A/N

Buena tarde, guys! Mariachi here, with the third chapter of Punishment! I hope you liked this one. Anyways, nothing more than one or two chapters until Wendy and Carla get introduced!

Before beginning, a shoutout to: Hobojail, Wyote, klm1095, .00, 547506, Yours Truly- Pride, Kihol, Shestheboss19, puzzlingnerd57, Zekrom326, Thunder Explosion, XFireDevil, levisitu, Epicocity, and everyone that I couldn't find here! Good reading!

"Normal Speaking"

'Thinking'

"Giant/ Dragon Speaking"

The Giants' Village! Fairy Tail's Roots!

[Timeskip: 2 Days]

Now, two days after the events in Onibus, we find our heroes in the middle of the desert. Though this time they are not lost, thanks to the map that they bought (and learned to read), they are taking more time due to the training seasons that the two brothers are doing every now and then. Actually, speaking of them...

"Natshuuuuu, why are we doing this?" asked Happy.

"Training, of course." answered Natsu "This'll increase our stamina and speed!" he finished.

They are currently running with all their speed... with rocks... boulders, actually... strapped on them... Happy was flying, technically.

"Ooooooh, I see." the blue cat realized "How far are we from that Giant Village?"

"A Day or two." the Fire Mage replied. Happy nodded, but then "But with this, it'll take 4-5 days" he added, and the feline face-faulted.

"Oh, well. At least we're training. Ne, Natsu, didn't you say that Igneel never had the time to finish the training before he...You know..." the talking cat said.

"Yeah... why?" asked Natsu.

"We should make a Task-list when we reach the Village, with the things that he should have teached you!" Happy said excitedly.

"Maybe that could work..." replied Natsu as he concentrated on the road.

[Timeskip: 4 Days]

They continued like this for 4 days, without stopping. As they reached the middle of the fourth Day, Natsu saw the village and grinned "There!" he shouted "There it is!"

"Aye sir!" Happy exclaimed, as they went full speed to the village. "Finally!" he said as they reached the place.

"Huh, looks different from far." Natsu commented, looking around the town. "And where are the Giants?"

"Should be in the town square..." replied the blue cat. As they started walking, they were beginning to see more Giants, until they were noticed by one.

"Hello there, what are outsiders doing here?" greeted the Giant.

"Hey! We came here from rumours that this village has Giants living! We are just traveling through Fiore!" shouted Natsu.

"Do you have giant food in here?!" asked Happy.

The giant just laughed and answered "I could give you guys a tour. And about food, you guys will have to hunt. We have large animals living in the forests."

"Thanks, uuuuuuuuh... What's your name again?" asked the salmon haired mage, just now remembering that he didn't know the name of the villager.

He chuckled and answered "Anything you call me it's fine. Anyway, let's begin." he said as they started walking. "This village is much different from your's in the area outside of the desert, as you are already aware. Our houses must be way bigger so that we can get in. That" he pointed to a house styled as a boar "is the village chief's house." (Natsu & Happy: SUUGOOI!) "Heh." He chuckled.

"Ne, Fish Beard-San" Happy started, as the giant started to laugh. "Oi! You said we could call you anything! Anyway, why's that house so little compared to the others?" he asked as he pointed to a house that was about the normal size in Magnolia.

The now nicknamed Fish Beard just looked where the feline was pointing "Oh, that..." he said sadly "That was Flare-chan's house. (Natsu & Happy: Flare-chan?) Yes. She was a little human like you two. We found her as a baby and raised her here. She started to get curious and wanted to explore the world, but we were worried because the chief prohibited the giants from going to the other side of the desert, and so we couldn't make her company. One day she got out of the village and we couldn't find her anymore..." he finished.

Natsu had a thinking pose as Fish Beard finished the story, then he had an Idea "Well, we aren't going to stay much time in here, and we are going to travel a little, so we may as well look for her. What do you say?" he asked, surprising the giant.

"You... really would-"

"Of course!"

Fish Beard smiled and a tear rolled down his cheek "Oh, thank you so much... I'm so worried about her and a complete stranger appears out of nowhere and offers to look for her, you have a heart of gold, my boy..."

"It's nothing, really. What does she looks like?" asked the blue feline.

"You'll recognize her by her red hair, eyes and hair Magic. I'm sure there are few people with this description." Fish answered, then remembered something "Since you two are being so kind, I think I can show you guys the reason this village is called Sun Village."

"Really?!" Both Natsu and Happy shouted. "Thanks a lot!"

"Heh, let's go."

If there was one word the two wanderers could think of now it would be amazing. When they reached the place, they saw a mountain made of fire even hotter than Natsu's dragon slayer attacks, which is really hard to do.

"WHHOOOOOOOOOOOA, THIS IS PARADISE!" shouted Natsu.

"Holy Moly, it's hotter than the Forest fire we did last year!" said Happy, while Fish Beard chuckled.

"This" He started as he pointed to the flaming mountain "is the village's creator, and guardian."

"Wait, creator AND guardian?!" interrupted Natsu "How can a fire mountain create something? I'm dumb, but not THAT dumb." he finished, making Fish Beard laugh. As Happy started laughing as well, a earth-shaking roar interrupted them.

As the roar continued, Natsu could only think of one thing 'This sounds like Igneel!'

"What are you maggots... huh? Giant, what is a human and a bipedal cat doing here?!" roared a thundering voice.

"What the heck, that mountain talked!" exclaimed Happy "And it has an eye!"

"Uh, hello Atlas-sama. These two offered to look for Flare-chan, and I thought they were worthy to see you." said Fish nervously.

"Let me have a look..." said Atlas as the mountain started chaging form. It started taking form of a flaming dragon with it's exosqueleton appearing. "I am Atlas Flame, the Flame dragon, and who shall you two be?!" He shouted.

"AAAAAAH! DON'T EAT ME! IT WAS HIS IDEA!" Happy shouted desperately, while pointing to Natsu.

"Shut up, Happy! Just do as he says!" Natsu said, angry at the blue cat. "I'm Natsu Dragneel! I'm a Dragon Slayer!" he shouted, picking Atlas's interest.

'Dragon Slayer? Is he...'

But the Flame Dragon's train of thoughts was interrupted by Happy's answer "I'm Happy, and I'm not a food!" earning a sweatdrop from Fish Beard and Atlas Flame.

"Sure you are..." he trailed off as he brought his attention to Natsu "You... When you say you are a Dragon Slayer... What is your relation to Igneel?" he asked, surprising Natsu and Happy.

"You know Igneel?! He's my dad!" replied the salmon haired teen.

"I had the feeling... You're as loud as he is!" exclaimed Atlas "We are best friends from the dragon war 400 years ago... I was his right-hand at that time." he said.

"I guess you don't know where he is, right?" it wasn't a question, more like an afirmation.

"Afraid not, youngling..." replied the flaming creature "But I'm sure you are going to find him."

"Well, thanks anyway, Atlas-ochan!" said Natsu.

Atlas sweat dropped "Ochan?..." "Yup!" "Anyway, you should be going, I need to sleep."

"Oh, I got it, Atlas-sama. Let's go you two." said Fish Beard as Atlas changed to his other form again.

"By the way, Fish Beard, I wanted to ask you something." said the salmon haired teen.

"What is it, Natsu-san?"

"How the heck is there a Forest in the middle of the desert?"

"Oh, I see. Two years ago a mage moved around here. He uses Green Magic, which makes plants and alikes. It helped a lot, the village was filled with life."

"Ne, Natsu, maybe we should go see him!" the blue cat suggested.

"Yeah! Do you know where he lives, Fish Beard?" the Fire Dragon Slayer asked.

"Yes, he lives a few hours to the West of here." answered the giant. "Do you two want me to show the way?"

"No, we're fine, thanks. Bye! Any news we have of Flare-chan we'll send you a letter!" Natsu shouted as the two started running "SHIT! It's the other way!" they turned back.

For the next Five hours, they walked across the Forest, searching for the house while giving attack ideas for Natsu as well as remembering things that Igneel would have teached him.

"There's this Fire Drive thingy that should highen my body motions like reflexes and Power in the attacks. He didn't explain it so we gotta think an alternate way to activate it." Natsu said.

"What do you mean, 'alternate'?" asked Happy.

"The first and easiest way to do it, according to Igneel, is killing a dragon and bathing in it's blood. (Happy: EEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWW!) Shut up! You spent three days stuck in the toilet and didn't complain!" explained the Dragon Slayer teen.

"That's supposed to be secret! Now every animal in this forest'll make fun of me!" Happy complained "Anyway, you said Igneel didn't explain it to you, so you do you know this?"

"He explained the easy way, but he vanished the Day he was supposed to teach me the alternate way. (Happy: Oooooooohhhhh!) Oh, there it is!" he pointed to a wooden house with vines all around it.

"Let's go, and don't blow the door this time, Natsu!" exclaimed the blue cat which got a 'Got it!' as an answer.

They knocked three times and waited. A few minutes later, the door opened to reveal...

"A tree?" asked Natsu dumbly.

"A tree my ass, you brat! Respect your elders!" said the apparent tree "Wait, I... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I'm backwards, that's why you thought I was a tree!" it turned to reveal an old man with a tree-like apparence "Come in, sorry about this."

"No, I should be sorry. Anyway, thanks uhhh..." trailed off Natsu, hoping that the old man would fill the gap.

"Warrod, my son. Warrod Sequen." the now named Warrod answered 'He has her aura...' He thought as they sitted on the chairs around the house..

"I'm Natsu Dragneel, and this is my partner, Happy." "Aye!"

"Say... Natsu... What is a Fairy Tail mage doing here?" he asked, surprising Natsu and Happy.

"How did you-"

"Your aura is similar to the one of Fairy Law. The only way to have something like this is being exposed to the spell and being on the side of the user. That, or being related to the second master, who is the one who perfected the spell." he explained.

"Yeah, gramps- I mean, Makarov, the sandaime, used the spell to protect us often, so it's the first. Plus I don't have any parents, I was found by a dragon." replied Natsu.

"I see. Then... where are your Guild Marks?" he asked with seriousness 'Let's see if you're honest, Natsu...'

"Well... I'm kinda uncomfortable with telling this, but I was banished... For taking a job over my rank and because the demon Deliora was involved..." he answered, earning a look of shock from Warrod.

"WHAT?! Deliora?! You shouldn't have been banished, you should've been executed on spot! No matter, I'll deal with this!" he roared, scaring Natsu and Happy shitless, until... "It's a joke, a joke!" he laughed.

The two brothers sighed in relief and Natsu shouted, "What the heck, Jiji! You scared us to death there! What's your connection to Fairy Tail, anyway?"

"Ahhhhhh, sorry, sorry, I tend to exagerate in my jokes sometimes. For your question, I am one of the four mages that founded Fairy Tail, along with the Fourth God of Ishgar." he revealed.

"Awesome!" shouted Happy "But, aren't you angry at us? I mean, the Master was..."

"But you didn't do it on purpose, did you?" he asked, earning two shaking heads. "Then I have no reason to be angry at you two. The first Master was a energy ball just as you two on her alive days." he said.

"Thanks, but we're kinda trying to think more instead of going to a battle without thinking, like some kind of strategy." Natsu said.

"Aye! Natsu is good to think in a battle, but thinking out of a battle would be Nice, too." added the bipedal feline.

"Strategy, you say..." trailed off the tree-like Elder "I think I have just the thing for you two." He got off the chair and went to the backdoor. When he came back, he was holding six books.

"What's this, Jiji?" asked Natsu.

"These" he gave the books to the Dragon Slayer "are the second favorite books of the First Fairy Tail Master. They have everything you could learn about strategy and tactics. It took the First Master Five years to learn and memorize this, but she was almost unbeatable in wars when she did. This is what gave her epithet, Yosei Gunshi (Fairy Tactician)." Warrod explained.

Natsu stared at the small pile with wide eyes and replied "I-Incredible... Is it really ok to give me this? I mean, we're not Fairy Tail mages anymore, so-"

"No! I insist, I'm sure Mavis would want someone that can rival her in this generation, and I'm perfectly sure you'll master this books in even less time than her!" he proclaimed.

"I'm not that sure, Natsu's an idiot." commented Happy.

"Shut up, you! Anyway, thanks a lot, Warrod-Jiji!" said the salmon haired teen.

"It's no problem, I assure you." the tree-man said.

"I guess we should get going, the roads will be empty so it'll be better for us to move, Happy." Natsu said as he got off the chair and started heading for the door, Happy following "Thanks again, I'll make sure I'll read all of 'em!" he said to Warrod.

As soon as they exited the house, Warrod chuckled "He'll be a great warrior in the near future." he hummed in thought "Looks like this generation will be more interesting than ours, Mavis-chan."

A few Miles away, the two brothers were walking in a comfortable silence, thinking about what awaits them in the future.

"There should be a river around here somewhere..." suggested Happy.

"We won't get fish today Happy." replied Natsu.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWW..." complained the blue cat.

And food, thinking about food, too.

A/N

And done. So, how was this one? Good? Bad? Alright? Okay?

A little more development for Natsu, meeting Atlas Flame and *pffff* Fish Beard. By the way, he's not an OC, I just named one of the giants, none of them had a name.

One thing, though. Next chapter, Natsu will get to know what's happening to Fairy Tail now.

Next Chapter: ? (I don't have an Idea for the title, now)

Date: May be a little longer than one week, but I'll try to post as soon as possible!

Adiós, Amigos! Mariachi, out.