In the Pokémon World.
Sandgem Town.
The countless stars that once filled the sky above the town have long since vanished.
The distorted space and chaotic projection of stars collided with one another, warping space and time.
The chaotic darkness spread outwards.
Centered in the skies above Sandgem Town, it expanded towards the entire world.
In the sky.
A space deity, Palkia, resplendent in pale purple and adorned with dark purple stripes, resembling a standing lizard, tilted slightly in the void. One of its beastly claws gathered a rich spatial power and struck out towards the imposing figure of Dialga ahead.
"Spatial Rend!"
A deep purple spatial force, sharp as a blade, expanded and slashed forward.
Everywhere it passed, space shattered and tore apart.
Opposite, in the void above, was the time deity Dialga, entirely deep blue, with armored thorns protruding from its body, resembling a long-necked dragon. Facing the colossal strike hurtling towards it, it let out a mighty roar to the heavens, gathering a dense time power in its mouth.
Dialga directed the concentrated time power towards the nearly all-encompassing Spatial Rend.
Redolent of powerful energy, the time roar shot forth from Dialga's mouth like a meteor.
Boom——!
The massive deep purple spatial strike collided with the light-like time roar above Sandgem Town.
Though the two attacks seemed unequal, they remained locked in a standoff at the moment of collision.
Time power intertwined with spatial power.
At the point of impact, a distorted black hole emerged.
The chaotic stars and space in the sky accelerated into tearing fragments, while deep red spatial lightning and dark blue time lightning flickered and flashed, the roar reverberating endlessly.
All surrounding forces were drawn into the black hole generated by the collision.
And at that instant, an energy entity appeared out of nowhere, preparing to descend into the Pokémon World. As it neared the ground and began to take on a humanoid form, the clash of time and space powers gave birth to the black hole.
[Arrival in the Pokémon World confirmed. Random drawing system initiated.]
[Drawing in progress... Most powerful Trainer system, Most powerful Mage system, Most powerful Pokémon system, Most powerful Martial Arts system, Most powerful Ninja system...]
[Congratulations, you have acquired the Most Powerful Tr... zzzt...]
[External energy attack encountered.]
[Drawing process interrupted, redrawing underway.]
[Zzzz—Congratulations, you have acquired the Most Powerful Zzzz—Pokémon Zzzz—system—]
[External energy attack encountered.]
[Activating Shuttling Mode.]
The energy entity that had just formed into a humanoid figure transformed back into a glowing sphere, uncontrollably absorbed into the black hole.
---
In the Fairy Tail World.
Year X774.
Eastern Continent, Ishgar.
Located in the western part of Ishgar, with a population of about 17 million, the permanent neutral country, Fiore Kingdom.
Magnolia Town.
On the morning after a light rain, Magnolia Town was filled with the fresh, earthy scent mixed with grass and trees.
Gaal's magic shop.
The wooden door slowly opened, and Gaal, dressed in a black mage robe with black-purple hair, walked out while yawning.
He stood at the door, eyes closed, taking a deep breath of the fresh air. A slight chill instantly spread through his brain, waking him up considerably.
After stretching his body a bit, Gaal turned to speak to the room inside:
"Let's go, Gengar."
From inside the house came a weak voice:
"Jie—"
Then, a purple, rotund figure, over a meter tall, rubbed its scarlet eyes and waddled out of the room, its short legs and arms making it look adorably clumsy.
Seeing this, Gaal couldn't help but chuckle:
"Don't be so lazy."
"Lock the door, it's time to head out for a stroll."
With that, he started making his way toward the guild.
The early-rising residents around greeted Gaal, who smiled back in response.
Upon hearing they were going out for a stroll, Gengar immediately perked up:
"Jie!"
Its scarlet eyes sparkled slightly, and the door lock flew out from the house. Then, under the influence of its telekinesis, the door closed automatically, with the lock fitting back into place.
Click——
Locked.
Gengar nodded in satisfaction and floated to keep pace with Gaal.
The residents had become accustomed to Gengar's presence, with many coming to like it, even though the little guy loved to play pranks.
However, it often used its telekinesis to help the nearby residents.
---
Fairy Tail Guild.
The door was slightly ajar, with the sound of rhythmic snoring coming from inside.
Clearly, last night had been another night of revelry.
Gaal pushed the door open, revealing a chaotic assortment of tables and chairs, with guild members sprawled in various sleeping positions.
And among them was young Cana, still a child, clutching a bottle as she lay soundly asleep on a table.
Looking at Cana, Gaal used his telekinesis to lift her and gently move her to a corner, covering her with a blanket that he summoned with his powers.
At the bar counter of the guild, Master Makarov was also clutching a bottle of alcohol and yawning:
"No matter how many times I see this, it never fails to amaze me. It really is a convenient ability."
A hint of helplessness flashed across Gaal's face:
"Old man, others are fine, but are you really planning to raise Cana to be a drunkard? This isn't the right way to let her grow up."
While it was true Cana would become a drunkard in the future, at just eight years old, she shouldn't be drinking.
When Cana first arrived two years ago, she was a pitiful little girl holding a puppy, and now... she was half a drunk.
Makarov looked pained and somewhat wronged:
"That child has matters weighing on her mind; you know it, too. She won't speak no matter what you ask. She only relaxes when she drinks. If we don't let her drink, keeping it all bottled up will lead to problems."
Gaal couldn't help but facepalm:
"I have a pretty good idea of what's bothering her. I'll look for an opportunity to help her with that."
The source of Cana's troubles lay with her father, Gildarts.
However, Gildarts hadn't returned once in years, and Cana couldn't connect with her father.
Just as Gaal was facing a bottleneck with the research on magic items, he decided to take on a few missions and simultaneously look for Gildarts.
Currently, Fairy Tail wasn't yet the top guild of the Fiore Kingdom that it would become; many of the later young members had not yet joined.
Only Makarov, Gildarts, and Ivan, Laxus's father, stood as powerful mages.
Gildarts wandered outside for years, often returning only to take on tasks from the bulletin board.
Meanwhile, Ivan was still busy with Laxus's health issues.
Recently, he had traveled to the southern continent, having heard that someone had obtained the heart of the Thunder Dragon King and was preparing to auction a magical crystal. If he hadn't been swayed later on, given Ivan's current performance, it would be hard to believe he was the same selfish person he became later.
Only Makarov remained, stuck running the guild.
The only notable member recently was Gaal, who had been rising up.
The guild was in severe need of power reinforcement.
However, as the year X777 approached, the guild would soon become lively.
Makarov, somewhat surprised by Gaal's insight, nodded:
"You know what?"
Then he continued:
"Then I'll leave Cana's issue to you. Speaking of which, why have you been researching for so long this time? What useless magic have you come up with?"
Gaal's lips twitched:
"It's not useless magic. The spells and items I develop are all essentials for daily life."
Makarov looked at him, somewhat speechless: "For instance... magic that makes shaved ice or magic that makes stones dance?"
Gaal glared at him slightly, "In the sweltering summer, using magic to create shaved ice, just one bite, the icy sensation washes over the brain, it sounds refreshing just thinking about it!"
Makarov's lips twitched: "Don't phrase it so oddly. It sounds like one of those addictive potions."
Gaal scratched his head, sighing: "Research has hit a bottleneck here. I'm short on materials; I'm planning to head north to gather some supplies. I heard that demons have been appearing in the north recently. It's the perfect opportunity to gather materials."
Makarov, who had just taken a sip of his drink, immediately spat it out incredulously at Gaal, "Hey, hey, hey. What exactly are you trying to make that requires demons as raw material? The demons appearing in the north are not to be trifled with. It's Deliora, the immortal calamity demon from Zeref's Book."