I just want to say that I would really appreciate feedback! I'm really trying to develop as a writer so it'd be awesome to hear what y'all think! :D Thank you!
Wendy:
"Mest, I'm so sorry! I was no help at all! You should've brought someone else…"
The blue haired sky dragon slayer was crouched on the ground in with her knees pulled into her chest, tears threatening to spill from her large, brown eyes.
"Hey now! You gave it your all. Gray and Loke are just some tough cookies, this is an S- Class competition after all!"
She looked up at the older man and smiled. He smiled in return, offering her a hand up. She took it, gladly, and was on her feet again in no time.
"Say, Wendy, do you know why this island is such a closely guarded secret?"
Wendy glanced at Mest curiously.
Does he actually expect me to know? she thought to herself.
"Well isn't it because the first master is buried here?"
He grinned at her with mischief in his eyes and said "No, no! Other than Mavis! There's supposedly some kind of hidden magic here!"
Wendy's face lit up at the thought, a hidden magic! Maybe it'd been created by Mavis herself, what if they found it?!
Mest glanced down at the younger mage and smiled again, adding "Wanna go explore?"
"For sure!" the sky dragon slayer exclaimed, her eyes glinting with excitement.
Natsu:
Natsu had to stop himself from glancing at Sophia as they battled. She was just so amazing to watch. He'd caught her looking at him once, that had felt good. Maybe she was thinking the same thing… SHIT. NATSU PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER! his brain screeched at him as he very narrowly dodged Gildarts powerful and menacing fist.
You gotta focus! Taking down Gildarts, AS A TEAM, is your priority right now! Not whether or not Sophia is looking at you!
"Shit…" Natsu mumbled under his breath. He took a step back and raised his fists into a fighting position.
"That all you got?" he taunted, even though he was out of breath and already bruised and bloodied. Sophia was no better. Gildarts smiled and his eyes glinted with devilry.
"Haven't even broken a sweat, kid."
"Well neither have I!" Sophia yelled from across the cavern, where Gildarts' last elbow to the chin had knocked her.
"Ok well I'm not bleeding, then." the older mage retorted, stooping down to the teenagers antics.
"Neither am I!" she yelled back once more, with even more determination.
"Uh, Sophia?" Happy called from the top of the chasm, "you might wanna check again."
Suddenly she seemed to realize that the red stuff getting in her eyes was not her hair, and was in fact blood gushing from a gash across her forehead.
"Ah...never mind then," she said, smilingly sheepishly as she came to stand next to Natsu once more. Gildarts smirked and held up his own hands in a fighting position. Natsu glanced at the redhead once more and nodded at her, trying to communicate his new plan of attack. Her eyes flashed in understanding, and suddenly she was in the air and a giant ball of fire was descending on Gildarts. Natsu rushed head first into the inferno and yelled, "FIRE DRAGON SWORD HORN!" while Sophia simultaneously bellowed, "FIRE DRAGON EXPLODING FLAME BLADE!"
Natsu's head rammed into Gildarts stomach, getting a loud grunt of displeasure, while Sophia's foot slammed into his chest, nudging the immovable Gildarts backwards. Sophia fell backwards onto Natsu, who had fallen onto the cold, stone floor. When the dust settled, the two set up, clutching onto each other, hoping the plan had worked. Gildarts began to guffaw when he realized what had happened.
"You pushed me back! At least a couple of feet!"
The older mage smiled, his white teeth shining in the gloom, and added, "You two have really grown up, haven't you?"
The two dragon slayers had shiteating grins on their faces, from ear to ear their mouths stretched and it was all they could do not to start cheering and racing around the edges of the crater.
"We haven't just been sitting on our asses while you've been away!" Natsu bragged, slapping Sophia on the back.
"At least not all of it, anyway," Sophia added.
Gildarts laughed once more and spread his arms open wide. "Well! As your supervisor, I'd usually say you pass."
"No way, we haven't beaten you yet!" Natsu called, racing towards Gildarts once more.
"I thought you might say that.." he muttered. Sophia was hot on Natsu's tail.
"That's why I won't go easy on you."
Natsu looked up just in time to see the older mage's face darken as the ground around him began to crumble and a massive amount of magic power formed an aura around him. He held out a single hand as Natsu unleashed a powerful fire dragon's roar, with Sophia repeating the move seconds later as she skidded to a stop next to the pinkette. Natsu heard Happy yell in fear as the flames in front of him divided into cubes. Natsu cursed under his breath and thought about running straight at him again, since it had seemed to work the first time. He began to turn to nod at Sophia again, but as he did he felt his body split into pieces. Suddenly he was 200 places at once; the cavern had been filled with pint sized copies of Sophia and Natsu, who were screeching their heads off.
"LETS GET HIM!" one of the Sophia's yelled, effectively rallying the swarm, who proceeded to launch themselves at Gildarts.
"I've..never been approached by an opponent in this state…" he mumbled as the many tiny mages set his eyebrows on fire and tugged at his face and clothes.
"OK, you two are even more annoying this way! Go back!" he clasped his hands together in front of him and suddenly the two mages resolidified into their normal sizes and dropped at his feet.
"I said I wasn't gonna go easy on you. I meant it. There's one more thing you both have yet to learn...know it."
The mage spread his hands apart and his aura reappeared, shaking the cavern and lifting the pebbles off the ground to shake in fear. Natsu felt his blood run cold and sweat began to drip from his forehead and onto the ground. He made an attempt to stand up after watching Sophia take a tentative step towards their opponent, but gravity and a weakness in his knees pulled him back down. Sophia fell to the ground at Gildarts feet, a trail of blood from the wound to her forehead behind her. Natsu's whole body felt like jelly, and his heart was going a mile a minute.
What's happening? he thought frantically. Pull yourself together! We have to win this or we won't be S-Class!
He looked up once more at Sophia, but the courage he had mustered fluttered out of him as he looked at Gildarts face. Sophia began to shake, but held her ground. She turned to look back at Natsu, and he nodded once they made eye contact: they had to surrender, they both knew it.
"We…lose."
"Wonderful!" Gildarts called out warmly, "I will not blame you for being brave and standing up to me, but those with the courage to resheath their blades are exceptionally rare." Gildarts took a step towards the two dragon slayers. "Fear is not evil, it is to no one's weakness. If you know your weakness, you can become strong and gentle. That is what is necessary to become S-Class."
The older mage cracked a grin and pulled the two to their feet as he added, "Now you know. You pass," looking at each mage in turn.
"But-" Natsu began.
"Go. Your supervisor said you passed. Don't you have a competition to win?"
Natsu glanced over and smiled when he saw her own grin creeping back onto her face.
"Next time, I won't lose," she said, staring straight into Gildarts eyes.
"Yeah, me too."
Gildarts looked at Natsu and said, "Well I still don't plan on going easy on you...speaking as a friend and not a supervisor, I don't want to lose to the two of you, either."
Natsu grinned and grabbed Sophia's hand, pulling her along and out the other side of the cave, towards the smell of grass and water.
"C'mon! We got a competition to win!"
Sophia waved at Gildarts over her shoulder as they ran out of the cavern with Happy and Plue hot on their heels.
Natsu couldn't focus on anything but the way Sophia's hand felt in his. It fit perfectly, no fuss, like puzzle pieces. He almost sighed. He would never admit it to anyone but he secretly loved cute romantic things. This was like coke for his fluttery romantic's heart. He already knew he was going to obsess over it for months. He was a forward kind of guy, but with Sophia it was rare where their physical contact had significance to Natsu because of the frequency. You could just tell her… He shook his head as if to shake the errant thought from his head. Stupid. She probably likes Gray or Loke or something. You're just her best friend, don't ruin it.
Sophia:
He hasn't let go of my hand yet...We're holding hands. Sophia's heart was still pumping with adrenaline but she couldn't tell if it was left over from the fight or from the proximity to Natsu. She inhaled deeply to catch a whiff of the cinnamon and campfire smell that Natsu gave off and smiled as it washed over her. She could feel all the calluses on the palm of his hand and subconsciously began to run her fingers over them, feeling the satisfying ridges that were the product of his daily training.
"Hey, that tickles…" he muttered. Sophia blushed beet red and mumbled a reply. He, however, didn't let go of her hand. She looked at the back of his head, hopefully, and an idea crossed her mind and she grinned. Leaning forward as quietly as possible, she reached her free hand around to Natsu's side and suddenly jabbed inwards, tickling him.
"HEY!" he screeched, but a smile was spread across his tan face and he was laughing uncontrollably after another couple of seconds. Their hands dropped, but Sophia tackled him and began to tickle him more fervently. She got lost in the moment, but only when she began to grow tired of the horse play did she realize the position she had gotten herself into. She was straddling him, pinning his hands to the ground with her feet. She felt a blush rise to her face once more and turned away slightly to hide it.
"Got you," she almost whispered, giggling.
"My turn."
Suddenly, her back was on the cool, dirt ground and her own arms were pinned under Natsu's feet, his hands jabbing into her sides as she howled in laughter. They stayed like this, until Happy and Plue rounded the corner. Natsu immediately stood up, and a bright red blush crossed his face as Happy began to shriek "They liiiiike each other!"
"Of course we like each other, Happy," Sophia said grinning, "we're best friends."
You could be more.
Sophia's smile faded as she stared up at the dragon slayer standing over her and the disappointment washed over her.
"We should get going," Natsu muttered, offering her hand up. He trudged along ahead of her, with Happy by his side, talking in low voices that Sophia strained to hear but was unable to discern because of the echo of the stone walls.
"PUN?"
"Yeah… a bit."
"PUN PUN!"
"I don't think I could do that!" Sophia mumbled, with an expression of alarm plastered on her pretty face.
"Pun."