The portal spit them out like chewed-up gum.
Natsu hit the ground first, face-planting into the dirt.
Wendy tumbled out next, landing on a patch of strange, blue-tinted grass.
Ace landed smoothly on his feet, his coat snapping in the wind as the dimensional rift zipped shut behind them.
"Ugh... my stomach," Natsu groaned, rolling onto his back.
"Are you okay, Wendy?" Carla asked, dusting off her white fur.
"I'm fine," Wendy said, sitting up. She looked at the sky, and her eyes went wide. "Guys... look."
Ace looked up.
Massive islands of rock and earth floated mid-air, connected by flowing rivers of water that defied gravity. The sky itself had a weird, greenish hue instead of blue.
"Where are we?" Happy asked, looking around in awe.
"Edolas," Ace said, scanning the strange terrain. "Mystogan wasn't kidding about this place."
Natsu jumped to his feet, slamming his fists together. "Doesn't matter! We just gotta find the people who stole our guild and beat the shit out of them! I'm fired up!"
He opened his mouth, took a deep breath, and prepared to roar.
"Fire Dragon's—"
He blew hard... and a tiny, pathetic puff of smoke drifted out of his mouth.
Natsu blinked. He looked at his hands, trying to ignite them.
Nothing happened. "WHAT THE HELL?! MY FIRE IS GONE!"
Wendy raised her hands, trying to summon a gentle breeze. "I can't feel the wind either. My magic... it's just gone."
"Earthland magic relies on ethernano in the atmosphere," Ace explained.
He pulled the D-Tector from his pocket.
The screen glitched for a brief second, static flickering across the glass, before it stabilized into a steady, bright red glow.
"This world doesn't have it. You guys are running on empty magic power."
Natsu panicked, grabbing his own head. "HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO FIGHT WITHOUT MAGIC?!"
Ace tapped the screen.
A stream of binary code shot out, forming into the small flying guinea pig.
"Patamon," Ace said.
"I'm here, Ace!" Patamon chirped, hovering in the air. He sniffed the weird breeze, his bat wings flapping steadily.
"It feels a bit dry here, but I'm good to go."
Natsu's jaw dropped. "How can you still do that?!"
"My power isn't just magic," Ace said, slipping the device back into his pocket. "It's digital data. It's self-contained and doesn't rely on the local atmosphere. I don't get tired, and my partners don't need ethernano to exist."
"Thank god we brought you," Carla sighed in heavy relief.
They started walking, following a dirt path that looked semi-traveled.
Ace kept his guard up, while Natsu kept trying and failing to spark a flame on his thumb, grumbling curses under his breath.
After an hour of walking, they found a small town.
The buildings were shaped like oversized mushrooms, and the people wore strange, colorful clothes.
They kept their heads down, sensing a tense, oppressive atmosphere. Royal guards in heavy silver armor patrolled the streets with spears.
"We need info," Ace whispered, pulling Natsu into a narrow alleyway.
"Don't go shouting about Fairy Tail. If this world stole our city, our guild might be public enemy number one."
Too late.
"EXCUSE ME!" Natsu yelled at a passing merchant, leaning right into the poor guy's face. "HAVE YOU SEEN A GIANT GUILDHALL FULL OF LOUD IDIOTS?!"
The merchant went pale as a sheet. "F-Fairy Tail?! Are you crazy?! The Royal Army will execute you just for saying that name! They're hiding in the woods out west!" The guy dropped his basket of weird fruit and ran for his life.
Ace pinched the bridge of his nose. "Subtle, Natsu. Real subtle."
"West it is!" Natsu cheered, sprinting out of town.
They hiked into the dense, strange-looking forest. It didn't take long to spot it.
Hidden behind a massive canopy of purple trees was a building that looked remarkably like the Fairy Tail guildhall.
The sign hung slightly crooked, but the emblem was unmistakable.
"We found them!" Happy cried.
Natsu didn't bother knocking.
He kicked the front door open, marching inside with a giant grin. "WE'RE BACK! EVERYONE, WE CAME TO RESCUE YOU!"
The entire guildhall froze.
It looked like Fairy Tail, but the vibe was entirely wrong.
It was dark, quiet, and everyone looked terrified.
The members were huddled around a few tables, whispering nervously and jumping at the loud noise.
"The Royal Army?!" someone shrieked in panic.
A woman stepped out from the shadows near the bar.
She had blonde hair, but that was where the similarities ended.
She wore a tight black leather outfit, a skull tattoo on her left arm, and a scowl that could melt steel. She held a heavy, spiked whip in her hand.
"Who the hell is yelling in my guild?" Edo-Lucy snarled.
Natsu beamed. "Lucy! You look weird! Did you get a new outfit?"
Edo-Lucy cracked her whip against the floor.
The loud snap echoed through the room, making Natsu jump.
She marched right up to him, grabbed him by his signature white scarf, and hoisted him up onto his tiptoes.
"You got a lot of nerve showing your face around here, Natsu," Edo-Lucy spat, glaring daggers at him.
"Where have you been hiding?! You leave the guild for a week, and now you come waltzing in screaming your lungs out?!"
"W-What are you doing?!" Natsu choked, grabbing his scarf. "L-Lucy, it's me!"
"I know who you are, dumbass!" She dropped him, crossing her arms in disgust. "You better not be crying again."
"Crying?!" Natsu yelled indignantly, rubbing his neck.
"L-Lucy, please don't be mean to him," a timid, shaking voice spoke up.
Ace and Wendy turned to see Gray walking over.
But instead of being half-naked, this Gray was wearing three heavy winter coats, a thick scarf, mittens, and a fluffy snow hat.
He was shivering violently, rubbing his gloved hands together like he was freezing to death.
"It's cold today," Edo-Gray chattered. "We should just stay inside and avoid the army. Please don't fight."
Natsu's brain short-circuited. He pointed a shaking finger at the bundled-up ice mage.
"GRAY?! WHY THE HELL ARE YOU WEARING CLOTHES?!"
"Why wouldn't I?!" Edo-Gray flinched, hiding behind a wooden pillar to escape Natsu's yelling. "Don't yell at me! I didn't do anything!"
A massive, hulking figure bumped into Ace.
Edo-Elfman stood there, tears streaming down his face as he clutched a tiny, lace handkerchief.
"I'm sorry! I bumped into you! I'm so clumsy and unmanly!" he wailed, blowing his nose loudly.
Wendy stood frozen, her jaw hanging open.
Carla looked like she wanted to pass out from the sheer absurdity of it all.
Ace watched the bizarre display with a deadpan expression.
He looked at Edo-Lucy threatening Natsu with a spiked whip, Edo-Gray hiding from a slight breeze in a parka, and Edo-Elfman crying a river over a minor bump.
"Well," Ace said, crossing his arms. "This is going to be a long trip."
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