Chapter 2: Confronting the Dragon

Upon of arriving at the village, the two dragon slayers stepped away from Doranbolt. They had to prepare for what seemed inevitable after all. That's when both slayers noses flared as they picked up a new scent. Turning to see who t was, they noted it was a man dressed similar to Doranbolt, and he has a pair of glasses on.

As the man was within range they could see his stoic expression, "I would like to thank the both of you for agreeing to this and getting here so quickly with Doranbolt's aid."

"Yeah sure," Gajeel replied unsure on what to say to that.

"Two question's," Natsu said turning to the stoic faced man. "First, who are you? Second, where is the dragon?"

"The name is Lahar," the man replied. "And last we knew it was twenty miles north of here, it's holed up in a cave.".

Gajeel reached over and grabbed his fellow dragon slayer. What he got in response was a curious look. "I know what you're thinking flame brain. I know you act like an idiot in front of the guild and council…but not this time."

"Figured you of all people would see through the act," Natsu said with a fond smile before taking a seat on the ground. "Fine, let's get some info on the dragon."

Gajeel nodded, before turning to the two councilmen who looked shocked. "Oi, focus you two. What can you tell us about this dragon."

Quickly putting on his mask of indifference, Lahar answered, "From what we've seen of it and what it can do. It seems to have maroon scales and it's a fire type." Adding on his own personal thoughts as an after thought he said, "It shouldn't be and issue for Natsu."

However that last bit was ignored by the two dragon slayers as Gajeel turned to Natsu and asked, "Salamander, you don't think it's Igneel do you?"

.

"Nah, Igneel was part of the pro co-existence faction. I mean if the people provoked Igneel I could see him retaliating," Natsu started in a hushed tone so only Gajeel could hear him. "Honestly since gramps told us about this though, I had my hopes, but hearing it wasn't friendly kind of dashed that. However I do wanna try to talk to this dragon, see if I can't get it to stop."

"You sure talking to it is wise Salamander? We know it's not friendly, could be a survivor of the anti human faction," Gajeel warned.

"Yeah, if it comes down too it I'll kill it myself," Natsu stated with a subdued smile.

"Alright Salamander, just keep in mind you aren't fighting alone in this," Gajeel stated seriously, but then he grinned, "besides I kinda feel the same way. I'd be in your shoes if this was an iron dragon."

Natsu looked over and smirked at the black haired teen. "Alright rust bucket, we should take Doranbolt with us. It'll save time and trouble in case of an emergency. The rune knights should stay close to the village in case it need to be evacuated, and I'd rather not accidentally kill people while I'm cutting loose." Natsu stated, aware of the looks the two councilmen were giving him.

"Not a bad idea, Doranbolt can go back and forth with info, and should we need to make a quick escape he can get us out of there." Gajeel said catching onto Natsu's plan.

Lahar's mask slipped as both he and Doranbolt shouted, "ARE YOU REALLY NATSU!?"

"Yeah, I'm not as much of as a dense idiot that I make myself out to be. It's just more fun to live that way," Natsu turned to them with a grin. "Do me a favor though, keep what happened here to yourselves."

"I do have to ask Salamander," the iron dragon slayer spoke up, "why do you act like that?"

"Have you seen how Cana acts in the guild?" Natsu asked with a sweat drop.

"Good point," Gajeel replied rather uncomfortable now. At least he understood.

"Alright you two," Doranbolt cut in. He did at least understand where Natsu was coming from now. "We need to focus. You already laid out a plan so lets put it into action, or do you wanna waste more time?"

"Chill out," Natsu said as he walked up and placed a hand on Doranbolt's shoulder.

"Yeah, we're ready to go," Gajeel stated as he placed his hand on Doranbolt's other shoulder.

"Good luck you three and be careful." Lahar said with a soft smile.

Letting his mask fall temporarily, he smiled at the three, "Good luck you three, and be careful out there."

"When has being careful been known for us fairy tail mages?" Said Natsu with a smirk as the three teleported near to the dragon.

Before they teleported away, Natsu smirked and commented, "When have you ever known a Fairy Tail mage to be careful?"

"At least even when he's serious he can give everyone hope and a smile." Lahar thought as he went back to his troops to be prepared for anything.

Thirty second later Doranbolt and the dragon slayers were about a mile away from the cave. Close enough that the slayers could smell blood, and even taste it in the air. It repulsed the two heavily.

"Hey Doranbolt," Gajeel called out to the man, while pinching his nose. "How many villages has this thing attacked?"

"The last report I got said ten," the councilman stated. "That's all that was reported here in Fiore, but anything before that we don't know."

"Well it's shaping up to the point we're gonna have to fight," Natsu sighed. "Alright Gajeel you ready?"

"Of course," the iron dragon slayer said. In all honesty he's been on edge since he smelled the blood.

"Good," the son of Igneel said before turning to the third person. "I want you far enough away that you won't get caught in the crossfire, but close enough you can witness everything." Natsu commanded on a level that would rival Erza.

Upon hearing the tone and harshness of the command, Doranbolt was shaking lightly. "Y-yes s-sir," he said before vacating the area quickly.

"Damn Salamander," Gajeel said with wide eyes, slightly shaking himself. "Have you been taking lessons from Titania?"

"Nah, just on the receiving end. Plus Igneel was worse," Natsu said while chuckling.

During their exchange they began walking. They weren't trying to be quiet because they knew the dragon could smell AND hear them already. That doesn't mean they were being loud either. As the closed in on the mouth of the cave, a roar was heard from miles around then the dragon came out.

What caught the dragons attention was the scent of people, or things approaching. "The humans are now sending offerings hoping to save themselves?" The dragon asked as it looked down at the two humans, and picked up an odd scent from them. "I usually don't talk to my food, but I'm making an exception this once. You aren't completely human are you?"

"Far from it. Let me introduce myself," the dark haired teen said as he bowed slightly. "Gajeel Redfox, son of Metalicana, and the Iron Dragon Slayer."

Next time was the pink haired teen, "My turn," he said while bowing at a forty-five degree angle, "Natsu Dragneel, son of Igneel, King of the Fire Dragons, and I'm the Fire Dragon Slayer."

Say what you will about Igneel and Metalicana, but the dragon couldn't deny they raised these humans to have respect. "The sons of Igneel and Metalicana huh?" the dragon smirked. "You may have been taught dragon culture and respect, but you are not dragon's you are humans. You see, I never followed or believed as Igneel did. Humans are just a source of food for us dragons."

"So what are you going to do?" Natsu asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Well first I'm going to kill you two, then I'm going to the nearest village and have myself a feast," the dragon said with a feral grin.

Their was a shift in the area, as Natsu's demeanor completely changed. "You sure you want to take that route dragon?"

Even the dragon could sense the change. The shift disturbed it, but kept it's feral grin for appearance sake. "Ready to die human?"

"Gajeel, you ready?" Natsu asked in a tone that unnerved the iron dragon slayer.

"Yeah," Gajeel said. Doing his best to hide his sense of unease. "Let's take this giant lizard down!"

Natsu let a flame like aura surround him, letting his magic flow freely. Then he dashed forward and leapt into the aura and focusing his aura around his fist. "FIRE DRAGON IRON FIST" he shouted out as his flame covered hand slammed into the dragons head with tremendous force and magical power.

Noticing the dragon was stunned by Natsu's iron fist, Gajeel dropped into a stance for a roar. Inhaling deeply, a coal gray magic circle appeared in front of him. "IRON DRAGON ROAR" he shouted as a twister of shrapnel raced towards the dragon and hit it square in the chest.

As the dragon slid along the ground kicking up dust around along the way, Natsu landed next to his fellow slayer. They stood their, guards still up knowing it wouldn't be that easy.

As the dust cleared Natsu noted the damage done. The scales on it's head were heavily cracked. It would appear this dragon didn't notice it though. The scales on his chest looked no worse off for wear, but looking closer there was a small crack.

"Well damn, this is just great," Natsu sighed after analyzing. He started running over strategies in his head. So far their best bet would be for him to do enough damage that one of Gajeel's roar could tear through that one spot.

"Not bad for pitiful human, but all you managed to do was tickle me," the dragon taunted. It knew, it had taken more damage than it was expecting, but the dragon wasn't about to admit that. "I think it's my turn now…FIRE DRAGON ROAR" the dragon launched a mass of flames at the teen with dark hair.

To bad for him, that there was a fire dragon slayer present. A fire dragon slayer raised by the Fire Dragon King. He stepped into the path of the fire with his mouth opened and started to eat the fire.

"WHAT!? HOW COULD A MERE HUMAN EAT MY FLAMES?!" the dragon was stunned. He believed no human could eat his flames, to bad for him that Natsu was raised by Igneel.

"Now I got a fire in my belly." Natsu stated with a grin on his face. "Your flames weren't bad either, but Igneel's were way hotter." he stated to anger the dragon. "Oh and you should have known I'd be able to eat your flames, I mean I was raised by the Fire Dragon King…wonder how many times I have to say that?"

The dragon growled, it was starting to loss it's cool. Little did he know it's what Natsu wanted, as the teen quickly moved under the dragon. "FIRE DRAGON FLAME ELBOW" but Natsu didn't there as he quickly followed up a, "FIRE DRAGON IRON FIST" to deliver some devastating damage.

After recovering from the staggering damage, from a brutal attack the dragon rushed forward. He raised a claw to swipe at the impudent fire dragon slayer. However he'd completely forgot about the other slayer, as Gajeel intercepted with his iron dragon sword. Sadly he wasn't expecting the power behind the swipe as it dispelled his magic and the claws cut into his arm.

"AHHHHH!" Gajeel screamed out in pain. The dragon went in for a second, maybe even the finishing blow. Before the attack could land Natsu had grabbed his fellow slayer and jumped back to gain some distance.

Inspecting the injury, aside from the heavily bleeding, it didn't look to bad. "Alright Gajeel, this is gonna hurt. I have to cauterize the wound, good news it isn't too deep."

"Well do it, and make it quick. I have to return the favor to this overgrown liz-" he started to say as Natsu's flaming hand was run over all the gashes.

"Don't be stupid Gajeel," the fire dragon slayer stated as the dragons tail smashed into a boulder. Gajeel however completely ignored his fellow slayer.

"Alright now this lizard is in for some pain," Gajeel stated with a smirk. "IRON DRAGON SCALES," he said as he was covered in silver scales. He then made a mad dash towards the dragon and shouted, "IRON DRAGON LANCE: DEMON LOGS!"

The dragon stood still and taking the hit. His goal was to let him get close, and when the human did the dragon smirk. Sure he took damage but it was worth it to get to swat the iron slayer, ad send him flying through trees.

"GAJEEL!" Natsu screamed before turning his attention back to the dragon with a glare. He was starting to see red, so he charged the dragon with incredible speed shouting, "FIRE DRAGON SWORD HORN!"

What he wasn't expecting was for the dragon to move to the side. What made it worse was the single claw he raised for Natsu to sail over. The dragon moved it's claw as he flew over leaving a gash from his right shoulder to his left hip.

"AHHHHHH!" the son of Igneel screamed in agony. If he had to guess this was slightly deeper than what the dragon managed to get on Gajeel. As he finally descended to the ground, his body made a small crater.

Even with all the pain he was fighting through, he managed to cauterize the craw mark running through his chest. Thankful that he could do that, cause he knew he'd have died from blood loss otherwise.

Natsu slowly climbed out of the crater as Gajeel come stumbling back in from the forest. Both looked horrible, and both were clearly pissed.

"Oi, Salamander," Gajeel said.

"I know," was his response. "Let's do this."

The two slayers widened their stances. Both inhaling deeply. The dragon was curious as too what the two humans were doing. Cause it looked like they were fat, due to the amount of air they sucked in.

"FIRE DRAGON"

"IRON DRAGON"

"ROAR!" they both shout as a torrent of flame and iron shrapnel flew out of their mouths towards the dragon.

As the two roar swirled around each other, the slowly started to merge creating a unison raid. By the time the dragon tried to let out a roar of it's own, it was overwhelmed by the power behind the combined roar. The roar was pushing the dragon back as it dug into the scales on it's chest, breaking quite a few.

When it finally let up the dragon was slammed into a mountain, and Gajeel ran forward. His intent on ending the dragons life. Before he could even prepare an attack the dragon was back up and swung it's clawed paw. The results were a very shocked, and heavily damaged iron dragon slayer. The gashes were twice as bad as the one Natsu had received. He was gushing blood, but the adrenaline kept him from feeling the pain.

"GAJEEL!" Natsu screamed as he rushed to his guild mate. As soon as he was next to the black haired teen he started assessing the damage, and he realized there was nothing he could do to help.

It was at that moment Doranbolt teleported next to the duo. "Natsu, we need to retreat. I know you believe you can take the dragon in it's weakened state, but you can't do it alone." the councilman turned his attention back to the other slayer.

In an eerily calm tone Natsu replied, "Take Gajeel and get out of here. I'll take care of this lizard."

"No Natsu, you aren't strong enoug-" Doranbolt cut himself off as he felt an immense magical pressure. Turning to Natsu again he could see why. He could see patches of scales covering his arms, around his face and even a patch of scales on his chest. Natsu Dragneel was using Dragon Force.

"He's going to pay for what he did to Gajeel so you get him to the guild so Wendy can heal him I'm going to finish this and don't bring anyone back here no one else must get hurt." Natsu said with a commanding pissed off tone.

"This thing has to pay for what he did to Gajeel," he paused trying to control his emotions but finding it difficult. "for all the innocent people it's slaughtered. Get Gajeel out of here Doranbolt, and when you come back don't bring anyone else with you."

Doranbolt could hear the underlying rage in his tone and he understood it. "Alright Natsu, but you better not die on us!" With his peace said he teleported away with the injured slayer.

(Back at the Guild Hall)

For the first time in years, the guild hall was deathly silent. Everyone was waiting, and praying, for the dragon slayers to return safely. They all knew what was at stake, and what the two slayers were fighting for but that didn't ease their worry.

After all it had been three hours since they left, and since the master explained the nature of the mission. Well no one felt in the mood to party. To make things worse the tension was growing worse by the minute. One person, they just couldn't take the silence and uncertainty any longer.

"Do you think Natsu-nii and Gajeel-san are alright?" Wendy asked. It was loud enough for the guild to hear as the place was complete quiet, but the question was directed to the people she was sitting with.

"Child I'm sure that they're just fine. They are the most stubborn members of the guild, so just try to be patient alright?" Carla stated in the most reassuring way she could for her slayer.

"She's right you know Wendy. Have faith in them, they haven't let us down before have they?" Erza asked with a gentle smile to help calm Wendy.

"I know Erza-san," the young dragon slayer said as she looked down. "I just have this feeling the something bad happ-"

It was at the moment Doranbolt appeared in the middle of the guild…with Gajeel bleeding heavily. "WENDY," the councilman shouted as she rushed over. "He needs help now, or he won't make it," he said, tone full of panic and worry.

The girl nodded and looked at the iron dragon slayer. She began to assess the damage. The first wound she noticed was the worst, as it was the last hit he took. Three claw marks marring the right side of his torso and bleeding gushing out. Some other minor scrapes and bruises littering his body, so she set to work.

Erza came marching over and got a good look at Gajeel before rounding on the councilman. "WHERE IS NATSU, IS HE OKAY!?" She demanded answers of this man, and she wanted them now. No one could blame her though, she grew up with Natsu.

"I'm sorry Erza," the man started with a downcast expression. "After Gajeel ended up in that state, Natsu told me to get Gajeel out of there. He chose to stay behind to finish the dragon."

At hearing that idiot choosing to stay behind, she lost it. She dragged the man to his feet and in a cold demanding voice she said, "You will take me to him now, we both know he can't fight that dragon alone."

"I can't Erza, right now I'm more terrified of him and what he could do to me if I didn't listen to him," he paused to let that sink in for everyone. "He told me that when I go back not to bring anyone with me, he doesn't want to risk anyone else getting hurt or worse."

This set people in the guild off as they started asking questions out of concern.

"What is the flame brain thinking?!"

"If him and Gajeel couldn't take it down what makes him thinks he can do it by himself?!"

"I know he's reckless but even he can't do this!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH BRATS!" Makarov shouted. He was just as worried as his brats but chaos won't help. "I know the brat has another reason for making such a request. Can you tell us what it is?"

"He does, multiple actually," Doranbolt stated which shocked the guild a little. "The most important though is his magical power and the heat output. Ha, insane kid is using Dragon Force."

Erza was beyond shocked. She'd seen what Natsu was capable, and sensed his magical output, but she doesn't recall the temperature heating up. She was the only one, first hand, to witness that power. "Master, if he's using Dragon Force…then he's on a whole other level. I would say he could rival you, or even Gildarts, magical power."

Master Makarov looked stunned at this information as he'd never heard it before. Of all the absurd things, but it came from Erza and she's a terrible liar like Natsu. Reaching a decision he turned to the guild, "I know that boy can be reckless, and that he's not always the brightest light," Makarov paused. He didn't feel right saying that because he knew the truth.

Doranbolt was thinking similarly, as he'd seen the true Natsu today.

"However when it comes to fighting, everyone knows Natsu will not go down easily. And if it's true that Natsu is using Dragon Force then any of us going to aid him would just cause him more problems," he looked around at his children to make sure they understood. "We must have faith in him and his abilities, SO LETS CHEER NATSU ON!"

The old man initiated the Fairy Tail sign by raising his right hand, index finger straight up, and thumb pointed out. 'Natsu, you brat, it's all up too you. Make this old man and Fairy Tail proud.'

A/N: That's a wrap for this chapter. As for Natsu and Gajeel being smarter and knowing about certain things, it will be explained a little bit in the next chapter. With that out of the way I'd like to thank you all for the support on this story, including the original author. Shout out to Jerrend especially for allowing me to adopt this wonderful story.