Chapter 26

"A Dragon…. What is he stupid?" Mason sighed as he took a seat at the local bar. "Well if that's all then I guess it's nothing to worry about. Hey Mira can I get something to eat please, I'm starved."

"Oh… Uh, ok…" Mirajane commented, still smiling as a bead of sweat dripped down her forehead. "I'll be honest I wasn't expecting you to take the news so lightly."

"What? You thought I'd be mad or something." Mason asked as Cana took the stool next to him.

"More like we thought you'd be chasing after them by now." Cana said with a smirk before she brought a bottle of wine to her lips. "Don't you wanna go track down your dragon dad too?"

"My dad is more than a hundred feet long and more powerful than any wizard alive." Mason said as Mirajane put down a plate of food in front of him. "There's no cage that can hold him and he's fast enough to fly around the world in the time it takes you to walk from your house to the guild and he knows what I smell like. If my dad ever wanted to see me again, then there's not a lot anyone could do to stop him. I gave up on dragon chasing years ago."

"That's what I said!" Gajeel roared as he made his way over to his teammates. "Get a bunch of idiots together and they'll tell you all about the dragons they've seen. That's just what stupid people do when they have nothing else to talk about."

"I hear ya." Cana added with a nod. "Spend enough time at any seaside bar and eventually all you'll hear is stories about dragons or sea monsters but do you really think your dad is out there and he just chooses not to find you."

"There's a whole lot about Dragons that even I don't know but I do know that all the time I knew Buruut he was an old Dragon. His skin was scared and he wore a mask of bones to cover up his wrinkles, he spoke very slowly and he didn't like to move around much." Mason explained as he finished his meal. "I don't know how long Dragons lived but I can tell you Buruut wasn't gonna be around much longer so if anything he's either dead or dying and I'm sure he didn't want me to be there when it happened." Gajeel remained silent but made a face that clearly communicated sadness and Cana reached out and put her hand on Mason's shoulder.

"Ahem!" Mirajane faked a cough and got the three of them to look her way. "You and Gajeel may have given up on tracking down your dragons but Natsu hasn't. Igneel means a lot to him and he's willing to go to the ends of the earth if that means he'll find him so I wouldn't go about talking like that in front of him."

"Yeah…" Mason looked back apologetically. "I can't say that I don't understand what he means…"


(Flashback, small farming town of Olivevine in the Stella country)

"So we're to arrest a fruit thief?" A young girl with light brown, wearing a metal breastplate with the Magic Council symbol stamped on the front and a much taller more muscular wizard with a spike black beard and short dark hair dressed in rune knight robes walked down the muddy streets of a small farming down as a weak sprinkle rained down on top of them. "Is that a job for guild wizards?"

"Reports say that this thief uses magic. There are plenty of towns like this who don't have a local guild and can't afford to make a request and when they have issues dealing with wizards they call us. That's why I brought you with me on this one, it's another part of the job you should familiarize yourself with." The older wizard said as they approached a large clearly abadoned house that had become weathered and looked to be falling apart. "Well the local fruit vendors said they saw a couple apples levitate into this house so this is where we'll start. Brosnan would you care to provide a little light."

"Sure!" The young girl said, excited to use her magic. Her eyes began to glow golden and became a suitable flashlight as the two entered the rotten building. "So what do we do when we find the guy? Beat him up?"

"Hmmm… We'll see. If this wizard is just stealing fruit then I doubt they're very malicious, either that or they're not very powerful." The large wizard said as he searched the house when he saw a small shadowy ball dart across the floor. "What was that?"

"I got it!" The young girl said as she leapt forward, her arm transforming with a flash of light into a large metal gauntlet.

"Brosnan! NO!" The large muscular wizard tried to reach out and stop the young girl but he was too late. Brosnan prepared to punch the shadowy ball but the strange object looked up and two glowing red eyes shined back at the council wizards before it vanished. "Invisibility?"

"Huh?" Brosnan muttered as her fist went on to hit nothing. "Where'd it go?"

"Leave me alone!" The voice of a young boy called out as rotten wood and furniture began to float in the air before they were hurled at the two rune knights. The little brosnan blasted the flying objects out of the sky and her partner simply punched them to splinters.

"Telekinesis too? What kind of magic is it using?" The muscular mage asked as he continued to destroy the wooden objects.

"It doesn't matter.." The small brunette wizard said as she began to charge up another magic blast. "My magic is stronger! BEAUTIFUL SHOT!" The young girl fired a large blast of golden magic from both eyes.

"Woah! PHANTOM DRAGON CANNON!" The shadowy figured extended two pale arms and a large magic circle appeared in front of his hands and out fired a large blast of purple magic. The two attacks collided with a BOOOMMM! A large explosion of Magic power erupted in the dark building, knocking all the wizards to the ground. The large wizard was the first to stand up and he went over to grab the small shadowy ball which just turned out to be a young boy wearing a long, black, hooded cloak. "Hey! Let go of me." The child tried to punch the massive rune knight but his arms weren't long enough and he simply swung back and forth. "How come you can touch me?"

"You're out of magic power…" The large wizard said as he pulled the hood off the young boys head and a large mop of messy white hair spilled out. "So calm down I'm just gonna ask you a few questions like what's your name? Why are you stealing food in this village?"

"My name's Mason…" The young boy said before the Rune knight dropped him. "Ooff!" Mason picked himself up and dusted himself off. "I stole food cause I'm hungry…. Don't worry I'm done stealing I gotta keep moving."

"Moving? Where are you going?" The large wizard asked before he looked at the state of the child's clothing and thought of a better question. "Where did you come from?"

"West… Akane beach… I guess?" Mason said.

"You walked all the way from Fiore? That's more than 200 miles!" The large wizard exclaimed but the white haired boy didn't seem fazed by the distance. "I'm sorry, where are my manners. My name is Tyson Hammer and this is Brosnan." Tyson gestured to the young brunette wizard. "How long have you been walking and what is your destination?"

"Fourteen months." Mason lifted up one of the wooden planks in the rotting house and picked up a small bag containing a few apples and a small map. "I can't tell you where I'm going."

"Why not!" Brosnan asked with a little less tact than Tyson had displayed up to that point. "And if you don't not have any money why not join a Magic Guild, I saw you do magic! Why not work instead of stealing?!"

"I can't join a guild! They would just get in the way!" Mason argued back. "And I can't tell you where I'm going cause I'll only know it when I get there."

"So you're searching for someone." Tyson resumed, raising an eyebrow. "Your parents?"

"I don't have to tell you anything?" Mason said as he threw his small bag over his shoulder and made his way towards.

Tyson had to think fast not wanting the boy to leave just yet. "Your magic!" Tyson called out getting Mason to stop before he could open the door. "Your magic is interesting before, I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it. What do you call it?"

"I'm a Dragon Slayer." Mason responded. "I use Phantom Dragon Slayer magic…"

"Dragon slayer huh? So this parent you're looking for is a Dragon." Tyson pointed out getting the young boys eyes to widen. Brosnan opened her mouth to say something but Tyson quickly but his hand over it.

"How did you know?.." Mason asked with a suspicious voice.

"Well Dragon Slayer Magic is a very rare lost magic and according to council records it can only be taught by Dragons. So let's call it an educated guess." Tyson knelt down and placed his hand on the young Dragon Slayers shoulder. "How about you come with us, we'll get a meal in your belly and then we can help you find your Dragon? What do you say?"

Mason was silent for a moment but soon realized he couldn't pass up that offer. "Sure…"


(End of Flashback)

"Yeah I guess I get it but one day even Natsu is gonna have to grow up." Mason said with a sigh but thats when he noticed Gray Fullbuster make his way towards the door. "Where are you going?"

"Hmmmph!" Gray grunted as he pushed open the large guild hall door. "I'm going out!" Slam!

"Hey Mirajane. You said that Gray was the one who told Natsu about the Dragon right?" Mason asked and Mirajane responded with a confident nod. "Now that's interesting…" Mason smirked. "You guys wanna see what this all is about?"

"Why?" Gajeel asked with a glare.

"I've got nothing better to do.." Mason said as he hopped out of his bar stool. "So am I going alone?"

"No I'll go with you." Cana got up and lifted another large bottle of wine up into the air and smiled. "As long as you let me take this with me?"

"Sure, let's go!" Mason said as the two reckless wizards ran out the door together.

"Are they going off alone again?" Levy asked as she walked up next to Gajeel. "You don't think those two… You know?"

"Oh absolutely.." Gajeel smirked.


(Later that night in the desert)

"Hey Mason?" Cana asked as she shook the last bits of her wine onto her tongue as the two young wizards walked across the sandy ground. "Why don't you have a flying cat? Natsu and Wendy both have one and they're Dragon Slayers…"

"I'm allergic to cats." Mason admitted. "They give me headaches and make me sneeze and you don't need to have a flying cat to be a Dragon Slayer, Gajeel doesn't have a cat and neither does Laxus." SNIFF! SNIFF! Mason smelled the air. "Damn it I'm losing Gray. If we hadn't stopped at that liquor store so you could get a refill we'd probably be right on his tail."

"HIC! Hey-Hey Mason! Do you like Erza?" Cana asked as she began to lean on Mason for support. "You've known her a long time right? I bet if you two had babies that they'd look like Natsu."

"Hey Cana. Are you drunk?" Mason looked back at the dark haired girl with annoyed eyes. When Mason looked forward again he saw a strange hooded figure who had not been there before. "Who's this?"

"Probably some desert hobo…. Hey! You think he's got any booze?" Cana asked, her eyes sparkling with enthusiasm. Just then a second hooded figure appeared out of nowhere.

"I don't like this…" Mason mumbled to himself. "Whatever they are, they don't smell like people." Mason and Cana carefully approached the two strangers until they were standing right in front of the cloaked creatures. "What the hell…" Mason said as he peaked under the hood to see a long crocodile like head.

"RAAAHGGG!" The strange creature roared as it ripped its hood off its body revealing its massive scaly body to the night sky. The scaly creature's arm began to glow purple and he pointed it towards Mason and fired a blast of purple magic.

"WOAH!" Mason exclaimed as he leapt out of the way of the incoming energy blast. His eyes narrowed as he watched the purple magic fly by him. "Hey, is that?"

"What the heck!" Cana roared as the other monster threw off its robes and revealed it had a blue bikini top over its torso that matched the one Cana wore. Then two faceless cards appeared in the monsters hand both of which began to glow yellow. The creature threw the blank cards and they transformed into twin fireballs that Cana barely managed to dodge. "Woah! What the hell! That's my magic!"

"Copy magic…" Mason muttered as the lizard man appeared behind him and fired a blast into his back BAM! "Agh!" Mason turned around but when he did the monster had disappeared. "Well that's annoying…" SMACK! The lizard creature appeared to Mason's left and smacked him in the cheek. "Grrr… That's it!" Mason's hands began to glow with magic power. "Lets go!"

"GAH! WOAH!" Cana cried out as she dodged magic cards before retailianting with some of her own. "FIRE!" Cana's cards erupted into flames but the Lizardman countered with cards that were surrounded by frost and when the two attacks collided a large cloud of steam exploded around them.

"GAAHHH!" Mason roared as he grabbed the reptiles hand before it could punch him, Mason looked down at the lizards glowing hand and licked his lips. "Not the best idea to copy my magic, considering I'm a Dragon Slayer." Mason opened wide and bit down on the lizardman's hand until CRUNCH! Mason ripped the glowing hand off of the creatures body leaving exposed wires and dripping oil, Mason then swallowed the magic covered hand before blasting the lizard to smithereens BAM!. "Mmm crunchy… Looks like you're artificial but who would make such a freaky lizard robot with copy magic. Something weird is going on…"

"AAAAHHH!" Cana cried out as a wave of razor sharp cards sliced through her, cutting off her bikini top and the brunette wizard was quick to cover herself with her hands. "AAHH! What the hell!" She shrieked. KABAM! The Lizard Man exploded in a large purple blast before a thick black cloak fell onto her back.

"It's polyfiber, put some magic in it and it'll change into whatever you need it to be." Mason said now wearing a sleeveless white shirt with a black fairy tail guild mark on the back. Cana did as Mason said and applied a bit of Magic power and the cloak transformed into another bikini top, a black one this time. "Listen up." Mason said as he picked up a piece of the lizard man and smelled it. "Something weird is going on here I need you to go back to the guild hall and warn people about what's going on. I'm gonna find out just what is going on with these weird lizard guys."

"No way, I'm not going anywhere." Cana said, determined to stand her ground. "What happens when you find where these things are being made and a hundred lizard men show up and gang up on you. You need the back up!" When Cana finished making her point Mason simply became invisible before reappearing directly behind her.

"It's a stealth mission." Mason explained, getting Cana to jump and making her sweat. "Strictly recon. I'm gonna go in and go out and no one will even know I'm there. Then I'll go back, we'll get Levy, Gajeel and Juvia and take those suckers out."

"Haaahhh…." The dark haired girl sighed. "Fine! But you better not die you hear me!" With that Cana took off and sprinted towards the guild hall.

"Alright." SNAP! Mason cracked his knuckles in place before retrieving the scent. SNIFF! SNIFF! "Got it! Well Mason, looks like you're on your own again. Time to go to work!"


(End/ Author's Notes)

Hey guys! Shorter chapter this week. I'm gonna go ahead and speed through filler arcs like this rather than skipping them because I think they do still have something of value but this arc will consist of this chapter and the next one then we're on to Edolas. I also wanna thank all those who have come to favorite and follow this story recently, when I see people enjoying what I write it makes me wanna right more! It would also mean the world to me if those of you who like this story leave me a review explaining just what you like about it so I can expand on that but also tell me what I can do better so I can fix those things. Pleeeeeeaaaassssseee REVIEW! But you don't have to if you don't wanna just knowing yall read this makes me happy. Till next time! BYE ;)