Well, after a response consisting of 1 review and about 3 or 4 favorites and follows within the first 72 hours, I felt motivated enough to finish editing through chapter 2. Plus, I had an eight-hour plane ride to kill, so yeah. I had to do something. And I think it was the first 72 hours. Time differences confuse me.

But, like, seriously? I know it's not a whole lot, but 2 favorites + follows in the first 24 hours especially when it's a crossover of a fandom that (unfortunately) isn't that well-known? That just… I don't even—It just made me go 'yay!'

Well, it made me go 'yay!' so much that, instead of a few weeks, here's the second chapter after a few days.

Disclaimer: I don't own Danganronpa or Fairy Tail. However, I own my own characters (or character, considering there's only Maya, but meh.)

Chapter 2: Fire Dragon, Monkey, and Bull

The rest of their time spent in Hargeon was hectic, to put it lightly. Lucy insisted on going back to her hotel room in order to pick up some of her belongings, and so the two Dragon Slayers found themselves keeping watch outside of a small building for about twenty minutes—only after losing the massive army of soldiers, of course. Even then, they had a few close calls, Happy and Maya's quick distractions being the one thing keeping them from being discovered.

The fact that the army also had the train station surrounded meant that the group had to sneak out of the town the way Makoto had come in just that morning. Natsu seemed unusually pleased with the entire situation, which Makoto could only chalk up to the fact that he probably had a few screws loose.

A few days and nights of walking and camping in forests later, they finally reached the large city of Magnolia, the location of the Fairy Tail guild hall. The minute Natsu and Happy entered the city, they grinned and exchanged a high-five, smiling and greeting practically everyone they came across. The locals waved back less enthusiastically but still politely, and it felt like such interactions were the norm to Makoto.

("Natsu does seem like one of those people who gets on with everyone,") he thought to himself, watching as Happy received a pat on the head from a woman they passed by. Seeing the gesture, Maya zoomed from Makoto's head to the woman, practically begging to be pet as well. The tabby let out a loud purr as the woman complied, shouting a thank you and flying back to sit on Makoto's head once again.

Eventually, Natsu led them to a huge two-story building and stopped in front of it. The building—labeled as the Fairy Tail guild hall by a large wooden sign hanging above the entranceway—was located right at the farthest end of town, right in front of the glittering lake that stretched beyond the horizon. Displayed proudly above the 'Fairy Tail' sign was a bright orange flag, the same design on it in white that Natsu had stamped on his shoulder and Happy on his back. Obviously, it was none other than the guild mark of Fairy Tail.

"Wowww…" Maya breathed in amazement. Lucy let out a laugh of delight. Even Makoto was left speechless at the sheer size of the place. The reality of the situation sunk in; after days of travel, they had finally made it.

Natsu, in an overdramatic fashion, kicked down the door and declared, "We made it back alive!" as Happy cried from behind him, "We're home!"

If Makoto thought the outside was impressive, it didn't begin to compare to the volume of the inside. The guild hall was easily as large as the gym from Hope's Peak, with dozens upon dozens of tables and chairs and benches spread across the room. A large amount of the chairs were filled with people—wizards of Fairy Tail, specifically—chatting and drinking and generally having a good time. A bar was built into the back wall, with stools for people to sit on. There was also a second floor with stairs on either side of the bar leading up to a balcony, but it was empty and abandoned up there compared to the rest of the hall. At Natsu's arrival, plenty of people turned to greet him cheerfully.

One person in particular called out, "So I heard you went all out in Hargeon, Natsu! Had to go and start troub—"

He was cut off when Natsu launched himself at him and kicked him right in the face, causing him to crash into a table.

"Why did you do that?!" Lucy yelled at him in surprise. Makoto was still dumbstruck from the guild hall, too shocked from it to form any words, let alone question the Dragon Slayer's actions.

"You lied about that Salamander!" Natsu raged. "I'm gonna kick your butt!"

The guy got up from the wreckage of wood and yelled, "Don't get mad at me; I'm not the one to blame here! I just passed along a rumor I heard!"

"It was just a rumor?!"

"You wanna fight?!"

"Let's go!"

In the span of twenty seconds, what had previously been a calm and casual environment quickly descended into an all-out chaotic brawl. Tables were tossed, chairs were sent flying, and somehow everyone in the guild hall managed to get dragged into participating.

"Now, now, Natsu," Happy said, trying to placate his friend over the noise. "I think you need to calm do—AHHH!" The cat broke off yelling as someone crashed into him and sent him flying across the guild hall.

"Oh wow…" Lucy breathed happily, seemingly oblivious to the chaos around her. "I'm actually standing inside the Fairy Tail guild hall!"

"I'm beginning to think this is more of a fight club than a work place…" Makoto admitted, still surprised from the sudden shift in mood and atmosphere.

"Yup yup!" Maya agreed from her perch on Makoto's head.

One of the guys in the hall—with black hair and a chain necklace with a sword on it—turned around and said, "So Natsu finally made it back, huh?!" Lucy squeaked at his appearance and Makoto felt his face turn as red as a tomato.

He was pretty much naked besides his boxers.

Makoto shoved his hands up in front of Maya's eyes in an attempt to protect her from the sight. The nude man marched up to the section of the brawl where Natsu was fighting and growled, "It's time we settled things once and for all!"

A brunette who seemed to be wearing little more than the guy was sat at a nearby table. The drink swirled in her glass as she prompted, "Gray. Your clothes?"

"I don't have time for that!" he yelled as he faced her. The woman turned her head away in response and sighed, "I don't date the men here cause they have no class." Lucy and Makoto gaped as they watched her place down her glass and guzzle a whole barrel of what was probably some kind of alcohol.

"Come here and fight me, Natsu!" the naked guy, Gray, shouted at Natsu, who was still wrestling with the guy he'd attacked earlier.

"Not until you put some clothes on!" he shouted back.

"It's only noon and you boys are whining like spoiled babies," a man's voice accused. Makoto turned to see a giant man with white hair towering over pretty much everyone else at the guild. "I'm a real man; want me to prove it to ya?!"

"I can't believe he's encouraging them…" Lucy sighed.

Makoto buried his face in his hands. "I can't believe I agreed to come here."

Natsu and Gray simultaneously turned to the massive man and punched him, lifting him into the air and sending him crashing down into some furniture halfway across the room. Lucy and Makoto were, once again, left to gape at the actions of the Fairy Tail wizards.

"Geez, it's so noisy around here, huh?" They both turned to see an orange-haired man wearing sunglasses who wasn't partaking in the guildwide brawl. Instead, he was lounging on a bench with two women cuddling with him.

"At least someone's normal and not getting involved," Lucy remarked.

All of a sudden, a stray glass flew through the air and struck the man on the forehead. He flinched from the unexpected occurrence and rubbed his forehead. "Are you all right?" one of the girls inquired worriedly.

"I'm going to go fight," he professed as he stood up. "But only to protect you two."

"Good luck, Loke!" the two girls wished as he leapt into the fray. Makoto scratched his head from the sidelines.

"This is… um…" He struggled to find the best word to describe everything he'd seen so far. "Chaotic…"

"Yup yup," Maya agreed, having taken shelter in his hood. "But this place sure looks like fun, right? It's like they're having a massive party! Ooh, it'd be cool if it was like this every day, don't ya think?"

Makoto sweatdropped at the comment. "Every day would be pushing it a little."

"What the heck is wrong with these people?" Lucy questioned, looking at the brawling people around her. "There's not one sane person in the whole place!"

"Hello!" a woman's voice came from behind them. "Are you new here?" They turned to face the new person. She had long white hair, her fringe tied up in a small ponytail, and was wearing a red dress while balancing a few mugs on a platter.

"It's Mirajane! In the flesh!" Lucy freaked out. Makoto stared at the shrieking blonde, wondering whether or not to consider her sane as well. The woman, Mirajane, smiled warmly back at them.

Makoto cleared his throat, considering that Lucy was still fangirling over Mirajane, and pointed to the fights occurring throughout the room. "Shouldn't we, you know, stop them or something?"

"Oh, it's always like this around here," Mirajane informed them. "I'd just leave them alone. Besides—"

She was cut off as the giant white-haired man from before stumbled backwards in her general direction, collapsing on top of her.

"It's kinda fun, don't you think?" Mirajane struggled to say before she passed out. Lucy began freaking out over her and thus failed to notice Gray crash into her from behind. Makoto looked over and immediately moved to cover Maya's eyes once he noticed that Natsu was spinning Gray's boxers on his finger. He didn't know why, but something about the little cat seemed too innocent to be seeing something like that. Maybe it was because she'd told him that she was only born six years ago.

"Give me back my underwear, jerk!" Gray screamed at Natsu, mostly unconcerned with the fact that his, um, man parts were out in the open for all to see.

Lucy covered her eyes and screamed as Gray walked up to her and said, "Excuse me, miss. May I please borrow your underwear?"

She reacted in an understandable manner as she grabbed the closest possible weapon, which happened to be a chair, and slammed him with it. "As if!"

Lucy yelped as Loke picked her up bridal style and said, "These guys are all so insensitive. A woman has needs—"

He was interrupted as the giant man punched him, causing him to drop Lucy on the hard wooden ground. "Real men speak with their fists, Loke!"

Natsu came out of nowhere and kicked him away easily. "I told you to butt out!"

"Aye…" Happy said weakly.

The woman at the bar sighed as she put down her mug of beer. "It's so loud; so much for having a drink to relax." She glared at everyone fighting in the hall. "That's enough you guys. I suggest that you knock it off." She took out a card—an action that Makoto would ordinarily find bizarre, until a magic circle appeared in front of her.

Gray pounded his right fist into his open palm and a blue mist appeared around them as well as a blue magic circle. "Oh yeah? Says who?!"

The giant man simply yelled as he held his arm up to the roof, a magic circle passing over his right arm and turning it to stone.

"You guys can be such a nuisance," Loke growled, playing with one of the rings on his fingers and proving that they weren't just for show as another magic circle appeared.

Natsu's hands became surrounded by flames again and he crouched in anticipation, a grin present on his face. "I'm ready for ya!"

"They always fight like this?" Lucy questioned as she held onto Happy as if he were some sort of shield. "Uh huh!" he nodded.

"You don't seem worried…" Makoto noted as he looked uncomfortably between the fights. He would've liked to try and stop the fights; however, the past experience of being knocked out on the first day of Hope's Peak had taught him well. Besides, he wasn't sure how well he would stand up to everyone's magic, now that they were being used, and he didn't really want to find out.

A loud and heavy stomp caught their attention and they turned to see a massive form of a man standing behind them, yelling, "Would you fools stop bickering like children?!" Forget the white-haired giant; this guy was barely able to stand under the two-story tall roof! His massive height obscured most of his features in shadow, so Makoto couldn't actually make out any details about him.

All Lucy seemed to be able to do in her state of shock was point out the obvious, "He's huge!" With the appearance of the massive man, the entire guild hall fell into silence, freezing where they stood. A few were frozen in the process of throwing or punching another person, but nobody moved an inch.

"I'm sorry," Mirajane spoke up, having apparently recovered from her previous ordeal. "I didn't know you were still here, Master."

"Did you say 'Master'?!" Lucy, Makoto and Maya all cried out in shock. Everyone else was silent and still.

Except for, of course, Natsu.

"Hahaha! Man, talk about a bunch of babies!" he taunted, seemingly ignorant to the colossal man. "Looks like I won this round, you ba—Blehhh!" He was interrupted as the massive easily squashed him beneath his foot. Lucy yelped.

The massive man turned towards the newcomers standing by Mirajane. "Looks like we've got some new recruits."

"Yes sir!" Lucy answered immediately.

"Uh… Yeah…" Makoto answered more uncertainly and hesitantly, considering the kind of crowd he was apparently getting involved in. The master yelled abruptly as he let off lots of power, Makoto and Lucy frozen as they waited for what would happen next. What neither of them was expecting was for the shadowy form to shrink until he was barely over a meter tall, revealing a small old man wearing a white tshirt with the Fairy Tail emblem on it, an orange jacket over it, orange pants, brown boots with pointy toes, and an odd orange-and-blue striped jester hat.

"Nice to meet ya!" he casually greeted, raising one hand. The other one held onto a thick looking roll of paper.

"He's really small…." Makoto couldn't help but blurt.

"This little guy is really in charge here?!" Lucy questioned.

Mirajane laughed, "Of course he is! Let me introduce the Fairy Tail guildmaster, Makarov!" Makarov turned and jumped, attempting to land on top of the second floor railing, but only managing to clip his head on the edge. He grumbled and rubbed his head as he regained his footing and stood looking down at everyone in the hall.

"You've gone and done it again, you bunch of clots!" he scolded, holding up the sheet of papers. "Just take a look at all the paperwork the Magic Council has sent me this time! This is the biggest pile of complaints yet!"

Making a mental note to ask Maya later what the Magic Council was, Makoto nudged Lucy and whispered, "You could've mentioned that Fairy Tail had a track record of getting complaints."

"I thought you knew already," she whispered back. "Besides, this is the guild that Natsu is part of, and you saw what he did back at Hargeon."

Makoto whimpered, "I thought that was a one-time thing…"

"Have you lost your minds?!" Makarov continued angrily. "All you kids are good for is getting the higher ups mad at me!" Most of the groups in the guild hall looked down ashamedly, and Makarov continued to shake with anger.

"However…"

With that one word, the entire mood of the lecture seemed to change. "I say to heck with the Magic Council!" Makarov announced as he lit the pile of papers on fire and tossed them to the side, where Natsu eagerly devoured the flames.

"Now listen up. Any power that surpasses reason still comes from reason, right? Magic isn't some kind of miraculous power," Makarov lectured. "It is a talent that only works when the flow of energy inside of us and the flow of energy in the natural world are in perfect synchronization."

As Makarov spoke, Makoto felt like he understood more about how these wizards felt about their magic. "To perform magic, one must have a strong mind and the ability to focus. It should take over your being and come pouring out of your soul."

Makarov held out his hand in front of him as he continued, nothing short of a divine intervention enough to stop his motivational speech. "If all we do is worry about following rules, then our magic will never progress. Don't let those blowhards on the council scare you! Follow the path you believe in!" Lucy and Mirajane smiled at each other. Makoto reached up to pat Maya's head, who had come to sit on his shoulder.

Makarov let out a large grin as he yelled, "Cause that's what makes the Fairy Tail guild number one!" Everyone else started cheering as they held their hands up to the sky, backs of their hands facing forwards with their fingers and thumbs pointing out in an 'L' shape, following the example of Makarov, who also had his hand up.

Makoto grinned at the enthusiastic atmosphere and the excitement building up within him. "This is one heck of a first impression."

Makoto watched as Mirajane—or Mira, as she'd insisted she'd be called—pressed the small stamp against his left arm, pulling away after a moment, leaving a dark green Fairy Tail mark in the middle of his upper arm. He beamed and looked happily at the mark before pulling on his hoodie again, turning to the barmaid and saying, "Thanks, Mira!"

"No problem!" she smiled sweetly. "Now you're a full member of Fairy Tail!"

"Me next, me next!" Maya cried, scrambling up onto the bar and turning so that her back was facing Mira.

She laughed. "I guess you want it on your back like Happy?"

"Yup yup!" Maya nodded. "And make it… Hmm…" She glanced around for a moment, searching for inspiration, before her eyes landed on Makoto and looked him over for a few moments. She continued to stare at him, which began to unnerve him, until she broke out into a smile and declared, "Make it orange!"

"Done," Mira nodded, and pressed the stamp to her back. Only a moment later, the talking cat had an orange Fairy Tail emblem blazing on her back. Makoto thought that the color scheme of dark blue and pink sort of clashed with orange a bit, but it worked somehow. Besides, the combination was loud and exciting, just like the owner of said scheme.

"So why'd you pick orange?" Makoto asked.

Maya turned to smile at him and replied, "Cause, silly, orange is such an optimistic color!" Makoto opened his mouth to say something in response, but decided it was better not to question Maya's random-but-accurate observation and simply smiled in response.

Lucy had been over by the request board with Natsu, showing off her brand new pink Fairy Tail emblem on her right hand. Now she was sat at the bar, ordering a drink from Mira as Natsu suddenly exclaimed from the board, "Whoa, 160,000 jewel to get rid of some thieves?!"

"Sounds good to me!" came Happy's jovial response. Makoto picked a seat at the bar next to Lucy, Maya cheerfully jumping on the bar between them. He was about to ask Mira for a drink of his own when he overheard a question from beside him.

"How come my dad hasn't come back yet?" a young boy asked Makarov, who was seated on top of the long bar counter. He chugged some beer before responding to the boy.

"You're starting to work my nerves, Romeo," he mumbled around his mug. "You're a wizard's son; have faith in your father and wait patiently for him."

"But sir!" the child insisted. "He told me he'd be back in three days! And he's been gone for over a week now!"

"If I remember correctly, he took the job on Mount Hakobe," he recalled.

"That's right, and it's not far from here, so why won't somebody go look for him?!" the boy persisted.

"Listen kid, your old man's a wizard!" Makarov raised his voice slightly. "And like every other wizard in this guild, he can take care of himself! Now go home, have some milk and cookies, and wait!"

Romeo's fist tightened and he lashed out at Makarov, nearly knocking him off of the table. "I hate you all!" he cried as he ran from the guild, eyes most likely filled with tears.

"Poor kid," Makoto sympathized.

"That's gotta be tough…" Lucy added.

"I know it doesn't sound like the Master doesn't care," Mira said from behind the bar. "But he really is worried."

The end of her sentence was accompanied by the sound of wood being crushed. One of the other members, Nab, yelled, "What do you think you're doing? You almost broke the board Natsu!"

Makoto and Lucy turned to see Natsu walking away from the request board with Happy. It was damaged with a fist-sized dent right in the middle.

Nab walked over to Makarov while Natsu exited the guild hall. "This doesn't look good, Master. You know how he can be. I bet he's going up to Mount Hakobe to save Macao."

"When is that kid ever going to grow up?" the guy that had told Natsu about the Salamander rumor groaned.

"Who knows?" Nab sighed in response. "Going after Macao isn't going to do anything except hurt his pride."

Makarov finally opened his mouth and said, "Remember Nab, we can't choose another's path. Just leave him be."

Makoto turned to Mira and asked, "Why did Natsu react like that?"

"Probably because he and Romeo have a lot in common," was the reply. "I think he sees himself in Romeo. Just because we're members of Fairy Tail, it doesn't mean we don't have our own personal issues. We've all had our fair share of suffering and loss." Somehow, from her tone of voice, Makoto got the feeling that Mira was also speaking from personal experience.

("Well, I've certainly joined an interesting guild,") Makoto thought as he watched Mira return to work and the rest of the guild return to their everyday activities. ("And I think I fit the bill when it comes to 'suffering and loss', unfortunately.") He couldn't help glancing over towards an ever-cheerful Maya, named in memory of a once-close friend of his. Seeing her continue to act happy brought a smile to his face.

Coming to a decision, he stood up and held Lucy's shoulder, causing the blonde to turn towards him. "How about we give Natsu and Happy a hand?" Makoto suggested.

"Yup yup!" Maya cheered, all for the idea.

Lucy nodded as she stood up as well. "Sounds like fun!"

"Why'd you come with us…?"

"We thought maybe we could help."

Lucy watched as Natsu laid sprawled out on one of the seats in the wagon, an agonized look on his face as sweat covered almost every inch of his body. "Wow, you really do have a serious case of motion sickness, don't you? It's just another reason to feel sorry for you…"

"What's that supposed to mean…!" Natsu demanded.

"Ah! Nothing! Forget I said anything!"

Natsu let the issue go as the wagon passed over a bump in the road, making his motion sickness even worse. Lucy got swept up in a memory of what Mira had told her before they left.

…

"Many years ago, Natsu's father left and never came back."

Lucy let out a quiet gasp as Mira continued to sort the bottles on the shelves. "Well, technically it wasn't his real father, but the one who raised him," she backtracked. "He was actually a dragon."

"He was a WHAT?!" Lucy yelled in shock.

Makoto scratched his cheek again with a small smile. "I can't believe you forgot that Natsu already mentioned that a few days ago when we met."

Mira nodded and continued her story. "When he was a little boy, a dragon found him wandering the forest. He took him in and taught him all about language, culture and magic. But one day, the dragon disappeared and never returned."

"So…" Lucy slowly remembered. "That dragon must've been Igneel!"

"That's right," Makoto recalled.

"And Natsu lives for the day he'll finally see Igneel again," Mira added. "It's kinda cute, don't you think?"

…

Lucy was brought back from her memories when the carriage abruptly came to a halt. "I guess we're there," she commented.

"All right!" Natsu cheered. "We've stopped moving!" He started dancing on the seat with Happy as the driver said, "I'm sorry, but this is as far as I can take you."

Lucy blinked as she opened the door to the carriage, revealing the snowy, desolate landscape, with a fierce blizzard blowing through. "Where the heck are we, Natsu?" Lucy asked. Her voice was loud in order to be heard over the sound of the wind. "It's a frozen wasteland!"

"Mount Hakobe…" Makoto finally spoke once the carriage left. "I suppose that's what happens when you get so far up a mountain."

"And what the heck was with you during that trip?" Lucy questioned. "Don't tell me you've got motion sickness too!"

Makoto paled and pushed down at the queasy feeling that surfaced as soon as the vehicle was mentioned. "I don't know. I don't remember ever having motion sickness."

("Please tell me it hasn't come part of the Dragon Slayer package,") Makoto thought as he looked towards the scarfed boy, who looked immensely happier now that he was out of the carriage. ("I was quite happy living my life without the need of a constant barf bag.")

"Are you okay now?" Maya inquired worriedly, as Makoto had been unable to respond in the cart. Makoto smiled and scratched behind her ear.

"Perfectly A-Okay," he assured. The dark blue tabby instantly lit up with a brilliant smile, moving towards the opening in his hoodie before slipping inside, only for her head to reappear at the top of the zip. Makoto pet her head again and then folded his arms to keep her supported as well as keep himself warm.

They started moving up the mountain trail, his feet starting to go cold from the poor insulation his sneakers provided. The snow only worsened everything, wetting his socks and shoes and making his toes go numb. Regardless, he couldn't be more thankful to have both his hoodie and his blazer, which was more than he could say for Lucy and Natsu. Natsu seemed unbothered by the cold, possibly as a side effect to his Fire Dragon Slayer Magic. Lucy, on the other hand…

"Why is it so cold?!" she complained loudly, already beginning to shiver. "I know we're on a mountain but it's summer right now! There shouldn't be a blizzard like this anywhere!"

"That's what you get for wearing light clothing," Natsu retorted, seemingly unsympathetic to Lucy's plight.

"Oh please, you're not dressed for it!" she shot back, tugging at one of the things Natsu had in his bag. "Now hand over that blanket!"

"She just keeps on talking, huh?" Natsu asked aloud.

"Aye."

"Yup yup!"

"Oh, I know!" Lucy's face lit up with an idea as she grabbed one of the silver keys from her keyring. "Open, Gate of the Clock Constellation! Horologium!"

In a burst of magic and the accompanying sound of a doorbell that Makoto was beginning to get used to, a tall grandfather clock with an actual face instead of a clock face and two black arms appeared. Lucy quickly hopped inside, shutting the door behind her.

"A clock! Whoa!" Natsu gasped.

"So cool!" Happy gushed.

"Interesting," Makoto nodded. He was beginning to realize that all of the spirits that Lucy was contracted to were related to the star constellations back in his world. Although he couldn't quite recall a clock constellation…

Lucy said something from inside the clock, but since she was inside and Horologium was apparently soundproof, they couldn't hear a word she said.

"We can't hear you," Natsu said, a little louder than normal.

"She says, "I'm staying in here and I'm not coming out."" Horologium told them.

"Then why'd you tag along?" he wondered.

""What kind of crazy job would force Macao to come to a place like this?" she inquires," Horologium says for her, Lucy clearly avoiding the question.

"You should've asked that before you came with us," Natsu said, evidently growing annoyed at her attitude and crossed his arms. "He went to slay a Vulcan; it's a big monster."

""I want to go back to the guild!" she proclaims," Horologium said.

""Go ahead and be my guest!" I say back," Natsu snarked.

"Aye!" The two carried on ahead and Makoto smiled at the antics. He turned to Lucy and said, "Natsu brought us here to Fairy Tail, so the least we can do is help him out, right?"

""I'm going to regret this, I know it," she sighs," Horologium spoke for her as he started walking after the two. Makoto shook his head and followed afterwards.

"Macao!" Natsu called out into the blizzard. "Where are you?!"

"Macao!" Happy also yelled.

""Be quieter, you two! What if your yelling causes an avalanche?" she scolds," Horologium said.

"What does a Vulcan look like, anyway?" Makoto wondered.

"Never seen one before?" Happy asked.

"I might've done, on my travels," he lied. "I don't know what they were called, though."

"It's a huuuuuge monster!" Happy cried, spreading his arms out as an example.

Makoto sighed. "I meant its appearance…" he specified. He got his answer pretty quickly as a large shadow descended from a cliff above them. It landed in front of them with enough force to send up a huge cloud of snow. When the snow settled, a white gorilla with a black face, hands, chest and legs roared at them.

"That's a big Vulcan!" Happy yelled.

"It's a giant monkey?!" Makoto shouted in surprise. The Vulcan sniffed the air before grinning and grabbing onto Horologium, staring at a creeped out Lucy inside. "Me like human woman!" it said.

Natsu punched his fist into his palm. "So it can talk, huh?"

"I don't think that's the priority, Natsu," Makoto sighed, pointing at how the big ape was currently kidnapping Horologium and Lucy.

""Don't just stand there; hurry up and save me!" she yells furiously," Horologium called as he was carried off by a snickering Vulcan.

"Noooo, we gotta get Lucy back!" Maya cried. She smacked Makoto on the chest from within his hoodie. "Mush, Makoto!"

Makoto hurried to follow after it, Natsu and Happy keeping pace with him. The monkey had vanished into the storm with its tracks quickly disappearing, but the footprints were deep and fresh enough that they could track it to the entrance of a cave. The time they took to traverse the icy cave was significantly shortened by Natsu's dragon nose, and they reached the cavern where the monkey had taken Lucy. Horologium was nowhere in sight, leaving the blonde curled up on the icy floor with only her blanket as protection.

"Hey, ya big ape!" Natsu called out of nowhere, rushing ahead. "Where's Macao?! Tell me!" Predictably, his foot slid out from under him and he ended up slipping and sliding across the ice floor right past the Vulcan. Makoto, despite his better footwear choice and foreknowledge, ended up falling on his back as well and slid into Natsu. He felt too dizzy to even process what Lucy was complaining about.

"Spill it, monkey!" Natsu demanded, even in his upside down position. "Where is my friend?!"

Makoto stood up and helped Natsu to his feet as Lucy rushed over to them and the Vulcan tilted its head. "You understand us, right?" Makoto asked it. At least, he hoped that the monkey could understand them. If it could talk—if very rudimentarily—then it made sense to assume that it could. "He's a human man, so tell us if you know where he is!"

In response, the ape started pointing in a direction while flapping with his other hand. Natsu brightened at the reaction. "Hey, I think he's going to show me!" Natsu hurried over to the hole in the wall, leading back out to the snowstorm, and started yelling for Macao.

("Wait a minute.") Makoto's eyes widened and he hurriedly yelled, "Natsu, wait, I don't think—" He was interrupted when the Vulcan shoved Natsu straight out of the hole and outside again. "…Never mind."

"No like man! Me like woman!" the Vulcan cheered to itself. Makoto was suddenly extremely happy that the ape had overlooked him.

"He can't survive out there!" Lucy cried as she hurried over to the hole to look for signs of Natsu.

"I think we've got bigger things to worry about," Makoto said as he watched the Vulcan pound its fists together and kept chanting, "Woman, woman!" to itself. Lucy shed the blanket, throwing it to the side as she grabbed one of her gate keys.

"All right, you pervy monkey, you're going down!" She held out the golden key she'd chosen and yelled, "Open, Gate of the Golden Bull! Taurus!" What emerged from that particular gate was a bipedal black and white cow that carried a giant twin headed axe.

"Cow?" the Vulcan asked confusedly. Makoto couldn't help but echo the sentiment. ("These spirits sure have strange appearances. I guess it's just because it's related to their constellation.")

"I should warn you, monkey boy, Taurus is the most powerful spirit I have a contract with!" Lucy boasted.

Taurus turned to Lucy and said, "Wow, Miss Lucy, I almost forgot what a nice figure you have. Why don't you come give me a smooooch?"

Makoto shifted his gaze between the spirt and the summoner as Lucy facepalmed. "Oh yeah; he's a big perv, too."

"No touch my woman!" the Vulcan yelled.

That seemed to hit a nerve as Taurus turned to the monkey with a glare in his eyes. "Your woman? Them's fighting words, ya moooonkey!"

"Get him!" Lucy commanded, the bull removing the axe on his back to attack the monkey.

"He's fast!" Makoto warned as the Vulcan quickly dodged his attack and moved in for a strike of its own on Taurus. Taurus brought his axe back to defend himself and—

"HIYAH!"

Promptly got kicked in the face by Natsu, who had made the assumption that he was a monster as well.

("Epic fail…") Makoto commented in his mind as Natsu looked between the cow and the monkey before setting his gaze on the blonde for answers.

"So hey, how come there are more monsters now than when I left?" he inquired.

"He's a friend, dummy! One of my spirits!" Lucy yelled.

"That guy?" Natsu tilted his head as he pointed at the Vulcan, who looked just about as confused as he did.

"No, the bull! Hey, wait a minute, how'd you get back here?" she asked, switching gears pretty quickly.

He smirked in response. "Happy gave me a lift. Thanks buddy!" he gave a thumbs-up to the flying cat.

"Aye!"

Lucy folded her arms and questioned, "So you can't handle other modes of transportation, but flying with Happy is okay?"

"What kind of stupid question is that?" Natsu responded, looking absolutely offended by the question. "Happy isn't a 'mode of transportation', he's my friend! I mean, duh!"

"You're right, it was totally wrong of me to compare the two," Lucy replied deadpanned.

Makoto looked down at the cat who was still huddled in his hoodie. "At least that means I'm okay flying with you," he whispered.

Maya smiled. "Yup yup!"

"MY WOMAN!" the Vulcan screamed out of nowhere, moving to slam Natsu into the ground with his fist, to which the wizard easily stopped the attack with his forearm.

"You listen up! I consider everyone in the Fairy Tail guild my friend!" The Vulcan swung at him with its leg, sending Natsu back quite a distance.

"Whether it's Gramps and Mira, or even those annoying jerks Gray and Elfman!" Natsu continued. The Vulcan galloped over towards him, and Natsu began to glow with the light of his flames. "Happy, Lucy, Makoto and Maya, too. They're all my friends!" Lucy, Makoto and Maya froze at the proclamation, touched that they would be considered friends after a mere few days.

"Which is why…" Natsu growled, his fist lighting up with fire. "I'm not leaving without Macao!" The force of the punch sent the monkey back, as well as causing quite a few icicles to fall from the ceiling. The Vulcan took advantage of the terrain, swinging its arms to create a gust to lift the icicles and use them as an attack. Lucy and Makoto dodged out of the way while Natsu took the attack head on. When the dust cleared, the Vulcan was holding a very familiar piece of equipment.

Taurus' axe.

"That's not good," Natsu summed up.

"He got the cow's axe?" Makoto gaped.

Said cow was still out of it from Natsu's previous attack. "Please be careful, Miss Lucy…"

The Vulcan charged, swinging at Natsu, and he ducked and dodged out of the way of the blade. Unfortunately he slipped on the ice again and fell onto his back, creating an opening for his enemy. Natsu managed to recover in time, but only soon enough to catch the blade between his hands, just barely managing to keep the edge away from himself.

"Go back, Taurus!" Lucy pleaded to the unconscious cow, shaking him back and forth. "If you go back beyond the gate then your axe will disappear too!"

("That shaking isn't going to help with anything…") Makoto glanced back over to where Natsu was struggling. Maybe if he had some better kind of footing, Natsu could push the axe away from him, but all he could manage was stopping it in its descent towards his body. ("And we're running out of time! There's gotta be something I can do…!")

Maya flew out from his hoodie and hovered by him. "Makoto, what are you waiting for, an invitation? Help out!"

"What can I do though…?!" Makoto grabbed his head in frustration. Nothing was coming to mind, damn it! He just needed to think… An idea; anything he could build on!

"Silly Makoto!" Maya admonished him. "Use your magic!"

"My magic…?" Makoto froze. O-Oh yeah… He'd completely forgotten the fact that he could use magic powers now like the others. While it would definitely be useful right now, could he even reproduce what he'd done in the forest? Maybe it was a fluke or something, and he needed a lot more practice before he could pull it off again.

"There's no time to second-guess yourself," Maya argued. "Natsu needs you now!"

Makoto shook his head. Why was he hesitating? His friend needed him and he could provide help. "Right…" He gave a determined nod to his cat and yelled, "Natsu! Get ready to get out of the way!" Natsu glanced his way and gave a small nod before focusing again on keeping the axe away from him.

Makoto exhaled as he tried to prepare himself. "Now's as good a time as any to try it again, I guess." Praying that nothing went wrong, Makoto began the same way he did before, taking in a deep breath. Again, he felt the new, yet familiar sensation of being filled with his magic to an almost overwhelming point. It kept building and building, until he released it all when it reached its peak.

"Earth Dragon's Roar!" Luckily for him, the attack went as well as it had the first time; the dark green magic circle appeared with a dragon design in the middle, just like Natsu's, and a glowing green beam of earth and rocks shot out of his mouth towards the Vulcan. It happened too fast for it to react, and so it received the full brunt of the attack. Natsu rolled away from the danger zone as soon as the weight was off of him.

Inevitably, Makoto ran out of both breath and magic simultaneously. He slumped forward a bit from exhaustion, resting his hands on his knees. He still wasn't used to the fatigue that came with using his magic; it was better than the first time, so he felt he could get better with a bit of practice.

After spending a few moments to catch his breath, he looked up to see the Vulcan unconscious and under a small pile of icy rocks. Makoto let out a sigh of relief, sinking to the ground and letting the cool feeling of the ice soothe him, before being pounced on by an angry, curious Natsu.

"What the hell have you been hiding from me?!" he demanded.

"I-I… Uh…" Makoto stammered. He wasn't prepared for any kind of interrogation at the moment!

Maya squeaked and tried to pull Natsu off of him with his scarf. "He wasn't hiding anything!"

Lucy peeked over and interrupted, "I'm just as surprised as you are, Natsu, but don't we need to solve the matter of the Vulcan and your friend?"

Natsu growled at the reminder and jabbed Makoto in the chest. "You're not getting off the hook so easily." Makoto nodded quickly to show he understood before Natsu climbed off to look at the Vulcan. "Geez, you really did a number on him, though," Natsu laughed.

"Wasn't he supposed to tell us where your friend is, though?" Lucy wondered.

Makoto rubbed his head sheepishly. "Whoops. I guess I was a little preoccupied with getting him off of Natsu."

Maya landed on top of his head. "Well, looks like big Mister Ape Man isn't going to be talking anytime soon. Are we gonna wait here for him to wake up? Or are we gonna take him home with us? Will we have to build some kind of train thing out of logs—"

She was interrupted as a bright golden glow began to emit from the Vulcan's body and everyone shielded their eyes. When the glow died down and they looked at what happened, no one was more surprised than Natsu.

"Macao?!" he yelled. Somehow, the ape had changed into the very person they had climbed the mountain to go looking for.

"That was Macao?" Makoto asked, now feeling somewhat guilty for attacking someone from Fairy Tail.

"You're telling me that big perverted monkey was your friend the whole time?!" Lucy yelled.

"He must've been taken over by that Vulcan," Happy guessed.

There was another phrase casually thrown around that he didn't recognize. "Taken over?" Makoto murmured to Maya. She nodded and explained quickly, "Vulcans are bodysnatchers; they use possession spells on others and steal their bodies so that they can survive."

Natsu grabbed the blanket that Lucy had dumped to the side earlier and, with some help from the blonde, spread it out so that they could rest Macao on it and bandage him up.

"He looks pretty banged up," Makoto noted as Lucy finished wrapping the last of his wounds.

"It probably took a while before that Vulcan could get to him…" Happy commented.

"Macao, don't you die on me!" Natsu shouted at him. "Romeo's waiting for you! Open your eyes!"

They waited in tense silence, hoping for any kind of reaction from the man. As if responding to Natsu's words, Macao's right eye slowly cracked open, the other one too swollen to open up completely. "Natsu…" he muttered. Everyone present sighed in relief.

"I'm so pathetic," the old man continued. "I defeated nineteen of those brutes, but the twentieth… That's the one that got me. I'm so angry with myself; I'm embarrassed to go face Romeo."

"Don't be like that! Come on, man, you beat nineteen monsters!" Natsu encouraged. He held out a hand to help Macao sit up.

("Nineteen giant gorillas all by himself?! Geez, Fairy Tail's wizards are in a whole other league, aren't they?") Makoto laughed mentally to himself. ("I wonder if ordinary Makoto Naegi can keep up with them… Probably not.") A small grin appeared on his face. His hand wrapped around his arm where the Fairy Tail emblem was hidden under his hoodie. ("Although, maybe Makoto the Earth Dragon Slayer can. After all, what am I if not optimistic?")

"Now let's go home," Natsu suggested as he gave Macao a wide, toothy grin. "Your little boy's been waiting for ya."

Unfortunately, since the carriage had left and they couldn't give the driver an approximate time for when they'd be finished, the group of wizards was left to get down the mountain on their own power. Thankfully though, the worst of the storm had blown over, leaving a gentle snowfall behind and making their journey immensely easier.

Makoto and Natsu helped support Macao on their way back down the mountain. Lucy was on guard for any other unexpected attacks with Happy and Maya keeping an eye from the sky. Faster than they expected, they made it to the bottom of the mountain and reached Magnolia by sundown. Natsu led the way through the cobble streets, apparently knowing exactly where Romeo would be moping.

"Hey, Romeo!" Natsu's guess was spot on, as they'd spotted the small six-year-old sitting alone on the stone steps somewhere in Magnolia. Romeo lifted his head at the call and his eyes instantly filled with tears at the sight of his father.

"DAAAD!" he screamed, leaping for the older man and causing him to topple without the support of Natsu or Makoto, who'd moved to the side to allow for a family reunion. "You came back! I'm so sorry, Dad!"

"No, I'm sorry for making you worry," Macao muttered.

"I can handle it! Because I'm a wizard's son!"

"Next time those bullies pick on you, here's what I want you to say: "Can your old man defeat nineteen monsters all by himself? Cause mine can.""

Natsu gave a warm smile as he signaled for his friends to leave the father and son to their reunion. As they were a few meters down the road, Romeo shouted, "Natsu! Happy! Thank for your help!"

"No prob, kiddo!"

"Aye!"

"Lucy! Makoto! Maya!" Romeo continued to scream. "Thanks for helping them bring my daddy back to me!"

They all turned back to give Romeo a big wave before continuing on their way to the guild hall. Makoto stretched slightly and placed his arms behind his head, mindful of Maya's hanging legs and tail. Seeing Romeo reunite with his dad was heartwarming, but it reminded him of his own parents and sister. Even after the whole killing game, he never found out for certain what the fate of his family was.

The memory of the video motive sent a fresh wave of anxiety surging through him. He quashed it instantly. There was no point in dwelling on the matter, especially when he was in a completely different world. Worrying about it would get him nowhere. The best course of action was to do what he could do, which was to find the others first and then figure out how to get back.

"Hey! You still have to tell me what your magic was back in the ice cave!"

"I'll tell you some other time; it's too late now."

"That's crap! Come on, tell me!"

"I'll tell you later at the guild hall, okay?"

Or maybe the first thing he had to do was deal with an inquisitive Dragon Slayer.

Fair warning for future chapters: they won't come out nearly this quickly. Probably. I don't even know.

Anyway, I'm sorry if it so far just seems like I'm putting Makoto into the episodes without him having much impact or unneeded impact or whatever, cause to me it feels like that. Hopefully it'll just be some early-installment weirdness and I'll be able to write some… better stuff later, for lack of a better term.

Uhh… Yeah that's pretty much it. Other than leave reviews, cause that helps me with writing chapters and also lets me know what sort of bits you like.

Keep smiling, readers!