Chapter 5

Fiore, Magnolia, Fairy Tail Guild Hall

Natsu sighed as he finished his meal, it was so boring just sitting here. Maybe he should try and meet some other mages in the guild. Natsu squashed that thought like a bug. Mirajane and the old man were different, the others wouldn't be as accepting, he knew it. 'Perhaps another job then' he thought to himself. He walked over to the mission board to pick out a mission, he figured he would go on a solo mission to see what it was like. Contests were fun, but Natsu wanted to go solo for his next job. He grabbed a mission, he didn't bother to look at it closely, it just said something about being a bodyguard. He had only begun to turn when a voice rang out "Hey buzz of, that job is mine!"

Natsu turned and looked for the person yelling at him. He spotted a black haired half naked boy with a silver rosary and just stared. "You want this job?"

"Yeah give it, I saw it first!" The kid yelled. 'What a whiny brat.' Natsu thought to himself.

"Well too damn bad kid. Piss off. I picked it up first and I am going to go over to the bar, sign it out, and leave." Natsu said flatly, and turned to the bar.

"You're not even older than me! Ice Make: Lance" Gray shouted angrily. Natsu turned back around and his eyes narrowed. Almost a dozen lances made of blue ice were flying at him from the hands of the black haired brat. He lept to the side as they crashed into the floor and nearby tables.

"God damnit not again…" Several of the adults muttered as they facepalmed. Fights among the children were quite common, as a few were quite hotheaded. The damage done was minimal unless it involved Mirajane and Erza, then it was quite extensive, but Gray was coming along nicely and could pack quite a punch when angered.

"Poor new guy hasn't even been here a week and is already caught up in a guild brawl." Macao said with a shake of his head.

"I wouldn't count him out just yet." Wakaba said whilst smoking a cigar. "Heard he held his own on the mission he went on with Mirajane. He will be fine… probably."

"Whatever." Macao said as he turned back to his drink. Meanwhile Natsu was dodging around the mostly empty guild hall avoiding all of Gray's spells.

"Getting tired yet squirt?!" Natsu taunted. Gray was panting from exhaustion, he had plenty more to give, but casting so many spells in quick succession was taking its toll. His form was getting sloppy from the speed he was casting at as well as his anger induced by the taunts, making his ice weaker than normal.

"You're not even that much taller than me!" Gray said, glaring at him. "Ice Make: Knuckles!" Fists of ice rose from the floor and came barreling towards Natsu. He jumped to the side and they roared past him busting up more furniture.

"You can't aim for shit." He taunted again.

Gray growled then shouted "Ice Make: Saucer!" A spinning blade disk of magically reinforced ice shot out and made a beeline for Natsu. Instead of dodging, he simply held out a clawed hand and caught the disk in his claws. It kept spinning while in his grip, making a piercing noise that rang through the guild. Natsu clenched his fist and it shattered.

"This is pathetic, is that the best you got?"

"Shut up! Ice Make: Hammer!" Gray yelled in fury.

"Oh great this attack again. Maybe if you throw it at me enough it'll hit me! Not." A large hammer made of ice formed between his hands. He jumped forward and swung it with all the might his tiny child body could muster. Natsu held out a scaly hand and grabbed it by the shaft. Gray's eyes widened in panic.

"My turn." He said darkly with a malicious smile on his face. He punched Gray with his other fist, wrenching the hammer out of his hands as he did so. Natsu spun and slammed it into Gray's side sending him flying through the air. Gray crashed through several tables and came to a stop two dozen or so feet away. Leaping up into the air, Natsu swung the hammer down on top of Gray with a mighty crash. The floorboards cracked and cratered, and the hammer shattered into tiny shards of ice from the force.

"Try again when you're strong enough to land a damn hit, then maybe you will force me to actually cast a spell." Natsu said with a slight sneer on his face. "At least you were good for a warm up." The guild hall was a mess, with pieces of shattered tables and chairs littering the the floor. A support pillar on the right side was smashed from where several of Gray's spells had hit it. The adults looked on in shock as what the Take Over mage had said clicked in their minds. He hadn't used a spell, only a partial transformation, and he had still beaten the shit out of Gray without breaking a sweat.

Natsu walked up to the counter and logged the mission. He turned and walked out the door whistling a happy tune. Makarov walked out of his office while drinking beer out of his mug. He did and extremely impressive spit take as his eyes fell upon his destroyed guild hall.

"What did you idiots do?! Do you know how much this is going to cost?!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. A piece of him dying slightly on the inside as he thought about how much it was going to cost to repair everything.

"Don't look at us gramps. It was the twerps fault." A blonde haired teen said barely looking up from his position on one of the intact pillars near the stairs leading up to the second floor. He pulled his headphones back on and continued ignoring everything in favor of listening to his music.

Natsu lay back across the red cushioned seat of the train. The mission paper said he needed to go to some place called Crocus. I wonder who I am supposed to be guarding. Whatever it doesn't matter I need a nap. Natsu closed his eyes and went to sleep.