Magnolia East Forest—
Torrential rain poured down as a large hole suddenly appeared in the sky, emitting a brilliant white light.
"Is it Raizel and the others this time?" Ur asked.
She held an umbrella, waiting patiently in the heavy rain.
The Exceeds had arrived earlier and brought news that Raizel and the rest of the team would be returning soon.
"Ahhhhhh!!!" Lucy's screaming voice echoed from the portal before she even appeared.
Ur chuckled softly.
"Ice-Make: Ice Net!" All the falling guild members landed safely in the magical ice net.
"We are back!" Natsu cheered.
He sniffed the familiar air and quickly spotted Makarov and the others waiting nearby.
Gildarts had already gone back to sleep, knowing that his own return meant Raizel and the team had succeeded.
He wasn't the least bit worried about their safety—in his words, those kids were tougher than nails.
"Earthland is truly amazing!"
"Magic power is everywhere here!" After excitedly circling the area in the sky, the Exceeds returned to the East Forest.
"You all can set up camp in the East Forest. I live nearby too, so feel free to come find me anytime you need anything," Raizel offered, pointing toward the direction of his home.
"This way we can see each other whenever we want!" Wendy said, overjoyed.
"Come visit anytime, Happy," Happy's mother said with tears welling up in her eyes.
She never imagined she'd see Happy again, but she had recognized her precious child at first glance.
"Aye!" Happy smiled warmly.
"But we still need to find the other children sent here six years ago," Queen Shagotte reminded them.
"Right! Let's all search for them! We have a new goal now, don't we?"
With renewed purpose, the Exceeds flew up into the sky in groups.
"Alright, time to head back to the guild and get some proper rest!" Natsu announced.
"Lily! Panther Lily!" Gajeel yelled, looking around frantically.
"Lily? You mean that tall and sturdy Exceed?" someone asked.
"Looking for me? I am right here," a deep voice replied from the ground.
"So tiny!!!" the Fairy Tail members gasped.
Except for Raizel, Makarov, and the others who hadn't seen Lily's original form before, everyone else was completely shocked by Lily's current appearance.
The formerly massive warrior was now the exact same height as Happy and Carla.
"You've become so small and cute..." Happy muttered, wiping a drop of cold sweat from his forehead.
"I am not sure how this happened either. It seems to be because of Earthland's environment," Lily observed, inspecting his tiny paws.
"Hey, are you feeling any abnormalities in your body?" Gajeel asked with concern.
"None so far. By the way, I want to join the guild that once took care of the prince. You will honor our agreement and let me join, right, Gajeel?"
"Heh! Of course, my partner!" Gajeel cried.
He scooped up the tiny Lily, tears and snot streaming down his face.
Heaven knows how long he had struggled to find a talking cat of his own.
Right now, he wanted to shout to the heavens that perseverance truly pays off!
"He is actually crying!" Lucy stared at the Iron Dragon Slayer in disbelief.
"The rain is too heavy. Let's head back to the guild first," Raizel suggested.
A glowing magic circle appeared beneath his feet, and the members quickly filed inside to teleport out of the storm.
...
Fairy Tail Guild Hall—
Juvia listened intently as Happy recounted the wild events in Edolas, though her intense focus never strayed far from Gray.
"So, listen, in Edolas, it was actually Gray who was totally infatuated with Juvia!" Happy revealed.
"What did you say?!" Juvia yelled.
"Is it because of the hairstyle? She had cute curly hair over there," Happy added innocently.
'Juvia wishes she could go to Edolas...' Juvia, nearly crushed a wooden pillar in her tight grip.
...
"Do you know what you looked like over there? Pfft—" Gray started laughing before he could even finish his sentence.
"It's too funny... I can't help but laugh every time I think about it!"
"If you have something to say, just say it properly. Your teasing is making my drink taste bad," Cana complained from the bar.
"This guild is definitely the best!" Natsu, who was drunk and fired up, kicked over a table while spewing flames everywhere.
"Hey, was Natsu that noisy over there too?" someone asked.
"No, the Natsu over there was a total wimp constantly being bullied." The moment someone mentioned Natsu, Gray's competitive instincts kicked in.
"I... I got bullied by Lucy again..." Gray mocked, perfectly mimicking Edolas Natsu's whiny tone.
"In that case..." Natsu growled, veins bulging on his forehead.
"Juvia-chan, I love you!" Natsu clasped his hands together and fluttered his eyelashes, flawlessly imitating the Edolas version of Gray's love-struck tone.
Before he could finish, Gray tackled him and covered his mouth, unable to bear hearing it.
Gray absolutely refused to accept this humiliation!
"Why are we tearing each other down and becoming their laughingstock?!"
"Yo, Happy, good work out there." Gildarts leaned casually against the bar, watching Happy fly over.
"Aye! That's how it is, so please give that overly excited, rowdy Dragon Slayer a good beating for me," Happy requested.
He wore a perfectly innocent expression, but his words were utterly vicious.
"How can such a warm, smiling mouth utter such incredibly cold words?" Raizel complained from his seat nearby.
"Hahaha, let's wait until the welcome party is over," Gildarts chuckled, taking a sip of his drink.
"This conversation is really dark..." Lucy sighed, her face full of exasperation.
"I don't have the patience to wait that long! Let's settle this right now!" The moment Natsu heard Gildarts' voice, his "Gildarts Radar" activated, and his combat excitement skyrocketed.
Thud!
Without even looking, Gildarts delivered a lightning-fast chop directly to Natsu's forehead, slamming the boy face-first into the wooden floor of the guild and leaving a large crater in the floorboards.
The sudden impact completely startled Lucy and Happy, who jumped back.
"This guild is incredibly noisy," Lily observed curiously, arriving at a very accurate conclusion.
"It seems everyone's first impression of this place is exactly the same," Carla sighed, shaking her head helplessly.
The girls' dorm often had some strange topics of discussion.
Previously, they had talked about their first impressions of the guild, and many had answered "noisy."
That included Kagura, who had admitted that if Erza and the others hadn't been there to welcome her at the time, she would have wanted to run away immediately, feeling like she had just stepped into a den of rowdy thieves.
"This guild is really fun, though," Happy suddenly popped up from behind them.
"Does everyone in this guild really have magical power inside them? That's terrifying..." Lily muttered.
He suddenly felt his position in the hierarchy might be at risk.
At least over in Edolas, he was a respected military captain.
He prayed he wouldn't end up being a bottom-feeder here...
"That is right, these are the rowdy Mages of Earthland," Erza said, appearing beside the three cats.
"Erza." Lily turned to look at the redhead.
She looked exactly like Knightwalker, and he was still feeling a bit strange about it.
"Now that you mention it, in Edolas, you and Erza were colleagues, right?" Happy asked.
"The most important thing isn't the magic itself—it is the heart of the person who wields it. Am I right, Lily?" Erza smiled warmly.
"Heh. Though you are a different person, at least having one familiar face around puts me much more at ease." Lily nodded with a small smile.
"Listen up! Salamander, and you, little girl!" Gajeel suddenly bellowed from across the hall.
"Make my Lily compete against your Blue Cat and your White Cat! We will see who is the best!"
Wendy was completely stunned by the sudden, aggressive challenge.
Lucy simply watched the drama unfold from the sidelines with a tired smile.
"Looks like you've been pestered by Gajeel too, huh? Haha," Erza chuckled.