A/N: First, there won't be just one but TWO new Ultimate forms in this chapter! Awesome, right?

WARNING: This chapter is packed with suspense, action, and more importantly; a bit "bonding" between a certain shape-shifter and armour mage.

Now, on with the show!

~*~*~

Last time on "Fairy Tail: Robots and Fairies" ...

Suddenly, a bulky, humanoid lizard crawled out of the crevice; it matched Mayor Cryoson's description dead-on. It stood eight-foot-tall and its body was comprised of burning stones and lava. It threw up its arms and head and let out another deafening roar.

"Whoa," Braedey breathed. "Speak of the devil... or demon, I guess."

Suddenly, the ground shook again as another fracture appeared father down the street. A crowd of townsfolk was now trapped in-between the fire and gas spewing out in front of them and the lava-lizard closest to Braedey and Erza.

Braedey saw this and immediately sprang into action. "Erza, you get those people to safety! I'll take care of this firebreather!" He ordered.

Erza nodded her head in understanding. "Understood."

She took off in a sprint down the street, rushing to get to the civilians as quickly as possible. Braedey activated the Transformatrix, as he ran toward the lava demon that stood in the middle of the street. He stopped a few metres away from the creature, which was giving off a lot of heat.

As the creature looked down at him with its glowing red eyes, Braedey smirked confidentially. "Alright lizard face, time to Transform and Roll Out!" He slapped down the dial.

~*~*~

After a brilliant flash of blue, standing in Braedey's place was a seven-foot-tall humanoid with dark blue, reptilian skin, a broad chest and broad shoulders, and spikey fiery hair. It had a sharp pointed chin, a mouth full of razor sharp teeth, and blue eyes with black slits for pupils. Even a red tattoo design was on the left side of the face. It had razor-sharp talons at the end of its fingertips and toes. On its back was a pair of blue demonic, foldable wings that had a wingspan of ten feet. It also had an alligator-like tail sprouting from behind. It wore a pair of tight blue pants and a black vest with metal spikes on the shoulder pads. On its ankles and wrists were black cuffs with metal spikes on them too. The Transformatrix dial was positioned on his chest.

Braedey looked at his transformation in slight confusion. "Diabolos?" He then shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, I wished for Freezerburn, but this one will do."

The lava-demon, which was a foot taller than Diabolos, threw up its arms and let out another loud roar. It reared back its arms and brought them down over Diabolos to pummel him. Braedey swiftly opened his wings and flew backwards into the air, causing the monster to smash the ground instead.

Diabolos changed course and flew straight at the molten lizard and delivered a wicked right hook. The blow sent the beast careening back to the other side of the street, where it went straight through the town park's iron fence and dozens of metres further.

Braedey groaned lightly, feeling a small sensation of weakness fill his body.

'That's strange. I felt weak there for a second.' Braedey noted.

The teen hero was interrupted from his musings when the lava-demon walked through the hole in the fence its body had made. The iron bars around its feet turned orange before they slowly melted into molten metal. It glared at him with intense, primal rage.

Diabolos gave the demon a savage grin. "Just you and me, lava breath," he popped his knuckles, "Demon o' demon."

The volcanic creature opened its mouth and fired a stream of fire and molten rock straight at Ben. Diabolos was quick to fly up and dodge the attack. It hit a building instead, which caused it to go up in flames and subsequently melt.

Diabolos looked back at the lava-lizard with a tilted brow. "He shoots lava and fire from his mouth? Why am I not surprised?"

The beast reared back its head and let loose another torrent of lava and fire at Diabolos. The Transformatrix bearer flew to the right to avoid the attack, and then shot toward the lava-lizard.

"My turn!" Diabolos shouted. "Demon Fire!"

He summoned a black magic circle and when it disappeared, his first were shrouded with onyx flames with an blue hint on the outside. Diabolos decked the lizard-man straight in the centre of its snout. As a result, it stumbled back a few metres, yelping out in pain.

Diabolos grunted and faltered a bit in flight. Ben felt another sudden wave of weariness wash over him just from contact; however, it was stronger than the first one. Suddenly, Diabolos was too slow to react this time as the monster reached up and backhanded him. He went flying back until he collided with the ground, bounced off of it, and then smacked into a building wall, leaving cracks and an indention in it.

Braedey grunted as he pulled himself out of the wall and held his aching head. "Ugh... what the heck?"

'What's going on? That's the second time. Why do I feel weaker whenever I touch that thing?' Braedey pondered.

The Transformatrix bearer was pulled out of his thoughts as the lava-lizard roared and charged straight for him. Diabolos ignited black-bluish flames on his right hand and clenched his fist. All of a sudden, the fire in his hand expanded outward and remarkably took the shape of a large fist.

Braedey's eyes widened when he saw that. He then turned back to the lava beast and smirked. He punched outward, which in turn caused the giant, black flaming fist to punch the monster with a loud smack. The lizard-man went flying back and crashed into the park's fence again.

Diabolos looked at the fiery onyx fist extending from the fire on his right hand, and smirked. 'I can mould my fire to make fists?' Braedey thought. 'Now that's impressive.'

Like before, Diabolos was brought out of his thoughts when the demon of fire and rock made another quick recovery. It stood across from Diabolos, twenty yards across the street, glaring intensely at him with its red eyes. The demon roared viciously as it tilted back its head, preparing to fire another torrent of molten rock and flames.

Diabolos flattened out his right hand and swiped it in an arc motion. Suddenly, a blackish-blue wave of fire blasted from Diabolos' hand and sliced the demon in half at the torso. As soon as the demon collapsed dead, its flames dispersed away as its body crumbled away into a molten substance.

"You need to shut your mouth." Diabolos finished.

The sounds of multiple roars caught Diabolos' attention. He turned back to see three more lava-lizards climbing out of the large fissure. They stood by each other, glaring at Diabolos with furious red eyes. Braedey smirked confidently and popped his knuckles.

"So," said Diabolos, "three against one? I'll play that game!"

The trio roared violently and charged straight at Diabolos. He summoned cobalt fire around both hands, concentrated hard, and created two black flamed fists. Diabolos soared forward and smashed the lizard-man in the chest, driving it into the ground with a terrific impact. The strength behind the blow caused the monster's body to break apart before it ignited in a fireball.

Another leaped at him, but Braedey was quick to backhand the beast to the ground with his oversized flaming fist. The third lava-demon reared back its head and inhaled deeply. Shockingly, the fiery, onyx extensions of Diabolos were pulled into the creature's mouth like a vacuum cleaner.

Diabolos blinked while his mouth gaped a little. "Whoa. They can eat fire like Natsu?"

Suddenly, the demon he'd backhanded earlier recovered, and shot a torrent of lava at him. Diabolos narrowly ducked under the molten blast; however, he was unprepared when the other lava-lizard delivered a powerful punch into his chest. Diabolos was sent careening back thirty yards before he crashed into the street hard, leaving a shallow trench.

Braedey groaned as he sat up, holding his aching chest. "Ugh... this isn't as easy as I thought it would be." He shakily stood up and faced the two demons running toward him. "Okay, no more messing around."

Diabolos clenched his fists, summoned blackish-bluish fire around them, and launched straight toward the beasts. He used his giant, fiery right fist to deliver a wicked uppercut into the closest demon, sending it tumbling upward. The second monster jumped at Diabolos, intending to tackle him. Braedey flattened his left hand and discharged another fiery arc-tendril to slice the lava-lizard in two, causing its flame to die off and its body to crumble away.

The blue-skinned demon grunted and lost the strength to stay in the air. He landed on his feet and fell to one knee, panting in exhaustion. He looked at his hands to see that his Demon Fire had died out. Strangely, Diabolos had felt a sense of weakness strike him whenever he made contact with the lava-demons, and it had gotten stronger after every time.

"What's ... going ... on?" He panted in-between each pause. "Why do I feel weaker?"

Diabolos was caught off guard when the creature he'd sent flying earlier roared and dived at him. Before Braedey could react, an orange wave of fire struck the monster and hurled it to the ground. The Transformatrix hero blinked, confused.

Suddenly, Erza appeared and landed in-between Diabolos and the lava-demon, which was shakily getting up. The Fairy Queen was adorned in her Flame Empress Armour and she held up her flaming sword in front of her, glaring intensely at the beast of lava and rock.

"How dare you bring harm to the innocents of this town. You will pay." Erza stated.

The volcanic lizard only roared in response before it charged at Erza. Big mistake. Erza smirked as she crouched low and jumped at the demon. With amazing speed and power, she spun full circle and slashed her flaming blade diagonally across the lizard-man's chest. When Erza jumped away and landed by Braedey, the demon stood stationary for a couple seconds before the top half fell off and the rest of its body deteriorated away into loose rocks and lava.

Braedey whistled as he got up. "Nice timing."

"Thank you." Erza replied. "I've cleared the townspeople out of this area, and the local knights will block any bystanders from getting into this part of the city."

"Good. With no people around, we can go all-out on these things." Diabolos said.

Without warning, the ground shook again and more primal roars sounded. The duo looked back at the giant fissure to see five more lava-lizards climb out. Once they honed their red, ruby eyes on Diabolos and Erza, they charged straight for them like rampaging bulls.

Erza held up her flaming sword, ready to engage whilst Diabolos clenched his fists and ignited his Demon Fire.

"They sure look angry." Erza noted wryly.

"Yeah, they do." Diabolos smirked. "Allow me to me to cool them off."

Realizing that he wasn't going to get anywhere in his current form, Braedey slapped the Transformatrix dial and, in an blue flash, transformed into a 25ft tall red Autobot, with components of a firetruck around his form; a ladder on his back, a fireman's hat as part of the helm, the front grille and windshield on the chest and abdomen, a firehose on the left arm, wheels on the shoulders and the ankles, and an orange visor over the blue optics. The Transformatrix symbol was displayed on his chest in the centre of the grille.

"Heatwave." Braedey shouted in a deep rough voice.

Erza lifted a brow in bemusement and intrigue. She had not been present for the beginning of Braedey and Natsu's first fight, so she hadn't witnessed this form and its capabilities. Well, Erza was certainly going to find out now.

Heatwave held up his left arm and fired a strong jet of water at the incoming lava-based cretins. The force of the water washed the five demons back a good distance. A thick cloud of steam hissed off of them while their body temperature began to cool, which caused their bodies to steadily harden into stone.

Heatwave ran toward them and Erza took to the air, since her Flame Empress Armour could allow her to fly for short distances. The Cybertronian leapt into the steam cloud and delivered a powerful punch into a monster's skull. As a result, it fell to the street as its head was shattered into tiny, rocky pieces. The rest of its body cooled to the point of stone and broke away into rubble.

It was then that Braedey noticed something. 'I didn't feel weak when I touched it. Odd...' He thought.

Erza reared back her sword over her head and made a vertical slash on a lava-lizard, promptly cutting it in half. Another volcanic demon stood over Erza and cocked back its right hand, the talons fully extended. Erza spun her body and swiped her flaming sword across the creature's gut, causing it to fall over and its lava blood to gush out onto the street.

Heatwave shot out water from his fire hose, then focused hard, and created a water-whip. He whipped the nearest lava-lizard in an 'X' pattern across its chest, causing it to stumble back as steam wafted off its body. Heatwave jumped and sent a powerful, roundhouse kick into the fiery, rock-skinned demon's chest. The strength of the kick added to the demon's weakened, wet body created a spider-web of cracks over its chest until its flame died out and the creature collapsed into a rock pile.

The two remaining beasts snarled in rage and both reared back their heads, preparing to fire their lava breath attack. Heatwave saw this and aimed his left arm at them.

He shot out a torrent of water into their mouths, promptly cooling off their gathered thermal energy. As the two lava-demons staggered back, roaring in pain from the cold water, Erza crouched low and leapt into the air. Erza cried out as she reared back her fiery blade to its acme and let loose a powerful fire wave at the creatures, which instantly sliced them apart. Their bodies fell apart into rocky piles as their flames were extinguished.

Erza landed smoothly but winced a little. For some odd reason, she felt a little fatigued. This confused her since she had barely gotten started. The redhead shook it off, thinking it was nothing.

With their opponents destroyed, Heatwave and Erza regrouped and took a moment to decide what to do next.

"That takes care of them." Erza noted.

"Yes." Heatwave replied, "but if we are going to stop those things from coming back and putting more lives at risk, we need to bring the fight to them!"

They both turned their eyes on the large fissure in the street and ambled over to it. When the duo got to the edge, they could see fiery orange cracks stretching their way into the dark depths of the earth.

Erza nodded in agreement. "Their weakness appears to be water." She then turned to the firetruck robot. "I would recommend you stay in that form for the time being."

"Right. Well, let's not waste any more time. I am on a schedule after all." Heatwave nodded.

The Cybertronian jumped into the crack first and Erza followed. A few seconds later, Heatwave landed on solid ground, the earth beneath him denting inwardly from his weight. Erza landed gracefully on her feet right next to him and both took a moment to look around, studying their surroundings.

They appeared to be in large, wide cavern with pools of magma in random spots. The ground and walls around them were cracked and glowing orange from the heat. Their eyes traveled upward to the crack in the ceiling, fifty feet up, where bits of sunlight were creeping in. How the lava-monsters were able to get up there was beyond Braedey and Erza, but they both inwardly speculated that the demons could jump very high.

Despite the high temperatures of the cave, the Transformatrix bearer and Titania of Fairy Tail were unaffected. Heatwave's and Erza's Flame Empress Armour protected them from the semi-extreme heat.

As Heatwave glanced around the cavern, he cocked a brow ridge. "Nobody home?" he wondered.

Erza didn't respond immediately, as she spotted a few reptile-shaped footprints in the ground. Her eyes followed them until she saw that they led to a tunnel at the end of the cave. Heatwave followed her gaze and quickly saw the tracks that Erza had discovered.

"Good eye, Erza." Heatwave praised.

She curtly nodded. "Let's follow them. I have a hunch that they'll lead us straight to the nest, so keep your wits about you."

Without argument, Hearwave followed Erza into the tunnel and kept a couple steps behind her. Braedey and Erza were on their guard, ready for any possible attack. Light wasn't an issue in the tunnel since there were glowing orange cracks all over the walls and ceiling. Occasionally the duo would come across magma gushing out of the walls, blocking their path; however, Braedey easily resolved the problem by blasting the obstacles with water, which instantly turned the molten rock into stone.

A few minutes later, as Heatwave and Titania trekked deeper into the tunnel; the latter was feeling a sensation of weariness fill her body. Suddenly, Erza stopped walking and hunched over a little, groaning in discomfort.

"Erza! Is... something wrong?" Heatwave asked, concerned.

The redhead was befuddled and couldn't understand why it felt like her strength was slowly being drained away. What was happening?

"I... I'm okay." She replied. "I – I just feel a little dizzy... that's all."

"Maybe it's the heat?" Heatwave suggested. "I mean, it is getting hotter down here."

It was true. The farther the duo ambled into the semi-hardened lava tube, the higher the temperature rose.

"No doubt it's because we're getting closer to Mount Infernus." Erza explained. "And no... that's not it. While in this armour, I'm immune to heat."

"Then, what is it?" asked Braedey.

Erza grunted and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, the determined expression she wore had hardened. "Nothing." she stated. "Let's keep moving."

Heatwave watched Erza take a few steps forward before he followed. He was curious as to what could've made his redheaded partner feel dizzy, then it hit him. He remembered while as Diabolos he'd felt a sudden feeling of weakness when he touched the lava-demons, but he didn't feel it as Heatwave.

'Something strange is going on here.' Braedey thought. 'I felt more fatigue the longer I was around those demons as Diabolos, and since Erza got dizzy down here... I can assume that she feels a bit weaker too. What could be causing this?'

Braedey was brought out of his thoughts when he saw the large opening ahead. When the duo exited from the tunnel they were now in an enormous cavern. The ceiling above them was so high, it was shrouded in darkness, but the tips of a few rocky stalagmites could be seen hanging down.

Magma poured from fissures in the walls and ground with the viscosity of cold syrup, forming pools of molten rock in various places. Like the tunnel, the cave walls had a spider-web of orange cracks that provided light for the Fairy Tail wizard and superhero to see. In random spots across the cavern, a handful of orange crystals jutted out from the many rocks that surrounded them.

All in all, the cave was impressive.

Heatwave and Erza only took a few steps into the cavern before the ground began to shake. All of a sudden, a horde of lava-lizards burst from the earth and surrounded the shape-shifter and armour-clad mage. Their malice-filled ruby eyes were honed in on the duo as they each let out angry snarls.

"Ambush!" Erza cried, bringing up her sword.

"HIT 'EM HARD!" Heatwave yelled as he got into a battle stance.

The lava-based monsters extended their hand talons to their peak and let out earsplitting roars before they all charged at Braedey and Erza. Heatwave held up his arm and fired powerful jet of water at the nearest incoming lizard-men. The demons cried out in pain as a cloud of steam was made from instant contact with the cold water.

Erza let out a fearful cry as she leapt ahead of Braedey. She reared back her sword and let out an intense fire wave, which shattered the bodies of the monsters that had been cooled by Heatwave; the rest were blown off their feet and sent careening into the wall.

However, the fight was far from over as another faction of lava-demons attacked from behind the duo. Heatwave spun around and fired a river of water at them, causing the lava-based creatures to stagger back in pain. Erza jumped forward and stabbed her flaming sword into the ground. As a result, a powerful conflagration erupted from the earth beneath them and consumed the group, reducing their weakened bodies to rubble.

Erza had once again fallen to one knee, clutching the handle of her sword as she panted. Strangely, she was feeling weak after that attack. 'What's going on? I've barely exerted myself and I'm already winded.' Erza thought.

The redheaded warrior was almost taken off guard when three lava-demons charged at her; however, torrents of water blasted them off their feet. Erza collected herself and stood back up, holding her crimson sword firmly. She looked over at Heatwave, who turned his left arm away from her and fired a jet of water at another volcanic lizard charging him.

It was sent sliding back while a steam cloud wafted from its body. The demon was now on its hands and knees as its rocky skin hardened. Heatwave acted quickly and slashed the creature with powerful water-whips, which caused the demon to cry out before it crumbled away.

Heatwave turned to his redheaded companion. "Erza, are you okay?"

"Yes! I'm fine!" She yelled. "Just keep fighting!"

Erza let out a fearsome yell, crouched low, and jumped high. In midair, she gathered an absurd amount of flames on her red sword to make it shine brightly. With a single swipe, a wave of fire struck another clique of lava-monsters and sent them flying back.

'Something is off.' Braedey thought. 'She seems to be holding her own for the moment, but I could tell she looked exhausted after making fire erupt from the ground.'

Heatwave was pulled out of his musings when half a dozen lava-demons rushed at him, fury blazing in their blood-red eyes. The Cybertronian held out both arms and fired a river of water at the incoming beasts, which washed away two of them. However, the other four split up and dodged to the left and right to avoid the attack.

The volcanic lizard-men ceased their charge thirty yards from Braedey and stared at him. The Transformatrix hero was confused at what they were doing until the demon quartet reeled back their heads and fired four concentrated blasts of lava from their mouths. The four lava blasts fused together midway and formed a huge pillar of molten rock that rocketed towards Braedey.

Heatwave's optics widened in panic. He swiftly extended his arms and fired the strongest torrent of water he could. When the two elements met, a massive cloud of steam was produced. Though some of the lava pillar was turned into stone, the extreme heat was simply too much for Heatwave to handle.

The lava blasted through the water jets and hit Heatwave, which sent him careening back. He slammed into the cave wall hard. Braedey stuck to the rock momentarily before he peeled off and fell to the ground face first.

"BRAEDEY!" Erza cried out.

The redheaded warrior was about to come to her partner's aid until a dozen lava-monsters burst from the ground in front of her, blocking her path to Braedey. Erza ground her teeth while a bit of sweat ran down her face. She held up her red sword and was ready to engage; however, with as many beasts as there were around her, Erza certainly wouldn't be getting to Braedey anytime soon.

Heatwave groaned painfully as he shakily picked himself off the ground with his arms. He returned to his feet, albeit he was hunched over. Small, dark burn marks were visible on his chest and torso. Although his Cybertronian armour was incredibly strong and durable, it could still suffer burns from energy blasts.

Braedey brought up his head to see a crowd of ten lava-demons charging straight for him. "This is too much heat for regular Heatwave to handle," his eyes then narrowed, "Time to go Ultimate!"

He lifted his right hand and slapped the Transformatrix dial on his chest, causing four clamps to stick out from the rim. A blue flash illuminated the area, as an evolutionary surge filled Heatwave's body. His form became bulkier and a foot taller whilst his armour turned into a yellow colour while the armour on his abdomen and upper arms were blue, and there were black decals and markings on him. The shoulders seem to sport what could be a boat's hull. His lower arms sprouted large cannons. His helm was now a combination of a fireman's helmet and a fighter pilot's helmet, with a battle mask covering over his mouth. A rocket appeared to be mounted on his back, whilst his ladder was gone, now replaced for a pair of folded up wings on his back, with two propellor engines built in the wings.

"Ultimate Heatwave!" Braedey shouted in a deeper voice.

The seemingly mindless beasts were not intimidated as they continued to charge at the Transformatrix bearer, letting out deafening roars.

Ultimate Heatwave now had a snarl on his face. "Why don't you guys just cool down already?"

He held up his right cannon-arm and fired a powerful water torrent; much stronger than regular Heatwave's. Amazingly, the ten demons were blown off their feet and washed away by an incredible inundation of water. By the time they had reached the other side of the cave, their molten rock bodies had already turned to stone and obliterated by the intense water pressure.

Braedey then turned his gaze to Erza. She had successfully taken out most of the lava cretins that had attacked her, their rocky husks were scattered about and in multiple pieces. However, at least a dozen remained and they had now surrounded her. Erza herself was braced on one knee, a sheen of sweat dripped down her face, and she was breathing heavily.

The teen hero's eyes widened in alarm; Erza was exhausted and it appeared she could barely stand. Without wasting a moment, the hyper-evolved Fire Autobot began to change his form, parts folding around him, and the sound of clanking metal echoed through the cavern. The end result of this transformation is a Canadair CL-415 water bomber plane.

Once Ultimate Heatwave was fully transformed, his engines roared to life, whilst two powerful jets of water from scoop buckets underneath his belly deployed, and he launched forward, straight toward the demons.

Just when the lava-lizard were about to pounce on Erza, Braedey landed a few yards to Erza's right, shifting into robot mode, splashing water on her and everything around him. The demons could see how much water was flowing from Ultimate Heatwave and took fretful steps back, frightened of their enemies element. Braedey didn't make any quips as he held out both cannons and fired two powerful jets of water at the lava-monsters. The extreme water pressure threw them all back to the cave walls and actually reduced their bodies to fragments of cool, hard stone.

Erza lifted her head and stared at Ultimate Heatwave with wide eyes. She took note of the four prongs sticking out from the Transformatrix dial on this form's chest and realized that Braedey was currently ultimized. After the Fairy Tail wizards had seen Ultimate Swamptread in the attack on Phantom Lord and Ultimate Freezerburn in Braedey and Erza's fight, they had asked him why those forms were different and more powerful than the originals.

Braedey had explained that his Transformatrix could do more than just turn him into every known sentient being on Cybertron. It could actually hyper-evolve all of his transformations to their ultimate form. Needless to say, the jaws of many mages had fallen off that day when Braedey told them about it. However, he chose only to go Ultimate when he needed to since it did shave precious time off of his transformation time limit.

It was also unnecessary to go Ultimate a lot, but in this situation, it was essential.

Once their lava-based adversaries were disposed of, Ultimate Heatwave came to Erza's aid. "Erza! What's wrong? And don't say you're alright because it's obvious that you're not!"

Erza grunted, grinding her teeth in distress. After a few minutes of fighting, she was already exhausted and barely had the strength to stand. Suddenly, her body was engulfed with golden-white light and her Flame Empress Armour disappeared, replaced by her usual Heart Kreuz outfit. She didn't have enough magic energy within in her to keep her other armour equipped.

"I... I – I don't know." She admitted weakly. "I... feel like... all my power is being... sucked out of me."

Before Braedey could respond, the ground shook violently again. Without warning, a couple dozen lava-lizards popped out of the ground and surrounded the highly-adaptive duo. They extended their razor sharp talons and roared deafeningly.

Ultimate Heatwave looked between Erza, who was wincing in pain, and the lava-demons. It was at that moment his blue eyes widened as the connection was made.

"That's it." The hyper-evolved fireplane Autobot exclaimed. "It's the volcano demons!"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Erza asked, confused.

"Somehow these beasts are draining your magic power." Braedey elaborated, holding up his arm-cannons. "That's why I felt so weak as Diabolos. He's the only form I have that uses magic."

Erza's brown eyes had widened in realization. Braedey was right. The moment she started fighting the demons was when she felt herself getting weaker. There was no denying it now; their situation had just gotten a lot more complicated.

"Y-you're... you're right." Erza stammered, struggling to keep herself from falling over.

The demon horde roared again before they charged at the two members of Fairy Tail. Ultimate Heatwave extended both arm-cannons to opposite sides and fired two powerful streams of water. Half of the beasts were destroyed instantly by the high-pressure cold water. A thick cloud of steam was produced and blanketed the cave, blocking Braedey and Erza's line of sight.

Ultimate Heatwave stood protectively at Erza's side, his water cannons up and ready. "We have to get outta here!"

"But..." Erza began to protest.

"If we stay down here any longer, you could die! I'm not gonna let that happen." Braedey snapped.

Erza tried to find a way to chide her partner, but she realized that Braedey was right. They needed to retreat and devise another strategy.

"Very well," Erza replied. "Let's..."

Erza's sentence fell short, as she suddenly collapsed semi-conscious to the ground.

"ERZA!" Ultimate Heatwave shouted.

All of a sudden, five lava-demons jumped out from the mist straight in front of Braedey. The hyper-evolved Cybertronian held out his right arm and shot another water torrent at them. They were easily washed away to the other end of the cave, where they turned to stone and crumbled away. However, Braedey was nearly taken by surprise when a lizard-man appeared at his side and reared back his fists over its head, intending to bring them down on him.

The shape-shifting hero dodged to the side, avoiding the hit and letting the monster smash the ground instead. Ultimate Heatwave shot the demon with water, which immediately abolished it due to the high pressure. Three more beasts ran out of the steam cloud and stopped fifteen yards to Braedey's left.

They cocked back their heads and fired out torrents of lava from their mouths. Ultimate Heatwave simply held out both arms and shot an enormous wave of water. The lava instantly hardened into stone while another steam cloud was created. The powerful water jets cut through the lava attacks and struck the three demons. Stumbling back in pain, they quickly collapsed to the ground and shattered into rubble.

Braedey lowered his arms slightly, thinking he had gotten them all; however, with the steam fogging his vision, he couldn't tell if there were any other demons left. Then, an idea came to the Transformatrix hero's head.

"Should've done this sooner," He chided himself. "I'll absorb the moisture from the air."

Suddenly, the holes across Ultimate Heatwave's body and his portholes in his arm-cannons began to suck up the surrounding water vapour. In less than a minute, all of the steam in the cave was absorbed into the Cybertronian's body.

Braedey glanced around and was bewildered. Besides him and Erza, the cavern was empty and there were no signs of anymore volcanic monsters. The Transformatrix hero's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

'Strange... I thought there were three more.' He sighed in annoyance. 'I don't have time for this. I better get Erza outta here while I still got the chance.'

Ultimate Heatwave turned toward Erza, who was still lying on the ground, and ran to her. The fatigued warrior weakly lifted her head off the ground and opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry at first, but when it refocused, she spotted Braedey coming to her aid. Without warning, three lava-lizards quietly burst from the ground twenty yards behind Braedey.

When the demons reared back their heads, Erza's eyes widened in apprehension. "B-Braedey..." She stuttered.

"Hang tight, Erza." Braedeh said.

She finally found her voice and yelled, "LOOK OUT!"

Ultimate Heatwave stopped in his tracks. By the time he turned around, the beast trio had already fired their lava breath attacks. Braedey was too slow to react, as the three streams of molten rock hit and blasted him off his feet. He crashed onto the ground hard and formed a shallow trench all the way in front of Erza. Smoke hazed off of his body.

Braedey lay on the ground, groaning in pain. Though a hyper-evolved Cybertronian exoskeleton was very tough, taking three lava blasts to the back could still hurt badly. In a flash of blue, Ultimate Heatwave changed into Heatwave, and then into Braedey. The brunette ground his teeth as a searing soreness filled his body.

The three monsters approached the beaten wizard and superhero, standing tall above them. However, instead of finishing them off, one lava beast stepped forward and summoned a blue sphere of magma into its right hand. It kneeled down and placed the cobalt magma ball onto both of Braedey's wrists after crossing them with its left hand. It then ambled toward Erza and did the same to her.

Needless to say, both of them were surprised that the magma was actually cold! The magma instantly hardened and trapped their hands in a stone chunk. Braedey used what strength he had to break the rock, but to no avail. Erza took a deep breath and tried to muster up enough strength to get free; however, she was met with similar results. She just didn't have enough strength at the moment.

A lava-demon grabbed Braedey by the back of his blue jacket while another took hold of Erza's left shoulder guard, and then dragged the weakened duo across the ground. Braedey was a little surprised that he wasn't being burned from the demon's touch. He assumed that these volcano monsters could control their outer body temperature or something.

The monster trio dragged Braedey and Erza into another tunnel across the cavern. The former glanced over to his partner and observed that she was breathing heavily and struggling to stay awake. It appeared the energy within her was being sucked out of her before Braedey's very eyes.

"H-hang in... in there, Erza," Braedey encouraged, despite the pain he was experiencing from taking those lava blasts. "I have... a feeling that we're about to see what's... really going on here."

"I... I'm trying. I... feel so tired." Erza panted.

Braedey looked at his redheaded companion in concern. If something wasn't done soon, Erza could be completely drained of her magic energy. His eyes suddenly widened when he recalled what happened to Master Makarov when Aria had drained him of his magic powers. The thought of something similar befalling Erza made Braedey very uneasy and worried. His frightened expression was replaced by determination as he attempted to break his stone bindings again, but with zero success.

A few minutes later, the tunnel came to an end and opened up into a much larger cavern. The Fairy Tail duo was dragged across a stone bridge, beneath them was a giant pit of magma. At least a hundred lava-lizards were spaced out across the pit, and they appeared to be mining an orange crystal-like mineral from the many jagged rocks that stuck out of the magma.

Braedey looked at his right and left and could see even more lizard-men standing on cliffs that hung on the cave walls and above the magma pit. They appeared to be mining for the orange rock there too.

The teen hero cocked an eyebrow, confused. 'They're mining for that orange rock?' he thought. 'But why?'

After the beasts dragged Braedey and Erza across the bridge, they dropped them to the ground but remained close by. The shape-shifter and armour mage struggled to pick themselves up, their arms shook under their weight; nevertheless, Braedey finally regained enough strength to sit up. He came to Erza's side and helped her sit up too.

Their attention was then gained by a man, standing before them. He was six-foot-tall and broad shouldered. He was attired in a grey business suit without a tie and his collar was upturned. He had long, spiky black hair with red streaks, but most of it was concealed by a black fedora. The man's black eyes were sharp and cold. He wore a confident, smug smirk on his face.

Braedey's eyes narrowed at the man; for some reason, he looked vaguely familiar.

"I was expecting that sooner or later, some wizard might show up." The man spoke in a cool, slick voice. "But, I had no idea Titania of Fairy Tail herself would be one of them." He took off his fedora and bowed slightly. "It's truly a pleasure to meet someone so famous. I hope my welcoming crew wasn't too soft on you."

Braedey and Erza simply glared at the man. He shifted his gaze to Braedey, and asked, "And you would be?"

"Braedey Martin." Braedey replied dryly.

"OH! Yes... I remember..." John said. "You're that new powerful Take-Over mage from Fairy Tail, the one with so many unseen forms. One of those forms happens to be a giant titan. Am I correct?"

Braedey shook off his annoyance at being called a mage, and responded, "Yeah, and let me guess... you're the big guy in charge around here, right?"

The man placed his hat back on his head. "Oh pardon me, where are my manners? My name is John. John Magtartus the Third, at your service." He stated, causing Braedey and Erza's eyes to widen in shock.

"Magtartus?" gasped Braedey.

Braedey was hit hard by recognition. He knew that this man somehow seemed familiar and now he knew the reason.

"Ah, yes." John chuckled. "You already had the misfortune of meeting my pathetic little brother, Joe." He let out a frustrated sigh and face-palmed. "What was that idiot even thinking? Picking a fight with one of the strongest Guilds in this kingdom? If only he put as much effort into the family business, as he put into that ridiculous Dark Guild of his."

"I guess you're mad that we put your brother in jail, and you're seeking vengeance on the ones who defeated him, right?" Braedey guessed.

John chuckled in amusement and shook his head. "Oh no, no. I'm not angry at all about that."

Braedey cocked an eyebrow. "You're... you're not mad?"

John walked closer to them and kneeled, a serious expression on his sharp face. "Truth be told, I never really cared much about Joe's well being. So, don't think I want revenge for him getting arrested; in fact, some time behind bars might knock some sense into that runt. But still..." He reared back his fist and punched Braedey in the gut, making him double over in pain. "...for disgracing my family name, I'll make you suffer."

Erza snarled at John for punching her partner. She wanted to retaliate; however, she had so little strength in her. "Why are you doing this?" She glowered.

Magtartus stood up and snapped his fingers. As a result, a random lava monster approached him, carrying one of the orange crystals. He reached into his suit and pulled out an iron glove, placing it on his left hand. John reached out and took the rock from the lava monster and stepped a few feet away from it before turning his attention back to Braedey and Erza.

"This mineral is truly special. Similar to lacrimas, it can store magic inside of it, but not just that; it also absorbs magic from the area around it. So I don't advise you to touch it directly without protection; preferably iron. You'd be completely depleted in a matter of minutes."

'I guess a long explanation means something bad in this crazy universe too.' Braedey mused.

He continued his tale. "About a month ago, I came across these beauties and found a way to use them to make my magic even stronger. Then I got an idea: what if I were to mine more of them and let them absorb more magic? I melted all the rocks I could find with my Lava Magic and created these golems. They're obedient, hardworking, and best of all... they can absorb the magic of wizards from direct contact or just by standing in very close proximity to them. Then I thought, what if they absorbed the magic of some powerful mages? Just imagine all that power, under my control." He began to laugh hard.

Braedey sat up, getting over the pain in his gut; it all began to come together in his head. John had created the lava-demons to mine more of the orange crystals and gain more magic power. Apparently though, what he had wasn't satisfactory enough. So, he ordered his lava-minions to terrorize Peony so that the town would eventually call upon Guild wizards for help, allowing the demons to suck their magic energy from them.

That also explained why Braedey felt so weak when he faced the monsters as Diabolos. He was the only form out of Braedey's repertoire that could use magic. Once he changed into something else, he was completely unaffected.

"You're just as power hungry as your brother." Erza stated.

John shrugged and smiled. "It runs in the family."

A lava-demon walked across the stone bridge and stood ten yards behind Braedey and Erza. It let out a series of grunts and snarls. A sinister smile took shape on John's face.

"We're that close, huh? Tell the group to keep mining and inform me at once when they reach the heart." John ordered.

The monster nodded in acknowledgment before it turned and sauntered off. Braedey and Erza glanced at each other, both bewildered. 'How the hell did he understand that?' Braedey thought.

The question on their mind was seemingly read by the older Magtartus brother. "Before you ask," John explained, "since I created these beasts, only I have the ability to communicate with them."

"Wait," Braedey contemplated further on what John ordered his lava-followers to do. When he heard the word 'heart', it made him think. Suddenly, his eyes popped wide open from realization. "The Peony Heart!"

John smirked. "Yes... quite keen of you."

"W-what are you planning?" Erza demanded, though her strong voice faltered slightly.

John's confident smirk never left his lips. "Since neither of you will live to see the light of another day, I'll tell you. I just recently discovered that the source of the Peony Heart's power is not just Mount Infernus, but rather... raw, crystalized ethernano."

Erza gasped as her eyes widened in shock while Braedey blinked in confusion. "Ethernano? What's that?"

John lifted a brow and looked at Braedey incredulously. "You must be joking."

'I'm from another universe! There's still a lot I don't know about this world.' Braedey shouted inwardly.

"Ethernano are magic particles that dwell in all living organisms and the atmosphere, Braedey. They are the source of every wizard's power." Erza explained. "Sometimes, under the right conditions, ethernano can be turned into crystal... almost like a lacrima."

"Yes, I'm surprised you didn't know that." John commented. "Raw ethernano is extremely powerful, and if my loyal subordinates can absorb all of the ethernano crystals within that geyser... no one in Fiore will be able to stand against me."

"You can't do that!" Braedey yelled. "If what you say is true, if you drain the Peony Heart then the people of Peony could all die this coming winter!"

"By this coming winter, I will not care." He looked unfazed by the thought of an entire town dying. "I will be so powerful, that the cold won't affect me ever again." He grinned sadistically.

"You would endanger the lives of so many innocents just for your own personal gain?! You fiend!" Erza shouted, her eyes burning with ferocity.

John grinned and shrugged. "I've been called worse. Well, as fun as it was talking to you two, I have work to do." He turned to the lava-lizards standing behind Braedey and Erza. "Throw them into the storage pit."

Two lava-lizards stepped forward and grabbed Braedey by the back of his jacket and Erza by her shoulder plate again. Braedey sent John a glare before they were dragged past him and down another tunnel, which lead to a very large cavern. This cavern had a series of lava tube entrances across the cave walls, and the demons pulled Braedey and Erza into one of them.

A minute later, they reached the end of the tunnel, which was a pit with a large quantity of the orange crystals scattered in it. This was the room where John stored all of the minerals that the demons had mined. Braedey and Erza yelped in surprise when they were thrown in the shallow pit. They crashed in a spot devoid of the orange mineral, but the rocky ground didn't provide a comfortable landing either.

Groans emanated from their throats due to the painful impact. Braedey clenched his eyes tight and grinded his teeth from the stinging sensation that washed over him. He weakly opened his eyes and struggled to sit up. The shape-shifter turned his head and gave the pit a once-over. Without a doubt, Magtartus currently possessed at least a few tons of the magic-absorbing mineral.

This, of course, didn't bode well for the mighty Erza. The trained warrior rolled over onto her front and tried to sit up; however, her muscles faltered as she collapsed to the floor again. Erza moaned in agony, she could feel the magic energy steadily being sucked out of her.

Braedey heard her moan and turned to her. Seeing how weak and hurt she looked, the teen hero quickly crawled to her.

"ERZA!" He cried out.

"T-the... the rocks... they're... sapping my power away." Erza breathed, a few drops of sweat racing down her face.

"I've got to get you out of here!" Braedey looked at his stone bindings that blocked his access to the Transformatrix. He lifted his arms to their zenith above his head and slammed the stone bindings on the ground. The brunette tried again and again, but the rock wouldn't yield.

Erza groaned loudly again. Braedey could tell that her pain was intensifying by the moment, which only strengthened his resolve to break the stone. Cuts and bruises began to form on Braedey's arms; unfortunately, even after all his attempts, the rock binding wouldn't yield.

"Dammit!" Braedey cursed angrily. "If I could just break this stone, I can transform and get us out!"

Erza glanced over at Braedey, her lightheadedness becoming stronger. She knew that as long as the magic-sapping mineral was around her, there'd be no way she could use her power, or even stand up! It was up to Braedey now, but he was having his own difficulty with his stone cuffs.

When she spotted the Transformatrix on his left wrist, a light-bulb shined in her head. Digging deep into her reserves, Erza used her forearms to pick herself off the ground. Braedey paused when his partner painfully shifted over to him and extended her bound hands to his left arm.

"Erza?" Braedey questioned.

With one of her free fingers, she tapped the Transformatrix faceplate. As the blue hologram of Optimus Prime appeared, she pressed the first form she saw before finally falling over and succumbing to unconsciousness.

"ERZA!" Braedey panicked. "Hang tight! Transform!"

He slammed his chin onto the faceplate, causing the room to be blanketed in blue light. When the flash disappeared, standing in Braedey's place was a 20ft tall robot with a slick thin body with a purple colour scheme. It has wheels on the side of both shoulders of his alt mode. He has a chrome colour head with a red optic visor. The Transformatrix insignia was present on his chest, whilst the Fairy Tail mark was stamped in blue on his upper left arm.

"Laserbot!" The Decepticon pulled on his rock bindings and easily shattered them. "Alright!"

When Laserbot's visit tracked all of the stones, he deployed what was a humungous laser Cannon front his back. It shone a bright red as energy accumulated inside it. Suddenly, a brilliant red beam fired from the barrel of the cannon and struck a pile of orange rocks, igniting it in a conflagration.

Laserbot turned in a full circle and blasted every piece of the mineral he could see. More explosions shook the pit as debris from the ceiling fell to the floor. Laserbot ceased his attack and lifted a limp, unconscious Erza over his shoulder. He crouched low and leapt out of the pit and into the tunnel.

The second his feet touched the tunnel floor, big chunks of the ceiling collapsed into the pits and filled it completely with crumbled rocks. Braedey turned back and let out a sigh of relief. A second longer, he and Erza would be dead underneath all that rubble.

"Man. I did not see that coming." Lasebot commented.

A groggy groan came from Erza. The Decepticon pulled her off his left shoulder and gently laid her on the ground, kneeling beside her. The scarlet haired wizard eyes slowly fluttered open as she felt her strength steadily return. She blinked twice when her gaze fell on Laserbot's surreal facial plate.

Erza got over her surprise at Braedey's new form and sat up, holding her aching forehead.

"Erza, are you okay?" Laserbot asked, concerned.

"Ugh..." she groaned and opened her eyes again. "Yes, I'll be okay. I can feel my magic energy coming back."

Laserbot sighed in relief. "That's great to hear."

Erza sighed. "But, it won't do us any good if my magic gets drained again just by being near Magtartus's monsters."

Braedey knew the redheaded warrior was right. Erza wouldn't last long in another fight against the lava-monsters. He wracked his brain to look for any solutions to their situation. Suddenly, Braedey remembered something about their last battle. When he cooled the demons off as Heatwave and Erza used her weapons to destroy them, she didn't seem to tire out.

Perhaps, when the monsters were cooled to the point where they turned to stone, their magic-absorbing abilities were negated. Braedey mentally slapped his forehead, reprimanding himself for not seeing it sooner.

"I got it!" Laserbot spoke up, causing Erza to look at him. He shook off her groan and continued, "Earlier when I turned those things to rock, you didn't feel as weak. Am I right?"

Erza nodded. "Yes... I didn't feel as weak, why?"

Laserbot slapped the Transformatrix dial on his chest, shrouding his body in blue light. In the wake of the blue flash was a 15ft tall Autobot. His design was a jet black with blue highlights, with what was two large barrels on his back, filled with what could be an ice-cold liquid. A pair of tank-treads was built into his legs, armour wrapping around and covering them, whilst the feet looked like a pair of boots. Two flexible tubes attach from the top of the two barrels, and connect to the lower arms. What looked to be a gas mask was present on the facial plate, a visor over the optics, whilst the chest was what was a truck's cab and windshield, the shoulders sporting a set of off-road tyres, and the arms are human-like. The Transformatrix was present on the chest, whilst the Fairy Tail symbol was emblazoned in blue on his left shoulder.

Braedey looked at his new form and smiled. "IceTrail? Cool."

The wizard in armour eyed this new transformation peculiarly. It didn't look all that impressive; however, she'd thought about Magnetron the same way and was defeated easily by him. She wondered what this new form was capable of.

IceTrail decided to give his partner a quick demonstration of his powers. He deployed two cannons, and fired an icy torrent at the cave wall, which instantly coated it in a thick sheet of ice.

Erza blinked twice at the icy wall before returning her attention to IceTrail. "Another form with ice powers? I can't decide if Gray would like this form or envy it." She smiled teasingly.

IceTrail smirked. "I would go for the second one. Alright, here is how we will do it: I will freeze 'em and you break 'em. Got it?"

Erza realized Braedey's solution to keep her in the fight and smiled. "Understood. Now let's get moving!"

"Wait!" IceTrail said, earning a confused look from Erza. "I can get us there a lot quicker than running." He explained, then transformed into a half-track army vehicle.

Erza hesitantly climbed into the rear truck bed, and held onto one of IceTrail's smokestacks. IceTrail deployed two cannons from his front bumper, pointed them at the ground and fired, promptly coating the floor in ice. Surprisingly, the Cybertronian skated across the ice he'd formed in a drift-car-like fashion, while continuing to fire his freeze ray at the ground ahead of them.

Titania's mouth gaped slightly as she held onto IceTrail. She then blinked and shook her head. 'I wonder if Braedey will ever stop throwing surprises at me.' She wondered.

True to his word, IceTrail drifted very fast out of the tunnel; much quicker than running, and into the main cavern. John was standing on the stone bridge over the magma pit with a quartet of lava-lizards close by. The Lava Mage's eyes widened in shock when he saw a black and blue truck-like vehicle and Erza skating toward them on sheets of ice that were being fired from the vehicle's front.

IceTrail came to a stop and ceased shooting his freeze-ray. He and Erza stood on the end of the rock bridge, glaring hard at the black haired man. Erza jumped out of his truckbed, allowing IceTrail to transform into his robot mode, an faint icy mist surrounding his form.

"WHAT?!" John shouted, dumbfounded. "HOW? How are you two still alive, or even able to move? You both should be drained by now!"

Erza summoned enough magic energy to perform a Re-Quip, which engulfed her body in golden-white light. When it died away, she was now adorned in her Black Wing armour. She held out her lethal, silver sword.

"Fairy Tail wizards are not defeated so easily. Your brother had to learn the hard way, and so will you." Erza declared strongly.

"That's right. We're taking you and your little operation down." IceTrail added.

John clenched his fists and growled. He pointed a finger at the duo and yelled, "Destroy them!"

The four lava-demons standing by John stepped forward and formed a wall between him and the two Fairy Tail mages. They reared back their lizard-like heads and shot four lava torrents at them.

"I had a feeling he would say that." Braedey commented.

He then fired a bluish-white ray from his arms. When the freeze-ray and lava blasts met halfway, the latter was instantly turned into hard rock. IceTrail's ice attack broke through and froze the demon quartet on contact, turning them into stone.

Erza leapt in the air, cocked back her silver blade and swiped her sword in an arc pattern.

"Moon Flash!"

A silver energy wave discharged from Erza's blade and easily shattered the rock statues. John took a tentative step back, surprised by how quickly the two had defeated his minions. However, his cocky smirk soon returned.

"Impressive," he praised, "but I still have numbers on my side."

Without warning, a dozen lava-demons jumped out from the magma pits below and onto the bridge, standing guard in front of their creator. IceTrail and Erza's attention was grabbed by some noises behind them. They turned to see another dozen demons standing at the end of the bridge. Now, the duo was surrounded.

Erza winced a little, feeling her magic power beginning to get sucked away again. John folded his arms over his chest and smirked haughtily.

"You two should've learned that you cannot defeat my golems without getting all your energy drained!" John smiled sadistically.

Noticing that Erza's arms and legs were starting to slightly tremble, IceTrail acted fast. "Then, I guess I'll just have to freeze them first!"

The Arctic Autobot fired another freeze-ray at the demons in front of him. He then turned around to freeze the monsters behind him. Within seconds, the entire bridge and the two dozen lava-lizards were covered in thick sheets of ice. John's eyes widened, stunned by how strong this creature's ice powers were.

"Re-Quip!" After another golden-white flash, Erza was now clad in her Heaven's Wheel Armour, which was fully repaired. She flew into the air and, after multiple white flashes, summoned a manifold of magic swords around her.

Erza let out a fearsome yell, as she launched her blades at the frozen lizard-men. The swords easily destroyed their rock bodies; however, Erza's blades also compromised the integrity of the stone bridge. Suddenly, with a loud crack, the ice-coated bridge broke apart. Braedey, John, and debris of rock and ice then plummeted to the molten lava below.

Erza blinked. "Oops."

IceTrail yelped in surprise, but quickly shot another subzero beam at the magma. As a result, an island of fresh, hardened rock was created in the magma pit. The stone cracked where Braedey landed, but he was unharmed. An Arctic Autobot like IceTrail was very durable.

Erza descended and smoothly landed on Braedey's right. "Forgive me. Are you alright?" she inquired.

"No worries." IceTrail grinned cheekily under his mask. "I'm fine. IceTrail is a lot tougher than it looks."

John fell into the pit with a splash. A couple seconds later, he stood up waist-deep in lava. Naturally, since he practiced in Lava Magic, he was immune to being scorched by the lava. His clothes were unaffected as well since the fabrics were infused with a special magic to prevent them from burning. How else would a Lava Mage wear clothes?

The older Magtartus sibling tightened his fists and shot a dangerous glare at the duo. Waves of orange-coloured magic energy irradiated off of him.

"Whoa... he can stand in lava? Didn't see that coming," IceTrail remarked.

"I won't let you two insects foil my plans!" John bellowed. "Demons of the pits... destroy them!"

The horde of at least a hundred lava-monsters in the lava quarry ceased their mining and surrounded Braedey and Erza. Enraged snarls emanated from their snouts as fire exhaled from their nostrils. The demon's dark crimson eyes were blazing with anger as they honed in on the two.

Erza groaned lightly, and felt her body trembles in growing fatigue. With this large number of Magtartus's demons around her, she could feel her magic power being depleted again. Braedey saw this and knew he had to do something quick; however, he knew IceTrail couldn't freeze this many lava-monsters at once.

"There's so many of them." Erza said.

"Focus, Erza." Braedey chided gently. "Remember our strategy: I freeze them and you break them."

"Can you possibly freeze this many demons before my magic is completely drained?" Erza retorted.

The Transformatrix bearer glanced at the horde of lava-lizards surrounding them. They unsheathed their glowing orange talons and were preparing to attack.

"No." He admitted. "But, I think I might know someone that can." Braedey looked at the Transformatrix dial on his chest.

"I've never tried this before," he murmured, "but there's no better time than the present; going Ultimate!"

He slapped the Transformatrix and four spikes sprouted from the dial, causing yet another blue light to consume his body. Standing in the wake of the blue flash was a large Cybertronian, adorned in dark blue and ice white armour on its torso, legs, and arms. There were now tank treads built into the upper and lower arms, along with the upper legs, whilst what looked to be the swastika insignia on the right side of the ribcage area. Sections of metal on its back formed to create what could be a bulletproof exterior. The helm was now designed to be reminiscent to that of a World War 2 Nazi soldier helmet. However, the big eye-catcher was the two long, silver cannons sticking out from its shoulders. The Transformatrix symbol was positioned in the centre of the chest.

"Ultimate IceTrail!" Braedey yelled in a deeper, German voice.

Erza and John both stared at the large, icy creature in awe and intrigue, the former feeling coming more from John. He took a couple cautious steps back, shocked by the sudden new transformation. He shook off his stupor and shot Erza and the hyper-evolved Arctic Autobot an angry look.

"Change into anything you want, but it still won't help you. My minions," John yelled, "go forth and eviscerate them!"

The demon horde let out earsplitting roars before they all charged at the duo.

Ultimate IceTrail narrowed his blue optics. "Get out of my way!"

He lowered his cannons and fired two powerful, whitish-blue beams at the lava-monsters. The demons were instantly turned into igneous rock. Ultimate IceTrail shifted his feet to shoot his freeze-rays at the other lizard-men around him. The subzero temperature was so intense it actually froze all of the magma in the pit, trapping John's lower body in rock and causing him to shiver madly. In five seconds flat, Magtartus's legion of lava-lizards were all frozen and turned into rock.

As Braedey stopped firing his freeze-ray, a cold mist billowed off the lizard-men statues and the newly formed igneous rock in the pit. Erza's mouth gaped as she looked at Braedey with wide eyes. A moment later, she closed her eyes and shook her head, a tiny smile growing on her lips.

"I believe I can say that without a doubt Gray would definitely envy this form." Erza commented.

"Damn straight he would." Braedey smirked.

John, meanwhile, was shaking slightly and stared at Ultimate IceTrail in awestruck dismay. "I-I-Impossible," he stammered, "he... he froze all of them, even the magma pit itself with just one attack! What sort of monster is this man?"

"My turn," Erza grinned.

Still suited up in her Heaven's Wheel Armour, she jumped up and hovered ten feet in the air. With multiple white flashes, Erza summoned several dozen magical blades around her. With a mighty cry, the redhead fired the swords all around her and shattered every single lava-lizard rock statue with ease.

'No... I can't suffer defeat. Not like my brother did.' John thought. Then, an idea popped into his mind; however, he would need time to pull it off.

Magtartus reached into his suit and placed on his iron glove, and then pulled out several shards of the orange mineral. He had coated some compartments of his business suit with a layer of iron to prevent the rock from draining his own magic power. He tossed the crystals forward and summoned an orange magic circle below him.

Suddenly, the black stone that had trapped him from the waist down was beginning to crack and become molten once more. Without warning, a pillar of lava blasted from the magic circle and encased John within.

Ultimate IceTrail and Erza looked over to the enraged form of John Magtartus, who was standing in a column of molten rock.

"He looks mad." Braedey noted.

"One thing you must know about me, Fairy Tail wizards, is that I am not as easy to beat as my pitiful little brother." John outstretched his right arm and aimed at the orange rocks lying on the ground in front of him. As a result, an orange magic seal appeared under them. "Now, arise... Lava Serpent!"

All of a sudden, lava and burning rock erupted from the seal and melted the orange mineral. Once the crystal blended in with the extremely hot elements, the molten rock began to take the shape of an enormous python made completely out of magma. It was so big its long body took up nearly half of the spacious cavern. Its mouth was full or glowing, sharp backward-curving teeth. Streams of fire shot out from the nostrils on its face while its eyes were ruby red. However, the real oddity was its long, skinny arms; its four fingers were equipped with sharp, glowing talons.

Braedey and Erza gasped lightly and took a fretful step back, starring at the new beast in slight shock. For Braedey, the monster kind of reminded him of a humungous snake-like Predacon, without the lava-skin.

"Whoa. A lava snake? This is not looking good." Ultimate IceTrail commented. He got into position with Erza. "Better get ready for what might happen."

The lava python picked up its triangular head and honed its deadly red eyes onto its prey, hissing maliciously. Shockingly, it split open its bottom jaw like a real python and fired a dense lava torrent at the duo. Erza made for the air while Ultimate IceTrail narrowly dodged the blast. The ground erupted into an inferno as burning rocks and fire were thrown up everywhere.

To avoid being harmed by the extreme heat, Erza re-quipped into her Flame Empress Armour. When she landed, she looked across the cave and glared at Braedey with annoyance. "What's the next step?" She retorted tartly.

Ultimate IceTrail arched a brow. "Give me a second!" He called out.

Erza shook her head and groaned. Without warning, the wizard in armour felt a wave of weakness wash over her; it was so strong it actually forced her to kneel. She ground her teeth and clenched her eyes closed. It appeared that this lava-snake had the same magic-sapping abilities as the lava-lizards... only it absorbed magic much faster.

"Ugh... BRAEDEY! It's absorbing my magic!" Erza cried.

The hyper-evolved Arctic Autobot saw how much pain his partner was in, and knew he needed to act fast. The lava-python cocked back its right arm and intended to backhand Braedey. Surprisingly, Ultimate IceTrail was very agile as he was able to swiftly jump to his right, avoiding the attack.

The giant flaming snake turned and shifted its crimson eyes on Erza, who was still on one knee and clutching her red sword in agony. Seeing an opportunity, it honed in on Erza and slithered across the ground toward her.

Ultimate IceTrail growled and ran at speeds one would think a creature his size couldn't reach. He crouched low, shot himself forward, and dived right between Erza and the giant snake.

"Hang on, Erza!" Ultimate IceTrail said. "I got this."

The lava-snake split apart its bottom jaw and fired another torrent of molten rock and fire. Braedey grinned and aimed his cannons at the incoming attack. "Have a taste of the Triple Freeze!"

The ultimate Arctic Autobot fired ice beams from his cannons and a third Cannon on his back, which came together to make a super freeze-ray. When the lava and ice collided midway, the former was immediately turned into rock. The cold blasted through the newly formed rock and struck the lava-snake in the mouth. It cried out in agony before the subzero blast traveled throughout its body and eventually turned the giant snake into a statue of igneous rock.

Now that the snake was turned to stone, it could no longer absorb magic energy. Feeling her magic energy steadily rise again, Erza stood up from the ground and leapt in the air. After gathering enough flames on her red sword, the Fairy Queen yelled as she spun around and lashed out with an enormous fire wave. The stone serpent ignited into a humungous blaze, throwing rock fragments in every direction.

Erza came to a landing right by Ultimate IceTrail's right side. She glanced over at her partner and smirked slyly. "Thank you, Braedey." She asked again.

Ultimate IceTrail shrugged his massive shoulders. "No problem. That thing was anti-climactic."

Meanwhile, John was still standing in the middle of a column of hot, scorching lava; his orange magic seal beneath his feet. The onyx haired man took off the iron glove on his left hand and tossed it aside, where it melted away. He then reached into his inside coat pocket and pulled out a couple orange crystal shards, holding them firmly in both hands.

He began to mutter a complicated incantation under his breath in a bizarre tongue. Magtartus paused when Ultimate IceTrail and Erza ran forward, stopping thirty yards in front of him.

"Give it up, Magtartus!" shouted Ultimate IceTrail as he aimed his cryo-cannons at John. "Your supply of that orange rock is gone and we beat all your monster cronies. Face it, you lost!"

Erza pointed her flaming sword straight at their adversary. "I would listen to him. He knows what he's talking about. Surrender now, you scoundrel!"

John laughed manically, his eyes were glowing orange. "I'm afraid you are greatly misinformed. Mount Infernus is filled with that special mineral. This cavern was only a small pocket! And as for my golems... they were only preludes to what I am about to create!"

Magtartus spread his legs to give himself a wide base and held onto the orange crystals. Braedey and Erza saw this and were bemused as to what he was doing.

"Why is he holding those rocks? Won't they drain his magic too?" Ultimate IceTrail inquired.

John heard Braedey's question and shouted, "If one can focus enough of their own magic power directly into this mineral, it will grant them the full bounty of the magic stored within!"

The orange crystals in John's hand illuminated brightly for a moment until they broke apart. All of the magic that was stored inside the rock had been transferred into Magtartus's body, making him shine brighter and the heat radiating off of him even more intense.

Erza took a cautious step back, holding her sword in front of her. "What's happening?" She said with wide eyes. "The heat coming off him is staggering. He feels as hot as a volcano."

Ultimate IceTread stepped back beside her, he too felt apprehensive over what was transpiring. This definitely did not look good at all. "And it looks like Mount Magtartus is about to erupt." He quipped.

John interlocked his hands and muttered a short incantation. "King of the molten depths... awaken... come forth from the pits of hell, and merge with me!" The ground began to shake as the lava pillar engulfing Magtartus grew larger and became even hotter.

"What the hell is that lunatic doing?" Braedey shouted.

Magtartus shot Braedey and Erza a sinister smile, his eyes were burning with power and sadistic glee. "Now, Fairy Tail scum, get ready to face your doom. ARISE LAVAZILLA!"

Suddenly, the cavern was engulfed in bright, orange light and extreme heat. Instinctively, Ultimate IceTrail fired his cannons to create a thick wall of ice in front of him and Erza, shielding them from the eruption of heat. The ground began to shake even more, causing parts of the ceiling to collapse.

A moment later, the intense brightness finally died down. However, when the Transformatrix bearer and Fairy Queen saw what was in Magtartus's place, expressions of shock and horror crossed their faces.

Standing before them was a sixty-foot-tall monster that strongly resembled a bipedal lizard with a humped back, but its body was comprised of lava and burning rocks. Its upper body was broad, its arms were big, and it had long sharp claws on its hands. Backward-curved flaming rock spikes stretched down its back and ended at its long reptilian tail. On its shoulders were two volcanic vents that shot out reddish-orange flames. Its feet were three-toed and had talons like a chicken's foot. Red flames were exhaled out from the nostrils at the end of its snout. Its eyes were shining a menacing crimson.

Shockingly, the cave was able to contain the lava-titan, but just barely.

If Braedey and Erza had to guess, John's body was probably located inside the creature's chest. He had full control of the giant and could see, hear, and feel everything it could. The beast looked down at a dumbfounded Braedey and Erza, opening its mouth where they could see a multitude of sharp teeth and the crimson fire blazing inside.

"Now, Fairy Tail insects... feast your eyes upon...  Lavazilla, the King of the Infernus Pits, and the bringer... of your destruction!" John's voice thundered; the creature's mouth didn't move when it talked. Magtartus's own voice was mixed in with a demonic, baritone voice.

It threw up its arms and let out a thunderous roar that shook the cave and caused sections of the ceiling to fall; thankfully, for Braedey and Erza, the cavern didn't collapse entirely. The ice wall that Braedey had formed earlier instantly melted from the heat produced by the beast known as Lavazilla.

Ultimate IceTread and Erza stepped back and continued to stare in astonishment at the molten monster. Braedey was the first to snap out of the trance. He had seen many weird things throughout his hero carreer and had taken down many tough opponents, meaning he could recover quickly from shock. Although, of all the things that he came across that shocked him, this thing had to be in the top ten at least.

"Lavazilla?" The Transformatrix bearer repeated.

Erza didn't respond as she stared up at the flaming lizard-monster in stupor. The heat and magical energy coursing off of this beast was astounding; nevertheless, Erza snapped back to normal and held her sword high. She had faced down against the demon flute monster, Lullaby, and come out victorious. True, she'd had Natsu and Gray to help her, but having a powerful person like Braedey at her side did give her confidence.

Suddenly, Erza cried out as she felt exhaustion hit her like a freight train. Her body shined gold as her Flame Empress Armour disappeared and was replaced by her normal Heart Kreuz attire. A sheen of sweat raced down her face and her eyelids were getting heavier.

"ERZA!" Ultimate IceTrail exclaimed, panicked.

"I... my power... it's being drain... m-much faster." Erza said weakly. "Braedey... it's up to... you."

She fell to the ground face-forward, unconscious.

"ERZA!" Seeing that she was down, Braedey turned to Lavazilla/Magtartus and glared indignantly.

Usually, Braedey would've made some insult or quip to his enemy, but after seeing his partner go down, he was now completely serious. Ultimate IceTrail stood in front of her protectively and fired ice beams from his cannons. Like before, the rays came together to form a bigger one.

Lavazilla/Magtartus held up its right arm to block the freeze-ray, but his arm was still cooled to the point of stone. The cold began to travel up its arms until it reached its shoulder; at that point, Ultimate IceTrail thought he could just freeze him easily, but he was wrong.

The ice that had formed was quickly melted away as the flames on the creature's arm intensified.

"Pathetic imbecile!" Lavazilla/Magtartus roared. "You cannot defeat the Great Lava King with mere ice."

The lava-titan held up its right hand and summoned an orange magic circle. A barrage of magma spheres fired from the seal. With his impressive agility, Ultimate IceTrail dodged to the side to avoid the molten projectiles. Lavazilla/Magtartus's right hand followed Braedey, continuing to shoot more molten balls at him; nonetheless, the hyper-evolved Arctic Autobot successfully eluded the attacks and ran all around the giant demon.

"We'll see about that." Ultimate Articguana muttered.

Braedey crouched low and dived forward to avoid a magma sphere. The explosion accelerated the Transformatrix bearer forward. Ultimate IceTrail landed behind the lava-giant, sliding on the ground a few metres. He fired a bluish-white ray at the monster's back, instantly coating it in ice.

Lavazilla/Magtartus lifted up his long tail and swiped at Braedey, but the Ultimate Alien quickly jumped over the tail. The lizard-demon turned toward Braedey and fired another bombardment of magma spheres from its magic circle. Ultimate IceTrail dived to his right, the ground where he once stood erupted into a series of explosions.

The hyper-evolved Arctic Autobot aimed his cryo-cannons at the ground and fired. He created a thick pathway of ice, which he then used to skateboard on. Lavazilla/Magtartus turned its gaze to Braedey and shot a torrent of fire from its palms. Ultimate IceTrail outmaneuvered the attack as he skated remarkably fast on his own ice.

The Transformatrix wielder circled around the lava tyrant, dodging all the magma and fire projectiles it shot at him with impressive agility and skills. This made Lavazilla/Magtartus growl furiously. "You are only delaying the inevitable, boy! Be a man and face your doom!"

Lavazilla/Magtartus concentrated and drastically increased the heat of the ground in front of Ultimate IceTrail, which promptly turned into a magma pit. Braedey's eyes narrowed in determination, as he leapt into the air and fired an icy blast from his mouth at the pit. The molten rock was instantly changed back to stone from the freezing cold.

When Ultimate Arctic IceTrail landed, he turned and looked up at Lavazilla/Magtartus with anger and aggravation. "'Face your doom?' That account is inevitable, but not on this day." Braedey paused and trained his cannons on his enemy. "And by the way, I'm eighteen, you jerk!"

His body then began to transform. The end result was a triple-barrel Abrams battle tank in white and dark blue Arctic colours.

Lavazilla/Magtartus snarled. It opened its mouth wide and fired a powerful red beam of lava and fire upon Braedey. Ultimate IceTrail shot freeze-rays from his cannons, which came together to make a larger beam. When the two elemental forces collided, an accumulation of steam was produced.

A moment passed and the giant lava-lizard and the hyper-evolved alien continued to shoot their respective attacks; neither one was gaining ground. Both were locked in a stalemate. Ultimate IceTrail could see that he was getting nowhere; nevertheless, that didn't deter him. Despite the strain, Braedey inputted more power into his beams.

The cryo-rays began to push forward against the blazing breath attack. Suddenly, the lava began to harden into stone as the cold raced upward. The bluish-white beam finally blasted through and struck Lavazilla/Magtartus in the snout, causing him to stumble back.

"AGH!" The lava-based titan cried out. "Insect! You dare you!"

Ultimate IceTrail fired a subzero ray at Lavazilla/Magtartus's feet. The result was his three-toed, reptilian feet and the surrounding area being covered in an ice chunk.

Braedey inwardly smirked. "I learned that move from Gray." The teen hero closed his eyes as he took in a deep breath.

'Okay... I've got to put everything I got into this blast.' He thought. 'Not just for those townspeople in Peony, but for Erza's sake too.'

The Ultimate Alien dug deep into his reserves and discharged a massive torrent of icy blue energy from his cannons. The super freeze-ray landed a direct hit on the monster's chest. Lavazilla/Magtartus was about to melt it; however, the ice grew too rapidly around him before he could act.

Amazingly, in less than a few seconds, the giant was now entrapped with a large iceberg. The magma in the cave had all been turned to stone as an icy mist wafted off the rocks.

Ultimate Icetread stopped and transformed into robot mode, panting heavily. That blast had taken a lot out of him. After taking a short moment to catch his breath, Braedey turned and ran toward Erza. She was still lying face-down on the ground, breathing lightly.

The teen hero skidded to a halt in front of her. He reached up with his right arm and tapped the Transformatrix dial on his chest. In a flash of blue, Ultimate IceTrail transformed back to IceTrail, and then back to Braedey.

He flipped Erza onto her back and got in front of her. He placed his left hand behind her head and his right arm on the middle of her back, gently helping her sit up.

"Erza!" Braedey said, concern and anxiety dominating his voice. Her eyes were still closed and she was barely breathing. "Erza... please... wake up."

'Please...' Braedey thought, distressed. 'No... not again... please just... not again!'

A soft groan came from Erza, as her eyes began to flutter open. When her brown eyes opened halfway, Braedey felt his breath hitch in his throat while his green eyes widened. In Erza's place, he saw a raven haired girl lying in his arms; she was cut and bruised very badly. She looked at him with warm brown eyes, despite the agony she was experiencing.

When Erza's eyes opened fully, the first thing she saw was Braedey. He had his right arm wrapped around her back and his left hand behind her head. The redheaded warrior couldn't suppress the crimson blush on her cheeks.

It was then she noticed that Beraedey was staring at her; however, it looked like he was locked in a trance. Erza then took note of the distraught expression on his face. It was like back at the hotel last night.

"Braedey?" She said.

Braedey blinked. The image that he saw vanished and was replaced by a concerned Erza.

"E-Erza, are you okay?" Braedey stuttered, snapping out of his daze.

Erza arched a brow, confused. "Uh... yes." She sat up more. "I can... feel my magic coming back again... it's a little slower this time though." She then looked back to Braedey and asked, "Are you alright, Braedey?"

Braedey smiled; although, Erza could tell it was forced. "Yeah... don't worry. I'll be okay."

Erza would've asked what was really wrong with him until she heard a crack. She turned her head and her eyes widened comically when she noticed the giant ice chunk with Lavazilla/Magtartus trapped inside.

"Good work, Braedey." Erza complimented. "The ice must be shielding me from that thing's magic-absorption abilities."

Suddenly, a loud crack echoed throughout the cavern. Braedey and Erza then saw a few cracks forming in the iceberg, tiny traces of steam were billowing out.

"That iceberg won't hold him for long." Braedey said grimly.

Erza was about to respond until she noticed something: Braedey still had his hand behind her head and his other arm around her back. This caused a tint of pink to flush on her cheeks.

"Um... Braedey... you're still holding me." Erza said, slightly nervous.

Braedey looked back at her and realized she was right. He pulled his arms away swiftly with a light blush. "Sorry!" He exclaimed, flustered. The Transformatrix bearer then stood up and held out his hand. "Uh.... need a hand?"

Erza took his hand and Braedey pulled her back to her feet. Her knees were a little wobbly, but the trained warrior soon gathered the strength to stand. Their attention returned to the ice chunk, which was cracking apart faster.

"This is not good." Erza dreaded. "When that thing breaks free, it'll absorb my magic again."

"And I bet it won't be too happy about me turning him into a popsicle." Braedey noted.

Braedey's brows furrowed as he contemplated on a possible solution. A short moment later, an idea hit him like a ton of bricks.

"I have an idea." Braedey proclaimed, turning to Erza. "But for it to work, I need you to Re-Quip into your strongest armour. Can you do that?"

"I – I think so, but... what are you planning?" Erza asked.

Ben showed a determined expression. "Something that'll send that lizard back to the Stone Age."

Erza looked away and took a deep breath. She then closed her eyes and focused on her powers. "Re-Quip!" She yelled.

Her body was shrouded in golden-white light and her armour disappeared, instantly replaced by a different one.

The armour was mostly pink and intricately designed. Her breastplate was pink and sported two wing-shaped decorations on her collar. Her gauntlets completely enveloped her arms and featured prominent feather-shaped decorations pointing backwards in correspondence to her wrists. The waist-guard was made up of pink plates attached to the breastplate, surrounded by a thin belt around Erza's waist, and had a short, pinkish-white skirt underneath covering her upper thighs. Her greaves reached up to the center of her bare thighs and possessed feather-like ornaments protruding from the upper edges of her greaves and the lower edges of her knee guards, which had similar motifs carved on them. The armor was complemented by a large tiara adorning Erza's head, with feather-shaped protrusions jutting out horizontally, and a large pinkish-white cape. Her hair was styled into a pair of braids that flowed down from the back of her head. In her hands was a pair of swords; both had a white and pink wing-shaped cross guard and a black and white blade.

Braedey blinked twice at Erza's suit, which he had never seen before. To him, it looked rather peculiar, but he knew he had no room to talk. Nearly everything he turned into was strange looking.

"Whoa," Braedey said in slight awe, "what do you call this armour?"

"This is Armadura Fairy." Erza answered. "It is my strongest armour. It represents the pride I have in being a member of Fairy Tail."

"Nice, but I think I can make it better." Ben grinned as he activated the Transformatrix. He scrolled through the holograms until he found the one he wanted and pressed it.

'Never thought I'd actually use this guy here in this crazy magic world, but I'm glad I was wrong.' Braedey thought.

In the wake of the blue light was an 8ft tall, black and blue, blob-like humanoid Cybertronian that appeared to be made of circuitry, which was further emphasised by the blue and black, circuitry-like patterns all over its body. On its head was a blue visor and circle. The Transformatrix symbol was on his chest, and the Fairy Tail mark was stamped on his left shoulder in blue.

"Morpher!" Braedey shouted in his voice, only more metallic.

Erza stared at the black and blue, blob-like alien peculiarly. She had been introduced to yet another transformation she had never seen. Before the redhead could comment, the sounds of the iceberg cracking caught their attention. They both turned to see that Lavazilla/Magtartus was glowing red and even more steam was pouring out from the expanding cracks in the ice. There wasn't much time before he busted out.

"Can this form help us stop that thing?" Erza asked, readying her twin blades.

Morpher looked at her. "Yes, but more specifically, it is going to help you."

Erza looked at Morpher, lifting a brow in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Erza, do you trust me?" inquired Braedey, ignoring her question.

The scarlet haired warrior stared at Braedey with a thoughtful expression. A moment later, she nodded in response. "I do."

If Braedey could, he'd be smiling right now. "Good. Then, hold still and... please don't freak out." Morpher advised.

The Cybertronian stepped forward and, surprisingly, enveloped Erza with a tight hug; much to her embarrassment. All of a sudden, Morpher's body became more blob-like and began to ooze all over her body. Erza indeed began to panic, until something incredible happened; Morpher began to amalgamate with and reshape her armour!

A short moment later, Erza's Armadura Fairy had a new look. The breastplate, waist-guards, arm gauntlets and boots were tar black with blue lines. Her mid-thigh length skirt was cobalt blue. The cape on her back had reformatted into metal and taken the shape of a pair of blue, jet and fairy-like wings. A small, rectangular jetpack was positioned on her back in-between the wings. Mounted on her forearms' gauntlets was a pair of small, cobalt energy cannons. On her head was a black helmet with blue feather-shaped protrusions of her tiara sticking out on the sides and in front of her eyes was a cobalt blue visor. The blades on her twin swords were black while the blade's edges, wing-shaped cross guards, and grips were blue. The Transformatrix dial was on a blue belt around her torso plate.

Erza gawked and examined her armour's new appearance in amazement. "What... what is this?" She uttered.

Suddenly, Morpher's head oozed out from Erza's left shoulder plate. "WHA... BRAEDEY!" She yelped in shock, feeling a couple sweat drops race down her face. "W-w-what did you do?"

"I merged with your armour and I enhanced its abilities by tenfold." Upgrade explained. "As Morpher, I can merge with machinery and make it better, upgrade it beyond what it could do. I wasn't sure if I could merge with your armour to be honest... but I'm glad I was right."

Erza didn't respond immediately as she stared at Morpher's head in awe. Yet again, Braedey Martin had managed to impress and surprise her.

But then, another thought occurred to the redhead. "What if it tries to absorb my magic again?"

If Morpher could, he'd be smirking smugly. "Don't worry. I'll protect you from that, and you just focus on bringing the pain."

Cracking noises echoed throughout the cavern again. Erza and Morpher turned their heads to see a spider-web of cracks across the ice chunk as steam and water poured out of them. Suddenly, the ice shattered into pieces and Lavazilla/Magtartus was free.

"RAAAGGHH!" The monster roared violently while the crimson flames around its body intensified. "YOU WILL SUFFER DEARLY FOR YOUR INSOLENCE!"

Erza got in a battle stance as she and Morpher both glared at the flaming lizard-monster.

"This guy is really annoying." Morpher remarked.

"I agree." Erza replied dryly.

The Cybertronian turned his blobby head to Erza. "I say we kick this guy's hide!" He said eagerly.

Erza smirked slyly. "I'm beginning to really like you, Braedey."

"Same here, Erza." Morpher's head then sunk back into her armour.

The giant lizard-monster's face twisted into a scowl. "You dare speak of the Great Lava King with such impertinence?! You shall burn!"

Lavazilla/Magtartus formed a large magma ball in his hand and threw it straight at them. The Morphed Titania crouched low and launched herself up, avoiding the attack. Braedey spread out her blue fairy-like wings and activated the jetpack on her back, which shot out blue after-burn and blasted her forward. Erza was surprised for a second when she realized she could fly, but it immediately passed and was replaced with a satisfied smirk.

'I could get used to this.' Erza thought.

The lava-titan summoned a magic seal in front of him and a fusillade of magma balls shot out. With amazing speed and aerobatics, Morphed Erza easily outmaneuvered the molten projectiles. As she concentrated on her enhanced suit's abilities, blue lightning began to sizzle around her ebony twin blades.

Erza flew closer to the lava behemoth and let out a battle cry as she swiped her right and then her left sword, both discharged blue energy waves. The energy attacks left a deep cut across Lavazilla/Magtartus's snout and chest. The giant threw up its head and roared in pain.

Erza blinked and smiled. 'I like this even more.'

"AARRGH! I WILL MELT YOU BOTH!" Lavazilla/Magtartus bellowed.

In a fit of rage, it exhaled a huge lava torrent at the merged Fairy Tail mages. However, Morphed Erza put more power into her jetpack and doubled her speed. The black and blue armoured warrior skillfully eluded the stream of molten rock being fired at her. She increased her altitude until she was nearly touching the cavern's ceiling and where she could look down at the lava-titan.

Morpher's head popped out from Erza's left shoulder, causing her to yelp again. "Try the energy cannons on your arms." He offered.

Erza cocked a brow, and then turned to look at the small cannons mounted on her forearms. She pointed her blades down and stretched out her arms. After giving a mental command, the black cannons discharged a salvo of blue energy blasts. The projectiles struck the beast from head-to-toe, penetrating his lava-skin and leaving many holes for magma to seep out.

"RAAAGGGGHHH!" Lavazilla/Magtartus roared in pain.

Morphed Erza descended and accelerated. She circled around the lava beast and unleashed another onslaught of energy blasts. The projectiles caused significant damage by ripping apart its molten rock hide. Lavazilla/Magtartus attempted to swipe her down with his giant tail and his arms, but Erza ducked and dodged the attacks.

As she kept out of his range, Lavazilla/Magtartus growled in fury. "GRRR! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THESE GAMES!" All of a sudden, lava burst from the ground and surrounded the beast. The power around him began to increase dramatically. "Face my wrath, you flies, as I melt you into oblivion!"

Lavazilla/Magtartus summoned a couple magic circles in front of his hands. Two torrents of lava shot out from the seal and came together to form an even bigger blast. Erza's eyes widened, there was no way she should dodge that.

"Erza!" Morpher said; the blue lines on her enhanced Armadura Fairy pulsed each time he spoke. "Cross your swords in front of you!"

Without argument, the Morphed Titania crossed her blades; as a result, blue lightning sparkled out and formed a blue energy bubble around her. To Erza's amazement, the lava went around the bubble and kept her shielded from the extreme heat.

Lava continued to shoot out from the seal, which drenched the entire cave with the molten substance. A moment later, after the attack had ran its course; Lavazilla/Magtartus grinned sadistically and began to chuckle manically. There was no way his enemy could've survived that much lava and heat.

As the smoke cloud cleared, Lavazilla/Magtartus's crimson eyes widened exponentially when he saw that Morphed Erza was hovering in the air unharmed, inside a blue bubble.

"WHAT?! IMPOSSIBLE!" Lavazilla/Magtartus shouted incredulously.

"Nothing is impossible for a member of Fairy Tail." Erza countered.

"And a hero like Braedey the Transformer." Morpher added.

Morphed Erza accelerated towards the giant, lava-skinned lizard again. Lavazilla/Magtartus shot magma balls from his hands, but the newly improved wizard in armour amazingly dodged in-between every projectile that came her way. When she got close enough, Morphed Erza charged her twin blades with blue electricity and slashed several times toward Lavazilla/Magtartus.

Several blue energy waves struck her target, ripping into its molten hide and causing it a lot of pain. The humongous lizard roared violently and fired a stream of lava from its mouth. Morphed Erza circled around the beast with the molten rock on her tail. She increased her speed even more to the point where she became a black blur with a blue light wake.

Lavazilla/Magtartus looked in every direction, frantically trying to get a hit; however, his opponent was too fast. Morphed Erza reappeared in front of the beast's reptilian snout and fired a volley of energy blasts from her cannons at its eyes and head.

"ARRGGGHH!" The giant roared in pain, covering its eyes from the onslaught.

Lavazilla/Magtartus clenched his fists and snarled angrily. "I, the Great Lava King, will not lose to a couple pests!"

"This guy is so full of himself." Morpher commented, exasperated.

"Let's take him down a few notches!" Erza replied determinedly.

Morphed Erza flew toward the lava-giant and unleashed another round of energy slashes. Suddenly, before the attacks hit their target, a column of magma erupted from the ground beneath Lavazilla/Magtartus. Erza was taken by surprise and blown backwards.

She careened uncontrollably until she smashed into a wall; both she and Morpher painfully grunted from the impact. Erza peeled off the rock and landed on her feet. Morpher's head popped from her shoulder joint again and, along with Erza, looked at their enemy.

The heat in the room was becoming unbearable as the rocks began to become molten. The cave shook as a pillar of lava exploded from the ground beneath Lavazilla/Magtartus. Erza's eyes widened from the sheer amount of heat and energy coursing around the giant lizard.

"What's going on? Why is lizard face getting hotter?" Morpher asked.

"I will not lose to you foolish children! To ensure my victory, I will bring life back into Mount Infernus." Lavazilla declared.

Erza and Morpher's eyes, or visor in the latter's case, widened in shock.

"Is he serious?!" the Cybertronian said.

The Fairy Queen glowered at the lizard-titan. "If you activate this volcano, then all the people in Peony will die!"

"It is none of my concern of who gets killed along with you two." Lavazilla/Magtartus scoffed. "As long as I win, I don't care."

Erza clenched her teeth in fury. This monster was would kill so many innocents without hesitation just to defeat her and Braedey. It was people like him that made her sick. Erza wasn't the only one who felt that way though.

"We're not gonna let you win!" Morpher exclaimed angrily. "You hear me, lava breath? You're going down!"

"DO NOT TALK DOWN TO ME, INSECT!" Lavazilla/Magtartus extended a hand and fired an incredible jet of lava.

Morphed Erza activated her jetpack and flew high to avoid the blast, and hovered in the air for a moment. The situation had just gotten worse. If they didn't do something fast, then Mount Infernus would be reactivated, and Peony and the surrounding landscape would be flooded with lava and choked with volcanic gas. Everything and everyone would die.

"Erza, bring your two swords together! I have an idea!" Morpher shouted.

The Re-Quip mage complied with her partner's request and put her swords together. All of a sudden, the two weapons were shrouded in blue light and forced Erza to close her eyes. Strangely though, she could feel her swords become soft and blob-like.

When the light dissipated, in her right hand was a ten-foot-long, blue glowing sword with a black grip and cross guard. Erza was surprisingly able to hold it with ease. She examined the blade with slight awe, and then turned a hard gaze to Lavazilla/Magtartus.

"Very impressive," she said, "let's end this."

Morphed Erza shot forward like a rocket, her long, blue sword was cocked back to its zenith. Cobalt blue lightning began to crackle on the blade as it gathered large amounts of energy.

Lavazilla/Magtartus hissed angrily and brought his hands together. As a result, he shot a humungous blast of magma straight toward the shape-shifter and Re-Quip wizard. Without warning, the energy that was being accumulated around Erza's blade expanded out and formed a protective blue energy bubble around her.

The pillar of molten rock smoothly flowed around the bubble, which shocked the Lava King.

"WHAT?! No! This cannot be. I am the Great Lava King! I CANNOT LOSE!" The beast bellowed frantically.

"You're just a wimp hiding inside a monster. YOU'RE NO KING!" Morpher snapped.

"You are a despicable fiend who kills for power and satisfaction. YOU'RE PATHETIC!" Erza added fiercely.

Lavazilla/Magtartus's eyes widened further as Morphed Erza's speed increased as well as the energy around her blade. The blue lightning accruing became so extreme it was just as bright as the sun.

"NOOOOOO!" The lizard-monster cried out.

Morphed Erza let out a mighty battle cry, as she broke through the lava attack and diagonally slashed her sword across the beast's torso; thus, unleashing the tremendous amount of energy her sword had gathered.

~*~*~

The townsfolk of Peony were still on edge after the last demon attack two hours earlier. As they went along with their business, the earth began to slightly shake. It was enough for people eating at restaurants to notice their tables rattle and waves to form in their drinks. Citizens outside could also feel the tremor.

Suddenly, an audible boom thundered across the land, startling everyone in the port town. Any person who was outside turned their heads in the direction of the earsplitting noise. A black smoke cloud was billowing out from the top of the massive stratovolcano known as Mount Infernus. Blue lightning lashed out from the ash cloud in random arcs. Hurdling high at the peak of the cloud was an orange object.

Some people gazed in confusion while others, mainly the residents of the town, gasped in horror from the fear that Mount Infernus had finally awakened. The townspeople began to mingle and question each other over what was happening.

Meanwhile, at the top of the smoke cloud, the remains of a giant, bipedal lizard comprised of magma was being hurdled high into the atmosphere. The fiery skin of the beast soon turned black and hardened into rock, which crumbled away into tiny fragments.

When the rock lizard had completely broken apart, flying through the air was a black haired man wearing a shredded business suit. John Magtartus let out a scream of terror as he ascended higher with a trail of smoke behind him. After reaching several thousand feet, high into the clouds, John lost his velocity and gravity took over.

John's terrified scream was amplified when he realized he was now plummeting to the ground below. He could shoot a pillar of lava to act as a thruster to lessen his speed; however, his magic power had been exhausted. As the seconds went by, the ground grew closer and closer while John's cry grew louder.

The power-hungry Lava Mage closed his eyes, awaiting death. But just ten feet before he smacked into the side of Mount Infernus, a black and blue blur soared by and swooped John up. The ebony haired man was trembling and his eyes were clenched shut. When he realized he hadn't gone splat, he timidly opened his black eyes to see he was flying.

John look up to see Erza, still clad in her enhanced Armadura Fairy armour. She glanced down at John with a dark, scary look that made him very uneasy.

"You lose." She said venomously.

Trepidation was etched into John's expression from both the near-death experience and Erza's death glare. Eventually, John groaned and his body became limp as he passed out.

"YEAH!" Morpher cheered. "Team Braedey and Erza: one. Magtartus: ZERO. We rock!"

"Indeed we do." Erza said with a smile.

~*~*~

A crowd of townsfolk had gathered in the courtyard in front of city hall. Some were demanding answers to what caused the mysterious explosion and the tremor while others were apprehensive that Infernus was about to erupt.

On top of a flight of granite stairs that led to the extravagant building's entrance, Mayor Cryoson stood on a podium to address his citizens.

"People, people, please calm down." The mayor commanded. "I assure you that the city has the situation under control."

This didn't alleviate the crowd's unease one bit; people began to chatter with one another all over the crowd.

"Under control?!" A man shouted incredulously.

"Lava demons have been attacking this town for weeks!" Another yelled.

"They've been ripping fissures all across our town and burning everything in sight! How is that keeping things under control?" An angry citizen demanded.

"We have to get outta here! Mount Infernus is finally gonna blow!" One man cried fearfully.

"I knew living in a town built right next to a volcano was a bad idea." Someone noted. "But would my wife listen to me? NO!"

Cryoson continued, "People of Peony, I promise you Infernus is not erupting. It has been dormant for centuries and it will stay that way centuries more. I'm sure there's a logical explanation for that explosion."

'No doubt it was those two Fairy Tail wizards.' Cryoson thought. He inwardly sighed. 'Guess all those rumours of them causing nothing but destruction were true after all.'

Before the crowd turned into a mad mob, a mechanical noise filled everyone's ears, but it was unlike any machine the townsfolk had heard before. They looked around in confusion, wondering what could be causing the strange anomaly.

All of a sudden, a figure appeared from the sky and smoothly landed ten yards on Mayor Cryoson's left side. Eyes bulged open and gasp were elicited from the mass of people. Standing there was a young redheaded woman, adorned in a bizarre black armoured suit with glowing blue lines. Draped over her right shoulder was an onyx haired man who had many cuts, bruises, and was charred from head-to-toe. His grey business suit was shredded and barely holding together.

Cryoson blinked, dumbfounded. But then, the spiked-crimson haired man recognized the face behind the blue visor. "Miss Titania? Is that you?"

Upgraded Erza glanced at the mayor and nodded. "Yes, Mayor Cryoson."

Morpher's head oozed out from Erza's shoulder plate, causing Cryoson to jump back in shock. "Why does everyone look so panicked?"

After a short moment, Cryoson composed himself, and acknowledged, "They're all wondering what caused that explosion from Mount Infernus. They're scared that it's finally going to erupt."

Erza smirked. "No need to worry, mayor." The improved Titania stepped forward to the mob, and announced, "People of Peony, the creatures that have been terrorizing your town has been vanquished!"

The townspeople were silent for a moment. Then, their previous apprehension instantly vanished as they broke out into a thunderous applause.

Mayor Cryoson looked back at Upgraded Erza with wide-eyes. "You... destroyed them all?" He inquired.

Erza nodded. "Yes." She then lifted an unconscious John off her shoulder and held him by the back of his shirt. "And we have the true culprit behind the attacks on your town."

Cryoson's eyes narrowed in contempt. "Magtartus."

"You know of that man?" Morpher asked.

The crimson haired man was still a bit nervous of the talking blob head, but he shook off his uneasiness. "Yes. For years, he and his family have been nothing but trouble for this town. I should've suspected he would be the cause of all this."

Erza explained what happened in the pits of Infernus and what Magtartus had been planning for the past month. Magtartus had stumbled across an unknown mineral that could absorb and store magic within itself, and used it to create the lava-demons. He used the demons to wreak havoc so that the town would eventually call upon wizards for aid. Then, he would use the mineral to absorb their magic.

However, she left the part out about Magtartus trying to drain the Peony Heart. If the public knew that the Peony Heart's source of power was ethernano crystals, Dark Guilds from across the land might gather and seek to steal the mineral for themselves. Braedey agreed with Erza's logic; it was for the best if the people didn't know.

Eventually, a group of guards came up and took the unconscious Magtartus away to jail, where he would undoubtedly be staying for a while. Morpher oozed off of Erza, leaving her in her original Armadura Fairy outfit. In a flash of gold, she re-quipped back to her Heart Kreuz Armour.

She looked up at Morpher and smiled appreciatively. "Thank you, Braedey. I knew I could trust you."

"How could you not trust this face?" Morpher inquired.

Erza blinked at Morpher's face, which was only a blue visor and circle.

The Cybertronian soon realized what he said and chuckled. "Oh... hee-hee... never mind."

He tapped the Transformatrix dial and, in a flash of blue, transformed back to Braedey; much to the shock of the townsfolk.

"Erza Scarlet and Braedey Martin," Cryoson spoke, bringing their attention back to the crowd. "On behalf of Peony, I give you our sincere thanks and gratitude."

Once more, the exhilarated townspeople cheered loudly once more for the two Fairy Tail wizards. Braedey couldn't help but smile. A couple years ago, he would've let this sort of attention get to his head; thankfully, he had matured and knew better now. Though that didn't mean he did not like being appreciated.

'Wow!' Cryoson thought. 'They actually did it. They defeated those demons! And they did it without destroying anything. I guess all those rumors of Fairy Tail causing nothing but reckless destruction were exaggerated.'

All of a sudden, a small tremor shook the ground while the sounds of tumbling rock could be heard in the distance. The crowd's elated mood vanished as they looked around in bewilderment.

"Now what?" Cryoson exasperated.

"LOOK! UP THERE!" A citizen pointed.

Everyone turned their heads west, in the direction of the massive stratovolcano known as Mount Infernus. A midnight blue cloud with a hint of cobalt blue was still billowing out from the volcano's peak. Every side of the mountain top was scarred with an assortment of charred, black cracks.

Shockingly, Mount Infernus broke apart and began to collapse in on itself. The ground shook as thousands of tons of rocky debris began to tumble away down the mountain side. A giant dust cloud was thrown up in the atmosphere and formed a mushroom cloud over the landscape. After several moments, the shaking had stopped.

When the dust cleared a few moments later, everyone gasped in shock and disbelief. The famous volcano that used to tower over the lands had crumbled away; it was barely noticeable over the forest slopes. Mount Infernus was nothing more than a massive mound of shattered rocks and debris.

"WHOA!" Braedey gasped, dumbfounded. "Did... did we do that?"

Erza was just as shocked as Braedey. "Your Morpher form must've made the Armadura Fairy far more powerful than anticipated." She said, surprised.

Cryoson's jaw was ready to fall off while his eyes and face had turned white. 'T-t-those two... d-destroyed... an entire... volcano... the rumours were true.'

Braedey looked back at the mayor and smiled awkwardly. "So," he rubbed his neck sheepishly, "do we still get paid?"

The mayor of Peony fainted and fell back.

~*~*~

A couple hours later, Braedey eased himself into a pool of hot water, not hot enough to burn his skin though. Currently, he was in the men's spa room, a large, white tiled room and in the centre was a circular pool that had a diameter of twenty feet and a depth of four feet. He could barely see three feet in front of him thanks to the thick, steam clouds wafting off the hot water.

The shape-shifting hero let out a satisfied sigh as he sat in the relaxing, warm waters. Besides Braedey, there was no one else in the room, but that didn't bother him. After all the fighting and pain he had gone through fighting John Magtartus and his lava-demons, he definitely needed some time to unwind and relax.

He closed his eyes and reminisced on what happened after Mount Infernus had collapsed. When the mayor had regained consciousness, he had generously paid Braedey and Erza their ten-million Jewel reward, despite the destruction that had befallen Mount Infernus. To show his true appreciation, he had also given the duo an eighty percent discount to the Peony Hot Springs; a well-renowned spa centre known throughout the Kingdom of Fiore.

Braedey was a little unsure, but once he saw how excited Erza was, he decided to go along anyways. After all, it was only a trip to the spa. What was the worst that could happen?

Meanwhile, on the other side of the facility, Erza Scarlet stepped out from the women's locker room and into the hallway. She wore nothing but a white towel, which ended at her mid-thighs and showed off her voluptuous body. The Re-Quip mage sauntered down the white corridor to where she presumed was the spa area.

'Today has been quite a day.' Erza thought with a smile. 'After everything's that happened I believe a little relaxation is in order.'

However, Erza's good mood vanished when a couple men with towels wrapped around their waists walked down the hallway. The second their eyes spotted Erza, they grinned confidently and stopped right in front of her.

"Well... hello, gorgeous." The first man said. He was six-foot-tall, had unkempt blonde hair, and piercing blue eyes. His body build was about average.

Erza frowned, now irked. "You're blocking my way. Move"

"Now hold on there, babe." The second man appeased. He was five-foot-eleven, his raven hair was cut short, and his eyes were greyish-black. His body type was a bit buffer than his blonde friend. "Why the rush? If you're looking to relax maybe you should come with me."

"Better yet, if you come with me, I could take away all your stress." The blonde man offered with a sly smirk.

Erza clenched her fists in vexation. Then, she smiled mischievously. "Very well, gentlemen; if you wish to relieve me of my stress, I'll be more than happy to oblige you." She then cracked her knuckles.

Back in the men's spa, Braedey was sitting down chest deep in the warm waters, leaning up against the pool's side. His eyes were closed, his hands were behind his head, and he had a satisfied smile on his face. Braedey had to concede, though he wasn't so sure about going to a spa, he was happy that he had come. He let out a content sigh as the heat and steam washed away all the aches and stress.

Suddenly, Braedey heard a couple faint thuds emanate from outside the room. He opened an eye and turned his head toward the door, not that he could see it since the steam fogged his vision. After a moment of silence, he shrugged and passed it off for nothing.

Back outside, Erza was ambling down the hallway with a pleased smile. "Thank you, gentlemen." She said. "I feel much better now."

Behind her, the two men were lying on the floor. The blonde haired man had a swollen black eye and was unconscious. The raven haired man was clutching his stomach where Erza had punched him, writhing in pain while doing so.

A staff member for the facility rounded a corner and walked into the hall. He was average height, had short red hair, and wore a white shirt and pants. He was carrying a load of neatly, folded white towels. He paused when he saw the two men lying on the floor. He then noticed a very attractive redheaded woman walking away.

He sighed in annoyance, realizing what had transpired. "Let me guess," he spoke, "you two flirted with that woman didn't you?"

"Aye..." the raven haired man groaned painfully.

The spa employee closed his eyes and shook his head. "That was Titania Erza of Fairy Tail, you dimwits. Be thankful that she only gave you black eyes and bruises."

Meanwhile, Braedey was beginning to drift off as the spa water sent him into a degree of relaxation he hadn't felt in over two years. The teen hero was brought out of his peaceful state when he heard the doors creak open. He opened an eye and looked in the direction of the door; however, he was unable to see past the steam.

For the past thirty minutes, Braedey had had the men's spa room all to himself; much to his satisfaction, but it appeared his alone time was now up.

'Oh well...' Braedey thought. 'Maybe this guy coming in won't cause too much noise.'

As he closed his eyes, he could hear someone getting in the water on his left side. They let out a feminine-sounding sigh, which confused the brunette haired teen.

"Braedey?" a familiar voice said. "Is that you?"

Braedey peeked an eye open and glanced over. "Oh. Hey Erza," He said nonchalantly as he looked away.

A moment later, Braedey sat back up and looked toward his left. Sure enough, Erza was sitting chest-deep in the spa, only five feet away from him. Her scarlet hair was tied up into a bun so it wouldn't get wet, and the steam that wafted off the hot water obscured her impressive assets; much to Braedey's relief. However, that still didn't make him any less shocked or bewildered.

"ERZA!" Braedey shouted, flustered. "W-w-what are you doing in here?"

Erza looked over and quirked a brow. "I should ask you the same thing. What are you doing in the women's spa area?"

"Women's spa?" he repeated, confused. "Erza, THIS IS THE MEN'S SPA!"

Erza blinked a couple times and glanced all around. "It is?" she questioned. Surprisingly, instead of being completely embarrassed or rushing to get out, she remained where she was. "Hmm... oh well. Silly me."

Braedey's mouth gapped a little. "Oh well? Seriously?"

Erza shrugged and smiled. "I'm already here, and have made myself comfortable. There's no reason to leave; besides, it's just you and me in here anyways."

Braedey was left speechless. He couldn't believe how little undaunted Erza was acting about being in the men's spa room. He then shook his head and let out a heavy sigh. "Uh... okay. Well then... I'll just... move over here then."

He scooted a few feet away. Erza saw this and scooted closer to Braedey. "Why are you moving away?"

"HUH?" Braedey began to panic, realizing Erza was moving toward him. "N-no reason... I just..."

He tried moving further away, but Erza seemed to be scooting closer to him.

"Come on, Braedey." She urged softly. "You don't need to move away from me."

"Uh... yes, I do!" Braedey protested frantically. "You're... you're..."

Whatever he was going to say was cut short when Erza lunged from the mist and grabbed hold on Braedey's left arm. Unexpectedly, Erza pulled Braedey from the pool's edge and into the centre of the spa, where the thickest accumulation of steam was.

"E-Erza? W-what are you-?" Braedeh stuttered, feeling his face flush.

"Relax," assured Erza, while still keeping a gentle grip on his arm. She then held up a bottle of lotion, which she had had in her left hand the whole time. "I was hoping you could apply this body lotion on my back."

Braedey blinked while his mouth gaped a little. "Come again?" He said, thinking he had misheard her.

Erza smirked as she turned her back to Braedey. "Would you please rub this on my back, Braedeh?" She asked innocently.

Braedey froze as his face turned several shades of red. He couldn't believe what he just heard. First the bunny suit, sleeping in the same bed, the cuddling incident, and now this! Would it ever end?!

He was about to decline her request, until he took notice of her smooth, creamy back. He had to admit, it was attractive and alluring. Braedey shook his head, shaking away those unwanted urges.

'Oh scrap!' Braedey cried inwardly. 'Why is all this happening?'

In the end, Braedey sighed as he lost out to temptation. "Okay," he conceded.

Erza smiled in appreciation. "Thank you, Braedey."

He took the bottle that Erza had offered him and timidly scooted closer to Erza, but not too close. She had hunched slightly so he'd have better access to her back. Braedey gulped nervously, as a few sweat drops raced down his face.

Braedey took the bottle and squirted out a creamy-white lotion into his right hand before handing it back to Erza. He rubbed his hands together and once they were covered in the white cream, he timidly stretched them out toward Erza's back. He started with her shoulders, making sure not to rub too gentle or too firm.

Erza moaned, causing Braedey to immediately stop. "What? What's wrong?!" He asked hysterically.

"Nothing's wrong. It's just... you have good hands." She complimented.

Braedey couldn't help but blush from her compliment. He then turned away with a pout. "At least someone thinks so." He murmured indignantly.

A couple years ago, a month after Braedey had gotten the new Transformatrix; he had experienced some difficulties working with the watch's controls. When he had contacted Alpha Trion about the problem, the pompous Cybertronian had retorted, "Well... I would have expected a little more dexterity out of those twig fingers of yours."

Braedey stopped rubbing Erza's shoulders and eyeballed his hands attentively. When Erza felt his warm, gentle hands leave her, she glanced back. "Braedey... is something wrong?" she inquired.

The Transformatrix bearer was silent for a short moment before he spoke up. "Erza... do you think my fingers are like twigs?" He asked with a pout.

Erza blinked, taken off guard by the unusual question. With a smile, she replied, "No. I think your fingers are quite... nice."

Braedey blushed from her sincere response. "Thanks."

For the past couple minutes, Erza was lost in a blissful daze as Braedey's hands massaged her back. An occasional moan would slip from her, due to the enjoyable sensations washing over her.

Braedey, though was very nervous at first, began to calm down a bit. But, as his hands drew to Erza's lower back and her bottom, he felt his breath hitch in his throat and his heart-rate increase. Thankfully, Braedey snapped himself out of his trance before he could go any lower.

"Okay, finished." Braedey pulled his hands away. "I'll be going now."

He turned away and headed toward the end of the pool, but was stopped when Erza grasped his left shoulder.

"Wait. I have to rub your back now." She declared.

Braedey felt his jaw drop a little and his face grow hotter. "N-no, no... that's okay." He stammered, pulling away from her. "Really-"

Suddenly, Erza lunged at Braedey again and wrapped her arms around his neck, which pushed her large bust up against his back. Braedeh yelped and blushed furiously when he felt her large mounds press up against him.

"E-E-Erza!" Braedey spluttered. "W-what are you-?"

"You washed my back, now I have to wash yours." Erza stated firmly. "It wouldn't be fair if I didn't wash yours."

"Listen, it's..."

"No arguments." She affirmed in a semi-scary tone.

Though Braedey wasn't really scared of her, he knew that there was no way he could talk Erza out of what she already had her mind set out to do. He let out a collective sigh of defeat before giving in. "Okay... go ahead."

Erza smirked in victory. She applied the lotion in her hands and rubbed his shoulders, causing Braedey to flinch nervously. The warrior girl took note of this and grinned. "Braedey, you don't have to be so nervous around me. After all, we did switch bodies one time."

"Yeah, but I never tried anything!" Braedey retorted frenetically.

"Relax, Braedey." Erza advised with a smile. "There's nothing you need to be nervous about."

'You're naked, you're less than a few inches away from me, and you're massaging my back! There's plenty to be nervous about!' Braedey yelled inwardly.

Braedey bit his bottom lip and could feel his heart beat through his chest as Erza's smooth hands gently rubbed his back. He hadn't felt like this in a long time and was unsure how much more he could take.

"I must admit Braedey; your back is quite well-toned." She complimented.

Though he was flattered, it didn't make Braedey any less nervous; in fact, her compliment only enhanced it. As Erza applied the creamy lotion onto his back, she saw something on Braedey's left shoulder plate. It was three scars, barely two inches long, all in the same shape, and it was shaped very oddly. Erza cocked a brow, bemused.

"Uh, Braedey... what are these scars on your back?" Erza asked. She focused her eyes on the scars. "It has a very unusual shape, like a claw mark."

The Transformatrix wielder was silent. "I... got that when I was five-years-old from a... Mutant Predacon."

Erza noticed a certain emotion from Braedey when he said the last word: fear. This surprised her. For the whole couple of months that she had gotten to know Braedey, he didn't seem afraid of anything. However, there was one other thing that bewildered her.

"Mutant Predacon?" she repeated. "What's that?"

Braedey shivered. "I... don't wish to talk about it."

Seeing Braedey so scared made her wonder. 'These Mutant Predacons must be very dangerous and powerful monsters if they are capable of frightening someone like Braedey.' She deduced.

A minute of silence passed, as Erza continued to rub the body lotion onto Braedey's back. Titania wasn't fond of the silence right now. She wanted to speak to Braedey some more.

"I still can't believe that your Morpher form made the Armadura Fairy armour so powerful, it destroyed Mount Infernus." Erza noted, trying to start a conversation.

Braedey shrugged nonchalantly. "I'll admit I was a bit surprised too. But, it's not the first time I've destroyed a mountain. Back in my world, there's a place called Mount Rushmore. It has the heads of four of country's most famous presidents carved on it. When I was ten, I sort of... wrecked it."

Her eyes widened in shock. "You destroyed a national monument?"

Braedey glanced back and winked. "Yes."

Erza blinked. She then shook her head and smiled. "You're going to fit in quite well at Fairy Tail, Braedey."

Another moment passed by before Erza finally finished rubbing the lotion on Braedey's back. "There. All done," she announced.

"Uh... thanks. I gotta go now." Braedey said, scooting back to the pool's rim.

But the teen hero was stopped when Erza grabbed him by his right arm, causing him to nervously tense up a bit.

"You're getting out already?" She asked, confused.

Suddenly, through the steamy mist, Erza spotted something under Braedey's right pectoral. She narrowed her eyes on the spot to see it was a five-inch-long, reddish-purple scar that haphazardly stretched from under his right chest to his side.

She gasped lightly and her eyes widened. Braedey looked back; thankfully, he couldn't see her breasts past the steam and hot water. That was a major relief for him. He didn't want things to be any more awkward than they already were. But, at this point, the teen hero certainly doubted it could get any worse.

When he noticed her sudden change of expression, he arched a brow.

"What? What is it?" Braedey asked.

Erza didn't answer immediately, as she continued to stare at the scar. Braedey followed her gaze and gasped when he realized she was staring at "it". The Transformatrix bearer quickly turned around and made his way toward the pool's rim.

"Braedey, wait! What happened? You can tell-"

"STOP!" Braedey stated firmly, which startled Erza quite a bit. "Just... stop. I don't...Want to...Talk about it. Okay?"

He stood stationary for a few more seconds before he continued on his way. Erza lost sight of him in the steam cloud, though she did hear him get out of the spa, and then heard the doors open and slam shut behind him.

Erza sat in the hot spa waters, dumbfounded. Her expression then shifted to a thoughtful one as she tapped her chin. 'That scar... there's a deeper story behind it; undoubtedly an unpleasant one if it made Braedey react the way he did.' She paused as concern crossed her face. 'What happened to you, Braedey?'

~*~*~

Later, a fully clothed Braedey found himself sitting on a wooden bench in the main lobby of the Peony Hot Springs. Erza, who was in her Heart Kreuz Armour, was across the room at the main desk, paying the clerk. Braedey had offered to pay instead but Erza had declined, saying it was her treat, and thanks to their eighty percent discount, it was very cheap anyways.

Braedey sat on the bench and stared at the tiled floors in deep thought. He was beginning to feel bad about snapping at Erza earlier. When she had seen "it", she was just curious and concerned; however, Braedey really didn't want to speak of "it" right now or any time in the future. Nevertheless, that still didn't mean Erza deserved to be snapped at. With that said, Braedey decided that he would apologize as quickly as possible.

The Transformatrix bearer was brought out of his musings when two young women walked up to him. One was about five-foot-four with long blonde hair that ended at her lower back like Lucy's. She had piercing crystal blue eyes and smooth, alabaster skin. She wore a blue denim mini-skirt and a white t-shirt that was struggling to hold her bust.

Her friend was roughly the same height. Her hair was dark brown and tied up in a ponytail, her skin was a light tan, and her eyes were emerald green. She wore brown cargo pants and a sleeveless white top that also barely contained her assets.

"Well hello, cutie." The blonde said coyly.

"What's a handsome devil like you doing sitting here all alone?" The brunette asked with a bashful smile.

Braedey blinked twice, caught off guard by the sudden appearance of two beautiful women in front of him. It would appear that all the women in this world were all super-model caliber. He stood up from the bench and awkwardly replied, "I'm just... waiting for a friend."

"Oh really?" the blonde girl approached him with coy smile. "Well, we could keep you company until then."

The brunette girl then noticed the white Fairy Tail mark on the left sleeve of his jacket. "Ooh, are you from Fairy Tail?"

"Yes, why?" asked Braedey.

The two girls both grinned. "We happen to have a thing for wizards." The blonde stated.

Braedey was at a loss for words.

'What is with these girls? Why are they acting this way?' Braedey thought, bemused.

Erza finished paying the counter clerk, who was a young, pink haired woman. She smiled brightly, "Hope you enjoyed everything, Miss Titania. And once again, thank you for saving our town."

Erza smiled. "You're very welcome, ma'am."

The pink haired clerk then looked past Erza and grinned. "Ooh... looks like that piece of eye candy there is getting some action." She commented.

Erza lifted a brow in confusion. She then glanced back to see Braedey had two women getting real close to him, and they seemed to be ogling him. Erza's eyes narrowed in contempt at the scene.

The counter lady noticed Erza's sudden aggressive demeanour, and asked, "Um... Miss Titania, are you okay?"

Without warning, Erza's left hand clenched the granite countertop and caused it to crack; much to the clerk's shock. The redhead then ambled away with steam hissing from her ears, leaving the clerk dumbfounded.

Braedey took a couple nervous steps back as the two women approached him with seducing smiles.

"Come on, handsome. You should come with us." The brunette offered.

"We'll show you a great time, Mister Fairy Tail wizard." The blonde added.

Suddenly, a certain scarlet haired mage stepped in-between Braedey and the two girls.

"Hey! What do you think you're-?"

Whatever the blonde haired maiden was going to say stopped, when Erza glared intensely at the duo with her arms crossed over her breastplate. The two ladies shivered in trepidation as Erza locked her glowing red eyes onto them, a scary aura emitting off of her.

"Is there a problem here?" Erza asked in a spine-chilling tone.

"N-NO MA'AM!" the duo cried simultaneously before they ran away in fear.

Braedey arched a brow from the girls' sudden fear as they ran off. When Erza turned back to her partner, she dropped her scary expression.

"Hey Erza, what do you think that was about?" Braedey wondered.

Erza closed her eyes and smiled. "Who knows." She then turned away. "Now, let's get back to the hotel so we can pack up our things."

Braedey remembered what he was thinking about before those two girls came up to him, and realized now would be a good time to do it. "Erza," he said.

She turned back to him. "Yes?" She inquired.

"I... wanted to say I'm sorry for snapping at you back in the spa. That was completely uncalled for." Braedey admitted.

Erza smiled warmly. "Braedey, it's alright. I understand." She then looked away with a frown. "It's clear that that... injury is a touchy subject. Is it not?"

Braedey nodded, and then rubbed his neck. "Yes, it is. Listen, do you think we could keep this between us? I'm not ready for anyone else to know about it."

Erza nodded in understanding. A thoughtful expression then appeared on her face. "If you ever want to talk about it, I'll listen."

Braedey blinked from her unexpected request, and smiled appreciatively. "Thanks." He then looked away with a dejected frown and sighed. "But... I'm not ready."

For a moment, the redheaded warrior stared inquisitively at Braedey. It was clear something had happened to him in the past, something dreadful. Erza could relate to his situation.

She shivered. Just the thought of that place made her heart tighten. She shook her head from that painful memory, and shifted her focus back to reality.

"C'mon, let's go. We have a long trip ahead of us." Erza insisted.

Braedey nodded in agreement and followed his scarlet haired companion out of the spa.

~*~*~

It was mid-evening when Braedey and Erza returned to the Infernus Palace to check out. The former had gone Blurr to get all of their bags, which were mostly Erza's, into the magic-mobile. Once the luggage was packed, he earned another head slam into Erza's breastplate, causing his face to flush furiously. Braedey then turned into Optimus Prime, and took the magic-mobile in his trailer, so Erza wouldn't have to expend her magic power.

A few hours later, around late-evening, they arrived back in Magnolia. When they returned the magic-mobile back to the rental shop, they made their way toward the Guild Hall. Erza pulled her wagon of suitcases behind her while Braedey walked next to her. Both highly-adaptive fighters were anxious to get back to the Guild to check on their friends and acquire a certain frozen beverage they desired.

"Man. I could go for a few slushies right now." Braedey stated. "Hero work makes me thirsty."

Erza nodded. "I agree." Hearts then filled up her eyes. "Ooh, I wonder what flavours I'll get this time. Strawberry-lime? Strawberry-coconut? Strawberry-mango?"

Braedey looked at his redheaded friend and grinned. He was happy that there was finally someone who shared his love for the most delicious beverage ever invented.

As they walked down the stone street that led straight to the incomplete Guild Hall, Erza looked at Braedey with a warm smile. "Braedey, I want to thank you."

Braedey turned to her, slightly bemused. "Thank me? For what?"

"For accompanying me on the mission, and for... saving me." Erza answered. "I couldn't have accomplished that job without you."

The teen hero smiled. "Don't mention it. We're friends. It's what they do for each other."

The two smiled at each other for a moment, and then looked away with a tint of pink on their cheeks.

As the duo neared the construction site, Braedey could hear a faint noise coming from somewhere. "Hey Erza, do you hear that?"

Erza stopped and listened. She too could hear the odd noise, and it seemed to be growing louder by the second. "Yes. What is that?" She asked.

Another second later, the noise became a panicked yell as Gray fell from the sky and crashed into them. The duo grunted painfully as they laid face-down on the ground with Gray lying on their backs, who was only dressed in a pair of black boxers.

A short moment later, Gray was thrown off by Erza. She stood up and glowered at the ice wizard. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" She demanded angrily.

Gray yelped in fear as he crawled away. "H-hey! Wait a second! Don't get mad at me!"

Braedey rubbed his aching head as he picked himself up. "Let me guess; Natsu did it."

"NO!" Gray shouted. He then pointed toward the construction site. "SHE DID!"

The shape-shifter and Re-Quip mage turned to the bar area and bore witness to a surprising sight. Cana was throwing cards at Natsu, which exploded on contact. The pink haired wizard was narrowly eluding the cards by jumping from table-to-table, but Cana's cards were catching up to him.

"YOU TWO IDIOTS HAVE GONE TOO FAR THIS TIME!" Cana yelled, enraged.

"Whoa," Braedey breathed, shocked by the sheer rage etched into her face. "What's with Cana?"

"Um," Gray looked away and rubbed his neck sheepishly. "When Natsu and I were fighting I... may have accidentally frozen all the alcohol."

Erza closed her eyes to process this information. "Hmph. That would explain it."

"Yep," Braedey agreed, "no wonder she's on the warpath."

Suddenly, a loud conflagration caught their attention. They turned back to the site to see Natsu get blown back into a stone wall, which instantly collapsed on top of him. Cana stomped over toward the fallen rubble, snarling.

"We need to calm her down," Braedey advised, "before she wrecks anything else."

Erza and Gray both nodded in agreement. As they ran toward the construction site, without glancing back, Erza ordered, "Gray, put your clothes on now."

The ice-make wizard had a clueless expression until he noticed he was in his underwear. "CRAP!" he panicked.

As the trio approached the angry brunette, Erza calmly ordered, "Cana, calm yourself and put the cards away."

"CALM MYSELF?!" Cana roared. "How do I calm myself?" She turned her lethal gaze on Gray, who stepped away in fear. "YOU! What you did was unforgivable!"

"You really stepped in it now." Braedey whispered to the onyx haired teen. Gray could only shiver from the death glare Cana was giving him.

"Cana," Erza continued, "I know Gray and Natsu must've caused a lot of trouble while I was absent, and I'll be sure to punish them accordingly. But, you need to calm down now. We can't afford any more damages to the Guild Hall."

"Heck, Gray and Natsu were fighting every five minutes while you and Braedey were away, Erza." Wakaba mentioned. He was smoking on his pipe, sitting at a table at the far end of the bar area.

Gray turned to him indignantly. "You bastard!" He shouted. "SHUT UP!"

Cana listened to Erza's words attentively and began to feel her anger simmer away slightly. She slumped her shoulder sand sat down at a bench with a gloomy expression. "Fine," She said, "but all the booze is frozen. What will I do?" A few tears fell from her eyes.

"Way to go, Gray! You made her cry!" Lucy yelled from a bar stool.

"That's Gray for yah." Happy deadpanned.

"CANA!" The ice mage waved his hands frantically at the crying brunette. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to! Besides, it's not like it won't thaw out."

Suddenly, a few chunks of broken wall were moved aside as Natsu emerged from the debris. His body was shrouded in orange flames as he waved his arms around in an angry manner.

"Now you're in for it, Cana!" He leaped out of the rubble with his flaming fist cocked back. "YOU'RE GOING DOWN!"

Without warning, Erza swiftly pulled back her fist and punched Natsu in the torso. The Dragon Slayer stopped in midair and collapsed to the ground with a pained countenance written on his face.

Erza sighed, exasperated. "You've done enough, Natsu."

"Whoa," Macao commented, "that didn't take long."

Braedey turned toward the bar area and could see six wooden barrels covered in ice behind the counter. He knew Cana was the Guild's heaviest drinker, so he could imagine having her brew frozen solid was hard for her. It'd be like someone freezing all of Braedey's slushies into solid ice... with no way of drinking them.

The teen hero shivered. He didn't want to even ponder on such a thought. Realizing what Cana must be going through, Braedey decided to help out.

"Okay, okay," Braedey held up his hands. "Everyone calm down, I'll take care of this."

Everyone present in the Guild Hall turned to Ben with interest, wondering what he planned to do. Braedey walked toward the frozen barrels behind the bar while activating the Transformatrix. Once he found the alien he wanted, he tapped the faceplate. In the wake of the blue light was a 20ft tall robot with a jet black colour scheme with a flame job across the doors and the hood. A pair of door wings are sitting on his back, similar to that of a pair of wings, with two tyres as the shoulders, with a muscle car-like front built into his chest, whilst the other two tyres are on his ankles. His legs were slim from the thighs to the knees, whilst below his knees, his power legs were thick armoured. In addition, his arms were slim and wrapped in black and yellow, whilst his hands had four-digit fingers. His helm had a two optics, a silver face with yellow armour wrapped around his helm, and two black racing stripes on it. Finally, the Transformatrix insignia was present in the centre of his chest, with the Fairy Tail mark in gold on his left shoulder.

"This is a perfect job for Hotrod." The Pyro Autobot stated.

Natsu grunted painfully as he lifted his face off the ground. When his vision refocused, he could see Hotrod standing close to Cana's frozen beer barrels. It didn't take long for the Dragon Slayer to make the connection and figure out what Braedey was doing.

"HEY! What's the deal? I can melt it for yah." Natsu shouted heatedly.

Hotrod turned back to him. "After getting to know you for the past couple months, Natsu, I've decided that you can't be trusted around anything that's combustible. Besides, I have something you don't: self-control."

Gray nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. "Well said."

"Gray, your clothes." Cana murmured, annoyed.

"DAMMIT!" Gray panicked. "WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?!"

Meanwhile, behind an incomplete section of wall, the Gray Stalker was staring at her beloved with hearts in her eyes. "Oh my darling, Gray, I wish you'd strip for me and me only." Juvia fantasized.

Hotrod stared at the frozen barrels. He held out his right hand and concentrated on raising the heat on the six objects. Suddenly, the ice began to melt away as trails of steam wafted away. In less than a minute, the ice was removed and the beer in the barrels was melted back into liquid. Hotrod dusted his hands off and tapped the Transformatrix dial. In a flash of blue, he changed back to Braedey and smirked at his work.

"There. Nothing to it," he remarked.

Cana's eyes widened and her mouth gaped a little when she saw that her precious booze was unfrozen. Suddenly, she ran over to Braedey and unexpectedly wrapped him up in a big hug.

"Oh thank you, Braedey!" Cana said happily. "You're a life saver."

The beautiful brunette then planted a kiss on Braedey's left cheek, which caused the Transformatrix bearer to blush profoundly. The other Fairy Tail wizards watched the scene in slight awe and shock.

"Wow!" Jet said. "Did she just kiss him?"

"She sure did. I've never seen Cana do that before." Droy added, dumbfounded.

"First Evergreen, then Erza, and now Cana? Man, Braedey sure has become a ladies man around here." Wakaba commented.

"I'll say." Macao agreed. "And it looks like he's barely trying too."

Erza's left eye twitched, and a faint trail of steam hissed from her ears from seeing Cana kiss Braedey; however, the armoured wizard failed to acknowledge it.

Natsu groaned as he got up from the ground. When he saw that the frozen beer barrels had been thawed out, he crossed his arms over his chest and huffed irately. "I could've done that."

Lucy, who was still by the bar, had heard Natsu and retorted, "Yeah, and blown up what's left of the Guild Hall while you're at it!"

"Braedey! Erza!" The attention of the present mages and superhero was captured by Master Makarov, who was standing on the bar countertop. "Could I have a word with you two?"

Erza felt the slight aggression that she didn't acknowledge fade away. "Of course, master."

A crimson faced Braedey pulled away from Cana's clutches and approached Makarov. The dwarf-sized wizard stared keenly at the duo standing before him. This made Braedey feel a bit unsettled.

"I just received a letter from the mayor of Peony. He wanted to say thank you to the Guild for what you two did." Makarov informed.

Braedey and Erza both smiled proudly.

"Well, that was cool of him." Braedeysaid.

"He really didn't need to thank us again though." Erza added. "We already have the town's gratitude."

"However," Makarov continued, "that letter spoke of something else I wanted to speak to you about." He was silent for a moment until he yelled, "HOW IN THE BLAZES DID YOU TWO MANAGE TO DESTROY AN ENTIRE VOLCANO!?"

The Transformatrix bearer and armour-shifting wizard both jumped back in surprise. The sudden outburst had also gained the attention of all the present Fairy Tail mages.

"Wait! They destroyed a what?" Natsu said, shocked.

Braedey let out a collective sigh and looked straight at Makarov. "Okay, it happened like this..."

~*~*~

Forty-five minutes later, Braedey and Erza had taken turns explaining everything that happened earlier that day; everything from the volcano demons, the special mineral, John Magtartus and his evil schemes, and finally... Lavazilla. The latter one really opened the eyes of the Fairy Tail wizards.

"You two faced down a giant lava-lizard?!" Lucy shrieked fearfully.

"AH MAN!" Natsu complained. "Now I really I wished I could've gone! That would've been a lot more exciting than taking on those stupid bandits at Fort Term."

Lucy sweat dropped. "You really have a twisted definition for 'fun'."

Braedey and Erza concluded their explanation when the former told them about his transformation, Morpher, and how he had used him to merge with Erza's Armadura Fairy armor and enhance its power tenfold. Morpher had made Erza's armour so powerful that it not only defeated Lavazilla, but destroyed the volcano in the process.

The eyes of the Fairy Tail wizards had widened while their jaws hung from their faces. Needless to say, everyone was astonished by what Braedey and Erza gone through on their mission.

Makarov recovered from his astonishment quickly and turned back to the duo. "Sounds like you two had a very interesting day."

'You have no idea.' Braedey thought, recalling the awkward incident in the spa with Erza.

Later, Braedey was sitting at a bench with Natsu, Gray, Elfman, and Happy. He was describing to them in detail about the fights he had with the lava-demons, the lava-snake, and then Lavazilla. The four listened attentively and Natsu looked ready to burst from his seat in excitement.

Meanwhile, Erza, Lucy, and Cana were sitting at the bar while Mirajane stood behind the counter in front of them. The former was sucking down a strawberry-banana slushie at a steady pace.

"I can't believe that you almost died today, Erza." Lucy said worriedly.

After taking a quick sip of the delightful substance she now craved, Erza replied, "Yes. If it weren't for Braedey turning into Morpher and merging with me, I would surely be dead."

Cana took a swig from her beer mug before looking back at Erza with a mischievous grin. "So Erza, how'd it feel having Braedey all over your body like that?"

Erza, who didn't seem to catch onto what Cana was implying, looked back with a smile. "I won't lie, it felt strange at first but... after I got used to it, it felt... amazing. I should definitely have Braedey merge with my other armours sometime soon."

Cana smirked. "What's next? The Seduction Armour?"

Erza, Lucy, and Mirajane blushed from that thought; the former more so than the others. They shook off that thought and returned to their conversation.

"Well," Lucy said, "aside from almost getting killed by hordes of volcano demons and demolishing a volcano, it sounds like your mission went off without a hitch."

Erza finished taking a sip of her smoothie, and replied, "Well... not quite."

The three girls turned to Erza in interest as she explained, "Before we left for Peony, we had a little incident with the magic-mobile."

"Really? What kind of incident?" Mira asked.

"Well, I was explaining to Braedey how the S.E. Plug worked and he wanted to try it for himself, but since he has no magic energy within him nothing happened. He removed the coupling but it fell onto his Transformatrix. This caused the magic-mobile to blast forward through Magnolia at speeds I've never seen before."

Cana blinked as she recalled something. "Wait a second, when I was in town yesterday I saw some blue blur with a dust trail behind it go past me. That was you two?"

Erza nodded. "We finally managed to remove the gauntlet from his Transformatrix, but we were moving so fast that the sudden cut off of power made the magic-mobile almost stop instantly, throwing us both forward out of our seats. Beaedey actually grabbed hold of me, so he'd take the impact of the fall..."

She stopped there, not wanting to mention the accidental kiss between her and Braedeh. That memory still made Erza's face heat up every time she thought about it.

Cana closed her eyes and laughed a little. "You're the one wearing armour, and he protected you."

"Aw! That was so sweet of him." Mirajane said brightly.

Erza closed her eyes and disputed, "No. It was merely a reflex, nothing more."

"Ah, come on Erza, I think he'd do it again." Lucy teased.

"Yeah," Cana joined in, "I'd bet you'd enjoy it too."

"Oh, you two would make such a cute couple." Mirajane beamed.

Suddenly, Erza's eyes widened as the memory of the kiss played back in her mind again. "No. we wouldn't!" She snapped angrily. "The kiss was an accident!"

Mira, Cana, and Lucy were taken back by Erza's sudden outburst; however, they then realized what she had just said.

"Wait... what was an accident?" Lucy asked.

When Erza realized what she had blurted out, her angry expression instantly became an embarrassed one. She looked away as her face flared up a bright crimson. "Nothing." She muttered.

Cana leaned closer. "Your face is turning as red as your hair."

Erza looked down. "You're just imagining things."

Mirajane leaned forward on the counter. "Come on Erza, tell us what happened." She urged gently. "We're your friends, you can tell us."

The redheaded warrior fell silent for a moment, contemplating on what she should do. Finally, she gave in and answered, "When were thrown through the air and Braedey grabbed onto me, we landed in a meadow. When I woke up, I was on top of him and..." She paused, causing the three girls to lean in closer. Cana even took a swig of her beer as they waited for Erza to continue. "...our lips were touching."

The reactions between the trio were mixed. Lucy went wide-eyed and gasped as she covered her mouth. Cana actually spit out her beer in shock and went on a coughing fit. Mira, however, was beaming brightly.

"Oh that's amazing!" Mira squealed excitedly.

"Keep your voice down!" Erza scolded, looking back and making sure nobody was listening. Thankfully for her, most of the Guild had gone home for the night. The only ones present were Braedey, Natsu, Gray, Happy and Elfman and they were out of earshot, sitting on a bench and talking animatedly.

"He held you in his arms to protect you!" Mira gushed. "That's so romantic!"

Erza ground her teeth together, as she blushed profoundly.

Lucy snapped out of her shock while Cana was coughing up the last bit of alcohol in her throat. "So, what did Braedey say about the kiss?" The blonde mage inquired.

Erza closed her eyes, and replied, "Braedey was unconscious when it happened."

Mirajane leaned forward. "He doesn't know?" She said, surprised.

Erza merely nodded.

"Are... you gonna tell him?" Cana asked.

The scarlet haired beauty didn't respond as she turned away, the blush on her face intensifying.

"Erza, you should tell him. This is a serious matter after all." Mirajane recommended.

"No it's not." Erza rebuked. "The kiss was an accident, nothing more."

Cana smirked slyly. "For something that meant nothing, it sure has you blushing a lot."

Erza failed to acknowledge the intense blush on her cheeks, but she couldn't deny that her face felt hot. Maybe it was just the summertime heat?

The warrior girl sighed. "I hope you three understand that I need you to keep this to yourselves."

The trio nodded, but then noticed multiple white flashes above them. They looked up to see over a dozen magical swords hovering several inches above their heads, causing them to nervously sweat drop.

Erza stood up from her seat and smiled. "Thank you. I'm glad to know I can count on you."

In a flash, the swords disappeared from existence.

"Lucy, let's join up with the others over there." Erza suggested, pointing at the gathered group of boys.

Lucy got up and nervously followed her redheaded teammate. "Ah, that was a little extreme. Don't yah think?"

Erza looked back and blinked. "I suppose you're right. One sword each would've been enough."

~*~*~

A/N: Alright, sorry if the spa scene was too awkward for some of you. However, I honestly couldn't resist doing it. Don't worry. Stuff at that level of awkwardness won't happen too often in the future. That's not to say it won't ever happen again; it just won't for a while. Perhaps when Braedey and Erza are finally a couple? But that wouldn't be awkward, would it? It'd be normal.

Okay, I've got things I need to say. First, that special mineral that John Magtartus used has the ability to absorb magic from anything around it. Wizards who touch it without iron gloves or are even near it will have their magic energy quickly drained out of them. The reason Erza's armours didn't protect her is because her armour isn't 100% iron and there was plenty of revealed skin. But, if one with incredible magic power can channel their energy into the crystals, they can overload it and be granted the full storage of magic power inside. This was how John gained enough magical energy to create Lavazilla.

Next chapter: Settling in; Braedey's New Home – this will be a short one-shot of Braedey settling into his new house.
Chapter after that: Tower of Heaven: Part I – the real action picks up again!

Please leave any comments, suggestions, and critiques in the review box. I'm anxious to hear them. Oh, flames will be frozen by Ultimate IceTread.