Magnolia... A city that's as big as New York. It's home to over a million people, but out of all the people, seven individuals have chosen to protect this city. Flying over the city was an airship that was designed to aid in the protection of Magnolia. The names of these vigilantes were Salamander, Black Steel, Sky Maiden, Thunder Legion, Cobra, Nova Ray, and Shadow. These seven individuals came together and have used their combine powers to protect Magnolia from all the powered villains there are. They make a splendid team.
"Give it, Gajeel!" Natsu shouted. Well, they do most of the time. "Give it! Give it! That's my sandwich!"
"Gimme, gimme doesn't get!" Gajeel said. The two of them were fighting over a sandwich that Gajeel took that Natsu claims is his with Natsu reaching out and trying to swipe it from Gajeel, but Gajeel kept him back.
"You asked for it!" Natsu said with igniting his hands and started burning Gajeel.
"Aw! Are you crazy!" Gajeel said with him turning his arm to iron and knocking Natsu away. "You're a nutcase!"
"Give me my sandwich!" Natsu called as he jumped on Gajeel again and was trying to take it. As those two were fighting, someone else swiped the sandwich from Gajeel.
"Hey!" Both called with them seeing it was Erik that swiped it.
"What are you two? Five? You're fighting over a sandwich." Erik said.
"But it was mine." Natsu argued.
"I didn't see your name on it." Gajeel argued.
"You two are total losers. Look at what you're doing just to grab a bite." Erik said. When he put it like that, the two of them did feel a little bad about how they were acting. That was until Erik took a bite out of it. "It is a good sandwich."
"Hey!" Both of them shouted and tried to get it back. All three of them were now fighting over it until someone else took it and just threw it away.
"There. Now it's no one's." Jellal said. Jellal Fernandez, the man responsible for bringing this "team" together. "Save the sparing session for when you have combat practice. Now that we have that settled, do you three think you can pull it together long to investigate something."
"What do you got?" Natsu questioned.
"I've been seeing reports of something lurking around the halls of Magnolia High at night." Jellal said. "I don't know what it is, but the police don't have enough to warrant a search."
"It's probably nothing than." Erik said.
"Better to be safe than sorry." Jellal said. "I want the three of you to check out the school tonight and see if there's really anything to worry about."
"Should we get the rest of the team?" Gajeel said.
"I'm sure it's nothing the three of us can't handle." Natsu said. Back in his earlier years of being Salamander, Natsu usually worked alone. Now, ever since Jellal formed this team, he likes the idea of having others around to watch his back. They're all pretty tough on their own, and they are stronger together. There's hardly any enemy they can't beat.
...
Magnolia High
Later that night, Salamander, Steel, and Cobra went to check the school out. They were able to sneak in and had a look around. There was a sense of nostalgia for Salamander and Steel since they went to this school and graduated from it.
"Boy, this brings back some memories. Doesn't it, Black Steel?" Salamander said.
"I'll say, like all the times you wrecked this place trying to fight a baddie, or when you brought the whole place down fighting Black Dragon and END." Steel claimed.
"Yeah... The media never let me lived that one down." Salamander claimed.
"Would you two stop your trip down memory lane and focus?" Cobra said. "So far, I'm not seeing anything. This better not be some wild goose chase." It did seem like the school was empty, but that's because they were the ones being stalked. There actually was something in the school, and it was following after them. "I don't think there's anything here."
"Wait. Did you hear that?" Salamander said.
"What?" Cobra said with all three of them on guard.
"I think its the sound of that goose." Salamander joked.
"Very funny. Let's just go. I really don't think there's..." Steel was about to suggest that they leave, but that was when they heard some sort of noise. "Salamander, enough with the crummy jokes."
"A: crummy jokes are my thing like Spider-Man. B: that wasn't me." Salamander claimed. "It sounded like it came from the ducts." Salamander looked around until he saw a vent to look through. He stuck to the wall and tried to take a look. "Hello? Any mice, homeless men, or freaky creatures in there?" He tried to look inside to see what was in there. In the midst of all the darkness, he did spot a set of white eyes looking right at him. Then, something slithered out and grabbed him by the neck with him being smashed against the wall.
"Something tells me that's no mouse!" Steel said. He tried to help Salamander out by grabbing a hold of him and tried pulling him free. Cobra tried to help by attacking with poison, but his attacks just kept bouncing off.
"What is this stuff?! I can't tell if I'm hurting it!" Cobra claimed. Salamander helped out by igniting his hands and tried burn through it. It apparently worked with Salamander getting free.
"Are you okay?" Steel asked.
"I think so, but that stuff felt familiar." Salamander said.
"Come out of there!" Cobra called. His call did not go unanswered. Something busted right through the vent, but it had no shape. It was a moving pile of black substance. It slithered out of the vent and formed some sort of creature with fangs and blank white eyes.
"Salamander..."
"That thing can talk?!" Steel said.
"What the hell is that thing?" Cobra questioned.
"I feel like I know what that thing is, but how?" Salamander questioned.
"Have you forgotten? We bonded...Natsu Dragneel. We fought before. You know from...Black Dragon." The monster said. When it said Black Dragon, it all came back to Salamander. Years ago, he came in contact with this black substance that made him much stronger, but affected his mind and made him more hostile. After freeing himself, the substance bonded with a man named Acnologia and became the most vicious villain Salamander ever faced: Black Dragon.
"You're... You're that alien gunk that gave me that black suit! I thought you were destroyed! Gone forever with Black Dragon!" Salamander claimed.
"Not gone. Survived, and stronger!" The alien claimed with it stretching out its arm and smashing against Salamander. Black Steel and Cobra tried attacking that thing, but it unleashed tendrils and grabbed a hold of them with it smashing them against whatever it could.
"Steel! The lockers! That thing hates loud sound!" Salamander called.
"Got it!" Steel said. He hardened his arm and banged it against the lockers to generate a loud vibration. It appeared to be working with the alien getting agitated. The alien tossed both of them aside and against Salamander.
"Do not interfere!" The alien claimed before it took off.
"Stop it! We can't let that thing escape!" Salamander claimed with all three of them getting up and chasing after that thing. They chased after the alien. It went into the girls locker room and planned to escape from there. "Always wondered what it was really like in there." They chased after it, but the whole alien slithered down a drain. "No!" He and the others grabbed a hold of it and tried to keep it from going anywhere, but it was able to slither out of their grip and managed to escape. "No! It's gone! We've got to go after it!"
"Is that thing really that dangerous?" Cobra said.
"You don't know the half of it." Salamander said. "I've... I've actually worked with that thing before. It bonded to me and made me stronger, but at the same time, it was turning me into someone I didn't want to be. Then, it formed one of the most dangerous enemies I ever faced...because that thing knows everything about me. That includes what I'm like under the mask."
"It knows your real identity." Steel said.
"We've got to tell Jellal and track that thing down. It's too dangerous to be left alone." Salamander claimed. The others agreed with what Salamander is saying and hurried off. Salamander thought this whole thing with that alien was behind him, but it looks like it's come back to haunt him.
...
The Airship
Salamander and the others reported back to the airship and told Jellal all about what was going on. Understanding the situation, Jellal got to work on trying to track that alien and figure out where it could have gone.
"I had a feeling there was something there, but I didn't expect it to be some sort of alien from your past." Jellal said.
"How do you think I feel?" Salamander said. "I thought that thing was destroyed, gone forever when Black Dragon fell. I haven't seen that thing since that happened."
"Well, it looks like it managed to survive somehow." Jellal said.
"So, was it just hiding in the school for all these years?" Steel questioned.
"It would seem so. With it being just a black fluid substance, it could have easily kept itself hidden for all these years and no one would have ever known a thing." Jellal said. "Looks like during that time, it didn't bother to find a new host. Instead, it appears to have grown much stronger. It seems to have found a way to even evolve itself so it's capable of defending itself without a host. Quite odd. Based on what you've told me Salamander, it requires a symbiotic relationship. A symbiote, I should say. It makes its host stronger while the host enables it to prosper. The fact that it lasted this long without it..."
"But what is it up to? It told us not to interfere." Cobra said. "Interfere with what?"
"That's what we've got to figure out." Jellal said. He kept working on it until his computer got something. "Found it. It looks like it's heading for the astrological research lab. I'll contact the others and meet you there. We can't allow this thing to roam free."
"No kidding." Salamander said as he alone understands how bad this could be. All three of them hurried to try and stop that symbiote before it could do any harm to anyone.
...
The Lab
People at the lab were in the middle of work despite it being so late. This lab was used for research purposes to study space, the stars, and some "souvenirs" that came from space. One researcher was in the process of working, just simply doing some research on a tablet down the halls until he heard the sound of of something. He looked around, but saw nothing until the symbiote came down from above and ensnared him. The scientist's screams went silent with the symbiote taking over the body. Once the symbiote was in control, it knew everything the professor knew and used it for its purposes. As for Salamander and the others, they hanged back and watched the thing.
"What are we waiting for? We have to take that thing down." Salamander said.
"Not yet. We need to know what thing is after first." Cobra said.
"Whatever it is can't be good. That's why we've got to take that thing out while we still can." Salamander said with them getting a little edgy. That's why when he felt a hand against him, Salamander grabbed a hold of it and threw him against the wall.
"Hey! It's just me!"
"Ray!" Salamander said. He looked to see the rest of the team showed up. "Sorry. I'm a little on edge."
"So we noticed." Shadow said.
"Jellal told us everything that's going on. Where's the alien?" Thunder Legion questioned.
"This way." Steel said. All seven of them hurried to try and catch the alien. They followed the symbiote to a storage place in the lab and used the scientist's access card and passcode to get inside. Once the doors opened up, the symbiote just tossed the poor guy aside, but Sky Maiden acted quickly and caught the poor guy. Inside that storage room was samples of different meteorites and took the one it was looking for.
"Soon..." The symbiote said.
"Soon, you're going to be burned to pieces." Salamander said and showed himself and the others. "If you want to start a rock collection, there are other ways to go at it."
"Let's see if this thing can actually see the light." Ray said. He held out his arm and fired multiple shots of light, but they all passed right through him. The symbiote fought back with it shotting a tendril and smashed it against Ray to knock him back.
"Let's try a little lightning!" Legion tried blasting it with electricity, but the creature kept slithering away with it.
"I got it!" Sky Maiden called as she attempted to stop it and blew some wind at the creature, but it fought through it and knocked her out of the way. After that, it went on through the building.
"Get it!" Salamander called with him chasing after it.
"Hold on a sec. What did that thing take?" Shadow questioned. He hurried on inside and tried to find something that could tell him about the meteorite the alien took. "Jellal, come in. That creature took a meteorite. I'm sending you what appears to be the file catalog. See if you can figure out which one it is." As for Salamander and the others, they tried to chase after the creature, but it didn't want them to get in the way. That's why it wrecked the halls of the lab and tried to stop them.
"No you don't!" Salamander called as he jumped through all of it.
"Salamander! Wait!" Black Steel called, but he and the others couldn't get through, so Salamander chased after the symbiote alone. The symbiote smashed through a window and made its way up the building, but Salamander chased after it.
"Get back here so I can burn you to nothing!" Salamander called. He tried climbing after the creature, but that was when his communicator went off. "What? Make it fast. I got ten ton pile of sludge to chase."
"salamander, the meteor that creature took is more important than you think." Jellal communicated. "I was able to find the data on that meteor...and it's the same one that brought the symbiote to Earth."
"What?! The same one that brought that thing here?! Are you sure?!" Salamander questioned. "What would that thing want with its old ride?"
"So, you know now." The symbiote said with it stopping to talk to Salamander and held up the meteor. "This is what will be the instrument to the end."
"What do you mean by that?" Salamander questioned.
"You'll see." The symbiote claimed.
"I don't think so!" Salamander called as he ignited himself and jumped right at the creature, but it used another tendril and grabbed a hold of him and smashed him against the building.
"You could have had it all. You were given power, strength, and could have obtained all that you desired." The symbiote said. "Soon, your world will change forever. It begins!" What does that thing mean? What begins? What's going to happen? It would seem that the remains of Salamander's most dangerous enemy is still causing trouble, and Salamander needs to figure out how to stop it.