"Lucy, wake up, child," a white cat said as she shook a passed out blonde girl. "We have arrived at Hargeon."
"Is she alright?" the ticket-collector questioned, sweat dropping.
The white cat sighed, "She will be fine. This happens frequently."
"I...am...n-never riding...a stupid train again," the blonde, labelled as 'Lucy' by the white cat, groaned out, obviously sick. She moaned in pain, before starting to empty out her breakfast.
"If the information we were given is accurate, then we should find that Salamander somewhere in this town," the white cat muttered to herself. She turned to her partner, who was now hanging on to the train window in agony, still emptying out her breakfast from her stomach.
"Come on, Lucy. Let's go." The cat jumped out of the train and landed on the pavement gracefully
"J-Just gimme a second, C-Carla..." Lucy stammered weakly, before starting to vomit again.
The train began to start moving, and Carla sighed tiredly as she watched Lucy still hanging out from the train, begging her to help.
"At eighteen, she is still such a child," Carla huffed out, before flying after the train.
...
What?! You mean to tell me there's only one magic shop in this whole town?!" the spiky-haired teen yelled, his hands banging down on the wood.
"I'm afraid so," said the old woman. "People here are all mostly fishermen. You don't get a lot of wizards coming to buy magic items here."
The teen's expression turned to one of horror, and then to one of irritation. He had spent a lot of money to come all the way to Hargeon, and this is what he got?! Ugh...
"People here don't even know how to use magic," the old woman carried on, completely aware of the annoyed expression the pink-haired teen was making.
"Did I come all this way here for nothing?" the boy wailed comically.
"Now, now, young man. I have all the popular items in style right now," the old woman assured. She dug around in a few drawers, and then took out a gun. "This gun is very popular with the men. They say it makes them look manly and they'd get all the girls. The power supply depends on the magic reserves you have."
Natsu wasn't listening to a word she said. He ignored the woman's talk until she stopped, and he spoke up, "Do you have any Gate Keys?"
"Hm...gate keys, eh? That's a rare request," the old woman commented, digging around in some other drawers. She took out a box, and opened it, revealing a silver key.
Natsu's attention was caught, and he picked it up in his hands. "Whoa...cool! It's the gate of the doggy!"
"Yes, but that one's not very powerful," the old woman interrupted.
Natsu knew that the dog wasn't very powerful. But...something pulled him to the key. Something attracted him. Something told him to buy it.
"I'll have this one," Natsu grinned at the old woman. "How much?"
"Twenty thousand jewels," the old woman answered promptly.
He froze in shock, and stared at the key. He stared at the shopkeeper suspiciously. "Sorry, couldn't hear ya. Repeat that?"
The old woman stared back at him. "I said, twenty thousand jewels."
He died a little on the inside.
He huffed inwardly. He would have to go to the last resort.
He flexed his arms, his muscles bulging out. He put a hand behind his head. He shot the woman one of his smouldering gazes, and spoke again, this time in a husky voice, "Miss, I'm sorry, but...could you please lower the price?"
...
At last, Natsu exited the shop, fuming. "That stupid old hag...in the end, she only knocked off two thousand jewels! Is she that blind that she can't see how handsome I am?!"
Suddenly, he heard squeals and shrieks along with excited murmurs of men.
"Are you serious, he's really here? Salamander?!"
Natsu blinked, "Salamander? Isn't it that chick who can use fire magic that can't be bought in stores? Wow, she's really here - " Natsu began to run to the crowd, but suddenly stopped. "Hmm, they referred to her as a he. I thought the Salamander was a she? Still, I'd better check it out. It's probably a slip of tongue."
He ran to the crowd, making his way in between the girls.
...
"Man...I'm so...ugh, I was in that train for four hours," Lucy groaned.
"You have to try to overcome that motion sickness," Carla replied.
The blonde's stomach growled, and she flushed. "And I'm hungry too."
"It's rather unfortunate that we don't have any money to buy some food," the white cat sighed.
"Hey, Carla?"
"Yes?"
"The Salamander we've been looking for has gotta be Igneel, right?"
"To be honest, I'm not quite sure. Why would a dragon be here, in the middle of town? But we still have to check. What if we got a lead on him instead?"
"Salamander!"
"You're so dreamy!"
"So hot!"
"Marry me!"
Lucy glanced at Carla. "Think it's him?"
"You tell me. Is Igneel...hot, dreamy, and a dragon who's had a lot of proposals?"
Lucy snorted, "Hot? Yeah, temperature-wise. Dreamy? He's a dragon, dragons are supposed to be mythical creatures, so they appear in dreams. Uh...proposals?" She paused. "Well, uh...not really. No-one's asked him to marry them before."
"Well, that's two out of three on our checklist. Majority wins, so we better go and look."
Both animal and human started running towards the crowd.
...
As soon as Natsu arrived there, he was utterly disgusted and charmed. There was this guy, making poses, which charmed the women. And he could hear his own heart beating faster.
"Igneel! Igneel! It's me!" he heard a blonde say, running up to him.
The fluttering in Natsu's stomach ceased and his heartbeat slowed down. The spell was broken.
Lucy froze, staring at him confusedly. "You're not Igneel. Who the heck are you?"
The man looked pained at the fact, and turned pale. "Who am I?" He raised his hand in the air, the ring flashing. "I, am Salamander. Surely you have not heard of me before, young lady?"
Natsu stared in disgust at the imposter. He turned his attention to the departing blonde and ran after her to save her from the hits of the triggered Imposter-Salamander fangirls. She didn't deserve it.
He took her arm, and dragged her out of the brawl.
"Now, now, girls. I'm sure she didn't mean anything by it," the imposter said, calming the fangirls down. He handed Lucy an autograph. "Here. Now you can brag to all your friends."
"Uh, no thanks," the blonde wrinkled her nose, walking off. Natsu snorted into his hand, and followed her. Even though she didn't mean to break the spell, he still needed to thank her. And save her from the once-again triggered fangirls.
The imposter left, inviting them all to a party on his yacht.
"Who the hell was that guy?" Lucy murmured.
"I dunno, but he was a real creep," Natsu replied, walking up to them.
They stared at him.
"Hi, and thank you for your help!"
...
"Uh...who are you again?" Lucy asked.
"It would be nice to know your name," Carla stared suspiciously at Natsu.
"I'm Natsu," he replied, after he finished chewing on his food. "You know, you can eat too. I'm treating you as thanks. But if you don't want it, I can eat it all, no problem!"
Lucy and Carla stared at their food, before taking a hesitant bite. They slowly began to eat faster.
"So, what's your name?" Natsu questioned.
"I'm Lucy, and this is Carla," Lucy answered. "Nice to meet you."
"Thanks for breaking me out of that spell."
"Oh, you're welcome. We didn't mean to, though. I'm surprised you know what those are. I thought you were a civilian."
"Not really, I was just wandering around."
"I hope I'm not being intrusive, but what's your magic?"
"I'm a Celestial Wizard. I'm planning on joining the Fairy Tail guild, but I heard it's a bit hard to get into, so I'm training more."
"Wow, cool."
"Ah, you wanted to find someone?"
"Yes," Carla nodded. "We are looking for a dragon called Igneel."
Natsu furrowed his eyebrows. "Fire dragons are hard to find - why would a fire dragon show up in the middle of town?"
Both choked, before looking in the other way sheepishly. They flushed in embarrassment. "We weren't sure."
Lucy and Carla finished the last of their food. "Well, we have to leave. It was nice meeting you, Natsu. Oh, and...another thing. Fairy Tail isn't that hard to get into."
She left along with her cat. Natsu furrowed his eyebrows at her words, before looking at the bill.
Great. It took half of the money he had left. He paid for it, before leaving as well.
...
Natsu got vibes from the imposter. Bad vibes. And that party...it really gave him a bad feeling. So much that it drew him to the boat where the imposter was having his party.
...
"Ah, that was a nice meal," Lucy sighed in contentment. "Right, Carla?"
"Yes, that was a fine meal," Carla replied, staring out into the sea. "Lucy?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think that's the boat that perverted man is having his 'party'?"
Lucy's stomach twisted as she looked at the boat, and in a second she was doubling over in pain, trying not to puke. "Ugh..."
"Lucy, you just looked at it," Carla scolded.
"Oh, my gosh! It's Salamander's party!" a girl squealed.
"Who's Salamander?" another girl questioned.
"You've never heard of him? He's the most awesome wizard there is!"
"I thought Salamander was a female..."
"Of course he's not! He's a guy, and he's a member of Fairy Tail!"
Lucy's eyes narrowed. "Member of Fairy Tail?" She stared back at the boat, before covering her mouth and trying not to empty the contents of her stomach.
...
Natsu watched the sea from the boat, deep in thought.
Yep, you guessed right - he'd disguised as a girl. He'd added small melons under the make-do bra he wore, and he even put on make-up! He'd also smoothed down his spiky pink mane of hair, so that it came till his neck. He thought he did a pretty good job of it too, but those females were giving him weird looks. He simply ignored them. Haters gonna hate.
"You are...?" the imposter came up to her.
He smiled as softly and femininely as possible, "I'm Natsumi." He made sure his voice was feminine too.
"Nice to meet you, Natsumi, would you care for a drink to celebrate how beautiful you look today?" the imposter smiled at him, before snapping his fingers. Orange bead-like things came out of thin air.
"Open wide, Natsumi, savour the taste of each droplet as they cool your parched and hot throat down."
Oh, God, that was creepy.
He cringed inwardly, but then the warning bells came. This orange droplet-bead, was danger.
He flung the drops away, and narrowed his eyes at the imposter. "I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to put me in a spell, aren't you?" His voice had turned masculine once again.
The imposter's eyes were widened in horror, but then suddenly he was smirking. "Ah, ah, ah, look what we found here. Someone trying to pull off a girl to defeat me? You even managed to convince me you were one...but it's too late. You'll now be sold off once we get to Basco."
Natsu's eyes widened, and he reached for his keys. "You're going to Basco? For what?"
"You're quite dumb, aren't you, Natsumi? Obviously, you're gonna be sold off as a slave. I know a lot of people who would love a boy slave. I don't have any interest in one, but I do have a friend..."
He pulled them out, but the slave trader had done some magic where a black whip came out and took the keys, giving it to him.
"Wow, you're a Celestial Wizard? Not many men are celestial wizards - how girlish."
Natsu gritted his teeth angrily. "Don't insult that!"
"Unfortunately, only the contractor can use this magic...useless." He threw the keys into the sea.
Natsu cursed as he tried to reach for them. But, it was useless.
He glared at all the men angrily, fists clenched. "How dare you!" He threw a punch at one of them, but they only dodged it and started to restrain him by holding his arms and legs.
"How dare you use magic for this kind of purpose! Magic doesn't deserve to be tainted!" he continued yelling, flailing about and struggling to get the men to let go of him. "You're the worst wizard alive!"
Suddenly, there was a crash and the ceiling broke down, splinters and pieces of wood falling down. There was some dust, but Natsu could make out the outline of a person in the smoke.
The smoke cleared, only to reveal Lucy, the blonde girl.
"Lucy?" Natsu's eyes widened.
He was almost relieved, when the girl bent down and started to puke.
"T-This...wasn't a...very good idea," she groaned.
He gaped at her, "Lame!"
"Hello," Carla greeted as she flew next to Lucy. "What are you doing here, Natsu? Dressed as a...are you supposed to be a girl?"
Natsu laughed nervously, "Well, uh, you see..."
"No time for explanations," Carla said suddenly, and her tail wrapped around his wrist. She started flying, and he was being carried by her into the air.
"What about Lucy?" Natsu asked worriedly.
"She'll be fine, and I can't really carry more than one person," Carla answered.
"Prominence Wave!" the imposter yelled, sending fire magic after them. Carla dodged them, leading Natsu to safety.
"That cat's quicker than she looks!" the imposter hissed angrily.
"We might have a bit of a problem," Carla said, panting. "My magic...it can't - "
Suddenly, her wings were gone and both started falling down into the sea.
As soon as Natsu was in the water, he immediately swam towards his gate keys. He found them.
He swam to the surface along with Carla, and took out Aquarius' key.
"Here we go," he muttered, holding the key into the water. "Open: Gate of the Water-Bearer: Aquarius!"
With a splash and whirlpool, a handsome man with light blue hair, deep blue eyes and a light blue mermaid tail came out.
"Listen up, Aquarius," Natsu told the spirit. "I want you to use your powers to push the ship back into the port."
Aquarius made a sound of annoyance.
Natsu's eyebrow twitched, "Just do it."
"I don't think you should make her angry," Carla whispered.
"Listen up, asshole," Aquarius hissed angrily, scowling. "Next time you throw my key somewhere, you're dead."
They shivered, "Yes, sir."
With a huge wave of water from his jar, the ship, Natsu and Carla were washed away.
On the shore, Natsu was fuming.
"What the hell's your deal? You're supposed to serve me, not kill me!"
"Oh, sorry, I missed. I aimed for the ship instead."
"What?! Bastard!"
Aquarius turned away. "Oh, and word of advice: you look fucking pathetic as a chick. Don't dress like that again, it almost made me go blind."
"You bastard - !"
"And don't bother me again. I'm on vacation with my girlfriend - and she's hot." The mermaid spirit disappeared, leaving a fuming Natsu.
"Don't rub it in my face!"
"She has a point, though..." Carla smirked.
"Not you too, Carla!"
...
"So you claim to be a member of Fairy Tail," Lucy stated darkly.
"So what if I do?"
"Let me get a closer look at your face," Lucy hissed, taking off her gloves.
The imposter's men started attacking her, but she just hit one of them and all of them were down. It was at that time did Natsu see her guildmark on her right hand.
His eyes widened, "She's...a member of Fairy Tail?"
"I suppose we forgot to mention that," Carla sighed.
"My name is Lucy, I'm a Fairy Tail Wizard, and I haven't seen you before!"
Imposter's eyes widened. "What?"
"This guy's the real deal, Bora!" a bulky man yelled.
"Don't call me that, you fool!" the newly named Bora snapped angrily.
"I know him," Carla stated. "His name is Bora the Prominence. Rumor has it he was kicked out of the Titan Nose Wizard Guild because of bad behaviour."
"What type of person names a guild 'Titan Nose'?" Natsu furrowed his eyebrows.
"That's not the point!" Carla huffed.
"I'm not certain of what you're trying to do, mister," Lucy said, walking towards Bora. "I don't even care if you're the hero, or the villain. But I'm not gonna let you tarnish the Fairy Tail Guild's name!"
"What are you gonna do, huh, woman?" Bora smirked cockily. "Stop me? Never!" He yelled out a spell, and fire came out.
It hit Lucy, and Natsu yelled worriedly, "Lucy? You okay?"
"Ugh, this is so gross!" Lucy groaned, starting to eat the fire.
"She's eating fire!" Natsu gaped.
"Fire magic doesn't exactly work on Lucy," Carla explained. "Since she's a Fire Dragon Slayer, she needs to eat fire to do the given attacks. So fire doesn't work on her."
"Oh."
Lucy mashed her fists together, crouched down, and sucked in air, so her cheeks became puffy. She brought her hands to her lips, using them like a tunnel. She blew out and roared, directing a huge fire attack towards Bora.
"Fire Dragon Roar!"
It looked like Lucy was a dragon herself for a moment there. Natsu didn't know whether other people felt that way, but that was how he felt. And...he felt amazed. He was astounded.
Many of Bora's men were knocked out, but Bora escaped. Lucy finally defeated him by punching him on the face with her fire covered hands.
Natsu could only watch in amazement and wonder.
"Dragon Slayer magic allows the user to take on the characteristics of a dragon. Lucy has dragon lungs to breathe fire, dragon scales to withstand fire and dragon claws to attack. She's actually the famous Salamander."
"I knew the Salamander was a female!"
Carla gasped, "You mean people still have doubts of the gender of Salamander?!"
"Yep."
After defeating Bora, Natsu suddenly heard the Army come in.
"Oh, shit, the Army," Lucy cursed. She took Natsu's hand and Carla flew along with them as they ran.
"W-Where are you taking me?!" Natsu yelled.
"You wanted to join the Fairy Tail guild, didn't you?" Lucy shouted.
Natsu's eyes widened, and then he smiled. "Yeah!"
She smiled back at him, "So, let's go."
...