*Disclaimer: neither duodragoon nor I own/have any affiliation with Fairy Tail; all rights go to Hiro Mashima. Seriously, we just do this for fun and stuff*


The New Fairy Tail

Guild Alliance Arc

Chapter 24: Getting Up to Speed


*We open to a pitch-black space; there is only a tiny light moving ever so slightly. As we begin to move closer, two figures become outlined in the light. The figures are Akiko and Aria moving down a staircase, the light is a bolt of electricity Akiko holds in her palm*

"Do these stairs ever end? It feels like we've been walking for hours," Akiko groans. Akiko pauses, waiting for Aria to respond, but the silence continues. After a few more minutes, they start to see a green glow emanating from the dark below. Aria rushes down the steps. "H-hey! Wait up!" Akiko yells while picking up her pace. Akiko then does some evasive maneuvers to not crash into Aria, who had suddenly stopped in the middle of the path. "Why did you-" Akiko's voice trails off as she now looks ahead. The green glow they saw earlier was from an array of tubes with green energy flowing through them. Each tube was connected to a cage and inside…inside were humans, or rather what was left. Inside, each human looked like a CapriSun® pouch after you've squeezed out all the juice but try to get some more [N/N: Oh, thanks for that image, duo…].

Slowly, the two girls walk through the prison, amazed and horrified at the sight. "Who could do such a thing…what is the point of all this!?" "Why, they're power sources of course!" The girls turn to see the lady in charge standing right behind them. "Do you know how much energy the average human stores in fat? Now, imagine a rich lazy person who does nothing but eat. It's outrageous no one started doing this sooner, if you asked me," she says, smirking as she walks over to a cage, "They come here, stuff themselves, we offer them a room, they pass out, and we bring them here to be milked like the greedy cows they are." She then begins to laugh maniacally [N/N: As maniacs do]. Akiko's hands begin to tremble from rage. She is about to lunge at the woman, but Aria stops her. Akiko looks at Aria in her eyes, which begin to glow; Akiko suddenly calms down and hears a voice in her head.

Without thinking, Akiko repeats what the voice said, "You say they give you a lot of power…what are you going to use that power for?" The woman snaps her head, surprised, "Well well, aren't you just full of surprises. It's been ages since I've seen such a simple hypnotic suggestion spell used. What exactly are you?" Now Aria is the one taken back by her words as the lady continues, "If you want to know, it is a device that will help us rule this world." She begins to walk towards them, "Now the only thing in our way is you two." Aria and Akiko lunge at her; she smirks then puts her hand up. A wave of purple energy thrusts them back into an open cage. The woman gingerly walks up and locks the door, "And now, you're taken care of! Have fun for the rest of your short lives. Bye bye now!" She then walks off.

Akiko jumps on the cage like a monkey in a zoo and yells, "LET ME OUT SO I CAN WIPE THAT SMUG LOOK OFF YOUR FACE. I'M SICK OF PEOPLE NOT RESPECTING ME; I'M A FAIRY TAIL WIZARD FOR MAVIS'S SAKE!" Aria tugs on Akiko's arm, "WHAT!?" Akiko turns to look at the back of the cage and sees two pairs of glowing eyes, "Guess we're not alone," Akiko mumbles and jumps down, preparing for whatever is in the cage.

*Meanwhile in another dark area, we see a group led by Roxina and Lucio (still holding hands out of need, comfort, or maybe both) with Kaizer and Gin behind them (though not holding hands, they are very close to each other). They are surrounded by a pack of the monster hounds that are guiding them*

Gin decides to ask the question on everyone's mind, "So, anyone have a clue where they're taking us?" Kaizer quietly answer, "I know it sounds cliché, but I'm assuming to their leader." Both Roxina and Lucio nod. "That's how these things usually go," they say in unison which makes Kaizer and Gin share awkward looks at each other. After following the pack for a few more minutes, Roxina suddenly collapses to her knees. Kaizer and Gin try to rush over but are stopped by the dogs. Lucio, with a calm demeanor, tells them, "It's alright guys, you go on ahead. We'll catch up."

Kaizer and Gin nod, weary of leaving their teammates behind but in no position to argue. After he sees Kaizer and Gin fade into the distance, Lucio turns to Roxina, whose hand he is still holding, "How is it?" Roxina pulls up her sleeve, the glow has now spread down her arm almost to her wrist. Lucio also notices she is way paler then when they entered the cave. "We should probably catch up with the others," Lucio says as he tries to guide Roxina down the same path as Kaizer and Gin but is stopped by the hounds. They turn their heads to a new path that suddenly appears. "On second thought, maybe we won't be catching up after all."

*We see the squad of Junshi, Raiu, Namika, and Roagan [N/N: oddly enough, in height order) standing in front of an old ruined temple. Trienruk is continuing his struggle up the final steps*

"Here...we are...The Alter...of...the Titans," he gasps out before collapsing behind the group. Raiu nods, "Alright guys, let's figure out-" Raiu is interrupted by a loud roar from inside. Immediately Raiu and Namika rush in with Roagan moving at a moderate pace. Junshi takes a few steps and stops, then turns toward Trienruk and bows, "Thank you for your guidance. Please head back to the village where it is safe." She then rushes in after the others. Trienruk puts his thumb up, "You got it...I'll head back. After I...take a...well deserved nap." He then begins to snore.

Junshi quickly catches up to the others, who are looking down at something. She then looks down and sees a horde of shadowy figures with purple eyes standing stock still. Junshi tilts her head, "What are they doing?" Namika answers in a stern but unsure voice, "If I had to guess, waiting for orders." Junshi looks over awestruck by the uncountable number of figures. Raiu leans over and whispers to Namika, "You don't think…?" "That these are the souls of all those slaughtered people we heard about? Possibly, but there are still not enough here to cover all of them, so what-" Namika is cut off by another loud roar. Suddenly, all the eyes of the figures glow and they begin to move. The group (except for Roagan, who just puts his hands up) gets into a fighting stance. Junshi then turns to look at Namika, "Fighting time?" Namika nods. Junshi's eyes sparkle with unbridled excitement. She jumps forward, leading the charge.

*A cloud of steam is rushing through the forest, followed by Duo and Yuka. They are heading back down the path leading to the camp they helped set up when they first arrived. We can hear screams and see smoke rising*

Once they get there, they see the camp in chaos: tents on fire, scientists being chased by wolves, and guards just trying to survive. They take a moment to look around before Duo walks over to the steam cloud, "Hey think you can help these guys out since...you're already all, uh, steamy and stuff." A moment passes, then the steam cloud explodes, covering the camp. For a few minutes there is silence, then a bunch of Kung-Fu sounds, then the steam begins to dissipate. It clears to reveal Duo, Yuka, and Silvia standing with a bunch of unconscious wolves surrounding them. Duo smirks and looks over at Silvia, "Feeling better now?" She cuts him a glare that makes Yuka shudder.

Silvia walks toward the nearest guard; Duo is about to follow her but is stopped by Yuka grabbing his arm. He looks at her with a raised eyebrow. Yuka has a worried look on her face, "Your skin. You're getting paler...are you going to be okay?" Duo is silent for a moment then replies, "I'm fine. Must have been something I ate. Don't tell Silvia, she's focused and we need to get this job done." Yuka hesitates, then nods and quickly lets go as Silvia heads back towards them, "The guard said Luke came through here not too long ago with the pack of wolves. Some of them stayed to distract the people outside, but most of the pack followed her inside the pyramid. Let's go." They begin rushing towards the pyramid. A big, purple, glowing doorway now cuts into the side of the pyramid. When they go through, they end up in a glowing blue temple style room.

Glyphs line the walls and blue flames light the room. Yuka looks around in awe, 'I have read about ancient temples like this, but never imagined I'd actually see one in my lifetime.' A growl snaps her back to reality. Out of the dark corners of the room, various wolves begin to fill the room, eyes glowing the same color as the walls. The group gets into their own fighting stances. "Guess the only way to Luke is through them," Duo says in a cocky tone, worrying Yuka even more.

*It is quiet on the desert flats as we see a panning shot of nothing but…sand. In the distance, the faint sound of an engine hums. Inside a suped up buggy is Jasper, Jarvan, Jania, and Tia; the inside is very fancy/ expensive looking*

"Ah now this is what I'm talking about, living in the lap of luxury. A girl can get used to this," Jania hums happily. Jasper faintly whispers to Jarvan right next to him, "Too bad none of this is for her." Jarvan snickers which catches Jania's attention, "What are you snickering at? At least I helped! Did you see how fabulous her makeup was?!" Jarvan tenses up, "No need to get ya britches in a bunch. We're on our way to the goal, we get there, smash some stuff, and we can go home and relax. Sound good?" Jania raises an eyebrow, "Seems you're not as dumb as you look."

Jasper claps his hands, "Well said brother. Now that that's settled we should-" he looks around. "Don't tell me we forgot the general," Jasper says gloomily. Tia grabs his arm and tugs, "Don't worry I took care of it. He's fine." The other three look at each other worried. The top of the cart has all their bags on it, and on top of said bags is the general and his dog. Duct taped. On top of the bags. Their mouths taped as well." Just fine," Tia snickers, leaning back as they zoom off.

A little while later, the buggy is stopped with all the gear (and the general) unloaded next to it. The driver leans out the window, "Alright boss, this is as far as I'm allowed to go; that weird pyramid thing is right over that hill." Jasper nods as he puts his backpack on, "Thanks, we should be fine from here." The driver nods with his hand out, Jasper sighs then reaches in his pocket and pulls out a gold coin and tosses it into the driver's hand. "Pleasure doing business, mates." The buggy then zooms off.

"No matter where you go, there are always swindlers," Jasper mumbles. As he catches up to the rest of the group on top of the hill. When he gets their he stops and looks down. Standing between them and the pyramid is at least 300 sand demons with orange glowing eyes, which are the same color as the pyramid. Jasper takes a second from his amazement to look at the rest of his teammates, who are staring at him. He smiles, "Well guys, seems like someone brought in a welcoming party. Let us not be impolite guests." Jarvan, Jania, and Tia smile then cheer as the four of them rush down into the fray. The general stands proudly above them, "You lot go ahead I'll stay back for the important job: watching these bags." He then stands at attention along with his dog.

*Back at council HQ, Levy is still sleeping at her desk. A loud bang shakes the building, startling Levy awake*

"Oh my Mavis, what was that!? Hikari! Are you ok?!" Levy looks at the seat across from her and notices it is empty. She quickly looks around and notices Hikari is nowhere to be found. Levy jumps extremely high as another loud boom rocks HQ, followed by Levy crashing into a pile of books. She gets up and walks towards the door. When she opens it, she sees guards scrambling about. She grabs the nearest guard, "What's going on?" Panicking, he stumbles on his first few words, "We-re..undeder..attack. Gotta secure my post, make sure the cakes are okay, and find Mr. Cuddly Bottom. Must hurry!" The guard rushes off down the hall. Confused, Levy turns to head towards Erza's office. Just as she's about to step in, another loud explosion rattles the building's foundation.

Levy rushes to the window to look outside, finding herself shocked and confused by what she sees. Hundreds of shadow gargoyles hover in the sky surrounding the building. Levy is frozen in place before shaking her head and rushing down the hall. Inside Erza's office, soldiers run around with books, while Erza is in the back of the room looking at the surrounding threat via her Holoboard. Next to her, Hikari is speeding through books faster than humanly possible. The door slams open, causing everyone to stop. Granted, they only spare a brief look at Levy before quickly going back to their job.

As she walks through, several soldiers rush past her. Once she is close, she can hear Erza talking to a soldier, "Is everyone in position?" The soldier nods, "Yes ma'am. Everyone is accounted for and awaiting your orders." Erza nods, "Tell them to be ready, but don't advance just yet. We're not sure what these beasts want or what they're capable of; no need to lose valuable men in a fight that isn't needed." The soldier nods and starts to turn around, but a look flashes across his face as if he remembered something. He then whispers into Erza's ear and she nods, "EVERYONE LEAVE US!" All the soldiers stop what they're doing and rush out of the room.

The only ones left are Erza, Levy, and Hikari. Still not fully understanding the reason behind the fracas Levy asks, "OK! WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?" From an unknown person a calm, womanly voice says, "Yes, just what is going on here?" They all turn to see a woman with white hair and feathers covering her *ahem* important parts. She is holding an ancient looking book with an emblem like the ones shown during the guild party debriefing. Hikari looks at her, eyes widening, remembering what was nagging at her.

*Flashback*

A very small Hikari, and what we assume to be a small Yuka, are sitting in a room looking up at a figure reading from a book. The figure is Angel, reading from the same book she is holding in the present.

*Flashback ends*

Hikari quietly stands up and steps towards Angel. Levy, now confused and worried, says, "Hikari...?" Suddenly, Hikari activates her Dragon Force, anger in her eyes, "WHO ARE YOU!"


N/N: Aaaaaand now we're all caught up. Unfortunately. Yep, my stock of chapters is officially empty. I think 25 will be out on time, but with finals this week, WWE's TLC nearby on Sunday, and the approaching holidays….25 may be a bit late. By a week. No biggie. Anywho, hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Until next time FanFiction, this is

duodragoon & SkyFlameDragon

Signing off