Ch 11: Salamander VS Cobra
Outside of Fairy Tail in their fighting arena:
"Normal sparing rules Cobra, but I am guessing that you don't know what that means." said Natsu with a devious grin as he was still giving off tons of magic.
"You are correct about that Salamander." replied Cobra really regretting that he agreed to this.
"Okay Cobra that means we both won't land any killing blows, otherwise everything else is acceptable. And that rule is mainly for you benefit since I am pretty sure that you couldn't even kill me if you wanted to." taunted Natsu and instantly seeing Cobra get upset about that comment.
"Oh we'll see about that Salamander!" shouted Cobra as he got into a fighting stance.
"Good to hear Cobra because it looked like you were about to piss yourself." taunted Natsu which pushed Cobra over the ledge and caused him to start attacking Natsu before the match officially started.
"POISON DRAGON'S TWIN FANGS!" shouted Cobra as he made two large fangs made out of poison form right in front of him and swung them at Natsu who had a smug grin on his face. And just as they were about to land a heavy blow on the pink haired dragon slayer he disappeared.
"Have you gotten slower since being in prison Cobra?" asked Natsu who was now standing behind him still having that same smug look on his face.
"Like hell Salamander, POISON DRAGON'S FANG THRUST!" shouted Cobra as he jumped away from Natsu and launched just one fang like the ones that he made earlier at Natsu. Natsu did a quick roll to the said and then did an exaggerated yawn showing how bored he was with this fight.
"Cobra I expected more out of you, you're a dragon slayer or are you second generation ones really this weak?" asked Natsu once again causing Cobra to get even more infuriated with him.
"That's it Salamander I will show you exactly what we're capable of!" shouted Cobra as his arms became covered in purple scales and his magic flared up around him as poison started to circle around him.
"Now this is more like it." replied Natsu happily as he actually got into a fighting stance for the first time as his magic flared up once again while starting to smoke.
"POISON DRAGON'S SCALES!" shouted Cobra as he sent a large amount of scales flying at Natsu who somehow gracefully dodged all of them.
"HAHAHAHA this is more like it Cobra, you almost got me on that one." laughed Natsu as he made his way to Cobra while still dodging the incoming scales flying at him.
"POISON DRAGON'S TWIN FANGS!" shouted Cobra right as Natsu ended up in front of him. But once again Natsu dodged it, but this time by a simple duck that got him right next to an unexpected Cobra.
"FIRE DRAGON'S CRUSHING IRON FIST!" shouted Natsu as he punched Cobra right in the middle of his chest and the next second Cobra was imbedded in the opposite wall of the arena while making a little crater that he fell out of.
"Come on Cobra get up that was just me testing the waters." stated Natsu with a big grin on his face.
"Like hell it was Salamander, I think you might have broken a few ribs!" shouted Cobra as he got up and dusted himself off as if he was completely fine.
"Sure doesn't look like it." stated Natsu.
"Salamander we both know that you don't want to show any weakness to your opponent if possible. And that wasn't a normal punch from you that had way more power behind it." pointed out Cobra as he glared at Natsu.
"Okay you got me there Cobra, I came up with pretty much all new attacks that have more power behind them and you are my first real human test subject." replied Natsu with a big grin.
"Glad I can be your guinea pig Salamander, but let's get back to it POISON DRAGON'S ROAR!" shouted Cobra almost getting Natsu by surprise.
"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!" shouted Natsu just before he would have been hit by Cobra's roar and in the next few seconds his roar started to easily over power Cobra's. And then Natsu realized that something was off but it was already too late.
"POISON DRAGON'S SPIRAL JAW!" shouted Cobra as a poison enhanced kick hit Natsu's right side and launched him to the side by ten feet.
"And just like that Salamander I am now going to win this battle." said Cobra with a confident grin on his face.
"Why in the world would one weak hit mean you're going to win?" asked Natsu who also had a confident grin.
"Because it only takes a little bit of my poison to weaken you enough for me to keep poisoning you until I am the victor. And this time I am not going to toy with you like I did last time." said Cobra as he was about to attack again but was stopped by Natsu starting to laugh like a mad man.
"Oh that is so hilarious Cobra, but sorry to break it to you but I have surpassed your poison after finding out something about myself recently. See Cobra no signs of weakening at all, you actually didn't even leave me a bruise." said Natsu as he showed Cobra the side of his body thanks to him just wearing a vest.
"How in the world is that even possible, poison is the strongest element out there and nothing can stop it?" asked Cobra in complete shock that his attack did nothing to Natsu.
"Cobra there isn't a strongest element among them all, and if there was it would be fire because it can burn everything like I just did to your poison." replied Natsu who then disappeared only to reappear behind Cobra.
"FIRE DRAGON'S CLAW!" shouted Natsu as he landed a solid kick into Cobra's side causing Natsu to hear some ribs cracking as Cobra screamed out in pain.
"But you were correct about one thing Cobra, you should never play with an enemy while you have the advantage because that is the quickest way to lose." said Natsu as he made his way over to Cobra who as still getting up after that last attack.
"How the hell are you this strong Salamander it's only been about a year?" asked Cobra as he stared down his fellow dragon slayer.
"I have already shown you how Cobra and when you go out there and fight for your life every time you battle a drake you are going to get stronger or you're going to die. Those are the only two options which you will be soon doing with me after you learn that I am the Alpha of our pack." answered Natsu as he then jumped into the air.
"FIRE DRAGON'S CRUSHING CLAW!" shouted Natsu as he brought his flaming leg down towards Cobra.
"POISON DRAGON'S GUARD!" shouted Cobra as he blocked Natsu with his shield of poison and was about to counter when out of instinct he jumped back. And Cobra was extremely glad that he did as Natsu broke through his guard a second later and slammed into the ground making a little crater.
"Nice defense Cobra but that isn't going to stop me from beating you until you can't move." said Natsu as he walked out of the dust that he made.
"POISON DRAGON'S SCALES!" shouted Cobra as he started to see what the outcome of this battle was going to be. But rather than dodging like last time Natsu coated his fist with fire and punched any that he could while still making his way to Cobra while still getting hit but showed no signs of it at all.
"Here I come Cobra!" said Natsu as he grinned at the poison dragon slayer with pure delight in his eyes.
"POISON DRAGON'S ROAR!" shouted Cobra as Natsu advanced on him and watched as it made its way to him but felt no counter or block. This meant that Natsu dodged it and Cobra realized this too late as he cut off his roar knowing that he was going to be in a lot of pain.
"Too slow Cobra, FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FISTS!" shouted Natsu as he started to hit Cobra all over with slightly weaker punches so he wouldn't be launched away. Cobra instantly realized that Natsu was actually targeting his chest knowing that he had broken ribs which really surprised him because the old Natsu would have actually purposely attacked elsewhere because of that.
But when Cobra tried to defend that place better, Natsu would either hit him in the head or go for his joints. In other words Natsu was not messing around at all and made that very clear to Cobra who didn't think such actions were possible from someone like Natsu. But thanks to the scales covering his arms Cobra was able to prevent a lot of damage that he knew would have been the end of him if he didn't have them.
"I have to admit that you are extremely tough Cobra, which means I am going to have to show you something else I have up my sleeves." said Natsu after backing off of Cobra who was slightly winded after trying to block all of Natsu's countless attacks.
"What's with all of this smoke Salamander?" asked Cobra who actually noticed it for the first time since this was actually the first time for a few minutes that Natsu actually let him catch his breath.
"Oh that is something that I really don't have complete control over yet after getting it in my last fight with those two smoke drakes. Honestly it doesn't bother me at all just like my fire so I guess it makes sense, so time for round two Cobra." answered Natsu as he launched himself at Cobra who shouted "POISON DRAGON'S GUARD!"
"FIRE DRAGON'S PIERCING CLAW!" shouted Natsu as his hand went straight through Cobra's shield and continued on right through his scales on his arms and stopped right before it made contact with his chest right where his heart was.
"You just would have died Cobra if I had felt like it." whispered Natsu with a serious look in his eyes that scared Cobra to his core. And before he could respond Natsu unleashed his next attack while Cobra was still trying to figure out what just happened leaving him completely exposed.
"FIRE DRAGON'S CRUSHING KNEE!" shouted Natsu as he kneed Cobra in the gut launching him into the air where Natsu unleashed his next attack.
"FIRE DRAGON'S SWORD HORN!" shouted Natsu as he launched up into the air and head butted Cobra in the chest while covered in flames, which launched Cobra even higher. Natsu gracefully landed on his feet in the middle of the arena and took a wide stance that all watching knew what was coming next and felt extremely sorry for the already extremely beaten poison dragon slayer.
"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!" shouted Natsu as he launched it straight into the air right at Cobra who couldn't do anything but wait for it to finish him off. Everyone watched as the powerful roar engulfed Cobra who screamed out in pain at first but then stopped as Natsu cut his roar off and watched the burnt body of Cobra land on the floor of the arena with a loud thud.
"Natsu I think that you might have went a little too overboard." stated Macao who was wondering if Cobra was even alive.
"It had to be done Master Macao, otherwise Cobra would have never accepted being part of Fairy Tail." said Natsu as he slung Cobra over his shoulder with very little care and started to make his way out of the arena.
"I really don't understand how any of this helps him becoming a part of Fairy Tail." stated Macao with a slight frown.
"I guess you could say it's a dragon slayer thing Master Macao which might explain why Laxus was such a dick when he was younger and why he did that fight festival. Oh my god I just realized that we didn't do the Fantasia parade this year." said Natsu completely forgetting that Cobra was on his shoulder.
"Natsu please focus on why you needed to beat Cobra within an inch of his life for him to join us." said Ultear who was also curious about all of this.
"Well the easiest way to put it is that one thing all slayers respect is someone's power and is the only reason for us to follow someone that we don't know that well. Which is exactly what Cobra will be doing after this because he can deny it all he wants but I am now his Alpha and he'll listen to what you say now Master Macao because I listen to you." explained Natsu with a grin as he started to make his way to the infirmary.
"You dragon slayers are really weird Natsu." said Meredy with a big smile on her face.
"That we are Meredy and I keep learning more about what makes us so awesome." replied Natsu.
"Don't you mean weird?" asked Meredy with a.
"They pretty much mean the same thing to me Meredy." answered Natsu as he opened the door to the infirmary and was shocked to see Porlyusica there waiting with a deadly glare.
"Put him down in the bed boy and how is it that the first thing you do when waking up is give me a new patient?" asked Porlyusica.
"Well he's a dragon slayer so it was kind of necessary." started Natsu ready to go into more detail after setting Cobra down.
"That's all I need to know now get out of here so I can get to work." said Porlyusica as she glared at Natsu.
"Thanks for doing this Porlyusica and for healing me as well." replied Natsu with a big grin.
"Get out of here right now otherwise the next time you get hurt I won't help." stated Porlyusica as she continued to glare at him.
"Alright, alright but I know that you have a soft spot for me after treating me all of these years." said Natsu as he left the room with a huge grin on his face.
"Just get out!" shouted Porlyusica as a small smile spread on her face as she thought to herself "You definitely raised that one well Makarov, and don't worry about Fairy Tail because he'll keep her going while you're gone.".
"What's with all the weird looks?" asked Natsu as he looked down at the guild with his usual grin.
"You completely destroyed Cobra." stated Jet who was one of the few to find his words.
"That I did, but what did you expect to happen after everything I have been through while he was stuck in jail." stated Natsu as he made his way down the stairs.
"But didn't you barely beat him last time?" asked Lahar.
"Yes and your point Lahar?" asked Natsu as he came up to him.
"Well how the hell did you so easily beat him?" asked Lahar.
"Come on Lahar he already told you, and that shouldn't have surprised anyone since he's already dealt with eight drakes. And he even took on two of them at the same time once, that is very impressive even for a dragon slayer." said Doranbolt who finally made his presence know.
"I thought I smelt you Doranbolt, glad to see that you are fine." said Natsu as they shook hands which he then turned into a quick hug by pulling Doranbolt in.
"I should be the one saying that to you Natsu." said Doranbolt with a grin.
"I wasn't the idiot that almost killed himself by doing something stupid." said Natsu grinning back at the man.
"Natsu that is exactly what you did." said Ultear as she glared at him.
"HAHAHAHA I guess you are right Ultear, but Doranbolt don't you ever do something as stupid as that again or I'll be the one to end you next time." said Natsu with a grin that was gone as soon as he started to talk to Doranbolt.
"I won't Natsu after talking with Master Macao." replied Doranbolt while brushing aside Natsu's little threat.
"Good to hear, so what do you guys want to do now since I have handled the Cobra situation?" asked Natsu with a big grin.
"Let's go start training Salamander, I mean Natsu." suggested Sting with a huge grin.
"We can start that after Alzack and Bisca's wedding Sting." replied Natsu causing Sting to lose his grin.
"What was this Fantasia parade you were talking about earlier?" asked Kei with a big smile.
"Oh my god it's only one of the best things ever that Fairy Tail does each year. And people come from all over to see all the floats that we make and other attractions, like last year we had a beauty contest that lead into a whole guild wide fight." said Natsu with a fond look on his face.
"Natsu that isn't something you should look back on fondly." stated Wakaba who didn't have the best memories of that day.
"And why would I not look back on that fondly Wakaba? The Tenrou group was all here and even though it was not started for the best reasons, which lead to the best fight I ever had with Laxus. Not only that but it showed that Fairy Tail can pretty much accomplish anything as long as we work together." said Natsu with a big smile.
"I didn't think of it that way." said Wakaba as a smile made its way onto his face.
"Well I can see that you guys are completely capable of handling Cobra so I will take my leave, but please keep an eye on him." said Lahar as he and his Rune Knights started to leave the guild.
"You can count on that Lahar because I will not let anyone or anything harm Fairy Tail." stated Natsu as if it was a fact.
"That is obvious to anyone who watched that fight you just had. Are you going to be coming with us Doranbolt?" asked Lahar with a small grin.
"I think I'll stay here a little longer Lahar." answered Doranbolt.
"I guess I will see you all later than, and I am sure that Fiore would love to see you guys still have a Fantasia parade." said Lahar as he exited the guild hall before anyone could reply to him.
"He isn't that bad of a guy is he?" asked Droy with a smirk.
"Of course not Droy, he just follows procedures to the letter when other times it might be better to not to." said Natsu with a grin.
"I think he might actually like Fairy Tail." stated Kagura.
"Of course he does, we're the best guild ever!" cheered Meredy which got other members to cheer along with her.
"So are we going to hold a Fantasia parade this year along with other things like Lahar suggested?" asked Kei who was obviously excited by the idea of it all.
"That's up to the Master." answered Natsu with a big grin as he looked at Macao along with the rest of the guild.
"I guess this is probably one of the best ways to tell all of Fiore that we are still here and proud to be the number one guild in all of Fiore." said Macao as a grin spread across his face as the whole guild erupted into cheers that soon turned into them discussing what they were going to do for the parade.
"So when are we going to hold this Fantasia thing?" asked Ultear with a big grin as she looked how excited the rest of the guild was.
"I was thinking in a month, so Bisca and Alzack will be able to participate in it." answered Macao with a big grin as well for the same reason as Ultear.
"That's great since that is when Kenta should be done with getting the restaurant ready for its grand opening and what would be better than having its grand opening when we have our Fantasia parade. Because that always brings in people from all over which means more business for Kenta." said Natsu with a big grin.
"Wait how is he even doing any of that when you didn't tell him that you got the okay from Master Macao?" asked Kagura.
"Well you see Kagura, I told him to go ahead with it since I was pretty sure that I could convince Macao to agree to it. And if I didn't I would only be out a few million jewels." stated Natsu as if it wasn't a lot causing a few members to roll their eyes at him. At how he truly doesn't care about jewels as long as his friends are happy and safe which actually brought smiles to their faces.
"You're never going to change at all Natsu." stated Macao with a smirk.
"What are you talking about I have changed a lot, look at my new scars and I can now do this." replied Natsu as he made smoke come out of his hand.
"Not really what I meant Natsu, but do we want to do anything else other than the parade?" asked Macao.
"I think we should." stated Natsu with a big grin.
"And what would we do?" asked Macao.
"We could have an open house where people can spend some time with members of our guild." suggested Meredy.
"We could also schedule some fights between some members for people to watch." suggested Kagura.
"How about also offering to let them try and go through our normal training." said Kei with a smile.
"Those are all not bad idea ladies." said Macao with a grin since that should be enough things to take up a whole day.
"And why would people want to do any of that?" asked Ultear who honestly didn't know why anyone would.
"Because it would be the Fairy Tail experience." replied Meredy happily.
"And we could also give prizes for people reaching certain parts in the training." said Laki who joined in on the conversation.
"We could also allow betting on the fights, which Cana would say makes everything better." suggested Wakaba with a huge grin as he remembered his and Macao's drinking buddy.
"I am betting that you could actually charge people to enter and be allowed to do all of this stuff." said Kinana as she handed Natsu a cigar which surprised most of them.
"Now you're speaking my language Kinana." said Macao with a smirk now thinking about the jewels that the guild could make off of doing this.
"Of course that is what would sell you on all of this Master Macao, you are really starting to act like Gramps." said Natsu as he lit the cigar with a lighter that Kinana gave him along with the cigar.
"Shut up Natsu and just enjoy your cigar." replied Macao only causing Natsu to chuckle.
"Since when do you smoke Natsu?" asked Laki as she glared at him because she didn't like the filthy habit in her opinion.
"Right now Laki and stop glaring at me like that. I am not like Wakaba over there that is filling up the guild with smoke, I'll be eating all of my smoke." said Natsu as he then inhaled all of the smoke that everyone else would have puffed out.
"I didn't know that you could do that." stated Laki no longer glaring at him.
"I just got this ability after fighting those two drakes a month back and damn is this actually delicious." said Natsu with a big grin.
"Why didn't you just light it with your own fire Natsu?" asked Kinana who was surprised when he asked for a lighter.
"That's because I wouldn't be able to eat the fire as well then, which is probably why I really like it as much as I do." explained Natsu with the cigar sticking out of the left side of his mouth while grinning.
"I don't know how I feel about you smoking." said Kagura with a perplexed expression.
"I don't either." stated Kei.
"I think it makes him look rugged." said Meredy with a big grin.
"It doesn't really matter what we think because it's just a different way for Natsu to gain his magic back now. Even though I kind of like the look of it." said Ultear as she winked at Natsu.
"Well I am just glad that another person can now enjoy this pastime with me." said Wakaba as he puffed away on his pipe with a smug grin.
"It isn't too bad but I don't know if it's something that I want to be doing all of the time like you Wakaba." stated Natsu as he smirked at the older man.
"You say that now Natsu, but I bet you that in a month you'll always have one of those in your mouth." replied Wakaba with a big grin.
"So now that we know what we're going to be doing for Fantasia, what's next?" asked Meredy.
"I am going to sit back and enjoy my little bit of time off while I still have it." said Natsu as he leaned against the bar and blew some smoke out that he instantly sucked back up.
"Well we could discuss what we plan to do for the upcoming S-Class trials." said Macao who still hadn't come up with any idea of how to test them.
"That'll have to be done when we don't have any of the candidates with us." stated Ultear as she smiled at Kagura and Kei.
"Good point Ultear, I keep forgetting that they aren't S-Class yet." responded Macao while laughing a bit.
"I actually got a question, why did Jason stop coming by almost two months ago?" asked Kinana who was usually the person to deal with the reporter.
"I honestly have no idea." responded Macao.
"Oh that's because he talked with me while I was working with Cid and Bianca." stated Natsu nonchalantly.
"What you actually had an interview Natsu?" asked Laki.
"I guess you could call it that, but all we did was talk about a lot of things." answered Natsu as he was looking up into the rafters while smoking his cigar.
"Natsu you idiot that is exactly what an interview is." said Macao as he glared at him.
"Oh then why have I been denying doing them for all these years?" asked Natsu as everyone looked at him with completely shocked expressions.
"How are we supposed to know what you were thinking Natsu? You used to say that they were going to ruin your good name." said Wakaba with a grin who found all of this funny.
"Well that was pretty dumb of me." replied Natsu with a little chuckle.
"Why hasn't your interview been featured in Sorcerer's Weekly yet?" asked Kei who bought and read each new issue when it came out.
"Jason said that it would be better if he spread it out into multiple stories or something like that. But I was a little busy at the time so I could be wrong and I really don't think I gave him anything good." stated Natsu with a grin.
"Well Jason apparently thought otherwise Natsu because if he didn't then he would have kept coming back here." stated Ultear with her usual grin.
"That guy is a little weird so who knows what's going on his mind." said Natsu as he looked up at Porlyusica coming out of the infirmary.
"You really let that man have it didn't you." stated Porlyusica as she shook her head.
"Sure did Porlyusica." said Natsu with a big smile that surprised the rest of them.
"Well he should be completely fine in two weeks and you won't have any problems after that. He definitely knows who the alpha is now and probably won't challenge you for a few years." said Porlyusica with a small smile that shocked all of the older members of Fairy Tail since they never saw her do that before.
"How do you even know about the whole alpha thing?" asked Macao who only just learned of it from Natsu.
"The things that I know that all of you don't would take years to tell, so I will be taking my leave and please don't get yourself hurt again Natsu." said Porlyusica with her normal scary face and then promptly left.
"She's extremely scary, or is that just me?" asked Doranbolt who got most of the guild nodding in agreement.
"Oh come on you guys she's just a little rough around the edges." stated Natsu.
"Well we haven't spent tons of time with her like you have Natsu." pointed out Laki.
"I would actually think always getting hurt would be a disadvantage when dealing with Porlyusica considering how much she hates humans." said Jet with a grin.
"Hey I only get hurt when I am on missions for Fairy Tail." stated Natsu with a glare.
"I honestly didn't mean anything by that Natsu." said Jet.
"I know Jet, I just like messing with you." said Natsu with a smirk on his face.
"Jerk." stated Jet who left it at that.
"So when are you two having your wedding exactly since I still don't know the exact date because of the coma thing?" asked Natsu as he looked at Alzack and Bisca.
"In four days Natsu and we're having it here because we couldn't book the Kardia Cathedral on such short notice." stated Bisca with a small frown.
"Wouldn't that have made it not a small wedding?" asked Natsu.
"The venue doesn't determine how big the wedding is going to be Natsu." explained Ultear as she leaned up against him.
"I guess you have a point there Ultear, and do you still want to have it there you two?" asked Natsu as he looked at the couple.
"Yes we do Natsu but we already told you that we couldn't get it." explained Alzack with a sad smile because he really wanted to make this day perfect for Bisca.
"Well that is because you didn't have me there last time Alzack." stated Natsu with a glint in his eyes that looked like he might start destroying things like he used to.
"Natsu you would need to get permission from the mayor since it's such a historic landmark for Magnolia and they haven't let any weddings happen in it for years." said Alzack who had obviously looked into it.
"That actually makes it even easier for me since I needed to go talk with the mayor about a few things." said Natsu as he got up to the disappointment of Ultear.
"Natsu why do you need to talk with the mayor?" asked Macao with a little bit of concern in his voice.
"I just need to see how far our little project is coming along and now I just added getting Kardia Cathedral for their wedding on the list. I also need to go and buy Alzack and Bisca's wedding gift." said Natsu as he started to walk to the doors with a happy expression on his face.
"Can I tag along Natsu?" asked Ultear which surprised Natsu that she even asked since she usually just did whatever she wanted.
"I would love to have your company Ultear." replied Natsu as he held out his arm for her to take which she was more than happy to do. And then the two of them left the guild both with smiles on their faces as they started to have a casual conversation that was mainly Natsu learning in a little more detail what he missed while in his coma.
"You don't think he'll actually be able to get the Kardia Cathedral for the wedding do you?" asked Laki.
"It's Natsu we're talking about here so he won't stop until he gets what he wants so I would be more surprised if he didn't." answered Macao while shaking his head.
"But how is he going to actually do that?" asked Kei.
"Well he does have a ton of jewels." pointed out Meredy with her usual smile.
"I really hope he doesn't waste too much just to get it." said Bisca with a faint smile as she thought how lucky they were to have such a member in Fairy Tail.
"Natsu wouldn't see it as a waste even if he had to spend all of his jewels because that is just who he is." stated Alzack who was now trying to figure out how he could repay Natsu back for this.
"I wonder what gift Natsu is going to get for you?" asked Kagura as she started to think of what crazy gifts Natsu could possibly give them.
"We'll all have to wait and see and shouldn't the two of you be working on getting things read for your big day?" asked Macao as he looked at the couple.
"Well the only thing that still needs to be done now is setting up the location which might have just changed because of a certain dragon slayer." answered Bisca with a smile.
"I can't wait, I've never been to a wedding before." cheered Meredy who just realized that she needed to go and get a dress.
"Kagura and Kei we need to go shopping right now!" declared Meredy as she grabbed their hands and dragged them out of the guild with her before either of them could argue with her.
"Truly there is never a boring day at Fairy Tail." stated Wakaba as he got up and left the guild as well.
Four days later:
The wedding of Alzack and Bisca went just how the couple wanted thanks to Natsu getting them to have it in the Kardia Cathedral through means that no one knew since Ultear didn't attend Natsu's meeting with the mayor. And if anyone asked him how he did it he would just laugh and said that everything would be explained later on. The wedding was small just like the couple wanted with only close friends and family along with all of Fairy Tail that pretty much went into both categories.
They had the reception at the guild where the couple had their first dance as a married couple and were given gifts by all of their guests. They were your standard gifts that you would expect people to give a newly married couple, all except for Natsu who said that his gift was going to be given to them once they were about to leave on their honeymoon so they couldn't argue with him about it. This of course got Alzack and Bisca a little nervous but soon forgot about it as they enjoyed themselves while being with their friends and family.
No one was surprised seeing Ultear keeping Natsu all to herself during all of the celebrations and dancing with him whenever she got the chance. But the thing that did surprise everyone was the fact that Natsu looked like he was really enjoying himself with Ultear being glued to his hip and he would occasionally be seen whispering things to Ultear that would cause her to have various reactions. These reactions ranged from bursting into laughter to her having a faint blush and unfortunately for Natsu sometimes causing her to even glare at him with what some would call killing intent.
Since it was a wedding and everyone was thinking about couples and things like that. Natsu and Ultear became the new couple that everyone was trying to guess when they would officially start dating which then of course lead into people guessing when they would tie the knot. And it only kept going on from there, but the two didn't let it bother them at all and just enjoyed being together with the rest of their family and friends even if all of them were crazy.
Which they did until the newly married couple were about to leave making Natsu stop Alzack and Bisca at the door and handed them an envelope and congratulated them while pushing them out of the doors and then going back to the party. That kept going as is the fashion of Fairy Tail, since when they party they go until most of the members are passed out.
"This is a lot smaller than I was expecting." said Alzack with a smile as they sat down in the carriage that was going to take them to their honeymoon at the beach.
"Open it Alzack so we can finally figure out what he's been always smiling about." stated Bisca who got irritated at Natsu always smiling at the two of them after he bought them his gift.
"It's just a note with a set of keys." said Alzack as he pulled them out of the envelope with a confused expression.
"What do you think the keys are for?" asked Bisca knowing that since they were from Natsu they could be for absolutely anything.
"Hopefully the note will tell us." stated Alzack who quickly read the note and now had an even more confused expression.
"What did it say?" asked his wife.
"It was just an address and saying enjoy." he replied back as he showed Bisca.
"Let's go and take a look since it will only take a few minutes." suggested Bisca.
"Driver could you please swing by this address before we leave Magnolia?" asked Alzack as he passed the note to the driver.
"You're the boss Mr. Connell." replied the driver that then changed their direction to the new address.
"This is the residential area of Magnolia and one of the nicer ones where the places actually have yards." stated Bisca as she looked where they were heading.
"What in the world did he buy and leave out here?" asked Alzack as the carriage came to a stop.
"Here we are Mr. and Misses Connell the place you want is on your right." said the driver as he opened the door for them.
"Thanks." they both said as they got out and went to where he directed them and were surprised because it was a nice big house with a well-kept lawn. Judging from how big the house looked from outside they had to guess that it was a four bedroom house with everything else that any family could ever want since it was two stories tall.
"Why on earth would he send us here?" asked Bisca who was really confused about this.
"Bisca look at the mail box." said Alzack as he pointed at it in complete shock. Because securely fastened to the mail box was a sign saying "The Connell's".
"He bought us a house!" shouted Bisca in disbelief.
"It would appear so." said Alzack with a smile.
"Why would Natsu do that when he needs a new place from what I've heard?" asked Bisca looking at Alzack for an answer.
"He's fine with how crowded his place is Bisca. Natsu actually told me that he can't help but smile every time he wakes up knowing that there are five other people living with him like they are their own little family." replied Alzack.
"But wouldn't they be happier in a bigger place?" asked Bisca.
"Who knows, they all seem pretty happy if you ask me. And Natsu said that he was actually thinking about adding on to his place since they could use a few more rooms. But I honestly think that Natsu just likes living in the woods is the main reason that he isn't using this house for himself." answered Alzack.
"This is just too much Alzack, we can't accept this." stated Bisca.
"If that's what you want Bisca, because it sounded like Natsu had a plan for it if we didn't accept it. But you know that he'll not be happy about it." stated Alzack as they made their way back to the carriage.
"I know that Alzack, but how can we accept this when it probably costed him a few hundred thousand jewels?" asked Bisca as they sat back down in carriage.
"Well this is something that Natsu told me the other day Bisca. He said that he was extremely happy to see that we weren't letting what happened to the Tenrou group hold us back from what we wanted. And that we were a great role model for everyone else in Fairy Tail to follow and that just from seeing us do this. He knew that if he wasn't around that we wouldn't let anything bad happen to Fairy Tail in his absence." said Alzack who could tell that Natsu was completely serious when he told him that.
"That makes it sound that he's getting prepared to die." stated Bisca.
"He kind of is Bisca, just think about it. Natsu now has to go out here every time a drake shows up and fight with it too the death, and the last time showed everyone how possible it is for him to not come back to us. So he's of course going to try and do the most with each and every day. Which is probably another reason why Natsu is willing to pretty much give away his jewels because he know that they will be worthless to him if he dies." explained Alzack with a frown.
"That's terrible." replied Bisca.
"It is but do you see Natsu complaining?" asked Alzack.
"No Natsu's always either smiling or grinning while helping other members of the guild out." stated Bisca.
"That he is Bisca, so let's accept this gift if only to not make him loss that smile. And also so he knows that if the unspeakable happens he'll have helped us out which is something that he is always trying to do for all of the guild." said Alzack.
"Alright Alzack we'll accept the house but we'll pay him back for it." stated Bisca with a determined look in her eyes.
"I was thinking the same thing Bisca, but now we have to figure out how to do that for someone who doesn't care about jewels since he did just give us a house." stated Alzack with a smile.
"I know we'll figure out something, but that can wait until after our honeymoon." said Bisca as she leaned her head against his chest while closing her eyes.
A month later:
Macao decided that the day after the wedding he would make an announcement in Sorcerer's Weekly about them carrying on the Fantasia parade a month later for obvious reasons. While also telling Fiore of Fairy Tail's other plans for the day, which was quite interesting since no other guild did anything like this except for maybe Blue Pegasus but theirs was different because people visited them every day.
So for the past month Fairy Tail continued on like normal except for any free time that any member had went to preparing for the parade or helping the guild get ready to accommodate the visitors they expected to have. Since they were going to be very busy during the whole day until they did the parade at night since most of the guild thought it would be the best time to have it.
It took two weeks after the wedding for Cobra to be back to completely fine, and during that time Kinana and him got really close much to the cringing of Macao which Natsu just laughed at. But when Cobra finally came down into the guild hall everyone expected him to instantly start a fight with Natsu but instead of that he just sat down at the table Natsu was sitting at and started to ask him questions about drakes. And Natsu was more than happy to start filling him in on the details as if they had been friends for years while Sting and Rogue listened in since this was important to them as well.
The guild quickly figured out that Cobra was a very quiet man that seemed to only talk with the dragon slayers, Macao and Kinana. And preferred to be left alone to his thoughts and would only join something if he wanted to. Another thing that they noticed was Cobra would always call Natsu Salamander just like Gajeel did and wondered if it was a slayer thing since Sting still had a problem with calling him Natsu, but that theory was destroyed because Rogue had no problem with calling Natsu by his name. But the the most interesting thing that they learned about Cobra was that his actual name was Erik since that was what Kinana started to call him, but the only other members to start calling him by that were Natsu and Ultear who weren't intimidated by his glare like all of the other members.
Another thing that surprised the guild was that Macao told Natsu that Cobra would be staying with them until he proved himself a loyal member of Fairy Tail since his place was where all of their S-Class mages were staying. And they would be able to subdue him if he tried anything funny even if Natsu wasn't there; Natsu of course argued with Macao that Cobra wasn't going to do anything like that until he at least beat him. But Macao wasn't going to back down on this one which finally resulted in Natsu agreeing to it, which resulted in him having another project to work on which was enlarging his house due to all the people staying with him. This really made Natsu feel as if he was running some sort of hotel, but he was happy that he wasn't alone which would have only made him remember that the Tenrou group was gone and he couldn't stop it.
That brings us to the present which is the day of the Fantasia parade which all of the guild except for Cobra was excited about. Causing all of the members to wake up bright and early to get things ready for the big day that was going to let the rest of Fiore know that they were still there and strong if Natsu destroying Twilight Ogre wasn't a big enough message. So some of the members were doing the last touches on the floats for the parade while others were getting the guild hall and training area ready for people to participate in the festivities of the day. While a select group of members were gathered outside of the restaurant that Natsu owned with his friend Kenta who was also with them.
"Wow that really does look like the old guild hall." stated Droy as he looked at the restaurant with a fond smile.
"Well if you ignore that the sign just says FT." said Jet who had the same look as Droy on his face along with everyone else there.
"We couldn't call it Fairy Tail because that would be confusing, so we decided to just go with FT." explained Natsu as he made his way through the outdoor seating with everyone following.
"You couldn't come up with a better name Natsu?" asked Laki with a smirk.
"Hey if you guys have a problem with the name, take it up with Kenta and Master Macao because they are the ones that came up with it. Honestly I really don't care what it's called as long as Kenta keeps cooking his great food here." replied Natsu as he opened the door for them to go through.
"Like any of you guys could have come up with a better name." stated Macao with a glare directed at all of his mages who only chuckled at him.
"I am pretty sure all of us could have done that Master Macao." said Bisca as everyone but Natsu nodded their heads in agreement.
"Well it's too late now." said Macao as he rolled his eyes.
"I like it, you still know that it's related to Fairy Tail this way." pointed out Kenta who was standing next to Natsu waiting for the members of Fairy Tail to enter the restaurant.
"Are you guys going to enter or not?" asked Natsu with slight irritation in his voice.
"Settle down Natsu we're all just admiring how much this actually looks like the old guild. Here take this it'll probably make you less cranky." said Wakaba as he then handed Natsu a big cigar.
"Thanks Wakaba and I just want to show you all the inside and two other things before we go back and help out the rest of the members." stated Natsu as he then pulled out a lighter and lit the cigar.
"Does this other thing have to do with why your gang isn't with us?" asked Jet who actually found it weird to not see Ultear right next to Natsu when he was just standing around casually like he was now. Since Natsu was usually extremely busy doing all of his side projects while also training members in the guild and his two young dragon slayer apprentices.
"I guess so since this place has a lot of our past displayed and Macao and I wanted to make sure that all of you were fine with it being displayed to the public when we open it today. And please tell us if you don't want any of it displayed for any reason at all, because the last thing we want is for one of you to be upset about something being on display." said Natsu as they all finally went into the guild. And instantly all of them became silent as they walked into an exact replica of their main room in their guild hall now with the exception of photos being hung up everywhere.
"But before you all start taking a look around by yourself, this is what I wanted to show you in here." said Natsu as he led them to a huge portrait in an expensive frame on one side of the room. The people in the portrait were all of the Tenrou Group gathered at the docks all standing together with bright smiles on their faces, all clearly excited to be going to the S-Class exams. And underneath it was a plaque that read: The Tenrou Group. Though they are temporarily gone they will never to be forgotten as all of Fair Tail waits for their joyous return. Who all vow to watch over Fiore in their absence as they would've wanted. With all of their names listed underneath that so that you could easily identify who was who, needless to say some of the members were brought to tears just at looking at the painting of all their missing friends with smiling faces.
"I can't believe that it's almost been a full year." said Wakaba with a slight frown.
"It seems like just yesterday that they left for those exams." stated Laki who had a slightly sad expression like everyone else.
"Who did this?" asked Kinana as a small smile spread across her face.
"That would be me Kinana, Master Makarov wanted something to commemorate the exams so he had me draw this before they left." said Reedus who also eventually started to smile back at the portrait that he painted.
"He asked for a painting this big?" asked Max.
"No Max, it was Natsu who asked for one this big. Master Makarov only wanted a small one that he could keep for himself and Reedus you still need more practice because that was too easy for me to do." said Warren with a big grin.
"Sorry but my emotions got the better of me." said Reedus still smiling at the portrait of the Tenrou group.
"How did Natsu even know about this one then?" asked Vijeeter.
"Well I actually asked Reedus if he had any pictures or paintings of just them and this was the only one." answered Natsu.
"It's a really good painting but you do have something wrong on it." stated Alzack.
"And what would that be?" asked Natsu with a slight glare causing Alzack to gulp.
"He's talking about Laxus being there, which he wasn't since he was kicked out of the guild." pointed out Bisca causing the rest to realize that she was right about that.
"Oh that, that isn't a mistake because I asked Reedus to add him in." replied Natsu with his usual grin.
"And why in the world would you ask him to do that?" asked Nab.
"Because Laxus was there with the rest of them, holding hands with a small smile on his face. So he belongs in the painting as well, even if he wasn't a member of Fairy Tail when he left us he sure as hell was one of us before they disappeared." stated Natsu with a determined look in his eyes.
"I agree with you on that one Natsu." said Kinana with a warm smile.
"Once a member of Fairy Tail always a member of Fiary Tail." stated Laki also having a warm smile as everyone else nodded their heads in agreement.
"So what do you think of it?" asked Natsu motioning to the portrait.
"I think it's great Natsu because it'll let everyone that comes here know why we're the best guild in all of Fiore." said Wakaba with a small grin.
"It'll also let them know what we fight for." stated Alzack who was standing behind Bisca and giving her a loving hug from behind.
"I think that it is so far my favorite thing here." said Laki.
"Glad to hear, now feel free to take a look around and also at the menu." said Natsu as he then made his way to the bar where Kenta was already sitting so that they had some privacy.
And for the next hour they all explored the entire restaurant checking out what Macao and Natsu decided to hang up here with the help of Reedus of course. Most of the time they would laugh at the pictures looking back at the fond memories that they had of when that certain event happened, which more than likely revolved around Natsu doing something stupid causing all sorts of mayhem to ensue. They also noticed that most of the pictures had at least one of the Tenrou group in them somewhere, even if they were in the background. Which made some of them realize how much Natsu missed them and this was one of his ways to make sure that they wouldn't be forgotten.
None of them found anything that they wouldn't want other people seeing in the photos. And as for the information about the mages that were being displayed, they were the very basic and only contained things that pretty much everyone knew. And the only things that weren't common knowledge were random facts that were funny or strange in a way that people would find interesting like Lily's favorite food is Kiwi. This ended their exploring of the restaurant as they went into the huge gift shop that was attached to the restaurant.
"Wow this is huge." stated Max who usually ran the one at the guild hall.
"Talk to Master Macao about that." mumbled Natsu as he rolled his eyes since he thought Macao was too concerned about jewels.
"Look at all this new merchandise." said Nab as he gestured to all of the Fairy Tail apparel and souvenirs.
"I think Natsu is just mad at his new figurine." stated Droy with a smirk as he lifted up one that now looked like Natsu did now.
"At least I have one." replied Natsu who looked like he wanted to leave the store.
"But I do have one Natsu, and it looks like most of the guild members have one." said Droy as he held up a figurine of himself and nodded at what he saw since it depicted his new physic which was a lot better than a year ago.
"Good for you and that's not why I'm angry, I am just mad that Master Macao had some figurines made of our younger members when I asked him not to." stated Natsu.
"Natsu they wanted to have them and I saw no reason to not to, unlike Sting and Rogue being dragon slayers. Which is still a secret to most of Fiore and why they don't have their own figurines, and I thought we over this?" asked Macao.
"We are, but that still won't stop me from not liking it Master Macao." replied Natsu.
"Does this have to do with these three specifically?" asked Wakaba as he pointed to figurines of Meredy, Kei and Kagura.
"That it does Wakaba, it seems that Natsu is starting to become extremely protective of them." answered Maco with a little chuckle.
"Sorry that I don't want perverts like you two buying little figurines of them. Now let's go to the final thing that I wanted to show all of you and is the real reason that I bought this piece of land and some other ones around Magnolia." said Natsu as he started to leave.
"You bought other property Natsu?" asked Warren.
"That I did Warren, but I pretty much left whatever was on top of the land stay the same and keep doing whatever it was doing before." answered Natsu as they were now outside next to a large statue of a fairy.
"Then what were you doing with them?" asked Reedus since this was something actually knew to him.
"This, it's an underground bunker that the citizens of Magnolia can use if a drake ever comes here. And now there are twenty four more of these spread throughout Magnolia, which is where members of Fairy Tail will escort people if a drake does show up." explained Natsu as he sent some of his fire into a hole on the statue that caused it to slide to the side revealing stairs going down.
"Is that enough bunkers to hold all of Magnolia?" asked Bisca.
"Just barely, but it's all I could get the mayor to agree to right away. But now that I paid for all of them and now own all of the property he would probably be open to building more." answered Natsu.
"Why would you pay for all of them Natsu if the city of Magnolia was going to build them?" asked Vijeeter with a confused expression.
"It was the only way to get Kardia Cathedral and also get them done before the end of next year." stated Natsu with a small growl and scowl.
"So that's how you got us to have our wedding there." said Bisca who was glad to find out that Natsu didn't threaten the Mayor which was the running theory at Fairy Tail.
"That must have costed you a fortune not to mention how much you'll have to pay in property tax." stated Alzack after figuring out that Natsu had spent a million jewels on the house he bought for him and Bisca and already had the property tax paid in advance for the next ten years.
"It did Alzack but it will be well worth it if these save just one person who otherwise wouldn't have made it. As for the property tax the Mayor and I have an agreement that if they ever get used and save lives of the citizens then I won't have to pay those stupid things again on any property of mine that has a bunker." replied Natsu.
"How are you even able to pay for all of this Natsu?" asked Wakaba.
"I get five million jewels per drake that I take care of for the Council and I have already dealt with eight, but that is actually starting to run out." answered Natsu making Wakaba want to hit himself for forgetting that.
"I would think so if you have twenty four more of these things Natsu. And will they be enough to stop a drake?" asked Laki with a concerned look.
"They should be able to, but the real purpose is to actually hide the citizens from the drakes since some of them enjoy senselessly killing humans." said Natsu who looked like he wanted to hit something.
"But won't they just be able to smell them down there?" asked Droy.
"They would if I didn't have that in mind while designing them, and I can't smell anything down there when the door is closed. Meaning that the drakes shouldn't be able to either, at least that is what I am hoping for. And if they can I won't let any of them try and break in." declared Natsu as he clenched his fists.
"How long will we be able to stay down there?" asked Macao who was only given the brief details on this plan two months ago.
"From what the Mayor's calculated, only for a day if all of Magnolia is down in the bunkers. Which should be more than enough time for me and Cobra to deal with the drakes or for them to get bored and leave if we should both fall." answered Natsu with a grin that didn't belong on someone who was just talking about dying.
"Well lets head back to the guild and start helping them with preparations." said Macao who didn't want to talk about Natsu kicking the bucket.
"Sounds good Master Macao, oh and here are some copies of all the places where the bunkers are located so that everyone can learn where they are at. So that what happened at Senna won't happen to Magnolia." said Natsu as he handed a pile of maps with all of the bunkers clearly labeled to Macao.
"I assume that you don't have to be the one to open the doors Natsu?" asked Macao as he accepted the stack of maps.
"The Mayor has a switch that will open all of them while sounding an alarm like he does for the Gildarts shift. Also anyone with a Fairy Tail emblem can open them up like I did here, oh and the other bunkers aren't hidden yet like the one I just showed you guys." answered Natsu as he took the lead since he was excited for what they were going to be doing for the rest of the day.
End of Chapter
Author's Notes:
Thanks for reading and I don't really have anything on my mind right now so I guess I'll wrap this up. So as always feel free to leave me a review and I will try to respond back to you.
Until the next Chapter
Digem Out!