Hey guys! I changed the dragon from Achnologia to Atlas Flame (the dragon completely covered in flames whom Natsu referred to as 'uncle' lol). I figured that since Natsu hasn't discovered his magic abilities he most likely wouldn't be able to defeat Achnologia with only weapons. Also thank you to MirrorFlame and rickyrich95 for reviewing! MirrorFlame thank you for pointing that out! I decided to change it from Achnologia to Atlas Flame after publishing it and forgot about that part so thanks. Enjoy! sorry this is so long again haha :)
o0o
It took Natsu an entire day to drag himself through the dirt, grass, and mud just to finally reach the small village Gray had told him about. He hadn't expected there to be this much to a day's journey, and frankly, he wasn't happy with it.
Not only was he tired, hungry, and thirsty, but his ripped clothing made him look like he was homeless- which I guess he was for the time being. He didn't know how long he had been asleep on their wagon ride to Hargeon, but he guessed that it was awhile since it took a few days to get to Crocus from there, so it would take even longer to reach Bosco.
But honestly, one of the only things on his mind right now was his cat, Happy. Happy wasn't just any ordinary cat. For one, his fur coat was blue, he could talk, and sprout wings from his back at will. With the absence of magic in Bosco it was easy to brand him a demon, despite Natsu's futile attempts to calm some of the citizens. His species was called an Exceed, coming from Edolas, where the cats were respected more than humans. But how was he supposed to explain that to a bunch of people calling him a demon?
Now, just over the hill he was currently climbing up, he could see an incredibly tiny village just over the bump. There wasn't even a welcome sign. The single dirt road went all the way into town, but it was deserted, the only sound he could hear being the wind blowing the leaves of the trees next to him.
He followed the path, staying on the side of it just in case any wagons did decide to drive up, though highly unlikely.
In a mere 10 minutes he reached the town, but it looked nothing like he had expected it to. For one, it was much much busier than he thought. The 'street's' were as crowded as Crocus, and small houses lined the dirt roads. People stood outside at booths, selling maps and the like, most likely for people who wanted to reach Magnolia but accidentally ended up here. Natsu looked around for the blacksmith Gray had described, but it was extremely hard to see through all of this bustling. He didn't know why people didn't just decide to move to Magnolia, a very peaceful city, instead of crowding up a small one like this.
The people around gave him weird looks, whether it being because he was a new visitor, or because of his raggedy looking clothes, torn and shredded in a hundred different places. Along with the mud decorating his face, he looked as if he had been attacked by a rabid animal, and couldn't blame them. He paid them no mind, though, as his main goal was to find Gajeel.
Someone suddenly grabbed his arm, a short old man who stood next to one of the booths placed outside. "Why, hello there, young man. I haven't seen your particular face around here before. Mind telling me where you're from?"
Natsu pulled his arm away, glaring down at the man. "Maybe you shouldn't ask strangers questions before introducing yourself."
"Oh, oh yes. Of course, my bad. My name is Gavin Hoccus, and I own this here magic booth. Fancy anything? Fiore is the most prominent land of magic!"
"Sorry, man, but I don't have any Jewels on me. But, do you happen to know where I can find Gajeel Redfox? He's supposedly the blacksmith here, yeah?"
Gavin's eyes widened. "Oh, oh boy. You don't want to get caught up with him. He might just be the blacksmith, but he's very scary. Oh, oh very scary indeed."
"I really don't care. Just tell me where I can find him." Natsu was losing his patience.
"As much as I don't appreciate your tone . . . I suppose I could. Just continue down this street and make a left. Stay to the right of the road and you for sure can't miss him. Oh, oh can't miss him indeed."
Nodding, Natsu set off, now with a bigger goal in mind. He pushed through the crowd as politely as he could-which wasn't very polite-and took a left at the end of the street. This one was just as busy as the one he was previously on.
Different scents made it's way towards him, it was hard to ignore. He was definitely confused as to how a town this small could be bursting at the seams with excitement and people.
Finally, Natsu spotted a spitting image of what Gray had described to him; Jet black hair, and metal studs all up and down his face and body. There was zero doubt that he was, ironically, the blacksmith.
Climbing up the steps to his small shop, Gajeel sat outside, sharpening some tools. Natsu tapped him on the shoulder to grab his attention, which proved to be a mistake.
The studded man whirled around, ready to pounce on whoever dared to interrupt his concentration. Beady red eyes made way up to Natsu's onyx ones, and he curled his lip back in a scowl. "Who'er you?," his gruff voice asked.
"My name's Natsu. This guy Gray told me to tell you that a dragon attacked Hargeon and it's headed this way-"
Gajeel jumped up. "A dragon? You gotta be kidding me. They haven't been around for 400 years. What makes you think that I believe you?"
"Well, metal-head, your buddy Gray gave me specific orders to tell you this. I don't know why you wouldn't trust your friend's-" he cut him off again.
"Friend? I ain't got any friends," he paused to tower over Natsu, "and don't call me metal-head. Got it?"
Natsu rolled his eyes. These types of guys didn't intimidate him at all. If anything, they made him ache for any kind of fight. But, for once, Natsu took the logical side and held back so as not to get arrested again. He doubt that a dragon would save his ass this time.
"Plus, I don't give a damn if a dragon comes and attacks here. Good riddance, I say. This town was always a dump anyway. Maybe try tellin' someone who cares, like the mayor," he scoffed before sitting back down, "also, you might wanna put on some actual clothing. No girl want's to see that."
He wrinkled his nose in confusion. Why should he worry about what girls think about him? Rounding the table, Natsu slammed his hands down and leaned over the blacksmith. "How could you even say that about your own town? Your own people? They gave you the job you have right now. The least you could do is warn them."
"It's not my problem if a dragon comes or not! What am I supposed to do, defeat it? Fuck that. I'll just skip town or something. The only ass I care about is my own."
Knowing that there was no way he would be able to get through to him, Natsu stalked off in a huff. Well, that was a waste. The popsicle could've at least warned him that Gajeel was as stubborn as he looked. "Now I have to ask some weirdo where the mayor is . . ." he mumbled to himself.
He stopped by a booth housing vegetables and fruit, things he wasn't interested in at all. The middle aged woman behind the baskets gave him a warm smile. "Hello," she greeted. "Looking for-"
"Yeah, sorry lady, but I'm kinda in a hurry. Mind telling me where your mayor is?"
Her smile dropped. "Are you pulling my leg or are you just blind? He's clearly in the tallest building in this town." She pointed behind him. Natsu turned around to find that just across the street was the tall building she had been talking about. His face flushed.
"Oh, oops. Thanks." He turned around and dashed towards the building, throwing open the doors and racing up the steps, completely ignoring the officers who stood guard, even though they tried to grab him.
Up on the highest floor stood double doors, to which Natsu pushed open to find the mayor sitting behind his desk. He looked up as he came in and sighed. "Another one? How many homeless people am I gonna get?"
Shaking his head, Natsu took long strides until he was in front of the man. "Sorry to interrupt, but there was a dragon attack in Hargeon. This guy told me to tell you that it's headed this way as we speak."
The mayor's eyebrows suddenly went up, eyes widening. "Oh my Earthland, you better not be kidding around."
"Why does everyone think I'm joking? Listen, you need to evacuate your citizens or they will all die. I saw this thing with my own eyes. It's not something you need to wait on."
He nodded, rising from his seat just as the doors busted open, an officer standing in the middle of the room. "Sir, there's been a dragon spotted just a few miles west of here. What do we do?"
"What do you mean what do we do? We go after it! Get a group of men together. And you-" he turned to Natsu, "you look like you're in need of some Jewels. We don't have many men for this small town. If you help defeat the dragon, there will be a hefty reward waiting for you."
Now, Natsu wasn't the smartest person ever, so without thinking he agreed to going on this extremely dangerous mission. All for a couple Jewel. But to him, the only thing that mattered was if he could take this dragon down, it would for sure release his bounty in Crocus. "Alright! I'm all fired up!"
"Are you an idiot?," the mayor asked him. "You're completely defenseless. I expect to hear of your fighting somewhat. Have my men give you weapons and armor. This is no lizard. Now go; I want a victory. Something that'll finally give our nameless town a name."
"I won't let ya down, boss," Natsu called before running down the steps and standing among the group of soldiers. One of them turned to him, giving him a battleaxe. "Here. Use this. We won't be defending you the entire time."
The damn thing was heavy, all right. Natsu had never used an actual weapon before; only his strength. This was completely new to him, and he was scared that he'd accidentally kill himself instead of the dragon. A large man with spiky white hair and way too many muscles walked to the front of the group. "Okay, men!," he called out loudly, "there's been a dragon spotted, so you all know what that means! It's time to take it down! Like real men!"
A war-like cry sounded out throughout the building, soldiers starting to shuffle out. Natsu was the last, and could feel the man's eyes on his back the entire time. He grabbed his arm, holding him back. "And who are you, small man?"
Natsu grinned proudly, holding up his battleaxe. "I'm Natsu Dragneel, and your mayor told me that if I defeated this thing I would get a reward."
He laughed. "Good luck with that. You're surrounded by men right now!" he pounded his chest. He sort've reminded Natsu of a gorilla.
Natsu nodded, not sure how to reply, so he ran after the group of soldiers. The gorilla like man didn't notice though, because he was still staring off into nothing with his fist on his chest.
o0o
They walked for what seemed like hours but what was most likely just thirty minutes. Coming up to the edge of a forest, they could barely see the small town now.
"Well, where is it?," one person called out.
The leader-Elfman, he learned-walked out into the open, sniffing into the air. "How manly, not showing without being called first. I admire this dragon."
Suddenly, without warning, the flame covered dragon made its approach, swooping down near the small group of soldiers, spewing fire the entire time before landing.
"There it is! Let's get it!," they called before charging towards it. Natsu followed them, unsure of how to go about this. It's not like he was scared, he was just worried about the rest of his clothes falling off. So he charged.
Swinging at it head first, the dragon screeched. Natsu ducked behind it so as not to get scorched, but even as he thought he would've been burning up by now, the flames didn't feel hot at all. Whereas most men couldn't get too close without getting some sort of burn, that certainly wasn't the case with him.
He swung as much as he could, trying to control the heavy weapon as best to his abilities, while the others almost gaped at him when he didn't cower away. The dragon shot up into the air again, knocking him to the ground from the force of the gale.
Standing back up, Natsu could feel a certain emotion coursing through his blood. He wasn't afraid of the fire one bit, as well as the dragon. He knew exactly what its weak spots were, and the timing of its attacks. The dragon and himself were in perfect sync.
Now was not the time for thinking, as if that was an easy feat, because the flame covered beast landed once more, specifically targeting its attacks at the pink haired boy. It was a one-on-one battle between the two, and all the other soldiers could do was sit back and watch. It looked like the dragon wasn't even thinking about the others; only Natsu.
The dragon swooped its tail at his feet to knock him off balance, but Natsu jumped just in time, swiping his axe again at it's head. One thing that did catch him off guard, however, was when it brought its scaly foot down on top of Natsu, pinning him to the ground. "Foolish human," it growled.
"What the hell?", Natsu yelled as he struggled under the weight, "you can talk?"
If dragons could laugh, this one did. "Of course. We are not inanimate objects. Some of us are quite intelligent."
The dragon then lifted its foot off of him, but only to crane its neck and head even closer to his body. Natsu's eyes widened when he realized what it was planning to do. Opening its mouth, the dragon blew out flames directly on top of him, Natsu shielding his eyes, and getting ready to be burnt to a crisp.
But that's not what happened.
Sure, the flames hit him, but instead of burning him, they simply didn't do . . . anything. Just went over him as the air coming out of a fan would. The dragon was clearly caught by surprise, backing up a few inches.
Natsu took this chance, without thinking about what just happened, and grabbed his axe. Reaching both arms around the dragon's neck, he was pulled up. The dragon tried its best to shake him off, but if anyone knew anything about Natsu, it was that he never gave up in a fight.
"What do you think you're doing, human? Do you know who I am? I am Atlas Flame, and I will be the cause of your destruction!," it roared.
Balancing himself on its neck, he brought the axe up.
"Oh yeah? Do you know who I am? I'm Natsu Dragneel, and if I'm goin' down I'm taking you with me!"
With that, he brought the axe down onto the dragon's head, burying itself deep into its crown. Its head shook side to side, as if trying to get Natsu off one last time, but it proved how dedicated he was by hanging on . . . even though he was shouting the entire time.
The dragon screeched, and with one last roar it fell limp, causing Natsu to fall off. He landed on the solid floor in front of the soldiers, and only got up when he noticed the dragon shimmering a bright yellow. He honestly hadn't expected a small attack like that to bring down such a large creature.
Bringing his eyebrows together in confusion, he walked closer to it, receiving a "a real man knows when to leave things alone!," from Elfman.
Atlas Flame was definitely shimmering, streaks of light coming out and shooting itself into Natsu's body, causing a jolt. It was painful, to say the least, feeling like a bunch of small needles were pricking him all at once, but through the pain he saw the dragon disappearing, and with the last streak of light going into him all that was left behind were the dragon's bones and the battleaxe.
Natsu knew what this feeling was. He felt it whenever Happy took out his wings and flew; This was magic power. And it was inside of him, flowing through his veins and throughout his entire body. "Holy shit," he muttered.
The soldiers formed a crowd around him, whispering to each other, but Natsu could still hear them.
"So the legends are true, then . . ."
"But they haven't been around for 400 years . . ."
"I can't believe we just saw that with our own eyes . . ."
"Saw what with your own eyes?," Natsu questioned, glaring at the crowd, "and why are you all around me?"
He was annoyed at the fact that he didn't know what the hell was going on, and closed his hands into fists'. This startled them, for some reason, all of them backing up and making a larger circle so they weren't close to him.
"Hey! What's the big deal? I . . ."
His eyes were drawn to his fists', which were ablaze with fire, but it wasn't hurting him in the slightest. Instead of being scared, Natsu was way more fascinated, bringing them up to his face to inspect.
Elfman pushed through, coming to a stop just a few feet in front of him. "Now that's manly!"
Confused, Natsu looked up at him. "What's happening to my hands?"
"What, you've never heard of the legends?"
"What legends?"
"I can't explain it well enough; Only a real man could. Go see Jarl Makarov up in Magnolia at the College of Fairy Tail. He'll tell you all you need to know. But you might want to put on some more clothes. If there's anything I know about that man, it's that presentation matters most. As it should for most men!"
The fire dissipated around his hands, as if it knew that he was going to be around a lot of people, then he turned around and ran for the small town.
First, he was gonna change.
Second, he was gonna receive the Jewels the mayor promised him.
Then, he would make his way to Magnolia for answers.
o0o
Helloooooo again! I'm trying to make each chapter at least 3400 words and this one was about . . . less than 10 words short. Oh well! also I apologize for the sucky fight scene. I've wrote many fanfictions but none have starred a character as extreme as Natsu. I suppose it'll help me in the future and give me some experience! thank you for reading! :~)