Chapter 8: New Acquaintances
Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail
Fear. At the moment, fear is the only emotion he could feel. It all happened so fast. One minute, he and his friends were hanging out in their hideout, celebrating their most recent heist, and the next minute everything went to hell. Almost literally for a couple of his friends judging from how they were screaming. Sure they were bandits, but they never seriously injured anyone. They only beat up anyone who was dumb enough to get in their way.
'What the hell happened back there? There's no way those kids could have been human.' The bandit thought as he ran as fast as possible away from the hideout. While he saw everything that happened right before fleeing, he couldn't make sense of what he saw. The easiest to process was the pink haired boy that was beating the hell out of everyone within arm's reach. It just didn't make sense to the bandit how such a young kid could be so much stronger and faster than fully grown adults.
What he saw next confused the bandit even more. Each one of his comrades that were about to attack the pinkette either knocked themselves out or started fighting each other. He could tell that his friends were doing everything they could to try to stop themselves. That's when he saw a young girl with long black hair sitting on the bar reading a book. She looked as if the chaos going on around her was just an everyday thing. He had a feeling that she was the one that was controlling his friends. He wanted to get her to stop somehow to at least give him and his friends a fighting chance, but he had this feeling that doing so would be a terrible decision.
At one point everyone that wasn't knocked realized that staying in their hideout isn't a safe option anymore. They tried to escape but that didn't work out how they thought it would. As soon as most of them reached an exit, they fell to the ground screaming bloody murder while also pleading for mercy from some sort of creature that wasn't there. Who was doing this, he didn't know or care. He had to get out. Everyone there is already a lost cause. There's no reason why he should have to share their fate.
By some stroke of "luck" he managed to escape the hideout. He didn't know how long he was running for; he just knows that he didn't run far enough. Stopping to catch his breath, the bandit leans against a nearby tree. There were too many things going through his head to make sense of.
"Oh man, I think we lost them." Someone off to the side said.
"God I hope so" the bandit replies without looking at the person talking to him.
"What the hell happened back there?"
"I don't know. Everything went to hell so fast. There's no way those kids were actual kids. They had to be monsters."
"They have to be, how else can you explain what happened."
The bandit had to agree. There's no way some ordinary kids were capable of taking out their entire group by themselves. If it wasn't for the fact those monsters were busy with his friends than they could have gotten him to.
That's when realization struck. When the bandit escaped, he had left all of his friends behind with those kids. While running, he had turned to look behind him multiple times to make sure he wasn't followed and didn't see any of his friends following him.
'Oh god, no. Please no.' The bandit thought to himself as he turned deathly white. Slowly turning to see who he was talking to, he somehow became even paler at the sight of three kids standing. Two of them he instantly recognized from his hideout while the other one he could only assume was the one responsible for his friend's sudden freak out.
As he made eye contact with them, two of the three kids had the most maniacal smug grins he's ever seen plastered across their faces. The last of the kids had his face covered with a couple of bandannas, but even then he could tell that he was grinning just like the other two little monsters. He could practically feel it.
"Time" the pinkette asked without breaking eye contact with the bandit.
"Two minutes and nineteen seconds," the masked boy replied after looking at a stop watch that appeared out of nowhere.
"That means I win" the brunette girl says rather smugly, making both of the boys with her groan in protest.
The bandit had absolutely no idea what was going on and he didn't care. His only focus is to get out of there without going through what his friends had. Unfortunately for him there really weren't any options available to him. Fighting was out of the question given what he's seen so far. He could try running away again, but given how quickly they caught up to him without seeming the least bit tired killed that plan. "I give up!" he yells as he holds his hands up. Realistically, this was by far the only option he had. He just has to hope that these little monsters are feeling merciful.
"What do you guys think? Should we let him get off that easily?" the pinkette asked.
"Well, he did give up instead of fighting us. Then again, he did abandon his friends and make us chase after him." The brunette said as she thought what to do.
"Keep in mind that we did let him escape on purpose" Mystogan added, reminding the others that they let this bandit escape so that they could make bets on how long it would take for him to realize that he didn't actually escape. Turning his attention back to the bandit, the masked mage remembered that they still have a job to finish. "That being said, I have a great idea for what we should do with him."
There was something in the masked kid's eyes that scared the bandit. When he saw the shit eating grin that the other two kids had, he knew that whatever this idea was it involved nothing good for him. "Oh god no," he squeaked out.
5 Minutes Later
"You were right, this is a great idea." Sayla said from the front of the wagon her group was riding in.
"You say that like you were expecting me to come up with something stupid," Mystogan said from his spot next to the demon.
"It wouldn't be the first time or did you already forget about that job in the Valem Swamps?"
"You're never going to let me live that one down, are you?" Mystogan said, rolling his eyes as he already knew the answer.
"Of course not," Sayla said as she turned her attention to Natsu, who was on her other side. Thanks to his motion sickness, he was one of the two people that hated Mystogan's plan. Thankfully for him, Sayla was nice enough to let him rest his head in her lap to make the trip more bearable for him. "How are you doing Natsu?" she asked.
While he wasn't an unhealthy shade of green like any other time he's on anything that's moving, it's clear that Natsu was struggling to not vomit everything he has eaten recently. "A little better. Thanks for that by the way. But please, throw me off of this thing."
"Sure, right after we get to town." Sayla replied, enjoying the upset groan she got from the pinkette.
"Damnit. Can you at least kill Mystogan for coming up with this stupid plan" he asks in a childish tone, earning a giggle from the demon girl. "Please"
"Quit being a baby, we should be arrive in town in half an hour," Mystogan said as he rolled his eyes at the pinkette's behavior. "Look on the bright side, you're not him," he said as he pointed to the remaining bandit that is pulling the wagon carrying them as well as the rest of the bandits that are beaten and unconscious in the back.
The bandit that was pulling the wagon is by no means are large person. At most, he probably weighed a hundred pounds soaking wet. The fact that he was able to move the wagon at all is surprising itself. Then again, his options were to either pull the wagon to the nearest town by himself or get beaten to bloody pulp by all three of the kids that effortlessly took down his entire group of bandits by themselves. "You three little bastards must be demons." The bandit mutters to himself, having lost count of how many times he has repeated that line of thought today. He was just loud enough
"You know, he's not entirely wrong" Mystogan whispers to his teammates, getting them to nod in agreement.
A Short Time Later
"And that's another successful mission for team Hidden Demon Dragon" Natsu says happily as him and his team walk through the streets of the town where they delivered the bandits to.
"While I share in your sentiment, I still refuse to let that be our team name" Mystogan said as he tried to suppress a shudder at the mere mention of that wretched team name.
"Why? It's an awesome name." Natsu whined. Ever since they officially formed a team a couple weeks ago, he's been pushing that name to no success.
"No it isn't" Sayla chimed in. Agreeing with Mystogan, the demon really hated that name. The name seemed like the pinkette just picked a random word to describe the three of them and put them together. Additionally it also gave away that at least one member of their team is a demon, something that Makarov specifically told them not to do. And given that it's well known that Natsu is a dragon slayer, more so than a Devil Slayer, and Mystogan has a reputation of being very reclusive; it became fairly obvious who the demon part was referring to. "Out of all the stories I have heard of, I have never heard of one with a name that terrible," it also didn't help that name just wasn't that good to begin with.
"It's not fair, it's such an awesome name," Natsu grumbled to himself; causing his teammates to roll their eyes at his whining.
As they walked through the streets, they started to notice that someone was following them. More specifically; they were being followed by two young boys that seemed to be the same age as Wendy.
"Have you guys noticed them yet?" Natsu asked quietly, trying to act as discreet as possible.
"You mean those two kids that have been following us" Sayla answered, her tone matching the pinkette's. "They've been following us for a few minutes now. What do you think they want?"
"No idea, but I know one thing about them; they're dragon slayers." The pinkette said, getting surprised looks from his teammates.
"Really, how can you tell?" Mystogan asked only to get an answer in the form of Natsu pointing towards his nose. "That answers that. What do you want to do next, should we introduce ourselves?"
"How about we have some fun first," Natsu said as he began grinning from ear to ear. Hearing those words caused both of his teammates to start grinning as well. Sure they were about to mess with some kids that were probably too young to know better. Most people would feel bad about doing such a thing. Well, some would feel bad, for a bit.
Quickly turning a corner, the trio prepared their afternoon of fun.
A Short Distance Away
"Come on Rogue, they went that way!" A blonde boy said as he pulled his friend along with him. He a scar going over his right eye brow and is wearing a white shirt with an orange vest and blue shorts
"I saw where they went! Can you stop dragging me Sting?!" Rogue yelled as he tried to free himself from his friends grip. He has black hair and is wearing a grey long sleeved shirt and black pants.
"What's so special those guys anyways?" a small exceed with red fur asked.
"That's because the guy with the pink hair is dragon slayer. And he smells like a fire pit meaning that he is a fire dragon slayer. Lector, how many Fire dragon slayers have you heard of."
"Just one, Natsu Dragneel"
"Exactly, which means that must be him." Sting said excitedly.
"Why do you want to meet this guy so much?" asked Rogue as he continued to struggle to get out of the blonde's grip. "Seriously, can you stop dragging me already! I can walk on my own."
"Haven't you heard any of the stories about him? He's supposed to be ridiculously strong," he said excitedly before turning his attention towards Lector. "Besides, you know that it's my goal to surpass him."
"Fine, if you're that excited to meet him than let's hurry up and get this over with," Rogue said as he finally freed himself from the blonde's grip.
"I knew you'd come around eventually"
"Only because I knew you would keep dragging me around if I didn't" Rogue said as he shot Sting a dirty look.
"Come on, don't look at me like that. This is going to be awesome."
"Frosch thinks so to" another exceed happily said. Unlike Lector this exceed has green fur and is wearing a pink frog onesie.
Seeing the trio they were following turn a corner down an alley, both slayers and their exceeds rush to catch up before they lose them. They were hoping to see the trio. Instead there wasn't a trace of them to be seen.
"Where did they go?!" Sting nearly yells out.
"Maybe they figured out that there being followed and booked it," Rogue stated plainly
"Come on, we got to catch up to them!" Sting yells as starts running down the alley, dragging Rogue behind him with Lector and Frosch struggling to keep up.
"Damnit! Why do you keep dragging me everywhere?!"
"No time to explain, let's go"
On the rooftops above the alley were watching the commotion below them. To say they were entertained would be putting it lightly.
"Well, this is going to be more fun than I thought," Sayla said as the younger dragon slayers run down the alley.
"Am I the only one that finds it strange that they didn't bother to try to find our scents?" Mystogan asked.
"You would that would've been the first thing they try," The first thing any dragon slayer is taught when it comes to tracking is how to follow a scent. Any decent dragon slayer could easily follow the faintest smells for miles around. Then again those to Slayers are fairly young. "So how long do you guys think we could keep this up for?" Natsu asks excitedly.
"Long enough"
4 Hours Later
It's been four hours. Four long hours of chasing after every lead they found on the trio that had vanished. From one end of the town to the other they searched. Behind every building, under every stone. Sting and Rogue searched everywhere. They didn't just chase after where they think the trio went. They stopped and asked every person that would hear them out.
The first group of "people" they asked consisted a group of shadowy figures with a physical forms. Sting was just happy to get a lead. Rogue on the other hand was confused how his blonde friend didn't bother to question the shadows in front of them.
The next group consisted of actual people, though their behavior was concerning to say the least. Their movements, actions, and even the way they spoke made the people seem as though they were marionettes. They all pointed in the same direction at the same time while everything they said was perfectly in synch with each other.
Once again, Sting didn't show the slightest interest in what he saw. Rogue for his part, was trying to figure out what was happening only to be stopped as was being dragged away again.
Out of everyone they came across, the most helpful one they met was an unusually tall guy wearing a trench coat.
Flashback
"Excuse me sir, have you seen a group of three kids running around here" Sting asked as approached the stranger. Rogue was behind the blonde, rolling his shoulder to make sure it was still in the right place.
The stranger they approached looked unusual to say the least. He was wearing an oversized trench coat and hat that seemed like it was a few sizes too big. It wasn't just his body that was covered up; the stranger hid his face behind a pair of sunglasses and blue bandanna. Strangely enough, he also had a rather impressive mustache resting on top of the bandanna.
"Why yes I have, in fact I just saw those kids you're looking for head towards the train station. If you hurry, you may catch up to them." the stranger said melodramatically.
"Really, thanks mister," Sting says as he rushes off in the direction the stranger pointed, both exceeds chasing after him in an attempt to keep up with the hyperactive blonde.
Rogue on the other hand stares at the stranger quizzically for a few moments as if analyzing him. For a moment, the stranger was starting to think that he'd been found out. "You sir, have a really impressive mustache," Rogue said, finally breaking the silence as turned to chase after Sting.
Seeing the younger dragon slayer run down the street, Sayla jumps off the roof of a nearby building where she watched everything happen. "Seriously, how did both of them fall for that stupid disguise?"
"What are you talking about? This disguise is amazing," Natsu said as he sticks his head through the middle of the coat.
"I agree with Natsu on this one, this disguise is absolutely genius," Mystogan says, causing his fake mustache to move with each word.
Sayla just gives them a blank look. She isn't upset or angry at the idiots before her, she's just disappointed. "Come on, let's go before those kids accidentally get on a train," Sayla says she starts to make her way towards the younger dragon slayers.
"We're using this disguise again, right?" Natsu asks as he looks up at Mystogan.
"Definitely"
Flashback End
After all that time they spent running around town, both dragon slayers were on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion. Over the last four hours, they spent almost the entire time trying to catch up to the group they were chasing after with little to no time spent catching their breath. Even Frosch and Lector were out of breath and spent most of the time clinging onto either Sting or Rogue.
"Damn," Sting says as he leans against a wall, trying to catch his breath. "I think we lost them," he says dejectedly.
Kneeling besides the blonde, Rogue silently agreed with his friend. They spent hours chasing after the trio and not once since they disappeared have they so much as caught a glimpse of them. It seemed like no matter where they were, the trio were at least a few steps ahead of them. "At least we can say we tried, though it's still annoying that we couldn't find them."
"Come on guys, you can't give up yet" Lector said as he looked at the upset dragon slayers, trying to find some way to cheer them up.
"Frosch thinks so too"
"There has to be something you two can do. Can't you know, find there scent or something?" Lector asked.
Hearing that causes both dragon slayers to stare blankly at the red Exceed or what seemed like a little bit too long. "Damn, why didn't we try that?" they said in unison as they slam their fists into their palms. Taking a few seconds to sniff their surroundings, they try to find a scent that will give them even the slightest trace to chase after. After some sniffing around, what they found nearly caused them both of to turn their heads so fast towards the roof of the building they were leaning against that it is a surprise that neither of them snapped their necks in doing so. What they saw left them utterly dumbfounded.
Sitting on the edge of the roof, they saw the same trio they have been chasing after. Each one of them had a look of amusement on their faces. Excluding the one that had his face covered.
"About time you two actually used your noses," Natsu said, sounding slightly smug with that remark.
Hearing that caused both of the younger dragon slayers' faces to turn bright red in embarrassment. They're dragon slayers dammit, their noses were supposed to be only second to dragons themselves.
"And it only took you to four hours to realize it." Mystogan said as he jumped off the roof. "That being said, thanks to you two, I won a bet."
"Dammit! I lost again!" Natsu yells out, feeling incredibly frustrated that he lost another bet today.
"Get over it, you only lost two bets today," Sayla said, her voice making it clear that she is use to the pinkette reacting the way that he is. "You've lost more bets than that in a shorter amount of time."
"That's not helping" Natsu said as he jumped off the roof to the ground.
"It wasn't meant to, you did lose after all," Sayla says smugly as she jumps off the roof. The only response she got from the pinkette was him grumbling to himself in frustration.
"You guys knew we were following you?" Sting asked, not knowing what he should be feeling at the moment.
"Yep"
"Pretty Much"
"Exactly"
"How did you guys know?" Sting asks, starting to feel more exasperated now. Natsu just responded by pointing at his nose, resulting in the blonde understanding what he was implying.
"To be fair, you guys weren't that subtle to begin with" Sayla chimed in. "We figured out you two were following us almost immediately from how much noise one of you were making."
"That aside, do you guys mind telling us who you are and why you're following us?" Natsu asked. The trio had already had enough fun at their expense. It's time to get some answers.
"I'm Sting Eucliffe and this is Lector," Sting says as gestures towards the red Exceed that had just climbed up on his shoulder.
"I'm Rogue Cheney and this is Frosch" Rogue says as he picks up his exceed companion.
"Why is it that all of you dragon slayers have Exceeds?" Mystogan quietly asks as he looks at the bipedal cats.
"Seems like it," Natsu chimes in. "Now we know who you are, mind telling us why you were following us?"
"Short answer, Sting wanted to meet you," Rogue answered as he pointed his thumb at the blonde. "And he literally dragged me along"
"Hey! You make it seem like I just drag you around everywhere," Sting whined.
"That's exactly what I'm saying."
"That's just mean"
"So what makes me so special that would make you want to meet me?" Natsu asks, sure he is known for being absurdly strong for a mage his age, none of the rumors he's heard include anything too special about the pinkette.
"My dad told me a lot of stories about a dragon named Igneel and how he is one of the strongest dragons that he has ever met. He also told me that Igneel trained a dragon slayer himself. Since Weisslogia said that Igneel is a Fire dragon and I heard that you have a really rare type of Fire Magic. I wanted to find you and find out if you are Igneel's son." Sting explained.
"That's quite a guess, but it's a good one. I was trained Igneel," Natsu said as thought about what Sting said. From what he's heard, the blonde had a hunch at best. Anyone else would have thought of it as nothing more than mere coincidence. 'Man, this kid really knows how to listen to his gut. Not to mention he's ridiculously lucky for a guess as outrageous as that to be correct,' Natsu thought to himself. "Ok, what about you?" the pinkette asks Rogue.
"Eh, not really. Don't get me wrong; it's cool meeting another dragon slayer and all, but it's not that big of a deal to me," Rogue explains as he shrugs his shoulders. "In truth, ever since we met, Sting always ends up dragging me along where ever he goes."
"Sounds a lot like a certain someone that I know," Sayla said as her and Mystogan started staring blankly at Natsu.
"I wonder if Natsu and Sting are actually long lost brothers." Mystogan jokingly asked, not expecting anyone to answer him.
"At least it seems like you don't have to worry about ever being bored." Natsu said in an attempt to ignore his teammates comments.
"Bored, never. Annoyed, more often than I like." Rogue replied, ignoring the "Hey," that came from Sting
"Well, now that you got your answers, what's next for you two?" The pinkette asked.
"Odds are I'll just end up getting dragged into whatever Sting thinks up next" Rogue answers.
"Now that I've met you, I need to start training so that I can get stronger than you." Sting answers, the determination in his voice was clear as day for all to hear. The grin plastered across his face further cemented what they heard.
"So you want to surpass me huh?" Natsu asks as he grins at the younger dragon slayer's conviction.
"Damn right! I made a promise that I'm going to be the strongest dragon slayer there is."
"And beating me will make that promise a reality?"
"If not, then it's at least a step in the right direction."
Natsu couldn't help but laugh at what he's hearing. From the way Sting is talking, everything he said he is going to do seemed as though it was set in stone. It wasn't too long ago when Natsu had said something similar to Igneel. "Then I look forward to whenever you decide to challenge me. How much has Weisslogia taught you?"
"He taught me all the basics. But he didn't have enough time to teach me much more beyond that though" Sting said as his face took on a sorrowful expression. An expression that was shared by Rogue.
"What do you mean by him not having enough time? Did he disappear to?" Natsu asked as he saw how both of the younger dragon slayers reacted the question; it was similar to how Wendy reacted when he asked her the same thing. But he had a gut feeling that he would get a completely different answer from these two.
"Our dragons died before they could take our training any further" Rogue answered as started to hold onto Frosch a little tighter.
Words couldn't accurately tell how shocked Sayla and Mystogan were. They were expecting to hear that they were abandoned by their dragons.
"Sorry to hear that. What happened to them?" Mystogan asked. Before either of the younger dragon slayers; one of the shingles on the roof the trio were previously on smashed into his head. Looking it the broken shingle on the ground; Mystogan glares at Sayla, knowing that she was the one that caused it to crash into head.
"They were really sick. They… they asked us to kill them." Sting answered, looking as though he was doing everything he could to hold back the tears. Rogue was having just as much trouble as his blonde friend.
Hearing this caused Sayla to stop herself from chastising her teammate for his tactless question. She'll have to settle for "having a talk" with him later. Even Mystogan felt bad for his question. The only one that wasn't showing any emotion was Natsu. He's maintained a stern face as he took in everything he heard.
Given that Sting and Rogue already admitted to only learning the basics of their respective magics, there are only a few spells would know of that could kill a dragon. Each of them are spells that would make bloodshed impossible to avoid. This would result in the killer to have blood become a part of their scent. While easy to mistake for most people, picking up on that scent is second nature to dragon slaters.
It's a scent that neither Sting nor Rogue had. Even Natsu couldn't find the slightest stench of blood on either of them. 'Really, out of all the ways to vanish their dragons had to make these two think they killed them,' Natsu thought to himself. "They must have been suffering if they asked you two to kill them. I'm sorry that you two had to do that." He said, trying to mask his anger towards their dragons.
The next few minutes were spent trying to comfort Sting and Rogue. Thanks to their exceeds, it didn't take too long.
"So what you guys going to do now?" Natsu asked in attempt to change the topic. "I know you said that you're going to train, but do you two have anywhere to stay." He asked, his tone showing some concern.
"No, we'll be fine though." Rogue answers
"Yeah, we're dragon slayers! We can stay anywhere and be just fine." Sting follows up, earning a chuckle from the trio.
"I'm sure you two can. I have a different idea though. Why don't guys come with us to Magnolia. You guys can stay at my place and I can help you two out with your magic." Natsu says, getting shocked looks from both dragon slayers. Even their exceeds were surprised.
"You would do that for us?" Rogue asks.
"Of course, I would happy to help you guys out. In fact, I've been helping out another dragon slayer that I met months ago. What about you Sayla? You ok with letting them stay with us."
"Of course, plus I think Wendy would enjoy having more dragon slayers her age to train and spend time with," Sayla said as she gave the pinkette a warm smile.
"Oh man, I can't believe you're this awesome." Sting says excitedly, his eyes filled stars.
"Well get used to it, Natsu has a real knack for taking in free loaders." Mystogan says jokingly, resulting in a couple more shingles to smash into his head.
"What about Frosch and Lector? Can they come too?" Rogue asks worryingly as he looks at the exceed in his hands.
"Don't worry, they can come to." Natsu answers as he makes a mental reminder to kick Mystogan's ass for that freeloader comment. "Exceeds are too awesome to leave behind."
"Awesome, when do we leave?" Sting asks, grinning ear to ear.
"Um," Natsu stops to remember when their train was supposed to arrive. Unfortunately for the trio the train was scheduled to arrive and depart three hours ago. They were having so much fun messing with Sting and Rogue that they lost track of time. "We missed our train… didn't we?" Natsu asked sheepishly, he already knew the answer even though he already knew the answer.
"Yes, we're going to need to wait for the next one." Mystogan answers begrudgingly. Like Natsu, he really didn't want to admit they missed the train because they were busy having some fun. And like the pinkette, he didn't want to admit for the same reason.
"Don't worry; I already looked at the train schedule while we were hiding at the train station." Sayla says as smiling smugly at her teammates. She loved situations like this, it just gave her the perfect opportunity to tease them. And given that she already won one of their bets today, it's safe to say that today is turning out to be a good day for the demon. "I already bought the tickets but we'll need to buy a couple."
"Thanks Sayla," Mystogan and Natsu said begrudgingly. They really hated days like this. Sayla isn't the type to make them do anything unreasonable or absurd. What she'll do is spend the day reminding her teammates that she won. Sayla knew exactly what to say to mess with them. Additionally, she's patient and willing to wait for just the right moment to mess with them.
"I guess Sayla must be the responsible one of this group," Rogue chimes in, causing both Natsu and Mystogan to hang their head even lower.
"Frosch Thinks so to"
"That's not helping!" Mystogan and Natsu yell out simultaneously.
"Calm down you two. And yes Rogue, I am the mature and responsible one." Sayla says as she smugly smiles at team once again, resulting in them glaring angrily at them. "We have a couple hours before the next train arrives, why don't we get something to eat while we wait."
"Sounds great," Natsu and Sting say at the same time, Mystogan and Rogue just silently agreed.
Time Skip: Two Weeks
Things have been going great in the time since Sting and Rogue joined Fairy Tail. Sting's wild and hyper personality blended incredibly well with wild antics of the guild and Rogue got along nicely with calmer members.
To no one's surprise Sting, Rogue and Wendy got along tremendously. If they weren't training, the three dragon slayers were usually playing some type of game. Usually it would be either Wendy or Sting that had been coming up with something to do while Rogue was dragged along.
Their living arrangements took some time to get squared away. They spent the first week in having to sleep in Natsu's living room. Additionally they also had to help Natsu build a couple extra bedrooms. Making the renovations by himself when Wendy first moved was more of a pain than he would admit to. Building Sayla's room wasn't an inconvenience since he had already built a guest bedroom and gave it to her.
While a hassle at times, the three dragon slayers manage to complete the renovations without to many problems. There were a few times where Natsu felt it necessary to beat some sense into Sting and Rogue, but that was just a precursor for what the younger dragon slayers could expect once they start getting farther into their training.
Speaking of training, it wasn't too hard for Sting and Rogue to adapt to Natsu's training. Unlike Wendy, they had actually been trained in how to fight. The best part of it was that the three younger dragon slayers had the best sparring partner they could get. Each other.
In all honesty, there is no one more proud of that turnout than Makarov. Seeing those three train together and learn from Natsu reminded him of what Fairy Tail is. A family that helps each other grow. "That damn brat never seizes to amaze me," He quietly says to himself, grinning as he couldn't help but be proud for the kind of person Natsu is becoming.
"What did you say Gramps?" Natsu asks as he approaches the bar.
"Nothing important my boy. I'm just thinking out loud to myself."
"Sure you're not just going senile old man?" Natsu jokingly asked.
Even Makarov couldn't but laugh at that light hearted insult. He knew that this is just the usual banter between him and Natsu. He knew the pinkette well enough to know he's just joking. "You cheeky little brat. I'll have you know that even though I may be several decades older than you; my mind is as sharp as ever."
"Sure whatever you say Gramps, go ahead and deny it all you want"
"Attention all citizens, Gildart's shift is about to take effect. Please move to your designated areas." A voice coming from a loud speaker said, followed shortly by a loud siren.
"Ahhh; Gramps, what the hell is that?!" Natsu asked as he clutched his ears, the siren proving to be too much for him. Unfortunately, he was dealing with it the best when compared to the other dragon slayers.
"What's that sound!?"
"Please make it stop"
"Ahhh, my ears"
"Please calm down children, the siren will end shortly." Makarov said reassuringly. Sure enough, less than a minute later the siren came to an end. Hearing the siren end, everyone felt the ground begin to shake. "To answer your question; that siren is the Gildart's Shift. It is a warning to everyone to get to safe location." He said as he began he gestured towards the bartender to get another pint of beer ready.
"The Gildart's Shift is a transformation this town undergoes to form a direct path to the guild. It is a path meant for our guild's ace, Gildarts." The guild master explained.
"Why would the town need to rearrange itself?" Natsu asked, the idea that entire town would undergo something like this for a single person.
"That's because Gildarts is a total airhead," Mira answers as she approaches the pinkette. "It's pretty normal for him to walk into a building and accidentally walk into a building and destroy it."
"Really?" Natsu asked incredulously.
"Unfortunately yes, Gildarts magic is incredibly difficult to control. If he is not careful he could easily destroy Magnolia." Makarov answers as he thinks back on all the damage the guilds ace has caused over the years. "The fact that he has as much control as he does truly speaks volumes of his skill as a mage."
As they were talking Natsu could tell that someone powerful was getting closer. One of the demons he trained under forced the pinkette to learn how to hide his magical presence. After learning how to hide to presence, Natsu learned how determine how much of a mage's presence they are concealing. While it's mostly based on a hunch, the pinkette knew how much to trust his gut in situations like this.
Whoever this Gildarts is, he's a ridiculously powerful mage. Even the teachers Natsu trained under would recognize the ace as powerful mage.
As the presence drew closer, or the lack of a presence, the older members of the guild began staring towards the door. Following suit, each of the younger members started staring at the door in anticipation. Almost as if on cue, the wall next to the door blew up into a mass of cubes.
Looking on in amazement, most of the younger members were awed at the display while the older members were just smirking at the destruction. Through the destruction a tall muscular with slicked back orange hair and some stubble on his face. For clothes he's wearing a tattered black cloak, loose fitting dark pants, a dark blue t shirt and some simple boots.
"Dammit Gildarts! How many times do I have to tell you to use the door?!" Makarov yelled from the bar. He knew this would happen yet it still gets on his nerves that he has to remind an adult to use a door.
"Sorry master, it just slipped my mind," Gildarts apologized sheepishly as he approached the bar.
"At least try to remember next time ok," Makarov said, sighing as he knew this was going to happen again. More than likely it will happen a couple more time today. If he's lucky, it will only happen a couple more times. Putting that frustrating line of thought to the back of his mind; the old man hand a beer to the ace. "Enough of that, how was your mission my boy?" Makarov happily asked.
"It was a success, it was even a little challenging at times," Gildarts answered as he happily accepted the bear. "Though I gotta say, it's good to be home."
"Then why don't we start celebrating your safe return." Makarov stated loudly, resulting in a round of cheers coming from everyone in the guild.
In the next instant the guild erupted into the usual chaos that is their celebrations.
"So you're the Gildarts," Natsu said as he approached the guild's ace.
"Yeah, that's me. And who might you be?" Gildarts asked as he looked the pinkette. Something about the kid in front of him made him curious.
"Gildarts, this is Natsu. He joined the guild a few months ago" Makarov introduced the pinkette.
"Well it's good to meet you Natsu. How are you enjoying our guild?" Gildarts asked.
"It's great," Natsu answered honestly. "Though, I have something that I want to ask you."
"Ok, what do you want to know?"
"Can I fight you?" Natsu asked, shocking both Makarov and Gildarts.
"You want to fight me?"
"Of course, I want to see how strong you are." Natsu isn't the only curious about that. Since joining, very few people have the pinkette fight seriously. Even his fight against Erza and Mira, he only needed to use a couple spells.
Makarov had a better idea than most because of what he's learned from talking with Natsu and the reports from his jobs. Honestly, this opportunity is ideal for the master to determine what kind of jobs the pinkette would be best suited for.
"What do you think Master?" Gildarts is used to being challenged to fights. There's never a shortage of overly confidant mages that want to prove themselves. However, the mages the ace was used to fighting have almost been exclusively adults. There have been a few older teens to challenge Gildarts, but Natsu is by far the youngest person to want to fight him.
"I see no problem with you two fighting. I'm actually curious to see how well Natsu would do in a fight against an S Class mage."
That caught Gildarts attention. Makarov wouldn't let any of his mages to get into a situation he didn't believe they were capable handling. It took no time for Gildarts to figure out what Makarov wanted to find out. "Seems like it's your lucky day kid."
"Given how destructive you two are by yourselves, we should move this fight to a safe distance away from the guild." Makarov said as he started making his way towards one of the many sparring areas.
Hearing about the fight that was about take place, everyone in the guild rushed to place their bets.
The sparring area is a nice open grassy field. It provides plenty of room to move and both mages won't have to worry about damages.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Sayla asked Natsu who was getting himself ready for the right.
"Of course," Natsu replied, struggling to contain his excitement.
"You know there's a reason why Gildarts is the ace of the guild? Even if he holds back almost of his strength, this isn't going to be an easy fight." Mystogan followed up.
"I'd be disappointed if it was."
"Well, we tried" Mystogan said as he shrugged his shoulders.
"5,000 on Gildarts," both Sayla and Mystogan tell Cana whose busy taking down bets.
"You traitors!" Natsu yells angrily.
"Don't worry Natsu, I believe in you," Wendy tells the pinkette.
"Thank you Wendy, it's nice to know someone believes in me," Natsu says, pouting at his teammates actions.
"Didn't you just put a thousand down on Gildarts?" Rogue asks the bluenette, causing her to stiffen up
"Come on guys, we know that Natsu's going to kick Gildarts' ass," Sting says excitedly.
'Is it too late to double down on our bets,' both Rogue and Wendy think to themselves. They knew better than to side with any bet Sting is willing to make.
"Don't worry Natsu I know you'll do well," Cana said as she rapped an arm around one of the pinkette's shoulders. She succeeded in raising Natsu's spirts a bit. "But if you can take a dive near the end of the fight that would be great." And like that, his spirts took a nose dive.
"Really, you too?" Natsu asked dejectedly.
"What? I get a cut of the winning bets. Don't worry, I make it up to you later."
"You know what? I don't care anymore. I'm just going to kick Gildarts' ass." Natsu said, tuning everyone out so that he can just focus on the fight.
"Here are the rules of the match," Makarov stated loudly, garnering everyone's attention. As if on cue everyone quieted down and began moving to what Master determined to be a safe distance. The bets were placed, the guild members are waiting in anticipation. "The match will continue until either one or both mages are unable to fight or if I call it to an end. And secondly, neither of you are allowed to use any spells that will cause any long lasting injuries. Other than that, have fun. This is merely friendly sparring match." He finishes as he rejoins the crowd.
"Last chance to back out Natsu," Gildarts said, giving the pinkette a chance to back out.
Staring down the ace, Natsu disappeared from where he was standing only to reappear right in front of the more experienced mage. Not giving Gildarts a chance to react, the pinkette punches him as hard as he could in the stomach, resulting in the ace to skid back a few feet. "No way am I backing out now," Natsu said confidently.
His eyes widening in shock, Gildarts was shocked by how fast the pinkette is. It's then that he realized that Natsu's confidence stems from actual skill and not some arrogance that lesser experienced mages often suffer from. "You know, you just gave away the element of surprise?" The ace said, looking forward to seeing what else Natsu can do.
"We'll see," Natsu said as he once again disappeared only to reappear in front of Gildarts once again with his fist cocked back.
Instead of making contact, Gildarts easily caught the pinkette's fist. "That won't work a second time," he says before returning the favor by punching Natsu in the gut, sending the pinkette clear across the field.
Sliding to a stop, Natsu coughs up some saliva. 'Finally, a fight I can take seriously.' He thought as he once again dashes towards the ace. "Fire Fist!" Natsu shouts as he fires a pillar of flames towards the ace.
"So you're a fire mage," Gildarts said as held up his right hand. Before Natsu's attack could make contact, Gildart's hand fills with an ominous white light. A small amount of that light fires off towards the pillar of flames, causing it to break up into a series of cubes before dispelling completely.
Having never seen a spell like that, Natsu was surprised at how easily Gildarts was able to nullify his attack. "What kind of magic is that?" Natsu asked just loud enough for his opponent to hear.
"Sorry kid, I'm not giving up that kind of information just yet. Especially while we're fighting."
"Fair enough," Natsu said as he continued to close the gap between himself and Gildarts. If ranged attacks won't help than the pinkette will have to rely on fighting up close. Covering his fist in more flames, Natsu readies himself for what's to come.
Throwing another punch towards the ace, Gildarts easily sidestepped the punch which gives him more than enough time to once punch the pinkette across the field.
Kicking off his sandals midair, Natsu turns his fingers and toes into claws and stabs them into the ground to slow him down. Once more rushing towards Gildarts, Natsu is determined to land a hit.
Releasing a barrage of punches, Natsu realizes that not only is Gildarts stronger but faster too. Every punch was either easily dodged or effortlessly deflected. What's more infuriating is that Natsu could tell that the ace's speed is entirely natural. With both the strength and speed advantages were belonging to Gildarts, Natsus going to have to find a way around it.
Getting knocked away once again, Natsu isn't looking forward to his next plan. Whether it works or not, it's guaranteed to hurt like hell.
Once more rushing the ace, Natsu engulfs his fist in purple and black flames
"Come on Natsu, that tactic isn't going to work just because you keep doing it," Gildarts said, curious to find out what's so special the purple flame he's seeing
"Fire Devil's Cataclysmic Inferno," Natsu yells as he punches the ground in front of Gildarts. Cracks in the ground spread around the two mages.
Seeing the cracks fill with a purple light, Gildarts quickly points his open palm towards the ground. Firing off his magic in an attempt to counter the pinkette's attack, the ground beneath him violently explodes as the two attacks collide. The explosions not only results in a dust cloud being kicked up, but large chunks of rock are sent flying straight into the air.
Using the low visibility to his advantage, Natsu uses this to try to land a few attacks. Rushing Gildarts again, Natsu prepares himself for a series of quick hit and run attacks. The benefit of this plan is that he'll be more likely to actually land a hit. The downside though is that he can't use magic without giving away where he is.
Sensing something about to strike at his side, Gildarts quickly side steps the attack and sees a brief glimpse of a shadow pass him by only for it to disappear a second later. 'So that's his plan, he's using the dust cloud to catch me off guard. He even managed to increase his speed somehow.'
Sensing another attack, the ace once again dodges another attack. Instead of going on the offensive and dealing with the dust cloud right away, he allows Natsu to keep his temporary advantage. Now the fight has turned into a waiting game. All it's going to take is a single miscalculation.
Seeing a potential blind spot, Natsu attempts to attack from above. Bringing his leg down for a devastating axe kick; this would be the first attack the pinkette would manage to land since catching the ace off guard.
"Using your speed and the dust cloud to your advantage was a smart move Natsu, but you made a mistake." Gildarts said as his fist is covered in his magic, staring straight at the pinkette. "You're not fast enough!" he says, dodging the axe kick and upper cutting the pinkette in the jaw in the process. The punch had so much force behind it that the dust cloud had vanished from the subsequent shockwave.
Being sent straight into the air, Natsu kicks off a piece of rock that is still in the air from when their attacks collided earlier. Even without having the dust cloud to provide cover, Natsu is still using the same tactic for his plan. The only difference is that he can use magic again.
This pattern of attacks continued for some time. Every time Natsu tries to land a hit, Gildarts would knock him away. Every time he would get knocked away, Natsu would kick off either the ground or the airborne debris and repeat the process. With each attack, both mages would move faster.
For almost everyone watching, they felt as though they were watching two highly destructive blurs destroying everything around them. The only one that could clearly see what is happening is Makarov. To say that he is impressed with what he's seeing wouldn't be entirely accurate. Seeing Natsu take such a beating at the hand of Gildarts and not let it faze him too much is truly amazing, especially for someone so young. From the moment their attacks collided to the point where Gildarts was knocking Natsu away all happened under a minute. In that time Natsu had been knocked away and use the force and speed to recover and counter dozens of times.
After so much time of repeating this strategy, Natsu had finally found the result he was waiting for. The debris that seemed to be permanently lodged in the air had finally succumbed to gravity and crashed into ground. The ground in where they have been primarily fighting had been deeply cratered beneath them from the force of their attacks. Gildarts remained almost entirely unharmed from their exchange of attacks. Natsu, however; isn't fairing as well as his opponent. At the very least his jaw is cracked and he has at least two or three ribs that are broken.
Despite the punishment that the pinkette had to endure, Natsu managed to punch Gildarts in the face. While it didn't yield many results, it was still a small victory for the pinkette.
"All that for one punch," Gildarts said as he lightly rubbed his jaw.
"Yeah, it's too bad I couldn't land a few more hits on you." Natsu said as he desperately tried to catch his breath. From the beating he's been taking the pinkette could tell that if this keeps up he won't be able to last much longer. "But I was able to learn something important."
"Oh, and what would that be?" Instead of getting an answer, Natsu only responded by disappearing once again. Having seen this move dozens of times now, Gildarts swung his arm to the side to counter the pinkette.
Instead of hitting the pinkette like he thought, Natsu had dodged the arm coming for him and land a hit in Gildarts' side. Sending the ace skidding a few feet, Natsu's fist is engulfed in red and gold flames as gets ready to make the most of the opening. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist" he yells as he once again punches Gildarts in the gut, causing the ace to cough up some saliva.
Trying to follow up once more, Natsu tries to give Gildarts another flaming punch. Unfortunately, the ace was ready for it and caught the pinkette's fist. "Impressive," Gildarts said honestly. To think Natsu would let himself get hit so many times just to find an opening in how the ace moves. "But that's still good enough!" he yells as he punches Natsu harder in the gut than any other time.
Sliding to a stop, Natsu couldn't believe it. He's finally met a normal, relatively at least, that is able to brush off one of his dragon slayer attacks. Everyone else he's used those spells on was at the very least seriously injured. 'Great, now I need a new plan,' Natsu thought as he took in his surroundings.
The field they were fighting in had larger cracks spread throughout the entirety of it. The area where Gildarts had been standing has become deeply cratered from the force of their attacks colliding. Their guild mates had to move even farther back for safety reasons. The only other abnormality is the large chunks of rocks that were sticking out of the ground.
Seeing the rocks, Natsu had another plan. Running towards the rock, the pinkette picks up the rock, which is at least twice his size, and throws it towards Gildarts.
Seeing the rock coming his way, the ace is curious as to what Natsu is thinking of. Natsu knows that any kind of ranged attack is basically useless against him. Raising his hand to destroy the rock, Gildarts notices that Natsu disappeared from where he was. Unfortunately for the pinkette, years of experience had honed the ace's instincts to a ridiculous degree.
Listening to his instincts, Gildarts moves to the side to avoid a punch from behind. Not wanting to give the pinkette a chance to recover, the ace retaliates by delivering a devastating punch infused with his magic to Natsu's stomach, resulting in the younger mage bending in half around the older one's fist.
Time seemed to stay still for a second before the force of Gildart's punch caught up and launched the pinkette high up into the sky.
Once Natsu reaches the apex of his accent, he realizes that he is too far up to land safely. Thinking quickly, Natsu comes up with two options. The first option is to put the fight into the back of mind temporarily to focus on trying to landing safely without hurting himself too much. The second option however is incredibly reckless and is more likely to backfire. 'Well, it's all or nothing,' Natsu thought as he decided what his next course of action will be.
Taking a few seconds to take a few deep breaths, the pinkette takes in a large amount of oxygen. "Fire Dragon's Roar," Natsu yells as a large torrent of flames shoot out of his mouth.
Seeing the massive pillar of flames come from the Natsu's mouth, everyone felt confused at what they were seeing. They all expected to see the flames be pointed towards Gildarts or at the ground. Instead, the flames were aimed straight towards the sky. This caught them off guard since it seemed to increase the speed the pinkette was falling towards the ground
"Fire Dragon's Roar," Natsu yells out again as another torrent of flames fires from the pinkette. As a result, he started to pick up even more speed as a cone started to form around him.
'What the hell is that kid thinking?!' Gildarts thought as he watched the pinkette. Clearly Natsu is preparing for an attack of some sort. But, if Natsu doesn't do anything to start slowing down, he's going to get hurt no matter what happens next.
Gathering a ball of purple flames within his hands, Natsu puts a great deal of energy into the flames. "Fire Devil's Raining Hell," he yells as he throws the ball of flames towards Gildarts. After a few second the attack began to grow rapidly. After a few more seconds the ball of flames explodes, resulting in dozens purple missile like projectiles all racing off towards Gildarts.
'Well, I have to admit that you're persistent if nothing else.' Gildarts thinks as he watches the attack come his way. 'Guess it's time to get a little more serious,'
"All Crush," Gildarts says as an energy blast is fired his hand. Upon coming in contact with Natsu's attack, the energy blast destroys each one of the projectiles, resulting in a wave of explosions littering the sky.
"Fire Dragon's Roar," Gildarts hears the pinkette yell again. Not being able to see the younger mage, the ace could only assume that the pinkette did that to pick up even more speed. He gets an answer a couple seconds later as he sees Natsu shoot through the wall of exploding projectiles like a bat out of hell. This time though; Natsu is facing the ace with his fist cocked back, engulfed in bright red and gold flames.
Of the two options Natsu thought of as he began his decent, the second one was to his situation to his advantage. The point behind firing off the Roars was to dramatically increase his speed. The devil slayer attack was to provide cover for the pinkette to prevent Gildarts for preparing for the next part of the plan.
"Fire Dragon's," Natsu yells as he's rapidly approaching the ace.
"Damn kid, you're even crazier and more reckless than me." Gildarts said as felt genuinely impressed by the pinkette.
"Iron Fist!" Natsu finishes as his fist collides with Gildarts own magically coated fist. When their two punches collided, the force of the impact once again caused the earth around them to be blown away. The subsequent shockwave caused the people watching to shield their eyes and brace themselves they felt the shockwave pass right by them.
The two mages were caught in a stalemate for an amount of time. Neither mage backing down in the slightest as they kept pressing their attacks. After so much time passed, their attacks gave way and caused an explosion that engulfs the both of them. As soon as the explosion finally subsides, everyone could see the two mages standing some distance away from each other.
Gildarts remained mostly unharmed with the exception of his hand having some slight burn marks and his clothes being slightly singed.
Natsu; however, was in a significantly worse condition. His right hand is clearly broken along with his arm having multiple fractures that were clearly visible through his skin. In addition there were a few tears in the skin on his arm that were bleeding profusely. His shirt was completely destroyed revealing what kind of state he was in for the majority of the fight. His body was covered in nasty bruises from all the times that Gildarts had knocked him away. Additionlay, Natsu had a couple cuts on his face including one underneath his hairline that had a trail of blood running down the side of his face. The pinkette also had a busted lip with blood pouring from that wound as well.
No one could believe what kind of a beating Natsu had endured. What's more, the pinkette didn't seem the least bit bothered by his condition. He's just standing where he is, holding onto his right arm as he smirks at the ace. At most, the only thing that seemed to be bothering him was how out of breath he is.
"You know, I knew you were strong but I didn't think you were this strong," Natsu compliment the ace as he tried to catch his breath.
"I can say the same thing about you." Gildarts said as he inspected the pinkette, shocked that he's still standing.
"The match is over," Makarov said as he approached the two mages. "I declare Gildarts to be the winner."
"Good fight, I'll get you next time." Natsu congratulated, feeling happy that he finally got a good fight.
"That won't be happening anytime soon," Makarov said sternly. "Now come, we have to treat those wounds immediately."
"Don't worry there not as bad as they seem," Natsu said nonchalantly, engulfing his arm in his green flames. As soon the flames died down, the pinkette's arm appeared to be as good as new. Though; it wasn't until after the flames died down that Natsu remembered the side effect of those flames. "Ow" Natsu squeaked out in an uncharacteristically high pitch voice. The pain from using that spell along with everything that the pinkette had endured during the fight caused Natsu to pass out only moments later.
Makarov could only release a sigh of annoyance at how impulsive and reckless the pinkette is. "I swear, that boy is going to drive me to an early retirement."
"At least you won't be bored," Gildarts said off handedly as he picked up the pinkette. Unlike the master, he was amused by Natsu's actions. "Let's hurry up and get him to the infirmary."
"I'll have someone get Porlyusica; maybe she can beat some sense into the boy." Makarov said, not looking forward to explaining everything to the guild's unofficial healer.
"Yeah, I'm not looking forward to that scolding," Gildarts said, dreading what's coming next. A sentiment that Makarov shared.
"We might as well get a few drinks in us first."
And done. Finally, after a couple months a new chapter is finally out. Sorry about the wait, I tried to get this out on the one year anniversary and on Christmas but life and work kept getting in the way. Hopefully the fight with Gildarts will make up for that.
Speaking of which, this story passed the one year anniversary. Like I mentioned, I did make an attempt to update then, but that didn't happen. For that, all I can do is say sorry. Hopefully that won't happen with the next update/anniversary but I'm not going to promise anything.
Also there were a few other reasons why this chapter took so long to get out. Those reasons are other stories that I'm starting to work on. So the next time I update will either be for this story (more than likely) or for one of the new stories I'm working on. We'll find out together.
In the last AN I mentioned that Natsu would be a part of other teams and this chapter would introduce who would make up one of those teams. Well, one of those teams will consist of Sting, Rogue and Wendy. They'll be Team Dragon Slayers, and Natsu will be joining them on occasion.
Like always, thank you to everyone one that continues to read, followed, favorited, and reviewed so far. As of when I'm writing this, there are: 35,031 views, 398 favorites, and 502 follows.
So what did all of you think? Loved it, hated it, wished the fight was a little longer, let me know with a review or by sending a PM. Also, if you have any question whether it regards the story itself or you want to know how progress on the next update feel free to leave a review or send me a PM. If you leave a review I'll reply in the next update and if you PM me I'll reply as soon as I can.
Speaking of which, onto reviews
Potato-overlord1: Thanks for the suggestion. While the name fits and I like it, that name fits a lot better for another team that I have planned.
Scandalf: If it helps, keep in mind that Jellal and Mystogan are going to be treated as two entirely different characters. And having Mystogan around makes a lot of things I want to do more convenient.
That's it for reviews. If you have a suggestion for team names then please let me know by either leaving a review or by PM
Till next time
Mreh