//------------------------------// // Infinity Clock War Part 1 // Story: Spike the Fairy // by PonyJoel //------------------------------// It's 2:30 in Magnolia. Everyone that went searching for the Infinity Clock Pieces come back home to the guildhall. Macao and Wakaba tell Erza and Mirajane that Master Makarov was summoned by the Wizard Saints to discuss the Oración Seis. Macao asks what happen to Michelle. Spike explains that Michelle is an undercover agent of the Oración Seis. "You gotta be kidding me. Michelle is working for the Neo Oración Seis?" Wakaba asks. "Yea. I figured it out once I heard the Neo Oración Seis monologing a bit. Mentioning that they couldn't touch the Infinity Clock pieces," Spike answers. "How are you feeling, Lucy?" Macao asks. "Devastated that Michelle fooled me into thinking he's my sister, but relieved in a way. After all, I have a brother that I consider to be my family," Lucy refers to Spike. "Hey, don't forget the rest of us. We're your family too," Happy said. "Wouldn't dream of it," Lucy said. "So, how should we approach the Neo Oración Seis?" Wendy asks. "We can't take them out one-on-one. We need to divide into teams to take them out one by one," Carla suggests. "Question is, who should go with who? And who's better at taking down each of the members of the Neo Oración Seis?" Gray states. "No matter what happens, I want Michelle," Lucy said. "I will bring her down." "I suggest that we search high and low until we find them Neo Oración Seis and beat them up!" Natsu suggests. "Don't be stupid. We still need to come up with a solid plan of action before we can do anything," Gray responds to Natsu's idiotic suggestion. "Who you calling stupid?" Natsu gets in Gray's face. "All I'm saying is if we want to find them, we gotta get out there and look!" "I called you stupid flame-for-brain because only a complete idiot would go around with no strategy!" Natsu and Gray start fighting each other for a few moments. Erza then grabs their heads and smashes them into each other. "Now, behave!" Erza demands. "Yes, Ma'am," Gray and Natsu said in pain. "If only we have a few more key players to help us against the Neo Oración Seis. We got demolished by Racer, Cobra, and Reaper (Erigor)," Happy said. "Gildarts and Laki are still on their mission that Master Makarov sent them on. Warren will be contacting them to come back. We're going have to wait a bit longer for their return," Max Alors said. "In times like these. We need strength from every single person in this guild," Erza said. "Yo, what's going on?" Bickslow walks inside the guildhall with Evergreen and Freed. "The Thunder Legion has returned victorious." "Hey, Fairy Dragon," Evergreen waves at Spike. "Mind telling us what we've been missing?" Freed asks. Erza explains the whole situation to the Thunder Legion. Everything in full detail about the Infinity Clock, Michelle Lobster being a deceptive spy, and the return of the Neo Oración Seis. The Thunder Legion are appalled to hear the return of the Neo Oración Seis. "You gotta be kidding me? An Infinity Clock is counting down to the end of the world?" Bickslow couldn't believe what he's hearing. "Yes. The Neo Oración Seis wants to eradicate all life as we know it," Carla said. "Wow, how unfortunate timing. We could have despatched the Oración Seis without much of a fuss," Evergreen declares. "I wouldn't be cocky. The Neo Oración Seis took me down as well," Spike said. "Even you, Spike?" Freed remembers what Spike is capable of doing and is shocked to hear that he was defeated. "Together now, they're fearsome. They even took out Zentopia's Byro and Dan Straight," Spike explains. "Sounds like a ripoff of damn right," Bickslow said. "That's exactly what I said the other day," Happy said. "Here's something you guys should know. While gathering ingredients for our next meal during the job we were on, I noticed and overheard soldiers talking about the destruction of churches. Two suspects were fleeing the scene. A hooded man carrying a large scythe and his accomplice who possess incredible speed," Freed said. "Reaper and Racer. Reaper uses wind magic while Racer uses speed force magic," Spike said. "From what I've heard. The attack on churches has intensified tremendously in the past several days." "Hey, why haven't you told Evergreen and me about it?" Bickslow asks. "I told you over dinner that same night. I can only assume you were too enraptured by my cooking to pay any close attention." "Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh," Bickslow feels like an idiot now. "Why target churches? I don't see any clear motive for it?" Erza asks. "Perhaps it's an offering to the Infinity Clock?" Spike indicates. Jaws drop for everyone in the guildhall. They can't believe a sadistic offering is to enable the Infinity Clock's power into inevitable chaos. "Out of all the crazy ideas and theories discussed, that is by far the most disturbing and logical one for the reasoning behind the destruction of churches I ever heard," Carla said. "Okay, now I'm scared, you guys," Wendy said. "An offering," Erza shakes her head. "I would not have thought of that." "Fairy Dragon is smarter than he looks," Bickslow said. "Indeed. He's thinking outside the box as well as the inside," Freed said. Kinana comes downstairs and grabs a fork. Everyone is confused while Macao and Wakaba tell Kinana to rest. Kinana starts reciting a weird enchantment while carving different ancient anagrams. Her right eye features a snake's eye. After ten minutes, Kinana becomes weak. She recites pieces to the puzzle to open the gates of hell. "Does anyone know what the text reads?" Wendy asks. Levy walks up to the wall to read the text that Kinana wrote. "Hey, this is ancient Potamelian." "How strange. It appears to be a description of the name Will Neville," Freed said. "Are you serious?" Lucy asks. "He's the author of the Key of Starry Heaven," Erza said. "Alright, this is a rough translation, but it says: Will Neville was a great wizard who made contracts with many Celestial Spirits and was remarkably skilled in using them." "No way, he's a Celestial Spirit?" Spike said in shock. "Interesting. An author and a Celestial Wizard." "Sounds familiar," Happy give it some thought. "Hey, Natsu? Know anyone who is an author and a Celestial Wizard?" "Beats me," Natsu said. "Oh, c'mon! You guys know I'm writing a story!" Lucy retorts. "Shut it, I'm trying to decipher the text," Freed said. He continues where Levy left off. "In life, Will Neville had numerous followers. However, after he fell into his eternal slumber, his pupils scatter in all directions to places unknown." Lucy grabs a Biographical Dictionary to locate Will Neville's name. On page 815, it reveals that not only, Will Neville is a Celestial Wizard, he is also a Cardinal of Zentopia. "So, he's a bird?" Natsu asks. "Cardinal is a high ranking church official, Natsu," Erza corrects Natsu. "According to this, Will Neville was a dedicated and prominent member of the church. He was also the most extensive researcher on Zentopia's history until he suddenly left the church and went missing for a very long time." "Does it explain why he left?" Evergreen asks. "No, it doesn't. Apparently, several years after he disappeared, he reemerged in the public eye as Will Neville, the author of children's literature. However, there is no mention of him being a Celestial Wizard here. Or that he had any kind of following." "Okay, this is freaking me out. How did Kinana know about Will Neville, which isn't documented in the encyclopedia?" Max Alors said. "How did she even learn about writing in that ancient language?" Happy asks. All eyes turn to Spike. "Uh, why are you looking at me?" "You're pretty good at putting pieces together. What do you think?" Natsu asks. "Right now, I'm confused. I don't know much about Kinana or her history. Maybe she's the daughter of Neville?" "Doubt it," Lucy said. "Look, I don't know," Spike said. "Fairy Rage, what's your intake?" Erza asks. "The magic within Kinana is tethered but, I have no idea who or what it's tethered to. Like Spike, I'm just as confused as the rest of you." "Thanks for answering," Erza said. "If we can somehow figure out where the Neo Oración Seis is going to strike next, we can be waiting there to ambush them." "Leave that to me," Cana yawns and grabs her deck of cards with images of her friends on them. She walks up to a map of Fiore. "Man, I'm sleepy," Cana chugs a cup of beer to wake her up. "Let's do this!" Cana concentrates on her magic power throws the card on the map, depicting and predicting the locations and teams assembled. "So, that's all it takes, huh?" Bickslow said. "You bet. Then we send those teams to those locations. We can stop the attack and save some lives." "Cool! Now tell us who's working with who and where we're going?" Natsu cheers. "Without further ado, here is a two-man team composed of Gray and Freed," Macao announces. "How interesting. I often wonder how our magic style might complement each other," Freed said. "I gotta admit, I wonder that myself," Gray said. He's excited to team with Freed. "Next up, we got Erza, Evergreen, and Max Alors," Macao announces. "Darn, I was looking forward to teaming up with Spike again." Erza thought to herself. "Good luck keeping the peace between Erza and Evergreen," Wakaba said. "Spike, wanna switch places?" Max Alors asks. "No way! You ain't taking Spike from my team!" Natsu said. "He could end up on my team, Natsu. We are destined to be together forever," Wendy said. "Wait, Erza and Evergreen are rivals in this manner?" Spike asks. "This is fabulous. Now we can settle the matter once and for all. We'll see who is worthy of the Queen of the Fairies title." "The goal of our mission is to track down the Neo Oración Seis, but I'll gladly take you on any time after that," Erza said. Erza and Evergreen glare at each other, wanting to settle the score now. The two want to throw down while shoving each other a little. "Good luck, maestro," Wakaba pat on Max Alors back, wishing him good luck. Max Alors sighs heavily. Spike walks up to Erza and Evergreen. He elbows both in the gut and slams their heads together. Everyone's jaw drops when they witness Spike delivering a blow like that. Natsu screams when he saw Spike doing that to Erza. "Behave, you two. You're supposed to work together. Not get in each other's mood. Unless you want the Neo Oración Seis to walk on over you," Spike ends their little bickering and beef. "No, Sir. We'll behave," Erza and Evergreen said in unison. Everyone in the room is dead silent, shocked beyond belief by what Spike pulled. "I can't believe he did that to Erza..," Natsu is speechless. "I never thought I see the day," Gray said. "That's new," Happy said. "What? Sis does that to Natsu and Gray a lot to stop them from bickering and disputing." Evergreen and Erza get up. They made a truce to withhold their grudges to focus on the task at hand. Erza is impressed that Spike pulled what others could not. She hopes it's a one-time affair. "Okay, going back to reveal the teams," Macao looks at the cards. "The next team is Gajeel, Juvia, and Spike the Fairy." Gajeel chuckles. "Fairy Dragon and I are going to kill it!" "Should be fun teaming up with my brother," Spike said. "No! Why must life be so cruel?! I wanted to team up with my beloved, Gray!" "Aww, I wanted to team with Spike," Natsu, Lucy, and Wendy said. "Next team. Bickslow and Wendy," Macao announces. "Alright, little lady. This is going to be a real blast. I'm excited!" "Yea, I'm looking forward to working with you," Wendy said. "I wish Spike was coming with me." "I wish it was Wendy instead of Juvia." Spike thought to himself. "We'll be a great team, Bickslow," Wendy encouragingly says. "Sweet! And don't forget that my babies are going to be on the team with us!" Bickslow said. "Go team." Bickslow's Tikis chant. "Alright, this team got Happy, Carla, and Panther Lily," Macao announces. "Aye. The Exceed Squad is back together," Happy said. "Well, aside from Lily, I don't think we'll fare well against a powerful enemy," Carla said. "For the last team, it'll be Natsu, Lucy, Elfman, and Romeo. Wait! Romeo is teaming with them to fight against a member of the Neo Oración Seis?!" Macao turns to Cana. "My predictions are never mistaken. My fortune-telling is always spot-on. It is, what it is, Macao." Romeo gulps a little. Natsu put his hand on Romeo's head. "Don't worry, Romeo. We got this in the bag. Right, Lucy?" Natsu turns to Lucy. "You bet," Lucy throws the thumbs up. "Also, you have a real man beside you, Romeo. We'll take down whoever comes in our way!" Juvia pleads with Gray to switch partners. Cana tells Juvia that her magic proceeds to pinpoint the best pairing for the mission. Gray sighs in relief. Juvia sighs in defeat. "C'mon, Juvia. It's not that bad. You get to team up with Fairy Dragon for the first time," Gajeel said. "I guess your right, Gajeel," Juvia said. "I bet if he drinks your water magic, it gets added into Fairy Dragon's arsenal," Gajeel said. "We will complement each other in battle. Plus, if you need water and there isn't around, I can produce oceanic water for you." "How?" Juvia is a bit perplexed by that statement. "Remember the trip to Tenrou Island on how I cooled everyone on the ship?" "Yea, cause that day was a scorcher," Juvia answers. Spike blows his fire to sprinkle oceanic water on top of Juvia. Everyone around is wondering how Spike is doing that. "Uh, how?" Gajeel asks. "Turns out that my Sparkling Green Flare Marking is in place and doesn't dissolve. So locations that are far, I can travel to at ease even if I marked it seven years ago." "That's impressive. Well, can we get going now?" Gajeel asks. "Yea, let's go," Spike said. Everyone that is with their respecting teams leaves the guildhall. Spike follows Gajeel and Juvia to their location to ambush any member of the Neo Oración Seis that awaits. Three hours later, Gajeel, Juvia, and Spike are walking up a gorge. Juvia pouts the entirety of the walk, wishing that she and Gray would team up. "Juvia, you'll be with Gray soon. For now, let's enjoy the opportunity we do have," Spike said, hoping to cheer Juvia up. "It's not fair. I wanted to team with my beloved," Juvia said. "And I was hoping to pair with Wendy when Cana threw the cards. Apparently, her magic predicts that we're the best pairing for the task at hand." "Fairy Dragon can literally keep you hydrated and feed me iron. He's the perfect teammate on this mission," Gajeel said. "If he's here with us, that means we have a tougher opponent ahead of us." "I guess you're right," Juvia said in defeat. Gajeel, Juvia, and Spike enter the forest region next to the gorge and walk on a trail leading to one of the churches. It's now 6:00 in the afternoon when the trio sees a church in flames. "It looks like we were too late on this one," Gajeel said. "We failed our mission..?" Juvia sadly said. "This sucks. What are we supposed to do now?" Spike asks. Mary Hughes comes out of the flames. She's confused as to why she and her team are tasked to burn churches. She's distraught and pale. Spike, Gajeel, and Juvia decide to investigate when a tall green cube-like creature walks through the flames. "What the hell is that thing?!" Spike has never seen a creature like that before. "That is one freaky dude," Gajeel said. "Looks disturbing," Juvia said. "We were given this mission by his eminent. We're not supposed to question him. Don't you know that?" The creature feels ashamed but has to do what the Archbishop commands. He knocks Mary Hughes to the ground and stomps on her for her disobedience. "He's telepathic?" Gajeel asks. "Those two are not Oracíon Seis," Juvia said. "They're with the Legion Platoon." "Why is he stomping on Mary Hughes then?" Spike asks. "I spy some filthy guild wizards," The creature looks turns to Spike, Gajeel, and Juvia. "You work for Zentopia, don't you?" Gajeel asks the creature. "Is this infighting?" Juvia asks. "It's awful. Those priests.., how could you?" Mary Hughes turns to Guttman Kubrick. Guttman Kubrick has green skin and small aqua-colored boxes covering most of his body. He has a big cube-like head with two antennas above it; he has a long pillar-like neck and a pair of dark orange squared hands and feet. He's a little chubby with his short round body while wearing a coat and red shorts. "His eminence speaks the word of the Archbishop. His words are sacred. Their Holy Law! He says we go bust up a church; we go bust it up!" Guttman Kubrick says. "Don't forget that we are rewarded whenever we follow his word, and we're punished whenever we don't," Guttman Kubrick kicks Mary Hughes toward Gajeel, Juvia, and Spike. "This guy is demented," Spike said. "And insane," Gajeel added. "You dirty sinner, I'll make you go boom!" Guttman Kubrick says. He uses his magic, causing Mary Hughes to explode and feel all sorts of pain. "Whoa! What was that?!" Gajeel and Juvia jump back from the attack. "I got you," Spike flies and catches Mary Hughes. "You're.., you're helping me?" Mary Hughes is confused with Spike's effort in catching her. "I thought you were the bad guys, but that wasn't the case. My guild and I got it all wrong, and we were suckered into doing the Neo Oracíon Seis bidding. Now, we want to fix this," Spike places Mary Hughes near a tree and away from the cubic creature. "Attacking your own will be your downfall!" Gajeel uses his Iron Dragon Club to attack Guttman Kubrick. "I can tell you three have a lot of magic power inside. You're going to be so much fun to play with," Guttman uses his magic, causing Spike, Gajeel, and Juvia to explode. They scream in agony as they have never felt any pain such as that before. "Careful! He's using rupture magic," Mary Hughes warns. "That could have been useful information five minutes ago!" Gajeel retorts. "Pretty lights," Guttman claps. "Hello, bitch." Guttman gasps. "Who said that?" Guttman Kubrick looks around. "There's another wizard here?" Mary Hughes looks around. "I am Fairy Rage. I have to say. Your telepathy is impressive but not good enough." "What!? Where are you?!" Guttman is ready to fight. "You've entered Fairy Dragon's mind with your telepathy. Now, I'm in your head." "WHAT?!" Guttman Kubrick panics. "Thanks for opening the doors for me!" Fairy Rage forces Guttman Kubrick to use rupture magic on himself. He explodes and screams in agony. Gajeel and Juvia turn to Spike. He's remaining still while Fairy Rage continues to force Guttman to self rupture himself. "I see what Fairy Dragon is doing," Gajeel chuckles. "Leave us to finish what he started," Juvia said. Mary Hughes is astonished to see Fairy Dragon use that ability of his to an extreme effect. Fairy Rage is forcing Guttman Kubrick to weaken himself. Gajeel and Juvia laid waste to Guttman Kubrick as he's rendered helpless to stop any attack from Gajeel and Juvia. "Stop this! Let me go!" Guttman Kubrick pleads in agony. "No can do, bitch. You're going down!" Fairy Rage forces Guttman to rupture himself again. "Aaaaaaaaaaaah! Please stop." "Gajeel, Juvia. Finish this demon. He has no more magic power left." Fairy Rage leaves the mind of Guttman Kubrick and returns into Spike's vessel. He opens his eyes, revealing orange pupils. "Thanks, Fairy Rage! Iron Dragon Rooooooooooooaaaaaar!" Gajeel unleashes his iron breath attack. "Water Nebula!" Juvia creates two columns of water, which rotate around each other and forms a helix that pushes Guttman Kubrick with great force. "Noooooooooooooooo!" Guttman Kubrick takes a big blow from the combined attack and falls face-first to the ground. "Defeated? Me..? His eminence will claim my soul for failure..." "Glad he was taken care of." Fairy Rage walks up to Gajeel and Juvia. "Say, what happened to Spike?" Juvia asks. "The rupture spell hit him good and actually knocked him out. I took over, and due to the demon's telepathy, I took control of his body and forced him to inflict pain on himself." "That's scary," Gajeel said. "I protect Spike's mind. Anything that comes in, I can enter the attacker's mind at ease. If they weren't using telepathy magic, it would be different." "How so?" Juvia asks. "There wouldn't be a door for me to enter. Telepathy is an open door for me to enter into the telepathic mind who's trespassing." "Interesting. There's more to you than meets the eye," Gajeel said. "Spike is waking up. My time is up." Fairy Rage allows Spike to regain control. His eyes turn from orange back to green. Spike blinks a few times. "Did we win?" "Yes. Fairy Rage took over and helped us defeat a demon of Zentopia," Juvia answers. "Guttman Kubrick used a rupture spell on you and knocked you out. Since we have a ton of magic energy, it hurt you even more than Gajeel and Juvia. I took over and render him useless. And, I took possession of Guttman Kubrick. Turns out it's a perk of my abilities. Pretty cool, huh?" "Definitely. Thanks for stepping in." "My pleasure. What do you have in mind with Mary Hughes over there?" "I have an idea." Spike walks up to Mary Hughes. "Are you okay?" "I'll live," She sits up. "I can't believe that second voice in you took out Guttman Kubrick. He's wicked powerful." "That's Fairy Rage. He protects me from anything that affects my mind and memory," Spike extends his claw. "We're not enemies here. I want to say there is a scapegoat in Zentopia that is working for the Neo Oracíon Seis." "How.., how can you be certain?" Mary Hughes takes Spike's claw. He helps her up. "When Fairy Dragon puts the pieces together, he can solve anything. He figured out that Michelle Lobster is a deceptive operative working for the Neo Oracíon Seis," Gajeel explains. Mary Hughes sighs deeply. "That explains why the Archbishop is demanding of us to kill the priests and burn the churches. It's not him. It couldn't be him. Someone from within is using his authority." "Come with us. United, we stand a chance against the Neo Oracíon Seis," Spike said, looking at Mary Hughes. "I'm.., I'm not sure," Mary Hughes is thinking about the offer. Loud bell chimes far and wide throughout Fiore. Mary Hughes looks up and fears the worse is yet to come. "What the hell is that?!" Spike looks up. "It's ginormous," Gajeel said. "That's the Infinity Clock," Mary Hughes says. "How is that possible?" Juvia asks. "Why does it look like a fish?" "You won't find this in Zentopia's Doctrine in your history books. This is where good and evil come together. When the beginning meets the end. We did exactly what Cardinal told us to do. And the Archbishop told him! I don't know what they want to do with this. But honestly, it's not like I need to know." "The Cardinal," The answer comes to Spike. "The Cardinal is working with the Neo Oracíon Seis! How else would he deliberately tell you to kill the priests and burn the churches? The Cardinal is using the Archbishop's name as the authority." Mary Hughes gasps. It makes sense to her now. As for Guttman Kubrick, he still believes that this is what Zentopia wants to achieve with the Infinity Clock. Then Zentopian shape anchors start attaching themselves all around the area. "We should regroup at the guildhall," Spike said. "Agreed. Yo, lady. Are you coming or what?" Gajeel asks. "I uh..," Mary is still unsure. "Fine, mope around if you want. We're going back to regroup and bring the fight to the Neo Oracíon Seis. "Let's go, Juvia and Fairy Dragon." "Okay! I'll go. Temporary truce until the Legion Platoon knows exactly what's going on." Spike uses his fire breath to teleport Gajeel, Juvia, Mary Hughes, and himself back to the guildhall.