'So this is Fairy Tail.' Lucy gazed around the room with amazement, the guild was filled with laughter and happy faces, each person chattering away to another without a care in the world.
Similarly, Naruto gazed around the room as well. 'So this is Fairy Tail.' He looked around, it was louder, louder than he had become accustomed to. He was so used to travelling in silence from place to place he forgot how loud a group of people could actually be.
"Excuse me, Hello!" A pretty white haired girl with a red flowing dress waved them over to her. "Are you new members? Natsu screamed something about it just a moment ago!"
Sure enough Natsu had entered a brawl with a large man with white hair and a black haired boy, screaming at Lucy and Naruto to come back him up. Sighing, Lucy and Naruto ignored him, making their way towards the girl frantically waving her arm.
"I'm Mirajane. I look after all new applicants when the Master is busy." She smiled cheerily at the two of them, Naruto nodded in return, however Lucy could no longer contain herself.
"I can't believe I'm meeting Mirajane! The cover girl of Fairy Tail!" She squealed in delight, admiring every feature of the white haired woman.
"Is she always like this?" Mirajane asked Naruto, laughing nervously at the blond girl's admiring stare.
"I wouldn't know, I've just met her." Naruto replied honestly with a shrug. 'But her name, Lucy Heartfilia. It sounds so familiar it's almost scary. I know who Heartfilia is, but Lucy...'
"So you want to be members, let me just find the application forms." Mirajane rummaged underneath the bar counter, before bringing to forms and two pens out, placing one of each in front of the two blonds.
Naruto picked up the pen and browsed over the top of the application.
'Name – Naruto Namikaze
Age – 17
Likes – Travelling
Dislikes – Stillness
Magic - Shēngxiào Entity Summoning, Rasen, Flash Step
Dreams for the future – To meet the Jade Emperor, king of the Shēngxiào.'
Naruto looked over to Lucy, who had finally gotten over meeting her idol and filled in the application form and getting a pink member's stamp on her right hand.
Mira asked where Naruto wanted his stamp and in what colour, Naruto lifted the left side of his shirt, asking for an orange stamp on his hip next to his gun holster.
"That's it! Welcome to Fairy Tail!" Mira chimed happily, taking the member stamp away.
"That was surprisingly easy." Naruto commented curiously, he was expecting something more difficult than filling out a piece of paper.
"All of you shut up!" A colossal titan fell from above, the light dared not come near him, leaving him as a huge back monster. All the laughing, fighting members halted in place, staring fearfully at the massive beast.
Lucy ducked behind Naruto's back, quivering in fear, Naruto noticed her movement, looking at her curiously.
"Do you know how many complaints I've been getting!" The titan roared, before shrinking down to an old man with orange clothing and silly blue and orange striped hat. His left hand filled with pieces of paper. He shuffled the papers into both of his hands before speaking again. "Cana, you drank all the alcohol in a pub and sent the bill to the council. Elfman, you beat up a client who said only educated men are worthwhile. Gray, you stripped in the middle of town half way through a job. And Natsu, you just destroyed half a port!" The old man screamed in annoyance. "But who cares!" Everyone looked up smiling at the old man, as if they had heard all this before. "We do not abide by the rules of the Magic Council, this is Fairy Tail. Do what you believe is right and live life to the fullest!"
The guild began erupting in cheers, the old man set the complaint papers aflame, a symbol of Fairy Tail's freedom, throwing it in the air for Natsu to jump and devour it.
Mira sighed from next to him. "That's the Master for you." She spoke with a slight shake of the head.
Naruto looked to the man in a new light. 'So that is The Ultimate Makarov. User of Ultimate Magic and one of the strongest mages on the continent. Such an easy going person for somebody in his position.'
"Master Makarov?" Naruto gently opened the door to the old man's office, located deeper within the massive castle that was Fairy Tail's guild headquarters.
"Oh, who are you boy, a newbie I presume?" Makarov looked up in interest from whatever he was signing to look at the blond kid in front of him.
Upon entering and closing the door behind him, the blond drew out a golden gun, Makarov's eyes narrowed in suspicion, the boy approached him, holding the gun above the table at Makarov's body.
"What is this, some kind of stick up? I don't know how much damage you intend to do with a Contract Gun." Makarov knew the design of the gun almost immediately.
"So you do know this." Naruto replied in return. "My name is Naruto Namikaze. A Celestial Spirit mage and user of the Shēngxiào Entity Summoning. And yes, I am a new member of Fairy Tail, this was just so I called capture your attention." Naruto replied, placing the gun down on Makarov's desk, sitting on the chair on the opposite side of Makarov's desk, smiling at the old man.
"So what can I do for you Naruto?" Makarov asked, seemingly more cheerier himself.
"I'm looking for one of the Platinum Discs, rather, I'm looking for any of the Platinum Discs. I figured that you might be able to help me in finding them, seeing as you have a lot more...experience in the world than me." Naruto alluded the fact that he was old, he was asking for help from the man, he didn't want to insult him.
"Hmm the Platinum Discs. Now that is a tough one, Gold Keys are highly wanted as there is a lot of Stellar Spirit Mages, so there is a lot of information floating around about them. But Platinum Discs are rare, you're the first one using them in a long time as far as my recollection goes. However I do recall the location of one such disc." Makarov scratched his chin, hoping to remember more about the disc.
"Where is it?" Excitement in Naruto grew, Makarov was a well respected man, not only for his power but for his spirit and honour as well. This was one man's word Naruto could fully trust.
"The last time I heard it was in the small town of Maguma, lying far in the North-East." Makarov informed him.
"Do you remember which one it was?" Naruto asked in hope. He had read that the Rabbit had some formidable power, as did the Ox and Monkey.
"I'm afraid I can not remember that much. But this information is fresh, I only heard this a few years ago." Makarov replied apologetically, he couldn't tell the boy everything he wanted to know.
"It's fine." Naruto beamed widely in return. "This is a good lead. I'll head to Maguma immediately. So I'll be off now Master." Naruto waved a small goodbye before he took towards the door.
"Wait!" Makarov called behind him, Naruto stopped his movements, staring back to the old man. "At least take a job in Maguma, then you have an actual reason to go there, it will benefit everyone involved, not just yourself."
Nodding Naruto took off out of the room back towards the guild hall. He couldn't waste any time, he needed to find a job to Maguma.
Naruto moved hastily towards the Job notice board, he didn't want to waste anytime, someone else could come and take the only job to Maguma before he even got there.
'I'll have to ask Lucy to come along with me.' Naruto smiled, he enjoyed hanging out with Lucy, despite only just meeting her, her smile was warm and kind, and her mood swings of happiness to disbelief were fun to witness.
But as he arrived back in the main hall of the guild he found that the blond girl was no where in sight, when he had left earlier she was being bombarded with questions by a girl with wavy blue hair who stood with two larger guys.
Puzzled Naruto approached Mira at the bar. "Mira-san, do you know where Lucy is?" He asked inquisitively.
"Oh, you must be really protective of her, Lucy sure is lucky to have a guy like you around." Mira chimed happily, giggling at Naruto's flustered look. "Only kidding, Lucy actually left a few minutes ago with Natsu and Happy on a job, she will be back in a few hours if your willing to wait."
'I don't have hours to wait.' Naruto replied inwardly, he had to make sure that this rumour was true or not. He couldn't afford to waste time. 'Sorry Lucy, but I have to go. But at least your in safe hands with Natsu.'
"No it's fine. I'm not her personal bodyguard or anything, she can take care of herself." Naruto smiled in return to the white haired girl. He moved over to the notice board, his eyes scanning through all the missions available.
'Hmm, help prepare for the arrival of a foreign king, get rid of a demon, check a haunted house, bandits, demon, bandits, preparations, bandits, bandits, bandits!' Naruto pulled on his hair in frustration. 'Gah! Is there one job that doesn't involve bandits or mundane tasks!' He looked towards the notice board again, his eyes locking on to one in particular, Naruto did a double take on the notice.
'This could be it...' He leaned forward to read the fine print better. 'Help redirect the lava from the oncoming volcanic eruption. Reward: 85'000J. Location: Maguma!' Naruto's face lit up in glee. The job, and it appeared to be the only one in Maguma, Naruto punched the air in his mind.
"If I complete a task like this, Bisca will be sure to notice my strength." A calm voice had appeared next to him, probably someone just talking out loud to themselves, Naruto chose to ignore it. He reached for the notice, when another hand came for the very same notice clutching onto it at the exact same time as himself.
"Excuse me. But I would like this job." Naruto turned to the person. A by looked back in annoyance. He has long, black hair which covered the right side of his face. He wore a brown cape with lighter shaded tassels cape over his shoulder and covers most of his upper body with a red shirt underneath. There is a knee guard on his left knee and on his belt were two gun straps.
The boy slowly reached for the gun on his left hip, his hand tightening around the handle. Naruto performed the same action, revealing his golden gun he grabbed it and pulled it out of the holster slowly.
The black haired boy looked down towards Naruto's Golden gun. "An interesting weapon you have there." He noted quietly. "I didn't know the new member was also a Guns Mage like myself and Bisca."
"I'm not a Guns mage, this is a tool for my magic to activate. My magic does not rely on this gun entirely." Naruto replied as cryptically as the black haired boy spoke before him.
They eyed each other up for a few minutes, daring each other to try and take the job all to themselves. "Okay, you know what. This is ridiculous." Naruto eventually spoke, shaking his head quickly. "Why don't we take the job together? I mean, the job is to redirect lava, we'll need more the one pair of hands to do that."
"Very well." The boy returned after a few seconds of hesitation. "My name is Alzack Connell, I would like to know your name as well if we are to be working together."
"My name is Naruto Namikaze." Naruto replied with a cheery smile.
Alzack nodded in return, snatching the job notice he moved over to Mira, Naruto followed closely behind in case he tried to pull a fast one. "Mira-san, Naruto and I will be going on this mission." Alzack spoke, sliding the notice paper towards the white haired girl.
Mira looked over it for a moment before a cheery smile went over her face. "Okie dokie! Have fun! I'll let the Master know."
"Thank you, Mira-san." Alzack gave the girl a small smile. "Come Naruto, we are departing." Alzack spoke to the blond, flicking his brown cape back over his shoulder.
'For a guy so eager to get on the road, he sure is taking his time saying goodbye.' Naruto mentally sighed, looking back over his shoulder, Alzack was still speaking to the green haired cowgirl, giving her a farewell and engaging her in a friendly chat. 'I don't have time for this!' Naruto screamed in his mind, he couldn't go over and force Alzack away from his friend, but he could at least hurry up. He needed to get to Maguma right away.
Naruto's mind clicked as his eyes opened wide. 'Where is Maguma anyway?' He stared questioningly at the road ahead.
"I'm sorry for making you wait so long." Alzack appeared next to him, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, a small blush from his previous conversation still lingering on his face. He stopped all movement when he realised that his blond companion was not paying any attention. "Er...Naruto?"
"Alzack, do you have any idea where Maguma is?" Naruto mumbled out, not looking towards his direction.
"Um, no..." Alzack admitted, he had been so prepared to undertake this job, he didn't bother looking at the location. Now that he thought about it, he had no idea where Maguma was.
Naruto sighed. "Well the first thing to do is find out where were going." He stated the obvious, drawing his golden Contract Gun and a platinum disc.
Alzack watched the blond load the disc into the gun. "What do you plan to do?" He asked curiously, he had never seen a gun being used like this before.
"Activate my magic." Naruto's eyes flicked to the road ahead. "Load Platinum Disc." He pointed the gun directly in front of himself. "Summon: Sixth Year Sishi: Elife the Snake!"
A bright light flashed, temporarily blinding Alzack, who saw that Naruto remained unflinching to the bright light, probably already having become used to it. As the light faded, Alzack could hear a distinct hissing sound, it was quiet.
"Oh, Naruto, it's been a long time since you have summoned me. I told you before, I won't be supplying with you on information about the other zodiac whereabouts." A feminine voice hissed coyly, a slight chuckle to it's hissing.
Alzack turned to face Naruto, a large bright Amazon green snake with an egg shell white underbelly had coiled itself around Naruto's body, it's head resting near Naruto's, it's tail, tipped with a white rattle curled around Naruto's leg. Alzack saw it had the most piercing slitted yellow eyes imaginable. Surprisingly, the snake had two arms which were currently both preoccupied. In it's left hand was a bright red apple which the snake took small bites off of constantly. It's right hand gently and consistently brush the side of Naruto's hair, loving the feeling as if his hair was made of cloud. "So, what can I do for you?" The snake hissed in a female voice, munching on it's red apple.
"Elife, can you tell me where the town of Maguma is?" Naruto asked in a very respectful tone. Naruto knew the snake's temper, which once boiled caused disastrous results.
"Maguma, let's see..." The green snake closed it's yellow eyes, when not taking bites from it's apple, it hummed in a pleasant tone, the rattle begin shaking wildly, growing faster and faster until the snake's eyes shot back open, a snake like smile grew on the snake's face.
"Maguma is that way." The snake replied finally, turning Naruto's head in the direction of the town, all the while stroking his hair. "Very far, it is. Set on the side of a volcano. A good week's journey by foot. However, there is one train that makes a voyage there once every three months, luckily you should be able to catch it from Magnolia today. Other than that, the easiest way to travel is by flight. Ah, but you and Riegin are not on very good terms. So that option is cancelled out." Elife finished sadly, taking a bite out of her apple as she patted Naruto hair.
The snake looked at her apple, it had been completely eaten save the core, stopping for the first time since Alzack had seen her, her right hand moved off Naruto's hair, she snapped her fingers quickly, suddenly the flesh of the apple began returning, as if the apple were going back in time, returning to the time it fell ripe from the branch. Elife took a new bite from her recently renewed apple, already continuing with stroking Naruto's hair.
"There is also a ship that regularly travels around the continent from the port town and arrives up near Maguma, but that is a two moth journey, not something I think you'd want to do, huh Naruto." The green snake giggled almost school girlishly.
"So we need to get the train now. Come, Naruto." Alzack commented. Elife's yellow eyes darted towards Alzack, leering into his very soul.
"And who is this one?" Elife hissed out angrily, she did not like the tone in which the black haired boy spoke to Naruto.
"His name is Alzack Connell, relax Elife, he's a friend." Naruto responded immediately, his voice was soothing, as if trying to calm the snake down.
"Friend? We shall see." The snake formed a sly grin, in an instant she had jumped from Naruto's body, slithering her way quickly to Alzack, coiling herself tightly around his body, bring her head to glare into Alzack's eyes at point blank. He free hand began stroking his hair similar to how she stroked Naruto's.
"Alzack, don't move!" Naruto ordered before Alzack even began panicking. Now trying to calm Alzack down. Alzack could only gulped as the snake frowned all the while stroking his hair.
"I don't like this one." Elife finally commented, jumping from Alzack's body and climbing back around Naruto's, stroking his blond locks once again. "His courage and strength is great, and he is devoted. But to one person in particular..."
Alzack's eyes snapped open wide, how did the snake know such things. "He will do dastardly things to those closest to him, all in the sake of her name, when her life is at risk, his true nature will reveal itself." She pointed one of her fingers curled around the apple at Alzack, who stood unnerved.
'Bisca...' Alzack knew immediately who the snake was speaking of. 'Her life, will be in danger soon.' A frown began growing on his face. 'I swear I'll protect her with my own life!'
"Elife, that's enough. Thank you for everything, but I'm going to have to send you back or we'll never catch that train." Naruto spoke to the snake.
"Very well then." The snake formed a sweet smile at the blond. "Don't be a stranger, Naruto." She patted him on the hair once more before vanishing away.
Naruto took the disc back out the gun and placed it back in the pouch, followed by the gun back in it's holster. "Come Alzack, we need to catch this train."
"Agreed, let's go." They both turned, running down the path towards Magnolia's train station.
"This is going to be a long ride, we might as well get comfortable." Naruto found a free booth on the train, sliding the door open and sitting down, Alzack followed after him, sliding the door back shut and sitting on the seats opposite Naruto.
"These are quite expensive tickets, in the private carts on the train. Are you sure about affording this?" Alzack asked as reclined into a more comfortable position.
"Absolutely, I need reasons to spend the money I have, I don't like carrying large amounts." Naruto smiled back in return without hesitation.
Alzack could only nod, giving a small smile himself. "Naruto, about that snake, Elife. What was that?"
"It was my magic, it's very similar to Stellar Spirit Summoning. Elife is one of my summons." Naruto replied, placing his golden contract gun on the table.
"No, I meant about the hair touching, and how she knew the location so easily and information how to get there." Alzack retorted.
"It's one of her magics is the ability to learn things through the Earth instantly. It's like she can sense all the information about a subject through her body. And if she touches you, she can learn all of your most inner thoughts, it's easier to do this by going directly through the head, that's why she likes stroking people's hair. Depending on what she finds out about you causes her reaction to you, I'm guessing she didn't like what she saw in your head." Naruto mused, scratching his chin. "Anyway, she's pretty laid back, so don't feel intimidated by her. You'll know when she gets pissed off, now THAT is scary." Naruto chuckled weakly, sounding almost as if he was forcing the laugh.
"So what about you Alzack, why were you so eager to take this mission?" Naruto asked the black haired boy.
"Well-I-What I want to do is- I mean why I took this mission." Alzack spluttered out, his face going as red as Elife's apple. He was unable to speak the truth about his feelings for Bisca still.
"I take it your doing this to impress a girl." Naruto replied unfazed at the comment, Alzack went silent. Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "Elife said something about your true nature being exposed because of a girl, just figured this would be the same thing. Now I won't lecture you about this. In fact I think it's a pretty noble gesture to do something this dangerous in her honour, but it won't count for anything unless you tell her that it was for her, and what if you died, then what could you say."
Alzack looked at Naruto in surprise, but lowered his head in shame nonetheless, his words were correct. He was unable to tell Bisca his feelings for her, everything he did for her would go unnoticed unless he told her that he did them for her. "I understand." Alzack mumbled in return. "It's just that I can't bring myself to tell Bisca. We both came over from the west together. We have been friends for such a long time, I don't want anything to ruin it. I'm sorry."
"No, I'm sorry I brought it up. It was wrong of me if you're are so uncomfortable in talking about it." Naruto smiled apologetically.
"And what about yourself, why were you so eager to take this mission?" Alzack asked in return to the blond.
"There might be something of extreme value to myself in Maguma, it is the first real good lead I have had in a while and I must have it. This was the only job in Maguma, so I had to make sure I was taking it." Naruto replied, staring out at the fast moving Earth on the opposite side of the window.
'Cryptic. He doesn't want to say too much.' Alzack noted Naruto's refusal to go into too much detail. "You're allowed to open up, Naruto. We are friends now."
Naruto looked back towards the West grown boy, smiling at him. 'Friends?' It was a new concept to him, travelling alone, having no place to call a home. This was all happening too fast for him.
The conductor called for the final stop, Maguma. Only Naruto and Alzack remained in their cart, in fact barely anyone got off with them. The train stopped to refuel before taking off back down the track towards Magnolia train station.
"Elife wasn't wrong about the distance, what was that, a day and a half?" Naruto groaned out as he stretched his back, leaning back to get the kinks out.
"Yeah, almost two days." Alzack returned, clicking his neck. It had been a long journey, the first class cart offering movie Lacrima and other pass times made it easier though.
"My, my, we rarely get any visitors so far up the track." A middle aged man stood before them, with a burnt red shade of hair and small beard, dressed in a purple shirt and black pants with an elegant sash going over both his shoulders and a wooden staff. "My name is Kazen, the leader of the village of Maguma."
"Kazen, we are from Fairy Tail." Alzack responded, bowing respectfully towards the man.
"Ah, Fairy Tail, so our job request was accepted." The man perked up instantly. "Well lets not waste time here. I shall explain everything there is to know on the way to the village."
The trio began leaving the small train station, stepping out from under it's ceiling, the sky was darkened with black ash, small veins of red lava ran through the ground under their feet. Looking up, the colossal volcano loomed overhead, smoke and ash plume from it's mouth. At the base of the volcano was a small village, housing consisted of hard rock houses. Probably made from all the nearby Earth, it blended in nicely to the scene of the Volcano.
"The volcano erupts annually. And in our village it is a joyous and festive time, the earth left behind is highly fertile and plants and crops grow quickly. Our barriers are good enough to stop the lava hitting our village and redirecting it around it, leaving the ground around us fertile for agriculture." Kazen began explaining as they neared the town.
"So what seems to be the problem, sounds like you've got everything pretty much sorted." Naruto asked, seeing the towering walls surrounding the village.
"As I said, their strong enough to withstand one eruption per year, we then repair them over the year in order to protect us for the following year. However, something has happened and it has caused the volcano to erupted more over the past few years, last year it erupted four times, we simply don't have the time to repair the barriers if this continues. Many villagers have opted to flee the village, meaning we have less manpower to help repair the walls. Because of this the Volcano has created a new reputation for itself, demolished it's previous one of wealth and prosperity, and has been adorned with a new nickname."
"And that nickname is?" Alzack asked quizzically.
"The Gate of Hell." Kazen replied in a deadened tone. "Aside from helping us repair the wall in preparation, we need people who are able and unafraid to scale the volcano and find out if the problem many of the villagers have speculated is true, and if so, exterminate it." Kazen continued. "We do not expect charity, the reward for the job upon completion will be of course tripled."
"Tripled?" Naruto let off a loud whistle. "That's 255'000J, are you sure about giving away such a large amount?"
Kazen nodded in return. "That is only the base some, the volcano is going to erupt soon, this is it's regular annual eruption, and the most ferocious, if you are able to help us in time, the reward could be even more substantial than that. I understand you may be disbelieving, despite our appearance, our village is a pretty wealthy community, we have a lot of goods export to other towns."
"So what is the problem the villagers have speculated?" Alzack asked curiously.
"The only thing possible, the volcano has never done something like this before. And recently a monstrous demon has taken up residence inside the mouth of the volcano, enduring it's unbearable heat without restraint, as if training in it's fires." Kazen explained.
"And you believe this demon is the cause?" Naruto asked further.
Kazen nodded. "Yes, it must be doing something up there to anger the Volcano and causing it to erupt. This demon, you must be wary of it. Those who have seen it have not returned unscathed, most do not return at all. It is a three headed beast straight from the depths of hell. Are you up to the task of getting rid of it for us?"
"Alzack and Naruto looked to one another before answering, a nod from each of them. "We are."
A/N: Yo! Chapter 2 done and dusted, probably not as much going on as in chapter 1 but still pretty darn good, overall. A good 7.5/10.
I'll post a picture of Elife's color scheme on my profile, I couldn't find a picture of a snake with arms so you might just have to imagine. I was playing on an ability to know everything about the world, and based her around the first book of the Bible genesis, for those who don't know, the devil is commonly displayed as transforming into a snake to trick Adam and Eve by having them eat the forbidden fruit of knowledge, commonly dipicted as an Apple, so there you go. Her other magics will appear, just got to think of names and uses.
If you want to take guesses at which platinum disc is in Maguma feel free to guess, but there definately is one and I have a great story for them. Naruto's final disc, Riegin will be making an appearance soon, yes he is a Dragon, and more will be explained later. I'll do bios of all the platinum summons once more of there magics have been revealed.
I have thought of a pretty good villain. I have a good motive for why he would be following Naruto and his reason for being so villainous. Fnally I'd like to apologise for being such a doucher by spoiling so much of the story, but it's kind of like a reminder to myself, and proof that I do plan to take this somewhere.
How do you feel about Alzack? Here's the thing, in canon it's always Natsu, Gray, Lucy Erza. Other members barely have a chance to shine, sure Elfman, Mira and Gajeel all had there moments, but no real character development. And in Fanon, people just add Naruto to the storyline of Canon, I've done it with Fairy Tail Utopia, mainly because I doubt my abilities of writing convincing plotlines, but anyway. I'm trying to stray away from that. He will appear in some canon arcs, maybe Galuna Island, Phantom Lord and the like, but Naruto has his own goals to accomplish.
This is NarutoxLucy, a pairing that was the least popular out of the Naruto choices of my FTU poll, and finding out it was the lowest just made me want to use it. So I'll build into a relationship rather than just jumping straight in.
Well that's about it,
Rinne-Kami, Out!
