Chapter 3

Lucy was seated on a bench on the streets looking at this weeks Sorcerer's Weekly magazine she found sitting on top of a rubbish bin.

She was reading about the Fairytail guild.

"The Fairytail guild creates problems, hm? They brought down the Devon Bandit Clan, but destroyed seven private homes!? How is that even possible?!" She asked to no one in particular.

She flipped the page to the pinup section devoted to Mirajane - a Fairytail member. When she saw a picture of Mirajane in a bikini, Lucy blushed intensely.

'Are all Fairytail women beautiful?' She really wanted to join the guild even more now.

The blonde Fairy smiled. "The Fairytail guild is the best!" She whispered loudly.

Hearing a rustle in the bushes behind her, with an all to familiar voice along with it, Lucy turned around, only to frown.

"I see, so you'd like to be apart of Fairytail?" The Salamander stepped out, smirking at Lucy, who glared at him.

"What do you want?" Lucy demanded, not in the mood to talk to this creep. She could basically smell the mischief radiating from him.

"You know, you're a hard girl to find. I wanted to be sure all the girls of your beauty are invited to the party on my private yacht!" He announced with a smile and a wave of his hand, trying to get the charm working.

She rolled her eyes.

'There are so many things wrong with that.'

"Ok, firstly, heck no, and secondly, the charm doesn't work on people who realise your wearing it. Anyone who knows is unaffected." The blonde stated matter-of-factly, pointing at the Salamander.

"Haha!" He cackled. "I figured you were a mage the moment I looked into your eyes! Fine, no charms as long as you come to my party." He offered, smiling indulgently.

"Why would I go to a party held by a creep...?" She questioned, rubbing her head, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

He sputtered. "Me? A... creep?" He mutters in disbelief.

"Using charms..." A shake of the head from the blonde, "do you really want people to worship you that much?" Then looked at him, eyebrow raised, the action showing how annoyed she was.

"That's all used for show. Every party needs a celebrity." He gave a creepy grin.

Lucy turned around, and closed her eyes in frustration, "Who'd think a *okemik like you could be a famous wizard?"

"Wait!"

She paused, half tempted to hit him, but refrained from doing that, so she decided to listen to him.

"You... said you'd like to be in the Fairytail guild right?"

Lucy almost choked and froze, like she couldn't move a single atom in her body. 'Wait, what? He's a Fairytail wizard?!'

"You've heard of," He paused for dramatic effect, "Salamander of Fairytail, right?" His lips curled upwards.

"You're a F-Fairytail wizard..." Was all Lucy could manage to say, as she was still processing what he said.

His grin grew wider. "Why... yes I am, I can put in a good word for you if you come to my party." He lied smoothly.

Multiple doubts ran through her head. 'What if he's lying? He does use charms...and seems kinda evil. But Erza was nice to me then…' She was extremely conflicted.

He stared at the Fairy, waiting for what she would say.

Lucy sighed, closing her eyes again, before making a decision. Gritting her teeth, she answered him.

"A-Alright… I'll go…"

Salamander smirked.

'I got you now.' He waved as he made an exit. "Be sure to wear your finest attire!"

. . .

It was now dark out and Lucy decided to actually buy a dress for the boat party. It was a beautiful deep, scarlet dress with a slit on the leg. Five minutes. That's how long the silence has been stretching out for, and Lucy's been sitting in front of the Salamander while he brought out a bottle of an obnoxiously bright orange substance and two wine glasses for each of them. It didn't look that nice.

"Relax, Lucy darling. We're alone, with no one here to bother us." The caped man reassured, popping open the bottle to start pouring the drinks.

Lucy hummed, hiding her doubt. "Wonderful." She murmured coldly, peering at the criminal with hooded eyes.

He ignored her tone completely, or mistaken it for being sultry. "We shall drink this wine and make a toast!" He stood up and snapped his fingers. Little bubbles of the wine from the wine glass came up and floated towards Lucy's mouth. "Now open wide, and savor the fruit flavored gems as they enter your mouth, darling."

Lucy curled her lips in utter disgust, sensing something unnatural within the drink, "I would like a clean drink, please. One that hasn't been tampered with." Lucy told him sternly, and swatted the floating particles away from her mouth and onto the floor with a satisfying splat.

'I knew something was up… This was disappointing.' Lucy frowned, disheartened, trying to keep from losing control of her magic.

Salamander's eyes shone dangerously and smirked, "I knew you were special when I laid my eyes on you!" Salamander laughed maniacally. He cleared his throat "Come out, men!" He snapped his fingers and the red curtain next to them dropped to the floor, revealing a bunch of burly men, all of them which were snickering carrying unconscious women on their shoulders.

"Welcome to my slave ship!" He spread his arms, making it much more dramatic than is should be. "You are going to behave yourself until we arrive in Bosco!" The Charm user laughed along with the bulky men.

"That's our Salamander!"

"We've got ourselves quite a haul this time!"

"Now you're toast, Girly!"

Lucy tensed, her hand slowly traveling down to her keys, getting prepared to call upon any of them when it was time.

The Salamander noticed this and clicked his tongue in distain.

"So, you use Gate Keys? Then…you're a Celestial Wizard?" He rested his hand on his chin, pretending to be thoughtful. "This magic can only be used by the contract holders…" He used a string of fire magic to bring the keys to him while Lucy stood rigid. Good thing it didn't scar them

Maintaining eye contact with Lucy, he spoke

"In other words... these are useless to me."

Lucy sucked in a sharp breath as the Salamander chucked Lucy's keys out of the ship's window like garbage.

The blonde widened her eyes in horror. Her eyes changed to gold, "How dare you—?!"

She was cut off as the roof suddenly collapsed down onto the ship, near them. Lucy put her arms over her head, bracing for something to hit her.

The men on the boat yelled in outrage.

"Natsu?" Lucy whispered in surprise, lowering her arms, as her eyes changed back to brown.

"Hmphfp, I can't take it!" A strangled noise escaped Natsu as he clutched to the wall of the boat, not listening to the shouts of complaint from the men.

Lucy blanched.

'Huh?'

"What's going on here?!"

The little blue fur-ball that is Happy, appeared through the hole in the roof that Natsu made after Natsu finished throwing up the lunch Lucy offered them earlier.

Happy gasped in shocked delight.

"Lucy! What're you doing here?"

"Happy! This man said he'd get me into Fairytail!" Lucy explained loudly to the cat, then redirected the question back to Happy, "What're you and Natsu doing here?" She then noticed the white protruding on Happy's back, "I didn't know you had wings!"

"Let's save the details for later." Happy sighed before wrapping his tail around Lucy's waist and lifted her out of the hole in the boat, using his wings.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?! Prominence Whip!" Salamander yelled, shooting a dozen streams of purple fire at them, which Happy skilfully dodged.

"Lucy! I have to tell you something!" Happy screamed over the loud whooshes of purple fire trails.

"Now!?" Lucy shouted incredulously. Next thing she knew, Lucy found herself falling head first into the water.

"My transformation doesn't last long..." Happy finished plopping into the water beside her.

Lucy made an angry underwater gurgling sound as she sunk deeper into the water. As she was flailing her arms, she saw a glimmer at the bottom of her peripheral vision.

Her eyes widened a fraction.

'My keys!' She quickly swam down, reached out, and grabbed her keys. She smiled at the feeling of warmth coming from them into her hand. She kicked her arms and legs, swimming to the top, and took a deep breath once she reached the surface.

She quickly whipped out a golden key with two blue wave looking patterns on it. Words flowed out of her mouth by themselves as she pointed the key in front of her.

"Open: Gate of the Water Bearer, Aquarius!"

A huge wave appeared in front of them and out came a mermaid with blue hair, and a light blue scaled mermaid tail, holding an urn above her head with a calm yet pissed expression on her face, but her eyes held confusion.

The mermaid looked down at Lucy and blinked, "Were you the one who summoned me?"

Lucy nodded, and greeted her with a smile. "Yes, nice to meet you! I'm Lucy Yōsei!"

Aquarius narrowed her eyes at her. 'She's the one who the King told us about.'

"Nice to meet you too...I guess..." The bluenette muttered half-heartedly, "So...what do you need, brat?" She questioned, quite rudely might I add.

"Could you wash that boat to shore, please?" Lucy timidly asked, pointing to the shore. The bluenettes eyes softened the slightest bit.

'She seems scared.' Aquarius held back a smile. 'I might have another nice brat as an owner from now on...' She smiled softly at the nervous looking Lucy, and did as told. She lifted the urn above her head, and with a battle cry, she sent a gigantic wave towards the ship.

"I won't be available for a week, I'm going on a date with my boyfriend. You can call me when you're hurt or you have nothing to do, brat." Aquarius told her then chuckled. "Heh, my boyfriend." She bragged afterwards, a smirk on her face.

Being oblivious to the malice in her words, she waved. "I see.. Hope you enjoy it!" Lucy beamed at her. Aquarius couldn't help but smile and disappeared in a flash.

"Wow! That was so cool, Lucy! You can summon fishies!" The overly excited cat exclaimed with stars in his eyes.

Lucy looked at the cat.

"Thanks, I guess."

. . .

Once the boat roughly landed on the shore, Happy flew Lucy to land to check on Natsu. She could overhear some of the passerby's panicking.

"W-What is this?!"

"A ship just blew itself onto the shore!"

She ignored them and looked to check on Natsu, only to see him glaring furiously at the Salamander. Lucy quickly jogged up to him.

"Natsu! You alright?" The blonde asked in a panic, concerned for her new friend.

He turns to her and gave her a toothy smile and a nod, as if he didn't look like he was about to kill the guy, "Yup! Good thing the boat stopped."

"I see... so, are you going to do something about him?" Lucy nodded her head towards the Salamander, who was scratching his head in confusion.

He nods then turns to Salamander, "So, you're from Fairytail?"

Salamander smirks cockily, "Yeah, what of it?"

Bright orange and red flames licked Natsu's body, from his feet to his head. He whipped of the jacket he was wearing, revealing a red mark on his shoulder.

"Listen up," He growled lowly, eyes gleaming, "I'm about to show you the power of a real Fairytail mage!"

Natsu lit his hands on fire, dangerous heat surrounded him, hot enough to knock out two of the goon that were advancing on him.

Lucy froze for the nth time this chapter. 'H-He's from Fairytail!? Why didn't he tell me!

"W-Wha?!" Salamander yells out in surprise.

Glancing at the discarded jacket and then to Natsu, Lucy stared at the mark in awe .

"Th-That mark!"

"That's the real thing, Bora!"

The criminal glared at the men. "Don't call me that, idiot!"

"Bora..." Happy started, his voice uncharacteristically serious, "A few years back, a man named Bora the Prominence was expelled from the Titan Nose wizard guild." Happy explained to the blonde, staring at said man.

Lucy thought back to a Sorcerer Weekly article and recognition hit her. "Oh, I heard about that! Because he was repeatedly using magic to steal things, right? She chimed in thoughtfully, remembering the headlines.

Natsu started shouting again, gaining their attention.

"I don't give a shit if you're good or evil, but I won't let use the name of Fairytail like that!"

Natsu's onyx eyes grew red from anger, which Lucy couldn't help but shiver in fear from.

"Stop with the stupid speeches, you little brat!" Bora yelled before shooting a bunch at purple fireballs at Natsu. Lucy giggled. 'I know what Natsu is, and I definitely know that won't work on him.'

Bora smirked, which soon vanished seconds later, only to start shaking after what he was hearing. Lucy smiled brightly.

"This is gross! Are you sure you're a fire wizard? I've never tasted anything this bad before!"

Natsu just stood there eating the fire that the creep shot at him, "Ahhh..." he sighed in pleasure, "but thanks for the meal anyway!."

"W-What is this guy?!"

"Meal?! You mean he ate the fire?!"

"Here I go!" Natsu breathed in, grinning, and a large ball or fire started to form in his mouth.

"He-He couldn't be..." One goon muttered, which Lucy decided to knock out with a chop to the pressure point in the neck.

"Bora! I've seen this guy before!"

"H-Huh?"

"With the pink hair, and a scarf that looks like scales! I know it! It's him!" Another guy started yapping, before he continued.

"He's the real Salamander!"

"Remember this well! This is the power of a Fairytail wizard!" Natsu shouted, after the fire finished forming in his mouth.

'How can he still talk?'

"Fire dragons..."

Natsu cupped his hands around his mouth and his cheeks puffed out, getting ready for a breath attack.

"Roar!"

A burning column of fire shot at rapid speed towards Bora and his goons, who got charred and knocked out instantly.

"A dragons lungs exhale fire. Dragons scales dissolve fire. A dragon's claws envelopes fire. This is the enchantment that transforms the body and gives it the aspects of a dragon's body." Happy explained, a feral look in his eyes, "Of course, this enchantment was originally developed as a weapon against dragons." He finished, with his tiny arms crossed.

The Fairy stared in awe, but was shaken out of the moment when she saw some goons advancing.

Lucy summoned her Fairy Blade, and slashed at the goon closest to her. Seeing a fist coming towards her face through the corner of her eyes, she feinted to the side, and bashed his stomach with the hilt of her blade.

"Tch." He muttered, as he spat out a tiny bit of blood, while some dripped from his mouth. While he was wiping his mouth, the blonde willed the blade away and got ready to kick him. Two words unconsciously came out of her mouth, which she couldn't stop herself from saying.

"Lucy Kick!"

A few more of Bora's men came charging at her once she proved to be a threat, too. She reluctantly brought out her Fairy Blade again, but before the guys could even blink, all types of cuts slit open on their arms and shoulders, blood flowing out.

"This blade can attack the opponent without me having to slash it at you. That's why it's sacred." Lucy smirked. The guys yelped as they attempted to stop the bleeding.

"Gah! This is stupid!"

Ignoring their yells of pain, Lucy continued to silently slice them. This time, she got their clothing instead. When she finished, she wiped some sweat on her forehead, and disabled the Fairy Blade once more.

She turned to Natsu's direction, who looked pissed.

Lucy couldn't help but laugh as she saw an unconscious Bora, "He lost bad in a great battle!" Her laughter dies down after a bit, and hummed. "Wouldn't you say it's weird for a dragon to teach someone how to slay dragons?" She finally asked, genuinely curious.

Happy's face fell, "You know, I never thought of that!"

'Of course you didn't...'

Lucy turned around only to squeal loudly, "He destroyed the harbour!"

"Aye!"

"Is 'Aye' all you have to say?"

Loud, armoured footsteps could be heard clanking on the ground approaching them. Lucy turned around only to pale slightly when she sees the army's rune knights.

"What's going on here?!" The guy in the middle, which she assumed was the leader, boomed loudly.

She suddenly finds herself flying off the ground. The Fairy turned to see Natsu tugging her by the wrist.

He turned to her with a huge smile and said some words she did not expect to hear.

"Come with me, and join Fairytail! It'll be fun!"

Lucy froze for a moment, before smiling at Natsu so big it looked like her face would split into two, almost on the verge of tears.

"Okay!"

. . .

Translation;

*Okemik = Fool*

Bye!