'Thoughts'
"Speech"
"Attack"
In a clearing surrounded by trees sat a young boy. This young boy sat on his knees, his palms placed on top of them. The boy had wild spiky shoulder length hair with multiple bangs that fell just past his eyebrows. The odd thing about it was its unusual color, pink.
The boy was wearing a black scarf with a scaly pattern a black long sleeve shirt with dark blue cuffs that stuck to his wrist, a white dark grey waistcloth that was tied on by black string and light gray cargo pants that stopped at the middles of his calves.
The child had his eyes closed as he focused almost as if he was waiting for something. *snap* to a normal person something so quiet would have never been heard but the boy's ears twitched a little in response. Rustling was heard and then silence.
All of a sudden a silhouette burst forward from the trees and raced towards the boy. The boy quickly rotated his body towards the silhouette and thrusted his fist towards it only for it to hit air.
The boy picked up a slight movement within the air and quickly pivoted on his heel to face. When the boy turned the silhouette was already preparing a sharp punch towards his head. The boy quickly duck and at the same time swept at it's legs.
The silhouette stepped backwards to avoid the sweep as a fist of wind blew of the child's kick. The boy quickly regained composure by following through with his sweep spinning his whole body around before pushing off the ground with his arms and proceeding to gain footing. Once the boy landed he adopted his most natural fighting stance.
Left leg in front with his weight on his right, his knees bent with his body leaning slightly backwards, his right arm was shoulder height with his shoulder bent and his fist within his peripheral's and his left arm lowered down to his waist with his palm open, fingers slightly curled and spread apart, they gave the appearance of claws rather than actual fingers.
He let out a breath and the silhouette stood up straight. The silhouette was revealed showing a tall dark skinned man. He had long messy gray hair that fell down his back. The man work a dark black cloak, a necklace made out of some unfortunate soul's teeth, and tattered black pants with dark blue patterns on them.
This man had the same blue patterns in his arms and over his jawline. The man glared at the child releasing a massive amount of killing intent and a black hazy silhouette of a dragon with feathered pattern wings towered over the boy. Sweat dripped down the boy's and he took a breath allowing himself to calm down.
The boys eyes hardened before glaring back at the tall man causing the same black hazy dragon silhouette to appear behind him with just as much killing intent.
The two dragons roared at each other and though they seemed like mere images the sound they produced was far from fake. The roar caused all the wildlife in the area to flee. Birds flew, deers bounded away, boars ran for their lives and anything that didn't leave fainted from the killing intent the two produced.
Once the dragons stopped roaring the child made a dash towards the man jumping up and cocking a fist back. The man raised an arm up as the child threw his fist at him catching it in his palm. The punch by no means was weak especially for such a child. Even though the man had caught the fist there was still so much force behind it that the ground beneath collapsed and formed a large crater.
The crater was the size of an average sized house plus some and it was half as deep forming a rugged half sphere in the ground. Wind blew off of the punch causing the trees to bend away from the battle. The man trapped the child's fist in his hand and started to swing the child's body around. After the first few swings the child managed to wrap his free arm and his legs around the man's arms.
The man watched as the young boy threw his head backwards and opened his mouth before breathing in a large amount of what would have seemed like air but whilst he was actually doing was gathering magic energy.
Dark jet black energy with a similar dark blue to the color of the man's tribal tattoos began to gather into the boy's mouth in a group of sparks that resembled lightning in some cases before bringing his head back up.
"Chaos dragon's." the voice of the child before releasing the magical energy at the man's face at point-blank range. "Rooooaaaaarrrrr." The child yelled as a large beam of the same colored energy that the boy was gathering just seconds before shot from his mouth.
Despite the range the man reacted fast enough to duck underneath causing the beam to shoot up past them and unfortunately the angle at which the attack was fired from caused the beam to fire into the trees. The roar collided with multiple trees within the forest destroying them on impact eventually exploding into the sky at a not so far distance resulting in a gust of wind coming back at the pair.
When the attack died down a path of ruined trees could be seen the further it went the less damage the trees were until it reached a point where most of the trees had been flattened by the shockwave. The man, with the child still attached to his arm, threw his fist into the ground causing the child's head to hit the ground with a thud and his grip loosening.
Seeing this the adult flicked the child up into the air and began to the same black magical energy into his mouth in the same way as the little boy, who was now high up in the air, did. Sensing an attack was coming he put his hands in front of his chest with one palm facing up and the other down they were spaced apart so that you could fit a fist in between and plus some.
"Dragonslayer Secret Arts:" came the voice of the child.
As he said that black and blue magical energy began to pool into the gap between his hands from four corners that formed a sphere in the middle. "Starless night."
The boy raised his arms and the sphere expanded. Just as he said that the man had began to open his mouth to release the magical energy his voice low with an angry tone ,whether it was natural or he was actually angry was a mystery, he spoke. "Chaos Dragon's." at the same the boy's spell was almost prepared his voice signaling it as he was about to fire the spell
"Corruption" back on the ground the man leaned back before coming back up and releasing his attack at the same time as the boy who rotated his arm so that they had swapped around causing the attack to fire. "Rooooaaaarr!", " Burst!" They both yelled.
The man's roar was twice no three times larger than the one the child had previously unleashed but the spell the child used this time was the strongest he knew and the attacks ended up matching in size as they collided.
However, the result was very one sided as the roar completely overwhelmed the burst as soon as they collided. The roar climbed towards the child whom's eyes were wide in shock at his attack being obliterated so easily. The attack hit causing a large explosion in the air and when finished a large cloud of smoke and dust had formed.
A single pink-haired body fell from the cloud falling to the ground. With his back on the ground the child laid there breathing heavily blood dripping from one of his arms, it's sleeve torn from the wrist to the forearm revealing black scales that covered it up to just before his wrist. The child ripped the rest of his sleeve off, he needed to assess the damage, once he had it was revealed that he had more scales up to the shoulder.
He checked his scaly arm his upper arm felt bruised, odd seeing as it hadn't been attack but still the damage was there, his forearm was bleeding heavily and the scales that had been covering it were cracked and in some cases torn off.
He wouldn't be able to assess the damage fully but knew the arm wouldn't be able to be used for a while. Rolling on his stomach he pushed himself off the ground with a single arm, he hadn't realized but his other arm had taken considerable damage, it shook and he flopped back down.
He tried again but it ended in the same result until a fresh wave of killing intent washed over him.
The most basic of instincts kicked in and his body reacted focusing on one thing, surviving, instead of a push his body reacted by practically hitting the ground with his palm and then pushing off of the ground with the same amount of force. Jumping backwards he landed on his feet his injured arm hanging limp by his side as the blood dripped onto the brass he quickly scanned the area searching for the man.
The man was approaching the child in a slow walk when he suddenly split in two then four, eight and finally sixteen. Afterimages, the child clicked his tongue in annoyance before raising his hand and charging his magical energy into it.
Magical energy danced off of the boy's hand striking the ground surrounding him. "Chaos Dragon's: Devastation!" He finished his sentence by plunging his fist into the the ground causing a spiderweb crack in the ground before a ring of energy surrounded him then proceeding to push outwards rising in height the further it went destroying the land as it before diminishing.
The attack had left the child standing on the only pillar of the original landscape in an one hundred metre radius. The afterimages had faded leaving only the original but the child's strength was beginning to reach empty having to fight at such a level was taxing on his undeveloped body, he needed rest but it seemed he wouldn't be getting that anytime soon as the man disappeared from his sights before appearing in right in front of him.
The child reacted immediately charging his fist in magic energy and throwing it at the man. Before it could reach him however a punch connected with the boy's temple knocking his head towards the ground with the rest of his body joining it. His body hit the ground hard rolling a couple of times leaving him on his back he propped himself on his elbows glaring at the man as magical energy filled his cheeks. "Chaos Dragons Roar!" yelled the child as he once again fired a roar in the man's direction.
The man simply held his hand up towards the attack as it hit dust clouded the boy's vision. As the dust cleared it revealed the man unharmed unless you count the smoke coming off of his hand. However it seemed he child had predicted this as when the man looked to where he was previously located the only thing that greeted him was the decimated landscape as he now stood upon the pillar of relatively unharmed land.
The man stood waiting for the child to show himself. It seemed that he had hidden his presence from the man but that only lasted for a few seconds as the man sensed magic energy to his left and immediately turned to face it.
The child burst forth from the dust becoming visible to the man he had his uninjured arm in the middle of a straight punch with his shoulders beginning to rotate his arm. His fist and forearm were covered in the same black and dark blue Chaos Dragonslaying magic had been.
"Chaos Dragon's:" the man raised one arm blocking off his face in a diagonal line. The fist crashed into the arm with a mighty force "Impact Gauntlet!" In saying this the magic energy gathered on his arm rushed forward creating a beam that pushed the man back off of the pillar and into the ruined lands.
The man dug his heels into the ground stopping himself from being pushed back before sweeping his arm diagonally downwards redirecting the beam into the ground and returning his arm to his side.
On the pillar the child was breathing harder than before his body and magical reserves reaching their limit he'd collapse soon but not without putting up a decent fight clenching his fist and letting out a war cry he launched himself at his foe. Looking towards the flying child the man's expression hardened and he raised his fist before launching it at him only to hit air. An afterimage.
The man instinctively turned around to be greeted with a kick to the chin. The child floated in the air his back turned to him as the child rotated, that is what the man saw when he looked down, his chin facing the sky, the child rotated around bringing his leg around and delivering a swift kick to the ribs. Unfortunately the kick didn't faze him and the child's leg was captured "What's wrong?" Asked the man "This isn't all you have is it?" He said as he raised the child up by the leg "NATSU?!" The man shouted child's name before slamming him into the ground. Natsu coughed up blood on impact, organ damage 'shit' Natsu thought to himself 'but.'
Natsu clenched his fist and wrapped his leg around one of the man's legs "IT AIN'T OVER YET!" he shouted lifting his upper body and using his one good arm strike his liver. Being a vital area the man winced Natsu's physical capabilities were no joke. "What's wrong? Didn't know your human form was so weak." Natsu smirked "or am I just too strong for ya Acnologia?"
The man now revealed as Acnologia gritted his teeth "Arrogant brat" he said before striking Natsu's temple with a bit more strength than he was supposed to knocking Natsu out. The grip on Acnologia's leg loosened allowing him to free it he crouched down to pick Natsu up when the boy whispered something with the last of his strength "someday…...I'll make you….go…..all…..out…." Acnologia smirked "and….I'll…...kick your ass"
Acnologia stared at Natsu and thought to himself. 'Fool. I wouldn't send you to battle to die. If you can't beat me at full strength how will you beat Zeref.'
Picking Natsu up Acnologia resumed his thoughts 'Your training speed far exceeded my expectations to come this far in such a short amount of time.'
It had been four years since Natsu officially began his training in Chaos Dragon Slaying magic. Even though Natsu thought inheriting the knowledge of the lost magic would be the worst part he was far from right. Training was hellish with his increased physical strength, speed and endurance Natsu thought his daily training would be a cinch with the punishment of three extra hours Natsu had to perform 4 hours of non-stop exercise.
It wasn't just the time that increased however, with Natsu's training usually consisting of long-distance springs, smashing boulders, lifting boulders, dragging trees etcetera, Acnologia forced Natsu to do a much more punishing routine which consisted of Rolling boulders 10 times his size up mountains and if he dropped it he'd have to go get it and start again from where he caught it.
The rock never stayed the same either every time he started to get used to a boulder Acnologia would magically appear with a heavier one. Natsu was now on a Iron ore boulder 12 times his size. The training schedule also had Natsu stand on a pillar of rock in the middle of white-water rapids holding a tree on each of his arms Natsu slipped or stopped pulling he'd be met with a fate that caused him to nearly drown almost all the time.
Of course Acnologia being the sadist he is always provided bigger trees every time Natsu's strength improved and always made sure to do this certain activity after something tiring such as what Natsu calls mountain boulders or dodge boulder which E.N.D came up with saying it was a reference to some human game.
Dodge boulder was no game not for Natsu at least it was an exercise in which Natsu had to dodge boulders thrown by Acnologia Natsu could dodge however he'd have to keep going until he broke five boulders, the catch Natsu had to hit the boulders with an equal amount of force they were thrown with or else they wouldn't break resulting in them crushing or bouncing off of Natsu.
Of course Natsu didn't just train physically but also mentally and in magic. Magic for Natsu was simple he had a talent for it according to Acnologia.
All it Natsu had to do was learn how to gather magic there were three stages to this. The first stage was learning how to gather magical power while meditating this would always be there the fastest but least convenient method also the most boring in Natsu's opinion.
The second stage was learning how to absorb magic while moving around, this was the trickiest one as learning how to absorb magic whilst hunting, which was the method Acnologia made Natsu do, was hard. Thinking about how delicious the food would be while maneuvering through the woods made it hard for him to concentrate but Acnologia made sure that he was constantly charging his magical energy through one way or another.
This was the second fastest way to charge magic power. And the last and slowest way to gather magic energy was subconsciously. This is a trait all wizards possess however Acnologia taught Natsu a way to enhance this making it faster than usual or more like beat him into learning it.
Natsu would walk around as usual performing his task but if he started to intentionally gather or stop gathering magically energy he'd get hit.
Eventually his body learnt to never stop gathering magical energy until his reserves were full. After Natsu learnt the ways of gathering magic energy Acnologia began to teach Natsu spells, which he has to practice daily.
Because of the destructive nature of the magic Natsu has a special location where he trains his spells, an abandoned magical ruin that is indestructible. It was hidden until Acnologia blew up the mountain along with most of the landscape to test how tough it was or so he said.
Natsu had to practice each spell he learnt one hundred times with a certain amount of strength. If he didn't match that strength he'd have to do it again.
Mental training was the worst. Thanks to the knowledge that E.N.D had Natsu didn't have to learn how to spell, write or read though he questioned if Acnologia would have actually taught him that stuff regardless.
Either way Natsu ended up being taught strategies to use in combat. It was odd to be taught by the embodiment of mass destruction. He didn't think Acnologia even knew about anything strategy related boy was he wrong.
Acnologia had drilled hundreds of thousands of strategies into Natsu. It was hell for Natsu he was an instinctive fighter not a strategic one. But Acnologia would have none of it saying "Then we'll just make the strategies instinctive!" And that was the beginning of his famous 'pop quizzes' where Acnologia would randomly force Natsu into a situation where the only way out was to use the strategy he recently learned.
It was only after the fifth quiz that Natsu regretted being a fast learner. Acnologia had also strengthened Natsu's mental strength through the most hellish method available, torture. Acnologia would torture Natsu in different ways. Starvation, physical pain, nightmares, illusions and sometimes all of them at once.
Needless to say it worked with the side effect of Natsu hating Acnologia down to his very core, but it worked and Natsu couldn't argue with results. Because of this Natsu's personality changed with him becoming cold, angry and more violent, his true nature only showing itself briefly during Acnologia's final part of Natsu's training, sparring.
They'd spar everyday until one of them is knocked unconscious that usually being Natsu,of course Acnologia fought in his human form. Natsu wouldn't know how to kill a human if he never fought with one, also at Natsu's current level a dragon of Acnologia's strength would destroy Natsu in a second.
Acnologia never fought at full strength but always slightly increased he fought at. The daily routine would end with hunting for food, eating and then sleeping and that's how it has been for the past four years.
It was night now Natsu was sleeping peacefully after a successful hunt. Acnologia, who had returned to his dragon form, lay on the ground as he thought to himself. 'He needs more strength, there's only one way for him to become stronger at a much faster rate. I'll have to take him to thatplace.'
With plans for the next day set Acnologia let himself rest, a long journey awaited the duo