Chapter Thirty-Two: Crawling Pain

Here is the next chapter for you all.

I hope you all enjoy and have a Jesus filled day.

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Previously:

"Dad, that was amazing. He blew fire from his mouth. Do you think that the other guy can do that but with ice?"

Charlie laughed messing with his son's hair as they walked, "I'm sure he can and much more. There is always more to a wizard than meets the eye. The big thing I want you to take from that is even though he is a well know wizard he is still a person." His son nodded in understanding and the two disappeared around a building.

Getting off the ground the hunters steamed in anger and stormed off away from the direction the fire wizard went.

Now:

A man was seething as he stared at the island. He had not missed the fact that he saw shots of blue energy in the air when his explosives had gone off. Whoever interfered was going to pay dearly. He was not going to be stopped from his goal, no matter who tried to get in his way. Storming off he started to plan out what he was going to do.

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Toshiro blinked open his eyes as he felt the mother nudge him. Giving a small groan he placed a hand on her snout thus causing her to stop and look at him inquisitively. "I'm fine." Sitting up he could feel the slight strain in his back after sleeping against the side of the nest. Stretching his arms over his head he felt out the island with his spiritual pressure happy that there had been no more bombs added while he had been asleep. A soft huff alerted him that the mother had not moved from her position next to him. At first he looked at her then down next to him when he noticed the smell of fish. "That's very kind of you but I can't eat it like this." This seemed to confuse the aquatic lizard. "Since I don't know what kind of fish this is I can't make sushi out of it. I need to cook it for me to be able to eat this." Her large silver eyes seemed to look at him insistently. Mentally he groaned, 'Hyorinmaru, what do I do? At this point she has no clue she could possibly poison me. And I can't cook it on the island since the wildlife there would be attracted by the smell.'

'Hm, that is troublesome.' The mother nudged the fish in the dragon slayer's direction, 'I can tell you that is a fish you do not want to be eating without it being cooked. I believe you have no choice but to use a small shakkahō to cook it. She is insistent she see that you are eating.'

'I can't do that. She might think I am trying to hurt her babies.'

'And you can't eat it raw. You need to be at full health to fight, if you get poisoned then you are going to regret it. Just because you are half soul reaper does not mean that you will not have repercussions.' The dragon's ruby gaze locked onto his child.

The half dragon child picked the fish up and stood up quickly putting up his hand to stop the lizard from pushing him back down with her tail, "Wait, just let me cook it away from the nest." She let out a huff of air, "I'm not going to run. I promise." As her eyes narrowed on him the white haired male pulled himself up to the lip of the nest. Balancing himself on the edge he held the fish then looked at the lizard. "Is it okay if I go to the water to clean it?" The lizard crawled out of the nest and followed him over when he jumped off the nest and walked over to the water where the entrance was. Kneeling next to the water he cleaned the fish while the mother hovered over him. He was careful not lean too far over otherwise he was sure that he would be dragged back and never let out again. He was even lucky that he had gotten this far from her nest. He wondered how he was going get away from her when the mission was done and over with. 'What a pain. Why do I have to smell like a dragon?'

Hyorinmaru chuckled amused, 'You will figure out a way to get back to the guild my hatchling. You are smarter than even you have been told.'

'That is a dad response if I've ever heard one.' The ice dragon seemed amused by his child saying that. The dragon slayer leaned back holding the cleaned fish in his left hand and his right hand starting to form the shakkahō. Holding it close to the fish he cooked it as fast as he could so he didn't agitate the aquatic lizard anymore than she was. The moment the shakkahō was in his right hand the lizard went tense and stared at Toshiro like he had grown a second head. Teal eyes glanced at the lizard and continued to cook the fish, feeling much better that he wouldn't hurt the eggs that were in there. All it took was one mistake and he could accidentally take the life of her young that she was trying so hard to protect. That was the last thing that he wanted to do.

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Natsu opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling for a moment before getting up and making his way out of his and his teammate's room, placing a sleepy Happy on his head as he did so. He headed directly to the mayor's office ignoring the two hunters that were glaring at him from a corner of a building. He was more worried about his partner and how he was going to help him get away from the aquatic lizard after all was said and done. His mind was also on tracking the man setting the bombs in the first place. He had absolutely no idea why he would want to bother the mother. After seeing her have Hitsugaya in her nest and hearing how she hadn't bothered the village folk, she didn't seem like a violent creature like the vulcans were for the most part. Letting out huff of breath the fire dragon slayer made his way into the mayor's office where he found the fisherman that had been taking him to and from the island. "I was wondering when you were going to wake up."

Natsu smiled at Charlie, "I kept thinking about if that guy found Hitsugaya and the lizard last night."

"I can imagine that he would be able to take the man on if he found the two of them or not." The fisherman replied placing his hand on his son's shoulder, "This is my son Chris."

"Hey kiddo."

Chris gave a wide smile, "I thought your magic was awesome yesterday. I've always liked fire as an ability. The way you spit fire out was just amazing."

"Thanks, my dad taught me how to do it."

"Are you really raised by a dragon?" Chris asked with a wide hopeful smile.

"Hitsugaya and I both are."

Charlie laughed patting his son on the back, "He's always wanted to be an elemental wizard. I'm trying to find a teacher he wants to learn from."

Natsu chuckled, "I'm sure you will find one." His eyes locked onto the fisherman's, "I need to go to the island and get the man's scent. If I can track him I can help Hitsugaya protected the lizard."

"Do you think it is possible for Hitsugaya to get away from her?" Mayor Takashi asked moving a couple of papers around on his desk.

"Yes, he is stronger than he looks." Natsu replied with a nod.

"I see."

"I'll take you over to the island." Charlie said causing his child to place a hand over his mouth looking sick at the thought of his dad's boat.

Natsu also gagged and shook his head, "Nah, I'm okay. I'll just swim or have Happy fly me over." He looked up at the blue cat who now looked more awake than before, "You cool with that buddy."

"Aye sir." Happy replied raising his paw in the air.

Giving a wide grin Natsu ran out of the office and out into the street with Chris watching with a wide expression. Turning to look at his dad he said with a smile, "Dad, I think I want to be a dragon slayer."

Charlie chuckled, "You are aware that there is more than one element and type concerning dragon slayers correct? And that they also have motion sickness?"

"Yes, and I want to be either an ice or water dragon slayer. Fire is cool but I think ice and water is beyond better." Charlie laughed and led his son out of the office, he was not sure if his child understood all the difficulties that dragon slayers had.

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Natsu landed on his feet when Happy let him go. Sniffing the air he did his best to track down the scent of the man that had been on the island the night before. However before he could go too far into the forest a wolf with a bone structure growing out of its back was growing at him baring its teeth. The slayer gave a small amused huff and blew fire at it scaring the wolf away when the fire singed the fur near its face. Nodding Natsu ran off to where the scent was coming from and followed it to the edge of the island where Toshiro had been dragged off into the water before. Looking down at the water he asked, "Did the guy try to swim after them?"

"You said that it was near impossible without your dragon lungs."

"It is, unless he has some kind of water magic too." Natsu replied as the slayer tilted his head and his eyes narrowed. His eyes catching a boat he could see being covered by some greenery. "I think he is over there."

"What makes you think that." Happy asked landing on his best friend's shoulder.

"There is a boat being covered over there. Can you fly me over there Happy?" The cat nodded and flew his friend over to the land that was opposite of the village. Putting his friend on the ground the flying cat looked behind the two of them when he heard a sound. Hearing the same sound Natsu looked behind him his eyes narrowing at the water. Stepping away from the water side the dragon slayer ran deeper into the woods making sure to grab happy as he did. As he ran he followed the scent of the man that he had picked up from the island. He barely stopped himself from stumbling into the camp that had the man's scent everywhere. Pulling Happy to his chest the dragon slayer walked around the edge of the camp that felt safer but nothing he did could tell him where the bombs the man possibly placed were. He wished that he had the ice dragon slayer secondary sense, at least then he'd know if he was walking into a trap. Giving a small growl he used his nose to pick up the other trails that the man used on a regular basis and only found a small handful.

Just as the slayer was going to walk into the camp to check it out a bomb went off near his feet, thus sending him into the air where he let go of Happy and landed on a tree branch. "Show yourself, I know where you are." His charcoal eyes locked onto a tree where a man walked out showing that he had dark grey eyes, dark skin tone and short dark red hair. His clothing was normal with the exception of the two daggers that he had on his waist. Even though Natsu couldn't smell it he felt chills go up his spine, a sure sign he wanted those blades no where near him.

The man by the tree narrowed his eyes, "Why is it they sent you? The one type of person that blasted creature could identify with."

"I chose this mission, not the other way around." Dark eyes narrowed down at the man as he waved at Happy to fly at a safer distance. "Why do you want to harm the water lizard? It has done nothing."

"It's done everything. It took everything I ever wanted. I'm going to make sure that I get it back, no matter who gets in my way. Those village people, you, and your worthless partner will not stop me."

"And what is it that it took from you? As far as I can tell it wants nothing to do with people. It wasn't even bothering the fishermen till you started causing explosions on the island."

"You wizards of the legal guilds would never understand what that creature is worth." Natsu snarled his fist lighting up in his anger as the man kept talking, lighting up a bomb in his own hand as well. "That creature and its offspring are worth millions of gems."

"That lizard deserves to be in the wild just like every large creature in this world." In his mind Natsu could only imagine what a person like this man would do if a dragon was easy to find. The thought only made him angrier causing the fire to get bigger around his fist. "You people make me sick."

The man threw the bomb at him, "I knew you wouldn't understand!" The slayer sent out a flame causing the bomb to explode before it ever reached him. Now that the man was closer the slayer could now smell the faintest scent of blood on the man. It was a scent hat he had smelled before and that only fueled his anger. Sending out another steam of fire the pink haired male jumped up just missing the after shock of the second bomb that had been thrown at him. However he was unable to miss the shrapnel of wood that buried itself into his left thigh. Ignoring the pain he landed on the branch and pulled out the wood in his thigh. He was not going to allow this creature to be captured by this man.

The man smiled amused at seeing the blood flowing out of this wound. Seeing the smile made Natsu angry as he sucked in a deep breath and let it out, "Fire Dragon Roar!" The man lost his smile and jumped back, however he didn't jump back in time and got the left pant let of his shin set on fire. Thinking quickly the man put out the fire then dodged a fire ball that had been hurled in his direction when he had been distracted. The pink haired dragon slayer jumped to the ground and punched him in the face sending the man flying through a couple of trees. Natsu huffed angrily as he stalked after the man he had sent flying with his fists flaming.

The slayers ears twitched when he heard a small sound and quickly ducked under a thrown dagger. Charcoal eyes locked on to the man that was standing up with the other dagger in his hand. "You didn't think my weapons were just for show did you?"

"If they were I'd call you an idiot." Natsu raised his flaming fist up and ignoring the flaming forest around him. In the back of his mind he hoped that Happy was a safe distance away. The last thing he wanted was for his little buddy to be flying around flames this close to him. Catching the slightest sound Natsu ducked again and just missed the blade that had been thrown earlier tying to burry itself into his right bicep.

The man laughed when the angry dragon slayer glared at him, "That's right, there is more to my ability than just making bombs. I can control any weapon in the area. Thus making anyone that takes me on at an immediate disadvantage."

"Weapon's are not everything."

Natsu was internally happy that Erza was not on this mission with him. The last thing he would want to do is have any weapon she pulled out used against him and whoever that was with them. He didn't get a chance to retort as several more weapons came from the man's camp, all aimed directly at him. "Weapon's are everything, especially when being controlled by magic."

Natsu was now dodging every weapon flying at him; he was not too keen on being poisoned or what ever it was on the weapons. It had a strange scent and that never meant anything good. Jumping back from a sword flying at him sent him directly into a bomb that had been created at his feet. Thus the slayer found himself flying into air and crashing into the ground. Getting up he jumped back avoiding being pinned to the ground by several coated daggers. Getting to his feet he could feel his left foot throbbing where the bomb had gone off. His skin was singed and the throbbing itself was very distracting. The man laughed walking up to him, "Look at that, Salamander is weakened. It's too bad your partner isn't here to help you."

The fire dragon slayer grit his teeth and lit his hands up. There had to be a way to get to the man and weaken him. However before he could think of any ways to do that the man blew up several bombs beneath him and caused him to land on the outer edge of the forest. The forest was burning badly now, causing a new tree to catch fire quickly if it was too close to another one. Jumping back to his feet Natsu gave a small startled yelp as he dodged landing on his left foot. The feeling of pain literally crawled up his left leg causing him to fall to the ground gripping his ankle. In the corner of his eyes he could see Happy watching in dread his paws covering his mouth. This fight wasn't at all going like he had hoped it would and Natsu did not like it. Before the man could try to stab him with a dagger water get out from the lake behind the slayer shoving the man and his flying weapons right into the forest that was now being put out by the force of the water.

Struggling to get to his feet Natsu gasped in pain that he felt in his left ankle. Turing to his buddy he waved him down. Unfortunately before the flying cat could reach him Natsu found himself on the ground being dragged into the water with a surprised gasp. He could hear Happy calling out to him with his sharp hearing as he got dragged further into the water below.