Ginger: Another start to another chapter. This one will be full of exposition and all that crap, but I guarantee that the next one will contain a lot of action, so bear with me. Anyway, Lucy, I believe it's your turn to do the disclaimer.
Lucy: The Ginger Ninga doesn't own Fairy Tail. And how come I didn't have any lines in the last chapter?
Ginger: Well, um… That's because… Anyway on to the story!
Lucy: Come back here you red-headed prick!
The carriage slowly rolled to a stop just outside of Cedar. Natsu was the first to get out, collapsing onto the ground. The rest were soon to follow. Erza, Grey and Lucy looked at the Welcome to Cedar sign while Happy was poking Natsu with a stick, trying to see if he was still alive.
They looked around at the town in front of them. It was about the size of magnolia, if not a little smaller with plenty of buildings and shops. The city was land locked by a massive cliff that towered over everything, but eventually lowered into a large forest. In the center is a church, with two rune knights guarding the entrance. There were groups of people moving around the town, buying gifts and souvenirs from shops, trying to find something to eat, or just taking in the beauty of the city. The group slowly walked into the city.
By now Natsu had been able to get to his feet and joined them at the entrance. They began walking into Cedar, looking for a pawn shop. It didn't take them long to find it, it was just a few buildings down from the church.
When they knocked on the door, it took a moment for it to open. When it did, it was opened by a middle aged man with slightly graying hair. One look at them and he knew why they were here. "Ah, you must be here for the job. Come in, come in." He waved them into his shop, turning the open sign around into a closed sign.
He sat them down in a side room. "So, you are here for the job, correct?"
Grey nodded. "The one about the thieves in the forest, yeah. You said there were more details you couldn't say in the request."
"Of course, some things must be said behind closed doors." He hadn't sat down, and seemed to be nervous. "Well, for the past couple of weeks, there have been a lot of robberies in this town. About two or three houses are being hit each week. I was the most recent."
Natsu interrupted him. "So you want us to get your stuff back?" He didn't like the vibe this guy was giving off. Something was weird about him.
The man shook his head. "No, they didn't take anything of real value. I want you to get rid of them." He reached into a drawer in a nearby desk and pulled out a piece of paper. "When they robbed my store, they left a map." He placed the map onto the table. It seemed to lead to the location of the guilds hideout.
"Not very good thieves, if you ask me." Grey wondered how stupid you had to be to need a map to know how to get back to your home.
Erza looked at the man. "So this is where they are?" She pointed to a small marking on the map that looked like a house.
The shopkeeper nodded. "Yes, I need you to infiltrate their base of operations and force them into submission. As soon as you leave I will contact the Fiore Guard to have them arrested."
"Anything else we should do?"
"To prove of your success, take down the banner they keep in the main hall and bring it to me. When that is done, you will get paid." Erza didn't have time to question why he knew about a banner due to Natsu and Lucy's joy about getting to fight/getting paid, respectively.
The team was then forced out of the shop and sent out to do their job. They all looked at the map they were given and tried their best to follow it.
Meanwhile, across the center of the village, two people with cloaks covering their bodies and face walked out of the town's only bar and restaurant. The taller one led the other, who only reached up to about his ribs. They walked across the town, heading for the pawnshop. They walked seamlessly through the crowd, people just avoiding them whether it be out of fear or respect. After knocking on the door, the old man opened it once again. He took one look at the man in front of him before trying to shut the door. The tall one grabbed the door and pushed it open, letting them in. The old man sighed before closing the door behind him.
"Well, I'm assuming you're here for the job." He motioned for them to sit down, but only the small one did. The taller one walked over to the shopkeeper's kitchen and pulled out a kettle and some tea leaves. The shopkeeper said to him, "Don't bother, the stove stopped working two days ago. Can't heat anything up with it."
"That won't be a problem." The man held the kettle full of cold water over his open hand and created a small flame to warm it. "Now, will you please tell the mission details to my associate, Mr..?"
The shopkeeper realized he hadn't introduced himself yet. "Endon. Endon Marcius. And you want me to give to job to him." He pointed to the boy sitting on the couch. He had removed the hood of his cloak, allowing his dirty blonde hair and boyish face to be seen. "He can't be more than thirteen. How old are you, boy?"
The boy flinched as he was spoken to. "Um… M-My name is T-Thomas and I'm twelve years old." He pointed at the hooded man who had just finished making his tea. "His name is Drake, and he will be seeing if I am fit to join his guild." Endon stared at them in shock. Drake placed the now heated kettle on the table, two extra cups were there if Endon and Thomas wanted to take any. They didn't.
"What kind of guild forces a twelve year old to take on entire group of thieves with only one person helping him?"
Drake shook his head. "You seem to misunderstand. I will not be helping him. He will be doing this by himself." Endon didn't know how he should react to this. This man was obviously insane. Drake continued. "Now, I believe you were telling my recruit about this job of yours."
Endon shook his head. "I refuse. I won't let you make this kid go on a suicide mission just to see if he's strong. So get ou-" He was interrupted by Thomas grabbing onto his arm.
"Please Mr. Marcius. I really want to join this guild, so please give me this mission." Endon looked down at the boy and could it in the kid's eyes that he was being truthful, that he did indeed want to join it by choice and wasn't being forced to.
"Even if I wanted to, I couldn't. I already gave the job to another group of people." Drake took a sip of his tea before joining the conversation again.
"I believe there may be a solution to this." He walked over and sat down on the couch. "Did you tell them they needed to do something specific to prove they wiped out the thieves?" Endon nodded. "Then there it is. All we need to do is make it a race. Should Thomas get back here before them with…" He took another sip of tea before turning his attention back to Endon. "What did they need to do?"
"They needed to collect the banner the guild hangs up in the main hall. When they returned with that I would send in the knights to arrest the thieves."
"Alright, so whoever gets the banner wins. Anything else we need to know?" Drake still had his hood on so only his mouth and the bottom of his nose could be seen, but Endon could feel his eyes staring at him. They seemed to be picking him apart, trying to learn everything about him. Endon started to sweat nervously.
"Well, there is the location of their hideout, but I gave the map to the people who got here first. It said they were somewhere down the main path into the forest."
Drake stood up. "That won't be a problem. Come on Thomas, your initiation begins now." Thomas quickly got up as well, following him outside.
When they made it out of the store, another cloaked figure made its way over to them. Only this one was small and had two wings sprouting out from its back. It landed in front of them and removed its hood. The red cat spoke to Drake. "What's the mission?"
Drake started to walk away from him. "If you actually came with us, you would know." The cat started to fly again, this time landing on Drake's shoulder.
"You said I could finish my food." He made a pouting face as he spoke, a slight whine is his voice. "You know I don't like to waste good food."
Drake couldn't help but chuckle at the exceed's actions. "Maybe next time you shouldn't order three servings." A quick flick of his wrist motioned Thomas to walk even with them. He turned to the twelve year old. "Are you ready to begin?"
The boy nodded excitedly. "So where are we going? Mr. Marcius said something about the forest." Drake just smirked.
"Don't listen to him. Thieves are rather smart, so they wouldn't leave a map to their base at someone's house if they weren't associated with them. And most have an emergency exit to get in and out of their hideout. And lucky for us, I think I know where that is." He then led Thomas north of the village and into the forest, but not before catching the scent of someone he hadn't smelt for years. A small smile adorned his face as he thought, 'It's been too long, Natsu. Far too long.'
Fairy Tail's Strongest Team
Deep inside the Dragon's Woods, four mages and a cat were lost. The map they were given was not very descriptive. The only three markings on it was a cathedral looking building with Cedar written beneath it, a poorly drawn house with a small triangle above it and a circle with a large X through it nowhere near the others on the map.
"Gaaah! This doesn't make any sense!" Natsu yelled as he held the map in his hands as they walked along the path. No one knew where they should be going so they just decided to follow a dirt road.
"I'm still wondering about why he had the map in the first place." Erza had her hand on her chin, eyes closed in thought. "He seemed to know quite about these thieves."
"You worry too much. He just wants to make his town safer." Grey had stripped out of his shirt by now, but managed to keep his pants on. "Besides, this map doesn't tell anything. Probably drew it himself."
Erza considered the idea, but before she could do anything Happy yelled down at them from where he was flying. "Guys, there's a house up here!" Natsu cheered as he ran ahead to try and find it. The rest of his teammates followed after him.
The small house in front of them was nothing more than a shack built at the base of a mountain. It seemed to be partly in the base of the mountain face, with the back wall pressed up against it completely. Natsu tested the door, finding it to be locked.
Lucy said, "Great, now how are we going to ge-" Her unfinished question was answered as Natsu punched in the door with a flaming fist.
He turned to his team and gave them a big grin. "Come on guys. Let's teach these thieves a lesson." When he turned to walk into the house, a massive gust of wind blew him backwards. He fell down on his back, groaning at the pain.
Happy stayed behind to help Natsu while the rest went on ahead to discover the source of the wind. Inside the house, all kinds of furniture and object where thrown around. A table had landed on top of a bed in the corner, plates and tankards with their contents scattering the floor. A bookcase was lying flat on the floor. In the wall near the fallen bookshelf was a tunnel carved into the rock behind it. The tunnel led downwards into the ground. As the team walked through the tunnel, they discovered it widened out into a large cave.
It was perfectly circular, with a small stream cutting across the center of it. A small stone bridge went over it, allowing one to cross without getting their feet wet. Along the walls were a scattered assortment of beds and chests. But what really caught your attention was the fact that about two dozen bandits were laying on the ground, unconscious. Their weapons were not in their scabbards, as if they were in battle. A few of the swords and axes were melted, but the majority of them seemed to be blown out of their hands, being impaled in the walls and few of the bed frames.
"What the hell happened here?" Grey said as he walked over to one of the bandits. He knelt down, picking up the bandit's arm and dropping. He got no reaction.
Erza walked over the bridge, looking at the wall behind a large oak desk. Papers and gold coins were scattered on top of it. Near the top of the wall, where it met with the ceiling, were two large nails hammered into the rock. Bits of cloth were still around the nails, implying that something was sloppily pulled down. "I think someone got here before us."
Lucy walked up beside her. "Who got here before us? The shopkeeper didn't say anything about other people taking the job." Erza's answer got interrupted by a groan from the dragon slayer.
"Why can't anything be simple for once? Go to the place, beat guys up, then go back and get paid." He grumbled a few things under his breath as he kicked a sword across the floor.
Happy had been collecting some of the stuff in the chest around the room. Their contents varied from jewels to weapons to random household objects. He walked over to one of the other chest near the start of the stream. When he opened it, there was a load clunk and the rock wall above the small hole the stream moved through were pulled to the side. Behind them was another tunnel.
The group followed down the path for a few yards, before reaching a makeshift ladder. Climbing up it, they found themselves in the middle of a clearing. Looking down at the hole they got out of, they realized it was the other mark on the map they were given. It was a circular hole, covered by a wooden lid with a small X carved into it.
"So I guess we failed the mission." Lucy said in a dejected tone. "Wanna go back to town?" With a few disheartened agreements, they started to go back to Cedar.
Despite not knowing where they were, it didn't take long for them to find their way back to the small town. To their surprise, the peaceful town they left was full of commotion. The town rune knights had left the church unattended. A small crowd had formed around them as the knights led a man out of town.
As the team got closer they heard lots of profanities coming from the man. Getting even closer they realized it was the shopkeeper who gave them the job. The rune knights roughly pushed him to the ground as one pulled out a piece of paper and started to read off of it.
"Endon Marcius of Cedar, you are hereby under arrest with the charges of supporting a dark guild, fencing stolen goods, and seven different accounts of assault." Putting away the paper the knight kneeled down in front of him and said, "Did you think hiding in the town would keep us from finding you for long?"
Endon was screaming at them, yelling mixes between that they have the wrong guy and that they can all rot six feet under. It wasn't a very convincing argument.
By now the Fairy Tail mages had made it to the front of the crowd, allowing Endon to see them. The moment he saw them he went off on them. "Damn wizards! How did you find out? The other two didn't say anything, so it must have been you! Did the guild sell me out? Where are they, I'll kill them! I'll-" He was silenced by one of the knights grabbing him and dragging him to the small containment vehicle they had near the entrance of the village. Showing him in, the locked him inside and sent the cart down the road.
There was a slight murmur as members of the village discussed their surprise and disappointment in Endon. As the crowd dispersed Lucy said dejectedly, "I guess we aren't going to get paid. Should we just go home?" The rest of the team nodded and started to walk out of the village.
After half an hour they made it past the cliff and into a small forest. They couldn't contact anyone to get a carriage to take them home so they had to walk. The only one who supported this was Natsu because he didn't have to get on the death-wagon as he liked to call it.
As they stepped out into a large clearing, they saw a man wearing a dark brown cloak standing out in the middle of the road, his back facing them. Tied around this neck in similar fashion to a cape was a dark green banner was a black diamond with a circle around it. When they made it about ten yards from the tree line, the team realized what they were looking at.
Natsu was the one to voice what they all were thinking. "Hey you!" Assuming that it was voiced towards him, the cloaked man turned around to face them. "Where did you get that cape?" He pointed at the part of the banner that was being dragged on the ground.
The cloaked man looked over his shoulder, the cowl being pulled backwards so it almost revealed his face. No one was paying attention to that, fortunately for him. They were all focused on his 'cape.'
"This old thing? I just got it recently. My teammate had to collect it to prove he completed his mission."
He had untied it, and was currently holding it in a similar fashion to how a matador held the red cloth. "He wasn't forced to give it up, so he gave it to me." His voice dropped into a lower tone when he spoke his next sentence. "Did you want it?"
"Yeah, my team was supposed to grab it for a mission." Natsu walked a bit closer to the man. "Which means your friend got it first."
The man dropped the banner, it piling at his feet. "How about we have little test? You and I fight, and the winner gets the banner and the money for the mission." He pulled out a small bundle of jewels from the inside of his cloak. "Should you win, your team gets paid. If you lose, you get to satisfy your desire to fight. It's a win-win situation for you. Does that sound fair?"
Natsu was about to agree when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around he saw Erza. "I don't think this is the best idea. We don't know anything about this guy." Natsu just shrugged her off and turned back to the cloaked man.
The man said, "I'll let you attack first. Hit me whenever you are ready."
Natsu didn't need to be told twice. Fire spawned on his fists and he jumped at the man in front of him. Yelling "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" as pulled his hand back, ready to punch. As he landed directly before the cloaked man, he threw his fist forward and felt it connect with his face.
He tried to pull his hand back for another punch but found out it was stuck. As he looked up at the man before him, he realized why. The punch didn't seem to affect the man at all, besides knocking down the hood of his cloak. He had caught Natsu's fist with his mouth. His teeth were holding Natsu's fist at the knuckles. He took a deep breath in, the fire on Natsu's hand being drawn into his lungs.
The man then stopped biting down, releasing Natsu from the hold. He quickly then kneed him in the gut, fire from under his foot increasing its force. Natsu landed on a heap in the ground. The cloaked man then looked at the trees and yelled, "Thomas do it now!"
Grey, Lucy and Erza, who were all watching the event play out in front of them, felt a strong gust of wind start to swirl around them. Erza looked up into the tree behind them and saw a young boy sitting on a branch. He had his hands in a fashion similar to praying, but they had a small amount of space between them. The wind was swirling around him causing a divide in the branches of the trees. Looking down at the three mages, he whispered a word only he could hear.
"Metsu."
Two large magic seals appeared above the fairy tail mages as the winds surrounding them drained them of their magic. A few moments and the seals disappeared, the magic that had been drained traveling along the winds. Thomas turned towards the small red cat clinging onto a tree branch for dear life. "Did I do it right?" The cat slowly turned towards him and gave a weak nod.
Natsu crawled back away from the man who just knocked him on the ground. Pushing down the hood had revealed fiery red hair and a pale face. His eyes though, were what brought attention to him. They were a light blue, looking like a reflection of the sky. He looked down at the dragon slayer as he recovered from the single attack.
He didn't do anything as Natsu got up, just watched. He was observing everything about Natsu, learning what he could in this small amount of time. When Natsu was on his feet, he asked a question. "Who are you?"
Drake tilted his head to the side at forty five degrees. "You don't remember me?" He quickly dashed forwards, grabbing Natsu by the scarf and lifting him into the air. Orange fire started to swirl around them, slowly climbing up Drake's legs.
"I guess I'll have to remind you."
"Little Brother."
Ginger: So yeah, I'm an ass. This is how I end the three introductory chapters. I hope you enjoyed them. Uploads will now be down weekly, on Sunday. I'll try my best to make them at the same time, maybe around noon.
Ginger: Anyway, I really do hope you enjoyed the story so far. It's going to be one long ride, so don't expect something short and sweet. Feel free to leave a review, whether it is asking a question or some constructive criticism. Anything and everything is appreciated.
