Chapter 3

The Gray World

Everyone busied about as they moved their things onto Aang's boat and prepared to go. No one knew where they were going, but they were going to try.

"Naruto, Natsu!" Aang shouted. They came up to him. "Let's fly, we'll be on lookout."

Natsu nodded, "Yeah, I'll fly with you. I can't stand boats… actually I can't stand any type of transportation."

"I'll fly too," Naruto said, "Well, what are we flying on anyway?"

Aang blew his silent whistle. The big elephant thing flew down at them. Natsu and Naruto were surprised. It was so big.

"This is Appa, my flying bison," Aang informed them.

When all preparations were made, it was decided only the three boys would ride on Appa. "This is so cool!" Naruto marveled as Appa flew above them.

"Where are we going anyway?" Naruto asked Aang. Natsu got comfortable on Appa's saddle.

"To where Natsu and his team appeared," Aang said, "Maybe there'll be something there to help us get to Natsu's world." Naruto thought about what he said for a moment. "I think I get it," he said. As they headed in the direction Natsu came from Naruto decided to get to know his new friends better.

"What's your power anyway?" Naruto asked Natsu. Natsu stood up.

"I'm a fire mage," he shrugged. Naruto and Aang were confused. They had never heard of anything like that.

"A magician? You know? A fire mage?" Natsu asked. Naruto and Aang shook their heads.

"I can do things with fire. I eat fire and use it against my opponent." Natsu said, leaning on the edge of Appa's saddle. He demonstrated for them into the open air. Naruto and Aang watched in awe. Appa shifted uneasily.

"It's okay, boy," Aang said to his bison, "We won't hurt you."

"That's awesome!" Naruto said, "How about you?" he asked Aang. Aang took Natsu's place on the edge of the saddle.

"Well, I'm the Avatar," Aang said, shrugging. Naruto and Natsu showed no signs that they understood. "I can control the four elements: fire, earth, air, and water." Aang demonstrated by shooting fire from his mouth, raising the earth of the ocean up with his left hand, bringing up water with his right, and flying on his staff at the same time. Naruto and Natsu watched in admiration.

"My turn!" Naruto said, "Okay, let's see… I'm a ninja so I have chakra. Sakura-Chan can tell you about chakra. Anyway, I use chakra to use jutsu. I can make clones, and lots of other stuff." He demonstrated by making a single clone of himself. His clone jumped down from Appa and landed on the ship below. The boys watched as the clone spoke with Kakashi. The clone then did something with its hands and disappeared. Naruto looked up. "What happens to the clone takes effect on my body. Kakashi said something about almost being there." Naruto said. The boys discussed their powers and their teams to each other. Naruto made a lot of remarks, 'she can see with her feet!' 'The cat has wings!' 'He's a prince!' Natsu made plenty of remarks himself, 'Wow, he has a red eye!' 'He can really make any words into animals!'

"Naruto!" Sakura called out. The boys looked down. There was a big whirlpool below. Sai flew up to them on his ink bird. "We're going in," he said.

Aang drove Appa into the big whirlpool after the boat. They were sucked in and thrown into the air. They had made it to Natsu's world! The sky was a dull gray color and the sun was no where in sight. Natsu shook his head in disbelief.

"Wh- What the heck happened here?" he cried out. Naruto and Aang were stunned at the lack of color. Everything was gray.

"Natsu!" Grey shouted from below. Natsu peered down at him. The same expression of incredulity was on each of his friend's faces.

"Fairy Tail!" Natsu exclaimed looking back at Aang and Naruto. They recognized the name from Natsu's description of his guild and all his friends.

"Katara," Aang shouted at them, "we're going on ahead, meet up with us at Fairy Tail home. Erza, Grey, Lucy, lead them there." Aang took Appa's reins and they flew quickly toward Natsu's direction of the Fairy Tail base. Natsu watched in horror as he saw empty streets below and no signs of his friends. Everything was dull. They passed places with many memories of Natsu and his friends. Natsu's memory was getting fuzzy. Wait, his memory was fading? Natsu thought, What was going on? This was the way to Fairy Tail right?

"Aang, Naruto," Natsu strained to remember their names. Naruto caught Natsu right before he fell.

"Natsu!" he shouted. Aang looked over his shoulder. Natsu fainted! Naruto shook Natsu.

"Natsu! Come on wake up! We don't know the way!" Naruto shouted.

"I think I see it!" Aang shouted at him over the noise he was making. Naruto looked up. There was a big building ahead of him. The tattoo on Natsu's shoulder was on the flag. This is it! Naruto thought.

"Natsu! Come on, you got to wake up," he said weakly, "Natsu, you're home…" Natsu didn't move.

"Natsu! You still have to save your father! What about Igneel?" Naruto shouted at him. The words seemed to work magic on him. Natsu started to breathe deeply as if he had been holding his breath. Natsu sat up from Naruto's arms and rubbed him forehead.

"What was that?" he murmured. Naruto smiled thankfully.

"Natsu… what happened?" Naruto asked patiently. Aang looked back and sighed. Natsu rubbed his forehead again.

"I- I'm not sure, but something weird happen, and I was forgetting things that happened here in this world. Then I heard Igneel's name and, and, I don't know what happened next." Natsu tried to explain.

"Then you woke up," Naruto said, "So this grayness erases your memories from here?"

Natsu lit up, "That's it!" Naruto was confused.

"How come you remembered Igneel?" Naruto asked.

"I could never forget Igneel!" he stated.

~End of Chapter 3~