The Rise of a Warrior: Fairy Tail

by The Legendary Dragon Reaper

Luke Drako, S-class wizard of the Fairy Tail guild, the true Lightning Dragon Slayer, student and son of the Lightning dragon Kaminari. This is his story. The story of a Dragon Slayer trying to find his place in the world, and make one hell of a strong team along the way. And with any luck, he just might win the heart of a certain brunette card mage. OC x Cana. Read and review.

28. Edolas II

I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it, and for getting this story up to 100 reviews! This story would be nothing without all of your support, so thank you all for that.

Guest: Thanks, glad to see you liked the last chapter. Yes, Noah is rapidbly becoming one of my favorite characters to write out, OC or not, and I'm trying to make a few changes to each arc so it's not totally copy and paste from canon.

Ragnas Bredvolts: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. In regards to the interactions between Luke, Natsu and Gildarts, let's face it, Gildarts is a perv. I would've shown more of that, but I didn't want it to drag out for too long. The point of that scene was to inform him of what had happened to Mira, and for Luke and Natsu to learn about the existence of Acnologia, and I didn't want it to drag out any more than it had to. You're right about Noah though, he's going to somewhat be the defacto leader of the group for the time being, and he's not a bad guy. He's just in with the wrong crowd, and he's aware of that. As for why he's with Grimoire Heart, I'll be going into his backstory during the Tenrou Island arc. And yes, doing all of the references are a lot of fun for me. Having all of the guilds do a Saturday night movie marathon, while probably shattering the fourth wall on an absolutely massive scale, would be hilarious. As for the Pokemon references, I actually initially had Bolt be called Pikachu, but I decided to scrap that at the last minute. Also, happy belated April Fool's day to you too, and yes you are my 100th review for this story, so thank you for that. I hope you have a nice day as well my friend.

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"Well, are you guys gonna give me some answers or what?" Lucy's gaze hardened further as she levelled a glare on Noah and the others "What the hell is the big idea with you guys sneaking around our guild like this?"

"...Yeah it's official, I think we're pretty much fucked. Any of you guys have any objections to that?" Noah was met with no reply "Had to make sure. But what the hell is going on here? Did passing through the Anima somehow warp their minds?'

"Noah…" then Lucy suddenly got WAY too close to him for comfort.

"Uh… you know who I am?"

"A stupid hoodie wouldn't be enough to mask who you are from me." Lucy pulled down his hood, then promptly yanked him to his feet and pulled him into a bone crushinig hug "Why the hell didn't you just say it was you under there you gigantic asshole?"

"Because I know how this feels, and I wasn't hoping to go through it again." Noah glanced back to see the looks Natsu and Wendy were giving him and he just shrugged 'Okay, so given the situation I'd say that she's used to stuff like this, and she's probably a dominatrix.

"But in all seriousness boss where the hell have you been? I was thinking the worst might have happened, I couldn't bare to lose any more comrades out there. Don't worry us like that again okay?"

'Boss huh? Uh yeah, sorry about that."

"Not yet, but you're about to be! Torture Technique #37: Groin Crush!" Lucy suddenly caught him in a chokehold with her legs, causing him to grimace in pain "Yeah that's right, I'm breaking out the good stuff for you. You don't have a hope in hell of escaping from even a single one of my 48 torture techniques!"

'Yep, she's definitely a dominatrix.'

"Oh dear Lucy, be gentle with him." Cana chided with a sweet smile on her face, something that seemed to be echoed by Lisanna "There's no need to be so hard on the poor thing, you know how he can be."

Bolt started sweating at the sight of Cana 'Okay, Cana not being half naked is one thing, but for her to claim that she's never touched alcohol in her life? Yeah it's official, this must be what hell is like. Not to mention Elfman is crying instead of preaching about the glory of being a man or some shit like that. Well for him it's more like he regressed to how he used to be before what happened to Mira than him acting totally different. But then again, Gray wearing clothes, not even mentioning the multiple layers, and being in love with Juvia, who's dressed up like a hooker and couldn't give less of a damn about Gray. At least Lisanna seems the same though. I don't know about this, maybe the Anima warped their minds somehow when they got sent to this world?"

"Hi everyone!" then things got really disturbing when Erza got their attention, waving at them from behind the bar, wearing a blue shirt with white trimmings, a matching skirt, and a pair of black heels, but what really unnerved the lot of them was the sweet smile that she had plastered across her face "I'm so glad to see you made it back safely."

'And that's supposed to be Erza. Yeah it's official, this has to be hell.'

"Hey by the way you guys." that was when Macao and Wakaba got their attention "What are you guys doing with the little girl and a few house cats? Don't tell me you guys are babysitting now or something." but then they connected the dots "Wait a minute… What in the name of hell are these cats doing here?!" and then everyone else started panicking.

"How the hell did they get inside?!"

"Those aren't any ordinary housecats, those are Exceeds!"

"No way…"

"Shouldn't we do something?"

Happy glanced between Bolt and Carla "So be real, it's the outfits isn't it?"

Lucy shot a pissed off glare down at Noah "Alright boss, you'd better have a good explaination as to what the fuck is going on here."

"I'll give you an explanation as soon as you get the fuck off my shoulders." Noah then proceeded to throw her off, leaving her to hit the ground with a thud 'This is getting weirder by the second, but I think the weirdest thing would be people freaking out whenever they mention something called Exceeds, even though none of us have any idea what the hell an Exceed is.'

"Okay you know what, screw this." Bolt removed his cloak and let out a sigh "I've already got a thick coat of fur, the last thing I need is to get heat stroke in another dimension."

"Well it is kind of peculiar." Erza knelt down in front of Bolt and gave him a gentle smile as she started scratching behind his ear, causing him to shake his leg like a dog "Now I understand why everyone is so on edge, but you don't look like anything dangerous or intimidating."

"As long as you don't take one of my brownies without asking, otherwise we're either cool or I consider you a mild annoyance- Oh wait move your hand a little bit further back."

"Okay." and so she did, causing him to literally purr.

"Oh yeah, that's the good stuff."

"You know I think Erza might be right." Lisanna gave her usual kind smile "These cute little things just look like Exceeds, I doubt any of them would even hurt a fly."

"Like most animals, we usually only attack when provoked. But keep in mind that I did say "usually", not always."

"Yeah enough with the snark, time and place for that sort of thing Thundercat, now put your hoodie back on already." Noah told him dryly as he sat down at a nearby table.

This was when Lucy levelled her gaze on Noah with a furious glare "Alright boss start talking, I want to know where you went and what the hell you were doing, and you had better hope that I like the answer."

'As much as I'd like to get back to her on that one in a time span of never, we don't have any time to waste so I might as well just tell her everything. But then again my knowledge of what's going on is scarce at best, the only ones who would know for certain would by Mystogan or the white cat, but I doubt she'd be interested in talking.'

"For fuck's sake could you be a bigger pain in the ass, spit it the fuck out already! Torture Technique 23: Elbow Grind Crush!" Lucy started grinding her elbow against his temple, much to his agony.

'Okay this hurts like a fucker, not as bad as when someone pisses off and/or failes Hades, but I won't lie, this is a close second. And if that wasn't bad enough, I had the Cowboy Bebop power couple (he means the Edolas versions of Alzack and Bisca) sitting right in front of me basically grinding on each other half naked, and I can't even look away.'

Wendy shuddered at the sight that she was watching "You know, I'm starting to get this feeling that I shouldn't be watching this."

"Yeah well you know the difference kid, you're physically capable of looking away!"

"Well it could be worse." Natsu gave a shrug "Watching them prance around their feelings for each other was a hell of a lot more painful, probably the fourth most painful thing I've ever had to deal with."

"What are the other three?"

"Third was the last time I accidentally pissed off Erza, at least I think since I blacked out about 20 seconds into it, the second would be the last time I had to deal with that, again I blacked out about 20 seconds into it. By far the first would have to be when Lisanna got mad at me during that whole ordeal when everybody in the guild was acting batshit crazy, and then she got mad at me for all of my cursing and…" Natsu went slightly pale at that.

"Let me guess, you blacked out 20 seconds into it?"

"I wish I blacked out during all of that. My life flashed before my eyes like 5 times as she tore into me."

"Ouch. Looks like you're not the only one." he jerked a thumb over.

As it turns out, Gray was trying to get somewhere with Juvia, and failing miserably "So my beloved Juvia I heard you're going out on a job soon, if you would like some company than I would love to join you."

"Oh please." Juvia let out a scoff "Why would I want any form of help from the walking coat rack? Don't make me laugh, I can handle any sort of job on my own, I don't need a partner for any reason, so find someone else to fulfill your fantasies with and quit wastin my time why don't you?"

"But… all of my fantasies are about you."

Macao and Wakaba took this opportunity to try and console him "You know sometimes the best course of action with a lady is to give it a rest, especially since you're making yourself look like even more of a lost cause than Lyon."

"I can't believe you would compare me to that overclothed pickup artist. So pretty please will you let me come my darling? I swear I'll be a good boy for you!"

"I told you to back the hell off!" Juvia promptly kicked Gray so hard he was sent flying and bouncing all over the place like a ping pong ball.

"HELP ME!"

"I could, but I'm not going to." Lucy told him dryly "Seriously, you'd think he'd learn after all this time that she's not interested."

"One would think, but in regards to this guild, learning really isn't a thing." Noah pointed out flatly.

"Tell me about it, but with them it's not so much concerning as it is annoying."

"Yeah, but what pisses me off is that with him crushing on her like that it's considered sexual harrassment, but the other way around it would be totally fine."

"Sexual harrassment be damned, I like to think of that as gender equality."

"About fucking time someone got that." Noah glanced over at Natsu and Wendy "I don't know about you two, but I like this one." he received two "WTF" sort of looks "What? I like what I like, if you don't then you can choke on it."

That was when Gray finally stopped bouncing and hit the ground next to Noah with a very loud thud "Why is the room still spinning…?"

"Okay seriously dude, are you gonna get up or are you gonna start acting as a makeshift beanbag chair or something? Because if it's the latter, then I'm tempted to try and sit on you."

"Lying on the floor is actually way more warm and cozy than you might think, so I'm just gonna stay down here for awhile okay?"

"Option 2 it is." Noah promptly sat down on him "Huh, not bad actually. I'm gonna give this maybe an 8/10."

"Oh hell no boss, don't think you're gonna get the hell away from me!" Lucy suddenly hoisted him over her shoulder and started trying to get him in another one of her 48 Torture Technique holds.

"Oh that's it, Dominatrix or not you're going down bitch!" and so the two of them started brawling in a very cartoony fashion.

"Oh you think you can fight it do you, you haven't got a chance in hell against me!"

As for Levy, well she was in the back working on some sort of large machine "Well that's just my fucking luck, of course the conducting wire had to short out."

"Time for me to rock the next job!" Nab suddenly bolted past her, irritating her even more than she already was.

"For the luck of fuck Nab, would it kill you to shut your hole already?"

"What the hell did you say Levy? You know someone has to say it, you need a major tuneup on your attitude."

"I don't have time for your lame jokes, did you forget how vital this machine is? I can't get it working with you screaming like an idiot on steroids every four seconds."

Lucy suddenly broke off from her cartoony brawl with Noah and shot him a smirk "Hey get over here boss, I wanna try out a new technique I've been working on lately."

"That goes double for you blondie, now shut your worthless trap already!"

"What the fuck did you just say to me?!"

"It's hard enough to finish this job as it is without you acting like a dominatrix in the background all the fucking time!"

"That sounds pretty funny coming from a flat chested grease monkey who can't even do one fucking thing!"

Macao and Wakaba were quick to try and do some mediating between the two of them "Hey come on now you two, we're all on the same side here. Besides everyone here really does count on Levy, especially seeing how her machine has saved her lives more times than any of us would care to mention."

"..Fine fuck it, but quit wasting time and get that thing working."

"Well what can I say?" Levy gave a shrug "It is what I do best."

"Don't fucking push it."

"That's also what I do best."

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Meanwhile, at another end of the bar…

Noah took a sip from a cup of coffee he had order from the bar, and he slowly glanced around the inside of the guild hall "Most of the members of your guild are accounted for, but I'm not seeing any sign of Thunderclap or Black Steel."

"Probably not a bad thing when you think about it." Natsu commented "How do we know he didn't get sucked in like anyone else."

"Because I was there when the light when the Anima struck, and I could still smell him afterwards, but the scent I was picking up from the two of you was stronger, so I decided to go after you first."

"But how do we know he's not the opposite of himself like everyone else? For all we know he might even be a bigger psychopath than Lucy is."

"That actually isn't too much of a stretch right now, also why the hell are you hiding underneath a table right now?"

"Becuase I don't want Lucy to suddenly turn on me like she did with you, god only know what she'd do when she's like this."

"...That might be the smartest thing I've ever heard you say."

"Thanks. Wait. HEY!"

"So speaking of Thunderclap, what do you think his opposite would be like?"

"I can see it now, he'd totally be bowing before my awesomeness and acnowledging me as the stronger between the two of us and cowering over his stupidity."

"So basically what you are to Titania."

"Yeah. HEY!"

"But in all seriousness, there is no fucking way in hell that would happen. You've got way too rich of a fantasy life."

"The same with most people in Fairy Tail." Bolt noted dryly.

"And since you seem so tame in comparison to them, what's your thought on what the opposite of Thunderclap would be?"

"I've already seen what the opposite of him is, I've lived with it for a few years. It's a laid back and easy going douchemonkey who couldn't give less of a shit, but still has a good heart."

"Huh. That one has some sound logic."

"No need for logic, it's what he was like before the accident with Mira and he left to train for a year and a half."

"Just because it was the past doesn't mean it's the same for another timeline." Happy told him, earning some WTF looks "What?"

"We're not in another timeline you dipshit, we're in another dimension. What do you think he would be like then?"

"I can see it now, he would be a valiant knight fighting to defend his faithful master for whom he holds absolute adoration, Happy the Great!"

"...And you had the nerve to make fun of us, what world are you living in?"

"I think I know what he would be like here!" Wendy had stars in her eyes as she started rattling off her fantasy "He'd be more than happy to make any delicious sweets any of us desire, I just know it!"

"And I thought the blue cat was as high as fucking elephant's eye." Noah muttered "I thought it was Titania who had the hardcore sweet tooth."

"Yeah, but you said the opposite right? How do you see him Noah?"

"Let's see, opposite of Thunderclap… I'd say a prerogative loan wolf, living by his own rules, a tragic incident leaving him cold and cynical, refusing to trust anyone as he's cast aside. At least that's the idea."

"Wow… that's deep."

"It's just a rough idea off the top of my head."

"Enough of that all of you!" Carla let out a scoff "These fantasies of yours are just a waste of brainpower, not to mention embarrassing."

"Shut it Miss Prissy, this is how people unwind, something you'd come to understand if you would pull that stick out of your ass. But in all seriousness, he's probably just roaming around somewhere with Black Steel right now anyway."

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What none of them realized was that a young man with brown hair, teal colored eyes and a pair of glasses, clad in azure colored armor was riding a creature of Edolas, heading in the direction of the Fairy Tail guild hall 'One more, and all of those who oppose the king will have at last been vanquished.' he looked down at the locket hanging around his neck and his gaze hardened ever so slightly 'Remember, everything you do is for her.'

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Meanwhile, back at the Fairy Tail guild hall…

"Alright boss, time for you to get the fuck over here!" Lucy grabbed Noah out of his chair by the collar of his shirt "Hide and seek is over, I say we get back to it."

"I wasn't hiding, I was refueling." Noah told her flatly "It's the only way I can deal with people like you guys."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself, now this new move I've been working on is gonna rock your socks off."

"Okay seriously blondie, cool it with the dominatrix act so-"

"Is that so? If you wanna play rougher than usual then that's fine by me, I happen to like it when they play rough."

"Hey I like a good beating as much as the next guy, maybe even more, but right now you need to back the fuck off." this was met with various gasps from the other guild members "Oh get lives of your own people."

"Oh so you're not in the mood for playing then are you? Well how about we skip straight to the lightnint round!"

"Fine by me if it gets you off my back." Noah easily parried Lucy's lunging attack and caught her in a full nelson, then kicked her knees out from under her "How about you remember this the next time you decide to force me to play, you got me chica?"

Cana was left with a hand over her mouth in shock at what she was seeing before her "I can't believe Noah would actually fight back against Lucy like that."

"Believe whatever you want southern belle."

"No way in hell am I done yet." Lucy broke free of Noah's full nelson and tried to throw him over her shoulder, only for this to be met with a power struggle between them "Now start talking, you might be more a fighter now than usual but I still want answers about where you were and what you were up to."

"Your first mistaking is thinking I answer to you blondie, it was fun at first but now you're getting on my nerves. If you're not going to back off then I'll make you."

"Hey Lucy, are you seriously trying to harass some poor bastard again? Do we really need to have another intervention? Beating the crap out of people in the guild is one thing, but leave it to people in the guild."

"See, even we have rules to-" Natsu cut himself short and froze in place at the sight of who was standing in the doorway to the guild hall 'No way… no fucking way. This has to be some kind of crazy dream or something.'

"Sorry I took so long, the boss wanted to stop for some takeout on the way back. The guy's got a craving for mozzarella sticks every other day."

'Huh, that actually does sound pretty good right about now. Noah glanced over at Wendy "Wait I don't get it, what's got Salamander over there so startruck?"

"I don't know, I've never seen her before." Wendy told him.

"So then what's with him?"

"You'd be too if you were there back then." Bolt muttered "Because that's her…"

"You wanna elaborate?"

"That's the guildmate that sacrificed herself to save Luke, she's Lisanna and Elfman's older sister that died two years ago. That's Mira."

Sure enough, there stood Mirajane Strauss, clad in her usual revealing gothic outfit, standing in the doorway with a bag slung over her shoulder, and she stopped when she noticed the starstruck look Natsu and Happy giving her "For fuck's sake guys we've gone over this, you don't have to start worshipping me the minute I come in with food."

Lisanna and Elfman just waved at her like she hadn't been dead for 2 years "Hey welcome back sis, we were starting to get worried."

"Yeah well, you know the boss can get when he passes a pizza joint."

"Mira… I thought…" Natsu suddenly reached out to her.

"Hold it Salamander." Noah grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him down into a chair "Hey can we get a huge jug of water or something over here?"

"Here you are." Erza handed him a few glasses, as well as a large jug of water.

"That works, thanks."

"Is he going to be alright?"

"He just needs a minute, or with me here, about 5 seconds." Noah poured some water in a cup, and then he threw it in Natsu's face "You gonna get a grip or will I have to slap you?"

"You'd probably be in the same place if the roles were reversed." Bolt pointed out "I'm not too far off personally, I mean I was there when Mira died that day."

"That's what Thunderclap told me himself. So what then, did she just fake her death or something like Nick Fury did in Captain America: the Winter Soldier?"

"I doubt it, pop culture references aside." Carla told him flatly "But more importantly, we had initially suspected that this world was the opposite of our own, but it turns out that's not the case at all. If it were then surely Lisanna would be behaving differently like everyone else."

"Although the biggest clue would be the fact that we're seeing someone that looks very similar to one of us?"

"Exactly, see for yourself." Carla pointed across the guild hall.

As it turns out, a young woman with blue hair had noticed the group, and apparently she looked very similar to Wendy, except she was bigger in every way "So you guys really think that kid over there looks like me? Now that I think about it, I have noticed a few similarities I guess, but she's so small and… yeah."

"See?"

"Are you trying to say that's me?!" Wendy almost lost it at the sight of her supposed counterpart.

"This is bad, the rest of us should get out of here immediately."

"So that's it." Noah's frown deepened "You're thinking that everyone in our world has a specific counterpart in Edolas, and that the two Wendy's are the same, but aside from the ones that came here with us nobody in here is from the Fairy Tail guild we know."

"Exactly. Edolas is a separate world with its own history, culture and customs, so that means that the existence of a different version of Fairy Tail is also possible. They've been people of Edolas from the beginning."

"Which would also explain that." Noah jerked a thumb towards the doorway.

As it turns out, a certain someone else was making his way into the guild hall, and he looked exactly like Noah, only he had a scythe strapped onto his back, and he stopped when he locked eyes with Noah "Okay, what the hell am I looking at right now?"

"...So this is me in this world then?"

"We can only assume." Carla told him flatly.

"Well that makes sense, at least I know I'm ridiculously good looking in both worlds." he was met with a few groans "What?"

"Is this some kind of Ben 10 sort of thing?" asked the other Noah (who from now on shall be referred to as Edolas Noah).

"If by that you mean parallel worlds and that sort of crazy batshit insanity, then yeah that about sums it up."

"Which raises the question then." Natsu downed an entire jug of water "If these aren't our friends from Fairy Tail, then where the hell are we supposed to find them?"

"How the hell should I know that, ask our tour guide down there." Noah jerked a thumb down towards Carla "She's supposed to be the one leading us to them."

"You think I'm supposed to know everything?" Carla let out a scoff "Be realistic you foolish brute, if I knew that then we wouldn't even be on this wild goosechase." she promptly grabbed onto both Happy and Bolt and started dragging them away "Now come along, we have to get out of here before we waste any more time."

"So what the hell are we supposed to do then?"

"From here we should journey to the Royal City, if there are any clues as to the current location of the others from Fairy Tail then that's where we're most likely to find them. Now come, we must not waste any more time!" she was about to drag them out the door, when…

"Guys this is bad, this is really really bad!" Edolas Nab suddenly bolted back into the guild hall looking terrified "We've got a huge problem, the Thunderer is coming for us!"

"Dammit, you mean he tracked us down already?" Edolas Noah quickly whipped out his scythe and used it to lock the doors to the guild hall shut "Alright guys you know the drill, if you don't wanna die then sit your asses down and don't move a fucking muscle while Levy get this thing working."

"Those monsters from the kingdom." Cana's voice was full of dread "Will they never stop hunting us?"

"I can't say that for certain Cana, but what I can say for certain is that there's no way in hell we're going to be dying today."

Bolt shot a glare over towards Carla "The kingdom huh? You wanna elaborate?"

"The kingdom are the ones who created the Anima in the first place and sent us to Earth Land on our mission." Carla told him flatly.

"Which means that by extension, the three of us are enemies of Edolas Fairy Tail."

Edolas Noah was quick to make the call "Levy fire up the machine!"

"Working on it! Preparing the reactor for ignition, entering the coordinates." Edolas Levy was quick to fire up the machine in question "Automated error-correction in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1! The marker has been connected, routing magic power to shock absorbers.

"Less talking, more casting the teleportation circle before we die!"

"Shut your hole, I'm working as fast as I can!"

"We've got seconds before he gets here!"

"You wanna do this instead of me?! Anyway, the magic power output is at 40% of what we need for the teleportation circle to activate. 43… 46… 51…"

"Dammit Levy you need to do this faster!" Jet and Droy took the moment to round on her "We might as well get flattened like this!"

"If you wanna walk out there and throw your lives away then that's fine by me! The magic power output is at 61, from here on we have two minutes until the teleportation circle has been activated!"

"You've got about a minute and a half before the Thunderer shows up, he's already closing in on us as it is." Edolas Noah told her flatly "And everyone stop screaming like bunch of idiots, it's not going to do any good!"

Noah glanced out the window to see a massive winged creature looming over the guild hall a short distance away "Well that's all kinds of fucked up, what the hell am I looking at?"

"That's a Legion, a beast that belongs to the Royal Knights of Edolas."

"Well if you're cool on doing a Q&A then answer me something else, why the hell would the kingdom sent someone after Fairy Tail?"

"You really are that out of the loop on this aren't you? The king of Edolas ordered that all wizard guilds be destroyed in order to conserve our ever decreasing magic supply as much as possible, which really isn't that much when you think about it. Out of all of the guilds in Edolas, there's only one left standing, and it's the one you're standing in. I don't know what things are like where you and your possy came from, but this is Fairy Tail, and in the world of Edolas we're the sole surviving dark guild, at least in the eyes of the kingdom."

"...Fairy Tail and dark guild, two terms I never expected to hear together."

"I'll be asking you about who you guys are later, but for the time being we have other things we have to worry about. Levy what's the status of the teleportation circle?"

"We've finally reached criticality, launching the teleportation circle now!" Levy was quick to do her thing "Shock absorbers have been activated, teleportation circle is deploying!"

"Don't talk about it, get it done! We're as good as dead if you don't just do the thing! Everyone listen up because we don't have a lot of time, if you want to stick around for another sunrise then grab onto something quickly! Link together and make sure that no one floats away, we're not losing any more members than we already have! Not while I'm in charge!"

"Wait a second, you mean this is a vehicle?!" and then Natsu's cheeks suddenly started bulging as he tried not to wretch "Oh dear god help me…"

"Oh for fuck's sake, don't tell me he gets motion sickness."

"I could, but then I'd be lying." Noah told him dryly as they held onto each other, as well as holding onto Edolas Cana, as the Fairy Tail guild hall disappeared from where it once stood in a flash of light.

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The beast crashed down on the crater where the Fairy Tail guild hall had stood mere seconds before its disappearance.

The young man with the axe in hand, who shall be known as the Thunderer for the time being, looked down at the crater, his expression unreadable "So they escaped again."

"Teleportation magic eh?" a man with blonde hair in pink armor came up next to him "To think they would go so far as to stoop to employing a spell that uses so much magic power in a single shot like that. My oh my, dark guilds sure can be wasteful with such a precious resource."

"Spare me the condescending tone Sugarboy, the fact is that the search for them will be going on for awhile longer."

"Such a thing is truly concerning, those Fairy Tail wizards are quite a resourceful bunch are they not? Then again I suppose it's only proper to squash insects, rather than praise them."

"You're just realising that now? They've been avoiding us for three years, they wouldn't be able to do that if they didn't have brains to go with the magic power at their disposal."

"Perhaps, but I doubt they'll be able to keep the act up for too much longer. Their demise is as certain as the rising of the sun. Did you hear that the plan regarding the giant Anima turned out to be a success? It's almost hard to believe."

"Do you actually have anything important to tell me? You should know by now I'm not one for smalltalk."

"Actually I do, the order has been given that all captains of the Magic Warfare units are to return to the Royal City."

"So the Fairy Tail of Earth Land has been destroyed?"

"To be more accurate it has been absorbed. You have to hand it to the king, he certainly has style going for him."

"I don't think style is the word that I'd use. And what of the wizards from Earth Land that were also absorbed by the Anima?"

"I believe they're enjoying their stay as part of the giant Lacrima."

"Which means that the magic supply of Edolas should be capable of sustaining us for a considerable amount of time." the Thundered glanced up at the spot where the Fairy Tail guild hall once stood, then looked down at the locket in his possession 'Remember, everything you're doing is for her.'

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After teleporting away, the Fairy Tail guild hall materialized in a desert far away from where they once stood.

Edolas Noah let out a sigh as he reclaimed his scythe "That was way too close. Levy, give me the status report."

"It was a close call but we made it, the teleportation was successful." Edolas Levy told him "We should be safe here, at least for the time being."

"That's somewhat a relief, good job. Now to shake off the inevitable concussion and the fact that I'm probably going to throw up, but before that I have some business to tend to." he then proceeded to help Edolas Cana to her feet, much to the jealousy that Edolas Macao and Wakaba were clearly feeling, if their glares were anything to go by "So how are you holding up, you're not hurt are you Cana?"

"Oh no, I assure you I'm quite alright." Edolas Cana assured him "Thank you for your concern, but I can take care of myself."

"I know that, but I made a promise and I have no intention of keeping it."

Noah shook off the inevitable concussion and eyed Edolas Noah intently 'Why is it that this version of me reminds me more of Thunderclap than myself? Does that mean that his counterpart is going to… oh shit.'

Edolas Mira on the other hand, she was tending to Elfman and Lisanna "So how are you two holding up, nothing is broken is it?"

"No we're fine sis, we both are." Lisanna assured her "Both of us are still in one piece, but what about you?"

"Forget about me, the only thing that matters to me is that the two of you are safe."

As for Edolas Lucy, she took the chance to round on Edolas Levy in a rage "It's about fucking time, you sure as hell took your sweet time firing that thing up. He almost fucking wasted us because of you!"

"Oh shut your fucking trap!" Edolas Levy rounded on her right back "I didn't see you doing anything to pull our asses out of the fire!"

"Can't you at least do something about the annoying shaking?"

"I wouldn't do it so much if you weren't such a cow!"

"Bite me bith, you're just jealous of my body!"

"Yeah right, give me a fucking break!"

"Oh yeah, this is a great thing to listen to when you've got a concussion." Noah shook off the concussion in question "But putting that aside for now, who the hell was that at the reigns of the monster earlier?"

"You serious?" Edolas Noah shot him a look "Either you got a concussion when we teleported or you seriously have no idea who that was."

"Both actually, but you say that like the first one is a common thing here."

"It is. Anyway that was one of the captains of the Magic Warfare Unit deployed from the Royal City. He's known far and wide as the Thunderer, but I know him as Luke Tempesta."

"...Hommina? So that means that in this world, Thunderclap is the enemy? Shit, you think you know how something is gonna go.'

"But in the meantime, I think it's safe to say that you have some explaining to do. Who are you guys, and how do you not know any of this stuff?"

"Well it's kind of a fucked up story, even by the standards of anime. But aside from my breaking the fourth wall, it goes something like this…

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About 45 minutes of explaining later…

Edolas Noah frowned at what he heard "Okay so let me make sure I got the gist of this, you're trying to tell us that you're different versions of me, Natsu and Wendy from another world called Earth Land, the three of you were raised by dragons, and you came all the way to this world by passing through the Anima in order to try and save your friends."

Noah gave a simple nod "That's the short version, but yeah."

"So there's a Fairy Tail in your world too?"

"Yeah but I'm not a member of it there, it's kind of a complicated story."

"And in your world, Luke is a member of the guild and you actually consider him one of your comrades?"

"They do, with me it's a lot more complicated. You sound so surprised by that."

"You would be too if you had him supposedly trying to kill you every time he found out where your guild hall was. He actually used to be one of us, but that was a long time ago."

"What the hell do you mean supposedly?"

"I said nothing of the sort." the glare he shot Noah silenced him right then and there "But you're clearly me, and that's definitely not the Natsu and Wendy we know."

"Yeah I kind of figured." Noah glanced back to see Edolas Mira staring at him and his group, her expression making her look rather uncomfortable 'That look on her face, if I had to guess then I would say that she's hiding something.'

"So then that little girl is the me of the other world." Edolas Wendy looked down at Wendy with some clear skepticism "For crying out loud, she's basically a pipsqueak version of me."

"You don't know the half of it. Anyway as fun as this is, if you can just tell us how we can get to the Royal City then we'll be on our way." Noah was met with various gasps "Yeah yeah I got the shtick, we're doing something you think is batshit crazy, but a lot of people are depending on us and if we can't save them then they'll be converted into magic power and they're gonna be lost forever, and I'm not letting that happen if I can do something about it."

"Oh, this isn't gonna be fun." Edolas Wendy pinched the bridge of his nose "Okay listen, I doubt this is something you're going to want to hear, but all things considered it's probably for the best if you forget about them."

"And why the fuck would I do that?"

"Because anyone who would defy the king of Edolas is as good as dead. He has a mighty army at his beck and call, and on top of that there's only so much magic power in our world and there isn't much left of it. It's not going to be too long before we completely run out. There's nothing that the king fears more than that, so he tries to keep all of the magic power for himself, which is why he ordered that all of the magical guilds be disbanded."

"And you guys defied his orders, which is exactly what I would've done. I hate being ordered around as it is, and I'm guessing you guys felt the same."

"We tried to, but it didn't pant our very well." Edolas Noah told him flatly "Everybody tried to ignore the order at first, but then the Magic Warfare started wiping out the magic guilds one after another, and now our guild is the only one left standing, but even we weren't able to escape unscathed. We've lost about half of our members because of the Royal Army, Laxus and his Thunder Legion, and even our original master were slaughtered like a bunch of wild animals as a result, and this was after Luke turned on us. The fact is that we have our hands full trying to stay out of sight and alive as it is, and in all honesty the best thing for you to do is go back to your world while you still can."

"Like I said, I hate taking orders from anyone, especially the master of my own guild, and I'm not about to let some power hungry mother fucker from another world try and tell me what I can and can't do. Is that juvenile, maybe but I don't care." Noah was met with more than a few surprised gasps as a result "We're not leaving without our Fairy Tail, and if I have to go through this old bastard to do it then I'll do it with a smile on my face." he glanced over to the side and noticed Mira quietly sneak out the back amidst the gobsmacked expressions he was getting from the others 'She's hiding something, but what?'

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"Now we move onto the Royal City of Edolas, headquarters of the joint chiefs of staff."

"Holy crap, have you taken a peek at that giant lacrima?! It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen!" this came from Hughes, captain of the 3rd Magic Warfare Unit of the Royal Army.

"Yeah, drop the dramatic flare." Edolas Luke, AKA Luke Tempesta, Captain of the 2nd Magic Warfare Unit of the Royal Army, AKA the Thunderer, breathed a sigh "I saw the lacrima when I got here, it's impressive without a doubt."

"Especially considering it has the power of tens of thousands of people from Earth Land."

"Yes indeed." Sugarboy, captain of the 4th Magic Warfare Unit of the Royal Army, gave his usual flamboyant grin "From what I've been told that would be the equivalent of about 100 wizards, not to mention it also happens to house the lives of countless others."

"Oh come on Sugarboy, don't bother trying to bore me to death with all of the details. Does it really make that much of a difference? All that matters is it's totally awesome, I mean do you guys even understand how awesome this lacrima is? It's like super mega awesome."

"Super mega awesome you say?"

"Tell me Mr Tempesta." a new voice got their attention "I have to ask, when are you going to wipe out the Fairy Tail guild?"

Edolas Luke (who shall now be known as Tempesta) glanced back and scowled at the sight of an old man with a cane approaching their group "Byro."

Sure enough, before them stood Byro, chief of staff of the Royal Army of Edolas "You wield the name of the Thunderer, and you wouldn't wish to tarnish that name now do you? Fairy Tail is the only magical guild in Edolas that has yet to be disbanded. I realize that they're difficult to track down and constantly on the move, but the patience of his majesty is at its end."

'I'm supposed to believe he actually has patience?'

"So tell me, what will you do?"

"There's no need to rush our trusted comrade here." Sugarboy called him off "The day that the Fairies are felled by the Goddess is close at hand. They may believe themselves to be a formidable force, but they stand very little of a chance against him. Just give him time, and you'll see that for yourself."

"I see." Byro let out a chuckle.

"Honestly Byro, I've had enough of that laugh of yours."

"I think we all have." Tempesta glanced back to see another figure approaching them "Thank you for saving us from that Panther Lily."

"No need to thank me, I simply can't stand the sound of it, it gaves my nerves." this was coming from Panther Lily, the captain of the 1st Magic Warfare Unit of the Royal Army of Edolas.

"Seriously man, what's your deal?" asked Hughes "You always walk around and act like you're that much better than the rest of us, well guess again."

"You'd be wise to watch your mouth Hughes."

"You're in one hell of a bad mood aren't you?"

Panther Lily didn't respond to this, he just walked past them and left."

"And my point has been proven."

"He's usually like that." Tempesta pointed out "But if I had to guess as to why he is now, I would say he's not too thrilled with the recent increase in armarment."

"Such a thing is surprising though." Sugarboy noted "Seeing how he's a military man himself, one would think he would be elated."

"One would think, but our kingdom has nearly unified this entire world, or subjugated it depending on your perspective, so I really don't see what the point would be in increasing our arsenal either."

"Perhaps it has something to do with the pocket of resistance still out there."

"That's something we can handle ourselves without too much difficulty."

"Oh for fuck's sake!" Hughes let out a groan "Would it kill you guys to speak in plain English for once? I don't understand a thing either of you two are saying."

"If that's the case then the problem is that you're an idiot, not the way we're speaking."

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At the same time, Coco, the assistant cheif of staff of the Royal Army of Edolas, had reported back to Faust, the king of Edolas, that the magic in the giant lacrima would be enough for them to power Edolas for the next 10 years.

However, Faust was far from satisfied by this, and claimed that he would not be satisfied until the world of Edolas had a source of everlasting magic power.

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Meanwhile, with our heroes, and Noah…

"Alright, hold still you little bastard, and… gotcha!" Natsu pounced at a pink frog-like creature, only for it to slip from his grasp at the last second "Hey come on you little bastard, wait the hell up would ya?!" and he started comically hopping after it.

"What do you think you're doing you imbecile?" Carla shot him a look full of disdain "Honestly, what is wrong with you?"

"Too many things to count." Bolt told her dryly "So putting that aside for now, what's our ETA for getting to the Royal City."

"We just left and you're already asking me that?"

"It helps to have an idea of how long a trip is going to take."

"They told us that it would take about 5 days for us to get to the Royal City, and without any access to our Aera magic I don't see any other alternative to walking."

"Well this stinks." Happy muttered "Do you think we're ever gonna be able to use our magic power again?"

"I wish I knew, but this certainly doesn't bode well for any of us."

"Come on you little fucker!" Natsu pounced at the pink frog creature, only to fall flat on his face in the sand "Hey can one of you guys give me a hand with this? I've never seen a frog like this one outside of Dragon Ball, and I was hoping to take it back to Lisannas a souvenir."

"...Wow." Noah tried to suppress a scream, and only partially succeeded "At least you have your priorities in order, but are you sure she's gonna want that thing?"

"It's kind of cute, and she likes cute things. Just look at Happy."

"Agree to disagree, just be careful in case the angry parent comes looking for it. Just because you don't have any common sense doesn't mean that the rest of us want to get eaten."

"Oh come on, what are the odds of-" Natsu ended up pouncing face first into the stomach fat of a much bigger version of the frog he had been chasing.

"See, this is why you listen to the smart ones in the group, even if they never do in anime for some reason. Anyway meet mama Ginyu frog, and I'm pretty sure it wants to eat us."

"No way am I getting swallowed by a frog that looks like Captain Ginyu again!"

"...Again?"

"Don't ask."

"I don't want to know."

"Good, because I'm not telling! Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" Natsu tried to ignite some flames in his fist, but he quickly found that nothing was happening "Uh… oh crap."

"You forgot we couldn't use magic here didn't you?"

"...Maybe."

"That's a yes."

"So… run for our lives like a bunch of idiots?"

"I don't see any other way out so, yeah let's go with that." and so they all started running and screaming like a bunch of idiots.

"This is bad." Wendy mutttered "I hate to admit it, but I'm completely helpless without my magic power!"

"You and pretty every other loli in existence!"

"Then I guess it's up to me, I'm gonna take this gigantic son of a bitch down with my bare hands if that's what it takes!" Natsu let a fist fly towards the frog creature, only to be sent flying by the backlash resulting from its stomach fat.

'Okay, so maybe this isn't all bad. Then again, I doubt what I did with the fish earlier is going to work on this thing. Maybe if I can find a pressure point on it or something.'

"GET DOWN! TERRA SLICER!" that was when Edolas Noah dropped down onto the scene, whipped out his scythe as it was encased in what looked like an outer shell made of rock, and cut down the frog creature in one clean shot, causing it to run away in terror.

"Alright!" Wendy and Happy started cheering "Thank you so much for saving us, mr…"

"Just call me Scythe here, since there's going to be two of us for the time being." Scythe glanced over at the frog creature lying on the ground a few feet away "One would think that something as big as that would've put up a fight."

"Looks can be pretty deceiving." Noah pointed out "I've learned that more than a few times back in my world."

"Sounds like you're a voice of experience, we've got one back in our Fairy Tail too. Here she comes now."

Sure enough, at that moment Edolas Mira dropped down onto the scene wearing a pair of metallic claws, and she let out a sigh of frustration "You know you could've bothered to wait for me to catch up."

"You could've gone a lot faster yourself."

"I'm liking this version of me more and more." Noah stared down Scythe, but then he took a good long glance in the direction of Edolas Mira 'This one seems different from the others somehow. I wonder… So not that we don't appreciate the save, but what the hell are you guys doing here?"

"It's not that hard to figure out, if you're seriously planning on taking down the kingdom then you're gonna need a lot more than just two guys, one loli and a few cats."

"Let's see… tough, good looking, snarky, uses Earth based magic, you're this world's version of me without a doubt, so I guess I owe you one."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Yep, and you've got an attitude to boot. I think I know a certain girl back home who would get a kick out of meeting you. I think. Actually maybe not, she doesn't really get a kick out of anything, seeing how she doesn't really show emotion very much."

"Now I have to wonder what kind of taste you have compared to me." Scythe took out a picture from his pants pocket, then shook his head as he put it back "I lost the woman I loved about a year ago, it's why I'm so determined not to let any more of my comrades throw their lives away because of the Royal Army."

"That's definitely worth noting, but you know the difference?" Noah shot him a smirk "Now you've got a pack of Dragon Slayers on your side."

"Yes yes, I'm all for the brovado." Carla promptly ruined the moment "How long do the two of you intend to keep this up? Keep in mind that we have enough to worry about as it is."

"I know I know, along with taking down the kingdom and getting Fairy Tail back we still need to track down Thunderclap and Black Steel."

"You think they came through the Anima to this world too?" asked Scythe.

"Knowing what Thunderclap is like I don't have a doubt, and if I had to guess then I would say that he and Black Steel are probably together."

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As it turns out, Noah's statement was very accurate.

Luke and Gajeel were wandering through the deserts of Edolas together, only they were both covered in long dark cloaks to conceal their identities "Well that figures, I leave Natsu alone for 5 minutes and he gets them sucked into another dimension."

"Just my fucking luck." Gajeel mutered.

"I figured you'd be used to the batshit craziness of Fairy Tail by now. But then again, even I'm not fully used to it."

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Meanwhile, back with the others…

Edolas Noah frowned in thought at what he was being told by his counterpart "That makes sense, so they were able to catch wind of you guys because some of the people you ran into mistook you for Exceeds and then reported you, which was how the Thunderer was able to track us down in the first place."

"That about sums it up." Noah told him flatly "I guess that's why people seemed so jaw dropped when we told them Thunderclap was a member of Fairy Tail in our world. I guess he's a lot more fucked up in this world than ours."

"Why, what's wrong with the one from your world? You know what that discussion can wait until later, I don't know what he's like in your world, but I wouldn't believe until I see with my own eyes that he would even dream of siding with our guild again."

"He sounds like one hell of a fucked up dude."

"He is, I can't think of a single wizard in Edolas who isn't afraid of him."

"Including you?"

"I wouldn't say I'm not afraid, but I don't want to face him in combat."

"So if I run into him while we can't use magic then turn tail and run and pray to the love of god he doesn't catch up to you?"

"More like he'll catch up to you so pray he makes it fast. The guy's got the blood of almost every wizard in Edolas on the blade of his weapon. He used to be my closest friend, but then… You know what let's put that discussion on hold for now."

"Fair enough I suppose. How close are we?"

"You can find the city down there." Edolas Noah gestured to the city below them "This is the city of Louen, you'll need to gather some stuff from here before anything else."

"It's all pretty round isn't it?"

"Yes it's very interesting, now let's get going." Carla told him flatly.

"Whatever. Hey listen man, I guess I owe you for coming with us."

"Forget about it for now, just follow us for now." Edolas Mira told him "You guys are going to need some magic weapons, if you don't have something like that for at least one of you then don't expect to make it very far in this world."

"We'll be sure to keep that in mind, so thanks for that, uh…"

"Mira, call me Mira."

"Yeah, I just needed to make sure of that. If my hunch is right, Thunderclap and the others are going to be in for one hell of a surprise. If not, then I'm a gigantic asshole.'

"It wasn't that long ago people were able to buy and sell magic here like anything else, but then the Royal Army started hunting down guilds, and now buying and selling magic is seriously illegal in Edolas. What's even worse is that just possessing it is a crime too." Mira started leading the group down towards the city alongside Edolas Noah.

"Seriously, you get in trouble just for having it? What about the people who've always been able to use magic?"

"What are you talking about?" Edolas Noah shot him a strange look "I can only explain something like this so clearly, if you have any magic on you then you just have to get rid of it or else you're gonna end up getting busted or worse."

"Duly noted I guess." Noah frowned in thought for a moment 'The way he's saying this, it sounds like magic power used for spells and stuff are treated like objects in this world. Carla did say that magic power is a limited resource in this world means that this world doesn't have any wizards who have innate magic power like the rest of us do. Instead, they must store magic power within objects like lacrima, which they supposedly would combine with weapons in order to create magic items, so these items are what people consider to be magic in Edolas, like my counterpart's scythe. So wizards here can't cast any ordinary spells like us, they need objects to do it.'

"Enough of your brooding, we're here." Mira and Edolas Noah stopped the group in front of a dark and shady staircase "There's a black market for magic just down this staircase, if you want to do any travelling then you're going to need to gear up."

"Definitely worth noting, given the circumstances I guess we might as well play by the rules of this world in regards to using magic. You've gotta adapt in our line of work."

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Meanwhile, in another part of the city of Louen…

Gajeel peered around a corner as he lowered his hood "Well that's just fucking perfect, now where the hell are we supposed to go from here?"

"Considering the situatiion, it's not like we have a ton of options to begin with." Luke pointed out "Frankly we might as well just start asking around and see if we can find anything out from the townspeople."

"Better than nothing I guess." so Gajeel promptly walked up to some random guy in the middle of the street "Hey, you mind if I ask you something?" he was answered with the guy just ignoring him and walking away "Hey what the fuck, get back here!" he was met with more people walking away, much to his clear ire.

"Well that figures, you're about as much of a people person in this world as you were back in our world."

"Piss off Thunderclap, these assclowns make the ones back home look like a bunch of angels."

"Agree to disagree on that note." Luke glanced up to see a bunch of "tough-looking" punks waltzing towards them "Well one thing is the same no matter what world you're in, you just have to find the right guys and get them to talk, and it usually turns out to be way too easy. You wanna handle this one or can I?"

"I'm sick of dealing with the locals, you have your go."

"Fine by me." so Luke stepped forward "How's it going?"

The leader of the group let out a scoff "What do you want punk, you looking to start something with us? I say step off of us you lousy horsefly."

"You know something man, you've got a lot to learn about throwing out a decent insult."

"Oh cut the crap, we don't have time for some stupid lecture. If you don't like a horsefly then how about a maggot?" the three of them burst out laughing.

"You know it wasn't that funny, and at least I don't look like a bunch of Scooby Doo rejects come to life."

"Oh you wanna play that way do ya?" the first one let a fist fly, only to be sent flying backwards by a surge of electricity.

"Not really, but if that's what it takes to get through to you then so be it."

"You want a piece of us punk?!" the other two both puncked Luke square in the face, only for their hands to start bleeding upon making contact.

"Sorry about this guys, usually I'm not a fan of using violence in these kinds of situations, but at the moment me and my companion are on a tight schedule." Luke picked up the leader and pulled him back to his feet "Okay here's the deal, a giant lacrima should've appeared somewhere around here not too long ago. I don't suppose you can help us track it down?"

"What the hell do you-" the leader spat out some blood "Look I don't know where it is okay?"

"Are you being real with me or do I have to let my companion jog your memory?"

"No no seriously, I swear that neither me or either of my boys know where it is!" he was met with two simultaneous nods from his lapdogs.

"So be it then, I guess we'll just have to get answers from somewhere else. Thanks anyway you guys, you can go about your business." he was met with a few sighs of relief.

"I've gotta ask though, is Gajeel as strong as you?"

"More or less."

"That's all kinds of screwed up, I never took him for the kind of guy who would wanna go around picking fights with people."

'These guys must be talking about Gajeel's counterpart from here in Edolas, so that confirms what we were told by Mystogan. Tell me something you guys, what does the Gajeel here do for a living? And just to clarify they're not the same guy, they just look alike."

"You kidding? Come on, he looks exactly like the guy."

"I know I know, they've both got no eyebrows but that doesn't mean they're the same guy. So what does he do?"

"He's one of those free lance journalists and he's got a reputation around these parts for being way too nosy for his own good."

"A journalist huh?"

"Yeah, the guy's written a bunch of magazine and newspaper articles ripping the king and the kingdom a new one a whole bunch of different times. He's a real busybody too, so nobody in this town can stand him."

"Definitely good to know, thanks guys." Luke glanced back at Gajeel 'So that explains why nobody would bother to give you the time of day.

"Tell me about it." Gajeel gave a smirk "So the version of me from Edolas is some kind of freelance journalist eh? I think it's time to get the scoop on him."

"...Dude seriously?"

"Yeah that sounded better in my head."

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Meanwhile, in the black market shop…

Noah glanced around the inside of the black market shop and let out a sigh "Well on one hand, it looks like they've got some pretty cool stuff available for us. On the other hand, it smells like the inside of Zancrow's quarters."

The shop owner let out a chuckle "That's because this place happens to be full of priceless historical antiques my friend. A few old scratches and unpleasent smells here and there are what sets my items apart from the rest, they have flavor going for them."

"Good to know, but none of us are really here for flavor old man." Mira pointed out "Being able to use it is what matters the most to us. There are a lot of counterfeits here, so make sure you double check before you buy."

"A smart shopper, looks like you've got some experience."

"It helps to have a few smart ones in your group." Noah commented dryly "So what have you got in terms of Earth based magic?"

"I think I have just what you're looking for." the shopkeeper held up what looked like a fuma shuriken "This is the Edolas magic Terra Slicer, just put the lacrima in the charge it with magic power and it'll slice through anything, harder than any rock."

"Looks pretty low tech but I guess it's better than nothing."

"What a keen eye you have my friend."

Wendy on the other hand, was attracted to a small blue cylinder that caught her eye "Hey can we get this one, please?"

"Why do you want that one to begin with?" asked Carla.

"Just look at it, it's so cute and tiny."

"Come now child, you should know better than to choose something to buy based simply on cuteness."

"Please?"

"This pretty little gizmo is called an Air Lift Cannon, all you have to do is pull the two pieces apart in order to open it and then watch it work its magic." the shopkeeper demonstrated by activating the device, summoning a small breeze around them, much to Wendy's delight.

"Oh wow it's wind magic, this is going to be perfect for me!"

"It seems you have a keen eye as well miss."

"That covers me and the kid." Noah shot a glance over at Natsu "What have you got in terms of fire magic?"

"I think I may have just what you're looking for." the shopkeeper pulled out something that looked like a flamethrower "Does this contraption strike your fancy? This is the Edolas magic Sealed Flame Sword, just put the power source in this compartment and you can summon a sword made of flames." he promptly summoned a blade made of flames "What do you think, pretty cool isn't it?"

"Flames look pretty weak but it's better than nothing, we'll take it and the earth and wind stuff too."

"Perfect, thank you for your business my friends. Together they'd cost you around 30,000, but I'll knock the price down to 25,000 just because I like you guys. How does that sound?"

"Like you're trying to rip us off."

"Well these items are incredible hard to come by these days."

"Yep, ripping us off."

"Hold on a second." Edo-Noah shot a look at him and the others "Let me take a wild guess, you guys don't have any money do you?"

"Dude we're from another dimension, what the hell would make you think we have any money on us?"

"Hoping like some naive jackass, but considering the hell our world is going through I guess I should've known better."

"Of course you should've, you're me."

"Yeah that figures, just hold on a second." Mira pulled out her wallet "I'll pick up the tab for you guys, but don't expect this to be a regular thing for me okay?"

"No no of course not miss Mira, I couldn't take any money from you after all that you and the others have done for me." the shopkeeper told her "After all my shop would be shut down if you hadn't helped me out when the Royal Army searched it."

"Forget it man, that was no big deal. We were just lending you a hand."

"In any case, I would be more than happy if you took them as a present from me, as my way of thanking you for that."

"You sure? If you're offering then I guess it wouldn't be right for me to refuse."

"Well you're dependable if nothing else, so it wouldn't be right for me to deny credit where it's deserved." Noah commented "I guess I owe you one."

"Forget it, it's not that big of a deal."

"From the way that guy was talking it sounds like you and my counterpart are a pretty big deal around here. So is there any way we can pay you back for this?"

"Well there is one thing." Mira looked away, her expression somewhat nervous "If you guys wouldn't mind, I wouldn't be against hearing about what things are like with Fairy Tail back in your world. Just out of curiosity."

"I'm not a member in our world, so I'll leave it up to Salmander and the kid."

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About an hour passed, and the group took a break to grab some lunch in a nearby cafe.

Mira paused for a moment to take in everything she was hearing "So to sum up, the Thunderer in your world is some kind of self appointed protector of the Fairy Tail guild?"

"That's one way of looking at it." Noah downed a few fries "He told me about it himself, after the version of you from our world died he left to train for a full year and a half, and he's probably the strongest wizard in the guild by now. It's why I'm so interested in fighting him one on one when he's at his best, to see just what he's capable of."

"Huh. Sounds kind of familiar."

"Hey by the way." Wendy pulled out her Air Lift Cannon "I can't seem to remember how to use this thing, do any of you?"

"You shouldn't go pulling that thing out in public." Mira quickly threw the thing under the table before anyone could see it "We already told you guys that magic is banned in this world, if you even have it then you could get in a hell of a lot of trouble. You don't want to take any chances with this."

"So what does that mean then, magic used to be a part of everyday life like it is back in our world?" asked Noah.

"It used to, but things have changed since then." Edo-Noah told them grimly "The kingdom went and stole a part of our culture from us."

"And let me take a wild guess, they went and did that because they want to keep the magic power all to themselves. I'm also guessing that's where we'll find the lacrima with everyone from Fairy Tail right?"

"Yeah that's exactly it."

"And since those royal assholes are gonna hog all of the good stuff for themselves, not to mention that gigantic lacrima with thousands of people inside, and since I personally hate authority and people who think they can do whatever the fuck they want without having to worry about consequences, I guess that means there's only thing to do: We storm the kingdom and beat the ever loving shit out of them."

"You're officially out of your fucking mind, we don't stand a chance against the forces of the Royal Army."

"If that's the case then why the hell did you guys bother to tag along with us?"

"What the hell are you going on about? You guys said you needed an escort to get to the Royal City, I didn't come out here to fight anybody."

"Whatever lets you sleep at night."

"Look guys." Mira let out a sigh "I know how you feel, I tried to fight the Royal Army myself about two years ago, and it didn't end well." she pulled up her shirt to reveal a deep scar along her stomach "So yeah."

"Shit. Sounds like challenge, but as Barney Stinson once said in almost every single episode of that Legendary show, challenge accepted."

"There they are, corner off the area!"

Noah glanced back to see a bunch of armored men closing in on the group "I take it those guys are from the Royal Army."

"You guys are all wizards of Fairy Tail aren't you?" the men raised their spears "All of you stay right where you are, you're under arrest!"

"Aw that's cute, they think they can arrrest us."

"Oh hell yeah, it's time to try out my new magic!" Natsu whipped out his new Sealed Flame Sword.

"And things just went from cute to shit."

"Here goes nothing, now eat some fire mother fuckers!" Natsu comically unleashed a massive wave of flames that roasted a few of the soldiers alive "Now that's how we roast fuckers back in my world!"

"Oh yeah, roasting 3 of them alive but not even breaking through the shields with any of the others." Noah gestured to the shields being used by the Royal Army.

"Oh shit, they've got shields?! No matter, another blast coming at ya!" Natsu tried to unleash another blast, but nothing happened.

"That thing is about as useful as Blockbuster now." Mira told him flatly "We told you before that magic power is limited here, you can only use that thing a certain number of times."

"You mean that thing is only good for one shot?!"

"For you maybe, but for a normal person who doesn't spam like they're batshit crazy it can be used about 100 times."

"Which means that we have to be careful about how we use it. Well either that, or we can just do this." Noah snatched Wendy's Air Lift Cannon and yanked it open, causing a massive tornado to engulf them, sending them hurtling high into the air.

"What the hell did you do man?!"

"You mean aside from reading the instructions while she struggled with just trying to learn how to open the thing? Well with any luck, I created a way for us to get the fuck out of here without wasting more magic than necessary!" and they were sent flying and crashing into a different part of the city.

The captain of that squad looked over at the damaged caused by the crash "They landed in that vicinity, we must capture them at all cost! Do whatever it takes!"

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Meanwhile, with our heroes…

Mira and Edo-Noah glanced out the window "Well the good news is that we got away from the Royal Army, but the bad news is that we're stuck in the city now."

"Well that's just great." Natsu grumbled "The magic in this world totally sucks."

"Oh please." Noah let out a scoff "You're just mad because you spammed yours like a jackass and now you can't use it again."

"You basically stole Wendy's."

"I knew how it worked, she couldn't even open it. Anyway let's get back on topic, is there some other way out of here we can use?"

"Not that either of us know of." Mira told him grimly, followed by the sound of voices coming from outside.

"Gotcha Fairy Tail trash, we found you!"

"He let the hell go of me!"

"Shut up and get over here!"

"Let go of her!"

"What the hell?" Noah poked his head out of a nearby window, and he motioned for the others to do the same.

As it turns out, the Royal Army had caught two girls outside, but it wasn't exactly who they were looking for, but they didn't know that "You're Lucy and Lisanna aren't you?"

As it turns out, it was Lucy and Lisanna, the Earth Land versions "Yeah that's our names, don't wear it out, now get your hands off me you ass!"

Noah quickly caught a whiff of both of them "I can smell it, those are the verions that came from our world."

"Hey cut it out asshole, that hurts!"

'But I don't get it, I thought only Dragon Slayers could withstand the Anima. How the hell did those two get here?'

"I told you to let go of me!"

"Of for fuck's sake, come on let's go do some damage control." Noah prepared to bolt out the window, with Natsu and Wendy doing the same.

"You know what, that's it!" Lucy pulled out one of her Zodiac keys "Open, Gate of the Scorpion…"

'And I'm guessing she doesn't realize we can't use magic here, which means she's in for one hell of a rude awakening.'

"Scorpio!" she opened the key, and it actually worked.

'...Then again, maybe I can be wrong.'

"Wicked!" sure enough, Scorpio emergred from the gate opened by Lucy "And now, Sand Buster!" he unleashed a tornado of sand from the tip of his tail that sent all of the Royal soldiers flying.

'And she can use magic, why the hell can she use magic?'

"Sorry to skip out like this, but I've got a hot date with Aquarius tonight, so later!" and on that note, Scorpio took his leave.

Lucy let out a sigh "Sounds like Aquarius isn't the only one who likes to throw that right in my face."

"Come on, he seems like a nice guy." Lisanna pointed out "Besides, I don't think not being in a relationship is that bad."

"Easy for you to say, you and Natsu act like you're a married couple in your 90's!"

"Okay maybe I'm not really impartial."

"Lisanna!" sure enough, at that moment Natsu burst forward and promptly pulled her into a tight hug "I've missed you too."

"Yeah, me too." but then Lisanna looked back and saw Mira with the rest of the group, and she instantly froze where she was "It can't be… Mira?"

'Lisanna… it's really her…' once the two of them locked eyes, Mira let a single tear roll down her cheek.

"Well… this just turned all kinds of awkward." Noah was met with a few dry looks "Bad timing, got it."

As a result of Noah opening his mouth, Mira quickly snapped out of it and regained her composure "I figured you would look similar to the version I know of, but in all honesty, this is kind of unsettling."

"Try looking at yourself in this world, it's all kinds of fucked up."

Lisanna's gaze remained locked on Mira as she freed herself of Natsu's embrace 'No, this isn't her… this is just the Edolas version of her.'

"As much as I hate to ruin the moment, I think we've got other problems we need to deal with right now." Noah jerked a thumb at the number of soldiers charging at them "So introductions and/or reunions are gonna have to wait."

"Yeah you're right, we're gonna get caught if we stay here."

"And what's worse is that unlike blondie over there, me and the other two over there can't use any of our magic power."

"Wait what? But we can-" and then some other dots connected in her mind "Wait a minute, aren't you that Dragon Slayer that I fought back on Galuna Island?"

"Chill out Animal Girl, I'm on your side for now. But more importantly, you were going to say that you can use your magic just fine right?"

"Um… yeah."

"And it's official, we're all being nerfed for plot convenience. We can't let ourselves get captured or the others are as good as dead."

"I may not know who you are, but I get what you're saying." Lucy suddenly gained a look of determination and a ridiculous level of overconfidence "So this means I'm the strongest member of Fairy Tail right now."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself."

"Got it. Now open, Gate of the White Ram, Aires!" and so Lucy promptly pulled out another key and opened the gate.

Sure enough, Aires timidly appeared before the group "Um hello, please just leave everything to me. I promise I'll do my very best."

"Alright Aires let's get down to business, do you think you can take these guys down?"

"I don't know, but I promise I'll try. Wool Bomb!" so Aires attacked the army of royal soldiers with a wave of magic wool, only for them to start getting high on the comfort instead "Oh no, I don't think it's working Lucy. I'm useless after all."

"Oh it's working alright, I say you hit them with another one!"

"Yes, I promise I'll do my best. Wool Shot!" she hit them with another wave of wool, earning the same response "And now… Wool Wall!" she created a thick pink cloud made from her wool magic, engulfing the last of the soldiers.

"Alright this is our chance, now we have to get out of here."

"Is that to your liking Lucy? I hope so, but if not then I promise you I'll do much better next time, so take care of yourself Lucy." and so Aires vanished, which promptly the others to take off running.

"Yes, that was awesome! I knew I was strong but this totally rocks!"

"Well that's one way to subdue an army." Noah commented dryly "Better than nothing I guess, at least better than the other crap we're stuck with."

'So this is the power of magic from Earth Land huh?' Edo-Noah shot a look at his counterpart, and then at Mira 'Looks like we've got a lot to learn about this, and with any luck it just might be what we need.'

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About 20 minutes passed.

Noah and the others, now a fair distance away from the city, and they took a moment to calm down and thing things through "Okay, so now that we have a minute, we should take a minute to figure out our next move. And for starters, blondie and Animal Girl can start by explaining how in the name of fuck they got to Edolas, and how they can use magic. Last we heard, everybody in Magnolia was turned into a giant lacrima with the exception of any Dragon Slayers."

"Yeah and we almost were too." Lucy told him "But Mystogan and Horologium, one of my Celestial Spirtis, rescued both of us just in the nick of time."

"And Horologium is…?"

"Like she said, one of her Celestial Spirits." Lisanna told him "Elfman and I were… a little bit preoccupied, when I noticed the hole in the sky opening up because of the Anima, so we both rushed back to the guild hall to try and warn the others, but we were too late."

"So how did you end up with blondie here?"

"Horologium had passed through the gate on his own to protect me when he sensed the fluctuation in time-space." Lucy told him "As for how he was able to get Lisanna too, all I can say is that he must have been close enough for him to get her too. Then Mystogan appeared in front of both of us."

"So he was able to escape being absorbed by the Anima too?"

"Yeah, then he gave both of us the rundown on what's been going on, and after that he gave both of us some kind of weird red pills and sent us here to Edolas. After that, we just started searching for anyone we might know and we eventually ran into the rest of you."

"That fills in a few gaps, but still doesn't explain how Mystogan is the only one who knows anything about Edolas. I mean granted I'd have to say he's the Edolas counterpart of Jellal, it's pretty obvious when you think about it."

"We may get to confirm that if we're lucky."

"Maybe, but why the hell do the two of you get to use magic here and we don't?"

"Well… maybe I'm some kind of legendary beautiful heroine in this world, and Lisanna is my faithful sidekick!" she had stars in her eyes as she droned on about this.

"...You've got a rich fantasy life don't you?"

"Oh come on, can't a girl have a dream?"

"Depends on whether or not it sounds like utter BS."

"But in all seriousness, we don't have an answer to that question." Lisanna told him "But either way, if Natsu can't use any of his power, then I don't know how we're supposed to win."

"By not whining like a damsel in distress. That may sound harsh, but there's no way I'm backing down from some douchebags who think they can do whatever they want whenever they want just because there's no one powerful enough to take them down. As far as I'm concerned, these people are at the top of my shit list."

"You're really serious about this?" Edo-Noah shot his counterpart a look "You guys really want to take on the entire kingdom all by yourselves?"

"Like I said, they need to be taken down about a dozen notches. Why do you find that such a hard thing for you to believe?"

"You're talking about fighting them when you can't use any magic, that's not too different from suicide."

"Maybe for you."

"Forget about that, one of us still has an entire arsenal!" Lucy bolted to her feet with a renewed fire in her eyes "Yeah you've got that right everyone, just stand back and hang tight while the strongest wizard in Fairy Tail takes care of this problem single handedly!"

"Ahem." was the only sound that came from Lisanna.

"While she takes care of this problem with help from Lisanna!" she was met with a simple nod of approval "Either way, now I've got one hell of a fire in my belly that's just raging to get let out!"

"...Okay you know what?" Bolt glanced over at his counterpart "I'm starting to think you were right, if she's our best hope then we're pretty much fucked."

"Tell me about it." Edo-Noah let out a snort "I'm just gonna say it, my counterpart and the others honestly come off to me as a bunch of lunatics."

"Hey come on, be fair now." Mira told him "For all we know they're probably saying the same thing about us, it's not every day you enter a Shadow Realm version of your home."

"You really think these guys can pull this off?"

"Call it a hunch if nothing else, but I have a feeling in my gut that they've got what it takes to change this world for the better."

"I might be insane then, because I think you're right. Either way, I think a hell of a lot of changes are coming for Edolas."

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A few hours went by, and the group started holding up in a hotel in another city of Edolas, a fair distance away from Louen, this time in the city of Sycca.

Bolt pulled out a map and laid it out on the table for the others to see "With any luck we'll be able to figure out where we're going if we use this map. You know it's kind of weird, but based on the map Edolas looks a lot more similar to Earth Land than I thought it did. Anyway, from what I can gather this is where we last saw the Edolas Fairy Tail, then the giant frog beast chased us somewhere in this area, and from there we travelled to the city of Louen, where we met up with Lucy and Lisanna, and now we're hiding out here in the port city of Sycca. If we want to come even close to reaching the Royal City then we're going to need to find a way for us to get overseas."

"Which means that our friends are half of a world away from us right now." Natsu muttered, his tone somewhat grin.

"Not to mention half a world filled with soldiers from the Royal Army that we'll have to dodge left and right, at the rate we're going it's probably going to take weeks at least to get anywhere near the Royal City. Maybe if we can find a ship or something to take us there, or-"

"What are you two doing?!" Lisanna suddenly bolted out of the bathroom and into the open wearing only a towel, her face red as she realized her situation "Noah and his counterpart have decided to… compare themselves to each other… in a few different ways."

"...I knew I liked him." Bolt was met with a few disturbed looks.

"I'll be honest Bolt, sometimes you scare me."

"Yeah, we have a few people like that in our Fairy Tail." Mira made her way out into the room, wearing only a towel herself "I've gotta admit though you look just like my Lisanna in every way, you've even got the same birthmark on your butt. I think it's shaped like a giraffe raking leaves."

"Is that for real or are you just referencing Drake & Josh?" asked Bolt.

"Yes."

"Huh. Cool."

"I know right, it's sitting right in between the-"

"Cut it out!" Lisanna's face turned an even deeper shade of red, if that was possible, especially at the sight of Natsu staring.

"What, do you see something you like on her? Give me a minute, I'm more than happy to show you more of her."

"Please don't! It's embarrassing, and keep in mind Wendy is in the room too! She's just a little girl!"

"And yet she can handle this kind of stuff better than this version of you can or the one from this world."

"Forget it, I'm not looking." Natsu promptly blindfolded himself with his scarf.

"Huh, I never would've pegged him for being a gentleman."

"I never would've pegged him for having an IQ higher than that of a brain dead squirrel." this was when Noah made his way out into the room alongside his Edolas counterpart "I can only pray that his counterpart here is different." he was met with a shrug from his counterpart "And I spoke too soon."

"You know the two of you look so much alike each other, it's kind of hard to tell which one of you is which." Wendy commented.

"Yeah well we've done enough comparing to each other to know which one of us is for real, plus I think my ass is in better shape."

Then Natsu suddenly let out a chuckle "Okay okay I've got this idea, work with me, so if the two of you set up some kind of mirror routine-"

"Finish that idea and I'm sending you blasting off again like Team Rocket."

"I think we'd all pay to see that." Bolt then glanced over at Lucy "Don't you have one of your Celestial Spirits that can do something like that?"

"You mean Gemini right?" Lucy lit up at that and pulled out one of her keys "Yeah they can actually turn into copies of other people, just take a look at this. Open, Gate of the Twins, Gemini!"

"Tada!" sure enough, the Gemini twins emerged from the gate, only they were already transformed into an identical copy of Lucy "Gemini at your service!"

"If you thought one of me was great then why don't you try a double dose of hotness from yours truly?"

"Blonde and busty doesn't make up for being high maintenance." Noah commented dryly, easily dodging a few slap attempts from Lucy "But then again, if you play your cards right this could make for one hell of a kickass guessing game at a party."

"You think it could make some gameshow?" asked Natsu.

"Don't bothe staring lover boy, or else the sleeping beast lying within the Animal Girl could awaken, and I don't think that would've worked well for any of us. Also quick question blondie, you gonna put on some clothes any time soon or what?"

"Wait what-?" and cue the terrified shriek from Lucy "I'm still naked!"

"And you conveniently forgot about that until now."

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About an hour went by, and the group started settling down for the night.

Edo-Noah studied Lucy intently for a moment "You know, as nice as it is to see a version of you that isn't a total dominatrix, it's still kind of hard to tell you apart from the version that I'm so familiar with. And for that matter, do you guys find it hard to tell me apart from the version from your world?"

"The gigantic scythe you carry on your back helps to tell you apart." Natsu pointed out.

"Fair enough. Hey by the way less scary version of Lucy, I don't suppose you have one of those spirits that's good with facial hair do you?"

"Actually I think I have the perfect spirit for that job." Lucy pulled out a key and promptly opened the gate.

Sure enough, at that moment Cancer emerged from the gate "It's been a good long while since you called me Baby."

"Yeah I know, some people find it creepy when he calls them baby, but then again they'd probably lose it when they meet Taurus for the first time." Lucy stepped back a little bit and allowed Cancer to get to work "So what do you think?"

When it was done, Edo-Noah was now sporting a somewhat thick goatee hanging down from his chin "Now we're talking, you guys shouldn't have any sort of problem telling us apart now should you?"

"That's not too bad of a look for you." Mira noted.

"I've been trying to grow a beard for half a decade, but apparently Lucy isn't too fond of facial hair so every time I try she shaves it off in my sleep."

"And I'm jealous as fuck." Noah let out a groan "I've been trying to grow a goatee for like a year now, I don't know why but I've never been able to."

"Add that to the growing list of reasons why we're so different from each other. As for me, given everything that's been going on, I haven't really thought about growing a goatee in a damn long time."

"How come?"

"It's not that important in the grand scheme of things." Mira's face fell as she spared glanced out the window and into the night sky of Edolas "In a world like the one we're living in, you don't really have time to think about things like boy or girl or the things that separate you from your friends and comrades. In the end, we're all just people who share the same goal: trying to survive."

"Sounds pretty hardcore, and yet everyone in this world's version of Fairy Tail seemed so laidback and easygoing when we were there before."

"Well yeah that's kind of a no brainer, in times like these you have to keep your spirits up, even if you have to force them to every single day, even if it hurts. Sure there are times when we think we can't even force ourselves to smile, but we remember that there are people in this world who are counting on us to protect them from people who think they can do whatever they want, even if that means we have to be labelled as a dark guild. That's pretty much what Fairy Tail is all about, lending a helping hand to people and having fun along the way."

"Sounds a lot like the shtick Thunderclap has going for them."

"Yeah, but unlike with you guys it still isn't enough in the end for us."

"Maybe not on your own, but if you've got comrades willing to fight by your side, you should be able to accomplish anything." Lisanna told her.

"Sounds pretty optimistic, doesn't it?"

"Isn't that what Fairy Tail is all about?"

"Yeah… Yeah I guess it is." Mira looked out the window, then left the room to hide the tear rolling down her cheek.

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Morning came, and the sun was rising over the skies of Edolas. Everything seemed like it was nice and peaceful, until…

"YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!"

Noah let out a groan as he pulled himself off of the couch at the sound of Lucy's rage filled rantings "Alright alright, what crawled up your ass and died?"

"You did!" Lucy pointed accusingly at him in the same style of the evil monkey "I mean your counterpart did!"

"You wanna elaborate or are you just going to keep pointing at me like the evil monkey? If it's the latter, then at least let me turn it into a meme." he was handed a note "Okay, so it's the former then. Too bad, I like memes."

"Little Mr You went and packed his metaphorical bags and took off on us in the middle of the night!" her tirade also ended up waking up Wendy and the others.

"Keep walking for three more days and you'll get to the Royal City. I have to head back to my guild now before Lucy blows something up or kills somebody, or something else that would get her into all sorts of deep shit. Good luck, try not to get busted, and make sure Natsu doesn't do anything stupid. Huh, looks like my counterpart is just as smart as me."

"And what the hell was all of that about lending a helping hand?! When I get my hands on that bastard I swear I'm gonna wring his scrawny little neck!"

"You put your hands anywhere near my neck and you'll lose them."

"Shut up!" and so she started throwing a tantrum in the corner.

"Oh yeah, it's a wonder how you're still single, and in case you hadn't noticed, I'm trying to be sarcastic."

"Oh for fuck's sake, it's too early for this." Mira let out a groan "Give him a break, he's not a brawler for shits and giggles."

"Any particular reason you're sticking around?"

"If you guys are gonna save your friends then you're gonna need someone familiar with the territory to make sure you don't get yourselves killed, and I don't want anybody accusing me of abandoning you."

"Fair enough. It could be worse, we could be stuck with two of Salamander back there. Or two of the blonde one throwing a tantrum."

"Worse things have happened I guess, like Teen Titans Go."

"Oh lord don't even get me started."

"There's nothing we can do, other Noah said that he didn't want to fight, and we should respect his wishes." Wendy pointed out.

"Yeah we're past that, now we're hating on Teen Titans Go."

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Meanwhile, outside the hotel…

With a bag slung over his shoulder and his scythe strapped to his back, Edo-Noah started making his way through the streets of Syccan, his mind drifting 'These lunatics might change this world for the better huh? Either Mira's going soft for thinking that, or I'm going nuts because I think she's right. Probably both now that I think about it. What a joke. I can't believe how lazy I've been getting. Change shouldn't be brought about by outsiders, it should be brought about by the people who actually live in this world. If they can pull off this suicide rescue mission of theirs for their Fairy Tail, then I say more power to them, but they shouldn't be the only ones taking the kingdom down a peg or ten. As far as I'm concerned, it's time for the Fairy Tail of Edolas to stop running from our problems like a bunch of cowards. I'll do whatever it takes to convince everyone to stand up and fight for this world as one! As for how I'm going to convince them at this stage of the game… Luke, I'm sorry old friend, but I think I'm going to have to tell them about the real reason why you left.'

A/N:

And with this chapter, we dive into the second act of the Edolas arc, with a few surprises in store for the characters and for the viewers. I decided to try and take a few liberties here and there to make things more interesting, so that it wouldn't be entirely predictable to the viewers.

Yep, instead of evil Edolas Erza in this version, I'm gonna be doing the evil Edolas version of Luke instead. Didn't see that one coming did you? As simple as it would've been to do evil Edolas Erza like in canon, I decided to spice things up a bit and do something that you wouldn't have expected, hence evil Edolas Luke, though there's going to be a twist to it later on as to why he's doing what he's doing, but it won't appear until later.

Speaking of Luke, he's going to be paired with Gajeel for the time being, working with him more behind the scenes to free the others from the Lacrima. I did think about putting him with Natsu and Wendy and having Noah tag along with Gajeel, but I figured that would've been too easy and too predictable, so I decided that I would have him and Noah swap roles. Speaking of Gajeel, his counterpart in Edolas is by far my favorite out of all of them, and it's part of the reason why I ranked this arc ahead of Oracion Seis.

On another note, along with Lucy, I also had Lisanna show up in Edolas with her in this chapter, seeing how I'm trying to give more build up to a certain revelation in regards to Mira. I did consider putting Cana in that place instead of Lisanna, but like with the roles of Luke and Noah, that would've been far too easy, so she'll appear later in the arc. I know some of you are going to ask how Lisanna could've been saved from the Anima along with Lucy since they were in different areas at the time, but I'll explain that next chapter.

Now then, I'll be ending the chapter here since I feel that it's already run long enough in my opinion, over 17,000 words as it is. But before I wrap things up, I want to thank all of you for getting this story to 100 reviews! This has only happened with one of my stories before. When I started this story back in June of 2019, I never anticipated this story becoming as popular as it did, but now it's become my most popular story of all time, and it's thanks to all of you.