In a spacious cargo hold, many boxed crates carrying items were neatly stacked along one end of the hold. On the other, workers ad soldiers were carefully maneuvering and organizing the cages, Hook were placed on them to prevent from moving too much.

Among the many, the larger cages were placed on the bottom, holding Pokémon from Nidorina, to Ekans, to Parasect, to even the one Drapion that wasn't putting up much of a fuss.

"And…" The soldier placed the cage containing a Phanpy on last. "That should do it. Alright fellas, that's the last of them!"

"Thank god. I was wondering when that freaking line would end."

"Yeah, now what?"

The head soldier shrugged. "Now, we just wait for sir Marin and Vlar. They shouldn't take too long to deal with those spies I bet. Nobody gets past Marin."

Another soldier scoffed. "Yeah, serves them right!"

As the soldiers were busy making conversation amongst themselves, they were neglecting the weak and hampered creatures they had locked up. The Drapion remained stiff while the Froakie that was above its cage was staring bluntly. It was hard to read, let alone willing to be looked at. But something was off, and it wasn't just the way they weren't squirming around. No, something less noticeable was uprising amongst them.

"Let's head back to the bridge." The head soldier stated as his followers followed. "Two of you, stay behind and watch these things."

"On it." Two soldiers volunteered and stepped to the side. The others left the room and had the door slide shut behind them. A short silence fell once the echo stopped, one that was soon broke by a soldier.

"So, how much do you owe me?" The one guard looked towards his associate as he begrudgingly reached into his pockets for loose change it seemed. He forked over a handful of bills which counted up fast to 20,000 Jewel. The one soldier smirked. "Hehe, told ya."

As the guy grumbled in annoyance, the Froakie was observing with a meek stare. He didn't know what it was they bet on, but that's not important. It held its tongue until opportunity showed itself.

The soldier turned away with annoyance shown. "Tch, whatever. I'll get more next time." He turned his attention towards the many Pokémon that were bored or sad. Amongst them, the annoyed look that Froakie was giving was making him glare back. "What are you looking at?"

"…" The Froakie spoke of nothing as its blank eyes refused to change.

The soldier walked up towards the cage and gave a cold glare at the misfortunate Water-type. "Hey buddy, you know what we do to animals like you who give us that kind of look? Huh?" his tone was that of a harsh whisper. "You guys, you starve. That's right. Whatever energy you need, whatever you want to do…you're playing by our laws now, and if you don't do as we say, you can kiss your next few meals goodbye. So I say quit with that damned look."

To go with his demand, the Froakie lowered his head a little to gaze down at the cage floor it had.

"Heh, that's what I thought." The soldier looked back at his associate. "You see? These little guys aren't so-!" He turned around to get a big blob of frubbles to the face. He fell on his back loudly with shock.

The other soldier looked shocked. "What the-?!" A pincer extended from the cages towards the soldier's neck. The grip was as tight as an actual brace. He gagged when he was pulled towards the cages, unable to stop the momentum as he slammed his head into the bars of Drapion's cage. The soldier slumped down in unconsciousness, whereas his associate strained on the ground to get the frubbles off.

Drapion retracted its pincers and glanced up at the Froakie. The Froakie in return nodded and glowed. It began to emit a strong enough light as the cage it was confined in began to shake and creak apart. Until finally, the small cage erupted, and the next sound to be heard beside bars clanging against the ground was a pair of feet.

"Figured as much." The person regarded his statement before he chose to turn towards the Drapion cage. He looked down and scrounged the fallen soldier for a key. "And…right here." He held up a key, which shimmered in the lighting above.

"Agh! Damnit!" Meanwhile, the other soldier was prying the frubbles off his face. He swatted at them to make them go away, but it was taking a while. Before he knew it, he heard two pairs of feet ahead of him.

"What was that about making me starve?"

The voice got the soldier's attention. When he looked up, he found himself face to face with someone who spelled disaster all for him, and right beside him, a white-haired girl. The way they looked seemed dark, and bad news all over.

"You know, it's bad enough that you treat these guys without care, but having them starve when they have to work for it, now that's just a low blow. Lisanna!"

"I hear that, Nic!" Both pulled out one Poke Ball each, holding them up with readiness.

'N-Nic…' The soldier was at a loss as that name rung a serious bell. "Wait-!"


Meanwhile, the soldiers out along the bridge outside were playing either cards, or were busy counting poker chips. They looked to be playing a game that involved gambling to help pass the time. As they all looked at the cards, one placed one on the table.

"Boom! Beat that!" he cheered. The other soldiers groaned and rolled their eyes as they dropped their cards out of defeat; some out of frustration. He nodded with a smug smirk. "Aw yeah, show me da money."

BOOM

They all felt a shrilling wreck in their guts when the sound of a door flying caught their attention. They all turned to see the large door holding the Pokémon inside was against the other side, having been bisected clean through. To add shock, the soldier was lying on it, groaning with a gash over his chest.

"W-what was…?"

"The heck?! They run loose?!"

Their accusations and shock went south when a serious frown was seen within. "You guys like games, do you?" Nic presented himself with folded arms, and in front of him, Kecleon creepily tilted her head. Lisanna stood behind in her Drapion Take-Over, and above her, Rufflet flapped his wings.

"Well mind if we step in?" he finished.

Kecleon's head tilted a little further to the side. "King me."

The soldiers all looked shocked as they didn't even have time to process what was happening. They were all petrified as they were faced with something odd. "…oh crud." One muttered.


A hardy, slow handclap echoed through the air as the many mages and their Pokémon gathered were seething daggers at the one responsible for the clap. It wasn't the Earth Mage it seemed, but in reality, more along Marin's role. The man sure loves to remark so highly.

"This guy again." Gray grimaced. He remembered him last time, and he wasn't appreciating it even now.

Brandish gave the Spatial Mage a blunt but icy cold stare. "Marin."

The clapping slowed to a stop and he smiled. "Why, Lady Brandish, welcome back. Why, of course you pass. You remember me!"

"How can I forget someone who attempted to choke me while I was in chains?" Her cold tone was as rivaled as her Magic Power. The memory was far from pleasant for her tastes, and seeing him now, she was more than tempted to blow him up on the spot.

Marin shrugged. "Aw c'mon, Brandish. I thought we were okay with that?"

"What do you want, Marin?" she demanded. She was in no mood for such antics. She had something to do, and she wasn't going to have someone like him in their way.

Finally seeing her way, Marin nervously backed down from foreplay. "Very well then…" He took in a big sigh as he tried to catch his breath. He looked at them all with a grand smile. "Well, Lady Brandish, me, as well as Vlar here, we have been sent to help with this shipment's coordination apparently." He answered. "You see, there has been trafficking going on, so we wanted to make sure the reports here on this lovely island passed…unlike some people." He snickered low with a dark tone underlying his last comment. Many could possibly guess what that meant, amongst such cases probably being women. Being sexist was a poor trait to bear.

"So then we came at a bad time then." Mest stated. "Typical."

Marin shrugged again. "Oh well, I suppose you all will have to do for now. I was hoping to have the lot of you to pass…but I'm afraid you caught me at quite the time to fail. And so…" His smirk turned evil, his grin growing wide with a vein popping up on his forehead and side. "You lot failed! Failed!"

Natsu looked a little surprised by his attitude change. "Crap, he's losing it again."

"Aye. I think he's already lost it." Happy shuddered.

"This is bad. We need to get to the ship, and quick." Lucy worried. She remembered full well what a mage like Marin can do, and that made her and Erza's powers less than adequate for the situation. Neither could manipulate space like Marin can; that wasn't their magic's style.

Mest wasn't anywhere near that length either. He was a sitting duck much like them. Teleportation was using space to shorten distance. He had little to work with, but maybe it wasn't a big deal, hopefully that is.

"Now then, to how do we deal with you first? Hmmmm?" Marin's wicked smirk was accompanied with more veins sprouting on his head. "Hmm, oh! I know!" he chirped. "Vlar, the men, if you will!"

The Earth Mage nodded. "Understood." He raised both hands and made a harsh clap in the atmosphere. Underneath most of the men, the sand shifted and churned, and then thick arches like anchors of rocks arose.

"Huh?!" Natsu looked down, seeing his feet anchored.

Gray looked down, a heavy weight holding down his. "Crap!"

All the men in the area were being held down. Joey, Duncan, Dereece, everyone possible was being withheld by Vlar's dense earth-like anchorage. As much as they struggled, the materials failed to decompose. The more they all struggled, the more each of them had earth slowly rising up to encase them in tombs each.

"Gray!" Juvia reached over, but Marin appeared right in her path, a rosy smile plastered on his face.

"Why, you pass!" he chirped.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Erik looked down, seeing as how his lower half was completely encase in thick stone. He couldn't even move his fingers if he wanted to. Ashe struggled, the tighter it was for his chest to take in air. "I…can't…"

"Erik!" Kinana cried. When she reached out ahead of herself, her hand suddenly deflected. "Ow!"

Lucy gasped as she looked at her surroundings. Everything through her and the other's eyes were beginning to get distorted. "What's going on?!" She couldn't make heads nor tails, the same being said for Erza as space was being warped.

It wasn't just them, but bubbles of distorted space were surrounding the girls. The guys were enveloped in earth from below.

Marin smirked evilly as he looked at the victims he was going to have fun with. "Well then, looks like you've all passed." He turned towards Vlar. "And you, you haven't failed. Good for you."

Vlar nodded. "Shall I handle the rest?"

"Please do. As for those who pass…" He turned and reached out, beginning to distort even Erza and the others. "They can join my personal collection."

"Marin…!" Brandish glared through the distortion around her, but everything around her was spinning out of control. She couldn't tell which way was up.

Marin again shrugged. "Oh don't worry, Lady Brandish. I have something very special for you."

Natsu strained as he tried to escape the earth-covered energy that was devouring him. As he tried to get out of it, he could hear the cackling of Marin from earshot. His eyes went over to the Spatial Mage, the onyx eye he had becoming more and more enraged. "You…!" Suddenly, the rock spreading around him began to glow a deep red underneath. The Dragon Slayer was beginning to steam some.

Vlar took notice of Natsu's signature, making his curiosity shine. "Hm?"

Natsu growled low as steam continued bubbling from the pores of the rock around him. His body heat exponentially increased to where the heat levels started to make lava-like cracks within the hardened rock. They continued spreading like a virus, making chipping sounds as the heat from Natsu was reaching a prime point.

"What?!" Vlar shrieked.

"Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed.

Hearing her loud cry for him, Natsu's eyes sharpened as his teeth were bared. "Okay pal…you wanna go that route…!" The rock unable to spread around him finally cracked apart, expelling into molten rock that fell to his feet. "THEN COME GET SOME!"

From his loud shout, the Dragon Slayer's external heat signature erupted like a volcano. The heat all around maximized to a hot flash that forced Vlar and Marin to cover up from the increase in temperature. Beneath them, even their shoes could be felt getting hot all of a sudden. It was borderline unbearable.

With the heat wearing off their opponent's concentration, Marin's space surrounding the girls began to fade away. All the girls in the space were beginning to feel free again as their visions and surroundings corrected again.

Aniya turned her arm to look at the backside of it, seeing it clearly. "Alright, looks like we're out!"

"About time! Man that stuff was thick!" Matilda chirped. "I almost worried there for a sec."

Able to turn his head, Macbeth looked towards the slab next to him. "Richard!"

Nodding, Richard knew what to do. "Oh yeah! Sit tight, everyone! Liquid Ground!" Using his own form of Earth Magic, the earth surrounding all the men began to liquify. It all molded into wet, clay-like paste that eroded off their bodies and legs. Many immediately looked down and moved their legs, and some moved their arms to turn and see them clean as a whistle.

"No!" Vlar shouted.

"Now that's what I'm talking about." Gray smirked.

"That makes two of us." Griffon cheered.

Orion frowned as he turned towards his back. "Broly, do it!"

"Alrighty then." Broly sucked in a massive load of air before he shot his arm up above him.

"Barrier-Make: Hemisphere!"

Eroding from the air above, a teal barrier in the form of a dome eroded down to surround everyone and box them in. Underneath their feet, the barrier helped them make a support that cut them off completely from the ground as well.

"Awesome!" Joey cheered. Marin, however, seemed far from impressed.

"Tch, you think you've passed? Well too bad! You fail! All of you!" Pointing forward, the Spatial Mage tried to use his magic to get inside the barrier, but for some reason, he wasn't going. The closest he got to was to the actual barrier, and he stuck to it like a fly to syrup. "Ooof!" he groaned.

"He's blocking off our magic entirely?" Vlar gasped.

With cover at long last, the group could finally make a recovery plan. They knew they couldn't hide that long forever, not while they were on defense here. They had to turn tables, and fast.

"So what do we got?" Gajeel asked.

"Can't go charging. They'll trap us again." Elfman said. Even for a man of muscle, even he had some common sense.

"But we can't stay in here forever. There's only so much air anyways." Meredy worried.

"Everyone relax, we'll find a way through." Jellal calmly insisted.

Bellona looked in another direction with a smirk. "Such a bold statement. You care to back that up?" she teased.

Jellal groaned at Bellona's infectious teasing. She knew him well enough to know they had to have some way out, but when it came down to it, it wasn't like it was supposed to be easy. But he did have intellect, and that when he looked ahead to find something that could be worked with. He stepped up, seeing the small gap between Vlar and Marin.

"What is it?" Ultear asked.

"I think that if we can mold this barrier, we can shape it to a passage to get around them."

Lyon smirked. "I could've thought of that even in my sleep. That is the purpose of Molding Magic now, isn't it?"

Orion nodded in understand. "Very well then, but we'll still need someone to try and hold off those two after us."

One of the many people who looked rather eager for something like this was Natsu. "Heh, well you just read my mind."

Meanwhile, as they were formulating inside of the barrier, Marin and Vlar finally converged and looked at their foe again. Both knew from unleashing spatial bombs and from earth attacks that they weren't going to be getting anywhere as they were now. But that also meant their opponents, at least to how it worked for them.

"Their barrier isn't going down at all." Vlar stated. "Is it Nullification kind of magic?"

Marin shrugged. "Meh, they fail either way. Once they try to get out, the laws of space are still mine. They can't get anywhere out of here without-!"

"NOW!" Broly cried out.

"Eh?!" Marin backed from shock.

"Barrier-Make: Tunnel!"

This time as Broly swiped his arms to opposite side, the while hemisphere of turquoise solid molded into a tunnel that shot along the sand like a tube outwards. It ran into one of the stone bars Vlar made earlier via his magic, smashing it to crumbling bits.

"NOW GUYS, LET'S GO!" Broly roared.

"Right! Everyone, follow me!" Erza lead the charge as everyone behind her tailed along. They made the full charge towards the end of the tunnel, making way pass the two adversaries who were still rebounding.

"They're getting away!" Vlar exclaimed.

Marin fumed in anger. "Well don't just stand there! Get the end of it and-!" Suddenly, the space in front of him exploded out of the blue. Odd colors swallowed the space ahead of him as he fell onto his back, grunting loudly in pain.

As the green wavy energy was dissipating, a smirk was seen inside. "Another mage of space, I see."

Marin's ears twitched at the sound of the voice. To him it was of shock was he looked back to find the energy dissipating to reveal Minerva, having come out to play from an opening in the tunnel.

The Spatial Mage of the alliance meekly smirked at her sexist opponent. "Seems as though some annoying fly ought to learn not to buzz in my territory now, shouldn't he?"

Marin's face began to drop beads of sweat as he looked at Minerva. "You…mold space too?"

Minerva smirked. "Come now, what do you say we see just who is fit for these laws of space now?"

On the opposite side of the tunnel, Vlar readied to take off and sprint with rocks beneath, But an opening in the tunnel revealed itself, and from it, a voluminous plume of flame exploded, throwing Vlar towards the ground.

A pair of feet stomped against the ground, exiting the portal with a white scarf whisking in the air. A toothy smirk could be seen as pink hair shifted in fire. "Guess it's my turn now. Finally." Natsu eagerly cracked his knuckles, ready to begin.

"Aw yeah, you go, Natsu!" Happy cheered.

"Don't worry, I know Milady won't let us down!" Lector boldly stated.

"Fro thinks so, too." Frosch dumbly agreed.

"Everyone, we should be making haste. Go for the tree line! If we make it there, they won't scrounge so easily." Rogue informed, running beside Sting as they were making good timing.

"He's right. Pick it up, guys!" Sting ran faster, and not far behind, so did everyone else away.

As the enemy was getting away, Vlar staggered back to his feet to see they were now out of reach. He looked back towards Natsu, who smirked maliciously at the ready. Seeing as how this wasn't going to go the way he thought, the Earth Mage reached into his massive sleeve. "So this is how you intend it then? Alright." He pulled out a Poke Ball from within the massive sleeve. "For my Master Pluto, I shall make the earth feast upon you!"

"Just try it, pal! I dare ya!" Natsu threw his arm back and spread his legs. As the back trailed dust, he whipped his arm forward, calling his Pokémon. "Okay Charmander, let's get going!"

The Poke Ball opened in midair, revealing an energy was went towards the ground and reappeared as Charmander. The lizard readied his claws at his opponent with a growl of retort.

Vlar whipped his arm back. "By the power entrusted by the earth we stand on, I call upon you! Dwebble!" Shoving the Poke Ball forward, the capsule went spinning forwards.

Appearing on the sand, there was a Dwebble, which was much like an orange hermit crab with a many layered rocks for a shell. Its eyes were dark as it braced por possible battle.

Natsu's smirk grew more intense. "Now you're making it interesting."

Vlar scoffed back. "Natsu Dragneel…"


Fleeing into the palm trees for cover was simple enough as it was, but for such a large group who had a variety of methods and speeds to get to a certain destination, it wasn't exactly easy to keep even the fastest like Sawyer at bay. For what it was worth, however, a good portion – the faster of the group – trekked moderately through the small stretch of cover.

"Is Natsu going to be okay back there?" Juvia asked Gray. "I feel we should've helped out back there."

Without looking back, Gray showed confidence. "Don't worry about it. That lunatic's got it covered." He stated. "If anything, we should worry about that other guy."

Pantherlily nodded. "That would be an understatement."

"Sure is, plus Milady's pitching in as well! Those guys are toast!" Lector boasted.

Rogue pumped over a fallen palm tree. Darting right beside Sting. "How much further is it?"

Sting's brow furrowed as he trekked. "Don't ask me, this is the first time I've been here."

"The northeastern beaches should be trekked all the way up here." Mest answered. "Shouldn't be too long now."

Joey sped right beside Broly. As if it were like he wasn't running at all. He was practically flying across the forest line. No doubt from all of the excessive jumping, flipping, and the bodacious dance moves he's practiced. "Faster you chunky monkey!"

Falling behind, Duncan jumped over a regular rock and landed in the moist, muggy soil. Farther behind him, Dereece was barely keeping up. He grunted as he tried to get over the rock, borderline crawling up on it like a salamander. He wheezed frantically as Joey and Duncan went on. "Somebody just wait a few…?"

"Pathetic." Duncan scoffed. "Hurry up back there or you'll be left behind!"

Dereece's brows furrowed in annoyance. "Well aren't you helpful today." He sarcastically chimed. Suddenly, in a swift motion, something plucked him up and held him high. "Whoa! What the-?!"

"Alright, let's go!" Matilda cheerfully zoomed through the forest at cheetah speeds, carrying Dereece like he was some prized trophy right over her head. As she passed people, even his own teammates, each one of them showed some kind of shock.

"Woah! Slow down! Hold it!" Dereece pleaded.

Matilda's energy was too high to thwart. She powered on like nothing could stop her. "Now this is a workout!"

"WAAAAH~! MOMMY!" Dereece wailed.

Being of the many people passed, Erza paced through the leaves and shrubs without any haste or delay. She went on and lead the pack, until, that is, some odd voice started to speak in the atmosphere.

'Guys, can you hear me?' a voice asked.

Hearing a familiar voice, Erza's head perked up. 'Nic?'

"Hold on…Nic, is that you?!" Lucy exclaimed. "Where the heck were you?!"

"Yeah, you missed out, man! Can't even describe it." Gray added.

'Sorry if I worried you. Didn't mean to startle you too badly.' He apologized.

"Too badly?!" Carla snapped. "Do you even know what happened?!"

"Hey, Carla, be nice!" Wendy calmed.

'I understand where you're going with this, Carla. I'm sorry I didn't fill you guys in. Lisanna and I will explain the best we can, right?'

"Lisanna's there, too?" Elfman gasped.

'You guys doing alright?' the Take-Over girl asked. 'We couldn't see much from where we were.'

"Just where the heck are you anyway?!" Gajeel shouted as he ran.

'Alright…' Nic began. 'Just try and contain yourselves…'

"Yes, Nic-senpai!" Joey happily chirped with a goofy smile. At least Joey tried to be contained…in his standards anyway.

For those who were conspicuous, aka a certain wife to the telepathic voice, she was all ears. Nic was going to have to have a lot of words to scramble to get him out of a mess she might make him clean up.


Vlar's hands slammed into the ground, making the sand shift violently as waves of rock arched around his Dwebble and Charmander and headed for Natsu. The Dragon Slayer jumped high as the rocks converged to where he was originally. When they collided, a single large stalagmite shot. Natsu's feet ignited in a searing blaze and he used a spinning Fire Dragon's Claw that blew straight into the rock, crumbling it to pieces. As dust and rock spread where Natsu had fallen, Vlar looked dissatisfied.

The dust was swiped away by an arm, revealing Natsu. "Charmander…Flame Charge!" he shouted as he punched forward. Charmander got on all fours and growled at Dwebble briefly. His body seared in flames of his own and sprung off the ground, sailing like a rocket over the sand at Dwebble.

"Withdraw!" Vlar instructed. Dwebble immediately retreated back into his rock shell bottom, his red aura indicating a Defense increase. Charmander's flame-coated body made full impact with Dwebble, making the rock slide back in the sand. As soon as Charmander landed, Dwebble emerged out of it, looking unaffected.

"This Pokémon's defenses are much higher than yours." Vlar noted. "Getting through our defense isn't likely."

Natsu, however, looked far from deterred. "Well how about this then. We weren't even warmed up that time." He swiped his arm. "Charmander, use Ember!"

Coping with the command given, Charmander brought his head back and held it for a moment before expelling a blanket of orange sparks at Dwebble. This time, when the attack hit, Dwebble retreated into his shell again, but the blankets enveloped the shell completely, sending it flying back at Vlar's feet. Dust was created as cover and obscured Vlar's vision from the rest of the world.

With knowing of his opponent, be asserted himself in a hurry with his arms up. His Earth Magic materialized a thick, dense wall of stone to arch up to defense him from a possible frontal or aerial attack.

Suddenly, he felt something hot from behind. When he turned around, his eyes widened.

"Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang!"

Vlar extended the arch of earth overhead at the last second to stop Natsu's flaming hand in a slash position from making full impact. To his shock, the earth barrier of rock was broken, and the shambles hurled into Vlar, shoving him through the front of his shield. He slid back in the sand with his shambles, and among them, Dwebble.

'How did he get that distance shortened so fast?' he grunted as the dust and sand subsided, revealing Natsu as he frowned seriously; Charmander joining him on the opposite side of the battlefield. 'Was the brother of our late emperor always this strong?'

"I told ya." Natsu said. "We're just getting started."


Back and forth, vanishing without much of a trace but their own magic to follow. Marin and Minerva paced back and forth and vanishing from one point to get around the other. When Marin appeared behind, Minerva used her magic to switch positions. It was one point here and gone the next. It was a vanishing act that turned into a tedious game of meddling with proximity. This was a battle of Spatial Mages.

Marin reappeared in front of Minerva to get close and personal with his future trophy. He punched forward, but using her acrobatic might, she used his arm as a balance and flipped. She spun upside-down with her legs out, mesmerizing the Spatial Mage for a moment's notice for her to literally get the drop on him with an axe kick to the head that sent him into the dirt.

Minerva backflipped and landed on her heels in the sand.

Marin had his head down as he shakily began to stand once more. "You…how can this be…?" Even his own voice was quivering. "The space I wield is mine alone, right?"

"I'm sorry, but perhaps I didn't make myself terribly clear before." Minerva challenged. "When it comes to Territory, anything within my sight is mine to command."

Maron's hands tightly gripped the sand beneath. "No…IT ISN'T!" Raising his head again, veins covered a vast majority of his forehead while his dark side surfaced. He reached out to create a blast wave of space, enveloping Minerva in its wake. Moments passed, and as expected, Minerva reappeared in front of the spot, unharmed. "YOU LITTLE BITCH, SPACE IS MINE! YOU FAIL! FAIL!"

Minerva grew serious as she saw Marin's controlling attitude rise up. She could see that her opponent's anxiety was rising, and that meant his powers would fluctuate. If she would've mocked him, then she would've attacked when she had the chance instead.

Marin continued fuming out of rage. He teleported beside Minerva to kick her in the face, but she narrowly leaned back to avoid the stamp. Marin rolled his other foot and this time kicked her across the face, sending her into the dirt.

"I will not be made fun of! The king of space isn't made fun of by prissy wannabies who think they would even have a chance against me of all people!" He reached down, using his magic to create a blast wave that went barreling at Minerva. Before impact, Minerva opened an eye and saw the incoming attack before she used hers to switch places with Marin. And, as expected, Marin teleported at the second later to avoid the sand exploding from his blast.

The Spatial Mage reappeared beside her, and she turned to see a distorted fist heading her way. Using her own mastery of combat, her fists were enveloped in green orbs and she parried his fist with her own. Their collision caused the atmosphere to send airwaves everywhere as sand beneath rippled out. Time slowed down as Marin's face could be seen having anger, which was leaving Minerva to narrow her own.

Marin let out an annoyed roar as he erupted a distorted wave of magic that forced Minerva to cover up. The female space controller found herself leaning back as Marin's smirk became more deranged.

"Don't think that a queen can ever be better than a king!"


"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu opened his mouth, expelling a massive beam of fire that ripped right over the sand. The heat radiated light reflecting off of Vlar's clothing and he was forced to take evasive action once more.

"Imperial Fortress!" Clasping his hands together, the sand shuddered as a gigantic wall suddenly arose all around him and Dwebble. The enormous wall of rock and stones supposedly to resist heat was like a bunker that the roar struck. The horrendous wave of heat and fire made full impact, spreading into a plumage of flames everywhere around the defense.

The steam cleared to show Natsu wiping his mouth with his wrist, leering at the foe without a word to say.

"There hasn't been such an attack that was successful in breaking down this defensive spell!" Vlar announced from inside. "Your fire will not be enough for me, brother of the late emperor.

"You talk too much!" Natsu exclaimed. "C'mon, Charmander!"

"Right behind ya!" The Fire-type made a dash behind Natsu as he went racing towards the wall.

Vlar's eyes narrowed. "Nonsensical." He said low. "Even without sight, I can tell where you are. Precipice Wave!" With a small sweep of his boot in the sand, it was like that small wave expanded and multiplied. It became a shockwave that ran through the sand until it got outside the wall. It prodded up a small row of stone, which multiplied to a large wave of spiked sandstone that multiplied towards Natsu and Charmander.

As Natsu ran right at the wave incoming towards him, he yelled at Charmander. "Charmander, hang on tight! It's gonna get bumpy!"

"Got it!" Charmander sprung onto Natsu's shoulder and clutched on as tightly as he could. Natsu took another step forward closer towards the spiky wave, and then his footstep depressed into the ground. A wave of fire expelled in all directions from the one foot. Ina stream of whistling flames, he shot up like fireworks into the sky, avoiding the wave altogether. Really high up, he looked down as Charmander clutched on like a kid with eyes shut.

Down below, Vlar was relying on his magic to sense the ground. "…from the sounds of it, I'm detecting no movement. I guess that means…" He trailed off when a bizarre whistling sound shimmered through the air. "Hm?" He looked at the huge wall around him, seeing where it was coming from. "Where? Did he go around the wave that fast?"

Dwebble looked left and right as well, but then he looked up, catching something above. "Look!" he pointed up.

"What?!" Staring upwards, he fell short of response as a comet of fire came down and crashed in front of them both. Dwebble and Vlar were both blown away by hands and flame waves alike. They screamed in pain as they sailed off.

Within the field of fire that now laid where they once stood, Natsu slowly rose, with Charmander swinging off him and ono the ground. Natsu opened his eyes and glared daggers.

Having recovered from that impact, Vlar stood up shakily. "You…jumped over?"

"You really don't think ahead, do you?" Natsu mocked. "That muscle guy back then put up a better fight than you."

"What did you say?!" Vlar exclaimed. "I'll have you know, that my Earth Magic is of its prime. I was taught personally by the likes of Master Pluto, to learn and speak and learn language of stone. Such a power even the likes of you Ishgarians cannot comprehend!"

"Then I bet he didn't teach you not to brag about your powers during a fight either!" he retorted. "Charmander, Flame Charge!" Charmander once again crouched and cloaked himself in searing flames. This time than speed like a rocket, he dashed across the sand with a deep lunge.

Vlar's eyes narrowed and reached forward. "Rock Blast!"

Dwebble grew sturdy as the rocks on his body began to glow bright silver. The front edges all were launching patterns of silver with the same edging as hard as rock. The first pattern went head on, but Charmander knew from experience taking it head on was reckless. With increased speed, he zipped left to avoid the first, then he zipped further left to avoid the second. He found himself going in an arch towards Dwebble's side, where he zipped in front to throw Dwebble off with a yelp.

Vlar grunted in annoyance.

"You guys piss me off!" Natsu ignited in searing flames. He balled his fists tight. "Always going on about your abilities like they're the world to you…yeah, maybe I like a little fire…" The flames around him began to surge into his fist. "But how's about I show you just how much rather than yammer about it?!"

Vlar's eyes widened. Even from here, there was an expulsion of heat even he couldn't handle. It was making him feel more and more overwhelmed. 'This…this…the power of…no. He was just messing with me! Is this seriously not the extent of his power?!'

"Charmander, Ember!"

Continuing his dash, Charmander stopped cloaking in flames and dug his claw in the sand to anchor and turn towards Dwebble's direction. As the Bug/Rock-type rebound and shook his head, but he was open from the side, where Charmander was. When Dwebble turned, it was too late when a blanket of sparks and embers rushed and plopped its side. This time, enough forec sent it flying away as orange bursts enveloped it.

"Crab of the earth! What a disgrace!" Vlar roared. He watched in shock as Dwebble shrieked loudly before it sundered to the ground, thudding painfully in the sand, where it laid in unconsciousness. His eye narrowed in annoyed anguish. "Tch…"

Meanwhile, Natsu bolted in with his fist in a swirling mass of fire. Streaks of the flames spiraled behind him as he closed the gap with Vlar. The Earth Mage turned to see Natsu closing in on him. Using his magic, he tried to anchor him, but with each step, flames expelled, melting the earth to char beneath him.

All the man could do was despair as he whisked his wrist up, creating a thick slab of earth.

Natsu took a leap with the flames following his path, reeling back and throwing the fist ahead.

"Fire Dragon King's Demolition Fist!"

No matter how hard, no matter how solid on a defense the minerals held up, the moment that explosive punch made contact with the thickest elements possible resistant to fire, it was crumbled down like crackers. Vlar screamed in agony as he was enveloped in the horrendous wave of fire and explosions, which erupted in an expanding manner all the way to the other side of the wall, where it shattered as well. The debris and the rock tumbled down as the immense wave continued on.

"What?!" Stopping their battle for a moment, Marin and Minerva looked over to see a shockwave of fire and ruptures shake the earth beneath them. They both covered up as the shockwaves of the attack continued their path to the now vacant watch tower. The base of it was enveloped in ruptures that came to blasting halts. The quaking caused the support of the tower to melt away,

The tower slowly creaked, very slowly falling over like some tree. In a matter of minutes, the whole structure hit the ground in a loud thud that rung all throughout the island. It was a giant bonfire that scorched a clean that down towards its origin.

Natsu held his fist out, which still steamed incredulously. He seemed unfazed as within the far distance away from him, caved in the sand's char and partial crystalizing, Vlar's body was charred in some areas, whereas in some areas, his skin was cracked with rock.

"Heh~?" Dumbstruck by that blast passing him, Marin looked over to see his associate lying like a dead animal. He was so distraught that he forgot something.

From the corner of her lips, Minerva smirked knowingly.

"I RAGH!"

Marin didn't have time to register the spatial eruption beside him. A small burst got his side, sending him to the earth right beside him. He thudded painfully as his side steamed.

Minerva daintily put her hand up in a regal manner. "Oh dear, looks like 'His Majesty' lost his way."

Marin shakily got up. "You…!"

"If I recall, he who has the rules set in stone has control, right? This principle applies to both our magics now, doesn't it? Well now, seems as though we have reached a predicament upon our hands. Your Rules of Area and my Territory can't seem to get along, which means we're just down to a small fist fight no less." Her eyes narrowed. "Unless you have something else to say."

Marin's patience was at a thin end. No one was supposed to be better at Spatial Magic. Nobody. Just him, and him alone. His veins continued spouting across his face as he held up his hand. "A-alright then…" His voice quivered in angst, as if broken as well. "If that's how you want it…then bring it, bitch!"

"Gladly." Minerva pulled up a Poke Ball, one that she was waiting to try out. "I request you by my side, underling!"

The Poke Ball popped open, expelling energy in front to reveal a small, blue, bipedal Pokémon with a rugged head. It had a bulbous snout with a yellow belly and maw, with stubby arms. This was Minerva's Pokémon, Bagon.

"A…Pokémon?!" Marin shakily questioned. Suddenly, flashes of his memory erupted. It was just this instance where he was taken out by a Pokémon because his magic was useless, or otherwise cancelled out. Borderline fuming a snarky glare at Minerva, he opts to fight back. "FINE! YOU WANNA PLAY THAT WAY, I CAN BRING MY OWN ARMY!" With a snap of his fingers, many of soldiers suddenly teleported around him. "YOU SEE?! SO WHAT IF OUR MAGICS CANCEL OUT?! I HAVE NUMBERS!"

"Care to look?" Minerva chimed.

"Huh?!" Marin looked down confusedly to see what she meant. To his shock, all the soldiers were lying unconscious in the sand. Every last one of them. "What the-?!"

"Seems as though something went wrong." Minerva mocked in a facetious tone. She already knew the answer, she had a god hunch about it.

Marin looked frantically around to find them all unresponsive. He went as far as kick someone to get them up. "GET UP! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU FAILURES?!" No response came. "WELL~?!"

"I had a funny feeling this would happen."

Marin's eyes widened as a gasp escaped him. "That voice…"

Minerva's smirk widened. Natsu turned to look over at the convenience, his smirk showing. "Yo. Where have you been?"

Someone smirked. "Over there."

"And here." A creepy girly voice followed.

Marin could feel a chill run down his spine. He could feel himself growing paralyzed from just thinking about it. Mustering the strength, beads of sweat narrowly rolled down his face as he looked back, and what he saw made him stiff as stone.

Nic and Kecleon stood in the center of the defeated platoon, not a single scratch on them as they looked ever so calm about the situation. "So it was you then." Nic stated.

Marin's paralysis ran all over. He couldn't make heads or tails as he found himself with two figures frowning at him from either side. And not just them, but their magical creatures were also giving him the look. His platoon was wiped out. His magic was useless. He could feel everything around him getting dizzy.

"Mind if we do this together?" Minerva teasingly asked.

Nic nodded. "No problem." He reached out, giving a command. "Kecleon…Brick Break!"

"For the spleen~!" Kecleon's fist enveloped in a bright glow. As she brought her arm back and crouched, the airwaves emitted from her pressure made sand and dust billow everywhere like a storm.

Minerva daintily swiped her arm. "Bagon, if you will? Bite!"

"As you WISH!" Bagon opened his maw and went running after Marin with a shout. At the same time, Kecleon vanished from her spot.

Marin tried desperately to teleport or switch places with someone, anyone! He couldn't look in any direction because distortions he was trying to create were cancelled out by Nic from one side, while explosions of space by Minerva from the other. With nothing else, he screamed violently for it to end, and soon enough, Kecleon's attack struck his back, while Bagon's mouth gnawed his stomach. The shock created a powerful airwave from both parties; Kecleon's being much bigger. Due to the force coming from both sides, Marin didn't fly off out of control. Instead, his eyes were devoid of pupils and shivered weakly as he slumped to the ground, slumping in defeat.

All around they laid. The forces of the island and of the airships, both incapacitated and taken cared of without fail. And with the tower destroyed, it was a big win for the alliance – this time.

Natsu rolled his shoulder, making it pop. "Aw man, well that was a letdown. I was hoping for a bigger warmup than that."

Minerva snickered. "Quite the energetic one as ever I see."

"Yes! Score one for us guys, up top!" Charmander held his claw out to Bagon and Kecleon. He held it up, waiting for a response, which was taking a long time. Time passed, and Bagon seemed disinterested. And Kecleon…slowly tilted her head, allowing her tongue to fling out of her open mouth and touch Charmander's claw. The Fire-type sweat-dropped with a chill running down his spine. "Uhh…"

"I was wondering what might have happened to you and that other girl." Minerva remarked towards Nic.

"Yeah, everyone's waiting at the ship." Nic informed. "I just filled them in on everything."

"Hey yeah, what did you do anyway?" Natsu asked.

"I'll explain. For now, we should probably get going. Minerva, please?"

Minerva smirked. "Well, it's good to have someone with manners around. Absolutely." Encasing her hands in orbs of her magic, a green, distorted field enveloped her, Nic, Natsu, and their Pokémon. The bubble remained large for a second before vanishing from the spot, leaving nothing but vague footprints in the sand.

As Marin laid in the sand unresponsive, a shadow slowly came into view, slowly covering him. His eyes winced in pain as his spine and stomach were practically destroyed. When he opened his eyes, he saw a vague but familiar image. "Lady…Brandish?"

Appearing before her fallen foe and traitor, Brandish gave a sharp glare down at Marin.


"In here." Nic guided Lisanna into the room where she fed the Pokémon before. Once inside, she, and Nic, both found themselves alone with nothing but the caged animals all around them.

"Nic, what is it?" Lisanna asked. She asked the question at least three times on the way here, but every single time, Nic didn't give a response. She had to wait until now to get what she asked for, and frankly, it left her very much unsound.

Nic took in a deep breath before sighing. He got towards the door to signify that it was closed. Once he confirmed that he backed away. "Okay, guess it's clear."

"Clear for what? Nic, why in Earthland did you ask me to here of all places?" Lisanna's patience was coming to a thin end. Sure Nic was tolerable, and he did mean well, but when he asked her for something, she didn't think he'd do so privately. Frankly, alone, it was giving her creepy ideas that her sister drilled into her on occasion.

Turning towards her, Nic gave a serious expression. "I'm sorry. I wanted to keep this between us. I didn't think having this in the open would do any good…not that matters anyway."

"Why's that?"

"Because of Erik and the other dragons. Odds are they can hear us, but this is a magic proof vault. Hopefully it'll keep us from earshot at least." He looked towards her more seriously. "But listen, you're the only other one here that might be able to pull through if anything happened to the others or me."

"Me?" Lisanna pointed to herself in confusion.

Nic nodded. "I would be a boldfaced liar if I said anything contradicting that."

Finally catching Nic's drift, the Take-Over girl looked back at the Pokémon to see how some were sleeping, and others were looking sad or otherwise confused. They looked like scared animals who lost homes and are in shelters with no hope. She knew from heart that for Nic to bring her here along with himself would have something to do with them. He wouldn't do this for selfish reasons. That wasn't Nic at all. She reaffirmed her serious mood and furrowed her brow.

"Okay then, what did you have in mind?"

"We use our powers. Your Take-Over as Drapion, and my Transform. They'll come up for inspections, but I think they might do something else with the Pokémon. If we transform into them and blend in, they may not recognize us."

Lisanna was shocked at Nic's plan. "Wait…you mean you really want to hide?"

"You might not find this surprising, but I have a feeling the Alvarez might see through our plan. Believe me, it's happened before. It's not unlikely that we'll be spotted. But in case something like that happened, I want to at least make sure that the Pokémon come first. That is the reason we came here after all."

"Nic…" Lisanna was surprised to say the least. He was right. That was the main reason they came here. And in a sense, he wasn't wrong about keeping this plan of theirs a secret. She knew Natsu would somehow screw it all up, and knowing Joey's fanboying, that wouldn't make things any better. Although one issue still presented itself. "But wait, what about Erza?"

"Because…well…" Nic nervously sweat-dropped. He looked hesitant to answer to Lisanna.

"Well…?"

Nic sighed in defeat. "Don't tell her this…but her acting really isn't the best out there."

"Oh…Oh! Right!" Lisanna mentally facepalmed herself. Of course Erza and acting didn't mix well. It was no wonder why every job involving her with a play of theater she came up a little short. Still, as passionate as it was for her to try, it was times like these that the artist of the family stepped in.

"So what do say Lisanna? Will this settle well with you?"

She didn't need to question the motives at hand. She already knew how to answer. The girl clutched her fist and nodded in confirmation. "Right. Let's do it."

"And that's what happened?" Mest summarized what Lisanna had told them. He was still catching up on some parts, but the picture overall he was formulating, and to a degree, he understood.

Lisanna winked. "Yup, gotcha good, didn't we guys?"

"Yeah I'll say, we didn't even tell you apart from a regular Pokémon. You sold that pretty well." Gray smirked.

Lyon returned a mocking snicker. "The art of creative illusion. As expected of someone from Gray's guild."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gray warned.

Before things went too far, Ultear got in between. "Well in any case, that did save the trouble of fighting for a ship." She said. Beside her, Meredy nodded in agreement.

Sorano chuckled. "All's fair in love and war."

"Uh, yeah…" Yukino stood right beside her sister, wondering the same thing.

Elfman took a huge sigh of relief. "Well that's good. Mirajane would freak if she found out anything happened to my sister."

Lisanna slid to her brother's aid. "H-hey now, we didn't do it as a joke! We just thought a backup plan would be helpful is all."

Natsu crossed his arms, giving a pout of his own.

"Hm? What's wrong, Natsu?" Lucy asked.

The Dragon Slayer's brow furrowed in annoyance. "Still say that I should've known about this. I wanted in on this operation too you know."

Happy patted his back in comfort. "Sorry pal, but I think Nic's better at selling stealth than you."

"Oh some friend you are!" he snapped.

Orion had a hand to his chin, thinking deeply. "In hindsight, I guess it was a clever move. Thinking that far ahead did have its uses if it came to an infiltration."

Matilda smirked. "Hell yeah, that worked out quite nicely."

Nic sighed low in his own relief. "Well then I guess that makes more than one of us in this little thought." He turned towards the others as they were all gathered. "At any rate, we should get going now. We may not have long before anymore company arises."

"I hear that." Griffon said. "I say the sooner the better, too." He turned towards Aniya. "You got the mechanics going yet?"

Aniya snobbishly chuckled as she twirled a wrench in her hand. "Like you know it. The ship's up and running."

Orion stepped in front of the group, walking up a flight of stairs to the deck. "Very well then. We don't have long, and the sun is soon to set. If we leave now, we'll arrive at daybreak at the latest." He stopped at one of the top steps and kept his back turned towards the group. A strong silence fell, one that seemed to make the air frankly hollow around him. "…this is probably the wrong time to say this, but I appreciate the support you all are giving us. You have our gratitude."

Many people like Gajeel meekly grinned. Wendy smiled up in her own gratitude. Others like Aniya looked at Erik and Kinana, but as they looked towards her, she puffed her cheeks and turned away. At the moment, it looked like tension was easing after their little first run-in, but it was never too late to soil that memorable frontier passing.

"Oh yes! What a joyous time we are having today!" Richard cheered.

Duncan scoffed. "Yeah, whatever. Now are we going to get this over with or what?"

Griffon shrugged. "You heard the man, let's get going!"

Orion nodded. "Agreed. There's not a moment to waste. Let's begin." He walked up to the massive ship's deck, where the stairs led.

Everything was week for everyone, but for Lucy, something felt out of place. "Hey, where's Brandish?"

"She's not here?" Happy looked around in question to see if Lucy's statement was right. When he looked about, he saw that anyone with green hair – besides Griffon – was vacant.

"I am here." A voice deadpanned behind Lucy.

The blonde turned around to see the hatch occupied by the person in question. "Brandish! We thought you went somewhere!"

"I did. I had to take care of something before we took off." She passed Lucy, remaining unemotional as always. The blonde, however, didn't seem all too sure of what she meant by that.

"Uh, w-what was it again?"

"Nothing important." She stopped for a moment as another thought came to mind. "Oh, and by the way. If it's not too much trouble, try and keep those Dragon Slayers at bay this trip around. I'd rather not step in another one of their expectorations."

At the notion, the 6 dragons gathered all cringed. They totally forgot they weren't done with flying yet. Poor souls they were.

Natsu tried sliding pass Lucy. "Suddenly swimming a long distance seems like a great workout." He nervously chuckled to escape from the transport, but Lucy grabbed his scarf like a leash.

"Not so fast, buddy boy. You're coming along, too." She ordered.

"Aw man." Natsu sulked.

"Now then, if we're all finished, we can get going now." Brandish ordered. "Depart at once!"

"Yes ma'am!" the Peace Jaegers all got around to working at her demand, as per their contract inscribed them to do. As they got ready and prepared the ship, Lucy, Juvia, Minerva, and Yukino helped the Dragon Slayers settle in some ways to get them to lie down as the ship began to take off.

The ship eventually eroded from the water, making humming sounds from its engines powered by lacrima to help it fly. The engines were operated by Aniya and she pulled levers by the massive steering wheel inside the cabin. She nodded towards Orion, who look out at the humungous deck that was as big as a football field.

With everyone gathered, Nic and the others all looked forward with expectant stares as the sun was beaming in their eyes. They all glared forward in new hopes and of determination to get this corrupted tyranny to understand its problems, whether they had to be the ones to do it or not.

The ship's wings finally extended, enabling it to take off like an airplane skywards. For them, next stop: Alvarez.


Meanwhile, things on the resort island were more chaotic to those entering. If anything, more people were scheduling for deportation, and no one could blame them. The island was a mess, especially the beaches. The strangest part of it all, was that wherever anyone went, they couldn't find a single soldier.

Within the chaos, even a little light shed. Not far from the wreckage that was the observation tower, bushes shriveled and shrugged as something moved inside. After trekking for a while longer, a Zigzagoon that was taken earlier popped its head out of the bushes and looked around. Seeing the coast clear, she scurried across the woodland area towards the hut area. There, the Pokémon scuttled until it found the woman that was its partner. "Zigzagoon!" She cried happily as Zigzagoon ran up and jumped into her arms, rejoicing as it was reunited with her once more.

As many more patrons were scrounging around and finding anything they may have lost to the tyrannical soldiers, they were unaware that within the wreckage of Vlar's little fortress, which now looked nothing more than ruins, all the soldiers that were on the island were trapped within a large circle of rocks. They would've gotten out, but the head soldier's Luxray was confiscated by Brandish. And unfortunately for them, Vlar was in no condition to use magic.

Among the shrunken, Marin looked around to see everyone unable to do anything, considering how small they've gotten. "Eh, hehehe…?" He nervously chuckled at his own folly. He even looked down to find himself having Magic-Sealing Stone on his wrists. "L-Lady Hoshina…uh, I-I'm sorry, but…Lady Brandish appeared to have…gotten away."

A small quake got his attention. When he turned around, he saw that it was a Sandile that dug up from under the sand, no doubt one of the ones they caught and enslaved to do their bidding. It looked at Marin curious as the Spatial Mage paled at the sight of the now larger reptilian creature tilting its head at him.

"Lady Hoshina…? You predicted good fortune, right? Lady Hoshina?!" He nervously backed away, only to provoke the Sandile. The creature jumped for Marin, making him scream for his life.


In a dark room with no lighting, the black silhouette that was a massive cloak overshadowed a faint glow coming from a crystal ball, showing the fate of Marin to Hoshina as she removed the pipe form her lip. She lifted her head and gave a loud sigh, exhaling smoke into the atmosphere. "I already know, Marin." She muttered. "I never said it was for you."


The evening sun set along the horizon, radiating the sky with a cloak of dark purple, blue, and a little bit of orange and faint yellow that brought what looked like a rainbow to the setting day's end. It was beautiful, much needed after a paradise gone wrong today.

The ship went flying with its wings all spread. To ride a plane was one thing, but to be on a flying ship was something out of a fantasy tale for the faint of heart. But for those never being on a ship in general, it wasn't too bad of a view.

Joey leaned over the side, peering down with Pidove on his shoulder. He saw cloud right beneath him. "Woooooow." He awed. "Now this…this is a view." He gasped as he saw a sea of clouds being passed through by the ship. They were so close that he could touch them. He was tempted to that is. "Is this what it's like to fly, Pidove?"

Pidove dumbly blinked on Joey's shoulder, flicking up one wing. "Yes, sir!" he happily chirped.

Joey looked back over the edge. "Interesting…"

Dereece walked up with Duncan behind his tail towards Joey. "Well Captain, all things considered, I think we got out of that pretty okay."

"Hmph, speak for yourself." Duncan snarked, tapping his kendo stick on his shoulder. "Those guys were a joke. If that's really the Alvarez' best, then this will be nothing more than a waste of time."

Dereece put his hands to his hips. "Oh okay, Mister Superior. You sit back and enjoy the easy life just so we newbies can handle the hard stuff then." He mockingly retorted.

Duncan nonchalantly turned away, shrugging at the statement. "Do what you want. I'm gonna go down below and catch some shut eye." He walked away from his teammates, leaving Dereece and Joey both by themselves again.

Dereece sulked with a sigh. "Even after a hard-enough job dealing with this, he still gets under your skin."

Joey waved dismissively. "Eh who needs that sourpuss? Besides, I'm sure by tomorrow morning, everyone will feel a little better."

Dereece chuckled. "Yeah, probably…!" He stammered as he saw Joey's attire. He looked back at Joey, looking as casual as ever. "…really? You still wearing that?"

Still consisting of the Hawaiian grass skirt he used as a disguise on Caracole Island, Joey sought to it being something more of his style, much to his associate's chagrin. "What? Believe it or not, it's actually ticklish. And you can forget about borrowing it, pal…" he hugged it collectively. "Because I'm never taking this off!"

Dereece sighed. He chose not to argue about Joey's wardrobe habits and instead regarded his own need for rest. He too walked away. "I think I need to lie down."

Joey looked at Pidove, but the bird looked equally as confused. He dismissively shrugged. "Meh, his loss. So, dinner?"

Pidove smiled wide. "Yum!"

Orion walked out of the cabin entrance to where the engine was, Aniya in tow. Both walked up to Brandish as the mage gave them a look.

"So what's the situation?"

"The coordinates are in place." Orion answered. "Aniya had it set to auto-pilot with a steady output. We should indeed be there by daybreak."

Brandish sighed yet again. She never thought she would be so close to home again, at least not like this. She'd rather have the smoke clear than deal with these matters. But frankly reality taught her a lesson that gave her a good kick in the bikini bottom. Some situations you just can't overlook, whether a big deal or not. "Very well then. Carry on." She turned and walked away from the two, leaving them to mind their own matters at hand.

Aniya watched their contractor walk off, the girl rolling her eyes and putting hands behind her head. "Man, I can't wait until our contract is over. This has been a real pain."

"As sentimental as that is for you, I can't say looking that hopeful towards the future is critical now." Orion rebuffed. "Remember who it is that we're dealing with here."

"I know, I know. Just saying is all."

Orion looked away from his teammate to get a good look around his surroundings. What he saw wasn't all that surprising. Members of Fairy Tail, as well as Crime Sorciere, were actually talking in small groups about the battle they had, and amongst them, ever so casual, Matilda and Griffon seemed to be on the brighter side of the room sort of speak.

"Man, you guys really know how to kick butt." Natsu smirked.

Matilda chuckled at the compliment. "Aw you!" She punched Natsu's arm, which actually stung a bit from her strength. As he winced, the cheeky girl laughed.

"Well those two seem to get along well." Lucy nervously sweat-dropped.

Yukino nodded. "That's a relief. I was hoping we could all get through this, uh…" She trailed off as she noticed Lucy's Klefki giving her an expectant stare. The Steel/Fairy-type was seething leers at the white-haired mage, which started to get a little uncomfortable. "Uh, c-can I help you…?"

"Keys~…" Klefki chimed. Yukino shrunk away, urging Klefki to grow red glints like a devil as she advanced for her prize.

"No, bad Klefki!" Lucy shouted. She had to restrain Klefki before she got too far away, which made Klefki less than cordial about it.

Griffon slumped down and sat right beside Elfman, who was resting. "Man~." He groaned. "What a day."

Elfman took notice of the Peace Jaegers' assassin specialist, frowning at him like he was speculating. He looked back towards his feet, staring with heavier scrutiny. "Yeah, I guess so…"

The tired tone in his voice was a dead giveaway to Griffon. He chose to coincide again. "Hey, you still bummed about that secrecy they had?"

Elfman looked over towards him.

"Look, I get it. You didn't ask me. Nobody asked me. All I'm saying is that people like myself can relate. If you want something done right, you gotta use your own judgement. That's just what Nic did, and lord behold, it worked. Sometimes the best action is to get around the action. That's my approach that is."

Elfman still wasn't sure to make heads or tails if he could completely agree with that. He was always a man of frontal action and muscle, that was just the way he goes at it. His Machop and No Guard Ability was living proof nothing gets past him. But when he thought about it, he did recall the B-Team set up to help with retrieving Makarov back during the previous war, so in essence he didn't have anything to complain about. And, as it turned out, it made itself into a nifty escape plan that turned in their favor. With this in mind, the big guy could feel a part of him knowing it was okay without telling anyone. It sure surprised their friends when they picked them up of course.

He snickered low, catching Griffon's attention. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing." He grinned. "Just thinking is all."

Griffon opted to see to his own business. He closed his eyes and allowed a grin to plaster his own face.

As Orion watched the alliance grow a little more subtle, he heard footsteps from the side, getting him to turn and see Gray with Juvia approaching.

"Hey…" Gray took a pause as he locked eyes with Orion. The two former foes and Devil Slayers were locked in a short stare down that made it seem hard for either to guess what was on their minds. That is, until Gray spoke again. "Just wanted to say thanks, for earlier. I didn't know what came over me back there."

Orion was surprised at Gray's word of thanks. When he looked towards Juvia, she could see her bow towards him with apology. Frankly, this made Orion smile.

"It's fine. Really, no trouble." He said. "I understand. Just try and be a little more careful when mentally debating, alright?"

Gray sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I learned that the hard way."

Juvia looked on with placid expectations. She felt something tap her shoulder, getting her to turn in question to see Liz standing there with a blank expression, gum chewing as always. "Oh, it's…you…" She looked over towards Gray, seeing him still talking a bit with Orion. With the distraction, she looked back and gave Liz a more serious glare. "Just so we're clear, Gray is mine, you hear?"

Liz tapped the side of her magic headphones, indicating Juvia's words were ignored in some way. The rain woman looked more than annoyed by this, but she'd rather not show it. What she did show however, was surprise when Liz held out her other hand, which had a blue piece of gum sticking out of it.

She looked back at Liz, who had the same face, but cocked a brow. She motioned her eyes towards the gum, and Juvia looked down at the piece, staring long at it. Whether this was a piece offering or just some random gift she wanted to give boggled her for one thing, but even now, she wasn't exactly sure what to do about the situation. But after considering that now that they were allies, Liz wouldn't stoop that low…right?

Out of being nice, Juvia nervously accepted the piece. "Oh, uh, thank you…" She accepted the piece and looked down at it. She hesitated for a moment before she finally bit on the gum, commencing chewing. When it met her taste buds, she could taste a rich blueberry texture swimming along her moist tongue. Her eyes widened at how delicious it was. Her face puckered at how delicious it became. "Mmmm!"

Gray looked over his bare shoulder now, seeing Juvia's face looking like something sour but good was eaten. "Huh? Hey, you giving out gum again?"

Liz bluntly held out another piece of gum towards Gray. "Cool Mint." She said.

Looking down, Gray plucked out a piece. He held it up with curiosity and inspected it out of wonder. He remembered the last time he had gum, and it ended up with him loopy. But everyone deserves a second chance, that's what he's learned. He also chewed on the piece, and as Liz said, it had a sharp but cooling chill that ran along his tongue.

"Not bad." He muffled.

Liz held up a peace sign. "Word."

From afar, Matilda gave an uproarious laugh. "See that?" she winked at the group comprised of Natsu, Vanessa, Sophie, and Sorano. "Told ya she can be nice."

Sorano puffed her cheeks. "Well I want one, too!"

Matilda gave a cheeky smile as she whistled off towards the other side of the boat, getting Liz's attention. "Hey Liz, got some customers over here!"

Sorano waved her over. "Lemon-Lime, please~!"

Though everyone looked situated, Aniya was still looking less than amused. She snorted at their actions. "Hmph." Her attention went towards Nic, who was up ahead and looking out at the setting sun ahead of them. She looked at the back of his head with a mournful look.

She thought back to her conversation with Orion, and how she can't fight these accursed snake lovers. She didn't like it at all, but for the sake of the mission, she was willing to uphold her grudge, but that didn't mean she had to like it.

Nic sat cross-legged on the flat top of a barrel, looking out at the sun setting in the distance. He watched as it radiated to a low level to where it proposed one of Nic's few favorite times of the day: Dusk. Black in the air above, transcending to blue, to yellow, and orange in the skies descending down towards the sea. It was a conjoined array, and ensemble of many colors depending on emotion.

From behind, a pair of footsteps was heard. It was clear from the way that they sounded that they were heavy, and he didn't have to turn around to know who it was. He kept his serious face as Erza approached his side.

"We've had a long day, haven't we?" she started.

"Sounds like an understatement coming from you." Nic responded in a light tone.

Erza chuckled in response. "Yes. You could say that." She looked towards Nic, a smile creeping up her face. "You always seem to know your way around, do you?"

Nic lowered his head and smirked. "Come on, don't start being a kiss up now. It's not like you."

"My apologies. I thought you'd feel flattered." She teased.

Nic chuckled. "You sound like you didn't know me before."

"Well I most certainly didn't think you'd surprise me the way you did."

Nic's smirk widened. "I thought you'd catch on." He looked ahead towards the dusk rays setting, the darkness creeping to show darker clouds drifting in like a sea. "Just aim to please I guess."

The redhead looked ahead as well, a smile creeping up from the corner of her lip. When she thought back to earlier about her fantasies of Nic and Lisanna, she could've laughed out loud at her own silly thoughts. "It's hard to imagined that I was worried over that." She mused.

Nic looked towards her. "About what?"

She shook her head. "It's nothing."

Nic wasn't sure exactly by the smile she had going on. She looked like she was going for a good chuckle over something hilarious. He chose to disclose it and found Erza's hand holding his wrist. "Woah, hey. Erza." He was yanked off the barrel and skipped across the ground, Erza dragging him like a lead weight.

"Come on. What do you say we go find a better spot to look out at?"

Though he was confused, Nic's curiosity eroded into a smirk as he followed his wife's lead.


While the married couple went to find a better place to stare up at the space on the flying cruising ship, others below deck were coping with turning in for the night. They needed their rest, and while many like Crime Sorciere and a majority of the Peace Jaegers were dozing off, someone had to watch the Dragon Slayers as they quivered in one of the enclosed cabins in the hall.

"Typical." Gray stood half-naked as expected. Lucy, the Exceeds, Kinana, Meredy, and Lyon were present as they thought it would do good to tag along to check up on them. Of course, that was supposed to be the case. Lyon hitched on because Meredy wanted to check on Erik. He just followed.

"Well this is a problem. They'll be puking their guts up all night." Lector said.

"Fro thinks so, too." Frosch cheered.

Pantherlily crossed his arms. "Well I doubt them having bunk beds would change anything. If anything, it makes things even worse." He looked over towards Gajeel, who was twitching on the sheets on a bunk atop of Wendy, who was down below. If he spewed, it wouldn't do well for anyone.

"Oh man." Meredy sighed. "Well I guess we should try and put them to sleep somehow."

"An excellent idea, dear Meredy." Lyon chimed in a swooning fashion. "Why I think that plan is quite lovely. Someone like you could think this up so well."

Gray looked from the distance, sulking for his sibling student. 'Is he serious that much into her now?' He shook his head to dismiss anything distraction wise and tried to formulate. "Well, guess we could find someone with a Pokémon that can put them to sleep or something."

"That's great, but where are we going to find one?" Kinana asked, sitting on the lower bunk where she pat Erik's back in comfort.

Lucy's eyes widened in realization. "Hey, wait. Wendy's Swablu knows Sing. Maybe that can help."

Gray shrugged. "Works for me. That cool, Carla?"

The Exceed in her white cat for gave a look. "Just don't do anything you would regret."

"Yeah, got it. Now where's all their Poke Ba-!" Gray was cut off when an energy expelled from his Poke Ball in his pocket. He and everyone looked down to see Snover pop out into the open arbitrarily.

"Huh?" Happy inquired.

"Snover?" Klefki questioned. She hung by Lucy's side, finally quelled by the many Heartfilia girl's warnings of being stripped of her keys if she touched any of Yukino's keys.

"What's up, bud?" Gray's inquiry was unanswered when Snover bluntly waddled up in front of the group. He stood before the Dragon Slayers as they were all sickly groaning like sailors keelhauled.

The Snover looked unsure for a moment, but then he seemed brought his leafy hands up. "Uh, okay. L-let's try this…" Slowly, his hands began to glow bright green and he put where a mouth to be towards it. He blew into it, making an eerie but quite sensitive pitch that could be heard down the hall.

The odd pitch was leaving a sting in Lucy's ears, forcing her to cover up. "Yeesh, what is this sound?"

"Beats me, but look!" Happy pointed ahead, referring to the Dragon Slayers.

Lucy and everyone else watched them all stopped their groaning as their draconic hearing caught wind of the entrancing tune. They all saw their dull circular eyes slowly fall shut, and their twitching bodies started to sink into a nice tranquil slumber. To everyone, it was a dream come true.

"Are they all…?" Kinana trailed off.

"I think so." Meredy answered. "They're asleep."

The strange melody Snover emitted finally came to a stop. He let his arms down and looked back at the surprised group. Seeing their faces made him sheepishly scratch his snowy hat top.

Gray blinked. "Snover…what did you do?"

"I, uh…"

"That was Grass Whistle." A voice said behind the group. The whole group present turned around towards the cabin entrance to see a certain trainer present.

"Kevin?" Lucy inquired.

"Sorry, I was trying to find a toilet around here when I heard. That was Grass Whistle, and it's a Grass-type attack that makes an opponent go to sleep."

"So just like Sing then?" Lucy inquired.

"Pretty much."

"Wow, that's so cool! Gray's Snover just used a new move right in front of us!" Lector awed.

"That's so awesome!" Frosch cheered high-fiving the fellow Exceed.

"Wonder what he forgot to make room for that one?" Happy wondered. He remembered that Pokémon can only know 4 moves, and he knew for a fact that Gray's Snover had 4 moves already.

Lyon chuckled amusingly at the sight. "Well now, seems things have gotten rather convenient for us, haven't they?"

"Yeah, you can say that again." Meredy chimed.

Kinana breathed in and out with relief. "Well I'm just glad Erik will be able to sleep this night." She looked over, seeing the mentioned Dragon Slayer out like a light. And by no means was he getting up anytime soon.

"Well then, consider that two of us." Carla voiced, glad Wendy wasn't going to lost anymore of her stomach…this time.

Gray looked down towards Snover, putting his hand on his icy head. "Hey. Nice work." He praised. "We're gonna need that, and you this time around."

Snover was a little surprised with Gray's regards. He wasn't used much the past few times due to his ability being a hindrance, but hearing Gray saying he was needed brought his hopes of service to his capable Trainer made him feel pumped up. "Right!"

Meanwhile, in the lower levels of the cabins, Orion had a room all to himself, blacker than shadows themselves. It was here that he heard the hopes rise from above when he heard the air ducts echo those words. The man sought to a pleasant slumber as his darkness was his blanket.


In the halls of the Alvarez Empire's corridors containing their most elite warriors, Emperor Neinhart sat on his throne, staring out at the night sky as the near full moon radiated his purple hair. His eyes were covered by a bleak shadow as he looked to ponder.

Behind him, Invel stepped forward and knelt before the emperor's back. "Emperor, I have some with news. It would seem that Caracole Island has been breached by the intruders, just as Hoshina predicted."

Neinhart gave no reply. He stared out ahead into the calm night. Invel opted to open and ask what was wrong, but he saw Neinhart slowly lift his head to gaze up at the moon.

"Did you hear that, Lady Irene?" he equivocally asked to the heavens above. "Lady Erza's acquaintances are quite the tough crowd. Why, that tramp of a person they call Brandish really did have to be the spoiler to my fun. Hadn't she…?"

Invel saw that he was talking to himself. He didn't feel Irene's magical presence anywhere, even with Neinhart's power. Of course he can't say that he was delusional, at least not yet. He sleeps sometimes, and he eats, but he is so spacey that he never listens to him. Even now, he doubts that speaking to him would do good. Nevertheless, he tried once more. "Emperor Neinhart."

"Heh?" He turned his head to look back, showing a disgruntled expression. "What do you want?" he sniped. "Can't you see I was busy?"

"Apologies, but I would like to inform you that the airship that was stolen from Caracole's port has been pinpointed. It's within Alakitasian space."

Neinhart groaned in annoyance. "So?"

"…so, what is it that you propose? You have directives?"

Neinhart waved his arm dismissively at Invel. "Tch, I don't care. Do as you see fit. Just make sure that ship goes down." He ordered.

"Sir." Invel bowed before turning to leave. Before he got too far, Neinhart chose to give one more order.

"Oh, and one more thing…" he paused. "If you can…find Brandish, Nic Pularis, and Lady Erza…and bring them personally to me. I want an audience to see what a show is like."

"As you wish." Invel dutifully exited, leaving the doors to shut and echo.

The spacious emperor was left to stare up at moonlit sky, a sadistic grin growing on his face. It has been hours since the announcement of war, and the time of reckoning for Fairy Tail and Ishgar was upon the next 24 hours. Tomorrow night would be the full moon, and that was the time they would be ready. But for now, with this bit of information, he couldn't be anymore enthused with how the situation has turned out. A weak, maniacal chuckle made his shoulders shrug. "Did you hear all of that Lady Irene? Whatever those putrid Ishgarians did to us before, they would have wished we wiped them out long before any of this happened. I promise you, I will make your last wish come true." His evil smirk grew even more fierce as his Magic Power made a grim, black silhouette of a sultry woman float behind him, her brown eyes glistening like orbs as she narrowed them down at Neinhart. He looked over his shoulder and smirked up at her. Both looked at the moonlight once more as the hour was coming. "What a nice opening to this grand of a show we will put on for the world."


"Gahahaha!" Ajeel laughed enthusiastically as he walked down the hall with stomps like an upbeat soldier. "I called it! I knew that creepy troll would goof up! Now I get permission to take the new fleet for a spin?! Invel sometimes you make the best calls!" he laughed happily as he went down the hall.

As he walked down the hall, he made it to an intersection where Yajeel was slowly stepping up. The old man came to a stop when he saw his grandson walking by.

"Yo, Gramps!" he exclaimed as he walked by. "Guess what?"

"Hm?"

Ajeel pointed a thumb to himself with a wide grin. "Guess who's gonna go kick some ass on those Fiorians?"

Yajeel didn't need to ask. He already knew the answer was as clear as day itself. He just lowered his head a gave a grievous sigh.

"Well, I don't know about you, but reducing those guys to sand sounds more amusing than anything else right now!" He started walking away to get ready for his chance to shine.

"Ajeel."

Hearing his name, Ajeel turned to look at Yajeel. "Yeah? What do you want, old man?"

"Please…don't go too far down this path." He warned. "It's never too late to turn back."

Ajeel raised a brow and turned fully towards his grandfather. "Man Gramps, you must be deaf or something, because even after I told ya, I still don't know what you're yapping on about. Sheesh!"

Yajeel sighed in a deep grief. "I would've thought so."

"What?"

He looked up with a plea towards Yajeel. "You know who we are dealing with here. It isn't just the very Ishgarians who spared your life. Don't think so highly of yourself because of your accomplishments or your failures. Neither matters when it's your life that you alone hang upon this pedestal."

Ajeel's patience was wearing thin. He angrily looked at his grandfather and sneered. "Gramps, for God's sake, just spit it out already!"

Ajeel lifted his head. "Fine…I want you to stop fighting."

Ajeel's eyes widened at the request he was given.

"Our kingdom is in shambles because of not our loss, but because of the choices that have been disregarded. We of the Spriggan 12 have faltered greatly because we chose the wrong path and have not learned from the mistakes that have been made by us. Now Ajeel…exactly what do you hope to gain from this fight, when it's nothing more than pointless meaning?!"

The words rung through his ears like rivers through a canyon. Ajeel's brow furrowed as he angrily looked at him with a scowl. "Pointless?! POINTLESS?!" he snapped. "Those guys have been scratching too deep into our backs, and you're saying we should just let them waltz in and show us up?!"

"I'm saying!" Yajeel snapped. "That we should consider evaluating ourselves than our enemy. So tell me, grandson…" his eyes narrowed. "Have you thought of who the enemy is?"

It was true that Ajeel did in fact ponder about Yajeel's words from time to time, but only once per day, and those were almost immediately dismissed. Ajeel raised a brow and tried to come up with an answer, but he didn't exactly find anything to counter.

"I take it from the look on your face that you haven't. That is your judgement and yours alone, but please, consider more to life than just the blood that you dry up. Consider it more than just that." Yajeel shakily turned and went in the opposite direction. His stave tapped the ground constantly as he got even farther away from his own grandson. Not that he was close to him to begin with.

"Gramps…"

Before he got too far, Yajeel stopped in his tracks and had his back facing him. "Ajeel…someday if you really consider the voices of those around you, you might hear things that may impact what you want to do. Your father heard voices that I'm sure he would've regret if he were you right now. Mistakes are foundations that reconstructs one's purpose. Don't forget that."

Ajeel gasped at the mentioning of his late father. "Wait, did you just say…! Old man, wait-!" He reached out to Yajeel, but he stopped himself when the old man was walking away with regret in his eyes. The Desert King watched with shock as his grandfather took his leave to a location where he may as well rethink his own matters, and Ajeel could only think about fighting, his prime weakness.

As he stood there, processing his warning, Yajeel's words rung through his mind again. "Sometimes the real enemy is the one you have to find in yourself." His head lowered as he actually began to think to himself. "…the real enemy, huh…?" He looked back the direction where he was supposed to go, where his new fleet was ready to be test fired. He took one more glance over his shoulder before he dismissively walked down that path.

'Whatever he's saying, it's starting to bug me.' As he walked, a malicious smirk crawled on his face. 'Maybe a good war will be just what the doctor ordered. After all, there are plenty of enemies there.'


The flying ship through the night sky was quiet as could be. It sailed over clouds on end with what looked like no end in sight. It was impossible to make out the limitless vapor's horizon eve. The only indication was the ship's head having a compass directed north, right next to the steering wheel where Aniya had set to fixed Alvarez.

With it still being night, most if not all of everyone were sound asleep in the few rooms available. With the massive space, it was easy to space out of needed. Crammed in one of the few rooms was Sawyer, along with Richard, Gray, Happy, Griffon, Dereece, Duncan, and Broly.

It was all quiet, until a small bang was heard. Broly was jerked awake by this small sound. Slowly getting up, he looked at his surroundings, catching note of how everyone was sound asleep still. What he also noticed, was something more crucial. An empty bunk.

Another thud was heard above, getting Broly to look up. He maneuvered out of the room and moved towards the sound, which was the boarding above. It was faint all the way, but he traced it towards the stern, where he made it to the opening. There, he saw through a circular window outside in the night. What he saw caught his interests.

"Okay Chespin, one more time! Use Rollout!"

"Okay then!" Chespin grew tired of asking why his Trainer wanted to try this, but it felt like it didn't matter at this point. He just curled into a ball and went rolling across the deck towards Joey, who held his ground and put his arms up. He braced as Chespin's Rock-type attack made contact with his elbows. The impact made Joey grunt hard, but he did what he could to hold on despite the complications.

Chespin's attack refused to give in as he rolled further, getting Joey to slide across the deck several meters back, until at last he lost his momentum. Joey fell onto his back, but rolled back onto his knees as Chespin landed several feet away.

"Uh…are you okay?!" Chespin called.

Joey – still wearing his hula skirt for his own reasons – got up to a knee and smirked. "Don't worry." He stood up again. "Man Chespin, your Rollout is getting tougher. It's gonna be hard for those Bug and Flying-types to keep you down now."

Chespin smiled happily at his Trainer's praise. "Yeah!"

"I know I probably got a way to go…but I know I'll get my magic somehow." Joey's face showed an intense seriousness. Through the howling of the ship cruising through the air, its audible roaring was low due to the ship's engine. "I won't let Nic-senpai down, and I got you and Pidove to count on and support, too." His fists started to ball from his growing frustration. "It's just like Broly said, maybe it's those late boomers who shine out more, that's why this way, I'll get the incentive to defend myself. Now let's get back to it! Switch to Vine Whip!"

"Right!"

As they trained on the far side of the ship, Broly watched from the window, a knowing smile crossing his face. Seeing that determination was a nice way to wake up.

Finally choosing to get up and go, the door opened to let him out. As Chespin readied his next lash of his attack, he stopped to look behind Joey, who turned to see Broly walk up as well.

"Huh? Broly?" Joey stammered. "What's up man?"

Broly stopped several feet away from the two and smiled. "You know, if you really wanna get a workout in…" he pointed a thumb to his face. "The you can sure as hell bet I'm willing to pitch in."

Joey looked surprised by this change of pace. "Wait, you'd really do that?"

"Of course. We are allies, aren't we? Now how's about instead of all talk, let's get some action in, alright?" He pulled his fist back and embedded a turquoise barrier out of it. "Her I come!" He lunged swiftly at Joey with no restriction, surprising him.

"Huh?! Hey, wait-!"

"There's no waiting!" Broly snapped. "Remember what I said about a battle in life or death! Gotta keep your guard up at all times, and save your breath for your actions!"

Joey covered up, with Chespin bracing as well as Broly roared as he closed the gap.


On the other end of the ship, the front, there was someone wearing his mainly black attire that shrouded him within the dissipating night sky. It almost made him invisible, making him capable of readying a strike anytime or anywhere. This was Nic, and as one expects, he was up before the sun was.

He stared out longingly at the dark haze in the distance, withholding any negative emotions he might have for what's to come. In fact, the look he had was expectant. He wasn't expecting the battle to come. No, far from it. He was expectant of the effort each side will put into it.

He knew from experience that Alvarez wasn't going down without a fight. They had their dignity to uphold, something that Nic wasn't so concerned about. He wasn't a man of honor, nor of deep pride. He just fought for whatever he believed in. Mainly, for others, and to survive in a decrepit world's monarchy. It's what he knows, or rather, what he can believe in. There are better things to fight for other than one's self. That's the folly he sees in the empire, and as a Pokémon Trainer, he was going to make sure they realize it, no matter how many times it takes.

"I thought you would be up." A voice said from behind.

Nic looked over his shoulder to see Erza walk up right beside him. "Erza. You're up, too?" He looked back ahead towards the daylight to come. He saw a little blue in the distance.

"It wasn't my intention. Lucy's Klefki was making a scene with Yukino's keys while she was sleeping."

"And all that jingling rattled you. I see."

Erza pinched the bridge of her nose as her temper was fuming. "I swear, Lucy's got to get ahold of that Klefki's adhesive habits. Just thinking about it makes me wanna…"

Nic snickered. "Well it can't be helped. That's the way most Klefki are, at least from what we've seen, right?"

Erza let go of her fuming over the rude wakeup call and took a lighter note to Nic's testimony. "I suppose you're right. It's all well until slumber is an issue."

"I guess that's one line we can draw there." Both Nic and Erza shared a small chuckle, finding their little musing of insomnia humorous to hindsight. Once the matter was finished talking about, Erza sought to change the subject.

"So why are you up so early?"

Nic's relaxed disposition deepened. "Nothing, just thinking is all."

Erza stepped forward. "About…?"

"About our enemy…how they must feel."

Erza feel silent at Nic's testimony. She held no argument as he resumed.

"If we were in their position, then maybe we would be able to understand what they're going through. We've lost people most dear to us, but they lost precious people too. When you stop and think about that, we're s just as much to blame for the cause of this as they are." His frown deepened as his brows furrowed. "It makes you stop and ask yourself so many questions. But as many of those questions as you ask, there's only one that is important in battle…just who is the real enemy in this crisis?"

Erza stopped whatever she was thinking and thought of Nic's own words. In a way, what he says is the truth, at least to what she can comprehend. They lost Mavis and Makarov, and to an extent, Erza lost her own mother. But Alvarez lost their hopes, their retribution, their ranks…really what they had to fight for was whatever they had left.

"In our eyes, it's Alvarez who is the enemy. They attacked us first, and they want to do it again without second thoughts. But to Alvarez, the enemy at fault could be us. They lost, but so did we. In war, I really didn't think anyone won. It's just how it was interpreted. To Alvarez, they didn't see it the way I, or rather we, did. Which makes me wonder if the real enemy is the one inside yourself."

"Nic…"

Nic looked over his shoulder and gave Erza a confident and reassured look. "We didn't conquer our internal enemies. We made amends and peace, and now we've moved forward together." He grinned. "If one made amends and forgave themselves first, then maybe they can forgive their opponent on the real battlefield. We can only hope that if not us, someone on their side will set this straight for them. For all of us."

The look on Erza's face had eyes glazing on Nic completely. Her eyes softened on him as he looked back forward with hopes, if not resolution. One way or another, the enemy was going to realize its mistakes. And that alone was enough for her to put everything she had into him. She leaned over, kissing Nic on the cheek as he sheepishly accepted it.

"Yes. We'll fix this for them, if they cannot themselves." Erza affirmed.

She and Nic both looked forward, seeing daybreak within the wake. The small rays of light illuminated the atmosphere and the clouds, giving them a brighter shade for them to see through. With partial views of the incoming daylight, the ship could be seen reaching the edge of the sea of clouds, allowing a gaping view of the land below.

Far below, they could see nothing but water. It looked like a huge basin because of its edging, and yet around its edging, it looked like forest lining. Beyond that, they could see a stretch of wasteland before moving to something faded behind clouds in the distance. As small as it was by distance, they knew it was grand.

"There it is." Erza said.

"Yeah…"

Both knew their target lied ahead. Alvarez. It was within sight now, a sight most grand for an enemy indeed. When they looked down again, they could tell that it was the forest that Nic and Ajeel fought, and much to Nic's surprise, there was a massive change to it regarding the huge basin it held.

"That's strange." He muttered.

"What is it?" Erza asked.

"When Ajeel and I fought, that basin wasn't there before. Did the water from our battle soak into one spot…?" He was drawn out of his aspiration when he heard a whistling from ahead. It grew, getting him to look forward to see something flying their way. Nic readjusted with Erza and both prepared as the strange projectile drew closer.

Erza and Nic both narrowed their eyes, their vision sharpening with their artificial eyes. T=What they saw in a zoom-up, was what looked like a prolonged laser that coursed through the clouds like a torpedo at them directly.

When they processed that, Nic took action. 'An attack?!' He reached out, using Protect to make a large shield in front. He grunted as he held his ground upon impact. The deck's front was enveloped in a magnitude that shuddered the whole ship, a smoke cloud billowing. Inside the ship, everything rocked, waking everyone up and startling Happy.

"Huh?!"

Lucy looked up, heard a boom above. "What the heck?"

"Did we land or hit something?" Meredy worried.

Kagura held up high suspicions as she turned her head towards the bow's direction. Something in her gut told her to get ready for something, and that's what she did.

Joey and Broly stopped their training when they heard the blast wave from the far end. They turned and looked at the daybreak light with shock. "What the heck?!" Joey shrieked. "What was that?!"

Broly's eyes narrowed, his suspicions also rising. 'Looks like trouble already.'

Moments later, the smoke on the ship's bow dissipated, revealing a chipped pointed end of the bow, where nothing else was damaged or broken. Nic's shield went down, revealing him and Erza unharmed.

"Damnit…" Nic grunted.

Behind him, everyone was exiting the cabin entrances and catching up. Joey and Broly also followed along the side to catch up with everyone except the Dragon Slayers and Kinana, who volunteered to watch over them. Once they were all caught up, they looked out with surprise at the view.

"Hey, we heard a big bang! Something wrong up here?!" Gray exclaimed. He reached ahead, where he gasped in shock. Juvia stopped as well.

Lucy, Happy, everyone, all came around to show their surprise with what they were seeing. Nic and Erza were glaring at the new dawn, as though itself was a nemesis. Normally sunrises meant good and new beginnings, as well as settings of woe, but frankly, the woe chose to stay around a little longer.

All showed shock as they continued to sail through the clouds, but where they were sailing to were figments that were bleak but comprehensible.

Orion's eyes narrowed. "Looks like they came for us as well."

Heading in their direction, all eyes laid on the 50 ships that were flying through the skies. They were of the same design as they were back in Magnolia, with armored gliders, but all of their sizes were to make up for their speed. In measurements, each battleship was maybe a third of the massive ship the alliance took. In the center in front, there was one larger than the rest, which made it half as big as the ship. And on that ship carried someone who was working his way into the fray.

Staring ahead, Nic's eyes narrowed. He could see who it was coming their way, and he wasn't pleased either. "You…"

On the large ship, there was none other than Ajeel, who had a big smile on his face as he looked at the incoming group.

"Hello, Fairy Tail." He sneered maniacally with sharpened eyes. "Did ya miss me?"


Well, here it is, and may I say that I think I did a good enough job with this one. I managed to keep it under 20K for once. And, believe it or not, I actually started to cut back just like I said. So yeah, maybe there will be more chapters than necessary in this story here on out, but to make it more tolerable, I think it'll be worth it. Besides, this is a long arc.

So what I'm gonna try now is keep my chapters around a range of 11K-17K. That should be enough for you guys to tolerate, right? It'll fit just enough to make it bearable. I hope I was able to make each scene segmented short enough for you guys rather than prolong them. So, in light of this, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and thanks for reading!