The next day, outside the tankery sheds:
The day had just flown by which finally took them to their tankery session. Natsu could barely hold back his excitement at being able to transform with other people there. After several minutes their instructor still hadn't showed up and the girls were starting to get restless.
"Urgh, where is our instructor? They should be here already, this is so boring." exclaimed Erika in agitation.
Before anyone can say anything, they saw a large, white military transport plane flew close to the ground and precisely dropped a running Tank down in front of the crews without even need to land. The vehicle then speed towards the students and made a 90 degrees brake. The hatch then pops open, and a beautiful young woman emerges from it. She wore a JGSDF standard office uniform, accompanied with a beret and a JGSDF emblem on it. The woman then said to the students "Hiya Everyone! I'm Ami Chouno, Executive Officer and Tank Instructor of the Japanese Ground Self-Defence Force"
As Ami jumps off her tank, she said "Well, As you guys already know, there are lots to learn about Sensha-do, but I will do my best to teach you all… SO, let's start with a training game shall we?"
Ami then put both hands on her waists and said "Always remember, Sensha-do starts with respect and END with respect… Now, everyone, Bow" The students quickly do as she said.
"Ok, everyone take some times to designate each members' position… a Driver, a Commander, a Radio Operator in case of team matches, a gunner and a loader, inform me when you're done ok?"
Miho went up to Natsu and asked, "Natsu, do you want to go with us?" she said as she looked up at him expectantly.
"I'm sorry Miho I can't, my motion sickness has gotten worse, and that I have my own practicing to do," he said as he leant close to her ear then whispered so only she could hear him, "Besides I'll see you in the field, just not in this form."
Sighing, Miho relented and then said "Fine but you'd better watch us,"
"Of course I will." he said back. "Now then shouldn't you be choosing your positions?" he reminded her.
"Oh yes of course, I'll see you later." she said as she ran back to the girls who were waiting for her. Realising that they needed two more people they all walked up to the nearest available people and said, "Hey, do you want to go with us?"
"Sure, so which tank are we in?" they replied.
"Oh we're in the panther at the end."
As this was happening Natsu walked up to Ami, who was waiting for everyone to finish, and said "Ma'am can I talk to you for a second?"
"Why, of course you can there is no reason to ask. So what's the matter?" she said cheerfully.
"Well, you know about the addition to the games with the draconic robots?" he asked hesitantly.
"Yes, why what's the problem?"
"Well since we don't have one yet, I thought that I could do something about it."
"What would you do?"
"It's because of this." he said as he revealed his dragon like arm to her.
"Oh my god, what happened to you?"
"Well I have the ability to turn into a dragon, and I thought that I could fight the other robots in matches and I could act as reconnaissance."
"Hmm, that's a good idea, I can't wait to see what you can do."
Meanwhile everyone seemed to have finished assigning each other's positions.
The girls decided to introduce themselves, the two girls starting first, "Hi, my name is Hakari Kita and this is Yukiko Fukui, who are you?"
Maho decided to answer for them, "Well it's nice to meet you, my name is Maho Nishizumi, this is my sister Miho and this is Erika Itsumi."
The girls then look at each other for a whole 5 minutes as if they were having a telepathic conversation before then all shook their head in unison and said to Ami "Ok miss Chouno, we're ready"
Ami nodded as she shouted "ALRIGHT EVERYONE! MOUNT and FLOOR IT!"
Once inside the tank, Maho closed the hatch as she look at Hakari who was confusing looking at the two steering sticks and other mechanism as she said "Okkk… what does this do?"
Maho then said to her "First you got to start the ignition then youEEEEEEK"
Before Maho can finish her sentence, Hakari steps on the gas pedal and the tank speed off, with Miho shouting "Wooohooo!".
All the other tanks had varying degrees of success.
Once all the tanks had left Natsu warped himself in fire and transformed into his dragon form whilst unleashing a mighty roar, echoing in the surrounding forests.
Taking flight Natsu immediately headed of towards the area in which the tank battle was taking place.
With Maho and Miho:
Maho and Miho smiled as they heard the sound of their approaching brother and crush. The others were not as relaxed. Their headsets were soon overwhelmed by the voices of the girls in the other tanks.
"What the hell was that?!" Hakari screamed in terror. Another roar reverberated around the forest, significantly louder than the first one, instilled more fear into the tank crews as they waited in apprehension for the forest to reveal the source of the roar. There was a large thud as what ever it was that made the noise landed on the ground, the sound got louder as the beast drew closer to their stationary vehicle. The two girls started crying and hugged one another as comfort, Erika tried to hide herself behind Maho. The two Nishizumi sisters were perfectly relaxed and sat there with a small smile on their faces.
As the three girls hid themselves in the tank, Maho and Miho climbed out of the tank and stood on top of the turret, to the shock of the remaining occupants. Suddenly a large object burst into the clearing flattening the trees that were in its way.
The sheer size of the newcomer was frightening enough, but once the dust had settled, the onlookers were staring with widened eyes at what they were witnessing. Those who had a front seat to this spectacle were more shocked by this new revelation. Erika, opening her eyes, gasped at the sight of an actual, breathing; crimson dragon.
The beast was, quite possibly, as tall as a two story building, resembling an actual four-legged dragon from fictional stories.
"Hey!" Almost as if instantly, Natsu's eye twitched in utter annoyance as he very clearly recognised the voice calling to him. His head turned ever so slowly to meet the gaze of the teen glaring at him. Although, even with her hardened stare, the Fire dragon could see a tangent of fear in her eyes. Of course, she was not the only one exhibiting fear. The other tanks were ripe with the young Erika in front of him took a brave pill and shouted, "What the hell does your scaly hide want with us?"
He lowered his head to her level, the bravado she displayed almost quickly dissipated once he had given her his attention. "Well hello to you too Erika. That was a bit rude of you don't you think?"
"Hey Natsu," Miho said as she ran up to him and hugged his snout.
"Wait, NATSU?!" Erika screamed in shock.
Knowing what he had to do, the Fire Dragon King engulfed himself in flames, the fire shrinking by the second before he emerged from the flames in his human form, pink hair and all. "It's nice to see you again Erika chan," Natsu said in amusement as he watched her turn into a blushing mess from his words.
"Don't call me that." she whines while blushing profusely.
"Ok Eri-chan." Natsu said smiling finding the whole situation hilarious as Erika's face turned a deeper shade of scarlet with steam comically coming out of her just remains silent to save herself the chance of being embarrassed in front of her new crush."Hehe you look cute like that Eri chan." Natsu says as he imagines Erika dressed up in a tank onesie while Erika still blushing, her cheeks lit with a tint of pink, as she twiddled her fingers shyly. Erika fidgeted obviously liking Natsu complimenting her but trying not to show it. Miho pouted jealously at him showing another girl attention rather than her. Maho just tried to remain passive and not show her jealousy.
"Anyway as much as I'm enjoying this conversation, you should be going as you still have a match going on, don't you?" he asked kindly.
"Oh yeah, We'd better go if we don't want to lose. Bye Nii-san," Miho called as she ran back to their abandoned tank as she waved to Natsu over her shoulder.
"Bye Natsu," said Maho calmly as she walked back following after her sister. Erika just blushed and quietly mumbled under her breath a near silent "Goodbye," as she hurried back to the tank her face heating up when she glanced back at Natsu and saw him watching her go.
Natsu chuckled quietly and waved back to them until they were out of sight. "Ah I think it's time to change again and get back to practice." he said quietly to himself as the clearing burst into flames. Once the fires died down Natsu's dragon form stood in the centre of the explosion and released a massive stream of fire high into the sky where it then blew up in a large fire ball. Standing up to his full height he gave off a piercing roar that sounded like the sky was shaking in fear from his power. Launching himself into the sky he raced towards the place of nearby battle.
After the battle, back at the tankery sheds:
"First of all I would like to congratulate the team in the panther on their win in your first match. I must say that it was most impressive to do that kind of handling of a tank especially at your ages."
"Thank you Ami-sensei" everybody said together.
"Now without further ado I would like to introduce you to your new heavy destruction and reconnaissance unit."
"Wait you mean that the robot has arrived?" a girl said in the crowd.
"Yes something like that, now please follow me," she replied.
"Wait, where's Natsu he would loved to have seen it?" Miho said
"Oh he had to go see the student council, don't worry he'll be back soon." Ami replied.
"Hai," Miho said sadly to herself.
Arriving at a specific shed Ami stopped them all and said, "Please wait here, while I open the doors for you all."
As the doors slowly slid open the gathered girls all gasped some in shocked recognition and the others in horror. Standing before them was the same creature that created the horrifying roar that gave some of the younger members nightmares. The creature then released a tremendous roar that caused a miniature shockwave that moved some of the observing girls back a few metres as they hastily grabbed their skirts to stop them from revealing their undergarments.
It then gave a draconic version of a smirk as it watched in amusement.
"NAAATTSSUUUUU!"
They all turned their heads to see Miho running toward them. She hugged Natsu's tail because it was closest thing to her. Natsu chuckled and others laughed.
"You maybe want to take step back." Natsu said then suddenly the dragon was warped in magic energy. From the sky started fall something like scales that looked beautiful under all the sunlight and as soon as they touched something they turned in ashes. The dragon became smaller and smaller until it was the size of a human. Energy around 'dragon' died down and everyone gasped. On ground stood Natsu. He then turned toward everyone behind him and their jaws hit the floor. On his face there were what looked like the tribal markings on Acnologia except that they were red and not blue. His hair now had red tips at the end.
"Hello, everyone" Natsu said as all the girls became embarrassed when he looked at them.
"Anyway as I was saying, Natsu will be are reconnaissance unit and will be tasked to take out the oppositions robotic dragon." Ami said.
One of the girls shouted out, "Isn't this too dangerous for someone without protection?" she asked in worry.
"It is fine, nothing can get through my dragon scales, only a real dragon can damage me." Natsu said confidently as the watching girls all sighed in relief, especially Maho and Erika.
Everyone got out of their shock and they all smiled and someone shouted "Hey guys! I just realised! We are the only school that has a dragon as a member!" It was followed by some shouting in approval and happiness and some started yelling "That soooo cool!" or "How awesome! With a dragon we'll never lose a national tournament!"
"Alright class it's time to go home, class dismissed!"
As everyone left, they were all significantly happier when they first started, once the news of their scaled companion was given to them.
Quickly walking up to Maho and Miho, he said, "Shall we go home then?"
"Yeah lets go." said Maho.
"Wait Nii-san and Nee-san can we invite Erika around at some point?" Miho asked embarrassedly.
"Aww, has our baby sister made more friends, that's good, I'm sure that will be great, why don't you go ask her then?" Maho said teasingly.
"Nee-san don't say it like that." Miho complained cutely (in Natsu's opinion). "Can you go ask her please?" she said while begging to Natsu to save herself from losing a friend if she asked and messed it up.
"Sigh, fine, but later on you'll have to be the one to talk to people because we won't always be there to talk in your place." Natsu said exasperated. Miho agreed silently.
Walking over to Erika, who was just about to leave, he said "Hey Erika,"
"Oh hi Natsu, what is it?" she asked politely.
"Well we were wondering whether you would like to come round to our house sometime?"
"Yeah sure I would love to, when were you thinking about?"
"How about sometime this weekend?"
"Yeah ok, can I have your phone number?" she asked hesitantly.
"Umm, why?" he said confusedly.
Erika blushed madly and said, "It's just that I need it so I can get your address from you." she said with her head down so he couldn't see her massive blush.
"Oh ok, here you go then," he said then he read out his phone number to her as she quickly typed it in into her phone. "Well we'll see you tomorrow then, Bye," he said as he waved to her.
"Yeah, bye," she said. Turning away from him she then thought, 'YES, I just got Natsu's phone number, this is the best day of my life, I'm going to treasure this forever.' as she started giggling hysterically. She quickly ran off to get home, while a large blush adorned her face.
Walking back to where Maho was waiting, Natsu said, "Erika would like to come round this weekend, so it's up to us to sort out when she is coming and what we'll do with her."
"Oh okay, lets go then, are you coming with us or are you just going to stand there, Miho?" Maho said.
"Yeah I'm coming," she responded.
The next day:
'Hey Erika' Natsu texted to her.
'Hi Natsu-kun," she replied.
'So do you want me to give you our address then?' he typed back to her.
'Yes please' she said enthusiastically.
'Here it is then,' he said sending the address along with the message to her.
'Oh cool, this isn't that far from where I live. I'll see you in a few minutes.'
"Hey Miho, Maho Erika will be around shortly, do you know what we're going to do with her?" Natsu shouted to them.
"We were thinking that we could have some tea and then you could take us all for a flight if you want to." Replied Maho from a different room.
"Yeah that could work. Who's going to answer the door when she gets here?"
"Miho said that she would, why what's the problem?"
"Well it's just that she is walking up the garden path right now."
"Wait, she's here already?!" Miho screamed in shock as she bounded to the front door. There was a knock on the door signalling the arrival of their guest.
Opening the door Miho screamed out "Oh my god, Erika it's so good to see you, come in, come in!" while dragging her by the wrist into the living room, not letting Erika say a single word.
"Sup Erika," Natsu said.
"Oh hi Natsu," Erika said embarrassed with hints of red coming to her cheeks.
"Hey Erika," Maho said as she walked in the room behind her.
"Oh hi Maho, so what are we going to do today?" Erika said enthusiastically.
"Well we were thinking that Natsu could take us on a flight if you wanted to." Maho said.
"Yes please, I'm so glad that you invited me, I can't wait!" Erika said excitedly.
"Natsu can you please go outside and get ready? I need to speak with Erika for a minute, we'll be out soon." Maho said.
"Yeah yeah, sure whatever, just don't take too long." he said as he left the room with Miho following.
"Umm Maho What did you want to talk about?" Erika asked hesitantly after seeing her annoyed expression on her face.
"Do you like Natsu?" She asked blatantly.
"W-What are you talking about Maho?" Erika said embarrassed with a heavy blush on her face.
"You heard what I said, do you like Natsu, yes or no?" Maho demanded.
"Sigh, Ok I do like Natsu." Erika said quietly.
"That's good."
"What do you mean?"
"Well you know that Natsu is a dragon?"
"Yes, what's that got to do with it?"
"As a dragon he has to have a mate, but since he is a dragon king he has to have many mates so his bloodline can continue, this means that he has to have a harem. After knowing this are you willing to go through with it or suffer the heart break?"
"Umm..." Erika started
"You don't have to decide now but soon would be better, Ok, lets go then, they're waiting for us."
"Yeah Ok lets go," Erika said slowly.
"Hey Natsu are you ready?" Maho called as they walked out into the back garden.
"Yeah, lets go." he said. Black smoke started billowing from Natsu as he transformed. "Get on everyone and where are we going?"
"Just over the forest to avoid being seen by too many people." said Maho.
"Yeah Ok."
"Oh my god, this is amazing." Erika said excitedly.
After the flight:
"Natsu can I talk with you for a minute?" Erika said nervously.
"Yeah, what is it?"
"Well it's just that I..."
"Yes?"
"I-I Love you."
"I love you too Erika, I heard Maho told you about my situation."
"Yes I would like to join your h-harem."
"Ok would you like to give me your mate mark now or later?"
"Now please."
"Ok, I will just have to bite you on the neck and then your my mate."
"Ok" she said as she revealed her neck to him.
"Well here goes..." he said as he leaned forward while coating his elongated fangs in magic.
As he bit down on her neck Erika gave a loud erotic moan as she blushed madly.
10 minutes later:
"Natsu-kun, what is this?"
He was still ogling the silver haired beauty who was standing in front of his seldom used dusty full length mirror investigating a strange red marking on her neck.
Natsu explained "The bite mark on your neck is called the 'Mating Mark'. We both have one. Think of them like a wedding ring if you want..." He added sheepishly, a nervous blush spreading across his cheeks.
Erika's eyes sparkled in obvious delight as she inspected the mark.
The Mating Mark on her neck was red like the colour of Natsu's fire. It was small and depicted a dragon's face with an ornate crown, made from dragon horns, floating above its head.
"Ah, I love you Natsu-kun!" she said throwing her arms around his neck. He immediately hugged back, and they just sat there in each others embrace.
Before they could get to carried away there was a coughing sound behind them. Breaking out of the hug Erika said, "I'm sorry Maho-san, I didn't realise you were there."
"Listen Erika, just because you are now his mate, doesn't mean you can do that in front of me, after all I am his queen." she said while revealing her own mark on her neck.
"Wait how many mates do you have?" Erika asked pointedly at Natsu.
"Currently you two are the only ones." he said embarrassed.
"Ok, but just tell us if you get anymore first ok?" Maho said.
"Yeah that sounds reasonable." Natsu said awkwardly.
Several hours later:
"I'm afraid I have to go home now, it was fun, let's do it again sometime." said Erika.
"Ok see you on Monday." Maho said.
"Yeah bye dear." Natsu said slyly.
"Bye Maho, Miho and Natsu-kun." Erika called as she left the house, not before she gave Natsu a quick kiss on the cheek.
"So what do we do now?" Natsu asked.
"We just continue as normal I guess." Maho said.
"Yeah ok, it's time for bed,"
"Yep, I'll see you tomorrow, night" Maho said as she went to bed.
"Yeah, good night," Natsu called back quietly.