Natsu wrapped tossed his cloak over to where the two packs lay in the small clearing as he looked around 'Good thing Erza didn't come down to check on me.' He thought with a short sigh of relief as he prepared a few pieces of wood to build a fire, reaching into his pack, he pulled a small vial of clear liquid from it, tipping a small amount on the wood, he stuck his flint stones together as the sparks hit the liquid the fire almost exploded to life.
"Really? Alcohol to start a fire?" Karite half taunted.
"Would take to long if I did it the other way," Natsu replied flatly as he pulled a few slices of spiced meat from the pack of food and skewered them, resting them over his knee and holding the above the fire he slowly rotated the meat as he returned into his mind 'That mage was working for someone, whoever it is doesn't know what I look like.' He groaned as he sifted through all the possibilities 'There are just too many unknowns, I need to keep the next one alive.'
"What if there is no next one," Karite said simply "Mage are known to move on impulse often, he was part of a dark guild maybe he saw a woman and male travelling and decided he liked what he saw in said girl."
Natsu rolled his eyes "While it's not entirely out of the question he clearly stated that I have pissed some people off."
"Maybe he confused you with someone else?" Karite replied.
Natsu shook his head "Call it a gut feeling, there will be more."
"Smells good." Natsu started slightly at the familiar voice of Erza, as she sat down opposite him holding her hands out to be warmed by the fire.
Natsu smiled at her, before tossing her one of the two skewers "Well since you're here you can cook your own meat." He said flatly.
She smirked as she began to twist the stick, the two sat in silence for a few minutes, nothing but the crackling of the fire to break the silence around them.
"Hey, Erza what do you know about mages?" Natsu asked flatly.
"What everyone knows," Erza answered "They can make things happen with their minds they form guilds and do jobs not unlike hunters, although the organizations have disagreed for years."
Natsu nodded "That's because a mage is above the law, Hunters are only allowed to operate within mission parameters, therefore we can't just go kill someone because we want too," Natsu paused and took a breath "Mage guilds are currently split down the middle, between those called the dark guilds who still believe that they should retain their above law status. And the rest who believe stricter laws on the way we use magic is necessary."
Erza just nodded and wait for him to continue.
"Magic follows very simple rules, but just because they are simply does not mean they are easy to fight in fact fighting a mage without a clear advantage would be considered suicide for anyone that isn't me or the only other four star hunter Grey," Natsu explained "The first and most important rule to know when fighting a magic user is to be unpredictable, if he catches you in any spell you are dead no ands ifs or buts you will die. Second is the fact that a mage must retain One hundred percent focus in order to do anything with magic, although unlikely if you can taunt a mage to any show of emotion, even laughter all spells that they had ready to cast or were casting will cut off immediately, think of it like a suit of armor but if you chip it, it shatters." Erza nodded and Natsu continued "Third, A mage can only cast one spell at a time but he can have multiple spells ready to cast in succession, they have taken to calling this queuing, some mages hold to a specific pattern that they just repeat endlessly, others are impossible to read."
Erza nodded as at the information before asking one question "Why are you telling me this?"
"Because it is more than likely one day you will have to fight a wizard," Natsu replied flatly "A good rule to remember if he is anything past an affinity three…Run."
"Affinity three?" Erza asked a little bewildered.
"Magic in essence is the command over the elements, lighting fire earth water and air, each mage has a natural affinity for one field, but they tend to train out and grasp others, affinity three means they can use three of the five elements, anything above three is impossible for a hunter to get near and breaking his focus would be nigh impossible too, therefore the rule stands to all Hunters, past Affinity three, run and run quickly." Natsu warned.
Erza gulped 'If even Natsu couldn't beat one then, would that mean mages are superior to hunters? If so why do we even have hunters?'
"No, mages are not superior to hunters," Natsu said reading her expression and making the correct guess "A mage relies so much on his magic his physical prowess is almost nothing, outrunning them is easy and if they collapse from exhaustion you win, it doesn't matter how much a mage wants to continue eventually they all run out of power…That is why we run from affinity four and higher, force them to use their energy on something other than magic it drains them faster." Natsu explained simply.
"What's the highest level mage you have ever fought?" Erza asked in genuine curiosity.
"Affinity five." Natsu replied.
"So a master?" Erza asked.
Natsu nodded and Erza continued "Did you win?"
Natsu nodded again "How?" she asked.
"Led him into a forest much like this," Natsu said as he looked around "His arrogance killed him, he stepped into a shadowy area, from there it was easy."
Erza nodded "So that means, people like you and me have good chances fighting mages because we can step through shadows?"
"Sort of, fire does eliminate shadows therefore fighting natural fire wizards gives us difficulty, I merely got lucky against that master he did not give himself a source of light and I could freely maneuver around him." Natsu said simply as he pulled the meat from the fire and began to eat the lightly charred slab.
"So are you going to show me how to fight mages tomorrow?" Erza asked.
Natsu nodded "So get some sleep." Was all he said as he wrapped his cloak around himself, and laid down looking up into the darkness of the canopy, he occasionally spotted a few stars through the trees 'I just hope it will be enough.' he thought as sleep finally grabbed him.
Natsu awoke and sat up slowly, stretching his hands up and arching his back as a loud yawn escaped him, a few resound pops echoed around the silent clear and he sighed in satisfaction, he turned his head to see Erza wrapped in her own cloak, on the opposite side of the Smokey embers from the previous nights fire, Natsu dropped a plank onto the ember and slowly reinvigorated the fire, reaching into the pack he pulled out a few small fruits and some bread roles, he walked over and shook Erza awake lightly, holding out the small breakfast too her.
"How do you sleep like this?!" Erza demanded in an irritated tone, it had taken her hour to finally fall asleep and it was one of the most restless nights of her life.
"Well maybe you shouldn't find the spot with roots sticking out of the ground." Natsu suggested flatly.
She sat up with an irritated scowl and took the food "Well you seemed fine."
Natsu pointed to the spot where he had laid down "Grass." The he pointed to hers "Roots." Was all he said.
She ignored him and he sat back down opposite her, as he munched away on his food. "Besides that when are you going to give me back my weapons!" she exclaimed.
Natsu reached into the second pack, which held Erza's small armory picking out a single Kunai and tossed it to her "Every time you learn something." He replied flatly.
She growled "That means we are going to have to spar hundreds of times."
"I didn't say win, I said learn." Natsu replied flatly.
"Well I learnt more than one thing yesterday!" She snapped.
Natsu nodded "Yes, but you only need one knife for today's training."
Erza just huffed.
After the two had finished eating and the drowsiness had passed, Natsu stood up and clapped his hands together "All right let's get started." He said with a small smile as Erza got to her feet.
"So fighting mages was today's one right?" Erza asked remembering the night before.
Natsu nodded "I am going to stand in the centre of the clearing, you are going to be on the edge, your goal is to hit me."
Erza looked at him "How does this teach me anything?"
"When I say dodge, you have to each one simulates a mages spell you fail to dodge when I say the word we take it as you dying and we start again." Natsu explained simply.
Erza nodded and walked to the edge of the clearing while Natsu moved to the centre "Begin!" Natsu called sharply. Erza shot forward at full speed, "Dodge!" Natsu called simply, she slid to a stop and dived left 'Well at least she is taking it seriously.' Natsu thought with a small smile on his face, the second her feet were on the ground "Dodge!" She jumped backwards and ran to the left zigzagging towards him, "Dodge!" He shouted, she dived to the right and continued towards him "Dodge!" He called lazily as she rolled to the left and jumped off the ground towards him, she was almost a meter from him in the air when he smiled "Dodge." He said flatly, at this pint she was in the air with no way of changing direction, she cursed silently and landed on her feet in front of him, Natsu reached up and flicked her in the centre of the forehead "You just died, I said be unpredictable not be aggressive."
"Well what I am supposed to his you, how can I do that without getting close." Erza said dejectedly
"That's something you need to figure out." Natsu said simply, as she stomped back to the edge of the clearing, only to be stopped the same way again, just as she was within striking distance he would tell her to dodge. At this point Erza was practically fuming, if she didn't get it this time she might just throw her knife at him and call it a day, then the idea struck her 'He didn't say I have to hit him,' she thought back to his words earlier 'Like a suit of armor but if it chips it shatters!' she had an idea and a wide grin spread on her face.
Natsu watched her 'So she has finally figured it out, let's see if she paid attention to Everything I said.' he thought as he shouted "Begin!", she obeyed a very similar pattern to before, this time thought she made no move to close the gap, she just dodged left and right when he called it out, she continued for a few minutes this way before he stepped back as the Kunai embedded itself in the ground in front of him, followed by a sharp stinging on his cheek, he looked down at a small stone that bounced twice as it hit the ground. 'So she did pay attention,' He thought with a smile, he called his hand together "Well done." Was all he said she walked up to him a wide smile on her face.
"Why did you throw the rock as well?" Natsu asked simply, trying to see where she got the idea from.
"Well I doubt a mage would let a single knife hit them, so I used it as a distraction to hit them with the rock, I am assuming pain would break their focus instantly." Erza explained her idea and Natsu just nodded proving her assumptions correct.
He walked over to her pack, and tossed her another Kunai, she caught it by the small loop in the handle and twirled it around before slotting it into one of the spots on her leg, the other was placed into a small loop on her left wrist.
"Well we will get moving for the day." Natsu said as he kicked some dirt over the embers of their fire, walking over to retrieve the packs. Erza nodded and fell into step beside him as they continued into the forest.
A/N: So that's this one down guys! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and that my explanation on how magic works is adequate, yeah that's pretty much it…Peace!