I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it, and I want to thank you all for getting me up to 25,000 views. Here's to getting to 30,000.
Donumah36: Thanks, glad to see you like the story. And yes, while most of the references are for comedic value, they are a lot of fun to do.
Guest: Yep, evil Edolas Luke was a surprise I've been planning for while now. Anyway I'm glad you like the story, so thanks for that.
Fiendgod: Well I appreciate your honestly. I get why you're not too fond of Cana, and while it's somewhat disappointing you're not invested in this story, it's understandable. Thanks for being honest, and for being so mature about it.
Ragnas Bredvolts: Thanks, I'm glad to see you like this chapter. Yep, in these harsh times where the world is struggling to pull itself together, sometimes a good fanfic chapter is all you need to get through. Maybe not flipping the script all the way through, but I made enough changes so that it wasn't a total copy and paste from the canon version. Yep, the surprising inclusions of Mira, Edo Noah and Lisanna were part of my diversions from canon to spice things up a little bit and add a little bit of the element of surprise. And yes, Edo Luke is something that I doubt anybody saw coming. Yeah, I am a little bit saddened myself over the fact that I'm basically cutting out Knightwalker, but having her as the evil counterpart would've been far too easy and predictable. Besides, it got me the chance to do the nice version of Erza, which I think is a worthy sacrifice, and Luke will be going toe to toe with his counterpart, so that will be a sight to behold. As for who will be freed from the lacrima by Luke and Gajeel later on, well I don't want to spoil the story for you, so you'll have to wait for the next few chapters. As for the manga Spy x Family, it sounds interesting, so I'll have to take a look at it sometime. That's all I have to say for now, so you have a nice day as well my friend.
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Things were quite calm in a certain other city, at least with the Earth Land group that was remaining incognito during their time in Edolas.
Gajeel downed a glass of booze and shot a look in Luke's direction "Let me get this straight, you're seriously telling me that Hawkeye of all people is your favorite Avenger?"
"I don't see why that's so hard to believe." Luke pointed out.
"I mean if it were Black Widow then it would make sense."
"A lot of people could argue that she's eye candy, I mean granted that's probably not relevant, but you can sure that some sick bastards out there are going to think of some sick scenario with her at the center."
"Probably. You know I would've figured that Thor would be your favorite?"
"Because he wields the power of lightning? That's predictable as hell, it's like saying that Iron Man is your favorite because he's made of iron."
"He's only third on my list."
"Thor is third on mine personally, right behind Captain America."
"Fair enough. So why the fascination with Hawkeye?"
"Because as far as I'm concerned, Hawkeye is the most respectable out of all of the original six Avengers."
"You mind elaborating?"
"Think about it, what superpowers does he have?"
"None, but the same could be said for Black Widow."
"What about equipment?"
"Bows and arrows, Black Widow has none."
"Correction, Black Widwo has guns going for her and that tazor thing. She's got even more gear than he does when you think about it."
"Fine, I'll give you that point."
"Hawkeye doesn't have any fancy gadgets or powers like the rest of the Avengers, keeping in mind the fact that Black Widow does have guns. What he does have going for him is a hell of a lot of training, skill, grit and heart, and see what he's able to do with it. Plus he's a family man above all else, and I respect that in a man."
"Huh, sound logic I guess. Okay I admit you have a point."
"See? So what about you, who's your first pick for favorite OG Avenger?"
"Hulk, mainly because he's a savage."
"...He became your favorite after he smacked Loki around like a rag doll didn't he?"
"I'm pretty sure he became everyone's favorite after that."
"Fair enough- Wait shut up, listen to that over there." the two of them glanced over at where a few men were sitting nearby and having a very interesting conversation, unaware of someone else listening in on that conversation as well.
"Hey did you hear? They're gonna extract the magic power from that giantic lacrima in the Royal City in two days."
"Yeah I know, but to be honest it kind of freaks me out. I mean where the hell did all of that power come from, an alien world or something?"
"I sure hope they know what they're doing, messing with that kind of magic power could lead to all sorts of trouble."
"Hey you'd better be careful about what you say man, you're making it sound like you're questioning the methods of our great king."
"No no that's not what I meant, I swear I'm loyal!"
"Interesting conversation." this was when Gajeel approached the group, along with a certain someone else "You three punks wanna tell me what you know in greater detail/ You gentlemen mind telling me what you know in greater detail?" it was then that he suddenly found himself staring face to face with his Edolas counterpart.
Luke let out a low whistle "Well okay then, I think we found him."
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Meanwhile, with Noah's group…
Noah looked over to see Lucy clutching a certrain book to her chest with a wide smile plastered across her face "With a look like that, one would think she just got some happy time, and note that I'm sugarcoating it for the kid." he jerked a thumb over at Wendy.
"Well it could be a lot worse." Mira gave a shrug "She's a hell of a lot eaiser to please than the version of Lucy from this world."
"And she's not a dominatrix, so that's a plus. But then again, she does seem a hell of a lot more conceded."
"It is really good to know that we can cheer Lucy up just by giving her a rare book for her to read." Wendy pointed out.
"It's definitely good to know how to make her shut up. What's in that book anyway?"
"The complete history of Edolas silly." Lucy shot him a ridiculously bright smile "Don't you want to learn more about this amazing world while you have the chance?"
"You can call it amazing if you want, I call it more of a shit hole than the world from Rising of the Shield Hero."
"Oh come on, have you ever heard people say that knowledge is power? Well this book has an absolute crap load of the stuff! For example, there's information here regarding the history of a fearsome tribe called the Exceeds."
"And now I'm interested, people back in this world's version of Fairy Tail started freaking out because they thought the cats with wings were Exceeds."
"The hell with that, I could probably take them." Natsu waved it off, earning a disapproving glare from Lisanna "Language?" he received a nod "Got it." but then a large shadow started looming over them "What the fu-" another glare "Fudge?" the glare subsided.
"Hey check it out." Noah pointed upwards to where a massive airship was looming above the city of Syccan "Unbelievable, people here have a Helicarrier of all things. You've gotta be fucking kidding me."
"And it just so happens to belong to the Royal Army, come on we can't let them see us. Get over here." Mira quickly motioned for everyone to hide behind a pillar, where they heard a certain something very interesting from one of the soldiers:
"I heard they're gonna be draining the magic power from that giant lacrima the day after tomorrow, and that's why they're calling for additional security detail in the Royal City. Come on men, we'd better get moving before we get chewed out."
Noah frowned at what he was hearing "That giant lacrima they're talking about must be where we're gonna find the people from Fairy Tail and the rest of Magnolia."
"But they said that the extraction of their magic power will be in two days, there's no way we'd make it on foot." Lucy pointed out.
"And I'm guessing that once they start the process of extracting the magic power that means the others are as good as dead. Anybody got a plan, cause I'm drawing a blank at the moment personally."
"I think I've got one." Natsu shot a look in the direction of the airship "It's a long shot and it's pretty damn risky, but it may be our only choice, and the only hope for the others."
"Get to the point."
"Right. We're gonna beat the crap out of every soldier, throw them out and then steal that airship for ourselves."
"...Okay seriously, are you high like the yellow cat right now?"
"What's the problem?"
"It would be a lot easier to just sneak on board, but even then you've gotta consider the problem of Dragon Slayers having motion sickness."
"Yeah I know that, but if Wendy uses her Troia spell on me then motion sickness isn't a problem for me anymore."
"...You want me to point out the obvious hole in your plan?"
"What do you mean?"
"I'll take that as a yes then. You've clearly forgotten that none of us can use magic here, which includes the kid."
"...Okay new plan, we'll have to find another way."
"A little bit late for that, the thing is already landing."
"I say we take it by force." Lucy told them "Doing that is the best chance we have of making it in time to save them."
"Appreciate the initiative, but how are we going to do that?"
"How do you think, we'll just use my magic. Did you forget that you're in the presence of the most powerful wizard in Fairy Tail?"
"...Yeah we're fucked."
"Ignoring that, didn't you notice how quickly we got the upper hand on those soldiers back in the city of Louen? Magic from Earth Land must be far more advanced than anything we could find in Edolas."
"Considering the crappy Terra Slicer I got stuck with, on that we can agree."
"Fine by me, Lisanna let's get moving. Hey you guys check this out!" Lucy quickly bolted out and pulled out a key, grabbing the attention of the Royal Army "And now open, Gate of the Lion!"
"Take over: Animal Soul: Tiger!" Lisanna activated her Animal Soul, giving her the features of a humanoid tiger.
"Loke!" Lucy opened the gate, but what emerged from the gate wasn't Loke, but just a simple note that gently floated to the ground "What the hell?!"
"It's a note."
"I know that it's a note, I mean why the hell did it come out of the gate, and more importantly than that, where the hell is Loke?!"
"Hold on, let me read the note." Lisanna picked up the note and started reading it "Dear summoner, I regret to inform you that Leo the Lion of the 12 Celestial Zodiac Spirits is currently unavailable, as he is currently occupied with a date. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please try again at a later date."
"Are you kidding me, has he lost every ounce of sanity he had?!"
"No, that's just how Loke is."
"It's Lucy and Lisanna from Fairy Tail, capture them!"
"They're coming."
"Now what the hell am I supposed to do?" asked Lucy "I was counting on Loke to come and take all of them down in one go and make me look like a powerhouse!"
"Looks like that means it's up to me them. I've been training a lot lately, so I have more than a few tricks up my sleeve. Animal Soul: Rabbit!" Lisanna switched to her rabbit form and blitzed above the soldiers in mid air "Animal Soul: Tiger!" she switched back to her tiger form and started cutting through the spears and shields of each of the soldiers, sending a good number of them tumbling backwards "And that's why don't hurt any of my friends from Fairy Tail, you don't want to forget that."
Noah let out a low whistle "I've gotta give it to you Animal Girl, looks like you're a fair bit stronger than you were the last time I saw you."
"It's been at least a few weeks since Galuna Island, and I've been training really hard since then so I don't lose so easily again. I did prepare something else, but it requires a lot of magic power to use and I can't maintain it for very long."
"Good to know, but let's focus on the here and now." Noah pulled out his Terra Slicer as it began radiating magic power.
"Fine by me." Natsu pulled out his Sealed Flame Sword, with Wendy also pulling out her Air Lift Cannon "If we can't use our Dragon Slayer magic then we'll just have to use Edolas magic instead, you'd better watch out because we know what we're doing now!"
"No we don't, but we'll go down fighting mother fuckers! Terra Slicer!" Noah hurled his Terra Slicer at the soldiers, cutting down two or three of them in the process.
Natsu and Wendy on the other hand, they didn't even last ten seconds before they got blown away in a comical fashion.
"Yeah that figures, without their Dragon Slayer magic they're about as useful to us as YouTube friends are to pretty much anyone. But they're still more useful than the blonde, so that's still something. More or less."
"Enough of your snark, the airship is getting away!" Carla pointed to where the airship was starting to take off "We have to do something quickly, if we don't then we're never going to make it!"
"Dammit get back here!" Natsu tried to force his way towards the airship, only to be slammed into the ground by one of the soldiers "Dammit, now what the hell are we supposed to do?"
"I think we're about to get some backup." Noah kicked one soldier in the face and jerked a thumb at something approaching them in the distance, in the form of a magic mobile with the Fairy Tail guild mark on it "Okay, wasn't expecting the road rage to be our savior. You know I swear there was this old Hot Wheels cartoon a few wheels back that-"
"Fuck the references, just get in the thing." the driver cut him off, having pink hair and a pair of goggles "I got the word from Lucy and Noah that you guys might need a lift, so hop in before they get any bright ideas."
"Good enough for me." Noah grabbed onto Natsu and Wendy and threw them in, then did the same to Lucy and Lisanna "That fast enough for you?"
"Works for me, just come on and I'll get you to the Royal City. You'd better fasten your seatbelts kids, we're riding hard. Ignore the potential for the "That's what she said" joke, and now we're gonna GO FIRE!" and so the magic mobile soared away, literally covering itself in flames in the process.
"Dammit, I like "that's what she said" jokes."
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Meanwhile, with the B team for this arc…
Having met his counterpart, Edo-Gajeel was now taking what he was being told by Gajeel, as well as Luke, and putting pen to paper "So to summarize what you're telling me, the two of you were sent to this world by one Mr Mystogan with nothing but a simple explanation and the clothes on your backs?"
"That's about the sum of it." Luke told him "In all honesty, this is the weirdest thing I've ever had to deal with, but not by that much."
"I see."
"I'll tell you one thing." Gajeel muttered "Getting used to this place isn't all rainbows and sunshine and other bullshit, I'll tell you that much."
"Duly noted. This may very well be the most bizarre story of my entire career."
"Well no shit, how often do you meet yourself at a bar?" Gajeel was met with the sound of an amused chuckle.
"I must say your simple perspective is certainly quite refreshing in comparison to some others I've had to deal with in the past."
"I know the feeling." Luke told him "All things considered though, it seems like you've made quite the name for yourself as a muckraker around these parts."
"Yes indeed my friend. Seeking out the truth and enlightening the masses, investigative reporting is the true calling of my life."
"The truth is one pill that a lot of people have a tough time swallowing, we've met a few people around these parts that seemed pretty cold and distant because they thought the version from my world was actually you."
"I see. Well while do thank the two of you for taking care of such annoyances for me, I must apologize for the inconvenience. Truth be known I've made myself out to be a thorn in the side of many powerful organizations."
"It's what I'm known for too back in my world."
"The articles I've written have caused numerous problems for the king and the government over the years, but it doesn't matter to me. As long as I'm able to put pen to pad I'll write the truth to the best of my ability."
"Good for you." Gajeel let out a sigh "You know when I first heard about this place, I figured it would be insanely different from my world."
"I can imagine." they both stood up and put their arms around each other.
"But the two of us-"
"-are almost exactly alike!"
"You not only don't take crap and fight the man, but you dress good and write fancy words like I do if I give a shit!"
"And you unkempt wildness is reflective of my soul, we have so much in common with each other don't we Mr Me? Incidentally I'm also quite skilled when it comes to playing instruments and singing."
"Holy crap me too, we're a musical genius!" they bumped elbows like bros do.
Luke just glanced over at one of the soldiers guariding the doors "How the hell did I become the third wheel in the span of 30 seconds?" he was met with a shrug, and then he promptly turned towards the bartender "Hey man, get me a #3 and leave the bottle. If I'm putting up with two of them, I think I'm going to need it."
"Way ahead of you." the bartender handed him a bottle "Here's the Gajeel special."
"The Gajeel special?"
"You think you're the only one who's had to spend hours alone with him?"
"...Get me two more. Holy crap, I've been spending way too much time around Cana. I have some serious issues don't I?'
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About 10 minutes and half a bottle of the Gajeel special later…
Luke peered around the corner and turned back to face the Gajeel duo "A few friends of ours came to this world too in search of the rest of our guild."
"Tell me about it." Gajeel let out a snort "In all honesty, they're a bunch of morons."
"No, I'm pretty sure that's just Natsu. They've all got it where it counts though, and they're gonna be raising hell in a matter of hours, especially considering Natsu's an idiot, Wendy doesn't have any real backbone, and Noah is probably gonna lose it around them any day now. Either way, it's only a matter of time before they make their move, and when they do…"
"Yes, I'll be sure to let the both of you know the moment they strike." Edo-Gajeel gave them confirmation "I've got contacts everywhere, including someone inside the Magic Warfare Unit itself, so the king can't scratch his nose without me knowing about it, so for me to keep tabs on him is going to be too easy."
"Be sure to live up to that, we're going to be counting on you. We'll be sure to keep a low profile until we get the word from you."
"Well until then my friends."
"Just make sure you don't keep us waiting, we've got way too much riding on this." and on that note, Luke and Gajeel split up from the latter's counterpart, the two of them going one way and him going the other.
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Meanwhile, with the A team…
Bolt glanced out the window of the magic mobile "Well this is kickass, first we kick the crap out of a bunch of soldiers and now we get to make a clean getaway and sail right across the desert, and do so in style!"
"Well that's one way of looking at it." Noah glanced over at the Fireball "I guess I should thank you for saving us back there, we owe you one."
"Please… help me…" Natsu let out a groan of agony.
"Most of us do anyway, and for the record we can't be held accountable for any chunks he blows over your ride."
"Duly noted, but there's no need to thank me." the driver told him flatly "My set of wheels here is way faster than that piece of crap they call an airship. Then again, there isn't a vehicle in all of Edolas that I can't leave in the dust." he lifted his goggles, revealing his face.
"Oh you've gotta be shitting me, Salamander?"
"Fireball actually, but the real name is Natsu Dragion. I'm kind of a big deal around these parts in case you didn't know."
"Natsu is that really you?" Lisanna's jaw dropped at the sight of him.
"You're the Lisanna from that other world right?"
"Well, no offense but you're nothing like that Natsu we know."
"Which is ironic because you seem exactly like my Lisanna, drop dead gorgeous but with a heart of gold." Edo-Natsu promptly put an arm around Lisanna, causing her face to turn a deep shade of red and for Natsu to start biting down on his other arm in a comical fashion "So I take it the biter over there is your version of me? Talk about pathetic."
"And irritating too." Noah pointed out dryly "Seriously, one day with this idiot and I already want to shoot myself. At least motion sickness keeps him quiet."
"Again duly noted, but if he upchucks then make sure he does it out the window. They would never be able to call me Fireball the Currier Wizard if I tossed my lunch just from lying on my ass in a car."
"Not just cars either. Also hold that thought." Noah then proceeded to hurl out the window of the car, earning looks from everyone present "What? It's a Dragon Slayer thing, we all get motion sickness, but I learned that you can't upchuck if you've got nothing in you. In all seriousness though this ride is pretty kickass, how do you do it without the SE plug?"
"What the hell is an SE plug?"
"It's a plug that allows users in our world to power magic mobiles using their own magic power from within their body, but since people from Edolas need to use weapons or other objects in order to use magic power you'd have to have some kind of alternative. So what then, do you have some kind of lacrima that acts as the power source for this thing?"
"For fuck's sake, how ignorant can you people get?" Edo-Natsu suddenly slammed on the brakes, bringing the magic mobile to a halt.
"And you're trying to make me get intimate with your dashboard."
"I get there enough with Lisanna as it is, frankly it's nothing new."
"And now I need to disinfect myself."
"Whatever lets you sleep at night. Anyway magic power in Edolas is a resource that has a crapload of limits, and by extension that means things like magic fuel have just as many limitations going for them. Something like that is almost impossible to get ahold of. To make a long story short, I can't really afford to take you guys any further than this, so to put it as bluntly as I can, get the hell out of my ride. I can't keep burning through fuel and wasting it like this, or else I won't have enough to make it back to the guild. Thanks to that traitorous son of a bitch the Thunderer they had to change locations again recently."
"All I need to hear, hello to you solid ground!" Natsu bolted out of the magic mobile with a wide goofy smile on his face "I'm alive like mother fucking Frakenstein!" he was met with a disapproving glare from Lisanna that made his blood run cold "No cursing, got it." the glare subsided.
"I've gotta give this to your version of me if nothing else, he knows when it's time for you to pick up and move on. Okay time's up, now clear the hell out." Edo-Natsu then proceeded to toss them out of his ride.
Mira promptly spat out some dust "Well that was a dick move if there ever was one, pull that stick out of your ass."
"If you guys want to take on the kingdom then I have no interest in trying to stop you, but I don't need you guys trying to drag me or the rest of my Fairy Tail into it. Truth be told Noah is the only real reason why I bothered to help you guys in the first place, well him and Lisanna that is anyway. My versions I mean, Noah's kind of the boss around our guild so whatever he says goes, and I could never say no to my version of Lisanna. Plus Mira is her sister so if anything happened to her then lord knows how bad that would turn out. Anyway thank them for your rescue, but I don't want anything else to do with you guys. Driving with my girl is all that matters for yours truly."
"Hey assclown." Natsu got right up in his face and yanked him out of the car "Alright listen up reject, you and I need to talk for a second."
"Oh dear god no, you get your hands off me right now!"
"Not happening you little shit, I think it's time I give a new meaning to the phrase talking to myself."
"Will you get your hands off me, I can't get out of my ride!"
"Let me think about it, thinking thinking thinking and no to the fuck no." Natsu threw his counterpart onto the ground with a loud thud "I've got something I want to ask you, and don't give me any bullshit."
Noah promptly let out a low whistle 'Hot damn, and here I thought I was going to have to chew him out for bailing on us like that. I guess me chewing him out yesterday actually did get through to him after all. Maybe there's hope for him yet.'
"Why the hell don't you get motion sickness like you?"
'...Then again, maybe not.'
"I… I don't know, I swear I don't know…" Edo-Natsu then proceeded to make everyone's jaws drop by cowering in terror "I'm sorry, just please don't hurt me!"
'And now I've officially seen everything. Are you actually the same dude?"
"Yes of course I'm the same guy, but people say I'm like a different person when I'm behind the wheel!"
"Oh you've gotta be fucking kidding me!"
"Please don't yell, you guys are freaking me out bad enough as it is!"
"...You can't be serious, you cannot be fucking serious."
Mira just shook her head in disappointment "Oh for fuck's sake Natsu."
"Is he always like this?"
"When he's not in his ride yeah."
"And I reiterate, you cannot be fucking serious." Noah shot a glance over at Natsu "So much for it being like looking in a mirror."
"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry you guys." Natsu bowed to them like a scared little kid, something that left them considerably put out "I'm sorry but this is as far as I can take you!"
"Why the hell is that?"
"The only reason I came in the first place is because my Noah and Lisanna told me that they would sick Lucy on me if I had to!"
Wendy was actually sympathetic towards Edo-Natsu "Hey it's okay, you don't have to do anything that scares you."
"That suits me just fine." Carla noted flatly "We definitely don't have any room for a blubbering coward in our team."
"Come on Carla, don't be so rude!"
Edo-Natsu nervously glanced up at Wendy "Hey, so your name is Wendy right?"
"Yeah that's right."
"Oh wow, you're such a cute little girl. And the rest of you are the other world's versions of me and Noah right?"
"You're just figuring that out now?" Noah shot a glance over at Natsu "Looks like stupidity is a universal trait with you." then he turned back to Edo-Natsu "Anyway you know who most of us are, you've got the gothic chick over there. We've got the cats here like Bolt, Happy and the little (bleep) is Carla, and you've got the blonde over there and now you're hiding behind your ride because?"
"I'm so sorry I upset you Lucy, I swear I'll do whatever I can to make it up to you! Just don't hurt me!"
"...And it's official, she's a dominatrix but you're a submissive right?"
"The Lucy and Noah that I know from here told me that I needed to bring you this far, so I did bring you this far." Edo-Natsu pointed at a certain city in the distance.
"Holy mother of fuck you actually did it, so is that the Royal City? You should've told us you ere here before I figured out you were the submissive type."
"Yeah you're right, I'm so sorry, I swear I can be such an idiot!"
"And you just got annoying again, why the hell am I not surprised?" Noah made his way to the edge of the cliff and stared down at the Royal City "This is actually going a lot better than I was expecting it to, if things keep going like this we might actually be able to bust out the people of Fairy Tail in no time."
"Hells to the yeah we can!" Natsu slapped Noah on the back "The way things are going, what could possibly go wrong!"
"...And you ruined it."
"They're all down there." Mira noted "All of them are trapped inside that gigantic lacrima with the rest of their city."
"You still coming with us?"
"How can I not? I've come way too far to give up now."
"Fair enough, but we're wasting time as it is." Noah turned back to Edo-Natsu and gave him a two finger salute "Thanks for the ride wimp, say hi to my other self when you get back to your guild."
"Wait hold on a second." Edo-Natsu called after him "You mean you guys are seriously going to take on the entire kingdom?"
"I wouldn't say no, it's more of a to be determined than anything else. We're just trying to get back our version of Fairy Tail, and if they decide to get in our way then that means they're asking to get their asses kicked, and that's good enough for me."
"Oh… well I hate to say this, but you can't beat them."
"How about you let me be the judge of that?" and so he and the others started the way to the Royal City.
Edo-Natsu was left alone and staring in awe.
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About a half hour passed, and the group had reached the Royal City, and found it surprising lively and cheerful.
Noah glanced around at the bright and light-hearted atmospher "Okay, wasn't expecting that. So was anyone else expecting some kind of dreary post-apocalyptic hellhole like something out of Terminator or Clockwork Orange?"
"Clockwork Orange wasn't post apocalyptic." Lucy pointed out.
"Maybe not but it was all kinds of fucked up. Either way this isn't what I was expecting from a dictatorship."
"And what's even more weird, and frankly kind of disappointing, is that we got into the city without having to fight a single guard." Natsu pointed out.
"That makes our jobs a lot easier though."
"I wasn't expecting that myself." Mira commented "I've never been to the Royal City myself, so I guess I wouldn't know, but this place is like some kind of carnival compared to the other cities in Edolas."
"You think it's because they steal all of the magic and pour it here? Makes sense when you think about it, the capital gets the most of the good stuff and then they try to light it up to make it more appealing to the masses."
"It doesn't work on us."
"Because we have brains and minds of our own. It's not that hard to figure out, these people are living in some kind of fabricated fantasy land. I doubt any of them even know that they're almost out of magic power, and for all we know this king of theirs is making himself look like some kind of god and guilds like Fairy Tail out to be terrorists, and apparently if they're a dark guild in his eyes, then it's the same in the eyes of everyone else."
"You think they'd turn on him if they knew the truth?"
"More like they'd think we're on crack or something."
That was when Wendy noticed a large crowd gathered nearby "Hey guys check it out, it looks like there's something going on over there! Do you think they're maybe having some kind of parade?"
"Probably them worshipping the king like he's some kind of god."
"Holy crap, you think it's some kind of thing like the Fantasia parade?!" Natsu grabbed Happy and Lisanna by the arms and started dragging them over.
"In case you forgot stupid, we're not here to screw around." and yet Noah and the others started following after him, finding themselves in the middle of the crowd cheering blindly like a bunch of fools.
"What's the deal, why the hell is everyone cheering like that?"
"I don't know and frankly I don't care, we're not here to listen to people cheering like a bunch of blind idiots for shits and giggles." Noah promptly slammed into the back of Natsu when he stopped suddenly "And you know it's common courtesy to give someone a heads up when you slam on your brakes like that, what gives?"
"Guys… take a look ahead."
"What?" but then Noah glanced in front of the crowd and his gaze hardened at the sight of the massive lacrima at the front "And suddenly you have a good reason, it was bound to happen sooner or later."
"It's a lacrima…" Lisanna muttered "A giant one, so that means…"
"It means that your Fairy Tail and all of Magnolia are inside that thing, and if you look closer then you can see that a chunk of it is missing from the top."
"Wait, you mean there's more of it around here somewhere?"
"I have a feeling we're about to find out, if I know these things as well as I claim, and I do, then chances are the Grand Puba is going to show himself any minute now. These people don't have a damn clue the bastard they're worshipping."
Sure enough, this was when Faust made his way out onto the balcony overlooking the crowd of people gathered to worship him "Hear me my children of Edolas, it brings me great joy to my heart to tell you that our Anima Program has produced enough magic power to last our kingdom for another 10 years!"
Bolt had to hold Happy back from charging at him "Yeah yeah I know, he didn't produce a damn thing. He broke into our world and stole it right from under our noses, but we can't cause a scene here as awesome as that would be."
"Now come my children, let us rejoice together! Let us sing and dance, let laughter echo and roar through our sacred kingdom!" he was met with various cheers from the people "The power within this lacrima belongs to all loyal subjects of our fair homeland of Edolas! Today we shall hold in our hands the future to ensure its prosperity into tomorrow and beyond! Therefore we all must make a vow to protect this gift from Heaven with our very lives!" he was met with even more cheers "Listen well my children, for today I shall make a most solemn vow to all of you as your benevolent leader!" he jammed his staff into the lacrima and broke off a piece of it "I shall bring more power to all of you, more power than you could possibly imagine! More beyond what any of you could even begin to fathom!" he was met with the people chanting to his glory.
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What no one realized was that the cloaked forms of Luke and Gajeel watching the festivites from around a corner, their expression of disgust pretty much the same "I guess Kaminari was right on the money when he said that stupidity is a powerful thing."
"I take it you got a plan then?" Gajeel shot him a look.
"We still have to lay low until your counterpart gives us the word, but I have a few ideas until then."
"Good enough for me."
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Noah glanced down at the piece of the lacrima falling to the ground, then looked over and noticed that Natsu's veins were throbbing from his rage, and he grabbed him by the waist to stop him from moving forward "Dial it back Salamander, charging him like a crazed bull isn't going to do any of us any good."
"But it's them!" Natsu tried to force his way out of Noah's grip "Our friends are inside that thing, we have to get them out of there!"
"And how is getting caught and getting yourself killed going to solve anything? You think that will do any good for any of them? How would they react if they found out you died here, what about your cat, what about the animal girl?"
Natsu froze in place as he looked back towards them 'Lisanna… Happy…' he gritted his teeth and gave up the struggle "Fine. I'll wait. For now."
"Good enough for me, let's get out of here."
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Hours passed, and the sun was setting over the skies of Edolas, and by this point, the group had checked into a hotel in the Royal City for the night, though the moral had been lowered considerably.
It only took about 10 minutes for Natsu to run out of patience and bolt to his feet "Dammit I can't just sit around doing nothing like this forever. I'm storming the castle!" he prepared to storm out of the room.
"Holy that thought fireball." Noah grabbed him by the scarf and yanked him back into the room by force "That's not going to do any good for any of us."
"Why the hell not?"
"Because of something you've forgotten about twice already, we can't use our Dragon Slayer magic here, and without a decent plan in that empty skull of yours you don't have a hope in hell of saving yourself, let alone anyone else."
"But still, they were all turned into that crystal and we don't even know how we can change them back." Wendy pointed out.
"That is a fair point, but what are the odds the royal douchebag knows?"
"I think he would, but I don't think he'd ever willingly tell us that."
"Willingly, probably not. But if we find a way to get to him and beat him within an inch of his life, then that actually might work."
"Actually, I think he's right." Lucy's head snapped up at this "Do you think the king actually does know how to reverse the effects of the Anima so we can turn everyone back."
"Probably, so that means we still have a shot."
"The only question is, how do we get him to talk in the first place?"
"Didn't you say something about having the key for a pair of Celestial Spirits that can turn into people they touch?"
"You mean Gemini? Yeah that's right, they can also read the minds of whichever people they turn into! That means that if they're able to transform into the king…"
"Then that means they can tell us everything that he knows."
"Timing is going to be a major issue in that regard though, Gemini's weakness is that they can only transform into someone for 5 minutes at the most, and they can only remember a few people at a time. Literally just two, so there's that."
"But the real question is, how are we going to get close enough to him? That's going to be the hard part of this plan."
"As much as I would prefer to beat the ever loving shit out of these people, charging in guns blazing when you and the Animal Girl are the only ones who can use their magic power will do way more harm than good."
"Allow me to demonstrate, for I've come up with a plan that will enable us to get within range of the king." Carla held up a piece of paper "As with any home belonging to a paranoid ruler, when the castle was originally constructed there was a secret tunnel built as an escape route that links up with an abandoned mine shaft just outside the city wall."
"And you know about this how exactly?"
"It's in my head, just coming to me in various bits and pieces the longer we're here."
"You want to elaborate on what the hell that's supposed to mean?"
"From the moment we set foot in Edolas, it's as if I have some sort of mental map that's slowly being filled in within my mind."
"Sounds like a metric fuckton of plot convenience, but whatever works I guess. If we can find the entrance to the tunnel, then we may actually have a real shot at getting close enough to the king to do our thing. Let's grab the old fucker and get in his head and lord, now I'm seeing that I've been spending way too much time with Salamander."
"Alright, fuck yeah to the fuck yeah!" Natsu was met with a glare from Lisanna "Sorry, language again." the glare subsided "Anyway let's get moving, we've got work to do."
"Not yet fireball."
"Why the fu- fudge are you always stopping me like that?"
"Because if we go now then we'd attract way too much attention, so we should make our move when it's dark out. Until then let's try and get some rest, and since the gothic chick over there is paying for this…"
"You wanna order room service don't you?" Mira guessed dryly.
"They invented it for a reason."
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Hours passed, and the dark of night had closed in on the world of Edolas, so now was the time for our heroes to go through with their plan.
"Keep moving everyone, we should be arriving to the entrance to the underground tunnel any minute now." Carla led the group outside the walls of the Royal City on foot until they came across the entrance to the underground tunnel that was crucial to their plan.
"So is this is?" asked Noah.
"Yes it is, I'm positive of it."
'Something's wrong, it can't be this easy.'
"What are we waiting for? I say we get moving already, the sooner we get in there the sooner we can save our friends." Natsu made a mad dash for the tunnel, only to be grabbed by the back of his shirt by Noah.
"Yeah hold that thought Salamander.
"Again with stopping me, what the hell dude?!"
"I know we're on a tight schedule but we can't rush into this head first, like I've been saying since we got here. We need to be able to see inside the tunnel, so we're gonna need some kind of light for starters."
"I've got this covered, one torch coming up!" Natsu stuck out a fist in front of them, but nothing happened.
"Add another tally to the scoreboard of how many time's you've forgotten you can't use magic here."
"...Oh crap."
"Yeah tell me about it, with the three of us being powerless I can't see blondie there being the most capable of us as a very comforting thought."
"Hey don't forget about Lisanna."
"I know, that makes it better, but not by much."
"So what's your plan then grand puba?"
"For you to never call me that again if you don't want me to shove my Terra Slicer right up your ass. Speaking of which goth, what are you holding there?"
"You mean these?" Mira held up the objects in question "I just got us a few freshly made torches, so you're welcome.
"Surprisingly convenient, so where did you get those?"
"I got them from some hut on the way here, when you're on the run all the time like Fairy Tail is in this world, you tend to see the need to get creative. I got the wood, I wrapped them in cloth and dipped them in oil, so now all we have to do is light them up."
"Uh huh. You give any thought about how to do that?"
"Actually I have, when magic is limited you tend to learn other skills."
"About fucking time someone else in this group learned how to be useful without using any magic." Noah started rubbing the torches together to create a spark "You see the fact that people find stuff like this so hard really pisses me off to no end."
"I know, people here act like losing any access to magic will be the end of the world. If anything it's like losing access to Netflix."
"Bout time someone says it, the master of my guild may be one sadistic and delusional mother fucker, but he did teach me one important thing: You can't rely on magic to solve every single problem that comes your way, so if you're nothing without it, then you don't deserve it in the first place. Plus that was the entire moral of Iron Man 3, and Spider Man Homecoming too by extension. Seriously, if anything people consider magic power to be a major crutch, but it's way worse here than in my world. Oh yeah by the way, here we go." Noah held up the small flame in his hand "See, at least I know basic survival skills. Like I said, if you're so dependent on magic that you can't live without it then you don't deserve it."
"Alright!" Natsu pumped a fist "Way to make yourself look awesome."
"And way to make yourself look pathetic since you're a Fire Dragon Slayer and yet you don't even know how to make a simple flame without your magic."
"...Well we've got fire now so why don't you just drop it?"
"Irony and much needed humility, thy name is Salamander."
"Well speaking of Salamander, why don't I try chomping down on that thing?"
"You wanna elaborate on that theory?"
"Me eating fire usually gives me back my magic power, so maybe the same kind of thing will work here, so fork it over!" he was held back by Noah grabbing him by the face.
"Not going to work, so don't even try it."
"Why the he- heck not?" he stuttered over the middle of his sentence to avoid cursing in front of a certain animal girl giving him the evil eye.
"Because if that did work then both me and the kid would've gotten our Dragon Slayer magic back by now. Besides, the kid ate some of the air here and I ate some of the earth when we first got here."
"Aw dammit, you're right." he was met with the evil eye from Lisanna "Oh no."
"Yeah that's a personal problem, we'll deal with you being whipped as fuck once we get back to our world okay? Good, now if we're done screwing around, we have a lot of ground to cover in there."
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It wasn't long before the group was slowly making their way through the tunnel.
Lisanna and Lucy looked around at their surroundings "It looks like nobody has come down here in awhile, and in all honesty it's kind of creepy."
"Hold on." Carla stopped the group a fair ways into the mine "Put the light right out in front of us here."
"On it." Noah made his way forward with one of the torches, revealing that there was a considerable amount of debris blocking their way "And it has to be a dead end, why the hell am I not surprised?"
"But that right there is our link."
"From the looks of it this is pretty thick, and if I had to guess I'd say it was fortified by some kind of spell. Plus there's wood along with the rock so if I did try to eat my way around it, chances are it would take awhile."
"So what does that mean?" asked Natsu "Does that make this a dead end?"
"I doubt it, if I had to guess then I would say that the passage leading to the castle is probably on the other side, which means we're probably going to have to break it down."
"That won't be a problem, seeing how I can call on a certain someone that can bust right through it!" Lucy whipped out one of her keys "Open, Gate of the Golden Bull: Taurus!" she then opened the gate.
"Moo to the moo!" sure enough, Taurus was summoned forth before them in all of his bovine glory.
"Yeah now we're talking, if you're looking for brute strength then Taurus is definitely the Celestial Spirit you want to call on. Now do us a favor and plow through that wall for us, will you?"
"Of course miss Lucy, cause you know I'm always in the mood for plowing."
"Now knock that thing out of our way."
"Way ahead of you miss Lucy, I'll make it vamoose!" and so Taurus swung his battle axe at the wall, shattering the debris in their path and clearing the way for them.
"You see, now that's what I'm talking about."
"Well shit." Noah let out a low whistle "Not going to lie, that's what I call firepower. I guess everyone has their moments. And from the looks of it I was right, there is a passageway behind that wall. Okay I'll admit, that was pretty impressive for a Celestial Wizard."
"Yeah I know, thanks. Hey!"
"Moo to the moo!" Taurus promptly started flexing his muscles "That wall wasn't so hard to moove Miss Lucy.
"Thanks for all of your help here Taurus?"
"Don't you think I deserve to get a smooch?"
"Would it kill you to get over it already?"
"Oh come on now miss Lucy, don't be like that! A kiss from you would be enough to send me to the mooooon!"
"How about I just send you home instead." and so she promptly closed the gate, sending him back to the Celestial World.
"Well he wore out his welcome fast." Noah pointed out.
"He tends to do that."
"So I can see."
Carla on the other hand frowned in thought "Whether or not this passage actually leads us to the castle remains to be seen."
"Well you've been right about everything else so far, so I'm sure that you're right that this is the way we need to go." Wendy told her.
"I suppose we'll find out soon enough."
Bolt glanced behind him to see Happy trailing behind the rest of the group and looking rather downcast "Let me take a wild guess, you're wondering why neither of us are getting any sort of map inside our heads too? I get it, we're from Edolas like she is and we all supposedly got sent to Earth Land on the same mission, so you want to know why you don't know anything."
"In case you had forgotten before, we agreed not to talk about that. I can't give the two of you an explanation, that just seems to be how it's working out."
"You really wanna stick with that?" Noah shot her a look "Keep in mind you're the reason we're here in the first place."
"I thought I told you as well not to pry into the details."
"And why is that exactly, what is it you're so desperate to hide from us?"
"I'm not hiding anything."
"And Teen Titans Go isn't an atrocity. You knew the Anima was going to suck everyone up back in Earth Land, but that's not even it, and you know damn well what I mean. You said that the kid, Thunderclap, Salamander and myself were able to escape the effects of the Anima because of the fact that we're all Dragon Slayers. How the hell could you have known that unless it was part of the mission?" this left most of those present surprised.
"But Noah, keep in mind that Carla's been helping get here." Wendy pointed out.
"And yet as soon as we get here, she suddenly has a map pop up in her head that's gonna lead us to the castle?"
"What exactly are you getting at?" asked Lucy.
"All I'm saying is that I don't get how the white cat knows all about this, it just sounds like a giant steaming pile of plot convenience."
"What are you getting eat you heathen?" Carla rounded on him "If you have something to say then just come out and say it."
"You know a lot more than you're telling us. I'm gonna ask you this one and I'm not putting up with any BS from you. What are you hiding?" this was followed by an awkward silence.
This was when Lisanna finally intervened "Cut it out you guys, we don't have time to point fingers at each other. If we're going to make it out of this then we need to be able to trust each other."
"Tell that to the walking example of plot convenience."
"You know she's got a point." Natsu was met with a few jaws dropping "I get the whole plot convenience thing, but saving our friends is the important thing, so we can interrogate her like something out of Clockwork Orange later."
"...Fine fuck it, we are on a tight schedule, but you'd better be right about this."
"Please just trust us." Wendy told him "Carla may have her moments, but she's as good as they come, and I trust her with my life."
"Yeah yeah, go ahead and make me look like the bad guy." Noah shot another glare down in the direction of Carla "But remember that whatever happens is going to be on you." and so on that rather ominous note, the group continued onwards into the tunnel.
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About an hour passed, and the group was still continuing onwards.
"Now in about 50 paces, we take a left… We should turn here…" Carla continued leading the group onwards, only for them to come to a stop when the came across a large cavern that was being illuminated by glowing green crystals all throughout.
"Huh, and now this goes from being a tunnel to being a cavern." Noah promptly picked up and devoured a stalagmite "Huh, kind of minty tasting. Too bad I can't fucking stand the taste of anything involving mint." he spat the piece out, but then shrugged and took another bite "But then again it kind of has a tangy aftertaste that reminds me of grapes."
"If you're done acting as an unprofessional taste tester, then I believe that this cavern is located directly underneath the castle."
"You sure about that?" the suspicion in Noah's voice was evident.
"I am quite certain, thank you very much."
"You're not welcome, not yet at least."
"I will admit that I'm rather perplexec by how the map keeps formin inside my mind, but as I told you all the map just keeps getting more and more filled in."
"You'll forigve me of I'm still skeptical."
"Regardless of what you believe, being able to find our way in here is most likely going to be the easy part. But what will be truly amazing will be sneaking in and out of the Royal Chambers belonging to the king without being detected, and considering the fact that we're as defenseless as we are now, this mission will be over the moment we're spotted."
"Oh believe me, that's been made painfully clear by now."
"I wouldn't worry about that." Lucy was still being way too smug for her own good "Keep in mind that we can always use my magic if we end up getting into a pinch."
"And you're going to be our savior? Oh yeah, and Teen Titans Go would suddenly cease to exist in the blink of an eye."
"Hey what the hell are you saying? Keep in mind that Taurus got us this far, and the success of the entire plan relies on us using Gemini!"
"You don't have to be suck a fucking smartass about it."
"Hey, my cockiness is justified!"
"Whatever you need to tell yourself." they continued on for a few feet, but they only got that far before it happened, as silk robes shot out from within the darkness and didn't miss a beat in catching Mira, Lucy and Lisanna before they were able to act "What the hell, everybody get down!" but immediately after he said this they got caught too "Dammit, once again I have to do everything!" so Noah quickly leapt out of the way of the silk robes and grabbed onto a stalagtite hanging from the roof as a number of Royal soldiers surrounded the group "Yeah that looks about right, I knew this seemed way too easy. Keep in mind you guys, magic or no magic I have no problems with tearing into all of you hard, now how the hell did you guys find us?"
"So I take it these are the magic users from Earth Land, and counterparts of Fairy Tail wizards by the looks of it."
Noah looked around and his gaze hardened "So it looks like they were right, you really do serve the Royal Army… Thunderclap."
"It's the Thunderer actually, but that one isn't bad either." sure enough, the man leading the troops was Luke Tempesta, better known as the Thunderer "But in all seriousness, the fact that you resemble the outlaws Dragion, Ashley and Quake."
"It's Aftershock actually." Noah dropped to the ground in front of him "Now how about you get your lapdogs to let them go before things get messy."
"Defying the law even when the odds are stacked against you, looks like you and your counterpart are more alike than I was expecting. But then again, I'm sure he told you that facing off against the Royal Army almost always means death."
"Dude I know Thunderclap, I spare with Thunderclap, I'm gonna be fighting him soon enough, and you are no Thunderclap. If you really think I'm gonna go down without a fight then just wait, even if I'm stuck with crappy magic from this world I'll still be damned if I let you take me without a fight."
"As commendable as your fighting spirit is, there's a time and a place for that sort of thing, and this is neither of those. And keep in mind, you have little to no experience with using magic from this world, whereas I have plenty. And with my power, I am now more powerful than the king of Edolas himself." Thunderer drew his battleaxe from his back and unleashed a small surge of electricity that sent Noah flying backwards too fast for him to react "Keep in mind that actions speak a lot louder than words. Take them away."
"Yes sir!" the soldiers promptly grabbed onto Noah and the others and started dragging them away as ordered.
As they did this, Mira locked eyes with the Thunderer for a long moment, her mind racing over a certain something he said 'More powerful than the king of Edolas himself?
"Oh for fuck's sake, hold on guys we're coming." Bolt and the other cats tried to rush after the group, only to stop at the sight of a certain someone blocking their way.
That someone was Thunderer and the Royal Army all getting down on one knee in front of them, and what they said shook them to the core "Brave and noble Exceeds, it's my great honor to welcome the three of you home."
"Oh that's all kinds of fucked up!" Noah started raging from where he was being restrained by the Royal Army "You white little (insert massive stream of cursing), I knew you were going to double cross us you little son of a-" he was promptly gagged.
"Thank you Steve, you know I have sensitive hearing. Apologizes for that unwanted interruption mighty Exceeds, we're most grateful for your help in capturing the intruder." this left the three of them frozen, silence and shaken to the core.
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The next few hours weren't particularly pleasent for our heroes.
Noah found himself thrown in a cell with Natsu and Wendy, courtesy of Hughes and a number of Royal soldiers "Alright start talking, what did you do with the others?"
"What do you mean others?" Hughes raised an eyebrow.
"The blonde, the animal girl and the gothic chick with the nice rack, keeping priorities in order in that regard."
"Oh yeah, the chicks that were with you guys. Pretty little things too, it's a damn shame that we have no use for them, so they're gonna have to be executed."
"You son of a-" Natsu tried to pry the bars open, to no avail "If you sons of bitches lay so much as a finger on Lisanna then I'm gonna be sending you on a one way trip straight to hell! I'm gonna rip you fuckers apart and burn you alive and bathe in your fucking blood!" he was then hit with a chop to the back of the neck.
"Thanks for that."
"He gets annoying a good chunk of the time." Noah pointed out dryly "As for me, well I'm the kind of rage you don't see coming until if shoves its hand through your chest, which I'll most likely be doing to you once I get out of here."
"Well now, aren't you a bunch of scary ones? So tell me something, are all Earth Land wizards as ferocious as you are?"
"I don't know if ferocious is the right word I would use, truth be told that sort of depends on my mood. But tell me something, what about Bolt and the others?"
"You don't have anything to worry about with the Exceeds?"
"You know they happen to have names."
"But that matters extremely little. The fact is that the Exceeds finished their mission, so we already took them back to their homeland. If I had to guess, then I would say that right now the little ones have already claimed their reward and are having a feast as we speak."
"Again with the mission, is someone going to elaborate or do I have to start busting heads before I actually get any?"
"No way, it's impossible!" Wendy suddenly blurted out "I don't know what kind of mission you guys sent her on, but I know that Carla abandoned it!"
"At least that's what she told us."
"At least one of you has sense." Hughes let out a chuckle "Truth be told, she actually completed it like a pro."
"Okay enough being vague, if you're gonna taunt us about it then would it kill you to be straight forward?"
"What, you mean you still haven't figured it out? How about I shed some light on that subject for you?"
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By this point, Edolas Gajeel had made his way to the Northern part of the city plaza, where the lacrima was being guarded, and he started scribbling on his notebad only to be spotted and surrounded by the guards and demanded for answers.
Edo-Gajeel merely told them that he was a journalist and was hoping to interview the guards about the ceremony, and when they refused to answer his questions, he tried to ask whether there were guards positioned in the Southern part of the plaza as well, and upon receiving no reply, he simply left with a smile on his face.
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At the same time, the cloaked forms of Gajeel and Luke were hidden atop a small building as they observed the giant lacrima "So what do you think?"
"We can't just rush in there." Luke pointed out "There are too many bystanders down there for something like that, they'll get hurt in the crossfire without a doubt. The only question is, what can we do?"
"Check it out." Gajeel jerked a thumb down towards where his counterpart was looking up at them.
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Meanwhile, with the Exceeds, as they're now known…
Bolt opened his eyes and found himself in a large and luxurious bedroom, with Happy and Carla both asleep by his side 'Okay, so we're god knows where and they've decided to become cuddle buddies. Hey lovercats 1 and 2, get the hell up, I need to get some details on where we are right now."
Carla slowly opened her eyes, with Happy following not long after "Heathen, tomcat, what is this place? What in the world happened to us?"
"I was hoping you would shed some light on that, all I remember is that we got knocked out and came to here, and you two were cuddling. I mean I know none of us have ever even been here before."
"Perhaps, but…"
Happy was quick to notice the downcast expression she had "Hey are you okay Carla, what's the matter?"
"It would seem that my information was actually a trap, Noah was right not to trust me all this time."
"That's not true, I'm sure it was just a coincidence that they found us. Come on Carla, it wasn't your fault!"
"Yes it is, I betrayed dear Wendy. I swore that I was going to protect her no matter what, but now…" she began choking up "This is my fault, all of it."
"No arguments here." Bolt noted dryly, earning a glare from Happy, only for their heads to snap up at the sound of the door opening "Get ready guys, we've got company."
Sure enough, that was when a certain cat like man entered the room, and he looked both familiar and disturbing "Le-meow, le-meow, I do apologize for my intrusion, but are you the ones who recently completed an Earth Land mission le-mow?"
"Holy sweet mother of fuck, this is like every nightmare I've ever had come to life, actually having to be face to face with Ichiya like this."
"Meow, you all have quite the nice parfume."
"And he's a cat now, just perfect."
"Don't be silly my friend, I'm no cat, I'm an Exceed just like you."
"Mr Nichiya sir." this was when another one came, in, this one being tall, black and with his arm waving endlessly "I've been told that this is the first time they've ever been to Edolas, in fact I doubt they've ever even seen any other Exceeds before."
"Is that so? Well I had no idea. Welcome then my friends, I am Nichiya, the captain of the Royal Guard of Extalia, le-meow."
"And my name is Nabi, and I am otherwise known as the minister of state for Extalia. I really must congratulate you on your mission."
"Our mission huh?" Bolt glanced back at Carla and saw her looking away from them 'She knows what they're talking about doesn't she?'
"I know this is rather sudden, but the queen would like to see you all, so if you would please follow us."
"The queen huh?" Bolt quickly huddled up with them "Okay guys here's the deal, the first thing we need to do is get the lay of the land. Let's just lay low for now, and then we'll go from there, so bear with me for the time being."
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A few minutes later…
It wasn't long before Bolt and the others were following Nichiya and Nabi, getting a look around as they did so 'From the looks of it there are cats everywhere, and from the look of things they're armed and dangerous.'
This was when Nabi spoke to them "I bet all of you are excited aren't you?"
"I am, or rather I might be if I knew what the hell was going on. You guys gonna start shedding some light on things or what?" the group passed through a gate, revealing the sight of a sizeable bustling town filled with cats like them going about their daily business "Holy crap, is this where Garfield came from? Good lord that sounds like a nightmare. And now we're getting stares from the locals, which we actually should be used to when you think about it." sure enough, they were getting stares from the locals, and a lot of whispereing too.
"Hey check it out, is that them?"
"Holy crap it is, they're the ones who completed the mission to Earth Land."
"You guys are totally awesome, you're heroes to the Exceeds!"
"The chick is actually pretty hot too, I wonder if she's with either of those two."
Bolt rolled his eyes at the sound of these comments "And just like that, being in a land of cats quickly got boring as hell."
"I'm afraid you're wrong about that my friend, this is the land of Exceeds." Nabi told him "The people here stand above the humans, it's our duty as Exceeds to guide them each and every day."
'So basically we're playing gods.'
"And that beautiful sight you see before you is Extalia, the kingdom of the Exceeds."
'And they have a castle dedicated to what I assume is some kind of prophen that they worship like a god. Yeah this just keeps getting better and better doesn't it? Luke, I really hope you're having a better time than I am.'
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Meanwhile, back in the Royal City…
By this point, Edolas Gajeel had made his way to the South side of the plaza just as the parade had begun, and he quickly learned from a lax guard that there were no guards stationed in the East or West sides of the plaza, and with this information he started to make his move.
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Meanwhile, with the B team…
"Hey man check it out." Luke motioned for Gajeel to take a look down at his counterpart "Looks like your new BFF is giving us some signals."
"So he is, looks like he did his job." Gajeel noted "Looks like he's saying there are less soldiers on the Northern side."
"Looks like we know what to do, so let's do it." they both shared a smirk.
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Meanwhile, in Extalia…
Nabi and Nichiya continued leading Bolt and the others onwards, and at the same time they continued talking down about humans "You see in our world, humans are a foolish and inferior species, so it is our duty as Exceeds to keep them under control."
Nichiya nodded "And in case you didn't notice, they have quite the nasty parfume. And for the record, parfume means smell, meow."
"Our beloved queen watches over the humans of this world and governs them from her place in this castle."
"And she has an absolutely delightful parfume."
"It would be dangerous of the numbers of the humans were to get out of hand, so the queen is responsible for determining which humans are unnecessary and has them executed."
Bolt and the others seemed rather disturbed by that little fact "Why the hell would she go and do that?"
"She does it in order to restore the magic power that's dwindling in our world, at least that's what we've been told by the Queen. You see, not only does she govern the humans of this world, but she controls the humans of Earth Land as well."
"So she decides which people get to live or die?"
"Yes indeed she does, our benevolent queen does have that authority. After all, she is a beloved goddess, meow."
"You said she's a goddess? Yep, worshipped like a god. This is going to be fun.'
This was when Carla finally decided to speak up "This mission that your queen sent us on, I remember. It's coming back to me now, but it's been imprinted into my mind ever since I was born. The queen chose me in order to control the human population, and my orders were to eliminate the Sky Dragon Slayer, Wendy."
'...Okay then, I think we can all agree that shit just went sideways in the most colossal way.' but putting the Deadlpool references aside for now, Bolt slowly turned to face Carla, his expression unreadable "And what the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Please don't ask-"
"Not an option, what are you talking about?!" Happy was clearly the most frantic of them when he heard this "Tell us what the heck you meant when you were saying that you were sent to eliminate Wendy!"
"Dude." Bolt shot him a look that made his blood run cold "I think it's pretty obvious what she's talking about."
"But… no way… that can't be… Does that mean…"
"Yeah, it looks that way."
"Then our mission was to… No, that can't be true…"
"It's bullshit, plain and simple."
"I'm sorry." Carla bowed her head in shame "I thought you were better off not knowing the truth about this."
"What's even more shocking is that I actually agree with you in that regard. How the hell would I have reacted if I just found out that my mission was to kill Luke, and Happy's mission was to kill Natsu?"
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Meanwhile, in the dungeon…
Natsu gripped the bars of the cell as he felt his blood boiling in a twisted mix of rage, confusion and disbelief "What…? No, no way in hell, that can't be right…"
'Shit… of all the plot twists to not see coming…' Noah glanced towards the back wall at the sound of cheering 'Irony, thy name is… well a bunch of different names in this case.'
Hughes let out a chuckle and shot them a smirk full of malice "This is so cool, we finally got our hands on you guys. The three of you have that awesome Dragon Slayer magic inside of you, so all we have to do now is suck it out.
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Meanwhile, in the Edolas Royal Plaza…
By now, the festivities had begun as the extraction of the magic power from the giant lacrima at last started.
Luke gritted his teeth from where he and Gajeel were hiding amongst the crowd "Dammit this is bad, it's starting. We'd better hurry."
"No shit you idiot." Gajeel spat out "Where's the Edolas version of me when we actually need him around?"
"How should I know? You're the one who knows what your new BFF is thinking, so if anyone should have the answer to that it would be you. Either way we don't have time to wait, we have to get moving."
"You think I don't know that? The problem is it's way too crowded, I can barely move."
"Lucky us that's not going to be a problem for too long." Luke pointed upwards as some fireworks were launched into the air to spell out the letter N "So what do you think the odds are that's your new bestie trying to send us a message?"
"Depends on what the others say." this was followed by more fireworks going off, forming the letters O-R-T-H.
"I take it that's for us, I take it that means he wants us to head towards the North."
"So you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"You make the act, I beat the crap out of them. It's been a roughe few days for me given the time of year, I could really use it."
"I won't argue I guess." and so Gajeel started putting on the act "Alright men listen up! That must be some kind of warning, we must protect the lacrima at all costs! I suspect that there's someone suspicious on the North side of the plaza!"
Lucky for them, the soldiers seemed to buy it "Wait what?! We have to do something! That's the rear side of the plaza, we don't have a lot of men positioned there!"
"Keep your forces here and I'll take the others North to secure the location." another soldier told them "And be sure to push the crowd back for their safety!" and so he and a number of other soldiers rushed off.
"Sir yes sir! You heard the man, everyone please move back!" this prompted the majority of those present to back up a great distance.
Luke and Gajeel were the exceptions in this regard "Well first of all, I literally can't believe that worked. Second of all, now that the civilians are clear, it's time for me to make my move, and given how rough it's been for me the past few days given the time of year, I really need this right now."
"Hey didn't you two hear me? I told you to move back!"
"Oh I heard you, but here's the thing…" Luke promptly flung off his cloak, with Gajeel doing the same "Mystogan might raise a hell of a lot of questions, but he's a member of Fairy Tail so that's enough reason for me to trust him, and again, I need this. Dragon Sword Style: Thunder Hammer!" he drew his sword Raiden, thrusted it into the ground and unleashed a surge of lightning magic that sent a large number of soldiers flying "Lightning Dragon ROAR!" he let out a roar that blew away an even bigger number of soldiers "Now's your chance Gajeel, go for the lacrima!"
"You got it, there's no stopping me now! Iron Dragon Sword!" Gajeel summoned an iron sword on his arm and promptly cut down the lacrima, causing it to unleash a massive white light that blinded nearly everyone present.
Luke looked at the lacrima and his eyes nearly bulged out of his head at what he saw "What the hell… You've gotta be kidding me."
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Meanwhile, back in Extalia…
Happy was pretty much left a mess after the realization he had "So my mission… I was supposed to kill Natsu…"
"Would you just calm down tomcat, you need to get control of yourself!" Carla promptly took the opportunity to round on Nabi and Nichiya "Let me make one thing clear to you, none of us ever accomplished our mission, nor did we ever have any intention of doing so! Why is everyone in Extalia talking to us as if we have?"
Nabi and Nichiya blinked, then shared a look "Perhaps it's some form of amnesia, after all there are countless side effects of overriding that are still widely unknown-"
"Answer me!"
"Of course, if you would please allow me to explain. It was 6 years ago that our beloved queen sent 100 Exceeds to Earth Land in hopes of better controlling the human population. After they hatched, the information they had been given would have them seek out and then eliminate the Dragon Slayers, but then one day the situation changed. You see, when the humans created what is known as the Anima, we were presented with a new and exciting possibility. With the invention of Anima we came to realize that rather than simply killing humans, we may be able to convert them into magic power. It's quite well known that out of all of the human wizards, the Dragon Slayers are the most powerful, and therefore instead of eliminating them, you were ordered to bring them into custody." he was met with two of them lying on the ground in tears and disbelief "Judging by your reactions, maybe overriding your orders remotely may not have been the best idea. However everything stills seems to have worked out, you were still able to deliver the Dragon Slayers to us despite your erroneous orders. The humans have been tasked with magicalization, which is the process of converting to magic power. After all, they are more proficient with that sort of thing."
"No, it can't be…" Carla was on her knees with tears streaming down her face "I came here to Edolas… I came here of my own free will!"
"No I'm afraid not you were acting on the will of our fair queen."
"But I led everyone to the tunnels… I did it to try and save them…"
"It may have appeared that way to you at the time, but in reality we were the ones that guided you there."
"No, it can't be… All I wanted… The only thing I ever wanted… was to protect Wendy… She's all that matters to me!"
"What you were experiencing was actually a self-delusion, when your orders were changed from elimination to capture, your duty became to protect the Dragon Slayers and ensure that they didn't get killed before you could bring them here."
"Stop it! That's not true, it can't be true!"
"Whether you like it or not, every move you've made up to this point has been completely controlled by us."
"...Are you done spouting out all of your bullshit?" Bolt slowly pulled himself to his feet as a single tear streamed down his face "Good, because I've got something to say. The Dragon Slayer you sent me to kill in the first place found me in the woods when I was struggling just to find a way to survive, even after I tried to rip out one of his eyeballs he took me in, gave me a home and made me part of a family. I could feel the torment in my heart over the orders between killing him and capturing him, before and even after he took me into his home, and I've been wrestling with this in secret for years. I almost lost that battle and gave into the orders imprinted in my mind, but then one of his comrades died for him he changed, became someone that fights to protect those he loves, and when something inside of him changed, something inside of me did as well. I knew then and there without a doubt that I wanted to stay by Luke's side for as long as I possibly can, and help him like he helped me. So let me put this in terms even you self righteous arrogant bastards can understand. Fuck your mission, fuck the Exceeds, fuck your queen and fuck all of you! I'm not some fucking pawn you can manipulate however you see fit, and neither are they! We're wizards of Fairy Tail, and if you don't like it you can suck on the flat end of my (bleep)!" he was left breathing heavily after his outburst that left those present in stunned silence, but then things got even more shocking, even to him
Happy looked up at him in disbelief, but then the tears stopped flowing and his eyes started burning with resolve as he too stood "Yeah you're right, we're not puppets, we're wizards of Fairy Tail through and through!"
"You've got that right mother fucker!"
"My word…" Nabi shared another look with Nichiya "Tell me Mr Nichiya, do you think the three of them are…?"
"Grab on you two, we're getting the hell out of here." Bolt grabbed onto Happy and Carla and started flying away from Nabi, Nichiya and the other Exceed guards "Jokes and weed aside, I would never even dream of bailing on Luke, and there's sure as hell no way I'm going to start now. Let them try and come after us, I'll rip them apart myself if I have to!"
"My word… have they gone mad? No, it seems worse than that… They're fallen angels, otherwise known as Fallens… The three of them, especially the yellow one, have been tainted by the abominable essence of Earth Land and lost their divinity… Three Fallens are loose in the city, hunt them down at once Royal Guard!"
A/N:
And with this chapter, we begin the third act of the Edolas arc, and things are really picking up now. While Noah and the others have successfully reached the Royal City, and been imprisoned there as a result, Luke and Gajeel have been working behind the scenes in their own attempt to save Fairy Tail and the rest of the people of Magnolia. On top of that, we've learned part of the truth about the Exceeds, and we've seen Bolt stand proud and true for what he believes in. I know there really wasn't much that changed in this chapter compared to canon, but one pretty significant change should come in either the next chapter, or the one after that. Also, eveen if it's a few hours away from the time of this update, Happy Easter 2020 everybody, though "happy" is a rather loose term given the current situation, but I believe that in time's like these, it's important to stay optimistic, if not for yourself, then for the others around you.
I don't really have much to say in terms of notes in this chapter, but I do have one thing I'd like to mention. When I first started plannig for this arc, I was originally going to have it focus on Luke finally coming to terms with Mira supposedly sacrificing herself for him and getting over his guilt, but then when I decided to include Noah in this arc, it became more about fleshing out his character and having him bond with some of his fellow Dragon Slayers, and Luke overcoming his guilt was more in the beginning and then everything went to shit, which, looking back, makes more sense, seeing how he's had 2 years to grapple with his guilt, and that last push from Noah was enough to help him reach two important realizations about what happened that day: First of all, he did the best that he could that day. Second of all, if Mira had made the choice to sacrifice herself for him, then it means that she thought he was worth it, and he should make the most of it his life that she saved instead of spending it feeling sorry for himself.