Prime Earth land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus.
July 6, x791.
"[Iron Dragon's Roar]." Prime Gajeel chanted as he spewed forth a swirling mass of metal shards to combat a beam of jade-green energy.
On the other side of the jade-colored beam was a large dragon with jade-green, jagged scales, four powerful limbs with four fingered claws, a pair of large wings on its back, and a row of spikes running down its spine. The dragon also seemed to have a flat skull and nose with two long strands of hair growing from its chin.
"Hmm... You're doing better than I expected." The dragon, Zirconis, said casually. "Maybe I should keep you around and train you as a sparring partner. Yes, train you as a sparring partner. No! No! No! I'll eat you instead. Yes, I'll eat you instead."
"Make up your damn mind!" Prime Gajeel shouted as he leapt out of the way of Zirconis breath attack after it overwhelmed his own. "You've been going back and forth about the same thing ever since you got here!"
Immediately, Zirconis' words and movements came to a stop. Then, he slowly turned his head to glare at Prime Gajeel, flames of anger burning in his eyes.
"How dare a puny little human, even one who learned from one of the great dragons, speak to me that way." Zirconis said in a cold tone. "And just for that, I am definitely going to eat you."
"Um... Gajeel, maybe that wasn't the best thing to say." Prime Wendy said in a nervous tone.
"So what?" Prime Gajeel asked indignantly. "This guy is just too annoying. Always changing his mind... Always repeating himself... Can't he just keep that big ugly mug shut?"
The flames of wrath burning in Zirconis' eyes only grew in intensity as Gajeel spoke. And the reason for that was simple. Zirconis was well-aware of his personality flaws. However, that did not make it okay for others to mention them.
"I've heard enough." Zirconis said sonorously. "I'll eat you right now. But I hate the taste of clothing. So, I'll get rid of those first."
While Prime Gajeel looked at Zirconis disdainfully after hearing that, Prime Wendy paled immediately. Then, she wrapped her arms around herself defensively while looking at Zirconis warily.
"This dragon... he's a pervert." Wendy said in a shaky tone, the fear from being stripped naked in public completely outweighing the fear she felt for the dragon in front of her.
Zirconis froze once again upon hearing that. However, instead of exploding in rage, he repeatedly opened and closed his mouth, unable to find the words to defend himself.
"I agree." A familiar, yet unfamiliar, female voice said from behind Prime Gajeel and Prime Wendy. "I can't believe he's from the same race as Grandeeney."
Hearing the voice coming from behind them, Prime Gajeel and Prime Wendy quickly turned their heads in the voice's direction. Meanwhile, Zirconis narrowed his eyes when he saw the two people walking towards them.
"Who are you?" Prime Gajeel asked, his eyes narrowing as well.
Meanwhile, one of the newcomers, Gajeel, smirked.
"What's wrong? Don't you recognize such a good-looking mug?" Gajeel asked while cupping his chin with his left hand.
"We came to help." The one who spoke earlier, Wendy, said softly with a determined expression on her face. "So, just let us take care of this degenerate dragon. [Sky Dragon's Healing Roar]."
After speaking her chant, Wendy took a quick, but deep, breath. Then, she breathed out a gentle wind that flooded the area. The wind quickly spread to everyone in the area, whether it be Prime Gajeel and Prime Wendy, or all the people caught up in the dragon's destruction. Then, to everyone's surprise, they felt their injuries begin to heal.
The only one who was not affected by Wendy's healing winds was Zirconis. And after seeing all his future meals being healed from their injuries, he grew even more angry.
"If you think that will save them, you're sadly mistaken." Zirconis said, his easy-going tone nowhere to be heard.
*Whoosh!*
Zirconis then flapped his wings, propelling himself into the air. Then, when he was up high enough, he inhaled a large amount of air, clearly preparing for his breath attack once again.
"I don't think so." Gajeel said, drawing a bastard sword from a sheath on his back. "[Crush Them with Claws and Fangs of Iron, Metalicana]."
Hearing the name Metalicana, Prime Gajeel's eyes widened. However, before he could ask the look-alike in front of him about it, he was forced to take a step back when Gajeel's magic power spiked. At the same time, his eyes widened even further when he saw the changes Gajeel's bastard sword went through.
Though the shape of Gajeel's sword did not change by too much, seeing the sword's edge become serrated like the blade of a saw was something Neither Prime Gajeel or Prime Wendy expected.
"[Let the Winds of Healing Spread, Grandeeney]." Wendy also chanted her release command.
As Wendy's chant ended, her magic power also rose sharply. At the same time, the small, metallic dragon wings on her back, Grandeeney's sealed state, expanded to the point where the wingspan was nearly triple Wendy's height. They also became a pair of white, feathered wings, looking a lot like Grandeeney's.
Seeing the change in what she only thought were a pair of decorative wings on Wendy's back, Prime Wendy's eyes widened in surprise as her hands flew up to cover her wide open mouth and tears began forming in her eyes.
"Grandeeney…" Prime Wendy muttered in nostalgia and longing.
"[Ile Vernier], [Ile Arms], [Ile Armor]." Wendy chanted three spells in quick succession.
In the next instant, multicolored orbs of magic power were sent flying from Wendy in all directions, two of each colored orb sinking into everyone present on the battlefield, wizards and civilians alike.
"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about." Gajeel said happily as he felt his speed, offensive ability, and defensive ability increase twice. "Now, let's show this bastard what it means to mess with our kingdom. [Iron Dragon Incarnation]."
In the next instant, Gajeel was covered in an iron armor that looked like a humanoid version of Metalicana. Then, with his sword in hand, he flapped the wings of his armor and rocketed up towards Zirconis.
"[Jade Dragon's roar]." Zirconis chanted, exhaling a much more powerful beam of jade-green light towards the approaching Gajeel.
"[Dragon Slyer Secret Art: Karma Demon's Iron God Sword]." Gajeel chanted only a moment later.
In the next instant, while the beam of destructive green light charged towards him, the sword in Gajeel's armored hands fused with the armor. Then, it expanded in size, its length now comparable to Zirconis length from snout to tail.
"[Rip and Tear]." Gajeel chanted once again while raising his arms and the giant sword above his head.
*Brrr~~~~~~~~~!*
With Gajeel's second chant, the serrated edge of the sword began to rotate around the blade like a chainsaw, the shrill sound echoing throughout the surroundings. Then, once Gajeel was close enough to the breath attack, he swung his arms down with all his strength., cutting through Zirconis' [Jade Dragon's Roar] with ease while his approach remained unimpeded.
"What? Impossible!" Zirconis gasped in surprise.
However, Gajeel did not stop at just cutting through Zirconis' most powerful attack. Instead, once he was close enough, he swung his arms back along the same path.
*Splatter!*
And with that return swing, Gajeel cut through Zirconis from his head through most of his tail, which had flicked to once side when he was surprised by how easily his [Jade Dragon's Roar] had been dealt with, causing blood, bone fragments, and shredded pieces of dragon organs to rain down on the part of the city where the battle was taking place.
Meanwhile, everyone in the area could only watch in shock and awe at how easily a dragon, one that had been terrorizing their city almost completely unchallenged since it was summoned, had been cut in two with only once slash from a massively oversized sword.
"Ha!" Gajeel barked a satisfied laugh as he watched Zirconis bisected body fall from the sky. "I thought the fight would be harder."
*Bom!*
A moment later, the two halves of Zirconis crashed onto the ground, kicking up a large dust cloud that formed the shape of a mushroom.
Gajeel landed next to Wendy not long later and looked at her with a grin.
"Hey, Pipsqueak." Gajeel said, causing Wendy to look in his direction. "Why don't you ditch that loser, Salamander, and team up with me and Levy… Oh, and I guess those other two, too. With your help, we would be able to take on much tougher S-Class quests."
"No thank you." Wendy replied casually. "I like hanging out with Natsu, Erza, Gray and Lucy. Besides, Carla would be sad if she couldn't see Happy as often. They've already been apart for a long time, you know."
"What, and you think Lily isn't better than Happy?" Gajeel asked, almost sounding offended.
"That's not what I meant." Wendy said, her calm demeanor breaking immediately as she waved her hands in panic. "But they're in love. And you can't force her to stop loving Happy and start loving Lily, right?"
"Tch! Whatever." Gajeel said, clicking his tongue as he turned away.
Seeing Gajeel's reaction, Wendy panicked even more, thinking she had upset him. However, because of the angle at which she was looking at him, she couldn't see the teasing smile on his face.
Meanwhile, Prime Gajeel and Prime Wendy were thoroughly shocked by the display from two people who looked almost exactly like they did. Gajeel did not have a spell like [Iron Dragon Incarnation], nor had he ever thought of creating one. As for Prime Wendy, she could see just how much the people injured in Zirconis' attack had recovered from just one wide-ranged spell from Wendy. On top of that, seeing Wendy double cast all three of her support spells was just as incredible to her.
Then, there were the weapons and accessories both Gajeel and Wendy wielded. And the fact that they were named the same as their dragon parents who raised them made Prime Gajeel and Prime Wendy want to ignore everything and ask a whole slew of questions.
"Stop lookin' at us like that." Gajeel said after noticing the stares from his and Wendy's counterparts. "I know you two have a bunch of questions. But now's not the time. Instead, you should worry about helping all the people who can't help themselves."
"Yes." Wendy added, snapping out of her panicked state. "There will be an explanation for all of you before we go back home."
Though that answer did not satisfy their curiosity, Prime Gajeel and Prime Wendy accepted it for now. Especially since they understood just how much their help would be needed for the people of Crocus. So, after glaring, in Prime Gajeel's case, and looking at them with puppy-dog eyes, in Prime Wendy's case, the two darted off to start helping as many people as they could.
"Alright, we should get going to help, too." Gajeel said as he resealed Metalicana and dispelled his [iron Dragon Incarnation]. "You go help the short stack heal as many people as you can while I help that handsome bastard dig people out of rubble."
Rolling her eyes at Gajeel's narcissism, Wendy turned to follow Prime Wendy. But before she started running, she looked at Gajeel from over her shoulder.
"Yeah, I understand." Wendy said, a mischievous smile beginning to spread across her face. "But you know, I didn't realize just how cute I was back when I was twelve."
Then, before Gajeel could reply, Wendy, with the help of Grandeeney, which was still released, sped off with a gust of wind to follow her younger counterpart.
Meanwhile, Gajeel could only watch Wendy leave with a dumbfounded expression on his face for a few moments, completely surprised by her cheeky reply. Then, when he got his wits together, he threw his head back and laughed at the top of his lungs.
"Oh man, she really has changed since she came to the guild." Gajeel said with a wide smile on his face. "Then again, so have I. I mean, I would have never thought about getting married back then, would I? I guess Fairy Tail really is a good influence on us, huh?"
After saying that, Gajeel shook his head before he could start comparing himself to how he was back in Phantom Lord. Then, he dashed off in the direction where Prime Gajeel went, to help him clear rubble.