Standing in the doorway to the guild, carrying a huge cone thing, was Erza. She dropped it on the ground with a loud thud, which shook the whole guild.
"I've returned," she spoke. Her mighty voice was deep, strong. She wore an iron chest plate and had long red hair with fierce, determined eyes. She was not as large as Natsu described, but she didn't look scary either. But you know, they say "never judge a book by its cover".
"Where is Master?" She said.
"Oh wow! She's pretty!" said Lucy.
"Master is at his usual meeting," said Mira. Erza nodded.
"Erza, what's that thing you were carrying?" asked one of the guildmates.
"It's the horn of the giant monster I defeated. The locals decorated it and gave it to me as a souvenir. Why? You got a problem with it?"
"Uh, no! No problem!" he said nervously.
"All of you!" shouted Erza. The whole guild jumped. "I heard rumors while I was gone, that Fairy Tail keeps causing problems. Master may forgive you, but I will not stand for it! Cana!" Erza shouted at the brunette girl drinking booze out of a huge barrel. "How dare you drink in such an uncivilized manner! Vistar!" She shouted at a guy in spandex pulling off poses and dance moves. "Take your dancing outside! Wakaba!" She yelled towards the orange haired guy who was smoking. "You're dropping ash onto the table. Nab!" She yelled at the guy in front of the request board, who was trying to look occupied. "Hesitating in front of the request board as usual? Pick a job already! Macao!" She shouted at Macao, who jumped up. But she appeared to have nothing to say. She just sighed, as if sorry for Macao.
"J-just say something already, God dammit!" he cried.
"God, you all give me so much trouble. But I'll be lenient and let you all slide without saying anything." Everyone sighed in relief.
"What is she, some kind of disciplinary committee?" asked Lucy.
"That'd be Erza!" responded Happy.
She looked around at the guild. "Just because I'm letting you slide, doesn't mean I'm not disappointed in all of you."
All of a sudden, I realized. By seeing other power, Natsu, Gray, I didn't even see what Erza's magic was, but I heard enough to be at least a little frightened, but by seeing how strong they were, it made me realize:
I was weak.
I had already decided that I was going to earn Erza's respect, but keeping my main mission in mind, I realized that I had to get even stronger. So strong that monsters like the one Erza took down would be a cakewalk. I decided, I was going to be stronger than even Makarov, and take on the most difficult quests until they became so easy, I could do it in my sleep. With my Book of Magic, I believed I could do it. I didn't even think I could defeat Natsu so easily. Mind you, he was tough. I was weak. But that gave me an idea.
"Natsu." I walked over to Natsu, who was pretending to be all buddy-buddy with Gray just because Erza was around. "Y-yeah? What is it?"
"Our fight we're gonna have? Let's postpone it until next week. And believe me, then, I'll be a lot stronger."
"O-okay then, sounds good." He and Gray were both sweating from nervousness, their arms around each other, holding hands in the middle.
"Natsu." I said in a deadly serious voice. "Erza might not always be watching, but I am. And Gray, this goes for you too." I held up my ignited fist. "If you two don't legitimately, genuinely begin to get along and be more friendly towards each other, then you're gonna get a punishment way worse than Erza gives. And I don't even know what her punishment is." Natsu and Gray looked at each other, swallowed a lump in their throats, and said, "You don't want to." They said simultaneously. "I don't care. And I also don't care that fire and ice are not meant to mix. If you two don't become friendly towards each other, I'll beat you both to a pulp at the same time. Don't think I'm weaker than either of you. There's more to this boy that meets the eye. Got it?" They nodded quickly and then they greeted each other like old pals. I turned my back, but I looked in the corner of my eye, where they couldn't see me looking, and believe it or not, they weren't glaring at each other like normal. I sat down at the bar.
"Mira, I want you to do me a favor," I said to Mira. Natsu and Gray were still working out their differences. "When I'm not here, I want you to watch Natsu and Gray. Their hatred towards each other is starting to piss me off."
"Well, join the club. It's been going on for years. No one has ever convinced them to become friends. Erza used to discipline them, but that was about it."
"Oh. I figured they had a history. But anyway, I want you to watch them and tell me if they don't get along. Sorry if I'm putting the extra burden on you, I just want something to change."
"Oh no, don't worry! It's perfectly fine! Y'know, I used to get pretty mad with them as well."
"Haha! I'm pretty sure everyone has at some point. Well anyway, thanks for helping me. Ahem, can I get a glass of water?" She filled a cup with water and passed it to me.
We sat for a bit, chatting. I showed her the Book of Magic and to little surprise, she couldn't read it either. We talked about Fiore and I asked her to educate me a bit about Fiore, Jewel, Magic, and the like. I told her a bit about my Dimension Magic and she told me about her Transformation Magic. It was interesting talking to her, because I learned a few things about her.
"Oh, also, when Master isn't here, you can show me the job requests you want to take on," she noted.
"Cool. Hey, I noticed there's a second floor. What's up there?" I asked, curiously.
"That floor is only for S-class Mages. Only S-class mages can go up there because there are S-class quests up there. Those are pretty dangerous. They include advanced monster hunting quests like the one Erza took on."
"What kind of monster was it?"
"I didn't ask her. People tend to not question her too much."
"Yeah, for a good reason, too." I Summoned my Pokégear and looked at the clock. 7:58 P.M. I walked over to the request board to see if I could get a good job. I was interested in the monster hunting quests that Mira mentioned.
"Let's see... Thieves... Spirits of the ruins... Oh hey! Demon on volcano! 200,000 Jewel! Wow! That's a lot. Jeez. Okay then. Hey Mira, I'll take this one."
"The volcano demon? Wow, so you're gonna take on the monster hunting quest already, huh? Well then, go for it, strong boy! Go get em'!" Mira winked and smiled. I could feel my cheeks burning. "Thanks, Mira," I said. I rushed out the door. I looked at the sky. The sun turned the clouds a light shade of pink and the sky peeking out from behind was a bright orange color.
"It's gonna get late. Hmmm..." I figured I should do what Lucy did and find a house to stay in.
Well, the money I had gotten from my first job was well spent on a decent home on the east side of town. It was pretty close to the guild, actually. The cost was a whopping 400,000 Jewel, but the rent was a crazy low, 20,000 Jewel. Hah! Take that Lucy. The house came with furnishings, a stove, fireplace, sofa, armchairs, table, and sink in the living room/kitchen area, a little bathroom with a bathtub/shower with an actual double curtain, sink and toilet, a closet in the little hallway outside the bathroom, and a bedroom with a bed, obviously, and a window giving me a nice view of Magnolia. It was almost like Lucy's house, but reversed. It was kinda cool to have a house to myself. I was so tired, I didn't even bother to take my shirt or pants off when I entered my bedroom and plopped down on my bed. I didn't fight against my tiredness so I let my eyes close and my mind never remembered how I fell asleep.
The next morning, I lay on top of the bed for a second and then quickly moved to the bathroom where I washed out my mouth and Summoned my toothbrush to brush my teeth. Afterwards, I darted out the door and took a look at the job request again. I looked at my map, and then Summoned Fearow. We flew up high until I could get a good view of Magnolia. I looked down at my map and up again a few more times, and pointed Fearow in the direction the volcano was. Fearow obediently nodded and shot off like a rocket.
After flying for a few hours, a mountain range came into view. A huge demon creature surrounded by a dark gray cloud could be seen perched on top of the volcano. Fearow flew faster and faster, until we reached the side of the volcano. He flew up the side until we reached the summit, where I returned Fearow and ran up to the demon creature. I slid up my sleeves and did a continuous Titanium Fist over and over. It slashed at me with its claw, tearing my jacket and shirt and leaving deep, bloody gashes on my chest.
"Take this!" I Mega Evolved and then charged up my Flame Ball to Giga Flame Ball and fired it at the monster, which dodged the attack. I used Shadow Magic to teleport to the monster's shadow, where I ran up its back and Flame Punched it in the head, doing considerable damage. It turned around angrily, and then punched at me with double the force. It punched me down to the ground, resulting in coughing blood. It charged up another punch, but I rolled out of the way to dodge just in time. I ran behind the monster and grabbed its tail. I lit it on fire just by igniting my arms and with perfect timing, I planted it in the ground with Hammer Fist. The monster screeched in pain and slashed around wildly at me. I tried to dodge, but one of the slashes skimmed me on the cheek. A little bit of blood gushed out, but the scratch wasn't too serious. It was just below my eyes, but after feeling the injury, I had an idea.
"Go! Pikachu!" I sent out Pikachu and commanded him to run around the demon. The demon began slashing away at Pikachu, but Pikachu was too fast, so the demon kept missing. Predictably, it got really dizzy and fell over, where I dashed up to the giant monster and Flame Kicked it one eye, and before it could react, I kicked the other one too. I covered my ears as it covered its red eyes with its hands, blood seeping out between its fingers. I ran up the monster and jumped up high. It began slashing around wildly again which hit nothing, and I shot straight down towards the monster with my steel arm, finishing it off with Hammer Fist, crushing its skull with bits of its mushy brain flying everywhere. Pikachu climbed on my shoulder, cheeks sparking, and cried, "PIIIII-KA!" in victory. I patted his head and then he jumped down for me to return him to his ball. The monster's body turned to a pile of dust and then something blue came out of the dust and shot into my chest. I gasped, not expecting it. Was the monster planning to destroy me from the inside? But then, my Book of Magic appeared in my hands and it flipped open to the "Fire Arts" page. New text appeared which said, "Flame Claw". Suddenly, my brain instantly knew how to use Flame Claw. I tried it out, I held my arm out to the side, my flat hand ignited, and then I swung my arm around in a circle. A wave of fire blasted out from the attack and traveled in a straight line.
I looked at the job request paper and looked at the request information in order to know who the employer was. I flew down the volcano on Fearow and we flew to the town near the volcano, or what was left of it. Apparently, the employer was the mayor of the town and the monster had attacked the town out of an unknown rage, so he put out a job request for someone to defeat the monster. That got me thinking, why did it get angry? And how did it even get there? These were all questions I kept in mind just in case I had an epiphany later on. The guy gave me the reward money and I left.
I had other things to worry about at the moment, though. For one, the monster ripped my shirt and jacket, leaving three big rips right in the middle of my chest, not to mention my bleeding chest underneath. Did I Destroy a first aid kit? I thought. I went through my items (while also getting rid of Natsu's barf in a nearby bush), but I didn't find so much as a bandage. I searched through the recovering town, and eventually I found a little house with a doctor who took a look at me. He cleaned up the scratches and wrapped some gauze and a bandage around my chest. He thanked me for my trouble and said my check-up was free of charge. I thanked him and walked outside to Summoned Fearow. It was midday now, the skies were a bit cloudy, but that made it nice and cool.
xxxx
"And then I brought my fist down and crushed his head. After that, he turned to ashes and I sort of absorbed his soul or something, which was kinda creepy, but I learned a new technique, Flame Claw," I told Mira.
"It sounds like you had a rough time, and those tears in your shirt don't look so great. But I'm glad you enjoyed your first solo job," she replied.
"Yeah, well I'm gonna have to replace this shirt and jacket. Hate to see them go. Is there clothes store in Magnolia?"
"Yes, it's on the west side of town. Do you have a spare shirt though?"
"I do, but I need a new jacket."
"You should get a shirt that matches your fedora. I do like that fedora. It's very badass-ish." I was kinda surprised. I had never heard her utter anything even remotely close to a curse word. She didn't seem like the type who would cuss or use foul language. She seemed too polite for that. I'm sure "badass" would count to some people as major, but even though it was minor to me, I still didn't see her as that type who would cuss.
"Thanks, Mira. You're a very sweet girl." I paused for a second. I realized that maybe "nice" would've been just fine, because Mira looked down for a moment and blushed. Uh-oh. I know that was a compliment, but I should've just stuck with 'nice'! Damn! I mentally cursed.
"Thank you..." she managed to say. I did kinda expect her to say thank you, but I didn't know what she was thinking. Also, if she had a boyfriend, then I would've looked like a complete idiot.
"Err, uh, sorry, um, I-I understand, like, um, if-if you're dating someone, then, um, uh, yeah," I stuttered.
"Um, well, no, actually. I understand, like, if you like me. Believe me, a lot of guys in this guild hit on me all the time. It gets kind of annying after a while, you know? But no, you're wrong about that, I'm not dating anyone. I, um, don't really know, you, all that well, but if you want, we can get to know each other better," she said with a shy smile.
"Oh, well, that sounds nice. I don't want to sound like one of those guys who constantly hit on you, but I do actually like you. I..." I couldn't think of anything else to say, which seemed pretty lame of me. I had to think quickly. "I know I must seem really lame right now because I can't think of anything clever to say, but I just wanted to get to the point, you know?"
"Yeah. I understand what you mean, fully. Those guys who always try to impress their crush by saying something clever, I don't want that. I like a straightforward guy."
"Tell you what. On days you're free, how 'bout we hang out? We can take a walk somewhere, maybe get something to eat. Sound good?" I said. She nodded in agreement. I smiled. I was relieved to get my feelings out for once. She smiled. I assumed she was thinking the same thing. We looked at each other and giggled nervously. "Oh! I almost forgot!" I looked around for Lucy. She was sitting at a table, talking to Erza and Natsu. I got up and walked over to her.
"Hey Lucy."
"Huh? Oh, you're back! How was the job request?"
"Fun. But anyway, I owe you..." I Summoned 70,000 Jewel. "Jewel. Here." Erza was kind of surprised by my magic. Lucy took the money from me.
"Well, you're officially off the hook, I guess," said Lucy.
"Thanks. Oh, uh, I forgot to formally introduce myself, Erza, sorry. I'm Vinny."
"Pleased to make your acquaintance." She gripped my hand and shook it firmly. I shook as well. I tried to be as brave as possible, because I didn't want to mess up in front of Erza.
"I saw you used a form of Caster Magic. What was that?" asked Erza.
"Oh, my Dimension Magic? Yeah. I can Summon anything at will, but only if I Destroyed it first. Take for instance," I walked over to another table. "See this table? Using my Dimension Magic," I successfully Destroyed the table. "I can Destroy anything, well anything moderately sized, that is. It's not entirely strong yet. But the table isn't gone forever. You see, according to the Law of Conservation of Mass, I didn't fully destroy the table's particles and molecules. Therefore, when I Summon the table," I did as such, "I can Summon the table again, and it's just as it was before." Erza nodded.
"So that's how it works!" said Natsu.
"I also have a Book of Magic, which lets me use other kinds of magic other than my Dimension Magic, though it's very limited as of now."
"Oh, other kinds of magic? Then that means you are a Multi-Caster!" said Erza.
"I'm what?"
"A Multi-Caster. Caster Magic is Magic that is expelled from the body as opposed to User Magic, in which the user wields a weapon of some sort. Lucy and I would be Holders. I use Requip Magic, where I can change my armor and use different types of weapons. Lucy is a Celestial Mage, where she uses keys to summon different monsters to help aid her. Natsu would be a Caster, as he can use Fire Dragon Slayer Magic. You are a Multi-Caster, meaning you can use more than one type of Caster Magic. They are extremely rare to find, there's maybe, not including you, 4 left."
"Wait, what do you mean, 'maybe 4 left?'"
"... Sit down." I quickly did so. She had a dark look in her eyes.
"The Magic Council doesn't approve of Multi-Casters, well, they never did, as they believe Multi-Casters are dangerous and overpowered. One day way back when, they suddenly rebelled all at once against the Multi-Casters and they sent out mercenaries to hunt down and kill every last one of the Multi-Casters. This went on for many years, with every year passing, at least just one Multi-Caster murdered every year. They're still on the hunt, however. Master told me that they checked Fairy Tail long ago, so I doubt they'll be back."
"Oh don't worry. If they ever do come back, by God, I'll be ready," I said, smashing my fist into my other hand. "Speaking of, I gotta go find a new job." I walked over to the request board and chose another monster hunting quest. "Seek and find the mad trouble making morphing monster! 50,000 Jewel. That's some nice alliteration right there. Hey Mira, I'll be taking this one."
"Alright. Go for it! I'm rooting for you! I believe in you!" I nodded and then turned around and smiled big.
"Ooooooohhh... you got yourself a girlfriend, Vinny? You're IN LOVVVEE~" teased Happy.
"Oh yeah, real embarrassing, I'm in love. So what if I am? Who do you have?" That shut him up. He obviously didn't prepare for this kind of scenario, so it was really awkward for him. "That's what I thought." I left him with that and walked out the door.
I walked to my house from the guild. I went inside and cleared out my Dimension space of things I Destroyed. First was my trainer bag, then my snapback, my Pokégear, my fidget spinner, my Pokéballs, a bunch of junk food, my speakers, laptop, pillows, blankets, and a bunch of other shit. Easy unpacking. The last thing I Summoned was my previous job request. I was about to crumple it up, but then I thought, what if I kept it? If I were to become a Legend, then wouldn't I want a legacy? After debating with myself, I ultimately decided to keep it and every next job request paper I did.
I thought about how I was gonna get stronger. I realized that I couldn't just fight monsters head-on without gaining natural strength too.
"What would I have to do? Push-ups? Sit ups? Lifting? Running? Squats? I guess I could do all of those." I figured that in order for Erza to lift that giant horn with no sweat, she would have to seriously work out. I wanted to do more than that. If I was gonna become the strongest, then I would have to start small, and then work my way up to being able to lift a bus with one hand, no sweat. And I don't mean one of those school buses either. I mean one of those huge tour buses, including the weight of the full capacity of people inside. I dropped down onto the floor just to see how many push-ups I could do. Straining so hard that you could see my blood vessels through my skin, I was able to achieve 54 push-ups, military style. I continued to do more push-ups, and then as many sit-ups as I could do, then squats, and then a whole training regimen of exercises. I lost count of how many of anything I did, but when I looked out the window, the sky was getting dark. I had been building slight muscle beforehand, but when I was so weak that I couldn't do any more, I saw a drastic change. I was packing way more muscle than before. I passed out on the floor, exhausted.
When I came to, my muscles and basically everything ached so bad, but I was so satisfied. I tried getting up, which proved to be a task, but I eventually just ignored the soreness and pain completely and dashed out the door. I looked at the job request information to see where the location of the town was (Northeast Fiore), and summoned Fearow to fly to the town.
Apparently, the locals with the morph monster problem had the problem for over 5 years. The monster dashed around the town, confusing the shit out of me by morphing into the townsfolk. I didn't want to hit them because I was afraid that I would hit the actual person instead. I sent out my Pokémon all around the town to corner the monster, who cowered in a corner and begged me not to kill them. They told me that they were just lonely and they wanted the townsfolk to notice them. I was very hesitant. I was really pissed off because I thought that I was going to do some monster hunting, but instead, I went all the way to some town to spare a monster instead?
I didn't think so.
At least I had gotten 50,000 Jewel for nothing.
But still.
God dammit.
I flew back to Magnolia disappointed, obviously. I entered my house and checked my Pokégear. 1:37 A.M. I guess I'll sleep in, I thought. I stripped down to my underwear, because I was sweaty as a pig. I plopped down onto my bed, on top of the covers. Yeah, I have fire powers, but being hot and sweaty is the same for me as it would be for anyone else. Fire to me is like room temperature air. I don't feel anything. (However, if I were to sit in a freezer room, my body heat would first of all, melt all the ice around me, and second, it would be no different as if I were sitting in a regular room.)
The rest of the week continued routinely, I went to the guild, got a monster hunting job, I would go home and work out, and then I would do the job. People at the guild didn't see me too often, but some of them, like Natsu began to refer to me as "The Monster Hunter". I also managed to get a new leather jacket from a clothes store. If the quests meant that I was becoming stronger, if it meant I was gaining new Magic to use, then I was fine with that.
However, a certain incident would soon increase my powers to a whole new level.
