On one certain day at the Dragon Fang Village.
There is a gathering at the center of the village where the villagers along with the elder have made a large circle and are watching a fight in a drawn dirt circle.
The participant of the fight is a large dark skinned man who is bald, has white paint like tattoos drawn on his body, and rugged tribal like paints; and Natsu who is looking a bit banged up as he also has green paint like tattoos and wears the same tribal pants as well.
"again." Mako spoke out while tapping his staff to the ground and in an instant, Natsu and his foe dashed in and began to brawl.
"raaah!" Natsu sends a fist at his foe who catches it and then turns to throw the young boy to the ground where he landed with a big thud. "agh!"
The other villagers chattered amongst one another as they see Natsu basically losing a fight against a foe who is three times his own size.
"Again." Mako said as he taps his staff once again and Natsu quickly got back up to send a fury of punches against his foe who blocks them all without any effort before proceeding to grab the young boy by the neck and then slams him to the ground hard. The elder sighs at the sight before he taps his staff to the ground once again. "one more time. Again."
"Raaaahh!" Natsu rushes in as he started to send a fury of punches against his large foe who defended with one arm forward while the other arm was pulled back and the hand was gripped into a fist which was swung and delivered straight to the young boy's stomach. "guah!"
Natsu flew in the air for a few seconds before he falls and creates a small dust cloud upon his crash.
This fight continues as Natsu keeps on fighting his large foe who overpowered him so easily, but this is actually the training that Mako promised to Igneel when he brought the young boy to the village.
After getting to the village, Mako introduced Natsu to the villagers as he also told them all about the young boy being the son of Igneel and also on the fact that he is to be trained as promised to the Fire Dragon King before he disappeared.
Natsu came flying in the air before he crashed to the ground and made a big dust cloud which dissipates and reveals the young boy to be completely worn out and defeated.
"Elder, he's no longer standing." A random villager told Mako who nods with a sigh, and then waves his staff to the side which made Natsu's large foe stand down and two villagers to come and tend to Natsu's injuries.
"seems that his training isn't making too much progress.." "well, he's still a young child and all." "perhaps a few years of training will do him best?" the villagers near Mako chattered amongst one another as the Elder listens to them all before he goes to Natsu who is huffing his breath while still on the ground.
"How do you feel?" Mako asks the young man who peeks an eye open to see the old man standing near him.
"Like I got crushed under a rock.." Natsu said before he groans and then huffs his breathing a bit. "that guy…he's damn strong!"
"Well, Gango is the village's strongest warrior." Mako said as he turns and looks at the young boy's sparring foe who is being given praises by a few villagers. "At the age of 18, he became the strongest in the village when he set off on a journey of strength and body for a year before returning with great might and wisdom. He is the pride of the village."
"Well…that explains things…" Natsu said as he sits up and then wipes off some dirt from his cheek. "so? what now?"
"now?" Mako turns and looks at a group of villagers wearing hunting gears such as wooden spears, stone axes, and bow and arrows. "It's time for lunch."
"Lunch!?" Natsu exclaimed as he drooled. "What are we going to have!?" he looks at where Mako is pointing. "meat!?" he then gets confused. "huh?" he raise an eyebrow when he sees that the hunting group didn't have any meat or anything with them. "they haven't caught anything?"
"of course." Mako said as he begins walking away. "they won't hunt unless you join and help them."
"eehhh!? Why do I have to go too!?" Natsu complained. "I'm tired!"
"no complaining." Mako said as he stops and looks back at Natsu. "I've allowed you some time to get yourself comfortable in the village." He waves and points his staff to the side. "Now is the time for you to go and help aid the village in our ways."
"aw! come on!" Natsu groaned. "the forest is like miles away from here! I'll be tired before I can go hunting!"
"then I suppose you will remain hungry." Mako said as he turns and walks away. "think of this as the continuation of your training." He stops and smirks a bit to Natsu. "unless you're giving up?" he turns and looks a bit smug at the young man. "if so, then I should inform your father that you're a coward who always gives up."
"l-like hell I am!" Natsu shouted angrily. "I ain't no coward! I'm Natsu! I never give up on a challenge!"
"then go and help the hunters." Mako said as he walks away after chuckling. "hunt and secure food for the village and I'll take back those words of mine."
"you'd better!" Natsu exclaimed before he gets off the ground and runs to the hunting group.
Mako chuckles as to how he got Natsu to join the hunting group so easily after hearing his complaints.
"Elder, will that be alright?" a nearby villager came and asked Mako. The two looks at Natsu now walking with the hunting group as the young man was given a spear to use. "that boy isn't that well trained in hunting as he is in combat. If you send him off to do some hunting…"
"it'll be fine." Mako nods as he watch Natsu and the hunting group leave the village. "that boy has the potential to become stronger, but that is only possible if we push him to his limits and break through it." he then begins walking away while patting his back. "let us just wait and see the result of the hunting."
"even if you say that…" the villager looks at Mako before turning to look at the hunting group who has left the village through the main gate.
Within a forest that is located a few miles away from the Dragon Fang Village.
The place was just quiet and serene for the nature growing within, the fauna all lived in their natural habitat and such before a boar came rushing through some bushes as it was running away.
"wait right there!" a voice is heard before Natsu came rushing through the bushes, the young man pulls back his right fist which ignited in flames. "Oraaaahh!"
Natsu rushes in and sends his fist at the boar's back which sends the mammal flying towards a large tree where it crashed and went out cold.
"Take that!" Natsu said as he grins while approaching the downed animal. "You thought you could run away from me, but you're wrong."
"hey, Natsu!" a voice called out to the salmon haired boy who turns to see the other hunters of the Dragon Fang Village coming nearby, most already caught some animals like rabbits and wild birds. "we're going to the uphill area, we still haven't caught enough for the village." The leader of the group then points at the north area of the forest and to a large tall tree in the distance. "once you done that boar in, bring it there to meet up with us, alright?"
"got it." Natsu replied and the hunting group leaves the young boy at his place.
A minute later, Natsu is now dragging the deceased boar as he is pulling the dead animal by its back legs.
"This one….is heavy….as always!" Natsu grunts each time he pulls the dead boar as he thought he might have chosen the wrong size boar, the young boy wanting to have lots of meat in his meal and just decided to choose to hunt the largest animal that he could find. "Why…are…these…pigs…always…heavy!?"
Natsu drags the boar by himself as he made his way straight for the large tree that the hunting group leader told him to be at to meet up with them.
As the young boy drags his hunted boar, he hears some rustling nearby which alerted him. he quickly dropped his boar and then got ready for a fight as he thought that it might be another animal that might come and steal his hunt.
"can't smell it…" Natsu whispers as he had sniffed the air and he could only smell the scent of nature. His ears then twitches a few times as he heard some rustles coming from somewhere near him. "but I can hear it.." his eyes switches from left to right as he looks around for the source of the rustling noise before his eyes sharpened and focus to a bush nearby which is rustling a bit. "there!" he quickly lungs into the bushes with the intention to attack whatever was hiding, but the moment he entered the other side, a feminine scream came a ringing.
In the other side of the bush, a straw basket had herbs and flowers of all kinds spread all over the grass.
"Eh? You are…" Natsu muttered out as he is currently on top of the very same young girl he had once encountered once when he first came to the Dragon Fang Village. "That girl from that time, right?"
The two are in a position with Natsu hovering with his arms and legs around the girl who lies underneath him and had a shocked, terrified, and baffled look for a moment but that changed when her expression instantly turned furious.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" she screams out loudly while quickly swinging her right hand straight at Natsu's face which receives a very strong hard slap that sent him flying.
"buwaghh~!" Natsu was sent flying to some bushes while the girl quickly gets up, grabs the basket, collected some of the scattered herbs and flowers before quickly running away.
As the girl ran away, Natsu came out of the bushes as he had twigs and leaves sticking in his salmon hair. He looks around and saw the back of the girl who runs away and then disappeared into the woods.
"what's with her?" Natsu said as he rubs a hand to his slapped cheek. "Slapping someone all the sudden…"
Not knowing what had made the girl slap him, Natsu just continuously rub his cheek while looking very confused as to what he did to make her do such a thing.
That's a wrap!
Bye bye