The 12 Strizers

by Erzats

2 years after the war with Alvarez, peace returned to Fiore. But for the mages of Fairy Tail and their friends, it won't last. 12 warriors coming from an unkown place are coming for them. Who are they and what do they want ? They'll learn it the hard way. OCs, created by me. Multiple Pairing (Nalu, Gruvia, Gale, Rowen, HappyxCharla and others). Advices welcomed.

7. Chapter 7 : Hunting in the forge

Hello everybody! I hope you are all well and healthy. Either way, we are ready for this new chapter. I hope you'll like it. Now let's stop talking and do some writing !

Well, there's one last small thing : I'm not Fairy Tail's owner, of course.

Let's go !

CAPITAL LETTER: words written by Solid Script.

Chapter 7 – Hunting in the forge.

The silence. Absolutely no noise. A stillness so deep and strong a cemetery would feel like a night club in comparison. Put simply, the dark hallways of the forge, barely lit by the old industrials lamps which casted creepy shadow on the red brick walls and the many metallic elements serving as 'decoration', were plunged into a silence which, considering the current situation, meant nothing good. Nevertheless, in one of the corridors of the factory, sounds of footsteps could be heard, the rhythm of the steps indicating that someone was running. The runner, after a several minute race, stopped, hiding behind a barrel filled with scraps of metal. Purple jacket and overall torn in many places, out of breath, Jet, while looking tired, also seemed worried, as if wasn't sure of something.

- " I really hope that you know what you're doing, Levy. " He mumbled, looking over the barrel, a man silhouette in a suit with tucked up sleeves approaching at the end of the corridor.

- Flashback -

Levy, Panther, Jet and Droy were still facing Dmitri, the latter face split in half by a large smile, whereas Gajeel had just disappeared in the labyrinth-like forge, nailed on a minecart, completely knocked out because of the typical motion sickness of the Dragons Slayers. Levy's brain was seconds away from burning completely because of the many ideas chaining one after the other at a furious pace in her head, trying to find a way to get out of this situation.

- " Then, now that nailed face is gone, I can focused completely on you 4. But I am going to try something different. Do you want to play a little game ?. "

- " A game ? What do you mean ? " Asked Levy, already knowing that he wasn't talking about a game like the ones Levy was thinking of.

- "You see, your dragon friend is actually on his way to meet a very special furnace created by myself. I can tell you that the heat of this furnace will be enough to melt everything, even his own scales." This revelation brought down the mages and Exceed mood. They didn't think that such a thing was possible, but at the same time, coming from somebody who came from another world, they were not going to take any risk. " This furnace is in the center of my forge. If you manage to reach it before him, you might have a chance to save him. But don't go thinking I'm going to let you do as you please. I'll be here to make sure you all fail and join him. " He paused for a moment before starting again, ego and over-confidence gushing out of his body. " But seeing that you are far from being at the same level as me, I'm going to give you some head start. 3 minutes. After those 3 minutes, I'll chase you down. Is it okay for you ? "

The members of Fairy Tail felt anger rising up in them, not liking being underestimate like that by this guy, who was just bringing out a deckchair and laid there, an alarm clock resting on a small table beside him, a book in his hands. But Panther was not going to let this guy look down at him with disdain without doing anything. Taking its human shape, he brought out his sword and spoke to the others.

- " Go find Gajeel. I'm going to stay here to take care of this guy. "

- " But Panther, we can't … "

- " GO ! " shouted Panther, interrupting Droy. The 3 mages looked at each other before running all together to the forge hallways, leaving the Exceed behind them. Glancing towards his only remaining guest, Dmitri raised an eyebrow before returning to its book.

- " There is more than 2 minutes remaining. You are really going to stay there, like a statue ? "

*SLASH* With his sword, Panther destroyed the alarm clock, sending it crashing on the ground.

- "Time out. " Simply stated Panther.

- " *sigh* If you insist. "

/- Meanwhile -/

Levy, Jet and Droy had stopped in some hallways, getting their breath back on track. In the distance, they could hear the noise of the confrontation between Dmitri and Panther.

- " What do we do ? We can't leave Panther alone against that guy ? "

- " He did not tell us to leave just for us to get back there. We have to get Gajeel. " reminded Levy. " We have to get Gajeel back before he reached that furnace. "

- " The problem is that this guy will not let us do as we want and I'm afraid that Panther won't be able to hold him for a long time. " indicated Droy, not really motivated by the situation.

After a silence which lasted a few seconds, Levy raised her head, an idea in her head, or rather a small part of an idea.

- " I think that I have a plan. "

This is when a deafening noise similar to a collapsing wall echoed through the forge, taking the 3 mages by surprise. Then a voice echoed through the hallways. Dmitri's voice to be more precise.

- " One down. Three left. "

- End of Flashback -

After that, Jet, Droy and Levy had agreed on the plan and split up, each running in a different direction, each one of them hoping to find the furnace before Gajeel. Jet was the unluckiest of the three, since he was found by Dmitri shortly after. He had tried to face him, but just like Gajeel, this big metal bender could cover himself with iron, rendering his attack ineffective. But when he saw what he had next to him, he had an idea.

- " It's useless to hide, I'll find you wherever you are. You are only delaying the inevitable. It would be better for you to give up. "

By taking a turn in a hallway, he was faced with Jet, who was standing in front of him, some steps away. Without a word, the speed mage rushed at him. Dmitri just covered his right hand in metal and throw a hook towards Jet, who literally shattered on the impact. Dmitri opened wide eyes, without understanding what just happened.

FALCON HEAVENWARD!

Immediately after 'Jet' broke into pieces, the Strizer was violently struck in the back by the real Jet, the blow propelling him in a wall, breaking it in the process. Getting up, he just had the time to intercept Jet, coming to strike again.

- " A mirror. I'm feeling bad, falling for such a simple trick. "

- " The simplest stratagems are often the best. And just so you know … " Jet free himself from Dmitri's hold, taking a few steps back. " Fairy Tail mages are many things, but we certainly aren't the kind of people to give up, especially when a friend is in danger. " These last words made Dmitri laugh, putting his glasses back in places with his thumb, his suit slightly torn.

- " Friend ? You and Gajeel, friend? I believed that you and Droy didn't liked him, mainly because of Levy ? "

- " We moved on. We aren't going to let this kind of feelings throw away our friendship with Levy. They love each other and we accept that. "

CANNON ARM!

Dmitri had a small smile, his arm changing in a sort of cannon, which it pointed towards Jet, ready to fire, but as the shot was about to be fired, plants appeared from the ground and caught the cannon, which fired in the ground. By turning his head, the metal warrior saw Droy far off, looking satisfied, but Dmitri just smiled even more.

CHAINSAW ARM!

His cannon changed, becoming a chainsaw, getting rid without problem of the plants which held him whereas his body began to cover itself with metal, some pointy spot appearing on the top of its body.

IRON HEDGEHOG SPIN DASH!

He rolled himself up, like a hedgehog, his spikes stretching out before rushing towards Droy, reducing to shred everything he had on his way. The poor plant mage, not being an expert in dodging because of his body, wasn't able to evade completely the assault, being some of his back torn up and impaled. Jet rushed at his friends to help him getting up whereas the Strizer took back his normal shape. The 2 tried to run away, to save some time, but regrettably for them, Dmitri had other projects.

STEEL TRAPDOOR!

A steel door suddenly appeared out of the ground in front of them, blocking them in a corridor, now becoming a dead end, without any escape for them. They swallowed the lump in their throat before turning around, facing Dmitri, arms transformed into 2 enormous minigun. Without further ado, he began firing on the 2 mages, bullets impacts raising a thick cloud of smoke. When this smokescreen of some sort disappeared, he didn't see, as he expected it, 2 mages filled with bullets, but rather an enormous WALL across the hallway. Dmitri lowered his weapons, surprised for a moment, before heaving a sigh, understanding easily why this thing had appeared out of nowhere. Turning his head to the right, him perceived Levy, standing up and looking at him with a hard and cold glare.

- " Oh dear, and I believed that you would have rushed to save your small dragon. Color me surprised, honestly. But at least, I'm won't have to search the whole place to find you. "

SCRAP IRON BLADED HAND !

The hands of Dmitri covered themselves with metal junks and with jagged blades and he rushed at Levy. Or at least, it is what he wanted to do. Instead, he was cut in his run, frozen in his tracks. Looking down, he realized that he had just walked on a GLU drawn on the ground. Raising his eyes towards the blue haired witch, he just had time to see her write something else.

SOLID SCRIPT : BATTERING RAM !

IRON SKIN !

Dmitri covered himself with a skin of iron whereas an enormous BATTERING RAM rushed towards him. But the impact was so violent that even with his protection, he was violently thrown back, the metal skin bending because of the strength it had, crushing his stomach, whereas he got through several walls. Levy took advantage of it to go see Jet and Droy, who had suffered the shootings despite the protection created by Levy. On the other hand, Dmitri got up with difficulty, breathlessly and clearly irritated. He threw his vest away, destroyed by the last attack, getting up and glaring at Levy. But this is when he noticed some strange symbols almost everywhere on the walls, ground and even ceiling.

- " Runes? "

- " I haven't the same level as Freed concerning runes, but I can handle myself. At least enough to set up trap in this place. Good luck. " ended Levy, a small smile on her lips.

- " Don't go thinking that some drawings will be enough to held m… *BOOM * "

Dmitri had stopped, charred up by an explosion due to one of the traps Levy set up, who was in the entrance of the hallway where the 3 mages stood. There literally was smoke coming out of his ears and even a whistling noise. Like a pressure cooker whose pressure was about to make it explode.

And it did exploded. The mages rushed in the hallways, trying to save time, while avoiding the bursts of metal, bullets and explosions launched by Dmitri. One of the things he hated more than anything, was getting laughed at. And between the runic traps, Levy's words, the speed attacks of Jet and the vegetal obstacles of Droy, there was enough to make him lose it completely. He finally succeeded in trapping them in the warehouse of the forge, which was filled with metal objects of all kinds, from statues made of metal to steel beams.

- " Well here we are. There, I am going to finally have fun. "

STEEL BEAM RAIN !

He stretch out his arms to the sides, using his power to lift the steel beams stored in the room, making them levitate over him before making them rain on the 3 mages, who evaded as well as they could, but getting hit nevertheless. Jet was the first one to get up, face covered in blood, throwing himself on the Strizer, but the latter was waiting for him.

LEAD SHACKLES !

Enormous lead handcuffs stuck to Jet's feet, nailing him literally on the spot, unable to dodge the rest.

SPIKED KNUCKLES !

Spikes appeared on the Strizer fingers, which he used to suddenly punch the mage in Jet's stomach of Jet, which was thrown away, blood flowing out of him.

- " JET ! You bastard ! "

KNUCKLE PLANT !

Plants shaped like fists rushed at Dmitri, who easily countered.

BLADE EDGE !

With the back of his hand, as sharp as a razor blade, he cut the plants before pointing his second hand towards the mage.

CRECENT BLADE RUSH !

He threw a volley of blades shaped like crescent moon on Droy, covering his body in deep cut all over his body, before the mage finally couldn't bear it anymore, collapsing and leaving only Levy in front of the Strizer, whose sadistic smile meant nothing good. He covered himself with metal once again, the fingers changing into wide claws, approaching slowly the mage, who nevertheless seemed not afraid. And it was because Dmitri walked once again on her runes which triggered a cloud of black smoke, covering the Strizer. The latter, blinded, then could not saw Levy beginning a new offensive.

SOLID SCRIPT : ACID !

- "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Dmitri was splashed with a green liquid so corrosive that his metal melted almost immediately, attacking even his skin. Without leaving the slightest chance to his opponent, Levy kept on with the attack.

COMBO SCRIPT: EXPLOSIVE HAMMER!

She wrote a huge HAMMER, which one of the M 'legs' had lengthened to serve as a grip. All the surface of the hammer was also covered with EXPLOSION. She swung her hammer straight in Dmitri's face who, too busy trying to subside the pain due to the acid, did nothing to protect himself, thus he took the strike dead on, the impact of the hammer combined with a violent explosion sending him at the other side of the room, breaking yet another wall in the process. He had a hard time getting up, the acid having disappeared, angrier than ever.

- "You little bitch. You are going to pay for that."

CHAIN RUSH !

Uncountable chains arose from everywhere around Dmitri, rushing on Levy. She tries with everything she got to dodge them, but some of those iron shackles finally caught her by the wrist, sticking her to the wall, in a position of crucifixion, which reminded a lot of thing to Levy.

- "Nail to a wall, totally vulnerable. I know that it is the kind of situation that you know quite well. The last time, it was on a tree, exposed to the inhabitant of Magnolia in the center of the city, with your 2 buddies next to you."

Levy remembered perfectly that moment, which had trigerred the war between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord several years ago. A time when Gajeel was not one of them yet. The only time when the one who was now her boyfriend had hurt her for real. Dmitri, on his part, had changed his arm in a kind of huge scalpel and approached Levy dangerously. He slapped her with a hand covered in steel, the poor witch finding herself on the verge of unconsciousness because of the violence of the slap.

- "Well, I admit that you have guts, for a bookworm. Then it's time to see what you are made of, internally."

IRON DRAGON'S CLUB !

Without a warning, a strong pillar of some kind made of metal broke the wall on which Levy was attached, lengthening to go strike Dmitri in the stomach then taking him towards the closest wall, making him pass through it. Dmitri got up very fast, totally surprised, before seeing Gajeel walking into the room, Levy in his arms.

- "WHAT!? But how could you free yourself?"

Gajeel looked at Levy before smiling, turning to Dmitri, a carnivorous smile on his face.

- "Shrimp has much more resource than what we could believe."

- Flashback-

Gajeel was totally lethargic, paralyzed by his motion sickness, which prevented him from releasing himself, whereas the minecart continued his journey, the Dragon Slayer seemingly condemned to a sad fate. But while Gajeel could feel his skin becoming hotter and hotter by the minute, sign that he was approaching the furnace, the cart had an abrupt and unforeseen movement, falling of the rail attached to the ceiling, ending up crashing on the ground. After a few seconds, the time for Gajeel to get over the commotion and realize what happened, he free himself from his prison and raised his head towards the rail to try to understand why he had fallen : it was clearly not something that this metal dude had planned. By looking closer at the rail, he saw remnant of a green liquid, some drops of which fell on the concrete ground, the liquid smoking while he dissolved the ground away. Gajeel then smile, an expression of obvious pride painted on his face, before leaving as fast as possible, following his nose, tracking down a scent he knew too well.

- End of the Flashback-

- "She is the only one around here who can use acid, as you probably already noticed. " The taunting remark of Gajeel made Dmitri grumble, remembering the burn of the acid on his skin. " She found the furnace and just destroyed the rails knowing that it would be enough for freeing me and she then came to help her friends. Right now, I couldn't be any more prouder of my shrimp. "

- " Yeah, well I hope that this pride is going to help you survive. " Dmitri removed his white shirt, throwing it to the side, finding itself only dressed with a white docker, revealing a torso and arms covered with menacing tattoos, sign that his life wasn't always filled with suit and good deeds. " Because I won't hold back anymore. "

Both opponents covered themselves with metal and threw themselves at each other. And the fight totally changed in style. The 2 men made of metal exchanged blow after blow, with swords, with fists and even with head. The whole ordeal complemented by bullets shooting and even missiles by Dmitri, but also with destructive roar by Gajeel. The violence of the exchanges was such that the air moved by the blows was enough to crack the walls, ground and ceiling, which eventually fell into pieces, when it was not one of the 2 fighters which passed through it, thrown in it by the other one. However, little by little, Dmitri began to get the upper hand, manhandling Gajeel more and more, throwing him after a series of exchange in a pile of crates.

- " You are quite good, I won't lie. But you are only iron where I can be all the metals I want to be. So you probably know that you have no chance of winning. " But Dmitri noticed rather quickly that the dragon was not listening to him, or at least not anymore. He was busy with eating what he had found in the crates he crashed in. Dmitri, changing his arm into a long sword of metal, walked to the dragon but stopped by feeling something crunching under his foot. Looking down, he saw …

- " Is that charcoal ? Why would he eat charcoal … " Then by seeing that the metallic skin covering Gajeel had changed shades, he understood, opening wide eyes. " Oh the bastard. "

STEEL DRAGON'S SWORD !

A wide sword of steel struck Dmitri, cutting the metal like butter, cutting him all across his torso. Gajeel didn't even let the time to the Strizer to get over it, the dragon taking a deep breath.

STEEL DRAGON'S ROAR !

The burst of steel broke out on Dmitri who was sent to the other side of the room and crossed the wall at the end. Gajeel got up but didn't understood why the Strizer wasn't getting up: Gajeel couldn't imagine that it was so easy to eliminate one of those guys. And indeed, he finally saw the Strizer getting up through the smoke.

- " Eating the coal to absorb the carbon and go from iron to steel. Well done. But I think it's probably the time to finish all this. "

ZIGURAT, ARMOR FORTRESS !

When the smoke disappeared, Gajeel was left speechless. In front of him stood Dmitri, covered with an armor which looked like it come straight out of science fiction movies. Gajeel quickly recovered, making a sword of steel, which he used to cut Dmitri, but the blade didn't left the slightest crack on it. Dmitri simply raised his arm, revealing a sort of hole in his palm.

PALM BLASTER!

A burst of energy shoot out of the palm of the armor, propelling Gajeel through several walls, making him reach the entrance hall, just next to the front door, where the battle began, Dmitri approaching, its armor making robotics noise with each step.

- " This armor is made of steel on several inches in thickness. And it is literally covered with weapon, I have basically no blind spot. "

As to prove its statements, a cannon situated on his back opened, shooting a burst of energy at Jet which had just arrived the room, but his speed allowed him to evade the shooting just in time, the blast just destroying the wall behind. But the shockwave was enough to send flying the poor mage who crashed into a wall. Gajeel got up and threw himself on Dmitri, determined to beat his opponent. But the Zigurat armor turned out to be far too powerful for a single mage.

- " That's enough, lizardman. Stop struggling. It's the… *FWOOSH*. "

But for several mages, it wasn't the same.

The Strizer was cut by a smoke screen, more exactly a cloud of coal dust, thrown by Jet, who now used its speed to turn around the Strizer, creating a whirlwind of ash which blocked totally Dmitri's sight, and all around him. Dmitri heaved a sigh of impatience, his armor opening on the torso.

VACUUM ROTOR !

Some kind of turbines began spinning, sucking up ashes and removing this cloud. He raised his palm towards Jet, which had gone to see Gajeel to help him getting up. He prepared his shot when suddenly …

*BLAM* An enormous sword appeared, going out of the ceiling and swinging like a pendulum, hitting the Strizer with all its might, sending him at the end of the room. Dmitri got up, his armor still in one piece, although the blade left a light scratch. Raising his head, he saw Panther Lily, nastily bashed up but still up.

- " YOU ? I thought you I took care of you ? "

- " I am a member of Fairy Tail. And if there is one thing you mustn't do, is under-estimate us. "

And as to prove his statements, plants appeared, hindering the Strizer while Droy appeared at the end of one of the hallway, panting but conscious, Dmitri aiming his arm at him without saying anything, all those thing starting to get on his nerve. But Droy was not the only one to be still conscious.

COMBO SCRIPT: ACID SWORD !

A long and curved SWORD, with some greenish ACID on the edges was swung down on his cannon, the acid cutting it in two like a hot knife in some butter. He turned his head, but it was to be attacked once again.

SOLID SCRIPT : HAMMER !

A HAMMER appeared on the blue haired mage hand and she swung a right hook directly at Dmitri's face which, although his armor stayed, was floored, always shocked to have seen his cannon be destroyed so easily.

" What the hell is this acid ? "

By getting up, he was harassed on all sides by Panther and Jet, the first one using his physical strength and his sword, the second his speed, to bother as much as possible the Strizer, whereas Droy assisted his friends, calling upon plants to hinder as much as possible Dmitri's movement. The latter struggled a lot, but between Jet, Panther and these plants, he couldn't get rid of all of this. Between 2 strike, he saw Gajeel, busy devouring 2 things which announced nothing good for him : a big SHADOW and CARBON. Once he ate the 2 words, Gajeel got up, his body, now made of steel, covered with shadows, a form combining the powers of his IRON SHADOW DRAGON MODE with the power of the steel: STEEL SHADOW DRAGON MODE. Meanwhile, Levy was also busy with writing a word which Dmitri knew too well.

SOLID SCRPT : ACID !

The ACID rushed at Dmitri, Panther and Jet throwing themselves on the side while the Strizer, completely entangled by plants couldn't and was struck quite hard by the wave of acid, eating away his armor which was not totally destroyed, but dangerously weakened, mainly one of his eyes, which had totally disappeared leaving his real left eye visible. He could saw Gajeel, hands joined over his head, some kind of long steel blade covered with shadows appearing over him. Dmitri would have loved to evade, but the other mages had others project for him. Panther threw himself on him and caught him from behind, blocking his arms against his side. Droy used every bit of magic he had to call upon the most sturdiest plants he could invoke and used them to totally wrap around the Strizer. The latter tried to struggle, but his attempt was vein.

FALCON HEAVENWARD !

Jet, calling to his last strength too, threw himself on Dmitri and throw a violent kick at the Strizer's face, more exactly on his temple, its weakened armor not absorbing all the damages. In doing so, the blow almost knocked Dmitri out. All those things together made sure that he just couldn't dodge what was coming next.

BLACK KARMA DEMON : STEEL SHADOW GOD SWORD !

The gigantic sword of steel covered with shadow came down on the Strizer, the power of the blow kept going forward, getting through the Strizer and cutting in half all the forge, the whole thing coming with an explosion which kept on for several hundred meters. When the smoke dissipated, Dmitri stood still, his armor totally destroyed, head covered in blood, his eyes dull behind his broken glasses before collapsing in the middle of the rubbles. By seeing their opponent collapsing, the mages all sighed with relief, dropping on the ground, all exhausted. But the sudden appearance of another person, appearing out of nowhere, standing beside Dmitri brought them out of their daze.

- " Tsk tsk, really Dmitri, you have to learn to keep your feelings controlled, they tend to make you do nothing good. "

- " Hey ! Who are you ? "

- " You'll found out, one day. But for the moment, " the unknown lifted Dmitri, putting him on his shoulder, bending slightly over the weight of his companion. " I am going to return this idiot. See you later. "

And he disappeared as fast as he had appeared, melting in the shadows. The mages stayed without moving for a moment before they finally got over it all. Levy in Gajeel's arms the two smiling at each other before exchanging a small kiss, Panther helping Jet and Droy, they returned in town, to rest before returning to Magnolia to share the information with the others : another Strizer had just fallen.

Ok, done ! I hope you liked this chapter. I would like to let you know that I won't be home this week-end and I'm coming back on Monday, so I may have some delay for the One Piece next chapter, but it's not sure, it's just that if the next chapter is updated later than it normally is, it won't be surprising. See you next time !

Next time : Mission report. A traveler is back. Love holyday ? Water and ice facing the ocean.