I don't have much of a reason for this very prolonged delay, but I needed to figure some things out for the plot and I have had a total of zero time to work on any of my stories :(.
I would like to thank Wednesday101 for all of the ideas and for betaing this chapter. This chapter is dedicated to you!
Mystogan had found something troubling.
Usually, the Anima portals that he found were not this erratic, nor were they this bright green hue. Typically, they were a deep purple. This one seemed to be spouting small blasts of lighting that formed a loose net around the entrance of the hole. He knew that the portal was also sucking things into it because the net slightly curved inwards towards the transfer dimension, indicating a change in pressure, and thus creating a small suction.
However, that wasn't the most troubling part. He couldn't close it.
No matter what he did, the lightning seemed to cancel out his magic. From what the masked Edolasian could see, there was nothing going on inside of the portal. He knew from experience that the Anima portals would sometimes affect the transfer dimension in the form of erratic weather patterns or other anomalies. This one didn't seem to be doing that.
His fist tightened slightly around his staff. There were significant risks he had to take in order to close this one.
The only way he could think of was to close if from the inside. From the transfer dimension, he could cancel out the Anima because the electric netting was not being reciprocated on the other side.
Mystogan reached for one of his staffs. With this one, he would be able to generate enough force to propel him to the Anima portal.
With slight hesitation, Mystogan reached the Anima and went through.
What he had not planned for was calculating the trajectory of his short termed flight wrong. Instead of going through one of the holes in the net, he had brushed up against one of the lightning rods, knocking him out instantaneously.
Not even a moment after, the Anima sucked him in.
…But he didn't land in the transfer dimension.
Mystogan groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. He attempted to move his arm up to rub his them, but a sharp shooting pain shot through his right arm.
"Damn it." He cursed silently under his breath. Mystogan's eyes were still adjusting to the light. Once they had, he found himself to be in some kind of hospital, albeit a practically prehistoric one. For the most part it was stocked with herbs and various kinds of medical knickknacks, many of which he knew weren't used anymore.
"Oh, I see you're awake." A voice said from behind him. He shifted his body slightly to see who it was. It was an old man, probably older than Makarov, and he was dressed in various shades of orange and yellow. The most striking thing about him was the blue arrow tattooed onto his forehead.
"Where am I?" Mystogan asked. The old man smiled warmly.
"You're at the Southern Air Temple. My name is Monk Gyatso."
"Mystogan! When I somehow find a way back to Edolas I sw-" Natsu ranted. She did like the guy, but she needed something to vent her confusion and frustration out on. Mystogan just happened to be the perfect target, even if he wasn't actually there…
"Uh, Natsu…" Katara said in a slightly concerned voice.
"WHAT?! CAN'T YOU SEE THAT I AM RANTING HERE?!" Natsu started to fume, quite literally. The Dragon Slayer had smoke coming out of her ears, then she started to randomly shoot fire out of her mouth.
"GAHHHHHHHHH!" the witnesses screamed. Katara doused Natsu in water and then froze it. Natsu stopped and turned to look at them.
"Why the hell am I frozen?! OH HELL! Did Ice Pants follow us here?! Come out, Gray! I know you're there! Quick, Happy, sniff him out. When I get my hands on him…"
"NATSU! Get ahold of yourself!" Aang shouted quite uncharacteristically. Natsu blinked.
"EHH? Arrow? I didn't think you had it in you…" Natsu attempted to scratch her head, but found that her efforts were futile as she was still frozen.
"Well this has been exciting and all," Sokka started while waving his machete around sarcastically, "but I'm pretty sure that we just established that Natsu and her pet flying furball here are from another dimension and were brought here by unseen," he brought up his hands for air quotes, "'magical forces' for a reason that no one knows. And because Aang met some dude a hundred years ago, we know for sure that she's not a Fire Nation spy so we can trust her." He deadpanned. Aang raised a hand to his chin.
"Yep~! That's pretty much it, Sokka!" he replied cheerfully. Sokka face palmed.
Not much later, the giant water monster guy had explained to them how all things were connected in some way or another. To this Natsu protested loudly claiming that when she punched 'pony tail' she didn't feel anything. To further prove her point, she did just that, which ultimately caused him to fall from the tree they were in.
The group also learned that the swamp makes people see things that they loved, lost, and miss. He concluded that time was an illusion, showing that Aang and Natsu's visions were people that they would meet. Natsu denied this again. Time was not an illusion in her opinion. There was no way that all of the bruises she had gotten from Utiler were 'illusions'.
Once the group was reunited with Appa and Momo, both of which they had to save from swamp people, they shared a meal with the people of the swamp.
"There was no magic at work in the swamp, Katara. They were just some greasy people living in a swamp. Nothing strange about that." Sokka said as he gripped his food.
"What about our visions?" Katara pressed. Sokka waved it off.
"We were hungry and tired. I'm eating a giant bug." He brought up a big wasp looking insect and took a bite out of it to further prove his point.
"And Natsu, Happy, and the finding Appa and Momo?" she continued, glancing over to the two guild members who were happily devouring their food. Katara looked away, slightly disgusted.
"Easy. Natsu is a stupid fire bender who has amnesia, so she's ok –for a fire bender that is-and Happy is a mutated catbird who learned the human language in order to save his equally stupid pink haired companion from dying from boredom. Finding Appa and Momo was Avatar stuff, that doesn't count." Sokka looked over to Aang. "The only thing I can't figure out is how the swamp dude made that tornado..." The swamp guy looked taken aback.
"I can't conjure any tornados…"
"Uh. That was my fault~! Sorry!" Natsu chirped in. "Also, I'm not suffering from amnesia! I was checked last time I went to Porlyusica~!" She had also been checked for many other types of mental impediments during her stay at the old medi-mage's tree hut.
"How was the tornado your fault? You're a fire bender." Sokka questioned while taking another bite of his bug.
"Dragon Slayer! And the tornado was part of the transportation spell that I accidentally casted that wound me up here." Natsu answered quite honestly.
"I'm surprised that Natsu was able to figure that out…" Happy mumbled. "Usually she isn't that smart."
"OI! You are so not getting any fish from me, Happy!" Natsu called out angrily. Happy deflated.
"Still not buying it, Natsu. One guy with magic is enough for me." Sokka commented with crossed arms. "We just didn't account for freak weather patterns. It could have happened to anyone."
The bearded man walked down the alley at night. His pace faltered slightly, and he drew the two swords on his back. He sensed someone was following him.
"Who's there?" he asked with a flourish of his swords. As if appearing from thin air, a black covered hand grasped his wrist. The other hand came down on the same spot, causing the man to drop one of his swords. He grunted in pain. The blow had not been soft.
He soon found his other hand being attacked by the brutal onslaught of the masked figure. As soon as the other sword was removed from his hand, the figure tossed him up and threw him into a stack of wooden crates. The man groaned as his body made contact with the hard wood that collapsed like twigs due to the force of the throw and his weight.
The figure took a few steps forward, bringing him into the light. He bent down and picked up the discarded Dao swords. He donned a black covering, which completely covered his body, Dao swords in hand, and a maliciously smirking blue mask.
This was the beginning of the Legend of the Blue Spirit.
I would love to hear all of your guys' ideas for this story~! If you have something that you think would work or you really want to see happen in this fic, leave a signed review (so I can respond to it) and I will get back to you!
Signing off,
Slayer
