Chapter 3: Backs Against the Wall.
Disclaimer: I don't own FT or Naruto
As one of the largest guilds in Fiore Phantom Lord had numerous sub-branches dotted across the country. However, its main base of operations was in the historical city of Oak Town. There was only one topic that the members currently residing in the guild hall were interested in though, their most recent scuffle with Fairy Tail. As the banter about their self-proclaimed victory continued a small group of Phantom's mages made their way towards the guild doors.
"We can't let Gajeel have all the fun." One of them said.
"Yeah, we've got to try picking off a couple of Fairy Wings ourselves." The group began snickering at that comment. That is until the guild doors were blown clean off by a fiery explosion from the outside. As the smoke cleared it revealed Natsu, the expression on his face one of unrestrained rage. Though the Dragon Slayer wasn't alone, standing behind him were the other members of the Fairy Tail guild, minus Lucy who had stayed behind to look after Team Shadow Gear at Magnolia Hospital.
"Fairy Tail has come calling!" Makarov roared, leading the charge at the now-advancing mass of Phantom Lord members.
"Who wants to play with fire!" Natsu shouted as he used his magic to swiftly defeat a group of Phantom Lord mages that thought it was a smart idea to charge at him.
Magic flew as both sides clashed, Macao and Wakaba teamed up, using a combination of their respective Fire and Smoke magic. Alzack shot down Phantom mages with his Spark Shot whilst his partner Bisca picked off stragglers and anyone giving a fellow Fairy Tail mage trouble with her Homing Shot. Even Laki, the guild's oddball got in on the action, using her Wood-Make magic to dispatch enemy mages with some very abstract creations.
"Get the cat!" One Phantom's members yelled, attempting to corner Happy, who then gave a dark look.
"Oh yeah?" Happy said, evading the Phantom mages, causing them to collide as well as pulling out two giant fish from seemingly out of nowhere and proceeded to beat the wizards down with them, "Do you have a problem with cats?" He asked an evil gleam in his eye as he held a melon threateningly over one of the defeated mages.
"Of course not sir." The Phantom member replied through a mouthful of fish and squid.
A group of Phantom mages ran straight to Makarov, thinking he was an easy target. They were quickly proven wrong when the old guild master grew to gargantuan proportions and crushed several of them beneath his massive hands. "He's a monster…" One of the mages mumbled in fear.
"And you dared to lay your hands on this monster's children! Are you foolish enough to believe that human laws would protect you from my wrath?!" He growled out, his voice much deeper, courtesy of his increased bulk.
Another group of Phantom Lord wizards surrounded Kushina and began rapidly closing in on the redhead, her response was to put her right fist into her left hand. "This is what you bastards get for declaring war on Fairy Tail!" She proclaimed as she slammed her palms onto the ground by her side, "Chain Make: Chain Graveyard!" At her command a series of chains sprung from the ground, either binding or outright attacking the encroaching mages.
"Jose! Show yourself!" Bellowed Makarov.
"Tell me!" Erza demanded as she cut a swathe through a group of Phantom's members, then re-quipping into her Fire Empress armour "Where can I find Gajeel and the Element Four?!"
Up in the rafters Gajeel stood overlooking the raging battle beneath him, "Ah, the legends themselves, the Tenth Wizard Saint, the Red Hot Habanero and the Titania. I guess Laxus and Mystogan are too scared to show up, or do they just not care?" He pondered, "Either way, Master Jose knew exactly how this was going to go down, it looks like they're pretty good fighters, for a bunch of scumbags."
Meanwhile, back in Magnolia Lucy was walking along a street, a bag of groceries in her arms. "Ugh, I can't believe everyone took off without me. Still though, Levy and the boys need someone to look after them, so I guess it's up to me." As Lucy was mumbling to herself she felt something wet hit her head, which then turned into a downpour of rain, "It's raining? But the sun was out just a second ago." She said, holding out a hand, she then took a cautious step back as she noticed someone approaching her a woman to be exact who was garbed in a blue coat and hat, her high-heels clicked on the cobblestone as she approached Lucy.
"Drip, drip, drop, Juvia is the rain-woman, drip, drip, drop." The woman said in a monotone voice. "What kind of woman are you?" She asked, still walking towards the blonde.
"… Just the regular kind." Lucy answered, though she was still confused as to the woman's odd behaviour.
"Drip, drip, drop." Juvia said as she continued walking towards Lucy, then stopping next to the blonde at staring her in the eyes, "You and I have the same eyes." (1) Lucy thought she heard Juvia mumble as she began walking away and taking out a pink umbrella. "Pleasure to meet you, I'll be leaving now."
"Well take the rain with you!" Lucy called as Juvia continued walking away.
"Non, non, non. Non, non, non. Non, non, non, non, non, non!" At the strange new voice that rang out a section of the ground began to rise, eventually taking the shape of a tall, thin man wearing a brown tuxedo and a monocle. "And with three, three, six nons, that means bonjour!"
'Great another weirdo.' Lucy thought at the appearance of the newcomer, who literally seemed to be rooted to the ground.
"Juvia, mon cheri, you must not shy away from the task at hand." The man said.
"No Monsieur Sol." Juvia replied, despite the man being rooted to the spot he moved with remarkable speed as if he simply glided through the stone beneath him, taking a place by his companion's side.
"My monocle whispers to me many things mon cheri, it tells me that this girl is our much-sought-after cible."
"Does it? So she is the one?" As Juvia asked this question a brief expression of sadness crossed her features before it reverted back to her neutral expression.
"Cible? That means target…" Lucy mumbled, now nervous about the two strangers in front of her.
"Ah, pardon us the late introduction, I am Sol of the Element Four." He greeted, bending his body at an odd angle, "Also known as Sol of the Great Fissure." (2) "Please call me Monsieur Sol."
"I've heard of the Element Four, you're with Phantom!" Lucy exclaimed.
"Tres bien! Correct! We have been sent here to collect you and bring you back to the guild with us at once!" Lucy scowled at the man's blatant arrogance in thinking she'd go with them willingly.
Sol motioned to Juvia with one of his hands, "Ma bel companion is a rain-woman who is also part of the Element Four, she is called Juvia of the Roaring Waves."
"You're the ones who attacked my friends!" Lucy yelled, however, as she reached for her keys she found herself suddenly being surrounded by water as her key pouch fell from her belt.
"Non, non, non. With three nons I'm right you're wrong. That honour and renovation of your guild hall goes to monsieur Gajeel, though we were with him in spirit as the saying goes." Sol chuckled.
"Why are you doing this, let me out of here now!" Lucy screamed, her voice distorted by the water.
"Don't waste your energy, my Water Lock spell cannot be broken." Juvia said, as Lucy fell into unconsciousness, "Do not be afraid, we are under strict instructions to keep you alive. You are nothing more than the target for our retrieval mission, Lucy Heartfilia. The target has been captured, drip, drip, drop." All that was left behind of the Phantom mages and their target as they made their way away from the area was Lucy's key pouch, lying on the ground in the now-sunny street.
In Oak Town the battle against the Phantom Lord members was still raging, though now the members of Fairy Tail's biggest rival had recovered from the shock of the surprise attack and were coordinating themselves efficiently, even managing to push the Fairy Tail members back in some regards. Though one mage made the mistake of shooting a stream of fire towards a certain pink-haired Dragon Slayer, "Oh yeah, now I've got a fire in my belly!" Natsu grinned after inhaling the flames. The Phantom members realised just exactly what Natsu was, "Fire Dragon's Roar!" The jet of flames caused several Phantom mages to go flying.
"Ice-make: Lance!" Gray shouted, his attack tearing through the Phantom members.
"Bomb Burst!" At Naruto's attack a series of explosions ripped through the crowd. It was quickly becoming evident that while Fairy Tail may be outnumbered, Phantom Lord was clearly outclassed.
Makarov was headed towards a stairwell that would lead to the top of the building, no doubt that would be where Jose was located, given the man's ego. "Kushina! I leave the rabble to you and Erza!" He ordered as he swatted away the grunts like they were flies.
"Understood!" She answered back, forming a small group in a ring formation consisting of herself, Naruto, Erza, Macao, Wakaba, Cana and Loke as the rival mages began to surround them, "Still though, these guys are pains in the asses." She muttered, "Naruto, use your Clone magic." Her son's eyes widened in response to her order.
"You're sure?" He asked, normally neither would use their Clone magic given that it would more-than-likely cause more destruction than a single one of them, which would inevitably cost them at the very least a decent portion of the reward money when they were on a job. When Kushina nodded her head Naruto grinned, "Clone magic!" At this four identical copies of the Bomb Curse user were created. The other members of the group, aside from Kushina who had seen her son use Clone magic before looked on curiously at the creations.
"Jeez, summoned out again? Troublesome." One of the clones commented from his position, lying on the ground while propping himself up on one of his elbows.
"Ah, quit your complaining." Another clone griped, the one who spoke up seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face.
"Yeah, it's not so bad when you can use the power of troll!" The third one stated, only to get slapped on the back of the head by the second clone. "What was that for?!"
"For being a dumbass yah idiot!" The second one yelled at him.
"You're the idiot!" This time the third one took a hold of number two's shirt.
"Is it just me or is Naruto literally arguing with himself?" Loke whispered to Cana.
"Who cares? It's just getting good." The Card mage replied.
The lazy clone looked around, relatively uninterested until he noticed something, four clones had been summoned, but only three were present, "Shit!" He yelled, bolting upright and leaping to his feet. "Anger, Laughter, shut up."
"Why the hell should we listen to you Sloth?!" Anger replied, though it soon dawned on Anger and Laughter what it was that Sloth meant.
"Great, so Psychotic's gone AWOL, joy." Laughter commented sarcastically.
A soon as he said this there was a cry of, "Art is an explosion!", a series of blasts ripped through the other side of Phantom's base. "I prefer to think of myself as Artistic." Naruto's voice rang out as the fourth clone stepped through the smoke.
"Okay everyone we'll be okay, so long as no one asks him-" Anger began.
"What do you mean by 'art is an explosion'?" A random Phantom member asked, Anger clenched his fists.
"That." Anger said, distaste evident in his tone, he then began throttling the Phantom wizard who had asked the question, repeating the word 'dumbass' like a mantra.
However, Artistic took a dramatic pose and began to raise his arms upwards as if he was about to begin preaching, and preach he did, "I'm glad you asked!" He began, everyone stopped their fighting, most either raising an eyebrow or looking puzzled at the bizarre gesture, "You see people, what is art? Is it something that lasts for a long time? Is it subjective? No. True art is something that exists but for a second, that instant when beauty is achieved and is snuffed out just as quickly. In short art is an-" A metal club struck Artistic in the face, sending him flying out the guild hall doors.
"I don't give a crap about art," A gruff voice rang out, a loud thud was heard, it was none other than Gajeel Redfox, the Iron Dragon Slayer had jumped down in the commotion after Makarov had ascended the staircase, "I only care about showing these Fairy Tail bastards who's the top of the food chain, that's all."
"You're the one who hurt Shadow Gear!" Nab yelled, attempting to strike Gajeel while his back was turned to him. Gajeel merely extended another Iron Dragon's Club, sending the tribesman-like man hurling through a crowd of Gajeel's allies. The Fairy Tail mages were shocked at how Phantom Lord's supposed ace could care less about the safety of his guild mates.
Gajeel jumped down from his position atop the sign over the bar, "Show me what you've got, unless you scum are too scared to try?" He said condescendingly.
"Gajeel!" Natsu yelled in a challenging tone, (3) "I've been looking for you! Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Fairy Tail's Dragon Slayer." Natsu's fists ignited with Flames.
"Huh, so you're the famous Salamander? You don't look like much." Gajeel extended a club towards Natsu, who caught it with both hands as it struck him in the chest, causing his flames to go out.
"You destroyed our guild hall, and hurt Levy and her team." Heatwaves began to shimmer around him, "I'll make you pay!" He roared as his hands reignited, throwing the Iron Dragon Slayer upwards. Gajeel used the rafters as a way of bouncing back at Natsu. The two clashed and Natsu sent Gajeel flying into the wall with a vicious right hook.
The other Fairy Tail wizards were content to let Natsu handle the Iron Dragon Slayer, resuming their own battles. "Damn, Natsu's still as troublesome as ever." Lazy Naruto said from his new laid-back position, having settled back into it once Artistic was shown the door, ignoring the large mass of enemy mages surrounding him. "Don't move or you're gonna get blown up." He drawled to the mages, they of course decided to take their chances. As they took a single step towards him, he absently flicked his wrist, causing a series of small lights to fly towards the enemy and blowing up in their faces. "Told yah so."
"You could at least try to help more!" Anger shouted, now in his Etherios form as he tore through a crowd of Phantom wizards with ease, "And where the hell is Laughter?!" A whistle from up in the rafters drew the other two clone's attention, their fellow clone was idly swinging his legs while sitting on one of the wooden beams. He stood on said beam and took a pose as if he was an Olympic diver. When he jumped and began to twist in mid-air a series of lights were thrown in every direction where there was a Phantom member, as soon as he made touchdown the lights detonated. "Was there really a point to that other than to show off?" Anger asked.
"Nope." He replied, shrugging. Before anything else could happen the guild hall began to shake with a sudden tremor. Many of the Phantom mages began to worry about what was going on, the Fairy Tail members knew otherwise. The shaking was Makarov's anger, the Giant's Wrath.
"Keep fighting! As long as we've got Master Makarov with us we won't lose!" Kushina ordered, the other Fairy Tail members cheered in agreement.
Makarov was on the last leg of his ascension through Phantom Lord's central tower, cracks were appearing along the walls and floor with each step he took due to overwhelming pressure of his magical power. Once he reached the top he destroyed not just the door to the room he was looking for, but also more than half the wall where the door frame used to be. "Jose!" He shouted, seeing his fellow Wizard Saint seated on a chair at the other end of the room.
"Look what the cat dragged in." Phantom's guild master said calmly, which was unusual given who was in front of him.
"Why are you attacking Fairy Tail?! Tell me!"
"I haven't seen you in quite a while Makarov, six years ago at a guild masters conference, I was a complete mess. I can't hold my liquor as well as the rest of you." Makarov enlarged one of his fists and threw a punch at Jose with enough force to damage the wall behind him.
"I didn't come here for small talk I want answers, Jose." He growled, though as the dust Makarov's punch caused cleared it revealed Jose, unharmed as the fist had passed straight through him. "A projection? You coward, I should have known you would flee with your tail between your legs."
"It's not cowardice." Jose stated, "I'm simply trying to avoid a fight between two Wizard Saints and in lieu of that mess, I prefer a sensible victory without all the commotion."
"Why are you hiding?! Come and face me like a man!" As Makarov said these words another projection began to shimmer into life, revealing a bound Lucy. "Lucy, but why?"
"Why you ask? You mean to tell me that she was in your guild and you don't know? I'm surprised Miss Lucy Heartfilia never told you the truth." A dagger appeared in Jose's hands and made a move to stab Lucy.
"No, don't!" Makarov cried, a man garbed in a green trench coat with bandages covering his eyes suddenly appeared behind Makarov.
'Where did he come from?!' He thought in shock, 'I didn't even sense his presence!'
"It's so sad! So sad!" The newcomer cried as he placed his hands together. Makarov screamed as a bright light shone.
On the ground floor there was a loud crash as something fell through the rafters. Everyone ceased fighting to look to the source of the noise, as the dust cleared it revealed Makarov, though this time the old man was sickly shade of green and his breathing was troubled. "Gramps!" Natsu and Gray exclaimed together.
"Master!" Erza cried.
"I can't sense any magical power from him at all." Gray mumbled.
"Master, please, hang in there." Kushina said, cradling Makarov's body.
"…They… have… Lucy…" Makarov croaked out.
"What?!" Her team shouted in surprise.
The Fairy Tail mages barely had time to process the information before the Phantom Lord wizards resumed battling with Fairy Tail. "Now's our chance, crush them!" One of them yelled, the bulk of the forces charging towards the Fairy Tail mages. While many were forced back, others kept fighting.
"Don't get cocky!" Natsu yelled, sending a stream of fire towards the oncoming mages.
"They've got their fighting spirit back." Loke said, using his Ring magic to hold off an assault directed at him.
'Dammit, not only are a lot of us injured, but we're all running low on morale as well.' Kushina thought, while the thought of what she was about to say disgusted her, she knew it was best not just for Makarov, but the guild as a whole, "Everyone retreat!"
"Kushina!" Loke exclaimed in disbelief.
"We're men, we can't withdraw!" Elfman bellowed.
"We can still fight!" Gray screeched, though he felt a hand on his shoulder, it was Erza.
"The difference left by Makarov is too great, we can't win. Please Gray." She said, the Ice wizard was ready to refuse as he turned to the redhead, until Erza unexpectedly fell into his chest, feeling the area becoming wet. Gray embraced her, the one time he had seen Erza weak in this way was only once by the river they were younger.
Kushina turned to the clones of Naruto, each of them had been affected by the revelation of Makarov's defeat, they each nodded. Of course, they were angry, but even as separate emotions they recognised when a battle was lost. They nodded to each other, all they needed now was…
"Where is that metal bastard!" They heard their fourth clone yell, Artistic hadn't dissipated as a result of Gajeel's blow, but to say he was pissed off was the understatement of the century. However, Artistic's anger quickly cleared up when he realised Makarov's current state, he turned to his fellow clones. They didn't need to give him a verbal answer as their expressions said everything, reluctantly the four clones joined hands and with a puff of smoke, combine back into a single entity.
Natsu was still being as stubborn as ever, "But what about Lucy?! We can't just abandon her!"
"And we're not going to Natsu!" Kushina said forcefully to the Dragon Slayer, "But look around you, some of us are critically injured, I'm not going to let anyone die. I promise you, we'll find her, we'll get Cana to search for her. But we don't know anything about what they've done with her. All we can do is guess that she's not here yet, it would be too soon for them to arrive from Magnolia." Natsu still looked reluctant, but complied with Kushina's reasoning. Slowly but surely the Fairy Tail mages retreated, Kushina gave Bisca and Alzack the job of taking Makarov to Porlyusica. (4)
Eventually, the Fairy Tail members found themselves back at the guild hall's basement, all of them nursing their wounds in a variety of ways, most chose to remain in silence, contemplating what everything that had transpired could mean for them. After the revelation that Lucy had been captured the mood had been brought down even further. The main topic of discussion was about what reasons Phantom Lord could have for taking Lucy and what their rival guild would do now that they had been forced back to their basement. Though, everyone knew that an attack by Phantom was all but completely inevitable.
"I've got a read on Lucy!" Cana exclaimed, "They're close to Onibus, so they haven't got her to the guild hall yet." However, the relief was short lived as she spoke up again, "Hold on, they're not going north to Oak Town, it looks like they're heading south towards Magnolia." The members clenched their fists at that, realising their assumptions were correct.
"Is there luck with the others?" Erza asked.
"No luck with Mystogan, though we did establish a connection with him." Cana replied as a Lacrima crystal ball was placed in front of them, the image flickered for a moment before it settled to reveal a young man who appeared to be in his early twenties with a lightning bolt-shaped scar across his right eye.
"So, from what I hear you guys have been having your asses kicked by Phantom Lord, honestly you're all pathetic." The guild would have let out a collective groan of displeasure at Laxus's condescending tone, if he wasn't their last lifeline.
"Please Laxus, we can't win this, we need your help getting Lucy back." Mira begged, Laxus just smirked at her.
"Who? Oh, you mean that pretty blonde newbie. Well, tell you what, if she becomes my woman and if the old man makes me guild master, I'll help you."
"You are such a pig!" Cana screamed at the scarred man. However, before anyone else could launch a tirade, the crystal ball was shattered by a chain. Everyone saw the chain retract towards Kushina.
It was silent before Natsu spoke up, "Who needs either of those two? We can take Phantom!"
"Natsu, you really are an idiot." Gray commented, his pink-haired rival scowled at him, "We may just be able to take on Gajeel, and even the Element Four, but Jose is in a completely different league."
"Yeah, but if both Erza and Kushina take him on, then Wizard Saint or not, Jose would be screwed! And we've got more than enough strong members to take on Iron Ass and those Element creeps." He stated.
The argument between the two rivals would have continued, until the basement suddenly shook. Alzack and Bisca suddenly burst into the basement, having arrived back at the guild after dropping Makarov off at Porlyusica's. "You guys had better come outside quick!" The male of the gun-slinging duo said.
When the wizards got outside, their eyes went wide with shock and fear, the earthquakes were being caused by what appeared to be a giant mobile castle, crawling along on six mechanical legs.
"What is that?" Naruto asked.
"It's a guild hall with gigantic legs!" Happy exclaimed.
"How in the world are we supposed to fight that thing?" Wakaba asked.
Kushina was visibly shaking, "Phantom would really go to such extremes to fight us?"
Once the moving castle was fairly close to the guild, it dropped down as one of its walls came down, revealing a sight that caused several of the Fairy Tail wizards to pale. It was a giant cannon, which then began to elongate as it readied itself, a dark sphere began to form at the barrel of the cannon, which then began to grow in size until it was almost half the size of the building upon which the cannon was mounted. (5)
"Run! Get out of here now!" Erza ordered, rushing towards the shore as she glowed.
"She re-quipped!" Cana said.
"What are you doing?!" Loke cried.
"Protecting the guild hall!" Erza said as the light around her body faded, revealing her in her Adamantine Armor. Many of her guild mates were disbelieving of the fact that Erza was actually going to attempt so reckless.
With a tremendous bang the cannon fired, Erza put the twin shields on her arms together, a giant magic circle which began blocking the cannon's shot was created. For a while the two forces appeared to be in a stalemate of sorts, but soon cracks began to form along Erza's shield, which spread along the armour. Thankfully, the cannon fire stopped, though not before it completely shattered the Adamantine armour, leaving Erza in her white blouse and a few fragments of the armour as she was sent rolling across the ground.
"Erza!" Her guild mates cried, worried for the Re-quip mages safety.
"Are you okay, say somethin'." Natsu said
"Makarov has fallen." Jose's voice rung out from the mobile base over a set of speakers, "And Erza can no longer stand, Lucy Heartfilia is in our possession. You have no choice but to accept your fate."
"Shut it!" Naruto's voice cut through the dread-filled silence, "We're Fairy Tail wizards, the odds could be one hundred, one thousand, hell one million to one! We'll never accept that we've been beaten especially not by the likes of you!" Naruto's rant soon roused his other guild mates into a frenzy, Kushina looking at her son proudly.
Erza, who was still barely conscious managed to scream out, "We're not going to abandon Lucy, we'll take her back, even if it kills us!" The other guild members roared in agreement.
"You can cut the bullshit right now; we're going to take every one of you jerks down!" Natsu yelled.
Little did the other Fairy Tail members realise was Lucy, who was being held captive in one of the mobile guild's towers had heard every word her guild mates had said, "Everyone…" She mumbled, beginning to cry.
"Regardless, you face total annihilation at the power of the Jupiter Cannon, you have fifteen minutes left, Fairy Tail!"
Omake (6): A brief history with a Card Mage.
X772.
Naruto Uzumaki was nervous, why you may ask? Because recently a brunette girl, slightly older than him had been hanging around the guild and there was talk of her apparently wanting to join Fairy Tail. To an extent Naruto was thrilled that there would be another young child joining, but due to past experience with a few children in Magnolia who were biased against his looks had made him wary of approaching other kids.
The blond had curled himself into a ball behind the bar, his four-year-old mind attempting to contemplate what he could do. "Hey buddy." He looked up to see his mother Kushina, who then sat down next to him, "What's wrong?"
"…The new girl." Naruto replied, Kushina immediately understood what her son meant, having had to deal with a few incidents involving some of the children in Magnolia.
"You're nervous, right?" She asked, Naruto lightly nodded his head in response, "Well, I can tell you a bit about her." Naruto looked up at Kushina expectantly, "Her name is Cana, she's seven and she only moved here recently, do you know what that means?" Her son shook his head, "It means, she doesn't have a friend either, maybe you could try being her first one?"
Naruto's ears perked up at that, perhaps this really was his chance to make a friend, he stood up and grinned eagerly, moving out of his hiding place from behind the bar. He found Cana's location, seated at the end of the bar with a carton of juice in front of her and he made his way towards her. Though as he slowly approached the slightly older girl he began to feel more and more nervous. He was barely a few feet away from her as he took a deep breath to calm himself, "Hi." He said quickly, the brunette turned to him and looked at him.
Naruto tensed up, closing his eyes as he did so, fearing he'd messed up somehow. "Hello." She said back, Naruto tried not to let his surprise show. Though he honestly didn't think he's get this far, what now? Introducing himself seemed like the best place to carry on.
"I'm Naruto." He greeted.
"Cana." She replied back, she looked Naruto up and down, and noticed two features about him that the young brunette found quite peculiar, "You have claws and a tail?!"
"…Yeah." Naruto said nervously, hanging his head slightly, this was typically the point where the kids didn't want to be his friend, he wasn't expecting what Cana said next.
"That's so cool!"
"Y-you think so?" He asked, quite shocked that the girl actually thought it was cool instead of scary.
"Yeah! Wow, it's so soft and fluffy!" She said, stroking the tail lightly, "Hey, do you wanna have some juice with me?" Naruto grinned at the Card mage's question.
"Sure!" After getting his own carton, Naruto and Cana talked animatedly with one another. They talked about a few of their own experiences, nothing personal of course but sharing a few funny stories here and there gave birth to Naruto's first friendship within the guild.
Time skip: A few weeks later.
Naruto should have known this would happen, he had just heard that Cana had been seen talking with a few of the children in Magnolia. It was bound to happen sooner or later, but the kids the aspiring Card mage had been seen speaking with were a few of those involved with some of the nastier incidents, some had gone as far as to hurl sticks and stones at the blond. While they we typically sorted out (read had the crap scared out of them) by Kushina, the children still held something against him based on his appearance alone. He sighed despondently as he realised they would likely find some way to turn Cana against him.
The guild hall doors creaked open and the young brunette stepped in and just as Naruto feared, she began to walk up to him. He was expecting her to scream at him and renounce their friendship in some way, he did not expect her to wrap an arm around his shoulder and hold him tightly. "I… thought you were going to hang out with those other kids?" He asked after a brief moment of silence.
"I was… but when I asked if you could join us they started dissing you. So I broke the leader's nose and told them I'd rather have one good friend than hang out with a couple of jerks." She said, patting his hair lightly, Naruto felt slightly overcome with emotion and he began to sniffle lightly as he returned the hug. This affectionate display didn't go unnoticed by the other guild members with a few of the older female members (including Kushina) going 'Awwwwwwww'.
Time skip: October 10th X781 (Naruto's 13th birthday)
It had been some years since Cana and Naruto had first met, while the two didn't talk as much as they used to when they were kids they were still on good terms. Now, in celebration of Naruto officially becoming a teenager the guild was in a celebratory mood. Kushina had gone to collect more food for the buffet as it quickly started to run out of food given the sheer number of people at the party. "Hey Naruto!" A now sixteen-year-old Cana called him over, a mug of beer clasped in one of her hands and a pink blush on her face. Naruto knew his friend was a heavy drinker and had spent the day getting hammered just to see if she could beat some of her guild mates in a drinking contest, even though she was already drunk. "Kushina's gone and I've got some booze with our names on it, how about a drinking contest?"
"Cana, I'm underage and I know that you could beat me in a drinking contest." Naruto said to her calmly, turning away.
"What are yah, scared?!" She shouted after him teasingly, everyone in the guild hall heard her.
Just as Cana had predicted, Naruto's pride reared its head, "You're on!" He said.
A few hours later…
"What exactly made you think it was a good idea to get Naruto drunk?" Kushina scolded Cana, if Naruto had gotten slightly tipsy, Kushina wouldn't have minded. However, Naruto got so drunk that he had demolished half a forest just to get a kick out of it. Now Naruto had passed out and had been taken to bed to get a good night's rest, if only he knew of the hangover that would come in the morning. Though it was time to give Cana her punishment, "No alcohol for two weeks." Kushina said succinctly.
"Two weeks but that's-"
"Three weeks." Kushina cut Cana off.
"Three! That's so-"
"A month."
"Bu-"
"Do you wanna go for two months?" Kushina threatened and Cana lowered her head.
"No ma'am." She said despondently.
A/N: Roll credits! Wow, this was a long chapter, but anyway I hope you all enjoyed it, please, I would appreciate some feedback.
1) In a way, Lucy and Juvia were quite similar in that they both had a lonely childhood, so I just thought I'd add this line in.
2) As you may have noticed I have tweaked several canon scenes and information whether it's drastically or subtly, in this case I've decided to give the Element Four different titles instead of (E4 member) of the (Element).
3) Again another example of slight tweaking as I'm saving Elfman for his eventual fight with Sol
4) I know this may seem like a lot less of a climactic way to end the Fairy Tail Vs Phantom Lord battle in Oak Town, but trust me it's for a good reason that will become clear in the Gray Vs Juvia battle.
5) Jose was willing to fire the Jupiter Cannon when Lucy was there, with no guarantee that she would survive, although it's established Jose was going to hold Lucy hostage until her father gave them money I think his ultimate goal in the mission was to destroy Fairy Tail, regardless if Lucy survived or not. But don't worry, Lucy will still get her kick in at some point.
6) This is the first instalment of a little Omake mini-series, showing how Naruto introduced himself to either the main cast, or other members, it will eventually end with a bit of Team Wildfire friendship. I'm going in chronological order from when members joined, in case you're wondering on who's up next here is a list: Gray, Erza, Natsu, the Strauss Siblings.