How does magic even work? Chapter 15
Naruto took a deep breath, enjoying the chill morning air in Magnolia. It was getting colder but that didn't bother they boy much, because he was finally wearing his good old orange track suit again. He stopped for a second and pulled the collar of his sweater up and sniffed it.
``Aaah.. smells like Ramen... ah! I should have eaten breakfast before I left! Dammit!´´
He considered going back to get food but decided against it, he could just get something in the guild when he came back later.
He continued through the streets and alleyways until he came to the edge of magnolia facing the all too familiar mountain that he and Erza trained on. After a moment of stretching he started jogging towards it.
Today his destination was not the mountain though, it was beyond it, he had only heard about it while in the guild but apparently there was a large field where some low level monsters appeared once in a while.
Hopefully this would be one of the days that they were there to be found because he would feel pretty stupid if he jogged about twice as long as usual only to find an empty field. He shook his head and upped the pace a bit, jogging there would take another hour or so so he could think about something else.
Though the first thing that came to mind was waking with a hand on Lucy's breast.
``GAH!´´ Naruto fell to the ground face first. He realized that it would probably be better if he tried to focus on training instead.
XOXOXOXOXXO
Lucy sat at a table in the guild hall, next to her was a small bag, in front of her sat Wendy and Charle. Charle looked as annoyed as always, Wendy sat next to the cat drinking from a cup of what was likely tea, but smelled suspiciously like hot chocolate.
Lucy felt a strange pressure stinging on her cheek and turned over to look at the source. For some reason Juvia was glaring at her from behind a pillar, while not completely out of the ordinary she still wondered what had made the water woman mad this time.
``eemm... Lucy?´´ she turned to Wendy who was staring at her cup, and waited for the girl to continue.
``...yes?´´ Wendy twitched when she realized that Lucy was waiting for her to continue and started stuttering something. While trying to decipher what the little girl was saying, Lucy noticed that the stinging feeling was getting worse, a glance told her that Juvia had moved a lot closer now.
``i-i... umm... I... Lucy! I just wanted to ask!... umm... could you... ask N-naruto if he... would like to train with me...´´ her voice almost faded by the time she finally got the question out.
Lucy glanced at Juvia who was now sitting at on the other side of the bag she had left on the bench, the woman was staring at her with hollow eyes. Lucy with some difficulty ignored the creeping dread that was washing over her as Juvia slowly inched closer. ``Wendy you should probably ask Naruto that himself... o-or Erza... she uh.. she's kind of responsible for his training I guess.´´
Lucy and Wendy looked over to Erza who was sitting alone at a table slowly eating a slice of strawberry cake. They noticed that she had moved all the tables around her away to make sure no one would disturb her.
``Maybe you should.. ask her later...´´
``LUUUUUUUCCCYYYYYYY...´´
``hiih!´´ Lucy turned to Juvia who was now practically pressing her face against Lucy's.
``I know about it! Luuuuuuuccyyyyyy... I know ALL OF IT!´´
Lucy tried to back away from the woman but was grabbed before she even had a chance to stand up.
``Explain... LUUUCCCccyyyyyy... WHY DID GRAY-SAMA BATHE IN YOUR HOUSE!?´´
``eh? Ah that was just- WAIT WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?´´ Lucy's attempt to explain was interrupted when half of Juvias body turned into water and began to wrap around her legs.
``LUUUUUUUCYYYYYYYYYYY´´
``H-hey stop! He was taking a bath with Natsu! Not me or anything!´´ More of Juvia turned into water and started wrapping around her waist and chest. ``Juvia!... he came to look for Naruto!´´ Lucy began to realize that her explanation fell on deaf ears and began looking for another way to get out of Juvia.
She turned her head enough to look at Erza, but she seemed completely intent on eating her cake so she would be no help. Wendy was panicking and Charle was trying her best to calm the girl down. It seemed hopeless, Juvia was starting to wrap around her head, why did things like this have to happen to HER all the time.
``ah.. Juvia´´ the water woman promptly turned back into her solid human from and turned to the man who had spoken. ``G-Gray-sama!´´
Gray walked over to their table ``Juvia I need you to help me out, I got a job that I want to finish as quickly as possible.´´ he began walking towards the door and Juvia quickly followed with hearts in her eyes.
Lucy glared at Juvia as she left, and when the woman was out of sight she looked down at her soaking wet clothes. ``Hey Wendy I'm going to go change my clothes, could you take care of this for me while I'm out?´´ she lifted the bag she had brought and put it on the table.
``yes but... what is it?´´ Wendy and Charle took a good look at it.
``Those are Naruto's clothes. Oh if he comes back before me, could you give that to him?´´ Lucy stood up and wrung some of the water out of her shirt.
``N...Naruto's... clothes...´´ Lucy looked down at Wendy, the girl was reaching out for the bag with a blush on her face. Meanwhile next to her Charle sat with a disgusted face. ``Why do we have to care of that dumb boys clothes? Couldn't you just leave them here and let him find them later.´´ the cat looked at Wendy who was about to open the bag of clothes. ``Wendy stop that, even if they are washed you might catch some stupidity if you touch them.´´
Wendy smiled and turned to Lucy ``ill take care of these while you're out then.´´
Lucy thanked her and began walking home, while pouting about how her wet clothes were uncomfortable. As soon as Lucy closed the doors to the guild behind her Wendy stood up and looked around. Other than Erza who had half of her slice of cake left and Mirajane who stood in the bar the guild was surprisingly empty, but that was fine with her for the moment.
``I'm going to the toilet.´´ Charle nodded and flew over to Mirajane to get another cup of tea.
As soon as Wendy came into the toilet she opened the bag with Naruto's clothes in it and smiled fiendishly.
XOXOXOXOXO
Naruto panted as he looked at the supposed ´Monsters´ that roamed the plains behind the mountain. He closely observed their long claws and large teeth, and their big fluffy bodies and gigantic ears.
``bunnies... haha hah... BUNNIES! WHY THE HELL WOULD ANYONE CALL BIG BUNNIES MONSTERS?!´´ indeed the monsters were just a pack of rabbits, though each of them was the size of a grown man.
Naruto fell to his knees after shouting, his legs felt like jelly after the long jog and the weight of his disappointment felt like lead. He sat for a while waiting for his legs to stop shaking and to catch his breath again. In front of him the massive rabbits slopped hopped around to eat more of the grass, watching the large critters was strangely soothing.
After a while he decided he shouldn't waste any time and got on with training. He went over what he needed mentally, first would be to get familiar with some blunt weapons, like a hammer or bat. Or staff or whatever he didn't really know that much about weapons that weren't sharp.
He got up and started walking towards the mountain, and remembered a second thing he needed, too increase his magic capacity. It seemed that while fighting Zabuza he managed to exhaust all his magic completely. `I really should get a feel for how much magic I have..´
Suddenly he noticed something in the corner of his eye, he quickly turned and then dove out of the way as something charged past him. He rolled and stood up and readied himself to fight, then he got a good look at what was attacking him.
It looked like one of the rabbits, but only barely, while it was about the same size it's body was different. Large antlers accompanied it ears on top of it's head, and a large pair of feathered wings came out of it's back.
The rabbit like monster lowered it's body and opened it's mount, growling menacingly. Naruto meanwhile scoped out his options, on the plain they were on the only shadows were the ones under him and the on under the monster. Other than that the closest shadow was under the trees, but they were about 40 meters away.
The monster charged again, and Naruto reacted a bit too slowly and had one of the monsters wings slam into his shoulder. He was knocked of his feet but quickly got up and readied himself again. He focused on his shadow and managed to draw out a small amount of darkness before he had to dodge another rush.
Before the monster attacked again Naruto once again drew more darkness up from his shadow. Another charge, Naruto jumped to the side but the monster surprised him by swinging at him with it's wing, and managed to hit him in the face.
Naruto grunted as he hit the ground, again he rolled and got up quickly but the shock made it hard to keep his balance. He looked for the monster but even when he fully turned he could not find it.
Then he noticed a big shadow streaking across the ground, he looked up and saw that the monster was flying. He glanced towards the shade under the trees and then back to the monster, this was probably his only chance to make a run for the trees, he decided to take it.
He began sprinting and when he was halfway there he heard a piercing screech coming from above him. He dared to look behind him and saw that the monster was diving towards him, this time with it's antlers aiming for him.
He knew the monster would get to him before he could get to the trees so he stopped and focused on the small amount of darkness he had gathered and shaped it into a short pole. Then he readied himself as the monster was only seconds away from him now. He shifted into a stance Erza had taught him and when the monster was close enough he swung at it.
``if something more powerful or larger than you comes at you can easily redirect it's attacks from this stance.´´
When his Oblivion weapon made contact with the monsters antlers, he stepped to the side and let it pass him by. He turned and watched as the monster was unable to stop and crashed straight into the trees that he had been heading too. Naruto stood still, and let the pole in his hands turn into a dark mist, ready to be shaped into a weapon again.
Then he waited, and waited, and began losing his patience, his patience was gone time to go look for the monster. Just before beginning to walk though he bent down and gathered more dark matter and kept it in a loose mist around his arms. It would suck to be caught unprepared when HE was the one looking for the enemy.
He approached the trees and slowly stepped forward, looking around him to make sure nothing would pop out. Then he saw right in front of him that the monster had managed to get it's antlers stuck in a tree.
Naruto walked up next to it and the monsters eye focused on him, and it quickly began wriggling around doing it's best to get free. Naruto watched awkwardly as the monster failed to free itself, after a few more tries the monster stopped and once again it eye turned to Naruto.
The boy twitched when he made eye contact, the beast looked so pitiful, it was almost like it was asking to be mercy killed or something. Naruto stilled and grabbed his head, dammit it wanted help not to be put down!
He sighed and walked closer to the beast and firmly gripped it's antlers, but before starting to pull he looked down to the monsters eye and said ``you better not attack me after this alright!´´ then he began pulling.
It took a few tries but soon enough he managed to free the monster, but he was instantly rewarded for it when it shook it's head and managed to hit him in the head with it's horn. The boy fell to the ground and held his head, then glared at the monster but was surprised to see it stare right back at him.
For a tense few seconds they stayed still only staring at each other, Naruto discretely began creating some dark matter behind his back, just to be careful. The the large beast made something like a huff and turned away and began slowly hopping deeper into the forest.
Naruto meanwhile stood up and dusted himself off, it seemed like the fight was over, he turned and walked back out onto the fields and then began walking towards the mountain again. Then he took a moment to think about what had just happened, how utterly bizarre that had just been. He had gotten into a fight with an oversized mutant rabbit thing and wait, did this count as a draw or the monster giving up?
He sighed and rubbed his still aching head while starting to walk again, he didn't really feel like training after all of that so it was about time to go back to the guild.
XOXOXOXOXO
Charle huffed and set her cup down somewhat forcefully, she had been waiting for Wendy to get done in the bathroom for at least forty minutes now. She stood up and spread her wings and began floating towards the bathroom.
When she came up to the bathroom door she noticed that it was not locked, and wondered if Wendy was already done. She, with a little effort managed to open the door but froze completely when she saw what was going on inside.
Wendy stood there frozen as well, wearing all of Naruto's clothes, she was even holding the mask that Naruto had found in the store room by Edolas Fairy tail. Tears started to gather in the corners of Wendy's eyes as Charle simply continued to stare at her.
The tense silence was broken by Wendy ``th-...THIS ISN'T WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!´´ after shouting that she ran past Charle out of the guild and into the streets. Though even as the girl ran away Charle only floated there outside the bathroom with a horrified look on her face.
Wendy continued running aimlessly through the town for as long as she could, she didn't even notice that she had ran in circles a few times and neither did she notice that she was about to run into someone.
With a ``oof!´´ from the one she ran into and a ``kyun!´´ from her they landed in a pile on the street they were on, luckily there was not too many people around. The shock of running into someone made Wendy come back to her senses and she quickly began shouting apologies to the one she had hit.
She was silenced however when the one she had ran into said with a somewhat confused voice ``Hey Wendy... why are you wearing my clothes?´´ Wendy slowly looked up at the BOY she had run into, she looked at his blond spiky hair and those weird whisker marks that no one ever questioned.
``Hey you're getting all red, you alright?´´ Naruto reached over and put a hand to her forehead ``Man you're really burning up, do you have a cold or something?´´
``i...it's...´´ Wendy began trying to form a sentence but as she did tears slowly started rolling out of her eyes and down her bright red cheeks. ``ii-i-i'ts nn-n-not what... what y-yu... think...´´
``What? eeh! Why are you crying!? W-Wendy!´´ Naruto had no idea how to handle this situation, it looked like Wendy had gotten really sick but now she was crying too. He had to do something about this, but what? If she was sick then she would need a healer or something. But Wendy was the only healer he knew of.
Then he should probably bring her too the guild since he didn't know where she lived, someone at the guild could probably help them. He grabbed Wendy and she began making `awaaawaaawa´ sounds when she realized that he was touching her.
Just when he managed to get her to stand up, Naruto noticed something laying on the ground. He almost instantly recognized what it was, the Legion mask that he had found in Edolas. Looking at the mask he was reminded of the beast he had met on in Edolas. ``Buster..´´
``awawawwaawawa´´
Naruto twitched and looked at Wendy who had stopped crying but she was still all red and was still making that strange sound. He quickly bent down and picked the mask up, then he started pulling Wendy along towards the guild.
He felt his eyes start stinging as he thought about the Legion he had befriended in Edolas and quickly put the mask on. Walking through the town back to fairy tail only took a few minutes and soon enough they walked through the doors into the guild hall.
Sometime on the walk back Wendy had stopped making the awawa sound and only stared intently at Naruto's hand that was holding her arm. Naruto looked around the guild and saw Charle sitting alone at a table, he quickly guided Wendy over to her and had her sit down. ``Hey Charle, Wendy is looking a little sick, can you take care of her for a while I'll see if anyone can help her.´´
Charle didn't answer him, she only stared at him for a few seconds before turning her gaze to Wendy. And when she did she gained an almost feral appearance, her pupils turned to slits and she opened her mouth enough to reveal her sharp little teeth. ``Get changed. Right. NOW.´´
Wendy silently stood up and walked over to the bathroom, and Charle floated after her with an intense look on her face.
Meanwhile Naruto had gone over to the bar and talked to Mirajane ``she was all red and stuttering and all so I think she might be really sick.´´
Mirajane silently looked at Naruto for a few seconds and then ``My my, fufufu´´
``wh- what are you laughing about?! What if she's dying!´´
``Don't worry Naruto I'll go see if she is all right... fufufu.´´
Naruto slid his mask of and stared at Mirajane as she with practised ease hopped over the bar and walked over to the bathroom where Wendy was. Who would laugh at a sick person, what was up with her.
``Oh Naruto. I thought you would be out training alone today.´´ Naruto turned around and saw Erza walk up to him. He was about to answer her but was stopped when he noticed something.
``Hey you have some cream on your cheek... no the other side.´´ he looked as Erza began wiping her face and then sat down next to him with a satisfied look. ``Oh and I was already out training but I came back early.´´
``Hmm why?´´
``Well... I heard there were monsters on the other side of the mountain so I went to check it out.´´
``Oh you must mean the Jackalope?´´
``The what?
``Jackalope's Naruto, those really big bunnies. They are classed as F-rank monsters, though the males can be a bit dangerous.´´
Naruto's face went completely blank for a while ``F-rank...´´ he slowly put the legion mask back on and then he put his head down on the bar. ``F-rank...´´
Erza looked at him and sighed ``You know if you wanted to train it would be best to either ask me or anyone in the guild who has time. And if you want to fight monsters there are lot's of jobs that involve exterminating them.´´ she paused and glanced at the request board for a second ``I think there are actually one or two requests to take care of Vulcans.´´
Naruto slowly got up and walked over to the board, found the job note and read it, then came back and sat down. Then his head dropped back down onto the bar ``it says to deal with five vulcan's... I almost died when I fought just two of them.´´
Erza frowned when she heard Naruto mumble that ``what has you feeling so down Naruto? It's not like you.´´
``...I... I actually had a bit of a hard time fighting a male... jacko.. whatever.´´
``eh!? Ah I mean... like I said the males can be quite dangerous!´´ Naruto only sighed in response, so Erza continued praising him and suggesting what he could do to train and so on. Meanwhile Wendy and Charle came out of the bathroom and met Mirajane who was waiting outside.
Mirajane looked at Wendy and then put a hand on her forehead ``Naruto said you looked sick, though could it be you only become sick around him? Ufufu.´´
Wendy blushed and hurried past the older woman and sat down at a table, Charle floated after her and called to Mira ``Could you get me another cup of tea please?´´
Charle floated down into her seat and looked at Wendy intently ``Now then... we will never mention this again. Oh and I will also have to make sure you have not caught anything from.. that. And do return that bag already I'm tired of seeing it.
Back at the bar Erza had given up on trying to encurage Naruto by normal means and was now trying to convince him to punch her.
``Naruto!´´ Erza stopped her coaxing and looked up Naruto too stopped moping to glance up to see who had just yelled his name. It was Master Makarow who was looking down from the second floor. The tiny old man with little effort jumped over the railing on the second floor and landed on the bar in front of Naruto. ``I have something for you boy!´´ he said happily. And pulled out a paper from his pocket.
``Back when you first joined the guild I sent out a few letters to libraries to see if any of them had books on magics similar to yours. And luckily there is one place that has just that! However its all the way over in Crocus so it will take a while to get there... and what's with that mask? It's a little scary you know.´´
Naruto slid the mask up and let it rest on top of his head and looked at Makarow ``Didn't you say my magic was completely new or something?´´
``Well yes. But it might also not be Naruto, your Oblivion magic could be completely new, but it could also be some lost old magic with a completely different name. Hopefully it will be the latter since the books will have all sorts of information on how to use your magic.´´
``aah... cool...´´ Naruto even though he had just received some very good news was still subdued, and Makarow noticed this.
``hmm? What's the matter Naruto? Are you tired or something?´´
``ah well... I went over to the field on the other side of the mountain to find the monsters there-´´ ``Jackalopes.´´ Erza cut in ``yeah those... I went and fought one of those and it ended in a draw... F-rank...´´ Naruto drew a deep sigh.
Then he jerked back when Makarow suddenly started patting him all over ``wah! What are you doing?´´
``I'm making sure you are not hurt boy! Now sit still! I swear those damn demon rabbits I should go and wipe them out!´´
Naruto sat silently as Makarow continued looking him over while grumbling about the rabbits ``Hey.. you sound like you really hate those things.´´
``jackalopes.´´ Erza cut in absently while looking at the guild master.
``yeah I do...´´ he sighed and hopped up on the bar and faced Naruto again ``back when I was about your age and was training my magic I did the same thing as you, only it didn't end in a draw, it ended with me in the hospital with a few broken bones. But you managed to fight one of those things off... I'm impressed.´´
Naruto was silent for a second before a wide smile spread across his face ``r-really.. he... hehe even though it's f-rank ahhaha!´´
Makarow however was not laughing ``Naruto I have requested the magic council to raise their rank to at least C more than once. If they did I would be able to make a request to `handle´ them legally.
Naruto still was still chuckling to himself, all that was going through his mind at the moment was that he had the potential to be as strong as Master. Man that would be so cool.
``Anyways´´ Makarow said and cleared his throat and then held out a piece of paper to Naruto ``Here are all the directions you will need to get to the library, hopefully you have enough money to pay for the ride there.´´
``Yeah I have a bunch of money left!´´ Naruto said while looking over Makarows instructions.
``Well, then you can leave whenever you are ready. I hope you will find something that will be useful to you.´´ after saying that he jumped off behind the bar and then came back up after a few seconds with a tankard. ``well then I'm going back to my office to finish off some paperwork.´´
``Okay! I'm gonna go and get something to eat before I leave!´´ Naruto loudly said now back in a good mood, he stood up and began walking out of the guild and on his way he noticed Wendy sitting by herself at a table. ``Hey Wendy wanna go eat some ramen? It might make you feel better!´´
``Eh!? Ah! Y-yes!´´ Wendy quickly followed Naruto who was skipping out of the guild doors.
``Hey master.´´ Erza said before Makarow had a chance to slip away, he looked at her while taking a sip of the beer in his tankard. ``That was a good way to make Naruto feel better about himself. I surely would not have been able to think of that myself.´´
``That was all true Erza.´´ The woman coughed and looked at the master with wide eyes. He stared right back with a tiered gaze ``Erza It's completely normal for a thirteen year old mage to have trouble against a demon rabbit-´´ ``Jackalope´´ ``I don't care. Few people have the talent you or Mirajane posses.´´
Makarow began walking up the stairs to his office, all the while thinking that he couldn't tell the kids, even Naruto that the time that he fought a Jackalope was when he was sixteen years old. And a few months after coming out of the hospital he tried again to get revenge, but the result was the same. Even now that he was a wizard saint the only monster he had not defeated was a jackalope.
Downstairs the doors to the bathroom opened and Charle came out dragging the bag with Naruto's clothes with her, she would be damned if she left it with Wendy again. Then she noticed that Wendy was not at their table, she looked to the only other people in the hall and asked ``Where did Wendy go?´´
Erza absently answered as she watched Mirajane cut another piece of strawberry cake for her ``She went out to eat with Naruto a minute ago.´´
``WHAT!?´´ both the of the women flinched at the sudden yell and looked at the now growling cat ``THAT STUPID! GHH! WENDYYYYY!´´ Charle suddenly shot out of the guild as fast as her wings let her fly, and all the while she kept yelling things that made little sense.
XOXOXOXXOXOXOXO
Authors note
well I've been lazy... and I'm proud of it... don't judge me, at least I'm still writing the story. Lets hope I write the next one a bit faster.