The train headed out with the party involved and Alex dozed before getting Natsu slumped on his shoulder before the train rumbled again and Alex groaned with waking up before he got a foot in kicking the both of them to the ground as he gripped his jaw and shifted it a bit as Kageyama ranted. "What a pity, for you little flies... to die without getting a glimpse of the dark age!" Alex spat out some saliva on the floor while Natsu was down as he got up.
"Okay... that was rude..." Alex stood up as he spoke. "Make your next choice carefully, else I will break you." Kageyama smirked as he spoke.
"Ah, did I hurt your feelings, too bad, this is what is going to happen to your precious guilds when Eisenwald completes our great task!" The shadows surged for the two of them before Alex moved, grabbing Natsu and reappearing behind Kageyama, the user surprised and tried to turn before a shocking pain lanced through his body with a kick to his back, Alex the one delivering it as he spoke.
"What you did was not a proper kick, THIS is how you kick!" With that, he went on the offensive in battering Kageyama into pieces, even hand standing with the barrage, he left in shock as Alex bent over his broken form and pulled out the flute he worked hard to get before he huffed in snapping it in half and spoke. "You Dark Guilds are all idiots, why do you think you were kicked out of the league, you were actively doing assassination missions and those were banned, you were disbanded because you all were going down a dark path, one that will stain your souls." He crouched in waving the broken flute in hand, its life completely snapped in twine. "While I don't know ALL of the big and bad magics, Lullaby is a soul-drain one, one that was sentient as a Demon of Zeref and you boneheads thought that it would have settled with the player's life and the Guild Masters, unbelievable..."
He shook his head as the train jolted for a stop and Natsu getting back up in cheer before he was brought down by Alex who sat back down with the Dragon Slayer on his shoulder. "Natsu, we're not there yet, if we are going to take care of this Dark Guild, we need to hit them at the Kunugi Train Station and make it stick that they have fallen and we are here to bust their ego."
"A-aye...!" Alex rubbed his head in apology for the mechanical travel, knowing that Erza, Lucy, and Gray were on their way to help out, but it also depended on how much was left when Alex and Natsu were done.
The train arrived to the joy of the Eisenwald guild, but their joy was replaced with fear as Kageyama was tossed out, terribly beaten up, with the Lullaby shattered in two as a familiar threat came out followed with what must have been an actual bounty hunter as he tilted his hat and cast a glare at the guild as he spoke. "Erigor and the Eisenwald guild, surrender peacefully or Salamander and I will break all your bones in beating the treason out of you, you threaten not just all of the official guilds, you threaten Fairy Tail and we take such threats personally." Erigor growled as he shouted.
"DESTROY THEM!" The members charged as the bounty hunter joined at Natsu's side before smiling as he cracked his knuckles.
"A decent fifty, along with Erigor, first one with the most gets a lesson in whatever they want or a story in exchange, deal?"
"Deal!" Natsu smiled as he inquired. "Terms?"
"You forfeit with using magic, you need to bash them with your bare fists and kicks, if they are out of range, then quickly bring them down to ground level..." He extended a primed fist and Natsu bumped before both shouted.
"Let's go!" They rushed and made the charge head-on and won, the members flying in shock before the duo went bare-knuckles into the horde and tore them apart with smiles before Erigor charged.
"DIE!" Both turned and shouted, their actions mirroring each other with Alex's left and Natsu's right fists.
"Shut up and go down!" They slammed an uppercut into Erigor's jaw before following up with mirroring slam downs, a straight jab, a round kick, and grabbing Erigor's arms before slamming him into the floor before they bumps elbow, fists, and clasped hands with smiles before they split and Alex started to sort through the mess before he beamed to Natsu's loss of three less as he laughed.
"Looks I win this one, Natsu." He smiled to Natsu's defeat before he spoke. "Now my reward... tell me about Igneel." Natsu glanced up before he beamed and went into story time of his former father, all of the things Igneel taught him, even gave Natsu a scarf of his scales, before vanishing on July the Seventh, in the year of 777, Alex nodding in hearing the treasured memories before he glanced up. What Natsu would never have noticed was the titanic dragon that formed in behind him; invisible, unheard, and full of presence, beaming from behind Natsu as he whispered a short sentence to Alex.
'Don't tell him, not yet...' Alex nodded a bit as the Dragon King smiled and faded away, back into Natsu as Natsu finished up with his most recent search, it a failure, but it was still a great time, Alex had known about that, he was the one who hurled Natsu into the air to consume a high-impact fireball and hurling Bora into the air for Natsu to slug him. They cleaned up the mess with depositing the criminals into piles so that the Rune Knights could take them all in and the better part was that nothing was destroyed in the brawl that went down, any damages done would have been on Eisenwald's mess, not the duo that brought them to an end.
The entrance erupted in debris as both glanced with deadpan faces as Erza exclaimed in charging in. "Natsu! Hunter! Are you both okay!?"
"Meeeehhhh..." Both answered, sounding both sheepish and deadpan at Erza storming in before Gray arrived and blinked to the clean-up being done before he pointed at the departing members and looking at the sitting pair.
"Did you two do this... and without any magic!?"
"Meeeeehhh..." They answered again before Happy spoke in terror.
"Natsu has been turned into a sheep, we need to cure him right now!"
"I think that Natsu is just playing dumb with us and the other guy is just playing along, right?"
"Meeeeehhhh..." They deadpanned at her as Lucy fell in total disbelief of what was going on.
"What is going on...?"
"Natsu! Did you succeed in stopping Eisenwald from targeting anyone!?"
"Geez, I don't know, Erza, you tell me, after all you left me with the other guy on the train, and I thought we were cool in getting a fight in." Erza slumped in misery as she groaned in sorrow.
"Natsu is upset with me... he is very much upset with my lack of awareness and my ignorance that left him with a bounty hunter that is clearly superior to myself..."
"This is getting too weird." Gray turned to the pair as he demanded. "Stop screwing around, Natsu, we've got to-" His face was pummeled when Alex pulled out a tube and fired a shirt into Gray's face as he spoke.
"Don't talk to us until you are fully dressed, cooler boy..." Natsu laughed at the defeated Gray to a shirt as another joined the gloom corner as Gray mumbled.
"The other guy doesn't want me talking unless I am dressed, why is he being so cruel...?"
"This is getting out of hand right now!"
"Lucy, don't say anything, else they will break you as well!" Happy exclaimed as Natsu turned to him and spoke with the most serious voice ever.
"No raw fish for a month, Happy, you were also part of the lack of awareness." Happy fell into the depression as well as he sadly spoke.
"My fish rights... they're gone... Natsu banned me from fish..."
"Guys! Snap out of it!" Lucy turned to the solemn pair as she exclaimed. "That was so out of character, guys, could you have been a bit better with just telling them how it went!?"
"We could have done it, Lucy, but here's the thing..."
"We took out fifty-one goons with Erigor included, without using any of our magic to do it."
"So, before you can lecture us on judging them, ask yourself..."
"How well could you have handled any of them without any of your Celestial Spirits to help you out?"
"End of discussion." They pounded fists as Lucy hobbled over, mushrooms growing as she moped.
"I am so one-dimensional right now... why are their words so harsh, but true...?" The faces remained deadpanned before Natsu cracked and laughed, the sound popping the members up as Natsu howled.
"That was so immediate, I thought you guys were going to give a real fight about it!" He laughed as he waved his hand. "Erza is the strongest Wizard I know and I fear her for it, Gray is my rival, Happy is my buddy and partner, and Lucy is a very nice girl that I brought to Fairy Tail, you could have put up a fight in arguing, but man! That was amazing!" He laughed as Alex chuckled as well with a tilt of the Stetson backwards to his beaming smile.
"We don't blame you for being late, you followed the trail as best as you could before stopping here." Alex's smile slipped as he spoke. "Since Eisenwald was just really dumb and arrogant, they wanted to use Lullaby on the Guild Masters at their meeting, Natsu and me managed to thwart their plans and broke that wooden piece for good, Natsu may have lit it on fire during our skirmish." Natsu gaped as he exclaimed.
"I lost before I even got five in!?"
"It was a dead flute and a dead demon, it doesn't count, Natsu, it is still twenty-seven on your twenty-four." Natsu blinked before laughing as Erza breathed with a smile.
"Most impressive, both of you, we would have been playing by their hands if we had just gone without you, Hunter, Natsu was brilliant in suggesting you."
"Yeah, that was really smart, I don't think I could have thought of bringing that guy in the first place for this job."
"So are we going to get paid for this, or was this a safeguard for the Guild Masters?"
"Aye, Lucy's right, but more importantly, does that mean that my fish privileges are still intact?" The group laughed at Happy's plead for fish before they headed on back, Alex doing off for Magnolia while the others left to meet up with Master Makarov...
Alex returned with no problems and joined the fine life of the Guild while Erza and Natsu made for their duel before the news came that Erza was arrested for the destruction of the Kunugi Station, Alex drinking before Natsu joined him as he spoke. "Erza's innocent... right?"
"She is, the Council just wants to show they are still in power with a false trial, they would only slap her with the guilty title, but just left her go, it is just a show of presence that they would use to show who is still in charge and that the guilds are still under their authority..." He drained the glass and hummed as he spoke. "I get that it is hard to just accept it, but if you had decided to bust right in, you would have made a right mess of things there and got the both of you thrown in there, it is just a formality, nothing too big..." Mira refilled the glass and Alex raised it to her. "Thank you, Mirajane." He started to drink more juice before Natsu spoke.
"Can you... teach me and Happy how to be stronger?" Alex paused with setting the glass down as Natsu spoke. "I know that I am a Dragon Slayer, we train ourselves to the max to be the strongest and the more skilled with our powers, but Erza was holding back and I don't like that, Laxus never takes me seriously, Mira... lost her place due to something terrible, Gildarts is always wandering, and I barely hear anything about this Mystogan, it just feels... frustrating..." Alex hummed with finishing his glass and standing up before he spoke, dropping fifty Jewels under the glass.
"Grab your Exceed Happy and meet me in the East Forest, I am going to strengthen you and break you all the same." Alex beamed as he tilted his hat. "We can't be one-trick ponies when it comes to protecting our friends and family, we get stronger to do that, we surpass our limits to ensure no one is lost to us, and we don't give in to doubt, we chew it up and spit it out in the face of our foes." Natsu beamed as he cheered.
"Alright!" He quickly grabbed Happy and followed Alex as Makarov smiled.
"What a fond change of behavior, I hope that it also means that Natsu will be less likely to just destroy and actually start bringing in a positive profit to cover his debt."
"Okay, first step... potential and, sad to say this, both of you are sad in that regard." Natsu and Happy flopped as Alex waved a hand. "Natsu is capable, able to dish out some serious damage, that is a given, but he is still on tier one skills, he has yet to utilized Dragon Force." Natsu perked up as he inquired with excitement.
"Dragon Force!?"
"Dragon Force." Alex replied as he continued. "With training, you can accomplish a state of form that enables you to strike harder, faster, and with more powerful techniques, a boost of some high-quality flames can jump start that, the change is that your body develops draconic scales, often seen around your face, lining your arms and can sharpen your fingers into claws." Alex answered as he mustered a growing fireball, its color changing from its orange flames to a sheer blue one. "As you train it, it will adjust to your body and let you use it without developing any scales, but there is a danger to using it as Dragon Slayer Magic has a slight issue to take note of." They listened as Alex spoke. "Dragon Slayers are often embedded with Dragon Seeds, these Seeds are the core of Dragon Slaying, but push them too much, overuse your power, and you run the real risk of turning into a Dragon yourself."
Natsu froze at looking at his hands as he spoke. "I... could have become a Dragon if I pushed too hard...?" Happy sadly hummed as well as Alex motioned for ease.
"No worries for now, the Seed differs in its threshold and those actually taught by Dragons often have the Seed stunted in even trying to go full Dragon." Both breathed as Alex continued. "Now, unless I did not properly charge this fireball with a large amount of Ethernano, this should jumpstart your Dragon Force, be careful as it can be a real high." Alex aimed and Natsu braced as he fired, Natsu getting slammed with it before starting to consume the intensely hot flames before his aura erupted in a shout, scales developing across his body before he breathed, his senses sharpening and honing in as he exclaimed with bolting off.
"I'M COMING FOR YOU, YOU DAMN APES!" Both blinked before large explosions erupted from the Forest, both sweating as Alex spoke.
"I should have realized the threat before doing that, now I might be in trouble..." He shook his head as he turned to Happy. "Now for you, Exceed."
"Question, what's an Exceed?" Alex hummed as he spoke.
"Exceeds are a race of magical felines from a different dimension, a dimension where it is often on a limited amount of magical energy and often robbing some of the stores from Earthland, where we are, to fuel it back up, barely making a dent as Earthland is unlimited with its magical stores." Alex continued as he explained it out. "Exceeds are the only ones there with magical cores as everyone else there has to use Magical Tools to do any Magic whatsoever and Exceeds can only use their own magic if they are not conflicted or in doubt, they have to be sure of themselves when it happens."
"Aye, that sounds cool!"
"Cool is one word for it, but we will approach that much later." Alex folded his arms as he spoke. "From what I can tell, despite what you might believe, you possess a high Magical Core, but only a decent ten percent is being used, one for using your wings and flying, the other nine is reinforcing your body to steel-like levels of durability and strength."
"AH, THAT IS SO AWESOME!"
"Which means we have a good ninety to test out your affinity, what magics would fit into your mold to make you more than a fish-munching light flyer." He crossed his arms as he spoke. "To that, we will not sleep, we will not rest, and any food we eat will be limited, example is seven fish a day, I will restrict you to three fish a week."
"WHAT!? NOOOOOOOO!" Everyone in Magnolia heard the scream of horror that emitted from the East Forest, Fairy Tail slightly shuddered at what terrors were being done to Natsu and Happy to get that sort of reaction from Happy, especially since it roused them right out of Mystogan's sleep spell...
Alex had worked it very well in 'training' the poor two out into wrecks, but they recovered just as fast as Alex wrote in his small journal on the progress.
Natsu's speed and strength had increased five-fold, even working it further that going into Dragon Force would yield a bit less features appearing, an excellent show of progress for him, but it was... unhealthy and he had to stop Natsu short, even if he was pinned down by Makarov from going up to the second floor because Laxus was taunting, his eyes had rose to the second level and knew the danger of it, missions that could have been the end of many a wizard if they were not careful or trained enough to handle it, the S-Rank Quests.
Happy was a better source of improvement as they had unlocked another ten percent of his core, slip in half as he learned how to control Fire Magic and Requip, though Requip was weird as his weapons were personally enhanced and enchanted fish bones and sticks, but Alex didn't bother with his ideas, they had to learn how to do that on their own as he took a swag of his juice and stashing the journal.
"Something's happened, Master! One of the S-Rank Quests is missing from the second floor." Makarov had also been drinking before both sprayed in shock as Alex growled and hurled his mug, Laxus was able to say something insulting before he was clocked hard in the skull as Alex roared.
"You daft, arrogant thunderhead! You just LET that flying blue fuzzball grab a fudging quest off the board and did nothing to stop him!? You're just as bad as your deadbeat father, you moronic, power-hungry raincloud!" The guild tensed as Alex growled in getting up, Freefall falling in as Alex shouted. "Gray Fullbuster, you are with me as we grab that firebreather and hopefully bring him back! Somebody, tell Erza that when she gets back and we hadn't returned - PURSUE US!"
"S-Sir!" All tensed as Alex mounted up and brought Gray with him as the guild was left tense before breathing as Mira headed back up and grimaced before she headed behind the bar and spoke.
"Someone tell the Thunder Legion Tribe that Laxus's skull just cracked open and he might need to take some time in recovering." All of them hissed in pain, it takes a lot to crack Laxus open and one of their newest just hurled a wooden mug hard enough to do so as Mira pulled out the first aid kit while Jet headed out to grab Porlyusica for fixing up a bonehead...