Making Waves 35 (Patreon)

Hey all, here is the next chapter of Making Waves. I think it’s funny at least, as did Justlovereadin’ and Hiryo, who has gotten it back to me now as well. Alas, doing a Grammarly check would take even more time away from ATP, and given what I have going on in RL, that’s not going to happen.

Chapter 35: Adventure Comes in Many Forms

Getting into the giant robot would prove to be a challenge, although as the group moved up the small hill of dirt and rocks that had grown up around the giant robot’s legs, there was no sign of this.

Ranma, who knew the most about plants, was looking around in surprise as he passed what looked like an oak. An oak that didn’t look as if it had been impacted by the massive amount of ambient Ethernano in the background. “This robot’s got to have been standing here for at least a few thousand years to let this much growth build up around him. First all the dirt and rocks, and then the plants after that.”

“I thought we knew that before starting this climb,” Gajeel grunted, from where he crouched nearby on a large rock, hauling Juvia up beside him. “What’s your point?”

“I… don’t know. But some of these plants are normal. More normal than we’ve seen before. This thing might be, I don’t know, leaking out something into the surrounding area that deadens the background Ethernano field.” Kind of like… what was it, iron that was supposed to soak up radiation? Ugh. Wish I had listened more in science class about that kind of thing.

Gajeel’s eyes widened, and the others all looked around in surprise too.

“So how do you think it works?” Natsu of all people questioned, staring up at the giant robot. He’d wanted to just fly up there with Happy, but Ranma had turned down the idea for now. Just in case the robot had some anti-air guns still operating, or whatever. They’d yet to see any flying creatures since spotting the android, and there had to be a reason for that.

Or maybe there didn’t. The Blasted Lands are like that, Ranma reflected now as the others began to speculate about the robot and its anti-magic capabilities. The moment you think there’s a pattern, it shifts. The Blasted Lands have only had one real rule so far throughout our time here, and it’s that you should expect the unexpected. Still, better safe than sorry.

“Regardless, Juvia thinks the answer will reveal itself in time. For now, Juvia just saw what looks like a cave over there,” Juvia announced pointing through the scattered trees and brush.

Ranma moved as she directed, the others behind him, moving carefully. Footing was strange here on this hill, with weird bits of scree that had nearly sending the mages tumbling more than once.

They did indeed find what looked like an ancient hole in the side of the robot. It had been made either by an ancient battle or a large rock the size of four people and probably weighing a ton that looked to have been dislodged recently which lay nearby. Ranma didn’t honestly care how the hole had come to be, it was an entrance, and that was enough. “Natsu, my man, make us some torches. Jenny, Juvia take up the rear, Natsu in the middle, Gajeel in the front with me,” he ordered.

The others obeyed with a minimum amount of whining from Happy about not being given a position in the column and Natsu about following after the other two Dragon Slayers. And while Natsu was surprisingly durable, Ranma had his ki, and Gajeel’s durability was his calling card.

Ranma pushed himself into the hole, finding himself going through two feet at least of internal wires, pipes, and so forth, before coming to what looked like an internal wall of metal. “Hold up, the internal wall isn’t broken yet, and there’s not enough space in here for more than one.”

Thankfully the others had waited for him to give the all clear, putting his plans on how to move on hold. Now, Ranma raised a leg, kicking out hard.

To Ranma’s surprise, the metal didn’t so much as buckle. Instead it was like he was a kid again, kicking out a rock only to find it was only a portion of a much larger, buried boulder. The reverberations from the kick rose up in his leg causing him to stumble sideways into the wires and pipes. “FUCK, that hurt!”

“What’s wrong, my beloved?!” Juvia shouted urgently.

“Ugh, nothing, just, this metal is tough stuff.” Ranma raised a hand, intending to create a cutting force of Water Magic, but when he tried, his magic refused to respond. He could barely feel the reaction from his magic reserves, and the spell fizzled out before the water even began to form. Grumbling, Ranma muttered, “Shoulda expected that after what I noticed outside. And here I am, caught in this thing’s outer skin. Hmm… wonder if it’s just the metal of this thing that has the anti-magic properties. Still, hard way it is.”

Ranma began to wail on the wall and after a few strikes started using his ki to augment his speed and strength. It took at least a few thousand blows before he started to see a few dents appear. After another twenty minutes, the dents started to merge into a bulge distending inward into whatever open area was behind it. It took another twenty minutes before the bulge exploded, and Ranma hissed as the edges of the metal scraped across his bare hands and forearms. It didn’t break the skin, but it still stung despite his durability. Regardless, there was a way through now, and Ranma began to widen it carefully, pulling or hitting the bits of battered metal out of the way enough to make his way through. Soon the entrance was made and Ranma called the others after him as he entered.

Then Ranma remembered something he had once seen in an action flick back on Earth. “Crud, the air.” With that, he belatedly pulled out a long scarf and wrapped it around his mouth and nose. I doubt that old air or whatever it was in those Egyptian crypts that was so bad would bother me, but better safe than sorry.

Thankfully on the other side of the inner wall Ranma found they were in a hallway. It was low slung, made for short people, maybe? Or perhaps this was some kind of emergency maintenance shaft? The strange, scattered markings of orange and brown on the walls over what looked like small hatches or covers in the inner and outer wall seemed to add to that idea. There was also, Ranma was somewhat amused to see, bits of graffiti scattered all around him.

The shaft continued out in either direction from where he had hammered a way in. In both ways it curved, possibly following the interior of the robot’s lower stomach area, almost like a rib, maybe. This was soon proven as an antsy Natsu joined him, holding a torch in one hand, having been warned about the anti-magic properties Ranma had run into. “Oh my god, this is amazing, exploring an ancient robot god thing, wooo, that is straight out of some of my dreams, mannn….”

“Heh. I know. It is kinda cool… hey, you feeling all right?” Ranma gripped Natsu’s elbow, holding him up as he seemed to sway, pulling him out of the way as Gajeel entered with the others behind him, even Happy, who seemed reluctant to enter at first. “You look a little green.”

“Oooh, I don’t know, but this place, it’s sapping my energy a lot,” Natsu grumbled.

“Huh, I didn’t notice that, any of you?” Ranma asked as Jenny and Juvia joined them.

Gajeel frowned a bit, shaking his head while the girls just shrugged. Happy looked a little weaker, and quickly climbed up Natsu’s legs and back to his regular perch, where he settled in quickly. But that was nothing unusual here in the Blasted Lands. None of them had any idea why Natsu was looking a little woozy, but after a few moments, he seemed to shake it off. Ranma thought he looked a little angry or annoyed now, but since his weakness had disappeared, he decided to not comment.

His blonde lover had noticed something else, however. “Ranma, did you just punch through this armor?”

“Yeah, what else would I have done? My magic didn’t work on it,” Ranma answered, somewhat confused.

“…Ranma, I love you, but… did you honestly forget about your ki claws? Surely, they would have cut through it if you didn’t want to use your Vorpal Blades for fear of what was on the other side.”

For a moment the others all looked at Ranma, as his face turned red and he looked away pointedly. He then lit up his hand with ki, forming a long claw from one finger. It didn’t cut through the metal quickly, but a moment later, a portion of the ragged edge of the hole Ranma had punched through the outer armor fell to the ground.

At that point, Gajeel began to laugh his signature laugh, while Happy fell off Natsu’s head as he and the pinkette both lost it. This was not helped by Juvia giving Ranma a thumbs up and gave him a thumb’s up. “Don’t mind, darling.”

Grinding his teeth, Ranma cracked his neck in a circle, growling, “Oh, just wait until it’s sparring time you bastards.”

After the group had gotten over their amusement at Ranma’s mistake, Ranma randomly chose one of the two directions facing them and began to move. “Come on you hyenas, let’s go. We’ll have to go in single file for now, but maybe we can split up after we have an idea of what we’re dealing with inside this beastie.”

The light in the torches Natsu had made allowed them to see as well as possible, and soon the group spread out in a line. There didn’t seem to be any side doors or passages yet they could enter, the hatches Ranma had noticed proving to be simple covers for batches of wires and strange boxes. And occasionally the tunnel became smaller, forcing them all to go on hands and knees.

Looking back at the others, Ranma tsked a moment to himself at a missed opportunity. Being behind the girls would be pretty amazing just now. Although I can’t complain at the view just now either. Jenny was right behind Ranma, and her shirt had fallen down and Ranma could stare straight down into her shirt, watching the swaying orbs there. Jenny decided not to wear a bra today I see.

Feeling Ranma’s eyes on her, Jenny looked up from where she had been staring at the floor. She smirked back at him, then languidly pointing behind Ranma’s head, just as Ranma’s head smacked into a portion of the ceiling. “Watch your head Ranma, come on, you’re supposed to be leading us, you know. Where exactly was your attention just then hmmm?”

Grumbling Ranma turned back and began to look ahead once more.

The group spent five minutes trooping along seeing nothing but the internal coverings, without a single offshoot until they found a staircase leading upwards.

“I bet that if we had gone the other way, we’d have found a staircase leading down. I wonder what it will look like nearer the legs or inside of them,” Jenny murmured, looking around thoughtfully.

“Juvia thinks that any attempt to call forth the spirit of this thing to add to your Mecha Soul: Takeover magic would not work. Juvia thinks that Jenny is not nearly large enough for that to work. Jenny is also soft and squishy on the inside, and Juvia shudders to think what trying to summon a soul of a giant anti-magic robot would do to you.”

With Jenny’s words in mind, they all turned away, heading back along the corridor from the other way they’d been following. Her words were prophetic, and after a still-angry looking Natsu tossed a torch down the stairwell, they saw another floor below their own. “So, up or down?”

“Why couldn’t this place have a map or something?” Gajeel grumbled. “I’d recommend we go up.”

“Me too,” Jenny agreed. “This thing was designed to look like a knight. Stands to reason it’s control center would be in it’s head or upper chest.”

“Mazinger Z~!!!” Ranma whispered to himself, snickering while Natsu grunted and turned back the way they had come.

Four floors passed, each of them moving around near the outer edge of the robot, like, as Ranma had supposed, ribs. “But what’s in the center? Spine, sure, but what about power? Or weapons?”

None of the others had an answer to that, and they went up another level. Here they spotted some actual damage to the outer wall. Unlike below where there were two layers of armor with wires and other gunk between them, here it seemed the outer armor was solid, something that made Ranma shake his head in shock at how much force would be needed to batter through it. Like blasting through the Yamato’s armor belt but without using any actual gunpowder, or in this case, magic.

The holes they saw were normally small, but that there were any was amazing. And it was here that they began to see some semblance of animal life.

Birds had made their homes here, and Ranma stared at them in some consternation as the tiny birds, which looked like sparrows with hummingbird colors, flew away from them deeper into the robot away from them. None ventured outside. “We, we didn’t see any birds while outside, right?”

“Nope,” Jenny answered. As the other flyer she had wondered about flying up to the head of the robot herself, but had agreed with Ranma after noticing there hadn’t been any birds about.

“Look at it this way, Juvia’s loves,” Juvia announced. “We would probably not have been able to get inside anyway. Neither you nor Natsu could break through the outer armor given it’s anti-magic properties. Nor I do not think any of us saw any cracks in the armor large enough for us to enter from.”

“Yeah, I suppose there’s that. Heck, makes me wonder where the original entrance was. There wasn’t any kind of hatch I could see outside when we were circling the thing. Still, when you two do fly above this thing, be careful, yeah? I can’t believe there isn’t a reason these birds…”

Ranma cut off as there was a dim noise of lightning and then rain began to pour down outside, visible through some of the holes. Literally pour in this case, going from nothing to splashing down, the raindrops looking as large as Ranma’s head through the holes in the outer armor. Which, Ranma noticed, was nearly as thick as his forearm was long. “Ah, that would do it…”

“Freaking weather,” Natsu grunted, laying out on the ground and staring outside.

That was about as much as he’d spoken since they’d entered, but Ranma just nodded, all of them kneeling down to stare outside. “Yeah, we’ve gotten to the point we can spot eight out of ten of the wild magic zones, but the weather still takes us by surprise. Maybe the birds can sense changes in weather, just not as accurately as the animals back in Ishgar could due to the magic?”

“Whatever,” Natsu grumbled once more getting to his feet again. He grunted, clenching and unclenching his hands for a second, before he took up a lead position, Happy still on his head.

Ranma started forward once more, and the girls were about to follow him when Ranma heard a crunching noise. Pausing, he turned to see Gajeel had picked up a shard of the outer armor. Ranma hadn’t noticed it before, but he supposed that it had possibly exploded off the edge of the hole Gajeel had been looking out of a moment ago. Now, the Iron Dragon Slayer was gnawing on the piece of metal like it was jerky, his teeth making a nasty grinding noise.

“Gajeel! You idiot!” Ranma exclaimed.

Gajeel snorted, waiving him off as he finally tore a piece of the metal loose. How he was able to do so, Ranma had no idea. It must be something about the moron’s Dragon Slayer abilities. But this is such a bad idea.

“Fuck off, Ranma, it’s metal. I should be able to eat it,” Gajeel grunted. “It shouldn’t be any worse than Natsu trying to eat other elements, and he’s survived that way too often for it to be just luck.”

“Hah! Famous last words, you idiot,” Ranma snickered. “Still, you do you.”

Moments later, Gajeel had finished the bit of metal, and they had gone up another level. As they took a step forward on the second level from that one though, Gajeel began to slow, his hands going to his stomach. “Oooh, ugh, okay, so maybe my stomach will need to work extra hard on this…bit…” Gajeel’s voice was interrupted by a loud gurgle from his stomach that was so loud it made all of the others back away and stare. Gajeel’s eyes crossed and he slowly sank to his knees, then his rear. “Ooohhhh, I don’t feel so good.”

The noise continued, and Gajeel fell onto his side, barely able to turn onto his back, his hands still clasped over his stomach. From his rear came a massive expectoration, the smell causing Juvia to yelp and for her and Natsu to nearly climb over Jenny to get away. The scarfs they had all put on when they entered at Ranma’s behest barely did anything to stop the smell from hitting them. “URGGGhhhh, second thoughts, having second thoughts!”

“Huh, still, you were right, Gajeel. You’re doing better than Natsu was after eating that lacrima from the Tower of Heaven,” Ranma taunted from a safe distance, several dozen meters away.

Watching this, Natsu snickered a bit, then shook his head and waved a hand. “Leave ‘em. We haven’t seen anything dangerous in here, Rust-boy will be fine on his own.”

“Maybe, but still, Jenny, could you stay with him? If he needs a stomach pump, you’re the only alternative to me and Natsu taking turns stomping on his stomach,” Ranma requested. This caused Natsu to laugh loudly and mime hopping up and down for a second.

Jenny scowled a bit, having barely gotten out of range of Gajeel’s fart, but then shrugged. “Sure. I’m not as enthused about this whole exploration thing as you are. Not inside like this anyway. And if the smell gets worse, I can always use one of my Take Over Forms.”

Juvia and Ranma followed after Natsu, the now smaller group finding another set of stairs leading upwards. When they reached the area right where Ranma estimated the shoulders began, they came to their first fork in the road. One hallway lead off in either direction, while ahead of them, a spiral staircase led further upwards, its shape visible from where they came up from the other stairs.

Without a word, Natsu turned and marched in one direction, leaving Juvia and Ranma behind. Ranma sighed, shaking his head. “I don’t know what’s wrong with him, but its impacting his emotions something fierce.”

“Perhaps it is the impact of the anti-magic from the metal, being inside, and the weather combined?” Juvia stated, before taking Ranma’s arm in her own, at him towards the stairs leading up. “Let us leave him alone for now.”

Nodding, Ranma let her pull him along as he shouted toward the rapidly disappearing Natsu in the dark of the interior despite still holding one of the torches. “Just don’t break anything.”

He received no reply and snorting Ranma allowed Juvia to pull him along. The two of them headed upstairs through what Ranma estimated were two stories floors, although the number of steps was vastly different from one floor to another, so how much actual height they had gone was anyone’s guess. And with each step, Juvia edged closer to Ranma. Soon she was almost fused into his side, and Ranma finally paused, looking down at her. “Er, Juvia… I, I’m kind of having trouble walking with you so close.” And concentrating, Ranma thought, Juvia’s chest practically flush around his arm and the memory of seeing Jenny’s chest a few hours ago, it was practically impossible for him to think of anything else.

“MMM… good. Because any piece of the wall looks like another. And Juvia hasn’t had enough time with Ranma for nearly a week,” Juvia ‘hinted’.

This was true. The somewhat safe zones they’d found to camp out in had forced them to put up their tents too close to one another for more than ten days for Ranma or Jenny to feel comfortable having some alone time. None of the lovers had also felt that leaving the larger party was a good idea during that time. Ranma also knew that Juvia was easily the most needy of the two girls, something that still occasionally surprised Ranma. Or, well, no it isn’t that she’s the neediest, Jenny wants attention every day, but she’s satisfied with romantic touches, kisses, occasional hand-holding and stolen make-out moments on the march. Juvia’s just our resident horny, she needs more than just romance.

Ranma thought that was quite on the mark given the look in Juvia’s eyes at the moment, and honestly? By this point Ranma knew they weren’t going to find anything dangerous in here. That was one hell of a revelation for sure, something he had thoughts about, but at the moment, it meant there really wasn’t anything stopping them from having some fun. And since Juvia had been pressing into his side, Ranma wanted some fun too. “Well, we can’t tell how long it will take Natsu to catch up with us, so I don’t think we can go all the way, but if ya want some attention…”

Lime start:

With that he swooped down, kissing Juvia on the lips. Hard.Judging by how quickly Juvia returned the kiss, plunging her tongue into his mouth, it was very clear she had no interest in taking things slowly. Their tongues began to twine around one another like a pair of snakes, first in Ranma’s mouth, then hers as Juvia whimpered, the noise filling the small hallway they were standing in. Ranma allowed Juvia to control the kiss for a time as his hands found her rear. Juvia was currently wearing a pair of hiking pants, which, on the surface, were not very attractive. The pert cheeks underneath though were, and Ranma enjoyed the sensation of them separated from his hands only by Juvia’s thin pants.

Juvia eeped, nearly pulling away from the kiss as Ranma gripped her pert rear in both hands, squeezing roughly. One hand pulled back to give her rear a tiny smack, causing Juvia to moan, before Ranma used his other hand to lift Juvia off her feet. Pushing her against the nearby wall, Ranma pulled back from the kiss and moved down Juvia’s neck, licking, nipping and leaving a very noticeable hickey right where her neck met her collarbone.

Juvia responded to this by lifting her legs, wrapping them around Ranma’s hips, grinding her pants clad core against him. “Please, stop teasing me, my love! Juvia needs this!” she hissed.

“Noooope,” Ranma nearly hissed, trying to control his own urges now. “No time.”

“Quickie’s exist, for a reason, Ranma!” Juvia whimpered in reply as she clamped her lips down on Ranma’s neck. “Please!”

“Ahuh, sure, but with my endurance… I didn’t think you’d be so greedy as only wanting to see to your own needs, and quickies for me last at least forty minutes,” Ranma teased. “No, tonight we’ll set up the camp well away from anyone else, and I’ll wear you and Jenny out in the best way possible. But for now…”

With that, Ranma’s hand, which had been on her back, went back to Juvia’s rear. When Juvia’s legs had gone around him Ranma’s other hand had moved to her front playing with her breasts through her shirt. They weren’t quite as large as Jenny’s, but they were slightly softer, and although they weren’t as sensitive as Jenny’s, her nipples were a distinct exception to that rule. “Anything Goes, Stripping technique!” He murmured, and suddenly Juvia’s pants and panties were tossed aside, landing nearby. Thank you Happosai, you utter ass. You at least taught me something useful.

Before Juvia could protest further about wanting actual sex rather than foreplay, Ranma lifted her higher into the air. She gasped and found her head tapping against the roof above, then all thought left her as she looked won and saw Ranma’s head between her legs. “RANMA!!” she shrieked as his tongue and lips went to work.

Juvia had been very on point that she desperately needed this, and with that coupled with the few minutes of rough foreplay had her already ready to burst. It only took her a few moments to have her first orgasm. Ranma didn’t stop though, simply eating her out with even more vigor. As he did, he found a little place near the entrance to her love tunnel, not her clit, to be sure, but another point inside her pussy where she was even more sensitive, judging by Juvia’s yelping moans.

A moment later, she came again with a wail, cumming so hard that she actually lost control of her body, turning into her water form even as she gushed. One moment Ranma was working his tongue and a finger into the tiniest, prettiest blue-crowned pussy in the world, the next Ranma had changed forms, and was looking down at the puddle that had been her girlfriend a few seconds ago. “Well… that was unexpected. You were really backed up, weren’t you?”

“Ranma has no idea,” Juvia whimpered, barely able to form lips out of the puddle for a moment. “Juvia has wanted some time with Ranma and Jenny for days now.” She slowly reformed, her head rising out of the water as she looked at Ranma’s crotch and licked her lips, arms forming a moment later, followed by her upper body. “Now, let Juvia thank you…”

Lime End

Alas, it was not to be. From behind them down the spiral staircase came the noise of feet, and Ranma, still in her female form, groaned in annoyance. “Of course. I’d say I told ya so, but this is just harsh.”

In all honesty, Ranma wasn’t certain she would have been willing to let Juvia return the favor. While she was not averse to some breast play in this form, Ranma had yet to fully get used to taking pleasure down below in this form.

Shaking that thought off, Ranma moved to the top of the stairs, intending to slow Natsu and Happy down for a second. Thankfully, the background smell of this place and our scarfs should keep even Natsu from noticing the smell of Juvia’s excitement.

Juvia tried hard to finish pulling herself together, not wishing to give Natsu a hint of what had happened here. The three lovers had been very circumspect with their affections since even before the party had entered the Blasted Lands, and she had no desire to change that now. Rubbing their relationship into either of the other Dragon’s Slayers’ faces would not only have been bad for the group dynamic, but mean besides.

She had barely done so when Natsu ascended the stairs, where Ranma asked him what he had found. “Yo, Natsu, I take it ya didn’t find anything? Or did ya just head back ta make fun of Gajeel again?”

“Ha! Nope, just didn’t find anything. Got annoyed, came back when the hallway became even smaller than normal,” Natsu answered, smirking slightly before it disappeared into a frown.

Ranma carefully didn’t frown in turn. There was something off about Natsu, something that had been there since they had entered the massive robot, like a powder keg just waiting to go off. Normally Ranma would be fine with lighting the match and seeing what happened, but not in an enclosed space like this.

But it seemed as if humor at least could still get through to Natsu. Or maybe just humor that dealt with other people’s pain. Ranma was fine with that.

“Aye, sir,” Happy said from on top of Natsu’s head. “We decided to go back.  One of the arms is badly bruised and battered, and the tunnel like the ones we’ve been going through, has these rungs like it’s supposed to be a ladder or something.”

“Gotcha. Although considering arms have to move, having rungs like that for the crew is probably really necessary,” Ranma answered, moving his arms up above his head and around. “Still, for now let’s keep on going up together. I bet we are coming closer to the real command area of this thing.”

Natsu grunted at that, and Ranma turned. Thankfully this had given Juvia time enough to gather herself up, literally. She smiled at Ranma and Natsu and gestured them all to move on. “At least up here there is no danger of us bumping our heads. Indeed, the hallway above seems to look as if it has grown to the point we can walk side by side.”

Again Natsu merely grunted, before the group turned their attention to the stairs leading upwards, each stairwell separated by a few yards of hallway. They went up three floors quickly before they found a hatch I the ceiling above them. “You know, I sort of expected more. But if this was all a secondary way of moving around, that makes some sense,” Ranma mused, before shrugging and leaping up, grabbing the simple ring set into the hatch.

Pulling at it hard and letting his weight rest on the ring, Ranma pulled the hatch down, opening the way up. Natsu leaped upward as well, easily clearing the distance to land on the floor above them. A second later, Natsu shouted down, his voice much less angry or annoyed than it had been. “Guys, I think we found the control room…”

Ranma and Juvia soon joined Natsu and his Exceed keeper, and found themselves standing around the hatch which was itself situated at the back of what was indeed a control room. It had a strange, giving kind of wood underneath them and all around them. And perhaps it was this, this removing of direct contact with the metal which had allowed Natsu to calm down from whatever had been bothering him. Or maybe it was the fact they were in such a wide area now?

Regardless, Ranma barely took notice of Natsu’s lightened expression, instead just looking around. The walls, floor and ceilings were lined with wood, with consoles in rows of four coming up from the floor starting at the far front of the room from where they were standing, separated by a walkway in the middle. Most of that far wall was taken up by what looked like the interior of an observation window, although it was nearly opaque with dust, grime and more. Above them, the back of the bridge had an overlook segment that thrust into the room, and as Ranma moved forward, he could look up and see another interior observation window there, separating another segment of the room from this one. He could also see to one side another stairwell leading upwards. Around the edges of the room were a few raised consoles too. However this thing was meant to move, it was very clear it needed a lot of operators or crew.

And much of that bridge crew was still here… in a way. Their desiccated remains were here at least. However they had perished, the majority of the crew had died at their posts here on the bridge. It was like a very odd mausoleum, with lots of ancient bones and scraps of clothing at each console.

“Fuck. Well, at least we found the control room. That’s good I guess…” Ranma stated.

“I am really wondering what happened here now,” Natsu muttered. “I mean, I don’t see any damage here, do you?”

“None that could have killed the crew for sure,” Ranma said, frowning as he looked around the area. “Maybe some kind of gas weapon?”

Natsu and Juvia both grimaced. They had both run into a few mages who used gas-based magic, but none of it had been lethal like this. Insidious, hard to block if you didn’t see it coming, yes, but not the kind of magic that could be used to just wholesale slaughter like this.

“Yeah, There’re still a lot of other mysteries about this thing to find out, but right now what’s specifically interesting me is what is behind door number two,” Ranma quipped, gesturing to a duel set of doors directly behind where they had come up from the hatch leading into the maintenance set to one side of the hatch they had come up from the hallway below. “If that isn’t an elevator shaft, I don’t know what is. It looks like you were right about thinking that the hallways were going through were emergency maintenance tunnels or whatever, Juvia.”

“Juvia is glad of that, although not so glad that the original crew is still here. Juvia supposes that we will probably find other similar elsewhere,” Juvia said sadly. She conjured up her water, and gestured forward. Thanks to the wood all around them shielding them from the anti-magic properties of the metal, her wave conjured up a wave of water that flashed across the room, covering everything and dumping the bodies against the leftmost wall. Or what was left of the bodies anyway. Most of the bones had already turned to dust, and those that didn’t came apart under the impact of the water.

With the bodies cleaned out of the way, Juvia looked at the observation window. “Juvia would also like to see the view from up here.”

“Let’s wait on that.” Ranma gently put a hand on her shoulder, before dragging the other girl back towards the hatch leading down. “We should meet up with Jenny and Gajeel, see if he’s feeling better.”

An interminable number of stairs and hallways later, Ranma and Natsu were curled up around themselves howling in laughter, as Gajeel glared at them and Juvia, who was quietly snickering behind one hand. The smirking Jenny was ignored for the moment in Gajeel’s angry glare. “Laugh it up you assholes! When I can move again, I’m going to kick the crap out of all of you!” Gajeel hissed through the agony coming from his stomach.

This did nothing to lessen his Fellow Dragon’s slayer’s amusement, or the cackling of the Exceed. Because while Gajeel wasn’t groaning and moaning any longer, his body had already begun to react to the properties of the metal he was currently digesting. This came in the form of yellow… lots of yellow which had permeated his skin and even entered his hair.

“Yellow! Why are you yellow? The robot isn’t that color,” Natsu exclaimed between guffaws.

“Maybe the metal changes color due to weather?” Ranma guessed, still laying out on the ground where she had fallen in his laughter.

“The more you laugh, the more you want me to dig you a grave and dump your asses into it!”

“It’s awful hard to take your threat seriously when you look like a daffodil!” Natsu shot back, laughing hilariously.

“There’s that, although it could be worth it if you also absorbed the anti-magic properties of metal this thing is made out of?” Ranma mused, rolling over and staring at the ceiling talking as if the last five moments of hilarity hadn’t occurred. She even raised a hand to his chin, rubbing at it thoughtfully. “Form it into anything just yet?”

Thanks to the solid nature of his element, Gajeel was the one of the Dragon Slayers who could transform his physical body rather than the shape of the conjured element that he controlled. And no, Ranma’s curse did not count.

But Gajeel shook his head. “No, I tried when I started to feel a little better. I still can’t move, and I can’t shift my arms or legs into anything.”

“Damn. Well, whatever. Something to experiment with when you get better, I suppose.” With that, Ranma hopped to his feet, reached down, and lifted Gajeel onto one shoulder, turning around and heading back the way that he, Juvia, and Natsu had come from. “Natsu, why don’t you and Happy head down and outside? That way you can clean off the grime from the outside of the robot’s helmet.”

Natsu nodded at that, pushing himself to his feet with a final snicker sent Gajeel’s way, and he and Happy headed in the opposite direction of the group, with a final admonition from Jenny to watch out for wild magic zones.

“This is so humiliating,” Gajeel grumbled, as he found himself being carted around like a sack of potatoes on the diminutive redhead’s shoulders.

“Don’t eat weirdass metals than,” Ranma shot back, continuing on her way easily.

“By the way,” Jenny said, looking slightly between Ranma and Juvia. “Why exactly are you in your female form?”

Although it took him a while, Natsu finally exited back out of the massive robot, and as he left the outer layer of armor behind, He breathed in deeply, then threw up his arms in joy. “WOOO the weird feeling is gone!”

While Ranma and the others had noticed Natsu feeling out of sorts inside, Natsu had also felt it, like an itching sensation inside his head where he couldn’t get at it. It had made Natsu angry, surly, wanting to snap or punch at everyone, although he kept it under wraps. Now with that feeling no longer impacting him, Natsu was positively gleeful.

Happy had also noticed, and patted Natsu on the top of the head as Natsu threw his arms up in jubilation. I’m glad you’re feeling better, Natsu. You were acting kind of weird in there, not talking much and acting all growly instead of having fun exploring a giant robot like you should have.”

“Yeah, sorry about that little buddy,” Natsu stated, bringing his arms back down, one of them patting Happy on the head. “You’re right that kind of thing should have been a lot of fun. I don’t know what came over me in there.”

“Hmm… do you think it could have anything to do with being surrounded by all that metal? Or just being inside for so long? The space in there wasn’t all that big, maybe that has something to do with it. I remember hearing once that some people are afraid of enclosed spaces,” Happy mused, slyly looking down at the top of his nest/Natsu’s head.

“I’m not afraid of anything!” Natsu shouted back, but he calmed down after a few seconds. “Still, there could be something to that I guess, the whole being surrounded by metal thing, not being afraid though,” he added hastily before looking around the top of the hill that had built up over time around the giant robot’s legs. “Still, it’s great to be out here without that feeling getting to me.”

“Aye sir, it looks as if you are completely back to normal anyway. So should we go and see if fire is a good way to clean things?” Happy asked innocently. Or as innocent as Happy could be. Which meant there was a distinct question whether or not he was in point of fact innocent in general or about the implications of whatever he had said from one moment to another.

“That is why we came out here, although I am not looking forward to going back inside when we’re done.” Natsu grumbled a bit, before pausing thoughtfully. “Although the feelings faded when we were up in that control room.”

“I still think it has something to do with enclosed spaces,” Happy teased. “Maybe you’re just too tall.”

Natsu rolled his eyes at that, but the two of them moved on, happily bickering as they moved around the hill that had grown up around the legs of the giant robot. Soon, they were facing the giant robot’s chest, and the human and Exceed pair took a few moments to discuss what fighting this thing would be like, or fighting asthis thing. Between one second and the next, their description of events shifted, so no one else would’ve been able to follow, but the two of them had fun.

Then Happy switched his position from curling up on Natsu’s head, to grabbing onto his back with all four limbs, his Aero Wings appearing from his back. Wordlessly Natsu summoned some of his fire magic into his feet, and the two of them rocketed off of the ground, flying upward until they were hovering in front of the robot’s face.

There, it quickly became apparent that Ranma had been right to send them out to do this, and not just because he wanted to give Natsu a break from being inside. The entire head of the robot was liberally covered with what looked at first like paint. “It looks like someone came along after and just sort of splashed paint everywhere, like that one fight you and Gray had a few years ago when you are ordered to paint the side of the Guildhall by Master Makarov as punishment.”

Natsu flinched a little, and Happy cursed suddenly, grimacing. While the two of them had acted like they hated one another, Gray and Natsu had actually been friendly rivals and Gray’s death had hurt Natsu badly. Not only would it mean that he had lost the opportunity to prove once and for all that he was stronger than Gray, but he had lost a dear friend, something that no Fairy Tail mage could face with equanimity. It might’ve been several months since then, but the wound was still fresh to Natsu.

Natsu shook it off after a second and looked around at the robots head again. It didn’t seem to have any kind of nose or anything like that, but the chin would do for a handhold since there was a large dent in the side of it, the edges of which he could grip easily. Indeed, from this close, Natsu could see a lot of small indents like that. It looked as if not only had the face and upper body of the robot been splashed by paint, it had also taken what amounted to buckshot to the upper chest, neck and head area. Whatever it had been hit with hadn’t penetrated as it had lower down when they ran into the birds, but it had severely dented the outer armor.

“Some kind of weapon did this, did all these dents and it took Ranma twelve minutes to break the inner layer. Now, I know he said he was trying to be careful, but even so, what the heck was this thing fighting?” Natsu murmured, before he gestured, and a claw of flame appeared in his free hand. A second later, he thrust it upwards into the edge of one of the mounds of paint, trying to sear it away.

At first it seemed to work, but then his flames washed over the bare metal of the robot, and went out instantly. “Dammit! The anti-magic properties on this thing are seriously annoying. This is going to be a lot tougher than I thought.”

“Aye sir,” Happy said with a nod from where he clung to Natsu’s back, his Aero Wings gone for the moment. “If that stuff would come off easily, that weird rainstorm that just passed through here would have done it. That was kind of obvious. It’s more like bird shit or something like that.”

“Oh gross, Happy! I’ve been touching it! And using my flames on it too, ugh that’s even worse!” Natsu whined, before starting to climb up the giant robot’s head.

With Happy obliging him with a bit of a push from behind, Natsu climbed over the lip of the chin, and was able to sink his free hand into the segment of the paint mound that he had burned away. With a grunt of effort he started to labor it off and away, but it was slow going, the paint or whatever it was resisting Natsu’s efforts for nearly a full minute before he was able to push upwards hard enough to cause the paint mound to start cracking around the edges. Another 30 seconds of effort and the top of the mound came off, leaving bits left still sticking to the metal.

“Damn! I’d hope to pull it all off, not just the top of the mound. If all of this stuff is clinging like that is going to be impossible to clean!” Natsu scowled.

Happy noticed something blue at the corner of his eye, and turned to look up at a small corner of the robots visor or whatever it was that allowed the operators to see outside. He flew in that direction, pulling Natsu away from where he had been clinging on top of the chain, and tapped at the glass that had been revealed there. The dust and grime of centuries had been cleared away by Juvia’s efforts, and she now looked through it as well at them, waving with one hand, smiling slightly at Happy and Natsu.

They waved back, and then Natsu pressed his mouth to the front of the glass, causing Juvia to jerk back. For a moment, she thought that Natsu had been making a kissing face at her for some reason, which would have appalled her on many levels. Thankfully, he wasn’t. Instead, he shouted so loudly that it could be heard through the glass or whatever it was that constituted the visor. “There’s a lot of paint or some other kind of gunk out here! And the metal of the robot cancels out my magic!”

Juvia nodded understanding, then held up a finger asking Natsu to wait as she turned around, almost automatically looking for Ranma. But Rama was off with Gajeel, exploring the areas of the robot only accessible by the elevator shaft. Instead, Juvia was forced to ask Jenny for advice.

Jenny thought about it for a moment, then shrugged her shoulders. “Tell him to build up his attack away from the body, and then use the heat of his flames instead of the actual impact of them. If that substance is anything similar to paint, then it’ll start bubbling and melting.”

Hearing that, Natsu was gleeful. “Sounds like a plan! Just don’t come crying to me if I also melt whatever this glass is underneath!”

“It sounds to me as if you’re forgetting that this giant robot could probably take on a dragon,” Happy said, frowning for a moment as that thought struck him. Something about it bothered him quite a bit.

Whatever it was didn’t stay in Happy’s head for long as Natsu shouted, “well that’s good because I’m a Dragon Slayer! And I’m about to turn up the heat!”

With that, Happy flew Natsu a few inches away from the robot’s head, so that he was hovering in midair in front of it. Natsu held out his hands, clenching them together as he conjured up fire. He concentrated, creating a hotter and hotter flame, and then held it out towards the front of the robot’s head right over one of the paint mounds. At first nothing seemed to be happening and then the heat began to permeate the bubble, and slowly it began to melt away, falling down to drizzle down the robots chin and then dropping to the ground below. Soon enough the last portions of that mound of paint was gone.

Now aware of how to do it, the next few mounds went quickly, so much so that Happy and Natsu both began to get a little bored. As he finished the fourth, Natsu became a little distracted. His smile at working with fire turned confused and thoughtful as he spotted movement out of the corner of his eye, turning in that direction. “Hey Happy, is it just me or is there something moving out there on the horizon?”

“I don’t have his good eyes as you do,” Happy mock-grumbled, shaking his head as he continued to fly his big buddy around the place. “And if you want me to even try get out my spyglass, I can’t do that and hold onto you at the same time.”

“Well, whatever it is, it’s moving for sure. And it would make for a great break wouldn’t it?”

“I don’t know what the others will say about that, but that’s so you, Natsu!” Happy chortled, and began to fly them in the direction that Natsu was indicating.

At first, the creatures they had seen in the distance had seemed human sized or a little smaller. But as they grew closer, they realized that the group of animals, a small herd of them seemingly, were actually a little taller than that. And this had become normal in the Blasted Lands, the animals here were just bizarre. In shape, they almost looked like slugs, crawling across the ground. Although they were moving quite a bit faster than slugs. They also seemed to be leaving behind… well at first, Natsu didn’t know what they were leaving behind, then he noticed that each of them was leaving a trail behind them, as if the upper inch or so of ground had been removed, swept clean.

But it wasn’t just their shape as slugs that was so unusual. In fact, giant slugs would’ve been extremely normal in comparison to the stuff they had seen in the Blasted Lands. Rather, it was what they were made of.

Natsu had gotten used to the fact that some of the animals here seems to have merged with lacrima over the generations, but these creatures looked almost as if their entire outer casing at the very least was made of a crystal plate. They didn’t seem to have any faces either, although their heads, like a slug’s head, had turned to stare up at Happy and Natsu has they hovered above the group. And from between each crystalline segment along their outer body, came long prehensile tentacles, which looked organic in comparison to the rest of it.

As the flying pair closed to observe all this, the slugs had stopped moving, and were now slowly bunching together. Not as a single group, but each three different slug creatures had begun to bunch together. Natsu was wondering why that was for a few moments, before the creatures began to merge. The crystal plates on their sides began to glow briefly as they touched one another, and then there was a loud series of “SHLLOOOP!” noises, and where before twenty-four or so slugs had been making their way over the planes towards the giant robot, now there were eight. “Wow! That was really fast.”

The slugs began to pull their tentacles backwards, and then fling them forwards. As they did, Happy gasped watching large scythes of energy flashing towards them. This forced him to start dodging. “Aye sir, it was kind of cool, but now they’re attacking us!”

Now, at this point, one of the others might have retreated. Jenny and Juvia would have noticed that the slug’s creatures didn’t seem aggressive until Natsu came close, and the girls would not have seen the point in picking a fight with a monster that wasn’t going out of its way to fight them in turn. Gajeel, still dealing with his stomach issues, would never have gone to investigate in the first place, and if he had to, would also have retreated at this point. Slugs were slugs after all, and Gajeel would never have seen fighting them as being all that interesting.

As for Ranma, he would probably have retreated almost as soon as he spotted the tentacles. He was Japanese in his past life, and knew all too well where this kind of meeting could go, especially if he was still in his female form.

Natsu on the other hand? Well, his response wouldn’t have surprised no one who knew him. “Well that mean’s they’re picking a fight. I’m getting fired up! Fire Dragon’s Claw!”

Fire exploded once more from his hands, this time his normal red gold flare of fire rather than the hotter white fire he had conjured in front of the giant robot’s head. As he did, Happy whooped, diving down like a kitty hawk towards the giant slugs.

Much like the branches of the trees which had created the orcs, the prehensile tentacles attacked Natsu as they closed, trying to smack him out of the air or wrap him up. Natsu battered them aside with fist or foot, closing quickly with the first of the slugs. To his surprise, that one halted in place, pulling back slightly rather than charging towards him, as the others were doing.

It was only then that he realized that the other seven larger slugs had been spreading out, and now closing in, they could attack him from every side. Discs of energy flew from their tentacles as they flung them forward, or were simply shot towards Happy and Natsu where they flew trying to grapple with them.

“These things are smart!? Where do they keep their brains?” Happy said, frowning in confusion. “I mean, would their brains have merged to or something? That can’t be fun.”

“Questions for later little guy!” Natsu shouted, indicating with a tap on Happy’s claw on his shoulder that he should let Natsu go. Happy did so, and Natsu crashed to the ground in front of one of the slugs, where he shouted, “Fire Dragon’s Roar!”

The fireball struck the slug, which seemed to glow for a second, before the fireball dissipated showing the slug had taken no damage from it. From above, its tentacles crashed down like so many whips, forcing Natsu to dodge and duck between them. But this opened Natsu up for attacks from behind, and he wasn’t quite quick enough to dodge a strike to the back of his head, which sent him tumbling forward end over end.

From above, Happy shouted, “They’ve got you encircled Natsu!”

“Then I have them right where I want them!” Natsu shouted back, thrusting out his hands in either direction although he felt a little woozy from that strike. These things were strong! “Fire Dragon’s whirling Tornado Claws!” He shouted, blasting out fireballs in every direction for a moment, and then, as those attacks also dissipated, charging forwards.

Like before, his fire didn’t seem to do much, but this time, Natsu had been watching closely. He’d gained enough experience fighting the creatures of the Blasted Lands to be able to recognize when they had natural fire resistance, magical resistance, or if something else was going on.

Here, something else was definitely going on. I thought I saw a faint flicker of light right before my fire hit them the first time, now I’m sure of it! There is some kind of magic shield that goes up to absorb the hits!

Closing with the nearest slug despite the lashing tentacles all around him, Natsu lashed out once more with a simple Fire Dragon’s Claw, hitting one of its tentacles. The tentacle didn’t seem to have as much magical shielding as the body did, but again he saw that faint flicker just before it cut out under his strike, and his fire burned through the tentacle sending it crashing to the ground. There, the organic bits seemed to drain away for a moment, leaving only the crystalline structure behind, but even that was quickly absorbed as the slug twisted around slightly, it’s front brushing along the crystal left from its tentacle, even as it attacked Natsu once more.

Okay, now time to get out of here! That was easier said then done, however, as the slugs seemed to now be coordinating their strikes at him. The longer the fight went on, the better they fought, and with Natsu’s flames not hurting their main bodies at all, this was going to be really tough.

Natsu was struck several times then as he tried to get out of the encirclement and each strike was like taking a hit from Ranma in training, or Gajeel when he really wanted to hurt you. Although the tentacles were not very strong looking, they packed one heck of a wallop.

The energy attacks weren’t as dangerous as the physical strikes.  Natsu was able to just roll with it or even not notice so long as he was able to tense himself up a bit. But again Natsu was surprised to realize that the slugs seemed to realize this, and pushed in closer, now concentrating solely on attacking with physical strikes. “Damn it, these things are smart!? Seriously, where do they keep their brains?”

One tentacle cracked over Natsu’s head, and another battered him in the ribs, while a third struck him in the leg. The fourth strike went too low though and Natsu hopped up, landing lightly on it for a second. It spasmed, but Natsu was able to use that to gain some air, grabbing at another tentacle. It instinctively began to thrash in an effort to break his grip, and Natsu was able to time it so that when he released his grip, his feet smashed into what he assumed was the face of another slug creature. “Karyu no Afutaabaanaa (Fire Dragon's Afterburner)!”

Once more the shield appeared under his feet, but that didn’t matter, as Natsu had already pushed off a bit. Instead of just dissipating, his fire this time flung him higher into the air, and he raised his hands, shouting, “Happy!”

“Aye sir!” Happy shouted, swooping in and grabbing him from behind, pulling him up and out of the encirclement. Once they were above where the tentacles could reach, all they had to deal with were the energy attacks, which Happy was able to do. Like Natsu, he’d been training since they’d come to the Blasted Lands, mostly in speed and dodging, and it served him well here.

As Happy did so, Natsu quickly relayed what he had seen. “So either it’s something the slugs need to activate, and we can attack them from behind or something, or we can just overwhelm it!”

“And I know what you are going to do Natsu,” Happy stated, still flying between all of the attacks.

“You got it!” With that, Natsu began to pull up as much magical energy as had previously used when launching one of his wide-angle attacks into the orc creating forest. But instead of allowing it to be a wide-angle attack, he concentrated, pulling all of the heat and fire into a much smaller area.

Following up on his earlier attempts to create a hotter flame to get rid of the paint on the giant robot’s head, Natsu also began to incorporate some of the power taken from eating other elements over time. The edges of his spell began to sparkle with lightning energy, and he shouted, “Fire Dragon’s Lightning Flame Piercing Tail!”

The beam of compressed fire magic lanced down, aimed solely at one of the slugs below, where it crashed into the creature, searing into its body. Again Natsu saw a shield appear, but even though that seemed to stop a lot of his attack’s energy, the heat of it wasn’t blocked or dissipated at all.

The slug creature began to scream, the first sound any of them had made, reeling back and seeming to collapse in on itself as Natsu clamped his hands over his ears. Even from nearly two stories higher up than the slug the noise hammered his senses. “We seriously need to think about some way of protecting our ears!”

“What?” Happy shouted back.

“What? I can’t here you,” Natsu roared back.

The effect on the slug from Natsu’s fire was dramatic. One moment it had been firing up its own energy attacks towards him and Happy, the next, it was curling up on its side almost like an actual slug being cooked under a magnifying glass.

Natsu whooped, feeling a little tired but not anywhere near as tired as he would have been before this training journey began. But before he could try to create another such attack, the slugs did something astonishing. They started to retreat. “Hey, what the!?” Wait, where they going?” Natsu said, staring at the other tentacle creatures.

“Aye sir, they look to be leaving!”

“Retreating? Wait, the creatures around here can retreat! That’s not fair! Get back here and finish the fight you bastards!” Natsu shouted.

“Natsu, ]]you can really be a dummy sometimes They were wearing us down. It was only luck and overpowering your attack that allowed you to kill one of them. Why do you think the others wouldn’t simply overwhelm us if they kept on coming?”

Natsu scoffed at that, but didn’t chase after the retreating monsters. He watched until the tentacle eels were out of sight, before collapsing backwards, groaning in pain. “Okay, so maybe, just maybe that was a bit much.”

“Amazing! He can learn!” Happy said sarcastically.

“That hurts little buddy. It really does.”

Eventually, he was able to get to his feet again, groaning with the pain of it, looking down at where he had been struck by several of the tentacles which left large bruises where they hit despite his Dragon Slayer durability. “Let’s get back to the others, I’m starving.”

Natsu scowled, stared toward the direction the retreating slugs went, then to the remains of the slug he’d killed, before shaking his head, and turning resolutely back towards where the giant robot lay. They had somewhat gotten turned around, the fight with the magical slugs having shifted their position as Natsu tried to break out of their encirclement, but he could still see it, even if they weren’t coming at it from the same angle as stage left. “Come on, at least we can get you back into safety in that metal giant.”

He began to limp in that direction, grimacing now as several of the wounds on his legs hit him now. “This is going to suck…” he moaned.

Unfortunately, Natsu was not in the best frame of mind to watch out for his surroundings. And so completely missed the weird shimmering in the air ahead of him.

Also really exhausted, Happy spotted it at the last minute and his eyes widened. “Natsu wait! Go around!” Happy bellowed, leaping desperately up and off of Natsu’s head and flying to the side for a second.

Natsu paused, his foot still raised, but too late as his face impact the area of magical distortion that Happy had noticed a way, and instantly began to scream out in pain, but in shock as the wild magic enveloped his body, concentrating on his head. As Happy watched, his eyes and ears shifted position, and his mouth disappeared.

“Wow, that’s ugly!” Happy exclaimed, as Natsu started to whirl around, trying to look towards where he could hear Happy’s voice, but completely unused to having eyes on the sides of his head rather than the front. “Keep calm Natsu!” With that, Happy flew up and landed on Natsu’s shoulder, staring him in the eye, and reaching over to flick one of the ears that were now situated at the front of Natsu’s head. “Next time, listen!”

The eye in front of Happy narrowed, but he ignored his best friend’s seeming anger and climbed up on to the top of his head, reaching down to pat him on the nose. “Use this to see if we can get back. Don’t worry, I’ll help you get back to before I start laughing.”

Natsu’s shoulders slumped, but he obeyed, sniffing the air, causing him to cringe a little at the noise which hit is situated as they now were for to either side of his nose. Then he began to move in the direction of the distance smile of metal, assuming that would be the direction the giant robot lay. Happy saw this, and didn’t try to correct Natsu, although Natsu stumbled several times, completely unable to see where he was going in, unless he turned to the side and walked with his head twisted like that.

Moments later, Gajeel stared, as did the others, before Gajeel burst out into laughter. “This, this makes us even for before! Oh my God, that is hilarious!”

“Did your passing through that bit of wild magic at least cause it to dissipate? I don’t think any of us want to deal with that kind of thing.” Ranma asked, shaking his head. He wasn’t laughing though, which made Natsu feel grateful to him.

The others looked at him in confusion and Ranma grinned cheerily pointing at Natsu. “Those tentacle beasts might still be around. They’d make for good training, right? And this place, the interior of this robot? It could be a fantastic base for us. A base of operations we can range out from every day to train or find out what else is out there that we can challenge.”

“We still don’t know what else could be in here, though? Down the elevator shaft you all found I mean,” Jenny said, gesturing towards the double doors leading into the elevator shaft. Ranma had opened the doors before, then closed it after he had taken a look down the shaft thus revealed. There didn’t look to be anything dangerous in there, but Ranma wasn’t certain that was the case, given everyone’s supposition that a gas weapon of some kind had dealt with the crew of the robot.

“So we do that first, it’s still barely late afternoon, we can get a lot done before dinner. We clean this place from top to bottom, scaring out all the wildlife beyond the birds, making certain there is no hidden dangers, but after that, this robot might well provide us with a truly safe base, maybe the only really safe place anywhere within the Blasted Lands,” Gajeel agreed with Ranma nodding his head firmly.

Juvia also agreed with them, but wanted to add a few points. “If we are going to stay here, there are a few things we need to do. First, is to somehow get Natsu access to the outside, so he doesn’t become as angry and tense as he was before while moving around inside this monster,” Juvia said, pointing to Natsu. “Perhaps removing the robot’s…visor… Juvia supposes you could call it, would work?”

“I can try some of my attacks on it, yeah,” Ranma answered. “Getting some fresh air up here would also be a great idea. Although I think I want to be careful about it, so that if we need to, we can close it back up to block out any weather we don’t want to deal with.”

“And no offense to Natsu, but I don’t think that just those slug creatures would give us all a good enough workout to make staying here viable. What’s the point of having a base of operations like this if we have to go several days in any direction to get some of what you call training, Ranma?” Jenny quipped, ending her words on a joking tone, as she nudged Ranma in the side.

Ranma smirked at her, leaning her head lightly against the taller girl’s shoulder for a moment, before pulling away and reaching for the teapot as Juvia finished using it, eager to turn back to her normal body. Ranma could’ve done it himself of course, they had proven that magic did work to a certain extent inside the robot once you were deep enough into it’s innards and away from the armor. But Ranma had opted not to, since he wanted to check out how her body was feeling. Ranma had somewhat lost track of the days she’d spent in her female form, and didn’t want her monthly monster to surprise her with an unannounced visit.

“Are you saying you want to scout around for a bit then? This isn’t your way of getting out of cleaning duty, is it?”

Jenny rolled her eyes, but it was a fact that, while she liked to keep her apartment clean, that didn’t mean she enjoyed cleaning. On top of that, Jenny had a normal woman’s ‘appreciation’ for bugs, and they had seen quite a lot of different-sized spiderwebs, as well as a few dead cockroaches. “I’m just saying that it would be more efficient if we know we don’t have to travel all that far from our new base of operations to get some training, that’s all. And Natsu and Happy only ended up going in one direction, and we came in from another. There’s still the far side of this robot, the north, and to the east to check out. I’ll fly out, keep an eye out for a wild magic clusters, and see what there is to see.”

“Yeah, you totally want to get out of cleaning,” Gajeel grunted, with Ranma, Natsu, Happy, and even Juvia nodding in agreement. Although none of them argued further with her idea. Jenny was also right.

“In that case, after dinner is ready, I’ll get out the cleaning supplies from the tent. Juvia, since you started cleaning up here, you can keep doing that. Natsu, how are you feeling?” Ranma asked, taking control of the conversation as she poured the hot water over her head, transforming back into his male body.

“I’m okay for now, I think. Whatever bothers me elsewhere in this giant robot doesn’t really get to me here in the control area. And now that the wild magic has worn off, I think I’m okay for now. Still bruised, but whatever,” Natsu said, dismissing his injuries from the slug fight with ease.

“Cool. Experiment with your fire up here see if you can create a cutting move.” Ranma held up two fingers, and water began to coalesce around them, creating what looked like a talon, but the water that made up the talon was moving so fast, that he was able to bring it down into the site of one of the nearby consoles and literally drill into the metal, creating a screeching noise before he pulled back, and showed a perfectly symmetrical hole had been cored out of the side of the console.

“Well, that’s proof that not all the metal used in this monster is as magically resistant as the armor. That actually makes me feel better. If the builders of this thing had so much of that kind of metal that they could use it for everything inside this thing, that it be a little… Worrisome. It’d make me wonder what else is out here to be found, and not in a good way” Gajeel muttered.

All the others just shrugged at that revelation, but Natsu nodded in eager agreement, although not with Gajeel’s observation but Ranma’s demonstration. “So you’re saying I can experiment on these consoles?”

“This thing doesn’t have any more power to it, so yeah. They’re just dead lumps of metal to us, and they’re in the way of us making a proper base up here. But once you have it down, maybe you can start to try and remove the visor instead of me,” Ranma advised, using the term Juvia had for the observation window at the front of the control area. “Thinking about it, my talents would probably be better used putting my Anything Goes Construction know-how to good use.”

“Gajeel, I want you and Happy to head back down into the giant. See if ya can get past that blast door we found down at the bottom of the elevator shaft, see what was powering this thing. I’m kind of curious about that, and there was that grate nearby. Maybe Happy can get through it somehow?”

“Aye sir, nin nin!” He said enthusiastically, always happy to crawl around hidden spaces like that.

Ranma sent him a grin and continued on. “Beyond that I will head down to where we made our entrance, and put a proper door up. Then we’ll start laying down traps and stuff like that for the bugs and tiny critters.”

Both Jenny and Juvia shivered at that, with Juvia going on to thank Ranma profusely and very sarcastically for both putting such traps down, and for reminding the girls how many such creepy crawlies they had seen that day. Ranma just laughed, and, hearing a time go off, hopped to his feet and headed into the nearby open tent, coming out with food a moment later. Conversation ebbed for a time, all of them being quite hungry.

After dinner was finished, the groups broke up, with Juvia starting up her cleaning job right away. Happy spent a few minutes talking to Natsu, before he and somewhat recovered – if still yellow-skinned – Gajeel left. At that point, Natsu began to try and create the same kind of cutting or drilling force Ranma could. Shaping the fire was easy, by this point thanks to experience and listening to Macao and Atlas Flame, he could shape his fire into anything he wanted.

Seeing Ranma re-enter the tent, Jenny went with him, opting to take over cleaning up after dinner to let him find his tools. As she worked, Jenny watched Ranma pause for a moment, staring at the corner of the tent where several books and toys had remained behind after he and Wendy had cleared out a lot of her other stuff before Ranma had left his little sister behind to go on this journey.  For just a moment, his face fell and he reached out, picking up what looked like a crayon set, and Jenny smiled. Leaving behind the dishes, she moved over, hugging him from behind and resting her chin on his shoulder. “Having second thoughts?”

“None about this journey. It’s been really good for all of us already, and I think that’s only going to continue. But I do find myself missing having Wendy around,” Ranma admitted. “Who would’ve thought that having a little rugrat around would grow on you so much you miss them when they aren’t there?”

“Literally every parent in existence would think that,” Jenny drawled, pulling away from Ranma before turning to her little chore.

The two of them left the tent, piling up some supplies, both construction, cleaning, and some weird bottles and in the center of the command room, with Jenny looking up over their shoulders for a moment towards where the… Observation room, officer’s lounge? Whatever it was, was situated directly above the control room, looking over it by a long window much like the control room’s observation window. The walls also had several screens on them. “When we get back, we might want to put our tent up there.”

She said this with no particular inflection in her tone, but she didn’t need to. With the tent’s incredibly limited sound canceling magic, distance was the only way to keep their affection from bothering Gajeel or Natsu. And being up in that separate room, separated by a wall of glass much like the one that separated the outside world from the command room, would work very well to do just that.

“Yeah, that sounds nice.” Ranma nodded, trying hard not to sound eager, but the earlier moment he’d had that afternoon with Juvia had kind of got in his mind thinking in that direction despite everything else they were working on.

Ranma and Jenny stayed together as they moved back down through the giant robot, stopping occasionally to share a kiss, but nothing more. Jenny didn’t want to be too distracted, and there was so much they wanted to do before the sun started to really go down that they couldn’t take their time overmuch. Indeed, at several points they began to race one another, first to see who could reach the next set of stairs quicker, and then who could take the stairs faster despite the cramped quarters.

Jenny’s use of her Bubblegum Form was somewhat cheating, Ranma felt, since it let her zoom all around him, using the walls and ceiling as if they were the floor. “But I suppose you need to in order to keep up with me!” He bragged.

“Oh yeah, what does that say about you, Mr. Second Life?” Jenny shot back, before ducking and rolling forward as Ranma made to leap at her. This didn’t work given the cramped corridor, and soon she found herself pinned to the ground.

This would have been the perfect opportunity to have some adult type fun. But to Jenny’s barely hidden disappointment, Ranma didn’t remain there for more than a single lingering kiss. Then he flipped up over her head to land lightly on his feet before turning back and offering her hand up. “Fun time later.”

Jenny smirked at that, but understood he had a point. And even a make-out session while he pins me down like that would be a lot, since I don’t think I’d want to let him up again.

Soon, they were by the entrance that Ranma had forced through the small gash in the robot’s side, where he began to pull out his tools, laying them out nearby, and looking at the ripped and torn entranceway with some annoyance. “Well, cutting out the sharp edges and stuff will take a bit even with my ki claws, and pulling out the wires and stuff in between. But after that, I think I’ll put up an actual door here. I’ll knock one of the trees out there down for the wood, but I’d like you see you back here before I get that far, okay?”

“Yes, yes, I'll be back before my curfew, daddy~~,” Jenny teased, giving him a kiss before ducking out of the door as Ranma made to smack her rear.

Ranma watched her go, scowling a bit, worried about Jenny going off on her own. Still he consoled himself with the fact this wasn’t the first time she had done so, and Jenny had proven more than willing to retreat when need be. With a sigh, Ranma pushed away his misgivings and turned to his own task for the afternoon.

Scene break

Jenny forced herself through the wires and pipes and out into the air beyond, shaking her head slightly and hoping that Ranma would think about maybe enlarging that entrance if it was possible, or if not, then cutting back on the wires and other stuff. But then she shrugged, and called upon one of her flying takeover forms. “Not my problem right now. I want to push out at least thirty miles in every direction.”

A second later, she was in the air, flying up to the robot’s head, where she saw Juvia and Natsu moving inside, thanks to Natsu cleaning off so much of the outside pain. Juvia waved at her, she waved back, and then Jenny was off, flying higher into the air and then towards the east, thinking to begin her sweep by going through the unknown areas first.

At first, everything went all right. She was so high in the air that only other flying creatures would be able to see her. And while there were dozens of them around, none seemed interested in closing with the new flyer that had appeared from within the giant robot statue. Whether or not that was laziness, or the fact they weren’t predators she didn’t know, as she was not inclined to do as Natsu had and get close to investigate any of them. She spied on them from afar with the use of her heads-up display and the zoom function that came with this particular form, that was more than enough for her.

On the ground she spotted another variety of beasts moving around in among a large hilly area to the direct east of the giant robot. Through Jenny’s zoom function, they almost looked like predatory versions of the hippo-like monsters that they had seen fighting the orc forest.

Although only the size of men standing on one another’s shoulders, they had the same basic body type, but instead of just having the forelimbs and the huge head with the massive flat teeth, the heads on these creatures was much smaller, filled with fangs. Sprouting from their shoulders, they had two extra limbs, arms, facing forward. Each arm ended in hands, massive hands in comparison to the rest of their bodies, each finger studded with several different types of lacrima. They seem to use these arms like reindeer did, clashing with one another in displays of strength as they moved over the hills and dales. But they were very definitely predators, and she saw one of them run down what looked like a moose equivalent, a far larger monster although nowhere near the size of the hippo monsters, taking it down from behind in a somewhat gory display.

“Well, that’s one more group we can fight against,” Jenny muttered, before turning away, sweeping out a little further towards the east, but finding no further monsters that would serve them as training targets. Jenny then turned slightly to the north, pulling out a compass to make sure that she knew which direction she was facing as she began to make a circuit around the giant that Jenny could see in the distance thanks to her height and the same zoom function that she had been using previously.

North of the giant robot Jenny’s leisurely exploration came to an abrupt halt. From below several beam climbed towards her, streaks of near yellow light, condensed to a point no larger than her fist in diameter, flashed up towards her position.

Before she could even figure out she was under attack, one of the beams struck Jenny in the side, sending her tumbling through the air. “God damn that stung!”

Jenny righted herself and zoomed down towards the ground, moving in an evasive pattern, trying to throw off the aim of whatever was attacking her. Soon, she realized there were multiple things attacking her, and as she spotted them, it was all she could do not to stop and stare. And here I thought I’d gotten used to weird.

The beings were bipedal, two stories tall, with small wings coming from their back, small forelegs and large hind legs. Standing on their hind legs, and with a tail behind them, they fired off the strange yellow beams from their mouths. Indeed, altogether, especially with the breath attack added to the overall image, they almost looked like human-shaped dragons.

Like the slugs, these creatures had spread out in a wide arc around Jenny’s flight path and were now in the process of attacking her from multiple different sides.

Three times more Jenny was struck, the third finally causing her to fall to the ground. At that point, Jenny abandoned all pretense of trying to get away for a moment, and kicking off the ground, she growled out angrily, “Fine, if that’s the way you want to play it!”

Jenny quickly shifted into one of her other combat forms, in this case the bubblegum form in order to close quickly. The ability to skate and change direction quickly in this form allowed her to close without taking another shot from the strange laser beams, whereupon she shifted mid step into her Deathscythe form, lashing out at one of the creatures.  I don’t think my Bubblegum Form would be able to hurt these things but…

To Jenny’s astonishment, even the cutting plasma torch at the end of her scythe was stopped by the monster’s scales, the scythe blade simply stopping in place. That wasn’t a magical attack. When Jenny transformed while her form was powered by magic, the plasma blade was simply that, superheated energy, the fifth state of matter. Very, very rarely had it ever been stopped before, but the scales on these creatures stopped it cold.

The next second Jenny was forced to dodge under a strike from the creature’s forearm, and then rolling on the ground to get away from a leap by another one. This one was human sized, and it was with a start that she noted the larger versions had now been joined by about twenty or so smaller ones. “Fuck!”

In danger of being completely surrounded, Jenny had no choice but to try to retreat. With that in mind, she shifted forms once more, this time into her Gundam Form, whereupon she began to blast away all around her. As she had feared, the impacts, although they drove the dragon-like creatures back, didn’t do all that much damage. One of them cried out as the impact smashed into its eye, smashing off a series of small scales there, and bursting the eye.

That was the only opening she got and Jenny charged forwards, taking another shot in the side even as she changed, grabbing the wounded creature’s head. Her metal-covered thumb went into its now empty eye socket as she pulled it around, using it as a makeshift shield against the attacks of its fellows, and smashing one of the other larger creatures off of its feet.

Then she was back into her Deathscythe form, lashing out at the smaller creatures. Thankfully, her hope that these creatures didn’t have the same amount of toughness as the larger ones was proven accurate. Her strike lanced through the creature, cutting it’s head clean off, and allowing her to charge through the now open area of the cordon.

The strange draconic creatures continued to send out magical blasts in her direction, but shifting into her bubblegum form, she was able to turn her head just enough to see behind her and dodge the incoming strikes. And thank God those things don’t travel as fast as real lasers! Even so, she was hit five more times over the next thirty minutes of pell-mell retreat before she was out of their range.

Once in the air again, she shook her head, yawning as she took stock of her tiredness and bruises. “Well, so much for that! But on the other hand, if those creatures are around, we’re sure to get some great training out of it.”

For a moment, Jenny paused in midair, unmindful of the fact that several of the larger Dragon like creatures could still range on her. “Oh my God, I can’t believe I just said that. Ranma, what the hell are you doing to me?!”

One of the blasts from the larger dragon-like creatures flashing right before her face to get her mind back in the game, and she continued to fly straight back towards the giant robot.

True to his earlier prediction, Ranma’s work on creating an actual door the group could open and would also keep out any further investigative animals had not been going quickly. He’d barely been able to smooth out one edge of the hole he’d punched through the inner armor by the time Jenny got back. And as Jenny began to force her way through the wires and cables separating the outer armor layer from the inner, he stopped instantly, reaching forward and helping her through, his arms staying around her waist as he looked Jenny over. “What the heck happened to you? You look exhausted.”

Her various Take Over Forms had taken a large portion of the attacks she had been struck with, but even so, Jenny had used so many, and in so short a time that it nearly exhausted her reserves. Indeed, she knew that so many quick changes would’ve been practically impossible before she had joined Fairy Tail and got in some real high-end training from Ranma and the others. “I am physically fine. I took a beating out there, but nothing permanent. I came way too close for comfort. Whatever those slug things that Natsu ran into are, I think I ran into something way worse in the north.”

She looked down at the work Ranma had been doing, then snorted, and put her arms around his waist, pulling him along. “Come on, let’s head back upstairs. I don’t think you’re going to get that done anytime soon. And there are internal doors anyway.”

Ranma rolled his eyes at that, but didn’t remove himself from the sideways hug, and the two of them walked on in companionable silence. Occasionally they heard noises coming from the right as they moved along the hallways and up the staircases towards the control area, but most of the time it was just them, and Jenny talked about what she had discovered out there. Ranma smiled eagerly at the knowledge that there were Dragon like creatures out there, although he wondered where they came from. “Are they natural, or being created like the orcs from some leftover piece of weirdness? Is that their territory you just entered? You mentioned different sizes, does that mean that they are capable of breeding, and if so, are the smaller ones are the children? That would point to them being somewhat natural.”

With the knowledge that there were at least two other groups of monsters out there that would give them good targets for their training, the plan to stay within the giant robot was agreed upon that night by everyone before they all headed to bed. And despite Jenny’s desires, she was too exhausted from her ordeal to join in the fun.

But on the other hand, the idea of setting up their tent in the strange observation area over the control room worked perfectly. Not even Happy complained about any kind of noise in the night and Ranma was able to tire Juvia out before sitting out on watch outside the two rooms in his sleeping bag.

The next day began with a weird, and horrible smell waking up Gajeel and Natsu. They came out of their tent looking irritable, only to find Ranma working a small fire he had created from bits of wood out on the hallway leading into the two rooms. “Sorry guys, I forgot how smelly this was,” Ranma stated, once more wearing a mask over his lower face. “Smells terrible doesn’t it?”

“What the hell are you doing!?” Natsu growled, his bad humor from the day before returning with a vengeance. Indeed, he looked as if he was a second away from just outright attacking Ranma, despite having one hand clamped over his nose and mouth. And a now fully recovered Gajeel looked as if he was going to join in the party.

“Bug repellent,” Ranma answered simply. He gestured to the pot he was stirring, as he explained what he would do with it. “It’s a recipe my Pops once taught me when we were near a swamp. What you do is when this begins to cool, you can place it in little balls or strips, and the smell of it will keep the bugs away. I figure we put this down in enough areas up here, we’ll be able to keep the bugs and other critters out of the living quarters at least. I don’t have enough ingredients to spread them out throughout the entire robot even if we wanted to..”

“That’s fine and all, but why the hell did you set your fire up here! Take it down a few levels man!” Gajeel growled.

Natsu also snarled a little, removing his hand from his mouth and now holding his nose closed with two fingers as he let some of his fangs be seen. “Seriously! That stuff is foul!”

“Sorry to say guys, but while the smell doesn’t ever go away, it does get less strong once it’s cooled down,” Ranma apologized. “I didn’t think the smell would carry through the doors though, let alone into the tents. But you might as well get used to it a little bit, since I’ll be putting the strip down here by the doorways.”

“Oh hell no! I’d rather deal with the bugs and deal with that shit!” Natsu practically shrieked.

“Aye sir!” Happy shouted. He’d made no move towards the doors, and was now burying his head into the sleeping bag he shared with Natsu, having dragged it out of the tent to use to smother his head. “Get that stuff out of here!”

Jenny and Juvia had woken up with Ranma earlier that morning, but they had stayed in the tent, using its cooking area to prepare breakfast. Now they came out, and hearing this, they both shrugged their shoulders. “I can’t say I smell anything, but then again, Juvia is not a Dragon Slayer.”

“I can’t either, and would say that’s proof positive that Dragon Slayer’s are more animal than men,” Jenny teased.

Ranma mock growled at her at that, before pulling the pot holding the concoction away from the fire. Setting it aside for the moment, he sent a bit of water into the fire, dousing it quickly, then began to pour the concoction into a series of molds. “All right, fine, I won’t set up anything up here. But I will put some down on the stairwell, and on the inside of the doors into the elevator shaft.”

Gajeel and Natsu both grumbled at that, but so long as the smell of the one in the elevator shaft didn’t permeate the control room, they were both fine with that idea. And when the girls told them to join the girls in the observation room for breakfast, they did so with alacrity despite the smell of the concoction still following them for a time.

After breakfast, they split up into teams again. Juvia and Natsu continued to work in the control room, with Natsu using the opportunity removing the consoles to train his control with his Fire Dragon Slayer Magic even further, and Juvia cleaning everything she could. Between her work on the interior and Natsu’s previous work on the outside of the observation window, the others would return late that evening to a control room bathed in honest natural light for the first time since they had found it.

Meanwhile, Ranma finished his work on the door leading into the robotic construct from the outside where they had initially entered. After doing as he had proposed and setting up the bug repelling concoction in various places anyway.

Meanwhile, Happy, using his “supersecret ninja skills!” was indeed able to go through the air ducts into the engine room of the contraption. There he found several dozen bodies there, and the slagged remnants of a central generator of some kind which might’ve gone critical, if the damage to the engine room was any indication. Getting the doors open though was going to need brute force, as there was still no power obviously, and honestly didn’t seem to be worth it.

Meanwhile, Jenny and Natsu went through the robot top to bottom, and even deep into its legs, to clear out any further wildlife. Natsu took a few breaks throughout the day to head outside, or back into the control room, but did indeed seem to have an easier time of it in the somewhat wider, more open areas of the interior of the maintenance shafts they’d been using to traverse the robot previously.

By the end of that day, most of the animals hiding within the robot had either been slain or driven off as in the case of the birds. Ranma had made the door and then set down enough anti-bug traps to keep the bugs away, and Juvia and Natsu had finished removing all of the control consoles from the control room opening up the entire area. With that, she and Natsu had begun to pull out stuff from the Dragon Slayer’s tent, spreading it out around the area so that he and Gajeel could do the same.

When she returned, Jenny began to do the same thing in the observation room, with only the kitchen area remaining in the actual tent, as it could not be removed. All in all both areas started to look a little more homelike, and a lot more friendly, especially considering the carpets in the observation room, and the number of chairs there, many of which she took out and offered to the boys for the control room.

The only thing they needed to do to make it even more homey was to open the control room to some fresh air, and the third day in the robot that was what Ranma did. Between him, Natsu and Jenny, they were able to cut away the visor of the robot in such a way that they could flip it up and out. Ranma actually put in a series of hinges so that they could open and close it.

Once that was done, and Ranma and Gajeel had time to head out to hunt some of the local animals down, the work on their base of operations as Ranma had initially called it was finished. And as they sat around the table from the observation room, Ranma leaned back and smirked at them all as he crossed his hands in his lap. “So, I think this place is about as livable as it’s going to get. And I think we’re ready to start serious training, what about you all?”

Scene break

“What do you mean you are pregnant!?” Elfman shouted, staring at his little sisters in shock and horror.

Many of the people around them in the Guildhall were also staring at the two sisters, with only Catherine - Edo Cana – and Evergreen looking as if they had known about this ahead of time. The rest of the faces there were shocked, appalled, or happy for them, with the faces that were showing joy dominating. Macao and the other oldsters were in particular quite pleased to hear it, although one of them could be heard muttering to the other, “I knew the two of them were looking a little bright-eyed and bushy for some reason lately, but I didn’t expect that. Especially not without Natsu around.”

“Now, now, I think this is actually quite a smart way to do it,” Vejeeter said, dancing in place besides Macao. “Let’s face it guys, as much as we might saw otherwise, babies are really for mothers.  Kids only get interesting to dads regardless of gender when they’re toddlers or older. This way, Natsu will be back by the time they are interesting. And…” he paused, a sweatdrop appearing on his head. “And, um hopefully strong enough that he won’t accidentally break them.”

He was sent to the floor by a sudden punch from behind, with Mira standing over him, glaring down at him. “Those are my little nieces you’re talking about! If Natsu even hurts a little hair on their head, I’ll remove his!” She left it deliberately vague as to whether she was talking about his hair or head. With Mira the demon, it was often hard to tell.

“That, Natsu, that, that utter bastard! He is the opposite of a man!  He has sullied my little sisters! When Natsu returns, I’m going to pound him into the mud!” Elfman roared.

“He does know that the two of them seduced Natsu, right, not the other way around? I mean its only been less than six months since they headed out to Akane resort,” Cana asked as she finished taking a swig from her drink and looked over at her girlfriend, who shrugged her shoulders.

“Don’t look at me. I stopped trying to figure out what Elfman was thinking when I realized that he really didn’t understand why calling the actions of a woman those of a ‘man’ could be taken badly.” At this statement from the blonde, people could only laugh and nod their heads.

Say what you would, but whenever Elfman was around, there were also a lot more “MAN!” being thrown around.

“Well, while I am pleased for you both, and I will understand that the two of you have probably planned this, but you know what this means don’t you?” Master Makarov said from where he stood next to the bar. “It means that you won’t be able to take missions a few months from now. After your first trimester is over, guild policy is that no mother is to take any missions until at least a year after the birth and a full physical from Porlyusica.”

Lisa and Anna would not be the first pregnant women that Fairy Tail had dealt with, although they were the first of their generation. Still, how else were they supposed to get little mages to take over after they passed on if not to either adopt or give birth to them themselves? And Makarov had already guessed that the twins were hiding something momentous, something that made them ecstatic. And so long as they were Happy with the state of affairs, he wasn’t going to try to say anything about it. Instead he would simply make sure they stayed safe.

“And actually, I think we should take it a few steps forward. Mira spends so much time out on missions or here taking care of the bar, that if it you two are at home, no one else is there to take care of you. We’ve got the room in Fairy Hills, I think the two of you should move in with all of us there,” Levy announced. The short blue haired girl was looking at the twins a little enviously almost, or perhaps not envious but wistful?

Makarov wasn’t certain, but she spoke good sense, and he added his own words to the two of them. “Unless you’re wishing to pay the Guild to have some of our members stop in to help you when you’re in your second trimester and third, that seems like a great idea. You don’t have to move in right away, but I would urge you to think about it.”

Both twins instantly looked at Elfman and Mira. Elfman looked as if he wanted to burst out crying, but whether from the idea that the two of them were pregnant - and that he could no longer fool himself into thinking that his little sisters were virginal angels who had never known the touch of man - or at the idea of them moving out of the Strauss house no one could quite say it.

For her part, Mira simply shrugged her shoulders. “I think moving out now would be premature, but near the end of the second trimester, that would be a great idea. At that point you’ll start running into issues, and like the Master said, I’m not going to be around to look after you unless you want me to stop taking missions?”

Both her sisters shook their heads at that, then looked at one another. After a few moment’s silent communication, they agreed with their older sister’s points.

At that point, Makarov nodded and the rest of the crowd of Guild members moved forward, shaking their hands or hugging the twins in delight, seeing the sheer joy Lisa and Anna were showing at this pronouncement.

Nearly everyone in the guild was there at present. The only ones who weren’t there were young Wendy, old Wendy, Erza, Bisca, Alzack and Seilah. The shop was closed for the day, and Edo-Wendy had left the morning before with Bisca and Alzack on a mission they had needed a cook along for some reason, although Master Makarov couldn’t remember the particulars of the mission they had gone on, a low-level one to be sure, but a tricky one.

Wendy, Carla and Seilah were all out in the woods with Porlyusica. The youngest Dragon Slayer was once more training with the healer, while Seilah was unwilling to run the shop on her own, and Carla was keeping her company.

Erza too was on a mission, although she was due back later that day. She’d gone out on a mission that morning to help hunt down a rogue Caelum ship captain. He had apparently convinced his crew to go pirate with him, and had been preying on the ships going from Fiore to Caelum and down to Minstrel for a few weeks. Heh, she’ll be sorry she missed this announcement, whereas Laxus probably won’t care much and Gildarts… who knows?

Gildarts hadn’t returned to the guild at all ever since setting out to meet with God Serena and start training with him in order to fight Acnologia. He still contacted them via messenger bird or lacrima. For his part, Laxus literally tended to disappear when he left the guild. Freaking Laxus! If I find out you’ve been skiving off taking over fulltime from me to get with Ultear I, I, I’ll be so proud you damn brat!!!

With a sigh and a shake of his head, Makarov set aside any thought of the two missing S-class mages, and joined in the festivities around the blushing pair of prospective mothers.

Erza did indeed return later that day, although at first glance Makarov became instantly concerned. “Erza, are you alright?”

So concentrated was he on the redhead, that he didn’t know a few of the crowd of still present guild members had also looked her way. And a few of them, Evergreen and Catherine among them, had begun to exchange glances, and quickly stood up from there it’s where they had been sitting. They made their way around Erza towards the open doorway, quickly exiting the Guildhall. The consensus among the group leaving was, better them than me.

“I am physically fine master. But I have been having trouble with my stomach for the past few weeks.” Erza grumbled a bit, shaking her head. “I don’t know what it is. At first, I thought it was something I had eaten messing with my taste buds, but it has persisted. I have strange cravings at times, at other times I’m simply hungry, and eat quite a bit more than I am used to doing. At other times I have no appetite whatsoever, and the mere thought of food is enough to make me queasy. I don’t understand it at all!”

This litany filled Makarov with a sudden sinking feeling, and Macao and Wakaba had both gone bone white. Oh dear, all that can only mean one thing. And unlike with the twins, I am getting the distinct impression that this was not planned at all! Oh dear. Best to take this slowly I think.

Before he could say anything however, Lisa and Anna came out of the storage room, chattering happily with the newly arrived Bisca and Edo Wendy, who had been helping them drag up some more bear and food. “I wonder what color hair the babies will have.” Alzack mused.

“And how alike will they be? Considering you’re not just twins, but you are technically the same person from two different dimensions, I have to wonder,” Bisca murmured. “And, frankly, I’m kind of hoping they’re both boys. I just don’t see Natsu being a good dad to a little girly girl.” She looked over at Alzack with a smile. “Although I do think a girl with a very light pink color to her hair would be devastatingly cute.”

“I know, although really, I’m more concerned about maybe having more than one child each. I think there is going to be distinct limits to how well Natsu can deal with kids, and that will shrink greatly with each child he has to deal with.” Anna answered.

“I still think you should’ve waited for him to come back and put a ring on your fingers,” Edo Wendy said with a shake of her head. “I’m all for having fun beforehand, but kids are a serious business.”

“He couldn’t have married us both anyway, not without all of us taking a trip down to Desierto or Sin to get married anyway,” Lisa replied.

“What is…” Erza began, before the words stuck in her craw as she looked at the twins. She had known about the girl’s plans before Natsu and the others had left them and now, seeing their smiles, Erza began to think. She slowly began to think about what they were saying and her own recent issues. Her face began to twitch into various expressions as she put two and two together.

Seeing this, Makarov winced, and slowly reached out to take her hand in his, squeezing gently. “Now Erza, take it easy please, we don’t know for certain yet if…”

That was as far as he got before the screaming began. Violence followed soon after, and did not end until the entire guildhall was a mess, and Erza stomped off out of the Guildhall again, heading to the woods to search for Porlyusica. Moments later, screams could be heard by the party of Fairy Tail mages who had hurried out after her. “I’m too young to be a mother!” Was followed instantly by a very familiar cry to anyone who had once lived in Nerima. “Ranma Saotome, this is all your fault!”

Scene break

Months had passed since Erza’s surprise revelation, and Wendy still had to smile at the idea she had a little half-brother or sister on the way. Not that she thought Erza was going to be the most natural of mothers in the world, but Erza had made the decision to keep the child despite there being magic to… halt things in their tracks should the woman wish it in Fiore. Yet Erza had reacted even more violently than normal when one of the newcomers to the guild had made that suggestion. The verbal and physical thrashing he’d gotten had caused him to be the laughingstock of the guild which in turn had convinced him to leave and join Lamia Scale.

Currently, Wendy, Carla and Seilah were clothes shopping in Crocus. A week ago a request had arrived from princess Hisui who wanted to meet with Wendy, and get to know ‘the insolent Ranger’s younger sister, that most unfortunate of young girls’ and ask for her help and advice with something.

At the time, Wendy had been busy with training with Porlyusica, who had refused to let her leave until she mastered the latest round of medical knowledge and spells that the healer was trying to teach her. When she had finally been allowed to leave, it came as no surprise to Wendy that Seilah had volunteered to go with her to the capital. Wendy rarely went anywhere without the demoness, who had become her second-best friend outside of Carla.

(Ranma-nii did not count as a friend. ‘Brothers before others’ was a line Wendy had heard once, and whatever the original meaning, it certainly fit her feelings towards her absent family member.)

They had initially arrived in Crocus early that morning, but when Wendy attempted to just enter the palace like a normal person, she’d been informed that the princess Hisui was being prepared for a ball that night, and that she had sent word the Wendy and her companions were welcome to come to the ball. They had even been given money for dresses, something that had made Carla very happy.

Wendy had not been pleased by that, having assumed that this was just a meeting between her and the princess. Now, standing in a dress shop, Wendy ruefully thought, Now if Nii-chan was here, he’d probably have just said no to the entire thing. Or just sneak in. But while I can act a bit and could get up there easily enough, I don’t have any skill in disguises. And I really don’t think having Seilah along would be good. Funny maybe, but probably not good for royal/mage relations.

Regardless, Wendy couldn’t stop herself from feeling a little… intrigued with the idea of dressing up. Although staring at the dress, she shook her head. “No way, Carla. That thing looks like it’d tear in two at the first Soryu no Nobashita Tsubasa! (Sky Dragon's Flaring Wings).”

“Child, we both know this isn’t active wear. Stop trying to channel your oaf of a brother,” Carla said, waving away a concern Wendy had just voiced. “The colors are blue and a light purple, and they will look magnificent on you. Go try it on please.”

Wendy pouted a bit, not liking how Carla had continued to send digs Ranma’s way without him around to defend himself. But her pout disappeared as Seilah came over, holding up her own dress thoughtfully. It was a, well Wendy thought it looked slinky and smooth, with none of the ruffles and puffs of the dress Carla had found for Wendy, and it made Wendy want to reach out and touch it. “That looks so shiny, Seilah!”

Seilah smiled slightly. “While I have never been interested in stories involving dressing up or high society, I have to admit that there is something interesting about seeing what colors match my skin or hair color.”

Not her horns, of course. As open as Fiore was about magical forms, animals and so forth, they tended to draw the line at Devils such as her. To that end, Seilah was currently under a disguise, a magical illusion created by a necklace she wore around her neck given to her by Master Makarov. It was a collaboration between Levy and Freed and it worked quite well to hide her horns from sight. The illusion would be broken if someone reached up to pat her head as Seilah did to Wendy so often, but there, Seilah felt her height would serve her well. “White works best with me, white and black, because that matches the color of my skin in general, and my hair… or at least so says all the stories I have read that mention fashion. Why do I think we should have asked Mirajane for advice?”

“I think you could make anything look good Seilah, you’re really pretty after all,” Wendy said with a shrug and a pout. “Maybe in a few years I’ll start to look like a regular teenager rather than a kid and then I can wear something like that.”

“I would say that you should treasure your childishness, Wendy. It is one of your best traits.” Carla announced, while Seilah flushed a bit at the compliment. “And while I will admit it can be gratifying to have some looks sent your way, the opposite is also true. You do not wish to get too many looks and most particularly you do not wish to get the wrong sort of looks. Such a dress will not be something I will allow you to wear until you are your brother’s current age.”

With a nod, Wendy indicated that she understood that. She had after all got in a few looks in her lifetime in the past, although she wasn’t all that used to it and honestly still hadn’t quite figured out whether or not she was flattered by the occasional boy her own age looking at her, or not. She most decidedly did not like the attention she sometimes got from polygons however, and in that, she had no issue with the cut of the dress that Carla had picked out for her, just how long it would last if they somehow had to run or got into a fight. Although really, how likely is that without Ranma-nii and his weird luck interfering, Wendy thought, sighing as she thought about her absent brother.

Even as little as a year ago, the thought that Ranma had left her for more than a day would have caused Wendy to nearly burst into tears. She had become dependent on Ranma during their time traveling together, and the idea of another pseudo-parental figure leaving her would have torn her up inside. Yet Wendy had gone through quite a lot of growth since first meeting Fairy Tail, and not just magically. Now, when she thought about the fact that her brother wasn’t here, , the feeling that she got was more of nostalgic whimsy than actual sadness. And it isn’t like I am alone, I have Seilah and Carla with me.

Shaking her head, Wendy took the dress from Carla, and with renewed determination, moved over to the dressing room.

When evening fell over Crocus, Carla, Wendy and Seilah once more presented themselves at the castle. There they found themselves joining a long line of other well-dressed, rich looking people. The trio drew some glances, but there seemed to be an unspoken rule that the various families or groups remained separate as they waited to be allowed into the palace.

“Ugh, now we need to wait,” Wendy grumbled. “This never happened when I traveled with Ranma-nii.”

“At least they will not announce us as is often the case in some stories,” Seilah agreed with Wendy, looking utterly bored with all of this, as she stood behind the two, dressed in a formfitting white and black checkered striped gown, which hugged her full figure in a way that would probably turn many a man’s minds to mush before the night was over, in Carla’s opinion. Her hair was as normal, and her illusion hid her horns from view.

Despite the general disinterested air she gave off of the proceedings, Seilah was garnering the most attention of the trio from the other guests lining up behind them as they came out of their carriages, although Carla was also gaining some looks but those were more appreciative then whatever the looks directed Seilah’s way were beyond a few of the younger kids Wendy’s age or little older, who gaped at her openly, and murmured compliments under their breaths.

Carla was in her human form, and dressed in a long sequined gown that came down from a tight neck hugging her form in star-dusted black, contrasting sharply with her white skin, and long nearly platinum blonde hair. The aloof, regal expression that Carla could wear so easily did not take anything away from it, and the guards were actually a little startled when she called herself a Fairy Tail mage rather than lady this or that when she handed them their invitations.

For her part, Wendy was completely oblivious to the blushing looks of interest she was getting from some of the younger set herself. While her dress wasn’t nearly as formfitting as the other two, Wendy was dressed in a princess gown done in blue and light purple, which complemented her hair and general good looks extremely well. Her hair was also done up in a far more intricate braided pattern then it would normally be, bringing more attention to her face and high cheekbones.

“I wonder what this is all about. I mean, most of these people don’t look like mages, they look rich, which probably means nobles, but I thought Ranma-nii said Fiore doesn’t have much of a noble class.” Wendy knew that there were Dukes and a few Counts around the place, but for the most part, mage guilds and the King ruled the country with elected officials like mayors and so forth.

A few other mages had arrived via magic, so at least the trio from Magnolia weren’t entirely alone, and hadn’t looked all that strange coming down out of the air. An arrival that made Carla very grateful for an enchantment called the Uncanny Expanse. It was a short-lived illusion spell that hid anything below a woman’s skirt, and was widely put on women’s dresses across Fiore. If not for it, both Wendy’s and Carla’s underclothing would have been visible as they arrived at the foot of the castle’s stone-covered plateau.

Still, all three of them were not very much at home in high society, and as they were ushered into the ballroom where the soiree was taking place, all of them looked around in some confusion, even Carla. For all of her regal mannerisms and grace Carla had little actual experience with high society. Indeed, Wendy had interacted with high society more than Carla, having been to several balls and parties with Ranma under various guises to cover his meeting with the various kings and queens.

The three of them quickly away from the double doors leading into the ballroom, and Seilah frowned looking around. Meanwhile beside her Wendy quickly moved to put Carla and Seilah to either side of her. Wendy’s previously interested, curious air disappeared now surrounded by strangers, and it was all she could do to not look down at her feet shyly as she stared around at all the rich people.

“This looks almost exactly like some of the more boring parts of several stories I have read. I believe at this time, considering how none of us wish to socialize with complete strangers, we are obligated to find the food, and hover nearby. I always wondered how that works in all honesty. Is that phrase meant to be taken literally, or figuratively?”

Carla snorted at that, but Wendy seemed to perk up a bit at the joke, and so she ran with it. “Literally would be fun, but would be less a viable means of blending in than turning ourselves bright neon orange. Regardless, I believe that is a good idea. But for my curiosities sake, Wendy, did that footman who met us earlier say what this party was for?”

“The princess’s official debut, whatever that means.” Wendy answered shyly. “Considering we know she’s been involved with her father’s work, and in fact personally oversaw the rebuilding of the Fiore I honestly have no idea what it could mean.”

“It means that Hisui’s of marriageable age now and the other nobles have to bring in their sons and other youngsters to see if the princess shows any interest in them,” another voice said from nearby, cutting through the background tumult.

This was a voice that Wendy knew, although Carla and Seilah hadn’t heard it before. Wendy turned in that direction, and smiled as she saw Minerva having pushed herself out of the crowd around them. She moved over quickly to the older girl, and gave Minerva a quick hug, which Minerva returned.

The tanned, black-haired young woman was dressed in a ballroom gown much like what Carla was wearing but in dark blue rather than black, and with a plunging neckline despite the fact that she didn’t actually have all that much to show, much to Wendy’s relief. Its enough dealing with Seilah, my alter and the girls of Fairy Tail, I don’t want another girl to be jealous of! the young girl mock-whined to herself.

Minerva broke the hug quickly stepping back crowding two men away from them as she looked at Wendy, and shaking her head. “You’re looking good, and far more dressed up than I ever would’ve expected from the little tomboy that followed Ranma around when he saved me from that old bastard.”

“There isn’t that big a difference in our ages Minerva, and we were out in the woods at the time anyway!” Wendy said, waving her hands theatrically to either side happy to see her old acquaintance and eagerly concentrating on her to keep herself from looking at the crowd around them. As for being labeled like that, Wendy was fine with being called a tomboy in many ways, but she thought that she was much more girly than that, and well remembered that Minerva had made that into a teasing joke between them for some reason in the short time Minerva traveled with them. And Ranma always got this weird look in his face whenever she did too. I know why now, but it doesn’t make it any less annoying.

“True, I guess. And you must be Carla, and… Seilah.” The look Minerva gave both of them told Wendy and the others that she had been informed of Seilah’s… unique past as well as Carla’s. The look she gave Carla was far warmer than the one she gave Seilah, as Carla at least had not been a willing opponent of Ishgar and humanity in general, sent here as a egg and playing no part of her people’s connivance with the Greater Edolas. In contrast, the narrow eyed stare she gave Seilah was fit to kill a weaker woman.

Seilah however simply gazed back, until Wendy moved between them and deliberately leaned back against Seilah’s stomach and lower chest. The difference in their height was such that this basically meant Seilah’s breasts rested momentarily on top of Wendy’s head like a soft doughy hat, something that several men nearby noticed. This somewhat mussed up Wendy’s hair, but she didn’t care. “I know what you’ve heard about Seilah, but she’s reformed, and I trust and like her. So does my big brother. Okay?”

Minerva made a tsking noise under her throat, but nodded, and turned away, waving her hand around her to indicate the crowd around them. Watching her, Wendy snickered a little bit as she moved away from Seilah, reflecting that despite the way she dressed, Minerva was a bit of a tomboy too. “Come with me. The princess did want to speak to you and to apologize for all this.”

“That is good to know, as we did not come here to take part in this display,” Seilah said distastefully, following after Carla and Wendy. A man tried to cut between them, his mouth opened to form words of some kind, but Seilah simply dodged around him adroitly, ignoring him utterly as she continued on following her young friend.

The man gaped after her for a moment, before his face shifted into an ugly sneer, before he paused, flushing in embarassment. It was easily evident to those snickering at his utter failure that were he not surrounded by high society, he would probably have had some stern words for the gorgeous and massively-breasted mage. “Fool!”

“Indeed, how gauche. You have to make certain the youngsters are being entertained somehow before you flirt with their minder,” giggled another man.

Soon the group moved out of range of the fuming man towards the far end of the room. There, they found Hisui holding court, surrounded by young men who for some reason made Wendy remark, “Are they all trying to look like the Trimens?”

That caused Carla to laugh quietly, while Seilah giggled behind her. Meanwhile, Wendy looked at the princess with interest. She really isn’t that much older than me, just like Minerva. Neat. And she’s got great taste in dresses.

Hisui was dressed in a gown similar to Wendy’s, except it was much more formfitting around the bosom, and with straps over the shoulder rather than fully covering them. The highlight color was green rather than the light purple of Wendy’s dress, and she wore a small tiara on her head. She was talking to someone else, a young man as she approached, but seemed to catch sight of them quickly. Somehow through some strange conversation kata Hisui was able to disengage from the young man and move through the crowd of other young men before she came close to Wendy and her friends, smiling as she took in Wendy’s appearance.

“You must be Wendy Marvell. Your brother mentioned you at one point, and I know that Queen Rose is quite fond of you. Indeed, her description of you is spot on,” Hisui said, smiling brightly at the younger girl. “It’s good to meet you at last. But can I ask, where does the last name come from? That is something I have always wondered about you Dragon Slayers: were you given both your first and last names by your draconic parents? Or is there some other mystery behind your names? I know Ranma chose his last name for himself.”

Wendy nodded, since that was indeed the case with her older brother. He had wanted to make a clean break from the Saotome name, and choosing something related to the ocean just made sense in his mind. “I could not tell you where the name Wendy came from, only that was my name. But as for my last name, Grandeeneyy used to call me her little marvel, and it stuck.” Wendy smiled somewhat sadly before dropping into a curtsy. “It’s good to meet you, Your Majesty.”

Standing beside her, Carla did the same. Seilah simply bowed her head slightly, seeing no need or reason to do otherwise. She would act respectfully towards the princess, but no more nor less than she would anyone else.

This lack of response brought a glare from the princess’s second bodyguard. He was a tall, darkly tanned man with a fierce goatee and armor covering him from head to toe even here in a soirée set inside the royal’s own castle. “You should address the princess with more respect, woman. It is by her largess that I have even allowed you into the castle in the first place,” He hissed, so low that the background noise of conversation and music covered it almost to the point where the others that were part of the conversation could not hear it.

“It is by your princess’s request that we are here at all. I dislike it when people assume more strength than they are actually capable of,” Seilah said blandly, staring back at the guard, one eyebrow rising in cold derision.

“Enough, Arcadios. She is quite correct.” Hisui stated, wincing internally at the fact that was true on two levels, although she only gave voice to one of those truths. “I invited Wendy, Carla, and Miss Seilah here. And my father personally decided that Seilah’s efforts to pay off her debt to society created by her previous actions has gone well enough for us to set aside her past deeds. I also know young Wendy also speaks highly of her.”

“She’s my friend,” Wendy said simply, and Seilah smiled faintly, reaching down to pull the little girl into a sideways hug for a moment. That sight seemed to make Arcadios’ calm down a little.

Hisui also smiled at that, then shook her head. “I was honestly hoping to speak to you three in private, but unfortunately, your timing was somewhat bad. This ball is an important event, unfortunately.” For a moment Hisui’s public façade faded and she looked slightly harried, almost frustrated and… fearful? Wendy wasn’t certain and didn’t bring it up, seeing Hisui race her mask once more. “And given this ball is in my honor, I will be obliged to take part well into the night. You are welcome to stay in the palace for the night, but I am afraid this party is not the right venue for deep discussions. I hope you have fun at least.”

Wendy frowned a little bit at that, setting aside the mystery of Hisui’s inner feelings, instead looking around at the party. While she enjoyed dressing up, talking about makeup and so forth, there was a big difference between that and wanting to be at a highbrow party like this. Dancing sounds nice, but other than that… She turned back to the princess and then leaned in, whispering, “Have you been sleeping all right, princess? You’re looking a little tired.”

Wincing a bit at Wendy spotting that, the princess nodded slightly. “The reason I wish to speak to you is the same that has been causing me sleepless nights.”

“In that case, we’ll stay,” Wendy said, looking over at Carla and Seilah for confirmation.

Neither of them seemed to have an issue with it. Seilah even stated her opinion, saying, “I would dearly like to investigate the royal library, so staying here is more than fine with me.”

The princess smiled thankfully at Wendy and the other two before waving them off as another group of young men was pushed towards her out of the crowd by their parents.

Shivering in disgust, Carla looped one arm into Wendy’s. In her human form, they were close to the same size, so this was not nearly as awkward as it would otherwise have been. She led the young girl off, with Seilah following quickly. “You cannot begin to imagine how much I detest the fact that nobles marry due to lineage and bloodlines. My mother back in Edolas told me the horror story of her own marriage, and seeing all of this, all these high-class, noble families trotting out their sons like so many studs trying to catch a mare’s attention is somewhat sickening when you think about it.”

“While I have always enjoyed fantasy novels set in worlds with royal families, nobles, and mages like our own, I too have to say that this is a bit… off-putting perhaps?” Seilah said with a shake of her head. I could understand if the princess coming-of-age was the first social event of the season, or the first time she had ever been seen out in public. But as it is, with Hisui having already proven how efficacious she can be in terms of helping to repair the damage done to the Magic Council and helping her father rule the country in various other ways, the veneer of civility has been removed from this event almost entirely for me.”

Wendy blushed rosily, looking down at her feet as she pushed her fingers together. “I really, really don’t want to think about boy and girl stuff like that being so clinical. I always thought princesses and princes falling in love was romantic, but it all feels a little awkward and weird now, Carla. Your words ruined it for me.”

“Good. But regardless of our opinions about what is going on, do remember we are in high society now. If a man your bigger brother’s age or above tries to talk to you, I doubt we would be able to get away with the response that reprobate has trained into you,” Carla warned.

“I’d only go for that response if I was really annoyed with them,” Wendy answered primly, recovering from her momentary embarrassment and setting aside her pout. She honestly didn’t see the point of boy girl stuff at all, although she did like romance, and had enjoyed watching Ranma, Erza and the rest of them getting together.

At that response, Carla turned her attention up to Seilah, who stared down at the diminutive cat girl for a moment, a wry little smirk on her lips. “If you expect me to promise anything similar in terms of my response to being annoyed by the men or women around us, your story will end before you receive a positive reply. Nor will I be constrained by politeness if someone continually bothers Wendy either. This panoply of wealth, power and importance matters not at all to me.”

“In this case, I am perfectly happy without response,” Carla announced. “Now, let us see if we can find any canapés. The food here at the very least should be excellent.”

“And then maybe we can dance a bit,” Wendy said with a smile, swaying a little to a new song that had just begun. It wasn’t her preferred style of slow jazz or folk songs, but it was still very nice.

Her companions nodded at that, and the trio moved towards one of the corners of the ballroom where they could see a few tables set out with food on them. Throughout the party, waiters were also moving, although Carla noted that several of them looked to also be security. Their shoulders were far too broadly builds, and she could spot subtle hints of weapons underneath their skirts or shirts.

That made Carla think back and pull up the very recent memory of Arcadios’ face, frowning a little. Whatever is keeping the princess up at night is doing the same to him as well. The same malady? Or a loyal retainer’s response to the mysterious ailment or problem bothering the princess?

As they walked, Wendy had reached out with her free hand and taken one of Seilah’s. This seemed to work like a shield against some of the interest directed towards the Demon woman’s way. It didn’t stop any of the comments, but neither Wendy nor a slightly flushing Seilah seemed to hear them, with Seilah seemingly very happy to simply walk beside Wendy holding her hand through the crowd. Carla led the way, still linking arms with Wendy as Wendy told Seilah about the time she had met Queen Rose in person. That had been several years ago now, and while her perception of the prince had changed somewhat over time - she no longer had a crush on him - her impression of the queen hadn’t. She was still one of the kindest, most motherly people Wendy had ever interacted with.

Just as they got through the crowd and saw the food tables ahead of them, an elderly, almost croaking voice spoke up from behind them. “When I heard someone speaking so familiarly of Queen Rose of Bosco, I had thought to find myself facing a liar. But you would be Wendy Marvell, R…young Ranma’s sister, correct?”

All three of them looked to the side, where in a small open space among the crowd a gentleman stood, leaning on a walking staff. He was stooped with age, although even if he hadn’t, he didn’t look like he would stand much taller than Wendy. He had big ears, strange, t-shaped eyebrows that drew Wendy’s eyes like lodestones, and a heavily wrinkled face, but shrewd eyes.

Something about the man told Carla that he was important, and she quickly curtsied. “You will forgive my young charge if she gave offense, but I understand from my own interactions via communication lacrima with her that Queen Rose fostered that kind of relation with Wendy. That was before I traveled with her however, and I have been doing my best ever since to teach her good manners.”

The old man waved that off, watching as Wendy and Seilah followed Carla’s example in curtsying to him in Wendy’s place. Seilah did as well, but her face and general body language made it clear it was more an act, something she was doing without seeing the reason for it. “None of that, I said I recognized you when I spotted you. I have been meaning to speak to you at this party in any event. My name is Dalton. I am the Prime Minister of Fiore.”

With that, the man turned away, very obviously assuming the three of them would follow him, and after sharing a glance between them, the trio of women did so, finding themselves quickly in a small alcove near the food tables, where they could be seen from the crowd, but where any conversation would not be overheard thanks to the proximity to one of the scattered lacrima being used to send the music throughout the room.

As they followed the man, Carla reflected that the power inherent in the title of Prime Minister very wildly from one nation to another, those that used such a position at all in any event. In Bosco, it meant something similar to how a chief Chamberlain would be seen in most places, but was also the head of the internal security service. In Seven, the Prime Minister was the head of the federal tax office, as well as chairman for the budgetary committee. In Joya, the Prime Minister was quite a bit more powerful than that, and in point of fact there were rumors that the Prime Minister in that country had more power than the king or the royal family in its entirety. Carla didn’t know the truth there, since the man also didn’t have any connection to the Ranger system.

All of that was to say that Carla understood that Prime Minister was probably important, but how important she did not know. He had not been involved in any of the missions that the king had sent Ranma on since they had entered Fiore more than eight months ago. But does that mean he was out of the loop, simply a political animal, or not powerful? She didn’t know, but she resolved to keep Wendy on her best behavior regardless. Seilah is a bit of a lost cause.

Thankfully, Wendy had not picked up all of Ranma’s bad habits, in particular his complete lack of care for position and authority. So while she spoke up before the old man could when they came to a halt in the small alcove, she did so at least somewhat respectfully. “Erm, do you share in whatever it is that the princess is keeping her up at night? I’m assuming that is tied into why she wanted to speak to me and my companions.”

“Yes, your companions…” The Prime Minister’s eyes flicked over to Seilah, who stared back, not so much challengingly as simply neutrally. “I will admit, when this problem first began, I had been concerned of someone of similar powers or abilities as your… friend here, or similar background at least was involved. We have not ruled out that idea yet.”

Seilah shrugged. “I believe that all my fellow Demons of the Book were wiped out in battle with the top four Wizard Saints of Ishgar down in Mistral. I did not shed a tear when I learned of it, nor do I care overmuch about your obvious suspicions. I was not the one who has done whatever the princess is afflicted by. Even I cannot use my power on someone for the first time over several hundred miles. And while I could easily get into the castle, I rather doubt that even sleeping the princess is undefended.”

The Demon woman’s words drew a small scowl from the prime minister, who disliked the way she said she could so easily enter the castle. But he had to admit she probably had a point. Even if the Royal Guard and Minerva worked as one against her, it was doubtful that they would even slow down Seilah. Not even with the Celestial Spirit Mage that Arcadios had recently found. “Well, I suppose we will have to trust you then,” he said sarcastically.

“And me,” Wendy said firmly. She was still holding Seilah’s hand and squeezed it gently. “Seilah’s not been more than a few minutes flight away from me or Carla since she defected after the whole Nirvana thing.”

“That does bring some peace to my mind, lass,” the older man said, some of the starch going out of his voice and stance. He looked at Wendy thoughtfully. “I understand you’re a healer first and foremost?”

“Yep, that and enhancement spells,” Wendy answered with a nod. “Some of my spells can restore good health and energy, although it’s no substitute in the long term for just getting more sleep.” Wendy paused then, before shrugging. “But if you’re asking me for a professional opinion on whatever is causing the princess to go without sleep, I’m going to need more information. She said we’d talk about it tomorrow.”

The Prime Minister snorted that. “I wasn’t looking for any specifics. Even here in this small alcove, we could perhaps be overheard by someone determined enough.” He looked closely at Wendy, then shrugged his shoulders. “If you are asking me for my opinion on whatever is bothering them, I can give you that without the details though. And I have to say that I think it is some kind of ruse, or an illusion of the mind of some kind.”

His words were circumspect, but they still gave all three of the mages more than enough information to get on with. One, the issue began with the princess. Two, it was something that was bothering her mind, keeping her up at night, something they had already figured out. Three, it was not a physical threat, but some kind of illusion or image magic implanted into Hisui’s head.

All of that was concerning, and Wendy looked over at Seilah. “Do you think your control magic would override something like that? If someone has used telepathy to implant images in her mind, I mean?”

“I could command her to no longer consider it a problem, or to sleep. If it is some kind of long distance takeover, I could override whoever is trying to control her,” Seilah announced firmly. To her, that would be simple enough. “If however, it is not a control issue, but rather a sending, I am uncertain that my powers would be enough to offset the existing impact for long. I could command the princess to simply ignore her dreams, but that is a short-term solution.”

Wendy nodded thoughtfully. “I can tell if someone is hurting her brain with telepathic assaults, maybe? I’m still studying brain injuries under Porlyusica-san.”

“But surely the royal family already has access to it’s own healers. I doubt they are as good as Porlyusica of course, but I have to assume there is something more going on,” Carla surmised, staring hard at the prime minister.

He smiled at that thinly and was about to nod when another man arrived on the scene. Equally short although not because he was stooped with age, the man’s face was one Wendy and the others had seen occasionally on the other side of a lacrima communication: the king of Fiore, Toma E. Fiore. He entered the small alcove quickly, smiling at them all, and placing a hand on the older man’s shoulder. “Ah, Wendy, there you are. Hisui said you had arrived. You shouldn’t let this old man pigeonhole you for long you know, get out and enjoy the party!”

His good humor faded a bit as Wendy seemed to shrink a little at the very idea of interacting with so many strangers, and he sighed. “Ah, I had forgotten you were a shy one, Wendy. I’d apologize, but this kind of soiree is good for Hisui, and for the kingdom as a whole.”

He paused a moment, looking over his shoulder before turning back over to the trio of female mages, trying hard not to stare at Seilah… or more specifically her chest. The Demon woman was immensely attractive, something her current garb did nothing to hide. “Er, anyway, did Dalton tell you…” Toma paused once more as Wendy nodded. “Then you should know that whatever is afflicting my daughter has recently passed to me. And it has also begun to impact Arcadios and Minerva.” Indeed, Wendy and Carla could both see signs of a lack of sleep in the king’s face, although thinking back to the guards, none of the mages could say they had seen any sign of such from them. “I will require all three of you to give an oath to not repeat what my daughter tells you tomorrow morning, but for now, I would simply like some assurance that you will help us whatever you might hear.”

Something about what he said or perhaps how he said it seemed to bother the prime Minister, Carla noted, but she shook that thought off for now. Wendy nodded, as did, when prompted Carla and Seilah. Then Toma was turning as a voice rose behind him, apparently calling his attention away, and the mages were left with the Prime Minister. The older man sighed. “I should be out there too, but I would add my own words to the kings, but with the added caveat: keep an open mind as to what you hear, hmmm? Don’t let the emotions of the moment drive you.”

With that surprising statement, the prime minister turned and exited the tiny alcove back out into the party. The background noise and the crowd swallowed him up quickly, leaving the three mages alone. “Er… what was that about?” Wendy asked, frowning in confusion. “I, I got the impression they were both telling us really different things without just coming out and saying it. Ugh. I hate that kind of thing.”

“There seems to be a bit of a controversy here in terms of whatever is bothering the princess,” Seilah mused, tapping a finger thoughtfully against her chin. “Hmmm, I’ve always enjoyed the kind of power struggle type of plot in stories. I wonder if this is something of that sort?”

“It doesn’t seem to be,” Carla argued. “I got the impression that the prime minister is not taking this as seriously as Hisui or the king. Why that is, I cannot say. Regardless, we will be unable to do anything about it until tomorrow, so I suggest we get some food, and then bow out of the party as soon as possible.” She waved a hand at Wendy. “If you want, we can go out into the garden and dance there. I simply do not think this place will be very pleasant for you Wendy.”

And far too many young men here might decide that if the princess is giving them the cold shoulder to turn their attention elsewhere. And if Seilah takes offense we might cause a political incident, Carla mused.

The fact she was just as liable to overreact in defense of Wendy did not occur to Carla. Even if her method of dealing with such would have been even more violent than Seilah’s.

“Food first, then,” Wendy said firmly. “I’m hungry.”

The canapes and other munchies on hand proved to be tasty, but small. Still, the three of them did find a few things they liked, many of whose recipes Seilah became determined to steal for Katerina. “If we can make similar items from cheaper ingredients, it could be an excellent addition to the Book Nook’s draw.”

“It’s taken some time, but you’re actually thinking like a merchant woman now,” Carla mused. “Yet even now, I have to wonder, do you really understand that your shop will need to continue to make money? That it isn’t just an excuse to keep supplying you with a steady supply of books?”

“I have realized that in all stories, including my own, some hardship must enter,” Seilah retorted.

The Book Nook was the name that the trio of women, Katerina, Edo-Wendy and Seilah had chosen for their little café/book store. It had quickly become a popular place for Magnolians, the mix of food and wide selection of books was a major draw. As well as, Carla knew, the beauty of the trio. Katerina, the demure noblewoman with polite manners, Edo-Wendy, the semi-brash flirt, and Seilah, the cool demonic beauty, had all gathered their own followers among the locals. Not that Katerina or Seilah did anything to encourage such behavior, or even interact with anyone outside the guild. They left manning the café to Edo-Wendy, while Katerina did most of the cooking with the former helping sometimes, and Seilah handled the books and crowd control.

“Ahem,” a voice interjected, this time an older man who had moved up to them. Apparently the defense of food and Wendy could not save Seilah, as the man moved to stand beside her. “I could not help but overhear. Do I take it aright that you have entered the book selling business? I have shares in a major printing company, and I am always happy to speak to others at the other side of that line of supply. And perhaps, we could talk about a business arrangement?”

Seilah scowled, looking over at Carla for some nonviolent help, but saw she was busy hissing angrily at a pair of boys who had moved in on Wendy at the same time. One had tried to ply her with wine, the other to pull her away from her food towards the dance floor. He was still trying, but Wendy was a lot stronger than him, and wasn’t budging, despite the pout and blush on her face at the attention. Meanwhile, Carla was dealing with the other, giving him a tongue lashing that had him pinned in place, his face whitening as the surrounding crowd pulled back leaving him to his fate.

This all left Seilah on her own, and she scowled. She decided to first try words. “Leave me alone, little man. I have no interest in you, nor your entire gender.”

Well… they were words. Not very diplomatic, but still, just words, no matter how pointed.

“Wh, I, I can assure you Madame, that I am not like any man you have ever…” The older man began, but Seilah had enough.

“Macro: Leave me alone and forget you ever spoke to me,” she said in a low growl. Her magic flashed out, and a moment later, the man was walking away.

Turning back to her companions, she intoned, “I suggest we eat quickly if we can. I do not wish to deal with more attention of that nature.”

Carla huffed, then had to deal with two older boys flirting with her in turn. This caused her more trouble than dealing with Wendy’s would-be suitors, who did not stop coming. She answered each of these in the same manner, flushing rosily, shaking her head and retreating back into Seilah’s side. When they tried to convince her to dance, Wendy interrupted the goings on around Carla, practically lifting Carla in front of her face as a shield when one particularly aggressive boy tried to once more grab her arm and pull her out onto the dance floor.

But once they were finished eating, the crowd around them had thinned, the young boys being beaten off with sufficiently sized sticks. Now that the first portion of the event was over, it had turned into a more open meet and greet for high society, with many other young girls and women arriving. The trio of attractive mages still garnered looks, but they were able to keep to themselves enough to get in a few dances on their own.

This was something Carla and Wendy had done dozens of times, and Carla enjoyed it as always, the two twirling around one another and having a good deal of fun as they shifted from slow to fast songs. In turn, the sight of Wendy and Seilah dancing around should have been cute, something like a mother and daughter pair dancing. Yet for some reason, perhaps because of how close the two of them danced, or perhaps simply the sight of Seilah’s chest resting on top of Wendy’s head, it didn’t quite come off like that to many in the audience. Regardless, Wendy found herself enjoying those dances as well, moving against Seilah to the music, and then teaching Seilah how to dance to the more involved songs.

After that, King Toma called for the attention of the crowd.  He began a long winded speech about Fiore, it’s glories and its magic. As the crowd watched him and Hisui, Wendy looked over at her friends. “I think this is our cue to leave, right? Speeches are boring.”

Carla would have perhaps been somewhat annoyed at that statement, and perhaps even found leaving now rude. The night was still quite young after all. But while the dancing had been fun, dealing with another round of youths flirting with her and Wendy had not been. I actually find it quite flattering, but I am certainly not the type to be impressed by a pretty face or a excellent turn of phrase. And their bothering Wendy is just awful. “I agree. Although don’t think I missed how you dealt with that last man who bothered you, Seilah.”

“I merely told him to get drunk and make a fool of himself then start a fight while forgetting all about me. I don’t see what’s wrong with that,” Seilah demurred, holding Wendy’s hand once more as she led the way towards one of the doors leading deeper into the palace. “I could have told him to find the nearest balcony and throw himself over it.”

“I agree,” Wendy said, surprising Carla. “He tried to grab her butt. I think Seilah was actually quite nice given how Ranma-nii would have dealt with someone like that.”

Carla huffed at that, but didn’t argue, and soon, they were out of the ballroom, whereupon they met a maid quite quickly. A real one this time, not one of the bodyguards in disguise. The maid directed them to a room near the royal quarters, where they found beds waiting for them. The maid went on about how this was a great honor, but after the underwhelming night, none of the magic users cared.

All three fell asleep quickly after that, although Wendy was woken up in the middle of the night by a distant noise. She tried to pull herself out of Seilah’s grasp, but failed, and lay there, turning her head so one of her ears was no longer covered by the soft embrace of Seilah’s chest. The young Dragon Slayer turned to look at the door, concentrating, on her hearing, but only hearing the pattering of feet and distant hissed words. No more screams. I, I think the problems Hisui’s dealing with are worse than I thought…

Wendy was about to try and pull away from Seilah again when a maid’s voice reached her, only a few words audible, but enough. “Got her… asleep a… double dose…”

With that, Wendy knew Hisui had been forced asleep again. This problem really is big, even though the palace people have been doing a good job of covering it up.  With that, and knowing that the problem for now wasn’t going to get any worse, Wendy decided to wait until morning to see how bad it had been, burrowing her head into Seilah’s chest once more.

The next morning, quite early for Carla and Seilah’s preferences, the three of them were sitting in a gazebo across from Minerva and Hisui taking tea and breakfast. Wendy had not told the others about being woken up last night, but she could see the signs of both tiredness and a bit of what she called wooblies in the princess from whatever she had been given the night before. Minerva also showed some signs of tiredness, although against her tanned skin it was much harder to tell.

Even with her concerns for the princess, Wendy enjoyed the breakfast and the small talk that filled it. Not only was it fun to speak to another girl who had been all over Fiore and knew about fashion far more than even Carla, the breakfast itself was quite good. So good that as they slowed down, Seilah said, “I may wish to kidnap the palace’s breakfast chef when we are leaving. A third cook in the Book Nook could very useful.”

Hisui laughed as if Seilah was making a joke, and even Minerva snickered a bit. “Miss Momo is one of our favorite cooks to be sure. She has a special way with bacon and sausage that has to be tasted to be believed.”

“So her name is Momo? Good to know. It will make finding her later all the easier. Now how to get her out of the palace…” Seilah murmured, biting into another spicy sausage roll.

Fully realizing that Seilah might not be joking, Wendy gently patted her thigh underneath the table, getting the older devil woman’s attention. “I think two kidnappings is your maximum, Seilah. Besides, shouldn’t you at least ask Katerina and my alter if they want a third person in the kitchen? You may run the book side of the book nook, but they run the kitchen, right?”

Since Wendy knew that for a fact, the strike hit home, while the princess and her bodyguard began to realize that perhaps the devil girl hadn’t been joking. So it was with some relief that they watched as Seilah nodded her head seriously. “Yes, that makes some sense.” Then her eyes flashed over to the princes, narrowing dangerously. “And now that the social niceties of tea and breakfast have been seen to, it is time you tell us why you wish to speak to mages, and why Wendy in particular.”

“You are quite blunt Seilah, but I suppose that with last night getting in the way, you have a point.” Hisui sighed. She reached for a teacup, her hand trembling slightly as she picked it up, before placing it back down and wordlessly asking Minerva for a refill before speaking once more. “As for why I wished to speak to Wendy specifically, that decision was made based on three points. One, she is a healer. If there is some strange malady or whatever that has infested my mind, and has since spread to my father, then Wendy should be able to at least tell if there is such a thing, correct?”

She waited for Wendy to nod before going on, holding up another finger from the hand now raising a full teacup to her mouth. “Two, she is the little sister of a Ranger. I might not have known the specifics of his service to the crowns of Ishgar at the time, but I know that such people are known for their probity and discretion. And I would assume that such is rubbed off on you. This is a delicate situation, and both my father and I have tried our best to keep it from getting out to the public. I assume that you will help in that manner, or at least not hinder it.”

Her smile appeared as she lowered the teacup away from her mouth, a wry little twist of the lips that contrasted starkly against her suddenly tired gaze as she looked over at Seilah and then to Carla. “I’m not so certain about your companions, although I think I can at least expect Ms. Carla to keep any secrets simply because sharing them would be quite gauche.”

Carla acknowledged this point by daintily raising her own teacup to her nose, sniffing at the aroma appreciatively before taking a sip, while Seilah simply shrugged stoically. “So long as your secrets do not harm Wendy, myself or any of the others whose personal stories have become important to me, I will keep your secrets safe. I see no reason to do otherwise.”

“I suppose that is the best I’m going to get.” Hisui grumbled. This would be a lot easier if Seilah’s thought processes were not so strange in many ways, and if Seilah wasn’t so abrasive that she constantly reminds me of the fact that she is, in point of fact, a Demon woman! The last survivor of her former guild to be sure, but still a demon woman!

“And the third reason Your Majesty?” Wendy asked politely.

“You are a Dragon Slayer, are you not?”

“I thought we covered that last night your Majesty,” Wendy said, mock pouting a little.

The pout wasn’t nearly as devastating against another girl as it would have been against a man. The princess simply smiled, nodded, and said that was more a statement than a question. “But it does tie in to why I wished to speak to you. You see, the nightmares that have been keeping me up, are dreams of death, destruction, ruination… all of Crocus. And all because of dragons.”

“Dragons, plural?” Seilah interjected, raising an eyebrow in question. “After our run in with Acnologia, I can fully understand why even reading such a report could bring about such dreams. Yet speaking to your father and Prime Minister has given me the impression there is more to it that simple dreams.”

“Dreams do not repeat on an endless loop in your brain such that you can recall each and every moment in your waking hours,” The princess said grimly, shaking her head. “No, I tell a lie. If it had just been a repeating dream, I would ignore it. But now we come to the part of the conversation where I will demand that you keep secret.”

Seilah and Carla both seemed to take a bit of umbrage at the word ‘demand’ but Wendy simply nodded. “Sure.”

“You see, my family, the Fiores, have for several generations possessed a minor magical ability in clairvoyance. In me, it has come back far stronger than in my father, so much so that I was able to see visions that helped me in restructuring the Magic Council, and had me send Minerva to Tenrou Island.”

Carla hissed at that. “Your majesty, my family has had much the same thing. Indeed, my mother was so good at it that she could act the part of an all-seeing deity. Tell me, do you have the same blue tinges to your prophetic dreams?”

“They start and end with a kind of outline of blue, yes, Miss Carla. I hadn’t known that about you or your family though,” Hisui nearly exclaimed in shock. “Fascinating. But you do not have any such?”

“No, not in any detail or regularity. I slowly lost the power after interacting with Ranma. His presence is too chaotic, it disturbs the future far too much,” Carla answered with a shake of her head. “My mother also lost the ability… at least for as long as we were in Edolas, anyway, thanks to Ranma’s presence.”

“Hmm… well, I have interacted with Ranma…” Hisui flushed a bit at the memory of how Ranma had toyed with her after she had spoken to him quite rudely, and the pain of kicking his shin. Shaking that thought off she went on. “And as I stated, I have been able to use my clairvoyance before this. Although I will say I cannot direct it as well as I would like. These visions, they come upon me suddenly, but all of the signs that differ a vision from a dream

“And it is in that manner that I have had these dreams. Never before has my vision been so clear…” For a moment, Hisui’s regal mien faded entirely for several minutes, showing how haggard and exhausted she was despite the drug induced sleep she’s had the night before.

“Perhaps you should start at the beginning your Majesty?” Wendy asked, nibbling at a cookie like a little chipmunk for a moment staring avidly at the princess while her thought was whirling.

If the princess had seen Acnologia dealing out death and destruction, then maybe her brother and their friends would know where to ambush it when they got back. Despite the carnage he had caused and the fact they been forced to flee from the Acnologia the first time they fought, the idea that her brother would lose a second time after going on a training journey as he had did not enter Wendy’s mind. It was simply an impossibility to the young girl that her brother would lose to the same opponent twice in a row, so whatever Hisui saw would never occur. And thus was not something to fear. Even Hisui’s mention of there being multiple dragons didn’t bother Wendy. They couldn’t all be as strong as the Dragon of the Apocalypse.

Hisui nodded, and breathing deeply began, her voice falling into an almost rote cadence as she did. “The vision never begins in the same place. Sometimes I am in the library, sometimes in my room, sometimes outside in the gardens. Then it shifts to showing me leaving the palace. I am joined by Minerva and Arcadios along with a few of the Garou Knights.”

The Garou Knights was the official name of the royal guard. Wendy had heard the term before occasionally, although it wasn’t used as often as the simpler royal guard term.

“We walk for a few minutes, everything around us looks normal. But then, the sky darkens, not like a storm is about to begin, the sky becoming overcast, but rather as if something is blotting out the sun. I stare up into the sky in shock end see hundreds of dragons flying above the city. I can only see so many of them clearly from standing where I am standing and yet it is clear that they cover the sky above the city in every direction.”

“Several dragons I can see clearly enough to make out details. One with green and dark green scales has somehow grown a beard on his chin, along with strange finlike objects scattered all over his body. Flying alongside him is a very strange-looking dragon, who seems almost entirely made of rock, like one of Jura’s creations. Large, jagged stones stick out from its sides, back and neck visible from where I am standing, while his stomach looked to be covered with scales which resembles pebbles.”

From there, Hisui went on to describe two more dragons, then as the dragons began to descend, Hisui’s description shifted to describe the screaming, the shrieks of fearful citizens as the dragons descend. “They bellow in laughter as they stoop upon Crocus, picking out areas for each of them to attack so they do not get in the way of one another.”

By this point, her listeners had all frozen as they took in the details of the vision that the princess was describing. Carla began to hyperventilate, the vision that the princess was describing matching how she still occasionally got her own clairvoyant visions of the future. Wendy was simply frowning, her eyes narrowed as she listened to the description, both hoping to hear of Grandeenay and not…

Seilah on the other hand was staring at Hisui with a scowl, tapping her fingers on the table in thought.

The princess didn’t notice any of this, seeming caught in a fugue state, unable to see the people in front of her as she continued to relate her vision. “From there the vision becomes even clearer, as if my adrenaline from the horror I am seeing is fueling it. I see a building to one side explode as a fireball strikes it. I see a dragon made of fire landing in among the crowd of people, incinerating them by his very presence, laughing as they go up like so much kindling. I see a diamond-coated dragon landing on top of a building crushing it under it’s weight before reaching out with its long forearms to a group of city watch, cackling in laughter as their weapons bounce off him.”

“There are mages in the city. They attempt to fight the dragons off, their attacks soaring above Crocus’s skyline, the mages themselves out of sight to me. But their attacks do nothing. One of them close by retreats from another dragon in our direction, appearing on the street myself and my companions are on. We have already begun to retreat to the castle. Arcadios is guiding me, a hand on my shoulder, while Minerva uses her Territory based magic, keeping us all together, blocking or redirecting any attacks coming our way. Her face is twisted in a mix of fear and excitement, but she has somehow already taken a wound from some stone shrapnel on her forearm. I try to order her to help the retreating mage, a red-haired woman using some kind of doll control magic, but too late. The dragon chasing her smashes through her defenses with ease, biting her in half.”

Wendy looked around at the others, but none of the others seemed to know who that was. The description seemed familiar to her, but she couldn’t figure out from where. Certainly it was no Fairy Tail mage, something that made Wendy quite happy. Then she too fell back into the tail from Hisui, trapped within the horror she was describing just like Carla was.

“I see two ice mages trying to fight another Dragon in a side alley. Their magic creates thousands of weapons and living beasts to fly at the dragons nearby, or animals to attack them. None matter, and the pair again try to run, only for one of them to be crushed underneath a dragon’s paw. I cannot see it’s features in the spreading tumult and smoke from a nearby fire, but soon the second ice mage joins his companion. He is smashed into a building, which comes down around him. I cannot tell if he is dead or not.”

We have reached the entrance to the palace by this point, but it is not defense. Large segments of the palace have been smashed down, and segments of the outer wall leading up to the palace have sloughed off. I watch through the haze of the fires rising above the city another dragon settling directly atop the castle. Arcadios sees it too, and tugs me aside. I am screaming something, I feel the tears down my face, but no words come out. Another dragon lands in front of our new course through the madness. Minerva charges forward, using Territory to lash out at it with explosive and cutting attacks. Territory Drain reaches out for the monster, purple and black scaled. The dragon doesn’t even notice, it’s resistance too high, and I watch as…”

“Enough,” Minerva shouted, shaking Hisui, and pulling her out of her trance. She stops speaking, staring at nothing, tears going down her face as Minerva pulls her into a sideways hug, letting the younger girl’s head rest against her chest for a moment. “Enough, Hisui. They get it. Stop torturing yourself.”

For a moment, as the princess finished speaking, Carla and Wendy stared at her in shock and no small amount of horror. However, Seilah was simply looking at her, her head now cocked to one side thoughtfully. She was not at all bothered by the tale of horror, nor the look in the princess’s face nor that of Minerva as she looked at her charge.

Rather, Seilah was examining the young woman closely. And when she spoke, it was an almost analytical tone. “Do you have any idea where this false image might be coming from?”

“It is a true prophecy!” The princess barked back, glaring over the table at the far taller demon girl. “I said I knew the signs to watch out for such visions. This image is the strongest and most powerful I have ever seen!”

“It is also fake.” Seilah announced simply. “This ‘vision’ of yours fails at the first test, the nature of your enemy within.”

“How dare you?!” Her weariness and heartbreaking misery forgotten, the princess surged to her feet, glaring angrily at Seilah. A part of her mind became somewhat annoyed that even while the demon girl remained seated she was still taller than Hisui, but the vast majority of her mind was now enflamed by raw rage. “I had thought to tell you of my second image, the image that told me the first one was not set in stone, but your words tell me you are not worthy of knowing of my hope! You are here on sufferance Demoness, and only as the companion of young Wendy, do not speak of things you cannot understand! When Wendy examines my brain as my father has demanded, she will find there is no damage or sign of…”

“There are no dragons left in Ishgar,” Seilah said cutting through the princess’s angry tirade, her voice cold and clinical while Wendy pouted, wondering now if it had been Toma or Hisui who had wanted to bring her in. She shrugged her shoulders after a second. “Before running into the Acnologia, I would’ve said there are no dragons left in this world, but since then, I have wondered what kind of threats Ranma and the others will be facing as they explore the continent. But even considering the fact that we do not know how large the continent is, there is no way it could ever be the home of a hundred dragons or more.”

“You’re making light of both the vision that I have been given, and the threat now!?” The princess was now incredulous rather than angry, Seilah’s cool response simply soaking in her anger and leaving her drained once more.

“I am using logic, child,” Seilah stressed the term. “The only way such a threat could exist is if you somehow reached into the past to bring the dragons forward. Or, to further speak of Ranma and his current journey, find such dragons in the Blasted Lands and bring them here somehow.” She snorted. “Dragons are quite territorial and tend not to get along. Finding and bringing together hundreds? That would be nearly impossible. So why would the dragons come here?”

“…” The princess paused, then slowly nodded. “While I do not know from where they came, I can show you why they would be coming here.” With that, the princess turned and strode towards the entrance into the castle.

“You could have been gentler about that, Seilah! I thought I had left behind such lack of manners when Ranma left us,” Carla huffed, getting to her own feet. She had come out of her terror-filled trance while Seilah had been responding, and now was wondering some of the same things Seilah was, but also was very concerned that Ranma might in some way bring the dragons down on Ishgar. Please, gods, if you’re listening, don’t let him do something that ridiculously stupid. I know, in my heart of hearts he would not do anything like that consciously, but I also know Ranma sometimes doesn’t think his actions through…

With a shrug, Seilah stood up, moving adroitly around the table and taking the kick to the shin Carla almost automatically launched in her direction. Although Seilah was not as physically tough as Ranma, the kick of the Exceed did not matter at all. “I always find it is best to be straight to the point.”

Minerva scowled. “You know, if not for the fact Wendy wanted you here, I would be trying to see if you can ignore my Territory magic like those dragons in her vision. I wonder what you’d look like in pieces!”

“Try it child,” Seilah snorted. “My Macro will overwhelm you with ease.”

“Enough you two, we have a running princess to catch up to,” Carla ordered.

Wendy had already raced after the princess, grabbing her hand and holding her in place before she could enter the castle. “Wait your Majesty, let me examine you first.”

The princess hesitated for a moment, then nodded, seeming to sag in place. The frenetic energy she had failed her, and Wendy had to catch her as the other short girl seemed to nearly collapse. Wendy did so with aplomb, muttering, “Well at least you’re the right size for me to try and drag you around. Stupid adults being too darn tall…”

Hisui let loose a weak chuckle at that, and soon found herself semi-carried over to a nearby stone seat set around a tiny pond. “I don’t think you’ll find anything wrong beyond my general malaise, Wendy, but go ahead. And please, call me Hisui.”

Wendy raised her hands up to the princess’s head, placing them on either side of her head as she breathed in, sending her Air Dragon Slayer Healing Magic into the girl not as a wide river, but rather a pulse. It was the kind of magic that she would use to determine the nature of someone’s internal injury when she had nothing else to go on.

By the time she was done Carla and Seilah had finished arguing they had reached where Wendy Wood was working, and they and Minerva who was somewhat glaring at Seilah, waited until the little girl spoke. “I can’t find any damage in her brain, her short-term memory is a bit inflamed, like it has been getting a lot of use may be, but that is about all I could tell,” she reported. “I can heal that easily.”

With that and a bit of pep in her step, Wendy hopped back and raised her hands to either side glowing momentarily with light blue and white light. “Sky Dragon’s Healing Wind!” While many of her healing spells didn’t really need verbal component, Wendy liked to use them anyway, and this one was going to heal Hisui’s brain, so she thought it was a good time to do so.

As the lightly glowing blue air enveloped Hisui’s head, the impact was immediate. While her magic couldn’t really restore vitality in the long term, in the short term even healing someone of a light wound allowed Wendy’s magic to rejuvenate the patient to a certain degree. Hisui sat up straighter, her shoulders back, her eyes wide and now very present whereas before they had seemed almost shadowed with exhaustion. Her tears, which she had been keeping back with some difficulty, were gone now and she sighed in relief as a stinging headache at the back of her head she had barely even noticed disappeared.

“Oh my, that feels so nice, Wendy. If I knew you could do something like that, I would have called for you sooner,” she nearly moaned.

This caused Wendy to blush for several reasons as she retreated from the princess, who had a look like she was about to tackle hug Wendy. Huh, do I look like that when I tackle Ranma-nii? “Er, well, I’m glad it helped.”

Hisui seemed to shake herself like a dog for a moment before standing up quickly, shaking her head. “So you believe that my vision is true as well?”

“I didn’t say that. I just said there was nothing wrong with your mind beyond the damage to your short term memory,” Wendy shook her head. “That was a spell to heal you, your… er… Hisui. I would need to use another spell to break any kind of control or influencing magic on you.”

“You can do that!?” Hisui gasped.

“Yes. Um… it’s a new spell though, and for some reason it has some strange side effects I haven’t figured out how to stop.”

Minerva placed a hand on Hisui’s shoulder, asking quickly. “What kind of side effects.”

“Erm, the glowing from the spell could remain for a few hours, and um, when I was trying to use it on a animal that Seilah was controlling it seemed to kind of sag and just go to sleep for a few hours,” Wendy announced, blushing.

“The time before that, the spell seemed to take Carla’s ability to smell and taste anything for a few hours,” Seilah supplied with a snicker.

“UGH! Seilah!” Wendy whined, pushing at her older friend’s side with annoyance.

Smiling slightly at this byplay, Hisui insisted that Wendy try it anyway. “So long as Minerva is here to catch me when I fall, I feel that some dreamless sleep would be amazing right now. So let us remove all doubt from all your minds that I am being influenced by someone else, hmm?”

Even in her now energetic state, Hisui still believed in the visions she had described to the trio of mages. Indeed, she was so certain of this that she had been in the process of showing them to another secret the royal family of Ishgar had kept since they had made their capital here in Crocus. Indeed, that secret was why they had chosen this spot for their capital, yet few indeed knew of it. But to gain the help of the young Dragon Slayer and her companions in trying to combat the future her dreams showed her, Hisui was more than willing to do so.

Minerva frowned a bit, but was stilled by a hand gesture from her princess. She then forced Hisui to sit down again. “This way’s much safer.”

Wendy nodded and then raised her arms once more, which began to glow, wind shifting around her forearms as she called upon one of her latest healing-type spells from training with Porlyusica. “Anomaly Resistance Enchant: Re-Raise!”

Once again, a light blue and intense white light flashed out from Wendy, covering Hisui from head to toe. And as it did, there was a loud hissing shriek, as if someone had just run a dagger down a blackboard. Minerva and Carla, sitting beside the princess and watching closely, saw her eyes suddenly be covered by shadow for a second. Then the shadow shifted, rising out of Hisui’s eyes in the form of a small, demonic-looking creature made of shadow, yet cast by no physical thing. The shadow creature seemed to hover in the air for a second before dissipating into smoke.

As it did, a still glowing Hisui fell against Minerva, almost knocking the stunned bodyguard to the ground as the princess’s eyes rolled up in her head and she fell into a deep, deep sleep.

Minerva quickly hefted Hisui off her, holding the younger girl in her arm in the princess carry, and staring at Carla, Wendy and Ranma in some shock. “This, that was… okay, this was not how I thought this would go…” She then smirked a bit. “And you were also telling the truth about her glowing, weren’t you?” Indeed, it was all Minerva could do to see the others, Hisui was glowing so brightly at the moment.

While Wendy flushed a bit at that, looking down at the ground sheepishly, Seilah was staring at where the creature had stood, then around the grounds and towards the distant edge of the human-made butte that underpinned the palace. “Hmm…” she mused. “Shadow magic for certain, but of a kind I have never heard of before. Fascinating.”

“Wait a moment,” Carla intoned, gaining everyone’s attention. When they all looked at her, Carla said. “Didn’t King Toma say he too had begun tot see visions?” When Minerva winced, Carla scowled. “In that case child, I think by the time this day is done, you will have ironed out your issues with that spell. Repetition is still a fantastic teacher, after all.”

“Well… drat,” Wendy groaned, before the four mages and the unconscious princess headed to the doorway leading into the palace. There was still an ongoing mystery here to resolve, but at least they knew what to do now. Although I do wonder what Hisui was going to show us, and what it could possibly have to do with dragons.

Scene break

“OYYY!” Gildarts shouted, looking around the grounds of God Serena’s palatial homestead in confusion. “Damn it, where is that arrogant dick? I know I saw him flying out here this morning. Did he leave for some reason? Hah, the oh so might God Serena going on a mission without being begged to by the Magic Council or the Kings? That’ll be the day. Damn it, and I wanted to head back to the guild for a visit, too.”

Shaking his head, Gildarts turned and headed back to the mansion some dozen miles away. There he found one of God Serena’s sexy maids, holding out a message to him. “Er, Master Gildarts, we found this in the Master’s rooms.”

“Rooms, plural. Fucker made me sleep outside and he has… nevermind. Thanks lass,” Gildarts smiled at the girl, then opened the letter.

Gildarts. I’m strong enough now to do what you and your guild couldn’t. I’ll be back in a few weeks, and you can pay up that bet we made, old man.

Your superior in every way imaginable,

God Serena.

Staring at the message, Gildarts groaned, turning to slump into a nearby lawn chair. “I’ve got a bad, bad feeling about this. Arrogant fool…”

Scene break

At the same time that Wendy had been thinking about him, Ranma had been thinking about his little sister, staring out to the east from the edge of the open viewing port they had created by raising the giant robot’s visor. His hair blew in the wind, and Ranma made a note that it felt like there would be a storm sometime soon.

“Beloved, is there any sign of Natsu, Happy and Jenny’s return yet? It is getting quite cold out, you know,” Juvia asked from behind him, her tone turning teasing as she knew that Ranma barely felt the cold.

Ranma turned, and smiled as he saw Juvia several steps behind him. Gajeel also wasn’t there, dealing with a call of nature… something Ranma still smacked himself upside the head for not thinking of when they first moved into the giant robot. Thankfully the observation room had it’s own, rather sumptuous, bathroom, and Ranma had been able to get it’s plumbing to work after days of hard work… during which they’d all been forced to head outside the robot to do their business. Or, in the boys’ case, piss out the open viewing port. Something they had been very careful to never let the girls see them doing. None of the Dragon Slayers were under any illusions that they would survive the amount of feminine fury that sight would evoke.

Shaking that thought off, Ranma took in the sight of his blue-haired girlfriend. All of them had grown up in various ways since arriving in the Blasted Lands, and their clothing had gone through a lot of changes to boot.

For his part, Ranma had gained another inch in height, much to his delight, and his hair now fell down to the bottom of his shoulders, although it was still normally tied up in a ponytail. His shoulders were also noticeably broader, and for the first time in his life, he had to actually shave. Not a lot, he was of Japanese descent after all, but he did actually have some places to shave, specifically under his armpits, and… elsewhere, not particularly his face. There had been complaints. Beyond that thought, thanks to his ki, Ranma hadn’t really aged at all.

In terms of his clothing, the repeated conflicts with the slug monsters and the bipedal dragons from the north, to say nothing of the hand raptors as they called the barrel-bellied predators, had wrecked his clothing much like it had damaged the others. Instead of his normal silk pants, Ranma now wore leather pants, made from the hide of one of the hand raptors. His silk shirts were mostly in storage having lost three of his ten shirts. They had been replaced with leather jerkins without sleeves, leaving his arms bare up to the shoulders.

But if Ranma hadn’t really aged at all, the year and some change that they been in the Blasted Lands, that was not true for the others. They hadn’t aged much obviously, but a year did cause some changes in most people.

Juvia’s clothing hadn’t suffered nearly as much as Ranma’s, although their first winter in the Blasted Lands had not been pleasant. Snow that looked multicolored might well be fascinating to look at, but the weather had been horrible, especially for the water user, who felt the cold more than the others. She still wore the same clothing as before although she also had a fur stole around her shoulders even now as summer began. Juvia’s hair had grown far longer, coming down to the small of her back now, when it was loose anyway. Most of the time she wore it up in a series of small buns. Juvia’s hips had grown far thicker and firmer, her waist a bit thinner, her body stronger overall to the point she could give Erza a run for her money in physical strength.

Before this trip, Erza had been the only woman among the couple who had a definite sixpack and real muscles. That was no longer the case. Both Jenny and Juvia had put on muscles, and trimmed away fat… although Ranma had noticed there were certain portions of their bodies that delightfully resisted this overall trend.

Juvia smiled tenderly at the look in Ranma’s face, and moved forward quickly, hugging him around the middle and leaning up to kiss him. They didn’t deepen it, instead staring out together in the distance to the west. Jenny and the Exceed/afterburner pair had headed out in that direction to see what was beyond the territory claimed by the hand raptors. Jenny had once flown high up above the area there and seen something shimmering in the distance, like scattered glass or something similar. And as their training had gotten to the point where the hand raptors were no threat, pushing further in that direction had sounded interesting.

Shaking his head, Ranma glanced to the back of their living area, staring through the walls there and out the back of the robot’s head toward the north. I wanted to press that way, but since the girls are still having trouble in long battles against the Draconids the group voted against my idea, drat it.

Draconid was the name they had given the bipedal dragon creatures. Despite the intelligence shown by the slug monsters, they were easily the toughest monster the group had fought since entering the Blasted Lands. Not nearly as numerous as the orcs or even the trees which grew the plant monsters, the bipedal dragons were both tougher physically and in terms of magical resistance. They weren’t smart, but they could be cunning, and large or small (or, as Ranma and the others felt, young or old) they worked well together. Thankfully they didn’t seem to be willing to expand their territory.

And that is why I want to see if there’s anything beyond them to the north. There has to be some reason the Draconids stay there. Maybe they aren’t as natural as we think they are? Maybe they are protecting something?

“Stop thinking about it, Ranma. We will go north eventually, but first, Jenny’s minor mystery makes for a much better short term target than needing to battle through hundreds of Draconids,” Juvia ordered, shaking her head where it rested against her lover’s chest. “Mysteries can be both fascinating and useful. Just look at Gajeel.”

Gajeel took that moment to join them and snorted at hearing Juvia’s words. “Hey, don’t put this on me, I agreed with Ranma.”

Natsu and Gajeel had also grown. In many ways, they had grown more than either the women or Ranma, although Happy… still looked much the same for some reason.

Gajeel’s hair was cropped short now, something he had done because, in his words, “My hair’s more trouble than it’s worth.” Despite the attempts to cut his hair resulting in all out brawls between the boys, Ranma had to admit it looked good on him. Gajeel also had a few more piercings on him than before. He also wore a metal chain at his waist and rings on his fingers made of different metals, signifying his mastery of each.

Rolling his eyes as the two friends started to banter, Ranma let his arms fall a bit from where he had been holding Juvia around the middle, his hands coming to rest on her hips. He enjoyed the feel of her muscles moving under shirt as she waggled her finger at Gajeel, but tuned out their words, staring out over the horizon. I… I think another half a year, maybe eight months… then we will be strong enough to challenge Acnologia together. We’ve come a long way both in terms of skill and power… A whole long way. Natsu and Gajeel have grown in leaps and bounds, and the rest of us haven’t exactly been taking it easy.

He smirked a little, looking south were a series of miles-long craters could be seen, the sign of several of their experiments. Each crater had tiny – from this distance – stick figures set in them, marking out which crater belonged to who. Ranma’s wasn’t the widest, but it was by far the deepest, and the combined Ranma/Juvia crater had turned into a deep lake nearby.

Shaking his head, Ranma turned east again as he saw something flying towards them. Pulling out a primitive spyglass he and Jenny had made a month before, he raised it to his eyes and stared through the murky glass towards the flying dot. “I see Jenny… and behind her Natsu and Happy. They’ll be back soon.”

“Juvia will put the final touches on dinner then,” Juvia decided, leaving Ranma’s arms with some reluctance, while Gajeel moved to look out the open view port too.

Twenty minutes later, the flyers returned, with Jenny landing next to Ranma and cancelling her Take Over technique before giving him a quick kiss. “Thanks for keeping the window open lover, but you’d best close it now. The rain’s coming and it’s gonna be a doozy.”

Similar to Juvia, Jenny had gained a few scars, all of which were on her hands and forearms in the months they’d been here. Fighting the bipedal dragons from the North was no joke. Even for the Dragon Slayers, the large packs of Draconids always gave as good as they got. Her hair was also much longer than it had been before the Blasted Lands, but was far more unkempt. The group had run out of shampoo months back, and Ranma hadn’t been able to make a substitute. Where before Jenny’s hair had been easily managed, now her hair looked like a wild lion’s mane on top of her head. And while her clothing had suffered worse than anyone else’s, Jenny looked perfectly fine at the moment in a pair of leather trousers made of the same material as Ranma and the others clothing, and a jerkin that barely covered her chest, which had gone up a size in the past year for some reason.

Natsu grinned wildly, smacking his hand against Ranma’s shoulder before moving to help pull the observation window back down, blocking out the incoming storm. Of all of them, Natsu had grown the most in terms of height, going up nearly five inches to Ranma and Gajeel’s one, now being nearly tall enough to look Ranma in the eyes. His hair was still the same thanks to Happy’s repeated efforts (who knew the little guy doubled as Natsu’s personal hair stylist?) although like everyone else’s his clothing had changed. He now wore a shirt that resembled something Nab would have worn, a poncho complete with beads and tassels. He still wore his scarf, but had added headband for some reason recently.

“Guess what! We saw the thing Jenny spotted, and you will never guess what it was!” Natsu exclaimed, then, before anyone could guess, he went on eagerly. “It’s a city! A whole freaking city is out there. And something inside it is fighting the Draconids.”

Ranma’s eyes flew up into his hairline as he looked at the younger Dragon Slayer, then over to Jenny who nodded firmly. But it was Happy who spoke up. “Aye sir! Natsu’s right. We saw columns of the Draconids, way more than we’ve ever fought at one time, marching on the city like an invading army.”

+“What the hell is it with soldier-like creatures here, honestly,” Ranma muttered, before he and Natsu finished pulling down the quasi-crystalline window. Ranma and the others had pondered long and hard on what the heck it was made of, but couldn’t figure it out. It had the properties of crystal and plastic mixed, somehow.

Not that this mattered at the moment. What did, was the smell of dinner arriving as Juvia came out of the cooking tent – Ranma’s original – holding several large plates, and this city that Jenny and Natsu found. “Well, pull up a seat and tell us all about it. Because it certainly sounds like our next training target…”

End Chapter