Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews, y'all are so nice :)
Enjoy!
Natsu watched as his opponents, Sting and Rogue, sized him and his partner up.
He sniffed the air, smirking at what he found. "Hmm, if I'm right, the blonde reeks of Weisslogia and the broody one smells like Skiadrum...the white and shadow dragon slayers. It'll be fun facing off against them, right Gajeel?"
"Geehee, of course it will," the iron dragon slayer grinned as he turned to Rogue, "You know...something about you is really familiar kid, are you sure we haven't met before?"
The black haired boy stiffened, ignoring Gajeel in favor of talking to his teammate. "Sting, are you ready?"
A small person with a pumpkin head waddled towards them, standing away from both teams as he clapped his hands merrily. "Remember, this is a timed match, there's no pressure! You can start on the count of three...one, two, three! BEGIN!"
Sting and Rogue started running, but their eyes widened in shock as Natsu and Gajeel seemingly appeared out of nowhere, getting right in front of their faces. The pink haired spirit grabbed the blonde by his collar, punching him in the gut so hard that he practically flew across the arena as Gajeel did the same to the shadow dragon slayer.
The Sabertooth team was tenacious, and they immediately recovered from the blows. Sting turned to Natsu and took in a deep breath before opening his mouth. "White Dragon's Roar!"
A blinding, white beam shot towards the fire dragon slayer, who nimbly leaped out of its path as the laser followed him around. The celestial spirit glanced at Gajeel, who was blocking Rogue's attack by turning his hand into a solid block of iron.
He didn't waste any time as he took advantage of his teammates attack, leaping towards the black haired boy before grabbing him. It was a good thing that the laser was so destructive because it created a smoke screen, which let Natsu slam Rogue into his very confused blond teammate.
"This should put you two in your place: Fire Dragon Wing Attack!" he drew his hands downward, letting fire make its way up his arms as he swung them up, imitating a flapping motion. The flames knocked the Sabertooth team into the air, and they landed back on the ground unceremoniously, both furious at having their asses handed to them within minutes.
Gajeel and Natsu regrouped, and they stood with their arms across their chests as they watched their opponents carefully, neither wanting to be taken off guard.
The iron dragon slayer scoffed. "There's no way you two defeated your dragons...Metalicana probably would've eaten me if I was this weak."
"That's funny," Sting snorted, "you think we fought them...we killed them to get more power. You haven't even seen our real strength you-"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Natsu interrupted with a yawn, "I really don't want to hear some idiot from Earthland lecture me, especially when I know you two are full of shit."
After beating up Minerva like it was nothing, the Sabertooth team knew better than to run their mouth against this man without having anything to back them up. "White Drive!" yelled Sting as Rogue activated his own enhancing power, "Shadow Drive!"
"Huh?" Gajeel stared dumbly, watching the two as they glowed white and black. "What the hell is that supposed to do?"
"You'll see very soon, just wait," the blonde smirked, "let's go!"
Sting practically warped in front of the pink haired spirit, his fist cocked back as he punched with all his might. Natsu held his hands crossed to shield himself: sure, he could've dodged, but where's the fun in that?
The impact would've been devastating had it hit anyone who wasn't a dragon slayer. He was pushed back a significant distance, watching as the white dragon slayer held his fist out again, an incredible amount of energy surging from it. "Holy White Judgement!"
Natsu was prepared this time, blocking the rapid blows that were aiming to maim him. Though he hated to admit it, Sting really did put a lot of strength into his hits, and he grunted from the strain as they started coming at him faster.
"AGHHHHHH!" yelled the blonde angrily, "why isn't it working!"
Gajeel made his way over to help his teammate, but he was stopped by Rogue, who was zipping in the air too quickly for him to follow. The iron dragon slayer gritted his teeth in frustration as he was kicked backwards, and he began thinking of how he could fight his opponent.
"You can try hitting me all you want," the dark haired kid whispered ominously, "but nobody can catch a shadow." He disappeared into the ground, a black blob forming as the Sabertooth dragon slayer rushed forward.
This made Gajeel really mad, and he turned his hand into an iron club in an attempt to whack the black blur...only for his weapon to go straight through it. Before he could move out of the way, Rogue landed an uppercut to his jaw, throwing him onto the ground with incredible force.
On the other side, Sting was still having difficulty fighting Natsu even though his powers were increased. Sure, he landed some blows, but the fire dragon slayer barely reacted to them even though these were the types of hits that could send a man straight to the medics for a month.
An idea hit him, and the blonde waited for the perfect moment to put the mark on his adversary. Sting watched for any openings, and when he found what he was looking for, he landed an open-palmed strike to the celestial spirit's torso.
Natsu and Gajeel found themselves back to back, and the pink haired man looked over his partner quickly, noting that he wasn't seriously injured. "I think it's time to start upping the ante, what do you say partner?"
The iron dragon slayer grinned through his exhaustion, and he dove straight back into his battle with Rogue. Unfortunately for the celestial spirit, he found himself unable to move - looking down to his stomach, he saw exactly why that was.
"Don't bother," Sting said cockily, "my attack is infused with holy magic, and that magic circle will paralyze you. Now you can't dodge my hits anymore...this is going to be so much fun!"
He ran towards Natsu with a battle cry, but to his surprise, he was sent careening back from another fiery punch. "I can't believe you really thought that could hold me down," the fire dragon slayer mused as he pointed to his now unmarked stomach, "you fit the blonde stereotype well. I can burn that magic circle right off of me bozo, try using your head instead of fighting with dirty tactics."
Gajeel had managed to get a hold on Rogue, and he briefly looked over to see his teammate faring pretty well. "Looks like I can catch a shadow after all," the iron dragon slayer laughed, "take this you punk!"
Both Sting and Rogue found themselves thrown into a wall, the stone breaking upon impact. The Fairy Tail team didn't hold back, and they threw punch after punch at the two, who were being manhandled worse than before.
The blonde spit out blood as he staggered upright, his entire body glowing bright white as he narrowed his eyes. "I guess it's is time to go all out, which is good because I want you to fight me seriously Natsu-san. After watching you defeat one of the strongest members of our guild with ease, I decided that I wanted to be that powerful, but to do that...I need to see all the strength you possess."
Sting began emitting more magic, nearly blinding everyone in the stadium. "Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Holy Nova!" He rushed forward, the ground cracking beneath his feet as rubble flew everywhere.
Natsu didn't move from where he stood, and as the fist came closer to his face, he stopped it with his bare hand. "I guess I can let him think he did something...now then, should I prolong this or end it before my time is wasted? What to do, what to do...Happy is probably flirting with that other cat, Claire or whatever her name is, damn him. Why does he get to rest while I work my ass off?"
As the dust cleared and the light dimmed, Sting had a victorious smile on his face...only for it to be wiped off as he saw the celestial spirit standing in the same spot as before. "H-How...how did you stop that?"
The announcers were going crazy, yelling all sorts of rubbish that was really getting on Natsu's nerves. Of course, the Fairy Tail sector was raucous as usual, no surprise there. He was glad to see that Gajeel had taken care of Rogue, and the fire dragon slayer shared a look with his partner before they tossed their respective opponents at each other.
Sting and Rogue collided, both sinking to the ground as the Fairy Tail team stood in front of them calmly. "Yield," Natsu said boredly, "or else this is going to get very messy."
Gajeel gaped as the pink haired spirit began transforming, his fangs elongating as scales began covering part of his face, the aura surrounding him heavy with dread. His eyes were dark red and had slits in the middle, making his gaze more menacing than it usually was.
The Sabertooth team were practically shaking at the intense pressure, but they refused to give up. "Never!" Sting yelled, "I refuse to back down to you two!"
Rogue raised his head as his eyes blazed with determination. "We will show you the true power of 3rd generation dragon slayers - now you'll see why we are superior to you."
They shared a look before closing their eyes, and within moments, one was covered in white light and the other was shrouded by shadows. The blonde sported white markings that went up the sides of his face while his partner mirrored them in black: a massive amount of energy was flowing off of them in waves, cracking the ground yet again from the intensity.
"To think that you could just activate Dragon Force just like that," Natsu whistled, "that's quite impressive. However...it's not enough to defeat us."
Gajeel was sweating bullets, and he personally wanted to kick his partner for provoking their opponents. Sting laughed, and he walked forward, gesturing for Rogue to stay back. "I can handle these two by myself, just sit back and relax."
The blonde ran forward, and had it not been for the fire dragon slayer's incredible reaction time, he would've been pummeled. As Natsu ducked under Sting's leg, the iron dragon slayer attacked from above only to be thrown backwards.
It was an intense duel, with the white dragon slayer throwing more accurate and powerful hits while the Fairy Tail team could only defend themselves. "Damn," Gajeel panted, "this is ridiculous. How the hell are we supposed to fight him when he's using Dragon Force?"
Natsu was calm, and he watched as Sting jumped high into the air, preparing to open his mouth to unleash another attack. His eyes widened, and he grabbed the iron dragon slayer before pulling him to the side.
"Holy Breath of the White Dragon!" the blonde yelled, unleashing an even bigger white beam that shook the entire stadium to its core. Up in the stands, Mavis was uncharacteristically quiet, and she was worried about - what the hell was her friend going to do now?
When the dust clear, the announcer began freaking out. "What a battle! The floor of the arena is gone, where are the contestants now?"
Back in the hole, the pink haired spirit grabbed his partner before jumping onto a large piece of debris. "I guess I have to get a little more serious. Just a bit more Gajeel, then we can really go all out."
They grinned at each other before Natsu steadied himself, jumping up at Sting as he readied his arms. "Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang!" Talons made of fire swiped at the blonde, who was unable to dodge as he was falling in midair.
As he was knocked back, Gajeel had taken the time to maneuver his way above Sting. "Iron Dragon's Roar!" A tornado of fine metal erupted out of his mouth, spiraling towards the white dragon slayer and hitting him right in the chest.
The fire dragon slayer nodded at his teammate approvingly, watching as the Sabertooth mage was thrown to the floor. They leaped after him, jumping off of different rocks to aid in their descent before making their way in front of their opponent.
Sting got up from the rubble he had landed in with a smirk. "Natsu-san, I told you...I'm determined to have you use your full power. In order to do that...Rogue, come out!"
"It won't matter," Natsu snorted, "did you really think that you were winning? We've been analyzing your attacks, and now that we know about them all...you're screwed."
They turned around to see the shadow dragon slayer walk out from behind a column, his face emotionless as he looked at Gajeel. "You can believe what you want, but I will be your opponent - Shadow Drive!"
The blonde grinned, his eyes blazing with a newfound vigor. "White Drive! This is the power we get from killing dragons...but you wouldn't know that, would you? Especially since your father was the fire dragon...Weisslogia was always talking about how Igneel wanted to live in peace beside humans, I mean, how foolish was he! You probably have this shitty attitude because of him, don't you?"
"Oi," Gajeel growled, "that's going too far-"
Natsu interrupted, his bangs covering his eyes as he looked down. "What did you just say?"
Sting snarled, his hands glowing white. "I said Igneel was a fool-"
Dark reddish-orange flames exploded out of the celestial spirit, his eyes darkening with rage as maroon scales covered more of his face as well as his right arm. A dragon curled around his left arm, signifying his title as the fire dragon king while his fingers sported claws that were glinting in the light.
If Natsu's aura was scary before, this was literally unbearable. Gajeel was very lucky to not be subjected to the terror that Sting and Rogue were very clearly displaying, but his knees were trembling from the raw power that was oozing from the man.
"You dare insult my father in front of me...I think it's time I end this farce. You're going to be sorry for ever speaking like that because I'm going to make sure you two can't move for the next few months. Do you understand?" The pink haired man grit out coldly, his face never betraying his feelings for a moment.
The white dragon slayer couldn't even speak, his voice vanishing as soon as the intense heat hit him once again. Not only was that bad enough, the aura that this man was giving off was unbelievable, there was no way he was human!
Natsu walked toward Gajeel, who was still shaking like a leaf. "Grab on to my back," he said as he turned around, "and make sure you don't let go." As if the iron dragon slayer had a choice - he awkwardly held onto the ends of the fire dragon king's vest, which was surprisingly in good condition.
Without warning, the celestial spirit jerked forward with speed that shouldn't have been possible, and he grabbed onto Sting and Rogue. He shot upwards, a column of fire jutting out of his legs as he rocketed forward with ease.
When they reached the surface, the world was a blur to the three he was carrying, and Natsu dumped his opponents onto the ground before landing. Gajeel had been forced to let go, rolling to a stop before he hunched over and dry heaved - motion sickness really was such a terrible weakness to have.
Everybody had been watching the fight from the lacrima that were following the contestants around, and the spectators were all quiet as they watched the spectacle happening before them with baited breath.
In the Fairy Tail sector, Makarov's eyes were bugging out of his head while Grey nearly fainted, Erza steadying him as she stared down at Natsu with wide eyes. Of them all, Lucy was the one who was in complete disbelief - to think that the 13th hidden key had this much power...it was incomparable to the rest of the zodiac spirits.
"Amazing," Levy stuttered, "h-he's acting like this is nothing."
"Aye!" Happy chirped, causing quiet a few heads to turn around in shock. "Natsu is going easy on them, if you think this is great, it's not even all the power he really has!"
Several guild members gaped at how nonchalant the Exceed was being, and Lily gave him an incredulous look. "Are you crazy? What more could he possibly do?"
The blue cat giggled, his little wings flapping cutely as he pretend to think. "Hmm...nope! I can't tell you, Natsu wouldn't give me any fish if I did that!"
"It's ok," Lucy hurriedly added in, "I don't want him to say anything he doesn't want to reveal himself...let's talk about this later."
Down below, Natsu Dragneel was seething internally. Not only did he let his hotheadedness get to him, but he had shown off far more than he ever intended to give out. His power was kept a secret for his safety, and though he definitely hadn't been dumb enough to use his fire dragon king mode, he had already tapped into his Dragon Force.
Seeing a first generation dragon slayer like him do such a remarkable thing was a big deal, and the Magic Council were probably going to hound Makarov for more information. This was not pleasing, and the celestial spirit decided to file that information away for later so that he could take care of the problem he had right now.
Rogue and Sting hadn't moved from where he dumped them off, and he slowly made his way over to them as the fire surrounding him became more violent. "I'm giving you once last chance...give up or feel my wrath."
The Sabertooth team couldn't respond even though they wanted to, and Natsu raised his eyebrows mockingly. "Oh? Looks like you're still trying to fight me. I guess you got what you wanted Sting, here's a small taste of my power - Hidden Fire Form: Crimson Lotus Phoenix Blade!"
His Dragon Force made the stream of fire that left his mouth look like child's play compared to what he used against Flare. A wave of flames erupted from the pink haired spirits mouth, taking the form of a phoenix as it rushed forward, the sweltering heat being felt from the first rows of the audience members.
Sting and Rogue didn't stand a chance when they were on the receiving end of this devastating attack, and they were both thrown into the stadiums wall - but they just kept going, breaking through the rock and concrete that came after. The stadium was shaking violently, ceasing only when the loud crashing noises stopped.
"W-Winner - Fairy Tail!" the announcer screamed, and the crowd roared wildly, cheers being heard loudly in the air. None were happier than Fairy Tail, who were crying and laughing joyfully at the defeat of the supposedly undefeated Twin Dragons of Sabertooth.
Natsu began transforming back to his normal state, and he walked up to Gajeel, offering a hand to his partner. "Sorry about that...let's just get out of here."
The spiky haired man scoffed lightly, his tone indicating he wasn't mad. "Whatever, I'm hungry and I need to eat some iron...you think they have some gourmet metal somewhere?"
The fire dragon slayer rolled his eyes, and they made their way back up, each having different thoughts about the match that had just occurred. But one thing was for certain: they worked pretty damn well together.
"Natsu!"
Happy flew towards his closest friend and latched onto his neck, hugging him with his tiny little arms. The celestial spirit's eyes softened, a genuine grin gracing his face as he pet the blue cat.
"You're awfully excited to see me," he mused, "it wouldn't be because you want fish right?"
The Exceed pouted. "Of course not! Now that you mention it, fish sounds great right now...pleaseeee Natsu, can you give me one?"
"I don't have any on me, did you really think I was fighting with food in my pocket? When we get back home, I'll get some more for you, just wait for a bit...if you're patient, I'll give you double of what I usually catch." Happy drooled, and true to his word, he stayed quiet so he could get his reward.
Fairy Tail was celebrating loudly, with everyone coming up to congratulate him and Gajeel on their victory. Natsu was uncomfortable, and he wanted nothing more than to be dismissed so he could get some sleep, so naturally, he made his way to Lucy.
The blonde was excited to see him come up to her, and she smiled at him. "That was amazing! I can't believe you're so powerful Natsu, here...have some of these cookies that Mirajane made!"
"Errr, thanks," the pink haired spirit said awkwardly, "but I was going to ask if there was anything else you wanted me to do Lucy-sama. Do you want me to stay or may I go?"
"If it's alright with you, could you please stay back for just a bit? Everyone is happy that we won, and I know you're not the most social person...here, just relax and talk to some of the other mages! You deserve to take a break, you've been working so hard lately." Lucy ushered him towards Makarov and Laxus, who appeared to be in the middle of a conversation.
Happy was sleeping in his neck comfortably as the fire dragon slayer walked with his master toward the old man and his grandson. He caught sight of Mavis lounging on the balcony, her face serene and her eyes full of affection for her dear friend. Natsu couldn't help but smile at his older sister figure, and he decided to go talk to her as soon as Makarov said his piece.
"Yo!" the guild master said cheerfully, "I'm glad you came here Natsu. This is my grandson, Laxus, who's also a lightning dragon slayer. But you probably already knew that, right?"
The celestial spirit gave him a pointed look. "Of course I did, he smells like lightning...interesting, you're definitely not a first generation, I can't smell a dragon on you. You can't be a third generation either then...so that means you're a second gen, yes?"
"You're as smart as jiji said you are," Laxus smirked, "I guess it's only natural since you're the fire dragon king."
He rolled his eyes, making light conversation with him and Makarov while Lucy added her own comments every once in a while. Everything was going great, that is, until Natsu felt him.
He stilled completely, his heartbeat speeding up as he broke out into a cold sweat. The pink haired man rushed near Mavis as he looked out into the crowd, pinpointing the dark magic that he felt before looking at the first master of Fairy Tail, who was looking at him with wide eyes.
"Natsu...Natsu!" Lucy yelled as she walked up to him and shook him lightly, "What's wrong?"
Makarov and Laxus were confused, and they watched as the fire dragon slayer's blank faced morphed into rage, a fiery hot anger burning in his eyes with reckless abandon.
"Don't even think about," Mavis whispered quietly so that only he could hear what she was saying, "You promised not to do anything, give me some time...I'll figure out what's going on and let you know what he's here for. Do you trust me?"
The celestial spirit nodded sluggishly as he clutched the balcony so hard that it began cracking, and he took several deep breaths before turning to Lucy in a hurry. "Master...can I be excused?" He was doing his best to keep his emotions in check, but if he didn't leave Earthland, Natsu was positive he was going to punch someone.
Luckily for him, the blonde agreed hesitantly, and she put her hand on his arm before he left. "Will you be alright?"
He gave her an emotionless look, nodding slowly before disappearing in a flash of light.
Review!
