Having eaten breakfast with Gildarts, we parted ways; he headed to his house while I aimlessly walked through Magnolia, clearing my head before returning to the guild. However, during my walk, I happened upon an odd scene: Gajeel chasing cats and coaxing them.
"The hell are you doing?" Stopping beside Gajeel, who was lying on the ground, staring at a black cat a few feet away, I glanced at him, but he just growled. "N-Nothing!" Blushing, Gajeel swung his leg, which transformed into an iron pole, at me before leaping away, causing me to scratch my head in confusion.
Glancing at the black cat, which looked at me, only to whimper and flee with its tail between its legs, I shrugged my shoulders, deciding to forget about it as I continued walking. Yet, Gajeel wasn't the only odd thing I experienced as it suddenly started raining, increasing from a drizzle to a downpour in a matter of minutes.
Frowning, I looked up, staring at the black clouds that practically appeared from nowhere. 'Weird… It was just sunny outside.' It wasn't even slightly cloudy a few minutes ago; it was an open, sunny sky. To top everything off, I happened to run into Mystogan.
Well, more specifically, I saw him speaking with Wendy and Carla, without a mask, his Jellal-like face revealed. 'Man, today is fucking weird.' Shaking my head, I continued towards the guild, though along the way, I sensed a great deal of magic power converging in the sky above.
Looking up, staring at the glowing, massive, gaping hole in the middle of the clouds, sort of like the eye of a storm in a hurricane, I furrowed my brows. 'The hell is happening today?' It couldn't be the Etherion; it had been destroyed. Scratching my face, I picked up my speed, heading to the guild to alert Gramps, though as I did so, everything began to feel weird.
The buildings around me seemed to stretch and twist while I felt as if I were moving incredibly fast despite standing still. "Okay, what the hell is happening?" Frowning, I used indestructible magic, yet, when I did so, I noticed my magic power was being rapidly drained, and the speed at which it was being drained was increasing.
Eventually, in a matter of seconds, my magic power was mostly dissolved; I didn't even have enough to use indestructible magic, causing me to drop to one knee from the rapid loss of magic power. Once I regained my bearings, I stood up, yet as I did so, Magnolia slowly dissipated, as if it were all an illusion, only for me to appear in a forest.
"The hell!?" As I observed my new environment, I suddenly recoiled at how disgustingly stale the air was. "What happened to the atmospheric Ethernano? I-It's basically non-existent!" I felt like how I imagined a fish out of water would feel, except it's able to actually breathe.
Feeling disgusted, I began trekking through the forest. "Hey! Anyone, can you hear me!? Come to me!" Shouting throughout the forest, calling to anyone else who might've been kidnapped alongside me, I continued pushing through the dense forest, coming across unfamiliar critters and plants, which meant something considering my past.
"If it weren't for the beautiful scenery, I would've thought I died and gone to hell." Muttering under my breath, the ground suddenly trembled, only for several trees in front of me to rip from the ground and be pulled backwards, revealing a massive, greenish-red toad with large beady eyes and spikey tongue.
Yet, to my shock, atop the toad was Minerva, clutching on for dear life. "What the hell!? Minerva, how'd you get up there!?" Ignoring the toad, I shouted at Minerva, who raised her head, looking at me with wide eyes. "I-I don't know! I-I felt weird, and then the guild disappeared, and I suddenly appeared on this thing! I would've beaten it, but all my magic power has been drained."
"Hmm, so it's not just me." Frowning, I rubbed my chin, realizing this situation might be much bigger than I initially hoped for, though my pondering was interrupted as the toad attacked me with its spiked tongue, shooting it at me like a bullet.
As his spiky tongue hit the side of my body, I slammed my arm down, locking it between my bicep and ribs. "Time to die." Digging my foot into the ground, I yanked the toad, causing it fly to me before I lashed my leg out, kicking its face, sending it crashing through the force while I caught Minerva before setting her down.
"Ugh, now I'm all slimy." Glancing down at myself, I sighed and started walking. "C'mon, let's go, we need to get out of this forest." "Do you know what happened, big bro?" "Nope, but I have three guesses." Raising two fingers, I pointed at Minerva, who was following behind us.
"My first guess is that Jiemma did something to get revenge." "R-Really?" Even though she's been away from her father, it seemed the years of abuse had ingrained a level of fear of him that won't go away so easily as she nervously gulped. "It's just a guess, and it's highly unlikely; I don't think he's smart enough to do something like… Anyway, the second guess, I think we just happened to get caught up in something, and if that's so, everyone else is in a similar situation."
"Eh!? W-Won't that be bad for Wendy and Yukino? T-They're not that strong!" "Meh, I'm not that worried for Wendy, she's a dragon slayer, she's got a tough body, though Yukino and Levy, I'm a bit concerned about those two." Frowning a bit, worried about those two, I increased my pace slightly.
"The third guess, Grimoire Heart, is behind this. I prevented one of their plans, so this might be Ultear's form of revenge." "The Dark Guild? Isn't that terrible then?" "Depends, if Grimoire Heart is here, then yeah, but if they're not, then probably no." Coming to a stop, Minerva continued walking, passing me, causing her to fall, though I caught her.
"T-Tha–" Holding Minerva by her collar, I leaned forward, looking over the edge of the ground, staring at the thick sea of clouds below us. Raising my head, I looked at the endless sky before us, spotting various floating islands of varying sizes; some were large, others were small. I could even see what looked like a volcano on one of them.
"C-Can you set me down, b-big bro?" "Oh, yeah, sure." As I put Minerva down, I leaped up, shooting through the forest canopy and looking behind us from the way we'd come from, though the results were the same; on the opposite side of the forest-island, it was nothing but endless sky and more floating islands.
Landing back on the ground, I folded my arms. "This might sound crazy, but I think we're high in the sky." "I-I figured that b-big bro when I nearly fell to my death." "Fair… Anyway, c'mon, hop on my back." Squatting, I gestured to my back, prompting her to crawl onto my back, securely wrapping her slimy limbs around me.
Jogging the way we'd come from, I knocked away things in my path, trees, bushes, stones, anything that was in my path. I pushed it aside, creating a somewhat clear path. "What are you doing, big bro?" "Making a runway." "A runway? What's that?" "Oh, you'll see. Just hold on tight."
Once I thought the runway was long enough, I firmly planted my feet in the ground, while Minerva finally realized what I was about to do. "B-Big bro, are you trying to jump from this island to another?" "Yep." "Awesome." Chuckling, I pushed off the ground, entering stride as I sprinted across the make-shift runway; just when I reached the edge of the island, I leaped off the ground, practically flying through the sky.
"Hahaha." "AHHH!!" We soared through the sky, giving us the best possible view; the place was beautiful, I couldn't deny that. Reaching the height of my jump, we began to descend rapidly, gaining speed, our bodies cutting through the sky.
Nearing the island, I extended my legs, taking the brunt of the impact as we crashed onto the island. "Hehe, that was pretty cool." "Y-Yeah… I-I need a second, I'm disoriented."
While Minerva sat down, leaning against a rock, I scouted the surroundings, only randomly find Max stuck halfway into the ground. "Eh, Max, why are you in the ground?" "Hmm, big bro!? W-Wait, don't it's quick sand!" However, Max had warned me too late; by the time he spoke, I was already knee deep in the quicksand.
"Ugh, great, now we're both trapped." "Hehehe." "Why are you laughing!?" "Because of all people, YOU got stuck in quicksand." Laughing caused me to sink slightly faster, but I couldn't help it. Max, a sand-magic user, was trapped in quicksand; it was irony at its height. "Hehe, dumbass." "Says the one who got trapped alongside me!?"
(Note: when it comes to battles/fights, which perspective would y'all say is better? First perspective or Third perspective?)