Ello Ello! It's me again! Okay I decided add another chapter because really, Igneel actually taking a genuine liking Natsu so soon is unrealistic. So, being the person I am, I decided to change it. Took a while to haul my ass on the computer tho. I really love the days where I have nothing to do. Like just sit around and stare at the sky. I've updated the first one as well, and I plan to edit more or less the whole series. Nothing major yet, just making improvements. Enjoy.

(Natsu's POV)

Ah… The sun… Days like this were great… Natsu lay on a roof, and with a drink in his hand, taking slow sips. That day he'd gotten really lucky, and snatched his smoothie from a kitchen at a fancy restaurant he'd managed to sneak into. It tasted heavily, and he lay there soaking up the vitamin D.

"Ahhh…" He wished he could lay there forever, no problems, not hungry, perfectly content… Just lying there… fore—

Natsu pinched himself before he could finish that thought. He gasped, walking up. That had been way too close.

"Damn. What time is it?" Of course, there was no answer. He blinked and wiped away whatever was in his eyes. When his vision cleared, he guessed it was around mid afternoon, with the sun bright and dazzling. There was no wind, the air was still, but the cold remained behind, as if abandoned, just as Natsu had. Getting up, he immediately fell back on his face. His knees were weak, and his feet were complaining in a nasty red shade.

"Aw shit" He wondered if he could tear his shirt up and use them to protect his feet, but not right now. His chest was already clinging to the meager protection the cloth offered.

'So now what?' He sneezed loudly, and instinctively tried to suck it back in, only to feel something cold and wet slide in his nose. He snorted it out, and spat.

"Yuck" He sniffled, and shivered. He couldn't even breathe through his nose properly; the cold would attack his sinus if he did. Well to stay warm, he would have to keep moving, so he trudged forward, eyes small slits.

"Aw…"

He kept walking, and after hours of doing the same thing over and over, he flopped over exhausted.

"No more… I give up…" He turned around, and felt something scrape his chest. It was his tooth… Natsu groaned as loud as he could, swore, then pushed himself back onto his knees, staggering to his feet.

"Godamnit" He decided there and then, ripping off his shirt and strapping them onto his feet. Hugging his chest, he moved with increased vigor, spend all most of his energy now, use the last of it to rest later. Oh look, a village. No, no, it was probably a mirage. Why would a village by right there? He would have seen it last night. He reached out, and still felt ice, and he hit his head on it. Stupid. It was just ice, nothing special to—

"Hey! What do you think your doing to my house!?" A large man with a furry brown coat walked up, wearing goggles and thick boots, along with huge blue pants. "Hey! I'm talking to you!" Natsu was so relieved, he thanked whoever was listening and fainted.

"…"

"What's… in the middle of… mountains…"

Natsu cracked his eyes open. It was… warmer?

"Oh so you're finally awake huh? Whatcha doing up here? Nothing but ice, cold frostbite and me" Natsu shifted his vision to the left as his neck refused to budge. On his left was a man with goggles, a huge cloak of red purple swamp green and dark brown hues forming horizontal lines and patterns that covered his neck down to his ankles. His boots were pale black, and they had spikes on the bottom for grip. His dark spiky blue hair shifted as he smacked his forehead.

"What are you stupid too? Great combination, directionally challenged and an idiot to boot. How the heck did you end up here?" He shook his head, and reached for a bowl by his side.

"Here. Sip this" Natsu complied, cracking open a sliver of his mouth. The goggled man dipped some into his mouth, and Natsu's throat felt warm. He sighed, and the man must have heard it.

"Hah! Tasty aint it! Don't swallow too fast there's more where that came from" The words had barely left his mouth when Natsu choked on his next desperate sip.

"Bwahaha! Told you didn't I? Ease up boy" Natsu coughed, and did as he was told.

"…thanks…" He croaked. The man nodded.

"Mmm" Natsu was slowly fed for another few minutes, the Goggles put the bowl down. Natsu decided that was his name now, and he would work to repay this debt. He could multitask, surviving Igneel's challenge and helping Goggles. It was a win win thingy. This was his last thought before Natsu stopped thinking.

(Goggle's POV)

"Weird kid. Seems alright," Goggles closed the door, and he slipped on his gloves. A week had passed, and the boy's temperature had lowered considerably. "He should be fine in another week, maybe two"

Goggles headed downwards, toward the middle of the mountain. Along the way he gathered what brambles he could, digging around the snow and sometimes happening among a good twig here or there. As he reached the bottom of the mountain, he laid three twigs around a tree some distance away, and three around the next a little farther down and so forth. As a safety measure, though he was sure he knew the mountain well enough, in case he was ever lost, those would be his guides back to his hut.

He descended the mountain, walking and sometimes running, jumping over boulders and past a river. After near an hour, he arrived at the base.

Below was a long winding path, devoid of fauna or flora. His instincts told him to go left today and so he did. Another hour of walking commenced, and his breath didn't falter. He didn't even need his magic for something as trivial as this.

"Da da da dun" He hummed to himself. The plains were now in sight. Many wild animals were grazing, some were on the lookout, but most ate lazily. His dinner!

'Maybe a snack too' He spotted the fruit trees that always sprouted near a lake, and sprinted. He stopped under the tree abruptly, most of the skittish animals jumping away from the newest entity. He jumped almost ten meters, and yanked one of the plants off. Taking a bite, its soft shell spurted a tangy juice into his mouth. Yum.

He sat upon the large bay leaves that covered the trees top, and started judging which meat would be the best to devour. He scratched his chin, and out of the corner of his eye he spotted large buffalo horns. It was in the middle of the pack, but he would just chase thee surrounding ones off. It wouldn't do to kill each and every one of them just to get the best of the pickings, easy at it may have been.

He stood, stretched, then screamed. He did not roar, it was not a battle, and he did not bellow, he wasn't a barbarian. But his screams were meant to confuse and frighten, and that it did. Animals that had something between their ears fled. Some ran into others, mothers abandoned their children, and some just died. Goggles laughed.

"Hah! This never gets old!" All that peaceful tranquil life, just by yelling he had scrambled and jumped them all into chaos. This was almost as good as actually eating his prizes. Dust was flung and he couldn't get the best of looks, but the shining horns were still there. He leaped, jumping half a kilometer or so, and struck the buffalo's neck off. He bit into the flesh, and chuckled, then yelped.

Something had flown out of the dust and bit Goggles. Goggles was so surprised that something hadn't run off from his cries he couldn't react properly to this thing. He just looked at it, and felt teeth knowing at his arm. Blood was flowing, but it wasn't just his. The arm he hadn't used to cut the animal smelled like bison as well, which meant the teeth clenching onto him had already tasted the bison before he had. He wiggled his arm, but the thing wouldn't leave, so he jumped high into the air, above the dust.

He beamed. It was the boy he'd rescued.

"That's a nice bite you have there, Sako" In honor of his jaw, Goggles named him Sharp Fang, in his native language. When they landed on the ground again, he gazed at the bison and laughed delightedly. The bison's stomach was chewed out, leaving the skin and horns and bones intact, but most of the flesh was eaten.

"And I didn't even notice you following me here! Come my friend, we're going to have some fun!" Sako rose up and tried to bite Goggle's face off, but he just caught Sako with his hands and knocked him out with a smack to the jaw.
"Hahaha!" He laughed again.

(Sako's POV)

"Grrr…"

'Meat. Get' Sako's eyes narrowed, and he spat out blood. Goggle's grinned. He'd been nurturing the little beast for a little over two months now. Most recently, he'd devised a game, which had created endless amounts of fun. For himself of course. Sako's blood thirst was starting to reach good levels and Goggle's was making the most of it. He'd made it so Sako couldn't escape the boundaries he'd drawn out, and was holding the only slab of meat around for miles. If Sako tried to leave the borders, he would be rewarded with a beating to the face. Of course, while Sako learned not to cross the lines after a few more serious offences, he was not afraid of Goggles. Which was good, and if he had been Goggles would have been disappointed.

Sako glared.
'New' Instead of his usual all out attacks, Sako clenched and unclenched his fists, digging into the snow and burying deep.

Goggles eyes widened and he grinned. Sako was the simplest level of all his rage and hate. While power strength and speed were his, his intelligence suffered, though his fighting was almost pure instinct. He had to lock Sako in chains every night just to keep him from attacking while Goggles slept. His form was like a beast, feral, discarding grace and going for raw swiftness.

Even if it was only instinct, Goggles was impressed by how well Sako instinctively new when some kicks were a feint or when some punches had to be taken to dish to dish out two more blows. Now he eagerly awaited this next new plan, giddy with the progress Sako was making.

Suddenly an explosion erupted at his feet, and Sako jumped out, his body transformed. Goggles couldn't stop another burst of laughter. Sako was learning new magic despite never having used or even seen the brand before! What levels of genius would he reach next?

'Strike' Sako descended on Goggles with beastly fury.

(Goggle's POV)

It was the end of the third month since Sako had arrived, and his ferocity hadn't diminished. Goggles thought it would be good for his toy to take a break, so with a grin on his face, Goggles had barely managed to restrain Sako with magical chains. Killing him would have been easier, but since Sako had yet to become boring, Goggle strived to the challenge of restraining Sako.

"If only capturing you was as easy as killing you eh boy?" Sako's teeth lashed out and clamped where Goggle's had just been. "Feisty!" Grabbing Sako's throat, he forced the younger boy to drink his concoction. Sako wanted to refuse, but lack of oxygen and an iron grip on his vital point compelled him to swallow. Goggle's saw Sako's eyelids droop, and his lips uncurl from their snarl. Gradually, slowly, Sako fell into the first deep sleep since arriving. Goggles gave an approving nod.

"There. I'll give you a day to rest, then tomorrow, we keep on training. This is just the start, in another three years… no make that one year. In one year you'll be ready to make a mess of this world, and we will be right beside you," He looked up to the stars that twinkled above. "Master and I will make sure of it"

"I can't wait for the real fun to start," As soon as the words left his mouth, his head snapped left.

"Igneel? What is he…?" Goggles eyes wandered to Sako, and he couldn't help it. Drool spilled from his mouth and his tongue reverted to his original form, long thin and dangerous. He checked himself, and his tongue became human again, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't stop the gasps of air.

"Hehehe… Igneel's recruit? And I just… I already… Hah… Hahaha… Hahahaha! HAHAHA!" He turned and leaped as far as he could, running as fast as he could to keep out of the dragon's radar-like smell.

"And I didn't even violate the laws! I had no idea! Oh I can't wait to see you again Sako! Whenever that is, I promise to finish you just right!" Sprinting at full speed with snow melting around him, Goggles was off the mountain in minutes.

(Igneel's POV)

He waited, and waited. Igneel had a lot of patience, he was a dragon that already lived longer than any mans grandfathers grandfather, but really, sleeping for a week?

"Wake up" He nudged the boy. Nothing.

"Wake up" He scratched its face. Nothing.

"…" He sprayed a jet of red primarily aimed at Natsu's rear.

"Ahhh!" Natsu screamed and hopped up, rolling and doing strange motions to put out the flames.

"Awake now?" Igneel wasn't irritated, but neither was he altogether happy. But he was also slightly curious. The rules were that he couldn't ask about how Natsu had done it, unless he spilled the beans on his own. "Do you have anything to say about your trip these past three months?" Natsu glared.

"Screw you, you snail" Igneel sighed.

"Snails are not reptiles" Natsu turned red and stuck his tongue out.

"Whatever!" His expression became sly. "So then. I survived. Don't I get my reward now?" He nudged Igneel's paw.

"So don't I? Huh, huh? You promised you know. A dragon always keeps his word" Natsu's face was now a gloating smirk. Igneel scowled, then lightened.

"Congratulations! You managed to pass the trials. I will now teach you magic," Natsu eyes bulged, and he whooped, while Igneel continued. "And guess what? Because I'm teaching you this dangerous magic, while I teach, you have to do what I say when I say, else the magic will backfire on you and you'll die on the spot in extreme agony!" Igneel's fangs flashed.

"I can't wait to start!" Natsu's face practically dropped.

"Kill myself!?" Igneel's smile stayed.

"Absolutely! And we start right now! Lets see… Run straight ahead until you get to a lake. Then, drop and do 100 pushups, 100 sit-ups, 100 lunges, 200 jumping jacks, then run back" Igneel nodded his look becoming a savage glee.
"And when you get back there's even more! You start…" Igneel ignored Natsu's multiple pleads and protests. "Now!" The dragon roared fire and stamped, and with that Natsu ran, screaming injustice and revenge the half the time.

I know this one is much better than the previous one, and I hope you enjoyed it even if only a little more. Cheers!

Justin, Lover of anime, enemy of haters, and family to all my Otaku brother and sisters. Welcome to my world! XD