AN: DAMN YOU MASHIMA! I want episode 176. Why the hell did you have to stop there? Couldn't you at least finish the Grand Magic Games? Is anyone else annoyed?
Lucky for all readers, my annoyance at Mashima has pushed me to write this chapter, which is the longest one yet.
Life at Fairy Tail returned to normal.
If one ignored the thousands of exceeds.
The Anima had reversed the flow of all magic in Edolas, therefore any being that had magic within them was sent to Earthland. And that included the whole community of flying cats. Thankfully they hadn't hung around long. Natsu loved Happy. Happy was his best friend and his partner, but all of those cats that were flapping around goggling at a new world of magic were driving him insane.
Not to mention Nichiya. Not only did the Exceed look scarily like Ichiya, he acted almost exactly the same. It was as if Ichiya had a twin cat brother and it was damn creepy. Natsu was only stopped from setting his fur on fire when the cat sidled up to his mate and sniffed her by Mirajane.
The freaky cat was as obsessed with perfume and odors as Ichiya was and creeped Erza out as much as his Earthland counterpart did. Natsu paid him back later. No one sniffed his mate and no one upset her either. The next day when all the Exceeds flew off in search of their missing eggs, Nichiya was suspiciously missing all the fur on his tail.
Well, not all the Exceeds left. Pantherlily, who looked really weird small but cute at the same time, had stuck like a magnet to Gajeel. Natsu thought they matched well because they were both insane. At least the Iron Dragon slayer was no longer moping about being the only one without a flying, talking cat.
The Exceeds weren't the most unexpected surprise to Fairy Tail. That was reserved for Lisanna.
Lisanna was Mirajane and Elfman's younger sister. The pinkette had played with her almost every day when he first joined the guild. Together they had found Happy's egg and built a house and pretending to be a family. He, Mira, and Elfman had been devastated when she had died on a job to years ago when Elfman lost control of his Take Over magic. Apparently, the Lisanna of this world had switched places with the Lisanna of Edolas, and they had buried that Lisanna.
But now Lisanna was back. Natsu had talked extensively with Master Makarov and Erza and his life was perfect. Just sitting in the guild, one arm wrapped around his scarlet haired mate, arguing with Gray who still couldn't keep track of his clothes, laughing as Happy enraged Lucy, Natsu could almost forget that he had a life or death mission to deal with.
Lucy gave up fighting with Happy. She dramatically draped herself over the table team Natsu was sharing. "My rent's due this week."
Natsu couldn't hold back a smile. The blonde celestial wizard was always complaining about not making her rent. It was why Team Natsu went on so many jobs.
"And there's no interesting missions. And certainly none large enough to cover my rent."
"So we'll just have to do a lot! It'll be fun, guys. When was the last time we went on a mission?" Gray asked.
"A real job or dealing with Oracion Seis?" Erza returned.
"A real job. Man, we didn't even get paid for taking out one of the three largest dark guilds! That's not cool." Natsu snorted at Gray's pouting.
"It's been weeks." Lucy bemoaned. "At this rate I'll never pay my rent. And then the landlady will kick me out and I'll have nowhere to live. What if I have to sleep in the streets? Or in a tree like Happy?" she shrieked.
"Hey!" Happy cried out, "I don't sleep in trees!"
He was soundly ignored by the four wizards.
Natsu stood, grabbed Lucy by the back of her shirt and lifted her to her feet, expertly dodging her flailing limbs and ignoring her outraged shouts as he manhandled her. "C'mon, Lucy. Let's find you a job! I'm all fired up!"
"Right!" Lucy exclaimed, running to the job board. "How about this one? A wealthy family's prize race horse was stolen."
"By who?"
"Uhm. . . their neighbors?"
"Seriously!?"
"Neighbors with hedges that eat people."
"Too easy. I'd just burn the hedges."
"Natsu, you can't just burn someone else's property."
"Why not? It gets the job done?"
"This job sounds much cooler. A village is being plagued by demons."
"Haven't we done that already? And the humans were really the demons? What kind of a choice was that Gray?"
"Think you could pick a better one, dragon breath?"
"Of course I could, you human icicle. I always pick the best jobs. And dragon breath? That's a terrible insult. My breath is deadly."
"Dangerous does not equal best, Natsu."
"Would you stop scolding me, Erza?"
"When you learn to engage your brain."
"She's right, air head. You never use your brain if you can avoid it."
"You frozen pervert! Take it back!"
"Pervert! I am not a pervert!"
"Gods, Gray, where are your clothes?"
"Why does this keep happening?"
"Because you're a stripper."
"Way to state the obvious, Erza."
"Ow! Why did you hit me you demon? Natsu said it not me."
"Because I told you before to keep your clothes on."
"I'm not doing this on purpose."
"Your clothes can't remove themselves." Erza pointed out.
"Um, aren't we supposed to be selecting a job?"
"Hehe, fish. With a job we could buy lots of fish, Natsu. Do you know if Erza likes fish? I don't think you can date her if she doesn't like fish."
"What? C'mon, Happy. Of course Erza likes fish. But it wouldn't matter if she didn't."
Natsu's declaration earned him a long kiss from the red head, which made Gray roll his eyes and Lucy sigh as Happy started singing.
"Hello, you guys. Job, remember? We have to pay my rent."
"Stop complaining, Lucy. Just pick one already."
"No way. You didn't like my suggestion."
"How about I pick?" Erza asked.
"NO!" the other three shouted.
"Loke luuuuuuurrrrrrveesss Lucy." Happy called, drawing out the middle.
"Shut up you stupid cat! He does not! And how is that even relevant?"
"And you luuuuuurrrrvvveee him too, Lucy."
"I do not! Stop talking about things you don't know anything about." Lucy shook a fist at the cat floating above her.
"This one! This is it."
"What is it? What are you talking about, Natsu?"
"The job. This is the job we're going to take!"
"Why this one? It's not our usual line. Although I admit it is impossible for you to cause destruction in a desert."
"Do you know how funny it would be to see Gray melt?"
"Natsu, you flaming retard! I'm not made of water. That's Juvia."
Juvia popped out of nowhere next to his shoulder. "Gah, Juvia! Don't sneak up on me like that!"
"Juvia is sorry Gray-sama. Juvia won't do it again. Did you call for Juvia, Gray-sama? Juvia will do whatever Gray-sama wants."
"That's perfect! Just ask Juvia to come with us."
"What?"
"Juvia would love to go anywhere with Gray-sama!"
"The rain follows Juvia wherever she goes. We bring her to the desert and their water issue is solved! Easy money. And you said I never use my brain. What do you say, Juvia?"
"Juvia will do anything to help Gray-sama!"
"Wait a minute! That means we have to split the pay five ways! I won't be able to pay my rent."
The blue haired water wizard gave Lucy a nasty glare and clutched at Gray's arm.
"Six ways!" Happy chirped. "Don't forget about me."
"You're a cat! What do you need money for? I have to pay my rent or I'll get kicked out."
"That's it!" Erza snapped. The rest of Team Natsu and Juvia flinched. "I'm making an executive decision. As the leader of Team Natsu we are doing this job." She ripped off a flyer and held it in front of her.
"Finding lost puppies?" Lucy, Gray, Natsu, Juvia, and Happy chorused.
"I'd rather take the one with the cave monster."
"Yes. Puppies are adorable and every puppy deserves a home. We cannot let helpless animals fend for themselves on the streets like Lucy."
"Hey! I don't live on the streets."
"Yet. You will if you don't pay your rent."
"Natsu!"
"Yes ma'am."
"Shut up."
"Yes, Erza."
"Well, now we know who wears the pants in your relationship. And despite her hundreds of armors, I don't think she actually owns a pair of pants." The ice mage whispered.
Erza swung her sword at Gray. The ground shook violently and it sliced over his hair by less than an inch.
"What's happening?" Lucy screamed.
"MAGNOLIA IS CHANGING INTO GILDARTS SHIFT. ALL TOWNSPEOPLE QUICKLY GET TO YOUR SET POSITION."
"Gildarts is back!" Natsu exclaimed happily.
"Gildarts? Who is he? He's the one doing this?"
"Gildarts is only the strongest wizard in Fairy Tail. He's our Ace. He's even more famous than Erza "Titania" Scarlet." The dragon slayer explained.
"More famous than Erza?"
"Yeah. He's an S-class wizard just like Erza. He's been gone for three years on one of those 100 year missions."
"There are 100 year missions? Do you mean that. . . the task has been going on for 100 years?"
"Not really, they're just missions that are left uncompleted. Their supposed to be really tough and only S-class mages can accept them. They're actually classified as SS-class missions. Nobody ever comes back from one though. It's why they're uncompleted."
"It was probably easy for Gildarts." Happy mused. "He likes obliterating things."
"Obliterating?" Lucy repeated weakly.
"Gildarts uses Crash magic. He needs to keep all his concentration on his magic or he accidentally destroys things. That's why the grounds shaking."
Lucy stared at Erza horrified. "He's destroying the ground?"
"What, no!" Natsu said. "The city's moving for him so he can reach the guild."
"The city's moving?"
"Yep. After Gildarts joined Magnolia used magic to rearrange the town to give him a straight path to the guild so he wouldn't accidentally flatten the city." Happy said cheerfully.
"This guild is crazy," the blonde muttered as the doors were thrown open.
She saw Gildarts for a brief second, a tall and muscular man with shoulder-length reddish orange hair, before Natsu leapt forward with a fist of flames.
"I challenge you, Gildarts!"
Lucy blinked and the man in the doorway had sent her pink haired teammate flying into the guild's ceiling.
"You're as strong as ever, Gildarts! But I've gotten stronger too. And I'm going to show you by beating you right now!"
Gildarts waved him off. "Later, Natsu. I need to speak to the Master. Come to my place later. I have something for you."
With that said, Gildarts crashed through the closest wall of the new guild in search of Markarov.
xxxNatsuErzaxxx
"So, how's the relationship with Erza huh?"
Natsu blinked. That's what he wanted to ask? "Rough start, but we've worked things out."
"So you're together? That's great! Tell me all that's happened since I left."
"That was three months ago!"
"I don't care. I won't to know everything."
So Natsu gave Gildarts a recap of the last three months, starting with Oracion Seis, Jellal and his temporarily leaving Fairy Tail to his trip to Edolas and his part in overthrown the crazy king.
"And all the magic was forced to Earthland and Lisanna came back from the dead."
"What?" Gildarts spluttered, wiping off his tea. "Back from the dead? Lisanna? When did, how did she die? How did she come back?"
"Where have you been old man? Didn't you notice her missing at my funeral?"
"Well, yeah, but I thought she was too distraught at the time to come, like Erza." Natsu flinched minutely at the reminder of the catatonic state his apparent death had left his mate in.
"Not that it matters. It turns out she switched places with Edolas Lisanna, but now she's back."
Gildarts was silent for a moment.
"Was that all you wanted?" Natsu stood in preparation to leave.
"Natsu, wait." The spikey pink haired wizard paused in the doorway. "I met a dragon during my mission."
Natsu whipped around. "A dragon."
"I don't think it's the red one you're talking about though. It was black."
"Acnologia."
"Who is Acnologia?"
"The black dragon." Natsu whispered. "I need to find him. Where is he, Gildarts?"
"Zonia Mountain." Gildarts stood, pulling open his black traveling cloak to reveal a wooden arm and leg, and several bandages wrapped around his chest. "But look at this. That beast took my left arm and leg and an organ. He's the reason I failed my quest. You don't have a chance, Natsu."
Natsu shook his head lightly. "I have a better chance than you know, old man." The dragon slayer decided just than to share his mission with Gildarts. It made him feel as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, knowing that someone else knew what he had to do.
Before, Natsu's only reservation to killing the feared Acnologia had been his not wanting to kill a dragon. But after seeing the damage it had dealt to Gildarts, he doubted his ability to beat the King of Dragons. He knew he was much stronger since he had ingested the Etherion and took control of the Tower of Heaven. But not even Gildarts stood a chance against the most feared beast in Fiore. How could he hope to ever kill him?
Gildarts couldn't even give him much advice other than what he knew Acnologia to be capable of from his encounter with the dragon. Still, Natsu reasoned it was better than nothing.
Natsu snuck into Erza's room in Fairy Hills that night. Her bed was much more comfortable than Lucy's, not that he would ever tell her that. He loved annoying her by sneaking into her bed while she was sleeping. But what he really wanted was the comfort of his mate's presence.
Now that he knew where to find Acnologia, he couldn't put off his mission. As the first True Dragon Slayer, it was his responsibility to deal with the Dragon King.
xxxNatsuErzaxxx
Not even Erza's threats to make him clean every suit of armor she owned could make Natsu calm down.
The S-class wizard promotion trial came once a year. And it was finally here. Every member of Fairy Tail was crowded into the spacious guild hall awaiting the announcement of this year's eight nominees.
"I'm all fired up!" Natsu released a stream of flames into the air.
"The venue for this year's trial is Tenrou island. The holy ground of our guild. This year's eight are:
"Natsu Dragneel."
"Alright. I'm gonna win this thing!"
"Gray Fullbuster."
"The time's finally come."
"Juvia Luxor."
"Eh. Juvia too? Juvia has to compete against Gray-sama!"
"Elfman."
"To be worthy to be called a man, one must become S-class."
"Cana Alberona."
". . ."
"Fried Justine."
"I will take Laxus's place."
"Levy McGarden."
"It's me, finally."
"Great job, Levy!"
"And Mest Gryder."
"He was so close last year."
Nastu's black eyes narrowed on the dark haired man with two scars on the left side of his face. He had never seen this man before. He was definitely not a member of Fairy Tail.
Why was he crashing their promotion trials? What was he doing pretending to be a member of Fairy Tail? And why did everyone seem to think he belonged?
"This year only one will pass." Master Makarov continued. "Within the preliminary period of one week, each of you is to select one partner. It must be a member of Fairy Tail, but it cannot be an S-class mage."
Natsu deflated. He had already envisioned him and Erza taking the test by storm.
"The details of the exam will be revealed once we reach Tenrou Island. But this time Erza will attempt to block you from continuing."
The participants cried out. Not many stood a chance of better the Queen of Fairies. Natsu frowned. He didn't mind fighting Erza, but he didn't want to have to beat her to pass this test. Their fights were serious but fun at the same time. They were more for the purpose of challenging each other to get stronger.
Mirajane raised a hand. "I'll also be a troublemaker this time."
"You mean we have to beat Mira and Erza! Old man, that's impossible." Gray shouted.
"Enough whining." Gildarts said. "This is a path that all S-rank wizards must go down.
"Wait a minute," Elfman twitched.
"No way!" Happy screamed.
"Gildarts is taking part too!"
"Don't be happy about that, flame brain!"
"But this is my chance to beat Gildarts!"
In all the excitement of the S-class promotion trials, the business with Acnologia slipped Natsu's mind. He wouldn't remember the black dragon until a week later.