It had been half a month since the mages started their training and the fruits of their progress were already starting to show.
Juvia and Seilah sat in the shallow water of the beach, letting the water lap at their bodies. The two women had grown close over the past weeks and were currently discussing the various desserts of Fiore that they have tried.
Near the camp were Natsumi, Lucy, Happy, and Carla, the latter two having managed to pull off complete transformations thanks to the in-depth teachings of Carla from 129-G. They were all training in hand-to-hand combat under the watchful eyes of Erza.
Lucy had progressed leaps and bounds due to Natsu's aggressive and unrelenting strategy, she was sporting lots of bumps and bruises and had complained about the pinkette's roughness in training.
These injuries were always healed by the young sky dragon slayer, as part of her training under Marvell's guidance. The youthful blunette had been looking after all the mages diligently, mending any and all wounds.
Marvell had taught her some of the more powerful spells she had learnt from observing Natsu along with some of her own techniques that she had developed. She had left with her best friend a few days ago, both were confident in the progress of their younger doppelgangers.
The pinkette himself was in the middle of a blade-lock with Ikaruga, they had been going at it fiercely for the hour with neither showing any signs of slowing down.
Ikaruga leapt back, cherry blossom petals floating around her as she put some distance between them. "You know, in all our fighting I have noticed that you don't channel your magic into your sword, why?"
"I never gave it much thought." Natsu's eyes narrowed on the woman, noticing the pause in her stance. "Something tells me that you are going to grill me on it."
"Magical swords like ours have special abilities, I'm sure you have noticed that with Erza." The pinkette started to sound proud, borderline arrogant, as she ran her fingers across her exceptionally long katana. "My Mugetsu-Ryu can cut through anything when I channel my magic into it."
Natsu snarled as his face contorted into a slight sneer, his eyes flickering to red as his demon side came to the surface. "Woman, I sincerely doubt you can cut through everything. You wouldn't even be able to scratch a drake with that dull butter knife. Not even using that Yasha's Empty Flash move of yours."
"A drake?" Her eye twitched at the man's condescending tone, she looked into his red eyes and took up a defensive stance when she noticed his sword arm twitch.
The sand launched into the air as the demonic man was in the swordswoman's face, locking swords with her once more. "Yes. A drake is a smaller and much weaker cousin to the dragon."
"And you think yours is better?" Ikaruga sported a haughty look as she forced the man back. "That's just some sharpened stick from the stone age."
"Come on." He chuckled. "It was only a few hundred years ago."
"Old man."
"That one hurt." Natsu admitted, playfully, as he grabbed his chest in mock pain with a devilish grin.
"Don't have a heart attack, old man."
'Hey kiddo, what she said about your sword was right, it does seem to have some kind of latent ability or abilities that you haven't tapped into yet. I can't get a read on it yet though, so I can't tell you how to use one of the abilities.' END informed the Dragon King, he began to ponder the various possibilities. 'All I know is the sword's power resonates with your own.'
"Hey, Ikaruga, I'm going to take a break for a little bit, need to have an internal monologue." Natsu said to the woman with a chuckle, his eyes fading back to onyx as he sheathed his sword.
"O…kay then?" The tip of Mugetsu-Ryu dropped to the sand as the pinkette was left dumbfounded at the man's comment. She sighed and slid her sword into its sheath. "Fine, I guess, go be some weirdo."
He turned away from the woman and walked into the woods. 'So tell me, END, what do you think is possible?'
'Well, starting off with the obvious ones first. Your sword was designed to kill any and all dragons, and as such it has the power to cut through literally anything. But there is a catch, as I said before, the sword's power resonates with your own.'
'Meaning?'
'Meaning that the sword reacts to you, it will only destroy that which you wish to destroy. I didn't think I had to spell it out for you.' The demon sighed and slapped a hand to his face in irritation. 'Anyway, moving onto the second one, fire projection.'
'I would've put that at first, it is only natural that I am able to shoot fire from my sword and increase my reach with slashes of fire.'
'Well, it's a given that you could do that, but while you can do a lot with your sword, you need to bear in mind that you aren't invincible, getting up close and personal can easily get us both killed.'
'So any other ideas on how to use the sword?'
'Natsu, you are a dragon slayer wielding the only known dragon sword, I'm sure you'll come up with something.' The demon pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, annoyance coming out clearly in his voice. 'We need to come up with a name for it, anyway. And don't pick something corny!'
'Why would I do my kin the dishonour of that?' The pinkette reached over his shoulder and drew the sword from his back. 'This contains the bodies of Igneel's wife and grandfather, I will not mock them by calling their legacy something stupid.'
'If that is the case, then ask the sword for its name.'
'And just how am I supposed to do that?'
'Sit down, Shut Up, Focus on the sword, and ask for its name. How else are you supposed to do it?'
Natsu grumbled at his inner demon and took the sword off of his back. He sat down on the leafy forest floor and removed the blade from its sheath. "Now, how should I do this…?"
"Well… Here we go." He pushed his magic into the sword, watching as it started to glow. "Tell me your name."
'Knick your thumb and run it along the side of the blade, offering it your blood. Then ask it, you'll understand the question it wants by instinct.'
The man looked at his left hand, his eyebrows raised with one cocked higher than the other. He gently pressed the pad of his thumb against the razor-sharp blade, it stung a little but it didn't faze him.
Natsu slowly ran the bloodied thumb down the long sword, from hilt to tip. "What is your name, oh great dragon sword?"
The blood started to move, the magic glow directing it and etching an old runic language into the black blade, shining a stark red on the background. A voice boomed in the head of the dragon slayer. 'The Name Is Durandal, Oh Bearer Mine, My Blade Is At Your Command. I'll Cut Everything Standing In Your Path.'
'Oi, there is only room for one voice in this head!' END shouted back, angrily, at the disembodied voice as he waved his mental fist.
Natsu examined the runes on the sword, there were of the ancient draconic runic language. "Durandal, huh."
'What you have there, kiddo, is the mythical sword, Durandal. It's an indestructible sword capable of slicing through anything. How Big Red managed to pull this many strings and create it is beyond me but it does make sense since it is designed to cut through even the strongest of beings. Well, anyway, you have it so let's make the most of it. I always thought there was something special about this sword.'
The pinkette rose to his feet as he sheathed the sword and placed it onto his back once more. 'I'm going to head back, hopefully they haven't destroyed the beach.'
'What's your bet on the chances that something like that has happened?'
'About… seventy percent, it wouldn't surprise me at all if they did trash the place.'
'It is what you guys do after all.'
The man walked back through the forest, he started to get an off feeling as the hairs on his neck stood on end. "Something's up…"
Natsu broke out into a full-blown sprint, the trees racing passed as a blur as he rocketed the rest of the way to the beach. Just as he reached the treeline, his sight was filled with a bright golden light.
GONG
"THOSE FUCKING IDIOTS!" He punched the tree with such heavy force that it splinted and shattered into toothpicks. "I shouldn't have left them alone as a group, now they got taken to the Celestial Realm and will miss out on all the training."
Natsu closed his eyes and sharpened his hearing, searching for breathing or a heartbeat anywhere near him. "Nothing… They were all taken to the Celestial Realm. FUCK!"
'Hey, Kiddo, the barrier between dimensions is much weaker than that of the barrier between universes. Try using Durandal to cut through it and enter the dimension of the Celestials.'
"Good idea." He reached up and drew the long katana, channelling his magic into it and causing it to glow faintly with heat and power. Natsu raised it above his head and brought it down sharply.
…
"Nothing…"
'Again.' Ordered END, his voice stern and demanding.
The pinkette slashed through the air once more but still couldn't break through it.
'Again.'
Natsu tried once more, slashing vertically through the air with his sword. It created a small disturbance but it was very fleeting and vanished moments later.
'AGAIN.'
"GGRRRAAAAHHHH!" His eyes flashed red as the glow around the black blade was replaced by blood-red energy. The Celestial Realm flashed before his mind's eye as he brought the sword down once more.
The black blade became embedded into reality itself, slicing a long vertical slit in front of the man as Durandal cut through the dimensional barrier.
Reality split apart in a sea of red energy, the slash barely wide enough for Natsu to walk through comfortably. He brought the sword to the side and added a horizontal slash that caused the corners to fall in, widening the violent bloody storm created by the sword.
"Time to go." The pinkette slid the sword back into its sheath on his back and walked through dimensional rift he had created.
The Celestial King was in shock as the spirits all felt a wave of energy tear the walls of their realm asunder. "What the?"
The air split apart in a mass of violent red energy, causing all the mages and spirits to be on guard, readying themselves to fight whatever monster was strong enough to rend the barriers between dimensions.
"Ikaruga, did you do this?" Erza glanced over to the pinkette, she was keeping her cool but internally she was on edge.
"Of course not!" The woman had her sword drawn and pointed at the rift. "I'm not sure what caused this."
Virgo inched towards Lucy, her chains clinking on the floor. Her voice came out as a quiet, alert mutter. "Princess, I am sensing faint traces of celestial magic coming from that rift…"
"Celestial magic…" Lucy quietly repeated the maid's words slowly, her eyes snapping to the spirit. A memory flashed before her eyes, it was Natsu shirtless with a small golden key resting on his chest. "Could it be…? But how could he cut through…?"
"Did you figure something out, Lucy?" Natsumi asked the blonde, her ears picking up on the quiet voice of her best friend.
"I think it is Natsu." She called out, letting the group in on her thoughts. "Virgo is picking up faint readings of celestial magic, I saw Natsu had a golden key on his chest, it looked like a mini version of Virgo's key."
"And you'd be right." A voice called out as the man in question stepped out of the void, somehow managing to enter the celestial realm without having their clothing. A golden glow shining through his shirt. "I was given a functional miniature version of my Virgo's key, with permission from my Lucy."
"Who Are You?" Boomed the Celestial King. His voice was loud and commanding as he gazed down upon the man.
"Natsu fucking Dragneel." The pinkette called out, announcing himself as he walked through the gathered mages and spirits, his red eyes set firmly upon the giant being. "I'm in the middle of fucking training this lot, and while I approve of a little bit of downtime. Time flows differently here!"
"Dragneel?" The massive spirit raised his eyebrows, he turned to Natsumi and Lucy with a questioning gaze.
"He is an alternate version of me. But more importantly, what is this about time being different?"
Natsu turned to face the mages, he pointed up at the giant spirit over his shoulder. "We can party all we want here, as I am well aware that is what you were brought here for, but spending a day here equals roughly three fucking months back on Earthland."
"WHAT?!" The mages all shouted in unison, stunned at the revelation, they would have missed out on all their training or worse the Grand Magic Games itself.
"So, to avoid all the hassle." The pink-haired man turned back to the Celestial King, his eyes narrowing as he practically challenged the spirit in his own domain. "You need to change the flow of time of this dimension, and don't give me any fucking shit about not being within your power. You are Lord of this realm and have full control over everything here, even time itself bends to your will."
"Hmm… You've got guts, Natsu Dragneel, just who exactly are you?" The king boomed, he knelt down, bringing his head closer to the man so he could inspect this strange being.
"I am the demon known as END, Etherious Natsu Dragneel, and I am also the King of the Fire Dragons, the Dragon King, and the King of Fire itself. And I sound like some pompous prick saying all that, but you fucking asked."
The spirit pulled back a little at the man's surprising albeit ill-mannered words. "I don't sense any deceit in your voice, nor any signs of tampering to your mind… I appreciate your honesty, King…"
Natsu held a hand up, silencing the Spirit King midsentence. "Please, don't use formalities, the titles may be mine but I don't like for them to be known or to be called by them. As you said, I was being honest with you as I respect your power and authority. Just call me Natsu."
"Very well, Natsu, I appreciate your honesty and will consent to your request." The large spirit raised his hands as they glowed gold with power, a few moments later the golden glow pulsed from his hands and spread out across the dimension. "I have altered the flow of time, it is now one-to-one with the mortal world."
"Thanks big guy." The pinkette turned back to the stunned group, a colossal smile adorning his face as his eyes faded back to normal. "PARTY TIME!"
The gathered mages and spirits all cheered loudly. Seilah and Ikaruga walked over to the man, they were both in celestial garbs.
Ikaruga crosses her arms and squinted her eyes at Natsu, trying to see if anything is different. "How did you get in here?"
"I cut through it with my sword." The man shrugged, indifferent as he gazed over at the buffet. He raised his voice as his eyes landed on Droy practically drooling all over the food. "Someone make sure Droy doesn't eat everything on us, he is on a diet after all."
Seilah's eyes glinted mischievously as she tilted her head to look at Droy, a devilish grin spreading across her face. "Oh, just leave him to me."
The demon walked away from the two pinkettes, giggling quietly to herself as she eyed her large prey.
"Is it me, or does she get some weird pleasure out of doing that?" Ikaruga glanced at the man beside her.
"She probably does, she is like Mira."
The clinking of chains caught the pinkettes' attention, both of them turning to see Virgo joining them in watching the chaos that was Fairy Tail partying.
"Natsu, may I ask you something?" The spirit's eyes curiously flicked from the man's face to his chest and back again.
"Looks like you want to know about my key, right?"
"Yes, was I that obvious?" The maid looked up at Natsu, her head tilting to the side.
"Pretty much, that and I knew you'd want to know why I carry a smaller version of your key around." Natsu took the glowing pendant out from under his shirt and placed it on the outside of his clothes. "Long story short, my version of you visited me one day and told me that she felt a connection with me, she felt that both Lucy and I were her masters. As such, she had sort out permission from Lucy and the King to create this for me."
"What does it do?" Virgo leaned in and ran her dainty fingers over the small golden key.
"It acts as both a beacon and a minor gate key. With it Virgo can come to me when she or I wants, and she can syphon my magic to stay on Earthland for as much as she wants, but it isn't meant for combat. The reason for it was because I have a lot of magic to spare."
The maid nodded, she was satisfied with his answer. Virgo turned back to her blonde master. "Thank you for answering my question, I'm going to spend time with princess."
"Alright. If you want to know anything else then just come and ask, I'm happy to answer any of your questions." Natsu watched the spirit walk away but turn her head back to him at his words, a small smile on her face.
Ikaruga grabbed the man by the shirt and forced his attention to snap to her with a jerk of her fist. "Ok. I want to know just how you cut your way into here!"
The man reached over his shoulder and drew his sword far enough that the draconic runic language became fully visible. "You won't be able to read them, but it translates to Durandal, I asked for its name when I walked away from you."
"Wait…" She faltered as her grip loosened, her eyes glued to the sword. "The Durandal? The mythical sword made by dragons and blessed by the gods…? How…"
"It was made for me by my kin."
"D-Durandal was made for you? B-but how? I heard that anyone who touches it gets incinerated…"
"That would be because it contains two extremely powerful fire dragons."
Ikaruga paled as she looked at her hands, she had held the most powerful sword she knows of and survived. "You don't see me as a threat at all… do you?"
"No, I also trust you. If I had seen you as a threat then the sword would have left nothing but ashes when you touched it."
The swordswoman slowly backed up. Her eyes flicking up to Natsu's face. "W-why didn't you say that before…?"
Natsu sighed as he shook his head in disbelief, he ran a hand down his face as his eyes bored into Ikaruga's emerald orbs. "If I wanted to kill you then I wouldn't have saved you, I would have either cut you down or put a bullet in you back at that tower. Push the thoughts out of your head as I have no intention of harming you."
The pinkette stared back at the man, her racing heart gradually slowing down as she started to calm her nerves. He was right, had he wanted to kill her then he would have done it already. This Natsu didn't seem to like leaving loose ends.
With a deep breath, she had finally relaxed, her shoulders slumping as a massive, overbearing pressure was lifted off them. "I believe you… I think I'll go help the demon terrorise that fat guy."
"Be my guest." Natsu swept his arm in front of him as he bowed to the former assassin, a small grin forming as his eyes sparkled at her.
He watched as the woman hurried away and straightened up, resting a hand on his hip as he let out a tiresome sigh. "Well, that was eventful…" He gazed around at the gathered mages and spirits as even silver key spirits joined in the merrymaking.
"You must have some serious balls, pulling something like that."
The pinkette sighed as he turned to look at the newcomer. "Who is bothering me now… Oh."
He was met with the sight of two golden spirits, Aquarius and Aries.
"Mr Natsu, I'm s-sorry we caused you trouble." The timid ram spirit bowed to the dragon slayer, apologetically. "W-we just wanted to celebrate the return of our friends."
"Tch." Aquarius looked away from the stuttering spirit, her eyes landing on her boyfriend, Scorpio.
Natsu placed his hand on Aries' shoulder and brought her upright, a soft smile adorning his face. "I completely understand, Aries, we did the same thing years ago, back in my universe. You don't have to apologise to me."
"I don't know why she is, I don't sense anything special about you, and you don't even have as much power as Natsumi."
The man just shook his head, he wasn't going to snap back at her. He calmly stared into the water bearer in the eyes. "Aqua, I've learnt how to suppress my magical signature, which is while you'd think that."
"Bullshit."
"Why do you have a problem with him?" Aries turned to her fellow spirit, her voice rising defiantly.
"Don't worry about it, Aries. You can't please everyone." Natsu reassured the spirit with a gentle pat on her shoulder. He walked past them as he headed for his companions.
"Seilah!" He shouted, getting the demon's attention as she made Droy chase around floating food, always keeping it just outside his reach. "I said make sure he doesn't eat all the food, not torment him when we are supposed to be having fun!"
"But I AM having fun!" She shouted back at the man, making Droy jump on the spot as food hovered above him.
"I can see that, stop tormenting the poor guy for now though, but make sure he eats no more than the dictated amount."
Droy reached out and managed to grab a roasted chicken drumstick, only for it to be turned to mush in a split second. Ikaruga had used her Yasha's Empty Flash to destroy the food.
"Ikaruga! What did I just say!"
"Sorry, I wasn't listening."
Natsu sighed as he slapped a hand to his face. This was going to be a long night.
It had been a month since Natsu gatecrashed the party in the Celestial Realm, the mages had made some serious progress in their training. Even Droy had started to slim down finally.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!"
A torrent of fire raced across the beach, burning bright and hot as it collided with its target.
"Not bad, you have improved a lot." The flames cleared to reveal Erza, clad in her Flame Empress Armour.
She stood facing Natsumi, fire wisping from her grinning mouth as she glowed with happiness. "You can thank Natsu for that."
"Speaking of which, where is he?"
The dragon princess placed a finger on her chin in thought as she looked around the beach. "I think he got bored or something and went off looking for monsters."
"Are you sure he said something like that?" Erza raised an eyebrow, uncertain that the pinkette had heard correctly. She closed the distance between them.
"Maybe it was something about hunting bandits or something."
"We should go looking for him."
"No, let's just keep training." Natsumi lit her fists on fire and started barraging the Knight with heavy punches.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Natsu sat on the ground, his back resting against a tree as he watched Lucy train with the one from his own universe.
Luce had dropped by after catching up with Natsu via a video call. She had decided that her counterpart needed a more "Heartfilia" style of teaching.
She had brought along Happy too, the exceed having mastered Transformation magic while Natsu was away. Surprising the pinkette and making tears well up in his eyes from happiness.
"What have you been up to, Natsu?" Happy looked up at his father figure, his blue hair rippling in the wind.
"Training this lot, breaking into the Celestial realm to demand that the king change the flow of time. Nothing all that unusual."
"You did WHAT?" Came a shout from the centre of the clearing, Luce was storming over the pinkette.
Natsu quickly rephrased what he said in order to not spark the woman's ire, considering she was currently in her Taurus Stardress. "I entered the Celestial realm and asked the king to adjust the flow of time so that only a single night would have passed and not months."
"That isn't what I heard!" The blonde shouted as she aimed a heavy kick at his head.
"Fuck!" He dived out of the way as Luce felled the tree with a single, hard kick.
"Tell me, how did you get into their realm, and don't lie to me."
Natsu straightened up and brought his fists up. "I asked nicely."
"Yeah, no you didn't."
"Come on, Luce, I'm sure she'd have told you everything that has happened since I have been here." He nodded at the other blonde who stood dumbfounded at her counterpart's raw strength.
Luce smirked at the man before unleashing a flurry of punches and kicks at him.
All Natsu could do was to parry and deflect the blows, if he let them hit him then he'd surely suffer much worse than a bruise.
"Yes, she did tell me. She told me how you managed to cut your way through the dimensional barrier."
"What, no congratulations?"
He was forced back until his back hit a tree. Natsu dodged under Luce's swing and moved behind her, he didn't want to grapple her as even his strength can't compare to the Taurus Stardress.
"You forced your way into the Celestial realm then demanded something of the King."
"I wanted him to change the flow of time there."
"That's understandable, but you still forced your way into there."
Natsu just sighed as he kept dodging her blows, there was no reasoning with her when it came to the Celestial Spirits.
As he brought his arm up to direct one of her punches away from him he noticed a light flickering on his P-IVD. "Huh…"
Jumping back to put a little bit of space between himself and Luce, he pinched his fingers over the light and dragged it up to his eye level. As he opened his fingers, the holographic window opened and revealed a scarred and battle-hardened blunette. "Oh, hey McGarden, what's up?"
"Just doing a routine check-up to see how our friendly universes are doing, just wrapped up talking to your Levy who said you were training that Natsumi. How's it going?"
Natsu focused on the charging Luce once more as she had changed from her brute force Taurus outfit to the speedy Scorpio outfit. "It's going alright, everyone is improving leaps and bounds, Luce is pissed though, my one."
"I see that, what did you do?" The blunette's eyebrow rose, she looked at the man, questioningly. "Spilt a drink on her clothes?"
"Oi. I am not that clumsy." The pinkette's eyes narrowed as they snapped to McGarden.
The moment's distraction proved costly though as Luce managed to land a punch on Natsu's jaw. "Gotcha!"
"Hey! That's not very fair, I was distracted by the call!" He shouted at the woman but he shook his head as he couldn't help the smile that spread across his face. "Ok, ok, you got me."
Luce walked over and stepped in view of the holographic window. "Hey, McGarden. What Natsu did was break a rule again, he trespassed in the Celestial realm."
"Wait, how?"
"Oi, McGarden! Who are you chatting to?"
"One moment you two." The scarred woman leant back and looked across the room at someone. "Just Natsu and Lucy from 129-G! Their Levy told me they were in 121-M, with that other Natsumi!"
Moments later a black-haired soldier stepped beside McGarden. It was Sam Bryne. "Oh, so it is. You look a little sweaty there, blondie, what have you been up to?"
"Training my counterpart, it's nice to see you again, Sam." Luce smiled kindly at the soldier.
"Those are some nasty looking scars, Natsu." Sam leaned in to get a better view. "Turn your head a little."
"Heh." The pinkette did as she asked, displaying the slash marks to the black-haired soldier. "I went to the New Vegas Wasteland for some parts for Levy, she joined me about a third of the way through. Came across a pack of Deathclaws, they gave me this and I left them in pieces."
"Nice. So this training, what is it for?"
Lucy slowly moved beside her taller double, peaking around her and into the window. "It is for the Grand Magic Games."
"It's a tournament where all the guilds come together and fight to see who is top dog." Natsu clarified, glancing at the younger blonde woman. "This is Lucy from 121-M by the way. Lucy, these are Levy McGarden from 137-C and Samantha Bryne from 942-F, which is completely different to both of our universes and is in a state of all-out world war last I heard. Sam is a Soldier for COG."
"Sounds fun, I have a few hours free so do you need a hand training them?"
The pinkette nodded gratefully, happy to have someone else who can teach combat. "Sure, a crash course in Military Hand-to-Hand would do everyone good."
"Sweet. Give me about half an hour to finish up around here then I'll jump on over." Sam moved away from McGarden and walked off-screen. "Make sure you gather everyone!"
"Well, what is going on over there, McGarden?" Natsu turned and headed back to the beach, gesturing for the others to follow him.
"Building shit, destroying shit, killing shit, the usual shit." The blunette offhandedly listed them off on her fingers, she grabbed a nearby mug of coffee and poured a bit of alcohol into it from a flask. "How did you manage to get into the Celestial realm, Natsu?"
"Turns out my sword is a bit more special than I first thought, it took a blood offering and a question, spoken just the right way, to reveal its secrets."
"Curious… I might have to run some tests on it…" McGarden rubbed her chin in thought as she brought the mug to her lips. "You better get a move on, Sam could most likely be earlier than half an hour."
"Yeah, good point." Natsu glanced around at the two blondes and Happy. "Let's head out, still have to gather everyone."
"I'm going to head off, I'll send some tech to my counterpart so she can scan your sword and share her findings." The scarred blunette reached for the control panel of her IVD. "I'll contact you some time in the future for a check-in."
"No problem, catch you later, McGarden." The pinkette gave the woman a nod of his head in farewell as he walked through the forest, the window closing shortly after.
"Natsu?" Happy caught up to the man and looked up at him, curiously. "What do you think the training will be like?"
"Rough, most likely."
"Who gets to train with Sam, Natsu?"
"Everyone from this universe, it is best that they all learn from her." Natsu moved a low hanging branch out of the way and walked out onto the beach.
The pink-haired man aimed his finger at the sky like a gun and fired off a signal flare in the form of a fireball. "Hopefully this gets their attention."
The fireball burst above their heads with a bright flash, alerting the surrounding mages and making them rush to the source of the signal.
Erza drew her sword as she sprinted to the flare, her voice coming out as an urgent shout. "What's going on?!"
"I've got some special help coming to teach you all how to fight, not just to win but to survive to fight another day."
Natsumi's eyes narrowed, gears were turning away in her head rapidly. "You're talking about That universe, aren't you?"
"Yes, Sam offered to help."
"Who is Sam?" Wendy asked, her eyes between the two Fire Dragon Slayers. "Is she from the universe you visited a while back?"
"Yeah, she is a soldier." Natsumi smiled at the girl before turning back to Natsu. "When is she turning up?"
Just as she finished the question, a green vortex emerged from thin air, growing rapidly until it was large enough to walk through.
"Another question… Why is your portal different to theirs?"
"Best answer I can give you, Natsumi, is different materials and processes to open the portals. Ours are more of a brute force process, ripping and tearing at the fabric of reality instead of making a clean portal." Natsu replied as a woman walked through the portal.
"Looks like you got everyone together?" The soldier looked around at the group gathered before her. She turned to the crystal waters and gazed out to sea, a faint smile adorning her face. "It's peaceful here, you should all count yourselves so lucky."
Erza opened her mouth to say something but her scathing retort was silenced by a sharp look from Natsu, he had quickly exuded a no-nonsense demeanour.
"Don't bother snapping at her, Erza, her accent just makes her sound more aggressive than she actually means to be." He turned to the soldier. "It's good to see you again, Sam. How's Dragneel and the others?"
Sam turned around to face the group once more. "Likewise. They are busy, something is feeling off back home, something big is coming. But don't worry about that, I am here to train a bunch of greenies."
"Greenies?" Wendy tilted her head, the meaning lost to her.
"It's what us soldiers call new people, soldiers fresh out of basic are green as grass." The woman smiled down at the young blunette. "Now, everybody pair up, Natsu you're with me."
"Alright." The man's weapons glowed as they vanished, he walked a few metres away from the group as they all got into groups of two.
"Now I want everyone to pay close attention." Sam announced as she moved to stand opposite the pinkette. "Just so you know, I won't be going easy on you, kid."
"I wouldn't expect anything less, Sam." A fierce grin spread across Natsu's face. "Come on!"
The black-haired woman brought up her fists but didn't move from her spot, her battle-hardened eyes fixated on her opponent.
"Get on with it!" Gray shouted, impatiently.
Natsu grumbled under his breath before an idea popped into his head, an evil twinkle sparkled in his eyes. "Hey Sam, up for some fun?"
"Heh, I was thinking the same thing."
Both Natsu and Sam turned on the balls of their feet at the exact same time, turning towards the raven-haired man and running at him.
"Huh?" The man was surprised at the sudden turn of events, he took a step back but he was too slow. "Ah Fuck!"
Twin heavy punches collided with his face at the same time, throwing him back along the sand.
"Now THAT was satisfying, haha." Sam cheered as she turned to the pinkette. "Let's get back down to business."
"NATSU!" Erza thundered as she marched towards the man.
"Back off Red, he is my opponent." Sam stepped around Natsu and landed a heavy blow to the Knight's unarmoured stomach.
"FREE FOR ALL!" Natsumi shouted with glee as she launched at her counterpart.
"This isn't how I planned on it going…" Natsu muttered to Sam as his back collided with the soldier's.
"Things hardly ever go as planned, Natsu." She replied, ducking around him to intercept the dragon princess.
The man sailed a kick right over her head, aiming for Jet who tried to use his speed against the duo. "You can say that again."
Both Lucys and Happys as well as Levy, Seilah, Ikaruga, Wendy and Carla all stood by the huts, watching the fight become all-out-war.
"This woman, Sam, she is pretty good." Ikaruga sipped on a cup of tea, she glanced to Seilah only to see that she had sat down and started reading. "You are not going to watch this?"
"There's no point, Natsu grew up with all these people so he knows exactly how to counter each one. And Sam is a professional soldier who has fought alongside better-trained versions of them. Those two will come out on top."
"Well, that killed the suspense…" The princess turned to the two Heartfilias. "What about you, blondie, who do you think will be the last standing? Aside from those two."
Luce rubbed her chin as her younger double looked up at her. "I think it would be either Natsumi or Erza. Droy is already out, no surprise there…"
"Why not both." Seilah looked up from her book, she was very uninterested in the fight but did enjoy the gossip.
"Fair point, I think both will be left standing last." Happy replied, he was holding out a recording lacrima and was videoing the entire fight. "Sam is really tough."
Natsu's dynamic fighting style started to shift to mirror Sam's. They were in sync, a perfect dance of war.
Sam grappled Gray and threw him to the pinkette who swept the man's legs out from under him just as the soldier spun around and landed a heavy kick to Gray's stomach.
"Well, looks like Gray is out of the fight." The young blonde noted, she didn't sound all that surprised though. "I wonder if he will accept that or not."
"I fail to see how this is supposed to be training…" Carla's eye twitched as she watched what she saw as a massacre unfolds in front of her.
"Yeah, they're just getting their arses handed to them." Luce sighed and poured herself a cup of tea. "I should have realised this would have happened."
The battle raged on until only Sam and Natsu stood among a pile of bodies. In their victory, they turned to one and another, only one could be left standing.
"You look a little worn out, Sam." Natsu grinned at the soldier, his chest rising and falling smoothly.
"I'm just getting started, Natsu." She returned his grin as she wiped her mouth with the back of her fist.
Both the warrior and the soldier let their fists fly, they soared past their opponents' defences and colliding with their jaws.
They grit their teeth and held onto their resolve with ironclad tenacity, fighting with all their will not to be the first to fall under the heavy blow.
Natsu grunted as he quickly crouched and tackled the soldier to the ground.
He quickly found the woman's legs wrapped around his waist, clamping down on his lungs and preventing him from breathing.
"Fuck." He gasped as he reached behind him, failing to part her steely grip.
"Give up." Sam tightened her legs, her head dodged to the side as sand erupted from where it had just been, a fist now buried in the sand.
She used her flexibility to move around to the man's back, her vice-like legs still restricting his breathing as she wrapped an arm around Natsu's neck.
"Five seconds to give up or you'll pass out."
"Five."
"Four."
"Three."
Natsu started to feel light-headed, his vision clouding over and slowly going dark.
"Two."
"I give." Natsu muttered, on the verge of unconsciousness.
In an instant blood rushed to his head as his lungs filled with oxygen, he took deep, gulping breaths as he coughed.
Sam walked around and stood in front of his head, offering her hand to help the man up. "That was a great fight, it was fun."
"Yeah, you can say that again." Natsu took up the offered hand and rose to his feet, he rubbed his ribs gently as a soft grin settled on his face. "That'll most likely bruise."
"Heh, yeah, my jaw hurts now. Ah well, nothing Wendy can't take care of." Sam rests her hand against her jaw as she wiggled it about, lightly.
With a clap of his hands, Natsu looked around at the fallen mages. "Alright! Everybody on their feet. That is the warm-up over and done with so now it is time for training!"
A collective groan spread out across the beach from the many downed mages, none wanting to move from where they lie, sprawled out on the sand.
"Buck up, everyone!" Sam looked around, her hands planted on her hips. "This is just day one! I'll be coming back every day for a week to whip you all into shape!"
Night had fallen on the beach by the time Sam had called it a day, she had stayed for dinner but left not long after, saying that she'll come back bright and early in the morning for round two.
The group of worn-out mages were gathered around the campfire, drinking their pain away while they wait their turn for Wendy to heal them.
"Who the fuck was she?!" Gray shouted, angrily as he downed his glass of vodka. "We stood no chance against her!"
Natsu sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I thought I have been over this already… Sam is a Professional Soldier who has fought horrors that I wouldn't even wish on my worst enemies."
"It can't be that bad." The raven-haired mage grumbled as he crossed his arms, defiantly.
"It is." Natsumi growled. "Don't discredit him because you weren't there to see it yourself."
"Actually fighting it is worse, Natsumi. Living and fighting through it for your entire or most of your life, it is something unbelievable." Natsu added as his left arm glowed with Archive magic. "Let me show you my experience with that hell hole."
A burst of magic erupted from his hand, stretching seconds into hours as Natsu's memories of that warzone were spread to the other mages, leaving them in shock.
The man's eyes hardened as he gazed around at them all. "That is what they have to live through. Now you know, you know that nothing can compare to that. Nothing we have done can compare to it."
"N-Natsu… What was that feeling? When that girl died…" Erza mumbled, she wasn't the only one curious as Natsumi and Lucy nodded, their eyes rising to the man.
"Rage, hate, the need to kill everything that stood against me." The pinkette let out a quiet growl at the memory he had pushed deep down. "The thirst for death beyond comprehension, that was me losing myself for a moment and going berserk."
"Man… You got shot through the gut?" Gray had his hand resting on his stomach, the feeling of the bullet tearing through the armour and rending flesh, the searing pain of the wound being cauterised.
"I can't believe the smell… burning bodies…" Levy looked about ready to vomit, her face a sickly green as the campfire danced in her eyes.
Natsu sighed as he rose to his feet. "You all should go to bed, we have had a long day and we'll need to be ready for training at dawn tomorrow. Get some good sleep, I'll see you all in the morning." He turned and walked to his hut, disappearing into it and leaving the mages to dwell on Sam and this other universe that Natsumi had visited.
Well, that is another one down. I'd like to apologise for the wait, I've had a few things come up such as I have started studying at a college. Hope you have all enjoyed the chapter, I'll be starting the next one soon, it'll be starting with the group heading to Crocus so no more training chapters after this one. I'll see you all next time.
