Author's Note: Ok, I just LOVED last week's chapter! The bet between Natsu and Gajeel oh god! Ha-ha I can't wait to see the results of that! Alright, this is where things get juicy! Oh and I FINALLY got a name for the bad zombie! This is the climax of the story and if I got some words misspelled I'm sorry I lost my correction software a few days ago.
Chapter 11: Stakeout
Porlyusica immediately grabbed and grinded the flower petals with a mortar and pestle to a fine pulp after Fairy Tail returned with them. She created a liquid out of the pulp and added it to another dish. To the people around her; while some watched, they could sense a sense of calamity and purity when that liquid drained out. Porlyusica added various plants into the liquid and mashed the plants in the liquid.
Levy learned that Luminère Lune Fleur had only a temporary effect on impure things; as pure as it was the impure item would be purified for at least a few hours. However, adding a few plants into the now liquid flower petals will make the effect permanent. Porlyusica worked for hours on The Cure; it had to be perfect.
"I need a few of Gajeel's extra blood samples." She explained. Lisanna ran down to the basement where a freezer was kept. Fortunately, the zombies didn't attack the freezer because they thought there was only food in it. They didn't realize there were blood samples in there. Lisanna passed a vial to Porlyusica only for her to look at it.
"I need it heated." she explained. Natsu walked over to Lisanna and heated the blood until it was warm. "Perfect" Porlyusica muttered. Porlyusica added a few drops of the essence of another plant into the incomplete cure and gently stirred it a few times. She called Natsu over to create a small flame so The Cure could boil.
"It needs to be ten minutes." she explained "Not a minute longer, or else we'll be back at square one again." Ten minutes have passed and finally; Porlyusica gently poured The Cure into a large bottle then added a few sprinkles of a plant into the mixture before closing the bottle and shaking it. Porlyusica then added a tiny drop of The Cure into Gajeel's blood sample and looked at it with a lacrima-scope; no sign of The Virus in the blood.
"It's finished." Porlyusica said. The guild cheered; then they all stared in amazement at the bright white liquid in the bottle; it was going to be over soon.
"Gajeel," Levy suddenly said "You should get a sip! You'll be cured!" Gajeel looked down at Levy and smiled.
"Sorry shrimp." he said "I'll wait with the rest of the zombies." Levy's eyes widened.
"B-but I promised you'd be the first!" She insisted "Come on Gajeel, there's enough for everyone-"
"You're going to need my Zombie abilities if we're going to stop Jose." he pointed out "I can wait my turn. Stopping Jose is more important than curing me." Levy stared at Gajeel before nodding. He was right; this is more important.
"We need to find out what he's going to do." Makarov said "We already know he's going to wipe out the human race. But we need to find out how." The whole guild was silent. No one has the ability to vision an event going on miles away. Gajeel could try to tap into the zombie communication method but he doubted he could. Suddenly, Wendy remembered something.
"Grandeeney!" she screamed. The guild looked at her.
"I told you not to call me that!" Porlyusica screamed back.
"No! My mom Grandeeney! She had the ability to create orbs of light so she could speak to people far away from her! I remember she once did that to send a message to a friend!"
"But Wendy, you haven't seen Grandeeney in years." Lucy pointed out.
"No, but I can try that spell." Wendy stated.
"How? Grandeeney never taught you that spell!"
"I remember she meditated to create that orb of light. If I can do the same thing, I can find out what Jose's up too." Wendy walked over to a clear spot in the guild and crossed her legs in a meditative position. She began to mediate and then; a bright blue magic circle appeared underneath her. A blue orb formed above her and began to draw near Gajeel.
"I can sense Jose's darkness magic inside Gajeel." said the orb with Wendy's voice "If I can home in on the original source I can find Jose. Watch over my body for me!" With that said the blue orb left. The blue orb followed the sensation of Jose's dark magic until she reached Oak Town.
Isn't this where Phantom Lord use to be? She asked herself Better get a closer look. The orb flew into a shattered window which was once coated in stained glass. So far from Wendy's point of view, it looked deserted. Like no one took a broom to this place in a few years. The orb passed through the floor and reached the basement of the former guild. Inside were large mixers that would be seen in factories. But there was a bright black/purplish liquid inside the large mixers and they were connected by tubes; The Virus.
A man walked over to the large mixers and smiled, Jose. And next to him was the Bad Zombie.
"It will be all over soon." The Bad zombie said "This new, stronger virus will give us with more zombies."
"Excellent work Balthazar." said Jose "We'll release this into the air in two days and the people who survived the last spread will be turned into zombies!" A menacing smile appeared on Jose's lipstick coated lips "I will have an army of zombies! And people won't be needing money anymore and I can take the money for myself! I don't have to worry about them trying to de-thrown me because I'll be in complete control! Any survivors will be killed or turned to zombies!" A maniacal laugh was released into the air and the bad zombie called Balthazar laughed as well. The orb watched in horror and soon disappeared into thin air.
Wendy's eyes shot open after she made the orb form disappear. She was sweating up a storm and gasping for air.
"Is everything ok Wendy?" asked Natsu.
"What the hell happened?" asked Gray. Mirajane ran to the kitchen to grab a glass of water for the Sky Dragon Slayer. She thanked Mira and gulped the water feverishly.
"I managed to find him." She explained "and it's worse than we expected." The guild stared at her in silence "He's going to release a much stronger version of The Virus into the air in two days. The whole world will be zombies. He's doing this just for the money." Wendy then explained about what else she saw. A pregnant silence spread over the guild.
"So what do we do?" Juvia asked "Juvia is frightened! She needs Gray-Sama to hold her!"
"Don't bet on it." Gray mumbled to himself. They all looked at Levy for support.
"Why are you all staring at me?" she asked.
"You're the one who's been leading us into getting a cure. It's only natural to go to you for a strategy." Natsu said. Levy was stunned; has it gotten to that point?
"Porlyusica, is there anything special about The Cure we should know?" Levy asked.
"You know it has highly pure properties." Porlyusica began "The moment I added a drop into Gajeel's blood sample, the entire Virus withered away. I have a feeling if you were to pour The Cure into one of the mixers that Wendy described, The Virus will be purified and could create an even bigger amount of The Cure."
"So you're saying if we add The Cure into The Virus…" Lucy trailed off.
"The Virus will be neutralized and changed into The Cure." This sounded good but there was one problem…
"How are we going to stop him?" asked Jet.
"Same thing we did during The Phantom Lord vs. Fairy Tail war." said Lucy.
"We raid them and beat the living crap out of them!" Natsu screamed before letting a burst of flames out of his mouth.
Lucy summoned Virgo to create a tunnel from Magnolia to Oak Town. They traveled through the tunnel Virgo provided. They reached the town and were surprised at how deserted it really was.
"Wow, a lot less zombies than in Magnolia." Cana sarcastically muttered to herself.
"Thank you Virgo." Lucy said to the spirit.
"Is it time for punishment Princess?" Virgo asked.
"What is it with you and masochism?!" a freaked out Lucy asked.
"Something's not right." Levy pointed out "Why aren't there any zombies, shouldn't this place be heavily guarded?"
"Could be a lunch break." Natsu shrugged. Levy looked at Gajeel.
"Gajeel, can you try to tap into the zombie's telepathy network?" Gajeel closed his eyes for a moment. He began to concentrate; hoping to get something out of this; nothing.
"I might've been blocked out." he muttered "I ain't got crap."
"What about Warren?" Mira asked "He can try to tap in with his telepathy." They looked at Warren. I can't believe I forgot about that! thought Levy.
"Warren, can you-"
"On it!" Warren interrupted. Gajeel stared at the quiet town's buildings while Warren began to concentrate on getting into the telepathy signal. To him this place seemed...familiar.
"Something bothering you Gajeel?" Levy asked.
"Dunno short-stack." he said "For some reason, this place is familiar to me. Like a major deja vu or whatever the hell it is."
"Maybe we can get some answers on this mission." she said. Warren snapped out of his state after five minutes.
"I got in!" Warren said "We need to head to the river! They're stationed there!" The guild ran to the river. Everyone; except Levy.
To her, something was not right. It shouldn't of been that easy to break into the zombies' telepathy. The army was probably at the river; but something told her Jose was still at the old Phantom Lord guild. Probably sitting on his greedy ass, sipping away on his tea and counting whatever money he had a million times. While the guild (including Gajeel who wanted revenge) moved out, Levy snuck away and headed for the Phantom Lord Guild.
Mavis what a dump! Levy thought. She was now staring at the decaying ruins of what was once Phantom Lord; it looked like Mystogan did a pretty good job smashing up the joint. She tip-toed into the ruins and made sure she was alone. Levy pulled out of her cargo pants' pocket The Cure. She was going to find where the mixers were and add The Cure in; she was going to save the world.
Fairy Tail arrived to the river and spotted the army. There, above the army of zombies was Jose.
"Jose!" Makarov screamed. A smile appeared on Jose's lips.
"Makarov," Jose replied "It's time we settled this once and for all. This is payback for the war all those years ago! Attack!" With the order shouted, the zombies ran to Fairy Tail and the fight of the century began.
Levy quietly walked down the creaky steps of Phantom Lord's basement and soon arrived to the basement. She pulled The Cure out again and smiled. My time to shine again. Levy thought. She looked at the black/purplish liquid while it bubbled in the mixers so she could find an opening.
"Well what do we have here? A little fairy trying to cause trouble?" said a cold voice. Levy turned around to see who it was; Jose. And next to him, Balthazar.
Gajeel punched every zombie in his way. He whiffed the air when he realized something; Levy was missing. Where did she go? Where had his Mate run off too? He punched another zombie before running off to find Levy. He hoped she was ok.
"Oi! Where did zombie breath go?" Natsu asked Happy after sending a Fire Dragon's Iron Fist into a zombie's jaw. Happy didn't respond "Happy? You ok little buddy?" Happy stood there on the battlefield staring; staring at a white zombified female Exceed who was fighting along with the other zombies.
"She's beautiful!" He squealed before hearts shot out of his eyes. He ran over to the girl Exceed and was planning to offer her a fish. Only to be rejected on the spot.
Levy stared at Jose and Balthazar. She put The Cure back in her pocket.
"Not gonna talk Fairy?" asked Jose. He stared at her before realizing something "Aren't you the girl Gajeel crucified to a tree during the war?" That stunned Levy.
"What?" she whispered.
"You forgotten haven't you?" asked Jose with a cackle "Gajeel was a member of Phantom Lord before the war! He was a heartless monster!" Levy stayed silent. This couldn't be true! Gajeel wouldn't of done such a thing, could he? Jose finally had enough "I should of had Gajeel done this when he had the chance. Thankfully I now have a new weapon. Balthazar, kill the girl." Balthazar smirked and ran over to Levy, ready to strike when suddenly, a flash of black appeared and there, stood a man who's arm was turned to pure iron so he could block out the attack; Gajeel.