The New World Pt. II

Four days have passed since the assault on the Gate, Fiore's first great victory against the Empire that took away their people. Though that victory was short lived for the soldiers as they had to pick through what remained of the enemy's forces for anyone that had somehow survived the carnage. More often than not, troops would return with nothing in tow aside from some "mementoes" although there was the occasional squad that had a live prisoner. Many had gone as white as sheets once they were dragged back to base, some trying to kill themselves before it was too late although none of them ever succeeded.

Erza on one patrol had found a young soldier buried beneath a pile of his dead comrades, although she held him up at arm's length as he smelled of fecal matter and may have wet himself once he had realized who had found him. Many thoughts of self-shame came to his mind that he did such a thing, but the soldiers didn't hold it against him as he wasn't the first soldier they found in such a state. He was just the only one who wasn't crying out for his mother and begging everyone to let him go or reaching for anyone's weapons.

Though these searches were not only for enemy survivors, but for those Fiorean lives that were not accounted for and were successfully found. Sadly, they were all killed in action and a brief ceremony was held before the bodies had to be transported back to Fiore. The troops bade farewell to their fallen comrades, but it was their commanding officers that were having the larger reactions to what happened. Many could hear the arguing coming from the command center, though muffled the voices, they knew it was best to let them sort it out amongst themselves and avoid trying to get an exact understanding of the conversation.

"We lost two hundred soldiers and nineteen Rune Knights in that battle; this would have never happened if the Vanguard had done its job properly!" Hugo exclaimed towards Jura as he saw firsthand what situation Commander Scarlet's forces were in and how she failed to correctly gain defendable ground. "I lost good people trying to help them defend the line before the reinforcements arrived."

"We had the area under controlled, their use of setting up their archers before the battle was their advantage during the fight. We were thrusted into the battle as soon as we exited the Gate." Erza replied evenly, but she was getting quite riled up at the jabs at her. "Could we have changed the tide of the battle earlier on? Yes, we could have if I wasn't short one man with the greatest defensive abilities I know."

"Whether you had him in battle or not shouldn't hinder you from still meeting the enemy head on and gaining more ground. You lacked adaptability when it came to the prolonged engagement and lost great traction because of it." Hugo replied that was one gripe he had of the armored woman as she didn't adapt to her enemy's tactics efficiently. "You kept closed ranks in the initial stages of the fight but began to spread the line to avoid being flanked and lost the core of your fighting power. Leaving you on the defensive."

"I felt it was best to hold a definitive line so that we could advance through the enemy once the archers were dealt with. I will admit that I didn't have many long-range attackers at my side to even the playing field."

"Tactics aren't your strong suit Commander Scarlet since your fighting style is very different when compared to leading soldiers. You fight alongside power houses that would just as easily destroy an entire city block as they would squads of enemies. You're a front-line fighter, not a bona fide leader."

"I'll have you kno-"

"Enough!" Jura boomed as the arguing was growing out of hand and even, he had to file his reports for the Queen and about their recent losses. "Intelligence gave us everything they could gather and how the two of you used that information is on you. Learn from this mistake so that it doesn't happen again, Commander Scarlet."

"Understood, Sir!"

"Good, you're dismissed." Jura simply said and Erza bowed slightly and left, but the silence of his office hardly lasted a second before an audible click of a tongue was heard. "Is something still upsetting you Field Commander?"

"These anarchic mages in command of an entire division is not right, Supreme Commander. They have no discipline nor any true experience leading others, they fight as separate entities rather than as one powerful unit." Hugo preferred order and stability that could be commanded effectively into becoming a powerful sword or an impenetrable shield.

"True, they are quite unpredictable, but they've fought against forces far beyond what any other group of mages have ever faced and came out on top. Erza will need some time, but she will become a fitting leader for her Special Forces."

"I'll believe it when I see it, Sir. I suggest they be used for other tasks while we focus on expanding the base and gaining control of the area." Hugo would prefer that the lawless mages be out of the way so the more serious professionals can accomplish their objectives. "With enough land under our control, we should be able to house all we need and begin rescuing the civilians."

"That sounds like a reasonable course of action; however, we need to focus on gaining more information of the region. How the government functions here, what do the people believe in and who exactly inhabit the Special Region aside from those monsters and humans." Jura pulled out a map of the Special Region and examined the various areas that surround their valley.

"You feel it best to have our volunteers "out of the way," so I'll heed your request by making them our reconnaissance units for now. They'll scout out into the nearby villages and try to make contact with them, we can learn something from the locals and with their charisma it'll be of no problem to them." Jura suggested and Hugo stroked his chin thoughtfully. "It would help expand what knowledge we don't already have so we understand our enemy and new territory."

"Yes, that sounds like a good plan, one I do believe Colonel Shiverpeak can lead rather easily."

"Good suggestion, however, I'll be using Commander Scarlet to take charge of this endeavor."

"You're allowing that woman to lead our recon forces for a matter like this!? Are you sure it's the best course of action, Sir?"

"You did claim that we should have them do something that is a bit out of the way for the rest of our operations, correct?" It is true what he just said, but Jura wanted better representatives for the FEF than regular soldiers and Rune Knights. "We need the people on our side for this operation, it'll make moving throughout the land much simpler if we do just that."

"You're right Supreme Commander, avoiding animosity with the people of the Special Region can give us access to newer opportunities." Hugo understood the feeling of having the people against you, being a Rune Knight didn't garner good attention when he first started, but the changes of recent have changed that.

"Should I inform Communications about the Special Forces' new orders?" It wasn't an easy pill to swallow, but if it meant that Scarlet would be busy with other affairs rather than troop tactics, Hugo would accept that.

"I'll handle that myself once I finish going through the details critically, but for now I want you to head on towards the cells and interrogate our new prisoners. They are our only current source of information at the moment."

"By your command, Supreme Commander." Hugo saluted and made his way for the door, but Jura stopped him for one last announcement.

"Before you go, inform everyone that the ambassador from Alvarez will be coming soon and be prepared to adhere to any command she gives. A messenger from the Queen informed me that she'll need our utmost cooperation for this visit." The Second Wave was marching in for the remainder of the week, but even Jura hadn't come to the thought that a VIP would be coming alongside them.

"Understood, Sir." Hugo saluted once more and exited Jura's office although he was troubled at how quickly the ambassador was wanting to come. "What purpose does she have coming so early, checking on our progress, her troops perhaps?"

"Honestly, that man doesn't sit right with me. It's as if he doesn't even believe I should even be here." Erza huffed beside Lucy who had found her as she was walking aimlessly around the base for some time.

"To be fair Erza, none of us should even be here. We kind of volunteered to help out the army and it sort of fell unto you to become our leader." Lucy wanted to keep her stance neutral between Erza and the field commander she wasn't getting along with. "That guy's more of a military man, so he might have some pride in the effort he put into getting his position over you just getting it by order of the Queen."

"That's a form of pride I can respect, one coming from knowing all the hard work you've done has accomplished a great feat. What bothers me is that he wishes to belittle what progress I do during combat and how I lead our unit."

"Is he belittling you or that's how you feel about your interactions? Maybe it's a form of tuff love he's showing, trying to make you into a better leader." Lucy has heard and met people who are hard on others for a reason, Gray actually falls a bit in that category if only by her own experiences.

"You're giving him the benefit of the doubt, but if you believe it to be so then I'll hold off judgement until he and I speak more." In truth, it was how she felt about Hugo's words to her, but Lucy could be right about him merely trying to get her to grow as a leader.

"Some things take time, but I will admit that I could be wrong. No one's one hundred percent right, so keep that in mind." Lucy had gotten better in knowing how to limit herself, better to be safe than sorry even if she knows a few people that don't care to follow that method.

"In any case, how's Natsu doing? I haven't heard him yelling or getting into fights yet." Erza had to keep tabs on the dragon slayer as his temper, mainly his entire personality hardly let him stand still without becoming bored beyond belief.

"He went off with Gajeel to do some training." Lucy replied and Erza gave a questioning look since Natsu wasn't one to ask for help in training from Gajeel. "Well, more like trying to blow off some steam. He didn't take it too well when he watched the coffins head back across the Gate."

"Hmm, he needs the outlet since his behavior has changed greatly since the attack on the capital." It was why she decided to volunteer alongside him, Natsu was unpredictable, so it was best if she looked after him. "We need to keep him in check, we can't afford to have him go wild in crucial moments."

"Don't worry Erza, we're all watching out for him although it would help if the rest of Fairy Tail was here with us." The blonde could count on the guild to keep Natsu on the right path but it's more of a challenge with just them. "At least he isn't butting heads with Gray, else there would be more work for us."

"Aside from that saving grace, I had hoped Gray hadn't been left behind before the battle. As far as I know, he's been at the capital for some time but hasn't crossed the Gate yet." She heard her friend's complaint of getting involved in this fight, but she truly wondered why he wouldn't come to their aid.

"Do you think he decided to quit before deployment and just help with rebuilding the city?" Gray was an enigma at most times, but Lucy had noticed his great discomfort with what happened and could only guess at the thoughts whirling around his mind because of it.

"Gray isn't one to quit so readily, I think they held him back for some reason or there weren't any more transports for him to board in the rear-guard." The ice mage was another person who began to behave oddly, but because of his lonesome demeanor it was much more difficult to understand why that was.

"Possibly... Oh, speaking about the Gate. Did you get word yet? Brandish is making a visit to the base; she should be here soon." Lucy was somewhat glad to see her again, they spoke on and off again when the opportunity came but it's been much more difficult with everything that has happened.

"I have and all I can say is that we need to be prepared for anything. You know her behavior better than I do, so you must know something about her that warrants caution." Lucy's spoken on how they've been speaking to each other much more recently, so Erza's hoping for anything that could help her interaction with her.

"Well, all I can really say is that she acknowledges those who know their place and her mood tends to change pretty quickly based on who talks to her. Any advice I have for you is to keep level with her, she knows she's powerful so she can afford to be aloof with people." Brandish can be a terrifying woman and they all knew what she's capable of firsthand.

"Maybe it'll be easier than handling Natsu." Erza joked to ease Lucy, no doubt that the blonde was worrying about her and appreciated her non-verbal concern.

"Yeah, maybe..."

Their conversation would've continued if it weren't for the soldiers moving as fast as they could towards the Gate entrance. Others were hauling away equipment to create a rather large clearing, but what the pair didn't see was the fact that it stretched on and was nearly half of their base's length. Lucy and Erza watched the commotion unfold until three Rhinos emerged from the Gate and a short procession of Alvarez soldiers lined the sides of the lead Rhino. Both Fairy Tailers joked about the welcoming party for Brandish until they saw who was driving the lead Rhino she was riding in.

Gray hopped off the driver's side clad in a dark gray armor chest plate, a pauldron on each shoulder that had one marked with the Firoean symbol and the other with Fairy Tail's insignia. Lucy could make out the Special Forces uniform underneath it, but his arms were covered by black armored gloves that covered most of his forearm and shared a similar design with the greaves he wore over his boots. The lower half of his long coat billowed with the wind alongside the dark blue cape he wore as he opened the door and offered his hand to Brandish.

The scantily clad woman took his hand, almost daintily, and stepped off the Rhino with a surveying eye as she made her way through the rows of her men with Gray not far behind. She examined everyone with a keen eye and Erza could almost hear the minor nervous tinkling of armor as the green haired woman walked past soldiers before turning to look at Gray.

"I can handle myself from here, Gray. I'll settle with business in the Baldie's office and look for you after, got it?" She said towards the dark-haired mage and the ice mage nodded his head as he gave her a folder the others hadn't noticed him have before.

"Understood, Lady Brandish." Gray replied and the green-haired woman almost seemed to smile before she transformed it into a satisfied smirk.

Brandish walked off with the folder in tow and Gray let out a tired sigh as he rubbed the back of his neck, glad that he had some time before she came back and watched as all the Alvarez soldiers dispersed. As all the armor gave way, he noticed a certain duo he had hadn't seen in what felt like a long time.

"Glad to see you both in one piece." Gray greeted as Lucy and Erza drew closer although the red head was giving him some angry vibes. "Sorry for missing the opening act."

"Sorry isn't going to cover the fact that I didn't have a crucial part of my strategy for the battle, you should have let us know ahead of time if you got held up." As much as Erza was wanting to berate Gray, deep down she was glad that he was still with them in their rescue operation.

"I would've been here much earlier, but a lot got placed onto me since none of you guys were around. You should've planned for the unexpected and found a way to overcome my absence because that's something that tends to happen a lot to us." Gray almost bit back much harder if he hadn't held himself back as this was partially his fault for not saying anything prior to leaving the capital.

"Now, now we shouldn't be getting worked up here. Look Erza, Gray's here now so what's done is done and now that we're all together that means we are now Fiore's strongest team...er squad I should say." Gray sighed once again, but he knew that he could leave it to Lucy to try and diffuse the situation before it even gets the chance to start.

"Anyways, I'm wanting to know what's up between you and Brandish plus this armor you're wearing. You don't even wear much of anything, less to the fact of armor." Lucy couldn't recall a single time the ice mage ever really interacted with Brandish before, so this is pretty much a huge surprise to see them together like that.

"You're looking at the Ambassador's personal honor guard, anytime she makes her way to the Special Region I'll be in charge of protecting her unless she says so otherwise." Gray rubbed his eyes and the two women could tell it wasn't the most glamorous position to have. "I can tolerate it so far, plus she isn't treating me like a butler for her personal use although it gets tiring to be the center of her attention."

"Oh, does someone have a crush on our ice mage?" Lucy said suggestively and Erza quietly snorted at the idea.

"Ha ha, very funny. It's nowhere even remotely like that, she's always testing me to figure out what would set me off and she knows I can't do much about it." Gray couldn't understand if it was all a game to her or if she is truly curious. "I won't crack easily, but Brandish has made it almost a hobby to try and rile me up."

"At least she's only doing visits, so you can have your freedom back soon. Besides, I doubt she'd want to stay in the Special Region." Sure, they've only seen as far as the eye could see, but Lucy much preferred Fiore over a new world any day.

"Thanks Luce, you just jinxed me..." Gray wasn't much a believer of this type of superstition, but he couldn't shake the feeling that it would happen and Brandish would stay.

"I'm sorry!" Too much weirdness made Lucy believe that anything can and will happen, so she honestly believed that she harmed Gray's fate.

"Don't worry so much about it, you'll be fine. Now you have to answer Lucy as to why you're wearing armor." Erza spoke up, trying to get the conversation to go on and her minor curiosity towards the armor he donned.

"I thought it was obvious, I'm an honor guard which means that I've got to apparently dress the part. The design and layout of what they gave me hits home a bit too hard, but I hardly got the time to mull it over." When he first saw himself in the mirror when they delivered his armor, he could almost see a transparent vignette of his father when they first met face to face behind him. "Talk about full circle, but what could I do about it?"

"You sure it doesn't bother you?" Lucy could take a pretty accurate guess as to what Gray meant by it, but even he must find it unsettling just a bit.

"Brandish told me all she really knew and sure, this is a pretty dick move but you can't imagine how oblivious they are to subtlety." Gray learned about their spies in Tartaros to help Bloodman became the ultimate Etherious so there was no doubt about seeing Silver's appearance and discovering his origins. "I had nearly a week to get over the initial anger I had about the armor and now I just try not to think about it."

"Speaking about your week, what held you back for so long? You said so yourself that you would have joined us for the battle alongside the main force, but you couldn't do so." This is something Erza wanted to know since it would give her piece of mind about what happened to her friend.

"I can explain that to you, since I have the clearance to do so and whatever." Came the almost bored tone of Brandish as she strode over towards the three Fairy Tailers.

"Lady Brandish, I can assume you have need of me." Gray said stiffly, obviously not a major fan of speaking in an eloquent manner.

"You can relax Gray; you can talk however you please with everyone else. Just be professional when I'm dealing with those stuffy windbags and their political junk or meeting with your Queen." Gray had the urge to roll his eyes in annoyance, but he resisted it with great control. "Gray here was a helpful addition to a simple training experiment my people wanted to conduct."

"What kind of experiment?" Erza was getting quite the odd feeling about it but stilled herself from appearing concerned with how the green haired woman would answer.

"An intense boot camp that's filled with the delightful fun of powerful magic hurled at him by yours truly, situational awareness training, advanced tactical operations and specialized combat lessons from high-ranking officers that came in just before the first day." Brandish smiled playfully at Gray who slightly cringed at the memories he had of the so-called "boot camp" that Brandish oversaw. "He did fine for the most part, not the best of his class but he passed marginally better than most of our people."

"Why did you use Gray for this experiment? Also, what kind of boot camp is that!?" Lucy couldn't believe that was a boot camp, much less a simple experiment that needed quick testing.

"To be honest, he wasn't out first choice to be us-...er asked to do this experiment. Erza was at the top of the list, followed by Big Blonde, then Pinkie, then Metal Guy and finally him." Brandish knew the ice mage was in the top ten choices, closer to ten, but most of the list wasn't available to use. "Of course, most of the people on the list were fighting here and Gray became the most acceptable candidate."

"Nice to know I made fifth on the list." Gray sarcastically remarked, but he was unaware that he ranked 8th on the list so it made it much funnier for Brandish to imagine his face when he finds out where he really placed.

"Come now Gray, I know you're being such a sourpuss because you kept fumbling some of the exercises and had to do the extra training more than the other candidates." Erza and Lucy looked confusedly at the green haired woman who was waiting to see Gray squirm, even if just a little, at the mention of the extra training. "He had to do a set of exercises to make up for his failures."

"That doesn't sound too bad."

"Under increased gravity."

"Why!?"

"To teach him not to fail again, obviously Lucy. Too bad the lessons hardly stuck, he did those often and needed plenty of healing the next day to get through the exercises." Lucy was slowly growing suspicious of Brandish's hobbies, she was reaching a very close threshold of being a sadist, but she really didn't want to judge a friend like that. "You've got a strong will, that's for sure Gray."

"So far you've only explained what he had to do for this experiment but haven't said what exactly it is." Erza had to restrain herself after what she said, remembering Lucy's advice and allowed herself to calm down.

"I said I'd explain what he did for the week, I never said I'd tell you what he was needed for." Brandish answered, exposing the loophole within her statement and Erza couldn't believe she hadn't noticed the blaring sign in front of her. "You think I'd tell you what my people are up to? Only your Queen is privy to this information, so is Gray since he participated in it."

"Seriously?"

"Just kidding, it doesn't really matter if you know or not. It was a program to create commandos for this rescue operation." Lucy's eyes grew wide at her claim and Erza raised her eyebrows in surprise, turning to Gray who shrugged his shoulders. "Most of the candidates were Alvarez soldiers, but I put in a couple of words to have a bit of Fiore in the roster; although you ended up getting the one but it's one of the best."

"I thought you said he wasn't the best of his class when he was going through that terrifying training!"

"Of course, he wasn't the top of his class because I'm the very top of the class. Two of our boys took first and second with Gray taking third; feels nice being the bronze medal, huh Gray?"

"Unbelievably great, Lady Brandish." Gray just thought he was helping test out some new forms of further training for the troops, the more skilled ones anyway, so they're prepared for anything on the other side of the Gate.

"So, Gray's a commando?" Lucy asked as the title didn't feel as odd as it should considering everything, but the thought that he was trained into becoming an elite soldier in such short time didn't seem very possible. Even unrealistic if she had to be honest.

"He's got the basics down to the letter, but he's one in name only. He'd have to spend an entire year doing this course to be a true commando, otherwise he'd need to spend years training to be an elite." Brandish knew it was unfair to place Gray with the others from the start as those Alvarez candidates had years of training under their belts, so it was interesting for her to see the ice mage try and keep up. "He's got what it takes to be a spy too, but hey an elite soldier title isn't bad either."

"Well, don't I feel special." Gray joked, trying his best not to show his surprise to have somehow kept up with trainee commandos for as long as he did. "Aside from talking about me, Lady Brandish, have you already set up the aircraft reinforcements they sent you to bring over?"

"Nope"

"..."

"..."

"Shouldn't we set them up now?"

"Ugh...I dislike having to do so much work." She turned on her high heels and made her way towards the cleared area, flicking her finger to enlarge a case she kept in her pocket. "Gamma and Beta Squads, in front of me now!"

Her command was absolute as the named Alvarez squads lined up on either side of her, saluting to the ambassador as she looked boredly at all of them. Her next command had them extend their hands as she placed small objects in each of their palms and quickly dispersed to set locations. As gingerly as they possibly could, they lowered and placed the objects in their hands onto the floor. Once all objects were in place, they stepped back in line and off the clearing where Brandish, to everyone's gathered attention, snapped her fingers.

In an instant an entire facility of garages, a landing strip, hangers and what some guessed as a radio tower appeared to the amazement of those within the FEF who weren't aware of the green haired woman's magic. The squads moved onto the re-enlarged strip with specified destinations in mind, they repeated their actions from before and once they were out of the way, Brandish did her part again. This time several rows of vehicles were enlarged, the likes of which no one has seen before.

The first few rows had sleek black craft, they looked to be a single seating pod that contained two forward dorsal shaped fins connected to the main body with a larger pair connected closer to the tail end of the craft. Behind the rows of these pod-like craft were another type though much larger, having dual engines protruding from the tail end with long forward-facing wings at its sides. The design of this craft was enough to tell the Fairy Tailers that it was a transport type given the size. Though they were still speechless as they had never seen such things before, mainly accustomed to what they've seen in their day to day lives. They were amazed at seeing Christina for the first time, but this was on another level entirely compared to the giant bomber.

"I thought they'd be the airships you attacked Fiore with, what in the world are those?" Erza couldn't even begin to fathom how technologically advanced Alvarez was and soon Fiore, too, will have such things in their possession.

"Those were outdated bombers and troop carriers; these things were going to be a part of the invasion but required further testing." Brandish replied as she signaled towards a man in a dark gray jumpsuit who almost ran to stand before the ambassador. "He's an Alvarez mechanic who helped build and maintain these aircraft. Talk about each one to them, I can't be bothered to explain all the little details and it's best to leave it to someone familiar with it anyways."

"As you wish Lady Myu; if you can all turn towards the black sleek ones, you'll learn that they are your fighter craft. The 7th model of the Aerial and Reconnaissance Combat Interceptor aircraft, a mouthful sure enough so most of us engineers and a few pilots merely call them ARCI-7s."

"Warhawks will do then, gives them some impact for a fighter class ship." The return of Brandish the Brander (only a handful of people were aware of this nickname) said but calling the ships Warhawks didn't sound so far off to everyone else.

"I'll inform the others of the new name as soon as I can Lady Myu." The engineer said as she gave a mere nod and he continued on from where he left off. "It's a single seater with on board magic heavy repeaters as primary weapons, heavy magic cannons as secondaries and reaches tremendous speeds. An all-around fighter, outperforming all older models and a great improvement of the last."

"Those larger gray ones are your new way of moving soldiers around the Special Region; the Aerial Transport Assault Craft most commonly known as an ATAC to us."

"I'm thinking Pelican for them or maybe Camel could work too..." How Brandish went from something reasonably in line with the fighters to calling the ATACs camels was beyond everyone present. "What do you think Gray?"

"You're asking me, Lady Brandish?" Gray had no real idea of what to say at that point, both names sounded pretty childish, but he couldn't come up with anything to replace them with. "I'm sure the others here can give you an answer better than I can."

"I asked only you Gray, so answer my question." The ice mage couldn't believe the green haired woman put him on the spot and resigned himself to his fate.

"Call it the Pelican, at least it'll make more sense since it flies."

"You heard him, the transports are now Pelicans. Do you your best to get used to the new names and in no time at all, you'll just use them without thinking about it." Brandish continued and the engineer jotted it down as a side note in his head, thinking it would also be best for him to write it down in the overview checklist for the new equipment. "If you want to know more about the Warhawks and Pelicans then talk to one of the engineers, they get quite happy talking about the things they've made. Speaking of which, you're dismissed."

"Understood Lady Myu, I'll finish the rest of the safety and start checks." He bowed his head to Brandish and was off towards the FEF's new aerial division hangers.

It was mind blowing to see how far Brandish's nation has come, to have such units within their army changes the face of combat and this was only just the completed armaments. It was anyone's guess as to what else is still under development in their facilities. Gray was lost to the wonders that flight-oriented vehicles could do in battle, Erza tried her best not to let herself look unsettled with such great technology and Lucy was just glad that they were on their side now.

"The Warhawks and Pelicans all have trained pilots who came with us, so there's no need to worry about needing people to fly them." It was a problem Brandish knew she had to clarify that it was already taken care of and it was followed by an idea that popped into her mind. "We can also train some of those here to fly at least the Pelicans. Have a trained pilot teach them the ropes and then the danger is very minimal since they could be flown by a single person most of the time."

Training pilots would take a large effort and the Fairy Tailers weren't even sure anyone had an aptitude to pilot something that could be as complex as a Pelican, let alone the future prospect of training people to fly a Warhawk. That would be a lot of stressed-out people, not to mention the thought of anything being a vehicle renders their strongest into vomit prone whiners (at least in Natsu's case of whining). Too many endeavors to take on and they haven't even been in the Special Region for a week yet.

"But it'll take me a while to convince those windbags to agree and I can't be bothered to waste my time trying to convince those uptight killjoys to the idea. Better off being saved for another day I guess." All three Fairy Tail mages breathed in an air of relief as she managed to shoot down her own idea for the purpose that it would become annoying to deal with in time.

"With that in mind, is there anything else you're gonna be needing me for?" Gray had to ask as he wasn't one to like wearing this armor for extended periods of time and wanted a chance to really relax after Brandish's hellish boot camp.

"I've done all that I've come for except..." Brandish scanned the area until she caught sight of a group of men listening to Jura, seeming to be instructing them about something. "I need to get those guys to their stations."

Brandish walked over to the group and spoke to the Supreme Commander, about what was unclear as they were a distance away and the hangers were growing in noise that Gray's improved hearing couldn't catch their conversation. Though it didn't really matter to him because that group of men was the reason he was stuck in the armor in the first place. As for Brandish, she already finished her chat and made her way back watching as all the men dispersed in multiple directions.

"With that out of the way, I'm officially done with my visit here. I'll be back later on no doubt, so don't miss me too hard Gray."

"How will I ever cope..." Gray sarcastically remarked, internally glad that she was finally leaving and without him to boot.

"Show some restraint Gray, I haven't even left yet but that's what happens when you're a woman of my caliber. Enjoy your time here Gray and be prepared for my return, word will come before that so it'll give you enough time." Gray gave her a bow of understanding and she patted his head, much to the ice mage's annoyance as she made her way back towards her Rhino.

The same line of Alvarez soldiers that greeted her bade her farewell as her Rhino departed back to Earth Land and as the vehicle made its way into the Gate, a rumbling began that shook the ground beneath them. In a matter of moments, giants had appeared near the outermost regions of the base as they stood watching over the horizons as huge guardians.

"When did those giants get there!? I'm sure we would've seen them come out of the Gate, right?" A soldier asked as many others agreed, amazed at the massive frames of the giants that even smiled in return at all the small humans below them.

"It's obvious that Brandish helped them here, so why exactly did she agree to do it?" Erza questioned as the green haired woman was the only person she ever met that could change the entire form of a living person like that.

"No doubt it has something to do with you, huh Gray?" Lucy inquired to the ice mage who sighed tiredly, crossing his arms as he recounted how this came to be.

The ice mage told them how he had returned to the guild to find out that there was a message for the team from none other than Flare. She had come on the behalf of the giant village chief who wanted to help Fairy Tail in their time of need, stating that they hadn't completely repaid their debt for saving their lives, their village and the Eternal Flame. Then the ice mage recounted how it was up to him to inform the Queen of what was going on with the giants and how she was pleased to have their assistance although it would prove a challenge to transport them through the city and to the Gate. That's where Brandish comes in and where he gets stuck with a bothersome position.

The green haired woman agreed to help move the aircraft equipment on the grounds that the commando experiment was allowed to go through, but giants weren't a part of the deal so she refused to shrink them down to a human's height. Brandish was the one that quickly came to the conclusion that she wanted a powerful bodyguard at her side when she goes to the Special Region as the Queen would have dozens of them. Gray added a side comment of how she wished to feel important if there was someone powerful following her command. Gray spoke of the Queen's attempt to appease her request with powerful mages and knights of the castle, but Brandish refused them and chose to have Gray himself as her bodyguard.

Obviously, it was a "no" to the very idea of him having to look after Brandish, but the Queen managed to convince him that the giants' presence would be beneficial to the FEF and that they would need them. So in the end, Gray had to swallow his pride and agreed to become Brandish's honor guard if she agreed to help the giants into the Special Region. Then there was also his involvement in the commando experiment and it led up to that very moment.

"That explains your absence for the most part, but don't you think there was a way for you to not have to be Brandish's attendant?" Lucy asked as there was always a way out of these kinds of situations, most of the time anyways.

"I'm an honor guard just to correct you and if there was, then I would have already tried and done it. I'll just tough it out, it isn't that problematic yet, so it'll be fine for the most part."

"At least you won't back down from this, good on you Gray. By the way, why are all the giants spread around like this?" Erza had noticed how giants were stationed in pairs at the four most main entries to the base and a lonesome one in between each of those.

"They're basically a form of sentry for the base. If it expands, then they'll be moved around accordingly." Gray clarified and aside from having superior magic and technology on their side, giants make the best intimidators so they are pretty well off in their current state.

"Correct, they will help guard the base and we shall expand in due time to correctly secure a position here in the Special Region. That also means we need to make contact with this world's inhabitants." Jura began as he made his way towards the little group, looking pleased at the towering figures around the base.

"Supreme Commander, are you saying that we're going to make contact with the people from this world?" Gray asked as it wasn't clear to him to try and make some sort of relations with the people that attacked them. "Do you think that's a good idea?"

"I understand your weariness, but the decisions of the government here may not reflect what its people would want." Wars were always political, the exception being the brief one with Alvarez as it centered over personal gain masked with political intent from years past. "To appease the people, we must show that our intentions are solely for the return of our own."

"Are you suggesting that gaining the people's favor will allow us to operate smoothly in the Special Region?" It sounded pretty solid of a plan to Erza, but she had a few reserves to the idea that it really would give them more breathing room once they are allies to those living in this world. "Will this plan really bear fruit if we go around like that?"

"No plan is truly assured to succeed without failure, but we must try. We are alone in this world, but it's worse for those taken prisoner. Any help we can get can go a long way, especially since we're technically the invaders."

"So how will we go about this plan, marching soldiers doesn't make for a peaceful introduction." Gray remarked as in any circumstance, soldiers weren't always the best thing to see coming into your hometown especially those that are foreign to what you're used to.

"Commander Scarlet will be leading a portion of her Special Forces on reconnaissance to the neighboring villages and possibly beyond if able." Jura replied as Erza stood confidently. "Your mages have a knack for coming off as welcoming so that can help with gaining people's trust that we don't mean any harm to them."

"What about the base? Is it fine for Erza to leave for this assignment and leave some of the Special Forces behind?" Lucy always thought ahead and though they were capable of making the right judgment, having such a commanding figure like her makes things go a bit smoothly amongst all of them.

"It's fine Lucy, I'll have Laxus hold down the fort while I'm gone and give me reports while we're out. He's very capable and I know he'll be ready to help us at a moment's notice." Erza had faith in Laxus as he's shown time and time again that he's ready to leap into action.

"Very well, I want all of you to be prepared in two hours. We need to move quickly as I'm afraid time will always be against us. Commander, create five squads with a maximum of four each and have them meet at the northern entrance."

"By your command, Supreme Commander." The three Fairy Tailers saluted to Jura before he gave a short nod and went back to the Command Center.

"I'll meet you guys at the entrance, I'm gonna go and get out of this damn armor."

"See you there, Gray." Lucy called out as the ice mage walked out and turned to look at Erza with a pensive stare.

"Don't worry Lucy, Jura said that the squads were at maximum four so that meant that the minimum needs to between that and one person. I'll pair Gray with someone while we take Natsu, it's best to keep those two away from each other as much as possible." The blonde accepted Erza's answer, but the armored woman could only hope this would keep arguments at bay.

The two hours had past and the squads had been created for the recon units; Lamia Squad was made up of Lyon, Sherry, Yuuka and Toby. Saber Squad consisted of Minerva, Rouge, Yukino and Froshe with Pegasus Squad created with Ichiya and The Trimens. The last squads were actually on debate as Natsu made it clear that A) he wasn't getting on a Rhino and B) he didn't want to team up with Gray. The ice mage shared the sentiment about Natsu and was willing to be a single man squad on a Jack Rabbit. Erza wasn't having any of that and had come to a conclusion that would make sure he had a partner.

Wendy and Carla would partner with him on the Jack Rabbit while Erza would take Lucy and Natsu with her on a Rhino. The young teen got along fine with Gray and Erza couldn't afford to give up Lucy as she could handle the pink haired slayer better than anyone else. As they were in the same guild, both squads had decided on naming each other Fairy Squad: Red and Fairy Squad: Blue respectfully. No objections came from the teaming so it had finally been decided that this would be the recon unit of the FEF, made up entirely of Special Forces.

"Now that all squads have been made, our job is to travel across the region and make contact with the people and villages scattered around. We want to make friendly ties in order to avoid dragging any more people into this conflict and have a better grasp of the Special Region. Lamia Squad will travel East, Saber Squad will head to the South, Pegasus Squad will go towards the West and we'll go North."

"Make sure to keep in contact with Communications and myself; the Rhinos are outfitted to keep communications between us intact at far distances. If a situation occurs, do your best to handle it but if it is too much than pull out and get to safety. We'll set intervals to check in with one another once we're under way, for now take some time to prepare for departure."

"Yes, Commander" The collective group said in unison as they split off soon after to speak amongst each other.

Most of the squads stayed with each other, but some people branched out to talk to their fellow mages and Erza did her best to avoid Ichya at all costs. Natsu wasn't a happy camper to the idea that Gray was taking the one person that could help his motion sickness, but his grumpy mood didn't bother Lucy much as she spoke to Yukino about the things they could see going out into the world. Sherry went on to flirt with Ren while Hibiki and Eve tried to get on Minerva's good graces though it was to no avail. Yuuka and Toby spoke between themselves although the barrier mage was keeping a watchful eye on Lyon as he went up to Fairy Tail's ice mage.

"So, you got roped into coming here and I thought you hated this sort of thing." Lyon began as Gray turned to look at him, a small smirk appearing on his face.

"Fairy Tail seems to put its nose into things it shouldn't, but what can I do about it now." Gray remarked, but Lyon gave a halfhearted smile in response, knowing about his fellow pupil's true feelings.

"How are you holding up? It's been a while since the last time I asked." Lyon worried for Gray as he's slowly becoming a recluse to not only him, but to the rest of his friends as well. Even if they haven't noticed it yet.

"I could be better, just got reminded of how much of an asshole I am not too long ago." Gajeel's words still rang true to Gray and he just couldn't shake off the pure hatred the iron dragon slayer showed to him. It was too genuine to be just a "heat of the moment" kind of thing.

"It had to do with her, didn't it?"

"She's the most recent, so yes."

"I'm here if you need to talk, you know? You're the last thing I have to family that isn't part of my guild, so look for me when you need it." Being mushy wasn't something either mage really felt comfortable doing, but Lyon would swallow his pride to make that message clear to the dark-haired ice mage.

"I'll keep that in mind, it might help clear my mind before the atmosphere becomes much darker." Gray never really spoke about Zero to anyone, but Lyon had an inclination about the way the ice mage becomes when things become dire.

"Better keep your word."

"I will, now let's gear up. Looks like we're moving out soon."

Ever since the funeral, the two have grown apart to a degree and neither really knew how to change it or what to say that wouldn't make the problem worse. That's what Gray would like to believe, but it was actually this unfounded fear he developed that was the reason he kept Lyon at arm's length. He worried that one day, the white-haired man would share a similar fate like his other loved ones and he wanted to save him from that fate. It was self-destructive but after all that has happened in his past, Gray worried that it would become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Unfounded fear gripped at him tightly, but he tried his best to clear his mind and focus on the task at hand.

Natsu looked on with a mildly curious eye though his attention was torn away as Jura came before them, Tyson and Alexis at his sides.

"I'm positive the Commander has already briefed you on your mission, so let me remind you that your actions will reflect the rest of us. We are coming into this in force, but if there is a peaceful way to settle this than we can try that route. The people can help us and vice versa, so do what you all do best and make the FEF proud." Jura concluded as all the squads saluted to him and began to board their Rhinos and Jack Rabbit in Blue Squad's case.

"My scouts say you've got a clear road ahead of you, you'll be alright until the base is no bigger than your thumb." Alexis said as she and her team dealt with any lingering enemies that tried to stay under the radar and just far enough that the guns can't reach.

"And don't be shy if ya be needn' some help out there. Call in and we'll be along to save the day and your hide." Tyson grinned, personally hoping to get out into the world and get some more action before he was stuck doing a desk job at the base.

"Understood, we'll be counting on you if anything occurs." Erza replied and the trio gave bade them farewell and a successful mission.

With one final check in with Communications, all squads moved out into the unknown world before them and to what wonders lie in wait for them. Gray waved a two-finger goodbye as he sped up in front of Erza's Rhino and rode on to whatever was in store for them. As he passed the lumbering vehicle, the ice mage rolled his eyes at the sight of Natsu yelling at him as he stuck his head out of the Rhinos window over how much faster he was going than them. The pink haired slayer still wouldn't change even when they were in this situation and Gray revved up the engine before he sped off once again, while Wendy held tightly to him and Carla to her.