Chapter 56: Into the World Within (Seven Years Passing, Part I)
…
Panic. Screams. Hopelessness.
That was what Fairy Tail was thinking, yelling, and expressing when their last lines of defense were shattered. Starting with Ognilogia's defeat, then the failed beam collision conflict against Acnologia with their very own Dragon Slayers... Everything was going to hell, and in a literal sense in that. The very sense of losing was the thing that pretty much made this entire scenario a little unbelievable.
Despite that though… The sure probability of their survival was their last thing keeping in their sanity. There was only thing that they could do now. And when Acnologia tested their resolve to survive, who's to say that their last-ditch effort from Levy and Freed's combined defense spell worked? Only time would tell as the very explosion consumed the entirety of Tenrou Island.
However… When Wendy opened her eyes after what seemed to be an eternity, she saw a blue sky. A brilliantly colored, bright blue sky filled with a myriad of white clouds.
Brilliant, vibrant, aquamarine blue, accompanied by a fluffy tone of white.
"What...?"
Her eyes began to drift. The sky was unfamiliar, as was the entire environment. She was laying down on a cover of grass, marked by a few patches of flowers, bushes, and other kinds of greenery in this vast open plain. However, the scenery around her was wrong...no, not wrong; it didn't make any sense was the right way to phrase it. She wasn't on Tenrou Island anymore; she could tell from the very sense of difference in temperature. The volumes of island scenery, the trees and hot weather; all of it was also gone. The floor itself should've been a wreck of destruction thanks to Ben and Acnologia's battle as well.
Slowly she sat up, also noticing the lack of injuries on her body and the lack of wear and tear on her attire. She looked around again, and noticed that the view of this scenic place was quite expansive, bigger than the size of the land from which Cait Shelter's location used to be. What was strange however was that by the looks of it, dangling from the edges of this plain were a vast amount of unknown flora and other environmentally appearing objects; rocks, flora, the likes of which Wendy could not recognize, as well as large urban buildings. In the background, she could also hear music playing from what sounded like a speaker of some sort, a wonderful female voice singing in tune with the piano, performing a wonderful opera.
"What…? What's…going on?" She asked out loud. "Where is this…?"
"Well now, very good! You've finally arrived!" A voice suddenly responded to her.
Wendy's eyes widened as she whipped around. Her confusion continued to grow upon hearing this new voice. Suddenly, the sky's color began to change to a strange green and gray coloration alongside with a series of helix bars, reminiscent to the shapes of clouds, obstructing the sky instead of the white popcorn shaped ones that had previous occupied the air. Turning to look around, the very environment had also started to diverge off to another appearance. Upon taking a step, Wendy's eyes gazed down to the ground. The floor was now made entirely of jet-black bricks, though within the center area from which she occupied was still a gentle patch of green; what stood in the middle though, she couldn't make out. However, what caught her interest was a single tree, which was standing on the top of a small hill.
There was a single man standing next to this tree, from which Wendy assumed was the one who called out to her. He appeared to be a man in his 40s with a cane, who stood leisurely while giving her a gentle smile. He wore a fine white lab coat with brown and black pouches and a gold trim, and underneath, a black turtleneck with a white scarf alongside a brown vest that had gold buttons and pouches. He wore a pair of green goggles around his neck, and had a metal gauntlet on his right hand, and a fingerless glove on his left. His black pants had brown knee pads, and he wore a pair of brown boots with gold straps.
Wendy stared at him with curiosity, and a bit of caution. Who was he? What was this place? Was she in heaven…or hell? The thought put her in a slight panic, given her predicament. She should have been at Tenrou Island with everyone else, not in a place like this. Although she never heard of a place with a green sky, her experience in Edolas could've said otherwise about alternate worlds. Nevertheless, she slowly made her way over to the man, standing a few feet away from him as he gave her a small bow.
"Welcome, my dear maiden." The man greeted her, smile still present. "I am delighted to make your acquaintance. It has been quite the ordeal you have been through. Now, introductions. My name is Paradox. Professor Paradox."
Wendy stared back, unable to answer him. Instead, she was only wracked with even more confusion. Her hand touched her temple, grasping it as she felt the onset of a headache coming to plague her. "I...don't understand… I was on Tenrou Island with everyone else... How did I...?"
"Fear not." Paradox quickly intervened as he told her. "You are not deceased. You have been instead transported to another location outside of the island."
"Then, what is this place, Paradox-san…?" Confused still, she asked regardless.
"Ah yes…" Paradox smirked again. Gazing about, he raises his hands into the air. "Welcome… To the world inside the Omnimatrix."
As she removed her hand from her head, the blue-haired Dragon Slayer stared, incredulous. Was this a dream? Well...it certainly felt like it, but this was bizarre. Also, a world inside the Omnitrix? What did that even mean? What was even going on?
"This place wouldn't exist under normal circumstances, but it seems that this place is currently in the transition of transcending time and space. But even then, such a place shouldn't be accessible to the average person even if said conditions weren't in place." The man paused, and then looked at the environment. "But… This is certainly strange. To think this place would take on the form of a mixture of an urban area and the Null Void all of places…"
Wendy's eyebrow rose. Why was he so surprised? This had to do with Ben surely, as he mentioned the phrase 'Null Void', the prison dimension that Ben had dwelled in for the two years after choosing to save his cousin. Seeing her confusion, Paradox quickly turned back to her with a neutral expression. Wendy could only grumble in response.
"I'm sorry… I'm still a bit confused." She shook her head, still unable to process all of this. Acnologia's Roar, Freed and Levy's supposed last-resort defensive spell… The destruction of Tenrou Island and Ben's injured condition.
Paradox, however, seemed to understand her frustration, and waved. "It may take some time to fully comprehend." He told her. The man gave a light chuckle, as if amused by something, before he spun his cane. "You have been summoned to ascertain yourself with a case of important matters. Matters that may come to be pivotal in your future."
"Matters...?"
"Yes." Paradox nodded, glancing to the tree next to him. "The conditions from which your recent endeavor have proved to be quite worrying. Many misfortunes have happened, particularly to our mutual friend here. I was hoping you and your friends could do something to fixed this jagged problem."
She frowned deeply. She was still quite confused...but for some reason, she listened intently to Paradox's words. He didn't seem like he was lying, and this feeling...how should she put it? This place...the air of this place smelled familiar, almost gentle in a matter even though its appearance was rather dreary, something about it made her feel...at ease. Thus, calmly, and feeling her headache beginning to fade, she lowered her hand.
"A mutual friend… Do you mean Ben?" She replied.
"Yes, indeed." Paradox chuckled. "As I have said, the worldly outcome from which you have evidenced should not have succumbed to such. Perhaps, if the discord this situation proves too much...ruin will fall upon your world, and you will be forced to stand at the very front."
"...And this all coincides with Ben." Wendy states, glancing at the tree that Paradox took an interest to. "This tree… I can feel a familiar sensation."
"You will know what you will need to do." Paradox answered her simply. Just then, the beautiful music ceased for a moment, and suddenly, time seemed to come to a still. "Now then… I'm afraid my time here is up. I shall leave the rest to you and your friends."
"Speaking of… Where are my guildmates? And… Where is Ben?" Wendy pleaded to ask. "Can't you tell me that?"
Paradox, reacting with a rise of a brow, simply smiled again as he pointed his cane towards her…no, behind her. As she turned around, suddenly, a mass of light blinded her, bringing forth every single member of Fairy Tail that was with her on Tenrou Island. They all appeared to be unconscious, but merely in a state of slumber even as their injured bodies laid about. As she turned to gaze at them with a sigh of relief, as she glanced back, Paradox tapped the tree once, bringing forth a small emblem that exerted itself from the center point. It appeared be the Omnitrix badge, the very same one that presented itself whenever he transformed. Right in the middle of the hourglass shape however was said keyhole.
"Let's just say that you'll need to free our mutual friend's heart? After all, his very soul has been scattered about. I'll leave this to your interpretation." Paradox stated.
"Wait, what about—"
"Until then, toodles!" Right as she tried to retort, Paradox responded with a wink.
With the twirling of his cane, his figure began to glow, flashing away through a blue portal that appeared underneath his feet. Wendy could only droop her eyes as she watched the man's figure sink into the ground, vanishing away to leave herself with her fellow guildmates. With her left eye twitching, she merely sighed away as she turned around.
"Well… I suppose I'll have to wake everyone up."
…
It took a few minutes, but with enough patting around and silly slapping everyone's faces, Wendy eventually got the crew of Tenrou Island to rise out from their unconscious vacations.
Wendy could only chuckle in silence as she watched as every single Fairy Tail member groaned as each of them felt a knot of pain swell out from their bodies, like they were cracking all of the bones from their bodies as a result of waking from a millennia's worth of napping. With all the injuries and soreness they had obtained through the S-Class Advancement Exams, the fight against Grimoire Heart, and surviving Acnologia's onslaught, having all of that exhaustion brought back up was certainly a punch to the back of sorts.
They opened their eyes and were met with the surprising sight, gazing in amazement and confusion before repining their attention to the petite Dragon Slayer.
"What the… Where the heck are we?" Natsu groaned uncomfortably as he scratched his bandaged head. "This place smells weird… Huh."
"But it's oddly… Familiar." Gajeel said otherwise. "Smells like the kid."
"Ugh… Where are we, Wendy?" Makarov groaned, an ominous sound coming from his lower torso which made him whimper in agony. "Oooh… My aching back."
After everyone pretty much asked the same question, Wendy sighed, before turning to answer all of them. "…We're inside the Omnitrix."
"…Huh?" Elfman blinked, flabbergasted at her choice of words. "Whatcha mean?"
"Inside the Omnitrix…?" Erza wondered as well.
"Well…"
With the telling of Wendy's first impression of this supposed "World Inside the Omnitrix", in spite of the facility being quite large and foreign in nature and despite the coziness of the place, it did feel as though it was a prison of sorts. The surrounding background served as an almost taunting way of saying that you should stay inbounds, alongside with fences of flora surrounding the entire area. The only sight of interest, the tree, proved to be the one symbol of freedom and calmness.
What seemed to interest everyone however was the topic of Paradox's introduction. Nearly every member of Fairy Tail was shocked to see and hear their Master respond to the Inter-Dimensional Time Traveler's appearance.
"Did you say… Paradox?" The old man repeated. "Are you absolutely sure?"
"Y-Yes." Wendy stuttered, shocked to see Makarov responding in such a way. "Are you familiar with him, Master?"
"As a matter of fact… I did meet him once." He answered with the ruffling of his mustache. "He claimed to have quite the amount of knowledge and understanding of Ben, as well as his home dimension. I thought he was fooling me the moment he appeared, but he proved me wrong in every way."
Reaching into his pocket, everyone stared at the small device that Paradox had given to him all those months ago. As everyone proceeded to follow the old man towards the tree, Natsu stopped and looked to said object, smelling it a few times. The scent that it gave off was definitely something that was familiar to his memories. Unfortunately, due to that, curiosity got the better of the Dragon Slayer as he ambled over to the tree in the middle of the area. He stood in front of it and eyed it in an investigative matter.
"Huh…" Natsu muttered out loud. "What's this do?"
The pink haired wizard outstretched his right hand and proceeded to tap it, just like how their brunet friend did so when shifting between transformations. Upon looking over, Happy quickly noticed that Natsu wasn't with the group.
"Hey, what're doing, Natsu?" He asked.
Everyone else stopped and looked back to see their fire-breathing teammate proceeding to tap on the hourglass dial. This immediately set off a set of caution within the wizards' heads.
"You dolt!" Erza yelled as she rushed back to him, with the rest of Team Natsu following forth as she proceeded to grab him in a semi sleeper hold. "Don't touch something that you have no clue about!"
"Seriously…" Lucy added. "For all we know, it could be some kind of booby trap or something! And I've had enough of those for now!"
"Huh." Natsu however didn't seem to be listening to them. With his palm slapping against the dial with relative force, he made contact with the emblem and caused it to beep. Suddenly, the Dragon Slayer jolted his arm back when he felt a surge of energy spark out from it. Unexpectedly, the green and black dial began to shine brighter, causing him to take a few vigilant steps back. Before anyone pondered this new advancement any further, Erza clonked the Dragon Slayer dead set on the head with an armored fist.
"You moron!" The redhead shouted furiously as she pulled him back. "Listen to what we have to say before you do anything rash!"
"Erza, wait! Get back!" Levy yelled, pointing at the luminous emblem.
Team Natsu stopped what they were doing as the Omnitrix dial began to shine brighter and brighter, forcing them and everyone else to shield their eyes. While this was happening, Makarov gasped as the object in his hands then began to light up in response, floating out of his palm as it began to unravel its shape into another figure. Everyone turned to see it morph into what appeared to be a key, its coloration in conjunction to the Omnitrix's own color scheme. However, no one was able to react in time as it quickly flew out towards the keyhole in the tree, thrusting itself and causing the then shining dial to then open up.
As the light began to die out, everyone opened their eyes, only for them to widen a bit as two new phenomena happened.
The first was that the dial that was previously on the tree was now replaced by a large swirling vortex of green and red energy, one that gave off an ominous sensation.
And the other? Well…
"Uh…" Elfman was first to open his mouth as he pointed at the new figure that was in front of them. "Is… Is that Ben?"
And his confusion was understandable. In front of the Tenrou crew was a figure that greatly resembled their wrist watch wielding friend. However, instead of looking like their fellow guildmate, this incarnation had grey skin, which appeared to be more mechanical or android-ish in nature, but in stark comparison to the real Ben Tennyson, the features were pin-point other than the alternate color palette. Striking emerald green eyes were paired by silver grey hair as it stood up and showed its face, revealing itself to present a green and black armored jumpsuit that glowed every-so-often. On his ears appeared to be a transparent visor which seemed to dimmed slightly so that others could see what was behind it.
The Fairy Tail wizards were unable to speak as they stared at this…copycat with dumbfounded looks? The being looked up at the group with a blank expression, only to begin stretching out its body while cracking its neck with effort in its voice.
"What the…" Gray's eyes widened in shock. "A robot Ben?"
"This is quite unexpected…" Freed admitted. "His figure is…unique, if I have to say so for myself."
Natsu and the others agreed, but the Dragon Slayer was more interested to why the smell of this thing was so strange. To break the tension, Erza was the one to step forward.
"Excuse me… But if I may be so bold… You are Ben, yes?" She inquired politely.
The members of Fairy Tail were in awe at this newcomer, but were unable to speak as they stared at figure with astounded looks. As it finished its routine of stretches, the being looked up at the group with a stern yet somewhat gentle expression, softening its gaze for a moment before glancing about at its environment.
"I see… So, the situation has turned into something like this." The figure spoke in Ben's voice, sounding a bit like Upgrade's but less robotic. It paused as it placed its hand on its ocular device, causing its visor to light up. "As I expected, this isn't going to be as laid back as I would have hoped it to be."
"…"
"…"
Levy was the first to interrupt the silence. "Woah… Check him out! He looks all mechanical!"
Gajeel blinked, subconsciously drooling a bit. "…Iron?"
"Beats me." Natsu answered as he sniffed in the figure's direction again, though he didn't seem to be satisfied by his absently made answer. "He's got a weird scent to him… It's not a bad one though."
While the others were busy mumbling and commentating on this figure's appearance, the latter turned its back to the portal located behind itself. The armored figure appeared to be concerned as he crouched down next to it, seemingly scanning its structure with its visor as it sighed.
"The damage is quite severe... I must engage in the reparation. Your placement in this space is but a blessing by an otherworldly form of assistance." He suddenly proclaimed. "…This is certainly an annoying outcome. An annoying…but not a fatal miscalculation though."
"I…" Wendy opened her mouth to speak, stuttering with a bit of nervousness. "E-Excuse me for asking, but may we ask who you are?"
The emerald-eyed being glanced over to her, his stern look turning to a gentle smile. "Ah… Wendy Marvel. Of course, you may do so."
"Hey, how'd you know what her name was?" Natsu blinked erratically. "…You a psychic or something?"
"Haven't you already figured out who I am already?" The metallic-looking Ben frowned, placing a hand on his hip. "Of course I would reconcile with all of your identities. I am associated to my Host Body on a genetic level after all."
"I… What?"
"Ooooh… I get it." Levy nodded, which made everyone turn over to her direction. "When you mention the term "Host Body", you're implying your connection to Ben as the wielder of the Omnitrix. If this is truly a "world" inside it… Then you must be the Omnitrix's AI?"
The AI nodded, folding its arms. "Indeed. As expected of the great mind of Levy McGarden."
"W-Wait, is that really it?" Bickslow asked, looking back and forth to confirm and register Levy's explanation. "So, the kid's watch has a mind of its own or something…?"
"Not precisely, Bickslow." Erza answered, her eyes on the AI. "As I recall, Ben told me that the Omnitrix has an AI, an artificial intelligence of sorts. It isn't a real mind per say, but it's a closely related subject."
"Art… Arta-what?" Natsu and Gray turned their heads in confusion.
"To put a means to an end on this matter, you can refer to me as the…inside manager of the Omnimatrix; me being the individual that looks over the operations behind Ben's usage of the device, the brains and subconscious workings behind things, so to speak. You should know of the things that I've done already; such as saving his life back during the scene on the Tower of Heaven, for example." The AI smiles, to which turned into a smirk when he noticed Erza's eye twitching for a moment. "As for a name… I suppose I should take on a form that would suit the Host Body's condition a bit further more before doing so."
Closing his eyes, it was then that the Omnitrix emblem on his chest began to glow a bit. Soon, his entire figure was enveloped in a glow of light, covering his shape before forming itself into a new one. Everyone once again had to cover their eyes for a moment, but as soon as they opened them, a few of them gasped upon the changes in appearance.
Instead of being a metallic, android version of Ben, the AI of the Omnitrix took on the form of a seemingly female version of its host…only that it had long, orange hair that leveled down to the middle of its waist. Still retaining the same emerald colored eyes, it now had peachy human skin and wore a white dress shirt under a dark blue sweater, as well as a black frilled skirt and black stockings that were aligned with a pair of dress shoes.
"What the? It's now a girl?" Lisanna called out.
"It's like a girl version of Ben…" Gray rose a brow. "Where have I seen that before…?"
"Hang on, I remember Ben saying something about this!" Cana intervened. "When he talked about his past, he mentioned a cousin of his!"
"Precisely, Cana Alberona." The AI nods, now sounding just like a twelve-year-old girl's. "I have taken on the form from which Ben retains the strongest connection to, to both his imagination, and his remembrance."
"So… What do we call you then?" Gajeel asked. "Orange? Amber?"
"…Gwen." The Omnitrix's AI answers, bowing slightly. "Gwen Tennyson. The paternal cousin of Ben that went alongside the very trip from which I was attached to the latter on. Salutations, Fairy Tail."
…
"Very well." Erza quickly understood the current situation, but turned to switch the topic. "But now that introductions are out of the way… Gwen, do you mind telling us why we are here? What caused us to come forth into the Omnitrix—What happened with the outcome from our fight with Acnologia?"
Gwen cups her chin, thinking of a way to explain this scenario. "An understandable question, Miss Scarlet. I can see that you are all in a state of panic and confusion. I shall do my best to explain, but we don't have the luxury of standing around forever."
"Well, we've got time, if anything." Laxus snorts. "I'd say we're pretty much in a state of limbo."
"Then allow me to relate the situation to all of you." The apparition smiles, lifting a hand up. A moment later, a small hologram began to manifest on top of her palm before growing out to a larger size. "As to why you are all here; this was more or less an…accident, yet also something planned out from the looks of it?"
"An accident?! What kind of accident could occur when we had a death beam being fired upon us?!" Elfman suddenly yells. "It's not like we weren't in a state of danger or anything…"
"It's not the type that I would call as such." Gwen quickly retorts before tapping the hologram. The pieces begin to formulate into a projection of Tenrou Island, more specifically, the battle against Acnologia and Ognilogia and the conclusion with the Dragon Slayers. "You see, with the resulting battle against Acnologia, while Ben was able to momentarily hold him off, the former's Dragon Slayer Magic had begun to deteriorate his condition."
"Deteriorate…? Wait, you don't mean…?!" Wendy frowned, as did Gajeel a moment later.
"Indeed. His very soul was beginning to crumble apart. It was just as what Acnologia said, he was going to steal and tear his soul away from his body, and I couldn't let that happen. Now, physical injuries I can maintain and tend to, but psychological, spiritual or magical, and mental phenomena… They are a bit trickier in that regard." Gwen grumbles before zooming forth to a 3D version of a fallen Ognilogia, highlighting various parts of his draconic vessel.
"Ben's body had already started to dwindle down condition-wise as soon as he got by the attack that neutralized his vertebral column via slamming into Tenrou Island. And right as that happened, the soul-deteriorating effect of Acnologia's Magic had already begun to do its work, tearing apart his inner self and spreading it throughout the island bit by bit. It wasn't as noticeable when the Dragon Slayers were intervening, but when the Soul Abstain struck that sore spot again, that basically…"
"Poured out like a hole in a dam?" Lucy inquired, wincing at the thought of the injury in her mind.
"I see… So Acnologia really was reaping Ben's soul during that fight…" Makarov sighed. "But then… Why are we here?"
"Well… Normally I'd say it's impossible for one's "soul" to be restored." Gwen responds, before gesturing to the space around them. "But this world, no… The very concept and utility of the Omnitrix is unique in its ability to interact with this dimension due to the very nature of it. One could say that the Omnitrix was able to "digitize" and scan the broken fragments of Ben's soul into the Omnitrix. The result…is this world, as well as its condition and the state of Ben as a whole. That, and something else was also able to make this scenario possible from the outside…"
"Wait, so this world is a representation of Ben's condition?" Mira frowned at the realization.
"I would have to say so, Mirajane." Gwen responded with a dejected look. "My Host Body, or rather, Ben's, was severely damaged. He is currently in a corrupted state, so to speak. You could very well say that he literally isn't himself at the moment."
"And what does that have to do with us being here?" Gray continued on with the questioning.
"Yes, I was getting to that..." Gwen rolls her eyes.
"While the Omnitrix can very well scan things into its system, what it chooses to scan… I couldn't calibrate on the specifics at that time. Basically, the scan that I initiated was a wholesome area scan, taking forth all symptoms of visible and general parts of life signs. I had no time to individually pick up every strand of Ben's soul from every part of the island, so as a result, everyone else was scanned into the system. To what became of Tenrou Island however, I unfortunately cannot answer for that, for even I don't know what happened entirely. I can see that this decision was for the best though."
"And why's that?" Lucy finally responds again.
"Though Tenrou Island may very well be destroyed as the worst possible outcome, if you're all here, then the Omnitrix is still intact." Gwen answers with a heartful grin. "The darn device is practically indestructible as a result of being made from some of the hardest and malleable materials and metals you could think of."
"I-I see… Anyhow now…" Erza coughed, inwardly accepting all of this new information with a tinge of disbelief; however, she shook off her thoughts. "This soul reaping phenomenon that is ailing Ben… Is there a way that we can save him then? I propose that when we can do so, we can safely exit out of the Omnitrix and return to the real world."
Gwen nods, but a small glance to the void near the group makes a marble of sweat drop down her cheek. "I would say that it's a simple task... But it is not as such."
"What do you mean by that?" Happy questions, confused. "Y-You're the Omnitrix's AI, right? Can't you just piece together all the parts and fix him up clickity split?"
The manifested AI shook its head. "If I had more control over the current state of the Omnitrix, I would be able to… But these sudden turns of events have left the state of the device in a sort of…rambled, fragmented condition. The Magic that caused this simple fix and click situation escalated this problem into something that is a bit more complex."
"And what's that, little lady?" Gildarts urged her to continue. "I bet it's nothing we can't handle."
Gwen chuckled lowly, before turning around. She looked and gestured over to the portal that opened along with her. "Take a yonder at this void of energy. Do you know what this is?"
"Uh… No?" Natsu answered immediately.
"This… Is a gateway to the inside of the Omnitrix." Gwen explained. "Primarily, parts to which are connected to the state of Ben's condition."
"Gateway?" Freed rebounded. "To what ends of an area are we speaking of then?"
Gwen glances over to the former. "To parts of the Omnitrix from which I forcefully gathered together the fragments of Ben's soul into. Prior to your coming here, I was set on attempting to find some way to bypass the damaged firewall that prevented me from accessing all parts of the Omnitrix. The only method that would have been available to reach Ben's consciousness were to forcefully break through and "defibrillate" his condition."
"…What?" Natsu deadpanned again.
An annoyed frown crossed through Gwen's face yet again. The AI of the Omnitrix could now understand parts of the simplicity that had plagued its wielder's guildmates. Truly, a world from which technology wasn't a large benefactor was unique. However, even with these awkward conditions, in a world consisting of Magic, this couldn't have been the worst road to journey down.
"Let's just say this…" Gwen began as she went on and about. Strolling toward the void near them. As soon as it reached near its proximity, the portal's size began to widen and expand. "We're going to fix Ben and the Omnitrix by traveling through it. Think of it as…a treasure hunt, so to speak. Or plumbing, only except we are involving ourselves with high tech pipes."
"Then let's get going already!" Natsu declared, his arm swishing in a circular loop as he began to walk towards the portal.
However, Gwen stopped him as he was about to enter, shaking her head all the while.
"No, we can't just go in willy-nilly. In these conditions, the Omnitrix's defense mechanisms have gone out of control. Even now its attempting to repair and alleviate its corrupted condition. We need to strategize."
"What do you propose then?" Evergreen wondered. "It's not like we know who or what's in that vortex when we exit out of it."
"We'll prioritize dividing our numbers so that each group is capable of handling any scenario." Makarov answered, glancing at everyone else. "That means having a balance of offense, defense, and support, as well as knowing how many of our members to divide into groups accordingly from the twenty of us present."
Saying just that, Makarov and the rest quickly began to decide which squad of guild members would band together based on their specialty. Ironically enough it didn't take nearly as long as Gwen thought they would, given the data she had on the entirety of the Fairy Tail guild being a group of chaotic good individuals. But she snorted the thought out of her mind as the groups were brought and decided together.
Turning back to the portal, as soon as Gwen's hand went into the eerie chasm of energy, her entire body began to slip in as she ambled on through. Everyone reacted with a small amount of surprise, but compared to things they've experienced thus far, they calmed down relatively quickly.
"Alright then. First group, head in!" Makarov commanded, prompting five members to step up. The first squad consisted of Gajeel, Bickslow, Lisanna, Carla, and Gray.
"Time to rip and tear!" Gajeel yelled with excitement as he clenched his fists together. He quickly ran into the portal, following Gwen in hot pursuit. "Come on guys! I wanna check out this thing in full detail! The runt's gonna owe us when we're finished with this as well!"
"The insides of an advanced form of technology... It baffles me to no end, but perhaps we'll learn more of the experiences that Ben foretold us through his stories. Come, let us depart, everyone." Carla cupped her chin in interest, before she moseyed toward the void and stepped inside, disappearing within a flash of light.
"This is just complicating things even further…" Gray groaned. "But there's nothing we can do about it for now. We fix up Ben, and we can get out of here. That's all there is to it."
"It's kinda exciting when you're thinking about, don'tcha think?!" Bickslow cackled as he followed, his dolls repeating his words as they joined up with him.
Once everyone began to go through, the rest of the guild began to recollect with one another to discuss what would happen next.
"Ben…" Grasping her hand, Wendy bore a resolved expression on her face. "We're not leaving without him!"
"Of course." The old man smiles. "What kind of family would we be if we let one of our own suffer?"
With a chuckle shared between them, the rest of the guild ventured glanced back at the void, pondering in thought to the curious landscapes they would be seeing on the other side…
…
Traveling through a portal seemed crazy enough in theory, but to the Fairy Tail guild, it was sort of like riding through a slip stream… Or a waterslide or pipe for simpler comparison. Nevertheless, as the first squad regained feeling in their bodies, the sensation of their feet touching a form of ground enticed them to regain their bearings. Opening their eyes, to say they were surprised was an understatement.
They looked around to see they were standing on a floor made entirely of crystal… Diamondhead crystal to be exact. Looking above, apparently, night was encroaching, but compared to the likes of Earth Land, this place's atmosphere didn't appear to be as extravagantly present. However, as their eyes began to set themselves up, a myriad of stars and celestial bodies shone in the sky. A cascade of red and purple amongst a starry void of stars had been cast across the late evening sky, obscuring and complimenting the pale green crystalline environment.
"I… Wow… Where are we?" Lisanna asked, her eyes gleaming. "The sky… It's beautiful."
Gray rose a brow, stepping on the ground a few times. "Huh. This crystal reminds me of the Tower of Heaven… No, that's not it. It's more like…"
"It resembles the material that consists of Diamondhead's body." Carla corrected.
"Yeah, yeah!" Bickslow nodded in confirmation. "It's like this whole area's made of the same stuff as him."
"So… Where are we then?" Lisanna wondered. "Is this another world?"
"You could say that it's a replica." A familiar voice answered. The group turned around to see Gwen approaching them with a small device in her hands. "And you were right about that observation regarding Diamondhead and this planet."
"Huh?" Gajeel remarked. "Planet?"
The artificial apparition smirked. "I rest my case. This very world is the origin for Diamondhead's species. It's his species' home planet."
"Wait, we're in another world entirely?" Bickslow squeaked, half-curious and half-excited. "Oh, this is so wack!"
"Wait, how's this working though?" Gray asked with a neutral tone.
"No, this isn't the actual planet, this is only a digital replica. This phenomenon is happening because we are linking ourselves to the conscious parts of Ben's self, as his fragments are scattered about through the Omnitrix's markings. As for this place however…" Gwen began to explain, gesturing her arms around the area.
"Welcome to the planet Petropia, one of many in the Milky Way Galaxy from the universe from which Ben originates from."
"We crossed through into another dimension?" Gajeel was amazed, yet uneasy. "This feels weird…"
"No, not exactly, like I just said... This is all inside the Omnitrix, a simulation of the planet itself." Gwen quickly retorts. "As Ben might have explained to you all, the Omnimatrix is a device that stores the genetic factors of countless amounts of intelligent and sentient life throughout the Milky Way Galaxy. The main reason for that is to preserve these forms of life should they become extinct or face tremendous troubles. This very device stores the base DNA for these species, and can be used to bring them back to life should they be wiped out."
"But the way Ben uses it, it's more or less seen as a weapon or gadget." Carla intervenes however, earning an otherwise humorous response from Gwen as the AI does a spit take.
"...Well, you are not incorrect in that matter. Apart from persevering intelligent life, one of the other goals for the Omnitrix is to gather and interpret a way to understand how another being lives and interacts with others of their kinds and that of the outer world. From collecting data and experiences from countless different points of view, a harmonious sequence is brought forth to a deeper understanding of life around us."
"…Huh?" Bickslow blurts, deadpanning.
"In other words… The Omnitrix allows the user to live in the shoes of another being, Bickslow. And with that, understand how they live and get around in daily life." Lisanna shortens out, to which the Soul Mage's eyes gleam back to life after processing the simplistic explanation.
"Ooooooh… Well why didn't ya say so then?"
Gwen facepalmed, not even bothering to give a verbal response.
"ANYWAYS… What we're here for is to gather the part of Ben's soul that has been trapped here." Switching topics, Gwen returns everyone's attention back to the device she carried in her hands. It resembled a radar of sorts. "Which is also why I've brought you here."
"I suppose the more of us here, the easier it'll be for us to explore the area." Gray assumes, to which Gwen snorts in amusement.
"Oh no, I didn't bring you all here just for that." She answers.
"Then what?" Carla replies.
"…To combat the defense systems." Gwen suddenly points behind them as a screen of data appears.
"…Defense?" Gajeel blinks, glancing around. "What do you mean by that—Wait, what's that smell?!"
"DNA Protocol Error. Activating defense program."
A mechanical voice suddenly alerted everyone as Gajeel plugged his nose. Right as they did so, suddenly, appearing in the sky in a mass of data above the crystal plains that everyone stood upon was a large build of flying creatures. Looking up, everyone could only frown upon recognizing the hive of creatures coming to swarm down on them, the sharp sound of a conglomerate amount of wings flapping all the while, like a million razor blades scratching themselves against one another.
"Are those…?" Lisanna gulped nervously. "No way…"
"Yep." Gray chuckled nervously. "Hah… We're in danger."
"A hive of Lepidopterrans, huh? Interesting choice…" Gwen rubbed her chin, somewhat intrigued by the choice in defense protocol.
Right on time as well. Immediately as the AI alerted everyone, the swarm of green insectoid aliens came above them in a hive-minded cloud. Opening their mouths, each one of them began to spew out trails of slime towards the group of Fairy Tail members.
"Get ready, everyone!" Gajeel ordered. "Defensive Magic users form a shield while others prepare to counterattack!"
Responding first, he breathed in as he unleashed a Roar in a circular motion, causing the molds of slime to explode into clouds of smoke. With a layer of smokescreen blocking everyone's vision, Bickslow and his dolls began to direct their energy into the unknown, firing off beams of energy like a shotgun spray. Gray did the same, releasing a plethora of Ice Lances in conjunction.
It didn't take long for everyone else to hear sounds of screaming and hissing coming from outside the smokescreen, with thuds and crude splatters of bodies landing on the crystal flooring of Petropia.
By the time that the smokescreen finally cleared away, everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the attacking Lepidopterrans were down for the count, though they quickly vanished away within glitches of zeroes and ones.
"Alright, the waves of Stinkflies are gone… Now what?" Gray turned to Gwen, who was seen busily interacting with a data board. "Uh… Hello?"
"Uh oh…" She suddenly says, her eyes glaring down in realization at something. "Seems like this simulation is taking place right when…"
"Huh? Hey, what're mumbling about—"
Before anyone else could say anything, a red ray of light snapped the group out of their musings, coming forth from high in the sky as it collided with Petropia with incredible intensity.
They looked up to see amongst the stars before them a giant beige and red space vessel floating above them, with red lightning bolting forth from the front part of its bizarre shape. Energy quickly began to gather inside it, before firing once more and causing the entire planet to violently shake as it collided against another part of the planet.
Carla was the one to voice everyone's thoughts. "What in the world is that?!"
Gwen could only narrow her eyes as the ship fired off another couple bolts of crimson energy, this time hitting a bit too close to where the group was standing. Everyone was forced to shield their eyes from the spectacle, only for their jaws to drop once they literally saw parts of the planet begin to float off into the atmosphere.
"Oi, oi! What the hell's going on here?!" Bickslow blurted out the next question on everyone's minds.
"Why are they destroying the planet…?" Lisanna could only frown in question before snapping her neck around. "Gwen?"
With everyone's eyes on her, Gwen sweat-dropped, before awkwardly scratching her head. Bringing forth the data screen she had, it expanded out to show the state of the planet.
"Huh… Well, this is certainly something I wasn't taking into account." She started. "Not only are the Omnitrix's internal systems going haywire with the simulations, they're also playing events that had been recorded into its database."
"Events?" Gray rose a brow. "What, you mean the planet's supposed to be attacked by giant lasers of death in its history?"
"…I suppose you could say that." Gwen chuckles slightly. "Truth be told, this event took place only a few years ago in real time, and it was caused by someone that the Host Body knows."
"At this point, I'm not even surprised…" Carla shook her head. "So, who was it?"
"The owner of that ship was none other than Vilgax, Ben's archnemesis." Gwen revealed, which made a few members pale out. "His reasoning for firing on the planet was to test the newly made weapon he just obtained."
"Well, ain't that the move of a colossal jerk..." Gajeel grumbled.
"Granted, the one who gave him the weapon wasn't entirely innocent." Gwen quickly responds. "As it was a Petrosapien who gave him it in fact, ironically. The name of the individual in question shouldn't really matter at this point, but let's just say that his mentality was more of a mercenary's than a proper person of society."
Regardless of Gwen's explanation, as she was about to explain further on, from above in the void space, another ray of destruction rained down onto the planet, clashing into the crystal exterior of the Diamondhead's home world as a violent earthquake dropped everyone to the floor. Even then, the damage was so great that this time the very ground that everyone was standing on was starting to crack and rumble.
"Crap, he fired it off again!" Bickslow growled. "At this rate, the whole place is gonna come apart!"
"Which is why I would like everyone to spread out now!" Gwen suddenly demanded. "I'll come into contact with everyone else after this!"
With a raise of her hand, she summoned forth a plethora of portals right before another ray of destruction came down onto Petropia. When it hit the planet, the destruction rose to a global scale as the literal landscape fell apart and explosions started to boom about, literally. At this point, the group of five was either panicking or screaming, but fortunately, with the portals Gwen provided, they escaped before they could be blown to smithereens.
By the time Vilgax's rapid firing finally ceased, all that remained was bits of giant crystal debris floating about in space. A few moments later, a portal appeared into place above the largest crystal platform around them, with the group tumbling out of it like a bunch of tumbleweed.
"The guy really does like firing off lasers…" Gray rubbed his noggin. "Did everyone get away? I couldn't see with all the smoke."
Lisanna nodded in confirmation, now Take-Over'd partially to have harpy-like wings. "We're okay, for the most part at least. We just barely escaped death for the second time now."
"And? What the heck do we do now? The planet's a pile of crumbly bits!" Gajeel turned to Gwen, the latter also still recovering from the violent events.
"Aye… I am still confident that the piece of Ben's soul is still here, somewhere dormant on Petropia." She replied. "If anything, the many blasts from Vilgax's ship actually helped to even out the areas that we need to look through."
"I find it hard to believe that a piece of the kid's soul might be here after all this..." Bickslow groaned, gazing off to the distance. "I mean, where would it be after all this?"
Before Gwen could answer however, Gray and Carla look up to see a purple vortex appear in the air.
"…I think we have our answer." The Ice Mage pointed up with a curious look.
Right as everyone saw a glimpse of Vilgax's war ship blast off into the vacuum of space via hyper-space technology, all that was left of Petropia were giant crystals that once were together to form the gigantic prism that used to be a planet. While the core of the planet remained, all other parts were heavily damaged, left to float about nearby as Gajeel and others watched.
However, as said vortex appeared in the air at the same time, the ground began to violently shake and make everyone fall to the ground.
"NOW WHAT?!" Gajeel barked. "First, it's an aerial bombardment, now seismic waves?!"
Gwen was unamused by this reaction immensely but kept a cool face as she stood up. Wiring up another holographic window, she began to go through the records of the damages done to Petropia. It seemed that while the planet was mostly destroyed as a whole, there were still bits and pieces of the inner domain that would likely serve to house important information or other significant things.
Right as that happened though, another alert was brought about by the system.
"Well, I have good news and bad news…" The AI chuckled half-heartedly.
"The good news?" Carla asked.
"The good news is that Ben's soul shard is very close."
"…And the bad?" Lisanna dared to ask.
"We've got company. Lots of it…" She answered, glancing below their feet. "From below."
As she said that, from the ground, everyone covered their ears and closed their eyes as shrieking roars came from below the planet's surface. Hulking figures emerged from the ground, stomping over the landscape and overshadowing the group. As they reopened their eyes, everyone gasped in absolute shock as they gazed up at the titan-like figures that towered over them, their shadows completely blocking out the sunlight that glazed over Petropia.
Gwen was certainly surprised, to the point that her eyes widened quite a bit.
"What… What are these monstrosities?" Carla took a few steps back as everyone else stared, jaws agape.
Lisanna gulped. "Oh wow… The Ben from Edolas told me about these creatures. They're… Antrosapiens."
"You would be very much correct, Miss Strauss." Gwen acknowledged her answer. "And thus, I can confidently say that we are in significant danger with the amount of them here."
Staring down at the group were the newly identified creatures known as Antrosapiens. The Antrosapiens resembled theropod dinosaurs made of purple rock and crystal, possessing a kaiju-like body structure. They had yellow eyes, and mouths that practically vanished when closed. While the folks of this group had not never heard of this species from the Ben that they knew, they watched with cautious intent as the giant hulking crystal monster aliens plotted their next move.
"I swear, if we get out of this, I'm smacking Ben right in the face." Carla grouched.
Gray snorted in retort, agreeing wholeheartedly. "Second on that."
"Well, I'm not gonna stand around and have them tear us up!" Gajeel growled. "Besides, after the pounding we got from Acnologia, I really have a need to punch something!"
"Shall we then?" Lisanna called out, a Magic Circle appearing below her feet as she concentrated her energy. "Go for attacks that hit hard and fast!"
"You heard the lady! Rip them to shreds or die trying!" Bickslow cackled as he and his dolls prepared for their own attacks.
"Damn right!" Gajeel grinned savagely. "Let's smash them up!"
"And while you are doing that…" Gwen mumbled to herself as she looked at her radar, and then to the vortex in the sky. "The big boss will be waiting for us to battle after this…"
…
With that in mind, the battle between Tenrou Squad 1 and the group of Antrosapiens commenced. While Bickslow and Gray moved to the center of the now broken platform they stood on to prepare long ranged attack spells, Gajeel and Carla were now in the air, getting the attention of the crystalline kaiju aliens. Each of them glared at the red eyed Dragon Slayer as he floated about above them.
"So, how do these things work?" Gajeel asked Carla. "If they're anything like Diamondhead do you think they—"
Before that sentence was done, a few Antrosapiens roared as they fired a few beams of purple energy from their mouths. Carla whelped as she rose Gajeel and herself into the air, nimbly dodging the attacks for a good while, but eventually, one of the laser-shooting aliens managed to graze Gajeel's side, leaving a scorch mark.
"Son of a…! That burns!" He groaned as he patted the marked area. "Alright, they're dead meat! Carla, prepare to attack!"
"Are you sure?!" Carla frowned, only to shake her head as she decided to dive headfirst down towards one of the dozen or so Antrosapiens.
Morphing his arms into iron poles, Gajeel clanged them against each other. As he cocked his arms back, Gajeel glared at the foe in front of him as he prepared to attack.
"Iron Dragon's Club!" Ramming his arms straight through its torso, the Antrosapien's roared in pain as it stumbled back, a gaping hole now in its stomach.
"Hell yeah! Our turn now, babies!"" Bickslow gloated. "Line Formation!"
Joining on the assault, Bickslow arranged his dolls to fire off a large crescent energy wave that slammed itself into the Antrosapien that Gajeel hit, shattering one of its legs and causing it to fall to the ground. The Antrosapiens that were nearby scowled as their fallen comrade clashed against them and caused them to tip over to their sides.
In the meanwhile, Lisanna finished concentrating enough Magic Power to activate her next Take-Over.
"Take-Over Omnium: Blitzwolfer!" With particles of green energy engulfing her body, Lisanna's body began to morph and shined brightly.
Within moments of the light fading away, her body changed to resemble that of a humanoid version of Blitzwolfer. Wearing a skin-tight armless black and green jumpsuit, her usual short white hair grew to become a long, flowing mane of black. She grew a large bushy black and gray tail, with her arms and legs morphing into animalistic versions each equipped with razor sharp claws.
"That's new!" Gray snapped his head to react to the new transformation before turning back to concentrating Magic Power in his palms. "Lisanna, give me a boost!"
Reacting with a small nod, Lisanna skittered over to the Ice Mage, cupping her hands together. As Gray leaped onto them, the transformed Strauss gave off a small howl as she tossed him high into the air.
"Ice Make: Gungnir!" With a roaring declaration, Gray swiped his arms down as a giant magic circle formed above his figure, blasting out an equally huge lance made of ice.
As it charged down towards the Antrosapiens, it all seemed like the damage to the Tenrou Squad's foes would certainly be a significant amount, but those hopes quickly were swatted away as the remaining Antrosapiens gathered together and opened theirs mouth. To Gray's surprise, his gigantic projectile was instantly shattered to pieces once his enemies all released a synchronized sonic roar, pushing him back a few dozen meters.
Luckily however, Lisanna managed to catch him before he crashed on the ground, the duo grumbling as their combined efforts failed to achieve their intended action.
"Damn it!" Gray barked, standing up and swiping off his top. "If I knew they could do that I would've gone for something different…!"
"Yeah…" Lisanna nodded, only to realize an idea. "Wait, that's it!"
"What?" As Gray turned to her, Lisanna stood straight, closing her eyes as she began to breathe in and out. "…Lisanna?"
"I have an idea. You and the others keep them busy and huddled together so I can gather enough Magic Power to end this." She replied, which understandably made Gray raise a brow.
"Alright then, you got it."
With that in mind, Gray ran off to join the others, with Gajeel in the middle of charging up another attack.
"What the hell was that, Gray?" He yelled, reacting to that failure of an attack he just did. "Now that just doesn't make sense. If they're weak against hard hitting shit, why would they have sonic roars?!"
"Don't ask me!" The Ice Mage blattered back. "Just concentrate on distracting them until Lisanna is ready! Bickslow, give us some covering fire!"
Nodding, Bickslow began to fly around with his dolls, peppering the Antrosapiens with energy blasts as Gray and Gajeel began to charge forth.
"Ice-Make: Floor!" Slamming his palms onto the ground, Gray began to generate a layer of ice that quickly spread underneath his enemies. As he did that, he turned to Gajeel and Carla. "Now, you two!"
"Get me closer!" Gajeel yelled, with Carla complying as she flew off towards the crystalline aliens. "Alright, get away, you two!"
Unleashing another Roar, it collided with the forefront Antrosapien, pushing and causing it to slide against its comrades. While they tried to balance themselves, the slippery ice that Gray conjured caused them to slip and fall. With a great shake against the ground, they collapsed and piled up against each other, growling away in defiance. All the while, Bickslow flew by and grabbed Gray's hand, taking the two of them away towards Lisanna.
"That enough time, Lisanna?!" Gray barked. "Those guys aren't gonna stay down forever!"
Lisanna flashed a smile as her body began to glow a flash of green. Seeing that in mind, Carla flew back as a magic circle appeared in front of the Take-Over Mage.
Taking a deep breath, Lisanna closed her eyes for a moment, before opening them and unleashing a terrifying howl of her own.
"Blitzer Howl!" Much to everyone's shock, they all watched as Lisanna unleashed a devastating sonic wave, with pulsing green energy encapsulating practically the entire battlefield.
It didn't take long for nearly everything to crack and shatter, with the very floor and geographical area breaking apart, including the Antrosapiens. With howls of anger and pain, the team watched as their body began to crumble apart and break down as they tried to stand up. Within seconds, they broke down completely; a crumble of giant purple crystals laying together as the danger finally subsided.
Lisanna fell to her knees as she began to breathe heavily, her body glowing for a bit until she reverted back to her base human body.
"Well damn, fighting fire with fire…" Gajeel nodded in acknowledgement of her handiwork. "Nice work."
"Never thought you had it in ya to be that destructive, Lisanna!" Bickslow cackled a bit as his dolls also repeated what he uttered, earning a sigh from said white-haired teenager.
"Well… I don't really use those types of spells because they consume a lot of Magic Power, but I guess it worked pretty well in this case…" She giggled.
"That's for sure…" Gray replied, a marble of sweat rolling down his cheek. 'For a second that crap kind of reminded me of the old Mira for a second…'
Carla nodded in agreement, but then looked around in wonder. "Well, that's all fine and dandy… But where's Gwen? Before we were distracted by those abominations, wasn't she trying to tell us about the location of Ben's soul shard?"
And to queue their response, before anyone could respond to her understandably important question, out of nowhere the team overheard a loud explosion above them. Everyone quickly jerked their necks up to see Gwen flying down towards them.
"Woah there…!" Landing next to them, she nearly made a crater as she stomped on the floor to maintain her balance. "Well, this is a problem…"
"Oh what now…!" Gray grumbled as he looked from where she was moments earlier, only for his pupils to contract as a ray of rainbow light blasted him off his feet.
Crashing into Gajeel, the two groaned in annoyance as they and everyone else gazed upwards. They all blinked a few times in confusion as a new figure floated down, their arms pointed at them as their body glowed with a bright red energy surrounding them.
"Everyone… We've found our shard." Gwen announced as the figure gently landed in front of them. "It's time for Round Two."
Stepping forwards, the figure's glowing light faded off, revealing their identity to everyone else as the team looked at it with disbelief.
"Wait, that's…" Bickslow rose a brow in shock.
Lisanna reacted similarly, slowly standing up as her body was still recovering. "But why…?"
"Are you serious? The hell's wrong with you…?!" Gajeel growled. "Ben!"
Gray slammed his palms together as the figure was identified by everyone else. "Chromastone?! Gwen, the hell's going on here?!"
The individual in question was indeed Ben, or at least, what appeared to be Ben as Chromastone. The Omnitrix dial on his chest did suggest that this was supposed to be the boy that they all knew, but Gwen shook her head, denying their confirmations unfortunately.
"That may look like him, but that's someone else entirely I'm afraid." She said as she narrowed her eyes. "Ever wondered who was the original individual who gave the sample for Chromastone's DNA transformation?"
Carla and Gray looked at each other for a moment, before retorting back.
"So… This guy is the donor for Chromastone?" Gray figured. "Who the heck is this then?"
"His name is—"
"You fools… You dare to invade my sanctuary?! I am the guardian of Petropia, and I will not forgive you for destroying my planet!"
"Guardian of Petropia?" Gajeel inquired, a vein of anger ticking on his forehead. "Oh great, another pain in the ass for us…"
Gwen shook her head. "He may be a simulation generated by the Omnitrix, but watch out, he's not called the planet's guardian for nothing, and he's got some even more firepower than calculated to combat us!"
"What do ya mean by that?!" Bickslow spat as everyone began to get into position. "We're still gonna have to fight this guy, right? He's accusing us of crap we didn't even do!"
Unfortunately, the Crystalsapien didn't seem to care to listen to their words. As he crossed his arms, he shot up into the sky and unleashed a barrage of energy blasts of rainbow light. Gray grabbed Gwen and quickly jumped back as everyone else also got out of the way.
"He's crazy!" Gajeel roared out. "The hell do we do, beat his butt?!"
"That seems to be the idea… He's the source of the shard, right?" Gray turned to Gwen for confirmation as he let her down.
Gwen could only grin in a grim manner as she looked up. "Yeah, and it's because of that shard that this fight's gonna be harder than ever."
"...How do you figure?" Gray dared to ask.
And in response, the Crystalsapien's Omnitrix dial began to glow brightly. Gray immediately face palmed in response knowing he just jinxed himself.
"I am Sugilite—Guardian of Petropia. For the crimes you have committed against her people and her domain, I will show you no mercy… Prepare for your demise!"
With that in mind, everyone watched as Sugilite turned his Omnitrix dial and slapped it. His body began to glow as he clenched and hunched over his body, as if something was causing him to morph into something else…
"Ah, crapbaskets…" Gray gulped. "Everyone, get ready!"
"He's going Ultimate!" Carla yelled right after. "Don't hold back, or else we're all done for!"
With Tenrou Team 1 beginning their final battle on Petropia, Gwen took out her tablet once more, the display blinking rapidly in response to the situation in front of the group. She looked at the transforming Sugilite, her eyes dead center on his dial as the Crystalsapien began to go Ultimate.
"Fascinating… But will Fairy Tail be able to succeed against this form?" Mumbling to herself, she watched as the team took their positions for yet another harsh battle…
…
…
I'm glad I'm alive. It was such a terrible idea to take a trip across the country to visit some friends near Ukraine. Getting back proved to be such a perilous ordeal, especially with my own methods of even updating my status while in the area. I lost means of accessing the internet, my own devices were stolen, and I struggled while in the area.
I did visit said friends, but as things quickly went down to shit, it took so long to get out.
I apologize for not updating this story, as well as the others. Especially after every said one of the shows I've done crossovers have updated to this point! The modern volumes of RWBY, MHA being updated to this point as well—hopefully I can continue to actually write now, with me being safely back home…
Anyhow, this was the first chapter of the Seven Years Passing Arc, with some action taking place. Hopefully I haven't gotten too rusty, so thank you for reading. I'll see you in the next chapter, and I will be continuing to update the older chapters as well.
Until then, peace.