Dusk had struck; the hours waning down to midnight drew near for the northern port town of Vervain. Past a few mountain ranges northward, the city illuminated the atmosphere's nighttime air as the dark pink and near deep blue in the waning west set, allowing stars high above to illuminate its comforting skies. The port town had a few small cliffs overlooking it from the distance, with its docks overlooking the seas as various Water-type Pokémon swam beneath its surface. One could see Frillish, Staryu, even the occasional Buizel and Wingull roosting in makeshift nests they able to make.
And it was here that everyone was to take their places. Spread about all through the city's populace, while this this town wasn't much on festivals, its portside had an abundance of alcohol to stomach. Near the bars on the same street, Griffin and Matilda were raising mugs as they were surrounded by their opposite genders respectively. They were laughing and seeing many other hiccup, much to their chagrin.
Little did they know, as they were inside their different pubs and breweries, one figure appeared under the cover of darkness in the alleyway, while standing surprisingly on the side of the wall perpendicular was another figure. It was as though he was defying gravity, but in reality, kunai were jutting from his feet to keep him from touching the ground.
"So what do we know so far about these individuals, that's the dilemma here." Erza folded her arms as she tried to assess the situation to the best of her abilities. Everyone was gathered around of whom was part of the operation and who was to play part. She looked towards Natsu and Lucy. "Natsu. Lucy."
"Yeah, what's up?" Lucy answered.
"What do you know about the person who attacked you, were you able to get a few clues?"
Carla in her human form folded her arms. "Well, for one thing, he knows nothing but playing dirty. He made and Happy his shields!" Even now, the memory itself was scornful. Even after a soak, she still had some char spots that would take days to remove.
Happy waved his arms about. "Yeah, and his magic is really freaky and dangerous. He can shoot wires and pull and strangle you!"
"Is that so?" Erza put a hand to her chin, looking down as she tried to think of the many magical abilities she ever saw. Suffice to say by the stumped look on her face that this was a new one for her.
"I think he said it was Wire Magic." Wendy remembered. "He was able to pull a lot of tricks on us, setting up traps and holding us in place."
"There's one more thing." Lucy added. "His wires are fireproof and crazy sharp."
Erza closed her eyes. "I see…from what it gathers, is he assesses traps, that makes him ineligible to direct combat. A head on attack even around him would result in a limb severed. Sounds about right?"
Natsu said nothing to add or deflect the situation. Even though his arm had healed, he could still remember the pain he felt when his arm was cut by that wire. If he pushed his luck, he would've lost his entire arm in one clutch.
Happy stepped forward. "So how do we deal with that guy? It's impossible to get anywhere near him without worrying about those freaky strings he has."
A snicker came from canines from a certain Dragon Slayer. "Well then, sounds to me that this is my kind of mission."
Levy looked towards Gajeel. "Are you sure about this, Gajeel?"
Gajeel looked down and gave her a serious expression. "Don't worry about me. Unlike Salamander, I know to keep quiet. And besides, wires generally are made of metal, right?" He grinned. "That's the case, let's see that stuff try and cut me through."
Pantherlily nodded in agreement. "An excellent strategy. Getting through your iron skin would definitely prove to be a challenge."
Another pair of feet stepped up. "Okay then…count me in!"
The group turned towards Natsu, who was the one who declared his bold decision. "Natsu?" Lucy worriedly questioned.
The Dragon Slayer looked back to her with an assuring face. "O know, Lucy. I know what you're gonna say." He turned back towards the front, looking down as he recollected his blunder over and over in his mind. "I made some pretty bad choices back there, but now I think I got that guy figured out. And besides, I know what he smells like. I can get us there in no time." He turned his attention towards the Exceed beside him. "Happy, you and Lily make sure you stay as far away as possible."
Happy wanted to disagree with Natsu, but he had to empathize with what it was he was going with. He knew from experience that being around him against that mage in particular would only result in a situation as before. The Exceed acquiescently nodded. "Aye."
On the wall held up by his iron cleats he made from his magic, Gajeel glared ahead with folded arms. "So he's in here then, huh?" He followed Natsu's directions and nose, and it lead to here. He was told that he had an alcoholic scent to him, but since he never met the guy, he had to rely on Natsu. Of course the Dragon Slayer hearing made him pick up noises inside the walls.
"You can hear him, too, right?" Natsu asked knowingly.
Gajeel nodded. "Looks to me he ain't gonna be so sober when he takes that first step out."
Natsu nodded. "Yeah. This time, I'm ready…"
As opposed to the unknowing ambush Natsu and Gajeel were setting up, on that same street just several blocks down, the pub was having more fun than the one Griffon was adoring. Matilda held up two beverages in hand while putting two guys in headlocks, holding them close to her supple breasts. Cheers and laughter were all around the festive girl as guys toasted to the new friend they made. This pub certainly drew up a bit of noise, and yet this contradicted the silence two figures under the half-moon held.
The one figure had blonde hair, and what could be seen from the other, she had red hair of the same, long length, if not more.
"Sophie. Vanessa. Were you able to get anything on the one who attacked you?"
Sophie stepped up to Erza's question. "Allow me." She cleared her throat, allowing herself to get ready to speak on behalf of her Memory-Make's capabilities. "The person who we held off was a woman, who had some kind of patterned skin and what looked like animal armor."
"You mean like a Take-Over?" Lisanna inquired.
Sophie nodded. "Exactly. But there was something wrong with her, something that made her more…how should I put this?...animalistic, I should say. The whole time, I didn't see her transform from human, and her entire disposition is extremely wild and physical. She had a lot of energy, not to mention intensive speed and strength that kept growing."
"Well she sure sounds spunky." Cana chimed.
"She was. She was able to drive Krookodile into a corner. And what's worse, she looked like she had a lot of power left before she chose to retreat all of a sudden."
Erza put a hand to her chin. She gathered what she could about this wily character that Vanessa and Sophie had to procure and struggle against. As far as she could tell, she has some kind of similarities to Natsu if that were the case. But putting Natsu against someone like her would be a disaster, quite literally at that.
After gathering what she could, she looked towards Sophie again and nodded. "If that's the case, I think it's best that we handle this one, Sophie."
Sophie looked confused. "'We'?"
Walking down the market section, Liz had hands in her pockets and had her headphones on. Whatever she was listening to, she seemed to be lost in her own world.
Another piece of gum was coming out of her sleeve. She put it into her mouth and savored its minty flavor,
As opposed to her minding her own business, she was unaware of five figures maintaining their distance. She were watching from behind a stand…well, one was glaring an insane dagger from her eyes. She looked like a crazed beast who wanted to drown her.
A hand reached up to her mantle, pulling her back down. "Get down here already!" A harsh whisper from the stands berated.
"Then we get to us, just great." Gray groaned as he had to be the one to explain, not that he mind in any way, but recalling that girl was more troublesome than what it was worth. And Juvia was no help since she was still sulking.
Gray powered through his tiresome disaster and began explaining. "Well, from what I saw, the chick uses gum to fight."
"Gum?" Natsu questioned. "Sounds pretty ridiculous to me."
"Watch it." He warned. "I couldn't believe it either, but she was able to blow bubbles and expand the mass to make my ice bounce back to us. It's like she can change the properties of her gum to make it either stick to anything or inflate like a balloon."
"Sounds like getting close to her would be troublesome if she can just stick you to walls." Carla chimed.
"Yeah, that's what she did after she used a really minty gum to hurt our sense of smell. She's crafty, very crafty. We need to shut her down early or she'll be a real pain in the ass."
"Were there any habits you picked up on?" Nic asked.
Gray rubbed his head, soothing himself to try and think up a solution. And then it hit him when he gasped. "Wait, yeah. That's it!" he exclaimed. "When I first saw her, she was hanging around the market area buying gum. I think that's a good place to start."
Behind him, Juvia was still sulking with fists clutching. Her entire body was shuddering with bangs covering her eyes. "…that little…homewrecker." Her eyes suddenly flashed, her face going up with determined pride. "I won't give up without a fight!" she boldly declared. "That she-devil is gonna pay!"
Gray turned around to see Juvia's sudden 180. "You okay…?"
Broly was looking unruly as he was making way down another street. He was hanging out, looking nonchalant as he was making a slow venture towards the pier. A very slow venture at that. To make things even more interesting, the street he was walking on had a variety of shops that were closed at this hour, meaning he wouldn't be expecting anyone but low-level thugs to come at him. But he wasn't stupid, that was another thing. On the occasion, he was stopping every now and again to get a good look around him. He couldn't see, but he could definitely tell. Something was wrong. In a sudden change of pace, his eyes narrowed as he picked up on something nearby. Making a break for it, he darted to a very narrow alley, silently making way to a more secluded spot.
And he made good timing too, as above him, a Honchkrow and Pidove were perched beside the other. The bird's red eyes glared as he watched the man dive out o their sights, but he was no fool. The Honchkrow took flight and followed. As to where that happened, Pidove took a few moments before he craned his head, seeing Honchkrow leave. He scrambled and followed along, tailing the superior bird and their target.
"There was another one you fought, right?" Vanessa turned towards Joey and The Freaks, hoping they had insight to spare.
Dereece sulked forward with a shaking head. "Man I just don't wanna talk about it." He was bumped in the arm abruptly by Joey.
"C'mon, man. Don't be like that." he scolded. "Not in front of Vanessa." He looked back towards the idol with a big, embarrassed smile. He tried to cover up for Dereece's sulking, though Vanessa seemed indifferent to it all.
Fortunately for them, Duncan was there to answer her question. "The guy sure packed a lot of power. He was skilled in using Barrier-Make Magic."
"So then he's using a molding type of magic just like Gray and Sophie then." Laki noted.
Duncan had his cap down as his kendo stick was over his shoulder. "I guess so, if that's what you guys call it."
"Yeah, the big guy made these indestructible barriers all around him." Joey added. "None of our attacks were even able to hit him. What's worse, the barriers hardly had scratches on them. He could mold them into so many shapes that it was impossible to get at him from any angle."
"Not to mention the big guy punched Duncan's Spiritomb down in one hit." Dereece said. "We gotta have a solid plan if we wanna get pass that kind of fire power."
"Sounds like a tough opponent for you guys." Natsu said, his expression growing into a smirk. "Maybe when I', done I'll come over and give ya a hand."
Joey gave what could be described as a confident smile of his own. "Don't you worry, we can handle this."
"We WHAT?!" Dereece exasperated. "J-Joey…"
"Captain." He corrected.
"Sorry, Captain. But maybe we should have someone a little more experienced handle this guy? He's got a very strong defense with those barriers, and may I also remind you that Heracross doesn't know Feint yet."
"The big guy's got a point." Duncan nonchalantly stated. "Not like we got magic to use anyway. If we can't get pass those defenses, then what good are we?"
"Oh way to be so optimistic guys, you're such a big help." Joey spoke with just the right level of sarcasm needed. "Well here's my theory. He's got a barrier, right? Well what's the flaw there?"
"Where's this going?" Duncan questioned.
"Trust me, it's foolproof. All we need are two things."
"Okay…?" Dereece trailed off.
"Well okay, three things. First, we'll need aerial surveillance. We gotta know where he's going so we can ambush that guy. And the next thing. We're gonna need two things: Warpaint…and a whole LOT of tomatoes."
A long silence fell with the group discussing. Dereece looked at his Captain with a bead of sweat dropping as he facepalmed. "Oi vey." He despaired.
Over the many of rooftops farther into the port town, the half-moon's side illuminated the whole sky. It was so majestic, so lively, and excessively vibrant. And yet even in full view, someone wasn't casting his own light back.
On top of a large roof of a chapel, a silhouette with a dark coat was sitting beneath the moonlight. With how close the moon was, it was like he could fit himself into it, but his body was on the dark half of the moon than the bright one.
Unknowingly, deep down in the city streets, two figures were walking in the darkness. One was shirtless, and the other had a calm aura surrounding her.
"Nic, did you fight anyone noted?" Gray shot a glance from the corner of his eye. He looked at Nic, seeing what he had to say about the matter at hand.
The expression Nic had was dead serious as he folded his arms. "There's no easy way for me to say this, especially in front of you…but the man I fought was supposedly another Devil Slayer."
"He's what?" Gray's eyes widened upon this realization. Nearby, Vanessa also picked up from shock.
Erza nodded. "It's true. I was more or less focused on my opponent, but I picked up on the Magic Power the other had. If I had to make any accurate assumptions, I'd say he was the one who is in charge of them all."
"The man used Dark Devil Slayer Magic." Nic followed. "He's a close-range fighter who mainly uses his fists embedded with his magic. He's got impressive reflexes that made me lose my step a few times."
"Another Devil Slayer?" Wendy showed genuine shock over the whole subject. She and the rest were all there when Atlas Flame talked a long time ago about Devil Slayers, but as far as what she knew, Gray was the only Devil Slayer out there at this point. Or so she thought.
"If that's the case, how do we deal with this guy then?" Happy wondered.
"Well if I had to guess, I'd say fighting fire with fire would help." Carla proposed.
Erza glanced over at Vanessa. "Vanessa."
The Aura Mage nodded. "You need my experience?"
Lucy's eyes widened. "That's right! I forgot that Vanessa battled against a Devil Slayer before!"
"What kind of a Devil Slayer was it again?" Wendy inquired.
Vanessa looked down at her feet, thinking back to the Impure Underworld incident. She could still remember that each flash of lightning from Imaci's Soul Armor still made her heartrate pulsate. "He was a Lightning Devil Slayer. His lightning incinerated everything around him."
"And you made it out of that in one piece?" Gray questioned.
"Now isn't the time for remembering good times." Vanessa retorted. "I think it's fair to say to handle this person, we'll need mages who handled their kind before."
Gray smirked. "Well if you say so."
In the background behind him, Juvia was shooting glares at Vanessa. She stood behind a wooden chair with a grim aura around her body. She was so close to shattering the back of it if it wasn't for her focus on that Gum Mage. Vanessa clearly ignored her.
Aniya had arms and hands behind her head as she lethargically sat on a bench in front of a frozen yogurt stand. She was so glad she was able to make it in time mere minutes before it closed down for the night.
"Mmmm." She took a small lick, the orgasmic tongue flinging thick white cream into the back of her throat. "Man, this is pretty good! Who would've thought there'd be a soft served shop here of all places!" Her cheeks even went rosy from the sheer delight she was feeling from the cream.
After she savored her taste buds for several minutes, the visor sitting on her forehead dropped onto her face. "Okay, let's see what we can look at here…" There were a lot of options displayed on the panel, which expanded into a green field on the visor. A yellow dot was seen, being her. A zoom-out feature activated to show several more yellow dots, being her team's locations. She smiled happily. "Oh good, looks like Matilda's sound, and Griffin is…" Her hair suddenly stood on end. "Wait…WHAT?! The hell is he there for?!" Her teeth began to grit angrily as her cup of yogurt was held onto tightly. "That idiot…if he blows all of our funds again, I'm really gonna shoot his face off!"
Unknowing, silent as a grave, a long shadow slithered out from behind. And it wasn't making a sound.
"Then I guess that leaves the one you fought, Erza." Nic looked over to Erza, who looked towards him with her own blunt expression.
"Yes. The girl who I fought was an exceptional fighter herself, or so to say as long as she held her distance. She uses Requip Magic, much like I would; however, her weaponry ranged from guns to flamethrowers."
"Guns you say?" Bisca spoke up, her interests mildly intrigued.
"Yes, though I wouldn't say as sharp as yours, her versatility is nothing to scoff at. She even goes as far as uses nets and what I could probably guess be tasers as well. I think it was her who alerted the others of us."
"Which explains the ambushes." Carla deduced. "Interesting…"
Wendy stepped up. "So…what do we do with her then? She seems pretty dangerous."
"Not to mention that with all this technology she uses, she could alert everybody she knows of our locations." Erza put a hand to her chin as she trailed off in her own wonders. To deal with an opponent who, much like her, is able to requip to use smoke bombs or teleportation crystals. However, there was one thing that she knew would help. And it lied right beside her.
"Nic."
Nic closed his eyes, thinking of a way to deal with her. "…alright. I'll try and cut her off from the rest. But we need to get this right. Staying on target is everything to this operation. We get one shot at this…and it's got to be timed right."
"Man, I can't wait until pay comes." She took another lick of her yogurt. "We really cashed it in this time…"
Unknowingly, she missed something with a long tail slither up the lamppost.
When she stood up, she could feel something was off now. Definitely. As she turned her head about, she tried to pick up on anything suspicious, but as far as what her vision caught, nothing.
Then suddenly, a chill ran down her spine. She heard a very low, gravely hiss, and it sounded like it came from above. "Who's there?!" She pivoted, requipping a small handheld pistol pointed skyward. "Better speak up or…or…" As if seeing a ghost, she slowly trailed off as her eyes slowly widened in shrilled horror. Her face began to pale as her body began to quiver. As she began to shake adhesively, her grip on her frozen yogurt slipped. It fell to the ground, splattering white with its spoon as she shakily tried to move, but was paralyzed in fear.
Over her, the shadow of a large cobra hovered over the light of the lamppost. It was still for a moment before it lurched down, roaring with fangs bared.
A loud, quick yelp came from Aniya as terror overcame her. Something in her was completely breaking her down. As she was trying to move weakly towards the alley, Arbok slowly turned towards her, slowly slithering down to silently approach her.
In any normal situation, she would be pulling out something or shooting, but she could barely hold her pistol upright. She was a shuddering mess as she came face to face with the large snake. "No…no…"
Arbok bared his maw at her, as if provoking her. But all he did was intimidate her without trying.
Finally snapping, she dropped her weapon and made like hell for the nearest escape route possible: The alley. She made the quickest break she could, with Arbok slowly slithering behind like a stalking prey. Both withdrew into the alleyway, leaving nothing but a barrel, frozen yogurt, and a pistol as evidence.
Aniya was running as fast as she could to get away. She looked back, seeing Arbok slithering close to the ground and glaring daggers at her. She went wide-eyed and harshly turned back up front. 'I gotta get away…I gotta get away!'
As Aniya was being chased by the Arbok, someone was watching from the high cliffs overlooking Vervain. Out of her radar's reach, on the edge of the smallest cliff, Nic was in his Mind Form, which was a pink coat with dark pink trimmings and sash, where the baggy pants were a hit pink, the shoes were the same kind, with hot pink laces on pink and dark pink shoes and soles.
She wasn't in sight yet, but when she is, he'll be ready. 'Alright everyone, she's occupied. You know what to do.'
Everyone's glares went serious.
Things with Arthur and the Cambire Foundation have been less than cordial as one could possibly put it. They were all doing their hardest to make their situations work, even with restrictions. However, those who were overlooking the Cambire Foundation and anything beyond that have been strained as well. Authority figures themselves have been on pins and needles, and the Council is no exception.
"No, absolutely unacceptable!" The hallways of the council building echoed with the cruel tone of a councilmen who held his own disposition above all else, and the others held their tongue as Alfredo's fist banged against the ground.
"We can't have your foundation's quota be halved, all because of these 'mishaps'! It's against the principle!"
Charlotte kept her calm as she faced the gruff councilman. While she hates being barked at, it's not to say she had her own ways around of beating around the bush. "I think it would be better if you held your tongue against someone like me, Alfredo." She scoffed. "If you and your so-called Council really were interested, perhaps we wouldn't even be having this conversation."
"But what you are proposing is absurd!" he barked.
Hyberion closed his eyes. "Not that I don't disagree with Alfredo's testimony, but he does have a point. We've dealt with black-marketing with magic items before. And even now it is being regulated and monitored, but now what you are doing is to halve your whole output until further notice?"
"The less we have, the less shall be taken."
Maryam put her fingers to her temples and gave a grieving sigh. "But is this absolutely necessary? Certainly there can be some compromise to all this."
"The lady's got a point. I mean your company has been doing its job, why halt it all of a sudden?" Jeff asked.
Charlotte boasted another scoff of her own once more. "Why do you think fish hide in reefs?" The question left everyone in the room to inquire of her statement. Why did they use reefs? There were a lot of food and other fish there, but what else would come about? "Predators. Threats." She said. "Someone just so happens to be illegally shipping not only supplies that we have spent time and good money on, but there has come to light something we have recently learnt."
"What might that be, Ms. Jet?"
"That Pokémon, caught and wild, have also been part of these abductions."
"Wait…what?" Montgomery caught on, surprised by the turn of events.
"But I don't seem to understand." Justice said. "Doesn't the Cambire Foundation offer Pokémon as well?"
Charlotte scoffed for what could be the umpteenth time. "You really are a bunch of idiots. I can see why Nic Pularis never sees eye to eye with square pegs like you."
"Watch your mouth!" Alfredo roared. "You dare talk to the Magic Council like that?!"
"Now, now, let's all take a deep breath. I'm sure Charlotte has her reasons." Ruge managed to hold up his protests in front of Alfredo, keeping him from exploding. He turned and looked back towards her. "Sorry, you were saying?"
"The Cambire Foundation does in fact offer courses for Trainers and Pokémon to behave, but we never agreed to oversea shipping of Pokémon themselves."
"And how are you so sure about all this, I wonder?"
"My associate's assistant had just returned from an arrest following what was a black-market operation. It turns out that shipment was by refugees paid by the minister to send a portion of the items shipped from the Cambire Foundation to an underground market."
"And this also includes Pokémon in cages?" Hyberion inquired.
"Yes."
Wolfheim hunched forward, a deep detestable scowl plastered on his face. "Great, just what we needed. First it's these goods stolen, and now we have regulations even you can't keep track of! If anything, you're sounding like you're casting the blame on anyone but yourselves."
Charlotte glared. "To be fair, it's your department that has these investigations. We're just the distributors. It's just business without security, simple as that."
Ruge put a hand to his chin. "Well, can't say you're not wrong." He sighed. "I suppose we have another thing to worry about now if you're passing this act."
"Not to mention these matters of diplomacy that we are having aforementioned confrontations with." Hyberion added.
Charlotte raised her brow. "Beg your pardon?"
"Well, Ms. Jet, it just so happens that unlike you and your so-called industry, we councilmembers have just as big of priorities that happen to be less than trivial to you. How do you expect us to export your materials if other countries can't even agree to the terms?" The chairman couldn't hold back a sigh anymore as he grew tedious over the prospect. "…but at the very least, I can sympathize with where you're going with this, but this embargo won't be helping anyone but Fiorians."
Jeff nodded to this solemnly. "Then comes political science; everyone wants what they can't have."
Charlotte looked down at her feet, scrutinizing over what it is that she was told. "I see…" She looked away as she tried to find a rebuttal, but for the time being, it's been a blank.
"That being said…" Montgomery took the ropes from there. "These dock attacks have been distressing us to no ends. On top of our political standpoints, we still can't make heads or tails of why these are focused on these illegal shipments."
Alfredo sneered. "I say it's a sabotage. Someone in this industry is behind this."
"And how exactly do you intend to find that out?" Justice inquired. "With the records we have, it could take a week for all the background checks to be doubled over."
"She's right." Ruge said. "The longer we debate, the more time is wasted on dealing with the matter at hand."
Alfredo glared from the side. "Then just how exactly do you impose a reason to stop this then? Do these shipments in fact lead to anywhere that important?"
"As a matter of fact, they do." A voice called from afar.
Everyone's attention drew towards the front, where there, they were looking to see the large doors opening to showcase certain individuals walking down the runway. As they closed in, all of the councilmen stood up in shock, with the exception of Ruge holding his own mild shock.
"Well I'll be damned…"
Griffin laughed inside the pub he sat in, surrounded by many of people he was talking to. He was so lost in the conversations he was making that he almost lost track of time.
Looking at his watch, he saw the clock was close to midnight, a half hour away at that. "Oh man, look at that." He tried to sit upright despite how sloppy he felt. "Okay then, upsy-daisy…" With one big push, he hiccupped and stumbled onto his feet. With a small teeter back and forth, he wiped his mouth of saliva and waved back to patrons. "Sorry guys, but that's all I got for tonight. Gotta run elsewhere. Stay in touch." He gave them two fingers for a peace sign before he looked back and made way out of the bar. The door shut behind him, the harsh slam from the springs making him almost jump. "Woah, hey now."
Now outside, he looked up at the moonlight. He put his hands to his side and smiled. "Sure is a good night. Better hope Broly's finding an apothecary out there…"
From the distance, a faint shriek of terror met Griffin's ear. The Wire Mage turned towards the sounds of which slammed against his ears, his shock on the rise.
"The hell…" He couldn't see or hear correctly, but he knew that to a degree, that shrilled shriek came from somebody he knew. Even when a little on the high side, his own case of hearing was keen. 'That sounds a lot like Aniya? Did she step on a bug or something again?' He shrugged. 'Oh well, if she isn't giving a distress signal, guess I have nothing to worry about. Maybe I should go check on Matilda and drag her out of there. It's around that time.'
As he started walking, he was making way pass an alleyway. He continued his course until something from the darkness spewed a stream of mud. The mud went right at him, but he caught on and leaned back in time to avoid it.
As the Mud-Slap receded, he looked back into the alley. When he did, he saw a weak flame coming from something small. He glared ahead, crossing his fingers and making wire. "Who's out there?!" he shouted.
Suddenly, an iron column shot at him. The wire in front prevented the attack from a direct shot, but it was strong enough to jut him back several feet.
"Damnit." He grunted.
"Peekaboo…" a gruff voice from the shadows sneered.
With Griffin looking ahead, he was startled when he heard a loud stomp above him. "Guess who!" By the time he looked up, a foot embedded in searing flames came crashing down, striking him in the face. The implant sent him flying and fumbling onto his back, stopping just near the edge of the water's edge.
As he was struggling to get up, the side of his face was charred from the harsh blow. He could feel nonstop inflammation continuing to grow. When he looked back, he saw that in front was Natsu, and beside him was someone with long, spiky hair like Matilda. They both loomed over as their Charmander and Aron were beneath them, glaring ahead in readiness.
Griffin's eyes widened upon recognizing Natsu. "You…"
Natsu gave no smirk. Instead, he frowned in dead seriousness.
From atop the high point, Orion's coat was shifting in the darkness. He glared out at the moonlight that refused to ever cast an eye towards him, frowning ever so calmly.
From the distance, he heard the shout of Aniya as well. His eyes cast towards the ways it came from. He looked over, seeing nothing out there, but he could feel something that all devils could: Fear.
Feeling the threat Aniya was having, he knew it would be best to see what it was. However, his attention drew downwards when he picked up on something in the darkness of the alley. His instincts took over when he abruptly jumped up just as the entire building suddenly was layered in thin ice. He looked back as he was sailing, seeing the attack freeze that entire chapel he was on. With him distracted, he felt some odd force snare around his waist. He was suddenly dragged down into the street straight below, awkwardly by some long, teal stream that was holding him. The teal line dissipated to allow him to flip and land on his feet.
He looked ahead, seeing two individuals come out. He saw one was shirtless, and the other had blue eyes like Nic's; ones that kept Orion's guard high. "You…"
"Sorry big guy…" Gray put his hands together to create some ice. "Didn't mean to haul you in, but saying 'pretty please' after what happened didn't seem to cut it."
Orion's eyes narrowed in deep discern. "You…you're Nic Pularis' allies."
"Yeah. And I take it you're the Dark Devil Slayer he mentioned."
Orion could see within Gray's dark eyes, he had some beef with him it seemed, or so it perceived. He glared over to the person beside him, his own interests piqued as he saw the eyes of another person of abominable Magic Power. "…those eyes. Is it safe you are known as Vanessa Pularis?"
Vanessa raised her arms loosely, taking a stance for her aura. "So you've heard of me then?"
"It's the eyes that see through souls that have been through a very dark road. What I see is just those roads that have been treaded."
Gray glared ahead. "Yeah, you can say hell had it in for both of us." Of course he wasn't wrong, but he can most certainly vouch for himself. If it wasn't for Nic, his Devil Slayer powers would've consumed him forever, and maybe killed E.N.D, or who's to say. For Vanessa, she went through the Impure Underworld, a hell itself that she was able to make peace with on her own.
If only Gray was able to do that. Guilt is a cruel emotion.
"If you wish to stand in my way, just know that you'll be dancing with the devil once more." Orion warned, his fists embedding in a dark aura. "Find your peace before you die!"
Matilda slammed her seventh beer mug on the table, making the empty mugs surrounding it fumble to the ground. "And that's how you down it!"
Many of the patrons were looking at her with awe, some with a few libidos coming down. Some were just in plain stupor. She downed all the alcohol like she hadn't drank anything for days. And that was her seventh one in less than an hour. They couldn't figure out where she was putting it all.
Matilda was hiccupping with a big smile on her face. Her ears suddenly twitched, the faint sounds from all around starting to get to her. Her expression grew slight surprised as one of the noises was thudding from close by. 'Wait, those shrieks…'
"Hey, tell us more about your claws!" An excited patron exclaimed. He was caught off guard when the girl suddenly got up. "Huh?"
"Sorry, just remembered *hic* something!" She scrambled for something beneath her cloak, revealing a small sac of change she sat on the table. "Put the rest on my tab!" She staggered in what ways she could manage out of the bar she was in, making way out the door while leaving her new friends in question.
Once she made it outside, her ears kept twitching, and a sharp smell was entering her nostrils. 'Hold on, is that fire?' She looked over in the far distance. Even if she couldn't see from the many blocks down, she could definitely see flames flicker, as well as iron thuds. The grunts she heard were no different. 'Griffin?'
Suddenly, another smell entered her nostrils, this one a lot closer, and a lot more potent. As she looked ahead, she could feel as if something abominable was looking over her. Her eyes widened as her hair began to stand on end. Whatever was giving off this pressure, it was making her body shudder, and not in a good way.
A shimmering entered her ear canals. Her instincts made her flip forward twisting to she how she evaded the slash in time, but the gusts from that one attack were what made her stammer back some. She glared ahead, her eyes focused on someone with red hair.
The sword lowered. "So you're one of the assassins that went after the minister then?" Even her voice had authority to it, much more so than anything else that came before it. Beside that voice, a familiar figure dropped down onto a knee.
"You two…" Matilda's hair was prickling all over as she sensed all this magical energy. It was staggering; and facing Erza Pularis of all people, she was beginning to feel her teeth chatter.
Sophie stepped up, giving a glare of her own. "This won't be like before. We can promise that."
Matilda was caught off guard at first, but slowly, her eyes began to narrow, her sneering fangs showing. "I remember you now." She whipped her cloak off, revealing her body to them in full view. "So you wanna play with the kitty again, eh? Should've known you'd be pesky."
Erza pointed her sword ahead, glaring daggers of her own. "We apologize if we came at such an abrupt time, but we have something we want to know."
"That so? Well I don't mind *hic*!" Matilda leaned forward, her expression darkening. "In fact, now that I got a good look at you, aren't you that girl Nic Pularis is hooked up with?" Erza gave no response as she pulled out a Poke Ball. "Oh! Well this just got a hell of a lot more interesting. I think I'm getting jacked up again~."
"Sophie."
The blonde nodded. "Look out."
The Take-Over girl got on all fours, snarling like a predator would. The red on her face showed she was drunk, but even when she wasn't sober, she looked even more threatening than ever.
Erza threw her Poke Ball, sending out her Aegislash. The Royal Sword Pokémon huffed as she was in Shield Form, ready for battle.
"Alrighty then…you just wanna make my night, then let's PARTY!" The girl lunged forward with great force, heading towards them with ecstasy to spare.
Liz was bobbing her head up and down over and over as she was enjoying the tunes on her headphones. She really looked disinterested in anything else as she was making do with the little time before her rendezvous with the client.
As she walked along, she seemed oblivious to being followed. Juvia was following right behind Lucy with a grim aura around her face. The blonde was so startled with the many goosebumps that she didn't even want to look back. She was frightened, bad.
"Uh, is she okay?" Wendy asked. She was saving the question ever since they got back from the last job, but there was never a good time to be brought up.
"She's been like this since last night." Carla answered. "As far as I can see, it's probably a Gray thing."
"Yeah…"
Their target up ahead was jamming out to some tunes, walking up towards another alley adjacent to them. As she made it, it looked like she stopped, her expression turning downwards as she picked up on something in her signal.
Though it was a faint signal, she could hear the battles going on around her. She could hear Aniya's rapid panting, followed by the sounds of a chase. She heard a barrier being struck, and from the swishing sounds it had to be Matilda's own swift chasing. She also heard strings pulled, thus indicating everything going on around her.
Her eyes suddenly narrowed, her senses picking up on a magical signature that was evading her. The Gum Mage could feel the familiar energy, as well as others behind. As they drew close, she knew she was caught.
"Why's she stopping?" Klefki whispered.
"I don't know, maybe she's onto us." Carla figured.
Hearing the whispers through the antennae on her radio, Liz knew the culprits were there. She suddenly turned and spat gum down on the ground, where it plopped and began to erode a small black bog from its pours. The bog smelled like horrendous bad breath. Everyone was caught inside of it as it consumed them.
Wendy, however, used her magic and created a quick gust that blew the bog away. When it cleared, it showed Liz was gone.
"She gave us the slip!" Lucy exclaimed.
Using her sense of smell, Wendy sniffed the air and turned her head to the alley. "That way!" Everyone turned and saw a figure against the walls of the alleys.
"I see her!" Lucy exclaimed.
"We can't let her get away! C'mon!" Carla expanded her wings and took flight with Wendy in her arms. Juvia and Lucy took off on foot as they followed the retreating mage in question.
A string of gum was flung and stuck against a wall, used as a swinging rope for Liz to maneuver with. She used her fingertips from her other hand and expelled another thread of gum to attach and swing like jumping from vine to vine. She would've preferred to use Griffin's wires as a bungee and escape faster, but being scattered she had to make do.
A water crescent went shooting from behind, where it, zipped on through the swinging thread of gum Liz was using. The momentum fell against her, and she fell to the ground below in a stammering thud on her feet before tripping onto her side.
Lucy and Juvia managed to catch up to her, having cornered her. "Alright, we have her surrounded." Lucy said. "This time she isn't pulling a fast one like the last guy did."
Liz got up, but found the two busty mages before her. When she turned around, she saw Wendy and Carla landed behind, surrounding all her points of exit. She looked back towards Juvia, a snap in her jaws indicating a harsh pop of a retort.
"You…" the rain woman's eye twitched. "You're gonna pay for what you did to my darling! He's traumatized because of your seduction, now he's not here because you made him feel that much shame!"
Lucy looked at her with a sweat-drop. "Seriously, Juvia? Gray was fine."
But the rain woman wasn't having it. She glared in seriousness as her arms swiped to the side, summoning water to surround her.
The girl cocked her brow and as another pop sound came from her mouth. "Great."
Honchkrow remained silent as he flew over the alley. Corresponding to this was Pidove as he flew about to cover what ground their target was covering. Beneath the two, Broly was hiding in the shadows of the alley, behind the reaches of the dumpster as the overturned lids acted as a shield. He was hiding out for some time now, and he knew he was being followed, but he couldn't tell specifically by whom.
'Something isn't right here. I can feel it…' He picked up on a growing pressure in the air, causing his eyes to shift away. He looked up towards the sky and felt a large sum of energy that was making the hair on his body prickle. 'There's a lot of magic energy in the air tonight, and it feels like the others are out there right now. This is there Magic Power no doubt. Did someone ambush us?'
A caw from above alarmed him, getting him to peer over the lids.
"Guess I haven't got time to wait around and have answers come to me then. Someone's bound to be close by. I can feel it. Only one way to find out."
He abruptly took of straight into the deeper shadows of the alleyway. As he went took the straight path down to where the other side of the streets would intersect into an open alley.
Pidove was flying over the alley and turned his head to follow. "Huh? Oh, look!" he said surprised. "He's going that way."
Honchkrow snorted as he flapped beside him. "Hmph, so I see." A moment passed before he looked at Pidove with an angry stare. "What are you doing? Go tell the others where he's going!"
"Okay!" The Normal/Flying-type chirped anxiously as he took off over Broly's direction.
Honchkrow watched Pidove take off, a rather gruff expression plastered as he turned to another direction. "Moron." He berated.
Pidove cooed loudly as he passed over the opening to the other side of an alley. Underneath, Duncan turned to look up at the signal the Tiny Pigeon Pokémon was giving, meaning their target was closing in. He looked back ahead, standing all by himself in the middle of nowhere. He sighed angrily.
"Is this seriously the plan?" he asked. "This is just pathetic. Can't believe that the Captain thought of this." Nevertheless, he begrudgingly went on with it and sighed.
Pidove cooed louder this time around, getting Duncan to hold his kendo stick harder than before.
Meanwhile, down the alleyway, Broly was as silent as a cat as he dashed with stealth of a ninja. 'Now I know that magical energy is close around here…' He made it to the other side of the alleyway, where he was picking up a strong trace of a magic source related to Orion. He looked up, seeing a burst of ice and teal on the other side of the street. 'So that's where it is…'
"Hey." A voice called upfront.
Broly looked ahead, seeing Duncan standing there like a statue. "Well I'll be damned, I thought I was being lead somewhere." He heard a caw from above, belonging to Honchkrow, who joined up and circled with Pidove high overhead. "I get it now." He looked back at Duncan, seeing his stone-cold facial expression. "Say, I think I know you. You were with those other guys from last night. Where's your other friends then?"
Duncan shrugged. "What friends, haven't seen them."
Broly's expression turned into a frown. 'Wait, if he's here, then that must mean that energy is belonging to…'
Duncan lobbed up a Poke Ball. Summoned forth in front of him was Torterra, where the Continent Pokémon exerted a low, quick roar as he readied himself.
Broly readied himself. "Looks strong. But let's just see how strong."
Duncan didn't bother with formalities. He didn't acre of his personality or what he was. He had one job: to win. He swiped his arm to the side, ordering the first attack. "Alright Torterra, use Stone Edge!"
Torterra mustered his strength to raise himself on his hind legs. He brought his front feet down on the ground with deafening results. The ground shuddered relentlessly from weight as pillars of rock shot up from underground. They went in a straight line towards Broly, but he jumped into the air and allowed the attack to stab into the building wall behind, making parts of it fly everywhere. The Barrier-Make Mage flipped and landed on the rock before the one that stabbed the wall, crouching before he went in a dart atop each rock right for Torterra.
"Now use Leaf Storm!" Duncan followed.
Torterra's body was outlined in a green compressing aura as he gathered up great swells of power. He raised his head as leaves expelled from the tree on his back, which suddenly exploded into a cyclone of shredding leaves that swallowed up everything in front of him.
The attack ripped through the Stone Edge recently created, sending its debris towards Broly like he did against Vanessa's Goodra. However, as pieces traveled with the vortex, Broly stopped on a rock and pulled up his arms.
"Barrier-Make: Cage!"
A large rectangular barrier surrounded Broly, even from beneath his boots. The Leaf Storm and Stone Edge attack cycled through, even beneath; but the attack was destroying the rock and everything else around the barrier, not even so much as leaving a scratch with each leaf and stone that bombarded it. It was like going through a hurricane and yet the destroyed foundation beneath meant nothing as the barrier held on.
"Maybe you forgot, nothing gets pass my barriers!" Broly shouted through the dissipating storm.
As Leaf Storm came to an end, debris from the Stone Edge laid everywhere. The residual dust showered everywhere as Duncan frowned.
By the waters of the docks, Pantherlily, Happy, and Levy with her Klink, were all watching out in case anything happened. While there may not be any fighting, that didn't mean they had to leave their guards down.
"You think everyone will be alright?" Levy questioned.
"It's hard to say, given what they had told us." Pantherlily answered. "…but worrying won't do us any good."
Levy nodded. "Yeah, you're right."
"And besides, Gajeel is a very experienced mage. It would take something immense just to throw off his guard."
At that comment, Levy began to drop a bead of sweat from her face. "Uh, yeah. Speaking of dropping guards…"
Pantherlily looked confused at what she meant. He followed her expression and finger pointing at the edge of the deck, where right along the edge, their other accompaniment was eyeing the seawater beneath with a wagging tail. The superior Exceed couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Happy, what are you doing?! This is no time for a snack!"
"You think Pokémon are edible?" Happy saw a Huntail swim right beneath him. Following that was something that looked even more appetizing, a school of Magikarp swimming close together. It only served to make the Exceed's drooling escalate. "Oh, if I wasn't so afraid of hypothermia would I kill right now for just one bite…"
Pantherlily nervously sweat-dropped with a grievous sigh. "Sometimes I wonder if that years' worth of training bared fruit for you at all."
Levy began to question that as well, but as she stared out at the sea, another more wondrous thought popped up. "I wonder what kinds of Water-type Pokémon are out there?"
As Happy admires the fishy Pokémon swimming mere feet beneath him, he was unaware of how close to he was to the water. With him so close, something could've popped out and take a bite out of him. Something in fact thrust out of the water, appearing before Happy with tentacles bared. The Exceed wasn't prepared as he shrieked back in shock as a Tentacool jumped out of the water, shrieking as its tentacles reached for him.
"AH~, that ain't no fishy!" he cried.
Levy's Klink immediately went into action. It began to rotate its two gears into the other, creating a charge and cloaking it in electricity. It fired a Thunder Shock in a streaky yellow blast at the Tentacool. The Electric-type attack zapped Tentacool before it had the chance to reach Happy, electrocuting it in midair.
The Jellyfish Pokémon shrieked in agony and distress as it felt the shock went through its body. It hurriedly jumped back into the water, swimming away in distress.
Happy fell on his bottom, his face paled from shock. "W-woah…that was a close one…" Another second and those toxic stingers would've done him in.
"Great job, Klink!" Levy praised. The Steel-type spun its gears faster in front of her, showing its gratitude in service.
Pantherlily nodded in acknowledgement. "Well that sure wasn't karma." He looked over at Happy, who was a bubbling mess. From the looks of it, he wasn't gonna try fishing in the sea for a while.
Aniya was scrambling for her dear life as she ran down the back alleys with a giant snake on her tail. She didn't even want to know how far away it was, what mattered was getting as far away to where it was the furthest thing from her, even across the other side of Earthland if she must. She looked back one more time to see the Arbok slowly chasing her, his slithering form sliding across the ground like it was ice.
'I gotta get away! I gotta get help!' In her panic, she used the earpiece she had from before and tried to get contact. On her visor, she got the image of everyone again on the grid, but to her shock, she wasn't getting any luck from an answer. 'Crap! Crapcrapcrap! It's no good, they're all busy! I'm on my own!'
She looked ahead, seeing the alley intersect with another alley, making a T. She looked ahead with hopes rising. 'Maybe I can lose him up here!' She looked back to see how much further Arbok was from her, but behind was nothing but open air. She didn't know where it went. Maybe it was her mind playing tricks? Maybe her visors needed a repair? But she was taking a left.
Big mistake.
A purple cobra bared its fangs when she turned that way. In a panic, she shrieked in bloodlust terror. She could even see the darkness inside Arbok's maw, a place of no return.
Her mind flash a brief image, no matter how blurry it was. She could still remember the details of a large snake with something inside of it that was making tears in the corners of her eyes show.
In a panic, she made a break to the only other alley available. She went as fast as she could into the right alley, where Arbok went in slow, taunting pursuit. She scurried passed a dumpster, where she knew would be a terrible hiding spot. Up ahead, she saw another intersection, where it only went either straight or to another right. This time, she was going straight.
She went ahead, but suddenly, the same dumpster she passed crashed right in front of her, garbage spewing out of it. The fact it was thrown from the snake behind her startled her further. She looked back as Arbok closed in without delay. She had no choice but to veer right and keep going. Arbok obviously followed.
Aniya had to keep going. She just had to. She was downright terrified, as anyone would. Who could stomach being charged at by a near-12-ft cobra with a body that could crush steel drums. Not to mention they had a persistent nature.
Finally having enough, she requipped the overhead cannon and turned around at the approaching Arbok. "Alright you stupid snake…wat this!" From the cannon, smoke blew from the back as a missile whistled on its way towards Arbok. As it closed in, it broke apart to reveal a large net. Arbok twisted his body and sprung overhead, flipping completely over the net and landing in a wheel towards Aniya.
The shocked mage felt her heartbeat accelerate as she requipped again, revealing a dark red flamethrower with a nozzle. "Alright, try this!" This time she launched a stream of fire at Arbok. The serpent stopped his wheel as he went sideways and used the garbage and trash cans beside him as a shield. He whacked them in front of him, enabling cover as they were reduced to ash instead.
As the fire dissipated, she looked ahead with an expectant smirk. "Ha! How's about you eat instead of…" When she saw the flamethrower simmer down, all she saw was plastic and ash instead of cindered snake skin. "W-what…?"
A harsh hiss came from above. She looked up, seeing Arbok on the support of a concrete windowsill. She panicked and began to run again. Arbok slithered against the wall downwards and kept following.
As they went further ahead, they came at another intersection, this one leading to straight ahead or to the left. This time Aniya had to plan it smart. She requipped again as she went on, facing ahead with her visors showing a visual of Arbok behind her with a lock-on symbol on his chest. The machine she requipped as the same cannon she used when she tried attacking Erza and Nic before, a missile already inside it.
"This time…you better die!" She pulled the trigger, sending the missile just like the last one at him. It did a complete U-turn as it lopped over her head, shooting directly at Arbok behind her. All the serpent did was keep going into the missile's red tip, while Aniya smirked.
The missile was so close, until Arbok moved his tail in front, He coiled around the missile and turned his body, time slowing down as he was turning in midair with so much might. The missile did another U-turn guided by Arbok as it flung back at its sender.
Aniya gasped in horror. 'HOW?!'
The missile collided with the ground behind her, creating a small-scale explosion behind her. She screamed loudly as she was picked up and fumbled on her shoulder. The impact sent a shock that knocked her for a loop, one that disoriented her body's motions for a bit.
Smoke billowed up everything around her. As her vision was blurry, all the ringing in her ear was reverberating. She could only hear a bleak vibration and that was it. She blinked at the smoke surrounding her that was from the missile that left her dirty and with scratches. If she was struck head on, she'd be in pieces. She tried looking around partially deaf, but in the silence, Arbok's head stuck out of the smoke, making her heart pulse and she made a stumble forward. She ran on all fours until a few meters upwards she was able to scramble to her feet.
As he watched her go, Arbok scaled the building she was turning at. He climbed up its overhead lamppost and watched from a greater height as Aniya traveled down the path leading towards the cliffs. He then looked up, giving a hiss to someone afar as a signal.
On the cliffs, Nic could see it. He glared ahead at Arbok and turned his attention downwards towards the girl running down the alley. With her now in sight, now he could work his Mind Form's powers. He remained silent as his blue eyes shine din the half-moonlight, his vision reflecting Aniya's scared expression
At that instant, time stopped for a moment as he peered into her eyes, drowning into an expanding black void. He could hear and see so many stars pass through, with each star being a different memory or thought.
'Gotta get away! Gotta run away…'
That was her present thought. As he looked deeper, he was getting to a more critical thought she had going.
'The pier at midnight. On the farthest dock, midnight sharp.'
'So that's where it is then…' Nic now understood. He could see and now knew where to go. However, as he was pulling out in that second's time, his eyes began to widen a little as the present thought was getting more…drastic as Arbok chased her.
Aniya was looking back once more as Arbok chased her down the alley. She was making like hell as she went towards the cliffs. She knew Arbok would just keep prevailing. The snake was just that bizarre yet powerful, not to mention evasive.
Finally reaching the bottom of the cliffs, she found herself with nowhere to run. She turned around upon hearing another hiss, staring into the eyes of Arbok.
The Poison-type cobra glared daggers at her as he hunched his body around. He looked like he was prepared to strike her from any angle, but he merely glared at her as she pressed herself against the walls of the cliffs. She looked back, gasping at no room she had.
"Ssso, are we done playing cat and moussse?" he hissed
She grunted with gritting teeth showing. "Shut up…" she sniped back. Her eyes showed a dark shadow beneath the visors. In fact, in her vision, all she was seeing was red, and a large, menacing snake-like creature glaring at her. Seeing creature, it was making her heart thump.
THUMP!
The massive heartbeat in that moment see the image change. She saw a menacing creature that looked a lot like Arbok, yet was much longer, and she had a large, gaping mouth as her eyes had a hypnotic pattern. The creature's large smile made her flinch. Arbok's tongue flicking was what brought her back to reality. With another gasp, she looked forward and glared.
"You gonna come at me or what?! I'm ready you sick reptile!" In a show of anger, she requipped the same gun that she used to shoot lightning at Erza before. She looked through its lock-on sequence, glaring intense daggers with both eyes open.
"I'm not on the menu today, pal! Try a handful of 1,000,000 volts instead!" She pulled the trigger, hoping to make sure the blast of lightning would get him. But nothing fired. "Hm?" She fired again, but nothing happened. Twice, then three times, but regrettably, nothing was working. "C'mon…don't be jammed again…!" She looked back at Arbok, looking a little more frantic than usual. She pressed it and banged its sides so many times she lost it. In anger, she requipped her cannon with a missile again, aiming at Arbok. "Stay away!"
Once again, nothing worked.
"What the hell?! Why isn't anything working?!"
She was so frantic and so desperate that she wasn't even aware of the distorted dimensional room that was around her and Arbok. The Poison-type was just waiting patiently as the girl was cycling through all her equips, but even as she tried her visors, even they were unable to work efficiently.
With even her visors out of order, she was completely at the mercy of Arbok. The look of anger she had was replaced by horror as her entire body was quivering like she was freed from an iceberg. She Was paralyzed by intense fear as Arbok glared at her. But the irony was that Arbok didn't know Glare anymore. This was by shrilling fear alone. "No…not again…not again…"
However, Arbok stayed in place, awaiting something else. He looked dead at her to not get her to look at the glint above the cliffs that was coming down at high speeds. The glint zoomed down with speeds of a comet, phasing clean through the distorted room she was too delusional to realize.
She looked up, gasping. "Wha-?!"
ZWOOM!
Nic landed on the ground with a shadow over his eyes, frowning as he was on a knee and having his arm out with a long purple needle via Night Slash. The cross-shaped purple glint picked up Aniya as she was in shock. She didn't even have a chance as she had white in her pupils, devoid of conscience.
"Sorry for this." Was all Nic said as he revealed his eyes glancing back in his Psychic/Dark Form. The bright pink was replaced by deep black, with the pants being black as well, with the bright pink on the shoes turning to that same black as well. Aniya fell behind him, defeated.
All around, the Magic Room she ran into finally dissipated. Its walls went down as Nic stood on his feet, looking back at his defeated foe to make sure she was down. Now seeing she really was down for the count, he faced away with a grin.
"Thanks Arbok, you were a great help." He praised. "But I thought she was supposed to chase you…looks like that didn't work out." He looked back at her, seeing her defeat form in the end.
"We got what we needed, yessss, Nic?" the Cobra Pokémon inquired.
Nic nodded with a smile. "We did. Thank you Arbok. Return." He recalled Arbok back to his Poke Ball, his services done for the time being.
With him retreated, he began using his Mind Form's powers once more to carry out another message. 'Everyone, meet at the pier at midnight. Farthest dock towards northeast.' Having said that, he opted to depart, but he didn't True, it was his job to stop them, but he couldn't help but look back one more time at the girl he defeated. He wasn't even trying and he wondered why she was running away instead of doing the chasing herself…but that was it. What he saw, he could only sympathize. He frowned heavily for her. He walked towards her unconscious form and knelt to her side. Seeing her face, even when unconscious, he could still see the pain she was in. It didn't seem like it was going away anytime soon, and he wasn't going to just sit there and see this anymore. He put his hand to her forehead, where a faint purple glow similar to Wendy's Healing Magic began to take over. It may not have been much, but at least he was still helping her in whatever way he could.
The memories of the terror she saw, all of Arbok chasing her…he was erasing them. It was crude, maybe, but he didn't know what she went through. As the memories were being taken away, the pained look on her unconscious face was beginning to ease, much to his relief. Once satisfied and erase, he backed off and allowed her form to remain on the ground. "I'm sorry…but what I did, I didn't mean for it to be personal. Hope you can find your peace soon."
With that, he transformed from his dual form to his Spooky Form. He was a ghastly dark purple, almost black even, with dark periwinkle as a sash and a misty black for baggy pants and laces. He faded into shadows, where he disappeared from the scene to allow her to rest in ease.
Matilda lunged ahead with a claw reached out. She thrust forward into Aegislash, of whom got in front of Erza with King's Shield. The attack she created smashed against Aegislash's signature defense move, making a gust pulsate everywhere. She held her ground a blue aura enveloping her, lowering her strength. Erza swung her sword that came with her now-adorned Armadura Aggron Armor, slashing into Matilda with force strong enough to send her flying back. She gripped the ground with one claw, digging in her heels as she slid to a stop and revealed her right arm up, having her heavy plated arm armor steaming with a small scratch.
A wily smirk appeared n her face as she looked up at them. "Not bad. I can see why you're someone who Aniya warned me about." In growing ecstasy, she leaned forward, applying pressure again that made the ground beneath more concave as she lunged ahead at them.
The speed in which she traveled across the ground was exasperating. Erza looked on with shock as she closed the gap, while Sophie put a finger to her forehead. "Memory-Make: Mirrors of Cold Retribution!" Hexagonal ice mirrors were manifested, which unleashed dark green beams from them.
Matilda ran head on into the attack, where she jumped at the last second to avoid the green explosion that dismantled the ground she stood on. She flipped right over it and the mirrors, getting atop everyone. She twisted and brought her fist down, punching into the earth surrounding the group. Erza and Sophie moved out of the way to avoid the impact as the ground beneath broke apart. But Matilda was far from finished as her fist loosened and gripped the ground, where she spin kicked with legs out that swung into the girls with intense force. Erza and Sophie managed to rebound and land, but Sophie was less prepared, where she fumbled into the ground with a bruise on her arm.
Matilda got back to her feet with a wily smirk; the other blonde she kicked down trying to stand. 'She's faster and stronger, just like last time.'
Erza requipped into her Flight Armor, where she reached out and Aegislash assumed her position in her grip with the hands wrapping around the arms and shield held tight. Without a word, she went swinging at Matilda, with Aegislash making Night Slash. As expected, Matilda's animalistic hearing caught on and she turned and dodged in time as Erza horizontally swiped.
As she was flipping overhead, she was upside down as Erza looked up. "Oh, that was fast. You almost had me there." She cheekily smirked. "This is gonna be a hell of a blast!"
Once she landed, she and Erza began racing across the street, blind strikes going at the other in relentless fashion. The two mages were nothing short of blurs that were only noticeable by their figments appearing when they clashed claws against Aegislash. As they went on, Matilda was zipping about with a wicked smile, slashing and ferociously striking with gruesome results, while Erza was returning in kind. With each swing of Aegislash and the enemy's claws, the blows became more powerful to where something else was shredded up instead. The ground, a nearby wall, each parry created gusts and sparks, and it only intensified as Matilda got more adrenaline.
Sophie was shocked at the speeds that they were ascending to. She knew Erza was fast this way, but Matilda was actually keeping up. What's more, from the looks of it, she was starting to get through.
"HRAH!" Erza finally swung Aegislash down with a Night Slash, which Matilda blocked by crossing her ridged arms overhead. The blow made gusts ripple beneath her footing, but held on all too well. Erza pushed down harder than she ever could to make Aegislash bounce her back, but the girl was holding her ground like a wall.
With her fangs showing, the Take-Over girl let out a malicious howl that echoed through the air like a Hyper Voice. The shockwaves at point-blank completely threw Erza off her and went sliding backwards against the shabby street. She was barely keeping footing until she had to resort to using Aegislash to anchor the ground, slowing down the tread. She managed to break her skid, finding herself at the end of a destroyed field of debris around Matilda.
The Take-Over girl had fangs bared like a tiger would. In fact, her fingers were twitching as the fur on her limbs was beginning to stand on end. She snarled like a predator eying her prey.
In a flash, she disappeared again, but Erza anticipated and let go. "King's Shield!" Aegislash managed to revert to Shield Form in front and create her shield, which a high-speed claw struck. The reappearing Matilda's thrust inti the shield made shockwave s go vertical this time, tearing a ripple clean into the ground around once more. She ultimately backflipped and held her position glaring ahead with a growl as a blue aura again enveloped her.
"Her power just keeps increasing with her adrenaline." Erza deduced. "That means the effects of King's Shield won't matter as long as she has blood rushing to all her veins."
"Then what do we do?" Aegislash asked.
Erza glared ahead, seeing the woman get on all fours and ready to strike. She knew it wouldn't matter how many times she would block because her speed and power would just grow. They needed to bring her down in one big blow. And she had to do it fast.
Seeing an opportunity in the form of a certain someone n her feet, Erza gave a sharp look to the side. "Sophie!"
The Memory-Make Mage nodded. "Al tig-ad. (Don't worry.)" She swiped her arm, summoning her Jagged Barrier in the form of an enclosure around Matilda.
With black rock rising with sharp ice spikes facing her, the girl was finding herself away from Erza. She looked around, using her hearing as her nose wrinkled and her eyes darting all around. As she was seeing that there was nothing but spiked ice everywhere, she could feel her claws clutch tighter.
"Now, Erza!"
Erza nodded in understanding and glared ahead. "Aegislash, Swords Dance!" At her command, the Royal Sword Pokémon remained stationary as illusionary swords appeared around her and circled her. Once they crossed over her head, they disappeared, leaving a thick red aura in its place.
The wall suddenly showed air slashes raking through them for a second, and then the entire surrounding closure completely erupted into shambles. Ice and rock flew in the air over Erza and Sophie, both watching in shock as Matilda was seen inside as pieces came raining down all around her. Her bangs were down as she was glaring forward. Her anger was pressed exponentially as she slowly showed her gaze, her yellow shimmering yellow like the sun.
Sophie could see the glare meant she was meaning business. The Magic Power she was feeling was no less of a sign than anything else. She had to fend her off a little longer. Reaching out with both arms, she created a bright green hemisphere in front that crackled with lightning. She fired the Baryon Lightning Impact, which sent the beam at Matilda.
The girl saw the attack head for her by a single glance to her right. She jumped into the air high like a kangaroo, completely missing the beam that erupted in bright green with a crackling energy field dissipating beneath. She twisted high and glared down at Sophie with eyes that showed anger. Thankfully Sophie had been given worse stares that made her bones shrivel. She pointed at her forehead, using more magic to summon Pyro Saucer. The spinning, flaming saucers escalated high and went at Matilda, but when they closed in, she swept her leg around in one fell kick that dissipated them all. The gust she created had also blew pass Sophie, but remained undeterred.
Matilda bent her knees and went springing downwards, but Sophie did an acrobatic flip of her own upwards in time to avoid the punch that crunched into the earth beneath. She landed several feet away, where Matilda rebounded and went up close and personal. Thanks to her magic, Sophie was able to memorize the attack patterns of Matilda, at least to where she was able to dodge and maneuver so many attacks until she can feel herself slipping.
Aegislash finished the last possible Swords Dance, her Attack now officially maxed out. "Ready!"
Erza readied herself and charged dead ahead. She grabbed Aegislash along the way and went for a dart at Matilda. 'We might get one shot at this…' She glowed once more, requipping into her Armadura Fairy Armor. 'Let's make this work!'
Finally planting a foot on Sophie's thick thigh, Matilda's stomp brought the Memory-Make Mage to her one good knee. She grunted in pain as she felt her bone almost snap from that one good blow. As she looked up, she found Matilda holding a fist up.
"You're good at memorizing, right?" she asked. "Well don't blame me if you can remember the pain you're gonna feel!"
Erza closed in, her target just meters away. She let out a battlecry as Aegislash followed her swing back.
"Huh?" Matilda looked over, seeing Erza make a monstrous lunge towards her. Her eyes dilated to where they shrunk. In a shift, she pivoted and leaned forward. She still had her claw brought back, but it was instead aimed for Erza as she returned the lunge in kind.
As they closed in, Matilda's wild smile was wide, bearing fangs at Erza. "You wanna go hardcore again?! Well bring it on!"
Erza swung forward, Aegislash glowing a blue energy that elongated her blade's reach.
"Sacred Sword!"
Matilda and Erza passed each other, the thrust and swing colliding centerfield. It was so fast that they passed each other in the next second. Time slowed down between the two as the air around them was spliced into pieces, the same being said with the ground. The horrendous impact left Erza posing with Aegislash forward while Matilda was still in midair behind, a wily smirk on her face. The winner would be decided when the first got shock running through them.
Aegislash slowly undid her attack, backing off while Erza held the position still. Meanwhile, behind, she was unfazed when Matilda was enveloped in a blue slash that exploded into smoke that quaked the airspace. As it dissipated, the Take-Over girl fell to the ground beneath, her eyes covered up by her bangs as she laid in admitted defeat.
Erza let out a sigh as she looked back, seeing her fallen form. She knew she was going to be out for a while, but she had other worries than her opponent. She looked over, seeing Sophie with a badly bruised knee. "Sophie!"
The blonde looked up, seeing Erza coming over to her aid. "Erza, is she down?" She winced again.
She nodded. "She is, for now at least…" she looked over her shoulder at her again. "But I'm not sure how long it'll be before her metabolism kicks up for that matter." She looked back at Sophie. "But your leg…"
Sophie used the wall beside her as support as she tried to shift her weight to her one good leg. "I'm…alright." She strained as she held herself up against the wall.
"Here, let me help you." Erza requipped back her regular armor as Aegislash detached herself. The redhead moved to put her arm around Sophie's waist while Sophie used her own arm on the opposite shoulder. "Think you can make it from here?"
"Yes, I believe we can." She began to limp forward with Erza. They made way out the alley, heading away from the debris. "Sorry." She apologized.
Erza closed her eyes as they kept moving. "Don't be. If anyone's at fault, it's me. We were too late. We can just hope Wendy is able to fix your thigh." She looked back at her. "But out of curiosity, Sophie…did you hear that?"
She nodded. "The farthest pier northeast."
"We need to move then." Erza helped her friend as they made way in the direction that would take them to their destination.
Liz fired a barrage of gum globs in a manner similar to bullets at Lucy and everyone else around her in a spin. They all backed off, not wanting to get stuck to again.
Lucy landed, where Klefki handed her a key. She held it to her chest as it glowed. "Open: Gate of the Archer – Sagittarius!"
Summoned in a salute, Sagittarius appeared right beside Lucy, with her changing to her Sagittarius Star Dress as well. Both held up their bows and arrows and began to fire. Arrows went firing at explosive rates, meeting each bullet of gum that met in the center. Liz kept up the barrage as the pointed tips were all globbed by sticky gooey masses.
"Go, Wendy!" Lucy shouted.
"Right!" Wendy sped pass Lucy, along with Carla as they closed in on Liz. They were able to get close until Liz was able to pick up on them and hurriedly blew yet another bubble, this one expanding with the same density that blocked Gray's ice. The incoming arrows, as well as Carla and Wendy's feet when they tried to kick, were caught like flies in a spider web. The bubble eventually did pop, sending the girls and the weapons everywhere else. They screamed out as they fell to the ground with harsh thuds.
"Wendy!" Juvia worried.
Lucy stopped firing, as did Sagittarius. "Are they alright?" The Celestial Spirit asked.
While arrows covered in gum were littering the ground, Wendy was getting up. "Don't worry, we're fine!"
Carla was getting up as well, and just like Wendy, her hair was partially splattered with gum. "What is this stuff? Is this what Gray was talking about?" She moved to get the gum out of her hair, but right now it wasn't going anywhere.
Liz, however, ha other plans. She blew another glob around, where it popped in midair and became a large mass of pink that went to the base of the roofs above, where it also covered their sight. A pink, sticky wall was between them and Liz s she used it to run.
"She's getting away!" Carla exclaimed.
"Not for long she isn't!" Lucy undid her Star Dress as she pointed her key at Sagittarius. "Thanks, Sagittarius."
The spirit did a mock salute as he faced Lucy. "Righty-O, I shall be of better service the next time, milady!" With that, he vanished back to his realm.
Back on her feet, Wendy had to ignore the gum that was in her hair to focus on the task at hand. She glared ahead and crossed her arms. She swiped them, summoning a grand wind that picked not just her up, but also the others. "Everyone hang on!" She raised her arms, making the twister rise up with them in it. It arched straight over the gum wall, spitting them out overhead before they dissipated.
Liz was making a break for it across the alley, and she was already meters away. While they descended, Juvia sent a blast of water down in a steep beam at her. The massive shock from the attack reached behind Liz, causing its waves to pick up the lower half of her body and slam into a nearby wall, where she gagged and barely found her legs beneath her.
The others landed on their feet, quickly surrounding her.
"That was for what you did to my beloved…you homewrecker!" Juvia angrily exclaimed. "That's what you get for tempting my man!"
'Tempted?' Lucy, Wendy, and Carla sweat-dropped.
Liz angrily looked ahead again, more specifically at the predicament she was in. She had to make do with her dilemma as she knew time was running out. It was near midnight, and she had to meet her client. If not, it wouldn't be good news.
Like before, she began to create a large green bubble that slowly expanded from her loud. The color of which was alarming Juvia especially. They all backed off as it was gaining mass.
"Uh, what's she doing now?" Lucy asked, a little freaked out.
"I don't know." Wendy answered. "More gum?" Even from here, her Dragon Slayer nose was picking up a very sharp smell coming from the gum. It was making her flinch.
"It's a gum that enflames the sense of smell!" Juvia warned. "Hang on!"
The bubble finally exploded, sending green globs everywhere all around. As they went and piled about, they spread towards the others, but Juvia summoned a wall of water to shield the gum and its smell from reaching them.
"Alright, nice save, Juvia!" Lucy praised.
"Yeah, that's amazing!" Wendy added.
Juvia glared forward. "If this hussy wants to mess with my affection for my darling, she has another thing coming! Water Lock!"
Using her powers, she controlled the water to make it move and envelop Liz. The Gum Mage found the water wall having been turned into a swirling mass of water that quickly imprisoned her in a sphere of water.
"That should keep her busy for a little while." Juvia was sure she had her this time at least. She was already a hassle before, but now she was fed up. She was sure this had to do the trick.
Wendy narrowed her eyes, looking into the sphere.
"What is it?" Carla asked.
"Look, up there." She pointed forward, directing them all towards the bubble.
They could all see it, even if it was deceivable as one could say. But in the center f the Water Lock containing Liz, there was what looked like a thick mass of blown gum, and inside, there was a body in it. They could only guess one thing from all this.
"You're kidding!" Lucy exasperated. "She's using air from her own gum to not drown?! That's crazy!"
"Innovative to say the least." Carla noted.
Liz blew more air into the gumball she was in. As she blew like blowing out a birthday candle, the sphere only got bigger, and bigger, slowly expanding through the dense blue liquid that Juvia conducted. It grew more, and more, until it looked like it was finally enveloping the mass of water itself. They all stepped back as the gum looked wet, extra gooey, and covered only by a thin layer of water. If anything it resembled a human brain with its creases.
They all took a step back, but before they knew it, Lucy gasped moments before the wet gum finally erupted. Wet, gooey substance erupted like a volcano that splattered everything all around. No one was safe this time as the light pink substance shot at a faster rate than the green bubble did. Its few strands got on all their arms, clothes, even went as far as in their hair.
Lucy and Wendy especially shriveled as they felt the sticky substance everywhere. They practically shrieked upon noticing how much of it was on them.
"This is just gross! Really!" Carla shrieked.
Juvia found herself having a hard time moving about, this time equally as hard as before. "It's…so dense…"
Liz didn't give any momentum away as she rapidly unleashed gum bullets at them. They struck the four girls head on, sending them flying backwards in shock and distress. They were struck in a few more spots, but the gum was harder, and combined with the wet gum on their bodies, the moment they connected with the ground on their sides, their elbows or hips were having a rough time moving. To add insult to injury, Liz used her fingers and created a long whip of gum rope that lashed out t the girls. It lassoed them into one big clump ring surrounding them all, keeping them in place like captives.
"You've gotta be kidding m-!" Lucy was instantly silenced when a thick glob shot at her mouth. It anchored it shot like a muzzle, leaving her to scream out muffles.
"Hey, what is the meaning of-!" Carla was silenced as well, muzzled with shot gum next. Next was Wendy, and then finally Juvia. All fours girls were – for a lack of better wording – tongue tied.
Truly, one could say this was a sticky situation. No exaggeration.
With her opponents finally submitted, the girl finally turned way with a scowl on her face.
'She's getting away!' Lucy tried to move, but the sticky gum all over her wasn't helping. The more she struggled with the others, the more strenuous it became to get out of. They eventually realized that their magic wouldn't help them escape this time.
But, there was still something they could try.
Lucy's eyes widened when she found out a solution to this. While she couldn't reach for anything on hand, there was one thing she didn't have to reach to be useful. "Hphhi!"
Hearing her muffles, the speedy Key Ring Pokémon showed up in front of Lucy, having backed off the whole time.
Everyone looked t Lucy with shock at her means of making use of the situation.
Lucy kept muffling, but Klefki wasn't understanding any of it. All she did was tilt her head in question until she figured Lucy wanted the restraints on her mouth off. The creature with a thing for keys used her horn and scrubbed it beside Lucy's mouth. It got the majority off and she flung it elsewhere.
"Man that's so gross…" Lucy sighed. "Klefki! Stop her!"
Klefki looked ahead, where she saw the Gum Mage make a getaway. "Okey-doke!" With her impressive energy, she zipped through the atmosphere and off towards Liz.
Juvia and Wendy glanced at each other to see what they were thinking as well. When they picked up on it, they could still feel Poke Balls in their pockets. It was a rough handle, but with enough moving around, they were able to squirm enough to get the Poke Balls to roll out from beneath them. They expanded and popped open, revealing Eevee and Swablu both look at them with neutral expression.
"Hi guys!" Eevee chirped. "Oh, Juvia, what happened?"
"Wendy, you okay?" Swablu asked.
"Never mind us!" Lucy stammered. "We'll be fine! Just do whatever you can to stop that girl!" Wendy and Juvia muffled as they nodded with her.
Both Eevee and Swablu gave the other bizarre looks. They would've questioned more on what she meant or why this happened, but they chose to dismiss and hurry up towards Liz. The followed Klefki as they chased Liz down the alley, closing in as fast as possible.
"She's up ahead!" Klefki shouted.
"Yay! Let me try!" Eevee sprung ahead, passing her allies and zipping in front of the weakened Liz. With her in front, Liz looked down in shock, and admiration, as she was cornered by the adorable Eevee.
Eevee tilted her head, giving a Baby-Doll Eyes like she did before. Everything was pink around her as she cooed with bright eyes at Liz.
The Gum Mage found her cheeks turning bright pink as she found the Eevee completely adorable. It was like looking at the cutest pet times infinity, and even that didn't compare to the sparkles in its eyes.
Realizing she was getting distracted, she tried to shake her head to get any cute thoughts out of her system. She spat gum in front of Eevee, giving her a warning shot that stopped the Normal-type's distraction and jump away from shock.
"Now! Fairy Lock!" Klefki's body glowed bright gold as her body expelled golden chains all around. The chains went everywhere, stopping Liz when she realized that golden chains with locks on them were all around her. She looked around, realizing she wasn't alone.
As Klefki was doing her job, Swablu flapped her wings beside her. She opened her mouth, where inside, notes began to glow out. "Sing!" She began to hum a sweet, soft voice, one very familiar to the one she used to subdue Klefki back when she was still wild.
The musical notes went towards Liz, where they were passing her and her radio antennae atop of her head. The sweet melody was so close that when it touched her antennae, it was like getting hit by a fluffy cloud. Almost instantly, it felt like a small wave of soothingness was washing over her.
Her eyes began to get drowsy, and everything around her was starting to get fuzzy. She tried to turn and get away, but she found her exit blocked by Fairy Lock. With nowhere to go or run, the notes were jumbling everywhere, and the hypnotic notes and humming was finally wearing down her mind. She finally dropped to a knee, her conscience fading.
Eevee smiled wide behind. "Alright, we got her!" She ran back to the others, passing Liz and looking back with the others.
With enough of a struggle, though it was a hassle, they had to take it slow. Lucy eventually was able to extend herself away from the rest, while the others were separating slowly.
"Man, this stuff is nasty." Lucy whined. Once she got enough off her hands, she looked back ahead. "Alright then, now guys!"
"We're on it!" Once again, Wendy and Carla went at Liz with all they had. Winds surrounded the Sky Dragon's arms, as to where Carla's leg was brought back once close enough.
Once up close and personal, they let her have it.
"Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!"
"White Moon!"
Carla kicked with all her might while Wendy passed her, swallowing the drowsy mage in a turbulence from her arms. The Gum Mage was in shock s she found her world spinning like a top, and she didn't even know which way was up to begin with.
"Now guys!" Wendy shouted.
"Right!" Lucy nodded, with Juvia right beside her. "You ready, Juvia?"
The rain woman nodded. "I am."
The two girls glared forward; brown and blue eyes seething at the mage before them. They were ready and willing, and with what they had, their yellow and blue auras enveloped their bodies. Lucy extended her left hand, and Juvia extended her right. Their fingers interlocked as a radiant whirl of golden energy began to spin around them like a helix. Following that was a small veil of spinning water. The two helixes began to intertwine, becoming a vortex of blue and gold water overlapping one another as it surrounded them.
They aimed forward, the vortex turning ahead of them.
"Unison Raid!"
The massive vortex rushed passed them as went speeding with Celestial and Water Magic fused in one spiraling missile that went at Liz. Her eyes widened as she found no way out of this one, and was swallowed in the cyclone that picked her up and sent her soaring, soaked with golden sparkles rain down with the drizzling rain. The Gum Mage fell to the alleyway with a pained thud on her side, her eyes shut as she laid unconscious. The others looked on as they were able to beat her, rejoicing at last.
"Alright!" Klefki, Eevee, and Swablu all cheered.
Lucy sighed in relief. "That was easier said than done."
"I'll say." Carla looked at Wendy. "Just look at you, you need a bath!"
Wendy looked at Carla with a smile of her own. "You can use one, too."
A stomp came from a brown boot that hoisted a certain someone. They all stopped their celebrating when Juvia beamed with pride. "I told you, you would get just desserts for tampering with our undying love!"
A moment of silence fell before everyone finally dropped a unison bead of sweat.
"Charmander, Ember!" Natsu punched forward as he gave the command.
Charmander opened his mouth and expelled a blanket of orange sparks at Griffon. The Wire Mage attached wires above and flung himself above to dodge. While in midair, he let go of the current wires and lashed out more wires down at Charmander.
In the blink of an eye, glints were seen as the wires were cut into pieces before reaching Charmander, revealed to be done by Gajeel with his Iron Dragon's Sword extended to the side.
"Thanks for the save." Natsu thanked.
Gajeel retracted his sword back into his arm, keeping a glare fixed on his opponent. "Don't mention it."
"Better be careful, too. If you get too close, he'll pull a trap on ya like he did with me."
"Got it."
Griffon glared at them and raised his hands up. "You think even from a distance you're safe?" To prove contradictory at its finest, he lashed out more wires, spreading them all around. The long wires stuck into walls, against the alleys, going as far as surround Natsu and everyone in a web of wires.
They all looked around as the wires were everywhere, slanted, cutting into everything, it was like a massive spider web that was spread out.
"Man, he's trying to slow us down again." Natsu figured.
"Yeah, this is getting annoying." Gajeel agreed. He looked ahead, seeing as how a few weak threads were surrounding his Aron. The little guy looked around wearily as his space was surrounded. 'The little guy's boxed in. Better play defense then.' He reached out, giving a command. "Aron, don't move! Use Harden!"
"Okay!" Aron looked back and nodded. He looked back upfront as his whole body stiffened. A shimmering filament temporarily covered his body as a red aura increased his Defense.
Griffon fiddled one of his fingers. "Well I hope you rethink that move." He clutched tight before pointing three fingers at Aron. Three small threads went through the small window in front of Aron and snared his stubby arms, as well as the small horn on his back.
Aron looked shock, as to where Gajeel looked bewildered. "No!"
"And around you go!" Using his wires and hand, he whipped them around, with Aron following in tow. Despite being over 200 lbs. of raw iron, the little Pokémon was picked up surprisingly with little effort. Griffon swung and lashed him everywhere, where the little guy screamed as he whirled around towards his allies.
"Look ou~~t!" Aron warned. Charmander was in his line of site. The Lizard Pokémon was slammed first, falling to the ground.
"Charmander!" Natsu gasped, before Aron whirled around. He ducked, avoiding it in time.
Gajeel was next to avoid as he ducked as well. Griffon recoiled and lashed out again, sending Aron back at them. With the heavy weight he had, coupled with his recent move making his body that much harder, it was like swinging around the world's smallest wrecking ball. With each whirl, he was flailing about with no control at Natsu and Gajeel, who continued dodging the lobs and swings. Finally, Griffon retracted Aron one more time and pivoted, swinging and flinging Aron dead ahead. As he flew, he deliberately undid the wires to give him great momentum to fling.
"AH~!" Aron went sailing with no help, and all he did was pass over the dazed Charmander and right at Gajeel, who frowned angrily.
The Dragon Slayer extended one arm out. One arm, and that was all it took to stop Aron cold. He didn't even slide back a couple feet because he was iron himself. He held Aron by the underside, but held him out with an insidious scowl at Griffon. "Not. Cool." He growled low.
Charmander groaned as he dizzily tried to get up again. "Owww…man. Did someone catch the number of that Tauros?"
"Hey, Charmander, you alright?" Natsu called out.
"Yeah…but quick question. Is everything supposed to be green?"
Aron shamefully sweat-dropped. "Sorry…"
"Told you he plays dirty." Natsu angrily reminded.
Griffon didn't hesitate to attack. He clutched his fingers again, this time making the threads limiting everyone's movements become loose like wet noodles. He whipped forwards, sending them arching like spears at Natsu and Gajeel. Both leaned to opposite sides and dodged. However, as they flew behind, the strands all arched into each other, making wires nets that could border wrestling rings. Griffon pulled and brought them back behind them. As they closed in, Natsu crouched and tumbled. He went clean through the spacing between the two chords, making it to the other side. Meanwhile, Gajeel did one turn and swung his arm, which was morphed into a sword again that sliced the strands back into pieces. The pieces retreated back to Griffon's sleeves as he leered at them.
"You guys are pretty fast thinkers, I'll give you that." He praised.
Natsu didn't seem too pleased by the words. "You just playing around or what? Because I'm not here for a medal just for showing up.
"That so? How'd you even find us here anyway?"
"We've got ourselves some smart friends who know their way around stuff."
"I see…"
"So tell me, why were you stealing all that stuff?" Natsu finally asked. "You know it ain't nice to steal from others, especially when they're just doing their job."
Griffon smirked. "Well what do we have here? Pot calling the kettle black I see."
Gajeel stepped forward. "C'mon, Salamander, these guys are just beating around the bush."
Natsu relented. "Yeah, you're probably right. Besides, I'm not in the mood to talk with him after what he pulled on me my friends."
Griffon's eyes drew to be a dull shade. He looked at Natsu with a less than amused expression. It looked like he was catching on, but he seemed to be seething with anger about something, something that was making the hair on his flesh prickle.
Natsu smirked maliciously. "Let's see how you handle a little noise being made! Alright Charmander, use Growl!" The Fire-type did as commanded and opened his mouth, exerting a loud shriek that sent distorting waves out. They passed Griffon as he covered his ears, lowering his offensive power some.
He managed to keep one eye open as he leered at ahead, smirking. "That's some noise you're making!" he shouted. "Let's shut you up then!" From his fingers once more, thick, shredding wire was whipped ahead.
Natsu smirked as he had his own idea come up.
Charmander finished his attack and backed off, allowing Natsu to step in front and light up in a searing cloak of fire. The bright flames were deep and pulsating. As the wires closed in, the heat from Natsu's flames weren't fazing them. But the filament they were covered in was completely shimmering the flame's light everywhere. The light reflected into Griffon, forcing him to cover up.
As the light from Natsu's flame remained bright, Gajeel took a big breath with his mouth open wide. "Iron Dragon's Roar!" He opened wide, unleashing a turbulence of silver and gray ahead at Griffon.
The Wire Mage opened an eye and turned to see and expanding dark turbulence heading right for him. He narrowed his vision and swiped his arms to make wires cross. The roar, however, continued its course through, swallowing up and devastating the alley. Dust, debris, and a massive cloud shot straight out and into the open street. The dust went far out into the water as well.
On the very edge as dust cleared, Griffon was hanging by a few fingers physically to the very border of the dock. He was just a few feet above the ocean water, where he would've taken a serious plunge. "D-damn…" he grunted painfully as he tried to get up. Though weak, he was able to turn on his hip and huff.
He caught his breath, battered, scraped, and his clothing and cloak all torn up. Ahead, as dust cleared, Natsu and Gajeel looked ahead with smirks.
"Not bad, huh?" Natsu teased.
"Can't believe the guy actually held on. Didn't think his wire would loosen the blow." Gajeel balled his fists. "So, who gets dibs now?"
Griffon smirked. "Still me."
"Huh…?" Gajeel was in the midst of questioning when he felt something crawling beneath his skin. He looked down at his chest, where he felt what seemed like worms underneath the surface. What he saw instead, was that it wasn't worms…but threads.
Natsu went wide-eyed. "Gajeel!"
Gajeel couldn't feel himself move. The wires that were inside him were worming around his muscles, making it hard to move at the moment. "What the…hell?" He could feel the pain flare as he tried to move, but it was easier said than done. In fact, across his chest, he could actually see vein-like threads travel. His eyes were wide with slight twitching. "When did this happen…?" he strained.
"Those…?" Griffon panted as he slumped to his feet at long last, albeit hunched. He wiped the blood off his lip with his sleeve. "Guess you don't have sharp eyes then, huh? Those wires weren't made just to block. They were made so they could travel along your little blast you gave me, leading right back to sender."
Natsu looked back t Gajeel with a gasp.
Griffon tightened the grip on his wires. "Thought I wasn't that crafty, huh? These wires are tough; even if you can cut them with your body, that's not to say the rest of your insides are mush. Once they get around your heart, it's game over."
"Gajeel!"
Gajeel couldn't move. He was completely immobilized. Natsu would've moved to get him free, but the threads were sharp, and were fireproof. All he did was glare daggers as he was letting another friend of his take blunts because of his incompetence. He was starting to feel his blood boil as his fangs showed. He seethed daggers at Griffon. His onyx eyes sharp as knives.
Inside of Gajeel, the strings were loosely tangling around his insides, especially around his heart. He could feel it. He looked ahead in shock as he saw Griffon reel his arm back, slowly tightening.
"Now…" he flung his arm back. "Surgeon Strangle!"
The wires finally tightened, making a loud snap sound echo through the alley.
Levy gasped. She felt something in her stomach that hurt, forcing her to turn towards the city.
"Levy?" Pantherlily asked. "You okay?"
Levy kept looking out, her brown eyes never leaving the city. She didn't know for certain, but she felt it deep down something went wrong. She looked back at the pier, watching the half-moon hang over the sea and shine its radiance down upon it.
"It's nothing."
Gajeel was stiff as a board. A silence fell all throughout the atmosphere as a small, subtle wind blew. Natsu was completely silent with surprise, as to where Griffon grinned with satisfaction. Charmander and Aron both looked back, eyes wide in horror at what they were seeing; Aron especially was flabbergasted.
"No…"
Griffon scoffed. "Sorry, pal…it's just the way the world is."
Ny second now, Gajeel's body would fall to the ground, dead. His eyes were wide still from the shock he felt, but as time went on, nothing happened…until he smirked.
"Nice try."
Griffon gasped in dumbfound disbelief. Aron and Charmander gasped as well.
"He…didn't choke?" Charmander questioned.
"G-guess not…" Aron muttered.
Griffon stumbled backwards, almost falling off the border. He looked at Gajeel with utter shock. "B-but how?!"
The Iron Dragon Slayer never lost his smirk. "Guess no one told you…" With one twitch of his entire body, the threads attached to him completely shattered. The veins all inside could feel themselves getting absorbed into his metallic form. "I'm not called 'Black Steel Gajeel' for any dumb reason you know, my guts are made of iron!"
Griffon was at a loss for words. He couldn't believe his trump card completely failed him. He was always able to beat soldiers in any ways this way, even fully armored ones. They would get in the tiniest strands and get through fabric, but not this time. His wires could stand heat, but not iron. That was the flaw, nd now he was gonna pay.
Natsu's surprised turned into a smirk. "…heh, you almost had me worried there."
Gajeel stood his ground. "Wanna finish this?"
"Yeah, lets." He reached out first. "Charmander, Ember!"
"Aron, Mud-Slap!"
Charmander opened his mouth and fired a blanket of orange sparks, whereas Aron stomped his stubby feet into the ground and summoned a thin stream of mud that traveled with the other attack.
Due to shock, Griffon could only think so fast. In a hurry, he made the same X with many threads to slice up the attacks. As they closed in, however, the sparks and the mud only slipped right through. 'Oh no, my wires can cut pressure and solid, but soft stuff-!' Before he knew it, mud and sparks splattered his face. He recoiled away as the searing embers and brown mud stained his vision. He screamed out in pain and held onto his face, wailing on the spot.
As he was wailing, everyone saw the opening they were looking for.
Gajeel looked at Natsu with a smirk. "He's all yours."
The Dragon Slayer was too humbled for words. "Thanks." He faced forward and readied himself. His feet shot fire that burst beneath, shooting him like a high-speed rocket at Griffon. He zipped pass Charmander and Aron, who flinched as Natsu passed them in a streaming fire jet.
Griffon was wiping mud from his eyes when he felt a strong heat signature resonating from close by. She turned forward, but was too late when something hot and fast furiously began to beat into him.
"Crimson Lotus: Fire Dragon's Fist!"
Flames enveloped in flames, Natsu was punching with no end in sight. One furious punch across the face lead to another to the chest. And to the chin, to the face, to everywhere along the upper body. As the punches flared, harsh flames expelled everywhere, heated shockwaves pulsating everywhere as the flames smashed and broke the ground beneath, one whiplash at a time.
"This one's for Happy, and Carla! And this one's for my arm! And this one's for all the Pokémon you stole!" Natsu was listing off everything that he could possibly know and judge while flaming bullets bombarded Griffon as he was in midair. His body a loose ragdoll that was flimsily flailing with every punch, until Natsu let loose one final uppercut into the jaw. The guy went sailing skywards, leaving the air around him to shift with his scarf.
"Oh wow! That was awesome!" Charmander awed his Trainer's power, deeply impressed.
"Is that guy that crazy all the time?" Aron asked Gajeel, completely eying Natsu with awe.
The fellow dragon smirked. "Believe me, he's usually worse."
Natsu kept his back turned as the residual flames around him dissipated. Falling from above was Griffon, slamming on his back hard with a grueling thud. Natsu kept his back turned to the tattered and scorched Wire Mage, whose eyes were white blurry marbles. "You remember what you said before, about fates worse than death?"
The man was unable to respond, but Natsu went on anyway with a shadow over his face as he stared out at the half-moon.
"Well there is…it's called living with burdens you need to accept. And if you can't do that, consider yourself worse than scum until someone beats it into ya."
Along the darkened street, it was all bare, with nothing but darkness casting its presence upon everything around. On the occasion, blue and teal lights flashed, igniting the darkness like fireworks every few seconds.
Vanessa reached her arms out, creating a concentrated sphere of aura in front of her palms. "Trace Shot!" She fired the blast dead ahead, beaming at Orion, who didn't bother dodging. Instead, his fist ignited in dark energy and he punched into the attack, dissipating it like vapor.
With the opening, Gray got above in a dark shadow, crossing his arms as large masses of ice started to form.
"Ice Bringer!"
He tried passing Orion like he always did when he used the attack. In fact, upon contact, Orion's forearms were covered in ice. He slid back with Gray's intense force driving him away, but he persevered. As he slowed to a stop, he turned to make the underside of his forearms face the blades of ice and he grabbed them. He thrust forward, crossing his arms and shattering the ice to pieces.
Gray looked shocked, which was the opening Orion needed. With a single dark stare from his eyes, he had Gray fixated as he brought his dark-coated fist back. "Dark Devil's Fist Driver!" He punched forward, enveloping Gray in a prolonged blast of sheer dark energy that made the ground beneath shake and depreciate. It broke about as the bema traveled across the ground, sending Gray screaming back from the fist end.
"Gray!" Vanessa watched as the attack take up everything before her. The street was nothing by a compressed trail that was broad once the beam dissipated. Gray was sent sailing back, in which she used her aura to reached out and grab him. She gently sat him down on his back in front of her, his front body having some bruises and scrapes on it.
"Are you alright?" she called out.
Gray grunted as he slowly got up. "Gnnngh…" He wiped blood from his lip. "Don't worry…I've been hit harder." He soon stood on his feet, glaring back at Orion. 'But that guy sure packs a punch. Nic wasn't exaggerating when he was a physical fighter, and fighting long-range doesn't do much either. Just how the heck do we handle his Devil Slayer powers anyway?'
'It's almost midnight. I have to hurry and deal with these two before time runs out.' Orion figured.
Vanessa turned towards Gray. "Gray…"
"Yeah, I know. I heard it, too." He answered. "Nic's got what we needed. Let's just finish up with this guy and be done with this."
Before he could find answers to these questions, Orion's two fists were enveloped in dark wavy energy. He eyed them carefully as he crossed his fists in front of the other before he swung them in opposite arcs.
"Dark Devil's Wave!"
An expanding shockwave of darkness expelled from his arms swinging. The two crescents soon became one giant wave of darkness. It traveled like an actual plume from a Lava Plume forwards, disintegrating dirt and debris that it came in contact with. As it closed in, Gray and Vanessa both got misty ice and teal ready.
"Ice-Make: Rampart!"
"Aura Guard!"
A large glacier of ice formed in front of Gray and Vanessa. In front of that, a large veil of aura acted as a safeguard. The massive shockwave of darkness soon reached Vanessa's veil, in which it struggled to break through. There was a short-term stalemate before both attacks collapsed, creating massive tremor that shook the ground with smoke bellowing up over the rampart of ice.
"Think that stopped him?" Gray figured.
Vanessa narrowed her eyes next. She could feel an immense about of Magic Power coming from the other side. She knew the answer to that question already.
Waves of darkness went through the ice in front of Gray before they all suddenly crumbled to bits. Gray was petrified in shock and began to fall backwards as Orion went through the wall with one dark-coated fist. His glare was ever so serious, and his frown made it almost impossible to tell what emotion he was making. It was like looking into someone who knew death and battle that coincided with the middle.
As time sped up again, the ice dissipated as Orion punched with his other arm, but Gray caught himself and jumped backwards to avoid the menacing blow. Its destructive gusts and rock picked up about and disintegrated around Orion as he slowly picked himself up and glared ahead.
The two readied again as Orion eyed them.
"Is there a reason why you want to fight me specifically?" he asked.
The question towards Gray, the Ice-Make Mage glared ahead. "What gives you that idea?"
"I can see it in your eyes. They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul, no matter how small that window is. And what I see is someone who's looking for questions."
Vanessa looked towards Gray, picking up on his aura change. It was getting…remorseful.
"How do you know that's what my eyes say."
"Because it's a power we Devil Slayers have." Orion explained. "Pain. Hatred. Despair. Anguish. You can know a lot from hearing from just the mouth, but the eyes are another story. While I heard you Dragon Slayers have heightened sense of hearing and smell, we Devil Slayers have a more spiritual boundary we are able to cross."
"What's that mean?"
"It means I can tell what's in your soul. Your heart is saying the job's important, but you also want to know something more from me personally. That's what I can read."
A looming silence fell between the trio. Vanessa offered no input as Gray stared cold daggers at Orion. His magic was cold, but his stare was chilling. Just looking at them would make anyone freeze on the spot. But Orion wasn't just anyone. It looked like he was pitying Gray more.
"Alright then…" Gray took another stance, fists to the side as he tried to gather energy up. The energy, however, shifted into something that had an odd feeling that Orion could pick up on.
'What?'
As Gray was trying to take a breath, he was doing his breath to suck in as much air as Natsu. He was going to try again. As his lungs and the cold vapor inside were starting to mix, he was starting to flash again. He saw a grizzly figure that was himself when he fought Nic and E.N.D. That memory froze him on the spot, leaving him to hesitate.
"Gray!"
The shout came just in time as Gray snapped back to notice Vanessa moving in front in time to put up another Aura Guard, blocking the sudden punch from Orion out of nowhere. The whole wall shuddered as a shockwave pulsated outwards.
"Vanessa!" he exclaimed.
Vanessa was able to hold her ground for a moment, until she and Orion were finally able to cancel the other out. They both withdrew their shields and fists and jumped back several feet from the other. Vanessa stood besides Gray as he seemed distraught.
"Vanessa…thanks for that." He looked at her with a frown, but truthfully he was cursing himself for hesitating. He looked back ahead to face the fellow Devil Slayer. 'What was I thinking? Of course that wouldn't work. Not right now at least, after…'
Once again, a grizzly image came inside his head, the part where Nic in Giratina Form tore through Gray and E.N.D's demonic spirits. He could still feel the sting to this day.
Vanessa looked forward, choosing to stay on task. She knew what Gray was thinking and felt, and she really did feel sorry for him, but that wasn't a problem she could solve. Regret was a strong aura she could see clearly.
Orion looked at Gray and reaffirmed his posture. 'That power shift I sensed just now. It can't be, can it?' He could feel the swell of regret in his eyes, deep, deep down in the abyss. There he could feel it. "That magic you tried to use…I see…so you're a Devil Slayer s well then."
Gray didn't respond immediately. "…you can say that."
Vanessa reached for the belt on her side and pulled out a Poke Ball. She expanded a Poke Ball and tossed it up. "Let's go, Mawile!"
Gray shifted his motives; he chose to follow Vanessa's led. "Let's show this guy even more new tricks that can work." He threw his Poke Ball next.
Popping out in front of them both were Mawile, who looked ahead casually while Snover appeared right beside her.
"Alright, guess the big girl needs a helping hand." She sighed.
"Right! Let's show this guy some manners!" Having a confidence spree, Snover curled up some before his body expelled a brief mist. The mist dissipated quickly, but above, small pelts of hail started to rain down on everyone, his Snow Warning Ability kicking in.
"Ow!" Mawile nudged her right wrist. "Hey, watch it!"
Snover sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Oh, uh, s-sorry."
"Right, I forgot Snover's Ability was that." Gray said. "So this hail doesn't affect Ice-types?" he asked Vanessa.
The Aura Mage nodded. "Yes, but every other type is affected."
"Got it."
As they were going over the basis of coordination, Orion was glaring at the Pokémon he was facing, while staring at Gray at the same time. He knew he was going to be different, but he didn't think it would be that different. Fighting another Pularis was one thing, but a Devil Slayer in question was a whole other story. He wasn't sure how to feel, but what he did know was that he wasn't going to let this slide.
"I see you're getting serious if you're bringing in more allies then. Very well…"
The pressure around them all began to change once more. Mawile looked up and about while Snover seemed confused and unnerved. Gray and Vanessa could feel a strong energy shift from Orion as the dark wavy purple energy formed around his fists again. Only this time, it looked like they were condensing.
Gray began to take a step back. "This power…"
Vanessa offered no input as the aura around Orion was starting to exert even more pressure.
The dark mist that was beginning to rise from the wavy energy was beginning to fume. When he snapped his arms, both changed completely with the energy around them, transforming into large, ridged gauntlets with spiked knuckles and deep claws. The clothing remained the same, but his eyes were turning yellow as a dark, negative energy field enveloped his body. All that could be seen now…was black mist from a dark silhouette with yellow eyes with dark purple glowing accents all over the clothes and body. He almost looked like a cross between a shadow and Acnologia one might say from the radiant dark force that was pulsating, making everyone stumble back a foot.
"Then let me show you what a true Devil Slayer can do!"
A few moments later, the entire block was engulfed in a ground-shaking eruption of darkness that spread through alleys and up like an inferno.
Close by, as darkness erupted in a catastrophic manner everywhere else, it only reached so far to streets, but the open alley intersection where Duncan was fighting Broly was still staff. He reached out, his Torterra once again responding with another Leaf Storm attack.
"Wanna fight some more?" Broly reached his arm out, creating another barrier. Same as before, the Grass-type attack crashed into the shield, only to pulsate in other directions. Its shockwaves made large debris around them slice up to smaller chunks, but otherwise nothing more.
Duncan gripped his kendo stick tighter as he opted to attack. His Torterra ceased his offense and backed down, leaving room for Duncan to make way through the debris and lunge ahead with his stick stretched out to give a good whacking.
"Child's play." Broly teased.
Duncan quickly closed the gap and was seen crouching. He quickly jumped up, ready to swing down on the shield. Broly thrust forward, expanding the radius of the dome around his body to jut Duncan. The man went flying backwards, soaring into a tumble in front of Torterra. He rebound easily and rolled, stopping with little damage.
"You guys sure do seem to pack quite a bit of power on ya. I am impressed." Broly reached his right arm around. "But alas…"
The shield around him vanished, instead surrounding Duncan and Torterra. Both Trainer and Pokémon looked up and around, finding their space raptured in a dome. It closed them in on all sides, leaving no way for them to move about and around.
Broly turned away, grinning ever so casually. "Sorry, but I've got a rendezvous. Hope you can understand."
He began walking away, leaving Duncan and Torterra behind. "Wait a sec." Duncan called out.
Broly stopped in his tracks, still facing an open alley between two dumpsters far away from each other. "Don't worry, the barrier won't hold forever. If you send that bird again, I'll have to defend myself somehow."
"Not, that's not it."
Broly looked back over his shoulder. "Huh?"
To a surprising twist, Duncan wasn't seen with his frown. Instead, he was seen with a half-grin instead. "That's not what I meant." He corrected. "I just hope that you understand."
"What?" Broly turned around, facing his captive with a battle-ready posture.
A moment passed, leaving nothing to happen. Soon enough, Duncan finally smirked.
"Now!"
The two dumpster lids finally sprung open, Joey and Dereece popping out with loud battle cries like Vigoroth.
Broly looked shocked. "What the-?!"
"YAAAAH!" Joey screeched, holding tomatoes in hand.
"HAAAAH!" Dereece roared in the other dumpster.
Both them, Chespin, and Heracross were all holding tomatoes in hand as they all roared out. What was surprising was how all four had warpaint on their faces, most notably the black marks on their cheeks. Joey and Dereece had wide eyes with red cracks, showing their insanity. All at once, they started the first throws, sending ripe, mushy tomatoes at Broly. They splattered on his face, making him wince with red on the face.
"Incoming~!" The Barrier-Make Mage cried as tomatoes went at him.
Tomatoes were fired over and over again, with no end in sight as Chespin and Heracross helped with claws and vines lobbing tomatoes. Broly had no choice but to put up another barrier around himself, the same dome kind that now vanished around Duncan and Torterra.
Joey roared outs he somersaulted out the dumpster to bunker behind a piece of debris, where he threw more tomatoes to one side of the barrier. It got splattered with tomato paste all over.
Dereece hopped out and army crawled across the debris field. Once he reached a piece of debris, he popped out and unleashed another lob of tomatoes, splattering the opposite side of the barrier Broly used.
At one point, Joey and Chespin let out cries as they ran across the debris field, lobbing tomatoes to cover the front of the barrier. What was seen next was Heracross using his muscles and carrying Dereece overhead like a plane, where he opened his vest and arms to drop tomatoes above like bombs. At another point, Joey bit into the top of a tomato and pulled the stem out. He threw it like a grenade, where he winced as it exploded paste over the barrier's vision. Nonstop, just nonstop, it was relentless tomato after another, and red covered the barrier and Broly inside.
"ALALALALALA!" Joey and Dereece hollered as they exchanged tomatoes. They roared out like monkeys as parries of tomato went everywhere.
All while Duncan and Torterra watched with blank expressions in the middle.
Finally, after several minutes of possibly a world record tomato pasting, red was splattered everywhere like blood on a battlefield. The entire barrier surrounding Broly was pure red, making it impossible to see from inside and outside. They all emerged from the debris Duncan set up, looking at their holy site with admiration.
"Well…I can't believe that actually worked." Dereece huffed, catching his breath.
Joey panted as well. "See? You can't…beat what you can't…see."
Duncan looked beside his Torterra, showing no signs of impression. "Well that had to be the biggest blunder I've ever seen."
Joey gave a thumbs up. "Thanks again for being the bait, Duncan. Setting up that debris meant big time!"
"Whatever."
Dereece shook his head. "Well I'm still shocked we did this all with just tomatoes."
"Hey, how do you think we won that cafeteria fight back when we were freshmen?" Joey pondered. "We were the Cafeterian Warheads. Ha!" He sighed greatly for the good old days. "I still remember doing that every Tuesday before they took it off the menu. Good times, good times."
"And I remember telling you that 'Cafeterian' isn't a real word."
Duncan stepped in between. "So then we just get him when that barrier lifts, right?"
Joey nodded. "Right." He faced forward, with him and The Freaks waiting for their next point of entry to show itself.
Time passed, eventually minutes, but soon enough, the barrier's underside lifted. Just that small window was key.
"Now Chespin, use Vine Whip!" Joey called out.
Chespin extended his green vines once more. They all stretched far and low, reaching the barrier's fading bottom. As it lifted, allowing tomatoes and paste to fall over Broly, the Barrier-Make Mage's feet were tied by sudden vines. He looked down, shocked.
"ATTACK!" Joey demanded.
Dereece dug in his heels and cried out as he went at Broly with all he had, charging in a sprint. Duncan followed, him getting his kendo stick ready again. They both closed in, but once again, Broly created a large barrier in front, blocking Dereece and Duncan's attacks, making the former fall on his back.
"Okay, first you dump tomatoes all over me, now you have the nerve to pull this?!" Broly angrily shouted.
Joey swiped his arm. "You bet your ass! Chespin, throw him!"
"O~key-dokey!" The tiny Grass-type pivoted on his two feet, dragging the vines around Broly's ankles to make the man follow. The shocked individual's barrier went down as he was dragged along the ground, where he was yanked occasionally.
"Hey! Ah! This isn't…RI~GHT!" he roared out as Chespin made one final pivot, sending him skywards.
He went to a decent height, where he was in midair and looking flipped out, literally.
Duncan glared up. "Now Honchkrow, use Dark Pulse!"
Honchkrow finally took action above, spreading himself out and opening his mouth. "Alright…you're done!" From his mouth, an intense blast of dark rings with purple outlines shot down at Broly. But Broly was ready for it.
The man straightened himself out, facing Honchkrow above him and created a turquoise shield in the shape of a circle. It took the Dark Pulse, not bouncing off at all. "You think it's gonna be that easy?!" he roared. "Ain't no way my spirit done yet!"
Beneath, Chespin shot his vines up, stretching them as far and high as he could to where they were closing in beneath. They were so close, but the barrier suddenly extended beneath in an arch, making a huge U to stop Honchkrow and Chespin's attacks.
"Huh?" Chespin gasped.
Broly looked down over his shoulder, grinning. "Don't think that it's gonna be that easy. I may be covered in tomatoes, but I'm not totally blind!"
Dereece looked up with shock. "Man, he's still so sharp!"
"We need to advert his attention above!" Duncan exclaimed.
Joey had to find a way. There had to be done somewhere, right? At any second, he could turn the U into a hamster ball for all he knew to cushion his current fall. But he had to think.
That's when a coo got his attention.
Looking up, he saw that beside Honchkrow, Pidove was still flying in circles, doing it over, and over, and over, and over; all because Joey didn't tell him to do anything yet. But in his tiny claws, he could see it. He could see that he had a tomato in hand…oddly enough. Instantly an idea sprung forth. "Pidove! Attack with the tomato!" he ordered.
"I shall obey!" Pidove aimed down at the barrier before him and looked at Broly. The Tiny Pigeon Pokémon let loose all his efforts and flung the tomato down at the barrier. As it traveled, his wings glowed, unleashing a Gust at the tomato. The winds splattered to tomato into paste, raining down and spewing its ripe chunks all over Broly's barrier, with more coming from the sides.
'Crap, they still had one trick left!' As tomato was getting into his eyes, Broly had no choice but to focus on shielding the front. The radius was so large that it was like a massive umbrella that covered in red as he drew closer to the ground. Broly grunted at the folly made once again, but it was too late.
"Now!" Joey roared.
"Torterra, Stone Edge!" Duncan ordered.
Torterra got on his hind legs one more time, where he grunted loud and slammed his front feet into the earth. As the earth trembled, the ground broke with massive pillars of rocks shooting up in linear fashion to where Broly was falling. When Broly finally got to a certain point, the last rock shot up, making him go wide-eyed as he looked over his shoulder, his eyes reflecting the spike on the end.
When his armored back made contact with it, he screamed out in pain as an eruption of stone and dust exploded. It made the ground quake again, exploding with rock and debris everywhere.
The impact didn't stab Broly through, but the shock made him limp as he jutted in the air a few feet above.
Dereece pointed t him. "Quick, Heracross! Horn Attack!"
It was Heracross' turn as he lunged from Dereece's side with a glowing horn. "Alright…" He took off in a hurried flight, making way towards the midair man. "Let's finish this! HRAH!"
With one massive thrust of his horn, Heracross made full contact with Broly's abdomen, making a small airwave upon impact. The massive blow shot him back, screaming as he flew far and back towards the dumpster Dereece came out of.
"AH~!" Broly flew all the way out, crashing into the open lid of the dumpster. He bounced right off with a shock running through his body, falling head first as the lid shut on him. In fact, the blow and his weight was so much that the dumpster fell forward, making a loud bang as the Barrier-Make Mage slid out like someone's lunch.
He laid in waste, trash, and especially tomatoes on the ground. With him not moving, it was score one for The Freaks.
"SCORE!" Joey wailed. "We did it! We finally pulled it off!"
"Yeah we…we actually did it." Dereece responded, very surprised that they actually won.
"Well chock this up on our resumé! Hahahaha!"
Chespin jumped and cheered in joy, whereas Pidove descended and gave proud coos beside him. Heracross looked equally as pleased with the rest of the group, standing right behind them.
As they celebrated, Duncan turned towards his Torterra, who looked towards him. "Good enough, for now." He looked unamused as ever as he recalled his Torterra back to his Poke Ball.
Joey smiled ever so proudly. "Man I can't wait! I bet Nic-senpai and Erza-senpai are gonna be so happy with me!" Joey's face grew to be dumbfounded as sparkles took up his gaze. He smiled up above, imagining Nic and Erza with smiles of approval with thumbs up. And then Vanessa would be there to give him a huge band and a tiara on his head, where he would stand atop a stage with Dereece and Duncan looking blank at him as he looked like he won a beauty pageant than praise itself.
"Seriously?" Dereece asked, having been roped into his delusions.
A cough from afar got their attention. They all stopped their mini celebration as a croaky voice coughed up.
"Not bad…" They all looked towards the dumpsters, more specifically at Broly, who was coming around. He seemed to be grinning despite the setback he suffered. "…for rookies."
Joey was taken back by his compliment. "Oh, uh, thanks…I guess?"
"Never thought I'd be handed to by a bunch of tomatoes. One would've guessed Nullification Magic, or maybe an attack from underground…never in my wildest dreams would I have guessed my match would be a tomato pasting."
"Trust me, pal, no one would." Dereece nudged towards Joey. "Take every little thought that's big and crazy with no hopes of acceptation from anyone, and shove it all in one brain."
Joey beamed with pride. "Told you my plan was foolproof."
Broly chuckled meekly. "Well I'll be damned. I knew something was odd about you when we met last time." A small pause fell before he spoke again. "Tell me, were you serious?"
Joey was taken back. "Uh, y-yeah…"
Broly lowered his head. "I see…guess you guys were lucky to have fought someone like me who knows how to take a beating."
Chespin's eyes widened. "Wait, you mean you can still…!"
Duncan took a few steps beside everyone and whipped out his kendo stick again. "Should I beat him until he can't move?"
Broly shrugged. "That's what any desperate man would do at a time like this. I don't blame ya." A soft smile came across his face, looking down at the ground where he laid. "Sometimes, the best lessons are learned through the toughest defeats."
Joey stepped in front of Duncan, moving his arm in front to keep him from going on Broly. The Freaks having won for once against a skilled opponent was impressive, but alas, they had important business.
"So what do we do now, Captain?" Dereece inquired. "Do we just leave him here?"
Joey put a hand to his chin, trying to think od what he could do.
Duncan shrugged once again. "Well I say we better get moving. The guy isn't budging, so why bother?"
"I know that, but we can't just leave him here!"
"And I don't see a reason to worry when we have more important problems."
Joey sheepishly scratched his head as he tried to think of what to do. As he seemed strained, he was thinking critically, until at last he got something. He faced the two, who looked to be on the verge of an argument that might go to Duncan's favor. "Guys, you guys just go on ahead. I'll…catch up in a minute."
The others looked at him in shock. "You sure, Captain?" Dereece asked.
Joey nodded. "Yeah, yeah. Just, uh, tell everyone I had to tie this guy up. I gotta take a minute."
Dereece and Duncan looked at each other with wonder, but they mainly dismissed it. With another shrug, Duncan called Honchkrow, who sailed overhead towards the direction they were going. They began to walk that way, with Heracross returning to his Poke Ball before Dereece looked back at Joey one more time, before at long last, he chose to leave Joey.
With them gone, Chespin looked up towards Joey worriedly, while Pidove dumbly blinked. They both followed Joey as he walked up towards Broly, looking down at him with a frown.
A short silence fell between the two before Joey finally broke it. "Sorry about all this. Didn't mean to have to do this to you."
Broly looked away with a cool smile. "Don't beat yourself up over this, kid. You won fair and square." He looked back at him. "But tell me something."
"What?"
"Did you and your friends really have magic on your side?"
It took another moment for Joey to respond. He looked away sheepishly as he rubbed his arm, pink in his cheeks as embarrassment took over. "Er…well we…uh…"
Broly understood. "I getcha." He began to snicker low, in which it began to grow into a small chuckle, which volumized to a loud laughter. The laughing made Joey look at Chespin and Pidove, who seemed surprised by this change of pace. They looked back at him, who finished his laughter. "To think I'd be handed by you guys, it's believable!" he laughed uproariously again.
Joey sweat dropped. "Well, when you put it that way, I…I guess you're right." He nervously laughed along with him, thinking it would be polite.
"So tell me something. If you don't have magic yet, what other skills can you do?"
Joey put a hand to his chin, raising a brow as he looked up. "Hmm, well, how should I say this? I'm the greatest dancer in the history of my schooling career…I have a great fashion sense! Amazing at interior design, as by Dereece said. Bake awesome brownies and cupcakes. Played Pokémon since I was 7. Been dancing since I was 6. Dress in drag. What else do I do time to time?"
"Dress in drag?" Broly repeated.
Joey shrugged. "Yeah, my mom's this big fashion star and she makes me try all these things. Guess I just got used to it." He smiled. "I even went trick-or-treating one year as the tooth fairy in pink."
Broly laughed again. "You're a strange guy indeed." He complimented. "You know this world can use guys like you who can keep everyone guessing. It would make the world a much happier place that way."
Joey gave a toothy smile as he eyed Broly with admiration. "Thanks. So…do I still have to tie you up or something?"
Broly soon groaned, slowly sitting up cross-legged in the trash. "Nah, I ain't going anywhere. You guys pretty much know what we're doing, and knowing you already beat everyone else, that doesn't leave much for me to do. Better go, before I change my mind."
Joey turned away. "Thanks." Before he took off, he looked towards Broly again. "…you know what, you're a really cool dude."
Broly scoffed lightly. "Joey, was it?"
"Hm?"
"Remember what I said last night about mercy. When you get into a serious fight, you need to save your breath…because if you really want to praise your opponent, do it when they care. Otherwise, your guard will be as dead as you."
Joey was surprised at Broly once more. It was kind of right of what he was saying. If he really was facing some sort of demon dragon creature like Nic did, he wouldn't be praising it while he would be clawed to pieces. It wasn't that he understood now, but in due time, he might need this information. With one more look at Chespin and Pidove, they all looked affirmative before they all turned and retreated with The Freaks.
"Pidove, help me catch up to them!" Joey called out.
"I shall obey!" Pidove cried.
As they went off, Broly grinned at Joey, watching his back fade into the abandoned streets that lead to the pier. 'That kid's got a long way to go…but who knows? Maybe he really does have what it takes to handle the cold of the real world.'
Erza and Sophie limped down the street overlooking the pier. They looked ahead with vigilance as they knew they had to get to the docks. However, up ahead, someone appeared out of the alley.
"Is that who I think it is?" Sophie inquired.
Erza could feel a bright smile on her face. 'Thank goodness.' She called out to the person. "Nic!"
Hearing his name called, Nic turned to his right. There, he was seeing a familiar blonde and a redheaded girl that was making his heartrate suddenly skip a beat. "Erza! Sophie!"
The group all converged together. They met up and inspected the other. Erza looked at Nic with slight worry.
"Are you hurt?"
"No, I'm just fine. I could be asking you the same thing." He looked towards Sophie, seeing her bruised leg. "Sophie…"
The blonde had one eye open and smiled. "It's nothing. That girl just found an opening. I was careless."
"Stay still, I can heal you." Nic glowed on the spot, becoming his Mind Form once more. He knelt to Sophie's thick thigh and reached out. There, he began to put his hands together and opened them out to released wavy pink ripples, via Heal Pulse. The move was like the greatest soothsayer one could say as Sophie's bruise began to slowly fade as the sparkles covered it. It was slowly fading, leaving Sophie relieved.
The blonde sighed heavily in relief. "Thank you, Nic. That feels so much better now."
Nic got up, looking at them both with a more serious expression. "So then you took care of that Take-Over woman then?"
Erza smirked. "She was much tougher than we expected, but we were able to nonetheless. I take it you did your part considering the voice inside our heads."
Nic flashed his own smirk. "You sure that wasn't gut instinct telling you?"
"If my stomach had your voice, then yes."
Sophie rolled her eyes as she stood on her own. "Alright lovebirds, save the cooties for your bedroom or bathroom or wherever."
Nic and Erza both had small blushes on their cheeks, Erza more so as Nic looked away sheepishly. Sophie only served to chuckle some more.
"Looks like we weren't the only ones." A familiar voice came from behind. They turned around, seeing Natsu and Gajeel both walking up to them. "Yo."
"Natsu." Erza said.
"That means you did your part then. That's good." Sophie said, turning towards Nic. "That just leaves Lucy's group, Joey and The Freaks, and Vanessa's."
Nic nodded. "Yeah, let me check." Using his Mind Form's powers again, he looked up towards the sky as he created another telepathic link. 'Guys, is everything okay?' he asked.
'Huh? Nic?' Lucy answered.
'You again?' Klefki inquired. She was shushed by Lucy immediately for her rudeness.
'Yeah, it's me. I wrapped up on my part. I met Erza and Natsu's parties. We got three so far dealt with. What about you guys?'
'We were able to beat that woman with the gum.' Juvia answered as she hurried with her group while taking a left down an alley.
'Yeah, she was really strong.' Wendy answered.
'I wouldn't say that. More like crafty.' Carla interpreted. 'So what do we have then?'
'Don't worry, we're coming!' On the connection, they could hear Dereece's panting as he ran behind Duncan.
"Hang on…Dereece?" Natsu inquired. "Where'd you come from?"
'Long story, but hey, listen! We finally stopped that Barrier-Make guy!' he sounded so happy at it, even making a small giddy chuckle that everyone could hear.
Ahead, Duncan kept running. 'We're coming up to the pier as quick as we can. Our so-called Captain is just finishing up on that fry we had to beat.'
"I see." Nic grinned. "Good job, guys. So from the way it sounds, it just leaves Gray and Vanessa then, right?"
'Hope they're okay.' Wendy worried.
'Yeah, I can't help but worry about them.' Lucy admitted. 'I know they're strong, but wasn't their opponent a Devil Slayer?'
'…now that I think about it, these Devil Slayers are still something I'm trying to figure out myself.' Gajeel added in. 'There's us Dragon Slayers, right? Well where did these guys show up?'
'Yeah, and where they get their powers anyway?' Natsu inquired.
Before they could inquire any further, they heard a small explosion from far in to the city. Those possible looked out, seeing a pillar of darkness and Magic Power erupt. Even from their respective distance, everyone running along were seeing the pillar of darkness. Juvia stopped for a moment and turned towards the pillar, her heart racing as she looked on with worry.
'Gray…'
Another voluminous shockwave of dark energy shot Gray and the rest flying back. They all landed on their backs, a shock rendering them stiff for a moment before pain flared all over their bodies. They were laying around while Orion was seen in his altered form, a malicious aura still enveloping him.
"Is that all?"
Gray winced as he slouched up. He swiped his arm, sending a linear wave of large spiky ice across the ground like a Stone Edge. But when it closed in, Orion's silhouette raised its foot and kicked, sending an equally powerful shock rippling through the ground like an Earthquake in return. The ground beneath depressed while the closing ice abruptly shattered to fragments, leaving him unharmed.
"Man, you've gotta be kidding." Gray grunted. In the next instance, Orion suddenly appeared over him. "What the-?!" A foot stomped with incredible force on his chest, making an intense dark force depreciate the ground beneath Gray as he screamed in riling agony.
"Gray!" the wounded Vanessa shouted.
Gray gagged up blood as pain traveled from his possibly cracked sternum. It felt like a huge lead weight dropped and went through him, yet at the same time its weight was right there in the lungs. He could feel himself choke up a storm as Orion glowered over him, his dark field and grim silhouette over him.
"So you say you're a Devil Slayer, but all I feel is nothing but regret and guilt." He said. "If that's all that you feel, then you'll never unlock the true power of a Devil Slayer."
Gray was trying to find his way out of this one, but he just couldn't move. His tendons were shot from the shockwaves, and if he tried freezing him, his body would just break out. He was low on options at the moment, and the falling hail was only hindering his friends even more.
"N-no!" Snover cried out. In an act of instinct, his mouth grew bright blue. "Icy Wind!" He fired a cool, fast wind with blue sparkles in them. It coursed through the air and went towards Orion, who looked up and jumped to dodge.
Orion landed a few feet away, glaring at everyone else.
"Yeah, take that!" Snover shouted.
Nearby. Mawile was getting up with her Trainer, the Deceiver Pokémon looking unamused. "Well glad someone's enjoying themselves in this fight."
"He's a lot more powerful now than he was before." Vanessa evaluated. "Whatever he unleashed, his Devil Slayer powers look like they consumed him."
"So does that mean he's nuts?"
Vanessa narrowed her vision. "No, it's not like that. His aura isn't tainted. It's still the same hue, but it's all so controlled." She fell silent, looking at Orion the same way Nic used his Giratina Form a long time ago. 'Like he's one with darkness itself now.'
"I can see it as well." Orion told the Aura Mage. "You too have made peace with your own darkness in your heart. You stepped out of shadows and accepted them."
Vanessa glared at him, not showing any regret or defiance. "And you got that from seeing in my eyes as well then?"
"I have. We Devil Slayers can sense the negativity coming from one's heart. I don't say this often, but finding those like you are once in a blue moon."
"You're too kind." Vanessa brought her arms up, crossing them loosely. "Nugatory Burst!"
A strong signature came from beneath Orion. The man abruptly shot back to avoid the intense pillar of teal that shot up in his place. When he landed, he looked back to see Mawile lunging at him with an Iron Head. Her massive jaw-like horns were metallic, and she swung them overhead and down like a hammer, making contact with Orion's forearm. Despite the strength it had, it only made the airspace shudder between the two for a few moments before Orion used his other altered arm and grabbed Mawile's horns, where he pivoted and swung around to where he flung her away.
Snover looked ahead, unable to move from his own shock as Mawile slammed into him…again. They both fell over, with both groaning in pain. Mawile winced again from damage as hail kept falling.
Orion raised his fist and punched the ground again, creating a tremor as a linear, massive wave of sheer, pressurized darkness tore open the ground and closed in on Vanessa. As everything before her was perpetual darkness, the Aura Mage cloaked both hands in teal aura and gave a massive shout as she slammed her hands into the ground a few feet before the wave reached her. A massive pillar of teal and darkness swirled in a cyclone that tore through the atmosphere. Everything, from the nearby buildings to the streets, it was all enveloped in the quick burst of erupting energy. Gray covered up as the shockwaves were passing him. He was barely holding on as he found himself still sitting in shock with an arm over his face. Finally, he doubled over, landing on his stomach in pain.
As the bursts of energy pulsated all around, everything was nothing but a big blur. The ground was hardly visible, and the booming didn't recede. It was field like this that exemplified Gray's mind.
As he laid on the ground with one eye open, he wasn't able to move. To be more accurate, he didn't. Everything around him was ringing like a siren, and it didn't help to the constant flashing of images inside his mind. All he saw was E.N.D, Nic, and a lot of red. 'What am I doing?' He mentally cursed himself for the umpteenth time. 'What the heck is going on with me? I can do my regular spells just fine, but my Devil Slayer powers, they haven't…' Once more, the reminder of what he looked like when he gouged Nic made hi wince. 'Damnit!'
"If that's all that you feel, then you'll never unlock the true power of a Devil Slayer."
Gray had just remembered what Orion told him earlier about his powers, and it only fueled his wonders. 'What does he mean by that? Does he meant that my Devil Slayer powers work better when I am in a better mental condition? But how do I even…?'
"Gray!"
The shout of Vanessa snapped him out of it. He looked over, realizing the explosions were already over. Up ahead, Vanessa was on her bruised and scraped knees. She was panting profusely as she barely made it out of that shockwave with herself in tact. She looked like she wasn't getting up immediately.
"You just need to let go." She said in between breaths.
"Let go…?" he repeated. "But how do you expect me to?!"
"Because we did!"
Gray was caught shocked by Vanessa's snapping.
Orion suddenly appeared in front of the girl, holding a fist back. As he reeled forward, Mawile managed to jump in front in time and use Protect, creating a turquoise barrier that absorbed the impact. The impact's shock traveled around the barrier, again breaking the airspace and ground, but enough to where he was repulsed away this time. Mawile landed in front and lunged ahead to attack again.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about, Gray. How do you think Nic and I were able to survive?"
Gray knew what she was talking about. He looked down in regret. "And you expect me to just forgive myself for what I've done? It's complicated, alright?! What do you know anyway?!"
"I know it all!" Vanessa reached out and fired an Emanation Beam that darted for Orion. The man dodged left, and then leaned back to avoid Mawile's Iron Head. "We were there when it happened! Erza was there! Lucy was there! Even Juvia was there! We know what you did was wrong, but Nic has long since forgiven you!"
Gray continued looking away in regret. "…even after, he…"
"It's okay to embrace your darkness, we should know." Vanessa took a pause to look over her shoulder, staring at Gray with a distilled plea in her gaze. "Even now, you think light against darkness is the battle?"
"Well, no…"
"There's no true justice out there for any grave sin committed, but there is justice that you can do to make yourself move on. That's part of being human, not just a demon."
That was the reason. It had to be. On the outside this whole time, Gray was able to hold himself up. He was able to move on for the most part, and now he was – somewhat – moving forward with Juvia. He was able to make her happy, but every now and again, there was still that voice in his head that made his heart sink into regret. He didn't hate Nic or Natsu anymore, he couldn't even if he tried. In a way, it was his fault for getting blinded by his own demonic power handed by his father. He told Nic that he was the one who fell to darkness…when really it was he who was the one who did.
He was consumed by tribulation; a false belief was what drove Gray to insanity and into a demon as hypocritical as E.N.D was. He almost killed Nic, and act he could never truly forgive himself for. What was he even thinking? He just had to accept it, that's what Vanessa had to drill in. Even darkness can be good if used for right reasons.
He didn't want to be taken by the darkness again, never. He was guilty, and feared that using his powers again, history may repeat.
Feeling Gray's growing despair, Orion looked over and saw how immobile he was. Not bothering to allow his breath to be wasted, he shifted targets and lunge at Gray instead.
"Gray!" Vanessa warned.
Gray looked up, but it was too late. Orion reached and grabbed his throat, holding him against the ground with a dark yellow glare in his eyes. Gray was choking as he struggled to move off the ground.
Orion leaned in. "You fear the darkness will take over again. I can taste it in the air."
Gray struggled for words, but he was unable to speak as such, or offer any means of a retort.
"I my feel sympathy for a lot of people…but I can see the sins that you have committed. You've left your friends all for a meaningless cause. You wasted power and precious time that could've helped, but all you did was leave scars on someone who you were afraid of. "His yellow eyes were flaring yellow-orange embers on the sides. "He had strength through a crisis you are currently in, and even after knowing that strength, you hold doubt to competence." He raised his spare fist, making the airspace shudder as the fist enveloped in spiraling purple. "The very same kind that makes man stronger!"
His shouts weren't helping Gray at all. What he was saying, it was all true. Even if he was able to make peace with Nic, even after almost a year went about, the magic he was trying to summon instead came in flashes of demons that haunted him his whole life. In Fairy Tail, he and everyone always believed fighting darkness with light was the ethnic, but to defeat and kill the demonic force in him and Natsu, Nic used darkness. But his darkness was like Orion's; controlled, with no anguish…and astronomically deadly. He wanted – needed – that strength, and he needed it now.
As the fist was compressed in more magic, the flashes in Gray's mind only intensified, almost to where they were flashing near milliseconds. His brain was running on overdrive. 'I gotta…' He tried to build up magic again inside of him. 'I need…'
"Hm?" Orion felt something rush inside Gray, and it was going at an alarming rate.
Vanessa was feeling a strong aura surge from surge. The air around began to grow a little colder as she felt something arise. 'Gray's power…it's shifting again.'
The memories in Gray's head were flashing to where they were blinding him. They made him unaware of the fist daring to come down on him. 'I need to…I…' The memories were flipping so fast that it was like a movie. He was replaying it over and over, to Tartaros when he learned of E.N.D, to where he turned against Nic afterwards, and to where he killed them…then more images began to pile on, like his attempted spell to freeze Zeref, and the tears in Natsu's eyes.
Deeper down, it was like his heart lifted. Just for a second.
Finally, what he remembered, was something more important. The hug and smile Nic gave them both. Friends that stuck together, bearing through darkness one way or another.
At that moment, everything went white, and he felt something coming up his throat.
"GOODBYE!" Orion drive his fist down at Gray.
Gray's eyes suddenly opened, flashing a bright purple. "…BREAK FREE~!" In his mighty shout at Orion, the magic Power he expelled finally let loose. Purple icy energy much like a roar expelled from Gray's mouth and swallowed up Orion and his punch before they made contact. The attack went skywards, becoming a sleek, icy pillar that expanded towards the sky where a lot of people could see it. The expanding raging roar was echoing throughout the streets, with icy mist spreading like dust pass Vanessa and the others as they were trying to hold on.
Vanessa could feel mist and frost gather on her forearms, trying to bear through Gray's shout. She opened an eye, seeing an icy roar expel. 'That spell…it has to be…'
In the ice that continued flowing like a tsunami, Orion's attack was dissipating as he was completely caught off guard. "What-?!" He could feel his whole body get cold as frost and a bizarre energy flowed at him. His eyes widened as his shadowy silhouette was enveloped in frozen ice. His screams went hysterical as he rose with the attack skywards.
After a short while, Gray's shout finally came to a stop. He finally caught his breath, the raspy breathing he was showing an indication of his exhaustion. He was sitting up, looking shocked with the purple gleam in his eyes slowly receding back to their normal shade.
Everyone else was in shock of what they were seeing. Snover was slouching back with blinking vision, barely comprehending what his Trainer was able to pull off. Vanessa and Mawile were equally as surprised. They all stared at Gray as he looked up, seeing the residue of his attack fading into powdered, icy specks.
"What just…?" He reached his hand out, letting purple sparkles rain down on his palm. He looked down, staring at the fading energy. "Was that…my Ice Devil's Rage? But I haven't used any of those spells since…!"
Orion was high in the air, his body completely frozen, partially from shock, but mostly from Gray's attack. He began falling at an alarming level straight down.
Mawile gasped at the opportunity. "Vanessa, now!"
Focusing at hand, the Aura Mage nodded. "Right, I see it as well!" She stood up on her two feet, reaching for something that was shiny and on the tie to the belt of her Poke Balls. "Then let's end this here and now!" She tapped the stone, making it gleam a radiant rainbow aura in beams everywhere. Mawile's body began to glow weakly and radiate magenta light waves. Vanessa's Key Stone corresponded with the rainbow gleams turning into light waves as well, reaching out to Mawile.
Snover looked on, completely shocked at the next change of events. "W-wait, what's…?"
Vanessa and Mawile's eyes simultaneously flashed open. The energy waves connected, turning the connection into bright white rays that traveled down towards Mawile. "Mawile…Mega Evolve!" Vanessa shouted.
The white rays finally reached Mawile, where an energy field burst from her body. She groaned and growled out as nearby rocks began to respond to her growing power, defying gravity and slowly crumbling from pressure. Slowly, her body began to morph, reacting with Mega Evolution. Her hakama she was wearing began to enlarge with her body, and her massive jaw-like horns began to split apart into two large crooked monstrosities.
As the transformation began to draw to a close, the creature inside the ominous light turned around to have the monster jaws face forward. The light finally exploded, allowing shock to settle for a second before a gust picked up, making dust blow everywhere, forcing Gray to cover up. As it soon passed, he looked back with shock on his face.
"Hold on, is that what I think it is?" He stared at Mega Mawile, feeling a powerful presence around her. The energy she was giving off was making him grow goosebumps.
As Orion fell straight down, Mega Mawile spread her feet and glared up at the frozen creature. "Alright, Vanessa, ready?"
Vanessa nodded. "I was going to ask you the same thing."
They both waited, until once he was at a height did Vanessa reach out with the command.
"Play Rough!"
Mega Mawile let out a loud hum as she reeled her head back and then lashed backwards, or rather in this case forwards. The mouth horns anchored into the ground, where Mega Mawile's body began to flip over like a balance beam and fling herself with her horns at Orion. At takeoff, a small ripple of dust dissipated. She twisted and went flying up at Orion, ready to attack.
The air pressure was beginning to crack the ice around Orion. It was thin, but the shock was finally wearing off. As cracks began to form, his body began to slowly lurch and struggle to break free. It took a moment before his entire body convulsed, breaking the last of the ice around him. As he descended, he twisted his body to look back at Gray. 'That attack, that was no mistaking it…' Even with the distance, he could see into black eyes of Gray Fullbuster. In them, a silence brewed. 'So he managed that one attack then. At that moment, he was able to forget and-!' His attention drew towards another glint shooting at him towards his right. "What…?" His eyes widened when he saw that similar creature Vanessa ordered about shoot at him, but it was fling with great force.
Mega Mawile cried out as she closed the gap as fast as she could, but she could only catapult herself so far. As Orion plummeted, Mega Mawile was in his face. For a short moment, time slowed down between the two for the Devil Slayer to take in what was happening, before he was finally met with a fist first.
A smoke cloud enveloped Orion, completely swallowing up the cloudy dark shadow he created from his magic release. Inside, bashes and bombarding blows were dished out in relentless fashion. His body was the dummy as Mega Mawile kicked with her right across his face, then the left across the other side, then punched the forehead, making him reel back in a gag, before at long last, Mega Mawile's merciless beating concluded with her raising her horns overhead with a shout, before they were swung straight down on the Devil Slayer's head.
At impact, a ripple of air exerted, immediately dissipating the smoke cloud. The swing followed through, sundering Orion head-first straight below like a raging comet that was thrown off course. Beneath Mega Mawile, the ground broke to diced pieces with dust waves rising, making a web of uneven earth jump up.
The ground palpitated as dust filed out. Vanessa and the others watched. Within their shock, Vanessa was realizing nothing was tapping her head. She looked up, seeing Snow Warning was finally over.
"Huh?" Gray looked up as well, seeing his Snover's Ability inactive. The Frost Tree Pokémon looked up in awe and wonder as well, more or less from the power he witnessed.
Mega Mawile landed on the ground in front of Vanessa, frowning in wait over the dust settling. Slowly, their prayers were answered when the last of the dust was settling, revealing Orion struggling to stand in the center of a crater of depressed earth. In it, the misty of darkness once surrounding him was nothing more than specks of embers barely emanating from the shoulders and other parts. He tried to stand, but he finally gave in, collapsing on his stomach and laying with shadows over his eyes.
A long moment of silence fell as they looked at their opponent.
"We…we did it!" Snover gasped.
Vanessa sighed in relief. "That went less likely than what we expected." She and Mega Mawile looked towards the other. Mega Mawile began to envelop herself in an energy field that flashed, reverting her to her normal state.
Vanessa walked up, smiling down at Mawile. "Are you alright, Mawile?"
The Steel/Fairy-type beamed with pride. "Don't worry too much. I am still standing, aren't I?"
Vanessa giggled lightly at her Pokémon's confidence. "As expected. Still, I had a feeling his Dark Devil Slayer powers could've been Dark-type. Hitting with a super effective Fairy-type attack seemed like the most liable option."
Mawile looked back at the defeated adversary. "Still, he was pretty strong. Just what is he anyway?"
Vanessa followed Mawile's gaze. She was beginning to question that herself. From the looks of it, he seemed demon, but his aura was pure. It was controlled, but the way he made it look so easy. It only left her even more unnerved. "I don't know."
Snover looked towards Gray in his confusion. The supposed Devil Slayer was sitting up, putting a hand to his forehead. He had a knee up to support himself. He was frowning down at the ground in growing regret, but at the same time, his mind was so conflicted. It was making his brows furrow in annoyance. When he thought back to it, he felt like a lead weight was leaning off his heart, but now it was back. But for that one moment, Gray felt that surge of strength that he once had. Now one question remained, and he removed his hand from his forehead to do so. 'How did I do that?'
The magical energy that was rampaging about earlier was starting to dissipate, and it was felt almost immediately by everyone, even out by the docks.
Levy perked her head around as she felt a sudden change in pressure. "You guys feel that?"
Pantherlily looked out with crossed arms. "Looks to me that the others are wrapping up."
"Aye!" Happy cheered.
Pantherlily turned back towards the sea. "But don't let your guard down just yet. It's almost midnight. Huh…?" He began to trail off, getting the others' attention.
"What is it?" Happy looked out, his wonders transcending to the moonlight.
Levy turned back, gasping as she saw something heading their way. In the distance, far within the moonlight, they could see a very small ship, almost the size of a sailboat. It was closing in quite moderately, but the distance could be clear to indicate when it could be docking. It just kept closing, much to their wonders.
Nic ran down the street, heading off towards the docks with everyone else behind. He was still in his Mind Form, wanting to keep the telepathic link up in the events of anymore disturbances. 'Levy, are you there?'
After a moment of silence, the link got her voice. 'Yeah, I'm here. You guys better come quick, I think I'm starting to see something coming into view.'
'Is it the employer?' Erza inquired.
'…it's…kinda hard to tell. They're coming in slow. From the looks of it, it should be on the dot.'
'Does anyone know what time it is?' Lucy asked.
'I gotcha covered.' Dereece answered. '11:57.'
'That's not a lot of time we have. We better pick up the pace then.' Juvia rushed.
Lucy nodded. 'She's right. The sooner we get there, the sooner we'll learn the truth of these attacks!'
'Well don't count us out of the action.' Another voice prodded into the telepathic link.
Juvia's eyes widened. 'Is that…?'
'Gray, is that you?' Natsu questioned.
'Yeah. It's me. Vanessa's here, too.'
'We're sorry we took so long. That Devil Slayer was much more to handle than we thought.' Vanessa said.
'Are you okay?' Nic asked worriedly.
'We're fine. We'll meet you at the docks with everyone else.'
'Alright, just watch your backs guys.' Nic finished the link, leaving him to rush with everyone behind him.
Inside the Council's room, things were more of a halt than what could've been some form of progression. They say that one should look towards the past to see into the future, but individuals were never truly prioritized as a stepping stone. And that certain individual – or individuals in this case – happens to be a very well-known group of convicts who absentmindedly wandered in front of the Council themselves.
"Wait, hold on…" Montgomery narrowed his eyes at the blue-haired convict. "Isn't that…?"
"Jellal Fernandes." Ruge smirked. "Well I'll be damned. I didn't think I'd be seeing you of all people here. Not like this at least."
Jellal had a modest look on his face. "The feeling is mutual, councilman Ruge the Ethernano Reaper." He could still remember the harsh battle they had back when it was still the Council War. Shadow Jellal had him on the ropes. Even now, that battle he reflected on every now and again.
Ruge snickered. "And I see you've brought a whole bunch of new friends with you. Crime Sorciere, or rather what was once was the Oracion Seis. How has life been treating you guys outside iron walls?"
Sawyer snickered. "Hmph, the big guy sure knows how to beat around the bush."
"I don't know, I kinda like this behavior." Sorano shrugged.
Erik sneered. "Yeah I'll say. Takes one to know one. Still say we should've found another way than just this."
Ultear frowned in disgrace. "Well it wouldn't be so hard if someone had just stayed put like I suggested." Her snarkish tone went towards Jellal. He offered no input as he focused on the council at hand.
Bellona pinched the bridge of her nose with a sigh.
Alfredo looked down at them, seeing all their faces with anger. "What is this? Why are a bunch of criminals in here?!" He slammed his fist against the desk, making the few pens on the desk jump. "Who let them in?!"
"Yeah! Who are you to show your face after what you did?!" Wolfheim snapped. "Don't think that I didn't forget what you and your little rebellion did almost two years ago!"
"Yes." Hyberion slowly said. "Just what is the meaning of all this, Mr. Fernandes?"
Leiji's face showed uneased fret. "Jellal…" He looked over, seeing the fellow former councilman with another colleague that left him on edge. "Ultear, you too?"
"Nice to see you doing so well, Mr. Leiji." She casually greeted. "I trust that life's been keeping you on your toes."
The man nervously tensed up. "Yeah…"
A throat cleared amongst the council, belonging to Justice. They all turned towards her as she had the floor. "Not to make this anymore frequent than what mishaps we've been having, but what exactly is an Independent Guild with convicts happing to be doing here of all times? I'm sure you have a good reason why we shouldn't call the Rune Knights to take you away."
Jeff shrugged. "I can think of one. Because they can beat them up, that's why."
Erik uproariously laughed. "The old guy's got my favor!" he laughed.
Justice shot her colleague far away a look. "Besi~des that." She eyed Crime Sorciere. "As far as I can see, you have no place in this room, nor even around this land that we're trying to reestablish."
Richard bowed. "Oh, we're so sorry!"
Wolfheim snorted. "So you say…"
"Ignore their commentary." Hyberion said. "However I do want to ask you now…Crime Sorciere, just what might you have here that you wish to share with us?"
Alfredo's eyes narrowed. "Better say something really important or else you'll never make it out of this building in one piece."
Jeff waved him off. "He's just bluffing. Go on."
Mabeth scoffed. "Well, we certainly do have an interesting council going on here."
"So we do…" Jellal took liberties and walked in front of everyone. He stopped in front of the council and looked over, shooting a glance at Charlotte; He looked back at the council, a serious look on his face.
A small silence fell as he exhaled, and then inhaled.
"My fellow Fiore Council. I present you myself for reasons regarding the transactions of our security. You may think that there is a traitor amongst the likes of us…and while there is a scope in that area, my friends and I have found ourselves son another footnote we agreed you should be aware of."
Meredy sweat dropped while Ultear darkly leered. It was all a lie. They didn't agree to sharing this information. In fact, only Jellal thought this would be a good idea. Everyone would've stopped him, but it happened before they even knew it. The only one who seemed to be playing in Jellal's favor, surprisingly, was Bellona.
Alfredo sneered again as he leaned forward. "Hmph! Why would we trust the words of someone whose killed hundreds of lives in the past? As far as I'm concerned, what I see is someone who needs to be atoned. Take him away!"
"Alfredo, please!" Montgomery harshly whispered. He looked back at the guild. "We're sorry. We're just a little conspicuous. At the moment, we're more than a little backed up when it comes to the terms of 'acceptance', specifically from those who were amongst our less than lenient compliances."
Ultear mustered a snicker. "Then I suppose that talk with Nic must've been stepping in cold water then, huh?"
Maryam shot her a look. "More or less along those lines." She cast her gaze away. "At any rate, we were in the middle of a very important discussion with Ms. Jet. So if this is that important, then make it quick."
"Believe me, this involves the Cambire Foundation as well." Jellal's statement made Charlotte raise a brow.
The blonde woman smirked. "So you say? And what exactly makes your investigation that much more important than our industry's advancements?"
"Because, Ms. Jet, it's the reason behind this heist that your company is failing to reach certain areas." Jellal reasoned, making Charlotte shoot him an inquired look. "Believe me, this is vital for all of us."
"Spill it. Now." Alfredo demanded.
There was another moment of silence that feel before the room. This time, Bellona stepped up alongside Jellal. "Well, since he enjoyed talking so much, allow me to share this little bit." She cooed. "Bottom line is, we know who is responsible for this."
Montgomery nearly jumped. "You…do?" He ran his fingers through his beard, his interests piqued to a high degree.
Wolfheim snobbishly raised his chin. "Hmph! They're bluffing. What would they know about an investigation that's been happening for two weeks that we don't already know?"
"The fact is that while you have indeed been looking into this matter doesn't change the fact that several factors have been brought into place." Macbeth said. "For example, all of these attacks have been happening at night, and during those periods, we've discovered that the shipments have not only been carrying Pokémon, but have been targeting certain ships as well."
Justice raised her head. "yes, we have realized that."
"Then did you know that ship's origins is not of legal or political affiliation with Fiore?" Meredy added.
The councilmen all looked at each other, sharing inquired looks of the statement. Slowly, Hyberion turned back towards them. "Go on." He insisted.
Erik picked up next. "You guys were so busy apprehending the guys and questioning them about pointless crap that you didn't look at the big picture in front of you. Those ships all came from one point for certain, but the documents and evidence we were able to scrounge up made it certain these guys are not friendly."
Richard nodded. "Mhm. The men were just doing their job. As far as what was told, they had no information on who they were sending those materials to begin with."
"All the more reason why these shipments were at night, and the facts don't lie when we found some materials and symbols that you guys have been familiar with perhaps." Sorano hummed.
"Symbols, you say?" Ruge inquired. "You mean like for incantation?"
Jellal frowned. "We're speaking about an insignia that has plagued us almost one year ago. It destroyed near millions of lives just to reach this current country."
"Tell us, has there been any contact in regards to the western hemisphere?" Ultear inquired.
"And why would we tell you that?" Alfredo questioned sternly.
"Because that's where those ships are coming and going, that's why."
Once again, the councilmen was left shocked at the information they were given.
"You have been aware of foreign investigations, have you not?" Jellal inquired. "I understand some establishments and lands are still recovering as we speak, but while we have been healing, a certain someone has been pulling strings from another continent. And they're seemingly less than lenient to abide by our conduct."
"Healing? You mean from the war?" Ruge inquired.
"Yes. There's a reason behind all this. Ultear?"
Jellal stepped off to the side, allowing the bodacious female to step in front and present an orb in front of the councilmen. She had a gracious frown as she stared at them all with nonchalant demeanor. "Tell me, are you all familiar with this symbol?" The lacrima glowed, giving off a projection that created a screen high over their heads.
The councilmen all looked up at the huge image that was on the screen. They were looking at the ship, but they saw something on front that was very alarming.
Montgomery's eyes widened as he leaned forward. "Is that…?"
Maryam looked shocked. "No, that's impossible…we haven't heard word of them since…"
Hyberion stared up at the screen with a growing look of worry. His eyes were wide s he sat the wine glass down without looking at it. He seemed too distraught to respond at the moment. One could see the revelation in his eyes.
Everyone met up at the docks, having been hampered and bruised, but they chose to ignore their injuries and reconvened with Levy and the two male Exceeds.
"Levy!" Gajeel exclaimed. He went up to her, looking down with a serious expression. "Are you hurt?"
Levy shook her head. "No, we're just fine." She smiled. "I'm glad you're okay."
Gajeel flashed her a smirk. "Not like I've died already." He was whacked on the head by Levy. "Ow! What was that for?!"
"That wasn't funny!" she defended.
Gajeel rubbed the top of his head, giving Levy a scowl. "Well you didn't have to hit me about it, geez…"
Lucy looked ahead, seeing something in the distance. "I think I see it!"
Everyone drew closer to the edge of the dock, where they got a closer view of the small boat coming into view. They all could see a person on the edge of the boat as it was slowly getting closer to the edge, where it would soon be close enough to reveal the person's silhouette in the moonlight.
Midnight had finally arrived.
They all went quiet as they watched the boat slowly docked. It touched the end, where on its top, a certain someone was waiting, and their face, even in the moonlight, was bringing back some shock long since forgotten.
Everyone looked ahead with surprise, but the one who showed the most surprise was Lucy as her eyes widened.
…
Justice was completely speechless. "This mark, it belongs to…"
Wolfheim's teeth were gritting from absolute shock. He was staring up with widened eyes as unpleasant failure returned.
Jellal could see they were all in shock. "Yes. This I am certain. The very continent that tried to set up a political meeting but got no answer; the same continent that housed our enemy for many long years for a certain person…
…
The person stepped off the boat, revealing her heels that she wore beneath her humungous coat. She stood eye level to everyone as she oversaw all of their surprised faces; Lucy's especially.
"Nic…" Erza muttered.
Nic's surprise that no less similar. He was speechless at the revelation.
Gray leaned forward in shock. "Hold on, you can't be serious…!"
Wendy gasped. "What is she doing here?"
Natsu was at a loss for what he had to say. He stared ahead at the girl who bared the resemblance of someone who we knew. But while he was caught surprised, his attention went towards Lucy, who took a step forward and stepped up in front of the client behind all this.
The two looked at each other, the oceanic nighttime breeze shifting pass them and picking up Lucy's blonde hair. She didn't budge as she looked into the eyes of the woman she had met not so long ago.
.
"The very continent that was designed for war, that would indeed put magical creatures to work under rigid circumstances…the very continent that we have been at war with that held the late infamous Black Wizard himself."
…
Lucy was struggling to find the words she needed. "It can't be…"
The woman before them was shown in the growing moonlight. The tides crashed against the back of the ship, making water spray and sparkle around the green-haired woman that had been affiliated with Fairy Tail. Seeing her was one thing, but believing was a whole other story. No one was prepared, not even Natsu, who was always so casual about these ordeals to regulars…but this one was special, because this person had an impact on someone who he cared for, and him included.
As the group behind for the most part, the words flew out of Lucy's mouth first for the frowning woman. "…Brandish?"
…
Jellal finished. "Only one continent that holds the largest military empire in the world…the ones who we've forgotten: Alvarez Empire."
Again, sorry for this update taking such a long time guys. I know it's been two weeks since this story's update, but this choked up to 32K, and in about 6 days. No excuses, but I had a few more reasons why there has been setbacks for this update other than lengths.
You see, I was trying to make the flow go in various directions. I was trying to write it compressed like I did in the prequel's Council War Arc, but I had to choreograph on my iPod's Notes first before I went to Microsoft. I got what quotes I would forget down on that first and whatever plot points I would've missed, and I think this end results was more than worth it. I actually feel proud with how I made this all flow.
Another reason why this was backed up was because of my reputation. I just recently lost the support of a long-time fan who always gave me long and detailed reviews, and has been around for the longest time. This story had no luster, or so how one would put it, but even if this story doesn't have the same flare, guys, I'm going to continue, even if I end up getting no reviews in the end. I made it this far, so if I'm gonna crash and burn, I'm going to at least do it knowing I stuck to Nic and Erza's relentless end.
For Gray and Vanessa's battle, I was writing that to what I can be just as important of a plot point as Joey's interaction was with Broly. At this point, deep down, Gray still can't truly forgive himself for almost trying to kill Nic and Natsu. Natsu is trying to move on and remove his reckless behavior, but Gray's own road is more complicated. I feel that with Nic's fight against him so long ago, it tore out the demonic part of his magic, and since then, it's been so weak, or rather dormant, that he couldn't find it again. So by now you get another reason why Natsu and Gray haven't tussled in these past few months. Gray will get his Devil Slayer powers back, using Orion as a reference later down the road.
Anyways, guys, if I am really lucky, I might be able to get 2 updates in before my family vacation in the middle of June, but I doubt it. My brother's graduating, and getting almost 40 hours this upcoming week; so I'm gonna be mega busy.
But at any rate, hope this mystery unfolding will suffice for now! Reviews appreciated, and thanks for reading!
