There was a shrill intensity in the air within the secluded walls, deep, treacherous tunes ringing within skulls that held stable minds. What was at stake was living beings, capable of providing help, and in the wrong hands, destruction. Two sides; two opposing forces on different battlefields, ready to strike.
The air palpitated as Nic and Erza glared ahead, while the man and the woman held up their respective weapons of choice. Erza poised her sword, while Nic stood relaxed and set. The pink-haired girl cocked her pistols, and the man held up his fists.
From above the ceiling, a solid droplet of water plummeted. As time slowed down, it slowly reached the ground, holding stiff constipation at bay…until it splat against the ground.
The girl began a rapid-fire succession of bullets from her weapons at Erza, while the man went darting right for Nic. The bullets went at tremendous speeds that rivaled Bisca's own might, if not more. But Erza parried the shots one after the other while Nic glared and went running at the man with dark glowing fists. The two went running towards the other as fast as fast as possible, and yet for a moment, time once again slowed down between the two. Their paces were even, and their eyes were glaring harsh daggers. As bullets ran beside them – some deflected by Erza – time sped up to where Nic pivoted at the last second and glowed. As he finished the pivot, he revealed his Fist Form as he swept and brushed the first punch off and kicked his glowing feet into a Double Kick as a ladder up the man's chest, finally stamping of his face into a backflip and landing on his heels while the opponent recoiled and found his ground.
Nic thus went into a charge ahead, getting closer range. The man recovered and reeled his fist back coated in dark energy. As he punched forward, a wave of dark purple energy beamed at Nic. He tucked his read and rolled over, avoiding the bodily shot and closing the gap to throw another punch to the gut. The man sidestepped to evade but Nic elbowed to the side with the same arm and made him gag forward. Not giving him a moment's rest, Nic grabbed him and pivoted.
"Vital Throw!"
Mustering his strength, he hurled him into the earth beneath, creating a powerful vibration to rattle the ground and send the man in a depressed layer of the porcelain ground.
The man gagged as he laid on the ground, gagging up blood as he tried to recoil. As Nic glared down, he was met with the man opening an eye and grunting. He punched up to send another dark beam skywards, this time with an expanded flare to prompt Nic to jump away. With his opponent at a distance, the man rolled on his back to a knee and got in runner's pose, pressing his hands against the ground. He looked up at Nic, before he finally balled his fists and made the ground burst beneath as his hands propelled him like Natsu's fire would.
As he closed in, Nic waited for him to come closer and stamped his foot against the ground, propelling him to flip over the man and glow. As the man was jetting beneath, as his arm kept glowing, Nic reached down and grabbed the man by the coat. He followed through with the flip and sent the man hurdling back where he came from, where he used a hand to grip the ground, making an intended trail.
The man looked at Nic as he was now seen in his Iron Form, which was his pants being a dark gray, while his shoes were dark gray, white, with light gray laces. The sash keeping his pants up was a shadowcast-like gray. The coat was light gray with dark gray sleeves rolled up and trimming being of the same shade.
The man's eyes narrowed. 'He has tremendous close-range combat skills.'
Nearby, the woman was using all her firepower within her two rifles to make machine gun bullets pierce Erza, but that was easier said than done with Erza parrying and deflecting each bullet without batting an eyelash. The two were going as far as run circles around the same point to wear the other down.
Once the girl saw that Erza wasn't letting up, she continued to run in the circle while requipping, now holding one small, thick gun that she cocked and pointed at Erza. From it, an electric blast shot, prompting her to bend and jump into the air to evade. As she followed through, she requipped as well, becoming her Lightning Empress Armor upon landing.
The woman remained in spot as Erza held her spear up, creating a magic circle in front that absorbed the lightning attack. It continued to pulsate into the spear, nullifying it while Erza slowly moved around to wear her down. The girl followed her pattern and backed up.
Once the lightning blast was over, Erza began to twirl her spear around, crackling in electricity. She spun it forward like a fan, projecting the same electricity flung at her in a discharge at her. The girl raised her right arm forward, where from it, a small teal brave began to emit a wavy shield similar to Protect. The lightning went straight into it, absorbed much like water.
With the woman's lightning nullified, Erza twirled her spear overhead before repositioning. "So you've created countermeasures to your own deflections I see."
The girl smirked. "Every action must have an equal reaction. Like this!" She cocked her weapon again, this time sending fire at Erza. The redhead tumble to the side to evade the flames. She sped left to avoid further as the girl followed, dragging the flames about.
Erza, however, proved too fast. She closed the gap in an arch and did another requip, this time adorning her Armadura Pidgeot Armor. She folded her arms and wings, soon reaching the girl.
"What-?!"
Erza spread her wings and blades, sending sharp gusts at point-blank range. They repulsed the girl into a shriek and flew onto her back, losing hold of her weapon and tumbling across the ground.
Erza poised her sword once more. "You should try working on your close-range defenses as well."
The girl angrily scowled at Erza and got a knee. She requipped the weapon away and pulled out a longer, wider gun with bullet holes. From them, several small, concentrated magical beams fired. As they closed in, Erza spun her whole body, her dazzling feathers dancing in her spin that cut threw the beams like butter. The residual beams went around her as she posed, busts of energy erupting behind to make her look menacing.
"Heh, you're pretty good…for a Fioirian." She mocked. "But we have a job to do, and we're not leaving without what we came for! Now take this!" From her cannon, she fired more rounds at Erza.
Erza glared at the beams as they closed in. "So be it. HRAH!" She spun once more, diving in the blasts again.
Vanessa moved her right arm forward, summoning a volley of large tendrils shaped by her aura from her body that went at the attacker. The thick teal appendages soared over the ground, making the air shudder some as they flew at the unknown girl. The assailant nimbly cartwheeled to the side to avoid a few and acrobatically twisted while evading two more. Finishing in a crouch, she ducked to evade the last one/
The girl began to run in a long arch when she found her room, her swift-moving cheetah feet dashing across the ground towards them.
Sophie covered Vanessa's side as she pointed a finger to her forehead. "Memory-Make: Stone Lightning!"
From out of nowhere above, the girl's ears twitched as she heard crackling. High above, lightning bolts came crashing down in front of the girl. At the last second, she spun around in a pivot on her heels and dashed to the right. As she ran, volleys of lightning strikes made the ground they touched turn to stone, and their precision was almost dead on if not for her nimble footing.
She slid along the ground and used her claw as an anchor, stopping herself as a wall of lightning strikes zipped in front. She was blocked…or so it seemed.
Without even the slightest hesitation, she cartwheeled between two thin bolts of lightning as time slowed down, her nose or hair barely even so much as grazing the electrons that were making the hairs on her almost stiffen. Time hastily sped up as finished her cartwheel and beelined for the girls.
Vanessa crossed her arms, upholding her position. "Nugatory Burst!"
As the girl closed in, she suddenly clawed her way to a stop and began to do large backflips. The reason came as pillars of teal aura shot up like a Fire Pledge or Stone Edge would, and in rapid succession to where the gap made her go far again.
As the pillars subsided, managing to drive her away, Sophie created another chain of memories, making her Mirrors of Cold Retribution technique. Dark green blasts shot from icy mirrors forming, but as they zoomed in at the smirking woman, she was cackling an excited laughter as she spun and slashed with her hands, effectively splitting right through the attack.
"She's good." Sophie grudgingly admitted. Beside her, Vanessa furrowed her brow.
"So she is."
The previous attack left the girl's claws steaming from the cold dark beams, but she held them up with a wide, toothy smirk across her feet. "This is getting to be really fun. I haven't felt this jacked up in a while. You girls sure know how to get me." She started to chuckle again with a hungry look in her eyes showing once more.
Sophie held her ground, but the look on her face showed scrutiny. "She's faster than we thought. At this rate, it'll only be a matter of time before she reaches us."
Vanessa wasn't going to let that happen, not on her watch. True she was fast and powerful, but the Aura Mage still had some tricks up her sleeve as well. And one in particular came in the form of a Poke Ball.
"Then we'll give her something she can be familiar with." She threw her Poke Ball by swiping her arm. "Krookodile, come out!"
As the girl readied another lunge, she stopped in her tracks when something appeared in front of her. To her surprise, a large, red, bipedal crocodile was hunched over and straightened up. He roared outwards, craning his head everywhere as the airspace al around was shuddering from his insidious quake. Once finished, he eyes the girl, who looked vibrant with a smile.
"Well I'll be damned." She remarked. "So you're one of those Pokémon Trainers I've heard about."
Vanessa nodded. "I am." She reached out before her, commanding Krookodile with no delay. "Now go, Krookodile!"
"Yeah, alright! I've been dying to get some action in for a while!" he boasted incredulously. "So who's the chick?!"
The girl adhesively smirked. "That's quite a big moved that moves, big guy."
Krookodile pointed towards her. "Let me tell you something, crazy animalistic assassin lady! I don't who you are, or what you are…but Krookodile will move more than just his mouth to kick that butt of yours!"
"I like that mouth of yours. Let's just see you back up that volume." The girl wasted no time in running in at Krookodile, closing the gap against the large-mouth Pokémon.
"Crunch!" Vanessa commanded.
Krookodile bared his massive fangs that glowed bright white and proceeded to chomp. The girl went and grabbed the snout and maw with her bare hands, stopping Krookodile with a force that made a small gust kick up from impact. Krookodile pushed for dominance while the girl retaliated with the same force, neither one giving an inch.
The girl adjusted her footing to assert herself, but she found her opponent's jaw muscles to be a lot to handle. "Man…you got some heavy jaws." She grunted impressively. In her commendation, Krookodile raised his head and dragged her into the air. He whipped his head around, sending her flying backwards. She flipped and landed on a knee, where she gasped before she realized it was too late.
BOOM!
A burst of teal aura went off like a landmine beneath her, sending her flying onto her back with a thud.
Sophie pointed another finger to her forehead. "Need to keep her still…Memory-Make: Pyro Saucer!" She unleashed a rapid volley of flying, pyro-dynamic flames at the girl.
The girl's eyes opened once more and she got her knees and feet into the air. She flipped back up and jumped over the saucers, sailing high over everyone. She flipped forward a few good times before shooting a foot down in a flying stomp.
"Krookodile, catch her!" Vanessa shouted.
"YOU GOT IT!" The Intimidation Pokémon braced himself as the girl went sailing down, kicking her heel into him with as much force as possible. He reached up and grabbed her clawed foot at the last second, stopping it like lead weight. However, the force applied was so great that it made Krookodile drag his feet a few inches backwards, making an indent in the ground.
Still over Krookodile, the woman was smirking. "Neat-o. You actually stopped my kick, that's not common." With her free leg, she stomped on Krookodile's snout, making him cringe as she scooted back. "You're all pretty damn good, and I mean really good. Honestly, I don't know how much more adrenaline it'll take before I really get jacked up."
"We're flattered you're enjoying this." Sophie said dryly. "So tell us, why are you after the minister?"
The girl's animalistic smirk served to widen. "Beat me up a little further and I might squeak out a hint."
Vanessa's eyes narrowed in insidious retort. She's not one to appreciate such a characteristic, especially in the case of an opponent who is playing on. Beating around the bush won't get anywhere, so she had to take the initiative.
"So be it…Krookodile, let's go!"
Krookodile stepped up, letting loose another harsh growl.
The girl pumped her fists, the fur on her body tingling all over. 'Sorry, Broly, guess I'm a bit backed up.'
"Pidove, Chespin, use Growl!" Joey commanded with an arm out. Both Chespin and Pidove jumped into the air, each opening their mouths to emit powerful shrieks that distorted the air around them and Broly. The man stood crippling, wincing as the soundwaves forced him to cover his ears.
"Hey, pretty loud there, don't you think? You might wanna tone it down!"
Joey turned towards his side. "Now, guys!"
Dereece nodded and pointed his finger at Broly. "Heracross, use Horn Attack!" His Heracross responded diligently as his horn glowed bright white. He aimed for Broly and went right for the offense.
"Spiritomb, Shadow Sneak!" Duncan ordered, making Spiritomb float in place on the step as the shadows beneath her darkened and rushed in a straight line right beside Heracross.
Even as Growl went on as a distraction, Broly opened an eye and saw the two attacks heading for him.
"Barrier-Make: Prism!"
A multi-edged turquoise barrier manifested around him, even making an edge beneath his feet. The shadow streaking went first, but when it reached the bottom, it did little to nothing. Meanwhile, Heracross dove right into the shield, but almost instantly bounced off in a cry of pain.
"Oh no!" Dereece looked shocked as Heracross recoiled onto his back right beneath him. "Heracross!"
Broly dissipated a majority of the barrier, but left a single side up and facing Pidove and Chespin. Even as his ears rung, he shot two fingers ahead, sending the pentagon at them. Both the bird and Grass-type were struck with great force, sending them to the ground.
Joey gasped as they fell, moving to where they were falling and reached out in time to grab them. He looked down, seeing both dazed. "Hey, you guys okay?"
Pidove was seeing stars in his eyes. "Uuuhh, did it work~?"
Chespin held his head tight. "Ow…"
"That was a good move." Broly got everyone to look at him. "But that still won't work on me."
Duncan's stare was cold as he refused to let up. He reached out with his left arm, commanding Spiritomb once more. "Use Hypnosis!"
Spiritomb's green eyes began to glow, and the green orbs encircling his body were glowing as well. A bizarre, hypnotic wave eroded from his body, stretching out towards Broly and expanding.
Once more, Broly crossed his arms, making another solid barrier in front of him. "Barrier-Make: Barrier!" The Hypnosis attack made contact with the barrier, but as much of the hypnotic waves poured out, the less it did against Broly behind his defenses.
Joey looked shocked. "Not even status moves are effecting him?"
"It's like a never-ending Protect!" Dereece exclaimed.
Broly ducked low and lifted his barrier's underside. He ducked ebenath it and ran up beneath the hypnotic waves towards Spiritomb. As he closed the gap up the steps, his fist was encompassed in a small turquoise orb of his magic.
"Barrier-Make: Smash!"
He socked Spiritomb right in the Odd Keystone, sending the female entity of malice yelling and slamming into the steps in front of Duncan.
Rebounding, Joey, angrily looked forward. "Hurry! Chespin, Bite! Pidove, Quick Attack!"
Chespin's large teeth began to glow and he went bolting. Pidove was outline din bright blue and sailed in, creating afterimages that followed him as he sailed at Broly.
Broly had a serious face as they closed in; even Heracross with another Horn Attack. Pidove was first, where he backhanded with the same technique as before and sent him away. Next came Heracross who collided his horn with the orb in the fist. The stalemate was easily broken when Broly went for an uppercut immediately after and sent him flying back. Lastly, Chespin flung in and bit onto the sphere, gnawing at its hard surface with his teeth. However, Broly swatted him away, sending him hurdling into steps again. He faced The Freaks again, looking annoyed.
"Is that all you got? Or are we gonna have to get personal?" he questioned.
Dereece nervously looked towards Joey. "Uh, Captain? We're running out of options here!"
Joey nervously looked at Broly as the man looked less than enthused. He mentally cursed himself for being so overwhelmed, but the drawback lied more on the fact he was still new to all of this. If he probably had more moves or had time, then maybe he'd might know a way, but he was too caught up in his distress.
This didn't go unnoticed by Broly, who raised a brow. "The matter? You look hesitant. You afraid?"
"Hey man, I'm trying to think!" Joey snapped. He then turned to Dereece. "Dereece, for the record, I blame you."
"Me?!" Dereece pointed a finger to himself for clarification.
"Yeah you! Heracross can learn Feint, right?"
"Well yeah, but it's not like we're at that level yet, man! C'mon!"
"Well better late than never!"
As the two were pushing each other's buttons, their Pokémon were trying to get o their feet once more, and Broly was looking at them more than a little stupefied by their lack of focus. 'Are these guys even being serious? I don't think they've been in much combat before. If they were, they would've tried to find ways around my barrier by now. Are these fellas even real mages?'
Joey finally broke away from his banter and glared ahead. "Alright, fine! Pidove!"
The Tiny Pidgeon Pokémon popped his head up. "Yes!"
"Go find help! We need more firepower to beat this guy!"
"I shall obey, master!" Pidove flapped his wings and instantly began taking flight. He sailed over everyone's heads to get into the city. However, as he closed in on the atmosphere, he suddenly crashed into something solid and went plummeting back down towards Joey.
"Pidove!" Joey looked up, seeing that above and around, they were within a dome of turquoise. 'A dome?'
"Sorry, but you're not going anywhere." Broly said. "Nobody's leaving or getting away until Matilda or Orion gets the message clear. It doesn't matter if you're inexperienced, or the toughest challenge I know…if you're an enemy…then you get no mercy!" The look he gave was dead serious, almost to where it was sending a chill run down their spines. Joey especially.
It was going to take a lot for them to get out of this one.
"Ice-Make: Geyser!" Gray slammed his hands against the ground, sending stalagmites of ice at the woman.
Beside him, Juvia dropped to her knees and unleashed a slick wave of water that traveled alongside the traveling ice that. The two attacks converged in the center, making ice cold water with ice fragments shoot up and reach the girl.
The girl looked down and blew a large bubble of pink gum once more, this time thick enough to not be pierced like before. The ice and water finally shot up like a pillar, sending the pink blob into the sky with the woman still on top.
Gray and Juvia followed her upwards, where they could see the blob high above as the watery ice dissipated. The underside still had bits of ice stuck into it, and the girl blew more to pop the bubble, sending pellets of goop with bits of the ice towards them.
"Incoming!" Gray put his hands out again. "Ice-Make: Shield!" The barrier of ice once again showed itself, this time covering them both as pellets bombarded its surface. The gum bullets stuck to the surface of the wall, unmoved and building up to make it so that they couldn't see pass it.
Gray grunted. "She's not pulling punches! We gotta stop her now!"
Juvia nodded in understanding. "Right, I'm on it!"
With the pellets continuing to bombard the shield, Juvia worked around it, running pass it all.
"Juvia, what are you doing?!"
As Juvia pressed on, she pulled out a Poke Ball. She situated herself in front and held it with two hands. "I hope this will work…" She flung the ball up, sending it skywards. "Go!"
The Poke Ball popped open, sending the energy downwards in front. From it came Juvia's Eevee, whose ears twitched with a placid smile on her face.
"Hi!"
The woman landed on the ground, continuing to look at them. As she chewed gum, she looked at Eevee, but the face she was making was looking like she was cooing.
Juvia reached out. "Baby-Doll Eyes!"
Eevee's big, large, adorable eyes began to emit sparkles around her as she tilted her head. She looked as cute as possible as she looked at the gum girl.
As the Gum Mage was staring into Eevee's eyes, her strength deterred weakly, but she didn't care. She just cooed and looked at Eevee as her lips parted. She was too speechless for words.
"Gotcha!" A cold, icy force got her from the side, revealing it to be Gray with a wave of ice that shot her along the side. She crashed her own back into wall in pain as her body was stuck to it by ice. This time, she had nowhere to go.
Gray reconvened with Juvia, grinning approvingly. "That'll keep her still for a while."
Eevee jumped up and down, looking so excited and happy at the same time. "Hooray! Hooray!"
Juvia lovingly closed in and hugged Gray's midriff. "Oh, I knew would be able to do this together!" she lovingly exclaimed. Gray, however, didn't look so amused.
"Now's not the time!"
As they were talking, the girl was struggling to move. Her Magic Headphones were nearly blown off her head by that last attack, but hung loose no less. Fortunately for her, she still had something up her sleeve.
All she needed was to blow.
Gray turned towards the woman. "Anyways, looks like we got one of the guys after that minister."
Juvia nodded. "Let's see what she knows then."
The two proceeded towards her, with Juvia returning Eevee along the way. As they closed in, the girl turned her head and glared at them, keeping her mouth shut like glue.
Gray stood in front, arms folded with a glare. "Look, lady, I don't know what your problem is taking us up on this little trick you're pulling, but it ain't funny." His glare served to intensify. "Now you're gonna tell us what you know right now, and we might let you run off free with your friends."
"Gray, are you sure about this?" Juvia questioned.
Gray stepped back, standing and looking right at her. "Don't worry. She knows she won't get far." He glanced from the corner of his eye at her. "Odds are the others are already in some mess already. And you know I'm speaking about Natsu. Right?"
Juvia almost forgot about it. She mentally facepalmed when it came to her that Natsu may still having trouble somewhere else. She agreed leaving her here would be a bad call, but letting her limp away weakened might also lead her to a rendezvous or a possible hideaway. It wasn't the worst decision, but it wasn't best either.
As they were thinking it, they heard the sound of blowing once more, this time being of a thicker content.
"Huh?" Gray and Juvia looked forward, seeing the girl blow bright green gum in a massive expansion. She was using up as much breaths as possible to get this thickening bubble to expand, and its radius was making Gray and Juvia both step back in deep alarm.
Soon, the thick bubble encompassed the whole front of her, looking like bomb about to go off.
"What the heck…?" Gray stepped back, looking at it with slight worry growing.
Juvia, however, stepped up. "I'll stop her!"
She reached her arm across, making the girl's eyes narrow.
"Wait-!" Gray was cut off.
"Water Slicer!"
The single blade of water went slicing at the massive bubble of gum. When it closed in at a fast pace, it was all too late. The water met the bubble, and instantly, a sharp, incense eroded from inside. It erupted everywhere, its green blob spreading everywhere and weakening the crescent of water that cut into the ice. The ice shattered, making her fall to her feet steadily.
Gray and Juvia looked around, seeing green goop everywhere. As they looked at each one, their nostrils picked on something very sharp. They could feel a strong aroma erode from the scent the goop gave off, and Gray was the first to feel an inflammation pick up.
He plugged his nose, covering his mouth. "Man, crap! So sharp!" he muffled. "What kind of gum is this?"
Juvia looked down, covering her own nose. "It thought it was the elastic gum!" She began to cough a little. "But…it smells so sharp that-AH!" She was cut off when a massive glob of pink gum struck her entire body, sending her into the alley wall like a bug in a spider's web.
"Juvia!" Gray was caught off guard completely. With his body turned, another glob was fired, sticking to him and sending him into the wall right beside Juvia.
Together, both Fairy Tail mages were pinned against the wall, stuck by a pink, sticky goop that made it hard to move any part of their bodies. Their hands, fingers, feet, it was all pinned pretty good, and all that was left was the head and neck. Both struggled to break free, but they found their flexible prison too absorbent to break out of with strength alone.
Gray grunted with one eye open. "Great!" he sarcastically shouted. When he looked forward, he saw that the gum woman was standing right before him. They were meters apart, but she looked like she didn't give a care in the world.
"Listen, I don't know what you want, but you're far from fini-!" The woman opened her mouth to get inside and pluck out a piece of chewed yellow gum. As Gray talked, she nonchalantly stuck the piece of gum inside his mouth and shut his mouth tight.
The action made Juvia go wide-eyed, so much in fact that she had owl eyes and a triangular mouth. She was far from stable. In fact, what she saw made her mental world almost entirely shatter to a billion pieces.
Gray's face paled from the action at hand. There were two problems that just happened this moment, and that made it really weird. First, it was the matter of the gum shoved into his mouth. For some reason, as it was in his mouth, he could feel everything around him distort. His brain began to grow foggy as a lightheadedness began to roll in.
And secondly, the gum itself. It came from the mouth of someone else, and all the girl did was placidly walk away with a sassy sway in her hips.
Juvia had her eyes on her the whole time. She was gaping so much that she was scrambling to find words, but couldn't. 'Did she just…to my darling…that pieces of gum…gum…'
She looked over her shoulder one more time before she gave the two a wink. The wink was more directed towards Gray than Juvia, but the man was so disoriented by the gum's effects. With her opponent's incapacitated, she was able to make a break deeper into the alley.
Gray was weakly chewing the piece, its odd but very enigmatic flavor was doing something to him, and all he did was look down with a dizzy look on his face.
'Everything's so…warm…'
Juvia despaired as someone beat her beloved to an indirect kiss, and he looked so happy about it in her aspect. "Gray~…" she gurgled. With her condition of despair, she wasn't getting out anytime soon either.
Natsu took a big leap into the air, coming down with a fist engulfed in searing flames. He punched downwards, swirling flames enveloping the other fist.
"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"
Natsu twisted his body, unleashing lashes of flames from his arm that went at the Wire Mage. The attack roared inwards, but the mage fiddled his fingers and swiped in an X. The really thin threads went in a net fashion that sliced through the fire, dissipating it so the attack went around him instead.
Natsu landed, making his flaming attack dissipate. "Man, you really bite, you know that?"
The guy adjusted his stance. "Thanks for the compliment. Get that quite often from others."
Natsu grew a tick mark on his forehead. "That ain't a compliment!"
"They always say that."
Natsu grunted in sheer annoyance. So far, their battle has been nothing but him going on attack and offense, nothing more, and nothing less. The whole battle itself has been the guy using his wires to pull trickery, a tactic Natsu is vulnerable to. He wasn't stupid, but he knew that keeping distance was probably his best shot. Any closer and he might get snared.
But still, there were a few tricks up his sleeve no less. "Lucy! Wendy!"
The two girls called stood behind him. "We know!" the blonde shouted.
"Yeah!" Wendy nodded. She crossed her arms, beginning to chant enigmatically. "Ile Arms!" She reached out, her Enchantment Magic using itself to surround all her friends in an empowering aura. The duplicated spell made energy course even through Lucy, who pulled out her lasso.
Natsu smirked. "Yeah, that's right. Now I'm all fired up."
The Wire Mage smirked. "Some show…" she fiddled his fingers a bit, until he clutched tight. "But I'd rather make this a puppet show."
"Well I ain't no puppet, pal!" Natsu created a fireball overhead, one that expanded and grew to a tremendous size. "Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"
The fireball went bolting across the alley, incinerating everything it came in contact with. Trash, paper, everything was reduced to nothing.
Seeing the attack head his way, the man had a serious face. "Maybe you're not…" He brought his foot back, as did his arm. "But your friends are!"
Happy and Carla both felt an odd tug from their abdomens. They both didn't realize it until they had small threads around their abdomens. They were pulled forward like ragdolls that bolted around the fire, each screaming in shock at the force given.
Wendy and Lucy looked horrified at the sudden drag, but Natsu was looking like he was going to pale. "GUYS!" he shouted.
Happy and Carla were finally dragged around and ended up in front, the wires attached to them severed into thin air. He The guy rolled to the side as the Exceeds were enveloped in the fireball, an eruption of smoke and embers exploding everywhere. The whole alley shuddered from the violent display. But that wasn't the only thing either.
"CARLA!"
"HAPPY!"
Both Wendy and Lucy looked in fright at the scene ahead of them. Taking action, they both rushed ahead, while at the same time, Natsu was standing there cold stiff.
He couldn't believe it, not even if he tried. And here he was, seeing his own recklessness once again endanger others; more accurately, close friends once again. He was so stiff that he was unnoticeable as the flames dissipated, revealing Happy and Carla charred and scraped in some parts.
Lucy and Wendy hurried over, quickly picking up their friends that were used as shields. "Happy! Happy, are you there?!" Lucy worriedly exclaimed.
"Yeah, Carla, stay with me!" Wendy desperately shouted.
Both Exceeds groaned in pain. From the looks of their faces as they groaned, they seemed to be alright. It was amazing they weren't severely charred.
Before Wendy could do any healing, shimmering threads wrapped around parts of them. Once they felt a squeeze, they were too late. In a shocking force, both were dragged skywards, shrieking as they went feet first.
Natsu once again felt a hitch in his breath as he watched the two go up to the sky. He saw them get dangled by their ankles by tight threads connected to a web in the alley.
Lucy and Wendy hung upside down by one leg each, both straining as the sudden pull rendered them completely unable to act for a few seconds before they caught up. Suffice to say for each they were not happy.
"O-Okay, when the hell did this happen?!" Lucy panicked. "Happy! Carla! You okay?!" She looked down to see them straight beneath. Both were still groaning. "Not good…" She suddenly missed her lasso, which fell out of place and onto the ground. "Hey, wait-!" She reached down to it, but as she realized it was too late, she realized something more…embarrassing.
Looking up, she saw that her trimmed skirt was flipped upside down, revealing her underwear. The blonde could feel heat rise in her cheeks – some of which from blood rushing to her head – and she shrieked embarrassed as she tried covering up.
Wendy closed her eyes, doing the same with her skirt. "W-why?!" she shrieked. "D-Did he really have to do this?!"
"I don't know, but get us the heck down from here!" Lucy cried out. "Natsu! Klefki!"
Klefki dashed passed a shocked Natsu up towards her panicking Trainer. "Don't worry! I'll save-!" She suddenly beamed into a thin web of traps that she ran into. The Steel/Fairy-type found herself suddenly laced around the key horn atop and held in place, just mere feet from Lucy. "…you." She dryly finished.
"Aw, you've gotta be kidding me!" Lucy whined.
Natsu was looking ahead with deep shock still on his face. As he remained paralyzed in his own shock, he was seeing Happy and Carla lying on the ground, both in pain. He could feel his eyes dilating from his vision pulsating.
In blurry hazes he could feel his world topple. In one faint vision, he could see what he did as E.N.D on Nic as he saw him lying on the ground in a bloody mess. That alone was crippling. His reckless actions and means of thinking harmed not just him, but recently, also Charmander. He was recalling that battle and how he was at a pitiful disadvantage, and all he did was attack. And now…
"What's wrong? You're frozen."
The voice from behind snapped him out of it. Attached to wires above, the attacker knee struck Natsu in the back. Natsu fell forward, but got his footing and pivoted to swing a flaming fist behind, yet missed as the man tugged on his own wires and brought himself up again. With the height, he stamped Natsu in the face, making him falter once more.
The attacker crouched in the air and used solemnly his fingers in balled fists to latch into webs of wire connected to various places. Natsu looked up angrily, the sides of his mouths being seared in his own flames ready to burn.
"You bastard…!" he growled. "Look what you did to my friends!" he pointed at Happy and Carla to make a point.
The guy didn't seem sorry. "Don't look at me, I wasn't the one who threw a fireball at them."
"But you used them as shields! What kind of heartless jerk does that?!"
"Look, I don't think you understand how the whole world works." The Wire Mage rebuffed so callously that he seemed to be a know-it-all. "Maybe you care, but that doesn't change the fact that you're still an enemy. And in the rules of combat, you have to turn your opponent's greatest assets into a weakness. That's warfare in a nutshell."
"Shut up!" Natsu expelled another searing blast of fire that went skywards, this one nearly as explosive as any other roaring fire he's made. The molten fire made it to the guy, but all he did was fiddle his fingers in fast succession before he spread them out, creating a cross-shaped shield of wire made up of millions of intertwined threads. The fire seared all around it, blazing pass it and into the sky. It ignited the skies that alarmed many of people on the streets, but the ones close by were growing too unsure of the safety.
As the fire dissipated, the cross-shaped wires and the wires themselves were charred, but otherwise were in one piece. They dissipated, allowing the guy to land on the ground.
"That won't work. My wires are made up of an intense alloy that can handle heat when entering the atmosphere. You know how hot that gets?"
Natsu's teeth gritted angrily once more. His patience was running thin as he angrily stared at him. "Are you here to make fun of us or fight? Because I'm giving ya two seconds to answer."
The guy looked casually at Natsu.
"You asked for it!" He ignited his fist in fire once more and reeled forward.
The guy narrowed his eyes again. Beside him, his index and ring finger twitched.
Natsu stepped forward to unleash his punch, but as he bent forward, his foot stepped on a wire. He instantly fell forward, missing his blazing punch that sent a misfired wave of fire pass the guy. All he did was lean off to the side as the fireball went towards a nearby corner, making a small burst of smoke arise.
Natsu tried getting up, glaring ahead. "That's playing dirty."
The man had a serious face on as he lifted his hand. "No…it's called realism." He gripped his fingers, making threads around Natsu's stretched out arm wrap and tangle around it. Without delay, it gripped and tightened, snapping through his skin and making blood pop out. The Dragon Slayer cried out as his flesh was cut into.
"Natsu!" Wendt cried out in distress.
"This is bad. We're really not in a good spot here." Lucy said, still trying to keep her hands on her skirt to keep it down, or in his case up. "We have to get down from here, and fast!"
"Yeah, but how?"
Wendy did bring up a point. They had to get down, but the wire was able to cut up anything. They try to undo it, they could kiss their feet goodbye. But they didn't just have that. They also had something else…the answer lying, or in this case hanging, a few feet away.
"Klefki!" Lucy reached out, grabbing her attention. "Cancer's key!"
Getting the memo, Klefki moved her hands. "Okay!" Her keyring unhooked, allowing her to cycle through the many keys she had available. With no time and a lot of jangling, she held up Cancer's key with a smile. She gave it a kiss of good luck before she flung it towards Lucy, who managed to catch it and make it face skywards.
"Alright, now! Open: Gate of the Giant Crab – Cancer!"
Summoned forth on the web in perfect form, Cancer posed with his scissors. "Snip, snip. Baby." He greeted. He looked down, seeing Lucy's awkward position. "Woah, Lucy, you okay?"
"Does it look like we're okay?!" she rhetorically exclaimed. "Anyways, can you try and get us down from here? This wire is sturdy."
Cancer nodded. "Leave it to me." He inserted the scissors into one of the wires in the web. Incidentally, the first snip was rough, but after a few good snips into it, it finally broke. "There! First one down."
As Cancer was working on freeing them, Natsu looked back over his shoulder to see their positions. He looked back, seeing the guy still there.
"It's not my style to do direct combat. That's where we do things differently unlike you guys." Beside him, the same girl that attacked Gray and Juvia walked up, having a hand to her hip and chewing gum. The man continued. "If you wanna stay alive in this world, you gotta use more than just your own wits. You gotta use your own opponent's wits against them."
Natsu grunted as he tried to move, but his arms was already hung in place, not to mention that if he moved, any tighter will probably make it reach the bone. He could only watch in a feral growl as the girl began to blow a big, green bubble.
"Believe me, pal, there's much crueler fates out there than death…" With that, the bubble expanded to where it became a bright green sphere. When it finally popped, green gunk and goop went everywhere around the area, including on Natsu's face.
Cancer kept snipping away, getting the two wires that were holding Lucy and Wendy up. "Okay, this is gonna be rough…" He snipped a few more times on the wires, and finally, they snipped in half, cutting their ankles loose and sending them crashing to the ground.
"AH~!" Lucy fell on her stomach first, next coming Wendy in comical dust clouds. Both plopped like dolls in sand that dissipated as quickly as it arose. Both laid there, completely twitching in pain.
"Owwwie…" Lucy muffled.
"Y-yeah, ditto."
Eventually, both girls managed to get to their knees and sigh out loud. Cancer dropped right beside them and watched as they untangled the thread around their now slightly cut up ankles. Lucy looked over, seeing Happy and Carla both in bad condition. She paused for moment before she turned towards Wendy.
"Wendy, Happy and Carla!"
The Sky Dragon realized where her attention lied, and she nodded "Okay!" She scooted on over and reached out to them both. Green energy began emitting from her arms out towards them, slowly healing the charred bits on their bodies. "Hang on, guys, you'll be just fine…"
As she tended to them, Lucy's attention drew towards Natsu. She saw that all around, there was a lot of green spots on the ground, and even from here, she could feel her nostrils flare from an intensely sharp incense. Seeing Natsu on the ground, she slowly paced on over, being sure to do her best to keep herself from cringing at the sharp, minty smell. Once she and Cancer closed in, she bent down to Natsu's face, while Cancer worked on getting his arm free.
"Natsu…" She sounded so worried, and she had every right to be. She was seeing his try and use his free arm to scrape the gunk off, at least enabling vision prowess. She looked ahead to see where the guy had gone, but he was nowhere to be found. He was gone.
Her brow furrowed as she looked back at him. "Did he really do all this?"
Cancer finally undid the chord in his arm, allowing Natsu to reached and get it off himself. As he did, he looked ahead, ignoring Lucy's statement from before as he seemed deeply lost in his own world. Whatever it was he was thinking, he certainly looked like he wasn't getting out of it.
Lucy looked on, a worried look on her face as she saw Natsu ignore his bleeding arm.
"Uh…somebody get me down from here?" Klefki called from above. "Anyone…? Hello~…"
A harsh clash created brief static as shimmering metal clashed with dark energy. The man's fists enveloped in darkness that attempted to parry, but Nic's Metal Claw was making it hard. Evidently, this lead to the man forced out of bounds to avoid another direct impact. Once he slid back, he found himself by a barrage of shimmering silver spheres that came out of nowhere.
'So fast!' he exasperated.
"Magnet Bomb!" Nic forced them all to converge at the speed of light, bombarding him in a horrendous, simultaneous explosion of silver that shuddered the area around them. The porcelain ground beneath once again cracked apart from the force applied.
As the explosion subsided, Nic took a leap back, maintaining his distance in any events necessary. He remained quiet as he studied his opponent.
As the smoke subsided, the man was seen on his knees, grunting in pain. He was profuse in sweat and bruises from the countermeasures Nic's turned on him. In fact, when the man looked at Nic, he wasn't harmed much at all. 'He's supremely skilled.' He thought, trying to stand. 'Just where did he get this kind of flexibility? His reaction timing and dexterity are at a high level.'
"So tell me something, why are you after the Pokémon?" Nic inquired.
The man struggled to stand, but got partially up no less. "And what would we get out of telling you? It doesn't change anything that's already happened."
"Maybe not." Nic readied another position. "I may not know your reasons for doing so, but we have our own as well."
"Our reason is no different from yours!"
Nic looked a little surprised by his sudden snap. He could see the man rise up, a wavy dark aura enveloping his fists.
"You may think that you can comprehend what it's like to borderline death, but the truth is that you can't truly experience it unless you're there and seen it with your own eyes. Even then, the disillusioned would only deny it. So even if we told you…" He brought one of his fists back, readying another strike. "Will that still bring you the peace that you desire?!"
Nic said nothing. Instead, he pondered on his words as he looked ready for battle.
"Dark Devil's…Fist Driver!" He punched forward with all his might, making the ground beneath vibrate explosively as a straight wave of dark energy came from the attack and expanded outwards into a large, grizzly fist of darkness.
As it traveled, Nic looked shocked again, but he hurriedly recovered. "King's Shield!" He reached out, summoning hexagons that created a shield in front. They blocked the entire fist heading right for him and all around. The residual shockwaves by the attack was making the whole chamber shudder, even as far as made the porcelain ground beneath depress and shatter like stone. Nearby, everything else was shuddering, even the frightened caged Pokémon.
As the attack went on, Nic held his own calmly, but his disposition was surprised no less. ''Dark Devil'?' The attack dissipated, as did his shield. When it faded, the man was already gone, but Nic didn't have to turn around to know he was already there with a fist pulled back.
"You left yourself open!" The man roared as he pulled his fist forward, hoping to get a strike. He was so close, and yet so fa. The reason being because Nic's back kick struck the arm, redirecting the punch skywards and dissipating its energy. In the next second, Nic's foot stomped against his chest, sending him back to the ground.
Once gathered his thoughts, Nic turned around, facing the man as he had the wind knocked out of him. "I see…so you're a Devil Slayer then?"
The man responded alright, but in the form of his fist banging against the ground. Catching him, Nic instantly shifted off towards the side, evading a blast of dark energy that came from below that erupted in an explosive manner. It palpitated so ferociously that its shockwaves made debris fly everywhere, making Nic use his elbow to cover up.
The man was back on his feet as the earth shuddered, his serious look flaring with his own spell. "You're sharp…but making peace with the devil is a sin we sharper than any that that goes through the heart."
Nic's brow furrowed. He offered no input as the pillar of smoke arose beside him.
…
The girl unleashed a cry as she shot from a dark pink cannon with a long nose, shooting an electrified net that showered at Erza. The Requip Mage was in her Robe of Yuen and twirled her bisento, slashing clean through it and making it fall to her sides. She stood up again, glaring at the agitated girl.
"Would you just hold still?! It's getting really annoying to shoot you when you're always moving!" she exclaimed.
Erza pointed her bisento ahead of her. "I won't ask again. What is your purpose with these Pokémon and goods? Don't tell me you're thinking of furthering black-market trade."
The girl arrogantly smirked. "Actually, that's none of your concern."
Erza's glare sharpened. The look she was giving made her look even more ferocious. The girl continued smirking despite how petrified she was feeling. She could feel her heartbeat escalate, her hold on her weapon beginning to quiver. Whoever she was dealing with – both of them – they could feel something within them that made them feel something was off.
Erza lifted off her feet and immediately closed the gap. She let out a battlecry as she passed the girl with a knee out, her bisento to her side as the girl behind squealed as a gash f blood spilled from her sides. She was picked off the ground and her weapon was also sliced to shreds.
The girl could feel time slow down as shock arose. 'What…happened…?'
"I wasn't intending to let you get away so easily…but you've left us no choice." Erza said.
…
The Devil Slayer coated his fists as he repeatedly tried to punch Nic once more, but as he reeled forward, Nic caught the fist this time, bare-handed at that. The thudding echoed, leaving the man shocked as his physical strength was outmatched.
Nic could see it in his eyes. He wasn't going to talk. He was through playing nice guy, and now it was time he got serious. The look in his eyes remained the same, but that calm look had a deeper, more stronger qi emanating that was making the Devil Slayer feel a skip in his heartbeat. 'Those eyes…'
In the blink of an eye, Nic twisted and did another throw, this time overhead to the air above. With his opponent in shock, Nic glowed, showing another form. This one was him in his Insect Form, but it also had pieces of the Splash Form. The shoes were dark sea blue with the bright laces of the Insect Form shoes. The coat he wore had a dark blue on it with trimming and cuffs of the Insect Form, and the sash he wore was bright green, as to where the pants were dark blue. Meanwhile, his dragonfly wings remained largely the same.
In his Water/Bug Form, Nic cloaked in water and shot up with a vicious look in his eyes.
"Aqua Jet!"
He smashed into the guy's chest with no hesitation. Time slowed down as a ripple of water pulsated and the man felt his sternum crack from the gravely impact. His mouth hung open as the force shot them both skywards, smashing through the chamber ceiling into the open streets. The sudden geyser was thankfully in a low populated zone, but it was no less frightening with the people scrambling away.
As they shot up like an arrow, the water dissipated and Nic flipped above the man. He opened his mouth, releasing a String Shot from the back of his tongue that latched onto the man's chest. He was pulled towards Nic like a yoyo, where Nic crossed his glowing hands and roared.
"X-Scissor!"
He slashed in a sharp X, making another powerful blast of energy pulsate when the magenta and bright blue X made impact when it pulled the devil Slayer in. The attack's intense force was like a crippling saw that coursed through every vein of him, and as such, the man went rocketing into the streets, sending debris flying everywhere and a trail carved from the depression.
Nic found his spot on the ground, landing with a small gust brewing from his wake. He straightened out, his brows furrowed as he watched the dust settle.
There he laid, the Devil Slayer at the end of a massive skid trail and buried in rubble. He was covered in dirt and badly wounded. He looked like he wasn't getting up anytime soon.
Nic took a few cautious steps forward, keeping his distance and remaining silent as he eyed his opponent.
The man was unable to move, let alone keep his conscience from fading. Whatever he thought possible was completely broken by this sudden serious change. 'This man…' He was thinking back to those blue eyes of sheer, unbreakable spirit. 'Those attacks…this sudden show of abominable strength…he was holding out on me, and I fell for it! This man, he's…'
…
The girl Erza knocked down was laying against the ground, looking dazed as her eyes opened once more. However, the first thing she saw was a sword to her face.
"If you're intentions with these Pokémon are believed to be superior, then you failed to prove it." Erza said.
The girl grunted in annoyance. "Why you…" She wanted to move, but she suddenly felt a sharp pain flare where Erza cut her from before. The spot she struck was so fast that she didn't even have time to register it. Even now, she cursed mentally as Erza's glare was paralyzing her.
However, she still had one trick.
The girl's sleeve had something small like a marble roll out on her palm. With Erza's sword to her face she couldn't look away, or else that'll get Erza's attention. She's going to have to go blind on this one.
She flicked the small marble across the floor, pass Erza's boots. The marble rolled outwards, eventually reaching one of the far stack of crates strapped together. Once they made contact, she snapped her fingers.
The whole crate was being electrified and covered in static, a feature that was crackling interest in Erza as well. The Requip Mage turned to see a third of the carts being enveloped in an electric field, much to her surprise.
"What?"
To her surprise, she was seeing the field of electricity expel a distorting force around it all and crackle to an even brighter extent. She watched in horror as the whole flashing array distort into nothing, imploding to thin air supposedly. All that was in its place was charred porcelain.
"It's gone…" She looked at the girl to find some questions, but her hopes were dashed when she saw that the spot where the girl was supposed to be was vacant, instead replaced by char. Her brow furrowed in discontent over the matter. "…teleportation." She looked back over her shoulder, looking at the many Pokémon that were still in one piece. Aside from the cages, a small portion of the crates were left unhinged, though some spots were charred as well.
As she looked in discomfort, she could at least take comfort knowing that for the time being, the Pokémon were safe. But the items were greatly hampered. She looked up to where Nic shot out of with his opponent, wondering if he's doing alright.
…
The Devil Slayer laid on the ground, unable to move as Nic looked over him, having a placid look on his face. As the downed man was struggling to keep his conscience from going out, a small stinging sensation pierced his brain, making him wince weakly.
'Orion, are you there?' A girl's voice spoke inside his head, though the way he felt it was more distorted. 'Orion, hey!' she called again.
Mentally, he groaned. 'Aniya. What is it? What happened?'
'I don't know. But this guy and this chick both are incredibly strong. I barely made it out of there with a small fraction of the parcels.'
'I see.'
'Hold on, I'll try to get Liz and Griffon over to you after they finish dealing with-'
'No.' he tested dryly. 'Abort the mission. We got enough for tonight. I'm afraid we've gravely misjudged ourselves this time.'
'What do you mean?'
The guy paused as his blurry vision was looking ahead, seeing Nic standing with a fixated look on him. '…the one's we were fighting, one of them was Nic Pularis.'
On the other end, the sound of a hefty gasp was heard loud and clear. 'Wait! You mean THAT Nic?'
'I'm afraid so.'
'Then what do we do? I think Liz and Griffon are closing in on the minister right now.'
'Let Nic and his friends deal with it…we just got cursed tonight is all. Tell them all to fall back, that's an order.'
Anise sighed once more. 'Fine. Just use that button and get the heck out of there.' With that, the atmosphere finally cleared, his head returning to normal and allowing him to think on his own.
With little nimble work, he weakly used an index finger and pressed a button on his chest. At that instant, the button let out a powerful sound.
A discharge of energy suddenly expelled, swallowing him in a powerful veil of distorting energy and electricity. Nic hurriedly backed away to avoid the sparks and distorting energy. With the space he gained he looked out and saw with surprise on his face that the dimming energy field was collapsing upon itself. He saw the energy finally collapse and diminish, revealing that Orion was gone, and all that was in his spot was nothing but charred concrete.
Nic look at the spot, looking mildly surprised, yet kept a calm face. "A fail-safe." Seeing as how it played out that way, he glowed and reverted to himself. He looked down at the ground, his brow furrowing. 'Another Devil Slayer…' He looked ahead, seeing the many people who looked to be in a panic. As he looked around, he could see further action would cause a bigger problem than before. For now, he just looked ahead towards the minister's building, an uneased vibe growing.
The shoes of the dazed minister were tapping loudly against the ground. He was laboring heavy breaths as he hastily made way through the lit-up corridor. He made one more turn, following the route where lacrima lit it.
Overhead, in another alley, there were wires attached to a sewer cover. The wires were attached to the Gum Mage's headphones, provided by the Wire Mage beside her.
As the minister drew closer beneath, the vibrations went up to the wires and into the headphones. The closer he got, the stronger the vibrations. Once she got enough, he looked back and nodded.
Griffon nodded in understanding and fiddled his fingers to make more wire. "Okay then, let's get to it."
He approached the manhole cover, with the girl chewing gum to get ready. However, the headphones began to get a strange signal, one loud enough to alarm its owner. She jerked up, alarming the green-haired person beside her.
"What is it?"
The girl stopped chewing her gum and looked perplexed as she looked at the alleys. The headphones were getting a message from a certain someone; someone whom was brash and compulsive, yet she meant well.
Wanting to know, the Wire Mage produced wire from his fingers and made them reach the headphone's antennae. He leaned his head into his knuckles, getting the message as well.
The two listened well to Aniya's message, the one Orion told her to tell the others. As she went on in detail of who they fought, the looks on their faces changed to shock. By the time the message was over, they knew it was best to comply.
The Wire Mage grunted. "Damnit…" He looked down at the manhole cover, seeing how the man had already passed them given the vibrations weakening. "Looks like he just got lucky this time. Still, Nic Pularis? That's the last thing we need right now…c'mon, better go regroup for now."
The Gum Mage nodded. "Sure." Finally, she spoke, even if it was just one blunt word, with an equally blunt tone. The Wire Mage grabbed hold of her waist and shot his hand up, reeling him back up towards the wire web that he created in case of overhead attacks while snooping.
The woman attacking Vanessa and Sophie charged once more with a more energetic, if not angrier, expression on her face as Krookodile charge as well. Both reeled their fists forward, meeting in the center with a powerful gust expelling everywhere. For the umpteenth time, both were trying to overpower the other, this time with the girl reaching and grabbing Krookodile's arm and slamming him into the ground over her shoulder, force enough to make gravel shoot up.
"Krookodile!" Vanessa grunted.
The girl wiped her mouth, a mix of saliva and blood running from the corner and getting on her fur. "Phew! Man this guy is tough." She casually turned towards Vanessa with a smirk. "You must be one hell of a trainer then."
Vanessa didn't verbally respond. Instead, the girl got her response in the form of a pillar of teal aura shooting straight up beneath. She jumped to the side, dodging it, but not the black and red tail swing and crashing into her ribs. The impact sent a shock that she recovered from as she went flying backwards into another skid. She looked up, a smirk on her face with one eye opened.
"Well, looks like gator face has something else to say huh?"
Krookodile stomped on the ground, asserting his dominance, despite how annoyed and tired he was getting. He bared his fangs, claws up to strike.
The girl balled her own fists and held them up. "Alright then…" She began to expel an ominous pressure from her body. One that sounded very gruesome, almost like a lion's roar. A yellow aura began to erode from her body. "Now you're really yanking my chains."
The girls and Krookodile readied themselves as the pressure was making the room shudder. They could see the ridges grow spikier on the girl, but as she started to transform, something seemed off that made her lose focus. It was like an epiphany came to her.
Seeing this made them all back off. The aura visibly seen was starting to erode away, the girl looking away and putting a finger to her ear.
"What was that?" She asked to what she heard. "Oh, so you did get something out of it, that's good…what? Aw man, you serious?! I was about to…!" Her eyes widened in shock. She instantly went towards Vanessa, her shock shown as she felt the level of power Vanessa still had. A long moment paused as she was processing it. "No way…"
Vanessa's brow furrowed as she used her aura. She could feel certain signatures suddenly fade from the city. And others were moving out. In her mind, she could feel this was a retreat.
The girl sighed. "Yeah, alright. I'm coming." She brought her finger away, giving the girls and Krookodile a cheery smile. "Well looks like you really are full of surprises. I was beginning to question where I've seen that face before. I never thought you'd be that Nic guy's sister. Color me impressed."
Vanessa nor Sophie offered their own input.
"Oh don't give me those faces, we didn't harm them. In fact, you guys did a number on our little ringleader. And I guess the shots are down, so, off I go." She shrugged so casually before turning towards Krookodile. "So same time next week, 'kay big guy?" She winked before turning away and stomping, shooting back in the same direction she came from.
"HEY, CRAZY ANIMALISTIC ASSASSINATION LADY! GET BACK HERE!" Krookodile shouted.
"What's going on?" Sophie questioned.
Vanessa held her position firmly. "A retreat."
Joey was panting profusely, even though he wasn't doing much. All he did was see Chespin and Pidove struggle to find an opening, whereas Dereece and Duncan were no different. They all were looking annoyed as Broly stood before them with crossed arms. He didn't look in the very least tired; in fact, he looked more like he was just warming up.
Broly folded his arms, this time making a wide barrier. Swiping his arms, he sent the barrier up the steps, leveling their edges and reaching the guys. Out of low options, Duncan charged ahead with his kendo stick. He brought it overhead, slamming it into the wall. However, that didn't stop it from pushing. The wall kept going, stopping right in front of The Freaks and hurling Duncan into his comrades. They all fell to the front doorsteps with great thuds, their Pokémon no different.
Once the barrier met its targets, Broly did another trick. He expanded the barrier further, making it surround the pillars and whole outside. In fact, the whole estate's building was barely covered by the turquoise shield.
The Freaks strained to get up, only to find themselves inside the barrier walls. Joey especially looked shocked as he looked around.
"You ain't getting to me until Matilda gets to that minister and your little friends first!" Broly roared, his face showing a grizzly seriousness.
Joey stammered up to his feet once more. "Man, this is getting us nowhere. He's got us boxed in."
They all looked ahead as Broly was making them all feel on edge. Not only did he have an abundant Magic Power supply, the sheer willpower and guts he was giving was making him beyond formidable. It was becoming impractical even. They had to stay alert, no matter what.
A realization Dereece came to made him look shocked. "Wait a minute…that means you can't attack either!"
Joey's eyes widened next. 'He's right! That means this is just a patience game. It'll only be a matter of time before he has to get tired eventually. If there's a time limit and a recharge, maybe we can strike then. If not…' A smirk appeared on his face. 'Then he'll be disappointed to see Vanessa-senpai is no laughing ma-!'
WHAM!
The door flew open right in everyone's faces. The Freaks were shoved out of sight behind the door as the woman from before casually made her way out. She waved so happily.
"Yo!"
"Hey, Matilda." Broly greeted. "So, you done the deed or what?"
The girl walked up, barely missing as the door closed right behind her. Completely engraved in the door, The Freaks were holding poses inside, and then Duncan fell first, while a twitching Dereece and Joey fell atop next. She looked so disappointed as she sheepishly rubbed the back of her head.
"Well, actually…"
"Huh?"
Matilda skipped on down towards Broly's side. He lifted the barrier all around to allow her safe passage as such. He leaned in and she whispered into his ear about the details. He looked intrigued, but when he heard of a name, his eyes narrowed.
'I see.' He looked back at her. "Alright then, guess we better hit the rendezvous point then."
Matilda nodded. "Right!"
Joey groaned as he tried to get up, but he found himself more than a little dazed. He shook his head to alleviate himself and saw Broly and Matilda taking off. With both of them taking off, he did what he could to scramble back to his feet. "Hey!" he called out.
Matilda went on, but Broly stopped his running and looked back. He met Joey in the eyes, the two having a long stare; Joey having those clueless but shocked eyes, while Broly had the more superior and devoted eyes. Their long contest wasn't more or less anything like that. Something Joey was starting to feel to make it more than that. It was hard to explain, but somehow, he just…knew. Something about Broly and the way he fought; the way he acted; it was something that stirred inside his head. The way he looked now, it was a dead giveaway of how serious he took Joey, despite how much of a loser he was.
With the silence passing, Broly turned and left, leaving the Freaks and their leader to scramble and get to their feet once more.
Dereece rubbed the back of his head. "Man, what just hit me…?"
Beneath, Duncan was gritting his teeth at his friend's hefty weight. "Would you get off already?" he growled, almost in a threatening tone.
As they were getting up, Vanessa and Sophie ran up to the door, looking up and about to see if their adversaries were around. Sadly, were gone.
"They really are retreating." Sophie said.
Joey looked over, his shock still evident. "Y-you guys! You're okay!" he stammered.
Vanessa turned towards him. "We're fine, thanks." As she looked at him, she saw just how banged up he was. He was covered in some dirt, not to mention the few scratches he and the others got from being tossed around like ragdolls. "Are you alright? I feel like I should be asking you that."
Joey beamed. "Yeah, we're cool! We held off one of those guys for as long as we could." He looked out at the direction Broly took off in beforehand. "Still…sorry we let you down." He began to feel a depression grow on him. He was feeling nothing less than great remorse at failing at protecting one of his idols.
Vanessa didn't seem too bothered by it. "Don't worry, you did what you could. How is everyone else?"
Duncan shrugged. "Not sure. Maybe still out in the city."
"You think they're alright?" Dereece worried.
Joey gave a serious facial expression. "Only one way to find out." He turned towards his Pidove. "Pidove, can you still fly?"
The exhausted Pidove craned his head up.
The hole was breached as Nic jumped through it. "Erza!" He landed nearby, landing on his feet and crouched, where thus recovered and looked towards his wife.
"Nic!" Erza turned towards him, reconvening in the middle.
"What happened?"
Her brow furrowed. "I'm afraid we were hoodwinked." She looked over, making Nic follow her gaze towards the Pokémon in cages, along with what crates left contained the items warranted.
Seeing the damage, Nic understood. "I see, so that's all they got away with?"
"As far as we can tell." She looked back towards him. "What happened to your opponent?"
Now it was Nic's turn to show resentment. "He mysteriously teleported. He pressed what looked like a button, or maybe some small lacrima fragment, and he vanished when the rets of his body wasn't able to move. I take it that's what happened with you?"
Erza nodded. "More or less. But now I'm worried about the others."
"Yeah, me too." Nic looked over once more, seeing the many Pokémon now basking in the moonlight. "At least the Pokémon here are safe. That's our priority."
Erza smiled in agreement.
The sounds of footsteps came their way. They echoed loud and clear for Nic and Erza to make impossible to miss. They both looked over, seeing a panicking minister enter the same way they came through. The minister himself had raspy breaths as he finally caught up, looking ahead with wide eyes.
He labored in breath, looking at Nic and Erza with shock. "Y-you two! What happened?! Where were you?!" He noticed the big hole over his head, seeing the waxing crescent high above them. He then turned towards the surroundings, noticing the considerable shorter supply of items. "What happened to all of this?!" He looked towards Nic and Erza angrily. "You two. You weren't even supposed to be here!"
Nic and Erza didn't respond. They glared at him like wild animals ready to strike.
The minister looked more anxious than ever. "B-but you gotta tell me! How did they even find this place! If so, how did you track them down? This isn't even part of the-!"
SHING
He was silence when a gust of wind blew right pass him. He was petrified in shriveling fear as two pointed weapons were aimed right for his face. One was a sword, and one was a needle held by Nic, both mere inches away from his eyes. The man was petrified in fear so much that he sunk to his knees at their abominable pressure.
"Make one wrong move, and you'll regret it." Erza threatened.
The man was quivering in place as he had two menacing creatures at their mercy. He knew he was screwed. "Yes ma'am." He squealed.
In the faraway mountains just outside the port town they were just in, the scenery was phenomenal. One could've seen everything, ranging from valleys to enormous other peaks and ranges across the green land. And this was also an ideal way to hide.
At the tall peak, within the flattened cliffside, there was a small path on the side that lead to a small manmade wooden inlet, with a door, windows, everything. For something so primitive, just making a face alone was divine work.
The green-haired man sighed as he laid on his back nearby the fire. "Aw geez." He groaned. "Well at least we didn't empty-handed after all, right Aniya?"
By the massive stack of fresh cargo, the pink-haired woman with the visor – Aniya – shot a glare. "Hey, give me a break, would ya? I was under a lot of pressure!"
Matilda leaned against the rocky wall, looking over the fire freshly made. "Man, those two baddies and their crocodiles totally rocked. Makes you wonder how well they'd do against my inner beast?"
The green-haired man lazily waved her off. "Well let's not fond out anytime soon, 'kay Matilda?"
Broly looked over towards Aniya as she was using her visor to scan the anatomy of their cargo without having to open the boxes. "Hey, Aniya, are you sure you're able to move around like that?" he referred to her wound she got from Erza. "It looks pretty bad."
Aniya stopped and looked back at him with a smile. "Hey, it's not that bad." She tried taking another step, but when she showed off, all she got was a faltered footing.
"Hey now…"
"And besides." She continued. "If you wanna worry about anyone, worry about him."
Everyone looked over to what she referred to. Over in the corner trying to catch his breath, the man being wrapped by a lot of gauze by the Gum Mage was Orion. He looked to be in bad shape. One could say he looked like death, in which case they can't be wrong. They were all dead inside that way.
"How did he get those serious injuries?" Broly questioned. "Is this seriously what Nic did?"
She nodded. "Afraid so."
Breathing heavily, the tired leader weakly opened his eyes, making one long breath that alarmed the mage working on him. "I was being too predictable." He muttered, moments before he winced at the chest pain he endured. "No…more like, he was being predictable on purpose. He caught me off guard when he was defensive in the beginning, to see the limitations of my abilities. When he got a read and my attack style *cough* he took advantage and went for it. And all it took was just a few good hits." He began to cough some more, this time some blood.
Matilda turned towards the guy laying down. "Hey, Griffon, you still got some of that stuff? I think Orion can really use it."
The Wire Mage – Griffon – reached into his pocket, trying to reach for a small pink glass container. "When don't I? Gotta keep myself from my accidental cuts somehow." He looked at it and lobed it at Matilda, who caught it.
"Thanks." She walked on over, kneeling beside the Gum Mage and presented the flask to Orion. "Here, a little bit of this might do the trick." She dripped a few weak ounces into his mouth. As the contents poured down his throat, it had a bizarre cherry taste to it.
Slowly, his coughing began to subside, and his chest pains were beginning to heal. The Gum Mage kept patting his back to comfort him as Matilda tossed the flask back towards Griffon, who caught it callously.
"We're getting a little low on food and medicine again." Broly noted. "I say we better find the nearest town with an apothecary and market, starting tomorrow. The sooner the better."
Griffon smiled. "And some nice beer while we're at it, too." He received dark looks from Matilda and Broly, both growling and staring at him coldly. Out of his nerves reacting, he slowly shrunk back with a bead of sweat running down his face. "Uh, w-was it something I said?"
"Oh, don't think we didn't find out." Matilda angrily threatened. "I was wondering where all my booze went. Now it looks like the little rat's out in the open."
The girl closed in on her friend, walking silently like a cat as Griffon sheepishly scooted backwards. He tried to get up, but he was getting another venomous aura around Matilda. He could feel a lump run down his throat as she stood over him with red eyes and a smirk of killing intent.
"Uh, w-well you see…I was trying to find some more water and, well…" He desperately tried to think of something to sedate his ally from clawing his heart out, again. "I m-may have been too brash and grabbed the wrong canister…yeah…"
Griffon could see she wasn't buying it. The girl cracked her knuckles and he swallowed a second lump, moments before the first fist exploded into a dust cloud with him waling in agony in the corner by her thrashing about with him.
As Griffon squealed like a sissy girl, Broly looked disinterested. "Sometimes a little tough love is necessary."
"But to think that was Fairy Tail we bumped right into." The Gum Mage said. "I've heard a lot about them. They're the one's who are connected with…"
"We know, Liz." Orion said. "That's one of the reasons we were hired. If Nic and his guild are starting to understand now, then we have a problem." His eyes narrowed his deep, aggravated thought. "And I think this going in the opposite direction of where our client wanted it to go."
The group pondering fell silent as the flames flickered, all while Griffon's screaming echoed in the background.
After almost half an hour of searching, Pidove was finally able to locate everyone, hence by Joey's deep describing, some of which best left out of line for more suitable descriptions. With everyone reconvening at the foot of the estate, the Rune Knights were stationed everywhere, setting up perimeters through the town and the underground passage.
Passing Nic and Fairy Tail, the shipment of Pokémon and crates were all freed. The Pokémon were all jovially following a trained person the Cambire Foundation sent to coax the Pokémon to follow him into the massive carriage towards the Cambire Foundation. As they were tended to Eliza stood in front of Nic with a stern look.
"I am truly apologetic for this sudden intrusion, Nic Pularis." She humbly said. "We hope we didn't come at an appropriate time. I understand you all were doing your jobs and protecting the minister, however, we were unaware of his actions, and we would be more accepting if you allowed us to interrogate him fully first, if you will."
"You have our consent." Nic replied without hesitation.
Sophie approached, looking a little worried. "Nic, are you sure about this?"
"I wouldn't worry if I were you, Sophie." Nic swayed. "After all, it was the Cambire Foundation's fault this whole black-market started, right? If anyone's to pay heed to regulations, it's for them to not overlook. Right?" He looked towards Eliza, who was getting the message loud and clear.
She coughed nervously, trying to clear away her company's folly. "Yes, well, despite these setbacks, I hope we can come to an alleviation."
Nic nodded. "It's fine. But I have to ask, who's in charge of your shipping and management anyway? Did they know workers were putting portions down there on a regular basis?"
"Not until you solved the mystery, that is. Don't worry, I'll report this to Jefferey and we'll have the Pokémon in top condition, the remaining items recalled, and we will begin the policy of background checks and tests for all of our new hires. But for now, can you be patient until we've learned more about this from the minister?"
Erza walked up beside Nic with a stern look. "We will allow, but we ask what you know in full when the time comes."
"You have my word, Mrs. Pularis." She bowed to them. "We'll be on standby if you need any further assistance from us."
The Rune Knights and the Cambire Foundation hires were thus partially directed to the shop. Regulators and those who were described and left by Nic and Erza were arrested, and the passageway and location the tent held secretive was blocked off until further notice. The items in the store were being transported by boxes and many Machoke and Machop who worked beside men transferring the stuff, this time to a location not surrounded by potential secretive planes.
"Well this bites, talk about a sellout." Joey grimaced. "I feel real bad for all those people there."
Dereece looked down, mournfully nodded. "Yeah, me too. But that's part of the job."
"I know…it's just taking some getting used to is all." He looked down again, his brow furrowing angrily. "But still…" his fists were balling again, but out of spite. "If I wasn't so weak, then maybe some of this wouldn't have happened."
Duncan looked away from his captain to look at Nic. "So I guess the reason you're allowing them to deal with the minister is because we have that group that attacked us, right?"
Nic nodded. "Yeah. The Cambire Foundation's main priority is to focus on their goods and helping the development of humans and Pokémon. That alone is a big responsibility. What's more, I don't believe the Council has coordinates Rune Knights with the Cambire Foundation, so that means they don't have the authority to go about the way we are just yet."
Vanessa folded her arms. "Makes sense. If the Cambire Foundation did have allegations, then they can at least go on more offensive means with these black-markets. What's more, these attackers, they were after two specific things just like you said."
"The minister and the resources he had beneath us this whole time." Erza answered.
Carla, having bandages around her human form, folded her arms. "To think he would be behind this whole mess." She sniped.
"Yeah, that's really messed up." Happy said.
"Not to mention that explains why the town's concessions were so high." Gray said. He was thankfully recovered from his daze well enough to be thinking straight, but he didn't want to push his luck too far. "Well in a sense, if the market didn't bring profit, that did mean plan B was the town itself."
"Sounds like a gross way to drive yourself into bankruptcy if you ask me." Lucy said. She looked over, seeing beside Gray there was something wrong. "Uh, Gray?"
"Yeah?" He looked to see Lucy staring pass him, and Wendy pointed to the reason. When Gray turned around, he saw Juvia hugging her knees, sulking with a small cloud over her head that drizzled over her, literally. She looked anything but a ray of usual sunshine.
"Uuuugh." She groaned in a mumbling fashion.
Lucy stepped forward. "Uh, hey, Juvia? You okay…?"
"Uuuuuugh…"
Lucy retracted her hand. Wendy stood beside her with worry painted on her face. "Wonder what's wrong with her?"
Gray rubbed the back of his head as he looked at her. "Beats me. Honestly, everything's kind of a blur to me." He looked down at the ground, straining as he tried to recall, but couldn't put his finger on it. "That chick that spit gum did something, and then everything after that was a haze. Next thing I knew, I had a piece of gum in my mouth. It's really weird."
Unknowingly, right beside him, Juvia sulked so low her body became a gasping, despairing puddle of water with a sad face on it.
"Well it certainly brings an alarm up as to the air we breathe." Carla said, looking towards the others. "So these people, just who were they exactly?"
Nic closed his eyes as his head was down. "We didn't get a clear answer…but we do know that they're still out there."
Erza nodded. "Yes, and as long as there are still markets to strike, I have a feeling they'll strike again."
A silence fell with the group as they tried to think up what to do. Regrettably, no one had any good ideas to pull out of their pockets. They were less enthused about a celebration than they were of a convenience for their sake.
Happy finally broke the silence. "So what do we do now?"
"Well I say we head back to the guild. We got paid, right?" Gray insisted.
"Yeah, good point." Lucy agreed. She would've said more, but something else crossed her mind. "Uh, hey guys, where's Natsu?"
"Natsu?" Happy looked around, seeing his best pal not around.
Sophie looked over her shoulder. "How odd. I could've sworn he was here a moment ago."
"Well he isn't very far." Vanessa figured. "He's healed enough thanks to Wendy from what I've heard."
Nic said nothing as he instead looked out towards the city, his calm disposition fixed on the Dragon Slayer. 'Natsu.'
In the nearby alley, not far from the group, the Dragon Slayer was facing into the darkness, staring coldly at the ever-going alley. It looked like a maze inside, but even then, his hearing and sense of smell could take him to them. But regrettably, that weird stuff his face was bombarded with earlier did a number on his senses. Even now, his nostrils were still recoiling from that sharp minty smell to throw him off. He couldn't think straight until a short while ago, but even since then, he still wasn't feeling the same. The way that guy messed with him, the way he played with Natsu's nature and used Happy and Carla was one thing, but he was the one who hurt them. He could feel his heartrate thump a little as he began to think about the terror of his rampage as E.N.D once again, hating Nic – an act he can never fully forgive himself from doing. And now his reckless nature endangered more friends, and all he got to show for his efforts was wire cutting his arm, which thankfully healed thanks to Wendy.
When he looked down at his arm, he saw that there were no wounds, as far as physical goes. But the mental ones were fresh. Even now, what he said still haunted him.
"Believe me, pal, there's much crueler fates out there than death…"
Those words he spoke echoed in Natsu's mind endlessly. His bangs covered his eyes to prevent him from showing the world what he was feeling. In a sudden rage, he punched the wall beside him, making an indent in its exterior from his force. His body shuddered, partly from anger, and partly from adrenaline. "That guy was right about one thing…" he muttered, moments before he lifted his head, his bangs no longer cascading the anger on his face. "There are worse fates that one can be dealt with…" His eyes narrowed. "And he's gonna learn a thing or two about fate that I'd like to teach him about."
Arthur sat in his seat, and standing right beside him, Jefferey and Charlotte were both attending. Marie was standing in front of the desk, showing the letter with a projection of Eliza with hands behind her back facing the three superiors.
She did what she could in explaining the situation, but so far, the circumstances were bringing grave frowns onto their faces. "…and that's all that happened." She surmised.
Arthur's arms arose slowly. "I see…" Very carefully, he leaned back in his seat, gazing down with a deep look as his fingers folded beneath his chin. He was taking in everything Eliza explained about the mission and configured what he had to know, and what he had already known. "So that's what happened then."
Eliza nodded.
Jefferey stepped closer to the desk. "Good work, Eliza. You've done us a good deed. Please, return and we will look over this case in the morning."
"Understood." With that message over, Eliza's image faded, leaving the letter to sit on the desk and Marie staring on the other end with a deep frown.
There was a long silence that fell within the inner circle o the Cambire Foundation. The top executives were all staring ahead with an ominous appeal around. Finally, the silence was broken by a fist crashing against the desk, belonging to an agitated and regrettable Jefferey. "Damnit, what was I thinking?" he cursed in folly. "I should've known something was wrong before I overlooked all those hires."
Arthur put a hand up. "Calm down, Jefferey, I'm sure we can find a compromise to all of this."
"Oh really?" Charlotte angrily sinuated. "So then tell me, exactly what kind of compromise are you thinking of?"
Arthur felt like he was being under fire, and to be frank, not one person could necessarily blame him. There was a lot of mishaps as of late, but that's not to say that was still their undertake to be at fault for. Still, being a leader and president meant making critical analysis, and it was his job to impose.
"I can't say that we aren't taking responsibility for this. If anything, we might as well be considered the catalyst for this whole marketing system. It was our own supplies that were being shipped after all." He looked up towards his younger assistant. "Which reminds me, exactly how many shipments are we expected to have exported this week?"
Marie looked down to the clipboard she had in hand. She scrutinized the contents and saw the numbers. "About 15 more shipments." She responded. "And with Fairy Tail already dealing with these culprits, it's safe to say that we may have an intertwining mission."
Arthur closed his eyes. "So it would seem."
Charlotte smirked. "Perhaps they could be of some help to us. They were able to enlist enough power to stop a single shipment, is that right?"
"Be as it may, that was just one shipment." He countered. "They were able to find the culprits but allow them to get away. We can't be certain of when they will strike again. If this continues on, I'm afraid the Council will have to ask us to enforce an embargo."
Jefferey looked ashamed as he turned away. "This is all my fault. If anyone's to take responsibility for this, it's me."
"Jefferey…" Arthur muttered.
Marie stepped up. "Sir, with all do respect, I think that it's best that we discuss this further tomorrow. We have to remain on schedule. If things like this keep up, then-" She was cut off when Arthur's hand went up, silencing her.
"No, Marie. I'm sorry, but this matter is more important." He interceded. "May I remind you, the more we push, the more likely they'll pull from us as well. We can't have mere objects and Pokémon being bargained like this without our knowledge."
Marie looked worried. "Then what do we do?"
Arthur closed his eyes and thought for a moment. When he came to a decision, he opened his eyes and glared ahead with a sense of seriousness. "Alright, here's what we're going to be doing. Until further notice, the Cambire Foundation will be decreasing its shipments by 50%. The less we sell, the less likely they take. Jefferey."
"I'll see to that as immediately as possible."
"Right, and Charlotte. I'd like you to tell the Council of this. Tell them of the reasons doing so is for these illegal shippings. Until there is a further investigation into these messes that they must be obligated to, we have to pay it safe."
Charlotte scoffed with a grin. "So be it."
"And Marie, you and I will have to continue looking at these reports. If we can find a pattern, or why these have been happening, maybe we can offer that information to our allies. Support is necessary."
"Alright, as you wish."
Arthur lowered his head, angrily sighing at this decision. He wasn't appreciating the shrewd tactic he was making, possibly a terrible business decision at that, but he put Pokémon and people above his industry. That was just what kind of guy he was. He had to abide by what he stood for. If he didn't, then he'd be less than scum.
And that's the last thing this world needs. Nor what the company needs. "I need some wine, bad."
Daylight shined upon the Fairy Tail guild, the new day finally coming around with everyone accounted for. With the news of their recent mission being in the gray zone, the scandal aroused many of interests.
Macao sat his mug down gently. "I get it. So that's the deal then." He was taking in everything Nic and Erza along with their friends went through, and suffice to say by his arms folding that he wasn't liking where this was going. "Sounds like you guys were having it rough, huh."
Sophie beamed nonchalantly. "Well we can't say you were wrong."
"But to think there was more than one perpetrator." Vanessa said, getting the blonde's attention. "Not to mention that each of them had a high degree in their skill area."
"Yeah, the guy we fought hung me and Wendy like we were piñatas." Lucy folded her arms in grimace over the memory. Not only was it embarrassing, but it was shrewd and tactical. A witty fighter no less.
"Yeah, and his wires were all over the place." Wendy pointed out. "Even my smell was all over the place."
"And speaking of all over, how many of these guys were there?" Gajeel questioned out of curiosity. "Didn't sound like a lot to me."
Beside him, Levy stepped up. "Yeah, if what I can tell, they must be professionals to take on at least two at the same time."
Joey sheepishly raised his head. "Uh, six for us." He nervously admitted. "The…guy we fought was crazy tough."
"Maybe because you don't have that high of an experience." Pantherlily noted.
Joey shot a look at him. "Hey, we're trying!"
"So these guys are attacking underground deals near port towns and those behind them." The attention drew towards Cana. She was sitting cross-legged while holding a barrel of booze in her lap. "It's gotta mean something if they're not attacking shipments going over borders." She raised the massive barrel to her mouth, wolfing down the contents with massive gulps like a Gulpin would give.
"Sounds to me that we may something to go off of then." Elfman said. "If these guys are after ports, that means other countries that can't be reached by land."
"Meaning it's gotta be sabotage then." Lisanna gasped.
"Nah, I wouldn't go that far." Wakaba interjected. "Besides, does anyone even know where all that stuff they steal go anyway? How do we know they're not just robbing these guys all to make a profit in other borders?"
"We wouldn't know. They didn't say much." Gray remarked. "Not the one we fought anyway."
Macao looked down at his mug, seeing his own reflection as he raised it. "You know, I've been hearing a few rumors about these black markets popping up as of late. In fact, Romeo and I were near Cedar last week to stop poachers from attacking some wild Pokémon, and they were carrying with them some crates, too."
"You mean Pokémon medicine and berries?" Wendy inquired.
"That's exactly what they were able to pillage from behind my back last night." Erza admitted. "This certainly raises a red flag with Cambire's exports to say the least."
"All the more reason why we need to stop these guys before they screw us over." Gray insisted.
Carla shot him a look. "Hate to break it to you, but didn't that already happen?"
"Don't jinx it, alright?" he warned.
Natsu opened his mouth wide, crunching his massive jaws on some meat he got cooked by Mirajane. His back was to everybody else as he chewed. "Yeah, well…" he swallowed before continuing. "If you ask me, we won't let them get away a second time. We got some beef with them after what they pulled."
"That's something I can agree with." Gray said. He wanted to teach that Gum Mage a lesson in sticking her nose – or in this case gum – where it doesn't belong, in more ways than one.
Gajeel smirked as he arose from his seat. "Well if this is a stakeout, then consider an open invitation." He raised a balled fist. "I wanna be sure I'm there to see those punks try and strike back a second time when I'm around."
Elfman crossed his arms with a raised brow. "Yeah right, you? If anyone should be manly enough to go, it's me!"
Gajeel glared at him. "And perhaps you didn't hear me when I say I wanna be there!"
"No, Gajeel's right."
Gajeel and Elfman turned towards Nic. He stood nearby Erza with eyes closed and arms crossed as he leaned against the wall.
"These guys are ambush predators. They won't make a direct assault unless if it's for distraction purposes. What's more, it sounds like there's quite a few skilled in silent tracking. If we go around aimlessly like before, it'll be no different than last time. Sorry Elfman, but if we need someone experienced in stealth, I think Gajeel is our best option."
Elfman didn't disagree with Nic, but he sure didn't like being disregarded. Not that Nic was being rude, but he had to understand that stealth really wasn't his style.
Gajeel patted his shoulder. "Sorry big guy. Maybe next time."
Elfman sulked. "Yeah, I guess."
"So then I take it we'll come up with a plan of attack then?" Sophie rhetorically inquired.
Nic opened his eyes. "If it's what'll dampen black-market deals, then it might be our best shot. But…" he paused, getting everyone's attention. "That still doesn't answer why is it that they are targeting ports. If black markets are all over Fiore, then is it possible they're stopping shipments to a specific place somewhere? If so, why?"
Erza out a hand to her chin. "There's an ambiguous amount of reasons behind this. Extortion is a high probability. And there's another fact. They're not attacking every shipment out there, the ones in the daytime and off towards Ishgar's other countries are left alone."
Lisanna showed genuine curiosity. "So then you think they're targeting other shipments meaning to other continents?"
"Kinana put a finger to her chin as she looked up. "Well, can't be that many. If they're only getting one shipment per night they strike, that doesn't slow down progress that badly, right?"
"There's one more thing." Nic once again got the floor. "What we found, besides the shipment…there were more Pokémon in cages."
Once again, the guild looked shocked.
"Wait, time out. I thought the Cambire Foundation only manufactured Poke Balls and all those goods." Jet reminded.
"So you're saying they're shipping Pokémon to other continents now?" Droy added. "Is that supposed to help in trafficking or what?"
"I wouldn't count on that, guys." Lucy forewarned.
"She's right. The Cambire Foundation said nothing about trafficking Pokémon. Whichever country these shipments are after must be needed Pokémon."
"But why's that?" Happy wondered.
Nic folded his arms. "Well…I can think of a few reasons." His gaze went towards the others. "But we got our hands tied around this case. Until we find out more about these assassins, Pokémon and manufactures goods alike are going to be put up for reasons out of our control. We need to stop them at this next run, if not find a way to cut them off."
Cana looked bluntly at him. "So what do we got? There's gotta be some sort of follow up, right?"
"They don't even lead a trail anywhere. Rune Knights searched everywhere, and even Natsu's sense of smell was blocked when they used this weird gum to stop his sense of smell." Lucy explained.
"Whoever they were had to be very coordinated and know how to make quick escapes." Levy deduced. She put a hand to her chin, looking down with worry. "But…"
Gajeel looked over. "Hm, what's wrong?"
"…nothing. It's just…doesn't it make you wonder where they all retreat to? With such a supply every night, it all has to go somewhere, right?"
Everyone looked confused as to how they should approach the matter at hand. They were trying to make heads and tails, but the matter in its own right was hard. There was no telling where they would go to strike again, and they always left no trace…or so it may seem.
Nic's brow furrowed as he looked down at the ground. As silence fell, something in his mind popped up, something that made his eyes widen in realization.
The man struggled to stand, but got partially up no less. "And what would we get out of telling you? It doesn't change anything that's already happened."
"Maybe not." Nic readied another position. "I may not know your reasons for doing so, but we have our own as well."
"Our reason is no different from yours!"
'Our reason.' Nic was silent as he thought long and hard about what he meant. The main reason he stopped them was because it was their job. And that's when it struck Nic. His eyes widened with a sense of seriousness, the epiphany ready to become verbal.
"So you're saying if we find the source, then we might be able to find what they pillaged?" Mest inquired.
Levy nodded. "In the ball park at least. I was just thinking somewhere, they might be hiding."
"Well that would make sense in my books." Cana said. "Guess we better start drawing up some…"
"Not somewhere." Once again, attention went away from the thinking group, drawn towards Nic as he walked to the midst of the conversation. Once he got to the middle, he overlooked everyone. "Some-one."
The guild looked just as confused as before. They all looked at him perplexed, save for a few who gave him knowing looks.
"Hold up now, you're saying someone's pulling the strings with these guys?" Gray inquired.
Mest looked intrigued. "What makes you think that's the case?"
Nic gave them another look. "It's not that I'm sating that 'somewhere' isn't out of the question, but if you were to pull something this big, you wouldn't ordinarily do it for free, would you?"
In a sense, Nic wasn't wrong. They worked in a guild for crying out loud, of course their service never comes cheap. But that sure did make people happy no less.
"I think someone hired them to deliberately attack certain ships. All of those ships lead to somewhere that is not only carrying illegal shipments, but also carry Pokémon. Whoever is sending these guys must have other plans in mind for this matter."
Joey looked confused. "Hold on, you're saying…" He was cut off by Nic.
"I'm saying, we stop the one in charge, we can cut off the rest. At the very least we'll be able to know who's orchestrating all of this."
Erza smiled and nodded in agreement. It made a lot of sense when Nic said it. Cut the head of a tyrant and the kingdom crumbles. No ruler, all is chaos. Of course this time around hopefully no heads will be rolling.
A fist rammed an open palm, revealed to be a smirking Natsu on a stool. "Sounds like fun to me. I was looking for a reason to bash those guys in for what they did. Now it's time we get some answers. Happy, ya ready?"
"Aye, sir!"
They both got off the stool, both ready and aching for some action.
"Hold on." Their hopes were dashed when they heard the stern tone of Erza freezing them in their tracks. They slowly turned towards her and the others.
"What now?" he groaned.
"Do you even know where they are at the moment?" Mest asked.
"Well they're…" Once again, a moment of silence fell as Natsu was about to say, but he realized that the others had him beat. Realizing his mistake, he stared blankly ahead. "…"
Gray sighed. "Idiot."
Sophie stepped up. "I'll go through the reports and see the dates in which each town was attacked. Maybe we'll find a pattern in which locations are being targeted."
Nic nodded. "Alright, thanks a lot, Sophie." He turned towards the other members of the guild next. "In the meantime, does Laxus know what's going on?"
The guild looked at one another questionably. They seemed to be interested on where this was going, but that was just the problem. A few mumbles were going about here and there, and through the commotion, Mirajane showed up beside the group.
"Actually, about that…" she lead on with a cheery smile. "Well you see, Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe left yesterday to attend a guild master's conference. They won't be back until tomorrow."
"A guild master meeting? Is that a big deal?" Joey looked towards Dereece, who merely shrugged at his own clueless mind.
"Beats me. But I think if the teacher conference meetings we had back in high school were any indication, my guess here is just as big of a deal."
Duncan closed his eyes. "In other words, we're flying solo."
"No, we need to let Laxus know about this." Erza insisted.
Natsu looked at her, gravely annoyed. "Hey, wait! No we don't! Erza, we can so do this ourselves!"
It was Erza's turn to give Natsu her own rebuttal. "Perhaps so, but blessings or not by the master, he has to be aware of what's going on. There's no telling what kinds of loopholes will be pulled from this." She turned away from Natsu. "Mest."
Mest appeared from the crowd of Fairy Tail members, having what looked like a Ralts on his shoulder. The little creature resting on his shoulder looked just as casual as he did as the Trainer nodded. "Don't worry, I'll get the message clear to him. What do you want me to say?"
"Tell him everything you've heard. Make sure that he understands. Maybe he can help us."
"If it's dire, don't hesitate to tell me now if I have to bring him back with force."
Erza looked down at the ground, scrutinizing her options. She looked back at Mest, instead giving him something else. A small Communication Lacrima. She presented it to him. "Give this to him. The master's all were supposed to make it to Clover for the conference. While not far, if he feels he has to stay, this should make things easier in that case."
Mest accepted and nodded. "Alright then, I'll let him know right away." With that, he suddenly vanished, using his magic to teleport himself away to do his job.
Nic turned towards Sophie and Levy. "Sophie, Levy, what about you guys?"
Levy was looking at an atlas, scrolling through the pages with her reading glasses. "Don't worry."
"We're already on it." The Memory-Make Mage was doing her part in making sure she was going through documents, of which were shockingly lamented by Freed for preservation reasons. Wanting to not pry, she overlooked the neat-freak act and got back to focusing.
Nic looked ahead and nodded. "Alright then. Let's take a breather and find some fresh air before we get to it then."
Cana raised a mug high. "You don't have to tell me twice!"
In the background, all three of The Freaks sweat-dropped. 'She always so high like this?'
Dereece looked over, seeing Joey staring in an almost slobbering manner at Cana and her...obvious parts. To snap him out of it, he smacked the back of his head. "Joey!"
"Ow!" He rubbed his head to ease away the pain. "What?" he whined.
Dereece did an eyeroll. "Hormones."
"Tell me about it." Duncan scoffed.
The Clover conference hall was as grand as it was all those years ago. Of course it was returned to its original stated not long ago, but the point of the matter across was that now with it fixed, meetings were held inside, and with that being a certain time of the month, guild masters all over Fiore were gathering for some drinks and going over what's been happening.
Laxus sighed for the umpteenth time. He had a bead of sweat drop from his face for certain reasons. "Remind me again why you guys are here…"
Behind him, Freed stood with Evergreen and Bickslow, all three beaming with pride. Freed proudly smirked. "Well 'tis the duty of the Thunder God Tribe to follow you, no matter where you go!" he boasted proudly.
"Damn straight!" Bickslow smirked. "If there's someone talking smack here about you, we sure as hell won't stand for it."
Evergreen pushed her glasses up. "And besides, I'm sure the guild's handling itself just fine, right?"
Laxus felt a bead of sweat drop from his face. "Right…" For all intent and purposes, this was called a guild master's conference only, but getting that through his personal bodyguards was no walk in the park. He asked them repeatedly if they could stay behind and overlook the guild in his absence, but Freed, being the loyal and devoted guy he was, wasn't having it. And eventually, the others got dragged in, and since then he just rolled with it. He would've preferred to at least have one of them stay behind in case of emergency calls. But so far in his seven months, there wasn't much of a need for that. "Just remember there's newbie master's here, too. Try not to scare them off." He irritably pleaded.
Freed nodded. "Right, you have our word."
The ninth master just sighed in acceptance. That little piece of silence that followed was interrupted then by a familiar voice from behind.
"Well, if it isn't dear Makarov's pride and joy himself."
The master turned around, catching eyes with Master Bob of Blue Pegasus. Nearby, Goldmine was holding a wine glass eve so casually. "Oh, it's you guys." He said. "Bob and Goldmine, right?"
Master Bib gave Laxus his rosy smile. "You guessed it. I bet it was dear Makarov who told you all about us, right?"
"Yeah, he said a thing or two every now and again." In truth, Laxus hardly paid attention to his late grandfather's constant ramblings about these meetings. He'd go about explaining in some details about Goldmine or Bob, and sometimes even about Obaba. But for the most part it wasn't his concern. He didn't realize how being in his shoes meant interacting with them on the same level, if not more.
Goldmine chuckled at Laxus' blank face. "Well no sense in asking him I suppose!"
Laxus joined in the snickering, but on a more despondent note. A light scoff at best was what he could muster. He wasn't liking the tune playing right now.
The atmosphere around them was getting more than a little uncomfortable, for reasons apparent. Master Bob, however, was able to power through with a sigh.
"Where did those days go by?"
"Gone away like the tide. It's still hard to believe that old horse still not around anymore."
Bob looked down. "Yeah…"
Goldmine tipped his cap, but had a morbid smirk. "Heh, guess we owe ya an apology." He turned towards Laxus. "Didn't mean to, well…"
"Don't mention it." Laxus didn't sound amused, nor did he even look it. Despite how he was being open about it, it was best left to pass. "The geezer's probably snorting in his grave knowing I'm the one in his place. I can still hear his huffing in my sleep… but rather than pulling legs from beyond the grave, maybe we should be more focused on the present."
Goldmine's smirk turned sincere. "Well said, boy."
Laxus continued with the subject. "By the way, how've the guild's been doing? Id the Pularis sibling's info help a little?"
Master Bob's perky demeanor returned. "Why I'm so glad you asked, dear Laxus! Why of course they have!"
"Gotta say, didn't know what they were until you sent those copes. My dogs pulled off a couple jobs knowing all that." Goldmine beamed. "If we didn't owe you before, we most certainly do now."
"It's fine."
"Why dear ol' Hibiki has been busting his hustle with all of these databases he's been organizing with his Archive Magic." Master Bob informed. "Why some days that's all he's been doing."
"And how's everyone else been holding up?"
"They're all doing quite well as a matter of fact! Everyone's getting along very well and settling some of their differences thanks to these interesting creatures! Why, quite a few of our members have been interns for a while now at the Cambire Foundation." He sighed knowingly, recollecting the many faces he sees coming and going that are hardly around the guild anymore. "Why, the guild has been moving steadily now that I can't keep up."
Laxus raised a brow. "That so?"
Master Bob's rosy smile then made a sudden change. Something that made Laxus looked at him with mild surprise. To his complete shock, he saw his cheeriness was overlooked by a half-smile, one of mourn, and of perplexing interests.
"I've been meaning to say this for a while now…but after everything that's happened, I think it's time that I hand my darlings the wings to bear over our guild instead."
"You're stepping down?!" Bickslow gasped.
Freed narrowed his eyes. "Well, this is another surprise I wasn't prepared for."
"But Master Bob…!" Evergreen looked just as shocked as her friends.
The master smiled. "It's great to see you all together once more. To tell the truth, I was honestly sad when you all left my guild. You did marvelous jobs for us that I can't begin to thank you. And Ichiya especially holds his regards."
The Thunder God Tribe smiled in gratitude of Bob's words of praise. They can't deny that their time in Blue Pegasus wasn't as interesting – unless Evergreen's "entertaining" counted as something – and Laxus didn't want to think back in most instances of what he did, but they can't deny they were grateful for everything the guild and Ichiya had done for them.
"So who'll be taking your spot? I'm sure with this decision came thoughts about a successor." Freed said.
Bob smiled. "Well of course. In all honesty, Ichiya and I have been discussing that he should bear the guild's wings."
Evergreen smirked. "As expected by sir Ichiya."
"Hell yeah, that means we'll be catching up at these meetings now!" Bickslow cheered.
Bob laughed affectionately at their enthusiasm. "Well then, suppose this would be a cheerful note to take on my last conference here."
A smile tugged on Laxus' lips. "That's one way to look at it."
Goldmine crossed his arms as he stood off to the side. "Looks like all of us are moving onto other things then. A lot of our friends having passed on, new Pokémon taking our world by storm, and here we are just fiddling fingers. Guess I better still be kicking while I got some wild spirit left."
"Yo!"
Laxus turned away from the old to the new as the younger voice caught his Dragon Slayer hearing. Looking over, the Lightning Dragon saw a familiar face show. Speaking of new masters, this one had a toothy smile of his own to share.
"What's up?" Sting approached with a casual chime in his tone. "I haven't seen ya in quite a while, Laxus? How's it been?"
"Huh, Sting." He casually greeted back. "Been better, I can say that much."
"That so?" He laughed uproariously. "Well then that makes two of us. Let me guess, guild master duties and all that?"
Laxus smirked. "You can say that. I don't know how you put up with all this."
"Honestly I've been questioning that myself. I'm surprised the guild hall is still standing after a few mistakes I've pulled here and there."
"Do we even want to know?" Evergreen smirked knowingly.
Regardless of some of the more embarrassing intervals he had to go through with his guild, and some he wanted to forget, the young master powered on. "Anyways, wanted to say thanks again for your help. This Pokémon deal's really been rattling cages."
Laxus groaned in annoyance. "Everyone's been thanking me all day. Seriously, you're all milking it."
Bickslow nudged his arm. "Aw, c'mon Laxus, don't be like that!"
"He's right. It's not everyday your guild holds those who are from another world." Freed noted. "Without Nic and Vanessa, Erza included, I think the situation would've gone a little more leeway."
Sting nervously chuckled once more. "Hehe, that's for sure." He recomposed as quickly as his demeanor turned. "Still, if it wasn't for the Cambire Foundation or all these special programs, we'd be in a whole other situation entirely. Speaking of which, have you guys been catching Pokémon?"
The last question was so abrupt that it felt so out of left field. Still, Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe recovered and took the question in stride, starting with Laxus.
"Depends, I haven't had time to look into that yet."
"However if you're talking about the guild in general, you'll be satisfied to know everyone has been coordinating well with their Pokémon." Evergreen nonchalantly boasted. She even raised her chin with a hint of pride. "We've even been hosting quite a few open field exercises that our most prestige have been supervising."
Bickslow sweat dropped. "Ever heard of overkill much?"
Sting's eyes widened in sheer surprise. "Man, you guys are that far ahead? Man you guys are lucky. I just caught mine recently. I'd show ya, but that'd make me the showoff now."
Laxus smirked. "Maybe just a bit."
Everyone there shared a lighthearted chuckle.
The atmosphere around the group gather suddenly went south when a feeling of magic was sensed. In the blink of an eye, a figure appeared out of nowhere behind Laxus on a knee, a Ralts perched on his shoulder. "Master Laxus."
Turning around, Laxus and the others turned to see Fairy Tail's Mest on a knee. He looked well to say the least, though maybe just a little worn from the Teleporting he had done. A couple long jumps does take a toll on magic after all.
"Mest?" Evergreen gasped.
"Woah there big guy, you're looking a little worried there. What's up?" Bickslow inquired.
Freed stepped up, looking at Mest with a serious expression set. "Mest, why are you here? You know well that Master Laxus is only supposed to attend."
Laxus' eyes dropped at Freed's comment. 'Says the pot calling the kettle black.'
Mest looked at everyone, giving them an intense stare. "I'm sorry, but this couldn't wait." He looked towards Laxus. "There's something for you that you need in on."
"What is it?" Laxus watched as Mest reached into the bag he had beside him. He saw Mest pull out what looked like a Communication Lacrima.
He presented it to Laxus. "It's best that you see for yourself."
After half an hour of explaining through the lacrima, the orb showed a picture of Erza. She had just told everything from scratch, and the whole story and what they were able to find out. Laxus listened well, but he still didn't seem to hold back a few short cases of interests.
"I see…so that's what's been going on." He folded his arms, frowning at the information given.
Freed put his hand to his chin. "How peculiar. I was beginning to wonder about those reports. That explains why only port town ships have been extirpated."
"We're currently working on finding a pattern as we speak." Erza explained. "If we can find and figure out their next move, then maybe we can find their client and get to the bottom of this."
"So you're telling me this why…?" Laxus irritably questioned.
"Because, this could very well intertwine with the foundation's agenda. I wanted to clarify this as an operation we can perform. If we get in trouble along the way and they question you had no knowledge, the guild could be in trouble."
Evergreen folded her arms beneath her ample buxom. "Well, you do have a point."
"The master has say and verification as far as we know to anything this big. It sounds more like a heist than a stakeout." Bickslow informed. "If you got hampered without us knowing, then it wouldn't be pretty for us."
"Why I'd certainly have a few choice words to say." Evergreen sneered.
"Laxus?" Freed turned towards the master, wondering what he had to say.
The Lightning Dragon offered no input as he folded his arms and processed everything he could. As Erza was explaining, these ships were an illegal marketing system made by an unknown source. Of course it was natural they would be threatened because this could be a national security. And plus of they didn't do something, odds were that they'd be asked to do something about anyway by Arthur perhaps. If the Rune Knights weren't making steps into solving the case and tracking down these guys, then someone had to do it.
Finally getting the message, Laxus gave them all a serious stare. "Alright, you guys got the OK on this one. I'll allow this."
Erza nodded, while the guild looked appeased in the background. "Thank you."
"But." Laxus included. "This isn't my idea, so I'm putting Nic and Erza in charge of this operation. You understand? You two better not come out of this emptyhanded, otherwise you know what's at stake here if they get away."
Nic nodded. "We'll do what we can."
Laxus nodded back. "Alright then. Get answers down and fast." With that, the Communication Lacrima turned off, allowing Laxus to turn away and let out an exasperating sigh. The Thunder God Tribe looked at him in worry. "Honestly, it's just one thing after another. First it's all these Pokémon, and then the Cambire Foundation making us guinea pigs. And now their goods being ransacked with poached Pokémon."
Freed stepped forward, looking humbled in front of Laxus. "With all do respect, Master, what we are doing is what can be considered a good show of faith."
Laxus looked towards his top advisor and bodyguard. "Good faith you say?"
"Well I guess he has a point." Bickslow replied. "I mean the Cambire Foundation did do a lot their time here. Guess knowing that guilds have been by their side so far, maybe having its back is something we can do."
"Yeah, I get your points." Laxus took a moment to compose himself and his thoughts. The others around him remained silent until he finally managed to shoot a glance towards Mest. "Alright then, I get the message. The conference is almost over. If I'm not back by tomorrow, I'll use a Thought Projection to see what's happening, got it?"
Mest nodded. "Understood. We'll do our best."
Mest vanished from the Fairy Tail group's sights once more. All while from the other side of the conference hall, Sting's Dragon Slayer hearing was making him frown. He looked down at his Poke Ball in hand, a deep look cascading on his brows.
'Good faith, huh?'
The globe turned off, allowing Erza to turn towards Nic. She nodded, in which he nodded back. He turned towards the board, where Levy and Sophie were working. "How's it looking over there, guys?"
The blonde and bluenette were both looking at specific dates the attacks happened. They started from the first one, and went in chronological order. Document after document laid at their feet, while at times Warren was being directed by Levy of the attack locations. He was putting pushpins in the map of Fiore they sat up, and so far, there was a whole spread from the southeast and so far up north passed the peninsula.
Levy looked towards Nic. "I think we've figured it out." She said before looking back down and reassuring her beliefs in the documents. "You see, the first attack happened a few weeks ago, and the next one happened the night after that. And then about two nights later, the attack happened again in another location a little northward. And the night after was near that same location. The night after that, they had no activities." Once again, she looked towards Nic and everyone else. "I think the pattern here is clear. They attack two nights, and the third night they rest."
"Which is also when they reconvene with their client for new directions." Gray deduced.
Nic nodded. "Yeah, exactly." He looked in another direction. "Sophie?"
The Memory-Make Mage turned towards Nic after looking at the board for so long. "We think we may have a pattern of the cities they meet up in. This first attack started in the southwest, with the next one the next city over. After two days, it skipped over a few cities, and it attacked again. This is their style it seems. They always seem to skip cities before attacking the next one over." She looked towards the last pushpin Warren sat into place in the board. "And that right there was where they struck last night."
"Meaning tonight is their meeting point." Erza deduced. "If we miss them here, where their guards might be down, then keeping track here on will become much harder."
Nic turned away to look at one more key component. "Alright, Cana. You know what to do."
Cana stepped up in front, smirking. "No need to tell me twice."
The brunette was so glad she was sober at this time…if 20 minutes without anything counted as such. She stood away from the board, facing it and closing her eyes. She held a card between two fingers and began to use her magic to indicate and read on what was to happen. When she got the answers, her eyes flashed open and she swiped the card. It went piercing the board like a shuriken, its end sticking into a point far east of the recent attack point.
Joey looked shocked. "Woah…"
"So that's how her Fortunetelling works?" Dereece inquired.
Macao nodded. "Yup. The girl got us some good insight this way. She may be thirsty, but she's got it where it counts."
Erza went up towards the board and plucked the card out. Over the point that was titled 'Vervain', the card was shown to have a clock sign with both hands striking the 12, with a moon right atop of it. "Vervain, at midnight." She said.
"Vervain? I've heard a bit there." Levy said. "I was actually there on a job a couple of times. They have some really nice libraries. I also heard their seas can be really cold at night; a popular fishing spot for those trying to find cold water deep dwellers."
"Is it highly populated?" Gray asked. Beside him, Juvia was still silent, and was looking to be sulking still. Gray tried asking her some questions, but all he heard were short mumbles. Really not that helpful.
"Of sorts." Levy answered. "It's not that heard of, but I've seen quite a few people there due to seeing different Water-type Pokémon that inhabit those waters."
Nic's eyes grew dead serious. "Alright then, looks like we have what we need. Everyone ready?"
Once again, Fairy Tail cheered in readiness. They may have been clueless before, but now they knew for certain something was wrong. And as far as Fairy Tail was concerned, they had to at least try and work this problem out. One way or another, whoever these guys were, they were going to learn first-hand not to mess with them.
Erza gave everyone a glance and stood beside her husband. "If the rendezvous they have is at midnight, then that means we have exactly 12 hours to get there and stop them. I think we should come up with a plan to intercept them before we get anywhere from here."
As he glared ahead, a certain Dragon Slayer was stone faced. He was frowning in a dead serious manner. His fists were balled, looking determined with deep onyx eyes.
The Freaks looked just as ready as he was; Joey especially. He looked ahead with hands to his sides as his friends and allies stood beside to await his orders.
Seeing the many faces fixed, Nic looked towards Erza, their smiles returning. They looked back, with Nic giving the word. "Alright then, let's see what we already know…"
Happy Mother's Day! Hope everyone had a good day and was good! I know I was!
So anyways, I didn't do much other than follow what I had intended. I was watching live action movies like the new Avengers movie, and I wanted to make Nic and Erza's first fight scenes on a more dynamic scale. I wanted to picture it in a more realistic light than how I perceive in 3D animation or sometimes manga/anime style in my head. It was just that one and a bit of Vanessa and Sophie's fight as well.
Now for Natsu, he was another case entirely. While Gray and Juvia's incapacitation was for a sense of hilarity in a way, I wanted to show a little rundown with Natsu's personality shift. He's still reckless and all, but he's reflecting back deeper than ever, even as far as back in the deep details I put when he as E.N.D fought Nic back in the prequel. If you guys don't get it, check chapter 75 of A Contender's Bonds. He's trying to get better and understand his flaws, but now has to try and think a little so as not to harm his friends like he did with Nic.
So anyways, not much other than hope for positive reviews and what your thoughts were on the chapter. Thanks again guys! :)
