Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material appearing in this story. The OC's belong to their respective owners.

While The Heroes Are at Paradise Island

BGM: Battle! Wild Pokemon (Pokemon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl)

Lightning shot out from the trees, scaring a bunch of Starly, Hoothoot, Bibarel and Kricketune away from the forest as lightning struck several trees, nearly striking a few Spinarak.

Mercury leaned on a tree, chuckling. "All of this because he was attracted to your semblance?"

Laxus rolled his shoulders. "He's definitely no slouch." He said with a smirk. "I have to say, you're quite strong. Those muscles are no joke!"

"Vire… VIRE!" An Electivire cried out as the two of them lunged at each other, the Pokemon unleashing Thunder Punch while Laxus unleashed a punch of his own, both of them hitting their cheeks as Laxus responding by kneeing him in the gut and then threw an uppercut at him, where Electivire responded by doing a Low Kick, knocking him to the ground.

Laxus caught himself with his hands and sprang back up as the duo lunged again and clobbered each other in a full on slugfest until Laxus broke out with an uppercut as Electivire got in a stance and charged at him with Giga Impact, with Laxus enveloping himself with electricity and lunged at the Electivire, both of them slamming into each other as lightning shot out all around until both of them backed up… until Electivire fell on both knees and collapsed.

End BGM

"You done showing off yet?" Mercury chuckled.

Laxus chuckled. "Hell of a workout." He said as he turned to Mercury, where he reached into his bag and tossed a Super Mushroom to him where he took it and put it down in front of the Electivire. "Here, you'll feel better." He said and then walked off with Mercury in tow.

"So, you seem to be adjusting well after sleeping for centuries."

Laxus chuckled. "Yeah. It's a new crazy world out there… hell, the fact that Remnant fused with the Mushroom Kingdom over some Subspace whatever incident… I'm still trying to wrap my head around that. And yet, it opened up possibilities to explore new worlds."

"How many worlds have you gone to?"

"I've been to a few. Hyrule, Midgar, Popstar, Gensokyo, Spiral Mountain, Hoshido, Animal Village, Corneria, Johto… and all of this was before I met you. Hell, Nora accompanied me just so I wouldn't feel lonely. Her words, not mine."

"What I'm trying to wrap my head around is the fact that you're lightning girl's ancestor."

"Believe me, it was quite the surprise talking to my descendant, and yet, we both hit it off pretty well." He chuckled.

"I can imagine." Mercury chuckled as they walked through the forest until they spotted a cottage nearby, where Mercury spotted a man on the porch, reading a book to himself. "...Holy shit."

"You know him?"

"Yeah, I used to work with him back when Cinder worked with Salem. He disappeared off of the face of Remnant. I thought something happened to him."

"Well, apparently not… considering he's living by himself pretty well."

"Let's go say hi." Mercury walked over to the cottage where Laxus walked after him.

"Hmm…" The man softly sighed as he read the book in peace.

"Hey stranger."

"Hmm?" He looked up from his book. "...Mercury?"

"Hey Hazel."

"...You're not here to kill me, are you?"

"Please. We all know you'd overpower me anyway. Seriously, I've never beaten you in arm wrestling." Mercury shook his head.

Hazel let out a chuckle. "That's true… how's Emerald and Cinder doing? Last I heard of the latter, she got ousted by that Eggman fellow."

"Both of them are doing alright. Emerald is sitting cozy with the Winter Ops in Atlas. Cinder is pretty much the head chef in the Koopa Troop, surprisingly. Although, I can imagine she won Bowser over with her cooking in an instant." He snarked. "She's also a lot less… shall we say… bitchy."

"Good to hear, I suppose. And you?"

"Well, after I ran off, I winded up in the wrong crowd trying to find Emerald." He them held his arm out. "Give my arm a punch, come on."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Put 'er there." Mercury smiled as Hazel shrugged and gave a soft punch.

Clang!

"...What?"

"That crowd I was with? They decided to toughen me up. At first it was just armor, but it kept falling apart. So they decided to do something else. I fight one of them, and each and every time I lose, a body part is replaced with machinery. That includes bones and organs. Another "friend" decided to rig the fight until I was nothing but machine, so I lost all the time. Luckily it stopped, but now i'm 95% machine with 5% of me is still organic, that being my face."

"...So you have a metal heart?"

"Metal bones, liver, lungs, kidneys, intestines… pick an organ and I'll tell you if it's cybernetic. Spoliler alert: It's everything… and all done without anesthesia so watching my organs and bones getting taken out? I don't wish that on my worst enemy."

"That's… disturbing."

"Yeah, I wanted to die because of it. But Cinder and Em had a little pep talk with me, so now I feel better already. Now I'm traveling with this guy since working with the Winter Ops wasn't my strongest suit." Amongst other reasons…

Hazel looked up at Laxus. "And who might you be?"

"Laxus Dreyar. I'm a member of Fairy Tail… or more like, what's left of it at this rate."

"Fairy Tail? But that's impossible. Salem had said that all the guilds were now extinct ever since Tyrian dismantled Night Raid five years ago."

"The guild may be gone…" Laxus lifted his shirt off to reveal his Fairy Tail tattoo on his left abdomen. "But I'm not."

Hazel's eyes widened. "You were the man that was trapped within that crystal, right? Salem told me when I asked her more about the age of the guilds."

"Indeed. The Dragon King Festival was when it happened. I was trapped within that crystal right after Natsu beat the hell out of Acnologia. A few months ago, I got out of that prison thanks to my descendant. Now I'm getting used to the new world before me."

"Must have been rough. It probably still is being the only man left alive."

"It's not so bad. A friend of mine from my era decided to pay a visit so I'm not entirely by myself. There's also my grandpa, Makarov… or as he's known now, Ozpin."

"Ozpin…"

"You alright?"

"I… have my grievances with him. We may have talked it out, but I haven't forgiven him."

"Yeah, I know how that feels…" Laxus mumbled. "But, perhaps you can join us."

"Hmm?"

"Join the Thunder Legion. It might actually do you some good since you're just by yourself away from that crazy-"

"I'll pass." Hazel said as he stood up. "I'm already a lost man… I'm not sure what to do with myself anymore. I've no purpose in life. If you'll excuse me, gentleman…" He walked back into his cottage.

"He truly doesn't know himself, doesn't he?" Mercury wondered.

"Let me talk to him." Laxus walked after him, opening the door right before it closed. He would see Hazel move to his chair, his elbow resting on the arm of the chair with his fist on his cheek.

"...You're still here?"

Laxus walked over to him, sitting down across from him while Mercury walked in, leaning against a wall. "Tell me more about your grievances with my grandfather."

"My youngest sister, Gretchen… she wanted to be a huntress so she applied for Beacon against my wishes. I had nothing against Beacon, but I felt Haven would have been better for her. She insisted and Ozpin was left in her care. She went on a mission… but she never came back. She died on that mission. When I heard the news, I was devastated… and in that grief, I blamed Ozpin. Salem took advantage of this and manipulated my emotions."

"Mmm… that'll do it."

"It's been a few months since I encountered him. He managed to talk some sense into me by saying what I'm doing wouldn't bring her back. I finally relented."

"How did you encounter him?"

"Some jester that I didn't bother to memorize his name. Pleaser of crowds or something."

Mercury growled upon hearing the name. "Dimentio…"

"After that, I didn't know what to do with myself. I didn't kill him, but I didn't forgive him either." Hazel sighed. "After that, I've wandered for a very long time… until I settled down in these woods. Built myself a cottage and been here ever since. There was an incident where I had almost perished from this toxic radioactive blue gunk, but here I am."

"The Phazon?" Mercury spoke up. "It's a miracle how anyone survived that…"

"I'm a survivor…" He looked up at Laxus. "You mentioned that you knew how that felt. You had issues with your grandfather?"

Laxus chuckled. "Boy, did I have a lot of issues back then. Back in my era, I always believed Fairy Tail was the strongest guild there was, and I held true to that. However, that bias got to my head and it… shall we say, made me lose focus. When Phantom Lord attacked Fairy Tail and destroyed it, I was livid."

BGM: Scent of Silence (Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories)

"When it was being rebuilt, I had believed that Fairy Tail was weak. It had become the laughing stock in all of Remnant from what I could tell. I figured by the time my old man passed and he passed the torch to me, I would bring Fairy Tail back to its glory, weeding out the weaklings and bringing forth stronger members so no one would dare mock Fairy Tail ever again."

"That's some dangerous thinking." Hazel said. "That could lead to personal bias and hostility."

"Yes. Even the likes of Erza and Mystogan called him out on it." He shook his head. "Speaking of Mystogan, I'm surprised no one arrested him because he was Jellal's identical twin brother… all because Jellal did that Tower of Heaven nonsense… but I'm getting sidetracked. There was a festival that Fiore was doing and Fairy Tail was already planning on a parade for all the town to see… let's just say I crashed the party and took over."

"I can imagine it didn't go well."

"No. With Evergreen's semblance, I had the ladies petrified and them as my hostages. I told my old man things are going to be different, and I cared less about his failing health at the time. I held him hostage in the guild, including Natsu and Gajeel, and I went to make my move. I created Thunder Palace… and if activated, it not only would have killed everyone, but leveled Fiore to the ground. I almost got away with it, hadn't Natsu and Gajeel knocked some sense into me."

"So, within this bias, you would have destroyed everything in Fiore, including the guild that had been rebuilt. What would have been the point of taking over if there was no guild left?"

"I would have rebuilt it, but since I'm no carpenter, I didn't think that through…" He admitted. "Within the toxic bias that I had, I was no longer thinking straight. Thunder Palace was thankfully destroyed… and my old man?"

"You are hereby expelled from Fairy Tail!"

"I lived the life of exile for a while, I took all the blame so the Thunder Legion would have still been welcome in the guild. My old man talked some sense into me before he exiled me from Fairy Tail… ever since then, I've had an attitude change."

"You seem far more approachable than you once were."

"Yes… so I can understand why you have grievances with my old man. Sometimes he can be frustrating and… honestly, there are times where I still wanna smack him for still plunging the world into a never ending feud against his wife. Honestly, I even chewed him out that he could've picked a different woman. Sometimes, I still do… Mavis joins in on occasion, but… I've been on better terms with my grandfather. As Makarov, as Ozpin… as… someone else if Ozpin bites it. He'll still be my old man."

End BGM

He put a comforting hand on Hazel's shoulder. "With time, you'll be able to move past these issues with Ozpin. If I can do it, then I'm pretty sure you can."

"Hmm…" Hazel folded his arms, closing his eyes. "Hmph." He smirked. "You're not wrong."

"It'll take time, but if an adamant knucklehead like me can do it, then so can you." He said.

"...You're reforming the Thunder Legion, correct?"

"Yeah. You want to come with? It'd be okay if you don't want to."

"I'll join you." He said as he stood up. "I believe I have found a new purpose in life."

Mercury chuckled. "Welcome aboard."

Laxus smiled. "Alright. Now let's go." He said as the three of them walked out of the cottage, but as they did, they would see the same Electivire from before standing out in the front lawn. "You again, huh?"

"Electivire… Vire vi."

Laxus chuckled. "You want to come with?"

Electivire nodded.

Mercury dug in the bag, pulling out an Ultra Ball. "Here ya go." He said as Laxus pushed the button and tossed the ball toward Electivire, where he went inside the ball, and within a few shakes, the Ultra Ball clicked.

Laxus picked the Ultra Ball up, attaching it to his hip. "Alright, now let's go."

I've meant to do this one for a while but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Luckily, Log shared this Gaiden idea a few days ago and I was like "Oh right, I've been meaning to get around to this one!"

Ibuki: Ibuki wondered how Hazel was doing since chapter 65...

Holy crap, it's been 110 chapters and that many stories since we last saw Hazel? Geez...