"What do you mean I can't bring lethal materials in this restaurant?"-Ralec
"Where should we fight?" Mason looked around nonchalant.
"Outside!" Cameron piped up for him. "We want Master to come home to the guild hall in one piece."
"Outside it is. Let's go, Happy." Natsu nodded towards his own exceed. "Happy?"
"Uh-huh?" Happy's eyes were replaced by pulsing hearts and his tongue had fallen out of his mouth. His exaggerated gaze was centered on a certain female exceed.
"Pay attention!" Natsu snapped, grabbing his cheek and shaking him by it. "Remember, that girl is the enemy!"
"Natsu, no fair!" Happy whined. "Can I at least say hi?"
"Later." He answered firmly, strolling out of the guild hall.
"Mason?" Someone interrupted the second mage as he walked out. He turned to the speaker, Crystal, who was smiling at him. "Take it easy on him, okay? Show Fairy Tail we are powerful, but don't send him home crying."
"It's one or the other." Mason winked at Crystal before jogging out of the guild hall with his exceed on his shoulder.
"You'll win, right Mason-sama?" The gray exceed looked to him, slightly worried.
"Don't worry Katie." Mason raised finger to her chin and scratched under it, making her involuntarily raise it like a wolf howling. "It's Natsu; he couldn't get serious if he wanted to."
#
"Are you ready?" Natsu smiled, his hands still alit from the guild.
"Yup." Mason answered simply.
"Are you sure?" Natsu frowned, for Mason did not look ready. He was leaning to one side with both hands in his pockets.
"So..." Happy made strained conversation with Katie on the sidelines. "Your partner's pretty good?" He scratched his foot against the rough ground with his paws tucked behind his back.
"He's the best!" Katie said excitedly, and Happy beamed. He was glad to have a conversation, no matter how meager, with a female exceed after his regular rejection from Carla.
"Yes I'm sure Natsu, just get on with it." Mason huffed, if anything he leaned into a more comfortable position.
"FAIRY TAIL!" Natsu cried, rushing forward. He pushed his head down to his waist level and shot across the ground with both fists held behind him. Mason made no move to react, gazing into mid-air as Natsu rushed at him.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Natsu announced, gripping a fist and favoring it over the other, holding it slightly more forward. When he reached Mason, he slammed a foot down and swung forward with incredible amounts of momentum.
The flaming fist slammed into the bottom of Mason's boot, which he slowly cushioned the weight by bending his knee. Natsu went into a complete standstill, his momentum stolen.
"You pack a mighty punch, Fairy." Mason snickered before straightening his knee and pushing Natsu's fist back.
"How did he do that!?" Happy demanded. "That was Natsu's signature move!"
"Mason-sama is a Gravity Dragon Slayer; he can control gravity like Natsu controls fire." Katie explained. She did not look at Happy when she spoke, too enthralled in the fight to answer. Natsu was now attempting to land a strike on Mason by repeatedly jabbing at him with either fist, but Mason would move his foot quickly and block it using only his sole. "He probably nonupled the gravity around him, making him weigh well over a thousand pounds, and nearly impossible to budge!"
"Aye... sir." Happy answered, his jaw dropped from the explanation.
"C'mon Natsu!" Mason urged, smiling. He repeatedly gave up ground with each foot-block, making Natsu step forward with every renewed punch. "Show me what you've got!"
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fists!" Natsu yelled, bringing back both fists and sending them forward together. Each was subsequently blocked.
Natsu looked up in confusion and found Mason's feet each blocking one of his fists. The Gravity Mage was grinning, floating in the air as if sitting in an invisible chair. He finally brought out his hands, which hadn't left his pockets yet, put them together into a ball and slammed them down on Natsu's defenceless head, making him eat dirt.
"He can also increase gravity on specific parts of his body, like that, to give them extra power, but it only works if the attack is at a downwards angle. The steeper, the better." Katie explained, but Happy was too entranced to hear it.
"This is all new to me..." Natsu mumbled, spitting out dust from his mouth and stumbling to his feet. Mason watched, having backed away to give him room to stand again. "But that doesn't mean there's a chance in hell of me giving up!"
"I wouldn't expect anything else!" Mason smiled, getting into a fighting pose for the first time today.
"Fire Dragon's Claw!" Natsu leapt into the air with a foot held forward, making a steady stream of fire trailing behind the arc he was creating.
"Gravity Dragon's Force Sphere!" Mason cast his first spell, but surprised Natsu by doubling over. He was casting some kind of magic; for light was spilling out from his sides. Natsu continued his in-air kick, inches away from hitting Mason when he shot up and shoved a bright green ball of energy in front of Natsu's foot. Natsu's foot landed on it, causing an explosion to rocket him out of the air.
Natsu was thrown back, slamming into the ground and skipping, and then landing once again and dragging to a halt. Through squinted eyes, he saw only a cloud of dust where Mason once stood. It was swept away suddenly, as if a strong wind had picked up, and Mason stood exactly where he was previously, his hands still held out.
"And that was?" Happy looked to Katie for yet another explanation. She gave him one, but not after a sigh of annoyance.
"Mason-sama can manipulate gravity into energy and use it for offensive purposes. It still radiates gravity, and has a negative effect on things it contacts with. For example, if you were to throw a rock at that energy, it would bounce off. Gravity magic doesn't have attacks as directly physical as something like Fire Magic, so Mason-sama needs to be creative."
"That was a sneaky ass move!" Natsu got to his feet easily, cracking his neck once before advancing on his target.
"That had the force equal to the gravity of a house; I admire your durability, Natsu." Mason said sincerely, but that didn't slow Natsu.
"Fire Dragon Slayer's..." Natsu's cheeks puffed out suddenly and he held two hands in front of his mouth. "ROAR!" A swirling, intense vortex of fire trumpeted out and billowed towards Mason in a sound that truly was a roar.
Mason raised both of his hands in the air, and then threw them down and willed gravity to reverse on him while slamming a burst of force against the ground to speed his ascent. Thus, he hovered inches above the billowing pillar of Natsu's fire. To find stability for his next attack, Mason quickly found the ground several meters left of Natsu's spell.
"Gravity Dragon's Roar!" Mason tilted back his head, staggered his feet, then moved back his arms and threw his neck forward. He uttered a guttural cry, veins in his neck sticking out like rubber stretched over rope. From his mouth came a thick beam of green energy going straight for Natsu. The air around the laser-like beam seemed to wobble and ripple, as if getting bad reception. It was actually due to the level of which the energy was charged with gravity. Luckily Natsu had already ended his own spell, and had time to scurry under the bright beam which slammed into the ground. Again, dust kicked up and obscured the view and forced both parties to wait for it to part. When it did, a huge crater was revealed in the ground, large enough to fit a wagon in and hide it from ground-level sight.
"Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" Once Natsu was firmly on the ground, he wasted no time in throwing up his hands and gathering a huge, bright ball of fire, shining like a star brought down to earth. He held it behind him for the extra momentum, and then hurled it forward.
"Gravity Dragon's Force Sphere!" Mason, in response, rapidly made a smaller, more hurriedly done version of his past spell and hurled it directly at Natsu's spell, where both of the exploded in a bright, smoking mushroom cloud.
Both slayers did not make a move to attack. They did, however, make a different movement.
They both walked forward as they burst out laughing.
"Your agility is amazing! You use your magic in such unique ways; I couldn't hope to ever predict them!" Natsu complimented, high-fiving Mason as they reached each other.
"Your magic has incredible power, Natsu! Its raw strength baffled me!" Mason clutched the hand and they stood for a moment.
Both slayers then seemed to lose their energy, both of their heads dropped and they let go of each other's hands.
"Not bad, for a fairy." Mason huffed, crossing his arms so his guild mark disappeared.
"You're in a new guild, but I guess you're not terrible." Natsu crossed his arms too, and they both turned away from each other.
"Humans are so weird..." Happy did an awkward sweat drop. "I thought they were friends and now they are acting like they hate each other."
"Happy!" Natsu snapped.
"Kat!" Mason snapped also. In unison, they jerked their heads away from the exceeds. Both reluctantly walked over to their masters.
"Let's get a bowl of soup from Crystal." Mason smiled slowly, holding out his finger low to the ground. With a grin and a cute noise, Kat leapt up and latched onto his pointer finger. He lifted her up and slung her over his shoulder, where she landed. She held on tight to him as he ran inside.
As soon as he sat down to get something to eat, Ralec was on him like flies on honey.
"So, I heard you let that Natsu fool beat you." Ralec snickered, his face hovering over Mason's shoulder.
"It was a draw..." Mason clenched his teeth and took a forceful gulp of his drink.
"Even so, Natsu's an idiot. Have you seen the guy?" Ralec chuckled, slow and deliberate. "If you have half the brains I do, you could have beaten him with one hit."
"Leave Mason-sama alone!" Katherine had activated her wings and was hovering slightly behind Mason, about seven feet in the air.
"Stay out of this, Cat." Ralec snorted. Immediately, Katherine's eyes glowed pure white and a fire engulfed her entire body.
"THAT BETTER HAVE BEEN WITH A C BUCKO BECAUSE ONLY MASON-SAMA GET'S TO CALL ME KAT AND EVEN SO I'M AN EXCEED NOT A CAT YOU IDIOT!"
"What's your deal, man?!" Mason sprung out of his chair with rage, for he wouldn't let anyone disrespect his best friend, slamming his forehead into Ralec's. He braced himself against the bar with a staggered foot and his fists were balled.
A smile spread on Ralec's face, and he slowly let out a low breath. It came out as a barely opaque, acid green cloud that engulfed Mason's face.
"Dude-!" Mason clutched his throat and his face turned purple, unable to breathe. He slumped off his chair and rolled helplessly on the floor.
"Oh deary me, I forgot that my breath was poison." Ralec chuckled, although he had purposefully compressed his breath into a more potent version. He spit aimlessly on the floor, where the acid green wad sizzled and dug into the wood. A frying pan came out of nowhere and gave him a mean right hook.
"Ralec, I clean this floor! Plus I've told you to stop doing that!" Crystal growled. The task must have been important to her, because she took the time to pick up the frying pan herself and smack him with it as opposed to simply doing it telekinetically. She set the frying pan, which now sported a mold of Ralec's surprised face, on the counter and returned to her previous escapade. More than twenty common kitchen items rose around her and began to get to work.
Ralec shot up in anger. His head still bore the rising lump of the hit, but now it was near steaming in frustration.
"Crystal! You hit me!" Ralec's fists flexed and slacked rapidly as his short fuse dwindled. He raised one ever so slightly and he was instantly hit in the face with a flying Gravity Dragon's Iron Punch, which sent him flying across the room, tumbling through tables and chairs until he stopped.
"Why you-!" Ralec stumbled to his feet and his hands began to glow with an acid green cloud. "Toxic Leap!" Ralec cast, shooting forward with a trail of the said green cloud. He pulled back both fists and struck Mason atop the head with them, sending him through the bar and into a washed pile of pots and pans.
When Dante saw this, he got up and held out a blue deck of cards, activating the holder type magic. "Diamond Drive!" Dante yelled, sending five cards varying in value at Ralec. They shone bright blue halfway through their course, and then the glow expanded to form a foot-long diamond aura around the cards, although they varied in size, which struck Ralec a mighty blow.
Before Dante could pull out another card, he was hit in the face by a large whip that was essentially an elongated tribal armband tattoo, wielded by Karu from across the room.
With that hit, all hell broke loose.
Sandra initiated the conflict by sending an array of glacial blue ice lances at everyone around her. Smiling as he sensed the conflict arising, Arbaham rose and spun his silver staff, making a blinding white light that sent most stumbling. This turned Dante on Abraham and they danced around each other in combat, silver staff versus blue cards. Mason was still grappling with Ralec while Crystal fended off Karu's advances on Mason with various kitchen appliances. Enzin, dressed in a ninja getup reminiscent of Naruto, head plate and all, hurled an oversized Shurikan which struck Crystal across the forehead.
"ENZIN!" She snapped, glaring at him with fury.
"Crystal-chan, a shinobi must never lose focus focus of their enemy, no matter their gender or scariness.-senshi" Enzin answered, lowering himself into what looked like Skyrim's stealth mode and walking through the middle of the guild in plain view. "No one can see me now.-senshi" Enzin chuckled to himself.
Katie and Cameron swooped into the battle, sending powerful blasts of light energy at everyone and furiously tapping on people's heads with their paws, respectively.
A single note broke through the entire guild, and everyone froze as the song began. Ralec was holding Mason up by the throat, his fist poised for a punch. Enzin was halfway through pick pocketing Cameron of his back-pocket hair gel, while the blonde mage was stopped in the motion of grabbing him by the scruff of his neck. Karu and Crystal each held either black-colored magic or a multitude of forks in mid air, the music stopping them from moving to attack each other.
The notes continued, and everyone recognized it as the classic Christmas carol, Deck The Halls. Its source was a cheesy-looking holiday themed clock, the only clock in the whole guild. Along with telling the time, the image of a Christmas tree was present on its face. The time it told was exactly four in the afternoon, one of the twelve times it played a random Christmas carol in a day. It was an unwritten rule of the guild that everyone in the building pauses for the duration of the entire song. It was set in place by the master, saying "It is the only peace and quiet the place gets during a day".
As the last note was played of the first verse, about thirty seconds after it started, the song ended and the guild was silent, for a moment. The world came alive again, Ralec punched Mason across the room, Enzin pulled the hair gel out of Cameron's pocket and Cameron roundhouse kicked him for it, Karu struck Crystal with a tattoo while he suffered a fork to the forehead.