"Woww! Look Natsu! I got a guild stamp!" Lucy shouted to Natsu.

"Oh. Yeah, cool. That's great. Welcome to the guild, Loonie," mumbled Natsu, was looking at a bulletin board covered with papers with lots of curvy writing on them and lots of numbers.

"My name is Lucy, idiot!" shouted Lucy at Natsu.

I sat down at the little bar where Mirajane was working. "Hey Mira, What's that 'request board' that Natsu is looking at?"

"Oh that? Well, I'll try to explain it the best I can. On the request board, there are jobs that people in the guild can take. The jobs are ranked in difficulty by the amount of money you earn from the job. The harder the job, the bigger the pay. Take for instance, if a job requires you to defeat a big, tough monster, the reward will be around 150,000 to 200,000 Jewels."

"Oh, wow! What kind of jewels? Why so many?" I asked, astonished.

"What do you mean- oh wait, you're not from around here? Okay so, the currency here in Fiore is Jewels, not literal jewels like diamonds. Otherwise everyone in Fiore would be extremely rich."

"Hah, if only diamonds were that abundant. But back to the request board, how do I get a job? Do I need to do something first?"

"No, all you do is just, take a job and complete it. That's all."

"Huh. Guess it's a way to make money around these parts."

"Make sure you pick a job with a good reward before someone else can, Natsu!" shouted Happy by the request board.

"Oh, sweet! 150,000 Jewels just to get rid of some thieves? Oh man! I'm sure as hell taking this one! The others are pretty much crap."

"What?! That's a job?" I asked, astounded.

"Yes, some jobs can be like that. A simple job with a great reward. But it all depends on how much the creator of the job makes it," informed Mirajane. Suddenly, A little boy with big eyes and black hair came up to Makarov.

"Oh yeah, I forgot Makarov was sitting there..." I muttered.

"Hey, why hasn't my dad come back?"

"Haaahh... look, you're really getting on my nerves, Romeo. Your dad's a wizard, so have faith in him and wait patiently for him."

"B-but sir! He said that he would return in two to three days, but he's been gone for more than a week now!"

"Hmm... if I remember correctly, your father took the job on Mt. Hakobe."

"Yeah, and? That's not far from here! Why won't someone just go and look for him already?"

"Listen, kid! Your dad's a wizard, just like everyone else here in this guild! Now why don't you just go home, have your milk and cookies and wait patiently?!"

"Y-you jerk!" Romeo punched Makarov square in the face and ran off crying and yelling, "I hate all of you jerks!"

"Jeez Makarov," I muttered under my breath. "Poor kid."

"It must be rough on him," added Lucy.

"It may sound like Makarov couldn't care less, but he's honestly worried too because Macao is a wizard of Fairy Tail," said Mirajane.

"I wish I could go and save the kid's dad," I said. "Well actually, why don't I?"

SMASH! A loud crashing sound came from the request board where I saw Natsu had angrily punched the request board, leaving a big dent in it.

"Jeez Natsu! What the hell do you think you're doing? Don't break the request board! Some of us need to make some money around here!" shouted a guildmate. He walked over to Makarov and watched Natsu dramatically leave the building. "Knowing Natsu, he's probably gonna go to Mt. Hakobe to rescue Macao."

"Doesn't that kid ever learn?" added a buck-toothed guy.

Lucy, as confused as I was walked over and sat down next to me. "Why did Natsu react like that?" she asked Mirajane.

"It's because Natsu was just like Romeo, in that his father went away and didn't come back. Well, not his biological father, actually. You see, Natsu was raised by a dragon."

"A dragon?!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Yes. Everyone in Fairy Tail carries a history behind them, and Natsu is no exception. He was raised by a dragon named Igneel, and Igneel was the only father Natsu had ever known. A long time ago, Natsu was apparently roaming around in a forest of some kind, and he was found by Igneel. Igneel took Natsu in and taught him how to read and write, and taught him magic. More specifically the lost Dragon Slayer Magic, in Natsu's case, Fire Dragon Slayer Magic. But then one day, Igneel went away, disappeared without a trace, and Natsu lives for the day when he will finally meet Igneel again."

"Wow. That's pretty deep," I said. I wanted to tell Lucy and Mirajane about how my story was similar, but I didn't want to be too cliché at the moment.

"I'm gonna follow Natsu," I said suddenly. Lucy and Mirajane both looked kind of startled. "Before you ask why, my main reason is because I know Natsu's feeling."

"I'm coming too. I can't just sit around and be useless," said Lucy.

"Sure. Be my guest." And we set off.

We soon caught up to Natsu and took a horse-pulled cart to the mountain. The ride was moderately pleasant despite the smell of the horse's shitty asses, and the countryside was a spectacular sight. Unfortunately for Natsu, he wasn't having such a great time due to extreme motion sickness.

"*Glump* Ugh, I'm never taking a horse-pulled cart again..." groaned Natsu.

"What's wrong, Natsu? You good? Did you catch a stomach bug?" I asked.

"No, he's got extreme motion sickness," said Lucy.

"What?! He gets motion sickness even from a little cart? Jeez, Natsu! What's wrong with you?"

"I c-can't help it-blorf..." Natsu vomitted on the floor of the cart.

"O-oh jeez, uh, I-I can clean it up." Using Dimension Magic, I destroyed the vomit from existence. "Gross."

"What kind of magic is that? I've never seen that before," asked Lucy.

"That was my Dimension Magic," I replied and told her about it.

"Just out of curiosity, what kind of magic do you use?" I asked.

"Me? I'm a celestial wizard. I use these keys..." She held up a bundle of odd shaped golden keys. "... And depending on what key I use, I can call in a celestial spirit for a short amount of time. Take for instance, Taurus, or Aquarius."

"Oh! Like the constellations in the night sky!"

"Yeah, I guess you could compare it to that," Lucy replied. Suddenly, the cart stopped. Natsu looked up.

"Oh, we've stopped. Yeah! Alright! We stopped moving! Finally! Woohoo!" Natsu continued his little whoops of joy as the driver told us that it was far as he could take us. Natsu, Happy, Lucy and I all got out of the cart and continued our journey on foot. Oh joy. More leg day.

If there was anything worse than the blizzard on Route 217 in Sinnoh, this, Mt. Hakobe, really took it too far. It was cold. Really cold. And the colder it got, the more Lucy complained.

"Jeez! It's cold! This whole place is a frozen wasteland! Why is there even a blizzard in the middle of summer?! I get the fact that it's a mountain, but still! There shouldn't be a blizzard like this anywhere! I'm gonna catch a cold! Hand over that blanket!"

"God, she just keeps on going, huh?" muttered Natsu.

"Aye," added Happy.

"Lucy, I could warm you up. I'm technically a furnace," I offered.

"Your own body heat won't be enough in this blizzard! I won't be able to feel anything!"

I simply just walked over to Lucy and placed my hand on her arm.

"OW! Oh, hot! Hot! Ooh! Jeez! How the heck...?"

I ignited a Flame Ball in my hand and charged it up.

"I usually use this for combat, but it can also heat you up even if you're standing two feet away. It may burn you if you stand too close."

"Oh, thanks Vinny." But as we trudged through the snow, she found it to be a bit difficult to stay at the right distance without being frozen or burned.

"Actually, you know what? I have an idea." She took one of her keys and prepared to use it. "Open, Gate of the Clock Constellation: Horologium!" Suddenly, a big grandfather clock dropped out of the sky and hit the ground with a thud. Then it sprouted arms, and then a head.

"Tick tock," said Horologium.

"Woah! A clock! Cool..." gaped Natsu.

Lucy started talking, but we both couldn't hear a word she said. All we could hear was the howling blizzard.

"What? We can't hear you!" shouted Natsu.

"She says, 'I'm staying in here and I won't come out.'" said Horologium.

"Why'd you even tag along in the first place?" shouted Natsu over the blizzard.

"'What kind of crazy job would force Macao to come to a place like this?', she inquires."

"Humph. You should've asked that before we left," said Natsu. "Macao left to fight a Vulcan. A big monster."

"Fascinating," I muttered, imitating Spock.

Lucy looked shocked for a moment.

"'I want to go back to the guild,' she says."

"'Be my guest,' I say back," muttered Natsu.

"Aye," added Happy.

"Don't be such a dick, Natsu. Leave her be. If she wanted to come along, then that's her problem," I said.

"Whatever." Natsu looked out into the distance and screamed, "Macao! Where are you?! Macao!"

Suddenly, I heard a noise from above. A big monkey dropped down from above in an attempt to hit Natsu. I pushed Natsu out of the way just in time.

"Is that a Vulcan?!" I shouted. Natsu didn't answer because he was watching the monkey looking into Horologium's case at Lucy licking his lips all the while. Then he picked up Horologium and bolted.

"'Don't just stand there, do something!', she yells furiously," called Horologium. I was doing something though. I ran furiously after the Vulcan. It was significantly faster than me, but it never left my sight. As I ran furiously through the white, howling blizzard, the hail flew into my eyes due to me running so fast. It stung like a hornet's sharp stinger, but I had a goal, and I was determined to save my friend, no matter what. I was trying, panting and sweating all the while, even though my sweat instantly froze to my head once it was excreted from my pores. My brain was freezing up, my heart was pounding against my chest so hard that I thought for a split second that it would break free and make a mad dash after the Vulcan itself. My swift footsteps could be heard over the ferocious blizzard and my breath was heavier than a boulder sinking to the depths of the ocean. I was losing steam though, and I thought that I was going to collapse on the ground and die a cold death right there but then I remembered my father and my mission. I Summoned the resurrection stone and took a good long look at it while constantly saying to myself:

I will do it. I know it.

I forgot all about running out of breath. Heck, I forgot all about breathing at all. I told my pounding heart to shut the fuck up and I charged after the Vulcan. I did catch up to it and I charged up a punch aiming for the Vulcan's head. I missed, but the the Vulcan ran into a cave. A frigid, icy cave. It set down Horologium with Lucy inside and danced around like an idiot.

Beep-beep beep-beep! A digital alarm clock sound went off and Horologium disappeared.

"No! Horologium! Don't go! Give me extra time! Please!" Lucy shouted.

Natsu ran in yelling something, but he slipped on the ice causing him to fall and slide along the icy floor.

"How lame..." said Lucy. "Why does he always feel the need to make an entrance?

Learning from Natsu, I ignited my feet and ran towards the Vulcan. Because of my ignited dogs, I was able run on the ice without slipping. I jumped up and Flame Kicked the monkey in the face. Unfortunately, it dodged my attack and quickly punched me in the back, sending me flying a few feet away.

I smirked. "A challenge. An actual challenge! This'll be good." Natsu got up and started yelling furiously at the monkey.

"Alright, ya stupid monkey! Where's Macao?! Where are you hiding him?" Natsu yelled. Like the monkey would understand- no, I was wrong.

The monkey actually responded by showing Natsu the cave's entrance as if to say that Macao was hiding outside. Natsu ran towards the entrance yelling into the blizzard. Wait, something didn't seem right. Why would Macao be hiding out in the blizzard? It was too cold out there and Macao would freeze to death if he stayed out there for more than a day. Unless the Vulcan was lying and trying to-

Oh shit.

"Natsu! Look out!" I yelled. The Vulcan was coming up from behind at tremendous speed, ready to kick Natsu. Natsu turned around quick enough to see the Vulcan's foot coming at his face, but he couldn't dodge in time.

"Monkey...!" shouted Natsu as he fell into a ravine.

"Rrrgggh... alright then, monkey. Let's see what you've got." I muttered.

"Not liking men! Like women!" yelled the Vulcan, dancing around like an idiot.

"Let's see if you like fire, monkey bitch." I ran at the Vulcan in my attempts to Flame Kick him again. This time, I landed my attack as soon as he turned around, which resulted in him flying back with a smoking foot mark on his face. I dashed at him again while charging up a Flame Ball attack. I shot the Flame Ball at his head, causing him to fly back onto the ground.

"So you think it's alright to hurt my friend as if he was a cheap toy, huh? You think you can steal my guildmate and take her somewhere so that you can make sweet love to her? I'll make it so that you will never even think about treating my guild mates this way ever again!" I shouted, jumping down onto the Vulcan, about to kick it into the ice floor. Suddenly, it moved out of the way, causing me to kick the ice and ultimately resulting in me burying my foot in the ground. I desperately tried to pull my foot out of the ice, but the Vulcan rushed towards me and aimed a punch towards my head. I blocked his huge fist with my arms, but that left my foot still in the ground with no way to get it out, because I was blocking the giant fist with my arms. The monkey tried to punch me using his other fist, in which I tried blocking that too. I was strong enough to hold him back, but I still couldn't get my foot out of the icy floor.

"Yaahhh!" Suddenly, Natsu came out of nowhere and kicked the monkey back.

"Natsu!" shouted Lucy.

"Thanks Natsu. I owe you," I sighed in relief.

"How did you not die out there?" asked Lucy. Natsu turned to her and grinned.

"It's all thanks to Happy. Thanks, little buddy!"

"Aye!"

"So, how was it that you hate other forms of transportation, but somehow Happy is okay?"

"What're you talking about? Happy's not a form of transportation, he's my friend! How rude!"

I heated up the ice with my hands and soon got my foot out of the ice. I saw the Vulcan pulling itself up. It looked pissed as hell.

"MY WOMAN!" he screamed angrily. He jumped up and came crashing down on Natsu with a mighty fist, but Natsu blocked the attack.

"Listen, you jerk! I consider everyone in the Fairy Tail guild my friend! Whether it's Gramps or Mira, or even those jerks Gray and Elfman! Especially my buddy Happy... Even newcomers like Lucy and Vinny! Which is why..." A magic circle with a picture of a dragon on it appeared under Natsu's feet. Something triggered in my mind. One thought lead to another, but I didn't know what triggered the thought process. I had a memory though, a memory back from the Pokémon Regions. Something was familiar. I needed another clue though.

"I'm not leaving without Macao!" Natsu used his own Flame Kick attack or something and kicked the monkey in the gut. It flew back while dodging icicles the dropped from the ceiling. It swiped the icicles which flew all around at Natsu and even Lucy, who, fortunately, jumped clear of the attack in time. However, the monkey had also created a dust cloud, cloaking the area. Natsu couldn't see anything, and the Vulcan got an opportunity to attack Natsu, punching him in the gut and sending him flying. Natsu had just enough time to react to the Vulcan's follow-up attack, holding the Vulcan's huge fists literally a foot away from his face. But despite Natsu's strength, he started to struggle.

"Natsu needs energy!" said Happy. "Oh! Vinny, lend Natsu some of your fire power!"

"But how?"

"Feed him some of your fire!"

Thinking back to the guild hall, I remember Natsu caught the flaming pile of papers in his mouth and consumed the fire. So I began to charge a Flame Ball, which I shot at Natsu, hoping that he would somehow consume the fire. The Flame Ball flew towards Natsu, but covered him in bright orange flames.

"Oh no! Natsu's gonna burn alive!" I shouted.

"Just wait!" said Happy. As I watched Natsu, The flames started to get sucked up into his mouth. A loud slurping sound could be heard coming from Natsu, as if he were slurping ramen noodles, and the flames were soon gone.

"Ah! That was actually better than I expected. Thanks, Vinny! But now, I'm all fired up! Fire Dragon Roar!" Natsu spewed out a burst of flames from his mouth, causing the Vulcan to constantly wap at its face. Before the Vulcan could react, Natsu ran towards the Vulcan and used a finishing blow.

"Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" I say finishing blow because when the dust settled, the Vulcan was upside down against the wall, unconscious.

"Yeah, that'll teach him a lesson!" shouted Natsu.

"Wait, weren't you supposed to ask him where Macao was?" asked Lucy.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Well, I suppose we could just look for him-" Suddenly, the Vulcan lit up, which startled us all. But when the light faded, Natsu gasped.

"Macao?!" said Natsu.

"What?! Are you telling me that that big perverted monkey was actually your friend this whole time?" shouted Lucy.

"Yeah, he was taken over by that Vulcan." said Happy.

"What do you mean, 'taken over'?"

"The Vulcan used a Possession Spell. You see, Vulcans are monsters who survive by taking over bodies. They're evil body snatchers!

In no time, we had Macao laying out on the ground on a blanket, covered in bandages.

"He must've put up a good fight before the Vulcan got to him," said Happy.

"Don't you die on me now, Macao! Romeo is waiting for you at home! Open your eyes!"

Suddenly, Macao's eyes fluttered open and he looked at us all.

"You're okay!" said Natsu.

Macao sighed. "I'm so pathetic. I defeated 19 of those brutes, but the last one... that's the one that got me. I'm so angry at myself, I'm embarrassed to go home and face my son."

"Come on, don't be like that! You defeated 19 of those monsters!" said Natsu.

"Yeah! I'm already pretty strong, and I could barely defeat one of those idiots!" I said.

"Eh? Who're you? Are you new to Fairy Tail?" asked Macao.

"Yeah. My name is Vinny. Nice to meet you, Macao!" I stuck out my hand. He gripped my hand and greeted me. "Welcome to the Fairy Tail guild."

"What's with that grin Lucy?" asked Happy, jokingly. Lucy didn't take it as so.

"You watch yourself cat, otherwise I'll snap your neck," growled Lucy.

"Jeez, calm down, Lucy! He was only kidding."

"I don't need your input!"

"Aye."

"Shut up, Happy," both of us said. Happy simply ignored us.

"Happy? I just have a question. About Natsu, that is. How is it that he was able to consume my fire? Or any fire for that matter?" I asked Happy in the cart on the way back to Magnolia. Speaking of Natsu, he was getting sick again.

"He uses his magic to do that. He can be reenergized if he consumes another source of fire."

"Why can't he consume his own fire to reenergize himself?"

"Because that's like drinking his own spit. If you had to drink your own spit to stay rehydrated, you'd die. If Natsu had to live off of his own fire, he would die."

"But how does he consume it?"

"It's because he has all the qualities of the Fire Dragon, minus the wings. He has the lungs of the Dragon, which lets him breathe fire, he has the scales of the Dragon, which lets him dissolve the fire, and he has the claws of the Dragon, for him to attack with fire. The magic he uses is an ancient type of magic that's rarely used anymore called Dragon Slayer Magic. His particular kind is called Fire Dragon Slayer Magic. That's why people call him the Salamander."

As soon as Happy said salamander, my mind began filling in gaps like filling in holes of cheese. And then it hit me: back in Eterna City, Cynthia told me about a boy whose name started with N, had fire powers just like me, and was called Salamander. She was talking about Natsu!

Later, as I watched Natsu reunited Macao with Romeo, I was filled with complete satisfaction. Romeo called to us to say thank you as we walked away into the sunset. I was standing to the left of Natsu, who was to the left of Lucy. We talked as we walked back to the guild. I told Natsu of the epiphany I'd had on the ride back. He told me that he did remember a woman with blonde hair and black clothes. He also remembered that she had some kinds of animals and other creatures that he'd never seen before, but that was all he remembered. I was again, filled with satisfaction and happiness. All of us were. I mean, if someone else was in my shoes, who wouldn't be?