The massive vaulted doors were opened promptly when some personnel walked towards the entrance. The guards immediately saluted before they opened the door themselves to allow the person inside. The doors closed behind almost immediately, and the person entered what was a large room with the vast majority of the Spriggan 12 assembled. The person revealed himself as Jacob, and when he found his seat beside Dimaria, he slowly looked around a moment to see the many faces that were already assembled. Seeing as how they were all assembled promptly, he tied his tie, and he took his seat.

Dimaria glanced over to give him an inquired look. "You sure took your time."

Jacob humbly looked down in shame. "Apologies."

Dimaria waved him off, dismissing his excuse.

Invel adjusted his glasses and remained passive inside his seat next to Ajeel; Yajeel being behind as an observer. "I believe that we are all assembled then."

The room, the very room that they sat in now, it was the very one that called for the Spriggan 12 to a summit before the war that happened a short while back. Since then, the room had been abandoned, like a ghost haunted it if anyone dared to even think of opening the doors, especially at night. Today was the first time the room had been used, and the air couldn't get anymore stale, whether from anticipation or lack of amusement.

Ajeel folded his arms and sat back nonchalantly. "Heh, about time we get this little party started. So, what's the attack plan?"

"Ajeel." Yajeel tenderly chided.

"At ease." Invel thwarted the Sand Mage's lust for a fight so soon. "The discussion isn't until our Emperor arrives."

In his seat, Pluto had his eyes closed as he held a small yellow hemisphere in the air between the palms. He looked like he was concentrating hard, if not being so casual about it. Beside him, Decker remained equally as silent.

"Ooooh! Well when are we gonna have this over with?" Lia whined. "I'm starting to get a little hungry."

"Patience." Invel voiced. A small wind finally blew in the room, his hair shifting in the breeze. Upon realizing, his eyes sharpened. "He's here."

Suddenly, a small twister formed in the center of the table, making all the members look up at the wind surging to see the man responsible for their union appear. When the winds faded, it showed Neinhart on the table, standing in an applauding fashion, or rather deserving of one.

"Welcome to all, my Spriggans." He greeted. "I trust that the wait was well worth it in the end."

Lia happily clapped for his introduction. Dimaria, however, didn't show amusement. "Well we would be if you just appeared in that seat." Her break in Neinhart's momentum, earned her a look from the corner of his eye.

"Don't feel like sitting down." He dryly said, though it seemed more like a growling intention to dismantle her. She shrugged to keep it all under check.

"Alright, so what's this about?" Sindge croaked.

"Yeah, why call all of us here again?" Ajeel smirked. He knew the answer was obvious, but he just wanted to play along with the act.

Neinhart rolled his neck and head and gave him a wily smirk. "An excellent question." He nimbly moved his body like a slouch and postured in a glamorous exaggeration as he walked along the massive table. "My fellow Spriggans. It has come to my attention that our numbers and our manpower has been growing rather steadily now thanks to this little fall from grace. We've accomplished quite a bit the last few months now; the empire, the potential…and more importantly, the pretense." He turned and started walking back. "With this in mind, I've come to the decision that the time to show the world our goals is right now."

Glynda's eyes narrowed. "Your majesty, are you saying what we think you're saying?"

Neinhart shot a smirk at her. "And if I am?"

Glynda didn't bother to oppose, nor did she say anything against. She just gave him a scolding stare. Her index finger tapped against her forearm with no less of annoyance.

"I thought so." He looked back at everyone. "As I was saying, this is the chance that we, the fallen Spriggan 12, have been looking for. By now, the Cambire Foundation, and those impudent Fiorians have realized what we're doing. If not already, then I say this is a blessing we must take to our advantage."

Sindge adjusted himself in his leather seat. "I like where this is going."

Neinhart looked down at his fist, slowly clutching it with a wide, grim smile. "Those Fiorians…that guild holding our Emperor's belongings…they made a mockery of us, and they got away with it." His voice was cracking with hints of deranged intentions. "Now wouldn't that make the likes o you bitter? They dared, ne desecrated, the good name of sir August and Lady Irene. And now look! They're gone!" The look he gave them was sickening to where they had some deep frowns on their faces. That last word had a small echo that rung in their ears. "So now, it's left to us to leave a legacy that Alvarez can be proud of. We will take back what Lady Irene asked of us. No one will tell us what to do. Fate. Pffft! What nonsense! I say we control the fates here on! Those foreigners don't even know what they're talking about! We are the Spriggan 12, and we have the power to prove it! So now…I dare say, we make this world understand the pain we endured."

A majority of the Spriggan 12 smirked at his notion. They were with him entirely, though some were looking neutral about it. In the end, however, all they could do was ready for battle.

Others, however, were less than cordial about the circumstances.

Yajeel moved his staff closer and pulled himself between Invel and Ajeel. "Why this had to come?" he asked low. "Your majesty, forgive my intrusion, but why of a circumstances must we resort to this?"

"Sir Yajeel." Invel warned from the corner of his eyes. "It would be best if you try not to test our emperor now.

Yajeel lowered his head, but his baggy eyes glanced at the emperor's right-hand man. "Sir Invel, I highly respect the decisions that are carried out with our Spriggans, but as a man of reason, would you, yourself, drag on a matter like this?"

Invel dismissed the question and adjusted his glasses again. "That's not in my place to say."

"Aren't you he who is in charge when Emperor Spriggan was absent?"

"Perhaps then, but that was a long time ago."

"How is now any different, I wonder?" He looked back at Neinhart, who continued rambling on to his Spriggans about the glory and how pathetic everyone else was. "I was wondering something else while we're on the subject."

"And what might that be?"

"Why didn't you stop Neinhart?"

There was a small silence that fell between the cold, icy man, and the minister who did everything and a lot in his time. The old man could feel his skin get a little cold from the demeanor Invel was giving off. "…because it's pointless." He admitted.

Yajeel looked surprised. "Pointless?"

"It s pointless to fight fate. It is pointless to fight the inevitable when you alone have but not the strength. You recall that there was a time when I believe I thought light and dark were just those two things, correct? Nothing more. But then I came to sway to personifications."

Yajeel remained silent as he was hearing Invel dismay. He sounded regretful, but it's also saying he had but no say if they were the bad guys and lost to bad guys as well. In a way, it made sense, yet it didn't.

"I believe now even after realizing we all have darkness, I used my very own to corrupt the light of our enemy, and I have. However, when my own darkness was defeated by their own, I failed to purge both. The light and dark, the two forces no matter how they are flipped, it does little for me if I failed to purge such bitter dark with my own. If that is the light within this darkness, then there is but little point in amending what has already been corrupted."

As Invel fell silent, the minister looked down and sighed in a mix of exasperation, as well as disappointment. To hear that Invel has given up on saving Alvarez was truly the opposite of what he wanted to hear. Alvarez has fallen into chaos, and he was letting that happen, all because Neinhart's darkness and ambition grew too great. At this point, he was but a simple armrest for Neinhart, and cold on that remained by his side.

The matter itself became duty, not heart. That's the Winter General, and duty always came first to the Emperor.

"Heh, so what's the plan?" Ajeel asked. He was remained unaware of his grandfather's worries, much to Yajeel's dismay.

Neinhart smirked maliciously at the question. "Well now, what better way to start a show than a little prologue, am I right…Hoshina?"

In the one seat, Hoshina was looking into her glowing crystal orb. She took the cigarette out of her mouth and blew a small stream of smoke into the air. S small coarse grin appeared on her lips. "Well now, let's see what fate holds for thy now." She moved one of her hands over the crystal ball, removing the pink swirling cloud inside to zoom in on a large ship in the ocean.


"Someone save me." Natsu groaned.

Beside him, Sting's cheeks looked like they were about to burst.

"Why me…?" Gajeel gagged over the side of the ship, his face completely devoid of any color.

Wendy, much like her fellow Dragon Slayers, was lurched on the side of the ship. Her adolescent stomach was trying its best not to blow chunks into the water…unlike Natsu who did so 5 minutes ago. Some still couldn't believe how she of all people got motion sickness, but nonetheless had to suck it up. Fortunately for her, Carla was there to comfort her.

"Please…stop talking…" Rogue strained to talk. His body went limp as his strength was all but gone.

"The poor things. I hope they're okay." Yukino worried.

Minerva sighed in her own musings. "I'm sure it's fine. A little degrading no less, but it can't be helped."

"Talk about sour milk. Maybe we should've flown there instead." Lector intervened.

"Fro think so, too." Frosch prodded.

"Heh, speak for yourselves there. I kinda prefer my own two feet on the ground anyway." Sawyer chided. "And besides, we wouldn't be fairing better than we are now, now would we?"

Lector sweat-dropped. "W-well…I guess you're right."

Right beside them, Griffon was looking at the Dragon Slayers all trying to save their own stomachs. "Well I'll be damned." He grinned. "I didn't think things would turn out like this for us. I most certainly didn't even think those guys would make me feel pity for them."

"Hey pal, just because they got motion sickness, don't think that it's fair to pick on 'em!" Lector shouted.

"Yeah!" Frosch jumped.

Griffon put his hand up dismissively. "Relax. It's not like I care or anything. I'm just saying is all." He looked back at Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy, all three Dragon Slayers lurching over the boat together. "But really, when I think about, losing to those guys, it's almost sad."

Sawyer smirked. "Heh, tell me about it."

Aside from their own alliance, the entire boat ride to the northwest was somewhat of a tense friction that treaded upon water. One could ram a Sharpedo right underneath and they would all jump as high as a Frogadier. They were less than enthused about this whole thing; some of them were less than open to the prospect of being buddies to people that they wanted to kill before. That goes without saying when it came to the Peace Jaegers and Crime Sorciere. While they were at least able to get on somewhat of a mutual level of conversations, the problem itself lied with Fairy Tail. The guild's members weren't as active when it came to the others. At least they were able to stand and walk around without feeling some discord. Bellona was surprised when Kagura came up to have a small conversation with her, even Jellal was surprised at her mild disposition, but that showed how trusting she's become. If Millianna were here, that may be a stretch. But for the time being, the past day that they have been sailing was stiff.

The door to the cabins opened, revealing Mest as he walked out to the deck towards Erza.

"How are things looking?" she asked.

"As well as can be, I suppose." The Teleportation Mage answered. "The crew is still locked up, but I think they got food and water."

"I'm just glad we've got enough preserves as we did before." She admitted with a grin. She would've thought they'd run out by now, especially with Natsu's appetite. But seeing as how he hasn't eaten at all since the trip, that saved a lot of empty stomachs.

"Don't get too ahead. We still only have enough left for two more days. We'll be lucky if we head to Alakitasia with grumbling stomachs." Mest took notice of how Erza was alone. "Where's Nic?"

Erza's grin cascaded skywards, her red hair shifting in the winds. "Why don't you see for yourself?"

Mest looked up to what she meant. Up high over the masts, leaning against the firm sails, the humungous white sails blew winds, and yet Nic leaned against the mast, taking a long nap it seemed. And from the looks of it, he was out.

A bead of sweat crossed Mest's face. "Is he serious?"

"You'd be surprised how often I find him in the trees than in our home." Erza mused.

"That's certainly putting it mildly." Sophie said, walking up to them out of the blue. "I'm still amazed at how some one like him can just climb."

"You'd think having those powers turns him into an actual Pokémon." Mest joked.

"Yeah."

As they were talking about Nic, a certain someone wasn't going to be left out of a conversation so easily. Seeing Nic from afar with his team, Joey was gleaming up at Nic's relaxed form with sparkles around him. He couldn't take his eyes off of Nic as he breathlessly was napping in the cold, cold breeze. 'That's Nic-senpai's signature capabilities. He's actually able to sleep so casually in trees, and anything off the ground so fruitlessly! He's got such a great balance, not just in his body, but also his mind! He's been through so much to make himself something as that tall look so tangible!' His fists were clenched so hard that he looked like he was about to cry. The internal monologue he had going on didn't go unnoticed by anyone around him. His allies and team especially gave him less than cordial looks.

"And there he goes again." Dereece said.

"What a wonderful breeze the sea does offer today." Richard smiled.

"Well I can't say the same for Erik for his fellow Dragon Slayers, that's for sure." Macbeth stated. "Speaking of which, where is Sorano, Richard?"

"I think I saw her feeding the Pokémon shipping with us." Pantherlily answered. "Come to think of it, Didn't Elfman and Lisanna go as well?"

"You think that's such a good idea?" Happy asked.

Pantherlily shrugged. "Hard to say."


Sorano lugged a massive load of food in a trash bin. More accurately, she waddled over with strain as her muscles weren't that supportive. "Gnnngh! C'mon! Geez! How many times do these tiny things have to eat?! Seriously!"

She waddled closer to a cage in the cargo hold of the ship, where there, she finally sat it in front of Lisanna, who looked over and smiled nonchalantly.

"Oh, hey there. Glad you made it." She cheerfully said. "I just finished with the water. You think you can get the bowls lined up a little?"

Sorano looked up towards Lisanna with a threatening glare. She gave a despondent leer that showed bitter tiredness, and the fact her hair was a mess meant more. "Well, good for me." She sarcastically exasperated. "Why not just throw a big golden saddle on my back while you're at it and ride me to my grave?"

Lisanna sweat-dropped at her anger. "Uh, y-you okay?"

"Here." An arm reached down and poured the heaping bin of food into a tin bowl. Elfman poured and held up the tin bin like it wasn't filled with anything. The man really knows how to be a man. "A real man doesn't let a lady do the heavy lifting."

Sorano beamed with a smile. "Hmph, well now, at least someone's considerate around here."

"What are you talking about? We volunteered to do this." Lisanna rectified.

"I wasn't. I was just so whimsically brush in with the lot of you!" she fumed.

"Woah, hey. Take it easy."

A pair of footsteps came to the door on the other end of the hold. It slowly opened, revealing Yukino popping her head on the end. "Uh…yeah. Is everything in here alright?" she sheepishly asked.

Lisanna and Elfman turned to look at the newcomer. "Oh, Yukino." The former stated. "What is it? Is there something wrong?"

Yukino looked away. "N-no. Nothing's wrong. It's just, well…"

Elfman finished pouring the load to the brim and stood up. Sorano looked towards her sister with inquiry written all over her face. The way her younger sister looked could be described as adorable.

"C-can I…would it be okay…if I helped out a little?"

Lisanna and Elfman looked at each other while Sorano saw the pink in her sister's cheeks. What she meant was the truth, but underlying that she knew what her real intentions were.

Yukino began to grow worried of what they would say, but she saw a smug grin form on Sorano's lips.

"If you want."

Yukino's lips formed into a smile of satisfaction. She nodded and took her liberty to enter the room with them to help feed and help the Pokémon with the voyage.


"I'm sure as well." Carla answered.

On another part of the ship, Vanessa was sitting on a lounge chair, the Aura Mage catching some sun while at the same time making sure her mind was up to speed. She looked like she was sleeping if not for the radiance of the sun. She almost thought Nic used Sunny Day just for that.

As she reached over to the table beside her holding her glass of freshly squeezed lemonade with a lemon on it. She paused for a moment before she looked at the glass. Rather than get the glass, she instead reached for the lemon slice first. As she did, a distorted image of a certain girl smiled excitedly.

"Heeeeey!" Matilda popped up from the other end of the table with a great big smile. Vanessa dropped the lemon slice into her own mouth. "So you're the girl whose got Gator Boy, huh?"

Vanessa swallowed the lemon piece and looked at her. "Hm? Who? Krookodile?"

Matilda winked. "Well you're pretty perceptive, aren't ya?" She leaned in and bumped her arm. "Hey, hey. You know, it's a little boring on this ship. Would it be okay if I got just a little peek? Hmmm?"

Vanessa knew her game. She smirked. "Perhaps another time. When we're not on the verge of drowning perhaps."

"Aww, you're no fun. C'mon, just a small spar?" Vanessa reached for her lemonade glass with eyes closed. Matilda turned away with a pout of disappointment. "Aw man, bummer. Well then I guess I'll have to find something to do here then."

A piece of gum stuck out from a girl's hand. Matilda looked to see Liz right beside her, offering a piece.

"Oh." She took the yellow strap with a smile. "Nice, thanks Liz." She cheerfully plopped the piece into her mouth, her expression turning happy at the flavor covering her tongue and teeth. "Mmmm, orange."

Liz chewed on her gum casually.

Vanessa sipped on her lemonade while the chewing gum of Liz went on. Slurp, and chew. Both at the same time. Taking in these two noises, the girls turned towards the other, looking in silence as they relished in their favorites.

Seeing their mutual attention at a peak, Matilda couldn't help but smirk. "Awww, I see you two look like you're getting along! Well isn't today a blast, huh?" she teased. She moved on over towards Liz, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Well now, I'd like you to meet Liz. Say hi."

Liz continued chewing her bubble gum casually while nodding her head at Vanessa. "Hey." She said dryly.

"It's a pleasure." Vanessa replied. "You're the one who uses Gum Magic, right?" To a response she was hoping to get, Liz blew a bubble. It grew very slowly, so much that it took about ten seconds of waiting for the bubble to top and return to her mouth.

Matilda meekly shrugged. "She's just shy. You wouldn't believe me if I told you, but Liz here's actually the nicest out of all of us."

In a show of respect, Liz reached into her sleeve and pulled out a piece of yellow gum. She handed it to Vanessa, who hesitated for a moment before choosing to accept it.

"Thank you." She looked at the piece with scrutiny before looking back at Liz. The Gum Mage did nothing but stare expectantly, and that left Vanessa more than a little pressure. Evidently, she chose to eat the piece.

As she chewed, she noticed how the flavor was amazing. "Lemon?"

"Surprise." Matilda winked. "That's Liz's special gum that changes flavor to suit the chewer's taste buds. Betcha like lemon then, huh, sourmouth?"

The little tease of a name left Vanessa to chuckle. "A little early for nicknames…especially with the acts that have been pulled now, have there?"

Matilda shrugged in defeat. "Meh."

Liz half-heartedly chewed. "Pushy."

"I wasn't aware that some of these creatures had a less than amusing appetites." Kagura noted.

"Well I'm sure that we all have some of those moments." Bellona said. "Some more than others." She shot a look at Meredy, and it wasn't just her. Ultear smirked at Meredy as well.

"W-wait, what?! What are you saying?" she chirped sheepishly. "Are you saying that I'm fat!"

"Well I never said that." Bellona teased.

"But you were thinking it!"

"But you can't prove that now, can you?" Bellona's teasing and bantering had Meredy in a frenzy. It's true that she may have had a few too many cupcakes as of late, but her weight was nothing to scoff at, especially when she was – still – growing quite beautifully.

"Don't listen to what she has to say about, Meredy." Lyon, sweeping in from the side, remarked. "Why I say you look lovely."

Meredy looked back to notice Lyon, but she was more stricken with his gentlemanly comment about her weight. "Oh, t-thanks." She sheepishly smiled, much to Lyon's satisfaction.

"Why, my pleasure. Anything to a smile on that face of yours."

Ultear and the others smirked at the flirtatious play; even Jellal looked amused.

Watching from afar, Gray and Juvia were seeing Lyon work his flirting out on Meredy. It was a surprise to Gray since he was always targeting Juvia, but to the rain woman, it felt like a lead weight lifted off her shoulders.

"Huh, you know, I thought he'd be all over you this time around. What gives?" Gray asked.

"I'm not sure myself." Juvia said. "Should we be worried?"

"That depends, is the matter that necessary?"

The voice caught Gray and Juvia's attention, making them turn to find Orion there. Almost immediately, Gray felt a chill run down his spine upon seeing the superior Devil Slayer. "You." He said defensively.

Orion held his position away. "We meet again, I see."

"Yeah, so I see."

Juvia approached the former enemy in question. "You're that Devil Slayer, aren't you?"

Orion snickered. "Guilty is charged. Can't say being a proud one suits a devil though." He glanced over towards Gray. "Tell me, are you feeling well?"

Gray was caught by surprise. "Well how?" He had a pretty good idea of what he meant by that. It wasn't by the means of physicality, no, that was well taken cared of. He meant something deeper.

Orion took a moment of silence to look into Gray's eyes. He could see it, whether he wanted to admit verbally or not. The Devil Slayer understood fully and backed off. "I see…" He turned away. "Guess I'll see if we caught anything in the nets."

He started to leave, but before he got too far, Gray hesitated, but finally took a step forward. "Hey, wait!"

Orion stopped many of feet away.

"Your Devil Slayer powers. There's something that's been on my mind."

"Gray." Juvia worried.

Orion said nothing. He looked over his shoulder and gave Gray a grim eye.

"How did you get your powers? I wouldn't think they came naturally like mine did either. There's something different between our magics that I felt. I can't tell firsthand…so then, what's the reason behind your powers?"

"Gray, I don't think-"

"So you're really that desperate." Orion's note stopped Juvia and Gray from backing down. The man slowly turned around to glare at Gray directly. "…very well then. If you insist, I'll try to help you guide you to your peace."

Gray furrowed his brow. "…"

"Now then, I suppose where my magic came from is in order. As blunt as it gets, the real reason of where it came from was my master."

"Your master was a Devil Slayer, too?" Juvia questioned.

"Not exactly." Orion interjected. "He wasn't technically a Devil Slayer. Rather, he was the magic's origin." He turned away. "Every magic has an origin to bear. Dragon Slayers got their magic from dragons. Some by lacrima. And the God Slayers themselves, some still wonder about that. To be honest, even I am not positive about their origins. But the origin behind Devil Slayers starts with the base of their most bewildered of curses that lies within the heart of darkness' personifications: The Demons."

"Demons…" Gray trailed off. His experience with them have been less than awesome.

"Those who have been plagued by demons and darkness early in their lives are easily influenced by darkness. The Demons that hate humanity are those who seek retribution; the xenophobia of us is truly unmatched. So great, that they even fear of each other."

"So what's that got to do with your magic?"

A moment of silent fell between them. Juvia fell into silence too. The air around them began to grow stale as the Devil Slyer turned to look back at them, his glare so intense that both were a little freaked out by the change in mood. "You see, my master was the Demon of Darkness, Demora, from the Book of Zeref."

Gray and Juvia felt their hearts thump with a heartbeat of shock and adrenaline run through them; Gray more so than Juvia. They were far from expecting anything like this. They would've thought that they had humans for masters, or maybe some forbidden technique to learn arts. No one could believe that easily that a devil raised a human, it's like raising a lost soul.

"W-wait, hold on." Gray stopped. "So you're saying…that your master was a…a demon?"

Orion nodded. "That he was."

"Crap…"

"But how is that possible? Most creatures like that wouldn't take a human so precariously." Juvia accused.

"No, but this one did." Orion turned to the side again. "I wasn't exactly happy when I started walking. I wasn't brimming with a livelihood of others, and I starved most of my days. Eventually though, that all changed. Demora found me when my village was being attacked, and he took me in. Eventually with the capabilities to survive, he taught me how to use Dark Devil Slayer Magic. I guess you can call me a 1st Generation since I was taught directly from a demon."

Gray's stare dared not stray away. "So you were taught by a demon."

"In short, yes. I can guess from your tone that you're skeptical of the powers we both have. So then, who did your powers originate from?"

"My dad."

"And was he a demon as well?"

Gray looked towards the ground. "No, that's the thing. You see, he was human. He passed his Devil Slayer powers over right as he passed on…it's my only way of remembering him."

Hearing the tone of his voice, Juvia could feel her own heart sink. In truth, it was her who caused this pain to Gray, and even though it was settled, she can never let go of the fact she was forced to kill someone Gray loved. It wanted her to run away.

Orion processed and nodded. "I see. Then that must make you a 2nd Generation Devil Slayer if it was passed down to you. You got something like a mark or a tattoo at first, right?"

Gray gasped. "Wait, hold up! That mark, you know that, too?"

"I have. You're not the only one who was given that insignia. It's a sign of a Devil Slayer. The mark of someone who has yet to conquer the demons that took over his heart."

"'Took over his heart'…" Gray's notion trailed off as his gaze wandered downhill. He glared down as his mind trekked back to an unpleasant train that lead to Zeref, as well as the misunderstanding of Nic and his darkness.

Juvia looked on in worry, unable to over any advice at this time.

After a while, Gray looked at his arm, seeing as how it was as normal as could be. Even if he wanted to, he wouldn't be feeling anything off it. It's been that way since Nic defeated him. And really, perhaps that was for the best. At least to what he thought.

But now was not the time. He needed to know more if he was to get through the Spriggan 12 once more. Everyone needed him, and he wasn't going to let them down. His glare hardened towards Orion. "So what's about this mark? Why is it so important?"

"When Devil Slayers first receive their powers, the marks are an imprint of that proof. It's a little handicap for those mastering this particular breed of dark magic. However, there is always a drawback to this mark. You see, much like Dragon Slayers and their drawbacks, the Devil Slayer powers eats away at your own heart. It's either you keep your sanity and slay the demons…or the mark's influence takes over, and Demonification happens."

"Demonification." Juvia tried to process that word, and when she did, her eyes widened. "Wait, hold on! Dragon Slayers suffer Dragonification! Does this mean that this magic could turn its caster into a demon as well?"

"That is the test." He answered. "If you're consumed in your own sense of revenge and bitterness, the magic will eat at your heart like a parasite. I can only guess that's what happened to you at one point." He turned towards Gray, who stared at him cold in the eye. "I see."

Orion was right, about everything he was saying. The facts about his magic, and how ever since he got it he was being rather strange, as Juvia put it. It was a long, dark road, and even with Porlyusica looking at it, even she was unable to help him with Demonification. He was unaware, and that explained his obsession of E.N.D; about avenging his father's last request. Revenge was what drove Gray to where he almost slaughtered his friends and ignored them. It was as desperate as the attempts Natsu made at finding Igneel. He was demonized, and that very demon was slaughtered by Nic. He never saw that same mark again, nor did his body ever feel the same. It felt better at least, but that same feeling was gone. It was torn out, along with the revenge. As of now, what filled him was regret, guilt…very fuel that wasn't making his powers shine.

"That mark is gone permanently." Orion said. "At this point, since you failed to do that, your only grace for becoming a "true" Devil Slayer is to do so without the handicap." He turned away from them, looking back out towards the stern. "A true Devil Slayer never awakens until he gets past his mark. That thing is nothing but a…well, I guess the appropriate phrase would be an 'aim to great claim'. It's a small, but ideal price to pay. Only after you have conquered the demon inside of you – forgiveness – only then can you truly regrow as a Devil Slayer."

With another word of prompt, the Devil Slayer took his leave. Juvia reached out to him, but Gray offered nothing else to say. His stare was as cold as ice as he leered at Orion's back. While he still didn't trust Orion to any degree, the words and advice to a Devil Slayer was allowing him to be at least a little open, even if it was confusing. Juvia relented her own thoughts to give both their much needed space.

"Only after you have conquered the demon inside of you – forgiveness – only then can you truly regrow as a Devil Slayer."

'Forgiveness, huh?' Those words echoed in Gray's head over and over. What exactly does he mean by "forgiveness"? Nic forgave him already, and that was a long time ago. But deeper down, he knew that answer lied with something else. 'Forgiving my own sins…'


Orion continued his way down the ship's side. His black boots tapped on the wood ever so lightly, in spite of how heavy they were. It was like he was a ghost, walking silently through the shade of the overhead roofing covering him.

As he wandered straight forward through the shade, a grimacing frown crossed his lips. The talk with Gray was beginning to boil up some less than bittersweet times, some that he had almost forgotten at this point.

"Get up."

A stomp of what felt like an armored boot leg thudded against the crisp forest floor. Foliage churned beneath the pointed armored boot that awoke a young boy that was lying on his side.

"Gnnnngh…hmm…?" A tired moan came from the exhausted child. The child had simple blue jeans that were worn on the thighs, but otherwise intact. He had black and white sneakers that were run down, but still well enough that no sticks could poke through the soles. A cotton red zip-up jacket went over a tattered white shirt.

The blonde-headed boy turned his neck to look up, his blurry vision catching a glimpse of the boot's owner. "…you." He said tiredly.

Orion, 9-years-old, and already he thought his life couldn't be anymore miserable.

Getting up in the middle of the woods, bugs crawling everywhere, and to see the sunlight in a hue very much like sunglasses every single day, if not at all. Everything around him had a dark hue around him, even fire itself had a faded black hue whenever it was lit on cold nights. When he looks up at the gleaming sun, the sky-blue sky was more of a navy blue. He couldn't even recall the last time he ever saw actually sky. And it was all because of the man that woke him.

Demora, from the Book of Zeref: The Demon of Darkness. Unlike Deliora, or perhaps Lullaby, this demon in particular was human-sized, like the ones of Tartaros. In fact, Demora's own perpetual strength was so questionable that it could be said his magical energy is spilled into suffocating darkness. And yet within it, Orion slept like a baby, whenever he can that is. The demon was clad in shadowcast armor. It was a dark silver with a very black tint to it. The armor had a deep black visor on it that showed deep darkness from within. It was like looking at a hollow void inside, almost like a Dusclops. Shackles and chains encompassed the wrists and shins, making him look like he was prisoner to somehow. "Get up. Time to hunt." He ordered.

Orion rolled onto his butt, foliage still covering parts of the side he slept on. "Do I have to?" he groaned.

"If you want to survive in this world, you must make the meaningless of tasks the more vital ones."

Orion's eyelids dropped halfway. "You said that already like a hundred times."

"And how many times did you imply that?"

Orion gave a glare at the demon. It's been nothing but sheer hell with this guy, since Day 1 if recollection was implied. The fact that he didn't try to kill him himself was something else, but these tasks and living out in the outdoors all this time was doing that for him. "This is stupid." He got up and turned away. "Why don't you do me a favor and just get it over with?"

The monstrosity didn't bother to move accordingly. He just stood in place and watched as Orion dared not look at him. "Hunt. I won't ask again."

Orion begrudgingly felt a weight drop on his shoulder. He only started to hunt on his own for the fast two weeks now since Demora showed him how to do it just once. And even then it didn't seem easy. Placement, bait, the wiring, all of it. He got the hang of it now, but the facts didn't lie when his efforts were less than fruitful.

But hunger drove the young boy, and he knew now the demon wasn't feeding him his captures anymore. "Fine." He exasperated. He walked over foliage-filled ground, where he stepped over a fallen tree log and on he went.

Demora's dark hue never left the area, no matter how far he went away from the demon.

In the distance, the boy found an ideal spot where a possible squirrel or maybe a rabbit if lucky got to and began to set up the net-like trap. He applied the spikes to the ground to keep the tree branch above close to the ground. Once the rope trap was ready, it would be enough to possibly pull up a fox and dangle it like a piñata. It happened before, and he had enough to eat for two days. Ashe set up the rope, the darkness all around him was ever so annoying. It was suffocating. How was it that he wasn't even dead yet? Once he set up the trap, he backed away to hide in a nearby shrub. As he observed and waited, he looked down at his arm, which covered the Devil Slayer tattoo it had glowing beneath. 'One day, I'm gonna put that demon out of his misery before me.' As he exasperated his thoughts, the tattoo beneath the sleeve glowed, spreading some darkness over the arm.

Orion stepped out of the shade, entering sunlight that beamed down on his face. His eyes squinted at the harsh sunlight, but not enough to completely blind him. Once adjusted, his attention went towards someone who happened to be close by.

Aniya was glancing up in the shadows of the ship. She had her visors on, but she wasn't in the sun the whole time. No, the visors shielded her eyes because she was glaring at a certain someone who just now awoke from his nap. She watched with an anxious stare as Nic came down and was talking to his wife. The whole ride, Aniya had been notable quiet; something far out of characteristic for her. She was normally quite snobbish, if not rude. At any time, she'd be working on getting machine tech and other gadgets to work properly, but ever since that night, she's been spacious.

Nic and Erza continued talking to one another, but all she saw was someone who creeped her out. Whatever he had, it left her feeling spite flow in her veins.

"Aniya."

The girl was brought out of her trance when the voice of her leader came from behind. Turning around, she looked towards the Devil Slayer. "O-Orion!" she gasped.

"Why so surprised? You're always the one to know your surroundings better than any of us." He reasoned casually.

Aniya's brow furrowed. "W-well…you just got me when my guard was down."

"My apologies. Wasn't my intention to scare you." A short silence fell a bit, the air becoming stale as their conversation took another turn. "How long have you been like this?"

She scoffed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Aniya."

"I'm serious, I'm fine!" She snapped. Her glare resumed its trajectory towards Nic again, who was now looking out at the ocean, unaware of the stare she was giving him. "It's just that stupid Nic guy is all."

"Is that all?"

"No, far from that! This whole thing is just stupid! Why on Earthland are we really risking our lives to coordinate ourselves to stupid people who can't even understand their own problems? I mean, c'mon! We're way better off without those heavyweights!" She gestured over to the Dragon Slayers all lurching over the sides. "We're better off doing this ourselves without such a big number! We're basically going to get ourselves exposed and mess up!"

As she went on a tirade about the cons of her feelings towards them, Orion closed his eyes and sighed through his nose.

"And besides." She continued, her attention towards Erik and Kinana, the latter comforting the Dragon Slayer as he was unconscious from throwing up just recently. The stare underneath her visors grew more fierce than ever. "Those guys especially have been creeping me out."

Orion's gaze went towards them. He didn't see the issue within the Dragon Slayers, nor Nic, nor Kinana. When he looked at Aniya, that's where he saw the problem. Seeing into her eyes was all that he needed to know.

"This is about your 'problem' I take it?"

"They're snake lovers. I just feel it whenever I look at those three." Aniya's fists balled so tight as her teeth grinded against each other like two heavy maces. "I just wanna shoot them in between those eyes and just-!"

"I understand." Orion said, stopping her from her actions. "Your pain is dear, but you must remember, these people we are aligned with are our allies. Just because we all have our differences, doesn't meant prosecution is in order, no matter how much you may think so."

"But…they…"

"And what if they were? You've been put through a lot, and finding your peace before you die is up to you to decide that. But don't take it out on those who haven't meant it. Don't force your life or drag others into it. Of course I'm not saying I'm telling you to live your life. Just for now, please bare for just a little while longer."

Aniya looked down in regret over herself. She knew her deducing was wrong, but she couldn't help it. She hated snakes, and there was a reason. She knew Nic contributed somehow, and she wanted to know what he did that night, but she didn't want to out of fear. "…" Ultimately, she chose to decline her previous intentions and huff in defeat.

"You're doing fine. But please, at least try to interact with some of the others." Orion walked away, leaving the pinkette to look back at the alliance with a tight half-grin of displeasure.


"Aw yeah. Awww yeah…yeah this is good going on." Mutters came from a dazed Kevin as his eyes were wandering about on the ship. To be more precise, it revolved around the fact that his wandering eyes resorted to ladies the majority of the time. He was off minding his own business, watching as Minerva assisted Frosch with handling Rogue and guiding their way to the cabons. His attention went towards her bust almost immediately, and when she passed him, he looked ahead like he wasn't paying attention to her. "Yeah, I think I'll save that one." He muttered.

"Save what now?"

"Ohgeez!" In a gasp, he swiveled around to see Joey standing there with The Freaks. "Uh, w-what are you doing here…?" he nervously asked.

Joey shrugged. "Meh, call it curiosity."

"You know you could be a little discrete." Dereece cocked his brow at the implication.

"You don't know that. Can't prove nothing." Kevin immediately denied.

Dereece slowly nodded with a smirk. "Ri~ght."

Kevin immediately chose to sway from the awkwardness and looked towards Duncan. "And you've gotta be that Trainer Nic fought, right? Name's Kevin, how's it been?"

Duncan half-heartedly looked away, disinterested by the tendencies happening around him. "It's fine."

"Okay then…"

"Sooo, Kevin!" Joey intervened. "I heard you're from Kanto, right? Nice place? Good cities, food, all that stuff?"

Kevin appealed to a solemn shrug. "Yeah, guess so. To me that is. Where're you guys from?"

Joey gave a smile and pulled Dereece in from the side, while he pointed his thumb to himself. "Well Dereece and I came from the Kalos Region."

"Hey."

"And Duncan over here came from Sinnoh." He looked at Duncan, who looked even more unamused than ever. "Really hard to tell what this guy's thinking. He's always looking so grumpy that I mistake him for a Gloom sometimes, right?" he chuckled in his own amusement, though the others half-heartedly let on with the joke.

Dereece turned towards Kevin. "So how did you get roped into a guild, huh?"

Kevin chose to accept his attention. "Well that's a story I think I can shorthand at the moment. You see, when I was swept into this world, I immediately found myself somewhere alongside the edge of a town. I was a little nervous when I found myself inside woods, so I figured I would make haste and skedaddle before anything wild would try and pounce me."

"That's what I'd do." Joey said. "Sorry, go on."

"Anyways, I eventually found myself into the city, and there, I guess I found myself in the middle of some plazas. I git kinda lost even after knowing my way around a bit."

"How'd that happen?" Dereece asked.

"Well a few times, I took a few wrong turns. And maybe a couple more times, I guess I found myself a little…sidetracked." He smirked up to the skies about his little leeways here and there. His turns mainly involved some girls and their lower-halves, presumably those who wore tight leggings, or rather had the hips to show. "Man were they fine." He sighed.

Dereece and Joey looked at each other in wonder before looking back at Kevin wandering off in his musings…and possible libido.

"…huh? Oh yeah! Anyways, I eventually followed someone to a local joint, where I think I saw two guys were about to throw down. I thought about leaving, but then al of a sudden, this wild Misdreavus popped out of the pub wall."

"A Misdreavus, you say?" Duncan inquired, proving he was paying attention.

"Yeah, and guys were freaking out, so I chose to fend it off with my Pokémon right then and there in the pub. It wasn't a big deal. We won easily, but it got away. That's I met Hibiki, who commented about my Poke Ball and started asking questions. And I guess that it went from there."

"Well that's one way to get known at least." Joey smirked. "You sound like you got better luck than us. We fell right atop an Ursaring and realized our Pokémon can talk."

"I know, what up with that?"

"Oh! What's your Pokémon like? You a Trainer?"

Kevin sheepishly shrugged. "Meeeh, I wouldn't go that far. I just worked in the market area in Vermilion City. I only carried the one Pokémon with me because I found it crawling alongside the apartment complex and it spooked me."

"So then…you're not a real Trainer?" Dereece inquired.

"Look, don't go pointing fingers, alright? I might not practice and all, but I've been taking care of it. Not exactly what you'd call someone who lives under a bridge or all that stuff people try to say. One Pokémon just happens to make me a big deal around here, so I just rolled with it."

"What is it?" Joey asked.

"I'll save that for a more appropriate time." Kevin noted, though the notion was more of irony coming from someone who was staring off at womanly goodies. The others chose to press on.

"So, you got magic?" Dereece inquired.

Kevin smirked with pride. "Believe it or not, why yes. I do." With a snap of his fingers, a small, holographic screen appeared in front of his face, startling the group. They saw a few panels appear on the screen, one with a stat screen in the form of a pie chart, one with a variety of other descriptions, nd one holding a picture atop; this one being Joey.

"Hey, that's me!" Joey pointed out. "And it's git my good side. Nice."

"You're Joey Haycliff. You are 18-years-old, have an intense love of dancing and fun; have a deep passion for Nic and all the things he does, and strive to be as awesome as he." Kevin recited. "You're 128 pounds, have dancing for your exercise. Loves pizza, donuts, and playing Pokémon video games with your best friend."

Dereece whistled at the notion that lead on. "Wow, right down the middle, too."

Kevin snapped his fingers again, this time changing the screen to Dereece's profile. For a brief moment, it then shifted to Duncan, then to Nic, then to Jenny Realight, then to Vanessa. "I call this my Search Magic." He proudly stated. "I can search up anything about anyone as long as I have their name."

"Wow, that's pretty handy." Dereece stated with slight admiration.

Kevin's pride boomed. "Exactly my thoughts."

"Don't sugarcoat it." Duncan groaned.

"What else does it do?" Joey asked.

Kevin looked around to see if anyone else was paying attention. When he saw that he was in the clear, he leaned in towards them and mischievously smirked. "My Search Magic has a few more bits of it that make it to die for. It allows me to know their personalities, their stats, and even their locations. And what's better…" he smirked. "Are the perks of being able to save certain people in a file I made."

"Certain people?" Joey asked. "Wait…!" Suddenly, he got into Kevin's face, a grim, dark shadow over his forehead. "Don't tell me you're following Nic or Erza-senpai, because if you are, that's gonna be a big problem between us, pal!" he threateningly growled.

A bead of sweat dropped from Kevin. "Uh…I don't look up guys or married woman." He confessed.

Almost like a switch, Joey backed off. "Oh okay then."

Dereece facepalmed.

"But if you really wanna know…" He used his five fingers and contracted the holographic screen in front of him to hand-size. He held it like some mobile device and clicked on a small setting, where there, he clicked on a file, and he expanded a picture. There, what they saw was…

Something that was onscreen made Joey go wide-eyed and stare longingly, as to where Dereece looked away and shut his eyes. Duncan tipped his hat and veered away.

"Man! You seriously look at that stuff?!" Dereece snapped. "What the heck's wrong with you?!"

"Shhh! Not while we're around people!" Kevin harshly whispered.

Joey continued to be tranced by the visuals he was seeing. He was looking at the many, upon many, pictures that Kevin had going for him. He saw legs, thickness, and through it all, the leader of The Freaks…nodded with a smirk. "Not bad."

"I know right?" Kevin nodded back. "My friend, whish do you think is better?" He leaned in, whispering into ear. "The racks or the meat below?"

Joey veered away and looked back like it was obvious. "What are you, crazy?" he exasperated. "The bootay."

"Nice." The two perverted guys high-fived.

"Someone shoot me." Dereece groaned.

"What's going on here?" Lucy came over to see the four boys converged. "Oh, hey guys. What's all the commotion about?" The blonde looked at what Kevin was showing Joey, and she saw that the screen was so tiny that her brown eyes had to squint. "Hey wait, isn't that…?"

"That's my cue! See ya!" Kevin's magic instantly dissipated and he zoomed out of sight, leaving a fading dust trail behind him.

"What the…?" Lucy watched him go, left stupefied in wonder. Her brow furrowed as her hands went to her hips. "Well that was just rude." She turned towards The Freaks. "Hey, what did he show you anyway? Was that his magic?"

Joey went wide-eyed as he slowly looked towards Dereece, who shared the same expression. Both were a little stumped with what to say to the big-boobed blonde. What was to say exactly?

Thankfully Duncan was there to give an excuse. "It's none of your business."

Lucy backed off. "Uh…okay then…?" She awkwardly walked away from them.

When she was out of reach, Joey sulked forward with a bead of sweat. "Man that was close."

"Tell me about it." Dereece huffed.

As the two were thankful for the save by Duncan, the experienced Trainer's own thoughts fell off to another note; one a more appropriate one. When he watched Kevin scuttle away to Arceus-knows-where, he was drifting to his own magical abilities. He was probably in Earthland just as long as them, and already, thanks to his "habits" and supposed "hobbies", that he got his magic. And to be frank, it was making him worry somewhat…on the inside. When he looked at his kendo stick that he always held, he looked at it intensely before he huffed and turned his head away.

"But that's awesome." Joey remarked. "He's got magic."

"Yeah, that is pretty something, man." Dereece noted. He noticed the frown forming on Joey's face, making him wondrous. "What's wrong?"

Joey's stare drifted down to where his feet lied. He looked puzzled at his own imagination coming to a grinding halt when there were his insecurities that were catching on. "Nothing, it's just…" His eyes squinted. "It hasn't even been a month yet, and already someone like us got his magic. What does that say about us, you think?"

Dereece almost fell if it weren't for his own wonders. He's been drilling that into Joey for a while now, but just now it caught on. Though he can't exactly call him out when he wonders of he too would ever get a magic al power for himself.

The blonde leader of the team began to show discern through his glare down at his shoes. 'We've been working hard for weeks just to adapt here, and I think things are okay as they are now…but I didn't think Kevin would get his faster than the rest of us. Are we even…?'

"Joey…" Dereece trailed off as his best friend's worries – something that ever showed – began to overwhelm them, and at a time like this.

"If you're worried about magic, don't be." A voice said. "You'll be fine."

The Freaks were brought out of their thoughts when they turned around to stare at the sender of said voice. To their surprise, it was their first, and possibly most difficult, opponent thus far.

"Oh, you." Joey said. "You're Broly."

The Barrier-Make Mage smiled genuinely at the crestfallen Trainer. "Don't feel so hard on yourself just because you might have got the short end of the deal. It takes a lot of encouragement for one to master their magic. But who knows, you just might find it sooner than you think."

Joey didn't look so convinced. "But…how?"

Broly put his hand to his chin. "Good question. But one thing I know for a fact, is that anyone out there can learn magic. I should know that for a fact."

Hearing this brought some glimmer back to Joey's eyes. "Really?"

He smiled. "Oh yeah. Trust me when I say, there's always potential in anyone, whether they see it in themselves or not. Not too brag about myself or nothing, but I didn't get my magic until was probably your age." This fact made them gasp. "Sometimes it's those late bloomers who make it far. You never know. So don't give up kiddo, okay? So tell me, why is it that you want to have magic anyway?"

The last question left Joey with a small mental halt. It was sudden to him, but the answer was the exact opposite. It just didn't show on his face. "B-Because I wanna be as helpful as can be to Nic-senpai."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah…" Joey sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "I know it sounds cheesy and all…but a guy as awesome as that can't be ignored. Just thinking about it makes me wanna…" He was beginning to show giddy for his fantasies and his dreams he always had when he realized reality. "Well, anyways, Nic and Vanessa, they're both really strong. I just wanna be as strong as them."

Broly sympathized with Joey's goals. He could remember a time when he was in his shoes and looked up to a certain someone. Though his own tale was a different consequence than what Joey had in mind. Out of his own sympathy for the naïve fool, the broad man reached down and put his hand on Joey's shoulder, surprising the younger guy.

"Uh…"

"Kid, I wish I could tell you of happy trails…but that path of strength comes with great sacrifices. There's no such word as easy when you want strength. If the strength you want is that meaningful to you, then be ready to bear that weight."

Joey looked up to the superior with wondrous eyes. He didn't know exactly what he meant by those words, nor was he able to process them, but it sounded important. With a shrug and a definite nod, Joey smiled back up. "Sure."

Closer towards the bow, the sea winds shifted Brandish's coat. As cold as they were, the mage seemed far from deterred. She was looking ahead for some time that one could've mistaken her for a statue.

Upon the many that were conversing, or at the very least tried to, Lucy walked from behind to close in on Brandish. Once close, she stood a few meters behind the mage. "Brandish." She waited for an answer, but the mage didn't give one so heartedly like Lucy would.

"What?"

Lucy could hear the flatness in her tone, nevertheless, she chose to persevere. "How are you feeling?"

"Chilly." She deadpanned.

A bead of sweat dropped from her head. "Uh, g-guess that makes sense…" she shook her head and trudged on. "What I mean is…are you okay?"

"I said I'm chilly."

"Well then, het some pants or something! Look, do you want me to be worried about you, or you'd rather worry about your sense of fashion?!"

Brandish sighed in exasperation. Even through the few winds that howled, she could hear Lucy's own impatience. It was rather cold of her, but that was just her.

Lucy caught on, looking down sheepishly. "I get it. It's a little conflicting, isn't it? Having to deal with people who betrayed you and all…"

"And to whom are you referring to?" Brandish inquired.

"W-well…" She thought back to the time she spent with Brandish during the war. While not dealing with the betrayal ordeal personally, she was rather speaking on behalf of her own personal experience seeing Natsu and Gray betray Nic for their own ambitions. "Maybe I haven't been in your shoes because everyone I know holds me dear…but that doesn't change the fact that you're my friend. Whether you accept it or not, I'm gonna be there for you. Because that's not what backstabbers do." A confident smile crossed her lips.

The green-haired mage stared at her from the corner of her eye. While she isn't exactly enthused with Lucy's go-lucky demeanor, she can't lie when it is something that makes her feel better after everything she's been put through. It was a nice change compared to the strict principles the empire laid on her childhood all these years.

"Do as you will." She looked back towards the sea. "Not that I'm going to stop you." She muttered softly.

Lucy picked up on the last words spoken and tilted her head. "Hm? What was that?"

Brandish grinned softly. "It's nothing." She turned to face Lucy and the others. "We're approaching our destination. We should be there shortly."

"Really?" Kinana asked.

"And where might this location be?" Sophie interjected. "Last I checked, Alakitasia was another two days from here."

"We're not heading directly to Alakitasia. There's a pitstop in between here and there that we need to visit first."

"Last I checked, there were no borders of land that laid between here and the continent." Mest said. His face showed ever growing shock. "Except for…"

"That's right. Caracole Island." She answered. "We'll have to go there before any proceedings can be made."

"Caracole Island?" Lucy looked towards Gray with confusion.

The man who was down to just his boxers now step forward. "But wait, we thought you…"

"Yes, I'm aware of that." Brandish backlashed. "But since my exile, I needed a place to hideout and lay low. And coincidentally, that spot happened to be secluded."

"I suppose that would make sense." Ultear said. "Having an island as a base does make it hard for others to scope you out."

"And that makes it easier for us to regroup and refuel!" Meredy chirped.

"Exactly. It was also during my time there when I happened to run into my little hires." She admitted.

"Your hires?" Lucy repeated. "Wait, you're saying that's where you met the Peace Jaegers?"

"You make it sound like it's a big deal." Brandish rebuffed.

Orion walked on over and folded his arms, chuckling. "Believe it or not, she's telling the truth. That's where we were hired."

"No way!" Happy chirped.

"Indeed. You see, we were wandering around looking for work to do at the time. We only had so much money on us at the time, so we had to restock the small ship we were renting. Aniya was less than enthusiastic, and in turn, used her shares for a Star Mango."

Hearing her name, the pinkette puffed her cheeks and turned away.

"Coincidentally, I was at the repaired shop at the time." Brandish went on. "That's where I introduced them to the work I hired them for."

"How interesting of you." Jellal smirked. "Meeting on such twisted fates. I would call this a blessing in disguise if it weren't for the situation being more pressing now, wouldn't it."

"So it may." Orion said. "At any rate, we should be arriving there shortly. I assume you all have a plan to get ready for the docking?"

Nic approached with a discerned look. "What are you saying exactly?"

"You guys!" Elfman shouted. "Look!"

Everyone looked towards the burly man, seeing him point ahead with his younger sister.

"Hey, yeah! I think I see it, too! Is that it?!"

All able-bodied personnel, went towards the edge of the boat, where they caught up with Brandish to point out and see something that looked like an island in the shoreline ahead.

"Hey yeah, I think I see it, too." Sawyer said. "That the place?"

"Yup! The place where all this crazy shit just got real!" Matilda cheekily smirked.

Erza stood beside Nic, her stare as serious as could be. Her husband's stare was no different as her own. 'Caracole Island. It looks exactly as it was before.' Nic looked towards Brandish. 'So she's used that tourist island to hide all this time.'

"Uh, guys? I think I see something else!" Happy pointed out.

Pantherlily looked over the bow next to him. "I think I see it as well. There's something else there."

"What is that?" Sophie narrowed her eyes to get a better view of what was ahead. Even though it wasn't too clear, it wasn't vague either. She saw ever so clearly of some form of obstructions up ahead.

Gray squinted as well. "Are those what I think they are?"

Floating atop of water dead ahead, everyone could see a picture of large ships. But not just any ships. It was the ships belonging to the enemy, the reason the ships were transporting items and goods.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Griffon exasperated.

Mest's shock was no less appealing than a Scary Face. "No way! Alvarez Empire navy ships?! Here?!"

"Déjà vu." Sophie deadpanned.

"But…what are they doing here now?" Lucy wondered.

"Yeah, last time it was because of a spy. Now what's the bog idea?" Happy added.

The look on Brandish's face failed to show remorse. "It's part of Emperor Neinhart's expansion I'm afraid. He's made Caracole Island his now."

Everyone looked at her with shock. "No way! He owns the whole island?! Is that even fair?" Joey exasperated.

"Nothing is fair I'm afraid." Brandish replied. "Neinhart took over the island. And of I had to guess, this is where trades are made with ships with the Pokémon and items they're taking to the continent."

"I see. So it's a rest stop for the Alvarez ships as well." Erza deduced.

"Well this sucks. We can't get near them now." Gray pitied.

"No, I think we can." Nic argued, earning questionable looks from his peers.

"You really think so, Nic? How?" Happy asked.

Nic looked calm about the situation. "Well for starters, we're on a ship we stole, right? At least for the moment, they don't find us to be a threat, so I think we'll at least be able to dock." His face fell to the wooden deck as he tried to think. "However…I doubt that after last time we were here, things won't be the same as last time."

Mest folded his arms. "Yeah, that's a good point."

"We got caught almost instantly." Carla said. "Odds are their security measures are going to be tougher than they were before."

"And that might include facial recognition." Nic continued. "I'm not too sure about this, but if that's the case, then we'll need something more clever than last time. Odds are they're going to want to inspect the ship's crew and the cargo."

Erza put a hand to her chin. "That would make sense. They are shipping Pokémon after all. If a ship didn't have that, then there could be a scam within this black-market."

"These ships were sent out to steal Pokémon, right?" Jellal said. "Coming back empty-handed in a corrupted empire's hands would led to some unbeknownst punishment. We'll need a disguise plan if we want to fully blend in."

"Yeah, and they'll also want to believe that we're part of the crew." Bellona noted. "Do they have any extra sets of armor perhaps?"

"For a ship this size, odds are hardly." Gray said.

Nic looked towards Mest with an affirmative look. "Mest, you know what to do, right?"

The Teleportation Mage nodded. "Yeah, no worries. I'll make the crew we captured think that they're on our side. They'll help us then."

Nic nodded. "Alright then, we're counting on you." He let Mest go, leaving him to walk into the cabin and get to the work needed. There was one more trick he thought would work, but he had to be sure. To do that, he needed something else. "Hey, Lisanna."

The white-haired girl looked at Nic with an inquired face. "Um…yes?"

"There's something else I need you for?"

She pointed at herself. "Me?"

Sawyer smirked. "Heh, this should be good."


The ship eventually found its way to the island. With it being a fellow navy vessel, the camouflage was a grand way for them to enter the primary port where most of the navy ships were located. They found a reasonable spot for hard access, and the warped crew's permission to board went through.

"Ugh, do I really have to wear this?" Sorano held up a spare suite of armor that was passed out to a lot of people. "The colors are stale."

"Stop complaining." Meredy reprimanded.

"She's right." Jellal commented, not too far away from the group getting a knee guard on. "This will help us blend in once we get the inspection. Mest's efforts with the crew is allowing us to use these."

"Oh yeah! Lucky for us, they come in sizes, too!" Richard chirped, his armor fully coating his body, all but his massively bushy hair that stuck out beneath the helmet.

Natsu was trying to get his own armor on, but it was taking forever to do just that. Lucy's was taking an equally long and harder time to do so, but they knew the efforts would be worth it in the end. Everyone else was trying to put on their armor themselves, but while that felt complex, the attire felt simpler than what it looked like.

"I never knew…just how much work it took…to get one piece of armor on." Kagura strained to get her armor on with the leg's attachments. "Why are they all men sized to begin with? Erza, exactly how do you do this?" She got no answer. "Erza?"

She turned her head to look at Erza, but she looked completely unrecognizable. She was cloaked head to toe already in her armor piece, though the top she requipped to a metal she had to better foot her caboose.

"Wow, she works fast?" Lucy admired.

"I'll say. Being a Requip Mage has its perks." Gray commented.

Elfman tried to flex in his armor. Thankfully it didn't break. "Takes a real man to do it like that!"

"She's not a man, you muttonhead." Erik retorted.

Minerva smirked. "Well, to think the great Titania would be so flashy in such armor. Why I hardly even recognize her myself."

"I'll say." Sting grinned. "Hey, Erza, how'd you get that on so fast anyway? Think you can teach us?" He waited for a response, but Erza didn't respond. "Uh, Erza…?"

While everyone was working on their armors, Erza was standing like a statue in the far-off distance. She was there in body, but not in spirit. Her mind was on pins and needles as she thought back to how Nic asked Lisanna of all people. Lisanna! It was enough that he asked someone who he had little interaction with, but a certain part o her was making it her business to try and drill deep into what Nic planned. Unfortunately, fate had other plans when Nic simply told her "Just trust me."

Why was she getting so worked up anyway? Why would she be annoyed that Nic asked Lisanna and not the one person he swore to be with for all eternity and nobody else, right? Erza knew that he wouldn't really do this to her, right? Why go to that animal-loving girl when he can just stand by his bombshell of a wife? What does Lisanna have that she doesn't? It may not be a big deal in hindsight, but the thought was driving her crazy.

Every fiber in her bones wanting to scream out to know. If she were Mest, she'd be gnawing someone's head off. Spacing out too long, of course, rives consequences.

"Erza? You who? Earthland to Erza." The voice calling out to her and the hand waving in front of her visor. She snapped out of her trance to find Lucy there.

"O-Oh, Lucy." She stammered. "I'm sorry, what was it you were saying?"

Lucy could feel Erza's anxiety even from a few feet away. "Geez, relax Erza. No need to make a big deal out of it." She assured.

"Yeah. Nic's not that kind of guy." Natsu noted. "If he were, he'd be like Gray."

The stare Gray gave was as cold as his ice. "And what's that got to do with me?"

Erza cleared her throat, but beneath her visor, her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment. "I-it's nothing like that! I know that?"

"You sure? Because it seems to me Titania is having a hissy fit." Minerva teased.

"Well you can't blame her though." Ultear added insult to injury. "Why I'd give anything to have a man like that in my clutches."

"Hey guys, don't add fuel to the fire now, c'mon!" Sting worried.

Yukino sweat-dropped. "Oh goodness."

"All little couple's drama." Lector sighed.

"Fro thinks so, too!" Frosch added.

"Knock it off everyone!" Rogue snapped. To ease the tension, he tried to take a cleansing breath. "Honestly, how immature."

The comments were dialing down, but the fuel to the fire inside Erza burned as hot as her Houndoom's Inferno. Now she was more worried than ever. The thought of Nic cheating on her now came to her mind. She must be hanging around Juvia for too long because before she knew it, she was seeing Nic and Lisanna in her head walking off hand in hand. It only served to rile her up further. Before she got out of hand, she recalled the mission. She shook her head off of any impending thoughts of Nic's numerous affairs to get through this challenge. She would get to the bottom of this later, but for now, she would just have to trust Nic with whatever he had planned.

His plans were by means of improvising after all.

They all heard a massive plank drop from topside. They all looked up and knew what that meant.

"Sounds like docking's locked and loaded." Dereece said.

"Indeed." Sophie answered. "Inspections are here, too."

"So what now?" Kinana questioned. "I think this may not be an appropriate time…but there isn't enough sets for all of us."

"It's fine." Brandish said, coated in armor of her own. "Not all of us need to be here anyway. We still need a team to gather up fuel and supplies for the next few days."

"So you want scouts then, huh?" Broly answered. He pointed a thumb to himself and grinned. "Alright then, I'll go."

"Really?" Joey gasped.

Broly put hands to his hips. "Sure. We need someone out there, right? And besides, the island is on high alert right now. Odds are they want as many recognizable personnel attending their vessels."

"He's right." Orion said. "We're not well-known as well. I think it's best we settle for a scouting party with hardly anyone recognizable."

"Which means we better not go." Mest said. "The empire knows Fairy Tail's names and faces. Even without armor, our guarantee won't be as high."

Everyone looked around to see who it was that was available. Aside from Fairy Tail, about half of the alliance wasn't recognized by the empire. Crime Sorciere was mostly known. Lyon and Kagura most certainly were. At this point, that left the Peace Jaegers, as well as only a few other candidates.

Seeing volunteers shoot up already, Joey raised his hand. "Uh, hey! Hello?" he got everyone's attention. "I hope that it's okay to ask…but what about us?"

"Huh? You guys?" Griffon inquired.

"I think I get it." Vanessa said. "Joey, Duncan, and Dereece; they haven't been in Fairy Tail very long to be known by the empire."

"Hey yeah, that's right!" Lucy gasped. "They weren't around when the attack happened. I think that would work."

"Aye, sir!" Happy cheered.

Carla sighed heavily in exasperation. "I suppose it can't be helped."

"It'll be fine, I'm sure." Wendy assured.

Duncan huffed with no visible signs of exasperation. "Well if you say so." He turned towards his Captain. "So what exactly are we going to do?"

"We're going to find supplies and scout for any information that'll lead to the empire." Orion said. "We'll have to be discrete though. We can't guarantee yours or our own safety. You can't keep your guard down in enemy territory after all."

"So…we need a diversion is what you're saying." Joey interpreted.

Orion and the others wanted to interject and say something about Joey's logic, but there really wasn't much to point out that wasn't already spoken, let alone known. The fact that diversions do help in the end at some points left Orion to rethink the steps that need to be taken.

Broly, however, seemed intrigued. "Heh, well I like the way this guy thinks."

"Are you freaking serious right now?!" Aniya snapped. "What kind of a diversion are you even thinking?!"

Joey clasped his hands and rubbed the palms together with glee. "Oh trust me on this, I think it'll rock." His head slowly turned towards Dereece, a mischievous smirk that began to worry the best friend.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"


Caracole Island; even after almost a year, the tourist spot once reduced to a foothold still upheld its charm. The many of expenses that the island had were left untouched, aside from the spiraling rock mountain top, which was more flat than slant now. The shacks and the huts that once reprised the tourist realm were all restored, and everyone was coming and going ever so happily. They all seemed pleasantly happy, or at least if one was blind. The repair of the island was smooth sailing, but déjà vu never failed to rise up on this splendid resort like the sun did. All around, Alvarez soldiers were walking around with the same weapons as before, spears tipped with lacrima. But through it all, despite the soldiers, there wasn't anything too strict to worry about. Unlike last time, there was no need to scout and inspect people.

A finger pointed towards the sky. "Hit it!"

Another finger went down on a button.

Rapid Hawaiian drums bet so fast and so loud through speakers that it got numerous people's attention. Ultear, who was looking through a crystal ball with everyone else, raised brows at the sight.

Joey swiftly turned towards the crowd, a flower in his ear. "ALOLA!" Joey – of all people – of course, lead the distraction. He wore his white short-sleeved dress shirt as usual, but his coat was replaced by a flower ring on the hand, and on the bottom, he wore nothing but a long, grass skirt and no shoes. Beside him, his Chespin had a miniature grass skirt with a similar flower on his head, with his tail sticking out. Behind him, Orion, Broly, Matilda, Meredy, Mest, and Duncan all stood, where Dereece was the middle ground holding up his boombox – bare chested to show his big-boned skin and wearing a grass skirt as well. The way he was dressed was one thing distracting, but the funky Hawaiian theme going on with the hula was hypnotizing. "I~f you're hungry for some more, get right up when you hit the floor! Shake it to the left, shake it to the right! Do it again and you will win this fight! YEAH!" He maneuvered in a suave hip fashion as the grass skirt followed his flow as he danced. The way he moved was disturbing, but at the same time, enigmatic. "Chespin, hit it!"

Chespin wasn't as good as Joey. He was mainly in one place swaying his arms in arches and doing arm rolls. But when it came to moving, he was just as eccentric…though his singing was more like cheering. "1, 2, 3, 4! COME HERE AND GET SOME MORE!" He stuck his tail out with one stubby leg off to the side.

Off to the side, the others in the party were at a loss with what they had to say. For one thing, it was original, but all around, it still felt no less bizarre to look at than imagine. If Aniya were here, she'd shoot them for stupidity points.

"…seriously? That's his plan?" Lucy sweat-dropped from the ship.

Kagura had nothing to say. She morbidly shook her head in disappointment over the distraction.

Natsu couldn't keep in his laughter. "That guy sure knows how to make me laugh!" he uproariously exclaimed.

"Hey, keep it down." Gajeel warned. "The guys are up on the deck already." True to what he said, the footsteps were heard above their heads. Small creeks went everywhere, and more accurately, from the few soldiers that were assigned to inspecting.

"We better get to spreading around the ship." Macbeth said. "They'll find it unnatural to have so many of us in one room."

Jellal turned towards Ultear and Aniya. "We'll be leaving it up to you both. Make sure if they see or hear anything, you let us know."

Ultear graciously nodded. "As you say."

Aniya crossed her arms. "Alright, fine." She certainly didn't sound as cooperative as her associate, but nevertheless, she had to put up with them for the time being. "I still don't get why you didn't send that snake-loving Dragon Slayer out there."

"Because Erik is known as well as us. Him being in the empire's custody would cause problems." Jellal answered. "Besides, even from here, his hearing can help pick up pieces from here that the others might have missed."

Aniya sighed once again in frustration. "Fine, but don't think I'm doing this because I want to."

"We understand." Jellal turned around. "Come, everyone."

Everyone departed from the room, leaving Ultear and Aniya to be hidden behind wooden crates that closed them in. Hopefully this way they wouldn't be noticed, if not for a few minutes.

Back on shore, Joey was whipping up a storm with his hula with his Pokémon. Many were already taking snaps and possible videos of his dancing, and if he was honest, he was loving the attention he was getting. Nothing could ruin this for him. Right?

"Why me?" Dereece half-heartedly groaned.

Mest looked away from the embarrassment of a sight without batting an eyelash. "Can't believe this is really happening. But unfortunately, we got important things to do."

"Indeed." Orion agreed. "I suggest we split up into two groups while our ship is being refueled. One group will look for food, and one will scout for information."

"Well, you can imagine that we're already having a third party." To rove his point, Mest pointed a thumb over his shoulder to the crowd that was whistling at Joey and Chespin showing off for patrons. "Should I get them as well?"

"I say leave them be. They're not hampering our priorities at the moment."

Broly stepped up. "Yeah, I'm with ya on this one. Besides, it's kinda amusing when you look at it."

Meredy chuckled. "Yeah, I guess so." Her laughter was short-lived, however, when something picked up around her. "Uh, guys?"

"What's up?" Matilda questioned.

"Where's that one guy? The Blue Pegasus Mage, right?"

"You mean Kevin?" Mest looked left and then right, his eyes catching no sign of the Search Mage. "That's weird. I thought we assigned him to our squad. He seemed insistent about it, too."

"I think he said something about 'getting information'." Orion repeated. "Whatever that is."

While everyone seemed confused about Kevin's lead ahead of them, Duncan had a good idea, though only for a second did he care. But otherwise, a blank face plastered his lack of care.


Among the many sights in Caracole Island, it's the kind that come and go that always entrance people. Plays, shows, concerts, all of those come and go, and rare opportunities as such don't always happen, so people have to make use of them. And for a certain mage with some "problems", he was certainly taking in as many sights as possible.

"Aww yeah…" Kevin muttered as he walked slowly through the hut area, seeing many women, some in pairs or groups, walking along. When he saw one with a thick lower body, he felt heat rise. "Yeah." He moved onto another chick, his face falling. "Bleh, short jeans. Lame." He moved onto the next. "Too thin…too flat…"

Being a picky Mandibuzz really wasn't all that it was cracked up to be, but Kevin couldn't help it. His masculine hormones were just aching for something good to look at, if only to stabilize him for a few hours. He was surrounded by busty women through whole ride, but as a mage of Blue Pegasus, and a marketeer, he knew one thing.

Work came before the goods.

It was annoying, but he'd rather be caught snooping about elsewhere with no one familiar sneaking up on him. But at the same, he may as well savor the possibilities available for him and his eyes alone. The bust was great and all, but the meat beneath the waist was another thing – possibly more – intriguing.

After wandering about for a short while, Kevin took his seat at a fellow hut, exhausted from the "sights". 'It's a good thing I'm wearing these sunglasses. I'd be burning up with how hot it is.' He told himself. After catching his breath, he turned towards the vendor in the shade.

The vendor, being someone in their possibly early 30s, had a Hawaiian short on with a hat. He looked at Kevin with a half-grin. "How can I help you?"

"Hi. What do you sell here, exactly?"

The vendor turned towards his merchandise in wonder. "Well, let's see…we've got some nick-knacks, kinda those seashell bracelets, keychains, plastic jugs…"

Kevin mentally chuckled at the last word. As the vendor looked on, Kevin's eyes wandered to the merchandise that were all around. It was more like a trading post that upheld some degree of goods and necklaces. It wasn't anything pricy, but he'd rather not make any bold decisions.

His eyes soon wandered to the side, seeing folded lamented papers next to a stack of pens. "How much for one of those maps?"


In another part of the conjunctions of huts and people, Orion and Broly were walking beside on another as the muscular duo were scouting for anything perpetually needed. But with such a populace and such a variety, finding proper food when there are snow cones and ice cream everywhere really didn't leave such a large set of options to choose from.

"I don't see anything wrong in this sector." Orion said, observing all around.

Broly had hands to his hips and turned his head about. "I can tell. The people here look like they haven't anything to complain about."

Orion could hear the tone in the experienced fighter's voice. He wasn't dumb. They both knew something had to be wrong if there were so many soldiers around, yet so little complained. When he looked over, he saw one soldiers walk by a kid and absent-mindedly bumped into him. The ice cream the kid held fell to his feet, leaving him despondent.

"My…my ice cream!" the kid whined. He started to tear up and cry, getting the father right beside him to look back over his shoulder.

"Hey you!" he shouted.

The soldier stopped.

"What's the big idea, huh? You just bumped into my son and just kept walking? You better tell him you're sorry!"

The soldier turned around to face them. "Blame that stupid kid. He's the one who got in my way."

The kid cried louder, upsetting the father. Before the father could do anything about it, he heard clanking, and before he even knew that, he and his son found themselves surrounded by two more Alvarez soldiers, and at their feet were two Poochyena that were growling.

"What's going on here?" one of the soldiers asked in a threatening tone.

The kid was sniffling and hiding behind his father. The older man looked at them and shot a nervous glare. He had no choice but to back down. "…nothing. I'm sorry for my son."

The soldier they bumped in scoffed. "Sniff them out. See what else they got."

The soldiers escorted the son and father away to get them checked out against their own will. Both looked disheartened as their vacation was ruined, and Broly and Orion watched the scene with their own half-hearted glares in return.

"Come on, let's go before their Pokémon catch our scents." Orion turned to leave.

"Right." Broly followed.


In yet another part of the island's attraction, two pairs of lips bit down on spoons holding delicious fruity desserts. Their cheeks instantly ignited with red from the sweetness.

"Mmmmm! This is so good!" Meredy chimed with squinted vision. She had to hold back a squeal from how delicious it was. It wouldn't be too feminine of her otherwise.

Matilda chuckled. "I know, right?" She lifted another spoonful to her mouth. "Believe it or nor, I never would've liked it until Aniya's pushy self drove us all here."

On the ship, Aniya stared at the crystal ball with a tick mark. Ultear smirked to add Brine to the damage.

"So this is where it all started?" Meredy asked. Before her question was answered, the vendor placed another bowl of the dessert in front of the pinkette. "Oh, thank you very much."

The vendor waved with a generous smile. "Please, help yourselves." He handed Meredy the sherbet, which she held in one hand. "So then, where are you all from?"

Meredy grinned. "Oh, nowhere really. Just sightseeing is all."

"Yup, from the south really." Matilda lied.

"Oh really?" The old man smiled. "Sounds pretty hot down there."

"Meh, getting warmer since summer's around the corner."

The vendor laughed at her expense. "Well I hope I have better luck there than here if lady luck ever smiles down upon me." He sighed again, although this one was of grimace, something which caught Meredy and Matilda's curiosity. "Ever since that faithful war, can't say things have been smooth sailing for many bystanders here."

Matilda had a hunch what it is, so she chose to shoot through the dark. "It's because of the emperor, huh?"

The old man somberly nodded. "Aye. That it be." He looked left and right to see if any soldiers were listening in on them. When he found the coast being clear, he leaned in. The girls leaned in, too, their ears open to hear what was to be said.

"You didn't hear this from me, but apparently, the emperor forbids any socializing of this island with any Ishgarians."

Matilda and Meredy's interests were piqued.

"After the war, the Alvarez came here and immediately claimed it on behalf of the emperor's name. What I noticed was how none of the tourists were going to nor from Ishgar. It's a shame really." He shook his head in shame. "I repaired my hut, and now it looks like my dreams of touring are gonna be just that. A dream."

The girls looked at each other with frowns growing. They couldn't help but feel sorry for the old vendor and what he wanted. Even at an old age, people could have dreams too, no matter how foolish. Whatever people decide is up to them, but looking at it now, they can see and feel how some people felt knowing the war has affected the island's economy.

And it explained one more dilemma at hand. Why they haven't seen any ships heading east to Ishgar but more navy ships.

"But don't listen to me. It's not so bad here." The old man spoke in a neutral tone as he was cleaning glass next. "Sure a few scuffles here and there, but I'm sure it's no big deal."

The sound of wood breaking came from behind, followed by a light screaming. Meredy and Matilda turned around to see another scuffle like he was talking about, only this one was more long the lines of robbery.

"No! Please, sir! Don't take him!" The angry tourist shouted. The soldier she was yelling at was holding a Zigzagoon over his shoulder. The little Normal-type was struggling to break free, but it proved useless,

"You know the rules here. Any and all passengers here are prohibited the bringing of other Pokémon." The soldier said. "Confiscation must come to this."

The woman tried to lunge at him for the Zigzagoon, but two other soldiers held her by the arms to keep her back. The woman yelled out in agony, but the soldier walked away with the Pokémon struggling.

"Quit it, you stupid animal!" he retorted. "You'll get yours yet, just not here."

The sight was making Meredy's blood boil. Fortunately, she knew better than to keep herself in check. But the sound of porcelain breaking got her attention as well. When she looked over, she saw Matilda's fists clutching so hard that the one she held the sherbet in cracked the bowl.

The Take-Over woman's glare on the soldier taking away the small innocent creature was that of a loin waiting to pounce. She even growled like one. For now at least, she would have to stomach it. But that didn't mean the guy wasn't going to get his just desserts yet.


Mest was looking around with his perception at its highest. As he was walking around with a shoulder bag, he was making sure to purchase essentials with what money available. It wasn't much, but he was making sure to buy as much grain as possible, and use leftover funds for anything else.

However, being a mage of such high caliber, there was yet another thing he was paying attention too. To his eyes, he was noticing the prices were a little higher than they were before, and a lot of vendors were looking to be advertising less than enthusiastically.

'A lot has changed since our last encounter here. Everyone's looking more weary than before.'

As he went on, he noticed soldiers were either scanning and searching people, while others were keeping a sharp eye out. As he passed one person, he watched as a soldier pinned him down and seized his belt, which had three Poke Balls in it.

"No! Please! Just let me go!" the person insisted.

"Get up!" The soldier yanked him to standing up. "You're coming with me for questioning!"

Mest watched the man being taken away with a sour look on his face. 'They confiscate tourist's Pokémon here, too. That would explain why I haven't seen any newcomers or outgoers with Pokémon beside them.'

He didn't want to make any false assumptions that could lead to misunderstandings. He didn't quite understand why there weren't anyone allowed to have Pokémon except the soldiers, but deep in his gut, he had a pretty good guess as to why that was.

Within his wonders, something else caught his eye. Something more distracting. As he saw a few little girls in swimwear wandering with their mothers, he could feel time slow down as pink surrounded the atmosphere. It was like looking into a frame; a really weird, hot frame that was making him dazed.

Snap! Snap! Snap!

"H-huh, what?!" Brought out of his delusions, the Teleportation Mage whipped around to the disturbing sound. To his surprise, he found that it was Duncan. "Oh, Duncan…it's you." He said dryly. "So what did you find out?"

The Trainer with a kendo stick looked unamused. Not that was any different than what he normally was. "Didn't find much. All I really got were a couple of drinks and that's it."

Mest sighed. "Okay, guess that's better than nothing." He turned left and right again, observing the people and soldiers around him. "Still, it's hard to imagine anyone relaxing with all these soldiers here."

"Yeah? Why's that?"

"Well, aren't you bothered by it?"

Duncan shrugged. "To be honest, I couldn't care less. The only reason I came along with this part of the trip was to scope out anyone who can offer me a decent battle."

Mest gave Duncan a half-hearted glare. "We're not here to draw attention to ourselves. Hate to burst your bubble, but if you even mention anything about Poke Balls, they'll take yours."

Duncan leered off to the side, noticing how one passing soldier was giving him and Mest a sharp look through the visor. It was more of a warning glare, but the silent message was as clear as day to the sulky Trainer. To this, Duncan backed down.

"But I'm sure we won't be out of the woods yet." Mest reassured. "We'll be needing you eventually. We'll need everyone for this operation, so don't bail on us when we'll be needing you, understand."

Duncan didn't care, but he shrugged in exception anyway. "I'll try."

"Yo." From the side, Kevin appeared. He held a lamented brochure in hand as he approached Mest and Duncan.

"Hey, Kevin, was it?" Mest greeted.

"Yup, that's me." He answered.

"Did you find anything we could use?"

Kevin shrugged. "Nah, just a brochure." He handed Mest the brochure. "This place really ain't all that it's cracked up to be."

"Not an interesting place I would want to go." Duncan noted.

Mest was looking at the map with scrutiny. He stared at the layout with a deep discretion at hand. As he analyzed its contents, he noticed something was very wrong with the geography. 'That's weird. Why are the northeast beaches undisclosed to the public? Last I checked, they were part of the attraction?

"Also…" Kevin continued. "Is that supposed to be there?"

Mest looked up to Kevin again to see him pointing at something in the distance, more inland past the palm trees. He wasn't dumb, but from her, he mentally cursed himself for not seeing it sooner. "Huh…?"

The far distance, closer to the bedrock of the place, there was what looked like a large station that overlooked the attraction. It was gray, but at the same time seemed oddly familiar to a radio tower. Even its antennae and satellite seemed similar to that extent.

"What the…?" Mest was at a loss for words. He knew or a definite fact that wasn't there before. Now he knew for a fact something was wrong. First the hunch he had about the concepts of the creatures taken, now unknown closings of spots, and just a few seconds ago, a massive radio station that was there for Arceus knows how long.

"Is that part of the brochure?" Kevin asked suspiciously.

Mest's eyes narrowed. He felt disturbed on so many levels.


"Phew! Man, that was a workout!" Joey sighed as sweat poured down his face. He found liberty to plop his butt on a stool at the nearest hut. He was dancing the hula for so long and so many people were dancing alongside him that it became a dance party. In fact, off along the beach, there were still many people still dancing to instrumental music that people brought with them in replacement of Dereece's boombox. The mentioned sat beside Joey and slumped over, sighing in relaxation.

"Well I'm glad one of us had fun." Dereece groaned.

"Oh! Oh!" Chespin raised his hand.

"Okay, two."

"Oh don't be such a whiny-puss, Dereece. There you go." He handed a fellow girl an autograph of himself. And surprisingly, on the frame he drew on, he wrote in such fine cursive. "Besides, you always said that you wanted to go to the tropics, right?"

Dereece did in fact remember that, maybe a few times. He was actually surprised Joey remembered that. "W-well, yeah. I think I did…but it was mostly your idea."

"Meh, just the hula part. I mean look around ya! It's a party man! Am I right, peeps?!" He raised his frozen lemonade in a plastic cup high, and everyone around him cheered and danced to the funky hula music

Dereece sighed again. He was too exhausted.

"Besides…" Joey sat down beside him again. "All things considered, I think getting enough people in one spot would better help spread the goodies to us, eh?" he winked.

"That's…" Dereece trailed of, shock beginning to overwhelm him. "…actually not a bad idea."

"Uh-huh. So, while I get to the exercise and talking to the ladies, that's where you sneak about and listen like a creep. Right, Chespin?" Joey looked towards Chespin, who nodded at Joey's statement.

"Yeah, Dereece! Sneaky~. Like sneakers!"

He sweat-dropped. "I don't think you know how that works, man." Regardless, he eventually found his footing and stood with Joey. "Okay, well we better find something within this crowd."

The crowd was pretty loud and boisterous, especially with the instrumental music that Joey had inspired. Of course within this crowd of cheers, that also brought along attention from soldiers patrolling the area. A few were coming their direction, and thankfully, the people gathered were turning to see them coming.

"Huh?"

"Dude, what is it?" a surfer asked. He turned to see the few soldiers heading their way.

"Oh man, it's the fuzz!"

"Crap!" A guy tapped the shoulder of the guy in front of him. "Dude, pass this on!"

The crowd from behind began to coordinate and the message was being told towards the guys in front of them. As it went on, the knights drew closer. The party began to scatter like cockroaches just as they got to where the first guy was.

The message finally made it to the last guy, who turned towards Joey with an anxious stare.

"What up?" Joey asked.

"Hurry, put that guy away. The fuzz is coming." He warned, pointing to Chespin.

Chespin looked confused. "Me?"

"Yeah, hurry." Another girl answered. "They'll take it away."

Joey wanted to say something or question, but when he looked over their heads to find some of the people in the back stepping off to the side. He could hear budging and feel the air shift. In a hurry, he turned towards Chespin and scrambled for his Poke Ball.

"Uh, r-return!" Joey recalled Chespin back into the Poke Ball, where it was put away and he evasively jumped over the bar. Dereece wasn't as lucky.

The dark-skinned man looked up to see that knights were looking around, giving suspicious looks to everything and everyone. They could all see anxiety plastered on their faces, and it was obvious that the atmosphere they once had was gone.

"Alright, what's with all the noise?" one soldier asked.

Many of people looked at each other and confusedly talked to one another.

"Well if there's nothing here, then scram!" another soldier threatened. "No private parties permitted without permission!"

Begrudgingly, the party was cut to a close. They all groaned and whined as their fun on the prison island was short-lived. Many of them fanned out, and many more hung around to talk in groups and get to know each other. Sure, maybe the party was a little distracting, but something about Joey starting it had many people taking light conversations with another. In fact, this was the first big talk many had that they seemed to be enjoying.

As many cleared away, the soldiers took their leave. With them gone, Dereece leaned towards the hut behind. "Pssst. You're cool."

Joey slowly peeked over the counter, seeing what could have been soldiers slowly walking away. Once out of sight, he rose to his feet with a short breath. "Phew! Okay, now that was a close one."

"Tell me about it." Dereece said.

The last guy to pass the message nodded. "You're welcome."

"But…why?" Dereece questioned.

The guy smiled. "Because…" he pointed at Joey. "That guy right there, he's awesome!"

A girl swept from the side into his left arm and held him tight. "Yeah, he really knows how to bring the party! Hats off to ya, big guy!" she winked, holding a sake bottle in the one hand.

Joey was a little uneased with how the people were smiling and happy about all this, but at the same time, he felt a little grateful. It's good to know party animals don't rat each other out like that. All he could do now was sheepishly smile in return.

"So…why would they need Joey's Pokémon again?" Dereece asked.

The girl smacked her lips and waved him off. "Oh, it's not just you. It's every Pokémon here, babydoll. Nothing personal."

"Every Pokémon?" Joey and Dereece gasped in unison. "Why?"

The man looked left and right, and he eventually waved Joey to get closer. Joey, wondrous of what it was, aimed his ear at him and let man speak into his ear.

"You didn't hear this from me, but I heard these rumors that they're taking these creatures and taking them to the western continent."

Joey's eyes glanced towards Dereece, who returned the glance and looked back at the two.

"I heard the reason they're doing this is so that they can get another war started."

"O-ouch…" Dereece knew all along that this was true. His guild realized it way before they did. But he thought playing dumb was the best course of actions.

Joey, however, looked at the two with a furrowed brow. "Really…? How do they do that?"

"You have a death wish or something?" the girl asked.

Joey shrugged. "Probably. So what's all this about?"

The guy and the girl this time looked at each other with worry before they looked back at them. They figured why not, but they had no idea that what they were spilling was gold for the operation.


Joey ran through the plaza of huts with Dereece on his tail. Both were scrambling to find something – or rather someone – that they needed to find. They heard everything the duo said back on the beach. They just had to find everyone and talk about what it was they were told.

"Where are they?" Dereece labored. "Where?!"

"Keep your grass skirt on! I'm looking!" Joey turned left and right, trying to find anyone. Sure enough, he saw Mest. "Hey, guy!"

Mest heard someone call from the distance and turned towards Joey. Coincidentally, Duncan and Kevin were by him as they caught up. "Huh? You two?"

Joey and Dereece labored in breathing, trying their hardest to catch their breaths.

"Geez, you look like a horde of Vigoroth tried to run you over." Kevin noted. "What happened?"

Joey caught his breath first. "Okay. Okay…first…Duncan." He pointed at the Trainer. "You're a lazy party pooper." As expected, Duncan had a blank space. "And second, gather up everybody that came. We got something very important!"


It all happened in a matter of minutes. Using Aniya as a messenger with her technology, she relayed a message from Orion to everyone on the island as the scouts to gather underneath one giant hut where many were ordering food. It was reasonable cover, and soldiers wouldn't think too highly of checking food joints, at least to Joey's standards. Once they were all situated, Joey told them everything that he was told by the party guy and the girl. Dereece helped in some parts, but the overall reaction everyone had was of shock.

The first to react was Mest with a gasp. "And you're absolutely certain about this?" Even his tine had anxiety in it.

Joey nodded. "Well we wouldn't be gathered here otherwise." He took a bite of a corn dog without flinching for it. "Okay, maybe also for this because it's good, but I'm sure it's true." He muffled.

Kevin's brochure he purchased earlier was laid out over the tabletop. "So you're telling us that the Alvarez kingdom has flying ships that transport the Pokémon and items from the ships that they sent out?" Broly inquired.

Orion put a hand to his chin. "That would make Caracole Island the rendezvous trading point if that were the case."

"That would explain the number of soldiers we've been seeing as well." Meredy added.

"Yeah, and why they've been unlawfully taking Pokémon, too." Matilda sneered. "Both ever-loving bastards…" Beneath the table, her fists began to shudder.

"Well if that's the case, then where are these flying ships?" Kevin asked. "Sounds like something out of a movie if you ask me."

"They exist." Mest assured. "Sorry guys, where is this located he said?"

Dereece looked down at the map with inquiry, but the sound of crunching came from the side. His ear twitched again, and as Joey ate his corn dog with a placid face, he gritted his teeth and took the corn dog. "This is not the time for that man! C'mon!"

Joey whined sheepishly, much like a dog.

Dereece refocused and pointed at the general northeast beach area. "Somewhere around here, he said that's where the ships dock. There's a line of palm trees that cuts on that part of the island to give cover."

"The northeastern beach." Mest's eyes narrowed. "I see. Now it all makes sense. I was beginning to wonder why that part of the island was closed off to the public. Looks like Emperor Neinhart's been doing a little more than just rerouting."

"Okay, so what do we do from here? I mean you know what I would be doing right now." Matilda snickered.

"We need to think this through." Orion retorted. "Regardless of what others think, I think that the best course of action is to find a faster route to Alvarez and stop them at the heart. That's the assignment."

"If you're implying what I think you're saying, then it sounds pretty risky." Duncan bluntly said.

"Yeah, sounds crazy." Joey said. He then leaned in towards Dereece. "What is he saying again?"

"I'm saying, Joey, that because of this information, we should try and steal an airship." Orion answered.

"And I have t hand it to the man. I think this just might work in our favor." Broly smirked.

Mest put his hand to his chin. "Stealing a ship is one thing, but planning it out is another…" his brow furrowed as he thought deeper into his prospects. 'If we use the ship we have right now, then we'll still be vulnerable on our way to the empire. If we use an airship, we'll have an aerial advantage to get over the land. But, this is going to take some more time for us, and they're expecting us to transfer-!' That's when the inspiration took in. 'Wait…maybe that can work!' He looked back at everyone and gave them a serious look. "Listen, everyone. I think we can still take the airship, but I'm going to need everyone else on this first."

"Understood." Orion reached to his ear, where the lacrima where Aniya's chip was placed turned on. 'Aniya.'

'Yeah, yeah. I heard. Give me a sec…' A few grunts came from the other line. A few seconds went by, and some static went inside everyone's heads that quickly simmered down. 'Okay, you're on.'

'Everyone, can you hear me?' Mest asked through the telepathic link. 'What's going on?'

'Mest? Are you there?' On the one end, Erza spoke.

'What is it?' Griffon asked. 'Must be dire if you need Aniya for this message.'

'It wouldn't be otherwise.' Orion retorted. 'Listen to all, we have some news that we have to include you on.'

Orion and Mest explained everything that they learned in detail, and that goes for Meredy and Matilda's side of the story as well. They all remained quiet and waited until the end, and when they did get to the end, some seemed shocked.

'You serious?! You wanna do what?!' Natsu roared. 'No way!'

'Sorry pal, but that ain't flying for us Dragon Slayers!' Gajeel retorted.

'I…I'm not too sure either…sorry.' Wendy nervously said.

Mest sighed at the Dragon Slayers and their reluctance. Of course they would be the ones to say no to a plan like this. 'Look guys, I know it's not easy, but this may be our quickest shot to the capital. If we hitch along an airship still disguised, we'll be unnoticeable until we reach the empire's base.'

'And you're positive that this is a sound strategy?' Kagura inquired.

'At this point, nothing can be so sound.' Mest argued. 'So you guys in?'

'If it'll assist us, then yes. Count me in.' Pantherlily immediately stated.

Another voice popped up, this one being Carla. 'I suppose so. But we better make it quick.'

'Aw yeah! Let's go rob us a ship!' Happy cheered.

Jellal's chuckling was heard. 'Well it seems we don't have much of an argument now, is there?'

'I wouldn't think so.' Bellona mused. 'So how far ahead exactly have you planned this?' she asked Mest.

'I haven't worked out the minor details yet, but the overall picture should be simplistic. On the other island are a few possible airships. I'll use my Memory Manipulation to alter the memories of the two crews to make them think they are scheduled to transfer ships and crew members. We'll be transferring our supplies to the ship and dock from there. From then on, we'll do critical thinking.'

'Works for me.' Elfman agreed.

'Understood. Thanks to all of you.' Erza praised. 'The inspections have passed. It's safe for you to return to the ship now.'

'We'll be back, but by then, everyone should be ready.' Mest's final statement drew to a close. The connection by Aniya's equipment was cancelled and left everyone ready for the next course of their plan. Mest got up from his seat and looked at everyone apparent. "Alright, is everyone ready?"

Matilda stood up next. "Sure. This island's starting to bore anyway."

"Yeah, I'm ready." Meredy said.

Mest looked around to find everyone present and ready. With one more nod, he accepted their nods and looked ready. "Okay then, time to head back."

Everyone thus left the massive shack towards their ship, readying their objective.


Within the island's inner domain, past the palm trees, the unclear view of the station that Mest was seeing before was something that was rather discrete, but otherwise, but many would've seen inside would rattle their minds. In the tower's observatory top, many soldiers were working on holographic screens that broadcasted various parts of the island. One could've guessed they would be seeing every corner of the island.

"Sir, we're catching wild Pokémon roosting along the tree lines along the far crags." A soldier sitting in front of one screen said.

One soldier stood above the rest. He paced around and, much like the others, had the standard uniform, albeit he had a red cape to signifying his higher ranking. "They're just roosting. That part of the island is tough to get to."

"Sir." The soldier nodded and resumed observing.

"Sir!" another soldier exclaimed as he rushed from the side. He stood in front of the head general and saluted. "Sir, we have brought in 17 Pokémon from the visiting tourists."

The general nodded in understanding. "Very well. Add them to the inventory we are scheduling for transfer."

"Sir." The soldier hurried away, going to report what he was told to the others in the inventory.

The general looked around to see the many workers hard at their duties. He was giving a discerning eye to everyone he was observing, and they could feel it. Already, two soldiers were reprimanded for slacking off, and they rather not deal with a third slacker. That much interference would cost them too much of their pay checks. The general wasn't taking his job lightly either. Being promoted meant serious responsibility, and by no means was he going to fail the kingdom when he knows he may suffer death for failing to uphold their newest base.

"This newest load better please the empire." He muttered. "Maybe I'll be promoted sooner faster that way."

"Sir!"

The third call for him made his brows furrow beneath his visor. With a loud groan, he faced the incoming soldier. "What is it?" he asked angrily.

The soldier ran up and saluted. "Sir, we have sightings from the new post!"

"Is that so?"

"Yes, sir."

"Show me."

The guard took the general to the new station that was right at the bottom of a stairwell/ The stairs went down to a flat floor with a massive view of the island behind its glass frame. Standing in the center in front of the window happened to be a large, feline creature that had its head within a pair of binoculars, which were connected by wires to a lacrima screen above to show what was being seen through its point of view. The creature showing had primarily black fur with a spiky mane flowing backwards. It had three yellow rings on the paws and a long lack tail ending in a yellow star. Its gleaming eyes were glaring daggers ahead, and no one was allowed to disturb him except his superior.

The general walked down the stairs towards the Pokémon it had forced working. "Alright, what's this about an emergency?" he asked.

The soldier that asked him to come looked towards the feline. "Look back at the ship." He harshly ordered.

The feline's eyes adverted from the beachgoers to the recent docking of the Alvarez ship from Fiore's Hargeon port. Up on the screen, it showed the ship itself, but the metallic front was translucent through its eyes. The vision, in fact, went through the solid front and zoomed inside. Thanks to the binoculars, it could peer inside the whole ship to show many of the soldiers on that ship entering a single cabin, where they seemed to be talking. Some even had helmets on, and the faces seen were automatically scanned by the sensors attached to the binoculars. One showed Natsu's face, and immediately a dialogue and long screen, followed by Fairy Tail's symbol showed. The soldiers in the room all looked at their screens changing in coordination to the creature's priority setting. The general and the soldiers alike all had shock written on their faces as they were seeing the intruders through solid metal.

"So it's true." The soldier said. "This thing really can spy through solids."

The general looked up at the screen, seeing mages of Fiore, from Crime Sorciere, and especially of Fairy Tail showing up on the screen. The look on his face didn't show…mostly because he had his visor on. 'Well, well.' He thought. 'Seems I'll be getting that promotion faster than I thought.'


Further up the island, the sight of many large, fresh metallic ships was a site to behold. One could have mistaken it for a fleet. Another one came sailing in from nearby, where it had a slink, purple coat on it. It had a massive wooden deck and silver, anti-magic metal alloy for edging and an overall coat. At the base of the ship, there was the Alvarez insignia that rest upon it.

The ship's anti-gravity lacrima it had beneath lowered its power, and the fin, like wings on the sides folded inwards as it slowly lowered. A massive gust of sand went everywhere that the soldiers all covered up from, and as it settled, they looked back to see the new ship fully set.

The latch opened up, and slowly, the incline lowered. Waiting at the top of the incline, two guys were instantly the first thing everyone saw.

"S-sir Marin! Sir Vlar!" a soldier greeted. "Welcome! Your arrival is as expected.

Once again, the Spatial Mage, Marin, was on the island. He walked down the incline with a disgruntled expression. "Why did that old fart Pluto send me with you?" he huffed. "If he sent me some girl, then he would pass."

"Be calm. I'm just here because my leader Spriggan asked of me to keep an eye on you." The mage following behind revealed himself as Vlar, a high-ranking man beneath the command of Pluto, one of the new Spriggans. He had on a brown beret-like hat that flopped on his head, and his brown eyes matched his brown, glossy priest-like attire with white, almost gravel gray accents all over the shoulders, sleeves, and the front part of his attire. He looked to be the same age as Marin, though his disposition seemed more spiritual than his.

Marin shot him a threatening glare. "Just remind yourself who was in the rankings longer, got it?"

Vlar nodded in understanding. "I'll keep that in mind." He knew this was the way Marin was gonna be. He knew he was sexist, and he would've preferred being with a girl. But it wasn't in either's place to say.

Marin scoffed and looked ahead. "Let's just get this shipment over with."

From the distance, two more soldiers followed up to the ship to meet with Marin and Vlar with a salute.

"Sir, we've come with an urgent message from the base!" one soldier exclaimed.

Marin raised a brow. "Oh really?" he smirked. "Already? What's it they found…?"

Vlar's eyelids dropped as he observed carefully. His sandals remained still on the ground as he felt the grains of sand grind against the sole. Something told him something was wrong. He looked ahead, his brow furrowing in seriousness over the situation.


"Thank you." Mest thanked the soldier he brainwashed and closed the cabin door. He gave a grieving sigh and shook his head from the stress today was putting onto him. "What a day…" he muttered.

Erza chuckled. "You can certainly say that again."

"Agreed." He turned around to look at everyone back together. "Is everyone ready?

"Ready as we'll ever be." Sting answered. "Right, Lector."

Lector nodded. "Yup. Sure got a lot riding on this."

"Quite literally at that." Rogue implied.

"The transfer is being made right now. The arriving crew is expected to have transfer documents for this ship, and we'll be moving to the airship itself. However, due to priorities, the Pokémon will be transported first."

"So then we just gotta wait until they're all gone?" Happy asked.

"Well that seems simple enough." Kinana cheerfully said.

"Works for me." Erik said. "So I take it that they're moving them right now?"

"Yes. Shouldn't be to long now." A loud clang came from nearby, getting Mest's attention with shock. When he looked over, he saw that there was a fist-engraved indent on the side of the cabin. "Elfman!"

Everyone looked towards the brawny guy as he faced the wall with a shadow over his eyes. He gritted his teeth, his anger as solid as his biceps.

"Elfman?" Sophie asked.

"…I'm sorry." He apologized. "I kinda lost it there for a second."

Gray looked at the taller man with upmost sympathy. He was leaned against the wall in his armor – which he almost stripped out of at one time if not for Erza – and looked at Elfman. He could take a good guess why. "Let me guess. Lisanna?"

The man lowered his head in shame. "Yeah."

"She's been gone for a long time." Sophie remarked. "I'm starting to worry about her."

"Yeah, me too. Wonder where she's gone?" Wendy worried. "Hey, Vanessa? Can you track them?"

Vanessa remained relaxed, despite the lack of ease she was feeling with the situation at hand. "I've tried, but my magic isn't filtering as it should in here."

"And what exactly does that mean?" Lyon inquired.

"She means that the ship's metal is magic proof." Ultear interjected from behind. "Believe me, I wouldn't have thought so myself if I hadn't tried. It's hard getting through the material when the cabins themselves have sealed doors of magic in them."

"Well isn't that handy." Gray sarcastically rolled his eyes. "Well, guess we gotta get this done without them then."

Everyone looked reluctant without knowing where Nic and Lisanna were, but the former is always hard to keep track of to begin with. Even Jellal's own hiding capabilities wouldn't be enough to match Nic's. He's quiet, not to mention stealthy. For all they know, he may be of doing his own thing, but as for Lisanna, that was tough to determine.

However, no one was more stressed about this than Erza.

The redhead was off to the side with her visor on, just like everybody else. She was spacing out as she leaned against the wall right beside the circular window that opened like a latch. She had eyes narrowed beneath the visor and seething intense thoughts flowed through her mind. 'Nic wouldn't be doing something like this without me knowing, right? And in a war of all times.' Her mind was racing at underdeveloped speeds she couldn't keep up with. 'If Nic were missing around this time when we need him most, would it really make a difference? No, I'm overthinking it aren't I? Of course he wouldn't make me worry. I'm his wife after all. Yeah! I shouldn't really fret over my husband's actions…no matter how infuriating it can be with him having me on my toes and…' As she was lost in the corner about her worrying and fretting over Nic, the others gave her a suspicious look. She looked like she was gonna combust the wall.

"Uh…is she okay?" Lucy sweat-dropped.

"Trust me, I believe we've asked that to ourselves almost every day." Carla sighed.

Orion offered no expunges nor aforementioned affinities to Erza. His attention, instead, went down to the shore through the window that had the soldiers transferring the Pokémon.

"C'mon! This way!" a soldier waved over.

"Yeah, yeah. We know the drill." Another retorted. "Remember, don't let them out of your sight!"

"Got it!"

Magic seals floated across the ground slowly in a straight line through a certain direction through the shore. It went off towards the palm trees that had a short clear path towards it that lead to the airships that had one docked and open for departure. The many Pokémon being transported didn't look happy at all. Some even looked annoyed, but even though some could try to fight back, just one look at the armored men was a dead giveaway that they had no power to push them back.

A pair of soldiers were pushing the next cage onto the belt of magic circles, but this one was a lot heavier than the others. "Geez! Just where…did we find…something like this?!" one strained.

"I…don't know! But it's a big one!" The other pushed again. "This guy's…really packing some weight! Gnnngh!"

With one more push, the two soldiers shoved the cage onto the belt with everything they had. The whole thing started moving as the huge cage containing a big purple scorpion went sailing along with the other Pokémon.

The one soldier dusted his hands by brushing them together. "Alright, that was a challenge. Now then…up comes the next!" He held the cage containing a Froakie all by itself on the belt. "There."

The Froakie had blank eyes as it followed the massive scorpion's cage. As the two cages went on, drifting away towards the new ship, the scorpion looked back, and yet the Froakie was completely solid like stone. It turned back and faced forward.

"Is that the last of them?" Sting asked.

Minerva peered down the window, using her own judgement to solve the question. "It appears to be."

"Then it's our turn next." Kagura declared. "Everyone, ready for departure!"

"Right!"

Everyone grabbed their things and readied to leave the cabin one final time. As Sorano was next to leave, the last person was Gray. He turned to close, but from the corner of his eye, he looked back and saw Erza gleaming out the window. "Erza?"

The redhead in disguise was ready to go, but when she looked out the cabin doors, she couldn't help but feel something off; something that drew her away from the mission. When she looked at the Drapion, she felt something was off. 'That Drapion…I didn't think that was in the inventory. Unless we miscounted. And that Froakie, something that rare isn't found so easily. How did they…!'

She suddenly gasped. It came to her then. How could she have not seen it before? She knew Nic better than anyone, and that's when her attention went towards the shipment down below. 'Nic, don't tell me. You and Lisanna, you…'

"Erza."

"Sorry, I'll be there." Gray's shout drew Erza from her epiphany. She took one more look out before she drew towards the cabin door and closed it.


"Alright, that should be the last of them." The guard said.

"Yeah, still a pain though." Another guard exasperated as he rubbed his head. "We gotta transfer here now."

Another guard sighed. "Yeah, this bites." He straightened up. "But orders are orders. Let's ready!"

They all straightened up and scooted out of the way. They allowed the cargo load to be fully open and have the others file out. Slowly, one by one, they all filed out of the ship and onto sand for the first time in forever.

'It feels like relief being on land again.' Rogue thought. Being on ship was a pain, but as for land, he would savor every bit of it until the next appearance of hell.

'So far so good.' Yukino filed behind.

"Everyone keep quiet. We're following the Pokémon ahead." Mest reminded in a harsh whisper. Along with the request submitted for a transfer, he also managed to coax for extra armors for cover. The alliance members were all being transferred away from the ship, and the closer they got to the airship and palm trees, the closer they were to a ticket to hovering over the kingdom.

As they all followed the last of the yellow magic seals, the soldiers on the sides remained stationary and watched them leave. The looks they gave was making Natsu feel on the verge of throwing a jab or two, but he knew better after so many experiences, and from last time.

"Natsu." Lucy whispered.

The Dragon Slayer begrudgingly nodded. "I know. Man this sucks."

"Just hold on a little longer." Mest said. "We'll be there soo…" He started to trail off when the path to the airship was blocked off by more soldiers who came from all around. They stood behind another soldier who had a red cape on, and they acted as a blockade for the group.

Time slowed down for Mest and the others as they looked at the man with the red cape. For some reason, the look he was giving beneath his visor didn't seem all that pleasing.

"Excuse my intrusion, but may I ask what this is all about?" the general asked.

Mest played along, giving an involuntary salute. "Er, sir! We'll scheduled for a transfer of crews. We're doing so as we speak."

The general looked around, seeing the soldiers all following and looking at him for what to do. He looked at the other aisle and saw them clueless as well. He looked at Mest and gave him a serious look, like someone who committed a crime. Because he did.

"I see." He said. "Then you wouldn't mind showing me the transfer documents right now?"

Mest was caught by surprise yet again. 'What? Transfer documents?'

"Every crew member requested for a change of position or crew must have a warrant on them two weeks in advance. It's protocol, and no exceptions."

"Oh, uh, right. Sorry. We'll…get those as soon as possible." Mest looked back at Orion and Jellal behind him. They both showed serious glares that meant something was up.

The general took a step forward, getting in Mest's face. "Perhaps I didn't make myself clear." He threateningly said. "I said now, that's an order."

Natsu's fists were balling tight. He was glaring through his visor so hard that he looked like he was going to melt through it.

"Natsu." Lucy hushed.

Mest didn't have anything to show for it. He glared back at the man to try and show his own strength, but his demeanor was much more ambitious. "Now." He reiterated. He shifted his cape, allowing for the group to give view to a four-legged feline creature and prowled behind. The creature growled at the group and gave them a threatening glare.

A majority of the group seemed surprised; others were more unnerved, but through it all, Duncan peered through his visor with narrowed eyes. 'Wait, that Pokémon. Is it a…?'

Vanessa's own glare hardened. 'This is bad.'

'Aw snap. You've gotta be kidding me.' Joey worried. 'We screwed already?'

Many of the others could see the worry on the other's face. As they looked about, they could see and feel some dread climbing as the soldiers were starting to shaky prospects about attacking. They could hear it in the general's tone he was just taunting them to try and prove themselves wrong.

Mest looked back at everyone one more time, seeing the situation dragged out too long. There had to be something done. He looked back, staying silent before speaking.

"…I'm sorry. We don't have it."

The general gave him a disappointed look. "Then I'm afraid we can't let you pass." He gestured to the knights around him, who readied their weapons. The creature beside him snarled as it crouched a little lower to the ground, s if ready to attack.

The glares the crew gave was as justified as they could get. They all readied, glaring at each other for preparation.

The general approached. "I'm afraid you'll all going to have to come with-!"

"NOW!" Mest roared.

BAM!

Almost everything in the area erupted by an eruption of dark matter, resonating from Jellal and Orion alike. The two hemispheres combined into one that blew away almost all the soldiers, while others fumbled away. The eruption could've been seen from far inland, where many tourists turned and looked shocked at the sight.

As dark waves ran like fire everywhere, the general used his red cape that blocked the magic. He peered back at the source of the darkness as everything shook around him. 'I was right. It is them…' As he looked deeper, he saw silhouettes of different shapes.

As the dark waves diminished, a pair of knuckles cracked. "About time we get our shot."

Another wave ceased, revealing a naked chest with a Fairy Tail mark. "Yeah, started to sweat in that rusty thing."

A gauntlet was in someone's hand as a fraction of it was missing. "Can't believe I was actually wearing my lunch. This stuff tastes stale."

The soldiers getting up looked ahead as the darkness ceased. Many recoiled at the site.

"W-whoa! Where did they come from?!"

"I don't know…but it looks like they tried to trick us!"

"Wait, is that…" A solider saw a red Fairy Tail mark, belonging to Natsu as he smirked in front of everyone else behind him. "It is! It's the Fairy Tail guild!"

Another recoiled. "Wait, the guild that…?!"

Natsu smirked at them all. "So you guys ready for some more?" The residual dark waves were swept up by flames that enveloped his body. Without warning, he lunged at the soldiers. "Because this is for Fiore!" He unleashed a flame-coated punch that had fire exploding everywhere. All around, guys were swept up in flames that had them shrieking in agony.

Gray leaped back with Juvia to gain some distance. "Well, looks like no getting out of it now." He said. "Juvia."

Juvia nodded. "Right. I'm right here."

Gray smirked. "Alright then." He had hands clasped together and generated bright mist. "Let's do some damage to these punks!" He reached out, sending a wave of ice that enveloped wailing soldiers.

"Right!" Juvia immediately faced a soldier and raised her arms up from arches, sending two spirals of water that sent him away.

Kagura approached Erza's side. "Looks like we're going to have to force our way through."

Erza requipped a sword, poising to strike. "So it would seem."

Orion held up his fist as wavy darkness shrouded it. "You've all made a grave mistake to have stopped us from committing ourselves to peace. May your souls rest in the netherworld with the devil's one eye on you."

The general paid no heed to the commentary and clutched his fists. "So what the Pokémon saw…it was mages of the enemies. I should've know…but now…" He reached out towards them. "It's time for Alvarez to enact our new cause! All soldiers and Pokémon…ATTACK!"

The soldiers all pulled out Poke Balls and brought their arms back. "GO!" They all threw them, sending out a large variety of Pokémon that appeared in white flashes. Each one had many characteristics, ranging from Foongus, to Roselia, to a few Sandile, to Corphish, Surskit, even several Zubat.

Erza aimed her sword forward as she pulled out a Dive Ball. "Everyone, don't hold back! Make for the airship at all costs!"

"Yeah!" They all shouted.

Soldiers took a head charge with magical spears. They yelled out as they went for the alliance with all their might.

"Oh, so they wanna play huh?" Sawyer crouched and took a running start. "Well then try and keep up!" His suit had a slight glow to it as his magic activated. He bolted in a straight line so fast that shockwaves sent men flying behind him. "Too slow!"

Sting flipped and did an upside-down spinning kick infused with light. The approaching guys were weary to advance, and that's when Rogue dropped in between them.

"Shadow Dragon's Waxwing Flash!"

With one swing of each of his arms, a cyclone of shadows stormed the area in front of Rogue, sending many of soldiers flying. As the turbulence provided cover, the nearby soldiers not hit by the shadows were finding their footing off. They all looked down, shocked as they were seen sinking.

"H-hey! What?!" one soldier shrieked.

"Why are we sinking?! I s this quicksand?!" another panicked.

Richard held up a peace sign. "Oh yeah!"

"Nice work, Richard!" Sorano reached ahead. "Now it's my turn!" She used her magic and summoned white angel-like creatures that went swarming at the guys. They all screamed as the wave of white entities enveloped them, running into them like mad bulls.

In another part of the area as the combat went on, Kinana was looking around wearily. She was observing the battle carefully. When she turned around, she saw three men jumping with their spears and highly calibrated swords in hand.

Before they made contact, however, a wave of black and red venom swept them away. As the venomous blast dissipated, it reveled Erik with his arm reaching out beside him. "Hey, fellas."

"Erik!" Kinana gasped.

The Poison Dragon Slayer smirked at the competition. "You know it ain't nice to harass a lady. Especially when she's not yours." He raised his arm and drove it into the ground, creating another shockwave of poison that spouted beneath the soldiers' feet.

Catching a whiff of Erik's statement from several meters away, Lyon teasingly smirked. "The sentiments can be assured there." He turned and saw that in the nearby field of battle, Meredy was sending energy swords flying at many soldiers. The impacts sent them flying back, and while she was focused on them, many more got her back.

"Huh?" Feeling something off, she turned around and saw soldiers closing in. Like what happened with Kinana, they pounced for her with weapons in hand.

FWOOSH!

Before their feet could touch the ground, a massive cold wave brushed through them. Meredy covered up as the mist and fog brushed past her, which made frost cover her cloak. When she opened her eyes again, she blinked once before looking back to see the many guys frozen in place like icicles in a glacier.

"How did…?"

"Sorry if that caught you off guard." The voice from the side was Lyon, much to her surprise. "I trust that you're doing well?" he smiled.

Meredy smiled back happily. "I am, thanks to you."

A shock ran through Lyon as his heartbeat pulsated. He could feel his whole world stopping as his cheeks flushed red at Meredy's appreciation, which in his terms meant something entirely different. 'She…she just…' The atmosphere in his mind became fluffy and pink, almost borderline rosy. 'She and I were meant to be…'

Meredy, clueless as to his staring, looked unsound. "Hey, you okay?"

Vanessa crossed her arms and kept her wrists loose as her power built up. "Nugatory Burst!" Around her, voluminous pillars of teal light shot up, enveloping the soldiers that were heading for her. As they diminished, the soldiers laid at her feet. "Is there an opening we can take from here?" she asked as she turned to Ultear.

"I'm afraid not. We're surrounded for the time being." She answered.

An iron fist clanged against a visor, denting it in and sending the guy to the sand beneath. "Then why don't you all quit stalling and get to making one?!" Gajeel uppercut another soldier's face. Then morphed his arm into an Iron Dragon's Sword. Where he turned around and slashed on a long arch that cut clean through the numbers.

Natsu shot a guy back with his Fire Dragon's Flame Elbow, sending him packing away and wiped his mouth. "My thoughts exactly!" He turned around to unleash an eruption of fire beneath five men charging for him.

Erza created a bright flash, one that got attention. "Requip!" The glow soon faded to reveal her adorning her Heaven's Wheel Armor, which an abundance of other swords behind her. Facing soldiers that were in her path, she leaned forward and went speeding at them all.

"Blumenblatt!"

She slashed through them all, and to follow her wake, the many swords followed through and pierced so many. She remained vigilant as her swords kept going, unwavering from the cause at hand.

A soldier backed up a few paces out of shock. "W-whoa, these guys are packing some power!" He wasn't safe either as Pantherlily in his Battle Mode slashed at him, creating a shock through the sand that fell him.

Another soldier nearby was left uneased about all this. When he looked forward, he saw that Lucy and Wendy and Carla were present, as well as Klefki and Wendy's Swablu.

"Wendy."

The blunette nodded at the blonde's words. "Yeah, let's do it."

Klefki and Swablu came forward, readying themselves as the soldier before them carried a crossbow.

Lucy was the first to enact. "Now, Klefki! Use Metal Sound!" Her personal key ring floated a little higher and had the key-like top shimmer a metallic filament. In the next instance, Klefki unleashed a loud shriek that expanded metallic soundwaves across the area towards the soldier. The waves passed him, making his ears shriek to where they were borderline breathing.

The soldier covered his ears in aching agony, which to Carla, was the opportunity she saw. "Now, Wendy!"

Wendy nodded in understand and readied her offense next. "Alright then. Swablu, use Disarming Voice!" Her Swablu opened her mouth and expelled a loud hum, one which sent expanding pink hearts that enveloped the area and soldiers before her. They all were caught by surprise and covered their ears from the loud attack, but had did little as some fell over from the force the attack had,

"Now…" Wendy took in a deep breath, gathering up as much wind as possible. "Sky Dragon's Roar!" With all her might, her adolescent lungs shrieked out, unleashing a raging cyclone of whirlwinds that was a vortex of mayhem for the soldiers that were caught within Swablu's attack. They all were sent flying, screaming away in pain and agony.

As the men were slammed against the ground, Lucy smiled. "That was good work, Klefki."

Klefki floated to her side with glee. "Aw, thanks." She chuckled. "So…can I have their keys?"

Lucy shot her a look. Klefki dumbly smiled. "Oh geez."

The general saw the mages fighting back, but he seemed far from swayed from his course. "Hmph! So, these mages have the capabilities of handling their own Pokémon. Very well then." He reached out, giving a swift and prompt command. "Luxray and the others, destroy them as I command!"

"Yes, master!" The feline, now revealed to be a Luxray, stepped up and looked at ongoing fight. The Pokémon gave a loud roar to the battlefield, and that's when the other Pokémon in the surrounding area stepped up and surrounded everyone.

The large group turned and saw that they were surrounded by small Pokémon, and some being basic. They all were giving harsh glares towards them, but even those were less than challenging.

"Looks like the fun's starting to show itself around here." Gray joked. "Should we deliver in kind?"

Juvia nodded to him again. "Yes." She pulled out her own Poke Ball.

Gray was about to pull out his Poke Ball containing Snover, but he drifted off in his epiphany. 'Wait.' He gasped. 'Snover's Snow Warning could hamper the others. Crap, and on top of that…' As he was lost in his thoughts, he was open to a sword by another guy.

Juvia looked back, seeing the action. "Gray, look out!"

"Huh?!" Gray looked towards his right, seeing a spare soldier coming down with a blade.

When he slashed, it was short-lived when a blitzing blast of dark energy picked him up and bolted him across the battlefield. Many of other guys that were in the distance were shocked when the black blast with the one guy enveloped them, and in turn everything went white before a dark rupture happened in the distance.

Gray and Juvia looked shocked for a moment, but then they saw a shadow move in front of them, revealing Orion on a knee and ready to fight. "It's you!" Gray yelled.

"You saved him?" Juvia gasped.

Orion stood up and stayed assertive towards his front. "Don't drop your guard, even for a second." When a soldier came at him, he enveloped it in darkness once more, but this darkness had thick dark waves around its negative colors.

"Dark Devil's Rampart Wave!"

The fist unleashed a point-blank eruption darkness that enveloped the soldier heading his way. The wave went so far out that it traveled across the sand until it reached the seawater far out. The trail was voluminous as it eroded out to the open. Orion's fist held in as steam eroded from it. Even after the attack was launched, he faced a few soldiers off to the side and glared, startling them. "Make sure you watch your back." He said.

Gray was still surprised by the action Orion showed. Still, he couldn't afford to shirk like he was now. "Got it." He looked towards Juvia. "Sorry, Juvia. Snover's ability won't do any good. Can I leave it up to you?"

Juvia nodded in understanding. "Don't worry." She faced the open and threw her Poke Ball. "Now then, Eevee…go!"

The Poke Ball went out before her, and popped open and summoned to battle, Juvia's Eevee came to assist. "Okay! Let's play!" she exclaimed.

Nearby, what looked like a Corphish caught whim of Eevee's battle cry. The crustaceous creature turned and crawled up towards Eevee's front, snipping its pincers in challenge.

"This one looks tough." Eevee worried.


Erza swiped her arm to the side. "Cloyster, Hydro Pump!" In front of her, her Cloyster had his shell open and unleashed a voluminous torrent of pressurized water that barreled clean through ten soldiers that went right for it. A massive mist cloud erupted that expelled everywhere.

With the mist as cover, a harsh swing of something silver went glistening through. A soldier in the area was caught surprised when something tight went around his arm. "W-what the-?!" He saw his arm get tugged, showing that string were connected to it.

Behind Erza, Griffon faced away as he yanked the air with his Wire Magic. The sounds of blood splattering and screams of pain were clearly heard, even with little visibility. He faced away nonchalantly as he stood back up and remained clam, despite what he had done.

"We cool?" he asked.

Erza glanced back and gave no verbal reply. Instead, she darted ahead and requipped into her Flight Armor. She sped into battle, where her cries were heard as she leaped into the morbid fray.

Griffon looked back at her and grinned. "I'm gonna take that as a yes." He looked back to see an opposing soldier swing an axe. He crossed his arms and pulled up another hatched wire barrier, which blocked the axe successfully. As the guy recoiled the wires bent and constricted the guy like a puppet.

"H-hey! What the-?!"

Griffon smirked as he applied the last wire through the wrist. "Now we're getting somewhere." He lashed them forward, sending the guy forward in conjunction with his string. "Marionette!" As soldiers came to attack, Griffon swiped his arms to move the soldier he caught in front. They all slashed at him instead, which his axe blocked.

"I'm not one to make use of humans as play things…but seeing as how you use these creatures out of torture sickens me!" Griffon glared. "Let's see how you like being made what you don't want to do!"


Guns were blazing up a storm as guys were mowed down all around Aniya. She was blasting left and right with her visors on and mowing down with a high-powered machine gun that bolted magical bullets that fell so many in a few second.

Overhead, a shriek was heard that got her attention. When she looked up, she saw that it came from another Pokémon trained by the empire. It appeared to be a horde of Zubat, roughly enough that alarmed her.

When one Zubat opened its mouth to attack with Bite, when it closed in, Aniya requipped her machine gun to a smaller pistol that shot lightning, like the very same that she used on Erza. The machine gun unleashed a clean bolt of lightning that electrocuted the Zubat, making it twitch in the air before falling towards the ground.

"Hmph, annoying bat." She exasperated.

The many Zubat surrounded her, flapping their wings and closing in. The guns girl looked around annoyed and hurried another requip, but she found one closing in faster than the rest.

"Confusion!"

A call made Aniya gasp. She saw all the Zubat enveloped in a purple outline that kept them immobile. For reasons unknown, she was seeing them all fly away by an unknown force that forced them away.

She looked back in shock, her surprise evident when she saw that it was by Mest, who had his Ralts out…who, by means unknown, was banging his head against the sand, repeatedly. "You!"

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Aniya gave Mest a scornful pout. She faced her head away and huffed. "Hmph. Just fine, thank you very much."

Mest nodded. "Alright then. Ralts…" he looked down, seeing Ralts continue banging his head against the sand. "Ralts." When he was called this time, he stopped. "Come on, let's go."

Aniya watched Mest go to work with his Pokémon. As her eyes were focused on the mage and his Pokémon working together, she could feel some bit of her lift…but that was just a small bit. "Hmph." She requipped again to another machine gun and pointed it ahead. "Alright, so who's next?!"


A Herdier gave a loud, aggravated ruff as it looked at Aron and Gajeel. Aron angrily spread his feet apart and readied for battle.

"Alright buddy, let's see what you can do." Gajeel challenged. "Go, Aron!"

"Right!" Aron held his ground, waiting for Herdrier to come to him.

The dog-like Pokémon gave another loud bark as its body was enveloped in a bright golden forcefield of energy. The energy charged up as its speed was slow, but it looked to be gaining momentum that couldn't be taken lightly. As it closed in, Aon remained firm.

'Still haven't got much on types, so I gotta last as long as we can!' Gajeel raised a fist. "Aron, use Harden!"

Aron held his footing as Herdier closed in. His head lowered and the dog bashed his head against his own, creating an airwave that picked up sand and dissipated it around them. Through the collision, Aron's weight as well as his disposition, didn't allow him to falter against Herdier so easily. Herdier pushed harder than before, but that only made Aron slide back an inch.

"Gnnngh…" Aron tried to hang on the best he could. "I've got…more than enough juice…to take…THIS!" His large blue eyes widened as his feet spread beneath him. The front two feet instead shimmered than what Harden did. They instead grew metallic, something that caught Gajeel's attention.

"What the…?"

Aron lifted his head to break the stalemate with the slightly higher leveled Herdier. The Steel/Rock-type used the upward momentum to get on two feet for a short bit before the one claw came around and slashed. "HRAH! METAL CLAW!"

"Huh?!" The Herdier was caught completely off guard when a stubby but hard claw raked against his face. The force of the attack sent him flying back, howling in pain as Aron returned to all fours.

Gajeel looked ahead with shock at what Aron did. "Wait, that wasn't what I asked for." He realized. He knew from experience that Aron had Headbutt, Harden, Mud-Slap, and Rock Tomb. In no way did he recognize that move before. Could it have been a new move that he just now learned.

Aron raised his head with pride. "How did you like them berries?"

The Herdier staggered back up and shook his head. He looked back at Aron and gave an angered growl.

Getting over his initial shock, Gajeel smirked. "Oh well. Guess I better roll with the punches then." He punched forward again. "Alright then, use that Metal Claw again!"

Aron's front paws glowed and shimmered metallic once more. He made a charge for Herdier, who in turn wagged his tail and went pouncing at Aron in the middle.


Matilda flipped in midair and stamped her foot against a soldier's chest. She landed with her back towards Sophie's.

"How's it looking over there?" the Take-Over mage smirked.

Sophie's expression wasn't as laid back. "As well as can be." She swiped her arm, giving a command. "Abra, Psyshock!"

Her Abra floated in place as psychic energy created purple energy in the center of his body. The energy pulsated into and orb that he focused forward and unleashed several beams that dispersed and fired at a Roselia. The beams converged onto the startled creature, enveloping it in a bright purple explosion. When it dissipated, the smoke and sand dispersed to show it having swirling eyes, meaning it fainted.

"Hey, that wasn't half-bad." Matilda praised.

"Thank you." Sophie smirked. "But there's still more to come."

Matilda rammed her fist into her palm, the sound reminiscent of bone-breaking was music to her ears. "Yeah, that's right. Just keep 'em coming."


"Manly attack!"

"Manly!"

Elfman punched his way clean through one guy, while Machop used Karate Chop and fell a Patrat. The two were fighting side-by-side, and they were mowing down competition the best they could.

Elfman looked back, seeing Kevin standing off to the side. "How're you doing over there?" he called out.

A little weary, Kevin seemed rather sufficient. "Uh, d-doing just fine! Thank you very much!" It was a bold-faced lie. He was far from fine. In fact, he was in the middle of a battlefield, with a big guy throwing guards around like crazy. And he wasn't doing better than anyone else in the area.

His magic wasn't like Hibiki's. He didn't have any offenses or anything like that. It wasn't meant for beating up people, it was for information. And for his perverted mind, this was a death trap. 'Oohh, this is SO not what I had in mind for an island vacation.'

Another guy flew in front of him, making him shriek in fright. "Oh I really wish I was on that ship right now!" He looked over in shock as another soldier reached his arm out, commanding what appeared to be a Paras. It lunged at his with white claws, via Fury Cutter.

PLOOP!

A spat of gum shot from the side, hitting the Paras. The soldier wasn't too far as he was gummed down as well with a shout.

Kevin was surprised to say the least, but when he looked towards the side, he saw Liz walking up with chewing gum in her mouth. As she snapped another bubble inside her mouth, she walked away from the field behind her, revealing dozens of bodies covered in gum that prevented them from movie.

"Thank you!" he waved.

Liz kept chewing. "…word." She casually gave a peace sign to him.


Soldiers quickly surrounded The Freaks as they tried to hold their ground. They looked far from sound as Duncan was the only one with a kendo stick. One soldier quickly attacked with a sword, whereas Duncan hurriedly parried and held it off until he planted a kick on the soldier's abdomen. More soldiers slashed, and Duncan parried them. He deflected one parry, and then another. But when one got too close, he veered away back towards his group.

The Freaks all stood like lost lamb as they had soldiers, Sandile, Darumaka, even Cacnea all surrounding them. Joey balled his fists in anger as he couldn't find anything he could do.

"HRAH!"

A loud roar came from above. A soldier looked up to see what it was, but his head was immediately bashed when a fist embedded in a turquoise sphere hammered it. The soldier fell with an earthshaking thud, revealing Broly to be the one to have punched him down.

To Joey, his shock was all too clear when he saw Broly's serious face. 'Whoaaa…'

"HNGH!" Broly socked another guy with his barrier-infused fist with drastic force. He ducked from a spear and uppercut, breaking a jaw. He backflipped and spiral kicked with the one leg having the turquoise sphere on it. When he flipped over again onto his feet, a soldier ran up to attack head on, only for Broly to sock him with a barrier-infused fist that sent him into other guys like bowling pins.

"Whoa." Dereece was caught surprised, and much to his own lack of admittance, Duncan showed some sense of surprise as well.

With the field around them clear of soldiers, Broly stood tall without much of a bead of sweat on him. From the distance, Joey couldn't believe at how fast that was, nor even how powerful his strikes were.

'That's insane. Is that really…the power of combat-infused Barrier-Make Magic can do…?'

"You're still pretty new to a battle against large groups, aren't ya?" Broly asked.

The Freaks were caught surprised by this and remained silent.

"Even without magic, you still can win a battle. You just have to let your body get a good feel of the battle. Just try and pick your opponent's carefully, and no matter what…don't let them see your weakness. They won't care any less of you."

Joey was a bit shocked at Broly's words of warning, but he accepted them with understanding. He nodded and turned towards Dereece with a serious look. The two best friends looked down and saw that they had Poke Balls already out. In unison, they faced forward and threw out their choices for battle.

"Pidove, go!"

"Heracross, show 'em!"

The two Poke Balls opened, and summoned forth, Pidove took immediate flight, while Heracross appeared in midair before thudding against the sand harshly.

Joey reached out at the Cacnea that was ahead of him. "Pidove, Gust!"

"I shall obey, master!" Pidove's wings glowed bright blue and he began to flap his wings repeatedly. He picked up a strong wind that created a gust that was forcing the Cacnea to try and hold his ground, but the Grass-type eventually failed to do so and went tumbling back.

"Awesome!" Joey smiled. "Nice job!"

The Cacnea finished rolling backwards, where it groaned and looked up at Pidove above. The cactus's eyes angrily seethed at the bird and its needle-like arms aimed at him. The eight ends showed purple lighting and poisonous barbs shot in Poison Sting.

Joey raised his arm up again. "Send it back! Pidove, Gust one more time!"

Once more, Pidove's wings glowed bright blue and he held his position as the Poison-type move closed in. "Okay!" he dumbly exclaimed. "Must blow away all plants!" He repeatedly flapped his wings again, making another powerful maelstrom that reached the incoming attack. The Poison Sting immediately turned around and went sending back at Cacnea, who was completely shocked. The Flying and Poison-type attacks met their marks, even as Cacnea attempted to hold its ground. It was quickly pushed back by the attacks and sent soaring back into the sand.

Pidove lowered towards the ground, staying in front of Joey.

The Cancea swayed back up, trying to give one last push to get back Pidove. The Grass-type had a white glow over its body, one that made a red aura envelop its body, via Growth.

'I have to end this as fast as possible.' Joey thought. 'What that guy said was true. I can't dawdle, at least not here. I had my fun for now, so let's get to work!' "Pidove~! Leer!"

Pidove leered straight ahead at his foe. As he glared ahead, Cacnea's body was then enveloped by a blue aura, lowering its Defense. The opposing Cacnea, in return, didn't rest as it shot forward green beams in the form of Absorb.

"Pidove! Dodge!" Pidove did as told and evaded the attack to the best of his capabilities by ascending. "Now, Quick Attack!"

Doing as told, Pidove cooed loudly as his body was outlined in bright blue. As he targeted Cacnea, blue afterimages shot behind him as he propelled himself ahead. "For my master~!" He dove at a high speed that startled Cacnea. Pidove crashed cleanly into the spherical cactus, making an airwave that rippled upon contact. The impact shot Cacnea backwards with a loud scream of pain as it slid across the sand to a grinding halt. When it stopped, it was revealed to be trying to stand up before ultimately thudding again, fainted.

Joey pumped a fist with a smirk. "Now that's how it's done."

"HRAH!" Using a Horn Attack, Heracross rammed his horn into a Sandile, sending it flying pass the two other Sandile that waddled up to the challenge.

"Man, they just keep coming!" Dereece exclaimed. He heard the sound of feet from behind. When he turned, he saw a soldier making way for him.

The soldier drew in so close with a hammer, but before it could make contact, a rectangular turquoise wall crashed from the side, sending the man flying halfway across the domain with an aching wail.

"What did I just tell you?" Broly said with a serious tone.

"Well I-!"

Broly's eyes immediately shifted elsewhere. He turned in front of the guys and put up a barrier as something with intense static ignited the atmosphere in front of it. They all looked with shock as the energy didn't fade away until the barrier went down, and the source ell to its four feet.

In front of them was the one foe who had more power than the rest. The Luxray had its eyes shimmering yellow with an intense vibe resonating off it.

"Well what do we have here?" Broly inquired.

"That's a Luxray." Joey answered. He pulled out his PokeDex, where the device went up and showed a picture of the creature.

"Luxray, the Gleam Eyes Pokémon. When its eyes gleam gold, it can spot hiding prey – even those taking shelter behind a wall."

"A Pokémon that can see through solid objects?" Broly inquired.

"So that's how they figured us out." Dereece gasped.

From behind Luxray, the general walked up and stationed beside the Electric-type. His own glare was the same as Luxray's even with the visor on. "Now then, mages of Ishgar. By order of the emperor himself, I will be taking you into custody."

"This guy's really strong." Joey worried. "Luxray don't evolve until Lv 30 in the games we've played. That's gotta mean something for us here." As he contemplated, Duncan bypassed him to make it in front. "Huh? Wait! Duncan…!"

Duncan didn't listen. Instead he stood in front of his team and gleamed back at Luxray. The feline's yellow eyes would've sent chills down a normal man's spine, but Duncan looked to be challenging that.

"Get him!" The general's order was swift and clear, and Luxray roared as he lunged to attack.

Duncan pulled back his spare arm that didn't hold the kendo stick, revealing an Ultra Ball. "Magmortar…start!" The mechanism was launched, and summoned forth into battle and blocking Luxray was Magmortar. In the sand, the Blast Pokémon stood with an intense heat around his fiery, wavy body. His taller frame glared down at Luxray, putting him on the defensive end almost immediately.

The general saw this and immediately took a more aggressive front. "You really defy the power of the Alvarez Empire? We'll show you what happens to intruders who stick their noses where they don't belong!" he reached, giving a swift arch. "Now then, attack!"

Luxray opened his mouth and his four teeth glowed and elongated, revealing Crunch. The feeling made a beeline and darted straight for Magmortar, who remained vigilant and held on. He moved his cannon-like arm in front and allowed Luxray to jump and sink his fangs into it. Upon impact, a white burst of energy clouded up and force Magmortar several inches backwards into the sand.

"Crap! He's hit!" Joey exclaimed.

Dereece seemed worried as well, but skepticism arose. "Hm? Wait a minute…"

Luxray landed a few paces away from Magmortar. The creature looked completely fine while Magmortar staggered back up. As Luxray growled, there was a sudden burst of flames that expelled from his body, making him wail in pain before vanished away.

"What?" the general questioned.

"The heck was that all about?" Broly questioned. "…wait. Could that be these powers that these creatures possess?"

Joey's narrowed eyes of wonder finally opened out of sheer shock. He realized what it was that happened. "Wait! Magmortar's Ability! Flame Body!" he exclaimed. "When Luxray made physical contact, it got burned!"

"And that means good for us, right?" Dereece inquired.

"Well I sure hope so."

Duncan slowly motioned his arm up as his head went down. "If that was the best you've got, then we'll be done here. Magmortar, Sunny Day!" Upon the harsh command that Duncan gave, Magmortar's arms were loose and his posture was upright. His claws both began to congregate energy into golden orange orbs that he brought together into big orb. He raised his hands high, making the orb overhead dissipate into massive rings that expanded towards the sky. A few moments later, sky and the sun began to get brighter, glistening to a harsh extent to where it was almost blinding.

Erza looked up, using her hand to shield her eyes. She was perplexed by the sunlight, but she could feel a heat resonate from the atmosphere.

The general was unfazed by Duncan's threat. The longer he stood there, the more annoyed he felt. He swiped his arm and shouted out again. "Go! Attack again, I order you!"

The Luxray growled at Magmortar again before he took off for him once more. Magmortar huffed as he watched the Electric-type close in, but otherwise did little to nothing for compensate his opponent's efforts. When Luxray went to attack again, this time its body was enveloped in a few static bolts, which multiplied into many sparks, via Spark.

Duncan cared very little. "End it. Flamethrower!"

As Luxray closed in with a primal shout, Magmortar aimed his cannon arms and opened them, revealing darkness inside. In a matter of little to no time, two torrential blast waves of fire shot out and expanded across the sand, making it split apart beneath. Luxray continued charging in, but it was proven futile as the enhanced Fire-type attack swallowed him up. His screams went hollow within the roaring blaze that went on towards the general. The stupefied superior was at a loss for words as the blaze closed in on him, too big for him to escape from. In a rushed panic, he tried to make a bold move and pull out a sword, by like a hurricane, the attack blew it away and swallowed him. His screams of anguish went as white as the space itself that followed. Moments later, everything erupted like a volcano in front of Magmortar, from the magnitude the ground unleashed, to the massive burning smoke cloud that billowed skywards. And through it all, the rampage was unmistakably awesome to many eyes, especially to Joey and Dereece.

With a gaping mouth, Joey gawked at his teammate's power. He watched as Duncan's coat shifted t=with the sand. 'I knew Duncan was stronger than us…but I didn't think he'd be this strong!'

The billowing subsided at long last, allowing the visualization to be seen. The Luxray remained standing for a short while until it wobbled a bit and fell over. Soon to follow, the general fell onto his stomach, both unable to stand.

"Pathetic." Duncan exasperated.


Juvia reached her arm forward. "Now, Quick Attack!" she commanded.

Eevee gave a loud shriek as her body was coated in a bright blue outline. She went zigzagging with afterimages following towards Corphish, who was unable to keep up. With a head-on slam, a shockwave expelled upon Eevee's head meeting with Corphish's temple. There was a moment's struggle for stamina, but ultimately, Corphish couldn't keep up anymore. His legs finally lost hold and he went soaring backwards from the critical hit. He slid across the ground to a stop and laid there, fainted with swirly eyes.

Eevee panted as she had a few scrapes from the battle, but she was okay nonetheless. "Oh thank goodness." She sighed tiredly.

"Eevee, are you okay?" Juvia worried.

Gray looked around, seeing the many soldiers that were wasted upon the ground by ice and other means throughout the area. "Well then, guess that covers it."

"It seems to be the case." Orion said. "Is everyone alright?"

Everyone seemed to be in one piece supposedly. Despite some Pokémon looking tired, some battles were wrapping up, and others didn't seem staggered at all. Over in the distance, he could see Liz shooting gum at a few arms sticking out of gum piles, whereas Matilda was standing atop a pile of bodies with a victorious smile.

Natsu rolled his shoulder and made it pop repeatedly with each one. "That wasn't even a warmup." He scoffed.

"Yeah…hehe…great…" Kevin half-heartedly said. He didn't do anything at all, but he didn't want to admit that out loud.

Lucy sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. That was a relief. I thought for sure that it would be a lot worse than that."

"Oh, uh…sorry if that wasn't what you wanted." Yukino meekly replied.

"Hey, I didn't mean it like that!" she defended.

Lyon smirked. "Well then, if that was the case, then perhaps we should head onwards then. No sense in staying here any longer."

"Yeah, bummer." Erik sarcastically snickered. "So much for our little operation gone wrong…" However, slowly, the Poison Dragon Slayer's pacing diminished as well as his voice. He stared ahead with uncertainty as something within his Dragon Slayer and Sound Magic alike picked up on. And if he was honest, he was disturbed.

"Erik?" Kinana questioned.

Erik's disposition lowered and frowned heavily. "We've got more company."

They all questioned what he meant by that, when suddenly, the ground beneath them all began to shudder. The palpitations were extremely unsettling, but that wasn't what made them feel unsound. No. It was the magical energy flowing through the earth itself.

"You guys feel that?" Natsu questioned.

"I do." Sophie looked towards the ground. She scrutinized the sand shifting and felt dense vibrations flow. 'What is this feeling? Is this Earth Magic?' Suddenly, a stone column shot up from the ground. Almost denting her face in.

"Sophie!" Gray exclaimed. The sand burst around him and Juvia as well, shooting up slanted columns of rock as well.

Gajeel, Pantherlily, and Aron turned as another column shot up behind. Erza turned and saw yet another one. Lyon did as well. One by one, many of columns shot up in a circular pattern around everyone. As they shot upwards, they all slanted right over their heads until they connected at the top, creating a cage of sorts.

Ultear's eyes narrowed as she glared above. "A cage?"

"Well it looks like it's not only Pokémon these guys love to keep caged." Sting remarked.

"So it would seem." Minerva remarked. Her sultry vision caught a glimpse of something else, which got her to glare ahead.

"Milady?" Lector questioned.

Frosch looked ahead. "Look! There!"

Lector looked as well, seemingly shocked. Everyone else turned to see two other figures on the edge if the earth cage, their silhouettes coming into view.

Feeling a familiar Magic Power, the general, barely conscious, strained to get up. "Y-y-you…sir…"

"Well, well…" One of them said. "Looks like someone isn't getting that promotion after all."

Mest stepped forward with Ralts on his shoulder. "Damnit, of all the places to be here with him!"

Gray recognized one of the guys almost immediately. "Him again…"

Stepping forward, a wicked grin was plastered on Marin, whereas Vlar stepped from behind to keep his distance. The Spatial Mage stepped forward with a rosy expression, but beneath that, one could feel the animosity underlying that truth.

"That guy again?!" Lucy gasped.

Brandish gave a meek expression with a bored expression. "Marin…"

The Spatial Mage gave a meek bow with a wide smile to his former superior. "Welcome home, Lady Brandish."


Well guys, well within 30K, and to be frank, this wasn't where I wanted to finish the chapter. I wanted to finish at a point a little further than this, but I think I'll have to save this for next chapter. I really am disliking how I'm personally going over limits like this, and with how long I'm making these chapters already, I'd rather not have this chapter no more than till chapter 18 like in the prequel. So I'm going to have to reinvent here a bit and officially redo my plans, at least to where they would make some critical sense. But don't worry too much, I made sure that some kickass action came from out of this.

So this chapter, I gave The Freaks a little more spotlight as intended, as well as some spotlight with Orion and his history. I'm gonna try to shorthand what I can to make next chapter at the very least end in a cliffhanger as well, and then maybe be caught up to speed.

I also hinted a bit of Aniya's phobia, and how it affects her mentally with interacting with Erik and Kinana, as well as Nic. This will be resolved indefinitely within a few chapters, but you'll see how.

Anyways, I brought back Marin, and I also introduced another OC under Pluto's command, Vlar. I thought adding maybe 1 or 2 underlings for their command would serve me well with some form of battling, and what not. More OCs will come indefinitely, so will another update. But for now, I have a long work schedule coming my way.

Please review and let me know what you thought about this chapter. Thanks a ton guys!