Hello and welcome to chapter 6 of A Dragon's Tail. It's been quite a long time coming, but with good reason! I was originally planning to write two chapters but decided to try and squeeze them into one to speed things up a bit. Unfortunately, that means I spent a little longer writing this. If it's any consolation, it will be my longest chapter yet.
I have an announcement of sorts at the end for you guys too. Nothing too huge, just some information regarding the direction of the story in upcoming chapters, so you might be interested in reading it.
Before I ramble on too much, I'll let you get to reading. Enjoy!
Heart of Fire
Wings of Light
I have withstood the harshest of winters
In this barren heart of mine
So cold and empty without you here
And yet my flame burns on
Now that Pinkie had a destination in mind, his spirits were lifted. His eagerness was so strong in fact, that he had to restrain himself from running full tilt, as all that would do is leave him exhausted long before he even got there. Instead, he forced himself to stick to a steady march and follow the plan that had been set out for him.
While being in Goldie's presence for so long had been unbearable, the young man's help had proven to be invaluable. Not only had he pointed Pinkie in the direction of a large town, but he had also given him some useful equipment as well as the know-how to use them whenever he saw fit- talk about a stroke of luck.
Goldie had pointed out several landmarks on the map and had suggested that he travel to these landmarks rather than walk directly to Magnolia. When he'd asked why Goldie explained that it would be easier to keep track of where he was and would, therefore, help him avoid becoming lost. This route would also- supposedly- help him avoid several areas of difficult terrain.
He glanced at the map.
"Let's see..." he mused. "The first place he mentioned was... here."
Tracing over the map with his finger, he stopped when he found the symbol he was looking for.
"What did he say this place was called... the Lake of Perception? What the hell does that even mean?" he muttered. "Well, odd name or not, that's where I need to go."
Wiping the sweat off his brow, he paused to confirm- once again- that he was indeed heading in the right direction. At least, that was his excuse, but the truth was that he still felt a bit unwell after being knocked out earlier. He stifled his nausea, hoping that he would start to feel better soon and walked onwards.
Two days later, Pinkie neared his first landmark- or rather, he thought he was close to it. He wasn't sure if his navigation skills were up to scratch as of yet and he wasn't entirely confident that he had been interpreting the map correctly either.
Glancing around, he looked for a good vantage point to get a better view. The land around him consisted of wide, rolling plains, with a few odd trees scattered around. Unfortunately, none of the trees were tall enough to make a good vantage point, so in the end, he decided to simply climb a nearby hill. Once he reached the peak, he spun around in a slow circle, scouring the land with his Dragonsense.
It didn't take him long to find the lake, as it was actually quite close, much to his surprise. He started running towards it, then, following a nasty trip that left him eating dirt, decided it might be best just to... walk there.
Less than ten minutes later, he arrived at the lake's edge. It was a lake like any other, or so he would ordinarily say- but recent events had left him a little paranoid.
'Better safe than sorry...' he thought, enabling his Dragonsense once again.
He took a thorough look at the lake and the surrounding area. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he listened for any suspicious sounds. Hearing nothing, he turned to his nose, walking the perimeter of the lake and sniffing the air as he did so. For a second he thought he smelled something like a variety of flower, but it vanished before he could work out what it was. That wasn't entirely surprising though- there were a multitude of flowers by the lakeside that might mask the scent.
Satisfied that he was not in any immediate danger, he approached the lake. He knelt by the edge and gazed into the crystal clear water. It was so clear in fact that you could see straight to the bottom with ease. It was larger than he had first believed and deceptively deep.
Suddenly, he became aware of just how parched he was. Fighting the urge to dunk his face into the water, he put both hands in the water and cupped them, lifting the water to his lips. He took just a small sip, rolled the water around his tongue, gargled it, trying to see if there was anything wrong with it.
It was perfectly fine... and it was delicious.
He drank the water greedily, water dribbling down his chin as again and again, he raised the water to his lips. He drank for what felt like an eternity and at the same time only an instant until finally, he was satisfied.
As common sense returned, he reached for his waterskin. Still kneeling, he put one hand down and with the other, dipped his waterskin into the lake, refilling the vessel.
'Good thing I remembered to fill this up,' he muttered to himself. 'Otherwise, I would have run out of water before long.'
He lifted the waterskin, returning the now full vessel to his belt. He stood, feeling the waterskin's familiar weight as it-
...Wait a second.
He hefted the waterskin for a second.
On second thought, it still felt quite light... if he didn't know better, he'd say it was still empty.
He uncorked it again, checking it.
'It's still empty,' he thought in surprise.
He knelt again, holding the waterskin under the water again. Thirty seconds later, he lifted it up- and it still wasn't full.
He put it under again, even more confused.
This time, he waited for a solid minute. He was starting to feel a little uncomfortable, kneeling here with one hand on the water and the other in the water.
Hang on, that's something else that doesn't make sense.
As he had done previously, he had been using one hand to steady himself as he filled the waterskin. However, he hadn't been paying attention to what his hand had been resting on.
His hand was resting on the water itself... not sinking through it as it should, but resting on top as if the water was a solid object.
"...What the hell?" Pinkie muttered. "How is that even possible?"
Still reeling from shock, another facet of this unusual situation reared its ugly head. Catching a flicker of movement, Pinkie turned his head slightly and looked at his reflection. It shared his expression of concern and confusion, as you might expect.
But then, it smiled at him.
Huh... his reflection wasn't reflecting his actions, instead, it was moving on its own... interesting.
He leapt away from the edge of the lake, screaming. He swore over and over again, cursing his bad luck that this sort of crazy stuff always seemed to happen to him. Could he not just have an ordinary journey without any bizarre incidents? Was that too much to ask?
Calming his racing heart, he approached the water's edge again. The freaky non-reflection was nowhere to be seen- only his own reflection showed on the water's surface. He gingerly reached out his hand and touched the water's surface, which was still solid as a rock.
'This really is an odd lake,' he thought. All of a sudden, he had the urge to see just what this lake was capable of. His curiosity got the better of him and with barely a hesitation, he took a single step forward.
He didn't sink, but rather stood on the water's surface. With a feeling of glee, he took another step forward, then another. Before he knew it, he was standing in the centre of the lake.
He couldn't help but laugh at the craziness of it all... but even more than that, he wanted to know what came next.
"Alright," he said aloud. "This is fun and all, but all good things come in threes. Show me your last surprise."
The words had barely left his mouth when the lake decided to act. In front of Pinkie, a column of water started to rise up, as if some invisible force was stretching the surface of the lake. The column morphed and took on a human figure- his figure to be exact.
Pinkie stared at his doppelganger, who grinned impishly back at him.
"What... are you?" he asked.
The other Pinkie tilted its head to one side and raised its eyebrows in mock bewilderment.
"Well, I'm you of course," it responded. "Is that your way of saying that you don't know who you are?"
It snickered, before sobering up somewhat. "Maybe you should try to work that out for yourself. It's kind of hard to live without a sense of your own identity," it continued philosophically.
"I know who I am," Pinkie snapped.
"Do you?"
Pinkie opened his mouth to respond, but the words wouldn't come. The snap response had put him on the back foot and he wasn't sure how to answer. Something told him that there was more to the question than met the eye.
The Reflection looked at him seriously.
"Listen," it said. "You could probably rattle off a thousand answers to that question- whether it's about your appearance or your skills, where you've been- but they're all superficial answers. Do you want to know what really makes a person who they are? It's their vision of who they want to be."
"Who I want to be?" Pinkie mused. "I don't know just yet."
"Maybe you should think about that," said the thing.
"I don't need advice from myself, thank you very much. I'll work out stuff on my own."
He stretched his hand out towards the Reflection, who mirrored his actions. The moment their hands touched, the Reflection turned liquid again and the lake's surface gave way, plunging Pinkie into the water below.
A few minutes later, a very aggravated Pinkie crawled back onto land, spluttering and coughing up water. While some people may enjoy being dropped into a large body of water unexpectedly, he was clearly not one of those people. He hadn't had enough time to get a good breath of air beforehand, the water had rushed straight up his nose and now his clothes were soaked to boot.
Overall, it was not a pleasant experience.
He raised his body temperature using his magic, causing steam to billow off him. Moments later, he was completely dry. You couldn't even tell that he'd taken an involuntary swim- aside from the fact that he was a little cleaner now than he had been.
Wasting no time, he refilled his waterskin, grabbed his pack- which he had wisely left away from the water- checked for his next destination, then set off.
Three days later, Pinkie neared his second landmark. Similar to the Lake of Perception, the name of this next destination was also a bit perplexing.
This next place was simply called: 'Temporal Anomaly', which sounded less like a name and more like a description. The problem was, while the name may or not be accurate, it didn't give him much of an indication of what to look out for. What exactly is a 'Temporal Anomaly' supposed to look like?
For this reason, Pinkie was left with no other option but to wander around roughly in the area where the landmark was supposed to be. It was getting late and he was determined to find the place before the sun started to set. However, it was proving to be tricky to find the place and before long, the sky started to grow darker.
Pinkie was starting to grow a little tired with this fruitless search and was just about to give up and call it a night when he stumbled upon something unusual. He noticed a small pocket of ground that was somewhat recessed compared to the rest of the land around. It was so subtle in fact that you couldn't see it until you were practically on top of it.
He approached the edge of the hollow and lowered himself down. The moment he did so, everything went dark.
He froze, forcing his eyes to adjust to the darkness and checked for any signs of danger. Fortunately, nothing leapt out at him as being particularly threatening.
He looked up, half expecting to see an object of some kind blocking out the sun, but there wasn't anything that might do so.
Confused, he climbed out of the hollow. Immediately, the light of the setting sun bloomed, dazzling his oversensitized eyes.
Waiting for his eyes to adjust to the light once more, he activated his Dragonsense. The effect was immediate, as his magic revealed what his eyes had been unable to see: a flickering dome painted in swirling shades of red, green and blue. Some type of magic was at work here.
'Interesting...' Pinkie thought. 'So outside of this pocket of space, it's daytime, but inside, it's dark as night.'
He looked over to the horizon, where the sun was just about to sink out of sight. By his reckoning, he had maybe ten minutes before it disappeared entirely.
Stepping back into the dome, he sat down and waited patiently. He counted out the seconds, until just over ten minutes later, his prediction came true.
Towards the centre of the dome, a sphere of light slowly floated up out of a small pond. As it did so, it began to glow more intensely, lighting up the area. This miniature sun drifted upwards, hovering overhead.
"Cool," Pinkie said. "So when the sun outside sets, the sun inside the dome comes out. And the opposite is also true... probably anyway."
He smiled gently, pleased with himself for managing to figure it out.
As nice as this place was though, he wasn't going to be able to sleep in here with that orb of light floating around. He slipped back out again, hastily set up camp, then settled down for the night.
Pinkie woke up the next day feeling like death warmed over. He had a splitting headache, he was struggling to focus his eyes and he was having uncontrollable muscle spasms. All in all, it wasn't the most pleasant way to start the day.
Groaning in pain, he stumbled to his feet, slapping his cheeks to drive away the last of his drowsiness. He couldn't afford to let up now- not when he'd gotten so close to his destination. He just needed to get a little further, then he could finally rest.
Forcing his feet to move, he set off for his third and final landmark.
His final pitstop was the 'Ruins of Caera Boras'. According to Goldie, this once formidable citadel had been built by an ancient kingdom in order to defend their borders against a rival nation. It endured through many battles, never once falling. After many long years of skirmishes and diplomatic incidents, a political marriage between the two kingdoms finally brought peace to the realms. When the two kingdoms merged sometime later, there was no longer any need to defend this region and so, the castle was left to fall into disrepair. Or at least, that's how the legend goes anyway. Whether or not it's accurate is anyone's guess.
The castle itself had been built onto the side of a sprawling mountain range that stretched for many miles. While the mountains were all but impassable, there was allegedly a small pass that could be used to bypass the impenetrable wall of earth and stone. The fort had been strategically placed to guard this path, mean any hostile force would have to either fight their way through or to make the lengthy trek around.
As Pinkie crested a small hill, he finally caught sight of the ruins.
The castle itself had been carved out of the mountain itself and used little if any other materials. Because of this, the ruins blended in fairly well with the rest of the mountain, which was a bright shade of pearly-white. However, if you looked carefully, you could just about make out several shapes which were clearly not natural- they were all too uniform, too manmade.
Just to the side of the castle, there was a wall, albeit a fairly short one. This wall stretched from the outer wall of the castle to the edge of the mountain, uninterrupted except for a single point. This point had clearly been a doorway of sorts in the past, however, the door had either decayed over time or had been intentionally torn away, as all the remained was an archway. Beyond this archway, a small pathway snaked it's way up a steep slope, eventually leading to a crevice in the rock.
'That's probably where I need to go,' Pinkie thought.
With unsteady steps, he lurched his way over to the doorway. The mountain loomed over him, obscuring the sun and casting a colossal shadow over the area. He felt an overwhelming sense of unease, as if the mountain might come to life and crush him at any moment. Even so, he never once stopped, putting one foot in front of the other until he reached the doorway.
As a wave of debilitating pain washed over him, Pinkie staggered and put one hand against the archway to steady himself. His hand began to tingle and where his palm touched the stone, a group of symbols lit up with a gentle greenish-white glow. The light gradually spread outwards, revealing a spiderweb of magical runes. The enchantment within these walls had responded to the magic within him, with the nearby runes lighting up at his touch.
He trailed his hand along the wall, watching as some runes dimmed, while others brightened.
"So there's magic even in a place like this, huh?" he muttered pensively.
He withdrew his hand and the runes grew dark. Turning his back, he walked slowly up the path and into the mountain pass.
Despite being a supposed shortcut through the mountain, this pass appeared to go on forever. That was likely in part due to the difficulty of the terrain- this pass had likely been a natural chasm originally but showed signs of having been altered to make travel easier. However, whoever had done so had only done enough to make travelling through here possible, not easy.
It may have been a strategic decision to leave it this way, in case the castle's garrison needed to make a tactical retreat. This would make it harder for an invading force to get through and an awful lot easier for a defending force to set up ambushes and prepare defences against the struggling invaders.
Certainly, the terrain didn't help, but that was not the only thing Pinkie was having to contend with: his body was beginning to break down.
When he had felt unwell earlier, he had brushed it off as just tiredness or some sort of illness. He had ignored the signs for too long, chosen to pretend that they weren't there and rationalise it away- but there was no simple explanation for what was happening to him.
He had started to lose sensation in his extremities and there was a crackling sensation flashing around his body, causing him to shiver violently. No longer able to stay upright, he slowly sank to the ground. He couldn't deny it any longer... there was something wrong with him and there was only one explanation that he could think of. All of his symptoms had come on after being hit by Goldie's magic and had gradually grown worse over time. The question is, what could he do about it? He didn't even know why this was happening, let alone how to fix it.
More importantly, he was certain that if he couldn't do something about it, he would die here.
Despairing in his own helplessness, he lay still, ready for death.
Sobbing, he managed to utter just a few words before a dark fog crept into his vision.
"I'm sorry Igneel... I don't think I'm strong enough to make it through this."
After some time, it began to rain heavily. The raindrops beat against the mountains surrounding him, forming rivulets that danced down the sheer cliffs on either side, before flowing away. Pinkie lay motionless as the water brushed past him, leaching his body heat slowly. It didn't concern him though at this point, as he could barely feel the sensation of the water on his skin anyway. It did bother him, however, as it was just enough of an irritation to rouse him from the comforting abyss of sleep.
He closed his eyes again, determined to drift away again, despite the disturbances around him.
He was on the verge of unconsciousness when he became aware of something intriguing. There was a weird tension in the air and there was an odd smell, almost as if a lightning storm was passing overhead.
Suddenly, there was a blinding flash and a monstrous boom loud enough to rock the heavens. Pinkie felt the impact of the sound in the pit of his stomach, realizing the origin of that noise.
Adrenaline rushed through his body, energizing him just enough that he could shakily get to his feet. He stared up at one of the mountain peaks, where a dazzling light glared down at him. With a fierce determination, he started to scale the mountain.
He slipped many times, grazed himself on the jagged rocks almost as much, but doggedly continued on regardless. Battered and bruised, he reached the top and confronted the thing that awaited him there.
The entity appeared to have no obvious form, consisting of little but a swirling mass of electrical energy. Flickering and pulsating, this thing radiated power that caused the very air to vibrate fiercely.
The being took notice of him and bellowed out a challenge, spewing out lightning in his direction. Pinkie stood strong, weathering the massive magical attack that swept over him. With one arm, he shielded his face from the mini bolts that zipped past his head.
Having issued its warning, the beast stood firm.
"I know what you are!" Pinkie declared. "There's no point hiding it."
There was a very tense moment that seemed to stretch to eternity... but eventually the beast responded.
Its form began to waver, slowly resolving into a very distinctive shape- one that Pinkie was very familiar with.
Because this thing... was a dragon. It did not have a physical form, as it was purely made of electricity, yet it was still unmistakable.
"It is strange. I have encountered many of your kind over the years, human, yet I don't recall any who were resilient as yourself."
Its voice was like a deep hum, causing each word to blend with the next. As it spoke, its words caused the air to crackle and pop intermittently.
The dragon stared down at him, considering.
"I must come to the conclusion that perhaps... there is something more than meets the eye here. Tell me, boy, who are you? Or would it be better to say, 'what' are you?" it asked critically.
"Me? I'm a Dragonslayer of course." Pinkie responded.
The dragon scoffed in disgust.
"Let me guess, you've come to try and slay me, have you not? Alas, you're rather too late for that I'm afraid- my life came to an end long ago."
"What do you mean? How can you be dead if you're still here?"
"What you see before you is little more than my diminishing essence. I am like the afterimage of a lightning strike- the lightning may be long gone, but you can see it still. Yet even that afterimage will disappear eventually... this is the fate of all things and soon it will be my fate."
The dragon looked up into the sky, where thick storm clouds churned.
"I am anchored to this spot, the place where I perished. When night comes, I roar up at the heavens and look back on a time where I could soar through the skies. This night will be the last time that I will do so."
The dragon turned it's gaze back to Pinkie.
"Will this be your last night also?" it asked gravely.
"What are you talking about? I'm not about to die any time soon." Pinkie replied wearily.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that if I were you. Do not try to deny it- I can sense the power growing within you now. You bear the same power that I do, yet your body is rejecting it. You must learn to control it if you wish to survive."
"But I can't!" Pinkie protested. "I am a fire dragonslayer, I can't use lightning magic!"
"Nonsense!" the dragon boomed. "You are a dragonslayer, the power you possess is beyond your wildest imagination. The whole world will bend before you if you only have the will to make it so."
Pinkie considered his words for a moment. Without thinking, a question slipped from his lips.
"Then what do I need to do?"
The dragon grinned at him ferociously, clearly pleased with his answer.
"You must first find what it is that you wish for above all else. Then you shall find the strength of heart to overcome all that stands in your way."
The dragon unfurled its wings and craned its neck.
"Behold dragonslayer, though my power is but a fraction of what it once was, I, Vahlorin, shall show you my full strength. This shall be my last hurrah, but what an end this will be! I shall leave this world with no regrets. Taste my power and embrace it, so that it might fill your very soul!"
With those final words, the dragon gathered the rest of its remaining power into one last roar and unleashed it. Pinkie stood unflinching before the torrent of magical energy, regarding it with a steely gaze. Just before the moment of contact, he opened his mouth wide and devoured it. The magic flashed through his body, charging his cells, infusing his very bones with power. It was over in no time at all and suddenly, Vahlorin was no more. Having exhausted the last of his magic, he had passed on.
And so, Pinkie stood alone, glowing with an intense aura. The air crackled around him and electricity burst forth from his body, shooting into the sky in a great beam. Amongst the clouds, a huge chain reaction occurred, causing lightning to arc across the sky. Exhausted, Pinkie dropped to the ground and fell into a deep sleep.
Several miles away, on the outskirts of the lakeside city of Magnolia, a lone farmer was organising his tool to prepare for work tomorrow. He was determined to get his field into top shape before the end of the season, as soon the summer storms would be arriving.
In the distance, he heard a deep rumbling. He looked up and saw the fading flash of a lightning strike over the mountains. He eyed the thick clouds critically, then cursed.
"Well... looks like a storm is coming soon enough," he muttered. "I just hope we're ready for it."
Pinkie woke up the next morning feeling surprisingly fresh, given that he'd fallen unconscious on a mountaintop without even setting up camp. To be fair, it was probably largely due to the absence of the 'lightning sickness' as he referred to it. After absorbing Vahlorin's lightning last night, his symptoms had disappeared entirely.
A thought suddenly popped into his head. The whole point of Vahlorin's sacrifice had been to grant him control over lightning, so, had it in fact worked?
He raised one hand in front of his face and whilst channelling energy into his hand, envisioned lightning. Instantly, his hand began to spark and release electricity. It seemed fairly feeble in comparison to his flames, but it was an unfamiliar type of magic, after all, it would likely take time and training to get used to it.
He tried releasing flames from his other hand and to his surprise, found he was unable to. Try as he might, the flames just wouldn't come. He released the lightning and tried again, with success this time. Evidently, he could not use both magics at once- for the time being at least.
That was something he could work on later, however.
He gazed into the distance, where he could just about make the outline of many buildings.
Grinning with excitement, he recklessly scrambled back down the mountain, returning to the mountain pass. No longer bothering to conserve his energy, he sprinted down the last stretch of his journey.
Shortly after leaving the mountain pass, Pinkie stumbled on his first proper road. The road appeared to be made out of stone, yet it was incredibly smooth and uniform, as if someone had poured liquid stone on the ground, flattened it and then dried it out. It was also wide enough for several people to walk abreast- it was a stark contrast to the rough dirt paths he had encountered previously.
He walked along the path at a brisk pace, eager to finally reach his destination. As he grew nearer, he couldn't help but feel a little anxious. There were going to be an awful lot of people there, as Magnolia supposedly had about sixty-thousand residents. He couldn't begin to imagine what it would be like, yet he also knew that he would be seeing it all firsthand within a few minutes. His excitement continued to rise until finally, he walked through a huge gilded gateway.
He could barely restrain himself from gaping at pretty much everything he saw. From the huge building with their tiled roofs to the multitude of people and fancy clothes, everything he saw was a new experience. He yearned to see more, drinking in the sights and sounds as he wandered through the town. He continued to do so for quite a bit longer than he should before he eventually remembered that he had something he needed to do:
Reaching this place was one thing, but he needed to find some source of income that would let him support himself while he was here, as well as somewhere to stay. He was just about to ask someone for help when he overheard an interesting conversation between two men walking by.
"Did you hear what those Fairy Tail wizards got up to yesterday?" one man asked.
"Yeah, I heard they almost demolished another village." the other man responded.
"See, this is why you have to be careful with wizard guilds- you hire them for a job and they go and create havoc!"
Now, there were two words that caught Pinkie's attention there: 'hire' and 'job'. In his mind, they both equated to one thing- money. Plus, a guild for wizards sounded like a perfect place for him.
"Excuse me," he said, walking up to the two men. "Where can I find this Fairy Tail guild?"
The two men both eyed him warily.
"I would be careful if I were you kid," the first man said. "Those people are bad news. I would stay away from them."
"You didn't answer his question there, my friend," the second man said. He turned to look at Pinkie. "It's on the northmost side of town, four or five kilometres up the central path. It's a huge and quirky looking building, you can't miss it."
"Thanks," Pinkie responded simply, before running off.
During his tour of the city, he had wandered all over the place. He reckoned he could get back to the central avenue by zigzagged through a number of side streets.
Unfortunately, in his rush, he bumped into something soft and both he and the obstruction toppled over.
"Eek," squeaked the obstruction.
'Eek?' Pinkie thought. 'Why did the thing I just bump into give such a girly squeal?'
He looked at the 'obstruction', realizing with a start that it was a girl- a pretty one at that. More or less his own age, she had short red hair, wore a plain white dress and had a white eyepatch over her right eye.
Unfortunately, he didn't get a chance to admire her further.
She leapt upwards, grabbed him by the arm and yanked him to his feet.
"Quickly, you need to run, or they'll grab you too." she hissed.
"What do you- hey, wait!" he yelled, as she dragged him after her.
He ran with her through the side streets, despite not knowing what they were running from. Neither of them knew where they were going, as they took so many turns many turns before eventually hitting a dead end.
"Damn!" the girl cursed. She grabbed his arm again. "Quick, we need to find another way around."
"Hang on," he said. "First you need to explain what's going on."
"There's no time to explain," she snapped. "We need to go before-" her eyes slipped past him, staring at something behind him.
"Crap," she cursed again.
'Huh,' Pinkie thought confusedly. He followed her gaze only to see several rough looking men blocking their only exit.
"Ah," he said. "I take it these guys are after you."
"Yup," she answered simply.
"Any particular reason?"
"Not that I'm aware of. Maybe they wanted my stuff, to kidnap me and sell me off for some gold, beat me up for sport. Any of the above is good enough for people like this."
"Fair point," he answered.
"Hey!" one of the thugs called. "Are you two lovebirds done chatting yet?"
"We're not lovebirds, keep your sick fantasies to yourself," the two children answered in unison.
Pinkie turned back to the girl.
"Well, I can see two ways out of this. One messy and one clean. The first means fighting these guys, which'll take some effort. The easy way is to run."
"Nice idea there," she replied sarcastically. "Any ideas how to get around them?"
"Just one," he replied with a grin. He stepped towards her and wrapped his arms around her.
"W-what do you think you're doing?!" she cried, blushing furiously.
One of the thugs made a comment along the lines of 'get a room', but Pinkie ignored him.
"All part of the plan," he said. "Fire Dragon Rocket Jump!"
He leapt as high as he could, flames jetting from his feet to boost his jump. Carrying the girl in his arms, he soared majestically over the wall that had blocked their way, like a superhero in flight- before promptly crashing down on the other side amongst a stinking pile of trash.
They both crawled out of the refuse, trying their best not to vomit.
"I'll give you points for getting us out of there, but did you have to drop us in such a horrible stinky mess?" the girl asked unhappily.
"I didn't mean to," Pinkie replied. "It just kinda happened that way. Actually, I was lucky it worked at all."
The girl grimaced. "Alright then. I guess I have to thank you for that."
Suddenly, they started to hear a commotion on the other side of the wall. Moments later, one of the thugs popped their heads over the wall, trying to scale it.
"Er, you can thank me later, when we've actually gotten out of this mess!" Pinkie yelled.
This time, he was the one to grab her hand and lead her away. The thugs that managed to get over the wall resumed the chase, but the two of them had a headstart now, so there was no immediate danger at first. Unfortunately, the thugs had the advantage of being older and their long legs made running a lot easier. Despite their best efforts, the thugs started to catch up again.
Pinkie used all of his senses to help navigate the paths, doing his best to avoid more dead ends and trying to get back to the main road. The thugs were on their heels when they eventually stumbled out of the dark alleyway into the light, wide open street. It seemed that they had made it just in time- surely the thugs wouldn't attempt to kidnap them in the open like this.
Apparently, Pinkie's assumption was wrong. One moment, he held the girl's hand, the next, her warmth was gone. He whipped around as fast as he could, saw one of the thugs holding the girl by the scruff of the neck, his club raised to strike her. Pinkie summoned his fire, ready to strike the man down, but he wasn't sure if he would make it in time, or if he could take him down without hurting the girl. In his moment of hesitation, the thug grinned victoriously.
"I've got you now!" he yelled.
Not to self: don't boast before achieving victory, it makes you look stupid if you fall at the last hurdle.
At that exact moment, a ball of purple fire smashed into the side of the man's face at high velocity, throwing him to one side. The rest of the thugs emerged out of the alleyway, only to be attacked by a barrage of the same fiery projectiles and a wall of smoke. Within seconds, they were all on the ground.
Pinkie raced over to the girl, who had been knocked down in the chaos.
"Are you okay?" he asked, helping her to her feet.
"I'm fine, thank you," she replied.
At that point, two unknown voices cut in.
"Well, that was a nice bit of exercise. Now I think I've earned myself another drink." said the first voice.
"Now, Macao, you're always coming up with some new excuse to go grab a drink, can't you just have one for the sake of it?" said the other.
"If I grabbed a drink every time I wanted one Wakaba, I'd never stop drinking," joked the first man.
Pinkie and the girl turned to face their rescuers.
One man had spiky dark hair, a thin moustache and wore a long-sleeve blue shirt and pale grey trousers.
The other had brown hair with a large tuft at the front that stood out among the rest of his hair, which was comparatively short. He also wore a beige coat, an orange shirt and had a pipe that continuously poured out smoke in a rather unnatural way.
From their conversation, Pinkie worked out that their names must be Macao and Wakaba, respectively.
Finally, the two men stopped their bantering and turned to the two children.
"Are you two alright?" Macao asked. "Those guys looked like they were really gunning for ya."
"We're fine," the girl answered. "Thanks for your help."
"You're quite welcome, little lady," Wakaba responded. "I'm glad to hear we didn't jump in too late."
He glanced at the thugs, narrowing his eyes slightly and he did so.
"If you don't mind me asking, why were those guys after you?" he asked.
"We don't know," she replied. "I was on my way to the Fairy Tail guild when they just started chasing me and as I was running-" she glanced at Pinkie. "My friend here got caught up in it. It's all my fault."
"No, it's not!" Pinkie said disparagingly. "They were the ones that attacked you simply because you were there. They brought this on themselves."
She looked comforted somewhat by his words and smiled ever so slightly.
The two men glanced at each other, then eyed the two children over.
"The Fairy Tail guild, huh?" Wakaba asked curiously. "You thinking about joining up?"
They both nodded.
"Well," Macao said. "It just so happens that we're both members ourselves."
He took off his jacket and showed them his upper-right arm, where he had a strange mark.
Pinkie noticed the girl breathe in sharply.
"That's the Fairy Tail emblem alright," she said. "In that case, could I please trouble you to show us the way there?"
"Sure thing," Macao replied. He turned to Wakaba. "Alright, I'll leave you to clean up while I show these two the way, ok?"
"Huh, why am I being left to deal with this guys? I should show them the way!" Wakaba argued.
"Nuh-uh, they asked me to show them, not you!"
As the discussion devolved into an argument about who should deal with the thugs, Pinkie and the girl looked on with exasperation.
Following a not-so-friendly game of rock-paper-scissors, it was decided that Macao would be the one to escort them to the guild hall. It turns out that they hadn't been too far away after all, which was a blessing of sorts- Macao kept asking them all sorts of questions that they didn't have the energy to answer right now.
'Where are you guys from?', 'Do you know any magic?' and 'Are you sure you're up for this?' were just the tip of the iceberg.
Fortunately, they arrived outside the guild hall only minutes later.
Pinkie couldn't help but think back to those two men he had met earlier that had pointed him in this direction. As he had been told, it really was a little bit quirky. It was a three-tiered pagoda style building, painted mostly in white, but with green and yellow highlights. The name of the guild was displayed in a large sign over the doorway, sandwiched between two golden fairies, adorned with tails.
"Well, here we are," Macao said, with a grand gesture. "The home of the strongest wizard guild in the kingdom, Fairy Tail."
He perked up as the door cracked open, allowing the sounds of raucous merrymaking to leak out.
"And if I'm not mistaken, that's our master coming out as we speak."
Both Pinkie and the girl stood up straighter at that remark. They were about to meet the master of the most powerful guild around, so he was surely a formidable person. They both gulped, dreading meeting this titan of a man.
The door cracked open and out walked a very short old man. He was dressed in a casual manner, with a white shirt bearing Fairy Tail's stamp and an orange hooded jacket. Additionally, he also wore matching orange shorts and an orange and blue striped jester's hat. Seeing the three of them virtually on the doorstep, he came over to greet them.
"Good afternoon, Macao, I see you have two younguns in tow. You're not going to tell me you've gone and adopted these two are you?" the man joked.
"Afternoon, Master Makarov. I just happened to bump into these two in the street. Apparently, they're looking to join the guild." Macao answered.
"Oh, they are, are they?" the old man questioned.
He looked over the two of them curiously and they looked back in a similar fashion.
'This old man is meant to be their guildmaster?' Pinkie thought. 'Is this some kind of joke?'
The old man interrupted his line of thinking with a question.
"Tell me, children. What do you think it means to be in a guild?"
The two of them look at him curiously, taken back by the question.
"I see you don't know how to answer that question," said Makarov. "Very well, let me tell you what I think about the matter."
He cleared his throat, then continued on.
"A guild is a place where a group of like-minded people can come together to find work and make a living, so that they may be able to live life to the fullest. However, I am of the opinion that a guild needs to be more than that."
His face softened slightly and his words took on a wistful tone.
"Often, the people who come our way are lost, trying to find their own place in this life. In Fairy Tail, we hope to be a place where people feel like they belong, no matter their circumstances. We endeavour to make it so that everyone who comes here feels like that they are home, that they are part of a family."
That last word struck a chord within Pinkie.
'Family...' he thought. 'That would be... nice.'
"Anyway, that's how I feel on the matter," Makarov concluded. "The question is, does a place like that appeal to you? Do you feel like you could belong here?"
Without a hint of hesitation, they both nodded.
Makarov smiled warmly.
"I'm glad to hear it," he said. "In that case, I believe some introductions are in order. You already heard my name from Macao here, but I will introduce myself properly regardless. I am Makarov Dreyar, master of the Fairy Tail guild."
The girl spoke up next, in a clear strong voice.
"My name is Erza Scarlet."
"Erza Scarlet? That's a lovely name," Makarov mused. Then he turned to Pinkie. "And what's your name, my boy?"
"...Natsu... Natsu Dragneel."
"Excellent," Makarov exclaimed. "Now that's sorted, let's deal with the ceremony then, shall we? Erza... Natsu... by my power as a guildmaster, I hereby accept you into our family."
"Welcome... to Fairy Tail."
And there we go... after all this time, our crazy flame-brain has finally reached Fairy Tail. I'm so glad I can stop calling him 'Pinkie' from now on. Can you believe that I had originally wanted to write all that's happened so far in one chapter? Jeez, that was a bit ambitious. Anyway, onto more important things.
I now have to make some pretty important decisions regarding the creative direction I take the story in. Because I enjoy writing for you guys, I want you to have the opportunity to influence the story somewhat so that it ends up being something that you want too.
For this reason, I am going to try and put up two polls in a short while.
The first will be regarding the members of Natsu's harem, as well as whether or not to include other pairings/ships.
The second will be regarding Natsu's childhood events.
I imagine that there are plenty of people who are eager to start the main story (i.e. episode 1, where Lucy and Natsu meet).
There are also certain childhood events that we see in flashbacks- for example, Natsu and Lisanna raising Happy together, the Lisanna incident(s) etc.
I also have a few ideas about original stories that I could write about Natsu as a child to flesh out his backstory and his quest to find Igneel. These would essentially be 'filler' chapters.
So for this second part, I can do one of 3 things:
(a) Timeskip to X874 when Natsu and Lucy meet
(b) Timeskip to X874 but include flashback events involving Lisanna and Happy
(c) Include my own original chapters for additional Natsu backstory and new content
EDIT: There are now three polls for you to vote in regarding the above things. Unfortunately, I can only display one poll at a time on my profile, but I have made a forum which has all three polls in it. You can find it in my profile.
I will probably take a break for a few days after this to give people a chance to vote and stuff.
Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, make sure to check out the polls, leave a review or PM me if you have any requests for suggestions. Until later.