July 2nd X784

In the large port city of Hargeon, a train was entering the station. Inside the train were, among others, Natsu Dragneel and his partner and friend Happy. Natsu was staring out the train window, lost in thought, when the train stopped. So much so that he didn't notice it was time to get off. Fortunately for him, his blue-furred companion was paying more attention.

"Natsu, we have arrived at Hargeon!" he informed the pinkette. "Come on, get up!"

"Hmm? Oh right, let's go." he acknowledged, getting out of his trance. However, a nearby controlled saw the scene unfold and felt the need to react to it.

"Is everything all right?" he asked which got Happy to turn around vigorously and raise a paw while answering.

"Aye, everything is fine! He tends to get lost in his thoughts!" the cat explained.

"Yeah well, with you sleeping the whole trip, I was kind of lacking any company. What else was I supposed to do?" Natsu countered but was straight up ignored.

"If our information is correct, Salamander is in town. Let's get going!" Happy said as he got out of the train.

"You are just in a hurry because you want to get back to the guild as soon as possible to get more fish from Mira." Natsu stated as he too got off the train which left like the second after. A little more and he would have been stuck on the thing as it left. That would really have sucked.

In a completely different part of the same town was a girl in her late teens. She had brown eyes and shoulder-length blonde hair that was tied by a blue ribbon in a small ponytail to the right side of her head with the rest of the hair loose. She was buxom and had a curvaceous body and was wearing a short blue skirt help by a brown belt that also help a bunch of gold and silver keys a black whip with a heart-shaped end. She also had a white sleeveless jacket with blue lines and black, leather high heeled boots as well as a thick black wristband on her right wrist and heart earings.

"What? You are the only magic store in town?" she asked, resting her hands on the counter, looking surprised.

"Yes. The main activity of the city has always been fishing, not magic. Here, less than one in ten inhabitants has mastered magic. Most of my clientele is made up of passing mages." the store owner, a middle-aged man with a beige blouse, explained which turned the girl's look of surprise in one of exasperation.

"Ah~ I guess I came here for nothing." she said with a sigh.

"Well, well, before saying that take a look at this, please. I have lots of new goods, too!" the man pleaded as he searched through the counter, pulling out a sort of big pink tablet with various inscriptions and symbols on it. "This Color Magic is probably the most popular one among girls! You can change your clothes' color depending on your mood. Just say "Change"!" he explained while manipulating the tablet and his blouse's color changed from beige to purple.

"I already have it." the blonde bluntly responded. "I am looking for powerful Gate Keys."

"Gate Keys, huh? That's unusual." the man responded, right as the girl spotted what she was looking for and got an enthusiastic look.

"That's the white puppy, White Doggy!" she exclaimed when she noticed a silver key with a hexagonal bow that had a blue crest and the blade of the key ending in a simple design.

"That's not powerful at all." the seller deadpanned.

"It's okay, it's okay. I was looking for it." the blonde clarified. "How much?"

"20,000 jewels." he answered, as if it was the most obvious think in the world.

"I wonder how much it is?" she asked again, thinking she must have misheard him.

"Like I said, 20,000 jewels." the aging man repeated which got the teenager to sweat drop. She then sat on the counter, crossing her legs, bringing her left hand behind her head with her vest slightly open and a small smile.

"I wonder how much it really is, handsome mister?" she said in a seductive voice and winked.

A few minutes later, the same girl could be seen walking in the street, looking annoyed if not angry.

"I only got a 1,000 jewels discount. Is my sex appeal only worth 1,000 jewels?! Too cheap! I am pissed! It pissed me even more because it actually happened." she complained until her attention was redirected by women's screams of excitement and adoration in the distance.

"A famous mage is in town?!" a girl asked frantically while running behind the blonde.

"Yes, it is Salamander!" another answered, doing exactly the same thing.

"Salamander?" the blonde repeated in wonder before it hit her. "The one who uses different forms of magic they don't sell in stores? He's in this town?!"

Back with Natsu and Happy, they were walking down a different street, lazily searching for that "Salamander" guy. Although, Natsu was a little upset they had wasted time at the beginning.

"I can't believe we accidentally went straight for the stupid fish market. It took me so long to drag you out of it." he sighed in exasperation.

"You were the one to choose the direction in which we started our research. You have no one to blame but yourself." the feline countered. Natsu didn't even responded, knowing full well arguing won't lead to anything at this point. "You didn't even tell me why we are looking for this guy."

"Well, whoever he is, he is going by the name "Salamander", which happens to be the moniker I was given. So either he doesn't know it is already taken or he's pretending to be me. Either way, I'm gonna explain to him he has to stop, the only question is if I'll use my words or my fists." the pinkette explained and then both partners heard screams in the distance.

"Salamander!"

"You're so handsome!"

"Burn me!" That one was weird as heck.

"Well, guess we found him." Natsu said as they sped up towards the crowd in front of them.

"Aye!" Happy agreed.

As it turned out, the said crowd was composed solely of women who were gathered around a single man, shouting praises left and right.

He was a relatively tall and slim man with mildly short, spiky dark blue hair jutting outwards, with a long fringe left hanging over the upper left part of his face. He possessed a mildly rectangular face with sharp features, dark eyes and thin, dark eyebrows. His most distinctive facial feature was most likely the dark tattoo covering the right part of his forehead, just above his right eyebrow. He was wearing ornate clothing, with the most visible piece being a dark, high-collared cape almost reaching down to his knees, possessing a lighter inner part and light edges adorned by a pattern consisting of many rhombs, or possibly many "X"s, lined up one after the other. Such cape was closed some centimeters below his neck by a small fastener adorned by a stylized flame, with a light ribbon hanging from it, and had large motifs adorning its sides, starting from the shoulders and going down several inches; each motif was shaped like a large, light and hollow circle from whose outer sided many arrows jut outwards in every direction, and which had several wavy lines protruding towards its hollow center. Below such cape, he sported a simple, light short-sleeved shirt with outlined edges, paired with light pinstriped pants with visible hems, held up by a simple belt covered in elongated spots and largely hidden by his shirt, and polished dark shoes, with lighter soles and a light upper part going down from the ankle's front. Finally, he had three large metal bracelets around his right wrist and forearm.

"He's so handsome!"

"So cool!"

In the middle of the crowd, the blonde teenage girl from before got a glimpse of "Salamander" and instantly got an awestruck expression, blushed and felt her heart rate increase.

'W-Why is my heart beating so fast? Come on, what's happening to me?!' she thought.

"I am troubled." the blue-haired man said while chuckling a bit then glanced at her.

'He looked at me! He's a famous mage after all! That's why my heart is beating so fast?!' she exclaimed in her head while her heart started beating even faster and the pupil of her eyes were replaced by hearts. 'Could it be that I am…?'

Her line of thoughts was interrupted when Natsu stepped in front of her, making his way through the crowd. As soon as she caught sight of him, the hearts in her eyes shattered and she snapped out of her trance. Natsu's arrival also caused all the praising by the other women to stop. He wanted to know if the man in front of him was impersonating him or just ignorant and he deemed that in order to get the right answer, his best course of action was to play dumb.

"Who the heck are you?" he asked, looking dumbfounded. The impostor looked shocked to the core by that question.

"Who am I? I'm Salamander! I imagine you've heard of me before?" he replied, striking a pose with his right arm raised and a smug look.

"Nope, doesn't ring a bell." the pinkette bluntly answered which got the man to drop his mouth again and almost all of the surrounding girls to yell at him.

"Hey, you are being rude!"

"That's right! Salamander is a great mage!"

"Apologize to him at once!"

Finally, the yelling stopped when "Salamander" recomposed himself and spoke up.

"Oh, please ladies stop. I'm sure he didn't mean anything malicious by it." he stated and all the women began to fantasize about him again except the blonde girl who was glaring at him with her arms crossed. He then wrote on a white slate and handed it to Natsu who didn't look interested whatsoever.

"Here's my autograph, kid. Now, all your friends will be jealous."

"No, thanks." Natsu responded, his patience running out quickly.

Once again, the fangirls got enraged at his response and one of them jumped on him with the intention of tackling him to the ground. However, hitting him was like hitting a brick wall and she fell back on her rear while Natsu didn't even budge and all the girls who thought about doing the same thing stopped themselves, figuring out it wouldn't work out for them.

The blue-haired man noticed this too and got nervous, realizing the man in front of him might not be the significant idiot he first thought him to be. Therefore, while Natsu was distracted by the leaf, or at least what felt like a leaf, that had hit him, he made his exit.

"Well, I'm afraid I must be going now. I have business to attend to. Red Carpet." he announced while snapping his fingers and purple flames erupted from under his feet, lifting him up in the air. "There will be a party this evening on my boat. And you are all invited." He then flew off on his fire column with the girls cheering behind him.

Natsu and Happy were left staring at his departing figure, the former with an annoyed expression the latter…was just staring.

"Well, I still have no idea who that guy is." he complained aloud.

"Neither do I, but he was a real creep." a voice agreed beside them. Both of them turned and saw a blonde girl standing there, looking at them.

Although Happy didn't have any particular reaction to her appearance, the pinkette's eyes widened when he saw a face that felt extremely familiar to him, even though he hadn't seen it in centuries. 'Anna?!' he thought but was interrupted.

"Thanks for your help." she added with a smile and a wave.

"Huh?" Natsu said in confusion.

A little later, the three were gathered in a restaurant.

"My name's Lucy. It's nice to meet you." the girl introduced herself to the pair.

"Aye!" the cat answered.

The teenager, now known as Lucy, was a little embarrassed because of her two interlocutors, one was stuffing his face with one dish after the other and the other had barely touched any food and was looking out the widow thoughtfully.

"So Natsu and Happy, was it?" she asked which got the pinkette to pay attention to her upon hearing his name.

"Yeah. Thanks for the food by the way, that was nice of you." he said.

"It's okay, he can slow down. We are not in a hurry and food is kind of flying everywhere." she advised but Natsu just sighed.

"It's no use, he always eats like that." he explained which got Lucy to get an exasperated look.

'There goes the money I went through so much trouble to save from that old geezer's shop.' she noted. "That "Salamander" guy was using Charm Magic to trick the women in town into thinking they were in love with him. This magic has the power to attract people to you against their own will. But those spells have been banned for years. They are not even sold anymore. That creep must have gone through a lot of trouble to get his hands on it. I too fell victim to it but you snapped me out of it when you barged in. I can't thank you guys enough."

"Ah, I see now." Natsu said, finally understanding what he had done to earn her gratitude.

"I may not look like it, but I'm a wizard too." she continued.

"Is that so?" the pink-haired man asked with a bit of sarcasm. He could feel the magic power coming from her after all. 'You wouldn't happen to be a Celestial Spirit mage, by any chance?'

"Yeah, but I'm not part of a guild yet. Which makes me think, I should probably explain. See, a guild is an organization where wizards gather to share information and find work. Therefore, you are not considered a real wizard if you haven't joined a guild. There are a great number of guilds in the world and the most popular ones are really tough to join. I dream of joining the most popular one there is. If I could convince to let me in, I think I might just about die!" and she did go on. Natsu and Happy shared a glance.

'She's very enthusiastic, I'll give her that. But did she seriously think we didn't know this stuff?' the pinkette thought.

"I'm sorry. I guess all that wizard talk must sound like a foreign language to you."

'Is she trying to provoke me or something?!' Natsu wondered.

"But I'm telling you, I'm definitely going to join that guild some day. And then, I'm going to take all kinds of exiting jobs and make tons of money."

"Oh, really?" the pink-haired mage responded, not exactly paying attention anymore.

"You talk a lot." Happy added his contribution to the conversation…or monologue.

"Well, I should get going. Enjoy the rest of your lunch and maybe I'll see you around." Lucy said her goodbyes while leaving money on the table.

"That girl was so weird. Babbling about things that everybody knows." Happy remarked while finishing his last fish.

"Yeah, I have a feeling I know her though." Natsu wondered aloud.

"Is she one of the Dragon Slayers you're in charge of?" the cat theorized.

"Nah, my little sister is the only female Dragon Slayer but this Lucy girl reminds me strongly of an old acquaintance of mine. She has the same hair and eye colors and a similar smell, among other things. They may be related."

"I see. What are we gonna do now?" the blue-furred creature changed the subject.

"Well, I still need answers about that guy, so I guess we just have to start over."

"Aye." Happy accepted.

Later in the day, Lucy was sitting on a park bench, flipping through the pages of a magazine.

"Oh my, looks like the Fairy Tail guild is causing trouble again. "Dark guild wiped out but seven homes destroyed." If that's not going overboard? And there are pictures of Mirajane, she's so pretty. I wish I knew how to become a member. But no matter how it is done, I'll totally join this guild some day!" she said with enthusiasm.

"What was that? You want to join Fairy Tail?" a voice she knew by now said.

"S-Salamander!" she exclaimed as said man got out of a nearby bush.

"I've been looking for you. I wanted to personally invite you to my party tonight."

"Your Charm spells won't work on me. This magic is useless on someone who knows you're using it." she declared while pointing an accusing finger at him.

"I knew you were a wizard the moment I saw you. You're still invited regardless." he affirmed, not at all troubled about being found out.

"I'm gonna go to a party thrown by a creep like you." she refused with her arms crossed and her back turned to him.

"A creep? Why would you call me that?" the older man questioned, feeling hurt.

"Your spell. Using such magic just to get popular?"

"Come on now, I just wanted to feel like a celebrity at my own party. Is that so wrong?" he tried to play it cool, but Lucy was already walking away.

"Famous or not, you're still an idiot."

"By the way, you wish to join the Fairy Tail guild, right?" "Salamander" said, changing his obviously ineffective strategy. And it worked. Lucy suddenly got a lot more interested. "Have you never heard of Salamander of Fairy Tail?"

"Of course I have. You're telling me you're that Salamander?" the blonde mage responded, astonished.

"Precisely. And if you want to join, I might be able to recommend you to the master." he assured.

And so, it was agreed. Lucy would go to his party and keep her mouth shut about the Charm Magic and he would get her into Fairy Tail, or so she thought.

When the night had fallen, Natsu and Happy were respectively leaning and sitting on a railing looking down on Hargeon from above.

"I can't believe this guy is that elusive." the pinkette complained.

"And I can't believe your nose couldn't help us." Happy added.

"Too many scents. Even when we first saw him, there were like 30 people around him."

Their attention was then grabbed by a few girls chatting near them.

"Wow! That's Salamander's yacht isn't it?"

"I wish I could have gone to his party."

"Who's Salamander?"

"You don't know? He's a famous wizard from the Fairy Tail guild." That last comment made Natsu and Happy's eyes to widen but the former's rapidly narrowed and got a darker look.

"So now we know both that he is impersonating me and where he is."

On the ship, all the women had been drugged and had fallen asleep with the exception of Lucy who had been smart enough not to be tricked into getting drugged. This doesn't mean she was in a good position however. As it turned out, "Salamander" was using a variety of tricks to lure women on his ship and sell them into slavery in the country of Bosco. Additionally, Lucy had been deprived of her Gate Keys, indispensable for her to use her magic which had been thrown overboard and she was now surrounded by dozens of men working for "Salamander". To make matters worse, she had changed into a long red dress and high heels, not at all suited for combat. As she was crying, mostly in rage, and cursing at the older man, a certain pink-haired man came bursting through the boat's ceiling, landing in the middle of the crowd.

"Way to go, Natsu!" Lucy cheered, glad to see someone who didn't want to hurt her.

"Lucy? What are you, of all people, doing here?" Natsu asked, honestly surprised to see her.

"This jerk tricked me. He said he was going to get me into Fairy Tail." she explained.

"Did he now?" Natsu rhetorically asked, getting a look so dark it sent chills down everybody's spine. "Happy, take her out of here." he ordered and his partner obeyed without question, knowing it was best not to provoke his best friend when he was in this state. He wrapped his tail around her waist and flew off.

"After them, we can't let them report this to the Magic Council." the blue-haired man commanded but before any of his men could obey, a voice interrupted them.

"Trust me, the Magic Council is the least of your concerns." Natsu told them, his eyes having a hint of crimson in them.

"Happy, when did you get wings? And what about Natsu?" Lucy asked as she was being lifted in the air by the feline.

"You really don't have to worry about him. Besides, we have a problem of our own."

"Huh? What problem?" And as soon as she said that Happy's wings were gone.

"I'm out of magic." he announced and they both fell in the sea which at least had the benefit of allowing Lucy to find her keys.

When she did she put one of her gold ones in the sea water and called out "Open the Gate of the Water Bearer! Aquarius!" and summoned a royal blue mermaid with a long, blue fish-tail, light blue hair that reached up to her waist, and a large bust. She had blue eyes that seemed to have no pupils. Aquarius wore a revealing dark blue bikini top and on each arm, she had a golden armlet and bracelet. Aquarius also had a circlet, three piercings on her tail, and a golden belt at her waist and light blue crystal earrings. A dark blue tattoo resembling the Aquarius zodiac symbol rested right under her collarbone. Aquarius also wielded an urn.

"A fish!" was Happy's amazing reaction to the whole affair.

"Aquarius, I want you to use your power to send that ship back into the port." Lucy requested.

"Let's get something straight. The next time you so much as think about dropping my key, you're dead, understand?"

"Sorry ma'am! It won't happen again!" a terrified Lucy and surprisingly Happy both promised. Aquarius the started gathering water in her urn which she then unleashed…everywhere.

Back with Natsu, he was surrounded by "Salamander" and his men but didn't look worried, just angry.

"Who do you think you are, kid? There is one of you and many of us." the leader said, feeling confident but was ignored.

"Not only do you pretend to be me, but you use my friend's beloved guild for your schemes? You will pay dearly for that. Although, I am thankful for one thing: you brought the fight to a ship, which means I can fight without risking causing collateral damage." And, of course, as soon as he said that, the ship was hit by a massive wave, sending it towards the port at great speed.

'I'm so done with that jinxing shit!' Natsu thought and upon noticing the wave would most likely destroy a big portion of the town, started eating the whole thing up. It was huge so it took him some time but when he was done, the town was intact and the ship was at the edge of the beach.

Lucy and Happy had been washed ashore and Aquarius had followed them. Upon seeing the wave getting sucked in the ship, both women had a shocked expression while Happy only sported a proud grin.

"W-What the hell was that?!" Lucy asked.

"That was Natsu." Happy answered which got both females to look at him in astonishment.

"N-Natsu did this?!"

"Aye! We forgot to tell you but Natsu is also a mage. One of the strongest, if not the strongest of Fairy Tail."

"Fairy Tail?!"

On the boat, all the women had woken up and fled and all the men were now looking at the pink-haired intruder with terror and dread, now seeing the game was up.

"W-What do we do Bora?" one of his men asked.

"Bora as in Bora of Prominence? Argh, whatever! I don't care anymore. Now, where were we? Ah yes! You see, I usually hold back to let my opponents keep their pride and self-esteem but you don't deserve it, so I'm just going to end it here and now." Natsu then brought his fist down and hit the ship's deck. "Water Dragon's Typhoon!" he called out and beams of water went flying everywhere sending Bora and all his men on the beach, unconscious.

After handing Bora over to the Rune Knights, Natsu went back to find his partner and found him, still with Lucy.

"You saved me again! Thank you so much!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Don't mention it. Anyway, it's time to go."

"Aye!" Happy agreed and they started walking away. But soon turned towards Lucy with a questioning look.

"You're coming or what?" Natsu asked.

"M-Me? But…"

"You said you wanted to join Fairy Tail right? So, let's go." he offered with a small but sincere smile which convinced Lucy. And so, the three of them walked to the train station, to the Fairy Tail guild.