Seriously, I love it when I see the reviews and messages I get off you guys. You're awesome.
I don't know if a lot of you are confused as to why Lucy is in the character tag section, but it's simply because of my devious mind that made her one of the main characters. In a later chapter, you will see why...
Chapter 13: With Friends Like These...
He couldn't believe he had done this, not one bit...
He had run down the corridor, racing Gray at top speeds. Although, the water mage was behind because Natsu had been 'cheating'. To Gray, 'cheating' meant that Natsu had been using air magic to carry himself along; Natsu running strides were like a fully grown man leaping after a short run up.
Behind them was Lucy, who stood, awkwardly, next to Gajeel, who towered over her like a crane. And somehow, in the mayhem that Gray and Natsu caused, Lisanna had vanished from their little group, but they continued forward, sometimes yelling a cussing; other times they panted breathlessly like dogs.
Every time one of the two boys hurt themselves Lucy would run and use her light magic to heal them. Usually, it was a minor concussion, or because one of them had punched the other in the face. But soon Natsu had begun suffering from a high intake of mana consumption and his body began to waste its spiritual energy that was used to cast the actual spells.
"Natsu," Lucy fretted, beads of sweat gently rolled down her face, "If you continue you're going to pass out, maybe you should relax and train your spiritual energy later."
"Bunny-girl has a point hot head," Gajeel sid gruffly, scratching the back of his head, "We know you're a warrior and all, but you're only young so take a break with it all, you know? It's amazing how you came up with this much; you lasted half an hour."
"Plus, we need to get going," Lucy murmured, smiling weakly because she too was running low on how many spells she could cast, "We're going to be late."
"You guys go ahead," Natsu panted, slightly drowsily too, "I'll catch up with you after I've rested a little."
The other three shared a look, but then Natsu grinned at them and then they left. He watched their retreating figures as they jogged down the corridors. He then sighed, taking the sword off his back; he unsheathed it. He grabbed the hilt and, holding it with one hand, stared at his reflection in the dark coloured blade.
"Dezeus, what's going on? I can usually last two to three hours doing that," Grunting, he pulled himself up to lean against the white walls, "I've felt weak since I entered this school earlier."
"You're not the only one, boy," The sword replied in Natsu head. Dezeus voice was hollow and weak, "One of these Mages has to be Saint rank to put up a barrier this strong," Natsu was about to question him; ask him what he meant by the barrier, but Dezeus was one step ahead. "It seems to be a magical barrier that dulls the spiritual energy of the people inside it, except the caster, it apparently affects those even as strong as me. Maybe it was all the Wizards Saints working together..." Dezeus began to mumble to himself, clearly in a daze.
"Everyone else seems to be unaffected, why am I not?" Natsu pondered aloud, carefully pushing himself off the wall and began to sheath the blade again.
"Maybe it only affects destruction magic users, not many of them exist in the world, and most of them use their destruction magic for evil purposes like Zeref, or Acnologia," Dezeus said to Natsu, as Natsu swung the sword onto his back and began pacing forwards.
"Zeref... He's the-!" Before Natsu could finish, a hand covered his mouth; this stopped him from speaking so he could only mumble.
"He's the Dark Mage that uses destruction Magic; one that nobody should know about except a select few." Natsu looked at the wrinkled hand over his mouth, that seemed to be stretching for the ground, as he listened to the scratchy voice of an old gentleman, "So may I ask how you know that name?"
The hand removes itself from Natsu mouth, and the second it did Natsu pounced. He leaped backward, using his rank as a warrior to propel himself back and take out his sword. Dezeus was raring to go, the head of the dragon clamped down on Natsu hand and began to glow a deep red, emitting a dark aura.
"I asked: 'How do you know that name?'" The voice came again, but this time it bounced off the walls. Natsu couldn't locate where the old voice was coming from, but all his senses were on high alert.
"My father," He responded, his voice ringing loudly, not a hint of panic laced it, "Igneel. He once told me about how Zeref was after more power."
"Igneel? Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time," The walls around Natsu became wobbly and disorientated, and soon a small man, probably up to Natsu stomach, stood in front of him with a broad smile, "It's nice to meet you. My name is Makarov, otherwise known as the dean of this establishment."
The man was small, as he had already notice, but had white hair that went around the sides of his head, and he had sharp brown eyes too. Natsu slowly sheathed his sword, taking a small amount of time to glance around cautiously.
"You knew my father?" Natsu inquired, slightly befuddled by what had just happened, but intrigued non-the-less. He watched as the man walked up to the window, where the sky was a burst of blue and whites; Natsu asked, "How did you know him?"
"Your father and I, we were as close as two people could be, despite the fact that he os a powerful magical beast," Happy poked his head out of Natsu's sleeveless, black jacket and mewed, "We took many adventures together, along with some others. They were quite exciting. I was only young back then, an inexperienced ninth rank; your father was still a saint rank."
The old man, Makarov, ushered Natsu to follow him down a corridor; Natsu followed Makarov and asked, "What happened? You could still be adventuring with him?"
"His brother happened," Makarov sighed, his broad smiling down turning, "His brother had married in a small village to the founder of the villages daughter. Igneel knew that there was going to be a child involved because you have to consummate your marriage. He immediately fled to the village, taking shelter in a crack that split the ground. I never saw your father again." Makarov opened a door, leading Natsu inside, and continued, "After that the only person who had contact with Igneel was Gildarts. I started this school, and the warrior school, all in the name of your father. What is he up to now?"
Natsu shuddered at the question. His eyes became dark; his face became solemn, and his fist clenched into a tight ball, he seethed as he spoke, "Someone took him when I was younger."
The room grew silent, no one uttered a single word.
Makarov was the first to break the silence, "Do you want revenge?"
"More than anything," Natsu replied, dismay twisted into his voice, "But I have no one to train me in all my magic, there are only a few. Staying at this school will take too long, and I still need to increase my warrior rank."
"Luckily for you, I can help with one of those problems," Natsu eyed the man, waiting for him to go on. Makarov chortled, "I am a dual element mage of the air element and the earth element. I'm sure that sword of yours can help with your fire and destruction magics. As for being a warrior, that is relatively straightforward. By looking at you I can tell you have become the fourth rank so early on, so I suggest putting yourself in a gravitational field made of spiritual energy and training. I'll teach you how to do it later, come now brat. I've got a class of stupid kids I need to put into groups. You can stand with me."
Natsu followed the man, who simply held Natsu shoulder. Within seconds they were in a hall filled with children to the brim. On one side you could see the warriors, they all had giant swords and hammers on their backs or were wearing armor in some way. On the other hand, there were mages, who wore long jackets; some had staffs, while others stuck their noses into magic books.
The room was a white colour; just by looking at it, you could tell it was grand with the golden strips that cut through the middle of the walls, or just by stepping a foot into it by the rich brown colour of the wooden floor.
"Okay, you brats!" Makarov yelled, causing the loud ruckus of the children to become a hushed whisper - almost silent, "My name is Makarov, and I am the head of these two schools." He waited for complete silence before continuing, then stood on his podium, "Today we will be choosing groups of people for you to train with, and go out into the world with. But, before that I would like to demonstrate something," Makarov jumped off the podium and turned to Natsu, whose head had been down the whole time, "Natsu if you would be so kind as to step into the middle of the floor."
Natsu felt something off about the place where he was told to stand. He could feel an immense magical energy coming off of it, and stood wearily at the edge of the circle, "Old man, even from a mile away any decent mage would be able to tell there's something off about the circle." He turned to Makarov, who smiled at him, before saying, "Tell me what the hell this is, then I'll step into it."
The room became so silent you could hear a pin drop, no one in the history of the school had dared to speak to the Dean like that, even the teachers thought he had a death wish.
"You must be dumb or something, we can't feel a thing, idiot!" One mage chided loudly from the room, "Just step in the circle!"
"Shut up!" Makarov scolded, then laughed once again, "I see that your measurements for being the best student to enter this school are not just innate talent. That circle has a field strength of over 100, which is my spiritual energy. This gravitational circle is what will be used to train all of you for the next twenty years of your life! If you don't reach the sixth rank by then, you are kicked out of the school! Please, Natsu step into it."
Natsu nodded, then stepped one foot inside. He felt like a 1000 ton weight was crashing down on him, and all the air was knocked from his lungs. He stood firmly within the circle, taking a little while to sort out his breathing pattern. Then the weight vanished.
"Now that's done with, I suggest you all start training in your own field strengths to get ready for the real tests," He clapped his hands, and a list dropped from the roof, "Let's start grouping you up!"
A man appears center stage, and looked at the children, "I am the one who paired you. These groups are non-negotiable, but you can choose to not take part with your team and work alone," He paused for a second, then continued, now explaining the instructions, "When I call your names, please stand at the doors to the right. Once your whole group is there you can leave." He let that information sink it, then called the first group, "Levy, a mage! Gajeel, a mage and warrior! Jet, a warrior! Droy, a warrior!"
A few people shifted, and Natsu saw Gajeel head towards the door. He quickly sprinted down the stage and slid onto his hands and knees to where Gajeel was, "I've got something cool to show you guys later." He grinned mischievously, which caused the male to grin too.
Another seventeen groups were called before he heard two other names he knew, "Lisanna, a mage! Bixslow, a warrior! Wendy, a mage! Romeo, a mage and warrior!"
Natsu saw Lisanna walk past him and smile, so he smiled back. He knew this group was going to split into two because of the age gap between the other two, Wendy and Romeo, on the team. They look like they were nine compared to the twelve-year-old Lisanna, and the slightly older looking, Bixslow.
Groups, after groups, after groups were called until there were only about one hundred kids in the room.
"Natsu, a warrior, a mage, and a ninja!" Ninja? Natsu wasn't sure why they had said that - sure he was faster than the average warrior, but he surely wasn't a first rank ninja.
"It's because Gildarts was teaching you the way of the warrior, that some of his Ninja training techniques may have caused you to step one rank into a ninja. You won't progress anymore without necessary training, but it is up to you if you want that." Natsu nodded at Makarov, no longer confused.
The group caller carried on, "Gray, a mage and ninja! Lucy, a mage! Erza a warrior!"
Natsu jumped off the high stage with ease, landing on his feet with his hands firmly inside his pockets. He jogged up to Lucy, giving her a big grin as they continued towards the door.
He looked at the group of people before him, and couldn't help but feel like this was going to be the best years of his life.
They left the hall, and the long, scarlet headed girl was the first to speak, "My name is Erza, it's a pleasure to meet you all."
Gray grinned at her, and so did Natsu, while Lucy gave her a soft smile.
"It's nice to have another warrior on the team because then I'm not stuck with a want-to-be warrior, who is a Ninja good-for-nothing mage!" Natsu stuck out his hand to greet Erza, and she placed her hand in his, shaking it firmly. "I'm a Ninja of the first rank and air, fire and earth mage of the third level. Oh, and I'm also a destruction mage of the first rank."
"Name's Gray," Gray said, sticking out his hand to shake hers, "I'm a Ninja of the third rank, and a Mage of the second rank."
Lucy gave Erza a soft smile, greeting Erza with a handshake as well, "My name is Lucy! I'm a light and air mage of the second rank."
"I'm a fourth rank warrior," Erza said back, smiling a little, "I believe we're only meeting once a month for group training because we go to two separate schools, but I look forward to our time together."
Yeah, Natsu felt like these were going to be the best years of his life with friends like these.