"You know each other?" Erza asked as she turned to face the visitors, and the hugging Cynthia and Alex.
"Alex is my older sister!" Cynthia replied, and her reply shocked everyone within the guild.
"YOU HAVE AN OLDER SISTER?!" Lucy shouted in surprise.
"Yeah! Did...I not...mention that..." Cynthia's smile turned into a subtle frown as she realized she forgot about her. "I almost forgot about you...I'm sorry..."
"Oh, you did tell me about that." Wendy remembered, but she never actually thought she'd meet the sister in question.
"Don't be sorry! You were pretty young when..." Alex then trailed off. "It doesn't matter!"
"You two look nothing alike..." Gray pointed out. Not that he was doubting their familial connection, but it was just the first thing he noticed.
"Oh, I was born in Desierto." Alex replied. She could understand the question, considering the difference in her and Cynthia's appearance. She was tan, Cynthia wasn't. "But I'm a young adult, much older than Cynthia, hehe!"
"Well...she's not my biological sister..." Cynthia said with a sheepish grin. "But, she was adopted into the family when I was a little girl, before my mother was...killed."
"What?!" Alex's eyes widened. This was the first she was hearing of this, which went to show how long the two of them were separated. "Mother was killed...?!"
"It's...a long story...I can tell you later." Cynthia said while rubbing the back of her head. She wasn't sure how to explain it and now certain wasn't the time. "Anyway! How are you?!"
That topic change was sudden. Alex couldn't believe it, but for now, she opted to just move on. "I'm great!" Alex grinned. "I see you've found a good family!"
"Hai!" Cynthia nodded, grinning as she dragged Alex to Wendy. "Alex, meet my best friend, Wendy!"
"Nice to meet you, Wendy!" Alex said with a friendly smile.
"Nice to meet you too, Alex!" Wendy replied with a sweet smile.
"Wow, Cynthia's sister looks pretty good, yeah? Wakaba said to Macao.
"I wouldn't have thought they were related at first glance!" Macao exclaimed.
'Can you two please keep your thoughts to yourself. They just got here..." Lisanna said with a sweat drop. She didn't want to scare away the people that just walked in! They seemed friendly enough.
"Don't worry, Lisanna. I'll make sure they stay on their best behavior." Mira smiled sweetly.
"Please do..." Romeo felt embarrassed by all of this. Sometimes his father and Wakaba were just too much to deal with.
While the three girls chatted, the other members of Cosmic Star dispersed into the guild. Daryan pulled Natsu from the wall, and shook the dragon slayer slightly. "Oi, Dragneel, wake up."
"Gah!" Natsu hopped up, confused once he laid eyes on the unfamiliar people. "You're..."
"The weird guy," Gajeel said as he and Patherlily approached Natsu and Daryan.
"Oh, well, well! Look what we have here! The dragon slayer duo who defeated Sabertooth's Twin Dragons!" Daryan said with a clap, though he was making it really difficult to tell if he was being slightly sarcastic with that statement.
"They were strong, of course, but Fairy Tail is number one in the end!" Natsu said with a smirk. "Also, it wasn't really a duo. It was just me."
"Because YOU took me out of the fight, asshole!" Gajeel was never going to forgive Natsu for that.
"Aye!" Happy said in agreement.
"Is that so?" Daryan raised a brow as he eyed Happy and Lily. "Exceeds, huh? Haven't seen those in a while...but...you're nothing special, eh." Daryan then held his arm out, and whistled. A few minutes later, a gray exceed flew through the front doors of Fairy Tail and landed on Daryan's arm. "Meet my Exceed, Hiruka."
"Hiya!" The gray exceed grinned. "I'm Hiruka, Daryan's partner! Nice to meet you!"
"Shoop a de fucking do, you have an exceed too," Gajeel said while rolling his eyes.
"As cold as they've said, Black Steel..." Daryan gave a slight laugh. "I'd love to take you two on sometime though."
"Both of us?" Natsu asked.
"Yeah!" Daryan nodded.
"Giehe, you don't need to face Salamander, I'm more than enough!" Gajeel said confidently, though his attitude immediately led to him being head to head with Natsu.
"What was that, bolt breath?!" Natsu's asked with an intense look.
"You heard me, Salamander!" Gajeel replied with a smirk. Though the attitude of the two caused Daryan and Hiruka to laugh.
"Just as they said," Daryan's laugh died down to a chuckle. "I'll be looking forward to seeing the power that defeated Sting and Rogue."
"Don't worry, we'll win," Natsu's tone and expression went from angered to confident. "I am the strongest dragon slayer, after all."
"Aye!" Happy said with a grin.
"Actually, you're the 4th, strongest," Gajeel said as if he were correcting Natsu. "Me, Laxus, Cynthia and THEN you."
"Guess I'll just be bumping my way up to number one then," Daryan said in a completely serious tone, which came as a slight surprise given his normal laid back tone. "Battle of the first generation dragon slayers, eh?
"You're a first generation?" Natsu asked. "So your dra-"
Hiruka laughed, cutting Natsu off. "HA! Save the questions for later, eh?"
"Heh, fine, we're still gonna win!" Natsu said with a wide smirk.
The scene now turns to Gray and Yakuza, who eyes each other curiously. Juvia, of course, kept her eyes on Yakuza, seeing the fellow ice mage as a potential love rival. "Love rival..." Juvia mumbled to herself as her eyes stayed on Yakuza.
"So...you're also an ice mage, huh?" Yakuza asked Gray with a interested expression.
"That's right, Ice Make-Mage, I was taught by Ur," Gray replied.
"Oh, just simple ice...I see..." Yakuza shrugged, suddenly becoming uninterested in the conversation.
"What do you mean just simple ice? You know ice can even freeze time itself, right?" Gray asked, crossing his arms over his chest. However, by this point in time, he had unknowingly stripped down to his black boxer's, which caused hearts to fly from Juvia's eyes.
"You're acting like I was born yesterday," The gothic attired mage said while waving a hand dismissively. "Ice Make us relatively weak when it comes to the ice element in general..."
"What was that?!" Gray asked as he stepped closer to Yakuza.
"I'm not fighting you, you're not worth it," Yakuza said with a sigh. "Also...put some clothes on, for crying out loud..."
"Huh...?" Gray looked down, jumping noticeably as a mumbled "damn it..." Escapes his lips. "Anyway, why won't you fight me? Scared?"
"Nope, just don't see the point in battling lesser ice-users…" Yakuza merely shrugged, though his statement caught Juvia's attention.
"Don't talk bad about Gray-sama!" Juvia flailed, though Yakuza thoroughly ignored the bluenette.
"Aren't you so high and mighty…" Gray scowled slightly, though Yakuza more or less stopped listening to him at that point.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Ice Maker…" Yakuza replied, his tone showing up uninterested he was.
A shift now goes over to Magnus, who happened to be discussing a few things with Erza. "So, Titania," Magnus started as she took a seat. "I assume you know of the events that transpired several days ago, yes?"
"About Siegrain? Yes, I know…" Erza asked as she took a seat across from Magnus, a brow raised in interest as she curiously wondered what Magnus was going to say next.
"Well, I'm just here to tell you, that you should find Jellal Frenandes as soon as possible, he does hold all the answers to your questions," Magnus said with a slight nod, leaning back in his chair.
"I've heard that you know about a lot of things," Erza said as she crossed her arms. "So do you know the answers I seek?"
Magnus let out a chuckle at Erza's question, shaking his head slowly. "Oh, I could, but it really isn't my business to begin with. But, I was just letting you know how urgent it is for you to see him."
"I see…" Erza kept herself form frowning at Magnus's response as it came as a disappointment. "Well…Welcome to Fairy Tail, and I hope your guild…Cosmic Star, becomes a strong one" Erza said with a nod.
"SO," Gaia started while taking a seat at the bar, right next to Gildarts and Makarov. "Can I have a drink, please?"
"Of course," Mirajane gave a slight sweet smile as she prepared, and gave a drink of Gaia.
"So, you're the ace of your guild, hm?" Makarov asked as he initiated conversation with Gaia.
"That's correct," Gaia said with a nod. "I don't mean to brag or anything, but I think I can call myself the strongest earth mage in Fiore."
"Strongest earth mage, eh?" Gildarts said with an interested tone.
"I'd like to see you face off against Jura," Makarov said with a slight chuckle. "He is a wizard saint, the fifth ranked, and he is also an earth mage."
"Is that so?" Gaia's brow raised in interest. "Then perhaps I should find this Jura sometime and face off against him."
"Yooo!" Daryan slid over to the bar, leaning over it as he smirked at Mirajane. "So, you and me, tomorrow night…"
Mirajane blinked cluelessly at Daryan's attempt to flirt with her. "Tomorrow night…why?"
"What did I just tell you!?" Elfman said in a protective tone as he got face to face with Daryan. "A Man doesn't flirt with another man's sister!"
"Oh, the younger protective brother…meh…" Daryan waved a hand as if to shoo Elfman off. "She's older than you, and therefore, old enough to make her own decisions, you know."
"Oh, Daryan! Cut that out!" Alex said with a huff as she walked over to the dragon slayer. "Stop flirting with the super models! They are WAY out of your league!"
"Ah…!" Daryan's mouth dropped, Alex's words leaving a dent in Daryan's pride.
"A Man wouldn't have his pride hit like that by a little girl either," Elfman said with a smirk.
"Baka…" Evergreen said with a slight groan.
"Daryan is more a man than you!" Hiruka shouted defensively, intent on defending his partner.
"Oh yeah!?" Elfman growled. Suddenly, he and the small exceed were face to face. Hiruka was undaunted despite the fact he was speaking to a man 100x his size. Gutsy little guy, at least.
"Enough," Laxus said as he stepped from the S class floor, his arms crossed. "I don't like your attitude." Laxus said to Daryan, his usual unamused tone and expression different.
"Ah! Laxus Dreyar! Lightning Dragon Slayer and S class mage of Fairy Tail, nice to meet'cha!" Daryan said as if nothing had happened, though Laxus wasn't having it.
"Don't act that way, I don't like your attitude towards my guild mates, despite how much I don't like them sometimes," Laxus replied.
"Ah, come on, don't be like that," Daryan said with a sigh, but he then picked his head back up. "Alright, if that's how you feel, then how about we issue an S class challenge, eh?"
"S class challenge…?" Cynthia asked with a blank stare.
"That's right! Laxus Dreyar vs. Daryan Skeletalus! Battle of the S classes, Fairy Tail and Cosmic Star! Whaddya say?" Daryan asked.
"Take it Laxus!" Natsu said as his body ignited in flames from the excitement. "If you don't I will!"
"Tch…I don't have time for such useless…" Laxus started, but he then shrugged, letting out a somewhat defeated sigh. "Alright, fine, I will accept the challenge. If I win, you have to stop acting like such a pig around my guild mates."
"Stop making it sound so bad…!" Daryan groaned. "And WHEN I win, I get to take one of these lovely ladies out on a date tomorrow night, deal?"
"DON'T LOSE LAXUS!" All the females shouted to the S class lightning dragon slayer in unison, though Laxus didn't really feel any pressure coming from the shouting.
"He won't lose. It's Laxus." Freed said confidently.
"Won't lose, won't lose!" Bickslow and his dolls laughed.
"Honestly, I don't know why he came here to humiliate himself by fighting Laxus." Evergreen fanned herself. While the rest of the guild had faith in Laxus' abilities, it paled in comparison to the Raijinju's belief in him.
"Fine, fair enough." Laxus replied indifferently.
"To the town square!" Daryan said, leading the way, everyone else following behind. A few minutes later, the guilds arrived at the open town square, and the two S class mages stood apart from each other. "Alright, Laxus, here's how things go down! The challenged gets the first move!"
"Shouldn't it be the other way around…?" Laxus asked while raising a brow. "Challenger gets the first move…?"
"It's better you don't question his logic…" Magnus said to Laxus. "Just go with it; it'll make everything easier for you…and us…"
"Fine…" Laxus dropped his coat onto the ground, and his body morphed into a ball of lightning and he instantly reached Daryan, his fist cocked back as electricity sparked around it. With no word, Laxus slammed his fist into Daryan's face; the force sending the unsuspecting Daryan back quite a few feet, but Daryan caught himself, grinning.
"Oh, this is gonna be fun…" Daryan's grin turned into a smirk as he bent down, getting into a running a running position, then jumped forward, the bones in his knuckles sharpening quickly as he threw fast punches towards Laxus.
"Hm…?" Laxus noticed the sharpened knuckles of his opponent, though he wasn't sure what this meant, so he went on the defensive, putting his arms up to block the punches, but to Laxus' surprise, the sharpness of Daryan's knuckles punctured his skin slightly, which led Laxus to wince slightly, but he continued to block, seeing as how he didn't have to many options. At another swing, Laxus caught Daryan's arm, stopping the punch inches away from his face. Laxus then swung Daryan around, eventually throwing him into the air. Laxus then followed up by holding his hands out, and fired off multiple electric spheres towards the airborne Daryan.
"Wah!" Daryan cried out as he flew into the air, but he twisted his body, regaining control of it. When he saw the incoming spheres, he smirked, and held his hand out. "Bone rush!" A tan magic circle appeared in Daryan's palm, and a several foot long bone appeared in Daryan's hand. Daryan swung the bone towards the incoming electric spheres, and knocked them all away with ease, landing on the ground after with a smirk. "Heh…"
"He used a bone to deflect the lightning?" Erza said, slightly impressed.
"That's Daryan for you," Gaia said with a smug grin. "He may act like a doof, but when it comes to battle, he's as serious as one gets."
"Laxus has this!" Natsu shouted.
"How'd you like that, Dreyar?" Daryan said as he twirled the bone around. "I can do a lot more than this, too!"
"Is that so?" Laxus asked, somewhat interested, mostly not, but he ignored the slight pain in his arms from Daryan's earlier punches.
"Yeah, like this!" Daryan reared his arm back, then hurled in a boomerang like throw towards Laxus. Laxus thought this was a stupid move, so he moved to the side, allowing the bone to fly past him, and into the distance; though Daryan used this few second opening to approach the fellow S class, and managed to land a powerful kick to Laxus's chin, causing a small grunt to escape Laxus's lips. Before Laxus could respond to the kick, Daryan landed a powerful punch to Laxus's stomach, sending Laxus sliding back across the ground a few inches.
"Come on, Laxus!" Cana shouted while drinking from her flask, mostly drunk already. "Kick his assssss!"
"She's drunk…" Lucy sighed, but with a faint smile.
Laxus managed to regain his senses, just in time as Daryan threw another punch, but Laxus's swayed his body to the side, avoiding the punch, then countered with his own electric punch, the force sending Daryan staggering back a few few. Laxus then morphed into lightning again, quickly circling around Daryan with his fists raised above his head, his fingers interlocked. "Lightning Dragon's Jaw!" Laxus then swung his fist down at the back of Daryan's head, landing a critical hit as Daryan hit the ground face first, a slight crater forming from the impact.
"Daryan!" Alex shouted.
"Your S class may be strong, but he's no match for Laxus, baby!" Bickslow said with a confident grin.
"No match! No match!" Bickslow's dolls parroted while circling around him.
"You'll see about that…" Magnus said with a smug grin.
Laxus raised his fist, electricity sparking around it, but he stopped when he realized the boomerang bone was coming back, and he shifted his attention from Daryan to deal with that, but that was Laxus' mistake, as Daryan took advantage of this, and planted his hands on the ground, double kicking Laxus in the stomach, causing Laxus to bend over slightly. The boomerang then slammed into Laxus as he bent over, dazing him more than damaging him, and Daryan finished off the combo by hopping up, grabbing the bone, and pivoted on his left foot, spinning in a complete circle as he slammed the bone into Laxus' side, sending the mighty Laxus tumbling to the side, much to the shock of the Rajinshu.
"Laxus!" Freed shouted, completely surprised at how Daryan made Laxus seem like a beginner.
"Just warming up, Dreyar!" Daryan said with a smirk.
Laxus hopped up, rolling his neck, causing an audible popping noise. "As was I, I hope you're ready now…" Laxus said, and with no warning whatsoever, he opening his mouth, unleashing a Lightning Dragon's Roar towards Daryan.
"Whoa!" Daryan stabbed his bone into the ground, right in front of him, then jumped back, allowing the bone to act as a sort of conductor as the lightning dragon's roar Laxus fired diverted directly into the ground.
"He diverted it!?" Cynthia said in amazement.
"This is getting annoying…" Laxus mumbled as waited for Daryan to move.
"Oh, it only gets better!" Daryan grinned as he spread his hands out, moving his upper body and arms from side to side in a rhythmic motion. "Arise!"
"He's getting serious…" Alex commented once she saw Daryan in his new pose.
Once Daryan said "arise," three magic circles appeared on the ground, and from them, human skeletons rose from the ground, armed with swords and shields. "Arise my dead knights, and fight for your king!"
"You've got to be joking…" Laxus looked at the skeleton warriors now charging at him with a somewhat surprised expression, but this didn't change his strategy at all. Instead, Laxus merely bypassed these incoming warriors by morphing into a lightning bolt once again, now in the sky. This time, however, he held his hands out, and fired off multiple spheres of lightning yet again, but to circle Daryan instead of slamming into him.
"Eh…?" Daryan picked his bone out from the ground, raising his hand up as he twirled it above him, deflecting the lightning off to the side. "Heh!"
"No way…!" Cynthia said in amazement.
But, Laxus was counting on his, he again turned into a sphere of lightning, and rushed towards the distracted Daryan, landing a powerful lightning infused haymaker at Daryan's jaw, the attack obviously catching Daryan off guard as he rolled across the ground for a few seconds before hopping up, dusting himself off. "Damn…I felt that one…"
"You're going to feel a lot more than that soon…" Laxus said as his body started to bulk up, his dragon slayer fangs growing sharper, his arms growing scales, and his pupils vanishing from his eyes. Laxus then ripped off his shirt, seeing as how he had no use for a garment such as that now.
"It's over now…" Evergreen said with a taunting smirk.
"Do not underestimate Daryan, my dear," Magnus said with his smile growing.
Laxus held his hands above his head as he focused lightning in the empty space between them. "Raging Bolt!" Laxus then threw his arms forward, sending the lightning bolt hurtling towards Daryan.
"Oh boy…" Daryan held his free hand out, forming yet another bone equal in length to the one he was holding now. He crossed the bones into an X formation, allowing the Raging Bolt to strike into them, but the force was stronger than he originally thought, so he slid back slightly as the attack did manage to damage Daryan slightly, but nothing he couldn't handle. "Alright…" Daryan said as he held his bones at his sides. "You've shown me your dragon roar…Now let me show you mine…!" Daryan smirked as he reared his head back, his cheeks starting to puff out. "Roar…Of the Skeletal Dragon!" Daryan threw his head forward, unleashing a vortex of sharp bones racing towards Laxus.
"Is that it…?" Laxus was going to move forward to evade the attack, but a skeleton warrior from briefly diverted his attention from the roar as it slammed its sword down, but Laxus caught it, but then the roar slammed into him, and Laxus felt the pain. "Why does this hurt so much…?" Laxus thought to himself as the roar made contact. But, Daryan wasn't aiming for Laxus's entire body, Daryan instead aimed for the punctures he made in Laxus' arms from before. Laxus couldn't support his arms anymore as his arms sudden went numb from the attack, and fell limp to his sides. "What the…?"
"Kehe…now…time for the finishing act! Bone Dragon's Dance!" Daryan rushed forward, smirking at the opening he created in Laxus, swinging his bones in time which each other, each bone landing with a powerful impact on Laxus, shocking the Fairy Tail mages at how Laxus was seemingly being overpowered.
"Laxus, snap out of it!" Freed shouted.
"Don't let that bone baby show you up, Laxus! You can do it!" Bickslow shouted.
"Come on, Laxus! I don't wanna go on a date with that guy!" Lucy flailed her arms around.
Just as Daryan went in for the finishing blow, Laxus managed to sway to the right, avoiding what might have finished him off, and opened his mouth, unleashing a Dragon Force boosted Lightning Dragon's Roar at Daryan, and at point blank range no less, which sent Daryan flying, hitting the nearest tree with sparks dancing around his body. After a few seconds, Daryan stood up, with the help of his skeleton warriors. "Gah…"
"This match is a draw," Gaia said with a stern nod. "Daryan's injured pretty badly, and Laxus can't use his arms anymore."
"A draw…?" Natsu looked towards Daryan with a new sense of respect. "He tied with Laxus…"
"If Daryan wasn't struck, he would've won," Magus replied.
"But he was." Freed said with a smug grin. "I hope you weren't thinking you could walk in and challenge Fairy Tail's strongest that easily!"
"Now, now…" Alex said while making a gesture to calm the rising tension. "I think we should all just calm down and go home…hehe…"
"Alex is right…I need to be patched up…hehe…" Daryan laughed slightly as his warriors vanished.
"Laxus-san, here!" Wendy rushed up to Laxus and placed her hands over his arms, a sea green light emitting as she began to heal his arms.
"Alex, do you really have to go so soon…?" Cynthia asked with a pout.
"I'll visit!" Alex nodded. "I promise!"
"She's good at keeping promises, so you can trust that," Yakuza said with a nod. Daryan walked with a slight limp to the others.
"Well, it was nice meeting you, Fairy Tail, we will meet again~" Gaia said as she and the others started to leave.
"Nice meeting you!" Mirajane said with a wave.
Alex brought up the rear of the group, and looked back once they were out of town. "I can't believe I finally found her…" Alex said with a sigh, and in the next instant, her hair turned white, and her red eyes blazed somewhat as a sadistic smirk formed on her lips, it was as if she became a completely different person. "Now I can finally carry out father Aiden's will…and destroy Cynthia Viscard…"