There's a groan as Shigeo slowly starts coming out of unconsciousness. He can feel that he's on something soft, and it kind of feels like one of the nurse's beds back in salt middle school. He hopes that he didn't inconvenience the body improvement club too much by passing out again. However he also feels something strange. In the air around him there's a lot of psychic energy. And sitting next to him is what feels like an esper. But the energy feels strange, slightly different than normal. He's about to open his eyes, but then he hears a strange voice next to his bed.

"Oh my goodness, he's waking up!"

Shigeo is confused when he hears the unknown voice. He'd never heard this lady's voice before. Shigeo opens his eyes so that he can look around and see who's talking. When he opens his eyes he's immediately greeted by an unfamiliar sight. He's looking up at a wood panel ceiling that looks pretty old. There's also a woman standing over him who's much older than he is. She has long blond hair, dark brown eyes, fair skin, and she's wearing a miniskirt and a white shirt with a blue cross along her large breasts. Shigeo's eyes widen when he sees that he's in an unfamiliar environment.

14%

The lady crouches down next to him and Shigeo tries to back away from her. She seems to notice that he looks worried so she holds back a little bit.

"Are you alright? I found you passed out on the beach."

The beach? He doesn't remember ever going to the beach. Shigeo sits up from the bed he's laying on and he looks around. The room looks like some kind of fantasy medical ward with about three other beds. Shigeo clenches his hands on the bedding he is laying on and he starts shivering nervously.

"W-where am I?"

Lucy sees the boy shaking nervously and she gets a little bit worried. Could he be having some kind of panic attack? When he asks her where he is she calms down when she realizes that he's just scared because he has no idea what's going on. Though, to think that someone as strong as he seems to be could be worried by something like that is a bit strange.

"You're in the Fairy Tail guild's medical wing. You were suffering from magical exhaustion and you passed out. You've been out for hours. I'm Lucy by the way."

Shigeo looks over Lucy but he doesn't get any calmer. Fairy Tail? Magical exhaustion? What is this lady talking about? Magic isn't real. The closest thing is psychic powers. Shigeo pulls off the covers that are resting on him and tries to quickly get on of his bed, but his muscles suddenly start aching and Lucy tries to get him to stop trying to leave.

"Woah, hey there. Didn't you hear me? You were seriously injured. You need to rest."

16%

Shigeo winces when he feels his muscles complaining that he's trying to move, but he keeps trying to get away from Lucy. However as his senses keep coming back to their regular sharpness, he starts sensing even more espers around him. The entire building is filled with espers, but three in particular seem to be the most powerful. One of the three is much more powerful than all of the other espers combined. There's also a spirit inside of the building.

Shigeo freezes for a moment when he senses all of the espers around him and Lucy walks over to him. She puts her hand on his shoulder and tries to pull him back to his bed. Shigeo turns to face her and starts looking her over, just in case she tries to attack him or something.

"Listen, I know that you're probably confused, but you're hurt so you need to rest. I'll answer any questions you have, but please go back to bed."

Shigeo keeps his eye on Lucy for a moment, trying to figure out if she's telling the truth or not. The look of concern on her face making it evident that she doesn't want to hurt him. When it seems like she's not trying to hurt him, Shigeo nods and starts hobbling towards the bed he was laying on, his muscles still complaining about how much he's moving around. He sits himself back down on the bed and lays down, staring at the ceiling. Lucy pulls up a chair and sits down next to Shigeo. Shigeo looks over at Lucy with his blank stare, freaking her out a bit.

"Thank you, for helping me."

Lucy is a bit shocked when she hears him say that. She didn't expect something like that from this kid. Lucy smiles a little bit as Shigeo looks back up at the ceiling.

"Don't worry about it. I'll help you as much as I can."

Shigeo starts trying to think of questions for her, but there's just too much to ask about. Shigeo has no idea where to begin. So much is different from his home. And all of these espers in one place. He's never encountered anything like this outside of Claw.

"Where am I, and how did I get here?"

Lucy thinks about Shigeo's question and tries to come up with a good way to answer it. She wasn't sure what he was going to ask but this is as good a place to start as any.

"Well, you're in the Fairy Tail guild's infirmary. I found you on the beach suffering from magic exhaustion so I brought you here to try to help you, but by the time we got here your magic was replenished. But you wouldn't wake up so you've been in bed all night."

As much as Lucy meant for that to be helpful, Shigeo is just even more confused. He's never heard those words used like that before. He has no idea what she means by that. Lucy can see Shigeo's confusion and is confused by it herself. She wonders if the kid is suffering from amnesia or something like that.

"Listen, since you're up I need to tell the guild master. He should be able to explain things better than I can."

Shigeo nods and Lucy walks out of the infirmary. As she leaves Shigeo looks back up at the ceiling. He can sense her heading out and towards the largest source of power. He hopes that the guild master will be able to tell him what's going on, because right now his questions are piling up and no answers seem to be in sight. After a moment Shigeo senses Lucy and the guild master moving towards the infirmary. The door opens and Shigeo is confused by what he sees. In walks a small man wearing what looks like an orange jester's outfit. He looks really old and he's carrying a cane. He smiles at Shigeo and starts walking over to him.

"Hello there young man. It's good to see that you're up and about again. You had us all worried, especially young Lucy there."

Shigeo looks back to see Lucy looking at him with a worried look on her face. They all at least seem to have been sincerely worried so Shigeo relaxes a little bit, but he's still confused as to what's going on.

"What's going on?"

Makarov looks over the young boy and wonders what he can say to help him. But even more pressing is his aura. There's a lot of energy buried inside of him. Whoever this kid is, he's very powerful. Makraov tries to remember what Lucy told him about how she found the boy.

"You were found lying on a beach. Lucy brought you here because she thought that we could help you. However you seemed to be perfectly fine when you got here, so you've been resting in bed ever since."

Shigeo frowns a little bit when the small old man tells him essentially what Lucy told him when he asked her where he was. Since everyone here seems to think that he knows most of what's going on, he'll have to try to figure it out one bit at a time.

"Lucy said I was in a place called Fairy Tail. What's that? And what's a guild?"

Both Lucy and Makarov are shocked when the strange boy says that he doesn't know what Fairy Tail is. They both recover but to think that someone doesn't know what Fairy Tail is, is a bit strange. But to not know what a guild is, that's even more bizarre. Makarov wracks his brain trying to figure out what's going on with this kid.

"Guilds are places where wizards come together to find work and companionship. Fairy Tail is one of these guilds. But that's common knowledge for the most part. Where are you from kid?"

There's that word again, wizards. Is that what the espers here called themselves? Shigeo hopes that he won't have to spend too much time here trying to figure it out. When the small old man asks Shigeo where he's from, Shigeo hopes that'll have heard of his home town.

"I'm from Seasoning City, Japan."

While Lucy is confused over what city the boy is talking about, since she's never heard of Seasoning City or Japan, Makarov is starting to put all of the pieces in place in his head, even though it seems impossible. But there's no other explanation. No knowledge of wizarding guilds, strange clothing, hails from a place nowhere on the map. Makarov sighs and tries to figure out how to break it to the kid.

"I don't know how to tell you this, but I don't think that you're in your own world any more."

56%

Shigeo's heart skips a beat when he hears that. Not in his own world? What could the old man be talking about? Traveling to other worlds isn't possible. Lucy is also pretty confused as to what's going on.

"From another world? How could you know something like that?"

Makarov walks over to a chair in the room and pulls out a light pen. Shigeo might have noticed that the strange object that Makarov is holding has the same psychic energy in it if he wasn't lost in his own world trying to figure out what the small old man is talking about. Makarov starts using the light pen to draw two circles in the air. He marks them both with numbers.

"It's rare, but it happens sometimes. Our universe actually has really thin barriers. It's the reason that Celestial spirit users exist. They're able to puncture the barriers around our universe and pull celestial spirits into ours. However our universe and the celestial spirit universe are very close together, so any mage with a key can do it. For someone like our young friend to be pulled over, there needs to be a large energy transfer. That's probably why when you tried summon Aquarius, you summoned this lad instead. You accidentally latched onto his magic and pulled him from his universe to ours."

75%

Another universe? He was in another universe? When could this have happened? What could he have done to cause this? How did this happen?! Shigeo falls to his knees and his psychic energy starts building up around him. He holds his head as the realization keeps washing over him. His parents, Ritsu, Regien. He'll never see them again? His power starts making objects in the room lift off of the ground and fly around the room. Tears start to fall from Shigeo's face and he cries out in anguish.

89%

Lucy ducks as a stool comes flying at her head. What kind of mage is this kid to be doing this? She can feel his overwhelming power building as he starts crying. She's about to reach for her celestial keys when Makarov holds out a hand to stop her from doing it. The wind in the room picks up and starts blowing around even faster. The door slams open and Natsu tries to see what's going on but a chair smacks him in the face. Happy peers inside and tries to figure out what's happening.

"Master Makarov, what's going on?!"

Makarov springs into action and casts a simple warding spell around the room so that his energies won't affect the rest of the guild, but his power is pressing against the ward hard. Makarov tries to work his way to the boy but the wind is very strong. Makarov has to shout to be heard over the boy's wails of agony.

"We figured out that he's from another world and he isn't taking it well! If he keeps this up his power might destroy the guild!"

94%

Natsu gets up with a large welt on his head from the chair slamming into him. He heard what Makarov said and sees the boy crying on the floor of the medical wing. He starts trying to work his way to the boy. Whatever is sent towards him, Natsu just tanks it. Lucy and Makarov see this and wonder what Natsu is trying to do.

98%

By the end of it Natsu is pretty banged up. There's a few bleeding cuts and some bruises forming on his arms. He kneels down next to the kid and puts a hand on his shoulder.

"The old man says that you're from another world right? That means that you're far from your family. I know the feeling. I lost my father a long time ago."

Shigeo looks up at Natsu as he talks to him. He's lost his father? Shigeo is a bit taken aback when he sees that he's covered in cuts and bruises. He wonders how he got those bruises. He then sees all of the items flying around the room under his control. He starts crying even harder as he realizes that his powers are going out of his control.

99%

Natsu hugs the boy close. He doesn't know what this kid has been through, and what he's going through right now, but he's not going to let him suffer like this.

"It's okay. I'm still looking for my old man. We can look for our families together. And in the meantime, you can stay with us. Fairy Tail can be your family."

100% GRIEF

Shigeo leans into Natsu's hug. Natsu, Lucy, and Makarov would feel the well of power dwelling within the boy open up and they, along with everyone else in the guild, would feel an immense amount of energy flare up from the boy. All of the items flying through the air stop in their flight. All of the items then start to slowly move back to their original positions in the room. Anything damaged by Shigeo's fit is repaired and it's as if none of it ever happened in the first place. Shigeo also gives Natsu a small amount of his psychic energy. Natsu can feel the energy coursing through his veins and his injuries begin to heal right before his very eyes. Natsu hugs Shigeo tightly.

"It's alright."

…..

After a few minutes Shigeo is able to calm himself down and his power subsides. He wipes the tears from his eyes and the nice person with the pink hair lets go of him. Shigeo sits down on the floor and pulls his knees close to his face. He avoids eye contact with anyone in the room. Unbeknownst to Shigeo, his psychic fit had really hurt his clothing, tearing it up.

"I'm sorry."

Makarov is astonished. He's never felt magic like that from someone as young as this boy is. However he's glad that Natsu was able to calm him down so that he didn't accidentally destroy the guild. Makarov walks over to Shigeo, standing at eye level with the boy as he tries to comfort him.

"It's okay. You're in a strange world and you're scared and alone. Any one of us would act rashly in your position. What matters is what you do going forwards. And don't you worry, we'll try to help you get home. What's your name?"

Shigeo looks up to meet the small old man's gaze. He doesn't seem to be angry with Shigeo so he uncurls himself and just sits there looking at the small old man.

"My name is Shigeo Kageyama."

The small old man smiles the kind of smile you'd get from a grandfather who's proud of his grandchildren.

"It's nice to meet you Shigeo. My name is Makarov and that's Natsu. You've already met Lucy."

Makarov points his staff at the boy with pink hair when he says Natsu, so that must be Natsu. Shigeo politely waves at them when Makarov mentions their names. Natsu stands up and Makarov starts walking towards the door of the medical wing, followed by Natsu.

"Now, you've been through a lot. I'm going to give you a little while to collect yourself, and then I'll give you a tour of the guild since it seems like you might be staying here for a while."

Makarov and Natsu both leave the medical wing, leaving just Shigeo and Lucy. Shigeo walks back over to the bed he woke up in and he lays there, trying to come to terms with his current situation. He sees that Lucy has stayed with him and he wonders why she's doing that.

"Why are you staying with me? Shouldn't you go with your other guild members?"

Lucy chuckles to herself a little bit when Shigeo asks that.

"I'm not actually a guild member yet, though I do want to join. Plus, you need someone to watch over you."

Shigeo doesn't really have any objection so he just lays down and stares at the ceiling. Many questions running through his head, but not enough answers. Wherever Shigeo is right now, he's going to have to adapt quickly, otherwise he's never going to be able to go back home.

…..

After about an hour Makarov comes back into the medical wing and walks over to Shigeo's bed. Shigeo's been thinking about what Natsu said back when he was going berserk and he wonders if Natsu actually meant what he said about Fairy Tail being his family until he can find a way home. Makarov smiles at Shigeo as he walks over to face him.

"Well Shigeo, ready to look around the guild?"

Shigeo sits up in his bed and he nods. Shigeo gets out of the bed and stands next to Makarov, waiting for him to lead the way. His muscles are still sore but the flood of psychic energy has helped Shigeo's body heal up a little bit faster than normal, so he can walk around now. Makarov is glad that Shigeo has managed to calm down.

"Then let's be off. You can come as well Lucy. I heard you wanted to join."

Lucy jumps up from her chair with stars in her eyes.

"More than anything!"

Shigeo is a little bit put off by her enthusiasm, but he doesn't comment on it. Makarov motions for the two of them to follow him as he starts walking out of the medical wing. Shigeo and Lucy walk after him and they both keep their eyes peeled as Makarov shows them around the guild. However, Shigeo keeps seeing that the members of the guild are looking at him and he doesn't feel very welcome.

5%

Makarov shows them the medical wing, the cellar and the job board. He points upstairs and he says that it's for more difficult jobs, but he doesn't actually let them go up there. When the tour is finally over Makarov takes them over to the bar where a smiling lady in a large red dress with silvery long hair is serving drinks. Shigeo stops and it takes Makarov a moment to notice. He turns around and wonders why Shigeo has stopped moving.

"What's wrong Shigeo? You get nervous around pretty women?"

The lady with the red dress gets a little bit embarrassed by the comment and Lucy gives Makarov a wallop on the head for his comment. Shigeo winces a little bit when Lucy hits Makarov but he shakes his head to the question.

"No. I'm not old enough to drink."

Makarov rubs the spot on his head where Lucy hit him. He sighs when Shigeo tells him why he's not following him.

"You don't need to be over twenty one to walk over here. You just can't order any alcohol. We have juices and milk you can get if you want, but that's probably going to be later since you don't have any money."

Shigeo is still a bit hesitant but when he hears Makarov mention milk his hesitance disappears and he walks over to Makarov. All three of them sit down at the bar and the lady walks over to them. Lucy fangirls over her and she seems really excited.

"Oh, my gosh! You're Mirajane!"

Shigeo presumes that Mirajane is a big deal if Lucy is getting all excited over her. Shigeo on the other hand doesn't really get it, but he supposes that it's be explained eventually. Mira smiles and when Lucy recognizes her.

"Yup, and you're Lucy, right? Natsu was talking about you earlier."

Mirajane then looks over to Shigeo.

"You must be Shigeo. I must admit, I've never seen a mage like you before. You really spooked everyone when you woke up and started releasing a lot of energy,"

Shigeo looks down at the table when she reminds him of when his powers got out of his control. He hopes that he'll be able to make amends for his mistake. He feels a tap on his shoulder and he turns around. He sees a strange boy with a strange tattoo on his right pec. He also seems to be wearing only pants and Shigeo wonders why he's doing that. He also looks pretty mad.

"You the kid that threw a fit in the medical ward, right?"

Before Shigeo can answer, Natsu jumps between the strange person and Shigeo. He presses his forehead against the strange man's and they both glare at each other.

"That was an accident, so lay off Ice princess!"

The strange boy presses harder against Natsu's forehead and pushes him back a little bit only for Natsu to push even harder and move them back to the stalemate.

"Stay out of it flame brain!"

Shigeo watches them fight and is a bit confused as to what's going on. Makarov sighs and stands up on the bar. He faces the guild and he starts to project his voice for everyone to hear.

"Gray, everyone else, listen up! This is Shigeo Kageyama, and he's from another world."

Everyone gasps and Shigeo starts to get nervous about all of the people looking at him. Makarov continues his speech before anyone can object.

"Now yes, there was an incident in the medical ward, but I don't want anyone here to treat Shigeo any differently than if he were just another person. Accidents happen and we move on. Anyone who's got a problem with that has to talk to me!"

6%

Makarov sits back down in his seat and keeps looking over the crowd, looking to see if anyone has a problem with his ruling. No one does so he smiles again. Everyone in the guild goes back to whatever they were doing before Makarov made his announcement. Gray pulls away from Natsu and he sighs. He looks around Natsu to look at Shigeo.

"Hey, I'm sorry if you got the impression that I was mad at you."

Gray offers to try to shake Shigeo's hand, but Shigeo just turns away from him. Gray is confused for a moment but he looks down and realizes that he's suddenly in his underwear. He freaks out a bit when he notices.

"Shit! When did that happen?"

Gray runs off in search of his clothes, leaving a very confused Lucy and Shigeo to wonder what just happened. They both look at Mirajane and Makarov who just shrug and get back to business. Makarov looks at the two of them.

"So, I know you want to join Fairy Tail Lucy, but what about you Shigeo?"

Shigeo thinks it over for a moment. He knows that he has nowhere to go, so there's no reason not to. He just hopes that it won't be imposing if he says yes.

"I would like to. I need help getting home."

Makarov smiles when Shigeo agrees to join.

"Alright. Don't worry, we will get you home. But in the meantime, you won't regret your decision."

Mirajane ducks under the counter and grabs a strange looking device from out of a cupboard under the bar. It looks like a large stamper and the underside of it has the same picture as was on Gray's pec. Mirajane goes over to Lucy first.

"So, where would you like your mark?"

Lucy thinks about it for a moment before she holds out her right hand and says that she wants it on top of her hand. Lucy also says that she wants it to be pink. Mirajane obliges and then places the stamp on Lucy's right hand. Shigeo's eyes widen slightly when the stamp lights up and he sees the energy in the air bending around the object. The energy goes through the stamper and leaves a pink imprint on Lucy's hand. Lucy smiles and starts ogling her own hand. While she's doing that Shigeo looks at his own right hand. Shigeo puts his left hand on top of his right hand and he moves his own energy onto his hand just like the stamper did. When he removes his hand there's a black Fairy Tail symbol on his hand. Makarov and Mirajane are both shocked by this. Makarov looks his hand over and it looks like a genuine Fairy Tail stamp.

"Woah. How'd you do that?"

Shigeo looks at the two of them looking his hand over and he blushes at the attention.

"I-i just moved my energy like I saw to stamper doing."

Makarov's jaw drops while Mirajane is dumbstruck. She recovers faster than Makarov and smiles. She puts the stamper away while Makarov pulls his jaw up off the floor.

"That's quite the talent you've got there. Not many people can see how magic flows, and even fewer can actually learn what they see on their first try. You've got great potential for someone so young."

Shigeo rubs the back of his head in embarrassment. He didn't really think of it as a big deal so he wasn't sure why Makarov and Mirajane were complimenting him over it. After a moment he recovers and looks at both of them.

"So, what do esp-I mean wizards do in one of these guildes?"

Makarov catches Shigeo's slip up, but he doesn't want to question him on it right now since it might be personal information. Mirajane on the other hand doesn't so she starts up with the explanation.

"Guilds are places where Wizards go to find work. You can get any job from dispelling curses to killing monsters. It all depends on what's available."

Shigeo thinks about this for a moment. He supposes that it makes sense, given what he saw on the bounty board. However he doesn't know if he can do most of those jobs. The closest he's ever gotten was his part time work with Raigen.

"Are there any exorcism jobs?"

Both Makarov and Mirajane are a bit confused by Shigeo's question. They'd heard of a few strange jobs in their day but exorcism was certainly not one of them. Makarov is the one to speak up this time.

"I can't say I've ever seen any jobs like that no. It's not necessarily impossible, but there's no precedent for it. Why do you ask?"

Shigeo looks at the symbol on his hand and he hopes that he hasn't made a mistake by choosing to join up with these strange people.

"Well my master told me that I shouldn't use my powers on living creatures since I could seriously hurt them. He trained me by taking me on his evil spirit exorcisms."

Makarov looks serious all of a sudden. Considering how powerful this kid is right now, whoever his master is must be a really powerful wizard. He might even be a wizard saint in whatever universe this kid comes from. Though to teach the kid not to use his magic on living creatures is a bit irresponsible.

"I'm sorry to say, but what your master taught you will get you seriously injured in this world. Sooner or later you're going to have to defend yourself or your loved ones, and that will entail hurting someone else. That doesn't make you a bad person, but it is inevitable. Don't worry though. With any luck, it will be a long time before you actually have to hurt someone with your magic."

Shigeo gulps when he hears what Makarov has to say. He isn't quite sure what to think about it. This world is dangerous enough that he'll have to hurt someone eventually. Shigeo starts to sweat as the implications of what he was just told. Before Shigeo can interject however, he hears someone running up to the counter. Shigeo looks around to see a small boy with tears in his eyes running up to Makarov. The small boy can't be older than ten years and he's got straight black hair. He's wearing a weird sun t-shirt and shorts.

"Is my daddy back yet?"

14%

When Shigeo hears that his heart pangs and he looks off to the side. Makarov shakes his head and Shigeo starts to get worried along with the young boy. Makarov looks him in the eyes.

"Romeo, you're starting to annoy me. You're father's a Fairy Tail wizard. If you trust him then just wait at home."

Romeo's tears started to roll down his face when Makarov says that. Shigeo is a bit surprised that Makarov would say something like that. Most of the people in the guild look over at Romeo when he starts crying harder.

"He said that he'd be home in three days, but it's been a week since he left! His job was on mount Hakobe so it isn't that far! Please, send someone to look for him! I'm really worried!"

Shigeo's heart pangs again and he holds back his own tears. Makarov just shakes his head and Shigeo grits his teeth. Before he can do anything Romeo punches Makarov in the face and starts running off.

"You idiot!"

Shigeo goes to stand up but suddenly there's a loud bang from the job board. Shigeo looks over there and he sees a job poster punched right into the wood of the board. He also sees Natsu storming out of the guild with a strange blue cat in tow. A person is a sort of native american looking outfit walks over to Makarov.

"Natsu's going to do something stupid again."

Makarov sighs as he rubs his face where Romeo punched him.

"He's going to go help Macau. That'll just hurt his pride. But no one can stop him from going."

Shigeo hears this and he stands up from his seat. He starts walking after Natsu and the strange blue cat. The man in the native american outfit is about to try to stop him but he's stopped by Makarov.

"Don't worry about Shigeo. He'll be fine. He's young, but he's strong."

Shigeo runs and catches up with Natsu, who in turn was catching up with Romeo. Natsu ruffles Romeo's hair and keeps walking. Shigeo gives Romeo a small smile and a thumbs up. Romeo smiles and waves to them as they keep walking towards wherever Natsu is walking. Along the way they hear shouting and Shigeo turns around to see Lucy running up to them. He's a bit confused but he's glad that she decided to come with them. Natsu walks into a travel center of some kind and hires a carriage to drive them to mount Hakobe. Natsu comes out with three tickets and they follow him over to the carriage area. Natsu walks over to the carriage he hired and he shows the driver the tickets. The driver accepts them and Natsu, Happy, Shigeo, and Lucy get into the carriage. They all sit down but as soon as the carriage starts moving Natsu's face turns green and he has to lay down. Shigeo has to admit that he's also never been good with motion but he's definitely doing much better than Natsu us. Shigeo's just sweating in his seat. He sees the small blue cat trying to comfort Natsu and he wonders what it is. He turns to Lucy to ask her.

"Lucy, what's up with that blue cat?"

Lucy is distracted from her musings by Shigeo's question. She looks over at Happy and she shrugs her shoulders.

"I'm not sure. His name is Happy and he can talk and use magic just like a regular person. I've never seen anything like it."

Shigeo watches Happy try to comfort Natsu and is reminded a little bit of Dimple, but not by much. As they ride over to the mountain Happy stops trying to comfort Natsu and walks over to Lucy.

"Lucy, what are you doing here? Shigeo I understand, but not you."

Shigeo is a little bit surprised when Happy starts talking but thanks to Lucy telling him about it earlier he's about to keep his composure. Lucy sweats a little bit before smiling and clapping her hands together.

"It's a chance to do something good for Fairy Tail."

Even Shigeo can tell that she's just trying to boost her reputation but Shigeo doesn't comment on it. After a little while the cart suddenly stops and Natsu's eyes spring back to life. He bolts out of the carriage and starts cheering outside. Shigeo steps outside and he's suddenly hit by the chill of the mountain. His teeth start chattering and he walks over to Natsu to try to get a good look at the area. All around them is snow, as far as the eye can see. The mountains around them imposing on them with their gigantic size. Shigeo hopes that there's nothing strange in the mountains of this new world, but he knows that Romeo's dad didn't come all the way out here for no reason. Lucy steps out of the carriage and is in the same boat as Shigeo, trying desperately to keep herself warm.

"It's so cold! How is it this cold in the summer!"

Natsu rolls his eyes at Lucy's antics. He seems to be perfectly fine despite him wearing not much more than shorts and an open shirt.

"She's so noisy."

Happy confirms with an aye and Natsu starts walking. Lucy grabs a blanket from a pack that Natsu's wearing and she pulls out a strange looking key.

"Open, gate of the clock, Horologium."

There's a strange but familiar feeling as Lucy's magic summons forth a large grandfather clock with two black arms. Shigeo is very confused by the strange sense of familiarity when Lucy summons the clock. He can also feel spiritual energy coming off of the clock that Lucy summoned. Speaking of which, Lucy wraps herself in her blanket and crawls into the clock before shutting the glass pane. The clock then starts speaking.

"'I'll stay in here' she says."

Shigeo is a bit confused by the spectacle but he keeps following after Natsu. He forms a shield around himself to protect himself from the cold. Horologium keeps up with them and keeps talking for Lucy.

"'What did Macau come to this dreadful place for' she asks."

Natsu stops walking and turns to face Lucy in the clock.

"He came here to hunt Bulkans."

Shigeo isn't sure what that word means but based on Lucy's reaction of having the clock say that she wants to go home, it must be something pretty bad. Shigeo hopes that he'll be able to help them out in rescuing Macau. Natsu starts calling out into the roaring snow for Macau and Shigeo starts using his psychic senses to try to see if there's anything nearby. He does sense something. It's coming fast. Shigeo creates a barrier above Natsu just in time for a large monkey like create to slam into the barrier. When the creature hits the barrier it jumps off towards Lucy. Natsu reacts and prepares for a fight.

"A Blukan. Where's Macau!"

The bulkan doesn't react and instead grabs Horologium with Lucy trapped inside.

"'Someone help me' she cries out."

The bulkan moves quickly through the snow but Shigeo and Natsu follow in hot pursuit. Natsu runs through the slow while Shigeo picks himself up with his telekinesis and flies after the bulkan. Natsu sees him flying and is amazed.

"Wow! You can fly just like Happy!"

Shigeo doesn't pay much attention to Natsu as he flies after the blukan. He keeps track of their energies and he covers his face with his sleeve to keep the snow out of his eyes as he flies after the bulkan.

16%

Natsu runs as fast as he can and eventually the two of them track the bulkan to a large cave on the side of the mountain. Both of them look into the cave as Shigeo sets himself down. They can see the bulkan dancing around Horologium. The cave is covered in ice. Suddenly Horologium disappears.

"My time's up. Farewell."

Lucy starts panicking and backing away from the bulkan.

"Extension! I need an extension!"

Shigeo is about to charge in but he senses something strange about the bulkan, something that he's sensed before. However Natsu has no such reservation. He charges straight into the cave.

"Finally, we've caught up with you! Where's Mac-"

Before he can finish Natsu slips on the ice in the cave and slides along the floor to the other side of the room. Shigeo steps carefully in the cave and starts walking over to the bulkan. The bulkan towers over Shigeo and is about to try to hit him when Natsu gets up and walks over to the bulkan.

"Where's Macau?! Where did you hide him?!"

The bulkan scratches his head when Natsu asks the question.

"Man?"

Natsu nods and the bulkan leads Natsu over to the mouth of the cave. Natsu looks out over the edge and starts to call out but suddenly the bulkan kicks him out of the cave. Lucy freaks out again.

"Natsu!"

Before Natsu can fall any significant distance Shigeo's aura flares up and Natsu suddenly stops in mid air. Natsu is confused by this as he's pulled back into the cave. Everyone looks over at Shigeo who's hair is blowing in an invisible wind. The bulkan charges at Shigeo but he just holds out a hand and suddenly the bulkan slams into the ice so hard that it craters. Shigeo sets Natsu down on the ice and focuses his attention on the bulkan who's trying to get up but is being held down by Shigeo's telekinesis.

"I knew something was strange about this. He's being possessed."

Before Natsu or Lucy can ask what Shigeo means he holds out another hand and forces a large amount of energy into the bulkan. It suddenly glows and explodes into a large amount of colorful particles. All that's left behind is a man with dark hair wearing a large white coat with black pants and a black shirt. The man groans and Shigeo lets go of him. Shigeo's aura goes back down and his hair goes still. Happy walks over to him and pokes him.

"I get it now. Macau was possessed by take over magic and Shigeo could sense it, so he destroyed the bulkan!"

Natsu and Lucy go over to Macau and they take off his coat and shirt. He looks seriously injured. Lucy starts treating his injuries.

"He looks like he fought pretty hard until they finally got him."

Macau coughs as he finally starts to regain consciousness.

"Nineteen. I got nineteen of the suckers, but the twentieth is the one that got me."

Natsu smiles, glad to have his friend back and kicking again. Shigeo lifts Macau up with his telekinesis and starts taking him out of the cave. Natsu and Lucy lead the way off of the mountain and back to town. Along the way Macau asks Shigeo to set him down. Shigeo does and Macau stands up and starts trying to walk back, but he stumbles and Natsu catches him. The two of them walk into town with Shigeo, Happy, and Lucy in tow. As they enter the town, they see Romeo sitting on the sidewalk. Romeo notices them and runs over to his dad, tears streaming down his eyes. Macau lets go of Natsu and he kneels down to hug Romeo.

"I'm sorry I made you worry."

Romeo stifles a little as he hugs his dad tightly.

"It's okay. I'm the son of a mage."

Macau lets go of the hug but stays kneeling down and puts his hand on Romeo's head.

"Next time those bullies try to pick on you, just ask them if their dads can take out nineteen monsters all on their own."

Macau stands up and he and Romeo starts walking to their home. Romeo stops and faces the group with a large smile on his face.

"Thank you!"

As they walk off, Shigeo thinks about his own dad and how he's going to get home. He realizes that even if it takes a long time, he's glad that he can spend it with these people.