This Is Why I Hate Clowns
"Erza!!" exclaimed Mikoto. "What's wrong!!? And why do you look like you've just fought off a billion Laxus's!?"
Erza and Kanzaki stumbled into the cafe.
"We don't have time for this." grunted Kanzaki. "We've been decieved.....all of us....Erza Scarlet....I apologize...I should have suspected the pope lied to me from the start."
"Hmph." said Stiyl. "Not exactly the way I wanted Kanzaki to find out...but that's not the point here. I'm guessing Grimoire Heart has made their second move."
"You're right about that." Growled Erza. "But we have to get out of here before the next hour, or things are going to get crazy. Where are the others!?"
"They all went to see a movie at that theatre in the Shopping District." Said Mira. "Master and Laxus are still gone though."
"Well then come on!!" shouted Erza. "And one of you use the phones Mikoto gave us to call everyone else, we have to meet somewhere safe!!"
"We can go to my dorm!" said Touma. "It's a little cramped, but I have medical supplies."
"Good enough!!" said Erza. "Lets get out of here now, we might only have seconds..."
Everyone piled out of the cafe feeling absolutely confused about Erza's urgency.....that is until the inside of the cafe burst into flames and exploded. The building actually partially collapsed as a result of the destruction.
Natsu watched the burning building with a look of disbelief. "Wh-what just happened!!!??"
"Night Reveler." said Kanzaki. "He attacked me and Erza when we were fighting in the 23rd district. He took advantage of the fact that we had worn each other down and put a devestating illusion on us that rendered us completely motionless. He taunted that at 1:00 sharp he would destroy everything Erza had worked for..."
"Luckily, I still had enough magic energy left to tear myself out of the illusion." said Erza. "So I hurried back here....that Night Reveler...he was strong....very strong."4
"But where are we going to stay now?" said Charle looking at the ruined cafe with a horrified expression. "That guild was practically our home in this world...not to mention our source of income!"
"Academy City has it's own compensation system in case a facility here is destroyed." said Mikoto. "The store will be repaired, but we'll have to replace a lot of furniture."
"Aye!" said Happy. "Looks like our budget got a whole lot tighter."
"We'll figure something out later." said Lucy. "Right now we need to figure something out...."
"After we deal with that guy..." growled Gajeel.
Walking out of the ruined cafe, the flames licking against him but somehow not hurting him, was Night Reveler. "Bravo Bravo!! I hope you liked my performance, even though it failed to....blow you away!"
"Watch out!" said Erza. "This clown may not be at Aqualas's level, but he's dangerous."
Gajeel grinned. "Dangerous eh? That's my kind of enemy. So what do ya think Salamander!?"
Natsu grinned as well. "I'm thinking this guy deserves a personal beat down!!"
Stiyl took a cigar out of his pocket and lit it. "I think it's right to say that we now have a common enemy.....and if this guy is as strong as you say...I don't think he'll mind a little three against one."
"Make that four against one!" said Mikoto, her bangs crackling. "This crazy head is going down!!"
Stiyl turned to look at the others. "You people go on and meet with the rest of your friends, we'll handle this weirdo...Kamijou, try and contact Tsuchimikado, though I have a feeling he might already know about this."
The others nodded and ran off.
Gajeel looked at Stiyl. "So what can you do?"
"You'll see." said Stiyl spreading runes along the ground like he did back at the Underground.
"One of the five great elements from which the world was constructed....The great fire of the beginning.....It is a light of blessing that creates life and a light of judgement that punishes evil...It overflows with blessings and misfortunes that destroys cold darkness......It's name is fire and it's role is the sword....Take shape and devour the energy of my body so that you may raze all of existance!!"
Innocentius burst into being at roared. It thrust out a blazing talon at Night Reveler, who jumped out of the way like an acrobatic clown, giggling like a mad man.
"Iron Dragon's Demon Lance!!!" shouted Gajeel thrusting out his hand. A magic circle formed and multiple iron pole like projectiles shot at Night Reveler, who moved and weaved easily in between the projectiles until he came right up in front of Gajeel.
"Tag! You're it!" shouted Night Reveler gleefully touching a finger to Gajeel's chest.
There was a sudden poof of smoke and where Gajeel was before was a 3 foot tall, fat fluffy penguin.
"Wa!?" exclaimed the penguin looking at himself. "WAAAAA!!! Wa wa wa wa!!!!"
"Did he just turn Gajeel into a-?" Mikoto stuttered. "Into a....a.......a...a...."
"PENGUIN!!!!" Natsu exclaimed. "That's just unnatural!!!"
"Wa wa wa!!!" the penguin shouted furiously.
"Heheheheheeee!!" giggled Night Reveler. "Thought I'd leave you with a little parting gift!"
Suddenly a lightning bolt shot out and blasted Night Reveler into a nearby mailbox.
"Whoah!!" shouted Night Reveler getting up looking relatively unharmed. "You are really having a temper tantrum there!!"
"You haven't seen anything yet.." Growled Mikoto as her electric wings formed at began to crackle menacingly. "WIng Shower of The Thunder Dragon!!!"
Mikoto's wings gave a sudden spark and dissapated into multiple electrical projectiles that looked like bright rain drops. The projectiles shot like bullets at Night Reveler, who cartwheeled out of the way like a devil monkey. The rain of electricity left a bunch of miniature craters in it's wake.
Taking advantage of Night Reveler being distracted, Natsu jumped into the air and puffed up his cheeks. "Roar of the Fire Dragon!!"
A tremendous stream of fire blasted into Night Reveler and engulfed him.
"YEAH!!" shouted Natsu. "How do ya like them apples!!!?"3
Suddenly the flames gave a tremendous swirl and in a puff of smoke, they turned into brilliant orange colored confetti and streamers.
"Happy Birthday!!" cackled Night Reveler jubiantly.
Natsu's jaw dropped. "What the heck is this guy!!?"
"Whoever he is." said Mikoto. "He needs a nice straight jacket and a good padded room."
"Wa wa wa!!!!! shouted Gajeel the Penguin as he tried to execute a Roar of The Iron Dragon attack. However, it appeared he wasn't able to use magic in that form.
"Well we aren't done yet.." said Stiyl. "We still have Innocentius."
Innocentius gave a tremendous roar, formed his giant glowing cross and brought down on Night Reveler's head. Night Reveler dodged again as easily as he did the other attacks.
"Time for a little surprise!!" said Night Reveler with a red gleam in his moon and star shaped eyeholes.
Another puff of smoke and confetti later, and a familiar looking giant Jack In The Box appeared. The box played it's sinister song once more and out popped the monster clown head. The box grew it's spider legs and the clown monster laughed demonically.
"Now that's unnatural." Said Stiyl looking a little taken aback.
Innocentius lashed it's cross out at Night Reveler's monstrous form. The clown monster opened it's mouth to the size of a house.......and swallowed Innocentius whole.
Stiyl, Mikoto and Natsu stared in utter shock.
"Th-that's impossible!!" Stiyl exclaimed. "Innocentius can't be destroyed as long as the runes are still in place!!"
"Oh don't you worry." said the clown monster in it's demonic voice. "He isn't gone..."
The clown monster suddenly threw up a giant glob of blue flames, which instantly formed itself into Innocentius, only this time it had four arms, it's flames were blue, and it looked like it was anxious to destroy Mikoto and the others."
"Say hello to Innocentius 2.0!!!" shouted Night Reveler gleefully. "Thanks for the friend fools!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!"4
Innocentius 2.0
The blue Innocentius roared. In each of it's four hands, a ginormous glowing cross appeared.
"This.....is not good." said Stiyl.
"No kidding." said Mikoto. "Neither our magic or my esper powers are affecting this guy, Innocentius wants to kill us, and to top it off....Gajeel is a penguin!!"3
"Wa wa wa wa!!!!!!" Gajeel exclaimed.1
"Dang!" said Natsu. "What are we gonna do!? No matter what magic we throw at him, he just takes it like it's nothing! And they've got this guy!!"
The clown monster laughed demonically. "HAHAHAHAHA!! You foolish little pieces of licorice are nothing compared to my skills!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
"We need to take out the runes!" Stiyl said. "My energy is still draining, which means Innocentius is still running off my magic. If Natsu takes out the runes the same way he did last time, Innocentius might dissapear!"
"Actually, you can leave that to me!!" Shouted Mikoto. Her lightning wings blasted outwards and extended into powerful tendrils.
The tendrils tore themselves along the ground, ripping up all the runes along with a whole lot of cobblestone.
"That should do it!" said Mikoto grinning.
But her joy was short lived. Because at that moment, Innocentius bashed one of his burning crosses into Mikoto's side, causing her to fly straight into a lamp post that toppled over. Mikoto's lightning wings dissapeared and she fell over groaning. "Ughhhh...so.....hungry."
"I'm guessing that magic she was using was extremely draining." said Stiyl.
"Mikoto!!" Natsu yelled. "Darn it!! Why didn't that work?! it did before!!"
"It's obvious he's using some kind of secondary rune or something to keep Innocentius going." said Stiyl. "Yet he kept using my runes as well so as to drain his magic power less.....I hate to admit it, but that was actually pretty smart."
"Tsk tsk tsk." said Night Reveler shaking his monster Jack In The Box head dramatically. "You just tore up my standing ground. I actually consider anything I stand on as my property. AND that means, as trespassers on my private property...I have the right to defend it.....AT ALL COSTS!!! GO GET EM FLAME BOY!!!"
Innocentius roared and charged at Natsu and Stiyl. The two fire users rolled out of the way. Natsu jumped on Innocentius and bit in to it, but fell off coughing. "Ack! Gross!! forgot that I couldn't eat it!"
"We need to retreat!" said Stiyl. "There's no way we can beat him the way we are now!"
"No!!" shouted Natsu as he dodged another blow from Innocentius. "This guy hurt Erza and Mikoto!! I'm not just going to let him off!!
"Think Natsu!!" shouted Stiyl. "We're outmatched!! Taking down the ones who hurt those you love mean nothing if you can't live to continue doing your friends that service!!!"
"I know!!" growled Natsu, suddenly becoming engulfed in intense flames. "That's why I intend to come out of this fight alive!!"
Natsu launched himself past Innocentius and smashed head on into the clown monster's face. "SWORD HORN OF THE FIRE DRAGON!!!!!"
Night Reveler let out a coughing honk that sounded like a car and fell backwards onto the ground. His spider legs waved pathetically in the air as Natsu began letting out a barrage of fiery punches into Night Reveler's face.
"THIS IS FOR BURNING DOWN OUR HOME!! THIS IS FOR HURTING MY FRIENDS!! AND THIS IS FOR YOUR STUPID GUILD COMING AFTER MIKOTO AND TRYING TO KILL HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Natsu shouted as his punches grew faster and his flames became more intense.
Suddenly a fiery blue cross slammed into Natsu and knocked him into the cobblestone ground, creating a gouge in the floor. Natsu got up spitting rocks.
"I'm not done yet!!!" shouted Natsu turning to face Innocentius.
That's when something happened that not even Night Reveler expected. Gajeel the fluffy penguin waddled over...... and jumped into Innocentius.
"GAJEEL!!!!!" Both Natsu and Stiyl shouted.
For a moment, only a haze of a penguin's form was seen burning within the Witch Hunter King. Suddenly, Gajeel burst out of the flames, but this time, he was back to his old self.
Gajeel landed on the cobblestone, his back smoking, but otherwise fine. "Geeheeheehee!!! Now that was exhilerating despite the humiliation I had to go through a little before!"
"Y-You!!" shouted Night Reveler as his monster form struggled back to his legs. "HOW DID YOU FIGURE IT OUT!!?"
"I started noticing it when you continued attacking the others after you put me in that unsightly form." said Gajeel. "For a sadistic psychopath, you were quite keen to avoid hurting me....then it hit me...you weren't ignoring me, you were avoiding me because your magic would probably affect me in a way you didn't want. So I decided to experiment!"
Gajeel suddenly became surrounded by a pitch black aura, his eyes became completely white. It was Iron Shadow Dragon mode. "Now....I'm going to do exactly what Salamander intended to do....I'M GOING TO TEAR YOU APART!!!!!"
"You're welcome to try!!!" Shouted Night Reveler.
Innocentius roared and charged at Gajeel.
"ROAR OF THE IRON SHADOW DRAGON!!!!!" Gajeel opened his mouth and blasted a tremendous twister of shadows and iron particles at Innocentius.
The twister ripped Innocentius in half, but the flame monster instantly reformed himself and began closing in on Gajeel. Gajeel sank into the ground and turned into a shadow. The shadow quickly slipped behind Innocentius and reformed into Gajeel.
"ROD OF THE IRON SHADOW DRAGON!!" Gajell shot a gurdur from his arm that was shrouded in black energy and slammed Innocentius into the ground, the shadows allowing him to hit Innocentius's immaterial flame form.
"NOW SALAMANDER!!" Shouted Gajeel. "SHOW THIS IDIOT JUST HOW SERIOUS YOU WERE ABOUT TAKING HIM OUT!!!!!!!!!"
Natsu ran forward and jumped onto Innocentius's back, he bit into the back of the flame creature. However, this time he didn't pull back but actually started swallowing Innocentius like a vacuum.
"I-impossible!" shouted Stiyl. "He's actually eating the flames of the Witch Hunter King!!!"3
After Natsu had swallowed Innocentius whole, he stood up, glowing with golden flames so intense, that the ground around him began to turn molten. He pointed at Night Reveler. "You....you're dead meat."
"No...." said Night Reveler absolutely bewildered. Night Reveler attempted to scuttle away. Suddenly a bunch of electric tendrils lashed out and wrapped around Night Reveler, holding him in place while also giving him a good shock.
Night Reveler turned to look at where the electric tendrils were coming from. It was Mikoto Misaka.
"But your energy was drained!!" exclaimed Night Reveler as he endured the intense shock he was recieving.
"Luckilly." said Mikoto. "I had enough good eats to spare." Mikoto's bangs sparked to drive her point across.
"But Dragon Slayers can't eat their own magic!!!"
"Who says I ate my own magic?" said Mikoto. "You see, though my esper powers do combine with my magic when I go Thunder Dragon, they are both completely seperate powers. So all I needed to do was generate a nice spark, swallow it, and here I am...but enough about me....I think Natsu has a little unfinished bussiness with you."
Natsu walked slowly torwards Night Reveler, his golden flames slowly glowing brighter. Natsu leapt into the air engulfed his hands in flames and put them together. "BRILLIANT FLAME OF THE WITCH HUNTER DRAGON!!!!!!!"
A massive golden fireball erupted from Natsu's hands and turned into a massive dragon composed completely out of golden flames. The dragon soared into the air and raised a massive talon. a humungous cross formed in the dragon's claws. The dragon swung the cross downwards on top of Night Reveler.
The moment the cross connected, a huge explosion blasted outwards until both the dragon and Night Reveler were completely surrounded by an epic sphere of golden flames.
When the dust settled, Night Reveler had returned to his usual harelquinn form. He lay unmoving and smoking in the crater of destruction, the dragon Innocentius stood over him and roared before dissapearing into nothingness.
"Have a nice nap you stupid clown." growled Misaka
Deep in the underground of Academy City there was area far off from the 7th District that was actually off limits to all but Anti-Skill and Judgement. But thanks to the fact that it was mostly empty except for a bunch of automated buses that weren't in use, and that the cameras here were defective, anyone could come and go unnoticed.
As it so happened, Markorav and Laxus Dreyer were down here now, walking in between the rows of high tech vehicles that were stored here. The Fairy Tail master and the second strongest mage had been searching and investigating the underground for a while now. They had worked their way from the 7th District Shopping area, all the way down here, under the 19th District.
"What are we looking for Gramps?" Laxus asked. "We've investigated everywhere else already, why do we need to keep looking around here?"
"We're meeting someone here." said Markorav. "She....or they....have been my informants over the past week. We agreed to meet here around this date. They know the city well, plus they keep in touch with each other rather well."
"And are you going to tell me who it is we're meeting?"
"I would, but I think it's best that you see them for yourself before I explain."
Laxus suddenly noticed a figure in the distance. "Hey! Isn't that Mikoto? Hey, Mikoto, what are you doing down here?"
"That's not her." said Markorav.
"Huh? What are you talking about? That's definitely her....."
The girl without a doubt, looked exactly like Misaka Mikoto all the way down to the Tokwadai Middle School uniform. However, she seemed to be wearing some kind of high tech goggles, and she held a violin case with her (the violin case actually wasn't unusual, Mikoto was actually a very talented violin player.) Plus there was something about her expression that wasn't quite right. While Mikoto with her brash and outgoing personality always looked full of life, this girl looked blank....like a zombie.2
The girl looked at Laxus with an expressionless face. "Misaka is not Big Sister, says Misaka as she explains to the strange blonde haired man."
"Eh?" said Laxus. "Why are you talking like that Mikoto?"
"That's not Mikoto." said Markarov. "It's one of her younger sisters. Or to be more specific, one of her 10,000 sisters."
Laxus looked absolutely bewildered. "10,000!? Wha-what!?"
"Misaka is a clone, says Misaka explaining further." The Sister said. "Misaka is one of over 20,000 clones that were made from Big Sister's DNA map."
"It's a long story." said Markorav. "One that I believe only Mikoto has the right to tell when she is ready. The point here though, is that each of the 10,000 current clones can connect onto a network known as the Misaka Network. It allows each clone to transfer all their memories and knowledge to each other. And that means each Sister knows what the other knows."
"I see." said Laxus. "That's why they're good informants...."
"Misaka has been observing Big Sister as requested." said the Sister. "And Misaka has also been keeping an eye on the strange man you call Purehito."
"You've been watching Mikoto too?" Asked Laxus. "Why?"
"I asked them to keep an eye on Mikoto because she's become quite a large target in the incident that's erupted lately." said Markorav. "I don't want to give Aleister the chance to put her on his twisted marrionette."
"Misaka and her Sisters has been watching for quite a while." said the Sister. "Big Sister was recently assaulted by one who called himself Zancrow. However, she was able to escape."
"Anything else?" asked Markorav.
"Misaka is sorry to say that your cafe has recently been destroyed by a strange clown man....however, Big Sister and your friends were able to defeat him.....But Misaka predicts that the strange clown man might still be a threat."
Markorav sighed. "I guess I should have known that Purehito might try to hit us where it hurt most. "
"Things are heating up." said Laxus. "We need to go back the others up."
"We will." said Markorav. "But for now we need to keep in the shadows. There is still much we need to do to make sure that Purehito doesn't have his way."
Markorav turned to look at the Sister. "I know I'm asking much, but could you and your sisters continue to keep an eye on my guild?."
"Big Sister's friends are Misaka's friends." stated the Sister. "Big Sister and the others will not leave Misaka's sight, says Misaka reassuring the nice old man."
"Thank you." said Markorav bowing his head. "It does me heart to know there are kind ones like you in this world, please be careful on your way back."
The Sister nodded and walked off, only pausing to pick up a small black kitten that apparently had been waiting for her.
"I'll admit." said Laxus. "That was...bizzare."
"They may seem like stoics." said Markorav. "But that's merely because of how they learned about life. When they were first created, they had all their knowledge of the world downloaded into them like data. But they can feel, cry, and love as much as any other human being."
"I wasn't talking about the way she acted like a robot." said Laxus. "I'm just more used to talking to Mikoto when she was.....Mikoto. It's strange talking to someone who in all respects looks like someone you know.....but isn't. And then there's the issue that they all share Mikoto's DNA, do you think...?"
"No." said Markorav. "You can't copy a Dragon Born, even through cloning. While the human side can definitely be replicated, the genetic information of dragons are much too different and subtle. The original purpose of the clones were actually attempts to mass produce level 5s. However, even that failed, as the clones were only able to reach around level 2 or 3."
"So what happened to the clones afterwords?" asked Laxus. "Did they just go on to live their lives?"
"That could not be farther from the truth." said Markorav. "But like I said before, that story is for Mikoto to tell herself when she's ready."
"Well she obviously didn't tell you." said Laxus.
Markorav sighed. "I guess it couldn't hurt to tell you part of the story. You know about the level 6 shift right?"
"Mikoto said it was Academy City's attempts to create a level 6 esper. But that's never been done right? Even Black Whisper failed."
"It was predicted that if the strongest level 5 esper in Academy City were to kill Mikoto Misaka a certain number of times, that a level 6 shift could be achieved."
"Kill?" said Laxus. "Wait.....I'm starting to see where this is going."
"After a few calculations from the super computer Tree Diagram." said Markorav. "They were able to calculate how much of the weaker Misaka clones would be required to compensate for the number of times the real Railgun would need to be killed."
"How many...." said Laxus. "How many were killed?"
"10,000 out of the 20,000 that were intended to go....."
Laxus swore loudly. This wasn't an experiment, it was a massacre. A massacre of 10,000 living people. It was enough to make anyone sick....anyone human at least, because apparently the one who organized the experiment was definitely not human.
"I know." said Markarov. "When I first heard....Well that's not the point. The experiments were stopped, And the remaining 10,000 were saved. That's all you need to know. If you want to know more, it's best we wait till Mikoto is ready to share."
"You know." said Laxus. "Sometimes....the world can be quite disgusting."
Markorav nodded. "That's why we need to keep trying to make the world better, no matter how futile it may be, it seperates us from the animals."
"Does it really?"
Markorav looked off into the distance with a peacefull look on his face. "Yes.....I'd like to think it does."
Mr. Cursey Prowls At Twilight
Mikoto was dreaming, she could tell that much. How she knew this was a dream, she didn't know. But it was definitely a dream.
Mikoto sat on top of a skyscraper, looking over the Academy City Skyline while the sun set. Next to her, perched a majestic golden dragon, whose eyes looked astonishingly like Mikoto's
"Thundaarix.." Murmured Mikoto.
"Hello again my daughter." said Thundaarix. "We meet once again in the realm of sleep."
"Mother, is there something wrong?" Mikoto asked. "Why did you call me here?"
" I fear that your current battle holds more danger then you know dear daughter. Griomoire Heart is not the only one with their eyes on the one who holds the forbidden texts..."
"What?" said Mikoto. "What do you mean?"
"Dravis has been watching this dimension for eons.... He has watched it's magic develop, and it's science flourish. And most of all, he has watched as dragons lived on in this world in secret, somehow surviving the influx of humans.... He fears this world....the world that accepts both realities despite how much Science and Magic has warred with each other in the past...But most of all, he fears the 103,001st grimoire that dwells within the Index Librorum Prohibitorum....."
"Why is he so scared of it?" asked Mikoto as she remembered the mountain range sized dragon she had met in the ruins under the Black Flood Marshes in Fiore. "How could anything scare somthing so evil...?"
"He fears it because it holds the other half of the prophecy Markorav spoke of....the one that involves you and the fate of the Multiverse. It is said that the prophecy holds an immense truth that could change the tides against Dravis if ever read by mortal eyes. Dravis does not wish anyone to read the book. So if you should succeed in defeating Grimoire Heart and subduing Hydra Head....... Dravis will still be the greater danger."
"What should I do Mother?" pleaded Mikoto. "Please...I don't know what to do."
"Defend Index and yourself at all costs. The two of you are too important in this, if either of you were to die before the final battle....then all would be lost."
Thundaarix raised her beautifull golden head and stared at the setting sun. "The time is fast approaching, the age of dragons will either end or begin anew...You must be ready my daughter, for one day, the dimension of magic and this dimension will have a permanently intertwined fate....and you will be the key between those two worlds."
"I-I don't know if I can do it..." said Mikoto hugging her arms. "Everyone says I'm some big shot in Academy City. Even in Fairy Tail they say I'm one of their toughest guild members....but on the inside, I'm just......I don't know.."
Thundaarix nuzzled her snout against Mikoto's cheek and made a low humming noise. The scales felt warm against Mikoto's skin, like someone was pumping comforting courage into her body.
"You are strong my daughter...remember that you are strong....Always."
"Mikoto....hey Mikoto!!"
Mikoto woke with a start. "Huh? Whuzzat!?"
Mikoto was sitting in a diner with her friends Kuroko, Uiharu and Saten. Thanks to the hectic events of the past day, Mikoto had hardly gotten any sleep, having spent much of the night helping her fellow guild members settle into Touma's cramped dorm and helping Erza call the Academy City district managers to see about repairing the Fairy Tail Cafe. Luckily, it looked like the repairs would be finished in about 3 to 4 days (In a city full of people with supernatural powers, it's pretty much required to have good repair men on hand).
Mikoto yawned and stretched her arms. "Sorry everyone. Late night."
"Yeah." said Uiharu adjusting the assortment of flowers in her hair. "I heard about that, does anybody know about what caused the explosion?"
"Well...." said Mikoto trying to come up with an excuse.
"Nothing on that yet." said Kuroko. "Judgement's been doing a full sweep of the building and surrounding area and nothing seems suspicious for now...maybe it was just some level 4 pyrokinisest who decided to make a jump straight off the deep end. At least that's my theory. It's strange how much this resembles that other strange fire incident that happened a year back." (If any of you watched the 2nd episode of A Certain Magical Index, then you pretty much know what happened with that incident Kuroko just mentioned, for those of you who don't know, I've included the entire episode with this chapter ;D).2
"Well there's no use worrying about it now when we're all taking a break!" said Saten cheerfully taking out what looked like a magazine. "Why don't we all take a moment to check out the latest of this city's strangest wacked out stuff!"
"Jeez, there you go with the urban legends again." said Kuroko. "Why don't we do something normal for once, like go to the mall."
"But there's a bunch of new stuff this time!" said Saten her eyes sparkling. "Like get this! Remember the legend of the Undresstress?!"
"You mean that weird cheesy story about the woman who takes off her clothes in public?" said Mikoto. "Yeah, what about it?"4
"Well apparently there's been a new undresser around. They say he was cursed by the Undresstress herself!"1
"Now that's just absurd." said Kuroko. "I mean seriously, where's the proof?"1
"I actually saw him once!" exclaimed Saten. Saten's eyes suddenly widened as she seemed to see something behind Mikoto in the diner. "Look! There he is!"
Mikoto turned around and started choking on the burger she had been eating. It was Gray Fullbuster, and he was currently wearing nothing but his black boxers.
As Kuroko pounded on Mikoto's back, Gray waved. "Hey Mikoto! How's it going?"
"G-Gray!!" stammered Mikoto. "Your clothes!!"
Gray looked down at himself. "AWE MAN!! NOT AGAIN!!!"
"Wait, you know him!?" said Saten with her eyes sparkling. "That's great! Now you can't deny the legend of the-...Mikoto? Where are you going?"
Mikoto had gotten out of her seat and was pulling Gray out of the diner by the ear.
"Ow...owowowowowow!!" Gray exclaimed as Mikoto pulled his lobe.
"I'll catch you guys a little later!" said Mikoto. "Right now I need to get this guy some clothes before he gets arrested."
"H-hey! Mikoto, could you stop-OW!!!!" Gray said as Mikoto pulled him by the ear down the street. "Hey really that hurts!"
"You HAD to take your clothes off in public." groaned Mikoto. "How do you even lose your clothes so easily anyways? How much money do you actually spend on clothes!?"
"Actually that's one bill that I try not to think about." said Gray. "And could you please let go of my-?"
Gray's eyes suddenly widened. "Get down now!!"
Gray put his hand on Mikoto's head and got them to duck behind an automated hotdog stand.
"Wh-what?" Mikoto stuttered. "What's going on!?"
"That guy." Gray growled. "I know that guy!"
Mikoto peeked out from behind the hotdog stand to look where Gray was looking. Walking down the steet, and drawing a lot of stares from passerby, was a fat gray skinned fellow the size of a sumo wrestler, with messy black bristles for hair. And if that weren't gross enough, the guy was wearing nothing but a cape and black underpants.
"That..." said Mikoto, "has got to be the wierdest guy....I have ever seen in my life..... And I've met Night Reveler."
"It's Kain Hikaru." said Gray. "He's a member of Grimoire Heart."
"Well that explains the...er...look.....if you can actually call that a look."
They watched Kain walk around a bit. Kain lumbered forwards a few steps before falling on his knees groaning. "Awwww....I've been searching for that stupid Index thing for ages and I still haven't had one thing to eat."
Kain suddenly perked up. "Well it's a good thing I have my emergency shaved ice-"
Kain brought out an empty wet cone out of his belt, which apparently meant that all of the shaved ice had been melted for a long while.
Kain's expression became that of dismayed shock. "NOOOOOO!!!! WHY!!!?"
"Are you sure he's dangerous?" Mikoto muttered. "He seems a lot like a big baby, kinda looks like one too."
"Erm...Mikoto?" said Gray. "You might want to..."
"And what's with that getup anyways, is he trying to scar a kid for life?"3
"Mikoto..? You should really....."
"And just what is with that hair? Is he part porcupine- " Mikoto stopped mid sentence to see that Gray was pointing over her shoulder uneasily. "He's standing right behind me isn't he?"3
Mikoto turned around to see Kain Hikaru looming over her with an angry glare. "I'll have you know, I wear this to strike fear into my enemies!!!" BANZAI!!!!!!!!"
Kain thrust a hand downwards at Mikoto, who jumped out of the way just in time as the hotdog stand was torn apart.
"Keep on your gaurd!" said Gray as he got into a readied stance. "He may be a big idiot, but he's still strong!"
"It's not like I inteded to go easy or anything!" said Mikoto as a tremendous bolt of lightning jumped from her bangs at Kain.
Kain just stood there however and took it like it was nothing. Kain laughed. "Hahahaha! You think that will work? Well not as long as I have this!"
Kain held out what looked like a rag doll with a number 3 drawn on it's front. "This is Mr. Cursey #3! By changing the element he's made of, I can alter my body with ease! Like just now I changed Mr. Cursey into rubber to deflect that!"2
"Ice Make Hammer!!!" Gray brought down a giant hammer made of ice on top of Kain.
However Kain suddenly turned hard and metalic and the ice shield shattered. "Hahaha!! Now Mr. Cursey is steel- YOOOOOOWWWWWWW!!!" Kain was suddenly zapped by a tremendous amount of electricity. Kain fell over looking rather shocked (no pun intended).3
Mikoto grinned. "Metal conducts electricity idiot! Got any more tricks!?"
"Hmph, as a matter of fact, I do!" exclaimed Kain getting up quickly. "Now give one or your hairs!"
"Eh? What the heck do you want with my hair?" muttered Mikoto.
"You see, by taking one of your hairs and putting it on Mr. Cursey here, I'll be able to control your every movement!"
Mikoto stared at Kain blankly for a moment. "Sooooo....wouldn't telling me that make me less likely to give you my hair?"
Kain suddenly looked like he had a sudden revelation. "WHAAAAA!!!!!!??? YOU'RE RIGHT!!!!!"
Mikoto sighed. "Are you really a member of Grimoire Heart?"
Kain suddenly looked strangely happy. "Hehehehehehe.....I might not need to get hair from you."
Kain picked up a hair that was caught on his finger. "It appears that when you dodged my last blow...you didn't dodge completely.."1
Gray, recognizing the danger too late, shouted franticaly. "MIKOTO ZAP HIM!!!"
But before Mikoto could react, Kain put the hair on top of Mr. Cursey's head and slammed it against the ground.1
Mikoto, like a mimicking puppet, did the same thing, slamming against the dirt and grunting with pain as she did.
"Now!" said Kain Hikaru. "It's time to show you what Grimoire Heart can really do!!"
Accelerator V.S Bluenote
Accelerator and Gildarts walked through the underground area careful not to make any noise. Both of them were covered in sweat and they both looked ragged as well.
"That guy is something else." said Accelerator. "Hey, Old Geezer, I thought you said that both you and this guy were evenly matched."
"We are. At least we used to be." said Gildarts gritting his teeth. "He's upped his game, I'll give him that."3
"Heh!" spat Accelerator. "If this keeps up, I'm gonna look as old as you. If only I could get close enough to touch him, I can have him flying through 15 miles of dirt."
"What do you think I've been trying to do?" asked Gildarts. "What doesn't make sense is how he managed to get so strong....I know it's been 7 years since we've fought, but no way should his magic energy be that extensive. By the way, how much time do you have left on that battery of yours."
"Probably around 15 minutes." said Accelerator. (The limit of Accelerator's choker was extended to 30 minutes in some of the later novels of A Certain Magical Index, The author also hinted that he might extend the time limit to an hour in the next novel). "If we don't find some way to take him down soon....then I'll be more useless then a babbling cabbage."
"So how did you get that brain injury anyways?" asked Gildarts. "You're supposed to be able to deflect anything anybody throws at you while barely even trying."
"That's none of your business." Spat Accelerator. "Shut up!"
"Glad to see you're still rude as ever." muttered Gildarts. "Anyways, be sure to conserve your battery, we'll need that vector deflection."
"Actually, if I managed to get back home, I could get some more batteries." said Accelerator. "But with that freak up there, I'm not sure if we should risk it."
"How far do these passages run?" asked Gildarts.
"Who knows?" said Accelerator. "The board of directors say its only under the city, but Aleister Crowley is such freaking liar, for all we know, this could go all the way to New Zealand."
"New..what?"
"Never mind."
"Well if these passages go all over the city." said Gildarts. "We can go to where your home is and-"
"We're not blasting a hole in my floor." spat Accelerator. "I have enough bills to pay as it is. Plus I'll probably get that annoying look from Last Order for at least 5 years."1
"Well it doesn't look like we have much of a choice." said Gildarts. "We can't stay down here forever...wait...you feel that?"
"Eh? What?"
"Like we're suddenly.....heavier....Crap!!"
Accelerator and Gildarts whirled around to find Bluenote Stinger approaching from down the passage way.
"Are you ready to soar now?" murmured Bluenote. "Or are you still going to crash?"
"How does he keep finding us?!" spat Accelerator turning on his choker.
"Hell if I know." said Gildarts grinning. "But at least we don't have to sneak around anymore."
"You have a strange sense of denial." said Accelerator throwing his walking stick aside.
"Gramps tells me that all the time." said Gildarts. "So are we going to do this or what?"
"Don't slow me down Old Geezer."
Accelerator launched himself at Gildarts, using vectors to increase his speed. He reached his hand out at Bluenote. But suddenly Bluenote moved with a burst of speed, and in 3 seconds flat, he had bypassed Accelerator and let out a devestating gravity magic fueled punch into Gildart's gut. Gildarts flew off at the speed of a bullet and crashed into the side of the passage, causing a landslide of rocks to fill up the passage way.
The rocks on top of Gildarts suddenly disintegrated into tiny pieces thanks to Gildart's magic. Gildarts got up rubbing his head. "Jeez, he's gone and done it again."
It had been the same in the last three battles. Bluenote would completely ignore Accelerator, while using speed that he never had before when Gildarts last fought him to completley dominate the mage while causing Accelerator to waste time on his battery. It was almost as if he knew all about Accelerator and his limitations.
"This is getting bad all over again!" Growled Accelerator, he launched himself at Bluenote again.
Bluenote sidestepped Accelerator again in a burst of speed and shot at Gildarts, giving him another earth shattereing punch to the gut. Gildarts glowed with an intense white aura and responded with a punch of his own. But Bluenote sped out of the way so fast, it was as if he was teleporting.
"This doesn't make sense!" said Gildarts. "You've never used speed magic."
"I'm getting pissed at being ignored!!" shouted Accelerator slamming his hand to the ground. The earth shook around Accelerator and the ground broke out in a massive earthquake of rubble, causing Bluenote to trip for just a second.
As Bluenote tripped, Acceleratot was able to observe a bluish glowing object attatched to a bracelett around Bluenote's wrist. Then it was gone, as Bluenote regained his footing and sped twenty meters away.
"Hmmm..." said Bluenote. "It seems you've lost your ability to fly.."
"Hey Old Geezer!" spat Accelerator. "Notice anything strange about that guy's wrist?"
"Yeah." said Gildarts. "I'm definitely feeling a strange magic coming from it....."1
"Well I need you to just stand right there." said Accelerator. "Cause I'm gonna try something."
"Huh?"
"Just trust me on this."
Bluenote sped at Gildarts. However, right at the same moment, Accelerator launched himself at Gildarts as well, making it just in time to fly right under Bluenote's left wrist, and rip the blue glowing stone from the bracelett.
Bluenote immediately slowed down incredibly, much to his own surprise. Gildarts punched Bluenote straight in the face causing him to fly through the roof of the underground and into the cityscape above.
"Heh! I knew it!" Accelerator spat as he crushed the stone with his foot. "He's been using a second source to increase his speed, because he knew he couldn't take the both of us on his own."
"Kudos for noticing what I couldn't" said Gildarts. "So I guess we should follow now?"
"Yeah."
Accelerator used vectors to leap through the hole in the cieling while Gildarts followed using his own strength.
Accelerator looked around the city area. Apparently Gildart's punch caused Bluenote to smash through several cars and completly demolish a building at the end of the street. "I see you're a fan of redecorating."
"I dabble." said Gildarts. "You should see Natsu, he has a real talent for it."
Bluenote stepped out of the rubble sporting a black eye and a few bruises, but nothing more serious.
"Hmmm...Maybe you will soar." said Bluenote. "But the battle is not yet over."
"Stay here." said Accelerator. "I'll take him myself...I'm rather tired with how he kept ignoring me."
"I'll be right here if you need me." said Gildarts.
Accelerator approached Bluenote with a psychotic smile on his face. "Hey you!! You asked earlier if I could fly.....What gives you the right to say that when you are so obviously falling!?"
"This is getting fun." said Bluenote smiling. "Now....Fall."
Bluenote twitched his finger and an intense gravitational push blasted down on Accelerator. Accelerator was pushed down to his knees, growling in agony.
"I've heard all about you from my master." said Bluenote. "Your vector deflection can only block vectors that stand within reason. Magic opperates outside of reason depending on what kind it is. Certain kinds of my gravity magic cannot affect you....however, if I put of enough magic energy into it..."
Bluenote flicked his finger downwards and Accelerator was pushed further into the ground, while the rest of the street was also compressed and demolished around him.
".....I can still render you helpless." finished Bluenote.
"Hehehehehe..." Accelerator started laughing. "Hehehehehehehe....hehehehehehehe...
Bluenote's eyes widened. "What's so funny?..."
"You think you know everything about me.....but in reality you're the most naive piece of crap I've ever laid my eyes on...." Said Accelerator standing up. "Just who do you think I am?!"
"How are you standing?!" Bluenote exclaimed. "I've put enough magic into that to destroy a steel skyscraper!"3
Accelerator began to laugh uncontrollably. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! There are so many things!!! So many things niether you or your freaking master know about me!!!"
Suddenly blackish smoky tendrils blasted out of Accelerators back and twisted and turned until they looked like black raven's wings. It was Accelerator's Black Wing form, the ability that allowed Accelerator to control vectors that was no one even knew existed.....including magic.12
The wings spread outwards, rivaled only by Mikoto's Thunder Dragon mode in width and magnificence.
"This boy...." said Bluenote murmured. "He...yes...he can soar!"
Accelerator yelled out with a blood curdling scream and hurtled at Bluenote with impossible speeds. Bluenote launched himself at Accelerator as well, putting all the magic power he could muster into his next punch.
The two fists colided and a shockwave was generated that was so powerful, several buildings nearby collapsed, and every window of the buildings within a 20 mile radius shattered.
Bluenote readied another punch and launched his fist at Accelerator's head. However, his fist stopped 5 inches away as if stopped by some invisible force. Bluenote was immediately thrown back through several more buildings, his right arm having been completely obliterated from Accelerator's vector deflection.
Bluenote got up, now sporting two blackeyes and a stub were his right arm used to be. "YES, This boy can SOAR!!"
Accelerator gave another massive yell and his wings spread out behind two sky scrapers on either side and pushed against them. The two giant buildings came off their foundations and sped at Bluenote like two 300 ft tall projectiles.
"BLACK HOLE!!" Bluenote thrusted his hand outwards and massive sphere of energy appeared in front of him. The sphere began pulling inwards on itself, and the surrounding buildings became sucked in like....well....a black hole.
The two giant skyscrapers which Accelerator sent at Bluenote were sucked in like they were nothing. However, Accelerator wasn't done yet. He roared and sent his wings shooting forward like spears into the gravity sphere, tearing it apart like it was nothing. Accelerator launched himself forward at several times the speed of sound until he came right in front of Bluenote and put his hand on Bluenote's face.2
"Now...." said Accelerator. "Die..."
Bluenote shot into the sky like a rocket, going faster and faster until he reached the ozone layer and burned up completely in the atmosphere....never to be seen or heard of again.
As Accelerator walked back to Gildarts, several more skyscrapers collapsed in giant dust clouds.
"Yeesh." said Gildarts. "You, Accelerator, are possibly the scariest guy I have ever met."
"Shut up Old Geezer, and let's get something to eat....I'm starving."2
Total Meltdown
"AAAIIIEEEE!!!! Gray look out!!!"
Mikoto flew into Gray Fullbuster like a bullet. Kain laughed as he waved around the cursed doll with Mikoto's hair, causing Mikoto to fly around like a ballistic missle.
"See!?" said Kain. "This is what happens when you decide to cross Grimoire Heart. As one of the strongest members, I am more then matched to take the two of you on!"
"Shut up!!!!" shouted Mikoto as she slammed against a building and sustained a black eye. "When I get out of this you are so dead!!"1
"Don't worry Mikoto, I've got this!" said Gray. "Ice Make Lance!!!"
Pole-like ice projectiles shot at Kain. Kain was smashed into the ground, dropping Mr. Cursey in the process.
Mikoto got up staggering and dizzy. "Ugh....that was...urgh...."
Gray ran at Kain, intending to pick up Mr. Cursey before Kain came to. But all of a sudden, a massive green beam of energy blasted at Gray's feet, blowing up the road and causing Gray to be thrown back. "Ugh!! What the...?!"
Walking towards the scene was a girl with teacolored hair. Shizuri Mugino looked at the scene with a bored expression on her face. "Here I am just walking along, and I run into this scene....A fat man battling an undressed boy while the Railgun stumbles around like an idiot. Either I'm dreaming or some idiotic experiment has gone horribly wrong."2
"Who the heck are you?" exclaimed Gray. "Who's side are you on!?"
"Side?" said Shizuri. "I'm not on any side. I'm just pissed that some random freaks decided to brawl in public for no reason."
"St-stay out of this Mugino..." said Mikoto dizzily as she tried to recover from being thrown around. "T-this has nothing to do with you!"
Shizuri Mugino, also known as the 4th strongest level 5 Meltdowner, merely laughed. "Ha! And they call you the third strongest. You've really gotten roughed up haven't you?"
"I still don't know who the heck you are, but lay off." said Gray. "This isn't your fight, so get lost!"
Suddenly Mikoto flew like a ballistic missle into the surprised Shizuri, flooring them both. Kain had gotten back up and retrieved Mr. Cursey while Mikoto and Gray had been distracted by Meltdowner.
"Get off of me before I decide to kill you!" shouted Shizuri angrilly.
"I don't think this is pleasant either you jerk!" shouted Mikoto.
"Hmmm.." said Kain scratching his chin. "Were there three of you before? Eh..."
Kain moved Mr. Cursey up and down, causing Mikoto to go up into the air and slam into Shizuri repeatedly.
"Ow! Ow! OWW!! Make it stop!!" shouted Mikoto.
"WHAT THE HECK IS THIS!?" shouted Shizuri as she covered her head in an attempt to shield herself.
"Okay that is enough!!" shouted Gray. "Ice Make, Ice Cannon!!"
Gray held a massive bazooka made of ice and aimed it at Kain. But before he could fire, Hikaru suddenly held out Mr. Cursey in front of him. "I wouldn't do that if I were you!"
"Darn it!" said Gray gritting his teeth.
"That's right!" said Kain. "If you hit Mr. Cursey, there's no telling what will happen to your friend over there. So as long as I have Mr. Cursey, you're helpless against-"
"ZAM!!" Before Kain could finish his sentence, a blast of white energy with a greenish aura blasted into Kain's face and sent him flying into building behind him, breaking apart bricks and glass in the process.
Meltdowner had her hand pointed at Kain with an spiteful furious look on her face. "Now I'm angry."
"Hey! careful!" said Gray. "If you hit that doll, then Mikoto's toast!"
"Acceptable losses!" said Shizuri blasting four beams of energy at once into Kain.
Proving to be much faster then he looked, Kain dodged Shizuri's blasts and ran at her like a deranged fat man coming after an icecream truck. 4
"Don't take me lightly!!" Shouted Kain thrusting out a palm like a sumo wrestler.
"Hmph! so gullible!" said Meltdowner. Four beams formed around Shizuri and blasted at each other to create a powerful energy shield.
Kain yowled with pain the moment his hand came into contact with the shield and pulled his hand back.
"Hot! Hot! Hot!!!!" shouted Kain holding his hand and jumping up and down.
"I can't believe Railgun had such a hard time with you." said Shizuri. "I guess I am the stronger one after all!"
Suddenly Kain started chuckling. "hehehehe, not so fast!" Kain held out a single strand of tea colored hair.
"So you got my hair." mocked Meltdowner. "So what?"
"Behold!" said Kain bringing out a second rag doll. "Mr. Cursey #4!!"4
"Another doll?" said Shizuri. "What's that supposed to-"
Suddenly Shizuri and Mikoto rose into the air like puppets and began slamming into each other repeatedly while Kain laughed and slammed the dolls together.
"HOW THE HECK IS HE DOING THIS!!?" shouted Shizuri. "OW!!"
"I TOLD YOU NOT TO GET INVOLVED!!!" Mikoto shouted back. "NOW LOOK AT US!! OW!! OW!!"
"Okay, that's it!' said Gray pointing his ice bazooka at Kain. "You're going down you fat bozo!"
Gray fired a massive icy blast, intending to just miss Kain. It worked, the blast created a huge icy explosion which surprised Kain. Gray used the distraction to jump forward and snatch the dolls out of Kain's hands.
"Now we're in business." said Gray pulling the hairs out of both dolls.
Mikoto and Shizuri both fell to the ground and got up groaning.
"I am going to kill that giant gray baby!!' growled Shizuri stepping forward. Suddenly, a lightning bolt blasted right next to Shizuri's feet.
"Back off Meltdowner!" said Mikoto. "He's mine!"
Mikoto yelled, and her lightning wings burst into being. "SECRET ART: GREAT FLASHING LOTUS BLADE!!!!!!"
Mikoto's wings once again turned into the large electrical swords and Mikoto sped at Kain in a blur of speed, slicing her blades around like a lightning shredder. Mikoto brought both her blades together into one giant blade and blasted into Kain's head like a giant Zanbato sword, creating a huge shockwave that spread around Mikoto and caused the all the windows in the area to shatter.
"Now...." said Mikoto. "Just one last order of bussiness to take care of." Mikoto reached over and ripped a bristle out of Kain's head. "Hey Gray! Throw me one of those!"
Gray tossed Mr. Cursey #3 at Mikoto who caught it and put the bristle on Mr. Cursey.
"W-wait!" said Kain getting up. "W-what are you doing!?"
Mikoto rested the doll on her thumb like she would normally do with her Railgun move. The doll suddenly turned metalic.
"Oh! so that's how the whole element change thing works." said Mikoto. "Well it definitely works in my favor."
Mikoto flicked Mr. Cursey, and in a burst of sparks, Mr. Cursey flew at several times the speed of sound.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" shouted Kain as he too flew off at several times the speed of sound and crashed into a nearby abandoned building. The building collapsed on top of Kain, completely burying him.
"That was for the black eye." Mikoto growled.