Hello everyone and welcome to 9th instalment of Fairy Tail: Lucy's New Game. With me again is, Kaizokuoniiorewanaru, my co-write and friend.

Kaizoku: Hi.

Everything okay?

Kaizoku: It's just that the canon episode we're about to do is kinda dumb in my honest opinion.

True, but I consider it like a side quest in RPGs. Just to do it for the grinding.

Kaizoku: Yeah, but isn't this particular "side quest" kind of one of those that are just... ones that you don't really care about?

Eh, just do it for the loot. Besides, side quests can have important items for later. So, do we have someone for today?

We do, in fact. Lindsey Heartfilia.

Lindsey: *appears from a bolt of lightning* "Hello~"

You know you stole Laxus schtick right?

Lindsey: "... Who's Laxus?"

Someone you'll meet soon. Anyways, if you may?

Lindsey: "Right. This is a fan-based crossover. Kaizokuoniiorewanaru and Light-He-arth, or whatever name he's going by depending on the site he's putting these episodes on, do not own Fairy Tail, or any characters that appear as Champions. Only the characters exclusive to this fanmade series."

Thank you~

Kaizoku: All right. Let's begin.

Right, onto the story.

______________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 9: Side Mission! Natsu Devours a Town!

(Web Valley)

It had been two days sense the Lullaby incident, and the group wanted to head back, but Lucy said she wanted to explore with them in Web Valley. This was for a few reasons; One, she wanted to expand their maps, so they have it in case they have to come back here for a mission here again. Two, to fine rare items, ingredients, minerals and if there were dungeons to find. Three, to take a break from everything. And four-

There was revving in the background and then a jeep like vehicle, that had a gun on the back, jumped over a hill. The driver was Lucy, who was cheering in joy. "This thing is awesome~!" she yelled. She was riding with Gray next to her, Happy in the middle, yelling in fear, and Makarov holding onto the gun. Erza was driving Lucy's Steam Bike with Natsu holding tight.

"What's this thing called again!?" Makarov called from behind.

"It's called a Warthog," Lucy stated.

"Kinda looks like a puma to me..." Gray pointed out.

While driving, Lucy got an update from her Gamer powers.

After defeating Lullaby, your Mysterious Power has transformed into Summon Avatar: Skeith, the Terror of Death!

Summon Avatar: Skeith, the Terror of Death

Can only be used against giant monsters, AIDA monsters, or fellow Epitaph Users. Summon and control Skeith, the Terror of Death.

Skeith has evolved along with you! He can now shoot four shots instead of three! Skeith's melee attack can now fire out a Chakram of energy after slashing them away with the third slash!

"Hey Lucy, when can we eat!?" Natsu called out.

"As soon as we get there. I didn't pack up any food because I didn't think we needed any." Lucy answered before she sees something glowing in the distance. "Wait. what's that?"

"You see it too?" Natsu and Erza asked.

Happy then sees something, a giant smile on his face, and shouts, "STOP THE CAR!!!"

Lucy hit the brakes, nearly sent Makarov flying off the gun. "Whoa!" he shouted, holding on for dear life. Erza stopped right next to them.

"What's wrong Happy?" Lucy asked.

"What are you excited about?" Natsu asked.

Happy went over to the cliff and shouted, "Down there! Look, Natsu, Lucy, look!" The rest went over and saw what he was looking at, colorful flying fish that sounded like they were singing. "Those are Wing Fish," Happy explained, remembering a flier for these fish for 30,000 Jewels, "they're a legendary delicacy and they're super yummy from what I hear." He then chanted 'yum' multiple times.

"A legendary delicacy?" Gray asked.

"Huh, looks like we found some good ingrediencies after all," Lucy said. "And if I'm right, they might need a high [Cooking] level to make them good. A higher [Fishing] level as well."

"Wingfish, huh?" Erza hummed in interest.

"Sounds good to me." Natsu nodded. Makarov puts a hand on Happy's shoulder while his stomach growls.

"Well done, Happy. You make this old man very proud..." Makarov said through his overflowing tears.

"Guys, enough with the growling stomachs..." Lucy complained before her stomach growls too.

"You were saying?" Gray asked.

"Shut up." Lucy replied.

"Now! Time to fish." Happy declared, his very own fishing rod made and in his paws.

Just then a giant pop up appeared reading:

[Flying Fishing Minigame]

Would you like to play?

Y/N

Just then another pop up, this one a smaller one.

Congratulations!

You have found your first minigame.

Throught the world, there are things you can do to gain items through what's called minigames. They are games that you need to do in a specific way. You can also increase skills through these games as well. This is a timing and scoring game. The winner is the one to catch the most.

Also, these games make it easier to catch fish then it normally would.

Location of minigame has been placed in your [Map].

Everyone looked to one another. Lucy looked to Erza and asked, "Has this happened before for you?"

"No, this is a first for me as well," Erza replied.

"I think it might have been from my powers," Natsu stated. "Remember, I'm a new [Gamer] and all our powers updated after we fought Lullaby."

"Well that's convent," Gray stated dryly.

"Don't care," Happy shouted. "Let's fish!"

"Would you like to do the honor Natsu?" Lucy asked.

"Don't mind if I do~" Natsu said, pressing the Y. Just then a timer reading five minutes, and a zero over all their heads appeared, all of them at the edge, fishing rods at the ready.

Cue: Minigame Parasail (The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild)

https://youtu.be/6oJDc-Zwpd4

A minute passes, but not one of them got a single bite.

"Ah come on you stupid fish, shut up and let-" Natsu started, but was cut off when he felt a tug on his line. He pulled and got a good sized one, and Natsu got a one over his head. And with that, it really started kicking off. Each of them started catching fish rapidly, each of varying sizes.

"We're getting a feast!" Makarov shouted, pulling in another, his score going up another point.

After the five minutes were up, there was a ding, sounding the game was over and showed the results:

1st Place: Lucy Heartfillia 15 Wing Fish

2nd Place: Happy the Cat 14 Wing Fish

3rd Place: Natsu Dragneel and Gray Fullbuster 13 Wing Fish

5th Place: Erza Scarlet 10 Wing Fish

6th Place: Makarov Dreyar 9 Wing Fish

Lucy had a golden "1st" over her head. They even leveled up their [Fishing] skills or gained it if they didn't have it before. Gray and Natsu shouted in anger, "We tied!?" after they saw the score.

"Tch, whatever, let's cook these babies-" Natsu started, and was going to just use his fire, but Lucy stopped him by pulling his ear, making him yelp in pain.

"Not so fast, Hot Head," Lucy ordered him. "You can't just go using your fire on them all willy-nilly. You could make them uneatable like that if you do, if what Happy said is true about these fish." She gets in front of him and picks up one of the fish. She then used [Observer] on it to see the requirements.

Wing Fish

This is a rare fish that is hard to come by. They are worth a lot to cooks and the like. If done correctly, these fish are amazing, but done poorly, they taste horrible.

Level 20 in [Cooking] to make them taste good

Level 40 in [Cooking] to make any good dishes with it

Level 60 in [Cooking] to make masterful meals from them

"Well I have good news and I have bad news," Lucy said.

"What's the good news?" they asked.

"We can cook them and put them in our inventories to keep them fresh as we caught them, so they won't spoil," Lucy answered.

"And the bad news?" they asked, worried.

"You need a Level Twenty in [Cooking] to things even edible," she answered. "And before you ask, I just became Level Fifteen." The rest looks like they lost hope.

"There goes our meal..." Makarov said, crying anime tears.

"So close, but yet so far..." Natsu added, crying as well.

"Aye..." Happy agreed, also crying.

Lucy thought for a second and may have had an idea. It seemed crazy, but with the new [Minigame] feature, it might work. "I might have an idea."

[Outdoor Cooking Minigame]

Would you like to play?

Y/N

How this came about is that Lucy had made a makeshift spit, using Natsu's flames, a spear from Erza, and Gray forming the turning handle and holing spikes. They put the biggest fish they caught and put the others in their inventories for later. They wanted to save the rest in case.

"Lucy, you're a crazy lass," Makarov stated.

"Now for the challenge," Lucy said. She pressed the Y, and then the rules came up.

Keep the handle in the green area while turn.

The area will change speed to make sure the food is cooked properly.

If you're outside the green area for to long, you'll burn the food.

You have a minute to cook.

The game will start when you put your hands on the spit handle.

"Here goes," Lucy said, putting her hands on the Ice Make spit handle. Just then a countdown appeared.

3... 2... 1... GO!

Cue: Cooking Theme (Monster Hunter)

https://youtu.be/7v_fQKT7MyI

A whistle blew and the music started. A timer with one minute and circle appeared next to the handle, with a green area in it. Lucy then started turning when the green area was as well, the timer ticking off. She was able to keep up with the green area, when it went faster or slower. After the minute past, the buzzing sound rang, a golden "Perfect" appeared over Lucy. The Wing Fish was now off the spear and on a plate next to them, and it was glowing gold a bit. A pop up giving the name of the dish.

[Perfectly Spit Fire Grilled Wing Fish]

Just then Lucy got a few notifications.

[Cooking] has Leveled Up X6

LV 15 ---> LV 21

You have unlocked the title:

Aspiring Chef

This title is given to those who can cook a meal perfectly that is a few levels higher than them. This title lets you gain X5 EXP for the skill [Cooking] and brings the level of cooking ingredients down by 10.

"Lucy, have I told you how awesome and broken your powers are?" Gray asked, seeing the cooked fish and the tabs she got.

Lucy giggles.

"Okay, we can talk about Lucy's amazing powers later," Makarov stated. "Let's eat!"

They all sat around the [Perfectly Spit Fire Grilled Wing Fish] and eat. It was a great dish that was crispy on the outside, but light and juice on the inside. It was good, but not that filling.

"Oh man, if that was just basic, I can't wait to see what you can add to it for a meal," Natsu said happy. "Though I still feel hungry..."

"Hey, no more for now, we'll have to save them for later," Lucy told him. "I want to see what that glow was first."

They group goes and get in the vehicles and drives. They drove and it was a village that seemed to be glowing.

"A village?" Erza asked.

"A good thing I saved the fish then," Lucy stated.

"Then that means there must be...!" Happy trailed off, Natsu finishing the sentence for him.

"FOOOD!!!" Natsu screamed as he ran ahead. Gray then noticed something wrong.

"Wait. There's no one here..." Gray noticed.

"It does seem awfully quiet, doesn't it?" Lucy asked.

"Maybe they're taking an afternoon nap or something..." Natsu brought up. "Hey! Anybody here!?"

"We're starving like crazy out here!" Happy shouted. He then ordered, "somebody cook us some dinner!"

"Wow Happy... Ever hear the word please..." Lucy deadpanned. "And we just eat..."

"You really think the whole town's taking a nap?" Gray asked.

"Well it's ether that or they all got drunk and passed out," Makarov said.

"That only happens at the guild..." Lucy said dryly.

"We do love our spirits, don't we?" he asked rhetorically. (A/N 1)

"P-Please get out of here! You're attracting AIDA!" A boy's voice alerted.

"It's going to get you if you don't get out of here! We're not saving you if it does!" A young lady's voice warned.

"Who are you!?" Natsu shouted back. "We ain't scared, we just finished beating a monster!"

"It doesn't matter! None of you are qualified to fight AIDA!" Another male voice exclaimed.

"Please leave at once. Only one person here is able to fight AIDA. There's too many that can't in this place." Another female voice demanded.

"If you don't leave, we'll have no choice but to MAKE you leave!" A third female voice declared.

"Yeah! So, scram before you hurt someone or MAKE US hurt YOU!" A third male voice threatened.

"Oh yeah!" Natsu shouted in anger. "Well you've never met Fairy Tail mages before! We'll show you!" He then started to run to the closes house. "Right after I find a kitchen to raid~!"

"Shame on you for even thinking about robbing this place Natsu!" Gray scolded Natsu, running next to him.

"You're just mad I thought of it first~!" Natsu stated, teasing his rival.

"It's your funeral!" The third male voice declared as the group hears arrows being shot towards them, said arrows falling from the sky and towards them.

Natsu sense this and shouted, "Fire Dragon Roar!" He then incinerated all the arrows in one go. "Now if you don't mind, we want to eat!!!"

Suddenly, a bandit-like man puts a gun up to Erza's head, shocking everyone, especially the Gamer magic users as they didn't detect him. "Nobody move!" He demanded.

Just then, in the blink of an eye, Erza had him pinned to a wall with her swords. The guy blinked. He then had a sword to his throat, making him sweat bullets. "Talk, or I will kill you..." she growled, using [Intimidation] and had an aura that had Death appear.

The man sighs, no longer sweating. "So serious... You haven't changed a bit... Mittens." He said. Erza acts surprised then brought her sword closer to the man's throat.

"How do you know that nickname?" Erza asked.

"You don't recognize my face even though you're clearly seeing it? Jeez... Kokoro was right... Nobody COULD recognize me as long as my hood is up..." The man declared, lowering his hood. Erza gasped at what she saw. The man had brown hair that was slicked back. "Long time no see... Erza."

"Thomas...? Thomas Ivory, is that you!?" Erza exclaimed.

"Uh, Erza, who is this guy?" Makarov asked the S-Class wizard.

"First things first, old man." The man named Thomas told before clearing his throat. "Hey! Everyone's fine! Don't worry about them!" He exclaimed to the others. The six that were going to fight slowly come out of their hiding spots.

The first was a young man with blue hair, a nervous expression, and a white jacket with a hood over his head.

The second was a young lady with pink hair, a white tank top on top of a black tank top, a black skirt that reaches to her knees, and red boots and gloves.

The third was a young man with black hair who was wearing camouflage colored clothing.

The fourth was another young lady with black and white hair who was wearing a white sleeveless jacket and blue pants. She was also wearing a black tank top under her jacket.

The fifth was a young man who had black hair and green clothes.

The sixth had red and black spandex from his shoulders to his toes. He also had brown hair.

"A-A-A-Are they really okay?" The young blue haired man asked, shaking uncontrollably.

"Well, I don't know, considering they roasted some arrows. Nah. I'm kidding. They're totally fine, Shinkei." Thomas assured. "After all, Erza's with them. I'm sure she knows what she's doing, letting them hang out with us."

"O-Okay... If you say so..." The young blue haired man nodded. "Introductions, then... right? I-I-I'm Shinkei Karito..."

"... Nigai Baran." The black and white haired young lady said.

"I'm Kokoro Tekken." The pink haired young lady declared.

"Daishi Kabe, readers~ Oh, and wizards of Fairy Tail." The spandex wearing man told.

"Kaku Jitsuna." The black haired man introduced.

"That leaves me, Thomas Ivory. As you can tell, I know about Erza. I even gave her her first nickname. A shame it was overshadowed by "Titania, Queen of the Fairies"..." Thomas imitated a deep voice. "But I digress~"

"First we meet Lucy's long-lost sister, now some of Erza's old friends it seems," Gray stated.

"Wait, sister!?" Lucy asked in shock.

Gray facepalmed. "I knew I was forgetting something..."

"Gray, I literally only know Thomas." Erza corrected. "Either way, I noticed all the clothes you all are wearing. Are you all Gamer Magic users?"

"Nothing gets past you, eh, Mittens?" Thomas asked back.

"Mittens?" The others repeated.

"Just a cute nickname. Nothing more." Erza sighed.

"Aw, c'mon. You know you love it, Mittens~" Thomas teased. "Anyway, to answer your question, yes. We all are." He answered. To see if he's telling the truth, Lucy uses [Observation] on the Gamer Magic users she hasn't seen before.

Red Like Roses

Meister Master

Horseman of the Apocalypse

Shinkei Karito

LV: 50

HP: 520

MP: 300

STR: 35

DEX: 25

INT: 20

WIS: 20

CHA: 25

LUC: 25

Gamer? Yes

Magic: Flick Reaper: Professional with a scythe. Perfect for attacking wide areas of enemies.

Champions: Ruby Rose, Maka Albarn and Soul Eater Evans, Death

Hero-In-Training

Mirror Mirror

Road to Dawn

Nigai Baran

LV: 50

HP: 440

MP: 950

STR: 25

DEX: 20

INT: 35

WIS: 25

CHA: 25

LUC: 20

Gamer? Yes.

Magic: Bitter Balance: User of all kinds of magic, including opposing elements such as fire and ice, earth and wind, and light and darkness.

Champions: Shoto Todoroki, Weiss Schnee, Riku

I Burn

The Avenger

Premium Heart

Kokoro Tekken

LV: 50

HP: 950

MP: 440

STR: 45

DEX: 35

INT: 20

WIS: 20

CHA: 30

LUC: 20

Gamer? Yes.

Magic: Tribal Grappler: A professional in hand to hand combat. Perfect for up close and personal attacks and against enemies with strong defenses.

Champions: Yang Xiao Long, Tifa Lockheart, Pi.

Merc With a Mouth

Servant of the Goddess of Light

The Mask

Daishi Kabe

LV: 50

HP: 450

MP: 450

STR: 30

DEX: 45

INT: 30

WIS: 30

CHA: 15

LUC: 20

Gamer? Yes.

Magic: Good 4th Waller: One who breaks the 4th wall. A lot. It's absolutely ridiculous, really.

Champions: Deadpool, Pit, The Mask

From Shadows

One Man Stealth Force

One-Cut Kill

Kaku Jitsuna

LV: 50

HP: 350

MP: 350

STR: 25

DEX: 45

INT: 25

WIS: 45

CHA: 20

LUC: 20

Gamer? Yes.

Magic: Stealth Mode: One who has mastered the art of stealth and is ready to put it to work at any time. Perfect for infiltration.

Champions: Blake Belladonna, Solid Snake, Akame

Gun Gale

Sovereign Duke

Godly Sniper

Ichi Patsu

LV: 50

HP: 350

MP: 350

STR: 45

DEX: 45

INT: 45

WIS: 45

CHA: 20

LUC: 20

Gamer? Yes.

Magic: True Shooter: One who can hit targets from very far away. Perfect for assassinations.

Champions: Sinon, Claude Von Riegan, Ussop

Phantom Thief

Gale Heart Overlord

Materia Collector

Thomas Ivory

LV: 50

HP: 330

MP: 330

STR: 35

DEX: 50

INT: 15

WIS: 30

CHA: 35

LUC: 35

Gamer? Yes

Magic: Phantom Thief: One who steals hearts, money, and items without anyone suspecting anything. Perfect for quick money-making.

Champions: Kasumi Yoshizawa, Zeroken, Yuffie

"Hey! What am I perfect for!" Daishi exclaimed at Lucy's [Observation] panel about him.

"Annoying people..." Lucy stated bluntly, hearing about these kinds of people, but never thought she'd meet one.

"The hell'd you say!?" Daishi exclaimed.

"Okay, I think that's enough, Daishi." Thomas calmed him down. Daishi huffs and crosses his arms.

"Still not forgiving her for that..." Daishi grumbled.

"Anyway, you guys came here to eat, right? You're all in luck. I just got enough food for, as it turns out, everyone here." Thomas declared, showing the amount of food he has from his inventory: A whole smorgasbord of foods, from vegetables, to meats, to desserts.

Natsu was drooling a river.

"Wait, before we eat, do you guys live here?" Erza asked them.

"We don't. But we've had a report about some "mysterious black bubbles" swarming this village even though there were no villagers to speak of by the time we got here." Kokoro answered. "The black bubbles are what Pi calls AIDA, Artificial Intelligent Data Anomaly. Some people, based on that, calls it LIMA, Lacrima Intelligence Magical Anomaly."

"AIDA... here in this world...!?" Haseo gasped. "Dammit... First the whole incident with Byaku Shin and now this...?" He muttered.

"Uh, none [Gamers] here," Makarov called out. "Mind telling the ones who don't know this what an AIDA is, what they do and why they are so dangours?"

"Ahem. Right." Kokoro cleared her throat. "AIDA is pretty much a virus that originated from Pi's world, or rather, Pi's Avatar's world. A VRMMORPG, or Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, simply known as The World R:2. It first, supposedly, surfaced from an unknown player that was, for a time, known simply as Tri-Edge who was a PKer, or a Player Killer. Normally, Player Kills return players who were PK'd back to their main menu. However, Tri-Edge is a different matter. When HE PKs someone, they become comatose." She explained.

"I'm guessing that caused no end of problems in this game," Gray stated.

"You'd be right. But long story short, Haseo managed to eventually defeat the AIDA threat and get back every comatose player. However, there was one player who sacrificed his life to do this. He triggered a technological reset called [The Rebirth]. It almost completely destroyed all traces of AIDA. ...Speaking of long stories... I've noticed that all of your levels are pretty high. You must've unlocked the [Gamer's Plaza] feature, then." Kokoro pointed out.

"We just got it," Lucy stated. "We just haven't used it yet."

"In that case..." Kokoro trailed off before sending everyone in front of her invitations to her party. "Accept my invitation and I'll show you the way."

"Shouldn't we figure out what's going on in this town first?" Erza asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kokoro sighs. "Yeah. You're right..." She replied, rescinding the invitation. "We've been investigating the village's buildings, and there was nothing but fresh made food."

"Somebody already made food?" Natsu asked.

"Yes, but there wasn't anyone around who made any. Which begs the question: Is the food that was recently made actually real? Or just bait?" Kokoro raised the question.

"Part two of our investigation: There were clothes hung out to dry, but no one was around to get them off the hangers." Nigai added.

"No one?" Erza repeated.

"Not a single soul." Nigai shook her head.

"But if that's the case, why do the houses have freshly cooked food on the tables?" Erza asked. Nigai looks down for her answer, and not in a way that lets people know she is depressed. Everyone else does the same and finds a crack on the ground that leads down an alleyway.

"Part three: This is no ordinary crack on the ground. It must serve some kind of purpose." Kaku told.

Lucy bent down to it. "Were there any more like this one?" she asked them.

Kokoro gestures to follow her. She leads the entire group to another seam that crosses with the first seam. "This looks just like the other seam..." Erza pointed out. Just then, they heard growling, mumbling, and what appears to be sinister bubbles. "What's that sound?"

"I don't know the first two... but the third... AIDA might appear..." Kokoro warned. The seams glow red while black bubbles appeared in the sky.

Just then the buildings started to glow as well and were shifting as well.

"Whoa, what's with this place?" Natsu asked, surprised.

"Why's everything moving...!?" Shinkei gasped, worried.

"It looks like the houses are having a dance party, huh?" Happy brought up.

"I think you're missing the point here..." Ichi pointed out.

"It can't be..." Makarov said.

"It's time to rumble, gramps." Gray declared, preparing an ice attack.

"No, wait!" Makarov alerted.

"What? Why?" Gray huffed in confusion.

"We need to get to higher ground! There's something I have to check!" Makarov told.

"But AIDA is in the air! If we get to higher ground, we might end up getting infected!" Haseo exclaimed.

"The buildings are moving... AIDA is in the air too... Something bad might happen if we stay here for too long... but AIDA might end up infecting one of us if we try to get out of here...!" Kokoro growled.

"If one of us gets infected, we'll just have to beat that AIDA thing out of one of us. All right, guys. Let's go." Erza said as she starts running. "Try to stay close!"

Everyone follows her order and follows her. Once they reach higher ground, they see a giant snake-like monster that's spewing out black bubbles as well as various other monsters that have black bubbles around them "Oh man. Looks like we got out just in time..." Natsu declared.

"Now I see... It was a magic circle..." Kokoro growled.

"That's right. Those lines we saw in the village were carved into the ground to form a massive magic circle--a circle used for a type of magic that was banned many years ago. A form of sealing magic that is known as "Alive"." Ichi added.

"What does it do?" Lucy asked.

"See for yourself." Ichi answered, pointing at the monster before them. "It's exactly what it looks like. It has the ability to turn inanimate objects into living creatures. It appears the villages cast the forbidden spell only to end up being eaten by the very monsters they brought to life."

"But why would they use magic that's been banned?" Lucy brought up.

"This village was home to a Dark Guild." Kokoro told, pushing up her glasses, surprising everyone except her own group.

"No way!" Natsu gasped.

"While investigating, I came across a collection of magic tools tucked away in a shed. Upon closer inspection, I realized they were tools used to practice black magic." Kokoro explained.

"Knowing how reckless Dark Guilds can be, they probably though up some crazy plan and wound up getting burned in the process... or in this case, eaten." Thomas said. "But... there's one thing we should be grateful for."

"Oh yeah? And what would that be?" Natsu asked.

"The Dark Guild's mischief brought these creatures to life. And most living creatures can be turned into... food~" Thomas answered, shocking Lucy. "Oh, come on. You know you want to level up your [Cooking] Skill. Admit it~" He urged, ruffling Lucy's hair.

"There's another thing. AIDA's no longer in the air. Those monsters, however, are infected by AIDA. Which means by defeating those monsters, we defeat AIDA." Kokoro declared. Thomas smirks.

"If that's the case... IT'S SHOWTIME!" Tomas shouted.

Cue: Take Over (Persona 5 Royal)

https://youtu.be/ygEmeAtWYvA

Thomas glides towards the monsters with incredible speed. "Exploding Tiger!" He roars before delivering a swift reverse roundhouse kick of wind that covers three monsters in front of him with wind energy. When he took a battle stance, the wind energy explodes. Ichi shoots down some of the monsters from his perch with his sniper rifle.

"Untouchable... BEAUTY!" Kaku exclaimed as he lets out a slash wave of energy that cuts down monsters that were unfortunate enough to be in its way.

"Petal Burst!" Shinkei shouted as he spins around then rockets towards the monsters headfirst. Once he does, he skids past them, and every petal he made cuts down the monsters he skidded past.

"Glacial Torrent!" Nigai roared as she stabs a sword to the ground and summons a wall of ice spikes that stab into the monsters in front of her, freezing them.

"I'll beat you all to a pulp! Final Heaven!" Kokoro shouted as she punches past the monsters in her way. Once she was past them, the monsters suddenly explode in a torrent of energy.

"Guess it's Cuttin' Time~!" Daishi declared as he slashes past monsters several times.

Lucy groans, and turns to her friends. "You know what, screw it, let's get down there with them you guys!" she ordered her friends.

The group, except for Makarov, nods before they, except for Makarov, jump down to join the fight. "Listen up, dinner. Before I eat you, let me let you in on a little secret. I'm an awesome chef, and I love to flambe!" Natsu declared before engulfing his fists in fire. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" He shouted as he punches the monsters with his fists of fire, defeating them instantly. "Sorry, pals... but you're toast! And now that you're cooked..." He trailed off before kicking a cliff face, making large rocks fall on top of the burned monsters. "We'll cover them up and let them steam for a bit."

"Normally, I'd save dessert for after the meal, but not today." Gray growled with a smile. The monsters attack him, but he goes into his Ice-Make stance. "Ice-Make Fishnet!" He exclaimed as he shoots a wave of ice that completely freezes the monsters. "Anyone want to try a monster popsicle?"

Happy was fighting a living chair that was infected by AIDA. "Even if you're a chair, you can't taste worse than an improperly cooked Wingfish!" Happy declared before the chair attacks, making Happy dodge and jump on top of the chair. The chair then gallops with Happy on top of it.

Erza and Lucy stand before the monsters. "I can handle this on my own, Lucy." Erza boasted. "Stand back. It's time to start cooking."

"... Cooking with what?" Lucy asked, lowering one of her eyebrows.

"Requip!" Erza exclaimed as she changes her armor into a chef/sleeveless maid outfit. She also has many kitchen knives floating around her in addition to the two that she's holding. She then slices and dices the monsters into bite sized pieces. The pieces then form a pile into a small mountain of them. "The trick is to cut them into perfectly bite-sized pieces that are five centimeters long and four millimeters wide."

"I think you got a little carried away..." Haseo pointed out. "Also, what's with that weird outfit you're wearing?"

Multiple monsters showed up behind Lucy who then smirks. "Time to test out my new skills!" She exclaimed as she summons the scythe she obtained from her recent Class Extension. "Wicked Strike!" She roared as she gave out a horizontal slash to a wide area of monsters. "Lotus Flower!" She shouted as she did a horizontal slash in the air after a literal upper cut.

Soon enough, everyone was done with defeating the monsters and "cooking" them their own way. "And all done." Thomas said, a huff of satisfaction escaping his mouth.

"Not quite. There's still AIDA to deal with. ... Speaking of which, where'd it go?" Kokoro asked. "It was in the monsters, wasn't it?"

"Don't look at me. I've been focusing on shooting down the monsters from far away." Ichi told. Kokoro then sees black bubbles creeping up from behind Lucy.

"Hey!" Kokoro exclaimed, getting Lucy's attention before she runs towards her and punches her in the face while black bubbles enter Kokoro's body. "AGH!!!" She shrieked in pain.

"Lucy! Look at Kokoro!" Excella exclaimed. Lucy, still feeling the pain from the punch, does so and sees Kokoro, holding her own body, as if she's fighting to keep herself from hurting her friends.

"Hey! Are you alright...?" Lucy gasped.

"No... I'm... infected...! Everyone... run... Save yourselves...! Guh...!" Kokoro grunted as pink markings pulsated around her body. "Pi... I'm sorry... I couldn't... keep... myself from... AIDA's... clutches...!" She growled in pain before screaming, glowing pink as a field appeared.

After everyone covered their eyes from the sudden lightshow, they see what appeared in Kokoro's place. (A/N 2)

"That's... The Seventh Phase of Morganna... Tarvos, the Avenger!" Haseo exclaimed.

"No way... It's... It's all over... for all of us..." Shinkei gasped. "None of us have the power to defeat her when she uses that power when infected by AIDA!"

"You're wrong." Haseo told, controlling Lucy's body. "There's only one person in this group who can and you're looking at her." He smirked for Lucy.

"You...?" Nigai huffed out. "You couldn't..." She was about to say, but was interrupted by Thomas who smiles back at Lucy and Haseo.

"I had faith in you from the start." Thomas said.

"Thomas..." Nigai gasped from Thomas's positivity towards Lucy and Haseo.

"Hm. Leave it to us." Haseo gave a thumbs up. "Lucy. Time to do to Tarvos... what we did to Lullaby."

"Right." Lucy nodded, control of her body back to hers. "Okay... Come on... Come on..." She growled, surging with red power. "I'm... right here! SKEEEIIITH!!!" She roared as she summons the new form of Skeith. (A/N 3)

"Whoa, Lucy's Skeith form has changed," Happy stated.

"Wait, what about your friend?" Natsu asked. He then pointed to the AIDA. "We have to get her out of that monster!"

"That's Tarvos. Kokoro's Avatar. She, and her Champion, Pi, are Epitaph Users that are capable of summoning Tarvos, the Seventh Phase of Morganna, The Avenger. The only things capable of combating an Avatar... are AIDA... or another Avatar used by another Epitaph User. Only Lucy, and her Champion, Haseo, are capable of bringing Kokoro back to normal." Thomas told. "There's no other way.

Natsu had fire burning around him. "Well I don't care what you say. I'm helping! Fairy Tail helps those they see as family, and guess what, you and your friends are now family."

Ice was forming over Gray. "I hate agreeing with flame brain, but yeah. We're going to help save her."

Erza was there as well. "It may seem impossible, but we're willing to do the impossible."

The others felt their conviction. Makarov then walked up to them. "Lucy may be the only one who can do this, but would you just idle stand by, while someone you call family is hurting? Or would you do whatever it is to help save them?" (A/N 4)

"You idiots... if you take a hit from any of Tarvos's or even SKEITH'S attacks, you'll be in a coma, forever trapped between the realms of the living AND the dead!" Nigai scolded.

"Let her do this on her own!" Haseo exclaimed to Lucy's fellow members. "... I won't let anyone get hurt by AIDA. Never again. There's only eight Epitaph Users... and none of you possess such power, so none of you can fight alongside Lucy. Even if you did and could, the amount of Avatars would cause Lucy AND yourselves to lose control of your respective would-be Avatars. Stay back. Please. This is something only Lucy can do alone. Just stay back... Everything will be all right. Trust me and Lucy..."

"But-!" Natsu shouted.

Erza sighs. "Natsu. Stand down. Like you, I don't like letting Lucy handle this on her own at all. But... if you took a blow that WOULD put you in a coma... I... I don't think I'd forgive myself for letting it happen in the first place..." She said, a grim expression on her face. "Let us trust Lucy."

Natsu looked at Erza, surprised then nods hesitantly. "You'd better win, you hear me!?" He exclaimed at Lucy and Haseo.

"Of course. I beat Tarvos in Skeith's first form, the form you saw that went up against Lullaby. Beating Tarvos in this second form... should be cake!" Haseo boasted.

"Kokoro... I'll save you... I swear!" Lucy declared.

Cue: Location of Power (.hack//G.U.)

https://youtu.be/XlB-WvA4kBg

Tarvos starts flying around the battlefield while Lucy sees the two health bars, one for Tarvos, and one for Skeith. She also sees a blue gauge above Tarvos herself. "These are the health bars and stamina bar I saw when I fought Lullaby..." Lucy pointed out. "Are all battles that use my Avatar like this?"

"Yeah. Careful, though. When facing off against an Avatar, your opponent can also use Data Drain. And they don't need to use a Protect Break and you won't be able to avoid it. After that, it'll slowly and painfully drain Skeith's health. You CAN, however, break out of the Data Drain." Haseo said.

"Okay. So we should do the same thing we did to Lullaby against Tarvos, right?" Lucy brought up.

"Yes. Unlike Lullaby, however, Tarvos isn't gonna let that happen so easily." Haseo pointed out.

"Of course not..." Lucy grunted before getting Skeith to shoot at Tarvos. She hits a few shots before stunning Tarvos, paralyzing her movement.

"Now! Get in close and get in some good hits with Skeith's scythe!" Haseo ordered.

"Okay!" Lucy acknowledged as she charges at Tarvos and slashes at her three times, the third knocking her away. She then charges up another attack and sends a chakram of energy at Tarvos which hits her.

Tarvos fires back at Lucy who dodges then sees Tarvos charging up another attack. "Ah! That's...! Lucy! If you see any stakes coming your way, break as many as you can!" Haseo alerted, Lucy was a bit weirded out, causing her to miss a few energy stakes whizzing by her, but she nods and attacks every other stake. The stakes that Lucy missed form around Tarvos.

"Stake of Death!" Tarvos shouted as the stakes that Lucy missed hit and stab into Lucy, dealing damage to Skeith. Although it wasn't much damage that she took, it could've been bad if she missed more of those stakes.

"Okay. Got it. Smash the stakes, avoid damage..." Lucy sighed as she fires at Tarvos again. The shots hit Tarvos eventually stunning her again. Lucy slashes at Tarvos three more times before hitting her with another chakram of energy. She then sees Tarvos charging up a really big attack. "Uh-oh..."

Uh-oh was right. The needle that was stabbed through Tarvos's back suddenly turns into a digital cannon that fires a giant ball of digital energy that hits home, trapping Lucy in a sphere that slowly starts draining her life away.

"Agh! No...! I won't lose... Not like this!" Lucy grunted before roaring and breaking free from the attack. "So that was an enemy Data Drain... And only I can break free of it...!"

Lucy fires and hits Tarvos with the shots she fires until she stuns Tarvos a third time. She then uses her usual combo that causes Tarvos's barrier to shatter.

Protect Break!

Skeith's right arm turns into a cannon, just like it did against Lullaby, and starts charging up its own Data Drain. "Let me show you... how to actually HIT a Data Drain!" Lucy boasted. However, Tarvos was not willing to make it easy as it started flying around and shooting at Lucy.

"Careful. Getting hit by those attacks won't lower Skeith's health, but it will cause you to lose some charges of your Data Drain meter. Stay focused!" Haseo warned. Lucy nods as she dodges while still charging her Data Drain meter. Soon enough, it was full. Now Lucy needs to wait for Tarvos to hold still or when she gets close enough to shoot it. Soon enough again, the opportunity arose.

"Data Drain!" Lucy shouted as she fired. The attack hits, defeating Tarvos and draining its data, as the name implied... or rather, the AIDA inside Tarvos and Kokoro. Once the deed was done, Tarvos fades away, Kokoro taking her place. Kokoro, once she slowly started touching the ground, falls on her back harmlessly.

Erza caught her before she hit the ground.

Kokoro groaned before waking up. "Kokoro!" Kokoro's friends called as they ran to check up on her. They see that she's okay.

"Heh... That's twice where I was saved by "The Terror of Death", huh?" A Champion mused using Kokoro's voice.

"Is that you, Pi?" Haseo asked.

"Yes. It's me, Haseo." Pi nodded using Kokoro's body.

"So, should we try the monsters we cooked now~?" Natsu asked.

"I suppose we could." Kokoro shrugged. "... But wait, where's that cat?"

As if to answer her question, they hear Happy crashing into the side of the cliff. Happy sees everyone. "You okay?" Natsu asked.

"Never mind me! All I wanna know is why you guys didn't help me! How could you be so mean? I thought we were friends..." Happy said, feeling betrayed.

"We are..." Natsu told.

"You were just goofing off, right?" Gray brought up, making Happy turn completely white in total shock.

"Geez that was harsh..." Lucy stated. She then used [Observe] on the monsters, and got, [Inedible]. "... Uh, guys... We can't eat any of this..."

"What!?" Natsu exclaimed.

Lucy looked more into it. "I'm reading that monsters can be used for food, saying that they are good meat, better them most common meat, but not only do you need a level 50 in [Cooking] to actually make them edible, you need a skill called [Hunting] and have it at least level 60 as well to get wild monster meat, and prep it right for cooking..."

"Holy wow, that's strict..." Gray pointed out.

"That's the [Gamer] for you," Lucy stated, shrugging. "Can't make it to easy."

"Wait!" Happy called out, getting their attention.

"What's wrong Happy?" Natsu asked.

"If we beat the monsters, shouldn't we have been notified. And gain the skill Lucy told up," Happy pointed out. Realization hit them all, if it didn't show, it meant-

"The fight isn't over!" Erza stated as the monsters started reappearing again, but not only that, the damn AIDA that merged with Kokoro survived and fused a copy of Pi's avatar with the monsters, making a Gorgon/Madusa like monster, that roars at them.

"How...!? How did that AIDA survive a Data Drain...!?" Pi gasped in Kokoro's voice.

"World of pure magic," Makarov stated. "The magic circle must have saved most of it and fused it to the monsters. Magic has a way of messing what you may think is normal, especially if you're from another world. Magic changes the rules."

"I can still finish this!" Lucy declared, glowing in red markings again. "I'm right here! SKEEEIIITH!" She roared, summoning Skeith again. "This time, for sure!" She exclaimed before flying past the monsters and slashing them as soon as she flies past them. She does this three times before flying above them and performing another Data Drain, defeating the monsters.

Obtained Data Module: The Avenger!

"Alright, I got it!" Lucy shouted.

Just then more monsters appeared. "Jeez, these things don't give up." Gray stated.

"... Is there a way to attack magic circles?" Kokoro brought up.

"Figure it out later, right now fight," Erza ordered.

"Fine. But I'm gonna try to break it since I didn't get an answer!" Kokoro told as she punches and kicks the monsters that are in her way before making her way to the magic circle. "Burning... GOLD!" She roared as she punches the magic circle as hard as she could.

"Whoa! What magic is this!?" Natsu shouted.

"It's her Gamer Magic, Tribal Grappler. Needless to say, she is a complete genius when it comes to hand to hand combat and is powerful with her bare fists alone." Thomas explained. "Case in point..." He trailed off as the magic circle that spawned the monsters starts to crack.

"Heh... So one CAN break magic circles...! In that case...!" Kokoro growled excitedly. Before she could get the job done, a monster appeared and hits her into the sky.

"Is she okay!?" Happy gasped.

"She can take it." Nigai told. "KOKORO!" She called. "It hit you! What will you do!?"

As if to answer Nigai's question, Kokoro glows with a righteous power. "HIT HIM HARDER!!!" She roared as a giant phantasmal fist appeared beside Kokoro as she punches the monster and the magic circle with said fist, completely breaking the magic circle. "BIG BANG SMASH!!!"

Just then, the magic circle fragments started to react, violently. "Oh, that's not good..." Lucy stated. "It has a self-destruction magic trigger!"

"Oh crap!" Kokoro exclaimed, worried. The group was shortly blinded by the light that was emitting from the magic circle before starting to fall into the circle.

______________________________________________________________________________

(After the Battle)

The group was leaving again on their vehicles, joined by Thomas and his group. "Okay, I think I'm done exploring now..." Lucy stated tiredly.

"I'm hungry again..." Natsu moaned. "Like, for real..."

"I'm glad we have a ride because I don't want to walk you guys..." Happy stated, looking tired as well.

"[The Gamer] is a life sent for sure," Gray agreed.

"It is useful," Kokoro stated.

"I'm still not sure what the hell happened back there though," Lucy stated, not sure what happened after the battle.

"I wonder if we'll be alright like this..." Shinkei wondered out loud.

"By the way, Mittens." Thomas called Erza. "Word about your guild's members travels fast to mine. Heard one of your guildmates got a son. As soon as we stop to our objective, can you do me a solid? I'm sure completing it will help your guild out in the long run. You know. Whenever you and some of your other members are away for a long time."

"We'll see if we can," Erza answered. She then looked to Makorov. "Um... Master..."

"Yes?" he asked her.

"I'm not satisfied with your explanation, sir," she told him.

"That so?"

-Flashback: After the Magic was dispelled-

The gang were in front of the towns people that had returned. They were going to get answers about the whole ordeal.

"Now spill it. What were you trying to pull?" Nigai asked.

"We were using the magic circle to cast forbidden spells..." A villager started. "But those monsters appeared and took everyone in town."

"So the monsters we fought... You were all trapped inside of them?" Erza hummed.

"And you sliced some of them into bite-sized pieces..." Lucy pointed out.

"When you stepped into the circle, it activated the spell. And we no longer had any control of ourselves." Another villager stated.

"Well, you won't have to worry about that happening again." Makarov declared, getting every villager's attention.

"What do you mean by that, gramps?" Natsu asked for clarification.

"There's no need to sweat the details, my boy." Makarov shook off the question. "Now, as for all you villagers, you should be grateful that someone came along to free you from your possession. I assume you've learned your lesson from this gross misuse of magic. And as long as it doesn't happen again, I won't report you to the council. Is that a deal?" He raised a question.

"Yes, of course. We never want to go through that again. Thank you so much..." The first villager that spoke answered.

"You have our word..." The second villager bowed slightly. Makarov chuckles while Erza looks at him.

-Flashback Ends-

"When we finally defeated the monsters, it seemed to activate some kind of self-destruction spell within the magic circle, like Lucy said before" Erza pointed out. "That's when you came in."

-Flashback: When the Spell was Self-Destructing-

"Oh crap!" Kokoro exclaimed, worried. The group was shortly blinded by the light that was emitting from the magic circle before starting to fall into the circle.

"In the blink of an eye, you saved us, freeing the Dark Guild from the Takeover spell, and destroyed the magic circle before it flattened the village and everyone in it," Erza explained.

It showed that he was calm the whole time, before opening his eyes and magic came out of him.

-Flashback Ends-

"How did you do it?" she asked him, still not sure how, and trying to get him to answer her.

"I'll tell you someday." Makarov replied before sighing.

"Well, what matters now is getting home, right?" Kokoro raised her question. "After all, none of us are hungry. ...Natsu is, but, most of us aren't."

As if she tempted fate, everyone's stomachs growled all at once. "You're kidding me!" Kokoro gasped.

"WE'RE ALL HUNGRY!!!" Everyone shouted.

Just then Notifications of all they got popped up for all their work.

You have defeated all the Take Over Life Monster Spell

100,000,000 Gold worth of Jewels

10,000,000 EXP X [Fairy Tail Family Member] Title Multiplier = 50,000,000

Haseo has updated your Chain Quest.

Objective: Use Data Drain on bearers that hold at least one of the following titles:

The Mirage of Deceit

The Propagation

The Prophet

The Temptress

The Machinator

<s>The Avenger</s>

The Rebirth

To be continued.

______________________________________________________________________________

And that's the chapter.

Kaizoku: Indeed it is.

Lindsey: "Lucy knows abou me now, right?"

... We did mention that, right?

Kaizoku: Uh, yeah. Gray DID let it slip. Of course, you DID make him let it slip, right?

Lindsey: "I told I couldn't tell her, but a third party could."

She did, hopefully she'll remember soon.

Kaizoku: By "you" I meant Light.

Lindsey: (Looks sheepish) "Oops..."

Anyways, we hope you all enjoyed the story. We hope to see you in the next. With that, we'll see you next time.

Lindsey: (Waves) "Bye~!"

Kaizoku: Catch you later.

Please R&R

(A/N 1) Kaizoku: How about we add a little twist~?

(A/N 2) This is what they look like: https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/dothack/images/2/23/Img_phase07_illust.png/revision/latest?cb=20171009023104 And if the link isn't working, here: https://mikiri-shina.livejournal.com/3262.html

(A/N 3) This is what see looks like: https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/dothack/images/0/0f/Skeith2ndForm.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20060902021353 And if the link isn't working, here: https://www.google.com/search?q=skeith+.hack+gu+second+form&sxsrf=ALeKk03TmH-K8rBJAWlR_wFGOs0SyfjA7A:1618011284632&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjcp_PeqfLvAhXkPn0KHbjOD3oQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw#imgrc=d4Nb_1rny628NM

(A/N 4) Damn, I felt inspired to help after writing that.