Non-Pokémon Digi-Tail Fusion: The Forest Zone Pilot

[matt0044]

Lisanna Strauss considered herself the baby of her siblings and not one to stand out in Fairy Tail. However, a vivid dream promises the extraordinary from the seemingly ordinary.

---

Digi-Tail Fusion by matt0044

Prologue: Premonition To Adventure

Story Adapted From Riku Sanjo

Darkness covered the land as a vast and terrible army advanced closer and closer, bringing despair and terror in their wake. In front were gas-masked, rifle-wielding sloths with giant bull-like creatures, mammoths of great strength and mechanical menaces bringing up the rear. In the air were vulture-like planes that seemed like they had faces. The size of their numbers alone were enough to make anybody retreat for their lives.

Not her, however. Never her.

On top of a hill in the distance, one white-haired girl had taken a stand between the darkness and the light. It was just her and a couple of extraordinary friends: a small red dragon, a mechanical blue-red stag beetle and an orange-white wolf with drills on his head and tail. Along with them were many other creatures who were not about to roll over while everything they valued was at stake. A red flag flew overhead to declare their presence to their enemies.

And so, facing the vast and terrifying army, undaunted and unyielding, the white-haired general thrust out her treasured red gadget and let out a fierce battle cry to commence the attack.

"DIGI-FUSE!"

Her device gave out a green shining energy that resonated with her three closest friends, their bodies becoming pure data that shot up to the sky and converged above the girl. They descended down as a mechanical marvel that shook the ground upon landing and set off into battle.

With one swing of his Star Sword, the robot launched a fiery shock wave to vanquish the sloths in a large inferno. However, while the front was damaged, the army still pressed onward. Deciding to go long range, the robot wields his saber up and rushes in for close combat. The girl commanded her forces to charge ahead and save their world. As the massive forces rushed onto the battlefield to settle the score once and for all...

---

Lisanna's eyes snapped wide open as she jolted up frightfully from her bed. Panting heavily, she darted her eyes around to see that she was indeed still in her bedroom and not in the middle of some freak show of a battlefield. Letting out a sigh of relief, the teenage wizard laid back down thankfully but couldn't shake the nightmare out of her head.

Lisanna could've sworn she was in the middle of a monstrous massacre. That dream was too vivid to be just some random night terror but it couldn't have been some sort of premonition. She hardly knew the first thing of such magic. All the same, there was a strange distinct vibe about it that she just couldn't shake. What did it mean?

Before she can even make either heads or tails of it, the banging on the door snaps her out of her thoughts as a familiar female voice abrasively speaks up. "Get the lead out, Liz! You've got a big mission today and you are NOT going to make everone miss the train! Got it, Sis?"

"Already on it, Mira," yawned Lisanna as she stretched her arms out. Her sister's aggressiveness was hardly a surprise at this point but not even a dragon would be bold enough to try THE Mirajane Strauss. Or a Dragon Slayer for that matter...

Getting out of bed, Lisanna Strauss went to open the window blinds and look out at the beautiful view of Magnolia. She smiled at the sight of her hometown but the nightmare still ate at the back of her mind. As though, something bad was about to happen.

However, the girl took a deep breath and optimistically told herself not to overthink such dreams. Today would be like any other day in the life of a Fairy Tail wizard. Crazy, hectic but so much fun with her friends and family.

What could possibly go wrong?

To Be Commenced...

---

This will be the start to my pilot, crossing over Fairy Tail with Digimon Fusion/Xros Wars. My hope is that Fairy Tail fans will be able to enjoy this story without knowledge of Digimon or its sixth Anime installment. Especially as it branches off from a very pivotal moment in the Guild's history.

As ever, please review.

 

[matt0044]

So what actually did happen on that faithful day in the year of X782? You know the story but suppose fate had different ideas.

---

Chapter 1: And So It Begins Again...

Based on the characters and story created by Hiro Mashima

Adapted Dialogue by Monica Rial and Clint Bickham

Joey Fullborn hit the air with some gleeful shadow boxing while balancing on the ledge across Magnolia's river. His grin was more than a little cringe for Wan and Chico while they followed him on the walkway.

"That Dark Guild was more like a Dork Guild," the muscle-bound wizard boasted with his shirtless abs flexing. "The Baram Alliance sure ain't living up to the hype."

"That's why the mission was B-Rank," Wan Chanzi claimed with a roll of his eyes and blow of his bubble gum. "Tartaros will barely even miss it."

"Don't be such a party pooper," Chico C. Hammitt chimed in, stepping between the boys. "We still cleaned house and I even took out thirty goons this time around."

"Not what I heard," Joey cheekily chided Chico, walking backwards with killer balance. "You lost count after eleven."

The brown-skinned girl pouted back up at the real party pooper. "What, like you did any better?" she demanded to know rashly.

"Twenty goons better if you can count that high," Joey gloated while flexing his pecs.

Wan groaned and rubbed his shaved head in annoyance, thinking of a way to derail the subject. "Lisanna was no slouch either," he cut in, looking behind himself and his friends. "How many did you get?"

A white-haired girl in a red blouse flinched when she found her friends turning all eyes towards her. "Oh... about five...?" Lisanna Strauss uneasily answered, going red in the face. "Four?" She twiddled her fingers in fudging the truth. "I think I got one in the family jewels if that counts?"

"Cut yourself some slack, girl," Chico claimed while backing up. "We snuffed them out of their hidey-hole thanks to you finding all their secret passages." She smacked Lisanna playfully on the back to boost her spirits. "Plus, that Mole Soul was sooooo cute."

"It certainly streamlined Joey's usual gun-blazing M.O.," Wan chided, adjusting his sunglasses.

"Dude, I'm literally right here," Joey retorted with a frown while hoping off the ledge.

"It was hard to maintain my form with dirt in my eyes but I did manage," Lisanna replied, smiling more from her friends' vote of confidence. "Still... you three were the ones doing all the heavy lifting in battle."

"You weren't... terrible," Joey began, trying to not be so frank. "You made sure those dorks didn't know what hit them."

"Those 'dorks' knew a weak link when they saw me, especially with my Cat Soul," Lisanna retorted with a touch of fuss in her voice. "I had to be bailed out by you four times in a row."

"Actually, it was more like six," Joey recounted. He swiftly felt Wan dope-slap him on the back of his head with his Iron Dog arm and realized he misread the room.

"I-I-I mean... who was even keeping count, right?" he attempted to save face with.

Lisanna giggled over their pettiness before Chico put her left arm over her shoulders. "You might not be able to throw down with some Big Bad like your big sis," her gal pal calmly promised, "but your game plans are pretty rock solid."

"I saw a good B-Rank Request you could solo," Joey chimed in. "Something about a weird white cat with yellow gloves standing up right and running amuck."

"Sounds like something Happy would prefer," Lisanna giggled.

"If you need it, I can loan you one of my Movie Lacrimas as a pick me up," Wan offered cooly. "You were meaning to start the Dragon King Festival trilogy, right?"

"Ugh, trash!" Chico claimed, throwing her hands up in disgust. "They're so historically inaccurate." Lisanna steps a bit back, wary off the sparks about to fly.

"Accurate schmaccurate," Joey dismissed with a roll of his eyes. "You've been hanging around that McGarden chick too much, Chico."

Lisanna would've joined in on Joey's side if she hadn't heard something. No. It was more like she could feel this something. A sort of... melody that dance into her ears and through her body. Her feet stopped in response to how it... beckoned her, asking for her help.

Lisanna turned her head to her left where the melody was emitting from and saw a long, dark alleyway. The kind that Mirajane especially had always warned her about. She knew she should run away yet her legs put one foot after the one and carried her towards the source. It seemed... trustworthy?

Lisanna turned her head every which way for a potential creepazoid to leap out while the melody seemed to increase in volume. Problem was that she couldn't find anything or anybody would could be making it. She swallowed anxiously.

"Um, hello?" Lisanna ventured forth with a drying throat. "Are you okay?" The melody felt stronger and stronger before she stepped on some sort of stone, feeling it through the sole of her red-brown shoes.

The young wizard lifted her right foot up to find a square plastic stick no bigger than her thumb. Lisanna squat down to pick it up and felt the melody from it start to waver. The seemed to be an image of some suit of armor and words. However, it seemed to fade in and out too much for her to make out properly.

Lisanna tried to concentrate harder and squint her eyes. However, they soon shot wide open when she saw it again. The dream.

That small red dragon.

The army of magical creatures.

The massive metal soldier.

And herself. Yet... not herself?

Her mind was inundated with so much confusion when...

"Yo, Liz!" Chico called out, echoing through the alleyway. "Are you trying to get mugged?"

Lisanna snapped out of this semi-trance and quickly pocketed the plastic stick. "Sorry," she quickly apologized while getting back up and running back out of the alleyway.

---

As they entered Magnolia's park, Lisanna finally decided to show the plastic stick at the risk of seeming crazy and held it out with her right hand.

"Didn't take you for the fake jewelry type, Liz," Chico mused, leaning over Lisanna's left shoulder.

"It's a Data Card, genius," Wan remarked like it was common knowledge. "Archive Magicians use them to store valuable information that their internal network either can't or shouldn't."

"You think this has dirt on the Magic Council?" Joey chimed in, grinning like madman. "I smell blackmail."

"You've seen too many Spy Movies," Wan retorted. "My fault really."

"Besides, there's no Lacrima on it for storage," Lisanna pointed out, hoping to move away from possible war crimes. Her eyes were still trained on the card in hopes that it would say something. Anything to show she wasn't crazy.

"I heard from my pen pal in Alakitasia that there's rumors of new technology for non-wizards," Chico chimed in with excitement. "It's suppose to store and even share data on machines called computers."

"Chyah," Joey scoffed with a roll of his eyes. "Like that's gonna catch on."

Chico would've disputed if her eyes hadn't caught sight a familiar looking scarf just down the hillside. She grinned with cheek before grabbing Lisanna by the shoulder, derailling her train of thought.

"Looks like we got home just in time," Chico sassed, turning everyone's attention her way. "You got a domestic dispute, Liz."

Lisanna joined Joey and Wan in looking to their left. There, they found a big tree shaded one Natsu Dragneel in his open vest and baggy pants opposite one Happy the Blue Cat. Neither one of them looked at each other and the looks they did have were far from happy ironically.

"Here we go again..." Lisanna groaned, pressing her face up to her palm. "Wan, can you leave that movie under the door?"

"Sounds like you'll need it," Wan surmised while she slide down the embankment. "Good luck with Salamander."

"Don't spank Happy too much," Joey joked.

"Literally one time!" Lisanna volleyed back while marching towards the Dragon Slayer and his egg hatched kitten.

The three amigos saw off Liz before turning away and heading back to Fairy Tail's Guild Hall, collectively sighing in sympathy.

"She does so much," Chico sighed more sedately, "but she thinks too little of herself."

"Next to the She-Devil, anyone would feel little," Wan replied, blowing another bubble.

"That B-Rank involves susing out something missing," Joey declared with gutso. "Perfect for an animal's sense of smell."

"And if bad guys are involved," Wan started to surmise, "we could pretend to be in danger so she can bail us out this time."

"Wan, just because you're some movie buff, doesn't make you an actor," Chico chided with cringe. "We all saw your 'performance' during the Christmas play."

The three walked off ripping into each other, confident that they'd be able to help Lisanna out with all the time in the world.

---

"Don't tell me you two are fighting again," Natsu heard in front of him, rousing him from his pouting session.

"Ah, hey, Lisanna," Salamander greeted in a suprisingly low-key manner. "Glad you're back." He looked up from his seat at the tree to find his childhood friend already standing over him and Happy.

"He ate my whole fish and didn't even ask me first," the little blue cat whined to Natsu's left, keen to get the first word in.

"Whenever I eat any fish, you say it's your's," the Fire Dragon Slayer quickly retorted, sitting folding his arms stubbornly.

"Geez, Natsu," Lisanna sighed over the tried and true formula, her knuckles to her hips. "You're the dad."

This snapped Natsu and Happy right out of their anger and into embarrassment.

"So you gotta take good care of your wife and son," Lisanna teased, winking to sell the cheek.

"That was like a million years ago," Natsu protested, going red in the face. Memories of them playing house and hatching what they thought was a dragon's egg resurfaced in his memory. Many of them fun. Some... a tad cringe. Even for him.

"What're you guys talking about?" Happy butted in shrilly. He didn't remember that part from stories told of how he was found.

"Gyah," Natsu exclaimed, flustered even further. "Nothing!"

Lisanna decided to cut them a break and let her smile soften. "It's normal for families to have a fight every once and a while," she begin with the kind of warmth Makarov carried himself with, "but what's important is that you make up." She let out a small sheepish snicker through the bit. "No matter what happens, Happy's still our son."

"I think Lisanna's gone psycho on us!" Happy exclaimed.

"Don't talk like that, man!" Natsu replied to the cat's usual off-beat remarks.

"Oh, then should I talk like this?" Happy bickered back, sounding like a hick with a drawl.

"You know that's not what I mean!" Salamander volleyed back, easily taking the bait.

"Juvenile as ever, I see," Lisanna poked in, joining in on the roast.

"Stop picking on me," Natsu whined, stomping his sandaled feet in protest. His "wife" and "son" could only laugh.

"C'mon, Lisanna," they soon heard from nearby. "Let's go, we gotta get to work."

Lisanna looked behind her to find her big brother, Elfman, and her big sister, Mirajane. Elf had a black suit inspired by school uniforms from various countries out in the East, something he claimed was the manliest thing in fashion. His spikey hair was cute but... rather overcompensating in his sister's opnions.

Mira, unsurprisingly, had gotten into a back alley brawl with modesty and sported her shortest crop-top/mini-skirt combo. The boots rose right up to her knees in a way Lisanna couldn't get for the life of her. She just knew that her big sister was putting the punk scene to shame as per usual.

"What, we just finished a job," Lisanna complained, thinking how she was gonna hit up Wan for that film. "Can't we take a little break?"

"Yeah, but it's an S-Class Quest," Elfman claimed with a bit more excitement to him. "Mirajane wants us to go along and help her out with it."

"No way!" Natsu protested passionately. "Totally unfair."

"What kind of job is it?" Happy asked innocuously.

"An emergency request, it just came in," Mirajane answered, sounding too cool for the room with a near sigh. "They want us to kill off this monster called 'The Beast.'" She smirked, amused by Natsu getting all uppity again. "Hey, you wanna come with us, Natsu?" It didn't take much to poke the bear for her. "You could learn a thing or two."

"Do what?" Elfman questioned incredulously before raising his voice. "I don't want him tagging along." He went so far as to put up his dukes, ready to fight his sister if it came to it. "I'm the man in the family and I can protect you on your own."

"Oh, brother..." Lisanna sighed wearily with no one listening. She'd seen how Elfman had been becoming self-conscious about how much of a "whimp" he was before his voice deepened. It didn't help that Mirajane had joined Erza Scarlet herself as an S-Class Wizard not to long ago.

"Awwww," Natsu groaned, jumping up and down in a tantrum. "Why you gotta hog all the fun?" Him being raised by dragons wasn't hard to believe at times like these. "Take me with you!"

"Let's... not and say we did," Lisanna claimed uneasily, grabbing Natsu by the shoulders. "I think Master's still buried in paperwork from the you know what at you know where."

"Oh yeah," Mirajane snorted in her sadism. "I was wondering why Titania looked royally pissed."

This was enough to make Natsu settled down and make a grim look. "We did say we'd lay low until Erza took that quest, right?" he recalled with Happy, the blue cat's face as bleak as he was.

"Aye..." Happy gulped out, scared of so much as seeing the redhead about.

"Anyone asks, I'll say you went off to Veronica," Elfman promised.

"Whatever," Natsu acquiesced while sitting back down against the tree. "Unless this beast is a dragon, I'll take a rain-check on a collab."

"That's that then," Elfman claimed while looking at his watch. "Let's hurry and take the earlier train possible."

"Let's make it a race then," Mirajane declared cheekily, already getting a head-start through the park. "Loser gets the snacks on their cash."

"Oh, c'mon!" Elfman balked in annoyance while trying to catch up. "You better not use magic!"

Lisanna only slightly giggled if only to stave off the embarrassment. She didn't mind being the baby of the Strausses but sometimes she wondered if the term wasn't being used too liberally.

"Better go after them before they tear up the town," Happy suggested to Lisanna with his usual cheek.

"Don't worry," Lisanna promised to her "son," squatting to pat him on the head. "Even my sister isn't that-"

SMASH!

"My cabbages!"

"Watch where you're going, you fool?"

The exact order of those noises made Lisanna break into a nervous sweat while Natsu nearly bust a gut from sheer catharsis.

"You were saying?" Happy sassed back to his "mother."

"At least, this job will pay well," Lisanna sighed sheepishly, trying not to seem to beleagured. She ran off to at least apologize for the damages quickly when she stopped and looked back at Natsu with a weird feeling in her heart that she couldn't explain.

Like it was now or never.

"Natsu!"

Salamander and Happy looked up to see Lisanna pointing straight up to the sky, the front of her hand facing forward to their surprise. To anyone else, she was just pointing to the sky. However, to a Fairy Tail wizard, it was nothing short of sacred.

"I'll be back soon!" Lisanna declared. She posed for a good few seconds before turning away to hurry out of the park.

"Weird," Natsu remarked to Happy. "You'd think she was going on world tour or something."

"Told ya she's gone psycho," the cheeky cat claimed.

To Be Continued...

---

A familiar launchpad but with a somewhat new trajectory to come. Natsu has no idea how correct he nearly is...

This chapter adapts the flashback of when Natsu last saw Lisanna two years before the series started. If you noticed, the dialogue is taken straight from the English version of Episodes 20 and 24. Said dialogue is modified to fill in some of the blanks.

Additionally, some may recognize Wan, Chico and Joey as those three wizards that Lisanna shot the bull with in episode 96 as if they were besties way back when. Here, I expand on them as a team that Lisanna tags along with to try and branch out from her siblings. Though Chico might comes off as a bit more lively than she should, it is something she does when palling around with Lisanna.

 

[matt0044]

Elfman feel the need to prove himself as good as his big sister. That was his first mistake.

---

Chapter 2: The Beast Takes Over

Lisanna barely paid attention to the trees flying by her while she sat in the train compartment and stared at the Data Card once more. It was dead as a door nail but she kept telling herself that this was the source of those visions. Clairvoyancy wasn't exactly a commonplace practice.

"Lisanna?"

More over... why her? Lisanna had felt its request for help but couldn't understand what it would need from her of all wizards.

"Earth to Liz?"

She kept on asking, believe that she could somehow transmit her own feelings beyond wor-

"Are you getting all this or what?" Mirajane barked louder with a sharp series of snaps.

Lisanna jolted off of her train of thought and back onto the one she was actually riding on. Elfman and Mirajane were sitting opposite of her, her big sister clearly miffed over being ignored.

"Y-Yeah, I got all that loud and clear!" Lisanna insisted, straightening her posture. "Though... could you repeat it anyways?" Her head sank in embarrassment while pocketing the Data Card.

Mirajane groaned tiresomely while kicking back and leaning her left leg onto her right. "Elf, could you...?" she gestured vaguely. "The teacher doesn't like to repeat herself."

"The Beast is being held off by other wizards and local militia but it's still pretty hairy last we heard," Elfman explained, frowning over playing student-teacher.. "The town has started to catch fire way too fast for first responders to snuff out."

"So it's not just punch evil in the face until it dies then?" Lisanna surmised surprisingly specifically.

"That would be my department," Mirajane declared cockily, manspreading with her usual swagger. "My Satan Soul will give Beastie Boy an overdue spanking while you and Elfman evacuate the city."

"Hey, wait a second!" Elfman indignantly interrupted on a dime. "No way I'm on clean up duty." He made a quick, softer aside towards his little sister. "No offense, Liz." His frustration towards his big sister resumed. "You're not hogging all the action again, Mira."

"Here we go..." Lisanna sighed under her breath, leaning her chin onto her right palm.

It wasn't that Mirajane wasn't nice anymore so much as her Satan Soul magic often influenced her personality. The more she practiced it over the years, the more abrasive she got to the point of mouthing off to Erza Scarlet herself.

And that was before puberty had hit Mirajane like a goods train. Lisanna felt her modest chest and sighed over being left in the dust.

"Um, who's the S-Class in this family, baby brother?" Mirajane objected in immediate offense, leaning in to give her brother the evil eye. "That Beast Arm will give it a stubbed toe if we're lucky."

"Um, who's the man in this family, sis?" Elfman insolently retorted, leaning back. "This Beast can't be that bad if they need you."

"Keep running your mouth," Mira threatened, clenching her teeth like the She-Devil she became known as. "See. What. Happens."

"Hey... uh..." Lisanna tried to squeak on in however much she could. "Maybe... I could focus evac?" This was thankfully enough to break them up with a dose of confusion, their raise eyebrows aimed at her. "I mean I doubt I can lead a whole town to safety but... first time for everything?"

"More like half the town if damage reports are anything to go by," Mirajane claimed nonchalantly much to her siblings' slight unease. "But if Mr. Bitchy Britches wants to play in the deep end, who am I to refuse?" Elfman stuck out his tongue immaturely to at least get the last word in.

"Well... I'm no She-Devil..." Lisanna began, trying to seem humble in her anxiousness, "...but I'll manage something." She fiddled with her finger in trying to look the part. "I always do..."

Elfman easily picked up on how his little sister was far more self-conscious than she was letting on and glanced over to Mirajane. Mira met his more concern expression with a raised eyebrow before he gestured his head towards Lisanna, silently telling her to make with the pep talk.

Mirajane grunted with a pout over being put on the spot. "Look... Liz..." she began with a sigh, dipping into her sincere side. "You're the better people person between the three of us so if anyone can help them best, it's probably you."

"You really think so?" Lisanna responded, bewildered by Mira's becoming more open.

"Just remember that you ain't me," her big sister went on, "nor do you gotta."

"Trust me," Elfman added at his own peril. "The guildhall can't handle two of her."

"That's it," Mira snapped with his fist raised over the ruined moment. "Time to see what happens-!"

SCCCCCCRREEEEEEEAAAAACH!

The sound of the brakes slamming on would've hurt their ears if the sudden inertia hadn't caused them to fall over. Lisanna fell to the floor first while Mirajane slide out of her seat in reflexively holding onto a nearby handle. Elfman had shot out of his seat and slammed into the wall opposite him once they stopped just as suddenly.

"Everyone okay?" Lisanna asked while getting up, rubbing her bruised cheek.

"I've had worse from Erza," Mirajane grunted while lifting herself back up.

"Somebody pull the emergency cable?" Elfman demanded to know, stumbling while rubbing his nose. "What's the big idea?"

"Take a look outside," Lisanna answered with an astonished tone of voice, looking out the window. "You're not wrong about 'big'."

Mirajane opened the window on her side and poked her head through along with Elfman's. They shared Lisanna's expression with their knit brows and clenched teeth in their awestruck astonishment.

A red furred behemoth with green abs and yellow horns on its forehand had snatch the steam engine itself and yanked it off from its tender. The crew were lucky enough to jump ship and run screaming. All the while, what was most certainly the Beast bit off the smoke box and chugged the scaling water from the boiler itself.

"This is your conductor, Tommy Kanbara, speaking," the intercom buzzed in. "We're currently unable to pull into the platform due to an obstructions on the track." She sounded waaaaaaay too calm for this sort of situation. "Please exit your respective cars and RUN FOR YOUR LIFE, FOR THE LOVE OF PETE!"

On that more appropriate note, the entire train began to quake with stampeding passengers trying to get off the coaches and away from the Beast.

"'Can't be that bad', huh?" Mirajane snarked with a rather mean look aimed at a now anxious Elfman.

---

The Beast belched and tossed the steam engine away like beer can before turning its attention towards the fleeing passengers. The drinks were mild so perhaps the local fauna had a bit more spice to it. It made giant step after giant step, each one as big as a coach and each one covering more ground than the slower passengers.

It roared loud enough to make the humans cover their ears and stop long enough for the behemoth to come close enough. The Beast kicks away every train car in its way almost effortlessly.

"What's eh?" grumpy old farmer Shibumi grunted, near deaf to the Beast's roar behind him. "Speak up, will ya?" He was just clearing his ear with his pinky when the Beast can close enough to reach down for its appetizer.

"No snacking before dinner!" a deep-toned female voice bellowed.

The Beast merely glanced up to received a flying boot to its right cheek and be sent stumbling back from something that actually hurt for once. It recovered in time to look ahead and glare at whomever had the stones to piss him off. The passengers also looked up to find their avian savior looking almost as monstrous.

Mirajane Strauss's Satan Soul lived up to its name. Her knee-high boots had turned red as the flames of hell below a one-piece that let the world see her cleavage, naval and long tail she grew out. Her hair stood up on end while her ears became pointed. All topped off by a pair of black wings.

"Lousy teenagers!" Farmer Shibumi grouched while walked off, oblivious to his life being saved.

"Anyone who doesn't want to die, BEAT IT!" Mirajane barked down to the passengers irrately.

The Beast roaring in rage reminded the passengers that they, in fact, didn't want to die and got them to resumed the panicked stampeding. All the while, Elfman found himself struggling to join his sister when going against the cowering crowds.

"Whatever happened to single-filed?" he grunted irately.

"Aw, how cute," Mirajane taunted in the air while the Beast beat its chest in anger. "You think I'm actually scared of you." She zoomed in to uppercut the behemoth enough to make it stumble away from the tracks and followed up with a roundhouse kick with her left foot.

Elfman made it out of the crowd to see the Beast fall down in pain upon trees in the surrounding woodlands. He could make out Mirajane creating a magic sphere that burst and rained down energy bullets upon the downed creature. Her Evil Shower as she tended to call it.

"No way you're stealing the show," Elfman grumbled, invoking his Beast Arm's Iron Bull spell.

---

Casting her Bird Soul spell, Lisanna flew over towards Odaiba Village once her siblings had begun to distract the Beast and swallowed hard at the state of things.

Buildings were either ablaze or nearly leveled. Rescue services were clearly at their limit trying to recover any survivors. Certain people were looting any remaining stores to find what would help them in their fervent desire to look out for themselves. The worst was the sight of children scattered about and crying out for their parents.

Lisanna was high up so the smoke wouldn't make her choke but this bird's eye view still made her heart sink considerably. So many lost lives because one felt they were superior for their power. So many survivors barely clinging to life.

"I know I'm not you Mira..." Liz told herself, "...it wouldn't hurt to be."

Lisanna was snapped partially out of her funk when she looked up ahead towards the town square when most of the survivors were crammed in together. She descended once the smoke had thinned out and changed back to normal when she landed at the crowd's fringes. Suddenly, "crammed in" had become "tightly compressed" up close.

Lisanna felt intimidated by so many people in one place while talking over each other. From parents holding up their children to older adult that had burns and scrapes all over, it was all barely controlled chaos. Her eyes naturally drifted towards the podium in the middle of the area where a smartly dressed man seemed more that a little stage frightened.

"I, uh, know we're going through some, erm, uncertain times, my fellow citizens," the blonde haired Mayor anxiously chuckled, flipping through speech notes of all things. "But this, uh, isn't the time for panic."

SMACK!

A tomato hit the Mayor square on his newest tie and made him stumble backwards.

"That behemoth's just leveled the shopping district with my paper clip store!" an irate grandmother bellowed, waving her cane in the air. "This is the picture perfect time to panic!" She tossed a rotten clementine this time but missed. "Tailor made even!"

"Okay, so maybe it's somewhere in the ballpark..." the Mayor admitted, wiping the fruit off of his suit. "But, hey, could be worse?"

A chorus of boos erupted from those around the podium while all manner of rotten fruits and vegetables. There was less a need to get out of town and more a want for somebody to be a lightening rod for their intense emotions. And the Mayor was quick to duck behind the podium's microphone stand to avoid the high voltage.

Lisanna had seen enough and was stepping backwards in her growing anxieties. This was way more than what she had signed up for.

"Even the brawls back home aren't nearly this bad," Lisanna mumbled to herself, her eyes still on the cowering Mayor. "But I can't just wait for Mira." She took in a deep breath, exhaled and slapped both of her cheeks to focus herself.

"Time to be a people person," she told herself. "Takeover, Animal Soul!" Her body glowed with magic and reshaped itself along with her outfit, garnering the attention of rioters just in front of her.

"Cat!" Lisanna declared, striking a pose once the light died down.

A pair of small but sharp cat ears popped out her white hair while her fore-arms and lower legs became overgrown cat paws with white fur sporting black stripes. A furry bikini of the same colors was all that covered her top and bottom. A feature that really made a few faces go red.

"Careful, fellas," Lisanna declared with a wink, hoping to seem confident enough. "Kitty's got claws." She got down on all fours to make a big pounce and landing on one of the blushing girls' head before leaping off.

A series of "Hey!" and "Hey..." accompanied Lisanna as her new feline attributes allowed her to hop from head to head. She was having a little too much fun and pretended like she was playing "The Floor Is Lava" with Natsu. Except the fire breather wasn't around to make it near literal.

Lisanna's intrusion was enough to get most of the crowd's attention away from the Mayor and on the new cat girl in town. She made it to the podium on all fours before standing up to stretch, turning her attention to the village's cowering leader.

"Mind if I handle it from here, Mayor Yagami?" Lisanna asked earnestly.

"It's, erm, Kamiya actually, common mistake," the Mayor stammered, peaking from under the mic stand. "But please, y-y-you've got my, er, ah, vote, ma'am,"

Lisanna turned back to wave hello to the crowd and put on a bright smile, further subsiding any potential rioting thanks to her fetching form. It was a classic tactic Mira taught her to use on Master Makarov if she needed to wriggle out of trouble. Based on certain murmurs, it seemed to be working.

"Mommy, look at the magic cat lady!"

"Wish I had that confidence."

"Tch, flat-chested floozy."

"Ooo, me-ow, pretty kitty."

"She's... eighteen, right?"

"Citizens of Odaiba Village, my name is Lisanna Strauss, a wizard from Fairy Tail answering your emergency request," she addressed, being as calm as the tepid crowd would let her. "As we speak, my brother and sister is currently teaching the Beast a well-deserved lesson."

"Fairy Tail?!" a middle aged man in tattered clothes balked. "As we didn't have enough property damage."

"Well... who better to fight a being of pure destruction, Thomas?" his brother contested.

"Well, not everybody has your kind of insurance, Marcus."

"Misgivings aside," Lisanna continued on, hoping to nip a dispute in the bud, "it's essential that we focus on evacuating in the event the Beast returns." She turned towards the Mayor, making him gulp hard. "I understand that there's a river that the monster won't cross."

"Yes, it, erm, seems to fear water or at least falling into the river," the Mayor anxiously admitted, reluctantly stepping out from behind the podium. "But, well, I'm afraid the bridge isn't... terribly stable." He wiped his face of all the sweat soaking his face. "Not after all the tremors the Beast made."

"Okay," Marcus sighed with esasperation, sinking to his knees, "we're doomed."

"I can help ferry people across with my Animal Souls," Lisanna promised, changing back into her regular blouse to demonstrate. "Does anybody have a boat that could help?" She called out the wider crowd before her. "Furthermore, we'll need volunteers helping anybody left in the wreckage."

"And who made you in charge, hairball?" a young man with frizzy black hair and shaded goggles on demanded indignantly. "I ain't taking orders from no glorified furry!"

"Kenny, c'mon," his redhead best buddy urged, feeling embarrassed.

"And what would you prefer?" Lisanna demanded back, frowning considerably. "Sitting here and squabbling like babies." This wasn't the first time she stood up to a crowd of people tragically. "You're all together in the same shipwreck of a boat and all you can do it find someone to tear apart."

Mayor Kamiya began to stand up more and perked up from his anxious state of mind.

"I can't wave my hands to make everything better but I'll do everything I can if there's even a sliver of hope," Lisanna went on, clenching her fists. "My guild never gave up on me so you can be sure I'll stay here even if it kills me." It might not've been something from Makarov's book but damn if her Guild Master didn't leave an impression on her.

"It's a long shot but..."

"No way am I going back into the trenches..."

"The Beast probably made a snack of the She-Devil."

"I don't wanna be a snack, Mommy."

Lisanna's smile started to fade when she saw a wave of doubt wash over the faces in the crowd and heard murmurs of surrendering to their fate. Even she began to doubt herself until...

"Um... I know some magic," a male voice called out however reluctantly. "I can sniff out any children who were left behind."

Lisanna joined the crowd as all eyes turned towards a blonde man with spiky hair under a fishing hat raising his hand. Soon another raised hand caught their attention.

"My boat rentals was crushed but my best ones are in the basement," an young man with glasses claimed. "Joe's Rows are at your service."

"My little Rika's still out there so count me in on the search!"

"Davis and I were top swimmers at our meets!"

Lisanna's face lit back up the more volunteers spoke up in the crowd. Mayor Kamiya even came to her side with a rather broad smile of surprise lighting up across his mustached lip.

"I dunno how you did it but you did it," he remarked to Lisanna's amusement. "They're all fired up now."

"That's the idea," Lisanna answered earnestly. Maybe... she could actually pull this off.

To Be Continued...

---

Lisanna helps the evacuation of Odaiba Village while her brother makes a very fatal mistake...

Thank you for reading so far. Please leave a comment as to how you enjoyed this story so far.

 

[matt0044]

Fairy Tail wizards have known tragedy in their lives but it didn't make this fateful day hurt any less.

---

Chapter 3: The Death Of Lisanna Strauss

Story by Hiro Mashima

Adapted Dialogue by Monica Rial and Clint Bickham

It was already an orange dusk in the skies when it had begun.

"Darkness Stream!" Mirajane bellowed, thrusting out her hand down towards the woodland.

The Beast knocked every tree in its way after getting back up and leaped into the air after the airborne She-Devil. However, a Magic Seal manifested beneath it before large tendrils sprouted from it like tree roots ironically. They began to surround the still airborne monster and began to bind its limbs all over. One even got around its neck.

"Suppression Arts!"

Mirajane clenched her teeth and her fists to enhance the strength of the tendrils but found herself magic starting to strain. What she hoped would be a few kicks and maybe a torn limb as a keepsake turned into a ten minute too long back-and-forth. The Beast seemed way too durable for his own good.

As if to prove this point yet again, the behemoth roared while straining to flex its muscles and torn off the tendrils. This send it back to the ground and create another crater of flatten trees among three or four others when it landing on its back.

"It's a boy alright," Mirajane panted heavily, wishing she handled shown her hand so early on. "Can't take a hint and stay down."

Just down below, Elfman punched a wide tree in his way to splinters with his Iron Bull Beast Arm and saw the Beast itself struggling to lift itself up this time. He glanced up to see a panting Mirajane's posture starting to slack with her wings flapping more slowly and knew that one false move could cost her.

"No more playing catch-up," Elfman declared to himself, turning his attention towards the rising Beast. "This calls for a specialist."

Mirajane was trying to figure out how to at least knock out the behemoth if only to tap out and rethink her strategy of "throw everything at the wall to see what sticks." However, that was derailed by the sight of Elfman bolting towards the Beast from her right hand side. Confusion and aghast finally hit her when he hugged the Beast's left wrist tight.

"Elfman!"

The Beast had recovered enough to feel the tight grip on its left wrist and immediately began trying to shake it off, pumping its fist violently. However, Elfman had managed to branch himself with his legs as well and was gritting his teeth. He concentrated on gathering all the magic that he could within him to make this gambit work.

"Don't play hard to get, buddy," Elfman grunted, beginning to glow brightly all over. "You and me are about to get more acquainted than you think."

The magic glow grew and extended itself across the Beast's right arm. Sure enough, the behemoth felt the power overwhelming him all over its body and roared in its attempt at resisting. Mirajane shielded her eyes from the brilliant radiance of her brother's Takeover Magic. Too brilliant.

"Elf, it's gonna overwhelm you!" Mira protested, hearing her brother grunt from the strain of it all. "Get outta there!

---

A vast pilgrimage of survivors poured out of the pathway through File Forest and arrived at the riverbank where the stone bridge big for two laid ahead. As Mayor Kamiya had estimated, there were cracks all across the structure including a few chunks that had fallen off completely. He had stepped forward in the crowd to see for himself.

"Doesn't seem too bad," Mayor Kamiya pondered, taking off his top hat. He tossed it over and let it glide onto the bridge like a frisbee to the crowd's confusion.

The second the hat touch the middle of the bridge, a huge mid-section crumbled and splashed into the river in but a second. Neither the Mayor nor his citizens spoke for a rather audible moment of silence with the faces falling in a collective wave of anxiousness. She had just flown down in her Bird Soul form after observing overhead for any dangers.

"'Too bad' no," Lisanna replied to Mayor Kamiya, hovering to his left, "'Far worse' is what I'd go with." She changed back to her human form in a flash on that far too honest note. "Good thing we brought the boats."

"Lot good they'll do us," a middle-aged woman in fishing gear called out. "The current is kickin' up a storm." Lisanna found Ms. Kari squatting down and putting her hand in the river to feel how strong the flow was.

"And none of the motor boats we've found got any SP plugs," the fisher's husband, Takeru, called out from behind, carrying a boat with his teenage son, Cody. "Even with oars, we'd get swept away before we made it across."

"Anymore bright ideas, furbait?" Kenny chided, oiling up behind Lisanna.

The young wizard found all eyes on her once again when she turned back to the survivors who were starting to get anxious again. Lisanna had considered a bad current but wasn't sure if it would work. All the same, she knew that they didn't need her to show doubt after how far they've came.

"I got a few," Lisanna retorted with a playful grin before glowing, literally working her magic already. "Takeover! Animal Soul!"

Kenny initially shielded his eyes from being up that close while Mayor Kamiya backed away wisely. The next thing he knew, the punk found himself being shoved backwards when Lisanna seemed to get... large? After falling on his butt, Kenny's jaw dropped at the sight of a giant purple bunny looming above him.

"Rabbit!" Lisanna giggled in her favorite transformation. "Anybody got a carrot craving?" She turned around to the now bewildered survivors and didn't waste time enjoying the view up there.

Mayor Kamiya found himself less than fazed by this point in what was a crazy day. However, several giggling children did surprise him when they ran past him and went up to see the giant rabbit.

"She's soooo cute!" a brown-haired girl squealed.

"She's soooooo fluffy!" a little blue-haired boy laughed, nuzzling up to Lisanna's foot.

"I want one!" a pink-haired girl cheered, wearing a rather big hat.

Lisanna was glad to see that this Takeover was a hit with the kids and leaned down to smile back at her newest fans. "Looks like I have a few volunteers already," she earnestly asserted, patting the brown-haired girl on the head. "I'll carry over the children before the adults so who wants to be first?"

A chorus of "I do!"s erupted across the little ones before Lisanna turned around to let five of them climb onto her back. All their crawling made her giggle with their tickles. One of the mothers stepped forth with a most worrisome look on her face and wasn't the only parent with her anxieties.

"You're not going to swim in that current, are you?" she nervously hoped aloud.

"Goodness no, ma'am" Lisanna chortled, turning around with two boys and three girls gripping hard onto her fur.

The adults collectively sighed with relief.

"The legs were made for hopping," Lisanna clarified matter-of-factly before squatting down.

The adults collectively had a proverbial heart attack when the giant, purple rabbit hopped high up in the air and started across the choppy waters. Many of the children cries out from joy, terror, excitement and all of the above along with Lisanna herself. It felt like a lifetime to everybody but she soon landed on the other side with a loud "BOOM!"

Lisanna kept her stance wide upon making landfall and let the children disembark, laughing along with them from the exhilaration. Truthfully, she was surprised that it even worked at all but wasn't about to let anybody catch on.

"I wanna go again!" pink-haired Mimi insisted hopping up and down.

"Now, now," Lisanna calmly claimed, patting her on the head like a big sister. "You need to be fair and everybody gets a turn."

"Okay..." Mimi pouted.

"But tell you what," Lisanna began, turning around to squat down. "Once your town is saved, we might be able to play together again."

"You promise?" blue-haired Keenan spoke up.

"I'd pinky-swear if I wasn't a carrot chewer," Lisanna promised before hopping strongly back to the other side. "But you can't hold me to it."

"Bye," the children called, smiling for the first time in what felt like forever.

---

Mirajane rubbed her eyes once the blinding flash died down and waited for her vision to return, not helped by the sun setting. The sight of the flatten trees came back into view once she looked down from the air and allowed her to spot Elfman. However, he was down on his right side with his limbs sprawled out.

"That idiot!" Mirajane cursed, barely holding back something stronger. "Elfman!" She hovered down quickly to the ground and changed out of her Satan Soul into her regular punk outfit before making a mad dash.

Elfman grunted in pain and rolled over onto his back just when Mirajane reached him from over every downed tree in her way. His coat had popped wide open with a few tears on his pant legs.

"C'mon," Mirajane begged, trying not to let her scowl drop in growing fear. "Don't do this to me..." She propped up his back by his shoulders and could see that his breathing had grown heavier.

"M... Mira..." Elfman grunted, struggling to speak and open his eyes. "I... I..."

"What is it?" Mirajane asked, her voice starting to tremble in fear.

BRAAAAPPP!

Mirajane recoiled from both the sound and smell of Elfman's burp. He managed to sit up just fine, pounding out the rest of the gas in his gut.

"...totally faked you out!" Elf couldn't help but snort, slowly standing back up. "Sorry but that Beast ate something too nasty to keep down."

Mirajane's frown of disgusted disbelief morphed into one of embarrassed exasperation. "You're lucky I'm too tired to kill you!" she declared, at least slugging him in the shoulder and getting him to grunt in pain. "You're more 'boy' than 'man,' man!"

"I'll take what I can get," Elfman grunted, rubbing his shoulder when he felt a growing throb of pain in his head. "Gah!" He winced while clenching his head and tried to endure the growing pain, hunching over.

"Oh-ho-ho-no you don't," Mirajane declared abrasively. "You're not getting a two-for-two on me."

"It's... not a bit," Elfman swore, gritting his teeth. "Something wrong with-AAAAAHHHHHHHH!" His screaming was paired with the same glow of a magical surge as before and a a greater pain that extended to the rest of his body. It felt a lot like his Beast Arm Takeover but it hurt.

"Oh, sh-" Mirajane nearly swore herself when she recognized the symptoms of a botch Takeover. "Elf, you gotta let it go before-"

However, her brother's deafening scream signified that it was too late before the glow grew brighter and his body grew bigger by the second. The sun fully set just as Elfman finally gave in.

---

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Kenny screamed while Lisanna made her twentieth jump over the river. "Stop the ride, I wanna get off!" It was a clear shot from the word "go" but going by his verbal mood, one would think that the purple bunny rabbit was making a swan dive for the current.

One lowkey "BOOM" later, Lisanna landed safely on the ground just a few feet shy of many other kids and adults she had flown over.

"Now what do you say, Mr. Bright Ideas?" she posited, cheekily calling back to Kenny's earlier quips.

"T-t-t-thank you..." he responded before letting his grip slip off completely. His body all but crumpled onto the ground after he slid off.

"Told you I had a few," Lisanna quipped back with her tongue sticking out. "Sleep tight." She made one more leap back across the river and landing just shy of Mayor Kamiya, the man now barely phased by the young lady's unique entrances.

"That's about all the kids, teens and elderly left," the mayor announced while Lisanna morphed back into her human form. "And the current seems to be settling down with the sun."

"I can still take the rest of you all over," Lisanna offered, gesturing to the still sizable amount of adults behind the Mayor. "Better safe than sorry."

"We can handle ourselves while you take a much needed break," Mr. Kari offered, carrying an oar over her shoulders. "Last thing we need is you running out of magic halfway across."

"So long as we don't underload, we only need to take it nice and slowly," Takeru promised Lisanna. "We're just glad that you got our kids across before the Beast came back."

Lisanna initially smiled at their offer before her eyes went wide at the realization. "The Beast!" she exclaimed. "Mira should've have beaten it by now but... where is she?" She darted across the crowd for any sign of her sister or Elfman.

"Um, well," Mayor Kamiya stammered, anxiously trying to keep the calm. "I'm sure she's resting off a well earned victory."

A distant but no less recognizable roar quashed any hopes that he had been attempting to muster. Most turned towards the source and saw a bright glow, one strong enough to be made out past the trees and the blazing Odaiba Village. The night sky certainly helped it stand out.

"This is gonna come up in election years, isn't it?" Mayor Kamiya dejectedly sighed, hanging his head like he paid for rotten fruit.

"Something bad just happened," Lisanna exclaimed, barely hiding her dread. "But I can't just leave-"

"No, go see to your siblings," Ms. Kari insisted, putting her hand on the young wizard's shoulder compassionately. "If you taught us anything, it's that there's always a chance if you take it."

Lisanna wanted to refuse but the look in the elderly fisher's eyes was too warm to refuse. "I'm coming back," she acquiesced. "I promise!" The young wizard stepped back to channel Magic throughout her body.

"Takeover, Animal Soul!" Lisanna belted out while her body morphed back into her feathered form. "Bird!" Flapping her wings, she took into the sky and hastily headed past the trees towards the roaring.

"Thanks," Mayor Kamiya sighed while seeing Lisanna off, looking oddly solemn. "My turn now."

---

Lisanna soared around the burning village of Odaiba to avoid the dense smoke gathering in the air. She considered herself lucky for this since she managed to catch sight of the Beast. It was slowly stomping into a rocky terrain amongst the forest just a mile past the railway tracks.

"Please, oh please, be alive," Lisanna begged to whom it might concern, flapping her wing to double time her flight.

She veered around to get behind the Beast and come in from above as silent as she could. Squinting with her sharp avian eyes, she managed to make out Mirajane battered with bruises and no longer employing her Satan Soul. That was a red flag if she ever saw one. Another popped up in the form of Elfman's disappearance.

"Elfman!" Mirajane cried out, clearly gritting her teeth from pain. "Pull yourself together!"

"Mira!" Lisanna cried out in fear for her big sister. She forgot to be too cautious while she dove downwards past the Beast and began to resume her human form.

"I had everyone in town evacuate!" Lisanna firmly promised, looking back at the behemoth with a brave knit brow. "Now let me help you!"

"You have to run, Lisanna," Mirajane grunted, clenching her sprained right arm. "It's dangerous."

The Beast continued to lumber towards their prey one footstomp at a time and at a brisk pace for his girth. A shadow overcast their body with only their violet eyes glowing in the night.

"I was getting beat up pretty bad so Elfman took over the Beast to protect me," Mirajane exposited, fudging the truth for Lisanna's sake. She couldn't be mad at Elfman. Not for now anyways.

"Oh my gosh..." Lisanna gasped in a whisper, her pupil receding over this fearful revelation. "That's him?!" The idea itself was hard to grasp when she looked up at the looming behemoth.

"It almost worked but the Beast was too powerful for him," Mirajane lamented, steadily her breathing. "Now he's totally lost control."

"Oh no..." Lisanna whispered, kneeling down to help Mirajane stand despite their mutual dread. "What do we do?" She put her sister's left arm over her shoulder and let her lean the best. "How can we save him?"

As if on cue, the Beast cast a huge shadow over the sisters and blocked the moonlight menacingly in its approach. Its own breath was so hot that steam poured out of it like the engine it had for a late lunch.

"We have to get him to come to his senses before the Beast complete takes over his soul," Mirajane explained, barely keeping herself up.

Lisanna's dread grew when she remembered one of Takeover Magic's dangerous drawbacks. A wizard biting off more they can chew would literally become what they eat. Her first instinct had been to get Mirajane and herself to safety before the Beast decided to make the first move.

However, Lisanna's second instinct reminded her that Elfman needed help now or never. It was a risk but the evacuation of Odaiba was fresh in her mind. If she could help an entire village get to safety, then her big brother would be a piece of cake. A smile grew upon her lips in tandem with a new found confidence in her heart.

Mirajane was wracking her brains for some sort of plan, any sort of plan, when Lisanna caught her off guard by letting go of her. She yelped upon losing her balance and falling to the rocky ground, only bracing herself with her arms. When Mira looked up, her eyes showed both bewilderment and fear upon seeing Lisanna walking up towards the Beast.

"What are you doing?!" Mirajane balked while clenching her bruised right arm. "Come back here!"

But Lisanna merely put one foot in front of the other slowly before stopping just shy of a yard from the looming behemoth. As if in recognition, the Beast stopped to glower down at whomever was foolhardy enough to approach it.

"Big brother Elf?" Lisanna called out softly, remembering how she called him years back. "You feeling okay?"

The Beast's grunts seemed to slow down in response.

"It's me, Lisanna, your little sister," the youngest Strauss went on, rubbing her left elbow in slight anxiousness. "Our big sister, Mira, is here too."

The Beast cocked his head a tad, seeming to process Lisanna's words. Just maybe...

"We're a family," Lisanna went on, her smile becoming a touch sheepish, "and when times are tough, we pull together and work things out." She breathed deeply a bit to calm herself more. "So why don't the three of us go home and talk about what happened today?"

The Beast's eyes narrowed as if disturbed or in an attempt to focus.

"I promise we're no mad at you," Lisanna continued, becoming confident in this de-escalation.

The Beast let out a roar and rose its right hand. Mirajane clenched her teeth tensely but could tell that the tone was a conflicted one. Maybe... Elfman was in there... and winning. She didn't dare jump in too soon when Lisanna seemed to know what she was doing.

"C'mon," young Strauss offered, opening her arm to show she was defenseless. "Don't be afraid, big brother." The roar barely fazed her in her belief that she was getting through to the headstrong, big-hearted Elfman that she knew and loved.

"We still love you."

The Beast brought its right hand down... and swung it across the ground to smack Lisanna Strauss with little to no restraint whatsoever. The force of a runaway freight train down a steep hill stuck her within half a second and sent her flying, kicking up a major gust in the process.

Mirajane let out a tear-filled scream but barely heard it with her focus consumed by the sight of her little sister being catapulted through the air. Lisanna's limbs were listless as a rag-doll before she landed amongst the tree just shy of another set of cliffs. Almost immediately, Mira forgot to be battered and made a mad sprint in that direction.

"Not her!" she repeated to herself over and over, passing every tree with a new tear to shed. "Please not her!"

---

Lisanna: Beloved sister and friend to animal souls.

Thank you for reading so far. Please leave a comment as to how you enjoyed this story so far.

 

[matt0044]

Tragedy morphs into a miracle nearly seamlessly. That is, if Lisanna choose to follow her destiny...

---

Chapter 4: A Fairy Flies To Another World

Adapted Dialogue By Monica Rial and Tyler Walker

The pain was so immense and came so quickly that it had all but looped all the way back to feeling like... nothing at all. At least, it's what Lisanna felt when her body hit the dirt in a clearing. First, her front landed before she bounced and rolled onto her back in this numbed sensation.

Lisanna's arms were sprawled out in their respective directions and bent in ways they really weren't suppose to. She started to black out from the impact's head trauma but it felt more like when Cana dared her to chug a whole mug. Except this sort of intoxication came with an immediate hangover. It wasn't long before the pain began to catch up.

Lisanna couldn't move her head while her vision started to blur in and out of focus. She tried to concentrate on the night sky's stars to stave off this growing fatigue. However, even breathing was becoming a burden.

Lisanna Strauss was dying. Her mental faculties were slowing to a crawl even while her mind was in a flurry, flashing her life before her eyes.

Being cast out by the village Mirajane had saved.

Wandering until they found Fairy Tail, a guild tailor made for outcasts.

Meeting Natsu.

Hatching Happy.

Getting Guildarts to spoil her rotten.

All those missions.

Especially the fights she needed to be saved from.

And now... the Beast swatting her aside like a fly.

Well... what did... I... expect... to happen? Lisanna thought, trying to stay conscious by talking to herself. I say a... few pretty words... and get Elf... to recover... with the... the power of love? She shed a tear in her whirlwind of denial, anger, pleading and depression all at once. And they call... Natsu reckless...

Lisanna's mind replayed the Odaiba Evacuation but remembering those broken promises only added to the pain. Mira was right... she thought. I'll never... be her... Her eyes closed in her growing pain. I'll never... be anybody...

"I respectfully must disagree... Lisanna Strauss..."

The young wizard's eyes opened back up to a voice that sounded as clear as crystal and saw a brilliant flash of light green light explode just above her. Tendrils of energy spilled out while Lisanna's surroundings seemed to fade away into a white void. If there was anything that'd perk her up at death's door, it was certainly this.

At first, she thought this was it. That her soul was entering the afterlife. But... it didn't feel like it.

"On the contrary," the smooth male voice called out, sounding angelic, "this is a new beginning."

Lisanna felt it. That... melody. That feeling of somebody reaching out for her help.

"W... why... me?" Lisanna asked, "I couldn't... even save... my brother." Just remembering what she'd attempted made the aches and pain so much worse. You choose the wrong one.

"You were one of the few who could pick up on my faint Digi-Melody and the only one who stopped to pick me up," the voice insisted, never once raising its tone. "Despite your doubts, you knew somebody needed the kind of help you could provide." As if by magic, a small handheld appeared a foot or two above Lisanna. Tech clearly foreign to Fiore.

"I've... seen that..." young Strauss began in recognition, remembering the dream she had what seemed like ages ago. "My dream..."

"I see..." the voice mused with intrigue. "My resonance has shown you great things in your future."

The handheld suddenly changed colors from blank white to a scarlet red and lowered itself towards Lisanna. It seemed to... beckon her.

"Use this Fusion Loader for the battles that await you," the voice insisted. "It will restore your strength for the battles to come."

Lisanna didn't have a clue about what this was actually about. However, her flaring fatigue told her that she wouldn't have the time to solve this mystery. If the voice meant what he said, that... thing she saw above her could heal her.

At least, that's how it sounded. Lisanna knew not to trust strangers but at the moment, she didn't have much to lose. Wincing all the way, young Strauss lifted her right hand towards this Fusion Loader and opened her fingers.

"Lisanna!" Mirajane's distraught voice called out. The young wizard found the sound muffled before feeling her right hand suddenly held even through the numbness.

---

Mirajane couldn't see the void or the Fusion Loader when she had arrived Not in her state of mind.

"Stay with me please!" Mirajane begged, her voice cracking like an egg. "Y-you'll get better soon just... hang on please." Tears soaked her face once they overflowed from her eyes while her hands gripped Lisanna's more intensely than ever. She could feel it. Her little sister's pulse was fading by the second.

Just seeing Lisanna in this state sprawled across the rocky terrain alone was more than Mirajane could bear. Her sister's eyes had lost that shine she was known for, the first sign of fading strength. She was barely able to move her limbs aside from the occasional twitch.

"I feel..." Lisanna strained to speak, still staring up at whatever it was, "...so strange..." Mirajane hung onto every word desperately. "It's like I... I can't move."

"Don't waste your strength," Mirajane choked out tearfully, grasping to whatever hope she could muster.

"Where'd you go... Mira?" Lisanna asked, wearing a look that seemed... accepting.

"I'm right here!" her big sister promised in her sobbing.

---

"It grieves me to inform you that time is not on your side," the weathered voice told Lisanna. "The choice must be made now or never."

Lisanna looked up at the Fusion Loader, knowing that there was no turning back if she took the offer. Maybe... through helping the voice, she would be able to feel like a real Fairy Tail member and hold her own for once.

Maybe...

---

Lisanna slowly turned her head to her right and looked at where she believed Mirajane was.

"Mira," she forced out while her left arm slowly and painfully rose up. "I... I just want you to... know..." When speaking became too tiresome, her finger bend inwards as though she was grabbing hold of something in the air.

"Lisanna?!" Mirajane panicked when her sister paused. "You have to wake up, Lisanna!"

However, her pleas were cut off when her sister glowed with a brilliant flash of green to her growing fear of this unknown phenomenon.

"No..." Mira whispered when Lisanna began to become further engulfed by the light. "Why are you glowing?" She didn't expect an answer in her distress. "What's happened?"

Mirajane got one anyways when Lisanna began to float up into the air and close her eyes. Though it was hard to tell through the light.

"No, don't leave me!" Mirajane shouted louder than ever, embracing Lisanna with both of her arms desperately. "You can't disappear on me!" Her sister's body started to fade entirely with the light growing in brilliant. "Please... don't go, Lisanna!" And just as it was at its brightest... "STAY HERE WITH ME!"

Lisanna Strauss vanished with a flash, slipping through Mirajane's arms like something ephemeral. The data card she had in her pocket slipped out in the process and hit the ground. A label with an image and a few words had appeared on it before fading away just as quickly.

However, Mira barely noticed when she sank to her arms and knees in one loud bawl all alone in File Forest.

---

Lisanna too believed that she was dying while her numb body seemed to be carried across an invisible current of air. A glimmering tunnel of green and yellow flew past her while the motion caused her eyes to get heavy. Was this her ascension?

Lisanna swore that if she ever saw Natsu again, she'd make a point to apologize for mocking his motion sickness.

Hopefully soon...

---

Shoutmon yawned deeply and stretched out his left arm while he carried his Mic over his right shoulder. The plains of the outer most area were way more chill than he preferred with only a few hills and plateaus for any semblance of landmarks. It had only been ten minutes out but it felt like ages before he groaned.

"You run around, I run around,
We're all gonna run... run... run arou-ugh!"

Even humming his favorite song couldn't break the monotony.

"Shoutmon, reporting in," the Small Dragon Digimon called in on his left wrist com. "Is Jijimon sure of this 'feeling' of his?"

"Well, he's rarely wrong about a disturbance in the dimension barrier," Balistamon began over the channel. "Though... half the time, it's just bad gas but he hasn't made a toot just yet."

"Wow," Shoutmon snarked while starting over a small hill. "That's reassuring."

"Now are you sure you don't need any back up?" Balistamon asked insistently. "You know you don't have to prove anything to me."

Shoutmon paused at this statement. "It's just a by-the-books patrol," he claimed, trying to brush it off. "What's to 'prove?'"

"I've heard what some of the villagers say behind your back," Balistamon claimed with empathy. "You shouldn't let those naysayers get you down."

"It's..." Shoutmon began, hesitant to admit his feelings. "It's not about them..."

However, their heart-to-heart was disturbed by the sight of a lone Digimon on a grassy patch. At least... Shoutmon thought it was a Digimon. Either way, they weren't from the Forest Zone. The only Digimon powerful enough to traverse from Zone to Zone were often with...

"We'll get in touch with our feelings later, buddy," Shoutmon promised before cutting the com and making a beeline for his find.

The Small Dragon slowed to a tip-toeing once he got within four feet and held out his mic by its staff, ready to strike first. He found this stranger possessing a similar body type to Lilymon. She was all but dead to the world with her disheveled white hair and listless head.

The "Digimon" seemed limp to Shoutmon with her limbs sprawled about but appeared to be breathing and stirring in her sleep. Additionally, her fair appearance hardly seemed Bagra. For now. Suspicious as the young dragon was, he couldn't help but walk faster towards the stranger's right side.

"Well, you've seen better days," Shoutmon quipped with concern mixed in with caution. "Bagra or not, I can't turn my back on a potential refugee." He leaned over to shove her chest back and forth in hopes of stirring her awake, feeling a rather squishy lump to his curiosity. "Alright, up an' at 'em now!"

Lisanna groaned while opening her eyes slowly but surely and letting the light let her vision focus. Her mind was still regaining its bearings when she saw what looked like... a small dragon? Carrying a microphone?

"Elfman must've hit me harder than I thought..." Lisanna mumbled when she finally felt her right breast being groped. "What the...?"

She lifted her head and went white as her hair in mortification to what appeared to be the micro-dragon coping a feel while she'd been knocked out.

"Hey," Shoutmon called when he noticed the stranger rousing from her sleep. "Welcome back to the land of the-"

"Kyaaaaaaa!" Lisanna cried at the thought of being taken advantage of, making her "assailant" jump. As if by instinct, her Cat Soul Takeover spell kicked in with her hands turning to paws and allowed herself to lift her upper body in a jolt.

"Living?" was all a surprised Shoutmon could finished before Lisanna's right cat paw smacked him straight up into the sky.

The young wizard rolled backwards with this rush of Ethernano fueled adrenaline and sprung up with her paws to somersault backwards onto her feet. Lisanna barely noticed the Fusion Loader fall off of her person while she posed firmly with her right paw out and left by her side. Just in time for Shoutmon to land face first in the dirt.

"Ow..." the Rookie muttered however muffled.

"You'll really be in for it when my sister hears-," Lisanna declared before her paws, whiskers and cat ears vanished in a flash, "-about this?" Her confusion was fueled further by a weird... empty sensation. Either the Ethernano in the atmosphere was thinnest here or the Beast's swatting nerfed her magic for the moment.

"Wait..." Lisanna began to piece together with a second to think, "how am I still alive?" She remembered the voice's offer but hardly believed it could actually pull it off.

"Give me a second and you'll be a good as deleted!" Shoutmon's hotblooded voice declared, getting the young wizard to look up. "I knew I smelled a Bagra spy." There he was, using his microphone to lift himself from out of the dirt while glaring at Lisanna.

"Ba-wha?" young Strauss questioned, cocking her head over the foreign term.

"Too late to play dumb," Shoutmon declared while making a reckless run with his mic at the ready. "Bellow Blas-" However, a glint of red made him stop in his tracks almost immediately and drew his eyes towards the dropped Fusion Loader. "Shut up...!"

Lisanna had put up fist defensively just before Shoutmon shortened his mic and ran over to grab the fallen tech. "The legendary Fusion Loader!" the Small Dragon Digimon gasped with awe while holding it in his left hand. "But... how?"

"Hey, that's my... Fusion... thingy!" Lisanna protested, sounding less mad than she was letting on. "That's not your's!" She had forgotten Shoutmon's earlier threat when she marched towards the Rookie Level. The young wizard would soon remembered when he extended his mic's staff and made her just short of yellow horn on the grille.

"A likely story, spy!" Shoutmon smarmily accused, glaring up at the concerned Lisanna. "This Digivice only chooses one worthy of its power, one who possess the heart of a true leader." He held up the Fusion Loader in his left hand like it was an idol of great reverence. "It's the one thing that can stand up to Bagra scum like you."

"Seriously, what's this... Bugra... thing?" Lisanna demanded to know in exasperation, cautious of Shoutmon's microphone. "And... what happened to File Forest?" It was only now that she realized that her surroundings had changed from rocky terrain among trees to a plateau amongst an open plain.

However, her true shock came when she lifted her gaze upwards and let her jaw drop upon her discovery. Multiple chunks of Earth were hovering above in the sky each in what seemed like the biggest bubbles anybody could've blown. She was so taken by this site that she push Shoutmon's mic aside to step forth for a better view.

Just to make sure she wasn't going crazy.

"Hey, hold it!" Shoutmon protested while going after the bewildered wizard. "I haven't even started my interrogation yet." He pocketed the Fusion Loader for safe keeping. "Some prisoner of war you are."

"Elf?" Lisanna cried out, her head darting around distress. "Mira, where are you?" The only things for a mile was what seemed like far taller plateaus among a more bumper terrain. "Anybody?" That wasn't even touching upon how it was suddenly broad daylight without any sign of her brother or sister searching for her.

Shoutmon's glare softened when he heard how anxious Lisanna sounded and the fearful look in her eye. He knew this could've been a spy trick but remembered how war refugees often arrive with that kind of distress. The young Rookie decided to take a chance.

"Who are they?" Shoutmon asked more gently, lowering his microphone. "These 'Elf' and 'Mira' characters."

"My brother and sister," Lisanna answered, sounding more calm. "We were helping a village with an attack when..." The memory of that strike made her pause in discomfort. "...something bad happened." It felt easily now that Shoutmon wasn't on the defense anymore. "I must've been flung clear across Fiore to... wherever this is."

"Fiore?" Shoutmon asked in genuine curiosity. "I don't remember the Digital World having a Zone like that."

"'Digital World'?" Lisanna questioned with mounting confusion. "Are you just... making up words?"

"Uh... the Digital World?" Shoutmon answered incredulously, unsure of what how to properly respond. "The world we all live in?" Lisanna blinked once puzzled. "Little monsters everywhere?" Lisanna blinked twice in bafflement. "Like... what kind of Digimon are you?"

"That... depends," Lisanna finally answered back. "What's a Digimon?"

---

-Earthland, X782-

"Lisanna!" a tattered Elfman called out, pushing through the pain and the foliage. "Mira!" His left eye blinked hard when wincing at the aches and pains lingering in his limbs. "Dammit!" The low hanging tree branches smacking into him didn't exactly help matter. "Think I'll stick to my Beast Arm a little longer."

Eventually, Elfman's still sharp ears picked up on sobbing from what was certainly a girl to his right by a tad. Suddenly, his body's battered state was too trivial when he bolted as fast as he could've and turned right towards that precise direction.

"Anybody out there?" Elfman tried to shout before coughing. "Girls?" He remembered now how the Beast's roaring did a number on his throat but his memory of it was still spotty.

Sure enough, Elf made it to the clearing where he discovered Mirajane sunk to her knees from behind. Her hair was a mess while her outfit was miraculous only in need of a tailor compared to his torn up uniform. However, a major red flag arose when he saw her shoulder trembling while her sobs subsided into sniffling.

"M-Mira?" Elfman called out cautiously, baffled by his big sister tearing up let alone crying. "I-It's me, Elf." He stepped forth slowly by one step at a time, his pain catching up with him. "For real this time, I promise."

Mirajane gasped with a slight jolt and turned around to show the most devastated look in her eyes. Elfman thought that his botched takeover scared her senseless and didn't have the heart to hold it over her.

"H-Hey, it's all better now!" Elfman promised while slowly making his way. "I just had to knock myself into the cliffs and tire myself out." He hunched over to make himself look less threatening upon getting within four feet of Mirajane. "At least, that's what I feel any-"

Elfman paused considerably when he saw something glint in the open palms Mirajane was holding out before her. It was that data card. The one that...

"We still love you."

The very words were the next piece of his fuzzy memories Elfman felt clearing up, one that made his heart sink in dread. He felt it plunge to further depth when he saw exactly where Mirajane was standing in front of and stumbled back in cold denial. An harsh indent in the otherwise rocky surface. Big enough... for a teenage girl.

"Mira..." Elfman began to question, begging to be wrong. "Where's Lisanna?"

To Be Continued...

---

Lisanna embarks on an adventure she never asked for, never quite knowing how much her absence will affect her home.

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT AS TO HOW YOU'VE BEEN ENJOYING THIS FANFIC SO FAR. I don't mean to be pushy for those who may be shy but I only wish to improve my craft or know how I'm doing in general. Rip me to shreads YouTube style even.