Mikaris was utterly confused. She had watched dozens and dozens of tests before...but never had she actually felt anything while watching them. She had always been content to just watch and not even care about the subjects. But with every passing moment she watched Mikoto cry out on that screen...she started to feel a knotted feeling in her gut...was this...pity? Or something much more?
Mikaris shook herself. It was because Mikoto looked like her that's all..she was reminding her of her own countless sessions spent in that chair. Feeling the pain of constant horrific mental intrusion. But the horror she had accepted to be necessary in her growth to power.
So if she had accepted it then...why wouldn't this damn feeling in her gut go away!?
Suddenly the door to the observation room opened up and in walked 'Mega Punch' Sogin.
"Wassup?" said Edo-Gunha. "Did I miss any of the screaming?"
"Only about half an hour of it." said Cronus. "But her level's only gone up by a fourth so far...though I have to say..that is starting to look very...erm..interesting."
Sogin's eyes widened as he looked at the screen. "Wow! I heard she had wings...but horns? and check out those plasma claws...she's like some sort of dark angel or something..."
"Dragon.." said Mikaris in what she hoped sounded like an indifferent voice. "You can already see the surface of her tail solidifying into scales...interesting..from the sounds of her screams...it seems like she is still capable of coherant thought."
"She's got some nails in her soup." said Sogin. "Guess I shouldn't expect any less from you..even if it's the Earthland you."
A soldier suddenly rushed in, his armor burnt and smoking. "This is bad ma'am!! They found the lab..they're breaking through!!"
"What!?" said Sogin. "How!?"
"Dragon Slayer scent.." said Mikaris. "It must be that Salamander individual from before. He's persistant that one.."
"Heh!" said Sogin clenching his metal fists. "If you don't mind..I think I'll take this one, I haven't hit a single loser all day! Coming General Misaka?"
"I'll stay." said Mikaris, feeling rather surprised that those words were coming out of her mouth. "I wish to observe her some more.."
"Whatever.." said Sogin. "Don't mind if I borrow your liutenant though do you?"
"If Cronus does not object, neither will I.."
"YES!!" said Cronus. "TIME TO MAKE SOME BLOOD!!"
Cronus teleported out of the room as Sogin sped off in a sudden blur.
Mikaris returned her attention to the screen of the monitor. She didn't care...she didn't care at all..this girl was nothing but a mere test subject that would later be turned into a weapon...just like everyone else in this god forsaken city.
Right outside Secret Lab in the Eastern Area of Psychic City.
"Omigosh!! I am so lost!" screamed Lucy as she ran throught the maze of high tech turrets which were all mysteriously deserted except for a few awkward unconscious soldiers covered in burns and bruises.
Lucy ran back and forth through the destruction angrily knocking her head. "RRAARRGHH, I was supposed to go to that school district and get Taurus and Loke to do some major damage as a distraction, but here I am running around who knows where! At least Academy City had maps in the visitor's center or something.
Suddenly Lucy heard two familiar voices shouting in the wind. "HAHAHAHA! Take that you bastards!!"
"Natsu?" Mikoto murmured as she ran towards the source of the noise. She peaked around a turret to find a scene of amazing chaos.2
Hundreds upon hundreds of soldiers all lay unconscious on the burned metal floor, while just as many mega mech drones were piled around as scraps too. And on the larges pile of mechs in the center of the place, was Natsu and Gunha laughing and high fiving one another.
"Man!! That was just too perfect!" said Gunha. "Did you see me kick that one guy all the way over the turret over there?"
"Yeah! And then I set a bunch of those guys's pants on fire..hahahaha!!" said Natsu gleefully.
Lucy sighed. "Of course...it would be you two who always cause the most destruction.
Happy and Elli flew down next to Lucy, both of them looking they had just whitnessed a billion explosions...of course, that was probably likely.
"N-Natsu and Gunha are scary.." Murmured Elli.
"Aye." said Happy. "Natsu was like Mikoto whenever she hears that the Gekota shop is having a 90% discount...Oh no...MIKOTO!!"
"Already on it Happy!!" Natsu shouted as he slid down the metal pile with Gunha right behind him. "No way am I forgetting the reason we came here!"
"Wait.." said Lucy. "What happened to Mikoto!?"
"Long story short, she beat the crap out of a whole bunch of people as usual, then she was kidnapped by some idiot in a suit of armor.." said Gunha. "Or so I've heard...
"We gotta find her.." growled Natsu. "Who knows what they're doing to her.."
"Well, well....now I'm tempted to actually tell you what exactly they're doing to her.." Sogin landed in front of the group with a crash...the rocks around him shifting with power.
"It's Edo-Gunha!!" Happy shouted.
"My, my! Hello there good looking evil guy!" said Gunha.
"You.." Natsu growled.."What do you mean..what are they doing with her..?"
"Oh, I would love to tell you and see the look on your face when you find out.." said Sogin with a sadistic grin. "But it just wouldn't be fun...now...I'm afraid I can't let you guys past here.."
"And I'm afraid we're can't let anyone get in our way..no matter how good looking they are." said Gunha.1
"Jeez..how I wish I could torture such a loud mouth like you as much as we did that stupid Earthland Misaka...but I guess it can't be helped...I gotta kill you now.."
"Did you say...torture...?" Natsu growled quietly.
"Oh yeah..you should see her right now...crying like she's five and having nightmares or someth-Ack!!"
Before Sogin could finish his sentence, Natsu charged in and laid an Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon right into his stomach.
Sogin flew straight into a turret completely demolishing it. He burst out of the rubble angrilly, punching it off of himself with a telekinetic wave. "How dare you...what the heck!?"
"Lucy...Gunha..Happy...Elli.." said Natsu as the fiery aura around him began to increase. "Mikoto's inside the building right behind you...I can smell it...you need to go in and get her.."
"What about you!?" said Lucy.
"I'm gonna kick this guy's ass all over this freaking city.." said Natsu.2
Gunha nodded. "Heh...I understand, looks like this fight just became personal...come on Luce..can't keep Railgun waiting.."
Lucy stared at Natsu for a moment, then she came up to him and kissed him straight on the cheek.
Natsu's eyes widened for a minute as he blushed slightly. "Eh..?!"
"Come back alive you here?" said Lucy.
Natsu grinned. "Hey! Who do you think you're talking to? How many times have people tried to kill me now?"
"I lost count at 459..." said Happy.4
As Lucy and Gunha ran off with the Exceeds in tow, Sogin grinned with a sadistic look in his eyes...
"One puny mage..against me..why...I'm feeling quite honored...I get to kill somebody else now..." Sogin crouched down on his legs and suddenly...vanished.
"Eh!? Where did he-" said Natsu.
Sogin suddenly reappeared behind Natsu and thrust his fist out. Immediately, there was a huge explosion of flame and smoke as Natsu was blown back in a ginormous fireball, destroying over 50 turrets and countless structures in the process.
"HAHAHAHA!! How do you like that!?" said Sogin. "My A.E.A. increases the friction of the telekinetic energy I force out, allowing me to dish out more force and dish out enough friction to burn my oponent in a big explosion too.."
"Ya know.." Natsu's voice came out of the giant explosive flames. "I met a guy named Jackal once..who thought that blowing things up was all the answer he needed...heh..yet the first move he pulled on me...and all he ended up doing was giving me lunch."1
The flames all swirled as Natsu swallowed them up, his belly bloating as he did so. Natsu gave a tremendous swallow and his belly returned to normal as he wiped his mouth grinning. "Oh, yeah..now that put a fire in my belly for sure..I'm all fired up just thinking about beating your sorry butt.."
"You just...ate fire.." said Sogin, his eye twitching.
"Yeah..and now, I'm gonna spit it right back out!! ROAR OF THE FIRE DRAGON!!!" Natsu opened his mouth wide and blasted out a tremendous geyser of flame at Sogin.
"So that's how it's going to be huh?" said Sogin with a grin as he clapped his gauntletts together and let out a tremendous wave of telekinetic energy. The telekinetic blast blasted away the fire all at once as Sogin suddenly jumped at Natsu in a blitz of speed.
Natsu moved his head out of the way as Sogin let out a bullet barrage of telekinetic punches. Everything behind Natsu exploded into nothingness as Sogin continuosly tried to beat down Natsu, only to have his fists dodged by the grinning Dragon Slayer.
"Crimson Lotus! EXPLODING FLAME BLADE!!" Natsu whirled his hands together as a powerful cyclone of fire blasted Sogin into the air. Natsu launched himself into the sky and pounded Sogin back into the ground with a flaming fist.
Natsu landed on the dented floor next to Sogin as he got up wiping a drip of blood of his grinning face. "Man..you're something else. All the magicians I've ever faced are complete pushovers. This is going to be fun.."
"Oh really?" said Natsu. "You said that your A.E.A makes you much stronger then normal right..? Well in that case...I've seen way better."
Sogin's eyes narrowed. "What did you say...?"
"I said..I've seen better...your Earthland self, lands a bigger punch then you without even trying.." said Natsu. "I should know..you could say we have a bit of a friendly rivalry going down.."
"Oh..now I'm mad.." said Sogin with a vein popping on his forehead.
Before Natsu could react, Sogin suddenly appeared right in front of him and punched him straight in the gut. Natsu shot into the sky and crashed straight into a nearby sky scraper which collapsed.
Natsu burst out of the rubble and jumped away just in time before Sogin suddenly appeared next to him and launched another punch which smashed down another nearby sky scraper.
"Kid..You should probably know...this armor..is usually only at 30% power..and I just pumped it up to 100 %." Sogin moved again and caught Natsu by the foot before he could dodge. "The only reason I supress it...is that I tend to cause a lot of property damage this way..."
Sogin threw Natsu into the air and punched at him, causing a telekinetic surge to shoot him into the air as he suddenly appeared above Natsu and telekinetically punched him straight into the floor. Natsu rolled out of the way and boosted further away from Sogin by blasting fire from his feet.
Suddenly Sogin appeared in mid air behind him. Natsu engulfed his hands in flames. "Jaws of the Fire Dragon!!!"
Sogin caught Natsu's wrists and kicked him straight into the wall of the lab building nearby. Natsu fell to the floor and got up wearilly, barely dodging another telekinetic punch from Sogin.
"What the hell?" grunted Natsu. "It's like he's on a whole different level this time.
Natsu puffed up his cheeks. "ROAR OF THE FIRE DRAGON!!"
Sogin once again punched his fist at the flames and snuffed them out. "Ha! You're denser then you look...the same trick never works twice!"
Sogin's eyes suddenly widened as he noticed Natsu was nowhere to be found...above ground that is. Because at that moment, Natsu's flaming fist tore right through the metal floor and upper cutted Sogin right in the chin. Natsu then gave furious flaming kick right into Edo-Gunha's gut, letting him smash and tumble for several meters before Sogin put out a hand and stopped himself with precise accrobatic skill.
Natsu roared and launched himself at Edo-Gunha..his entire body engulfed in tremendous flames But Sogin put a hand out and caught Natsu by the throat with an impressive grab.
"Heh...you're stronger then any magic user I've ever fought...Nice..how are you so strong I wonder.."
"Wanna know my secret?" gasped Natsu. "Mess with my friends..and you get the deluxe package of hurt town.."
"Why that makes no sense.." said a woman's voice. "I thought all you did was hit things harder..."
"Meltdowner...I'm busy.." said Edo-Gunha as he looked over his shoulder at the Edolas version of Academy City's fourth strongest esper.
"Sorry..but Mikaris told me to check on you..when she heard that it was that pink haired boy, she wanted to ensure we didn't underestimate him..."
"Oh you underestimated me alright..."growled Natsu as he grasped the arm that was choking him with a flaming hand. "Oh you bet..."
"Eh?" said Muginas. "How is he able to keep talking with you grasping his throat like that..?"
Beat's me.."muttered Sogin.
"Here's a little taste...of what happens when you mess with FAIRY TAIL!!" Natsu screamed as he thrust his hand out into the air. Immediately the fire all gathered up to his right hand and seemed to harden slightly to form a molten armored gauntlet. The gauntlett gave off some bursting flames, and a ginormous sword blade made completely of fire shot out from the wrist of the gauntlett.
"SECRET ART!! VOLCANO FLASH OF THE DRAGON BORN!!!"2
Natsu swung his flaming sword downwards and a tremendous fiery explosion blasted into the sky, engulfing everything within a 60 meter radius. When the fire cleared, the entire metal floor was glowing molten hot as a tired and burned looking Sogin who had just barely managed to escape the epicenter of the move stood behind Muginas who had a bright energy Meltdowner shield up in front of her.
Both espers looked stunned as they watched Natsu walk towards them his flaming gauntlett sword bursting with power and a heat that seemed to suck in all the air around it.
"So..." said Natsu grinning ominously. "Who want's to learn to flambe first?"
"Y-you're...impossible." said Muginas. "All the readings on my armor...your DNA..it's now...more.."
"Dragon-like?" said Natsu. "Eh..guess that would make sense..took me a while to learn to awaken the whole Dragon Born ability thing after Igneel told me about it back on Fulmen..but better late then never right?"6
"Ya darn bastard.." growled Gunha as he launched himself at Natsu and punched a massive telekinetic wave in his direction.
Natsu held out his blade in front of him, and a violent wind seemed to go around Natsu as the telekinetic energy merely split around his fiery blade.
"Wh-what!? But nobody's ever blocked it!" said Sogin sweating.
"Later gator.." said Natsu as he swiped his sword outwards to the side and a tremendous fire of awesome power lashed out from it and engulfed Sogin. Sogin lay on the molten floor now..completely wiped out, his armor partially melted off of him from the fire.
"Ya overconfident brat!!" Muginas held her hands out, and several greenish pulsating energy spheres formed around her, firing beams into each other to form one massive photon beam which shot at Natsu.
In a flash of crimson speed, Natsu sliced his sword downwards, and cut the Meltdowner beam clean in half, causing it to split into two beams which both demolished some turrets immediately, disintegrating them to nothing.
Edo-Meltdowner fell to her knees, her eyes wide with amazement. "Y-you actually cut straight through...my very own..."
As Natsu walked past the stunned Muginas, he turned back to look at her for a moment. "Tell the Psychic Supreme that the next beatdown is for him.."
Muginas closed her mouth as she began to feel beads of sweat running down her forehead that had nothing to do with the now tremendous heat.
Muginas stared after the Dragon Slayer's retreating back. This man...the data analyzed on magic by the A.E. A. confirmed it. This man was beyond a possible doubt...a Dragon Born..6