Hi, another chapter here, and on the same day!

Special thanks to my wonderful reviewers:

ThePersonOfNothing

lKL09

Your reviews really made my day, so this chapter is for you.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail in any way. Hiro Mashima is the rightful owner. I do own, however, my OC's

Chapter 1: Just a boring day…, right?

Ryder walked through the streets of Clover town. It was a beautiful day; the sun shone and there wasn't a single cloud drifting in the perfectly blue sky. Ryder had just finished a job he got from an old lady living in this town. The job was simple, too simple for his opinion.

A thief had stolen a very precious object from the lady, it was some kind of small golden statue, and it was Ryder's job to bring it back safely. He had found the thief lurking in the woods in the woods close to the town and even though the man was a wizard, and therefore possessed Magic, he had proven to be no match for a strong and trained wizard such as Ryder.

To be honest the sixteen-year-old boy started to be very annoyed and bored with these kinds of jobs, which were no challenges at all. But because Ryder wasn't part of any guild, he could only receive small jobs such as this one. The payment wasn't bad and enough for him to live from, but it didn't make his life very exiting either. Also, he felt like he had hit a wall with his training; there was no way that such easy enemies could help him advancing his Magic. Ah well…, there's nothing I can do about it, he thought, sighing.

The lady was very pleased with the fact that he had finished the job in such a short time and paid him ten thousand jewels more than the original reward. Ryder had tried to give her the money back, but she wouldn't take it.

"Oh no, my boy, please take it, that's the least I can do after you have done such a wonderful job," she said smiling.

"Well, ma'am, I guess I have no choice but to take it, then. Thank you very much."

"No problem at all, my boy, I should be the one thanking you for bringing my precious statue back to me."

After he had said goodbye to the lady, he resumed exploring Clover town. He was currently sitting on a terrace, spending his freshly earned jewels on a glass of ice-cold lemon juice – oh how he loved that drink – when he overheard a conversation between to men sitting on the table next to him.

"Did you hear?" said the first one to his friend.

"Heard what?" answered the second man, not realising what his friend was getting at.

"About Fairy Tail being the number one guild in Fiore again, come on man it's all over the news, surely you couldn't have missed it!"

"Oh yeah, sure, I've heard. Honestly, though, I didn't think they would win, 'cause they lost so terribly all the previous years. But man, those wizards that showed up from seven years ago, they're awesome!"

Ah, the Grand Magic Games are still the talk of the day, Ryder thought. He himself hadn't really been following the Games, because he wasn't in a guild, he didn't find it very interesting. Still, you couldn't avoid hearing at least something about it since everyone was taking about it non-stop. He had to admit, what Fairy Tail had done was incredible and their rise to the top had been fascinating.

"Yeah man, those wizards are way too powerful. Who's your favourite of them all?"

"I think Natsu Dragneel and that other Dragon Slayer, Gajeel Redfox, are the best of them all. Who do you think is the coolest?"

"I have to admit those Slayers are really something, still though, my favourite is probably Gray Fullbuster."

"I've heard of him, he's that Ice wizard, right?"

"Yes, exactly, I think it's a really remarkable type of Magic. And even though Gray started of a little rough with 'Hide and Seek', in his fight with Saberthooth's Rufus Lore he displayed both astonishing powerful Magic and well-thought-out strategies."

"That's true, but still if …"

The two men continued their conversation, but Ryder wasn't listening anymore, instead he was focused on his own thoughts. Oh yeah, Fairy Tail has a powerful Ice-Make wizard, named Gray. I had forgotten all about him. He is said to be one of the most powerful Ice wizards in all Fiore, and, together with Lyon Vastia, he was an apprentice of the famous Ur. Than an idea came him to mind. Maybe he'll be able to help me evolve my Magic abilities to their next level, I mean after all, he uses the same type of Magic as I do. Besides as it is now, I won't be able to continue being an independent wizard, for much longer anyway. Sooner or later, the Magic Counsel will notice and force me to join a guild, and if I have to join a guild, why not aim for the best there is? Ryder started to smile while his plan took form, maybe; just maybe, this wasn't such a boring, ordinary day after all.

He knew that Fairy Tail's guild was seated in the town of Magnolia, which was good because Clover town wasn't too far away by train. This came as a relief for Ryder, since he didn't take travelling by vehicles all that well, so the less time he had to spend in one, the better. But since it was already late in the afternoon, Ryder decided that he would spend the night in a nearby inn, before travelling to Magnolia.

The next day the-sixteen-year-old woke op early, maybe due to the excitement of finally having a change to improve his Magic. He arrived at Clover station at ten o'clock after eating breakfast at the inn. He bought a train ticket and discovered, much to his displeasure, that he had missed the train and that the next one would arrive after more than an half hour. Sighing he sat down. Because the only thing he could do was wait, he watched two people standing on the other side of the platform. They were having a fight while a blue, flying cat hovered over them.

"… yeah well thanks to you we just missed our train," said a young woman with blond hair. She was a bit older than Ryder, probably by two years or so, and boy, was she angry.

"But Luce…" whined the young man standing in front of her. "…, I was hungry. And when I'm hungry I gotta eat." The man was probably the same age as the woman and had salmon coloured hair.

"You could've at least eaten faster, because now we have to wait a long time before the next train arrives!"

"She's angrrrrrrrry," said the flying cat.

"Damn right I am."

"Come on, please forgive me? Very, very please?"

The woman sighed. "Alright, Natsu, I guess it's no use getting angry over something that has already happened."

Natsu? flashed through Ryder's mind. It couldn't be him, right? … No probably just a coincidence.

The woman looked around. She saw Ryder sitting on a bench and walked to him.

"Excuse me, do you know when the next train to Magnolia arrives?"

"Yes, I'm heading there myself actually, you've just missed the train headed for that direction, but the other one will be leaving in about half an hour. So there's quite some time left."

"Half an hour? Then I guess we're stuck here for a while. Would you mind if my friend and I sit down next to you?"

"Oh, of course not, go ahead!" Ryder patted the space next to him, as if to welcome the duo to come sit there.

"Thank you. Natsu, Happy, come sit down. We have to wait a while before the next train arrives," she told her salmon-haired friend, already forgetting that she just had been angry with him.

The man sat down next to the woman, while the cat kept on flying. Ryder cleared his throat and began the conversation in the simplest way there is.

"Since we will be spending some time with each other, I'll introduce myself. I'm Ryder."

"Ryder who?"

"Oh no it's just Ryder…, my last name is bit of a … difficult subject for me…"

The woman noticed the tension and gave Ryder a warm smile.

"If you don't want to talk about it, that's okay. I won't ask you about it. It's nice to meet you. As for my name, it's Lucy Heartfilia and I'm a wizard, that man over there is Natsu Dragneel, he's also a wizard."

"Nice to meet you too, miss…" Wait a second, Lucy Heartfilia and Natsu Dragneel?!

"Wait, wait, wait. Are you the Lucy Heartfilia and Natsu Dragneel?! The ones from Fairy Tail?!"

The woman, Lucy Heartfilia apparently, replied a bit awkward: "Uhm, yeah…, that's us!

Guess she still isn't used to all the attention they're getting after winning the Grand Magic Games. And who can blame her? Being famous isn't always easy…

Natsu joined the conversation: "You're also a wizard, ain't ya? You smell a bit like the Ice Princess, so you're probably an Ice wizard, right?"

"Ice Princess?"

"Oh he means Gray, someone at our guild, who uses Ice-Make Magic."

"In that case, yes I'm an Ice wizard, but my Magic is slightly different that Gray's."

"Cool! I wanna see! Fight me Ryder!"

Ryder hadn't expected such a reaction from the Fire Dragon Slayer wizard and looked surprised. Then he replied: "I'm sorry Mr. Dragneel, but I don't think now is a good time for that, but since we're travelling to the same destination, I think we'll get a change to do some sparring."

"Call me Natsu, if we're sparring buddies, then we're friends, so that means you use my first name."

"Okay, sure Natsu."

Suddenly something came to Lucy's mind. "Hey Ryder, why are you going to Magnolia, anyway?"

Ryder scratched his neck, afraid of what her reaction to his answer may be. "Well…," he said uncomfortably. "Actually I was sort of hoping, I mean I know I probably shouldn't expect anything, but still, I thought that maybe there was a tiny, tiny change that, if it isn't too much trouble, I could …"

Natsu didn't let him finish: "Come on, spill the beans already! Just say what you gotta say and be done with it."

Ryder sighed.

"IthoughtthatmaybeIcouldjoinfairytailandaskgrayfullbusterifheiswillinngtotakemeonashisapprentice!"

"You what?! Speak slowly or I can't understand ya."

Ryder sighed again and took a deep breath. "I thought that maybe I could join Fairy Tail and ask Gray Fullbuster if he's willing to take me on as his apprentice," he said, slowly this time. He heard Natsu clear his throat, and prepared himself for the inevitable rejection. Instead, he heard words a whole lot different from what he had expected.

"What did you say? I don't think I heard you correctly."

"Sure you did! I said that it's an awesome idea and I don't think Gramps will mind at all. Besides, if the Ice Princess is going to tutor you he won't be able to annoy me anymore!" Natsu looked as though he had just the smartest plan ever.

"Yeah sure Natsu, we both know that you won't be able to resist a fight with Gray. Anyway, Ryder, we like you already! And I'm sure the rest of the guild will too, so there won't be any problem with you joining at all!" assured Lucy.

Even Happy couldn't resist to say a word: "Mmmmm…, I'll think about letting you join the guild…, when you give me some yummy fish that is!"

Lucy just bumped him on his head. "Like you're the one who takes that decision." Then she turned towards Ryder in order to reassure him. "Don't mind him, he's just a goofball of a cat."

"Hey, did you just call Happy a goofball?" Natsu asked indignantly.

"Yes, what if I did? In fact you're both goofballs!"

"Ow Luce…, that really hurts right here." Nastu pointed at his heart.

Happy couldn't let such an insult to his pride slide.

"Lucy, you're sooooo meaaaan!"

That was when Ryder just couldn't hold it anymore. He started laughing uncontrollably. And after a short while Natsu, Lucy and Happy joined him. Together, they laughed for what seemed about an hour and when the train arrived Ryder thought: If being part of a guild is going to be like this I will probably starve to death, because I won't be able to go on jobs. But still, inside he was filled with the warm feelings of friendship and camaraderie he was already feeling for his new friends.

That was already the end of this chapter. If you liked or didn't like it, please let me know by reviewing.

Also the characters (apart from my OC) may seem a little OOC, like I said in my prevous chapter: this is my first story and I still have a lot to learn. If you have any tips on how I can improve writing the characters, I'll be happy to hear them, so please leave a review.

'till next update!

~t.p.b.c