've had their fill this world will be free of you." he dropped him into a pool of his own shadows "You're going to simply vanish, forced to sleep in eternal darkness. Do you have any last words before you meet your fate?"

"...Actually I've got a few that come to mind. Lightning King Iron Hammer!" Adam quickly summoned Ascalon towards him and slashed Sordibus across the chest with the blade, causing shadows to ooze out of the wound in place of blood.

"What? But you had no strength left, you couldn't even stand!"

"Do you really believe that? I knew you'd be arrogant but that's just stupid, now take this as a warning and get the hell out of my friend's body before I take my new light powers and make you walk towards it."

"Do you really believe that I'm going to just up and leave his body like that? What sort of fool do you take me for?"

"Do you really think that Mike is as weak as you claim him to be? Mike isn't just some weak little punk, he's my best friend and as his friend it's my job to protect him from a worthless piece of trash like you! NOW GET OUT OF HIS HEAD!" his body began radiating white energy and began crackling with electricity as his skin turned pure white "Wind, Lightning, Fire and now add Light to that list."

"For elements? But how can that be?"

"You should already know the answer to that. I started out with Wind and Lightning, Mal gave me some of his fire powers during the battle with Diagon and Vilgax, and only a few minutes ago he gave me some of his Light energy for the sole purpose of kicking your ass all the way out of Mike's mind."

"Such feats are impressive to say the least, but that's still nowhere near enough for you to defeat me."

"We'll see about that." and then Adam suddenly evaporated into pure light.

'He disappeared? No, he became one with the light being radiated by the Dragon Cry. How dare you use my own power against me! Show yourself!"

"If it's your power then get over here and prove it! Hyper Tornado!" Adam burst up from the light behind Sordibus and hit him in the back with a Hyper Tornado to the back, sending him crashing to the ground.

"If that's what you wish then so be it!" Sordibus disappeared into the light being radiated by the Dragon Cry, resulting in two white streaks of energy clashing across the light, the clash spreading all around the rooftop before climbing up the side of the tower even further.

This ended when Adam suddenly grabbed Sordibus from within his streak of light and yanked him out of it "And now for the coup de grace, which is really inaccurately named considering what I plan to do to you." he threw Sordibus high into the air and cupped his hands at his side, building energy between his palms with properties of Wind, Lightning, Fire and Light "Oh man this is gonna be good. Ka… Me… Ha… Me… HAAAAAAA!" he fired an energy blast upwards based on the signature technique of the Dragon Ball franchise, the blast being visible all throughout the Kingdom of Stella as it engulfed Sordibus in a massive explosion.

When the blast finally subsided, Sordibus fell to the ground in a heap, his hold over Mike's body beginning to flicker along with his black aura "You… You arrogant little brat… You've really done it now."

"I should be saying that to you. Just give it up already, you've lost."

"For now perhaps, I suppose I expected too much from the boy as he is right now. No matter though, in time I will rise again and then you will know true pain and suffering the likes of which you could never even imagine. I can promise you that much." and with that, the black aura disappeared as Mike fell back, unconscious.

'He'll be back, and I'll be sure to be ready.' Adam powered down to his normal form and breathed a short sigh 'Maybe it's better to conserve my energy until I fight Animus, if I use that transformation too much then I might end up tiring myself out too much to be able to finish that fight.'

"Adam…?" Mike slowly opened his eyes and tried to sit up "Ow… pain… everything hurts a lot… I haven't felt this much pain since I joined you and Alejandro in that pilates class that one time."

"Yeah that one hurt all of us, it's a memory that I've tried really hard to suppress. So how are you holding up, you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah… No I can't even move my neck without it hurting. Hey Adam why am I in so much pain? Did Zash really hurt me that bad?"

"Dude Zash is dead. He doesn't remember what happened? I guess it was the shadow in total control over his body.'

"So… you killed him?"

"...Yeah I totally wasted him like he was a dirty hooker. Now if you'll excuse me I'm gonna go earn my new title as a Dragon Slayer." and then he blitzed away.

"So… do I just lay here until you come back and get me? Adam? Hello? I've got a serious itch and I can't scratch it." he glanced over to see Animus swallowing the Dragon Cry for the sake of its magic power "Uh oh

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While one battle had already ended, another one was looking quite grim.

Having taken the full force of Animus hitting her with his Dragon's Roar, Bridgette was considerably wounded and now was free falling towards the ground "So this is it… I go out fighting a dragon… Sorry Adam, everyone, I did the best that I could… But in the end… I guess it just wasn't enough…"

"Don't sell yourself short, you did a great job out there."

Bridgette opened her eyes, and they shot wide "Adam?"

Sure enough, Adam had arrived on the scene, holding Bridgette in his arms bridal style in an awesome display, still in his normal state "Sup? Sorry I took so long to get here, I had a quick loose end to tie up. But on the plus side, now I can use techniques straight out of Dragon Ball and Yu Yu Hakusho so that's awesome."

"And the Dragon Cry?"

"...Oh shit I knew I forgot something."

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"AT LAST!" Animus burst down to the ground with the Dragon Cry in his teeth "HEAR ME DRAGON CRY, LET THE ANGER OF EVERY DRAGON FLOW THROUGH ME TO DESTROY THIS WORLD AND ALL WHO LIVE IN IT!" he was bathed in a golden light as several magic circles formed in the sky and rained down a large number of destructive blasts of energy, Animus himself turning a deep shade of purple "The war between dragons and those vile humans ends here and now, the era of dragons has been reborn and WE SHALL REIGN SUPREME OVER THIS WORLD!"

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Hisui, the princess of Fiore, observed the magic circles covering the sky over the entirety of the kingdom of Fiore "Those magic circles, what are they father?"

"This could only be the work of the Dragon Cry." Toma's expression was one of visible fear and concern "Hisui listen to me, we must evacuate everyone in Crocus immediately."

"But father…"

"We have to hurry, the fury and hatred of all of the dragons is about to rain down upon the entire kingdom itself."

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"Please stop this Your Majesty, I beg of you!" Sonya rushed up to Animus and stood in between him and the others.

"Get out of my way Sonya!" Animus was outright snarling at her.

"No I will not move from this spot, you have done more than enough harm to the good people of the kingdom of Stella! Their souls are longing to cry out in joy, they're yearning to shine as brightly as the stars that illuminate the night sky. Your soul used to shine Your Majesty but it fell to darkness and you're trapped inside of a castle. You were once so kind hearted, but those days have come and gone."

"...Get out of my way Sonya, before I do something we will both regret." he used his tail to shove her out of the way "All who defy me shall die by the talons of a dragon!" he let out a primal roar.

"You're wrong." Adam slowly made his way forward and motioned for Bridgette and the others to get further away from the scene, his body crackling with electricity as a pure white aura flared around his body "People like Natsu or Sting and Rogue never lived to kill dragons, and I never cared about stuff like that no matter how badass that seemed to me when I was a teenager fantasizing about pictures of Cana Alberona, or pictures of girls Hinata Hyuga or Ino Yamanaka from Naruto, or to Kagome from Inuyasha, god I love the internet. But not even those are reasons for why I live. I live for the sake of my friends, my purpose in life is to protect them so that they can live their own lives. That's why I live! That's why I fight! That's why I can and will survive whatever you throw at me! AND THAT'S WHY I'M GONNA TAKE YOU DOWN RIGHT HERE AND RIGHT NOW!" with a furious roar, he was engulfed in a blinding white light. When the light dissipated, it revealed Adam, his eyes electric blue but his hair now a shade of silver with crimson stripes running through it, lightning bolt marks running down his right arm with a tornado mark on his left arm, the image of a flame appearing on his right leg and the symbol of a brightly shining light on his left leg. He took a moment to get a grip on his new transformation and smirked 'Looks like my Cosmic Knight form has evolved again, and that means that this is gonna be one hell of a fun ride.'

"Do you really believe that such a form will be enough for you to stop me?"

"We're about to find out." so on that short note, Adam charged at Animus and dealt him a sharp uppercut kick to one of his horns.

"DAMN YOU! NOW YOUR DEATH HAS COME!" Animus attacked Adam by firing a barrage of energy blasts before finishing the assault with his Dragon's Roar, engulfing Adam in a massive explosion "You are nothing but a weak and miserable human! Did you honestly think that the likes of you could stop me?!"

"I did and I still do. And I don't think I can, I know I can." when the smoke cleared slightly, it revealed Adam alive and well, his body crackling with electricity, the only damage that he had sustained being his shredded martial arts gi (go back to the chapter Road Trip), revealing his numerous scars across his chest and torso "You're going down lizard scales."

"No it can't be, you shouldn't have been able to survive that! What are you? What the hell are you?!"

"Your destruction, that's what!" with a mighty roar that shattered the entire mountain beneath him, Adam burst upwards and dealt Animus a severe uppercut to the jaw, sending him hurtling into the air, before following up with a vicious barrage of attacks that involved him blitzing left and right, dealing one attack after another.

"Now I see, now I understand who and what you truly are. You are neither human nor dragon, you are something much much more. You are the reincarnation of the Cosmic Elemental Fusion, the Warrior of the Hurricane, you are Tempestatis-"

"DOES IT LOOK LIKE I GIVE A DAMN?!" Adam burst upwards until he was nearly as high as the magic circles lining the skies and he cupped his hands at his side, Wind, Lightning, Fire and Light energy building between his palms "IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU CALL ME BECAUSE I WOULD THROW IT ALL AWAY IN AN INSTANT IF IT MEANT THAT I COULD PROTECT MY FRIENDS!"

"DIE!" Animus transferred the power of the magic circles in order to increase his own power even further, and he charged at Adam at full speed, intent on ripping him apart with his bare draconic claws.

"THE FRIENDS THAT I KEEP BY MY SIDE ARE MY REASON FOR LIVING, IF IT WASN'T FOR THEM THEN MY LIFE WOULDN'T HAVE ANY MEANING! IF ANYONE HURTS MY FRIENDS THEN I'LL SEND THEM STRAIGHT TO HELL! KA… ME… HA… ME… HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" with a mighty roar as he harnessed every last ounce of strength that he was able to muster, Adam fired a full power Kamehameha blast, engulfing Animus at point blank range, the explosion that followed lighting up the entire sky and wiping out all of the magic circles unleashed by the Dragon Cry, as well as a very large majority of the forest surrounding the kingdom. When the smoke eventually cleared, Adam was revealed to be lying on the ground in an exhausted heep, near where the body of Animus, or rather what was left of it, had fallen to the ground, scorched and nearly ripped apart after taking the full force of the Kamehameha blast.

Sonya slowly approached the body of Animus, grabbed the Dragon Cry, and then proceeded to shatter it against a piece of Stellanium, wiping out any remaining trace of its magic power once and for all, as well as deactivating Zash's Quartum Soldiers "At long last, this horrible nightmare ends."

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Cody shared a look with Alejandro as he watched the Quartum Soldiers deactivate, and he looked up at the sky and gave a small smile "Way to go Adam, you really are full of surprises aren't you?"

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"It would seem that the magic circles have disappeared." Hisui noted "I suppose this would mean that Natsu and his companions were successful."

"Of that I have no doubt in my mind." Toma looked up at the sky and let a small smile grace his lips "You did it Aurora, even if not directly you saved me once again."

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Morning came, and the sun was just beginning to rise over the Kingdom of Stella after all of the carnage had at last died down.

Bridgette was searching through the rubble until she noticed something "Adam!"

Sure enough, Adam pulled himself out of the rubble, still covered in wounds "So that's what it feels like to kill a dragon, well Bridge I've got only got one other thing to say about that."

"And what's that?"

"That it's the most f*cking awesome thing that I've ever done! Come on bring on another one of those bad boys, no bring on Acnologia himself! Yeah that's right, bring on every mother f*cker the 10 dimensions has to offer! I'll face every single one of them and then I'll kick their asses to kingdom come!"

"...You know you never cease to amaze me, and I love that about you." Bridgette wiped away a few tears and threw her arms around him "I really love that about you, and it's one of the reasons why I love you."

"Yeah I know, me too Bridge, me too." he glanced over to see Natsu, Cody and the rest of them coming over to meet them.

Animus could feel what was left of his body beginning to fade away, his voice soft "I feel strange… I'm starting to fade away… I'm dying aren't I?"

"Animus… I can't thank you enough for all that you've done for me, for all of these years of you giving me guidance." Sonya gave him a small smile.

"My dear Sonya… this is the first time… I've ever seen you smile… it's truly… the most beautiful thing… I've ever seen…" and with that, Animus faded away into the afterlife with the rest of his dragon brethren.

"And it's also the first time I've seen a dragon cry, I will miss you my dearest friend." she wiped away a few tears.

Adam glanced over and noticed something "Hey guys check it out, I think something's going on with the Dragon Cry."

"So it is." Sonya held out a hand as magic power emerged from the shattered remains of the Dragon Cry, only for it to morph into a red ribbon.

"So what then, was that the original form of the Dragon Cry or something?"

"This was once a ribbon that I used to tie my hair." she looked up at the skies "Animus is gone, although in reality I had lost him many years ago. He lost himself deep into the darkness that comes with greed and power, as well as anger, fear and deception. He caused so much pain and his people were forced to suffer terribly. Maybe he was always evil, but for so long I had cared for him as my very own flesh and blood. I know now that all this time I was being used by him for his own goals, but the thought that I had never been alone made me happy. I only wish that things between us could've been different, that we could've cared for and supported each other unconditionally, that we had the chance to be truly close… that we would've been able to laugh and love the way that you do."

"I don't think that's it. He did come back to his senses at the very end didn't he? I guess that way he could die happy."

"I suppose so. You freed him and brought back the Animus that I once knew, and for that I am forever grateful. As a token of my gratitude, please allow me to present you with this." she gripped the red ribbon and it suddenly morphed into a white cloak with a black stripe on the back of it "This is the Dragon's Cloak, I was able to create it using some of the residual magic energy left over inside of me from the time that Animus spent inside of my body, and now I'm passing it onto you."

"Huh. Let's check that out." Adam donned the Dragon's Cloak and felt himself surrounded by yet another white glow "Nice."

"And there is more." Sonya summoned a piece of armor consisting of a metal breastplate, with a high armored collar and plated shoulderguards with each side being composed of four plates, the armor's waist guard being composed of three plates, each held up by a simple belt "This armor is composed of pure Stellanium that has been infused with your cosmic power, and as such you are the only person fit to wear it."

Adam strapped this on as well "So the Hurricane Gauntlets, the Wind Stormer boots, the sword Ascalon, the Dragon's Cloak, and now the Starlight armor."

"A fitting name."

"And if this shit doesn't mean I'm a full fledged Cosmic Knight then I don't know what the hell will."

"How about this for starters." using his fire powers, Natsu burned the Fairy Tail mark onto the back of the Dragon's Cloak and onto the front of his Starlight armor "Consider yourself an honorary member of Fairy Tail, and that goes for the rest of you guys too. I'll put in a good word with gramps after my year of training is up and I finally head back to the guild."

"Thanks for the offer but I've got my own world that needs its own little dose of magic, and we're just the people to do it. Speaking of which we'd better head back, there's something that I've gotta do."

"Gonna tell your buddy about that shadow dude?" he found out in between chapters in case you're wondering.

"Yep, and that's something that I should've done a long time ago. But seriously, if you ever need anything then don't hesitate to call." he handed Natsu an Utrom Communicator "Use that thing to call me if you're ever in a jam, now take care and show Zeref and Acnologia what Fairy Tail is made of." and with that, Adam, Bridgette, Cody, Alejandro and a severely wounded Mike (who still couldn't move) took their leave back to their dimension.

"The same to you… my friends."

A/N:

This is the second and final based on the Fairy Tail movie Dragon Cry, which was cut into two chapters so that I could get the first one out sooner, but later I had decided to just merge Parts II and III into one, with guest appearances by Sting and Rogue of Sabertooth (and Frosh and Lector by extension) in place of the sub plot that featured Gajeel's group. Sorry this one took so long to get out originally, my last few weeks of my first semester of college have been absolute hell.

The flashback scene with Adam and Devin takes place a year before the events of the Rise of an Underdog, and it's based on one of the flashbacks from the second Bleach movie, The Diamond Dust Rebellion. It's mainly meant to show something that I never have before in any of these Total Drama fics: Adam crying. Keep in mind that in chapter 3 in his flashback of how he became friends with Devin he said that his tears had all dried up, but this chapter shows him crying, which shows him being able to let out his emotions, which is a huge step in his character development arc.

Since this takes place during the year after the war with Tartaros, only Natsu and Happy appear from the Fairy Tail guild, with the roles of Gray, Lucy, Erza and Wendy being filled by Adam, Mike, Cody, Bridgette and Alejandro.

In addition to that, I added Sting and Rogue from Sabertooth, and Lector and Frosch in addition to them obviously, in order to fill the roles played by Gajeel, Levy and Panther Lily in the movie. I mean granted they only appeared in one scene but next chapter will be the final battle so of course they're gonna get some good parts right? Also, I figured that Sting needed some kind of power up to defeat Doll but using Dragon Force, seeing how Dragon Force probably would've killed the guy , and so I had to come up with something entirely new from canon in the form of White Flame Dragon Mode. Plus you've gotta admit, that's really awesome.

It didn't occur to me that I had failed to show any indications of Mike's other personalities until I decided to have Mike finally do something noteworthy while they're in this dimension, and so I decided to give them a little bit of spotlight, at least until Sugar Honey Iced Tea (Madagascar reference) hits the inter dimensional fan in one of the most colossal ways possible.

Mike getting possessed by the shadow like Mal was for all that time is based on the same thing happening to Rogue during the Grand Magic Games arc, and in the process him being able to overcome it allows him to awaken his light and shadow powers, due to Mal transferring their fire powers to Adam when he and Ben were fighting against Vilgax. Expect more of that in the next story in this series.

Speaking of which, the scene in Adam's subconscious where Mal gives him his new Light/ Energy powers (which allows him to use powers, thus granting him the ability to use techniques straight out of anime like Dragon Ball Z and Yu Yu Hakusho, which are awesome by the way).

I know that originally the Dragon Cry staff was the ribbon of that girl Sonya but I figured that it would be cool if the final part of Adam's knight armor, that being a kickass hood and cape (which is dubbed here as the Dragon's Cloak since it's infused with the residual power of Animus, a dragon), was mainly formed from that ribbon so that a small part of Fairy Tail would always stay with him. That and the idea of him having a hood and cape like that was an idea I got from seeing the Marvel hero Moon Knight, he just looks so badass with that so I thought why not give Adam a cape too, plus I even gave it the symbol of Fairy Tail to make him an honorary member of the guild according to Natsu. As for the actual body armor made of Stellanium that he got from Sonya towards the end, that's meant to cover his torso, that's based on the first model of Erza's Heart Kreuz Armor from before the 7 year time skip.

Adding onto the point of Adam using techniques from other anime, the techniques that Alejandro used like El Directo, La Muerte, Descarron, Bala, Cero, Cero Oscuras, Lanza del Relámpago, etc. These are all based on Espada, Arrancar and Fullbring techniques from the anime Bleach. Again, I needed replacements for the Dragon Slayer techniques and I figured that techniques with names in Spanish would be most fitting for Alejandro since he's Latino. But I did keep the Crimson Drive and alter some of the White Dragon Slayer abilities like the Holy Nova while altering it based on his Crimson Jaguar abilities, and thus the Holy Nova becomes the Crimson Nova.

As for Cody and Bridgette, those two seem okay in my opinion for two reasons:

Cody doesn't use Dragon Slayer techniques and I tried to give him a few more techniques based around the Hero's Chi since Hero's Light is based on another Seven Deadly Sins technique called Revenge Counter. These would include Hero's Impact (based on Loke's Regulus Impact), Hero's Counter (based on Meliodas' Full Counter), Hero's Burst (based on Erza's Fairy Burst in her Armadura Fairy Armor), and Hero's Slicer (based on Erza's Photon Slicer in her Morning Star Armor), all of which have been enhanced by Aurora awakening his Second Origin before the events of chapter 10 to the point where he's pretty much as intimidating as Erza when she released her Second Origin during the Grand Magic Games. I'll get him to show more of that next chapter.

I gave Bridgette abilities based on Juvia's Water Magic and Gray's Ice Demon Slayer Magic, and since we don't know a lot about Demon Slayer Magic I think that it's possible for more than one person to use the same type of magic, at least for now.