Hello to all!
This chapter shall start the very first arc in this story, the Lullaby Arc.
In this chapter we shall see the rise of Team Natsu and the beginning of the Lullaby Arc.
We shall also see several of the other S-Class wizards in this chapter as well.
This Arc should follow cannon a lot, with a few minor, to a few major changes.
And that is everything, if you have a comment or a complaint, PM or leave a review.
As always, disclaimer: I Do not own Fairy Tail, Fairy Tail is owned by Hiro Mashima.
"Talking"
"Thinking"
"SHOUTING"
"Attack!"
"Dragon/Demon Talking"
"Dragon/Demon Thinking"
"Reading"
Chapter 7: Lullaby Arc: Part One: Formation of Team Natsu.
The day had just began, the sun was just starting to shine as a man was walking towards the Fairy Tail Guild Hall.
He was a man of 6 feet 2 inches, with a muscular physique to him, but not overly build like Natsu was, he was much slimmer in muscle mass that our favorite pyromaniac. This man has a body build more akin to an Olympic swimmer, muscular with a six pack, but not overly so. He has dark blue eyes and has long dark blue hair. He is currently wearing a dark blue T-shirt, has on golden wrist guards, has black jeans on held up by a dark brown belt that has a silver snowflake as the belt buckle and lastly brown shoes. On his left hand's middle finger is silver ring, the middle of the ring is a extremely light blue gem in the shape of a snowflake, while on his neck is a silver necklace that appears to be a sword with a red ruby in the middle.
He walked calmly and slowly as he approached the building when he heard the voice of our favorite dragon slayer.
"So Happy, do you think Cana, Yukino, Minerva, Gray, Laxus, Mystogan, Ur, or Erza will be back today?" Natsu asked his blue furred partner.
"Why don't you look over here flame brain?" The man called out.
Natsu turned towards the man and grew a massive smirk as he shouted out, "Hey there Popsicle. How was the last job?"
The man smirked and said, "Those losers were no match for me."
Natsu nodded and said, "So, were is Ur?"
"Ur took a small trip to the Magic Council to go see Ultear. She said she would be back within three days." Gray said.
"Ah. Any word on Cana and her group?" Natsu asked as the two walked towards the guild.
"Nope. They must still be on that Wyvern extermination mission. I have taken on enough of those assholes to know they don't go down easy." Gray said.
"I keep on forgetting that not everyone has the power to obliterate entire nests of Wyverns at once." Natsu said.
"Aye Sir!" Happy said as he flew up onto Natsu's head.
"Hey Happy. Natsu didn't do anything stupid while I was gone did he?" Gray asked the Exceed.
"Well, he did take on another apprentice. Her name is Lucy, she is a Celestial Spirit mage." Happy said.
"Seriously, another apprentice. Dude, you have taken on and trained more wizards than anyone else. Why take on another?" Gray asked.
"She has the spark. She has the same thing I saw in you, Cana and everyone else I trained. She has the potential to become an amazing wizard. In only to days, she learned and mostly mastered her first combat spell. It took you and the others a lot longer to do the same. She has a frightening high ability to adapt and improve." Natsu said to his old friend.
Gray nodded at his old friends explanation and then noticed that they were at the door to the guild hall.
Natsu pushed the doors open and saw that for now it was just Lisanna, Elfman and Mirajane in the guild, while Makarov was now at the guild masters meeting in Clover Town.
Elfman saw Gray and said, "Gray! It's been too long! How have you been?"
"Been good. That three month S-Class mission to get rid of that cult was dull. The cultists were idiots, barely had any power and just let me in with the intention of killing me later. The only real threat was that monster they were planning to release, but thankfully I stopped them before they could release it. Honestly it was more of a waste of time than anything else." Gray said as he sat down at the bar, to the left of Elfman while Natsu sat on Elfman right and Happy flew onto the counter.
"Only a real man could have taken on an entire cult and called it dull." Elfman said as he handed Gray a mug of his favorite drink.
Gray gulped in down in one gulp and said, "So did anything interesting happen while I was gone?"
Elfman shook his head and said, "Besides Macao nearly dying on Mt. Hakobe, nothing really. Oh, we did get a new member by the name of Lucy though."
"Already heard about her from Natsu. I heard from Natsu she is a Celestial Spirit mage. Anything about her that is interesting, like she has a metal arm?"
Natsu shook his head and said, "She has really low levels of magic, but an unnaturally high ability to improve, like I told you outside. She got the magic mapping technique down inside of a day."
Gray spit out his drink and started chocking a bit before he calmed down and said, "She got the magic mapping technique down in under a day? It took me several days before I got that technique down."
Elfman nodded and said, "Same for me. This girl sounds very promising. I think we found our future next S-Class wizard."
Natsu nodded and said, "I am determined to get her to the S-Class trials this year. I consider it a challenge for myself. Objective: Get Lucy to S-Class level in a years time. Think I can do it?"
Gray placed his hand on his chin and said, "Depends. Basing what you told me, by getting the magic mapping ability down so quickly, she will be able to improve me magic container by quite a bit in a short amount of time. Do you intend on unlocking her Second Origin anytime soon?"
Natsu shook his head and said, "I don't plan on unlocking her Second Origin until she is able to summon and hold three Zodiac Gates open at once with no difficulty. Until then, she will not have her Second Origin unlocked. But once she gets to that point, her training will increase at a massive rate. We all now how unlocking your Second Origin doubles or even triples the person's ability to grow and improve. With Lucy's high ability to grow, I worry that unlocking her Second Origin too early might make her improve too quickly and she might hurt herself with power she can't control."
Gray nodded and said, "True that."
The three of the guys then went into some guy talk as several other members began to come into the guild.
Eventually, a familiar buxom blonde Celestial Spirit mage came walking into the guild hall.
She then saw her good friend Levy McGarden talking to the other members of Team Shadow Gear, Jet and Droy.
Lucy walked over and began to talk to Levy for a bit before she walked over to the request board to see what was available.
"Let's see. Stop Bandits, Translate an ancient Tome, Search for a lost dog, Fight lava monsters? Wow, I never knew that job requests could be so varied." Lucy observed as Natsu walked over.
"Yep. As the strongest guild in all of Fiore, we get practically every single type of job you can imagine. Be it finding lost animals, destroying cursed objects, clearing out ancient ruins or just plain old clean up jobs, we do them all." Natsu said.
Lucy nodded and went back to looking for a good one and said, "So, what jobs do you usually do Natsu?"
"Well, since I have a super natural sense of smell, I sometimes track down escaped criminals, I also like to destroy Dark Guilds, plus I like fighting monsters, but every now and again I like some simple and calm jobs like finding a lost animal." Natsu said to his friend.
"Dark Guilds? What are those?" Lucy asked.
Natsu turned towards Reedus and said, "Can I borrow your Light Pen?"
"Oui." Reedus said as he handed Natsu said object.
Natsu then drew a diagram of different rectangles with several different names on them and said, "The magical world is controlled by the Magic Council that works in Era. They are one step below the government and it is their job to keep peace in the magical world. If a wizard breaks one of their laws, the council will then place that wizard on trial. Below the council are the different Guild Master Leagues which are local groups that work together. Then there are the individual Guild Masters. It is their job to pass on the decrees of the council. They also communicate with other Guild Masters on a regular basis. This is how order is kept in the magical world. However, sometimes the council will take away a Guild's right to legally work. A guild that is allowed by the council to work and submits to the council's authority is called a Light Guild. A neutral guild is a guild that although the council allows them to work, they do not submit to the councils authority. They walk on the knifes edge of being declared a Dark Guild. A Dark Guild is a guild that the Magic Council has declared as a threat to the peace of the magical world. They often take assassination jobs or demolition jobs. They are most of the times comprised of people who love and revel in the pain and misery of others, but some of their members are just confused people who need help and are actually good people, but the world and society beat them down so many times that they just decided to push back."
Lucy nodded and said, "That is a lot of information to absorb."
"Yeah, it is a little complicated, but it works, for the most part. Recently there has been a rise in the number of Dark Guilds." Natsu said with a frown.
Gray walked over and said, "He's right. In the past six months I have destroyed more Dark Guilds then I did all last year. That is cause for concern."
Lucy turned towards the Ice Devil Slayer and said, "I am sorry, I don't believe we have had the pleasure of meeting. I am Lucy."
"Nice to meet you. My name's Gray Fullbuster." Gray said as he shook Lucy's hand.
"Wait, Gray Fullbuster? As in the ex-student of Natsu Dragneel? The guy that took down 7 different criminal organizations in only a years time? The guy who uses the coldest Ice Magic of them all?" Lucy asked in astonishment.
"Yep. That's me." Gray said with a smile.
"Wow. Fairy Tail has quite a few really powerful wizards." Lucy observed.
"Yeah. Like I said before, we have the most S-Class mages of any wizarding guild." Natsu said.
"So, I heard you and Natsu took a job to take down Duke Everlue. I also heard how you did on your first job as a Fairy tail wizard. Not bad for a newbie." Gray said.
"Thanks, but I didn't do much. It was all Cancer's work." Lucy said while rubbing her fingers together nervously.
"Ah, don't be modest. You did great for your first job." Natsu said.
"Yeah. For someone of your training and power level to do as good as you did, nothing short of extraordinary." Gray said.
Lucy looked a bit more confident and said, "Yeah, I guess I did good, but Cancer and my other Spirits do all the hard work."
Gray was about to say something when suddenly the guild doors were thrown open and in came a orange haired man with a light blue colored fur jacket who shouted out, "Everyone get ready she's back! Erza is back!"
For a few seconds the guild was quiet before almost everyone began running everywhere to get the guild cleaned up.
"Erza Scarlet is here?" Lucy asked with a hint of excitement.
"Oh yeah! Finally I get to see my girlfriend again!" Natsu said while bouncing on his feet.
"Calm down flame brain." Gray said as he lean up against one of the pillars.
"So, Erza is back?" Mira asked as her eyes twinkled with mischief.
"Mira, please don't attack her. She is just getting back from a mission." Lisanna asked her older sister, practically pleading with the older platinum haired Strauss sibling.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt ginger. Too badly." Mira said with a glint in her eye.
Further conversation was cut off as loud footsteps were heard approaching the guild hall.
Suddenly, the doors were flung open and in came a 6 foot 3 inch tall women with long scarlet hair and a massive decorated monster horn in her hands.
The women had lower back length scarlet hair, deep brown eyes, was wearing a custom made suit of armor on her body that had the mark of the Heart Kreutz on the right side of the armor's breastplate. Her attire also consisted of a knee length light blue skirt, black boots and diamond shaped earrings. On her forearms was metal gauntlets, the middle of each gauntlet having a metal wing made to look like the wings of a fairy on each elbow joint.
She lowered the giant horn to the ground and said, "I have returned. Can someone please tell me where Makarov is?"
Lisanna smiled brightly at the scarlet haired women and said, "Makarov is currently at the Guild Meeting at Clover Erza."
Erza nodded and said, "I see. That is unfortunate. I had something I wanted to discuss with him. Very well."
"So, you came back Tin Can?" Mira said to Erza as she radiated a dark aura.
"Of course I did. Such a mission might have been the death of a weak demon slut like yourself. But for me, it was easy." Erza said back to Mira as she faced her childhood rival and Era started radiating a red aura.
The other guild members were starting to get nervous, Erza and Mira might get along well with the others in the guild, but towards each other, they are like cats and dogs, can't stay in the same room for more than a minute before they start fighting.
But thankfully, Natsu stepped in between the ladies and said, "Now now you two. Do I have to get involved in this?"
Natsu then began to radiate is own aura, which was easily larger than Erza's or Mira's.
The two women backed down, they both knew that although they had gotten magnitudes stronger, Natsu was still in a league all of his own.
Mira then went behind the bar while Erza walked over to Natsu.
"Hey." She said.
"Hey yourself. I haven't seen you in over a month." Natsu said as he gave her a hug, which she returned.
"Well, I did take a S-Class mission and not all of us can blow up cities with a punch or track monsters for a dozen miles with no problems." Erza said.
"I am very proud of you. You and Mystogan are the only two that can match me when I am not using Dragon Slayer magic." Natsu said.
Erza then gave him a kiss on the lips, one which he returned and once they broke apart she said, "Speaking of which, where is Mystogan?"
"He went on a SS-Class mission, so we won't see him for a while. Hey, let me introduce you to my new student!" Natsu said with glee.
Erza sighed and said, "Really? Another one? Save some for the rest of us S-Class mages, you are starting to make us look bad."
"First come, first served. Go out and look around, I am sure you will find a good student." Natsu said as he gently led Erza towards Lucy.
"Lucy, this is my girlfriend, S-Class mage and Strongest female mage in the guild. Erza Scarlet." Natsu said as he introduced Lucy to Erza.
"H-hi. I am Lucy, newest Celestial Spirit mage of Fairy Tail." Lucy said with a bit of nervousness in her voice.
She had seen and sensed the amount of power Erza radiated off when she activated her aura, while no where near the level of Natsu, it outclassed Happy by a mile and was nearly the same level as Mira, who also held quite a bit of strength.
"So, you are Lucy, the newest mage and also Natsu's new student." Erza said as she studied Lucy.
Lucy began to shuffle slightly nervously due to Erza's stare, but after a few minutes Erza said, "Nice to meet you."
Erza reached out her hand to shake Lucy's, which Lucy took and shook, trying to make a good first impression on her teacher's girlfriend.
"So, what do you think of our guild so far Lucy?" Erza asked the blonde.
"Well, it is certainly never dull around here. Also everyone I have met in the guild has been super friendly and nice to me, not only that, but they have all been super helpful in getting me whipped into acceptable mage standards." Lucy said.
Erza nodded and said, "Yes, although they can be a bit rambunctious, they are still family. Oh, I almost forgot. Gray. Natsu."
Both men gave their attention to Erza as she said, "I learned something troubling the other day and I had planned to speak to the master about it, he is currently off at the conference. Normally I would have handled the matter myself, but my gut told me to come and ask for assistance. You two are the strongest mages here currently, I need you help."
The entire guild was quiet, Erza had asked for help? Inconceivable! (Loved that from the Princess Bride.)
Gray raised his right eyebrow and said, "This sounds serious. What do you need help with?"
"I think it would be better if we discussed this a more private location." Erza said.
Natsu nodded and said, "Let's head for my house. Oh, before I forget. I got you and Mira some presents."
Mira walked over as Natsu opened his pocket dimension and took out the Demon Soul from Mira and the Magma Sword for Erza.
Natsu handed the yellow/black orb that was the Demon Soul to Mira, who almost immediately absorbed it, while he handed Erza the Magma sword.
The Magma sword was a rather interesting sword. It was three feet long, had a jet black blade with magma lines crisscross all over the blade, while the edging of the blade itself was made up of magma held together by a simple spell. The cross guard of the sword was a simple black line that curved upwards on the bottom and backwards on the top. The handle of the blade was a simple leather enwrapped handle, while the pommel was a simple silver five sided star with a emerald green jewel was embedded in the middle.
Erza gave the sword a few testing swings before she nodded and said, "This is a good sword. Judging from the crisscrossing lines, I guess that this is a cursed sword that controls magma or lava."
Natsu nodded and said, "Although the cruse is harmless to both user and target. The curse is that the blade can control magma, it doesn't effect anyone at all."
Erza nodded and then requiped the cursed blade away into her pocket dimension and said, "Let's go to your house so we may discuss what I found out."
Natsu nodded and then he, Erza, Happy and Gray all started to head for Natsu's house, when Natsu said, "Yo Luce! Come on! You still got today's training!"
Mira gasped and said, "Natsu, Erza, Gray, Lucy and Happy all working together on a single job? This is without a doubt the strongest team in Fairy Tail history!"
Lucy started to sweat nervously at that information, she had known Natsu was the strongest of all Fairy Tail mages, but now she was also apart of Fairy tail strongest team? Why her, she wasn't that powerful.
The group of five went to Natsu's house and Natsu said, "So, what's up?"
"While on my job, I overheard a conversation between three men. They were mages from the Eisenwald guild based on their guild marks that I could see, talking about a item called Lullaby and how they were going to get their revenge on the guild masters. I would normally take all three down and be done with it, but I didn't want the possibility that one of them might get away and take the item in question underground with them. If they disappear, the threat possessed by that magical item will continue on." Erza explained.
"Good thinking. We don't know if they had the item and if news was heard that someone knew of their plans, the entire guild would go to ground and it would be almost impossible to find them. They would wait and then strike again when we least expect it. And this time, there would be no one to know when they were making their move. Did they say when they are planning on using this Lullaby?" Gray asked.
"Yes, they talked a little about something big going down tomorrow, but that's all I could overhear." Erza said.
"So, tomorrow we shall make our move and catch them in the act, allowing us to legally take them down. Good thinking." Natsu said.
Erza nodded and said, "So, until tomorrow, I suggest the five of us work out together, just to try and get a feel for how the others work. It has been well over a year since you me and Gray worked on a job together and we have never worked together with Lucy or Happy. We need to get a feel for how they fight."
Natsu nodded and said, "I also have a new spell that I want Lucy to learn."
Natsu led the group out onto the training arena and said, "Go and start your training guys. I will start teaching Lucy her new spell."
Erza nodded and then glowed golden as her clothes also began to glow and eventually disappear and in their place Erza was now wearing a new outfit.
Erza now had on a grey tank top with grey sweatpants on and a blue headband on.
Erza then went and used the barbell set while it was 30 times it regular weight and she was now also under 30 times Erza gravity.
Gray himself had put on some weights on his lower half and begun to do chin ups while under 25 times regular gravity and the weights on 25 times regular gravity.
Happy was currently focused on increasing his magic containers and was meditating while doing the magic mapping technique.
Natsu and Lucy were in the middle of arena and Natsu said, "Now Lucy, you mostly have the Celestial Star Blast almost 100% down, now we are going to focus on another of your problem areas. You have extremely poor defenses, what I am going to teach you is how to change that fact."
Natsu then opened Lucy's celestial spirit book he had asked her to give to him so he could show her what he was going to be teaching her today.
Natsu opened the book and flipped through the pages until he got to what he wanted.
The page had a diagram of a shield that stands in front of the user made up of interlocking star shaped blocks.
"This is Celestial Star Bunker. It is a large shield that is approximately 8 feet tall by 11 feet wide and a foot thick. It can be changed into the shape of a sphere for better protection, but that costs more magic to make and maintain and you are immobile while the shield is active, while the other version is mobile, but offers a lot less protection, due to it only facing one direction. you are going to learn how to create the simplified version today and we shall learn the sphere design another day." Natsu said to his student, who nodded her head.
"Now, concentrate on your magic, submerge yourself within it." Natsu instructed his student.
Lucy closed her eyes and concentrated on her magic, submerging her consciousness in the waves of her own power.
"Now, imagine a wall in front of yourself, made up of stars." Natsu continued on.
Lucy concentrated on the mental image in her head and slowly, ever so slowly, two small tendrils of golden light came off of Lucy and began to merge together a few feet in front of Lucy, building and creating star shaped blocks of see through golden light interconnected together to form a large wall in front of Lucy.
Natsu smiled and said, "Good job Lucy."
Lucy opened her eyes and saw the wall in front of her.
Lucy smiled and then said, "How long did that take me?"
"About an hour. Let's stop that for now, you have the basics for the spell down, you just need to practice it. For now, let's concentrate on increasing your magic containers and the efficiency of your magic as a whole." Natsu said as he got into a meditative position and began the magic mapping technique.
Lucy closed her eyes and did as Natsu was doing.
Soon, they were joined by Erza, Gray and Happy, all five of them in a circle and using the technique.
They could all feel it, the raw amount of magic power circulating through the air.
It was like an ocean of power, but it wasn't just the result of one person, all of them were creating the ocean.
The ocean felt warm like Natsu, calm like Erza, hopeful like Happy, curious like Lucy and determined like Gray, a true fusion of their inner selves given form.
The waves of power from their efforts wrapped around them like a warm blanket on a cold knight, giving them warmth that they never knew that they wanted.
This went on for quite some time, no one would ever know for how long the five of them stayed that way before they all stopped using the technique and the ocean of power disappeared.
The sun was about an hour or two from setting, showing that they had been meditating in that technique for quite some time now.
"Hey Natsu." Gray said.
"What?" Natsu asked his friend.
"Fight me." Gray said.
Natsu gave a feral grin and said, "Sure, why not? Let's see how powerful you have become."
Natsu and Gray walked to opposite sides of the arena, while Erza, Lucy and Happy walked closer to the house.
Gray and Natsu get in their battle stances, steam starting to come off of Natsu while a purple mist started to come off of Gray.
Lucy turned towards happy and asks him, "What magic does Gray use?"
"Gray once used pure Ice Make Magic, but after he freed his master from a piece of Ice that held a demon, his magic transformed itself into Ice Devil Slayer magic, which gives him the ability to resist even the coldest temperatures, he can eat ice to get his strength back, has increased strength, durability and speed due to being a devil slayer and he can cause black markings to go over his body to better protect himself from demonic energies." Happy explained to the shocked Lucy.
"So wait. There are other types of Slayer magic besides Dragon?" Lucy asked.
"Aye. The ones I know that exist are God Slayer magic, Dragon Slayer magic and Devil Slayer magic. There could be others, but I have never seen them." Happy said.
"So, how many Slayers do you know?" Lucy asked.
"I know Natsu is a Lightning-Fire Dragon Slayer, while Gray is an Ice Devil Slayer and Laxus is a Lightning Dragon Slayer, and that is all the slayers in know of. There could be more, but I have never met them." Happy said.
"This battle is between Natsu Dragneel and Gray Fullbuster. The battle shall continue until one side is unable to continue. No fatal spells or aiming for vulnerable areas. Understood?" Erza said.
Both nodded their heads and then Erza shouted out, "BATTLE BEGIN!"
Right off the bat, both sides opened their mouths and began to channel their magic into their mouths.
Gray had purple ice forming in his mouth while Natsu had a large amount of fire in his jaws ready to fire.
With voices like thunder, the two of them shouted out,
"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!"
"ICE DEVIL'S RAGE!"
A massive stream of orange/red fire came roaring out from Natsu's maw, while a large stream of purple ice came out of Gray's.
The two powerful spells clashed in the middle, causing a massive steam cloud to be formed, blocking both of the fighters from view.
Not to be deterred, both contestants focused on their senses to determine the location of their opponent.
Natsu shouted out, "FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!" while Gray shouted out, "ICE DEVIL'S ZEROTH DESTRUCTION FIST!"
Natsu's flame infused right fist struck Gray's ice covered fist, causing a large explosion that blew back all of the smoke, showing themselves to Erza, Lucy and Happy once more.
The two jumped backwards and began to walk around, like two predators circling each other.
Then, the two of them disappeared and then reappeared in front of each other, Natsu blocking Gray's left hook with his right hand.
Gray then began to unleash a blistering barrage of punches, all of which Natsu stopped with just his right index finger.
"What's going on happy? Before Gray was matching Natsu's blows, now he can't even get a punch in." Lucy asked.
"Natsu is using a little bit of his Lightning Dragon Slayer abilities to move his hand and finger fast as lightning and Natsu has always been a lot stronger when it comes to phsyical strength then Gray has been." Happy explained.
"Alright Natsu, I guess you asked for it!" Gray shouted out as he jumped backwards.
Gray then yelled out, "ICE DEVIL'S GLACIER CANNON!"
Gray's purple ice then formed into a massive bazooka that he placed onto his shoulder and then sent a massive blast of pure purple ice towards Natsu.
Natsu clenched his right hand and then threw it forwards, creating a large beam of fire that struck the stream of ice and melted it with ease, causing yet another screen of steam.
Natsu charged forwards, his right fist cocked backwards as he reached Gray.
But, when the fist struck Gray, Gray shattered like ice!
"Gray!" Lucy shouted out in shock, thinking Natsu had killed him.
"An ice clone?" Natsu thought with shock as he then heard a familiar voice shout out, "ICE DEVIL'S ZEROTH DESTRUCTION BOW!"
Natsu tuned around just in time for a massive arrow of ice to strike his chest with incredible force, sending him flying backwards.
Natsu stopped himself by digging his feet into the ground, causing small trenches to be formed from where he skidded backwards.
Natsu then looked up and saw the smirking face of one Gray Fullbuster about 150 feet from him.
"That was a good idea Gray. Use the smoke as cover to create a Ice Clone for me to attack and then attack me when I wasn't prepared for it. Not bad. I guess I got to take this seriously now." Natsu said as his grin became predatory.
Gray then began to panic slightly, he knew his limits and how incredibly powerful Natsu is, if Natsu was to go completely all out, he would lose without a doubt.
Natsu then disappeared once again and then reappeared in front of Gray.
Before Gray could respond, Natsu buried his lightning infused left fist deep into Gray's gut, sending the Ice Mage flying backwards.
Gray rolled over several times before he stopped and laid thee for a few seconds before he started to get back up.
"That was a nasty punch you got there Natsu. I see that you still got it." Gray said.
"Yep. I may not be training as intensely as I did with Igneel, but I haven't rusted yet." Natsu said as he raised his lit right hand up. "But enough talk and enough testing each other. Let's go all out."
Gray smirked and said, "I couldn't agree more."
Gray then clenched his hands and began to scream out as his power level bean to rise dramatically.
On his right arm a strange black tattoo began to form, going from the bottom of his wrist all the way past his elbow.
Gray now had a thick purple aura surrounding himself and his eyes began to glow purple.
"Well Natsu, let's get this show on the road." Gray said with a smirk.
Natsu nodded and he too began to scream out as he clenched his fists and began to power up.
After ten seconds of screaming Natsu stopped and stared at Gray with his slightly changed eyes.
Natsu's eyes were now a bit more narrowed, like a lizard's, and also instead of being completely obsidian, his eyes were now golden with lighter golden streaks going through his eyes. (Setsuna's eyes whenever he accessed his Innovator powers.)
"Okay, I am using about 85% of my base forms power. It's incredible that Gray forced me to go this far in just a few years of mastering his Devil Slayer powers. He will one day force me to use all 100% of my power, not just the base forms." Natsu thought.
The two men stood still for a few minutes, not twitching a single muscle at all as they studied each other for a few minutes before they attacked.
The two men disappeared once again and then reappeared in the middle of the arena, arms moving almost faster then the eye could fallow, the blows and counter blows happening in almost instantly.
This went on for a minute before the two of them disappeared and reappeared all over the arena randomly, the force of their blows causing small shock-waves to appear.
Natsu and Gray then reappeared ten feet above the arena, Gray's left leg extended and hitting Natsu's raised left arm.
The two of them back flipped back onto the arena floor, their feet touching the floor with not a hint of struggle in them.
Natsu then said, "You have gotten a lot better Gray. You can almost stand toe-to-toe to me."
Gray smiled and said, "Of course I did Natsu. I have to keep up with you."
Natsu smirked and said, "I think you are a few years too early if you think you can stand up to my true strength."
Gray then said, "Whatever. Let's end this."
"Ladies first." Natsu said with a smirk as he saw how irritated Gray was getting.
"ICE DEVIL'S ZEROTH LONG SWORD!" Gray yelled out as he summoned his ice to create a ethereal long sword that went into his open right palm.
Gray then dashed forwards and tried to slash Natsu, who ducked, dodged and weaved his way out of the strikes with almost impossible ease, but for a man who can move fast as lightning, even with Gray's increased speed Natsu saw those strikes coming from a mile away.
Gray, growing a bit frustrated, created another sword for his left hand and then doubled the intensity of the strikes, but even that was unable to get Natsu.
After a few minutes of dodging, Natsu decided to end this by shouting out, "Lightning Dragon's Thunder Fang!"
Natsu's left fist grew covered in purple lighting and swiped it in front of him, destroying both of Gray's swords in seconds, leaving the Ice mage open for Natsu's second attack, which was "Fire Dragon's ROAR!"
A large pillar of fire came out of Natsu's mouth and struck Gray point blank, sending the Ice mage flying backwards.
Gray slowly got up just in time to hear Natsu yell out, "Crimson Lightning Fire Dragon's Firing Hammer!"
Natsu's right fist was not only covered in crimson flames, but also in purple lightning, dramatically increasing the power of the spell.
Natsu reared his fist back and Gray knew he had seconds to act before the spell was unleashed and he would be defeated.
Calling upon his power, Gray then yelled out, "ICE MAKE SHIELD!"
Gray's purple ice then began to form into a purple flowed shaped shield, just in time because Natsu then finished the spell and send the lightning infused giant fireball straight at the shield.
The fireball hit the shield, causing not only fire, but lightning to strike the shield and although the shield was powerful, it wasn't strong enough to stop the lightning empowered fireball completely, allowing a large amount of the spell power to strike Gray.
Gray was hit by the power of the fire and lighting, causing him to yell out in pain, while the force of the explosion had sent a large amount of air flying outwards, causing Lucy, Erza and Happy to be moved several feet backwards.
After a few minutes the dust cleared and Gray could be see standing, but barely.
Gray looked at Natsu and said, "That was a good spar. Let's do that again sometime."
Gray then began to fall forwards, but Natsu caught him and then led him over to a chair where he could rest for a bit.
Natsu then deactivated the Crimson Lightning Fire Dragon Slayer mode and sent a pulse of magic into Gray to not only replenish his magic, but also to accelerate the healing process for his injuries he received fighting Natsu.
Erza, Lucy and Happy all came running over and Lucy said, "Are you gonna be alright Gray?"
"Yeah. By morning it will be as if nothing happened to me." He said as he popped his right shoulder and began to rotate his arm.
"That was an excellent match Gray. You stood well up against Natsu. Before hand you could barely take a single hit from him and now you were able to keep pace with him throughout the course of the fight and you took several very powerful spells before you could no longer fight. I will say tough you need to reign in that temper. If you had kept your cool, you could have kept on fighting for a while." Erza said.
"Yeah yeah yeah. I know my temper is my weak point and I need to work on that. But still, I did a very good job." Gray said with a hint of pride in his voice.
The group of friends all rolled their eyes and Natsu said, "Well, I think we should call it in. We all need our sleep if we are to stop whatever Eisenwald has planned tomorrow."
The group all nodded and then they all went their ways back to their homes, ready to get some sleep and stop whatever Eisenwald has planned.
The next morning...
Natsu, Happy, Lucy and Gray were all by the train station now, all waiting on Erza to show up so they could begin their mission.
Right now Natsu has on a pair of rectangular glasses and was reading an book he had bought in Crocus that held a collection of poems or famous sayings from across history. One of his favorites was, "Then out spoke brave Horatius, the Captain of the Gate: To every man upon this earth death cometh sooner or later. And how can men die better then facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers, and the Temples of his gods?" (This quote comes from Lays of Ancient Rome Thomas Babington Macaulay. I do not claim any ownership)
Natsu was rather fascinated by this quote, it spoke to him on a personal level. He loved fighting, more specifically he loved to fight up against enemies that were much stronger than him. However there were few people who could match or even exceed his own strength, which is why he lowered his power to their level, to prolong the fight and give himself a better fight. He only did this however when there was no threat to anyone else, if there even a chance anyone could be hurt, he took down the threat with ruthless efficiency. He was a battle maniac, but he never would place his love of fighting over the safety of his loved ones.
So lost in his thoughts he didn't hear Lucy calling for him and didn't react until she lightly tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to turn towards her.
"Yes?" He asked.
"I was saying, what was the form you used during the last moments of your fight with Gray? Your flames were crimson and also your lightning was enhancing your attack." Lucy asked.
"Oh, that is my Crimson Lightning Fire Dragon Slayer form. It is a power up form I got quite a while back after I ate some lightning. That incident is what gave me the ability to use Lightning Dragon Slayer magic freely, and it also showed me how to combine my lightning and my fire together into a form where every attack I use, the target is not only struck with my powerful flames, they are attacked by my lightning, making each and every one of my attacks much more powerful and dangerous." Natsu said with a smile.
"So, how many power ups do you have?" Lucy asked.
"Well let's see. I got the Fire Drive, the Thunder Drive, Dragon Force, the Crimson Lightning Fire Dragon Slayer Form and also Fire Dragon King's mode, so it total I got 5 power ups that I can use at a moments notice to greatly enhance all my stats in a fight. But due to my incredible strength just in base form, I hardly ever use any of the power up forms." Natsu explained with a smile.
"That's so cool." Lucy said with stars in her eyes.
Natsu chuckled a little seeing his friend act this way and said, "It is a little cool. So, have you been reading that book I gave you?"
Lucy nodded and showed him that she had brought the book along and said, "I have learned a lot about Celestial Spirit magic. Did you know that Celestial Spirit mages can form a special contract with their spirits so that they can create a form called Star Dress Forms?"
"No I did not. What is that?" Natsu asked, quite intrigued.
"Well, Star Dress Forms are special made so that only the summoner of a Zodiac Spirit can use them. The Star Dresses are special because they allow the user to take on some of the power of the Zodiac they are based off of. For example, if I was to create and use Star Dress Cancer Form, I would now have a specially constructed Samurai suit just like he does and I would gain most of his abilities, so I would be able to swing the katana almost as well as Cancer can, while also being able to move as fast as he can. If I were to use Star Dress Taurus Form, I would then be clothed in something similar to what Taurus wears, plus I would gain his immense strength, and I would also have a giant battle axe I could then use." Lucy said with the excitement clear in her voice.
"Really? Hm, sounds like you just found what our next section of training is going to go over" Natsu said.
"Apparently there is also something called the Battle Form for Zodiac Spirits. It is where the summoner sends a pulse of magic into the Zodiac in question and then the Zodiac will change. They will have a new appearance, gain new magics, while still having their regular personalities. It is also a very useful ability to have." Lucy said.
"Wow, who knew that Celestial Spirit mages had the potential to become so freaking powerful." Natsu said.
"I know right? I always thought that although Zodiacs are powerful, that Celestial Spirit magic itself was rather weak. But now I am finding out that me and everyone else was just thinking too unilaterally. There are so many ways to increase your power with Celestial Spirit magic." Lucy said as she turned through the pages of her book.
"Well, when you think about it, it makes sense. Celestial Spirit magic is literally using the power of the heavens, so it would make sense that there is a lot of different ways to get stronger. There is really no right or wrong way to be a Celestial Spirit mage, there are certainly better, faster ways, but in the end there is no right or wrong. I guess that's the same thing for all magics." Natsu said.
"You got that right. Look at my Ice Make Magic. Although Ur and Leon both have different ways of using the magic, I could probably beat Leon and give Ur and run for her money, just because I am not using just Ice Make Magic. I guess when you just specialize in one way of magic, you become rigid and stale. But when you combine magics together, you get something new and a lot more powerful." Gray said as he petted Happy, who was sleeping in his lap.
"You got that right. I mean, can you imagine how weak I would have been if I had just worked only in Fire Dragon Slayer magic." Natsu said while requipping his glasses and book away.
"Yeah, or if I had never gotten my Ice Devil Slayer magic? I probably would have had my annoying stripping habit still and you probably would have been an idiot, Happy would probably just have been our incredibly cute, but useless mascot, while all the other S-Class mages would have never gotten their needed training." Gray said with a smile.
"Yeah. Imagine you being the stripper, me the adorable moron, Lucy the blonde cheerleader, Happy the irresistible mascot and Erza the strict disciplinarian." Natsu said as the three of them all then shared one giant imagination bubble.
Inside, there was a less muscular and smaller Natsu with a black and golden open vest with white baggy pants fighting a Gray who was also less muscular and was currently only in his boxers and then a smaller and more violent Erza sent them flying into unconsciousness with a single hit, while a wimpier Lucy was using a completely useless Happy as a shield.
The three stopped imagining that and Natsu said, "Those are thoughts best left never thought."
"Agreed. I praise the ever lasting sun that I don't have that stupid stripping habit anymore." Gray said with a shudder of what could have happened to him if he had kept that habit.
He could only imagine the dreams of perpetual pain and horror Erza would have unleashed upon him if he had kept that habit.
"You had a stripping habit?" Lucy asked with a hint of surprise in her voice.
"Yeah, it was so bad I would strip into my underwear in a second, and I wouldn't notice that I would do it. It was horrible. But Natsu then placed a long lasting Dragon Glyph on me that prevents me from stripping unless I say, "Glyph off." Gray said.
"Eventually, he trained his body to not have to strip anymore, so I took the Glyph off of him and since then, not once has he striped. Thank goodness. I can only imagine what everyone would think about Fairy Tail if he had kept that habit." Natsu said.
"Yeah, but that can never happen, so let just forget it." Gray said.
Just then, Erza appeared in her usual custom made Heart Kreuz armor.
"Sorry I took so long. I was busy repairing one of my armors that had gotten damaged in my last mission and I lost track of time." Erza said.
"It's alright. We weren't waiting long. Now, let's get his mission on the road." Natsu said with a fire in his eyes.
"Yeah, lets go and bust some Dark mages heads. It never get's old." Gray said.
"Aye Sir!" Happy said, suddenly awake, scaring Lucy with his ability to randomly wake up.
"Remember, our job is to retrieve Lullaby and arrest any and all Eisenwald guild members." Erza said as the group got onto the train.
"Yeah yeah Erza we remember. We aren't little kids anymore. I have been an S-Class wizard for years now and Natsu has been one longer than anyone of us here." Gray said as he sat down in one of the seats, with Lucy sitting to his right.
"Just reminding you. We can not afford any mistakes. Eisenwald is not playing around and so, we must not as well." Erza said as she waited for Natsu to slid into his seat first.
"We know what's at stake." Natsu said.
"Aye sir." Happy said as he flew down onto Erza's lap.
"Well then, let's hope we can stop Eisenwald before they do anything." Erza said as the train started moving, unaware that there was several Eisenwald members on the train.
Several hours later and the train has stopped.
Erza, Happy, Gray and Lucy all got off the train, completely forgetting about Natsu, who had fallen asleep due to the trains rocking.
Natsu may not have his motion sickness anymore, but now he found it really easy to fall asleep while on transportation.
Natsu woke up just in time to see that he was all alone and the train was leaving a station.
"Wait, those guys forgot about me? Wow, really S-Class material. Oh well, they are just human after all." Natsu thought.
Natsu was just about to get up and leave the train when a man came over and said, "May I sit down here?"
Natsu looked up and say a man of about average height with black eyes and black hair he ties in a short, tight ponytail. He was currently wearing a white shirt with a high collar and a intricate symbol on the back over a plain red undershirt. He has a pair of aquamarine pants on, black shoes and small black earrings in each ear.
Natsu immediately felt that this man held something with dark magic reeking off of it.
Suddenly thinking it would be best to talk with this man, Natsu said, "But of course."
The man sat down and said, "Are you a mage?"
Natsu raised his right eyebrow and said, "Is there a problem?"
The man chuckled and said, "No, but I can sense you have a lot of power. Are you apart of a guild?"
"No not currently. I am on a journey to get stronger before I try and get into a guild." Natsu said, using his acting skills to play the part of a new, inexperienced mage.
"Well, a mage of your power would be most welcome into Eisenwald. What do you say?" The man said.
Natsu then pretended to think about ti and then said, "Okay, no one else has given me an offer. I accept. What do I do now?"
The man smiled and said, "Well, since you are new, go to our Guild Hall. Here is it's location."
The man handed Natsu a map and Natsu said "Thank you. May I ask your name?"
The man then said, "My name is Kageyama."
Natsu then stood up and said, "Okay Kageyama, I will head to the Guild. When can I expect the Guild master?"
"Our leader Erigor is currently in the middle of an operation that is only known to his inner circle. I can't say anything more due to you just joining." Kageyama said.
"Okay. I understand. I shall see you at the Guild." Natsu said as he struck his hand out for a hand shake.
Kageyama shook his hand and then the train suddenly stopped, causing something to be flung out of his pocket.
It was a simple wooden flute that had a three eyed skull head at the top, but it was reeking of dark magic.
Kageyama quickly put the flute back into his pocket and the got up and walked into the forwards train cars.
Natsu was tempted to go and take the flute, but he knew it was better to wait.
Especially since he had placed a tracking glyph onto Kageyama's hand, allowing him to track the man across the continent if necessary.
Natsu then went to the last train car and saw a magic mobile trying to catch up to the train.
He quickly located his friends magical signatures in the magic mobile and then jumped off the train.
He ignited the souls his shoes and flew forwards, headed directly for the magic mobile.
The magic mobile stopped driving and his friends got out of the vehicle and approached him as he set down.
"Natsu. Sorry we forgot you." Lucy said.
"It is nothing. I got news. I found a member of Eisenwald." Natsu said.
The group grew silent and Erza said, "Explain."
"Well, I woke up and saw I was alone and figured you guys forgot to wake me up when a black haired guy came over and began to talk to me. He said he is a member of Eisenwald and that they would love to have a mage like me in the forces. Playing along I said yes and he was kind enough to give me a map to their guild, plus he told me Erigor, the guilds current leader in the middle of an operation. Then the train stopped a flute with a three eyes skull came out of his pocket. The flute was reeking of Dark magic and he was quick to hide it. I then placed a tracking glyph when we shook hands, so we can track him and he should lead us to were Erigor is currently headed." Natsu explained to his friends.
Erza nodded her head and said, "Good job Natsu. So, where are they headed."
"Well, the only other stop on that train that comes to mind is the Oshibana train station." Natsu said.
"That's good. Everyone get in the magic mobile. We are going to go to Oshibana train station." Erza said.
The group of five all got inside the magic mobile and drove off, headed towards Oshibana town as quickly as they possibly could.
On the train...
Kageyama was in a good mood, he had just gotten Eisenwald a new recruit, he had broken the seal on the Demonic Flute Lullaby so they could use it on those pesky guild masters at Clover Town. He literally could not see how this day could get any better.
Kageyama then entered another train car and saw his leader, Erigor was standing in the middle of the car, waiting for him.
Erigor was a extremely tall, lean-built yet mildly muscular man with silver hair, some of it spiking upwards while some of it fall over his left eye in tufts and goes down to his shoulders. His eyes are dark and his face is partially elongated and his ears are somewhat pointed and he lacks eyebrows. His eyes are circled with a black line, below each is a simple tattoo of a vertical line intersected by three horizontal lines. The upper part of his body is similarly tattooed, these ones being larger, more intricate and blue motifs which take on spiraling forms and decorate his shoulders, stomach, pectorals and back. He is currently wearing a torn japanese-like clothing like that of a grim reaper. His chest is bare, showing all of his tattoos, while he wears long, worn skirt, below a darker, shorter cloth, held up by a even shorter and darker cloth tied up as a belt. He has a black scarf wrapped around his thin neck, dark gloves with a silver "X" on the back, bandages wrapped around his forearms and geta sandals.
Erigor's signature weapon, his massive scythe was currently in his right hand.
"Master Erigor. I have unlocked Lullaby's seal." Kageyama said as he handed the flute to Erigor.
Erigor took the flute and inspected it for a minute before he laughed and said, "Good work Kageyama."
Kageyama then said, "I also was able to recruit a new mage to our ranks."
Erigor gave Kageyama a look and said, "Continue."
"He is immensely powerful, easily on your level or even higher. He appears to be new to magical world, he said he was on a trip to gain more strength before he joined a guild." Kageyama said.
"Good thing you snatched this mage up before any of the other Dark Guild's managed to get their dirty hands on him. I shall inspect him when we return to the Guild after the mission. If he is as powerful as you say he is, he shall be a very important asset in all the chaos we shall create with the Guild Masters deaths." Erigor said as he placed the flute in his belt.
"I live to serve Master. may I ask how far we are from the station?" Kageyama asked.
"We are about an hour away from the station. Once there, we shall use the speaker system as a means of creating a vast amount of chaos and with the magic council scrambling to contain the situation, we shall sneak our way over to Clover and then play the flute, killing all of the Guild Masters. Oh I can see it now! The Magic Council in complete disarray as their precious Guild Masters are now dead! They will be in too much chaos to pay attention to us! We will be able to get away anything!" Erigor said as he began to laugh manically.
Erigor then ordered the Eisenwald members he brought with him to take over the train and to go full speed to the Oshibana train station.
The Eisenwald members were only too happy to comply with Erigor's orders. They too felt his rage at the magic council for taking away their rights as mages.
However, they had underestimated the power of the Legal mages and this shall be their under doing, for driving towards Oshibana station are five mages that shall stand against the Eisenwald guild and fight until the bitter end to keep not only their master safe and sound, but also all the innocent people safe as well.
As long as those five mages are alive and fighting, Eisenwald shall never win.
Those five mages will stand against anyone, be they a devil from hell, an angel from the Heavens or even a god, these five shall stand up for what they believe is right and keep everyone they care about safe.
To all who wish to do Fairy Tail harm, beware the wrath of Team Natsu.
And like that, the first chapter of the Lullaby Arc bits the dust.
This Arc will only be three chapters long, while other Arcs will be much longer.
And also, ERZA IS BACK! I have wanted to bring in older Erza, but I felt it would be best to bring her in like they did in the show.
Also, the formation of Team Natsu has began.
On another note. I have heard your thoughts and I have decided to act upon them.
Natsu will not be the guy that one shots everything, the other members of Team Natsu will have their moments to shine and get stronger, but mostly this story will focus on events happening to Natsu himself.
If you have any advice or thoughts, please PM me or leave a review, always appreciated.
This is StrikeFreedom10, signing out.