Ultimate Fairy
Chapter 55: Edolas
Part I
…
Last time on Ultimate Fairy…
"Eh don't worry about it to much kid, you made the guild proud." Gildarts said as he remembered the day he was given the title, when he first beat Makarov in a fight himself "and it wasn't a fluke." he said to him knowing what he was thinking "and if you still think that we can have a rematch someday." he said with a grin
Ben had to admit he saw the fatherly appeal Gildarts seemed to have as he came off as friendly and fatherly all together "to our rematch." he said looking forward to settling their match.
Erza smiled seeing Ben get along with Gildarts.
"So how's it feel being the power couple of the guild?" Mira asked her as with Ben now having the guild's Ace spot and Erza being the strongest female in the guild made them a literal power couple.
Erza found it interesting that she was dating the strongest member of the guild.
"Does that make him S-class?" Gajeel asked the others sitting nearby.
"No Gajeel it does not, one must be tested to earn that rank and while all guild master's have their individual tests or reasons for granting the rank, Fairy Tail has always been the S-class trials." Makarov said sitting on the bar as usual.
"Seems kinda cheap if you ask me, I mean we've all seen him fight." Gajeel said as while he and the master did see eye to eye on many topics.
"Being S-class is more about fighting child." Makarov said to him.
While Erza and Mira agreed with the master they also agreed with Gajeel he was right as Ben deserved S-class more than anyone as he possessed the right traits and the right mindset.
'If he isn't an S-class nominee, that will be criminal.' Mira thought as he more than earned his place in her opinion.
The guild partied like never before as they celebrated throughout the night.
…
"You guys suck I hope you realize this." Ben said wearing a tuxedo as Mira was combing his hair.
"Why the hell are you complaining you're being pampered." Jet said wearing workout clothes mainly sweatpants and a wife-beater.
"More like threatened." Gajeel said to him "His woman wants him to look professional and respected." he said as he saw Erza shave his face this morning "You can tell a man is whipped when he can't say no to his woman, grow a pair man!" he said as ever since Erza moved in Ben was whipped.
"Gajeel sit on your hands and shut your trap." Mira said to him giving him a look that made him begin to sweat "And you are wonderful." she said as while she normally did this for Elfman helping him keep his mane straight, she had come as the unofficial babysitter of the losers of the guild race and this was one of her places of work so she wasn't going to let Natsu and Gray burn it down.
"I feel like a moron." Gray said as he was being used as an underwear model "Why couldn't I do suits?" he asked Mira.
Mira shot him a flat look "You have been stripping more than usual, the only thing you haven't lost is your underwear." she said very thankful for that.
"Listen be glad Mira is here otherwise we'd be dolls to these people." Ben said as he has had his fair share of bad promotional dealings in the past, it was always good to have someone with experience.
"Thanks Ben." Mira said kindly glad to get some appreciation "Where's Natsu?" she asked looking around.
"Getting an interview, I told him if he did it and behaved I'd fight him later." Ben said as Mira sent him an appreciative glance glad he was mature.
Gajeel scoffed "He thinks he has a chance?" he asked as after that fight with Gildarts he could see it would be a long time before he could even think about going at Ben.
Gray scoffed "If the flame brain thinks he has a chance I say let him go and we watch him lose." he said to them as it never stopped being entertaining.
"Hey did Redus ever do a painting for your fight with Gildarts?" Jet asked him curiously as Redus did one for each victory Ben had for Natsu.
"He sure did." Mira said as it was a portrait of Laserscale and Gildarts' final clash and the frame was in platinum, master was even charging Sorcerer weekly for an exclusive interview as no one would willingly hire or go near Gildarts with the high risk he presented.
"Well we're almost done all we have to do is our poses and interviews and were done." Gray said as they had to do a well dressed picture as they were popular members in the guild.
"Hey atleast we get to keep the clothes." Ben said to them as the clothing was pretty good and they tried many articles "Anyway, I'll be the longest so I'l go first." he said to them.
…
Ben was sitting patiently in a room in his regular clothing and soon saw Jason come in and shout 'Cool!' instantly, but as soon as he sat down he seemed to gain a calmer persona which surprised him.
"Ben Tennyson it's a pleasure to meet you, can I call you Ben?" Jason asked professionally getting a nod "Great, now Ben everyone is wondering how it feels to be the up and coming Take Over wizard that beat your guilds ace, excuse me former ace?" he asked him.
"Well it was pretty exciting, I've been on many jobs, fought my fair share of dark mages." Ben said as this was kinda nice to have an actual interview that wasn't based on speculation 'Wonder if I should do one of these if I ever go home.' he thought to himself.
"You have many rumors about you, about the quantity of your forms, your titan form, and their ir rumor of you being invited to be a wizard saint?" Jason asked him.
Ben was a bit prepared for those questions as Mira gave him a prep before they got here "Well let me answer those in order Jason." he said with a chuckle "I have many forms almost eighty in total." he said seeing Jason scribble in his notepad "My titan form goes by the name Way Big and he is amongst my top heavy hitters." he said as it was the sheer truth as Way Big was very useful in making points and using his size and power to fully utilize his already intimidating aura "And to the last rumor no, I have not been invited to be a Wizard Saint if I have I wasn't aware of any such invitation." he said to Jason wondering where that rumor came from.
"Ben you've taken on Gildarts Clive, the man who is said to be stronger than your current master, who is already a Wizard Saint, and through the confirmation of a reliable source we have learned you fought beside the Wizard Saint Jura and defeated an enemy he could not." Jason said to him as it was baffling Ben wasn't nominated for the position.
Ben was curious about this source as he doubted it was the Council 'Did someone talk?' he thought as he was sure there would've been bad press for his guild's commentary on Jellal "I fought with Jura in a guild alliance between Fairy Tail, Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale, and Cait Shelter." he said giving each guild the proper respect.
"That's very humble Ben, but still you have beaten many threats and fought many Wizard Saint class wizards, Erza Scarlet and Gildarts Clive, Brain of the Orecion Seis, Jose of the former guild Phantom Lord and a former Wizard Saint, and Jellal Fernandez in the Tower of-." Jason was saying stopping as Ben didn't look amused.
Ben felt major conflict as Jason knew too much 'Someone is putting me on the spot.' he thought to himself as Jellal while marked as a terrorist and known criminal, his arrest information was confidential and of the Tower of Heaven 'Relax and breathe, someone might be fishing.' he thought as this was more familiar to him as Will Harangue while a moron and a liar did often try to use the truth against him "I am satisfied with my current status Jason, I don't need a fancy title to demonstrate my strength, I just enjoy my work helping people, in my most recent mission I stopped plague from spreading." he said changing the subject with juicier gossip as he was sure it would spread anyway.
Jason jumped at the chance for juicy details.
…
Ben and Mira were sitting in a separate car from the others needing some privacy.
Mira knew what he was going to say and ask and he knew she knew "I have no idea who this source was Ben." she said as normally she kept her ears and eyes open at Sorcerer Weekly as she listened in on gossip both there and the guild often being well informed as working at the bar one heard a lot.
"I fed Jason enough details to keep him from mentioning the Tower of Heaven and any business making the Magic Council look bad." Ben said as he was holding something over their heads openly insulting them was not a wise play.
"Might be harder than that, I heard some bits and pieces, they're making it sound like you captured Jellal and the Magic Council was merely pick up." Mira said as that was the new Magic Council's show of results the capture of the terrorist who attacked the former Council.
Ben sighed "If we say yes we make enemies with the Council, say no we give the Council opportunity to switch up the story." he said not doubting Lahar or his bosses would jump at that "Have any ideas who could've given Jason info?" he asked wondering if she had any thoughts.
"Ivan Dreyar." Gajeel said walking into their cart.
"The master's son?" Mira asked him curious as to what he knew.
Gajeel nodded to her and looked at Ben "The master doesn't want this getting out, but I know you can keep a secret and she knows more than she lets on." he said as Mira smiled at that statement "Ivan sent one of his flunkies to stir up some trouble with Fairy Tail and the Council when he heard you were gonna be here." he said to him.
"Does Ivan have an interest in Ben?" Mira asked as that would not fly over well for Ivan.
"Yes and no, he wants me to get information on Ben stealing any letters, magic items, or pretty much anything he could use to gain an edge." Gajeel said as that was what he wanted.
Ben sighed as pulled a plumber's badge out and he activated the Omnitrix and turned into Grey Matter "I am not one to be played with Gajeel." he said as he began to alter the inside of the badge "Here." he said tossing it to him and changed back.
"What did you do to it?" Gajeel asked his curiosity getting the better of him.
"Remember how the badges I lent you in our last mission work as maps and beacons." Ben said getting a nod "I changed the frequency and I'm gonna give master a matching badge so Ivan thinks he has some upper hand, but in reality this badge is an open mic, whenever Ivan has it near him we'll be able to hear him." he said to him.
"But won't he hear us?" Mira asked thinking it was a two-way thing.
"He'll hear whatever the master wants him to hear, when we get back to Magnolia I'll make master a badge and Gajeel can say his badge can do the things this new badge can do." Ben said to her as a wire was a great source of information, but when someone discovered or knew about said wire it could be a great weapon that could be used against the person using it.
"Your real slippery you know that." Gajeel said as it was impressive the conniving ideas Ben came up with 'Plus this makes my job easier.' he thought to himself as if Ivan thought the information was coming from Makarov himself he'd believe it.
"I would say vindictive." Mira said as it was impressive how Ben was retaliating "I'm impressed Ben, a hard feat kudos." she said congratulating him
"No, a hard feat is telling Erza about this, not you." Ben said looking to Gajeel and letting him know this was gonna be secret "I mean this interview." he said hoping he didn't sound like an ass when he had to 'regal' Jason with his more exciting adventures.
…
Things have been rather calm since yesterday and Ben had seen the interview was already out, his issue delivered to his home.
'Ben Tennyson, Fairy Tail's Strongest mage.' Ben thought reading the title 'Ben Tennyson is a powerful mage having many accomplishments saving many towns and more, most can only wonder where such a mage is from and what manner of beasts he has faced to get his unique Take overs…' he read the article going on about how he was a mystery 'Magnolia's most eligible bachelors?' he thought to himself seeing the list go from one to ten.
…
"You can do an interview yourself you know." Mira said as she'd happily set that up 'And I'd get a ten percent commission.' she thought amusedly as Erza was crushing the newest article of Sorcerer Weekly she 'liberated' from one sorry guild mate.
"This is an insult!" Erza said breaking a table as she slammed her hand down.
Mira chuckled as Erza was looking at 'Magnolia's most eligible bachelors' 'Tenth place Jura Neekis, ninth place Yuka Suzuki, eighth place Eve Tearm, seventh place Ren Akatsuki, sixth place Lyon Vastia, fifth place Gray Fullbuster, fourth place Natsu Dragneel, third place Loki, second place Hibiki Lates, and first place Ben Tennyson' she read the listings and had to admit the picture Ben had in the suit made him look like he was a member of the Trimen 'I do good work.' she thought as she saw how well his hair looked, she knew that Sorcerer Weekly was putting Ben in the spotlight to sell more issues.
"Ben is mine, he is no bachelor!" Erza said angrily.
Mira rolled her eyes "Then make your claim Erza, I mean Magnolia knows you're dating." she said as people just thought they were really close "We talked about this Erza act, go out in public hell let me take some pictures of you sucking face with your boyfriend." she said seeing Erza blush 'I swear she makes it too easy.' she thought to herself.
…
"No, hell no." Ben said as Gajeel was currently trying to bribe him to be his cat sidekick or more accurately bribe him to be Rath.
"Why the hell not!" Gajeel said demanding to know why he wouldn't be his cat.
"A. I'm no one's sidekick B. You'd just have me help you fight Natsu and maybe pick a fight with Happy, and C. I wouldn't carry you even as Rath." Ben said not believing he was having THIS kinda conversation "why do you want a cat anyway?" he asked him curiously before being shown a set of toys "...Do we get paid for these?" he asked as this reminded him of when people made plays, cartoons, and other products of his image which he had his uncle sue.
"I do." Gajeel said as the master had to find some way to pay him without it seeming suspicious whenever he did certain jobs for him "but not Salamander." he said laughing a bit.
'Ok, that makes a lot more sense.' Ben thought to himself as the guild basically covered a lot of his damages so it seemed fair he didn't get paid.
"Master is selling you figures like hotcakes." Gajeel said as Ben's battle with Gildarts' reached the town and many looked at him with both respect and awe "this news is gonna spread like wildfire, be careful." he said as Gildarts was a known mage for him to lose was big news 'Dark guilds and the magic council will be watching him.' he thought thinking of one, in particular, the master was having him watch gain an interest in Ben and after what Ben was involved with the Magic Council would be fools to try and gain that power for the wizard saints 'Why haven't they?' he thought to himself as despite for their hate for Fairy Tail having Ben .
Ben sighed already used to fame "it was bound to catch up to me eventually." he said to him as he was waiting for the other shoe to drop which he felt was soon.
Gajeel was about to say something else but saw Ben's hand begin to let out blue sparks "you ok?" he asked as that seemed a bit odd.
"I don't know, my mana is acting up." Ben said as it was happening since this morning and he couldn't stop it as it happened at random, he thought it might've been an issue with himself, but he transformed into Ultimate Terraspin and he was suffering from the same affliction.
"How's that mana stuff coming along?" Gajeel asked seeing him use it off-handedly if he was reading or cooking.
"Until this, I've been doing fine, I have been practicing with it daily." Ben said as he had been learning how to make physical manifestations remembering so few spells Gwen had used in the past.
"Listen if it gets worse I say visit the old hag everyone mentions." Gajeel said not one for doctors, but he would drag Ben there if he wasn't looking good 'or I could tell his girlfriend.' he thought finding that thought entertaining 'or I might be doing him a favor.' he thought as Erza had an armor or outfit for every occasion, it wouldn't surprise him if she had a nurse outfit whichever kind he'd let Ben find out.
Ben nodded but felt this was more of a genetic issue 'I'm quarter anodite, something Porlyusica has never even seen before.' he thought to himself as he wondered how it really worked as Kevin once said it was genetic and his grandmother said it was a spiritual element as neither his father nor his uncle gained it while Gwen and now he have.
…
Ben was walking to the guild getting an odd sense as he did 'where are all the people?' he thought to himself as the streets seemed quiet.
It was odd to see the town so quiet as while not as lively as the guild, there were often many happy people in the streets for various reasons.
"Hello Ben Tennyson." a calm voice said getting Ben to stop dead in his tracks as he knew that voice perfectly well and whose face it belonged to,
Ben took a deep breath and turned around and saw not the exact person he was expecting, but they did share the same face "Not gonna run this time?" he asked him not getting a response "Ok let's start with something small, you have Jellal's face but you can't be him." he said as Jellal was half dead when Wendy found him and this guy was here before Laxus was kicked out for the stunt he pulled.
"I am not Jellal Fernandez, but he and I are similar." Mystogan said to him removing his mask.
Ben looked at him and saw his face was perfectly identical to Jellal's "I find everything about you odd cause nothing makes sense about you." he said to him "Your face, you did everything in your power to hide it, not for Erza's sake." he said as Mystogan tried to hide everything about himself "let me ask are you from the future?" he asked him as that made sense to a degree "or are you like me from another dimension?" he asked as Mystogan looked completely and utterly shocked.
"Can I ask how you came to that conclusion?" Mystogan asked as Ben was more intuitive than anyone he had met even the master who only found out by being told from another dimensional traveler did he guess about him.
"I've met myself before and he was an ass." Ben said referring to Eon which is why he was guessing time travel and dimensional travel for Mystogan "But I have one question I want answered, why abandon Wendy?" he asked as he was assuming THIS was the man who took care of Wendy.
Mystogan winced showing a pained expression "I wasn't safe to be around, Wendy would never have been safe with me, so I tried to make sure she'd be around people that could make her happy, I felt that was the best I could do than just leaving her to fend for herself." he said as that was one of the worst things he had ever done and still regretted to this day.
Ben felt he was missing something "What happened." he said demandingly "You wouldn't be here telling me this out of the blue, so what happened!" he said louder than before.
Mystogan dropped to one knee and lowered his head using his hand to keep himself from falling down "I failed." he said sadly "I have been trying for years to prevent a disaster from occurring, but I failed to stop it in the place that matters most to me." he said letting out a sad chuckle from how sad and pathetic it was how he failed so spectacularly.
Ben hands began to let out blue sparks again.
Mystogan eyes looked at Ben's hands 'is he reacting to Anima?' he thought in surprise as after all his time here he knew how to sense one, but it was possible Ben being from another world could have a different effect on the spell as a whole.
"Mystogan tell me what the hell is-Jellal?" Ben was saying till both men looked toward someone they both cared for who just arrived.
Wendy looked at Jellal in shock of how he was even here.
"You may not be giving me answers, but at the very least you owe them to her." Ben said as Jellal was not telling him anything so it be best to let someone he would answer.
"Ben are you ok?" Wendy asked looking at his hands seeing them still spark.
Ben shook his hands a bit "Yeah, I swear this feels like pins and needles." he said as he was not lying it really did feel like that and then looked to Mystogan.
Mystogan began to explain to Wendy he was the one who was with her when she was a child, he explained he was from another world like Ben, but not from the same world, and then he said something that rocked them to their core "Magnolia will cease to exist." he said as both Ben and Wendy looked horrified.
Ben wanted to say something, but storm clouds began to circle them and his hands sparked again this time more aggressively 'I don't think he's kidding.' he thought to himself.
"Magnolia can't just vanish there has to be something we can do!" Wendy said refusing to just give up.
"There isn't, Wendy you need to leave right now." Mystogan said as if there was one person in Magnolia he could save it be Wendy, every time.
"Ok I have had enough cloak and dagger top speed I can get the guild out at least." Ben said popping up the dial "XLR8!" he said before the Omnitrix flashed a few times before he changed back "are you kidding me now!" he said in annoyance as his hands sparked 'is this causing me to time out of my aliens?' he thought in annoyance as this was a terrible time too "how long do we have!?" he demanded to Mystogan.
"A few minutes at best." Mystogan looking directly up.
'Damn it!' Ben thought as he started to run.
Wendy followed after him in a heartbeat "Ben what are you gonna do?" she asked chasing after him.
"We need to get to the team, maybe we can stop this." Ben said as the Omnitrix also began to spark as well 'Damn it.' he thought as the pain went from pins and needles to a stabbing kind of pain as he fell to the ground.
Wendy rushed to him and began heal him.
Ben looked back at her and in the distance he saw buildings slowly begin to glow and fade away and come into their direction "We need to go!" he said as they raced the light enveloping the buildings dashing to the guild hall.
They crashed through the guild entrance not getting much or any stares.
Ben looked to find the team and when he saw everyone begin to glow white he made a mana dome and sent stwo beams out, one heading to Erza and another breaking off into two heading to Natsu and Gray.
Everything became enveloped in light and soon everything seemed to vanish.
Wendy's vision distorted as she felt like she suffered from being point blank of an explosion and when she opened her eyes she saw everything seemed to be grey as if something took away the life from the very soil she stood upon 'bubbles?' she thought seeing bubbles arise from the the ground, she touched one and felt a small amount of magical power "Ben?" she asked looking around remembering he was just next to her when the guild 'vanished', she saw the omnitrix symbol and pulled it dragging Ben up, but he looked almost as grey as the ground did.
'Damn it.' Ben said feeling worse than he looked 'I couldn't save the others.' he thought to himself feeling a pit form in his stomach.
Before anything could be said they saw someone digging themselves out of the ground.
Wendy didn't need her nose to tell that scarlet hair belonged to one person "Erza!" she said tackling the knight.
"What happened?" Erza asked looking at the blank emptiness of what was once Magnolia.
Ben relaxed feeling at ease seeing his girlfriend was alright "I don't have all the details we need to find-that was the result of the anima." he was saying till Carla cut him off "what?" he asked her.
"Magnolia disappeared due to the result of a spell called Anima, the entire town was taken as a result." Carla said to him.
"How do you know." Ben said eerily calm as he looked at her "you knew this was coming didn't you?" he asked sounding like a statement or accusation.
Wendy waited like the others to hear Carla deny that, but she never did "Carla?" she asked her hoping for an answer.
"You better start running Carla, because this is ireedemable, Mystogan tried to stop this and failed, but you knew and did NOTHING!" Ben said angrily as everyone they knew was gone and she didn't raise a paw to stop it.
"Guys what happened?!" Happy said appearing before them "have you guys seen Natsu?" he asked them no one answering.
"He's below Ben." Carla said to him as the others looked at Ben and he used what little strength he had to move to the side to see Natsu was indeed under him.
"Whoa what happened?!" Natsu asked shocked by what had become of Magnolia.
"We were just getting to that Natsu." Erza said in her serious no-nonsense tone "you need to explain yourself now." she said as she understood Ben's frustration as Carla was to calm and seemed to know this was coming.
"The reason I am so knowledgeable is that the people of Edolas cast the spell called Anima, Happy and I are from there." Carla said to them.
Ben froze for a moment 'Mystogan.' he thought to himself placing Edolas as the home dimension as Mystogan.
"As is the one you call Happy." Carla said shocking the blue cat to his core "The Tom cat and I are to blame for this atrocity." she said not looking Wendy in the eyes as she began to cry.
"No." Natsu said as everyone had heard the calm anger building tone in his voice "Don't you dare ever say Happy is responsible for something like this!" he yelled glaring at her with ferocity.
Erza hated how little sense this made as she could tell Carla was being serious, but Happy seemed just as shocked as they were making her believe Carla's claim was false 'Not Happy, never Happy.' she thought as Happy loved the Fairy Tail guild and was a proud member since birth, no one who showed that much love and had so much innocence could ever do something like this.
Carla began to explain that Edolas was currently losing it's magic and how magic was rare there which lead to the development of the spell called 'Anima'.
'A spell like this that can just do this to people.' Ben thought feeling sick to his stomach as this was on the same level as the spell Hex used 'all these lives, just to use them for power.' he thought sick to his stomach as Earthland was apparently no better than batteries to the world of Edolas.
Wendy was thinking back to when Jellal or now that she knew Mystogan had said all those years ago.
Ben listened to the part about how someone was sealing animas off on this side 'Mystogan.' he thought as it made more sense now that he thought about it 'He comes here, stops them from doing 'this' all the while in hiding.' he thought to himself guessing it was to hide who or rather where he was from 'they must've caught on.' he thought to himself thinking Mystogan was the reason they picked this location.
"You mean this happened because of you and me Carla, it's our fault?" Happy asked feeling his gut twist into knots.
"No Happy you couldn't have done this." Ben said as he was sure of it as Happy was to innocent and to much like Natsu to let something like this happen.
"Indirectly yes." Carla said to Happy.
"But you were hatched in this world as an egg!" Wendy said not understanding when this could've happened for her or Natsu.
They all listened to Carla explain that they were imprinted with this knowledge.
'That doesn't make sense.' Ben thought to himself 'They're six, both of them, no one could plan that far ahead.' he thought as if they could they would've chosen better means than to allow Mystogan to close all of the 'Anima' since then.
"We were imprinted with this knowledge since birth, to carry out this mission for our kingdom." Carla said, her voice raising slightly "So why don't you know the first thing about it!" she said pointing a finger at Happy.
Happy looked down feeling so many emotions in him "I don't know." he said sadly.
"You're fine, Happy." Ben said as he petted his head "She's an idiot and full of crap anyway." he said as everyone looked at him "You don't have orders you idiot, you can see the future." he said as after countless times meeting Paradox and of what was when gave him some insights to how something would or could happen.
"What?" Carla asked in surprise.
"Are you saying she can see the future?" Erza asked, never hearing of such an ability.
Ben nodded as the pieces fit "You can see the future, you say your mission was imprinted at birth and yet you know things that have happened since then despite having no contact with Edolas or Mystogan." he said as she could see bigger things, but not all the details.
"What no I-I have a mission!" Carla said loudly as she thought he was poking fun at her.
"What was the return plan?" Ben asked her "You and Happy needed to return right, how or why?" he asked her.
Carla thought trying to think.
"You can't answer because you don't know, you have a picture but not all the details." Ben said as he walked over to her "But I know you know how to get there so spill." he said as this was not a debate.
Ben waited for a response, but got none he looked around and saw everyone was frozen 'Wait a second.' he thought having seen this before "Paradox?" he asked getting his answer in a blue flash seeing the ageless scientist.
"Hello, young Ben." Paradox said to him looking around "My my some people have no common sense." he said looking up to the now still spiraling clouds, he waited for a moment "Such a rare sight Ben Tennyson is silent." he said trying to lighten the mood "You are wondering why I haven't taken you home correct?" he asked him already knowing the answer.
"Did you know, what would happen with me coming here?" Ben asked him wondering if he knew what would happen to him here.
"Yes Benjamin, I knew." Paradox said as this was one of the reasons he liked Ben so much, he always kept him guessing and never did the things people expected or would do.
"So why are you here?" Ben asked him wondering what Paradox needed to tell him about as when he needed to see him in person it meant something was going to happen.
"I came here to warn you Ben, Edolas will be very harmful to you." Paradox said not telling much more than that "And I came to show you something." he said as he opened his pocket watch and someone else appeared.
Ben saw the blue light die down, but the brightness was still present as a pink glow occupied the area "Grandma?" he asked in surprise.
"Hello, Ben!" Verdona said as she flew over and kissed his forehead and pulled him into a hug.
Ben hugged her back happily "Thanks for saving me." he said as without her Zero would've finished him off with his spell.
"You saved yourself, Ben, I just helped you do it." Verdona said to him as she only took credit when she deserved it.
"Can I ask you something?" Ben asked getting a nod "Did you know I have…whatever this is?" he asked making his hand glow blue.
Verdona smiled seeing the glow "Yes, Ben you've been exposed to many mana or magical elements." she said rolling her eyes at the mention of magic, but Ben wasn't completely able to tell "But what truly brought it out was your belief and desire to use it." she said as what she believed awakened his mana was his will power.
"Belief is a powerful emotion Ben in others or ourselves it is powerful." Paradox said to him "Gumball?" he asked as Ben shook his head.
"So this is the girl." Verdona said examining Wendy "Adorable!" she squealed as Wendy seemed absolutely precious "You were a true gentleman taking her in Ben." she said as she didn't need mana to sense the familial love between them 'Ben won't let anything happen to her.' she thought very proud of how protective he was of little Wendy 'hmmm?' she thought to herself sensing something on the girl's person.
"Ben, you will suffer through something familiar, do you perhaps remember times when you have been trapped by the Omnitrix?" Paradox asked him.
That was an odd question as Ben had been trapped by it in various situations.
"The Omnitrix will go through a similar process again if you swallow it." Paradox said to him simply.
"Swallow what?" Ben asked curious to what he meant by that.
"Ah ah ah spoilers." Paradox said as Ben and Verdona sent him some flat looks "Ah you two certainly look more alike than you realize." he said wondering if there was a timeline where a young Ben Tennyson met Verdona earlier on 'The trouble and mayhem alone.' he thought to himself as Ben was always wild and so was his grandmother.
Verdona smiled proudly at his comment glad Ben was more like her personality-wise, but she did see Max's traits shine through more often than not 'Guess it skipped a generation.' she thought as her sons took different approaches on responsibility and freedom 'Be safe dear, I hope to meet you in person soon.' she thought as she'd love to meet the new addition to her grandson's family 'But a sister or something more?' she thought as Ben's greatest trait was how accepting and loving he was to the people he decided were his friends and they often became closer than that much like with Kevin.
"Are they ok?" Ben asked Paradox.
Paradox smiled "Everyone is fine and misses you, even your more stubborn acquaintances." he said giving him a wink.
Ben smiled glad his friends were doing alright.
Verdona was looking into Wendy's pockets and found what she had been looking for two blue crystals 'Hmmm, very powerful and they still hold a charge.' she thought as she could tell they were from Ben's Crystalsapien form 'A gift from grandma.' she thought pushing her mana into the crystals.
The blue crystals began to expand slightly and gain other colors, such as red and a lighter magenta than Chromastone.
'Not bad colors.' Verdona thought using her mana to alter the crystals and formed them around Wendy's wrists making the crystals take form of a bracelet she wore many years ago when she first met Max Tennyson, she made the main color blue, the symbols magenta, and a red at the top center of the bracelet 'Fashionable and functionable.' she thought liking her work.
"We should be going, it was nice to see you again Ben and one final warning before I go, beware the beast of black, he is a harbinger of death and bringer of destruction." Paradox said to him "We should be on our way." he said to him.
"Alright you time travler buzzkill." Verdona said to him walking to Ben "That gift I gave her will help keep her safe." she said pointing to the bracelets she gave Wendy.
"What are they?" Ben asked his grandmother recognizing the design to her bracelet his grandpa had.
"A combination of mana and Chromastone's crystals combined with residual energy they had in them." Verdona said as she liked to be original with what she did with her mana "Sorry no instructions." she said giggling slightly.
Ben rolled his eyes as he was used to that with Azmuth and before he knew it Paradox and Verdona vanished.
Ben saw time resume momentarily and he looked back at Carla "How do we get there, I wont ask again." he said to her.
Carla looked at him bitterly not liking the current conversation they were having as he claimed everything she knew and thought about herself was a lie "We need to fly into the vortex but it's slowly fading." she said to him.
"Erza hold onto Wendy Carla is flying you up, Natsu you and Happy." Ben said to them seeing Erza hold Wendy rightly, he walked up to her "Watch Carla closely, she let this happen." he said as Carla's loyalty would forever be in question because of this.
"Wait are you not coming?" Erza asked wanting to stay with him.
"Yeah if what Carla said is true and all Dragon Slayers are fine than that means Gajeel is still around and we need all the fire power we can get." Ben said to her.
Erza had to admit he had a point and witnessing Natsu at his best and seeing Gajeel was at a similar level to Natsu it would be foolish not to have him "Hurry." she said as the cats flew up to the sky with the mages.
Ben watched them disappear into the vortex leaving him alone in the wasteland of the town he had come to see as home 'You better be here Gajeel.' he thought as he transformed into XLR8 again 'About time this started working again!' he thought guessing since the spell was done he was no longer effected.
XLR8 had raced up and down the land quickly but at a much slower pace than he could've gone as Gajeel could have been buried much like Natsu was.
"Ben!" Gajeel said seeing the black and blue blur in the distance and then saw it run to him "The hell happened?" he asked wondering what happened to the town and XLR8 filled him in on all the details "You trust the cat?" he said his urge to have a feline companion dying down hearing of Carla's decision to leave the town to all but die.
"Not a chance in hell." XLR8 said to him changing back to Ben "I'm more interested in the future ability." he said to him.
"How'd you know she could do that anyway?" Gajeel asked as he wondered how Ben could tell what Carla was going through.
"Her own story was a huge contradiction, she said she's never contacted them, but was somehow informed of events and didn't know how they were happening exactly." Ben said to her.
Gajeel had to admit this ability sounded more useful than it was as to see a picture, but not have all the details seemed more risky than helpful "The cat said magic was finite there right, what'll happen to us?" he asked as ethernano was in everything, it was as natural as the air and ground the lack of magic here in the ground proved that.
"I maybe able to provide a solution." Mystogan said showing up.
Ben sighed "So now you speak, are you going to be less cryptic now?" he asked him needing answers not more questions.
Mystogan answered by tossing a pill into Ben's mouth and saw the hero regain some color.
"Ew is that blood!" Ben said tasting his own blood enough to know what the taste was.
"It's not human." Mystogan said doing the same to Gajeel as he swallowed it on instinct.
"What did you just feed us?!" Gajeel demanded not liking how accurate Ben's statement was and to hear it wasn't human didn't make him feel any better, he grabbed Mystogan by the collar and readied his club in the other hand.
"What did you feed us?" Ben asked him.
"They are called X-pills, Porlyusica made them." Mystogan said seeing Ben relax.
"You said the blood wasn't human, what is it?" Ben asked not wanting some kinda disease.
"Exceed." Mystogan said seeing the confused look on Ben and Gajeel's faces "Happy and Carla's species." he said as both seemed to turn a shade of green.
"You gave us cat blood what is this!?" Gajeel said as he never thought something this crazy would happen to him in his life.
"Listen, we don't have time for this you need to get to Edolas I already sent Lucy by spell the portal is closing." Mystogan said as the time for explanations could wait.
"He's right Gajeel I can fly us." Ben said activating the Omnitrix "Jetray!" he said loudly grabbing Gajeel.
"Wait-!" Mystogan was saying till they shot upward to the sky and he looked down to the vial in though 'Thankfully I had spares.' he thought to himself.
…
Gajeel had to admit flying was a new sensation especially at the speed they were going "How fast can you fly!" he asked as they went up.
"On planets with gravity, I can hit the same speeds as Happy!" Jetray said once having flown with Happy to test his speed, but to his surprise, Happy was able to keep up "In space, I can reach lightspeeds!" he said to him making conversation as they were about to hit the point of where the Anima was.
…
Jetray and Gajeel opened their eyes to see a completely new environment than what they were used to, the biggest thing that caught their attention was the floating islands.
"Hey was this what you felt when you arrived in Earthland?" Gajeel asked him as this was kinda new to him and it was a bit overwhelming to be in a new world.
"In a way." Jetray said to him as he had been to a new world before coming to Earthland when he met Rex and made a friend from a completely different dimension.
"Error…Error…Error." the Omnitrix said flashing.
"Oh, what now!" Jetray called out in annoyance.
"Error alteration made to default form's DNA initiating scan." the Omnitrix said to them.
"What's that mean in English?" Gajeel asked him wondering what the watch was saying.
"Mystogan's pill, it must be more than some medicine it might be affecting our blood or our double helix." Jetray said as for the Omnitrix to detect it, it must've been very noticeable.
"Error detected to user scanning alteration…Error alteration scanned, user DNA is changing erratically, attempting to halt alteration…attempt failed, Omnitrix will now activate advance emergency protocol all sets of unaltered DNA will be locked, five altered transformations will be available till alteration ceases estimated time three earth rotations." the Omnitrix said.
"Ok I heard a lot of that and none of it sounds good." Gajeel said to Jetray.
"It's not, we need to land now!" Jetray said as he dived down closer to the ground, but before he could reach it the Omnitrix enveloped him in a bright light and they crashed.
Gajeel was used to crashing and falling so he easily dusted himself off as he got up "Ben you alright!?" he asked looking around.
"Yeah, I'm ok." Ben said as he picked himself up from beyond some bushes.
Gajeel was shocked by what he saw "Ben?" he asked unsurely.
"Yeah, Gajeel it's me." Ben said unsure of why he was looking at him weirdly.
"Um, you see that river." Gajeel said to him as he pointed to a river that was in the air that dipped where they were "Look at it." he said to him in a tone that said 'you'd need to see yourself'.
Ben went over to see his reflection and nearly jumped as he no longer saw his human for, he looked human in nature but that was all, the first thing he noted was the Omnitrix was on his chest, but then he saw his face it was anodite purple, but still seemingly made of flesh, his eyes were different than his normal green ones, the white parts of his eyes were glowing green, his irises were mix matched making him seem like he had heterochromia as his right eye was a glowing purple with no pupil and his left was a glowing blue with no pupil, his hair was like his grandmother's and Gwen's when in their anodite form but not in length his was reaching his back and changing colors between blue, green, and purple, he didn't have a shirt or his jacket and was left topless, but thankfully kept his pants but they were black now.
Gajeel just stared at him not knowing what to say as he felt this wasn't natural.
'I really need to start paying better attention to what Paradox says.' Ben thought to himself as what Paradox said came to his mind 'Don't swallow it.' he thought now knowing he was referring to Mystogan's pill.
"So I gotta ask are you ok?" Gajeel asked him wondering if Ben was alright given his condition.
"I'm fine, but we may be screwed." Ben said to him.
"We have a town to save before they become fuel for this place, how are we not screwed already?" Gajeel asked him wondering what else could be added to that problem.
"I'm an anodite, my grandmother told my cousin that it'd take over seventy years to master these powers or she'd lose her humanity and now I'm stuck as an anodite which means I'm a literal time bomb." Ben said to him "and to make matters worse I only have four other transformations." he said not even knowing what they are.
Gajeel had to admit that did not sound ideal 'to lose your humanity.' he thought as he often felt a lot of dark emotions and impulses he often had to surpress, but to lose what made him…him sounded like a death sentence.
"Can you track the others they haven't been here longer than us?" Ben asked changing the subject and wanted to find the others.
Before Gajeel could even take a sniff they heard a very girly scream in the distance and they dashed toward it and saw….
"What are you all wearing?" Ben asked seeing them all dressed in plants.
"This was your idea wasn't it matchstick." Gajeel said as this just smelled like a Natsu idea.
"You got a problem rust boy." Natsu said as they pressed against each other's head.
"Not a thing salad bowl!" Gajeel said as he growled.
Erza pulled their heads back and smashed them together "Enough we need-" she was saying till she got a good look of Ben "Ben what happened?" she asked looking at his form 'Is this new?' she thought seeing the Omnitrix on his chest, but somehow this felt different than the other transformations literally and figuratively as she saw Ben's true face and the power comic off him was both intense and familiar.
Gajeel's annoyance all but disappeared as everyone took in Ben's appearance.
"Whoa who's this guy?" Natsu asked poking Ben.
"It's…me guys, the real me I mean." Ben said to them "Mystogan gave us something so we could use magic here, but it had a different effect on me." he said explaining how the Omnitrix suffered an issue due to his change.
Erza walked up to him and placed her hand on his cheek and smiled "Outside you may be different, but inside you're still the man I love." she said kissing his cheek.
Ben's face seemed to turn a darker shade of purple and his hair rose and flickered like fire and then that all died down when he felt something drip on his head and turned around and saw Natsu on his tip toes trying to suck his hair "Are you trying to eat me?" he asked more annoyed than when he tried to do this when he was in his fire alien forms like Heatblast or Swampfire.
Erza looked at the Fire Dragon Slayer in annoyance and punched him in the face "Are you still able to transform?" she asked as seeing the Omnitrix on his chest and while he looked human it was a bit strange.
"I can, but I don't know if I stay in that form or if this is the current default." Ben said looking at the Omnitrix on his chest.
"Why don't you try." Erza said encouragingly as Ben nodded took a breath and slammed the dial.
Everyone shielded their eyes and soon saw Ben's new form.
"You're my cat now Ben!" Gajeel said as he cheered seeing Ben's new form, a black cat that looked very close in resemblance to Happy and even had a white stomach and a white-tipped tail, but the Omnitrix symbol was ever present on his stomach and his paws had small green gloves, but they didn't cover his pads on his paws.
"Holy fish, Ben looks like us!" Happy said as he went and poked Ben much like his human counterpart was doing moments ago.
"Mystogan said he used-." Ben was saying till he and Gajeel shared a look seeing the cats or rather Exceeds in the group "Anyway what should I call this guy?" he asked no one in particular.
Erza picked Ben up and began to pet him "When Happy hatched from his egg, I looked into what he could've been since no one seemed to know what he was, in my research, I looked into mythical species that people believe to myths or no longer exists." she said giving him a brief explanation "The closest thing he seemed close to was a species known as Cherub a species similar to angels." she said to him.
Ben began to purr from her petting "Cherub huh?" he said in thought "I can work with that." he said liking his new name "We should get going please tell me I have a flier." he said as he had Erza let him go and transformed into Laserscale "Yes a powerhouse!" he said in excitement lowering his wings "Climb aboard we're flying in style!" he said as they all climbed aboard.
Everyone eagerly climbed aboard and Laserscale took off.
"Have you guys collected any information?" Laserscale asked looking back slightly and seeing them shake their heads.
Wendy was taking in the sights of Edolas as being on top of a dragon gave them a great eye view of the land "Ben-I mean Laserscale stop!" she said as Laserscale stopped and was hovering in place.
"What is it, Wendy?" Laserscale asked as he hovered looking for threats.
"It's the guild!" Wendy said pointing to a familiar emblem on a giant tree.
Everyone saw it and Laserscale landed nearby.
'So this is Edolas' Fairy Tail.' Laserscale thought as he wondered what the doppelgangers of his friends would be like, his friends didn't seem to have the same information as he, Gajeel, and Wendy had, but he felt they'd learn soon "I'll stay outside." he said as it went unsaid he didn't look human and didn't want to cause a panic, he transformed back into his anodite form guessing it was his default form.
Ben stood a good few feet away from the tree building and then he felt something pointy pressing into his back "Can I assume you're a part of Fairy Tail?" he asked the person holding the sword
"Yeah, so why don't you start off by telling me who you are amigo and we can see if I should turn you into mince meat monster man." the man behind Ben said.
'Spanish?' Ben thought when he heard the word 'amigo' never hearing anyone in Earthland speaking any other language than English "I know this may sound weird, but I'm a member of Fairy Tail too." he said showing his left arm where his guild symbol glowed like his hair.
"I wasn't aware my guild allowed monsters, what even are you?" the person asked "Wait are you and EVO?" he asked in curiosity.
"EVO, wait a second…Rex?" Ben asked slowly turning around and saw his old friend Rex Salazar.
"Ben?" Rex asked seeing the familiar hourglass symbol on his chest.
Both dimensional heroes looked at each other shocked to be reunited again, especially under the circumstances they were currently under especially being in another dimension that was different than their own.
Author's Note-Hey everyone hoped you liked this chapter, I felt it was too soon to involve all the aliens from the poll and I felt it would be best to end this story on a high note to skip some introductory which I hoped was covered by Mystogan explaing what he could to Ben and Gajeel, now for the name I picked to Ben's Exceed form, I felt a mystical element would be ok and I chose Cherub since it was the closest thing I could compare Happy to and I felt Erza would be best to explain it since she doesn't like to not know something, now for Ben's new appearance I combined magic, mana, and the Omnitrix into one form for his anodite I did a thing similar to what Gwen could do in Omniverse a fusion of human and anodite, now for the X-pills, I felt Mystogan had to have something in those pills where people from Earthland could use magic and since Exceeds could use their magic in Edolas I linked the two as a way to make it make more sense for the Omnitrix to act up since if something was changing Ben's DNA the Omnitrix would act, and finally for Rex and all I can say is it's a surprise element, Ghostfreak and Ben's Highbreed form will make an appearance soon, also willing to take names for Highbreed form as so far all I have is Hive, Newbreed(since all the Highbreed have new DNA in each of them Ben would name it after that change), Reiny(thought it be a sentimental thing), Legion(since the Highbreed often said 'We' often to describe themselves as a whole).