Nexus: Heroes Will Rise

by tmb1112

Universal borders have been erased and beings from thousands of universes now live on the same world: Nexus. In the first Saga of Nexus, Awul was saved, but the mysteries of Nexus remain. Now our heroes sail across the sea to Aebrith to search for lost loved ones and save the world. MCs from DBZ, KH, Soul Eater, FT, Blue Exorcist, Bleach, 7DS, OP, Ben 10, SAO, HxH, and many more!

144. Nexus HWR 22-3 Black Market

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the media you may recognize proper nouns in this chapter from. And there's quite a few new sources I don't think I ever used before, so look out for those! I'll put a list at the bottom showing where I got the characters from.

Nexus HWR 22.3 Black Market:

"So what you're saying is the wizard isn't here," Nami muttered, not masking her disappointment with the Resistance official in front of her. "You know we've traveled several days to get here on one of your people's words that this wizard's the best in the land! You trying to scam us? Huh? Is that it?!"

"Nami-san," Juvia started. Nami glanced over her shoulder towards the dejected-looking blue-haired girl.

I need to be the one getting angry here. Can't let you get pissed off after all, Nami thought. She eased up a bit though on the anxious-looking and confused young Resistance Commander who glanced over his shoulder at his good friend and comrade.

Hiroomi was still just ogling Nami and the other gorgeous women though, and Yusuke sighed as Hiroomi would be no help here. Urameshi Yusuke turned back to Nami and indignantly crossed his arms. "I don't know who sent you here thinkin' we had some kind of magic whiz at our base-"

"It was one Charles Xavier," Nico Robin spoke up. Yusuke and Hiroomi both looked surprised to hear that name. Robin saw that they recognized his name and respected it enough that it confused them as to why Xavier would say something like that, showing they knew there had to be a reason and that the old mutant would not have just lied to them.

Nami and the others in the group of recent arrivals in the Resistance base also turned to Robin interestedly when she stepped forward in front of Yusuke. Izumo sweatdropped to see that most of her companions had no idea what they were doing, but she also felt oddly reassured. It eased her to think that they had just come along solely on the word of that woman who she still felt so averse to due to Robin's unsettlingly similar appearance to Bronxi.

"The Professor assured me that in order to reach this magician who he believed could help in our endeavor, we were to travel to the farthest Resistance base in the East. From here, he claimed, you would be able to point me to him." Robin added after another pause, "He also mentioned that I would be able to find him at the 'Library.'"

Hiroomi's face finally lit up while Yusuke just frowned deeper himself. The Commander glanced to his right side and back at Hiroomi who he nodded at with a look telling his friend to take over. "If you'll excuse me," the taller Resistance leader said with one last glance back at the group he did not want to be rude to. "But I have work to do. Hiroomi will take care of you."

"Oh, great." Izumo rolled her eyes as she had seen the looks this guy had given them. She crossed her arms over her chest and put her hands under her armpits. Her annoyed look shifted to a more suspicious one, as she recognized the kind of pervy attitude Hiroomi had that reminded her of a boy from her own world. Shima used that carefree attitude to slip by everybody. I never suspected a thing. No one knew the real him. This guy could be doing the same thing.

As if sensing Izumo's feelings towards him, Hiroomi approached the group and lost his goofy look to act a bit more seriously. "Well, I am sorry to disappoint you folks. The Library isn't here."

"Well then why did Xavier tell Robin it was?" Nami grumbled back at the young man. I made so many promises to Juvia. The lead can't just go cold here!

"I suspect," Hiroomi began. "That the good Professor wanted us to give you a hand. Had he explained back at Resistance HQ just how difficult your journey would be from there, you might have been doubtful that you could make-"

"Is it around here or not?!" Juvia snapped at the man who froze with his mouth still open in surprise. He glanced from Juvia's enraged eyes around to the rest her steaming body and eased back a bit at the look of her. Juvia's fists shook at her sides and she snapped before Nami could reach over and put a hand on her shoulder, "Or are you just gonna run us around too? You think it's funny?!"

"Let's let him speak," Nami placed her hand gently down on Juvia's right shoulder and then squeezed it harder rather than pull away when Juvia spun towards her in anger. Nami did not back up at that look. She just squeezed her friend's steaming shoulder and stared into Juvia's eyes in a serious way for the girl to calm down, which eventually Juvia managed to do with a couple of deep breaths.

"How far is this wizard?" Robin asked. Hiroomi had opened his mouth to ask a question, but Robin prevented him from doing so by speaking up first with the most important question.

Time does seem to be an issue for them, Hiroomi thought, though he still wondered why that was. "Depends," he replied honestly. He continued right away and kept his responses to the point as he could still see some steam coming off the strange blue-haired girl's body. "There are a few different routes you can take to get there. The Library's not in Resistance territory though. It's in the Magic Kingdom."

"Magic Kingdom?" Timmy wondered and looked up at Robin to see if she had heard of it.

Robin frowned without an answer, but Izumo spoke up in a frustrated tone, "Deep in Cooperative territory. That's where your greatest magician is?"

"Weren't you living in Cooperative territory until like, a few weeks ago?" Nami asked the girl who froze up and then shot an angry glare at her comrade who just shrugged back at her. Izumo darted an anxious look to Hiroomi, but the Resistance leader did not seem to care about what Nami just said. Nami continued after countering Izumo, "And that's fine. We're more than safe anywhere we go on this continent. Deep in Cooperative territory or not."

"Yeah, that is true," Timmy agreed. He floated up from the floor and rose his right hand out to his side while still looking forward. Nami did not turn his way but high-fived the boy who hid his happy look at how much faith Nami had that they were all safe with him around. He crossed his arms like she did on his right side a second before him, and he added to the older boy, "We're not worried about the Cooperative. Can you just tell us how to get to the Library already?"

Juvia looked to her side at the pair who seemed so confident that they would make it to this Magic Kingdom and were not afraid to travel into enemy territory to do so. Her racing heart rate finally subsided and she took a few more deep breaths before bowing her head as she thought about how angrily she had just snapped there. Juvia needs to calm down. Juvia does. You really cannot get angry right now! I don't want to hurt anyone! She bit down on her bottom lip and grabbed her right upper arm with her left hand, squeezing it tightly while thinking back on the Fire Nation's capital. She squeezed even harder and pinched herself to cause pain, because when she thought back on the faces of the guards she had killed…

She felt nothing.

"If you're that confident, I won't try to stop you," Hiroomi started again. He had a more carefree tone too after seeing the confidence of this group which he knew enough about to actually know was well deserved. "And to be honest, there are some routes where it's unlikely you're going to have to fight your way in anyway. By 'routes' I didn't mean just driving over land through the Black Witch and Ren's territories to get up there. Sure that is a way to do it, but it's really unnecessary, and the magicians wouldn't like it either."

"How do you mean?" Robin asked, picking up that what he just said was important for them to know.

"The Magic Kingdom is its own country," Hiroomi explained. "But it was subjugated by the Androids. The Magic King is technically a Lord under High Lord 17. It doesn't take part in Cooperative wars, but it's no longer an ally of the Resistance like it once was under the last Magic King. The kingdom itself is a relatively free place inside of the Cooperative. No slaves. Rule of law. The sort of stuff we're all fighting to get everywhere… but anyway, they aren't on our side anymore. They aren't 'against' us, but they are in the Cooperative. Resistance members and other people heading there from Resistance territory can't just do so freely. There are consequences for those travelers, and for the ones receiving them openly. So the Magic Knights- the police force inside of the Magic Kingdom- would have to enforce the Androids' laws. The Cooperative's laws. The King's law."

"So we sneak in," Nami said with a shrug of her right shoulder. She smirked with a glance to Robin who lifted a small smile of her own. Then Nami added to the young Resistance officer, "We are pirates. Some of us at least. Smuggling ourselves in quietly is half the job." Nami could not count all the times she had snuck into a town, or a port, or a country illegally. Robin could count it, and her count was even higher than her friend's, and so neither of them doubted that they would excel at whatever method Hiroomi had in mind.

"'Smuggling,' eh? Well," Hiroomi grinned big. "It's funny you should word it like that. Because I am actually Official In Charge of smuggling technology and magical goods into Resistance territory. At least out here in the East." The others stared back at him in surprise to hear that, and he went on to explain, "If there's something we need in Co-op lands that some merchant's willing to sell us, or a sympathizer to our cause just wants to bring our way, I work out the means of getting it to Resistance lands. Sometimes that might include people as well, though usually it's getting people from Co-op territory down here." Hiroomi admitted the last part with a tilt of his head to the side confessing he had more experience the other way around than what they were asking for.

Izumo let her guard down a bit on hearing him say that. The five in front of Hiroomi all understood by his phrasing there, even if he seemed to be saying it lightly, that he was part of a system that helped slaves escape from Cooperative territory. They felt more appreciative of him taking the time out to help them here too now in knowledge of how important his time was for a lot of other people.

"You'll help us then?" Nami asked, flashing a smirk to her side at Juvia that was confident that they were still on the right path.

Juvia uneasily tried to return the same look back at Nami which came off looking a lot creepier with her forced smile. She looked back though more hopefully when Hiroomi nodded his head. "'Course I will. You're the ones with leverage over us, after all." The others looked at Hiroomi confusedly at what he meant by that.

"Don't want you taking Son Goku away again. And sending you bunch deep into Co-op territory, he might have to go save you," Hiroomi shrugged while turning away. He stretched an arm up over his head and added with a laugh, "Then he might take out a High Lord or two while he's at it!"

"I could do that too," Timmy mumbled under his breath.

"I'm sure you could," Nami patted him on the back but just brushed off his childish retort.

Izumo grimaced at Hiroomi's sarcastic comment that had enough truth in it that she became suspicious again that he might send them intentionally into danger to get Goku to come help his friends. Robin was not much of a trusting person herself either, but she kept from suspecting their gracious guide with a simple counter thought. He's saying it because he would normally feel concern about sending a group of people like us into the Cooperative when we've made so many of them our enemies. It may be more of a reassurance to himself not to stop us, as well as a reminder that we should be careful while we are up there. Robin lifted a small smile at the younger man who had the back of his head to them, but she suspected he might have a more concerned look on his face than he was letting on. Again I am reminded of the good of the Resistance.

"Lead the way, Hiroomi-san. What is the safest, but also one of the quickest routes to reach the Magic Kingdom?" Robin wondered while walking up and to Hiroomi's side. She kept walking and motioned for him to do the same, another indication like her question was that they had a schedule to keep.

He opened his mouth to ask 'In a rush?' Hiroomi thought better of it though while imagining the look of the blunette's face behind him without turning around. Seems like they are. "In that case, and since I know you are not weaklings, I won't suggest the most usual routes for 'personnel' passage. The Black Market has much faster passages. Bit of a rowdy crowd in there, but you pirates can handle it."

"We're not all pirates," Izumo grumbled. She was quiet but loud enough that Hiroomi glanced back at her and rose an eyebrow wondering what she was then if she was not a pirate. She just humphed and looked away from him though which made the Resistance leader a couple years older than her chuckle and turn back forward.

"I'll introduce you to a friend of mine who can get you in there. He has a contact who works in the Black Market too, so you'll have a guide to get you through to the Magic Kingdom side as well. She'll get you to Valyria, or at least close to it," Hiroomi explained while walking the group towards the Resistance base. "It might take my buddy some time to get here to bring you inside, but-"

"'She?' So you know who the contact is too?" Nami asked while tilting her head back and looking discerningly towards Hiroomi. "Why don't you just bring us there yourself? I thought we had so much leverage on you. Too busy for us now, I see. Hmm," Nami shook her head disapprovingly at the boy who would have laughed if he could not see that Nami was actually being mostly serious here. She wanted him to pick up the pace and get rid of the middle-man.

"Would if I could. The Black Market isn't under my control though. Some of those routes I mentioned I can monitor. The Black Market," he shook his head and blew a raspberry with his lips. "Magicians tend not to like authority much. Be it Resistance or Cooperative. Thousands of worlds full of magic, and the 'Black Market' is where they all combine more than anywhere else. Even the Magic Kingdom has a government that then answers to the Androids who answer to the King." Hiroomi shook his head and got a small smirk over his face while looking at the newbies to this who were in for something very cool. "The Black Market was created by witches and warlocks though. Mages who didn't want that kind of oversight. Full of pockets and passageways in a magical space between this reality and… well, let's just say I can't get in there without my magical friend. He can open a door for us."

The others who did not realize exactly what they were getting themselves into froze in understanding of what this "Black Market" actually was that he kept referring to. "Luckily, Juvia is also a mage," Nami reminded everyone around. "And Timmy got some of that Fairy magic- I mean!" Nami cut herself off too quickly. Timmy gave her a quizzical look, and Nami regained her composure in such a way as not to draw his suspicion. "You've been made stronger with magic so much. Your powers are magical too, right?"

"Yeah, I'd call them magic," Timmy admitted. He looked down at his hands and curled them a couple of times into fists and back out. He looked closer at his right hand than his left. Timmy stared at the real skin there and the flesh and bone he felt. It's still so weird. Madara destroyed-

"Hey Izumo, do you know a girl named Shiemi?" Nami wondered. Timmy glanced up at her then to Izumo who perked up and spun in surprise at Nami's question. "You do!"

"You know Moriyama?" Kamiki questioned in surprise.

Robin looked back herself and smiled slyly back at the younger dark-haired girl. Robin mentioned, "I may have overheard Rin mention her before." Timmy and Juvia spun back to Robin themselves in surprise then over to Izumo with way more interest in a girl Rin had apparently brought up.

"Of course he did," Izumo muttered and shook her head. "Well unfortunately, I haven't seen her on this world." Would have liked to though. And Paku. And Tsukumo- Izumo shook her head again faster to get the thought of her younger sister out of her mind. She focused back on Shiemi and frowned imagining her female classmate's aggravatingly sunny demeanor.

"The facilities are open to your use," Hiroomi said. He looked back at the ladies and small boy behind him who all looked back at the Resistance officer who had a tablet out and on but was not using it yet. "I need to make a few calls. My friend is even farther east on the front lines in his Squad, Gamma."

"With the Powerpuff Girls?" Robin wondered.

Hiroomi gave her a sideways look for a second then nodded at the intelligent woman who had been keeping track of the people they met in the Resistance so far. "Yes. I'm sure Blossom won't be happy to lose him, so you won't have his help for long. They're maintaining the line with Arachne right now. Preventing the witch from testing our border while the invasion goes on over in the west."

Robin nodded as that made a lot of sense to her. She wished Hiroomi had not brought up the invasion though. Juvia stepped towards him quickly before Hiroomi could head away from them in the wide entry lobby of the base he had led them into. "Has that started already? Is Gray-sama alright? What do you know?!"

"Whoa! You're Gray's girl?" Hiroomi looked her up and down and nodded his head in approval. "Good for Gray," Hiroomi said in a voice sounding jealous but playfully so- like he meant for that to be heard jokingly in his tone. "And it hasn't 'started' started. But we're all in the preparation stage right now. Keeping the rest of our territory looking as strong as ever is vital to the operation."

"Anyhoo, we'll get you through here as fast as we can, but we are in a warzone and in the middle of operations." He glanced back at Nami and gave her another grin, "So apologies if you're not my top priority at the moment."

He directed that comment at her last remark about him being "too busy," but he still kept a lighthearted tone about it which prevented Nami from getting too annoyed at him. She just humphed again and looked away before tilting her head and admitting to herself that she came off a bit strong back there. Nami focused on something that interested her much more instead, and that was the question she had asked Izumo to get Timmy's mind off of things that were a bit too risky. "So Izumo. Who is this Shiemi Moriyama? Tell me everything."

Hiroomi chuckled and shook his head but strode away. He lifted his tablet and pulled up his contacts to call on his comrade, but he laughed louder as he heard Nami continue behind him, "We'll hold it over Rin's head and tease him when we meet back up. At least until he admits out loud that he likes her! With how often we keep running into people Rin knows here, I'm sure Shiemi won't be too far away…"

---

"You met Mephisto Pheles too?" Izumo asked in surprise to the pirates she was speaking with as they waited on Hiroomi to return to the common room he last checked on them in. "Where was-"

"Well, we didn't," Nami admitted with a look to Robin. "Rin did. Luffy and Sanji got to go to this feast at the Dread Fort, and Rin snuck in with our other friend Killua. Mephisto was there."

"He's a Lord of the Cooperative now," Robin added to Izumo who seemed very interested in him.

"Huh, that's…" Izumo did not know what to think of that. "That, makes sense. I guess." I had hoped Sir Pheles was a part of the True Cross Order though, she thought in disappointment. That would have saved me a lot of trouble.

"About the Nobodies- sorry to bring it up," Robin began to Izumo and got the teenage girl to lift her gaze back up to the older pirate. "The one who saved you from Amazonia. Do you know what he looked like?"

Izumo hesitated for a moment then shook her head back and forth. Robin did not know if she trusted that head shake, but she also understood why Izumo might be against bringing up who he was. I wonder if it is Roxas or Axel. One of the ones who Sora is trying to help, and who he believes will protect Kairi. Axel is also a member of the Resistance. It seems Nobodies can go against their High Lord, but Bronxi does not. I find that very disturbing for some reason.

"What about the other hooded figure?" Robin brought up as she thought Izumo might be less against telling them about this one. "The very powerful one?" Robin specified.

Izumo visibly shivered at the question. Juvia and Timmy were having a serious conversation across the room sitting on a couch next to each other that the other girls glanced over towards occasionally but agreed to stay out of. Nami was glad that Timmy had asked Juvia to talk, though she also had to force herself not to feel worried for him with the way Juvia had been acting lately. Nami's glances in their direction had shown her Juvia keeping her cool so far, even though the conversation seemed very dark from the way they were speaking to one another. The orange-haired woman refocused back on Izumo after seeing the way the younger girl shook at Robin's question. "That bad, huh?" Nami wondered quietly.

Izumo bit down. She wished she had not reacted like that, but the memory was still vivid in her mind. "He took down giants on his own. Killed Captain Marguerite. He was terrifying. I never got a good look at his face, but even my summons knew from the second they spotted him that he was the one to be worried about. He was using guns, and he had this precision accuracy from so far away… More than any of the others, it felt like he could have taken the kingdom on his own."

Robin had a bad feeling that swirled in her gut while Nami responded in a lighter way to Izumo that got the younger girl to lose her dark expression too. Robin tried to lighten her face up as well, but she thought, I believe I know whose Nobody that was. It's just a theory though.

"What the- I don't get it. If you're here, then why did Saix have me going after Bronxi's… Actually, it makes sense… who would want him getting any stronger?"

What Demyx said when he saw Usopp was unsettling, Robin thought. What's more is when I begin to think about it how much sense it makes. Demyx did not want to find Usopp's Nobody's Somebody. He was against the idea, because that Nobody is already so powerful. Usopp's has been around for over two years now. With how strong all of those ranked Nobodies sounded in Izumo's recollection, despite most of them only being around for the few months since Port Royal and Castle Oblivion, I wonder about the power of a Nobody like Usopp's. There are many others who are older and who should be feared more, but Demyx was one from before this world. One who Sora fought. Yet he feared Usopp's as well. Very strange. But like I am confused about the nature of Bronxi, it seems Usopp's Nobody may be less like him as well.

She hummed to herself while imagining a confrontation with Usopp's Nobody. I fear our Usopp may not be able to take his counterpart. What was likely among the first Nobodies created on this world, or maybe even the first. On this kind of world he has likely had years of training while Usopp was just a shadow in the dark… Usopp looks more or less like he did when we vanished from our world. If his Nobody spent his years on Nexus training in the multiversal powers, Robin grimaced deeply imagining the kind of creature that was hunting her comrade down. Usopp's heart is in danger. Once again…

"Robin?" Nami wondered. The older woman tried not to show what she was just thinking about and just nodded back at Nami, then looked to Izumo who was also giving her a curious look over Robin's inattentiveness.

Robin had been focused on their conversation though even if she had been elsewhere in her own thoughts. "When this mystery Nobody saved you, why did you leave the Resistance base he sent you to? You were in quite a pinch when we found you," Robin added, and Izumo frowned deeply but also got a bead of sweat on her face as she knew Robin was right about that.

I nearly got myself killed out there. I forgot what the world outside of civilization was like. Even with a PB, the monsters are just everywhere! Izumo shook her head while glancing down at her wrist and the metal bracelet on it for a second in annoyance at how little it did to keep the Grimm off of her.

"I'm not a Resistance member," Izumo responded. "Which I had to be to stay at that base," she went on in a more frustrated tone. The other women looked back at her in surprise and then gazed around the facility with darker looks that made Izumo grimace deeper. "They didn't, kick me out," she corrected her previous statement that made these two get angry at the Resistance. Izumo shook her head and added in a way sounding frustrated but more at herself than anyone else. "I didn't want to go to the southern refugee cities like the General in charge of that base suggested I do. They have convoys who take people down there. I'm not eligible for a visa into Leam, so that was my best shot."

"But I've heard about those cities. Full of slums and drugs and, and just, not a great place for a girl on her own." Robin nodded back at her in understanding as to Izumo's reservations. "So I thought I'd look for the True Cross Order which I had heard reformed on Nexus while I was in the Women's Kingdom. I never got too interested in it back then, but it suddenly became my best shot. It's the same exorcist organization that Rin and I were a part of back on our…" Izumo trailed off and looked over her shoulder at the Resistance officer who came into the room trailed by someone else they had not seen before.

This new arrival had brown hair with dyed green tips. He stepped in behind Hiroomi and then went wide-eyed at the sight of the "people" Hiroomi had called him to help out without describing. "Oh my! What the-" he shook his head around of the shock and then put on his most dashing expression and reached behind him. His hand shoved through a swirling white vortex that appeared out of thin air, and he pulled out a bouquet of flowers that he spun around with and extended towards the three women who just stood up and faced him.

"Another one?" Izumo asked in disbelief.

"Birds of a flock," Nami muttered and shook her head while understanding how a guy like this had made friends with Hiroomi. "You our ticket into the Black Market?" Nami asked the mage who dropped to a knee in front of them in a way that reminded both Nami and Robin too much of Sanji that the resemblance was uncanny.

"Finral Roulacase, madams! And that is absolutely right. I will be your guide through the treacherous- ah! Remember Finesse! Bad Finral!" He scolded himself and shook his head around, pulling back his flowers and then tossing them out into another portal he made appear in midair. "Get a hold of yourself!" He smacked himself with both hands on his cheeks a couple of times then shook his head around fast and smiled in a more professional way at the women in front of him. They had already seen the pathetic side of him though, so this attempt at a fresh introduction was a bit late.

"You got here fast," Timmy said as he flew over just next to Juvia's left shoulder. He floated close to her, and Nami smiled when she glanced over and saw the two looking to still be on good terms, maybe better than before whatever Timmy just apologized for.

"That's my specialty- I mean!" Finral cut himself off in panic while looking around at all the ladies who might misunderstand. "I mean, I use Spatial Magic. It allows me to teleport to places I've been before. And luckily for you, I've been to the Black Market."

"Haven't you also been to the Magic Kingdom?" Nami asked with a sweatdrop after hearing the explanation of his power. "Can't you just, bring us straight there?" She glanced from Finral over to Hiroomi wondering if that was an option.

"The Magic Knights would not be very happy if Finral did that. And they would sense him," Hiroomi added.

"My brother would probably find me and cancel out my spatial magic with this technique he created," Finral admitted. "He's one of the strongest Magic Knights and would sense me in a second." And he's where Finesse is too. Langris! Darn you! "He'd prevent me from getting back out of there. And we'll all get thrown in jail."

"Okay! So Black Market it is," Nami returned to their original plan without questioning them any more.

"Alright then. Go ahead, Finral," Hiroomi told his comrade who nodded back at the officer in their Resistance.

"Wait! Right now?" Izumo asked in surprise.

"No time like the present," Hiroomi replied back. "Like I said, Finral's on the front lines. It's good that with his power I can take him away for a little without it taking too long, but Gamma Squad needs him back if it's to patrol as long a border as it is currently holding by itself." Hiroomi finished that while looking at Finral who nodded to show he understood that he was meant to get back quickly from this distraction.

"In that case, let us begin our journey through the Black Market. We are in your care, Finral-san," Robin told the mage who she treated with respect and made the Resistance soldier nod back at her in a more serious way too.

"I wish I could just send you in and tell you it'll be fine. But I haven't had the time to set up a call to Vanessa first. We'll just have to ask her to take care of you all once we reach her shop." Finral paused for a moment then added, "If she won't accept, I'll do what I can to get you there myself. I'm not as familiar with the Market though as she is though. Hopefully she's in a good mood."

"You piss her off or something?" Izumo questioned the man who sounded more uncertain about this than she would like.

"Well, no… maybe?" Finral shrugged his shoulders. He sighed and just told Izumo, "It's been a while. We might not have left on the best of terms last time, but I'm sure she'll help us!" Finral finished optimistically and gave them an encouraging smile that was difficult for them to believe after he just brought up the doubt himself in this mission. "Okay!" Finral clapped his hands and took a deep breath. "Going to take a bit more magic for this one than getting here. Let's just hope we land close!"

Finral pointed both hands out in the space that Hiroomi moved out of the way of. A few other Resistance guards and personnel who came to check out the members of "that group" watched as the five stepped towards the large portal that Finral opened up for them. "Stay close to me in there. And don't trust anyone offering you a 'deal' or a low price on a powerful magical item. Scammers and thieves run amok in there."

"Low prices you say," Nami started, only to shut her mouth fast and curse herself for getting so interested that she ignored the majority of what Finral said. He gave her an uncertain look and got more worried about it, but Timmy floated up next to her. Finral shifted his look at the small boy who seemed very powerful. The kid also looked like he was not going to leave Nami's side which both she and Finral were relieved to see.

If my Squad leader wasn't a 7 year old girl, that kid might have surprised me, Finral laughed to himself at the thought that Timmy was the strongest of this group. "Come on! Prepare yourselves."

"An illegal marketplace between spaces," Robin commented in interest while following Finral through the portal. He only stepped halfway in at first but then turned and walked with Robin onto the other side as she added calmly, "What a treat."

"You're too calm about this," Nami scolded while following Robin through. She looked back and motioned ahead at Juvia to follow along, still with an encouraging and confident expression that this was all going to work out as planned. Juvia did not feel the same confidence but followed Nami and Timmy through.

Izumo Kamiki was about to follow the group through herself. "I was a member of the True Cross Order myself once," Hiroomi started. Izumo spun in surprise to the man who had caught part of their conversation when he came back into the room before. He nodded to show her he was serious about it and was telling her this to help her out since he had heard her interest in them.

"But not anymore?" Izumo asked.

He shook his head back at her. "They backed away from Resistance alignment after the Archangel fell in the Third War of the Gods, so I had to break off from them. They're still active in fighting demons though, and they use the excuse that by being disconnected from the Resistance they can hunt demons in a much wider area without restrictions."

Izumo nodded back at him as that made some sense to her. He added though when he saw her accepting look as to the Order's position, "But they've strayed even closer to Cooperative alignment instead now. One of their members is even a member of the Capital 50 now too. That group may not be the safe place you hope it to be, if you do wind up locating them."

Izumo frowned and looked away from the man telling her all this. She stepped closer to the portal but then paused for a second. He's just telling me that because he's a Resistance leader. Maybe. But even so, Izumo glanced down then back straight at the magical vortex before her. "Thanks," she whispered. Then Izumo stepped through the portal without looking back to the man who she could tell was smiling at her after he heard her appreciation.

"Oh man," Timmy rubbed his eyes and shook his head around. "This is weird. And I've seen weird."

"I think I'm gong to puke," Nami muttered while rubbing the side of her head.

"Sorry! Sorry about this," Finral called over his shoulder. He put another portal in front of him and walked through it, motioning ahead for the others to enter this one as well. "Power Blockers are great and all, but it's better to be careful. Hey! Are any of you from worlds with computers? I'm not, by the way, but someone explained it like a VPN… No one?"

"I had computers," Timmy replied. "Don't really know what you mean though," he added while flying through another one of Finral's portals.

"Same here," Izumo agreed, before covering her mouth with both hands as she gagged. "Why, are we doing this?"

"Well, Hiroomi says they didn't track you on your way in," Finral admitted. "So he had no idea who might have already had your scent, or sensed your power… we're trying to shake off anyone who might be tracking you before just leading them to my friend." Finral finished his explanation semi-apologetically with another look over his shoulder but in a way that also made the group stop complaining about it. "The idea is to jump around to so many places that it'd be way too hard for them to track us from each. Closing portals behind me, and," Finral pointed both of his arms out in a strange dank cave that they just appeared in.

Forty swirling portals appeared all around them. The group looked around in surprise and awe at the amount of these portals that Finral was able to make at once. "This one!" He called out and ran through one that the others followed him close behind into. "If they do manage to follow us all the way there, that will shake them off for sure." Finral said that confidently but still had not appeared directly into the Black Market. If they do pick the right one though, I want them to see the same bland other side that they would see if they reopened any of the other portals. "This way," he jogged ahead and around a corner in a factory basement he knew of in a city thousands of miles away from where they just were.

Only once he was around the corner did he create another portal in front of him that he stopped before. "Brace yourselves," Finral told the group who were braced enough as it was and all tensed up to hear him give warning this time. Finral stepped through the portal and the group followed him inside…

Finral popped out and the group stepped through expecting something much different than where they just were. Instead, they were in a strange hallway with tall gray walls on either side of them that curved up near a ceiling that was illuminated despite not having any light fixtures on it. "Um," Finral started ahead and looked to his right when there was a gap in the gray wall on that side of him. "Was it… this way?" He turned back ahead and jogged down the long hall that never seemed to end.

"Where are we?" Nami asked. She felt spooked when she looked behind her and saw no end to this tunnel in sight, just some distant curve that was darker than the illuminated portion of the hallway they were in.

Finral ran straight into an invisible wall and bounced off. He shook his head and then pressed his hands out in front of him into the barrier that had gotten in his way. "Huh." He reached a hand behind his head and scratched it through his hair. "What was it again?" He tried to remember. Finral had a bead of sweat dripping down his face and glanced anxiously behind him to the impatiently awaiting group. "I promise I've been here before!" He exclaimed at their skeptical looks.

"It's just, been a while," Finral added while looking back at the invisible wall before him. "I know this though. Uh, let's see," Finral stepped back and rose his right hand out in front of him. A grimoire floated up at his side and flashed green. "Dispellis removis!" He rose an eyebrow and reached his hand a bit farther out to where the wall just was. His hand passed through without resistance this time. "Haha, simple! At least this one. After me," he called out and started forward again, regaining some confidence in his ability to lead them through this maze.

"There aren't going to be booby traps lying all over the place, are there?" Izumo called towards Finral. She put her hands out in front of her face just in case but did not bump into an invisible wall where Finral had already made it disappear.

Finral's body started to shimmer and distort just in front of them. He turned his head sideways and his face started to blend and look like a painting that got water spilled on it. "Don't worry… it's nOt th-aaaHt StRaannngggeeee…"

Finral fully went through the invisible barrier ahead of them that waved around like the surface of a pool of water that he just slipped through. The gray walls around them got wavy as well when they approached it, but Robin calmly just walked through after Finral in a way that made the other four behind her gulp. They had to find their nerves fast and shuffled ahead with arms outstretched into the strange wall of distorting magic.

Then they emerged, and they saw what they had expected to see when they came through Finral's final portal. "Whoa," the breath leaving Nami's lips took form in a word of awe while she rose her head and looked into the sky.

"Where are we?" Timmy gasped in amazement. "We must be on the other side of the world. It's night, so-"

"No no no, we're not on Nexus," Finral countered Timmy while he stared up at the starry night sky up above.

"What?" Izumo asked in a deadpan tone back at him.

"Didn't Hiroomi explain this place? Magicians created it. We're not really, not on Nexus. But we aren't there either. This entire space is artificial. Including the sky and all those stars, which aren't really stars."

"More like decorations?" Robin wondered in a voice stifling her own amazement.

"Well, the sky is real. You wouldn't be able to fly up and go touch them or anything…" Finral scratched the side of his head in an uncertain way while looking up too. It gave Robin the answer she needed though. Finral knew only a bit more about this place than the rest of them.

Juvia looked behind her and down a dark alleyway between two buildings that were each six stories tall and seemed to lean forwards over the sidewalk and towering above the street. The buildings on the other side seemed to do the same thing in a way that did not appear architecturally sound but somehow kept the buildings upright.

The buildings were different colors. Many of them were orange and purple themed though. "It, kind of looks like Halloween," Timmy said while staring around the block they had stepped out onto. There were a few other people around the road heading either direction. It was not too busy of a street, but there were enough people that no one paid them much attention as they stepped in.

Finral wore a nondescript outfit of a wizard rather than any Resistance uniform. He stood out the least of the group, and he noticed when he stared around then back at the group behind him. "Hmm, well actually!" He sounded like he had a good idea after just getting hesitant while looking at the odd group. "Vanessa's a fashion designer. Her shop here deals in magical fashion. And just regular clothes too. But we might have a better chance of convincing her to help you if you're ready to buy some clothes from her."

"'Buy?' You can't get her to just give them to us?" Nami snapped at the startled mage who waved his hands back at her in confusion. "Don't you Resistance guys get nice paychecks? I'm sure you can help us out, right Finral-kun?" Nami walked up and threw an arm around Finral's shoulder, getting close to the man who felt a pressure in his side of something heavy pushing against him.

A drop of blood came out of Finral's left nostril. "I could help- ah! What spell is that?!" He leapt away from Nami and put his hands up in a karate stance as she nearly got him with that black magic of hers. Nami frowned and snapped her fingers like she was upset the spell did not work, while the others who knew her just watched Finral in amusement or started laughing as he questioned if Nami actually was a witch.

"It's okay, Nami. I have some funds that I may have been keeping a secret," Robin said while starting forward herself after Finral. She had just been looking behind her and down the street in the opposite direction which went downhill a bit and into a maze of streets and taller buildings. Nami looked at her friend in surprise and then suspiciously that Robin had somehow kept that from her. Robin stepped towards Finral and asked him, "Could you lead us to Vanessa-san's place? I would like to get off the street."

Finral stared back at her with his eyes growing much wider as she said that. Does she see people watching her? Or is she just worried someone might recognize this group?

Izumo felt her own heart rate skyrocket. I didn't even think about it! They've been attacking the Cooperative nonstop for weeks! Taking down the Fire Nation, Nobodies, demons, and even Spriggans! Aren't we in a lot of danger here?

"Remember that this isn't Co-op territory," Finral began while looking around to capture his bearings and figure out the way to Vanessa's.

"Yes, but there are quite a few mercenary groups on Aebrith. I would like to avoid them if at all possible," Robin reminded Finral who nodded fast as she was absolutely right about that. Robin thought to herself without looking around to the buildings or people all around her, The Rogue Ravagers are a powerful enough force that they were hired by Meruem to help him subjugate the Saiyans. Mercenaries and bounty hunters are as dangerous to pirates as the government forces who would pay them for their services.

"Ah, okay. I know where we are," Finral nodded his head fast. "Stick close. I got us in not far from her place. Vanessa actually just worked here part-time at first. She was part of a dungeon-capturing group though who got their hands on a lot of powerful artifacts. Managed to buy the store from the owner…"

The group followed Finral up the street and then around the corner onto a road with shorter buildings. They went down that one and reached what they thought was a larger intersection that they were going to head one of two ways down, only for Finral to lead them across that street and to what looked like an alleyway. Once they started down a short flight of steps in that alley though, the narrow path spread out wider and the buildings looked to curve outwards before arcing back in above them to create archways with glittering lights on them.

"This, is a pretty cool place," Timmy admitted with a smile up to Nami who was gawking around at all the magic constantly in use around her.

"Yeah… yeah, I guess it is," Nami agreed in a tone matching Timmy's excitement that made the boy smile brighter back at her then keep looking around in awe.

Juvia watched the way her friend acted with Timmy and felt a pang in her chest, but it was a small one. It doesn't hurt as much now. Maybe I'm getting over it. Getting over it? Juvia slowed down and stopped where she was in the alley. Her right hand moved to her stomach and pressed over it. A feeling of disgust filled her, but then that faded away just as fast. She lowered her hand and bowed her head with her eyes glaring at the floor. Do I not care? Does Juvia- stop with that. What a weird way of speaking.

It's a good thing Nami acts like a mother to Timmy. He needs it. It doesn't bother me. It doesn't hurt to see either. Nothing really, hurts. Juvia furled her lips and glanced up at shifting architecture that the others were amazed by. This isn't that impressive of magic. I don't find it to be, but I'm a mage… That's not it either. I'm not happy. Or excited. What is going on with me? I don't like this. Juvia curled her hands into frustrated fists. Why, Kirito? Why, Gray-sama? Why did you bring me back like this?

"There's her shop's sign," Finral pointed down around a curve in the alley to the sign he just saw poking out. It was written in red and had fanciful script for the font, and Finral nodded as he was certain this was her place. The building was two stories but narrow between a few other shadier-looking places. 'Enoteca's Elaborate Emporium' read the sign sticking out of her building from the second floor written vertically down to just above the door. The bottom of the sign had a bright flashing arrow curved and pointing in at the door that was propped open inwards.

"Doesn't really fit in the vibe here," Izumo muttered, though she was glad to be heading to this place rather than one of the other skeevier and dirtier buildings.

Izumo turned her head and watched as a witch in a black hat shuffled out of a 'Wand' shop that she could tell based on the faded lettering over the door. The brown-haired woman did not look much older than Izumo herself. She had on a black robe that she lifted up after leaving the shop and pulled over her head, taking her hat with it as she took it off. The woman had on professional business attire beneath with the top part of a suit and a black pencil skirt below. She opened up the purse she had removed for a second to pull the robe off, and she shoved the whole outfit into the small bag that seemed to have no bottom based on the way it easily took in her robe and hat.

Hermione Granger was in too much of a rush to focus on the people back behind her approaching Vanessa's shop that she moved right past but then stopped and faced the opposite side of the street. She waved a wand at the brick wall between two buildings, and the bricks pulled away from each other to create an opening that curved at the top just above her height. On the bottom of the opening sprouted up a flame when she waved her wand at it, then the witch stepped inside the port and called out, "Balbadd City!"

A puff of smoke shot up and surrounded her, and she vanished inside of it. The wall closed back up behind her so there was no trace that she was ever even on the street in the first place. "Balbadd?" Nami asked in shock. "She just went to Awul?" Nami spun to Finral and asked.

"Rhodar has a lot more magicians than practically anywhere outside of the Magic Kingdom. It's not that surprising," Finral replied to her with a shrug. "Didn't you come from Awul?" He wondered, as it was weird that Nami was asking him this in such surprise.

Nami opened her mouth to retort but stopped herself from doing so. Remember! You're not on Aebrith anymore. She shook her head to dismiss the wizard who shrugged but then looked back towards Vanessa's shop and grimaced. He was looking for any reason to strike up a conversation that would keep them outside for a bit longer. Nami looked around again and reminded herself, This is a pocket of Nexus not "in" Aebrith or on Awul. I don't get magic at all! But at least we've got Juvia…

Nami looked back at her blue-haired friend whose expression was void of any emotion. A blank look on her frowning face which made Nami shiver, because it did not even come with a dark cloud over Juvia's head that would tell Nami how she was feeling. Is she even, feeling? Nami wondered.

Juvia looked back and met Nami's gaze. Then she looked past, and Nami spun back herself to witness Robin walking by Finral's side. "No time to waste," Robin reminded the wizard, while also reminding Nami who wondered if her older friend saw the worrying sight she just did.

"W-Wait," Finral jogged up and got back to Robin's side. He hesitated though while Robin was not going to wait for him to find his courage, and she just walked straight into the open door of Vanessa Enoteca's shop.

Ding-brring-ding! She did not push the door open, but bells jingled anyway when she stepped inside. The shop owner flung open the beaded curtain into the back of her shop behind the long counter across the storefront. The store actually got wider farther back in the building than the narrow entryway suggested. "Welcome!" Vanessa exclaimed and threw her arms out to either side, illuminating the room in better lighting for her new customer.

Racks of shirts and coats were intricately set up around the room. There were hooks on the walls and shelves of pants and belts and ties. There were various kinds of hats higher up on the walls and on a shelf behind the counter above Vanessa's head where the tip of her own black witch's hat reached. A glass case in front of Vanessa's check-out counter showed jewelry and magical items, as did the wall behind her where the high prices of her best items were presented for her customers.

"What can I do for you today-" Vanessa stopped with her normal greeting to a customer as she spotted the person who walked into the doorway behind Robin. He poked the top half of his body first and rose a hand to wave at her. "Finral?" Vanessa whispered.

"Ah, hi. How's it going, Vanessa?" Finral stepped fully into the doorway and then stumbled inside as Nami gave him a rough push in the back. He spun around in shock but then spun right back to Vanessa and scratched the back of his head with the hand he just used to wave. "Been a long… I mean, long time no see, right?" He closed his eyes and smiled while anxiously rubbing the back of his head.

"You," Vanessa started in a low voice while climbing up onto her counter. Finral's eyes snapped open and he leaned backwards, and then he yelped and fell onto his back as Vanessa dove on top of him. "It has been a long time! Too long you idiot!" Vanessa squeezed him while on top of him in a way that was shoving his face into her breasts and making it very difficult for him to breathe, and for him to think coherently.

"That went better than expected," Izumo admitted with her eyebrows risen. She had thought Finral's contact might not be happy to see him based on the way Finral had been acting.

"Huh? What?" Vanessa pushed down and leaned off of Finral. She looked back down at him from the people behind him who she just glanced up at to see their surprise. "You didn't think I'd be happy to see you?" She wondered to her old squadmate.

"No! What? Of course I did. I just… you know, I kind of, well-"

"Have you been avoiding me?!" Vanessa exclaimed while jumping back off the man who she looked down at in shock.

"No!" Finral jumped back up himself. "I mean, I haven't been coming out of my way to see you, though… And I'm kind of here for a favor too," he added at the end, scratching the back of his head again hesitantly.

The fact that the first time he had come in so long was not because he had just decided to come and visit but because he needed something from her was what looked to be weighing on him the most here. Vanessa relaxed her shoulders but pouted more obviously at the man who leaned away. "In that case, you'll have to come back right away for a real visit. Got it?" She poked a finger into her friend's chest and Finral nodded fast back at her. "Alright!" Vanessa closed her eyes and smiled brightly back at him. "In that case, what can I help you with? I'm guessing it has to do with your poorly-dressed friends here," Vanessa added with a look around.

"Hey, we're not…" Izumo stopped herself. She glanced down at her clothes. Izumo sweatdropped at the way she looked, and then she looked away with a more hurt look as she imagined where the rest of her clothes still were. I don't have any luggage. I only got one extra set from the Resistance base he teleported me to before I left. Izumo grabbed her left arm with her right hand and just mumbled under her breath but did not finish her last sentence.

"I'll buy you some nice clothes, Izumo," Robin told the girl who looked back in surprise then with much wider eyes as Robin pulled out a wallet that she had never seen before. "We all need disguises for the trip ahead," Robin added to stop the girl from protesting as she thought the teenage girl might.

"You brought me customers and thought I'd be upset?" Vanessa asked in disbelief of her old friend.

"Business isn't booming, huh?" Nami wondered while starting to walk around herself.

Uh oh. That one's a haggler, Vanessa thought as she understood what Nami's question was really for. "Actually, all of my wares are in high demand. I do more mobile orders and deliveries than sales in-store." Nami frowned and shifted her gaze back to Vanessa's that narrowed equally back at her as they set the stakes for arguing prices in a short time.

"I can tell. You look short on stock," Nami remarked. She did not say so sarcastically, but considering the shop did not have an empty hangar or clear spot on a single shelf, the remark clearly was sarcastic.

"What successful business runs out of-"

"We're in a hurry here!" Juvia snapped, and the pink and orange-haired women stopped their bantering and bartering in an instant.

"Are you?" Vanessa asked in surprise while looking back to Finral then around at the group who did not seem to be in a rush based on what she saw so far.

"We are," Nami agreed after looking back to Juvia in surprise only to see a pissed-off look in return on her friend's face this time. She turned back to Vanessa seriously and added, "We're trying to get into the Magic Kingdom, to get to the Library. We've heard the greatest wizard in the Resistance is there."

"The 'Library,' huh?" Vanessa wondered. Her look became more discerning and she examined the group in front of her more closely. "Finral. Can we trust them?" Vanessa asked without taking her eyes off of Robin who just smiled back despite the question of their trustworthiness.

"Um, well, they're part of the group that came to Aebrith with Son Goku. The 'companions' everyone's been talking about." The others all looked back to Finral in surprise, but even more surprise as Vanessa appeared very interested to hear that.

"In that case, you're entitled to a discount!" Vanessa said with a smile back towards Nami after losing her surprised look. "Any friends of Son Goku are more than welcome here!"

"Really?" Nami wondered back in surprise at how easy that was to convince her.

Is that why the Resistance is going so out of their way to accommodate us? Timmy wondered. I thought it might be Natsu and Luffy too. Gray maybe. But is it all just for Goku? He was on Awul like the whole time! How is he known as this superhero around the rest of the world? Timmy was baffled by the amount of respect Vanessa looked and sounded to have for them just based on the fact that they were friends of Goku's.

"Go ahead. Look through my wares and give yourselves a fifteen- a twenty percent discount on any of the prices you see! Let me talk to Finral real quick in the back, then we'll get a move on," Vanessa told them. "I just need to prep my shop for closing early."

"Really? You'll help us?" Izumo asked.

"Even if you weren't Goku's friends, Finral's asking for a favor. It's always nice to have one over on him," Vanessa winked back at her friend who was going to owe her one, and he chuckled nervously but sweatdropped as he wondered when that favor might get called in. She motioned into the back of her shop and Finral nodded then followed her around the counter and into the back so they could talk.

Nami glanced at Timmy who gave her a nod back in understanding and then started listening in to the conversation in the other room with his super hearing. Robin noticed them doing it so did not create an ear in the back to listen to them herself. "Let's get ourselves into outfits befitting magicians. It will do us good to blend in," Robin suggested to the others who all agreed that that sounded like a good idea.

They started checking out Vanessa's shop, and Nami had to admit that she liked the style of a lot of the clothes she was picking out. She grumbled to herself while putting one lavish coat back on the shelf though as it was apparently fireproof despite having a fur lining and hood. The coat was stylish and practical, but expensive. Damn Cartman. Stupid brat. Taking my money. Nami looked towards Robin and smirked then started over with a puppy-dog look on her face. She turned for a second though and spotted Juvia just leaning against the inside of the doorway that she had shut behind them. Juvia had her head turned sideways and was gazing suspiciously out onto the street at a pair of men walking by in long blue cloaks.

"Come on, Juvia. Let's pick out a disguise to make you look-"

"Like a mage?" Juvia asked without looking back from the window. "I think I already have that covered," Juvia retorted. She saw no reason to mask her appearance when she was already dressed like a mage: how she always dressed considering she was a mage.

"Oh, okay then," Nami replied and tried to smile back at Juvia, but her friend did not turn around. Nami hoped Juvia saw it at least on the reflection of the glass, but she turned the other way and looked towards Timmy as he lifted a pointy black hat over his head and put it over his pink one. Then he turned to see what Nami thought. She pursed her lips and tried not to laugh, and he quickly took it off and put it back on its shelf. "No! No it looked good, Timmy."

"It's a girls' hat. I know-"

"Whaaat? I didn't say that," Nami grinned back at the boy who quickly went to go find something much more manly to try on.

The group picked out new outfits and went to the two changing rooms in the corner of the room to try their disguises on. Robin watched as Izumo put back a few shirts and pants she checked out, and Robin stealthily snuck around behind Izumo and picked back up whatever the girl put down. When Izumo went into the changing room, a chain of arms wrapped over the top of the doorway and passed a stack of clothing inside and onto the bench next to the surprised girl who watched every outfit she had examined and hesitantly put back after seeing the price-tag. "Hey! Hey," knock- knock knock- What the? Izumo was unable to leave the changing cubicle that was being blocked by something on the other side.

"Rin is a good friend, Izumo. I would find it hard to speak to him when we meet again if I did not help you." Besides, it was because we passed through Amazonia at all that the Nobodies destroyed them. Robin lowered her gaze down. It may have been the Organization, but I do feel some guilt for it. We underestimated our enemies. Or we overestimated our own ability. Either way, "I am sure you will pay me back in time. It is not a shameful thing to accept help when you need it."

"But! But… I'm already accepting your help," Izumo finished quieter while lowering her fists from the inside of the changing room door. She turned to the mirror and looked at herself in it. She glanced down at her outfit that she had been wearing for days now. "Okay," Izumo said quieter. "Thank you." Izumo lifted her gaze back up and into the mirror. She had not seen a mirror in over a week, so she had not been able to get a good look at herself lately.

At least I'm alive, Izumo thought. Her eyes filled with water at that thought and she clenched them shut. Not now! When then? Izumo's lips quivered. When I'm safe. Am I, safe with them? No! She snapped her eyes back open angrily and glared at her stupid face in the mirror. Don't trust them! Or anyone! You've made that mistake before. A pink-haired boy's face appeared in the mirror over Izumo's shoulder with a smirk over it that she spun around in fear to check for, only for no one to be there. Both of her fists clenched but her hands did not stop shaking despite the lack of anyone actually being there.

"Alright! Once you've figured out what you're going with, I'll ring you up, and then we'll leave for the Magic Kingdom. I'm a citizen by the way," Vanessa told the customers she returned from her office to talk to. "Finral's explained what the Resistance leaders asked of him, and I'll be taking over for him from here. He does have to get back, unfortunately," Vanessa frowned at the man who was heading across the room but spun to face her when he heard that tone. She pointed a finger at him, "Now don't forget, you. You promised to be back here for a real visit. No more avoiding me."

"I wasn't! I… I won't," Finral corrected himself. "I'll be off the front line in a week. For at least a day or two. I'll be back then!"

"I'm holding you to that," Vanessa replied, though she did smile to hear a concrete plan on the next time they would hang out.

"Thank you, Finral," Timmy thanked the man who sounded like he would be leaving them here.

"Yes. Much appreciated," Robin agreed.

"You're still here?" Nami called out from inside her own dressing room, and Izumo lost the intense look on her face and snorted with laughter at the different response Nami had compared to the other two.

Finral's proud smile as he waved off the first two dropped and a bead of sweat just rolled down his face instead. He looked to the exit and saw Juvia just frown back at him then move out of the way to give him a path to the exit. She waved a hand at it telling him to just go already, and Finral gawked but then headed out. Juvia noticed Robin frowning at her across the room in a scolding way, and she bit down for a second but then bowed her head as Finral reached her. "I am grateful for your help, Finral," she told her fellow magician whose face brightened back up to hear those words of gratitude.

"I hope you find whatever it is you're looking for," Finral replied to the girl who looked back at him with wider eyes but then nodded in that same hope herself.

After Finral left and the girls were still busy picking out their clothes, Timmy floated over to the counter that Vanessa stood behind again waiting for them to come check out before they started the next leg of their trip. "Hey Vanessa," Timmy began.

"Hello," Vanessa started and lifted her intonation at the end in a question.

"Timmy," he greeted. "Timmy Turner."

"Hello Timmy. What could I help you with? Are you finished looking?" Vanessa glanced at his right arm that had a cape and a pair of baggy white pants draped over the crook of it.

"Yeah, but I'll pay when the others are ready," he replied. "Could I ask you about Finral?" Timmy wondered. The woman in front of him with long pink hair rose her eyebrows but then smiled and nodded back in a trusting way at the child who was glad she was not suspicious of him for asking. "Is he, one of the strongest Resistance members? Or one of the most important?" Timmy added.

Vanessa's surprise jolted her and she dropped her jaw for a couple of seconds at the completely serious question. "Really?" Vanessa asked him back.

"I mean, he seemed like it," Timmy replied. "With those portals. He made so many of them. And with that kind of power, the Resistance should be able to utilize it in so many ways-"

"Did he tell you how he can only teleport to places he's already been before?" Vanessa wondered.

Timmy nodded back though. "He did. That's still an amazing power. Its strategic value alone could help in so many ways. Instead of sneaking all of my friends into Pyraxas, just Finral could have snuck in himself. Then he could have opened a portal and brought a whole army of Resistance personnel through," Timmy said. "And that's just an idea off the top of my head that could have helped in the past few weeks. There are so many ways he could be changing the tide of this war."

"Hahaha! You are very smart, boy-a," Vanessa remarked at the child who would have beamed at the compliment had he not wished for that intelligence, and had it not sounded like Vanessa was going to counter his suggestions in a second anyway. Vanessa swung a hand towards the entrance, and Juvia snapped her head down as the door suddenly locked, and the sign on one of the windows flipped to say 'Closed' to the outside. Then the windows blacked out so no one could see inside any longer either, making Juvia's guard position unnecessary now.

She frowned and looked back towards the counter then headed to join Timmy and Vanessa there. Juvia gained a more interested look on her face as Vanessa rose her voice to speak to both of them now, and to Robin who was looking over from in front of the changing rooms. "I'm sure Resistance command has considered that too. Captain Yami-" Vanessa paused for a second. She closed her mouth and kept smiling, but she did glance down then reach under her counter and pull out a bottle of wine that she magically un-corked.

Vanessa took a swig from the bottle then continued, "Captain Yami was certainly using him like that, back when he was still alive. But the risk is too high. You're right. Finral is very important. His power can be used in emergencies to send strong Resistance forces to cities under attack. Risking his life by sending him deep into enemy territory, risks the safety of all of the current Resistance territory in the hopes of getting back more. I guess it's just a measure of risk, and Finral's been lucky enough not to get irresponsibly sent to his death so far. I don't like hearing that he's on the front lines though, or that he joined an Elite Squad," Vanessa took another swig of her red wine then put it back under the counter.

"And you're overestimating the idiot's power too!" Vanessa added in a louder voice. "You just saw him at his strongest. I'm not surprised he didn't tell you why he was able to make so many portals without even getting tired! Pretending like he's some big shot no doubt!"

"How do you mean?" Robin wondered over past some clothing racks she was on the other side of.

"You were just at the Mana Crystal. An enormous underground deposit of mana-filled crystallite material surrounds one giant red crystal the Resistance discovered under the surface years ago," Vanessa explained to the surprised listeners. "That Resistance base he brought you here from loaded him up with excess mana just by being close to it."

"I didn't notice," Timmy admitted. He thought back to being inside the base but could not recall feeling any surge of power from underground.

"That's because the Resistance hides it. They're holding their front line in the east for a reason though," Vanessa continued, sounding to be complaining about it due to the risk of holding that line to her friend Finral. "Despite barely any population centers that close to the Deadlands, the Resistance won't let the line push any farther back because they'll lose their only focal point. There are 5 we know of on Nexus where the magical energy is so potent that the range links each point to the others and creates a magical field that encompasses all of Nexus."

"Some magicians think that without those crystals we would have no power at all," Vanessa went on. She leaned over the counter and grinned while adding, "Others think that if they're destroyed, the magical energy will spill out of those containers and fill the world with so much more mana that every witch and warlock will have a near unlimited supply! But, those are more fringe thinkers who are willing to risk losing all magic if it means they could have ultimate power. The Magic Knights of Valyria hunt those 'extremists' down and arrest them. After all, another one of those focal points is in the Magic Kingdom. Another is in the Dungeon."

"Is one, in Balbadd City?" Timmy wondered.

Vanessa rose her eyebrows then nodded her head with a smirk over her face. "Nice guess, Timmy. Some say the King of Rhodar built his capital up over their focal point specifically because of that. Others think it was just a coincidence, or that they moved a mana crystal like what's underneath the Resistance base and have it stored in their city. Have you ever seen Balbadd? The amount of magic they use in their infrastructure and architecture is even crazier than anything we have in the Black Market."

"I haven't been in a long time," Timmy replied softly. "I do remember feeling a ton of magical energy when I was last there though."

Oh. I thought he was just asking because of what we heard that woman call out, Robin thought in surprise after hearing Timmy's response to the shopkeeper. Before Robin could ask Timmy when he had visited the capital of Rhodar, the doors of the changing rooms opened up and the girls stepped out.

Izumo sweatdropped that Nami synchronized leaving the room at the same time as her. She also looked at the pirate next to her with an eyebrow raised and that bead of sweat dripping down her face, as Nami had gone all-in with the witch's garb. She wore the pointy dark purple hat like Vanessa's but sleeker on the rim mainly due to being new. Her cloak was a matching color but did not go too far down, stopping just past her thighs and split on the right side to show some more skin too and her short shorts underneath. Nami also had a white cape that she swung her left arm out of in a way making it flap behind her in a way she thought looked most stylish.

Vanessa clapped her hands. "Wow, you really fit the part. That all works great on you."

Izumo glanced down at her own fit that she had on. She had the extra items that she was also going to purchase in a black bag she had glanced closely at for a second earlier and Robin passed over the door for her. Izumo wore a white hoodie and a matching cap that was black on the rim but white on top. Her straight purple hair fell out from under her hat that had a small hot pink design on the left side of it which matched her hair nicely. She also wore a pair of gray sweats and boots with fur lining. Izumo mentioned to the taller orange-haired woman at her side, "Sure you don't want some pants?"

"I did just hear two men walking by talking about how the 'oracles' predict this winter will be especially harsh," Robin agreed to her best friend who glanced her way and hummed while looking back down at her exposed legs. "Perhaps you should grab one pair of pants at least, in case the snows hit before the end of the month."

"You just heard that?" Vanessa wondered. The front door to the shop was closed and Robin was far from the entrance. The pirate just nodded back at the witch though without elaborating on how she did that, intriguing Vanessa and making her smirk at Robin who smiled back calmly.

"Well let's get you guys all checked out. Then I'll lock up for the day and set my traps. My part-timer didn't show up today. That Zora bastard, always doing what he wants," Vanessa grumbled under her breath while heading into the back to get her own manual traps to set up since Zora was not around to use his Trap Magic.

"Can't be too careful in the Black Market," Nami mentioned while considering how Vanessa was not even explaining the need for traps. It was just obvious in a place like this they supposed that the shop was at risk of burglary.

"Wouldn't be the first time," Vanessa remarked loudly from the back where the group heard some clanking and rustling of the shopkeep getting something out. "This week even," she added, right before the corners of the ceiling all opened up and dropped cameras that had blinking red lights on the sides of them.

"You got robbed earlier this week?" Timmy asked in surprise, as Vanessa had shown no sign of it and the store was already stocked again.

"Haha, no no," Vanessa replied while coming back out of the back room. She came to the counter and scanned the items and charged her patrons, and she kept busy talking so Nami could not start haggling the prices on her. "A couple of punks tried while I was in here with a customer. Armed robbery. Just shot me without warning, trying to kill me and clear out the store of everything."

Vanessa's statement surprised Nami who was trying to find a moment to speak up but froze and looked back with huge eyes at what Vanessa said. "And, you're… alright?" Nami wondered, the same question everyone else had while staring at Vanessa strangely.

"Oh yeah. I'm fine. But they're not! Hahaha!" Vanessa laughed and just left that dangling in the air, making the group wonder what could have happened to the poor robbers who had apparently tried to rob the wrong person.

"You say they shot you," Robin wondered while paying for the group. She smiled briefly at Izumo in a way telling her not to concern herself at all when Izumo was hesitating to give the bag with the other outfits in it. Then Robin continued to Vanessa, "But you were unharmed?"

"It's my magic," Vanessa replied. "I wouldn't say I'm immortal… per-se," Vanessa's hesitation and the smirk she flashed at her patrons after saying it suggested that she was pretty damn close though.

Timmy read Vanessa's mind too and kept from showing that he did so as to not upset their guide. As Vanessa told them to head to the exit though so she could scatter her final preparations for leaving the shop unguarded, Timmy glanced at Nami and gave her a small nod telling her that Vanessa was not just bluffing about that.

Izumo spotted what Timmy just did too and felt uneasy as well as reassured at the same time. She's strong enough to help us through the Black Market. She seems really confident too. This kid though. Timmy. Just how strong is he really? It's not just super strength and flight. The way he took out all those Grimm without even trying, that's not the extent of his powers. He can do a lot more. They wouldn't be so confident about heading deep into the Cooperative again after already turning back once if they didn't have someone like him this time who could protect them- us! I'm here too. I hope he'll protect me-

Izumo frowned deeply and glared at the kid who turned towards her in a reassuring way. "Were you reading my mind?" Izumo snapped frustratedly at the kid who pulled his head back. He thought Izumo would be more reassured than upset, and he stammered while trying to come up with a good reason for that.

"You're a mind reader?" Vanessa wondered while stepping out of her building. She locked the door behind her again with a key this time that disappeared when she curled her hand and waved her fingers around, looking more like an illusionist's trick of her sliding it up her sleeve than real magic. It was hard to tell which though in a magical Black Market. "And you didn't know that?" Vanessa wondered too while looking back to Izumo. "Aren't you all traveling together?"

"Uh, y-yeah," Izumo started back. She spun and tried explaining in a steadier voice, "But I just forgot-"

"Izumo just joined us," Nami countered the girl who she patted a hand down on the shoulder of. Izumo spun to Nami in surprise, but the pirate navigator added to her, "And once you become friends with Timmy, he won't read your mind anymore. So just make nice and be friends. Got it?" Nami patted her again but gave her a light shove back towards Timmy who had been flustered by Izumo's sudden snap at him.

"Sorry, about that," Timmy said softly to her once Izumo was right in front of him. He was standing down on the ground so he glanced up to her then lowered his gaze quickly after saying it.

Izumo sweatdropped again. When he was not floating at head level with her, he looked a lot more like the kid he actually was which made him hard to stay pissed at, especially when he was clearly just trying to make her feel safer. She remembered what she was thinking about and if he would protect her or not, and now she felt even stupider for it while wondering if her outburst would make him less likely to save her next time. He didn't react that time. He's learned his lesson! Or, he trust me more? Or wants to be friends?

Izumo turned away and grimaced. "It's okay," she said even softer in a whisper, but Timmy heard her and looked back up before smiling to see Izumo no longer upset about it. "Just- I'm not… you don't need to read my mind. Please don't."

"Yeah… sorry. I won't do it again," Timmy promised her.

I don't want you to see that bastard in here. I'm not thinking about him! Izumo thought that, and yet a smirking boy with pink hair suddenly flashed that menacing look at her in her mind and made her shiver.

"Can we get going?" Juvia snapped at the group around her.

"Of course," Robin agreed. "Vanessa-san. Could you lead us to a port into the Magic Kingdom. As close to the-"

"The 'Library,' right?" Vanessa wondered with a grin that Robin tried to read into but could not examine for long as Vanessa spun around after saying it. "Then follow me. I'll get you as close as I can. You'll have to get to the capital of the Magic Kingdom yourselves once you're inside. Not many rules here in the Black Market, but if I opened a door straight into Valyria I'd have a lot of problems on my hands. Not least of all from the Magic Knights themselves. I'm sure one would notice and get through before I could shut it, and all my neighbors would get pissed… It's just better for me, and for you guys, that I pop you in on one of the outlying towns beyond the reach of their magical sensing…"

The group of five followed behind Vanessa as they headed what felt like deeper into the Black Market. The pathways were narrow and winding, and people even seemed creepier and more dangerous in these areas too. But even the sketchiest hunchback in a skull necklace and spiderweb cloak saw Vanessa coming and leaned away from the curly-pink-haired witch who walked with confidence and like she did not even notice that people pulled back from her.

"What did you do to those thieves?" Nami asked after seeing that super creepy guy slink away after spotting Vanessa coming near.

"Well, let's just say no one has seen them since they made the attempt," Vanessa replied. Nami looked at their guide in surprise but Vanessa shrugged her closer shoulder to the pirate up. "They shot me. Tried to kill me. It would have killed anyone else. Can't just let something like that go. Now, they don't get to hurt anyone," Vanessa's reasoning was sound, and Nami just shrugged her own shoulder closer to the menacing witch up herself in acceptance of Vanessa's retribution. Though I still don't get how you survive it and no one else would. Must be some really powerful magic.

"If your magic is so powerful," Juvia started. Her eyes were narrowed towards their guide's back, and she questioned the woman who had not turned around yet and just flattened her lips while continuing forward. "Then why don't you fight with the Resistance? With your friend?"

Vanessa pulled out the bottle of red wine from under her cloak. "No comment," she replied. Juvia glared even harsher at Vanessa but held her tongue after receiving looks from her friends. Vanessa just took a swig and wiped her mouth that went back up into a wide smile again. "Keep your purses close to you. We're heading down," Vanessa told the people behind her who followed her around a curving alley so they could see out onto a main street.

The main road did not look too busy, but Vanessa started picking up speed while jogging out onto it. On the other side of the road were several tall brick pillars that rose up to an archway over them that connected each pillar. The one they were jogging towards had the number 9 and 3/4 written across it at the top. Vanessa jogged straight through the brick wall that vibrated like the clear air that Finral walked them through earlier, but the group still mostly flinched as they had to jog into a solid object this time that was apparently another magical portal.

The main street separating the last alley and the solid brick portal had been empty. The road they popped onto was packed full of people bustling around buying from stands and speaking loudly and freely. The sky above them was no longer black and full of stars. They were in an underground section of the pocket dimension where the ceiling looked like buildings pointed down at them. They emerged out into a subway-looking platform with stairs leading down off it onto a very wide street that went straight out from the terminal all the way to the wall of the city miles away.

That wall curved upwards, and buildings continued to come out of it as if continuing the ground level. They could see the grid of streets and the tops of people's heads as they hurried around on those vertical blocks that seemed to have their own field of gravity. The group stepping out did a double-take back to the ceiling when they realized the wall just curved onto the roof and continued more of this insane underground cityscape. "Let's head to the marketplace. It's the bazaar-looking area over there," Vanessa stepped down the stairs and pointed to her right to the wall on a different side of the city.

"We don't need a market. We just got our shopping in," Nami countered Vanessa. "No more purchases for the day-"

"Hey hey, that's your choice," Vanessa held her palms up at either shoulder. "Though I would definitely suggest touring it. Looking around a bit. Not often you'll have the chance to get in here. Maybe on your way back." Vanessa lowered her arms after finishing like that, and she added quickly, "But we need to head there anyway. There's an obscure port I know of that isn't to one of the main 5 magical focal points. As I said, can't send you to Valyria. But this port will get you close-"

"Can we hurry it up then?" Juvia snapped at their guide again.

"Juvia, we'll get there," Nami assured her friend.

"We don't even know if this wizard will be able to help," Juvia growled back at her friend who was acting too optimistic. "So this could all be wasted time anyway!"

"Follow me," Vanessa called out. Whatever is going on with that girl, she's in quite the hurry. "There are waypoints all over the Black Market that connect to anywhere on Nexus. I can't make an exit myself, but there are enough wizards who can who also don't shut these doors after they make them. The ones who made this place have no boundaries. Borders don't really stop them. Not much can honestly."

"On our way back through, if we take this route," Robin began to their guide but also to her comrades. "Then we should look for an exit that gets us closer to HQ. Shorten the return trek," she suggested to nods from her friends who thought that was a great idea. Just need things to distract Juvia, Robin thought. While the others thought about what she just said, she dared a look to her mage friend and at Juvia's clenched fists in particular. She's holding back her anger. Her outbursts are short, and she still can tell that she's being unusually angry. It's taking longer for her to shy back though. Her frustration lingers even when we call her out on it. I am concerned her ailment is progressing at an alarming rate.

"Stick together in the bazaar. If you get lost… well, don't get lost," Vanessa laughed and started ahead, and the group followed close behind their guide as they headed onto a busy street. None of them wanted to get lost in this place where they truly had no idea "where" they really were. The space was pretty large but enclosed, and yet each of them doubted that there was anything outside of the ceiling and walls around this "underground" marketplace. The road was already fairly busy, but they could see the curved wall ahead led to the bazaar Vanessa was speaking of which had several intersecting roads of a grid pattern all packed with people bustling about.

"For an illegal black market, this Black Market sure is packed," Timmy commented as they made their way through it. "How do all these people keep such a big place secret?"

"Well," Vanessa scratched the side of her head and chuckled. She pulled out her wine bottle and took a casual swig before responding, "Most 'authorities' have better things to do with their time. Crime on Aebrith's a bit out of control. The Resistance is pretty good about it, but their strongest enforcers of the law would all be on the front lines. Same with the Cooperative. Any country bordering the Resistance isn't spending its manpower on criminals who might already be against their enemies too. No reason to turn the criminals against them specifically. War is hard enough as it is without giving yourself more fronts."

"I guess. Hiroomi was the one who sent us here," Timmy conceded. Even Resistance leadership isn't going to do anything about a place like this that's not in anyone's jurisdiction. People here might break their laws, but I guess as long as the place doesn't interfere with them no one's going to do anything about it. Not as long as there are bigger fish to fry at least.

"Exactly!" Vanessa replied. "Both sides can see reasons for keeping the Black Market open. I'd bet most of the top brass in any country on Aebrith know this place exists. They all think they're using it to their advantage though. And I'm not sure which side uses it better, to be honest with you…"

"I don't know Megumin. That staff looks more like a scepter to me." A pair of girls in tall point witches' hats like Vanessa and Nami had on were walking the opposite direction from the direction of the bazaar rather than towards it. The slightly taller girl with blue hair had on a brown coat open down the middle with a white blouse on underneath. She was looking inwards at the shorter girl strutting down the middle of the road proudly tapping the butt of her new "staff" on the ground after every step.

"Shush Roxy!" Megumin snapped at her friend. Roxy Migurdia leaned back then chuckled as Megumin lifted her staff up high and proclaimed, "I dub this the Staff of Enormous Explosions! You saw how it blew up that barrel-"

"That wasn't really the main sell of the thing," Roxy argued back and leaned back towards her friend. "It's that stone at the top of the scepter. He called it the 'Mind Stone.' You didn't even let him explain its powers fully before you went and bought it. And now that we're talking about it, he sold it to you pretty fast. Either you're getting scammed, or that's a stolen-"

"Hush!" Megumin snapped before darting an anxious look over her shoulder at a group they just walked past. Megumin swore she saw the little boy walking with that group snap his head straight forward to prevent her from catching him staring. The darker-haired shorter girl in a red witch's robe looked ahead towards the main transportation hub in the middle of this underground portion of the market. "If so, then all the more reason for us to get out of here fast. Come on, Roxy!" Megumin raced towards the subway-looking area which caused her friend to sigh then jog after her younger friend.

Ahead of Vanessa on the side of the road out of the group's way so they almost did not even look over at first, a couple of girls were pointing their wands up towards the sky. The older woman with them called out, "Stop being wusses. Fire already dammit!" The short girls next to the older witch fired their wands into the air. They shot a stream of pink and one of green magic that swirled around each other on their ways up. The bolts sparked and then popped into beautiful fireworks, but also huge ones that blasted loud like thunder and sent flares flying out in all directions before sizzling out.

"Hahaha! Wow! What did I tell you girls? Ollivanders has the strongest wands around-"

"Hey! You there!"

Eda spun her head and pulled it back at the sight of a group of angry-looking merchants pissed off about that fireworks show. "You said no one would mind!" Amity snapped at the older woman who took them to such a seedy place for the "strongest wands" they could ask for.

"And you're the ones who wanted to get each other such 'super' anniversary gifts. But I guess it's all my fault isn't it?" The adult supposed to be the responsible one of the group retorted back at Amity. Then Eda glanced to Luz too who opened her mouth to argue but quickly closed it. Luz's eyes bulged a second later and she spun to her girlfriend who spun back in similar surprise before both blushed and smiled that the other had wanted to get them a great gift.

"Come on, Amity! Let's fly!" Luz Noceda pulled a thicker wooden branch out than the stick-like wand she had just been admiring. The girl's hand glowed hot pink around the stub of a tree branch, and the ends of it popped out in either direction to quadruple the branch's length. The bottom of the branch puffed out with bristles to create a broom, and Luz pulled Amity onto it. The two of them straddled the broom that shot up into the air while Eda jumped up and whistled, summoning a broom that flew out of nowhere and that she landed feet-first on top of.

Eda's hands glowed dark green and she narrowed her eyes while smirking dangerously at the group who had started chasing them, and most of the merchants backed down right away, though one did turn and yell at some of his goons to "get them!" One of the two bodyguards lifted a hand, and a dark book floated in the air next to him with a pitch black aura around it. A huge crow ripped itself out of the ground in front of him when the book glowed. The goon hopped on with his burly buddy jumping on the back of it behind him while pulling a wand out that he swung after Eda and fired a burst of red light at her.

"Should we…" Timmy glanced up at Robin on his left side who looked back at him and shook her head no. They had to keep a low profile. Timmy remembered and nodded back at her, but he did frown while looking back up at the men chasing down and attacking those girls just for setting off some fireworks in what was supposedly a lawless area.

"Up here," Vanessa called back. She meant it in multiple ways, and the group had to ready themselves for the vertigo they imagined they were about to feel as they neared a ninety-degree turn upwards. People were casually walking from their road onto the wall though, and as they neared the vertical street they felt themselves getting lighter on their feet too. The pull was not too strong until they were right up near the wall, and so their next steps came naturally to get them walking upwards. Only when they looked behind them did a couple of them feel like puking, and Izumo even covered her mouth after looking at what should have been the floor but now looked like the wall, even though her mind still registered it as the floor so it made her feel like she was falling.

"You'll get used to it. Let's keep moving. If you make it obvious you're new here, you're going to get hassled," Vanessa warned the younger girl who shook her head around and tried to get a confident look on her face while continuing up- or forwards, as she now had to remind herself she was doing. Izumo still sweat nervously though as she wondered who was controlling the gravity magic here and if they could at any time just drop the strange field and let her fall.

The teenage girl's panic rose even faster as she thought, What about this entire place? If this is all a pocket dimension, and people made it, could they un-make it while we're in here? Could someone just destroy this entire world with all of us inside?! Izumo started breathing faster and in more ragged breaths.

"It's okay, Izumo. I'm really strong," Timmy told the girl on his right who he looked up at. She snapped her glare back down to him suspiciously that he was reading her mind, but he shook his head around quickly to deny that suspicion. Izumo realized she was just that obvious with how scared she was, and she tried twice as hard to hide that look from her face. "And I have super hearing. I'll know if anyone's coming to try us."

"When we were back on the Sunny- our pirate ship," Nami elaborated with a look over Timmy's head back at Izumo. Timmy had tried to keep quiet so not everyone would overhear him, but Nami was constantly aware of where Timmy was as they headed into this dangerous place, (even if she knew that she was the one in more danger here). "Right at the coast of Aebrith we got boarded by some Resistance assassins."

Nami was not hiding her voice, so Vanessa looked back too in surprise while Izumo's eyes widened a lot more upon hearing that. "Timmy woke right up and confronted them a second after they got on our ship. He read their minds and knew what they were doing the next second. Then he scared them off for us." Nami bragged about the boy who went a bit pink in the cheeks to match his hat, and he bowed his head but could not hide the smile under the rim of his hat that Nami had made for him. "So you can trust that he's more than ready for anything that'll be thrown at us out here."

Is he really that strong? No wonder they seem so relaxed! Vanessa thought amusedly. She laughed and took a much longer swig from her bottle of wine now that she was equally reassured that she was not going to have to rescue these people from anything on this trip. I bet they know who they can trust too right off the bat. Is Timmy reading my mind right now? Doesn't look like it, unless he's real good at hiding that he's doing so. That's good though. He'll need to hide it in the MK. A lot of powerful mages would love to take hostage the "companions of Son Goku." Force him to help them in their endeavors. I think these people understand that enough to be careful. Especially this Nico Robin. She seems very capable.

"Not far now. Remember, stick close in the bazaar," Vanessa warned. "And watch your pockets! I'll take you to your port, and I'll give you my contact information there. A way to contact me, I mean. In case you decide you want to come back the way you head in after you finish… whatever it is you're going in to do there." Vanessa smiled brightly at Juvia who just stared blankly back at her in a way that had a bead of sweat sliding down the left side of Vanessa's face.

Nice attempt, Nami thought gratefully but apologetically to their guide whose gaze paused on her while looking back forward.

The group turned onto a wide road leading into the busiest part of the market ahead of them. This seemed to be the "bazaar" that Vanessa kept mentioning, and it definitely had the most people of anywhere else in the Black Market. People were haggling and yelling at each other. Everyone looked magical. The amount of pointy hats actually looked ridiculous to Timmy who covered his mouth to not laugh. He floated up to be just taller than the girls around him, and he quickly counted all of the tall witch hats he could see, adding in the pointy sorcerer hats too that did not have the round rims at the bottom.

"I'm not sure. How about three thousand bucks?"

"Three thousand?! I could get the ingredients myself before I'd pay that much. Eight hundred!"

"I paid six hundred for the toad stomach alone," Luna Lovegood argued back. "But since we're such good friends, H-Poo, how about twenty-five?"

"Fifteen!" Hekapoo exclaimed back, dropping the price by a thousand in the negotiation. "Are you really going to leave poor Marco in such a state? Just look at him!" Hekapoo pointed to her right at the boy on the green leash she held close to her. He had no arms and legs and looked green and slimy. He wore a shirt and pants that looked so strange on the slug creature that had a mopey sad expression on its face.

"I'm sorry, H-Poo. But your boyfriend's, uh, situation," Luna glanced apologetically at the dejected expression of the slug boy staring at her with beady black eyes. "Well… I suppose, two thousand wouldn't be too-" Luna got distracted and stopped dropping the price to spin her head at the sight of a young man in a pair of glasses running down the street in her direction. "Oh! Harry!"

"Wait a sec- oh! Harry?!" Hekapoo spun in surprise after getting annoyed at Luna at first for her distraction. Marco Diaz bowed his slimy slug head and sighed in a depressed way that he was being ignored while in such a humiliating position.

"Sorry Luna, Hekapoo," Harry apologized while spinning to them as he passed by. He backpedaled to keep going and called to them, "I'm in a bit of a rush. I'll catch up with you girls another time!" Harry Potter turned towards the door of a storefront between two merchant stands outside like the one Luna stood behind. He pulled a handful of blue powder out of his pocket and threw it at the yellow door that sparked and flashed with green light, "Outo!" Harry ran into the portal on the doorway that closed behind him.

"You know Harry?" Luna asked in surprise while looking back at the demonic woman in front of her with long red hair and horns sticking out of her pale face.

"I'm surprised you do too," Hekapoo responded.

The human girl with short blonde hair and a highlight of purple on the left side slightly longer than the rest twirled those strands around in her left index finger. "Hmm. I guess, for another of Harry's friends," Luna flashed a smile at the other woman then reached down and dug around in her stand for the potion Hekapoo was after. "I suppose sixteen hundred isn't too much."

"'Sixteen?' Well, I suppose…" Hekapoo looked to Marco who lifted his slug head and had a glistening sparkle in his beady black eyes full of hope. "Marco can probably afford that," Hekapoo finished, and Marco pulled his head back then panicked while wiggling around frustratedly. Hekapoo smirked while watching him squirm, but she was reaching down to pull a wallet out of her orange cloak at the same time.

"Ah! Beautiful ladies! You look like you could do with a potion of eternal youth! You do not wish to lose that youthful energy- are those wrinkles next to your eyes?"

"An elixir of luck! Felix Felicis they call it. You look like you could use a dose of good luck, am I wrong?!"

Juvia looked towards the merchant and hesitated where she was for a second. I could- she started thinking.

The merchant latched on to her interest and rushed towards her while ushering towards his stand. "Come! Come this way, I will-"

"Not today. Thank you," Robin warned the man she stepped in front of between him and Juvia.

"What did you say about my wrinkles?" Nami snarled towards another merchant harassing her.

"Ignore them, girls," Vanessa remarked and waved a hand back without turning around herself.

The merchants started to argue with the women before them to try and convince the group to stay and check out their wares before moving on. Gusts of wind pushed into them though and made them each step backwards. Timmy darted his eyes back and forth between the salesmen and gave them harsh looks that were surprisingly effective coming from such a small young boy. The fact that a simple look could move them away without the child even trying was enough to dissuade them from continuing these futile efforts any longer.

"That potion sounded promising though," Juvia complained as Robin ushered her to continue.

"We have a better lead from a more trustworthy source already," Robin countered the girl who she put an arm around the shoulders of. She walked with Juvia and added softer, "If that does not work out, perhaps we come back here and take that elixir. Then we continue looking for a method to cure your ailment, and with luck on our side-"

"It's my bloodlust, Robin," Juvia hissed back at her older friend, and she took Robin's arm off her shoulders forcefully. "Not an 'ailment.' Not so simple as-"

"I use 'ailment' as a place holder while we are in public, Juvia. Around prying eyes and ears," Robin warned her friend seriously in response rather than backing down. "As should you."

"Why? If they try anything, maybe it's better that they know of Juvia's 'ailment.' It may dissuade them better than Timmy could," Juvia retorted.

"Perhaps," Robin agreed, rather than giving her friend the uneasy look that would match the way she and her friends were feeling after hearing Juvia respond snidely like that. Juvia looked surprised herself that Robin just went along with it too, but Robin just smiled back at her friend and told her, "But fortunately, we will not have time to test out your theory. As we will find a way to cure you in no time at all. We promised, Juvia. It will not be long now. Just hold on."

Juvia's lips trembled for a few seconds as she heard how much Robin meant what she just said. Without anything to base that confidence on, Robin was giving her her word. I trust you, Robin. I have to! Juvia clenched her eyes shut and just nodded her head that she bowed afterwards. Keep it under control. Just a little longer.

I fear what may happen if I am lying to you. I must have faith that Charles Xavier knew what he was talking about. Please, be right about this, Robin prayed in her head while keeping a more confident outward expression for her friend to see.

The group turned off the main road of the bazaar and headed down a connecting street that was still very busy. But then they went down another connecting road, then an alley, and then a darker alley off the one they were just on. At the end of the alley shimmered a strange invisible barrier just before the dead-end wall. "I'll step out with you lot and point you in the right direction," Vanessa told her tourists who looked at her in surprise when they apparently reached their destination. "I think that would be better than just dropping you off out there. I'm actually bringing you into another black market, though this is just a surface one in the town we're heading to. Not the Black Market."

Vanessa swung a hand at the shimmer which glowed bright pink when she did so. The invisible pre-wall glowed bright pink like a portal that she headed through to lead the way. "Can't leave it open for long. Follow quickly," Vanessa reminded the group as she stepped through.

The group left the Black Market and did not go through a series of different pathways this time on their way out. They just emerged onto the surface and had to squint their eyes as the suns were up and shining down on them. Robin glanced up after noticing the angle of the sunlight. "How far…" Robin started in surprise.

"Ooh. Nice job noticing," Vanessa remarked after seeing Robin's instant reaction. The older woman looked back down and Vanessa responded to Robin's unfinished question, "You just traveled over 20,000 miles from the Mana Crystal. Nice shortcut, right?!"

"Whoa," Timmy whispered, admitting how crazy that was while darting his eyes up and realizing how Robin figured that out. The suns aren't as far north. They're more directly above, even south. We must have passed the Equator on Nexus.

"We're closer to the Northern Continent now than we are to Resistance territory," Vanessa told them. "And we're still a few hundred miles from the Capital of the MK, the Magic Kingdom. Valyria is that way," Vanessa pointed the group in the right direction, and Timmy flew up in the air from the narrow marketplace in a small town surrounded by tall guard towers. Those towers were needed considering the lands around the city looked infested with monsters, though the monsters were admittedly staying a good distance away from the Scorched perimeter that gave the town a five-hundred-meter-wide burnt-countryside circumference.

"You'll find the Library there," Vanessa added after Timmy flew up. She grinned again while looking back at the group. "I really hope she's able to help with your condition," Vanessa added while looking to Juvia now.

"Wait, 'she?'" Nami asked after catching what Vanessa just said. "The greatest magician is a woman?" Nami asked it in a tone somewhat surprised but also getting more smug by the end of it. "Hmph, I should have guessed," she crossed her arms and grinned at the idea of it.

"Oh yes," Vanessa replied. She chuckled herself and shook her head rather than explain to the group why she was laughing. Timmy gave her an interested look but held off from reading her mind after the awkward moment back in Vanessa's shop that was still at the top of his mind. "Once you reach Valyria, it won't be hard to find the Library. The single greatest source of magical knowledge on all of Nexus. If you can't find your answer there…" Vanessa trailed off. She was saying it as an encouragement, but she watched as a look of fear covered a few of their faces at the idea of what might happen should they not find the answer. "Well, I'm sure you'll find it there. Good luck."

"Thank you, Vanessa-san. For getting us here," Robin told their guide. "Please, let me know how to contact you. Nami, if you could prepare our transport?"

"Already on it," Nami replied while digging into her bag for her Capsule case.

Robin spoke shortly with Vanessa while Nami popped back out their speeder that they had taken across Resistance territory. The two shook hands, and then Vanessa opened back up a magical passage that she took to head back into the Black Market. No one in the town's black market seemed surprised by their appearance or even paid them much mind at all. Robin had to appreciate their guide even more as she saw the people around them in this black market were dressed nothing like their group of five had been down in Resistance lands.

"Hop in, Robin! Let's get a move on," Nami called off the side of the speeder that lifted off the ground but hovered there waiting for Robin to get on board.

Robin climbed in but then started speaking as Nami got the speeder into gear and flew off almost straight to the west in the direction Vanessa had pointed before. Nami kept the speeder in low gear so the wind would not drown out her friend who had gotten some last minute extra information while Nami set up their transport. "We are in Android territory," Robin explained to her comrades who listened closely as Robin's tone sounded like she was warning them about this.

"Farther north than any Resistance-held territory. All of this country's neighbors are Cooperative as well, so we are too far for even the Resistance's Elite Squads to possibly come to our aid. We are truly alone up here. Beyond Arachne's territory. Past Alvarez and the Ren Empire. Even most of Terminus lands are south of here. Android territory borders the Northern Channel that separates mainland Aebrith from the Northern Continent. The Magic Kingdom is a country in the southwest portion of 17's territory. 17, being the High Lord of the Androids."

"I don't remember Gray bringing him up back on the Sunny," Timmy mentioned.

"17's one of the strongest," Izumo said. The rest of them looked to the girl who froze for a second when all eyes were on her. She realized though that she had been here much longer than any of them and probably had more information about this than Robin did. "No one messes with him. The Magic King submitted because magic doesn't hold him back. Some people… even argue that the Ant King might not be as strong as him."

"You're serious?" Nami asked in shock.

"I doubt that…" Timmy started, though he hesitated while speaking it aloud.

"If that's true, then we must be sure to be doubly careful," Robin said without arguing the possibility that those rumors were factual. There is always a possibility that the rumors are true. "The Magic Kingdom is massive based on what Vanessa-san told me. Android territory is huge, and the Magic Kingdom is just one domain in his lands. The Androids are considered to be a force of nature rather than man-made creations like their name suggests."

"I was told that there is only one holdout inside of 17's borders that 17 does not have sovereignty over. Shinkoku," Robin went on. Izumo looked at Robin in surprise this time to hear this. Robin nodded at the girl and added, "Apparently its leader Asura refused to submit to 17 and retained autonomy over his lands."

"Should we try to go through there?" Nami wondered.

"No. I believe the surrounding forces of both the Magic Kingdom and the Androids would have a close eye on such a town. We should avoid it to prevent from being spotted," Robin replied. "It is interesting though. I did not believe there were many such places not under the Cooperative's control outside of the Resistance. This 'Asura' must be a very powerful being. Yet you have never heard of him, Izumo?" Robin wondered to their newest group member who just shook her head after a second then looked away frowning.

"I don't know everything," Izumo muttered.

"That is quite fine. We are happy to have an Aebrith native with us nonetheless," Robin continued without pausing after Izumo's comment. The younger girl spun back in surprise but Robin just continued right away after the encouragement, "We still have a long trip to the capital of the Magic Kingdom. Likely a full day's drive by speeder, since we will have to stay at a slower speed while avoiding monsters this time to prevent drawing attention to ourselves by destroying them. We should get moving."

"That's my job to figure out, Robin," Nami retorted in semi-annoyance. She sighed though and shook her head. "But you're right. I'll plot a course. Timmy, keep a lookout and help me out up front. Juvia, grab the wheel… Okay?" Nami asked after a second, glancing at Juvia and hoping that order did not come off too bossy.

The blue-haired mage frowned back at Nami as she was just thinking that it did sound like Nami was bossing her around. Don't remember when you became my boss. Who made it your job to order me around? Juvia walked over to the control console of the speeder despite her pissed-off thoughts.

We need to move quickly. I wish Robin wasn't right, but she always is, Nami wanted to bite her fingernails but kept from the temptation for now. Almost there, Juvia. Just hold on a bit longer!

---

Black Market

Vanessa Enoteca flew up to the second floor of her house and spoke the password for the voice-activated entrance of her window. She lived above the Enoteca's Elaborate Emporium, and her living room the expanding windows opened up into was decorated in a fancy and stylish way. She rested her broom against the wall inside the windows that closed on their own. Then she pulled out her bottle of wine and tried to take a sip, only to wave the empty bottle around over her mouth a few times before tossing it towards a pile of other empty bottles near a full recycling bin.

Vanessa headed towards her bedroom and jumped towards her bed while already stripping off her cloak to leave her in only her underwear. "Ahhh," she sighed in exhaustion and relief to be back home and in bed. Vanessa grabbed a blanket and wrapped herself up sloppily with it, almost passing out on the spot.

"That Finral better come back for a proper visit," she muttered with her eyes snapping back open. She rolled onto her back and farther on the bed, kicking off her boots while she was at it.

Vanessa stared up at her purple-painted ceiling and the fan that she waved at to turn on, as it was a magic fan activated by mana. She smiled and even laughed at how dumb it was that everything around here had to use magic. Her smile did not last long though. Finral's face appeared in her head again. She saw the serious look on his face when she went to talk to him in the back room and he discussed the mission on the front line with Arachne that he had to quickly get back to.

Be careful, idiot. Vanessa pursed her lips then rolled over and opened a drawer in her nightstand. She dug around empty bottles and found some shooters of hard liquor that she grinned to see. Vanessa pulled out a few and downed one right away. "Ahh," the alcoholic witch sighed in relief after getting another swig down. I don't want to lose you too.

She rolled over towards the wall and curled up a bit while pulling her blanket up to her chin. The drunk jumping between emotions found her eyes filling with water so she slammed her eyes shut, but that just pushed some tears out anyway.

"Oi. You looking for someone?"

"Captain Yami!"

Vanessa cracked a smile again and laughed in a way to try and force away the tears. Back then it was only Captain Yami and Henry in the base. I couldn't believe the guild hall teleported to this world with him inside it! Vanessa laughed again imagining when Yami pointed towards their base that was walking over a forest towards where she bumped into him. "Va…nes…sa! It's… so… good… to… see… you!" Henry's slow way of talking had been such a relief for Vanessa to hear at the time that she cried harder then than she was right now.

After that we found a lot of our people. Never Asta or Noelle though. I wonder if they're together? Vanessa rolled onto her back and stared up at her spinning fan that dried some of her tears, though not for long. But the others though. In the Second War of the Gods. All of them! More tears spilled down Vanessa's face. Not all! Finral, and Luck are still…

Magic King Julius had us side with the Resistance. Obviously. They were the good guys, and we're heroes! Magic Knights were supposed to be, at least, Vanessa thought. Yami already had our squad fighting alongside them before the orders ever came down from the top though. Gauche- "Hahaha," Vanessa laughed just thinking his name. "Marie-chan! I must find her!" He had us searching the whole damn continent for his sister…

Gauche was the first to go. Vanessa remembered. It had been a long time, but the memories were still vivid in her head and hard to push away even with another chug of a tiny liquor bottle. And Grey. Then Gordon, and Henry once we were on the defensive in that war. After the Magic King had fallen. After William Vangeance- that coward, became the Magic King and submitted to 17's will. Because 17 killed the Magic King- Vanessa was breathing too heavily and too angrily, curling her fists in anger as she thought back on it.

We wouldn't give up though. And we put up a strong defense of our home, Vanessa recalled. Yami was badly injured. All his pets from our world and the new ones that he found here- taming all those giant monsters. They all died protecting our home too. Finral had just enough mana for one last portal. To get our captain out of there… while Henry fell behind us. Holding them off in the chaos. Vanessa cried another tear and covered her eyes with her right arm. Captain Yami became Commander Yami not long after that.

Before he went ahead of me and joined the others.

---

A/N ;( Ending on a bit of a sad note as we learn some of the history that the Black Bulls of Black Clover have been through since arriving on Nexus. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter! Our girls (and Timmy) make it into the Magic Kingdom thanks to some help from the Resistance and Vanessa, but now the group finds themselves on their own and deep in enemy territory. Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think in a comment below and if you recognized any/all of the characters we bumped into along the way.

Black Clover: Vanessa, Finral, Yami, Asta, Noelle, Luck, William Vangeance, Julius, Marie-chan, Gauche, Henry, Grey, Gordon

Mushoku Tensei: Roxy Migurdia

Konosuba: Megumin

Harry Potter: Hermione, Harry Potter, Luna Lovegood, Ollivanders

Owl House: Luz, Amity, Eda

Kyoukai no Kanata (Beyond the Boundary): Hiroomi

Yu Yu Hakusho: Yusuke

X-Men: Charles Xavier

One Piece: Robin, Nami, Luffy

Fairy Tail: Gray, Juvia, Natsu

DBZ: Goku

Fairly Oddparents: Timmy

Blue Exorcist: Rin, Izumo, Shima, Shiemi, Mephisto

Hunter x Hunter: Killua

Powerpuff Girls: Blossom

Soul Eater: Arachne

Game of Thrones: Valyria

Star vs the Forces of Evil: Hekapoo, Marco

Asura's Wrath: Asura, Shinkoku

-And I think that's everyone... if I missed one, let me know! If you don't recognize a character I'll happily tell you where I got them from. Anyway, review responses:

Smlluffy67 chapter 143 . Aug 23

I doubt it's him but I'm kinda holding for doctor strange

We'll see... Nice guess! No spoilers but we'll find out soon enough. Thanks for reviewing!

Espada-001 chapter 143 . Aug 24

No! Why did you kill Marguerite! She was one of my favorite characters from One Piece! T-T
As for Rin and Luffy going down to hell maybe they will be able to bring some of their fallen allies back. It's not like it would be impossible since there are numerous series that you've introduced where that has been done before. And Luffy seems pretty good at jail breaks...
As for the Nobodies goals of making more of them I'm not so sur how well that would actually work out for them. I mean they are catching strong individuals then trying to turn them into Nobodies. However, the main goal of a Nobody is to merge with their Somebodies. Since the organization already has the Nobodies, Somebody basically sitting in the next room and a machine that is able to refuse them, isn't the Organization just making new Nobodies that will get merged with their Somebody giving them the powers of a Nobody and the hearts of their Somebodies that they basically just killed meaning they'll have a nice fresh grudge against the Organization and more power to act on said grudge?
Sorry about that long sentence. Lots of Nobodies and Somebodies used there.

Had to delete some of your comment I'm not willing to read. Chill with the spoilers! I stopped reading the One Piece manga so I could enjoy the show again. I finally got to the point where I can watch it without knowing what's going to happen now. XD Any new form of Luffy will be introduced when I catch up to it, if the timeline of Nexus hasn't completely shifted too much from the old world that he'd more likely get different powers instead. We'll see. As for the Nobody stuff, how I think of it I guess is: you know how the Nobodies in the games are evil, even though their Somebodies aren't? Like, they get defeated while Nobodies and return to life for some reason in KH 3, and all of them are suddenly good guys again. Or at least different from their Nobody selves. But as Nobodies they still follow Xemnas. They aren't the same as their Somebodies. So they were just born, just created, and so even if they get their heart, they're still the Nobody that was just born. Like how Axel absorbed Lea and not the other way around. So should the Organization turn Cassie into a Heartless and create her Nobody, they create a being that just got born and who Xemnas makes loyal to him for creating them, kind of like a parent. Then hopefully that Nobody can get stronger by absorbing Cassie's heart without losing the loyalty to Xemnas, maybe even more loyal because he offers to make her whole. Of course, this doesn't always work out. In KH Chain of Memories, half of the Organization were betraying Xemnas. They had a coup in place. Axel was a traitor too. Roxas. Xion. X Shanks and his crew. So it's not 100% success rate, but Xemnas already knew that before coming into it. Maybe they've gotten even better at forging loyalty in their ranks? You can look back at the talk Ben had with Lynx in Zodd when he tried to convince her to switch sides. It's a little different because Ansem got Gwen and not the Organization itself, but the Nobodies who get their hearts often stick with the Organization too... Anyway, this is getting rambling. It's very convoluted, just like the plot of Kingdom Hearts... XD, so I think it fits well! Thanks for the review, glad to see you still reading. Sorry to kill off a fav character. Hope you enjoyed the new chapter though! And thanks everyone for reading, following, faving, and reviewing to this story. 'Til next time!