As Luke raced towards his opponents, the charmed and brainwashed wizards, he was forced to dodge out of the way as Jet, ever speedful, tried to jump kick him in the face. Luke swerved, looking like a drunk stumbling in the street to avoid the blow. He barely saw it coming.

  Jet went soaring past, slamming into the building behind him. But Luke's troubles were far from over. Droy snatched some seeds from one of his pouches along his bandolier, throwing them into the street. Bursting from the ground came several vines, each of them with a comically large fist on the end of them.

  As they descended upon him, Luke raised his glowing, magic infused fists, and prepared to counterattack. As the first one reached him, he threw out a punch, knocking it away. He did the same with the second and the third, the fourth and the fifth, slowly advancing towards the possessed Droy.

  But even while being controlled, Droy knew what he was doing. While it was true Luke had more raw magical power than him, Droy had far more experience using his and fighting in general. Because of this, Luke was taken by surprise when one of the attacks was a feint, causing his fist to miss and knock him off balance.

  "Shit!" Luke exclaimed, watching as a big green fist socked him in the stomach. He let out a grunt of pain, clutching his stomach as he staggered backwards, Droy watching with emotionless eyes. But Luke was certain that somewhere deep down, he was enjoying this.

  As he was preparing to launch an attack, a sound caught Luke's attention. It was the sound of wood hitting wood, of a board falling to the ground. Turning around, he was barely able to avoid another kick as Jet attempted an ambush, by leaning so far back he thought his back would break.

  But it did give him a lovely view of the dozen or so plants all descending on him at once. Cursing again, he rolled out of the way as the fists slammed into the ground behind him. Jumping to his feet, he raised his hands defensively, ready for the next attack. But there was just one problem, he couldn't find Jet.

  "Damnit, where is he?" Luke wondered, looking around as a nervous bead of sweat trickled down his face. Hearing the sound of something cutting through the air, Luke looked up and saw Jet rocketing down at him from the sky, looking like a meteor. Jumping back, he narrowly escaped a concussion as Jet hit the ground, sending up dirt and debris everywhere.

  "Phew, that was close. Hey, what's the big idea? Don't you guys know you're supposed to yell out attack names when you fight?" Luke called out as Jet rose to his feet, staring at him with dead eyes.

  "I see you're confused. Here, let me show you," he said, raising his hands to his face in a familiar way. With a grin, he called out the name of his attack, one they were already familiar with.

  "Solar…"

  Hearing him say this, the two hypnotized wizards closed their eyes, making Luke grin.

  "Gotcha!"

  Instead of blinding them, he sent out a beam of Light Magic, nailing Jet in the stomach and sending him flying into Droy, the two hitting the ground hard. Luke grinned as his ploy worked. Droy wasn't the only one who could fake someone out.

  The plants Droy was controlling withered and died as the two slowly rose to their feet. Luckily all the other villagers had gone off to pursue Levy so there wasn't any risk of injuring them.

  Just their property.

  The two were now back on their feet, staring at him without emotion, wearing Levy's lacy underwear on their heads. Luke couldn't believe this was actually happening. It was almost too ridiculous to believe, and yet, here we are.

  Hopefully he wouldn't have to use Take-Over to finish this fight, as he'd prefer to save that for the final confrontation. It just took too much magic to use for a prolonged period of time, and there was no telling how long the fight against Pickles would last. Best to conserve as much energy as he could. That being said, he may not have a choice. Even if they were basically side characters in the story, there weren't exactly pushovers.

  That punch to the gut hurt quite a bit. He wondered if the magic being used to control them also enhanced their own magic. If so, he was in for a bumpy ride.

  Seeing Jet bend his knees, Luke sent out several balls of light, hoping to at least distract him from whatever he had planned. The attack never did much in Dragon Ball, being used by the desperate or foolish, so he wasn't counting on much. Which is also why he didn't put much magic into it.

  Jet sped away while Droy threw some seeds on the ground, a wall of ivy springing forth and taking the blow. Getting an idea, Luke placed more power into a few of the balls, making them stop a small ways away from the wall and then cancelled his attack.

  Once the barrage was over with, Droy commanded the plants to die, having no more use for them. When he did, he came face to face with several floating balls of light, each one eager to greet him. Had he been in his right state of mind, Luke was sure Droy would be swearing up a storm right about now.

  "Thank you Mr. Piccolo. Hellzone Grenade!"

  The balls of light soared into Droy, loud explosions echoing out as they did so. Droy crossed his arms over his chest hoping to mitigate the damage. Once the attack was over, he stood there, slightly smoking with some of his clothing ruined and in tatters. Luke hoped it would have destroyed the belt holding all of his seeds but no such luck.

  That's when Jet made his appearance, his fist connecting with Luke's face, sending him spiraling to the ground.

  "Ow, that hurt," Luke complained, holding his aching jaw. Thankfully it didn't seem to be broken, but it still throbbed something fierce. Opening his eyes, they widened as they saw Jet falling from the sky, aiming another kick at him.

  Rolling backwards, he avoided the attack and leapt to his feet at the same time. Coating his fists in magic once again he charged into the dust cloud, ready to engage in a good old rousing round of fisticuffs.

  As he threw his first punch at the speedster, Jet easily, almost lazily, moved out of the way. The same was true for the second and third punches as well. No matter how hard Luke tried, he couldn't land a hit on him. And for some reason, he felt those emotionless eyes were staring at him mockingly.

  "Slippery bastard, just stay still why don't you," he growled. In his frustration, he overextended his punch, and this allowed Jet to nail him with an uppercut in his already bruised jaw.

  But Jet didn't stop there as he began to pummel Luke at blistering speeds. It wasn't long before Luke's entire body felt the same ache as his jaw. He should have known better than to engage someone so much faster than him in a fist fight. Stupid idea in retrospect. And if he didn't do something soon, he would lose. It didn't seem like Jet had any intentions of letting up any time soon.

  As the smack down continued, Luke noticed that Jet wasn't beating the shit out of him at random. His attacks had a pattern to them. He could feel the spikes of pain on his body from every attack in sequence, always in the same place and in the same order.

  Realizing this, Luke grinned. When Jet went to deliver another punch, Luke managed to grab his wrist before it could make contact. Surprised, but undeterred by this sudden turn of events, Jet continued with his next punch, only for Luke to grab hold of it as well.

  "Not so fast now, are ya?" Luke taunted before doing what any good anime character would do. Or at least, the badass ones. He headbutted the speedy fucker right in his nose. Hopefully Levy wouldn't be too mad about the blood on her underwear.

  Luke let go of Jet as he stumbled backwards, dazed. Gathering up some more magic into his fist, he delivered his own uppercut to the wizard, sending him flying into the air. He hit the earth, unmoving, but Luke wasn't willing to take a chance. Imbuing his foot with magic, he intended to stomp Jet further into the ground, only to be taken by complete surprise when something crashed into him.

  Luke screamed in pain as he felt something bit into his arm. Whatever he was expecting to find, a wolf made of ferns wasn't it. It growled at him, just like a real wolf, and Luke realized this had to be one of Droy's spells.

  "Bad dog!" Luke yelled. However, the wolf didn't let up and began to shake his head, trying to rip off his arm. Luke grit his teeth to prevent himself from screaming anymore, no matter how much he wanted to.

  Thinking quickly, he forced his magic into his hand, but rather than just punch the wolf, he began to shape it like a blade. He imagined his magic forming a knife, sharp enough to cut through just about anything. He remembered several characters using something similar in Dragon Ball, so it wasn't too hard to picture it. The only hard part was concentrating while the large, vegetative canine chomped down on him.

  He knew he succeeded when he heard a familiar humming sound, one from an entirely different franchise. But since he was basically making a saber out of light, he didn't think it mattered much.

  "Alright, time to put you down!" Luke yelled, bringing his hand down on the wolf's neck. His humming blade sliced right though the foliage that made up its neck like it wasn't even there. The jaws clamping down on his arm went slack, and Luke let out a sigh of relief, kicking the headless body off of him and wrenching the head from his arm. He tossed the head to the ground and watched as it and its body dried up and withered away.

  "Damn that hurt," Luke muttered, staring at his bleeding, injured arm. He clenched and unclenched his fist a few times, wincing slightly from the pain. It hurt, but it shouldn't hinder him too much. Didn't mean he wasn't angry at the person responsible.

  Looking up and glaring at Droy, he saw, much to his shock, a few dozen Knuckle Vines flailing around the other man.

  "Well, that's not good," Luke mumbled as they raced towards him, intent to reap from him their own pound of flesh. He thought about forming a barrier around him, but then he saw the still body of Jet, laying there, and he had a much better idea.

  Droy watched with muted satisfaction as his plants did their job and turned his opponent into ground beef. The attack kicked up a cloud of dust, so he couldn't actually see anything, but he could feel the fists making contact. Once he was sure the annoying man was well and truly tenderized he let up, allowing his plants to return to his side.

  Watching as the dust slowly dispersed, he fully expected to see the beaten and bloody form of his enemy. But what he saw instead was the beaten and bloody form of his ally.

  "Woo, that was close. Good thing I had this convenient meat shield within arms reach," Luke said as he tossed Jet to the side. He then stood up, dusting off his clothes, staring at Droy with a grin.

  "Alright, bub, it's just you and me now," Luke said, his entire body shining with magic. Droy growled, the first real show of emotion besides reverence to the mayor. He grabbed some more seeds from a pouch and tossed them on the ground, causing bamboo spears to spring forth. Luke wasn't sure how many there were, but if he had to guess, somewhere between a few and a few too many.

  Droy slammed his palm onto the ground and the spears shot out towards Luke. Seeing how many there were and how wide the attack was, he had no real chance of escape, so he quickly erected a barrier. The first few that collided with it weren't a problem, but he couldn't withstand the sheer amount being hurled his way. The barrier cracked with each new spear that battered against it, until, with the sound of shattering glass, it broke.

  Luckily for Luke, the attack was mostly down by that point, so only a couple actually got through, and only one of them did any damage, slicing into his leg. Thankfully he didn't get skewered, but it still hurt.

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  Not wanting to risk another attack like that, Luke sprinted towards Droy, firing off energy balls at him to keep him distracted. Droy ran to the left, avoiding the attack altogether. Grabbing some more seeds, he quickly tossed them out. From the ground sprouted up a gatling gun on a tripod of all things.

  "What the hell kind of plant is that!?" Luke shouted, surprised and dare he say it, impressed. What can he say, it was cool looking.

  But Droy made no move to fire the thing, continuing to run. But of course, he didn't have to fire it, because it turned out to be an automatic turret of some kind, and when Luke got close enough, thinking Droy made a mistake or was bluffing, it turned to face him and opened fire, shooting out prickly burs at him.

  "Shit, really!?" Luke exclaimed, skidding to a halt and running to the right to avoid the ammunition. He couldn't risk Droy getting away and setting up the battlefield to his liking, so he had no choice but to try and get past as fast as he could. But considering the rate of fire, that was a tall order.

  Watching Droy turn and run down an alley, Luke let out a curse. That was about the last thing he wanted. A bur whistled past his head and shattered a window next to him, making him guard against the shards of glass. Luckily none got into his eyes, but he could feel a few cut into his face.

  Following behind the possessed wizard, even as the turret desperately kept trying to hit him, he skidded to a halt when he saw another turret waiting for him.

  "This is getting old!" he shouted, erecting a barrier as he was bombarded by sharp, pointy burs. They weren't particularly strong, all things considered, but the sheer amount they could fire was staggering. While his barrier was holding strong for the moment, he had no idea how much ammunition the turret had, and he wasn't exactly keen to find out. That was not a battle of attrition he intended to engage in.

  So he raised his hand and sent a light ball towards it. His barrier was essentially one way, so he was able to attack without having to drop his defense or place his hand outside of it.

  The ball struck the turret and exploded, sending needles in every direction. Looks like the turret had some sort of failsafe in it. Sighing in relief, Luke dropped the barrier and continued down the alley, cautiously. Now that Droy had some time, Luke suspected that he would have something waiting for him.

  As he peeked out from the end of the alley, he noticed he was in the town square. Droy was standing by a large fountain, seemingly gathering water. Knowing he used seeds as the medium for his magic, that sent alarm bells off in his head.

  So far, and as far as he knew, Droy only ever needed to use his own magic to create his plant monstrosities. So the fact that he needed water for this one probably didn't bode well for him.

  Now, he could have yelled, demanded Droy give up, did the whole, anime good guy thing. But that would be stupid. Droy was currently looking away from him, practically begging to be ambushed, and not to mention completely under the control of the mayor and Pickles.

  Add in the fact that Droy hated his guts, he probably wouldn't have given up even if he WAS in his right mind. Knowing that, Luke gathered up his magic, creating a large ball of light before compressing it until it was the size of a baseball. His hand shook as the spell did its best to release the stored energy, but Luke forced it into submission.

  "Alright Droy, time to end this. Here's the windup…" he said to himself, taking a pitcher's stance. "And the pitch! Star Bullet!"

  He threw the ball of light like a fastball. It sped towards the unsuspecting Droy at 90 mph, slamming into his unprotected back. Completely taken by surprise, Droy's body was lifted off the ground by the force of the attack, sending him hurling into a building where it exploded in a brilliant flash of light.

  What Luke didn't see was Droy dropping a vial containing a single, large seed into the fountain. As it sank to the bottom, it began absorbing water at an exponential rate, glowing with power.

  Having no clue about what was going on beneath the water, Luke cautiously approached the demolished building, hoping he didn't cause permanent damage to Droy. He wasn't actually trying to kill him or anything, just leave him unconscious.

  Looking at the pile of rubble, he saw none other than Droy's arm sticking out from it. Removing the broken boards, he was relieved when he saw him breathing, the panties on his head moving in and out.

  "Phew, not dead, good to know. Now, I'll just be taking those back," Luke said, ripping the underwear from his head and sticking them in his pocket. He'll return them to Levy next time he sees her.

  "Alright, let's get you out of there," Luke said, grabbing him and tossing him over his shoulder. He was just glad to be doing this before the timeskip. He wasn't sure he could have gotten fat Droy out of that place without breaking his back.

  With the plant user secure, Luke started to make his way back towards Jet. Hopefully with Droy knocked out, that damn turret would have dried up and died. As he passed by the fountain, however, things took a turn for the worse.

  Hearing the sound of violent gurgling, Luke stopped walking, looking back at the fountain, wondering what could have made that noise. He was seriously hoping the kraken didn't find a way to crawl up through the sewers for round 2. If that happened, he doubted the town would survive.

  But luckily, or unluckily depending on how you look at it, it was not the kraken he needed to worry about. From the waters sprang forth dozens of thick vines, wildly flailing in the air. Luke was forced to duck under one that sought to take his head off.

  "What the hell is going on!? Droy, what did you do?" Luke accused, looking at the unconscious man who refused to wake up and take responsibility for whatever was happening.

  The fountain exploded as more and more vines erupted out of it. Cursing, Luke began to sprint away, dodging to the left and right as vines slammed into the ground, trying to turn him into paste.

  "Damnit Droy, what the hell kind of seed is this!?" he screamed in his mind. It must have been his trump card of some kind. A special seed saved for last resorts. It was just about the last thing he needed at the moment.

  Once he was a safe distance away, relatively speaking of course, Luke turned around to see just what Droy was keeping up his sleeve.

  "Oh great, it has teeth. Plants should not have teeth," Luke stated. The creature that spawned towered over the buildings, being close to a hundred feet tall. Its stem was thicker than Luke's body and was covered in thorns, leaves and tentacles.

  But the most striking part of it was its head. It was bright red with white spots, with large, dagger-like teeth protruding from a grinning mouth. Drool fell from its mouth as it licked its lips with a thick, meaty tongue.

  "Seriously? A Piranha Plant?" Luke asked, dumbfounded, recognizing the monster as it roared. He wasn't sure what the hell was going on here, but that thing was definitely in the wrong franchise. Oh well, if a fat Italian plumber can deal with these things, so could he!

  But first, he needed to get rid of the dead weight. Carrying Droy around would only slow him down and endanger the both of them. Thankfully, the beast appeared to be blind, as it didn't seem to notice them at the moment, so hopefully Luke would be able to get rid of him without issue.

  As he took his first step, he realized he had made a mistake. Blind monsters tended to have other senses to make up for it. While he doubted the thing could hear him, it could probably sense the vibrations of him walking.

  Damn thing had tremorsense.

  It immediately "looked" in his direction, all its attention focused solely on him. More drool seemed to fall from its maw as it anticipated its first meal. It was like a newborn looking for a teat.

  But Luke's titties were not for suckling!

  It raised its head back before launching it towards its intended prey. Swearing once more, Luke started to run as the creature's enormous head bashed into the ground, causing a mini earthquake.

  As its head rose up, disappointed that its meal had escaped, Luke sent off another ball of light, striking it in the head. It screeched in anger, sending out a tentacle to try and watch him, but Luke managed to jump over it.

  "This is bad. What the hell am I supposed to do to this thing?" Luke wondered. His attack didn't really do much other than piss it off, so he would need something way stronger. He doubted his Magic Blade would be able to cut through it and he hasn't created the Destructo Disk yet, so that was out.

  The plant, that Luke was going to call Petey, followed after him, mouth wide open. Seeing this gave Luke an idea. If the outside was too tough, go for the guts. But he didn't want to send just any attack into its gaping maw. If it learned what he was trying to do, it could wise up and keep its mouth shut. Luke didn't know if it possessed the capacity to think like that, but he wasn't willing to risk it.

  He would have to wait for the perfect opportunity to strike. But with it able to sense him through vibrations, staying on the ground was out of the question. He didn't want to resort to this, but it seems he has no choice.

  "Alright, here we go! Take-Over: Seraph Soul!"

  Just as the massive Piranha Plant was about to snap its jaws shut and consume him, a bright flash of light engulfed his frame as he transformed. With a mighty flap of his wings, Luke escaped, flying into the sky and away from the hungry beast.

  "That was close. Now, let's find somewhere to put you," Luke said to Droy. Flying back to where they first started fighting, he deposited him near the unconscious Jet. With the two of them safely in la la land, Luke was free to confront the monster. Taking to the sky once more, he observed his enemy who was looking everywhere for him.

  "Definitely blind. Now let's see if it can hear. Hey, ugly! I bet your mother was a weed!" Luke shouted, trying to get the things attention. But it didn't even notice his insults, confirming that it was blind, deaf, and hopefully dumb.

  "Not sure if that makes things easier or not, but let's get its attention, shall we?" he said, before bombarding it with several balls of light. It howled in fury, turning to face the direction the attack came from.

  "That's it you copyright infringement, I'm right over here," Luke said. Now he expected the thing to try and bite him again or swat him out of the sky with those tentacles it had, but instead, it started to suck in oxygen. Luke's played enough games to know where this is going.

  "Crap, that's not good. Can't Piranha Plants spit fire?" he pondered, only for his question to be answered in a very direct manner. Petey spat out a massive fireball, one that lit up the entire town. Luke avoided it, of course, but the town wasn't so lucky. The attack hit a building, setting it ablaze.

  "Whoops…" Luke said. Thankfully there didn't seem to be any civilians around it and it wasn't near Jet and Droy, but if he wasn't careful, the whole town might get burned to the ground. Just because he wanted to join Fairy Tail didn't mean he wanted to wrack up his property damage bill this early.

  But seeing that it had a long range attack, Luke decided it would be best to get in close. Flying towards the grinning plant, he created another Magic Blade with his good arm, swinging it as he passed by the stalk. This time, it screamed in pain as well as anger.

  Luke didn't have time to gloat, as dozens of vines came after him, trying to knock him out of the sky. He wondered if it was just swinging at him blindly or if it could sense the vibrations in the air as he flew around it.

  Didn't really matter too much in the end as he was forced to dodge regardless. Flight gave him a huge boost in maneuverability allowing him to fairly easily avoid the attacks. But once more, the town wasn't quite so lucky, with several more buildings getting completely wrecked.

  "I really hope they have insurance," Luke said, barrel rolling to avoid a stray vine. The whole side of the town near the square was more or less rubble, with one house burning like a bonfire.

  Changing direction, Luke flew toward the creature once again. Now, he thought about trying to fly into and through the thing's mouth using Magic Blade, but he wasn't confident he would be able to pull it off with a newly created spell and an injured arm. That being said, he did want to get its attention once more. He needed to end this fight now before the town suffered more damage or he ran out of magic power.

  And he had an idea.

  First, he stabbed into its big, bulbous head, getting another satisfying screech of pain. From there, he used its head to launch himself straight up, avoiding the few vines that tried to stop him. His hope was the creature being able to follow, and it was.

  Once he was high into the sky, he coated both of his hands in the Magic Blade, floating resolutely as dozens upon dozens of vines raced towards him. Once they were within reach, he began to slice into them. Most of them were too thick to cut through entirely, but that didn't stop it from feeling the pain.

  It was hard work, keeping up the magic going to his hands, flying and dodging the vines he couldn't cut, and paying attention to the monster, waiting for it to realize that this wouldn't work.

  After nearly a minute it seemed to come to this conclusion, pulling its vines back so Luke couldn't hurt them anymore. Many of them were mangled, with deep gouges sliced into them. But that would be the least of Petey's worries in a moment. Seeing that it couldn't grab him with its hentai powers, it decided a change of tactics was in order.

  Luke could feel the air around him getting pulled into Petey's mouth as it prepared to unleash another fireball, this one much bigger than the first.

  "Perfect, just what I was hoping for," Luke said with a grin, cupping his hands at his side. Bright blue light began gathering between his palms as he gathered his magic for his final attack.

  "Ka… Me… Ha… Me…"

  Petey stopped sucking in air, his mouth bulging out to extreme lengths. He held this for a second before expelling the fireball that was nearly twice as big as the first. Luke watched as it raced towards him, feeling the heat licking at his skin and threatening to roast him alive.

  But that wouldn't be happening.

  "Ha!"

  Thrusting his hands forward, he unleashed his own copyright infringement. The bright blue beam of light collided with the gargantuan fireball, halting it in its tracks. The two attacks struggled for dominance as Luke poured more and more magic into it. One of them would have to give.

  "There's no way I'm losing to an overgrown weed!" Luke shouted after several seconds of trying to overpower the attack, expending even more magic to push back against the roaring flames.

  It was slow at first, almost impossible to see. But before long, the fireball began inching backwards. One foot became two, two became four, and eventually, the fireball was hurling back towards its creator.

  The fireball and the Kamehameha slammed into the open mouth of the plant monster, continuing straight down the stem until it reached the bottom where it exploded in a violent, burning light.

  Luke panted as he watched Petey release its dying wails, toppling over and crashing into the ground. But not before it hit a few houses first, because why wouldn't it?

  Wiping the sweat from his brow, Luke descended to the earth, releasing his transformation as he landed. He stared at the burning corpse of the Piranha Plant as it slowly started to dry up.

  "That takes care of that," Luke said, feeling satisfied. That was the first monster he had been able to beat, and it felt good. Now all that remained was Pickles.

  Looking down at his body, he felt the pain from his injuries had diminished and his arm had stopped bleeding. He wasn't completely healed, not by a long shot, but the healing his angel form gave sure took the edge off.

  Now he just needed to return to the two unconscious wizards he left in town and make sure they were secured, then he could find Levy. However, once he returned, he stared at the two unconscious men with worry. Or should he say, the one unconscious man, because Jet was nowhere to be seen.

  "Ah… crapbaskets."