Sometimes to do what is right, someone has to be brave enough to take a stand against what they believe is wrong. Some people are capable of seeing a problem others are not and are willing to take a stand against it even others won't. That's what Rogue is going to do as he mentally prepares himself for what he has to do.
"Rogue, you doing okay in there?" Sting asked as he and Gajeel were waiting for him with some signs ready.
"Yeah. I'm ready to go." Rogue said as the three of them were ready to move. "Thanks again for agreeing to do this, guys."
"No problem." Gajeel said.
"Let's go make our voices heard." Sting said as the three of them were heading out to speak their minds.
...
Lucy
Meanwhile, Lucy was still trying to get whatever little sleep she could. However, it has proven to be rather difficult. The sounds of construction were happening outside and she can't sleep because of that.
"What is going on out there?" Lucy questioned. She climbed out of bed to see what all of the noise was about with Stella following. She went up to the balcony and could see some sort of construction work going on in the park.
"People of Paris, I have great news to share!" Mayor Allard claimed as he was making some big announcement. "The time has come for us to reduce pollution in Paris with cleaner and fresher air! With Project Oxygen, we shall have that!" It looked like the mayor had some big project that was meant to help fight against pollution, but it looks like not everyone was happy about it. Lucy looked near the gate and spotted something else going on.
"One, two, three, four!" Rogue called.
"Project Oxygen no more!" Gajeel and Sting called.
"Five, six, seven, eight!" Rogue called.
"This project we hate!" It seemed like they were protesting against this project, but all it was doing was annoying the mayor.
"Officer Lahar, do something about those protestors!" Aidan ordered.
"What do you want me to do? I can't arrest them." Lahar said.
"I want you to do your job." Aidan ordered like his daughter. Lahar just went with it. Rogue and the others continued to protest against the project, but Officer Lahar went over to stop them.
"Excuse me, but you three must vacate the premises at once." Lahar said.
"We can't, Officer Lahar. They're planning to cut the trees down all for some building." Rogue said.
"A building that will reduce pollution." Lahar retorted.
"No it won't! It's all flash and no substance! It will just make things worse!" Rogue said and he and his friends kept protesting. Lahar wasn't really sure what he should do, but he looked towards Mayor Allard and he could tell that the mayor was ordering him to remove them. Feeling he had no choice, he did what he was told. Since the boys wouldn't stop on their own, Lahar put them all in his car and was taking the three of them away.
"Sorry, but I'm taking you three back to your parents." Lahar claimed and started driving away with them. Lucy saw the whole thing unfold and saw this looked bad, but wasn't sure what to do.
"What's going on, Stella? Should I transform?" Lucy questioned.
"I'm not sure. The police usually deal with bad people; but Gajeel, Sting, and Rogue aren't bad guys." Stella said. "Besides, you're going to be late for school."
"Oh! Dang it!" Lucy said as she realized how late it was and hurried.
...
The High School
Lucy hurried as fast as she could to class. She made it just in time as she came busting in the classroom.
"Nice of you to join us a few seconds before the bell, Lucy." Alzack teased.
"Sorry, Mr. Connell, but I was a little distracted." Lucy said. "I saw Gajeel with our friends, Sting and Rogue. They were having some sort of protest in the park, but the police removed them and is taking them home."
"What?!" Alzack said as everyone was surprised to hear those three are in trouble with the police.
"Hang on. I think Gajeel told me something about that." Levy said as she did research on her phone. "They must be protesting Project Oxygen where they rehabilitate the park. Project is suppose to be a "breath of fresh air" for Paris."
"Why would they protest against something like that? That sounds like it could be a good thing." Gray said.
"Regardless of that, Officer Lahar just made a big mistake." Alzack said as he will not stand for this and got to work as he gave Officer Lahar a call.
"Mr. Connell? Is there a problem?" Lahar asked when he answered the phone.
"I'm afraid there is. You're wrongly punishing Gajeel Redfox and his friends." Alzack said. "Please bring them back to the park. I'll come and get them." He said like he wasn't giving him a choice. "Class, we're having a practical experiences in civics, and it's all happening outside." Something's got Alzack all fired up and they've all never saw their teacher like this.
"This sounds like it could be something good." Levy said as she pulled out her phone and started filming for her blog with everyone following after him.
...
The Park
"The chainsaw is fully operational and will be handled by an adult who has already the manual and will use it wisely and safely." The fireman said as he handed Aidan a chainsaw he can use. "You may proceed."
"Thank you." Aidan said as he was getting ready to chop down the first tree.
"Hold it right there, Mayor Allard!" Alzack called as he and his class arrived just in time. "What do you think you are doing?"
"I'm about to begin my rehabilitation for Project Oxygen." Aidan said.
"No! You can't do that!" Rogue called as he, Gajeel and Sting came back just in time. Lahar tried to handle them, but they refused to be silent. Sting and Lucy did get a glance of each other and looked away considering what happened, but that's a problem for another time.
"I thought I told you to take those troublemakers away!" Aidan said.
"But their teacher told me to bring them back here. He said he would come get them." Lahar said.
"You answer to me! I pay your checks and everything! Take them out of here!" Aidan ordered.
"He will do no such thing! Gajeel and these boys have every right to speak their mind, especially against an unethical project." Alzack claimed.
"Unethical? Don't be absurd. Lahar, do something so I can rehabilitate in peace." Aidan said.
"But your project is unethical and does nothing to help the environment!" Rogue said.
"Nonsense. Just take a look at this." Aidan said as he had everyone turn to the giant monitor and played a commercial.
"Our beloved city is being polluted that not even the air is fresh. Air is life and Paris creates beautiful life. Supported by Paris' best investors, pure and fresh air can be yours in the palm of a hand." The commercial ended up showing a shiny and fancy new building that blew away all pollution with a blast of fresh air. Even Natsu was in the commercial with a bottle and sprayed himself with it. "Oxygen, a whiff of life."
"So beautiful..." Lucy said as she gazed at Natsu in the commercial until she realized the real one was standing next to him. "I mean...it's beautiful how committed you are to the planet."
"But...my brother told me it was an ad for cologne." Natsu said.
"I don't get it, Rogue. What's bad about it?" Gray asked.
"Yeah. It looked amazing, plus it will help clean the air." Lisanna said as they all seemed to love it.
"No! You're all just distracted some pretty pictures!" Rogue said. "That building causes more problems than solving them! This whole thing is just a business ploy to make money and everything will be artificial. If we want clean fresh air, the answer is planting more trees, not tear them down."
"Oh please." Taylor said as she wasn't interested. "Who cares about some ugly trees when we can have a nice and shiny building instead that still give us fresh air right in your hand with a much prettier design."
"That's right, and the trees will be used to help build it all." Aidan said to appeal to Rogue.
"Plus, it seems like too much work to plant and need to be watered. Isn't it bad to waste water?" Taylor claimed.
"It's not a waste if that water is helping the trees grow." Sting said as he backed up Rogue.
"Trees take in carbon and produce fresh oxygen, which happens to be for free and natural." Rogue claimed. "If we want to help our planet, we need more natural solutions; nothing artificial about it." Rogue and Sting weren't backing down to the Allards. Lucy knows both of them wouldn't stand against this if it wasn't for a good reason, and she's starting to see what Rogue was talking about.
"Sir, maybe Rogue just misunderstood your project." Lucy said. "After all, what you're doing is tearing down trees, which can produce fresh air without costing anything, to put in a nice new building. A building that will clean the air, using technology that is complex and elaborate, for you to sell in bottles that will probably end up in the ocean somewhere. It's all fine as long as you have a nice new building for Paris."
"That's right." Aidan admitted without thinking and caused so many people to gasp. "Wait! That's not what I meant! this isn't something you children should be worried about. Leave this sort of thing to the adults."
"Why? We should get a say in this." Rogue said.
"So this is really nothing more than an excuse for you to put up a new building while closing our favorite park." Levy claimed with her still filming.
"Luckily, Rogue and his friends here saw that and stood against it." Alzack said.
"Rogue was right. The mayor's solution is misguided and would cause more problems than save them." Lucy claimed. "It's a good thing you guys were here, but how come you didn't ask any of us to help?" She asked, but that was a little uncomfortable with them looking disappointed.
"We did." Rogue said.
"Levy, I even asked you to post about this on your blog." Gajeel said, but none of them understood.
"We've been trying to tell you guys what's been going on for months, but you all acted like we weren't even there." Sting said. When he pointed that out, all of them felt awful for acting like that.
"We did? I guess we were all so busy with... I don't even know what we were doing?" Lucy said.
"It's okay, Lucy. Most people don't even see the problem until it's too late." Rogue pointed out.
"This is all nice, but I have a project to launch." Aidan said as he was still going on with it.
"Stop Project Oxygen!" Rogue said as he stood in the way.
"Stop Project Oxygen! Stop Project Oxygen!" Lucy and her classmates stepped in as Lucy stood with Rogue and grabbed his hand with all her classmates did the same in front of each of the trees. Levy was filming everything and everyone around the city began watching like Lucy's parents, Levy's cousin Kurt, Gajeel's father, and so many more.
"Lahar, do something!" Aidan ordered.
"Sir, maybe they all are onto something." Lahar said as even he was turning against the mayor.
"If you won't do something, I will!" Aidan said.
"Have you lost you mind, Mr. Mayor?" Jude said as she and Layla joined in as others from around the city were. "These are just children. You can't hurt them."
"My son and his friends have the right idea!" Mr. Redfox claimed.
"No one is messing with my cousin or any trees!" Kurt said.
"I'm trying to help you people. It's for Paris." Aidan defended.
"Sorry, Mr. Mayor. This just isn't right." Natsu said as he stood in too and grabbed Lucy's hand with her blushing.
"Natsu wants to save the trees! Save the trees!" Even his fans were getting in on this.
"Mayor Allard, it would seem many people have turned against Project Oxygen." Bisca reported as she did her job. "Even Natsu Dragneel, despite his brother Zeref being a part of it. Does this mean you will resign your project?"
"Yes, no, yes, no. I don't know!" Aidan said. He tried calling for help as he dialed up Zeref's number and gave him a call. "Zeref, I need your genius intellect. The project is in jeopardy. Help!"
"I'm sure the solution will come to you." Zeref said. That was all he said before he ended the call, but it wasn't looking good for him. Everyone in Paris appeared to be against him and it was overwhelming.
...
Black Knight
"When I say the solution will come to you, Mr. Allard, I meant it. A powerful man that feels powerless must be so depressing." Black Knight claimed as he already knew how to help him. He had an etherious in one hand and a spiria in another. He filled both of them with dark power and released them. "Go forth my etherious, and take this spiria with you!"
...
The Park
Everyone appears to be against the mayor and he couldn't handle it. That was when the etherious and the spiria both entered his mayor sash and placed him under Black Knight's control.
"Mayor Tyrant, your authority is being challenged? Your citizens turning against you? Well, I shall restore your powers and place everyone under your control so they can't go against you." Black Knight said.
"That sounds great Black Knight, but how am I suppose to get so many like this?" Mayor Tyrant questioned.
"That's why I'm giving you an embodimonster called Parasight. It will embody your feelings and desire for command and control." Black Knight said. "Not only will it be a sight to be hold, but it will also help you be everywhere at once and control everyone. All I ask for in return is Celestria's and Salamondra's miraculous."
"An excellent strategy. These people need to remember who is in charge!" Aidan said as he accepted the power and became Mayor Tyrant once again.
"My fellow citizens, behold my power!" Mayor Tyrant declared as the embodimonster formed over the city. It was a giant blue monster floating in the sky.
"Now, Parasight!" Mayor Tyrant called as he jumped into the air and his own creature swallowed him. Once that happened, hundreds upon thousands of Mayor Tyrant's that were smaller than most insects began to rain upon everyone. Once tiny clone managed to climb up Gray and went into his ear. He made his way into Gray's brain and actually placed a podium on it.
"Now, my citizens, I'll be everywhere!" Gray called as Mayor Tyrant was controlling him. The cheers of the people turned into fear as they all tried to keep themselves from getting possessed. Some of them fell under Mayor Tyrant's power as they took control of their brains like parasites. Those under his control now were trying to continue with the rehabilitation.
"No! This can't be happening!" Rogue said.
"Rogue! Move!" Sting called as he shoved Rogue out of the way, but he ended up having a mini Mayor Tyrant in him. Seeing that, Rogue moved fast and got out of there. As for Natsu, he found a safe place to transform and got to work.
"Igneel, Fire Up!" Natsu had Igneel be pulled into the ring and he became Salamondra. Once he transformed, he got straight to work as he tried to help Levy keep the mini Mayor Tyrants away from her. He even grabbed one from my fingers.
"Unhand me, citizen!" The mini villain ordered.
"Sorry. I don't listen to tyrants." Salamondra said and just flicked him away. However, one did managed to get in Levy.
"Get his miraculous, citizens!" Levy ordered under his possession as more of them hurried at him.
"I sure could you use a helping claw, my little star." Salamondra said as he hurried out of there with him being outnumbered. Meanwhile, Lucy finally found a safe place for her to transform.
"Stella..." "Lucy!" She stopped herself just as Rogue came and found her.
"Come on! It's not safe!" Rogue said as he grabbed her by the arm and hurried off to find a safe place to hide from them. "Come on. We can hide down here." He said as he opened up the sewer for them to hide in.
"Uh... You go on ahead. I can find another place to hide." Lucy said.
"Don't be silly. Just because you broke things off with Sting doesn't mean things need to be awkward between us." Rogue said as he guided Lucy down the ladder. Both of them climbed down, but Lucy had to get out of this so she could transform.
"What do I do, Stella?" Lucy whispered until something came to her. "Oh no! A tiny Mayor Tyrant! Get away, Rogue! Aha! I shall de-pollute Paris my way!" She acted and it seemed to have worked with Rogue running off. When he was gone, Stella came out of hiding and gave Lucy a look. "I know that wasn't cool, but I didn't have a choice. Time to handle this problem. Stella, Twinkle!" Stella was pulled into her earrings and became Celestria. Once she transformed, she climbed out of there and got to work. She made her way through the city and saw Salamondra running to the Ferris Wheel.
"Salamondra, up here!" Celestria called with him vaulting up to her level.
"Always nice to see you. Especially when there are mini villains all around." Salamondra said. Speaking of which, one was on him and was heading for his ear, but Celestria grabbed a hold of it and stopped it.
"And I thought bugs were annoying." Celestria joked as she passed the feisty little villain to Salamondra. "Open the Celestial Gate!" She called on her powers and ended up getting a fan. "A fan? It looks familiar?"
"Are we going to blow them away?" Salamondra questioned. Celestria tried to figure it out. It was obvious the etherious and the spiria was in his sash. She just took the tiny sash and broke it apart with the two flying out and the tiny Mayor Tyrant becoming a tiny Aidan Allard.
"No more evildoing for either of you." Celestria said as she used her whip and caught both of them. "That was so easy."
"That's because it's not over!" Salamondra said as he showed Parasight was still making tiny clones and many were still under his control. Some of the possessed citizens were climbing the ride, so the two heroes started running.
"The etherious and spiria must have multiplied just like Mayor Tyrant. Capturing one doesn't solve the problem." Celestria said as they were running.
"So what's the miracle solution this time?" Salamondra asked. This conversation was sounding familiar. She took a look at the fan and noticed something about it.
"No star sign... Wait! Now, I get it!" Celestria said as she stopped. "This is the weapon to the bat miraculous! We need it to help us!"
"So we need Lucy Heartfilia. You gave her the bat miraculous before." Salamondra said.
"Uh... That's not going to work." Celestria said for obvious reason. "I think I do know someone who can help! I need time to recharge my kwami and get this person." She said as she took off on her own.
"Why am always the one to stall for time?" Salamondra questioned.
...
Rogue
Once Celestria took a moment to recharge her kwami, she went back down to the sewers where Rogue was hiding out. He just remained where he was until he saw Celestria show up.
"Rogue, I need your help." Celestria said.
"Celestria? You need my help?" Rogue questioned.
"Yes. You're just the person I need." Celestria said as she used her whip and pulled out the bat miraculous. "Rogue Cheney, here is the miraculous of the bat, which grants the power of multiplication. You will use it for the greater good."
"Are you sure?" Rogue asked.
"Of course I'm sure. You were brave enough to speak up about a problem when no one else did. You even saw a problem that others didn't." Celestria claimed. "Even when others were against you, you didn't back down. You already act like a hero, fighting a good fight even when it seems hopeless. I can't think of anyone else who can wield this miraculous like you." Rogue was touched that Celestria entrusted it to him. He took the miraculous with Duss flying out.
"Boo!" Duss called, but Rogue didn't even flinch. He just put on the miraculous with it looking like a regular medallion with a black ribbon. "Nothing? This guy is good."
"Duss, now is not the time for jokes." Celestria said.
"Okay. All you have to say is "Duss, Flock"!" Duss told him for him to transform.
"Duss, Flock!" Duss was pulled into the miraculous and transformed. Part of his hair was held back as a bat-shaped mask appeared over his eyes. His attire changed into a black suit with a red top and a jacket that reached down to his knees with him given the fan. His attire almost made him look like a vampire.
"Let's move. I have an idea how you can use your powers." Celestria said as she ran down the hall with him following. "You can break yourself into smaller copies of yourself just like the mini Mayor Tyrants and take them on inside, freeing all the people."
"What about the embodimonster? It just keeps making more." Rogue said.
"Leave that part to me." Celestria said. The two of them keep running until they reached a wind turbine that was blowing air up. "You might need something to help, and this will help restore everything. Open the Celestial Gate!" She called on her powers once again and got a small case with the Cancer sign on it. She opened it up and saw it was a pair of scissors. "Got it! You can use this to cut the sashes to free the etherious and spiria. It's all you... Um... What to call you?"
"Count." He said as he fanned his fan. "You can just call me Count." He said. He took the case and was getting ready to jump. "Multiply!" Count jumped right for the fan and enchanted himself with magic dust. He broke into tons of tiny copies of himself and shot straight into the air with the tiny copies of himself spread.
...
The Park
The tiny Counts spread just like the tiny villains. One tiny Count got on Gray and made his way up and went into his ear. Count went straight to the brain where the mini Mayor Tyrant was.
"Time to stop Project Oxygen!" Count called.
"No one is stopping my project!" Mayor Tyrant said as he tried to fight him off. He tried hitting him, but Count rolled under him. When Mayor Tyrant tried stopping down on him, he rolled out of the way and swept Mayor Tyrant's lets. When he got knocked down, Count, took the scissors he was given and used the scissors to cut the sash and freed the etherious and the spiria. Each of the clones of Count took on a clone of Mayor Tyrant. Not only did they managed to cut all the sashes, but they were all knocked out of the people they were possessing. All the Mayor Tyrant's was also being turned back to Aidan.
"Who are you?"
"Where are we?"
"Why are we all so tiny?" Celestria watched and saw everything was going well. Now she can focus on Parasight, but she's going to need Salamondra's help. She searched around for him until she spotted him trying to fight off some citizens.
"Salamondra! We got some help!" Celestria called as she landed on the car and helped him. "Now, I need you to..." Just then, Salamodnra grabbed a hold of her.
"I've got her, my citizens!" Salamondra claimed as even he was possessed. However, a tiny Count managed to make his way to him and managed to kick out Mayor Tyrant out of him. Once he was gone, Salamondra snapped back to normal. "Celestria? What was I just doing?"
"You had a tiny parasite in your brain." Celestria said. "Everything's in place, but we need to move fast. I just need you to hold out a little longer while I get the rest of the team." She said as she took off again.
"Sure. Leave me to do the hard work after I just got my brain back." Salamondra complained and continued what she told him. Thanks to Count, many people were free from Mayor Tyrant's power. That included the ones Celestria needed to help control that embodimonster: Lyon, Hibiki, Kagura, and Gray. She gave each of them their miraculous and had a team consisting of Styrmir, Valiant, Undine, and Frostbite. All five of them came together while Salamondra took cover from the mini villains on a roof. "Please tell me this really will be fast. I can't take much more."
"It will. Valiant, get Undine on the embodimonster!" Celestria lead.
"Voyage!" Valiant opened a portal with Undine diving through and landed on top of Parasight.
"Freeze!" Undine turned her entire body into ice and froze Parasight so it would stop making clones.
"Styrmir, gather all the etherious and spiria! Frostbite, help contain them!" Celestria commanded.
"Storm Wind!" Styrmir twirled his halberd around and created powerful gusts of winds that was gathering all the etherious and spiria in one spot.
"Ice-Make!" Frostbite used his powers and formed a giant dome of ice that Celestria was in with all of them. Once Celestria was in with all the etherious and spiria, she used her ship and was able to catch every single one of them. Once she had them all caught, Frostbite released her and she released all the purified creatures. Once that was done, Parasight disappeared and Count reassembled into one being with him bringing the case and scissors back.
"Miraculous Starlight!" Celestria threw the object in the air and unleashed the magic stars that fixed everything and turned all the tiny Aidans into one Aidan again. When he was himself again, Celestria went down to him and created a new charm for him designed after the Paris flag. "Mayor Allard, keep this charm with you." She said as she gave it to him. "It will keep you from becoming Black Knight's victim."
"Thank you, but I wish this whole thing hasn't happened." Aidan said.
"I'm sure you'll do the right thing." Celestria said as all the heroes believed he would do the same thing.
"Pound it!" All of the heroes celebrated as they all bumped fists. Now that the threat was over, she retrieved all the miraculous. She was most proud of Rogue as he really stepped up when someone should have.
...
Black Knight
"You can have all the friends you want, but you won't win in the end, Celestria." Black Knight claimed. "I'm one problem you won't be able to get rid of so easily."
...
The Park
"People of Paris, I have heard your concerns and voices." Aidan said as he spoke to everyone. "I've decided to shutdown the project. Rather than tearing trees down, I've decided to start a greener project for the good of Paris and the environment!" Everyone cheered at the great decision that he made. To prove it, he grabbed a shovel and attempted to plant a tree.
"On behalf of everyone, I like to thank you for making a wise decision." Alzack said.
"The real credit should go to Rogue." Lucy said. "He was the first one to speak up and have us open our eyes." Everyone agreed to that as Rogue was the real hero in this story.
"Uh... It would seem that plenty a tree is harder than it looks." Aidan said as he was struggling.
"We can help you with that." Rogue said as he and Sting helped out. Rogue has done a great job and now is an offical hero of Paris.
...
Natsu
After everything, Natsu returned home. However, Zeref was waiting for him and he did not seem pleased.
"Natsu, you took a stand against me." Zeref said.
"No I didn't. I took a stand against a project that was bad for Paris and the environment. On that note, you lied to me. You told me I was doing a cologne ad." Natsu said, but Zeref held up his hand and kept him from talking.
"This better not happen again. Go to your room. Now." Zeref said. Natsu didn't like his brother ordering him around, but he just did what he said since he knows he can't talk to his brother so easily. Zeref is starting to worry Natsu is acting against him, and he'll ensure that doesn't happen. He can't and won't have his own brother turning against him.
