Chapter 3: Here There Be Dragons!
Kilvakar here! I'm excited, I got my first review on the story so far! Glad to see that someone likes it :) Well, here goes nothing, enjoy!
Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.
Late in the afternoon, Team Natsu sails east toward the setting sun. They are on their way to defeat a fearsome sea monster that has been terrorizing the seaside fishing village of Cocoplum. Everyone's spirits are high, and so is their anticipation. Everyone, that is, except Natsu Dragneel...
Natsu leaned over the side of the boat and heaved loudly as he hurled up what little remained in his stomach. With his extreme motion sickness, the long boat ride had been very hard on him. Happy tried to comfort his friend the best way he knew how...
"It's ok, Natsu. Soon we'll find that sea monster and we'll cook him up and eat him!"
"Uugh, Happy, this isn't the best time to be talking about food, you know..." the miserable Natsu replied.
"But just think of how yummy it'll be! All fried up in sesame oil, or grilled with leeks and peppers! Or maybe we can slice it up raw and make sashimi out of it!"
"Bleecchh!" was the only sound that came from Natsu in response.
"Don't you think you're being a little too cruel, Happy?" asked Lucy.
"Man, you're totally hopeless" was Grey's response to Natsu's suffering. "Once we find that thing, you're going to be completely useless."
"That's ok, I'll just fly him up off the boat and he should perk right up!" Happy stated.
"If that's the case," Lucy asked, "why aren't you carrying him now?"
"I've got to save my energy. I can't fly forever, you know!"
Erza, who was at the helm, interrupted in a more serious tone of voice. "Be on guard, everyone. We're nearing the part of the sea where Elias said we'd find the monster."
Everyone (except Natsu) instinctively looked out at the wide expanse of ocean, half expecting to see some sign of the beast already. But the water was quite calm. Lucy thought to herself as the boat bobbed up and down rhythmically on the waves.
"Everything's so peaceful, it's hard to believe that we're on a dangerous mission. And the sun's close to setting, it looks so pretty on the horizon like that. I wonder if sailors ever get tired of this?"
Lucy's peaceful thoughts were interrupted once again by Erza.
"Look, over there!" she called out. "Something's coming..."
Even Natsu looked up from the railing to see what Erza was pointing at. In the distance a large wake was visible, and it was heading straight for them!
"Damn!" exclaimed Gray. "Whatever that is, it's big. And it's moving fast!"
"And it's heading this way!" added Lucy.
"Everyone get ready." Erza said in a commanding tone as she requipped into her black wing armor.
"Aye sir!" Happy shouted.
Within a few moments, the wake was upon them. However, it dissipated before making impact with the boat.
"It's diving!" Happy called out.
"Alright beast, show yourself!" Erza yelled in challenge.
"Do we really want to antagonize it?" Lucy asked nervously.
They waited anxiously for the monster to appear. For a moment, there was complete silence. Then, the seas erupted into a boiling fury as the beast exploded up from beneath them. To everyone's surprise, it looked like a dragon! It's neck and head towered above the boat, and it spread an enormous pair of watery wings, sending a shower of salty spray down onto the deck. It opened up it's mouth and let loose an ear-splitting roar.
"Everyone, attack now" Erza shouted as she leapt into the air with her sword raised.
"Right!" Lucy called back as she pulled out one of her keys. "Open, Gate of the Archer! Sagittarius!"
"Horse power!" the Celestial Spirit shouted as he appeared from the magic circle. "Well howdy do, little lady! How can I be of service today?"
"You can start by turning that thing into a pin-cushion!"
"Consider it done!" he replied as he drew his bow. Sagittarius fired a rapid volley of arrows at the sea monster, but the arrows went clean through it's body, without any apparent damage. Both Sagittarius and Lucy's mouths gaped in shock.
Erza flew through the air straight towards the monster's head. It roared and lunged at her with gaping jaws. Erza spun sideways, narrowly avoiding it's deadly-looking teeth. She dove forward and slashed at it's neck. But just like Sagittarius' arrows, her sword had no effect. She yelled out a warning to her teammates. "It looks like it's body is made of water! Weapons won't have any effect on it!"
"Is that so?" replied Gray. He placed his right fist over his left palm in the traditional Maker Magic stance. "Well, let's see how you like this! Ice-Make: Ice Geyser!"
A tower of ice spikes burst up from the deck in front of Gray. This time, there was a definite effect on the sea monster. The spikes struck it head-on, and the ice expanded as it began to freeze the monster's body. It thrashed about violently as it tried to escape the effects of Gray's magic. Gray poured more of his magic energy into the attack, and the tower of ice continued to expand. The monster's struggling subsided as it's body froze solid. Erza flew back down towards the boat, and slashed the beast again. This time, it's frozen body cracked and then began to shatter. Lucy and Happy cheered, but then began to scream as they realized that the whole thing, the frozen monster and Gray's ice geyser, was falling toward the deck! The gigantic mass of ice hit the fishing boat. smashing through the railing and snapping the mainmast in half. Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and Sagittarius were thrown from the boat as it lurched sideways. Erza quickly requipped her swimsuit and dove into the water after her friends.
The boat nearly capsized, but righted itself at the last moment. Erza's head broke the water first, she was holding up Lucy. Gray held a still-seasick Natsu's head above water, while Happy floated above them.
"Is everyone alright?" Erza asked.
"I'm fine, you can let go of me." Lucy replied.
"I'm ok." Gray called out.
"How's Natsu doing?" Happy asked, concerned for his friend.
"He's fine." Gray answered. "But remind me why we took him on a job that required sailing?"
"Shut up, Popsicle!" Natsu retorted, already recovering from the motion sickness.
"Uh, guys?" came Lucy's nervous voice. "There's still something in the water..."
Lucy was right. Another wake passed between them, pushing Erza and Lucy away from Natsu and Gray.
"How could that be?" shouted Gray. "We completely crushed that thing!"
"Well, I guess we'll have to give it another pounding!" said Natsu. And with that, the Dragon Slayer dove under the waves, followed by Gray, Erza and Lucy. Happy hung back, being a cat, he never liked being underwater very much.
The four wizards held their breath and looked around. Lucy almost yelled, but stopped herself before she lost her air. She waved and pointed, and her teammates looked in the direction she was pointing. Everyone nearly lost their breath when they saw not a monster, but a boy swimming toward them at an incredible speed. He looked young, maybe Erza's age, and had blue hair that would probably have reached just below his cheeks if it wasn't flowing in random directions from being underwater. He also wore mostly blue clothing. His sleeveless, high-collared jacket reminded them of Gajeel's usual clothing. But he also wore an extremely long blue scarf, probably twice the size of Natsu's. His hands and arms were covered by gloves that reached nearly up to his shoulders, and a sword with a giant pearl pommel stone hung from a belt at his waist. Unlike Team Natsu, he didn't seem to be holding his breath.
"A water wizard," Erza thought as she took in the situation. "So, that creature we fought was probably just a construct...is he the one behind the attacks on the fishermen from Cocoplum?"
The stranger glared at them and spoke. Despite being submerged, his words were clear as if they were standing on dry land.
"Why can't you people just leave us alone?" he asked in a voice heavy with resignation. "Go away now, and I won't hurt you."
Unable to reply, Erza raised her sword. If he was the one responsible for the attacks on the fishermen, they weren't going to be deterred so easily.
Natsu was excited. This guy looked like he might be a strong opponent. Despite the fact that his Fire Dragon Slayer magic wouldn't work underwater, he raised his fists.
Gray molded a trident out of ice and prepared to attack.
Lucy reached for her keys. Sagittarius had already gone back to the Celestial Spirit world, and this seemed like a perfect time to summon Aquarius.
The stranger looked disappointed as they all took their battle stances. "Very well then," he sighed. "I don't want to hurt you, but you leave me no choice!" he opened his mouth and started sucking in water.
Natsu, Erza, Gray and Lucy all looked at him in shock!
"It can't be..." thought Erza.
"No way!" was Gray's first thought.
"Is he...eating water!?" Lucy mentally exclaimed.
Natsu's eye widened. "Is he a..." but his thoughts were interrupted as the stranger shouted out;
"Water Dragon...ROAAARRRR!"
A massive torrent of water erupted from his mouth, and hit the Fairy Tail wizards before they could react. Natsu and Lucy were flung back and slammed into the side of the boat. Erza and Gray were launched out of the water and went sailing through the air. Erza reached out and grabbed one of the rigging lines on their boat to stop their fall, and managed to drop down to the deck with no injury to herself. Gray shouted out "Ice-Make: Grappling Hook!" and fired a hook of ice into the side of the boat. He pulled on the chain and directed himself back down to the deck as well. Happy dashed through the air to Gray and Erza and called out worriedly.
"Erza, Gray! What happened? Are Natsu and Lucy ok?"
Gray didn't respond, he pulled off his shirt and dove back into the water. Erza requipped into her swimsuit and dove in after him. A few moments later, they both resurfaced. Erza held Natsu's head above water, while Gray did the same for Lucy.
"Get us back on the boat, Happy!" Gray called out.
"Aye sir!" Happy answered as he flew down and began carrying them all back on deck one at a time.
Once they were all on board, Erza requipped her Sea Empress armor, expecting another attack at any moment. As she looked back out over the water, she saw a wake, but it was headed away from them, not towards them. She inwardly sighed with relief. Natsu and Lucy were both unconscious from their impact with the hull of the boat, and she knew that they would be at a distinct disadvantage trying to fight that type of enemy in the water.
"Looks like they're both ok." Gray reported after checking on Natsu and Lucy. As if on command, Natsu bolted up and started shouting.
"Alright, where is he!? I'll teach that guy to hit us with a cheap shot like that!"
"Calm down Natsu." said Happy." That guy's long gone, he headed off further east.
"Aw man, that coward! Why wouldn't he stick around and fight?"
"He probably realized that we outnumbered him and decided to run while he had the advantage." Gray replied.
"No, that's not it." Erza stated. "That man is a Dragon Slayer, the Water Dragon Slayer, it would seem. He had the advantage, a surprise attack, the ability to move freely underwater, an unlimited supply of his element to consume..."
"Then why would he run away like that?" Natsu asked.
"Because I get the feeling he didn't want to fight us in the first place. I think he was just trying to scare us off with that imitation dragon of his earlier, and remember, he said he didn't want to hurt us."
"Well, if he's such a nice guy, then why has he been attacking the fishing boats?"
"That I don't know. But I do know that he headed out further to sea, he must have some sort of home base out there. While the facts surrounding our mission have changed, we still have to find out why that man has been threatening the fishermen from Cocoplum."
"That's fine with me!" said Natsu with a look of anticipation in his eye. "There's no doubt about it, that guy's a Dragon Slayer like me! If he's going to disgrace the Dragon Slayer name like that, then I've got no problem taking him down. I'm all fired up now!"
"Right." said Erza. "Let's see what we can do to get this boat repaired. We have a job to do!"
"I'm on it." Gray responded. "Erza, can you get that mast held back in position?"
Erza requipped into her Giant's Armor. She grabbed the broken mast and lifted it into the air, and held it back in place. Gray placed his hands on the mast and a thick coating of ice started to form around it. Soon, the entire lower half of the mast was frozen in place.
"That ought to hold it, for now." Gray said with satisfaction.
"Very good." Erza replied. "Let's get going!"
You knew that was coming, right? I mean, the story is called "Rise of the Water Dragon," after all :) Well, I know that Dragon Slayer OCs are about as common as flying cats in the Fairy Tail fanfiction world, but trust me, this guy's not some ridiculously over-powered self-insert character. I hope you'll read on as the plot thickens and Team Natsu is about to be challenged like they've never expected!