Let's dive on in

Chp 10: Fire and Dark Clash

It was in the afternoon Natsu Happy and Zodie had just come back from a job of their own; Lucy had snuck away on a job with Erza Gray and Wendy, she didn't want to deal with the salamanders shenanigans. Zodie had nothing better to do so he figured he would hang with Natsu as an opportunity to get to know him better. They had each other's back when facing Master Zero.

Right now their job was to sneak into a bandit camp and rescue the pet of the mayor; it was a red panda named Persephone. They were currently on a carriage on their way to the location and to nobody's surprise Natsu was feeling motion sick.

"H…hey Zodie Happy be some pals and fly me will ya." Natsu spoke in a sickly whimper.

"Sorry Natsu no can do, we need to conserve our magic for the job, who knows what could happen, you know I hear staying hydrated can really help with easing motion sickness." Said Zodie handing Natsu a bottle of water.

"Thanks dude… you're a lifesaver." Natsu spoke through a whimper.

"Try not to bark into the cup to pal." Spoke Happy.

The carriage ride took about ten more minutes till it came to a stop much to Natsu's relief. "Finally I'm free of that death trap." The trio begin walking to their destination conversing about what they'll spend their share of the money on. "I'm buying lot's of food and feasting myself." Natsu exclaimed.

"I'm with you on that man." Zodie said.

"Really you sure you don't want to get anything for Wendy." Happy snickered. Ever since the dance, Happy has been teasing the former Cait shelter wizards of being a couple.

"Happy for the last time one dance doesn't make us a couple we went as friends ok we're just close like that!"

"Yeah so close you guys walked a mile into each other's shoes." Happy teased. "Literally."

"Natsu get your cat in line please." The salamander just laughed at their antics. This went on till the trio came upon a fortified wood fortress with guards watching from atop a look out. Natsu Happy and Zodie ducked behind a rock for cover.

"Alright Z it's your up do your thing." Zodie nodded and climbed onto Natsu's shoulder with Happy on the phoenix child's head and they became unseen. With Zodie and Happies combined powers of flight they lifted Natsu off the ground and flew right into enemy territory landing in a clear area.

"Alright buddy go ahead and lead the way with your schnozz." Said Happy. Natsu began to sniff around for the red pandas scent; their client who's the owner gave Natsu one of his pets trinkets to help track her.

"I've got the scent hanging tight." Natsu made his way with his guildmates in tow towards the area where the pet is. It didn't come without some obstacles to say the least. Their cover was nearly blown when a couple of guards almost bumped into them, the sound of Happies stomach growling and drooling all over Zodies head with fish on his mind. Eventually they reached their destination and Zodie turned off his invisibility not without him wiping off drool from his head.

"Sorry Zodie, you know how I get around yummy fishies."

"Yeah I noticed.

"Now where's that squirrel?" Natsu asked.

"Red panda." Zodie trio were alerted by some scampering from a nearby cage that it was indeed Persephone. Zodie went over and picked it up. "Gotcha." When suddenly he happened to notice that there were various other cages with red pandas.

"You gotta be kidding me." Said Natsu annoyed. "Great, they all smell the same. I can't tell which one is which. The salamander had a tick mark on his head, I'll bet it was those bastards who did something to throw off the smell so I wouldn't be able to find the squirrel."

"What're we going to do?" Asked Zodie.

"I don't know."

*knock knock*

"Hey who's in there, what's going on?"

"Uh oh h…hey boss man, just doing some cleaning, one of my many janitorial duties." Said Zodie.

"Yeah, no fairies in here." This earned a light smack to the head from Zodie.

"Oh well ok." The bandit began to walk away before a jolt of realization just hit him. 'Hey wait a minute, we don't have a damn janitor.' he thought, He rushed back into the room and opened the door catching them in the act. "Hold it right there."

Natsu hit him with a blast of fire scorching his clothes before knocking him out alerting others. "Crap now what?" Zodie asked.

"I have an idea Happy get those arms ready."

The trio find themselves running from a large number of gang members carrying cages of red pandas. "So much for being discreet." Said Zodie. After running for about two minutes Natsu had had enough and stopped to face the bandits. "You guy's get in the air, I'm gonna bring the heat to these clowns. Happy and Zodie did as told and took off in the air.

"Fire dragon rooooar." The salamander unleashed a blast of fire onto the bandits making them turn tale and run but they were;not quick enough as the heat consumed them and burned all their clothes off. Zodie and Happy flew back down. "Way yo go bud." Said the blue feline.

Suddenly their moment of rejoice was interrupted by the bandits boss, he was a middle aged looking man with an eye patch wearing a muscle shirt and dark pants holding a wine bottle. "So you're the ones causing trouble with my men and taking away our goods." The leader finished off the wine before tossing it aside. "You're not going anywhere." The leader began transforming as he glowed purple before his appearance changed, his skin was now lavender with large matching wings and now standing ten feet tall.

"Good I was hoping to bust some heads on this job anyway." Natsu's first ignited with flames and charged at the gang leader, he dodge the attack and swatted Natsu away with his tail right into a tree. "Natsu!" Happy and Zodie said in unison. "Don't worry I'm alright." Natsu got back up. "Fire dragon roar." The blast of flames toward the gang leader but he deflected the flames with a flap of his wings extinguishing them. "What no way." Natsu's face was then grabbed and dragged through the ground as the gang leader began to fly around with it.

"I gotta do something." Said Zodie as he took off flying after the gang leader.

The leader tossed Natsu to the ground. "Pathetic, is this all a wizard of the Fairy tail has to offer." Suddenly the leader was met with an invisible punch to the face making him stagger a little followed by a double kick to the stomach knocking him down into the trees before Zodie appeared. "There's two of us dude." The phoenix child went over to help Natsu up. \

"Thanks for the help Z." The leader flew back up and landed right in front of bothe wizards looking even more furious than before. "Whaddaya say we team up to take this loser out."

"Yeah just like how we beat Zero." Said Zodie.

The leader flew at them ready to attack. Zodie grabbed Natsu's shoulder before they both became invisible forcing the leader to crash right into a rock. "Hey ugly im right here." Leader turned to see Zodie and flew at him before flying up and being met with a kick from Natsu. "Fire dragon talon."

Leader was sent into the air towards Zodie. "Dark Phoenix Screech." A stream of darkness knocked Leader right back down to the ground with a massive thud. The leader now back to normal shakily stood up before being finished off by a double punch by both Natsu and Zodie and knocked out.

Both boys fist bumped each other and laughed. "Good work Z." "You too Natsu."

"Zodie Natsu." Both wizards fly over and see Happy panicking. "The red pandas escaped. I turned my back for only a few minutes and they ran all over the place."

Both boys did a face palm. "Dude you had one job, boy this is gonna take all day." Siad Zodie.

After hours of searching they eventually rounded up the red panda's they still couldn't tell which was the real one so they decided to return all red pandas to their client who was ecstatic to have more babies and for Persephone to have playmates. The boys split the reward and decided to get some lunch; one thing those two had in common was their appetite for food. As they feasted Natsu let out a loud burp. *BURP "Oh man, my compliments to the chef, I am the king."

*buuurp* Happy also let out a gnarly belch as well. "No, I'm the king."

"Oh please you novices call that a burp watch this." The phoenix slayer lets out a loud belch himself. *buuuuurrrrrp*

Suddenly all the boys then let out one huge mega burp together. *BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPPPP!*

The trio of boys began laughing so hard until they got disgusted looks from other patrons in the resturaunt. They decide to finish their food quietly before leaving but not without laughing their butts off.

Back at the guild hall Natsu Zodie and Wendy returned, being welcomed by the others.

"Hey everyone we're back."

"Geez took ya long enough flame brian can't finish an easy job any quicker." Gray snarked.

The salamander grew angry and butted his head with the ice mage. "Shut your trap frosty or I'm gonna kick your frosty ass."

"Oh yeah I'd like to see you try." Both boys were met with hard hits to their head by Erza. "Enough you to."

Wendy and Carla came up to Zodie. "So Zodie, how was your mission?" Asked the sky maiden.

"I can only imagine the treachery of having to work with two simple minded simpletons." Carla Said.

"Actually I had fun. Natsu's pretty cool." The salamander got back up and wrapped his arm around Zodies shoulder. "Yeah me and this guy here kicked ass and got paid." Both boys began to do a series of repetitive fist bumps before eventually ending it.

"Then we celebrated at a restaurant and had a burp off, not to toot my horn but I clearly won." Said Happy in a bold manner.

"Your delusional cat I clearly won." Said Natsu smirking.

"You butt brains are both wrong. I'm the one who reigned supreme in the battle of belches."

"Butt what?" Natsu grabbed Zodie in a headlock giving the kid a noogie. Zodie laughed as he fought to get out of the hold.

"Well glad you made it back and had fun, we've all been working hard, how about we celebrate with a little pool party." Said Erza.

"Cool Natsu race you there." Zodie took off running.

"Oh you're on Z you ain't beating me."

The group looked on and smiled a bit at the two boys' antics. "Man those two are getting along well." Said Lucy.

"They're like that of a younger and older brother." Added Erza.

Wendy too was happy for her friend seeing him having a brother figure was good for him; it wasn't a replacement for the one he lost long ago but still it was what he needed and she was there to support it.

Soon it was late and the guild hall had closed down. Natsu asked Zodie if he had plans tonight so he invited him over to his and Happy's house for a sleepover. The phoenix child agreed and went to pack up his things. "Oh man Zodie you're in for a night of fun." Said Natsu. "Aye sir."

The group make it to the outside of Magnolia and come upon a yellow bungalow-like house surrounded with dead trees. The house had a brick chimney and some decorative elements around the door and walls. The roof is covered with red tiles. "Well here we are whaddaya think?"

"Uh I think you guys may need to upkeep on your landscape."

Natsu merely shrugged it off. "Wha no way man would be home without it anyway wait till you see the inside." They make their way inside. "Welcome to our humble abode." Said Happy.

"Do you guy's not lock your do-." Zodie was at a loss for words. The place was a mess of furniture all cluttered everywhere unwashed dishes and cans of sardines courtesy of Happy. "You guy's live here seriously, this is a literal pig sty."

"Come on you're not gonna let a little mess like this ruin your fun right, I mean you used to live in the wilderness so this should be a cake walk." Natsu said.

"Well when you put it like that then ok."

"Great now then let's get this party started."

"AYE." Both Zodie and Happy said. For the next couple of hours they had a grand spanking time from making fart noises under their armpits, to seeing who can get the spiciest pepper which was an easy win for Natsu being a fire breather. Then they decided to go out into the town to do some tom foolery. They went over to Lucy's apartment planning to scare her; they flew up to her window wearing a monster mask before tapping on it.

"Huh what-." The blonde let out a scream as she fell to the ground and the trio flew off laughing. The zodiac wilder recognized their voices and began shouting in an angry tone. "I'm gonna kick your butts for this!" They shortly came back to Natsu's house where they finally decided to have dinner. "I can eat way more than you." Said Natsu. "No way I got you beat dragon boy." Replied Zodie. Neither one of them won because due to eating fast and eating spicy peppers both had a case of diarrhea and fought one another to get to the bathroom.

"Move it kid, it's my bathroom!"

"I'm your guest, it's mine!"

Happy flew past them both and took the bathroom for himself. "Too slow losers." Both Zodie and Natsu then raced out of the house to find a spot in the woods to do their business. AFter that fiasco the boys went to a nearby lake to bathe due to not having a shower and not wanting to go to Lucy's house. As they bathed some little goblins happened to snag their clothes making the boys chase after them. Next the boys played a round of Jenga so far all three had a turn and were able to remove a piece safely, then it was Zodie's turn. The phoenix slayer did his best to slide the piece out trying not to knock the tower over but unfortunately he did.

Natsu and Happy both started to let out sinister smiles and glaring mischievously at Zodie. "It fell." Said Happy. "Which means you lose." Both be hand happy readied their fingers for a flick to Zodies head. "Penalty flick to the forehead." Said Natsu. "And you can't run away or get another one." Their next activity went down to truth or dare, Happy dared Natsu to say something nice about Gray which killed him inside. Then Zodie dared Happy to take a bite of a cooked fish which he gagged from. "Stop being so dramatic ya big baby." Finally it was Natsu's turn, Zodie picked dare. "I dare ya to tell us what it was like being inside Wendy's body."

Zodie grew nervous ever since the whole dance he's begun to get these weird feelings; they were warm and bubbly sensations he'd feel in his stomach. "U…um w…well I, ohlookatthetimebettergotosleepnight!?" The phoenix child raced off and ran and hid in his sleeping bag. But the idiot duo weren't letting him get away that easily.

"Oh no you're not getting out of this." Said Natsu as he picked up the sleeping bag and began shaking it. Happy stomped on over. "Yeah I didn't eat cooked fish bullcrap for nothing!"

Zodie flew out of the sleeping bag and ran out the house with Natsu and Happy chasing after him. "Guys, leave me alone, that's between me and Wendy!"

"No way I'll get the answer out of ya one way or another." Zodie then flew off into the sky before Happy lifted his partner up and flew after him. Zodie did his best to shake them and lose them but Happy was persistent in the chase before he came to a stop. Natsu then ignited his fist with fire.

"Ok Z if you're not gonna tell us then I'll beat it out of ya." They flew towards Zodie And Zodie managed to dodge Natsu's attack which went on for a few seconds till Natsu got annoyed. "Come on, just spit it out already. If you know me you know I won't stop till I succeed."

"No way man, it's between me and Wendy only!"

"Guy's wait I have an idea why don't you two settle this in a fight." Suggested Happy. "If Natsu wins you gotta tell him and it'll stay between you and only him, and if Zodie wins he'll drop the whole thing. How about it? Does that seem fair?"

"Okay sure tomorrow morning in south gate park." Said Zodie. "But for now let's get some sleep." The trio of boys returned to the house and called it a night.

The next morning word spread throughout the guild like wildfire; Happy blabbed about the fight. Everyone was excited to see this fight, a showdown like no other, a phoenix slayer vs a dragon slayer. All the members gathered outside in the park.

"Alright Little Z do your best!"

"You got this in the bad Natsu cook that bird."

Most weren't too keen for this battle being Wendy and Lucy even though the blonde was still peeved about their prank from last night. "Oh man I can't stand it when you guys pick sides." Whined Lucy.

"I'm with you on this, I hope Zodie will be okay, I mean I know he's strong but he's not on Natsu's level. Cried Wendy. "What could've prompted this?"

"If I know Natsu it's just him being him, it's all in good fun you two though I wouldn't put it past Natsu to go crazy." Said Gray.

"I've seen bird boy in action." Said Gajeel walking up. "I'm sure he can hold his own."

"I'm a bit curious myself what other tricks the kid has under his belt." Said Droy.

"Yeah flight, invisibility, and let's see Natsu top that." Added Jet.

"Natsu has more experience and he'll easily win." Said Natsu.

"Oh yeah cat, how about we put our money where our mouths are then." Said Droy.

"You're on." This earned them both punches to the back of their heads by Lucy. "Don't bet on a kid you dumbasses!"

Both wizards stood on opposite sides of the field Zodie was doing some stretches while Natsu was cracking his knuckles. The 12 year old was nervous because he had heard rumors and tales of Natsu's power and accomplishments and he clearly knew he didn't hold a candle to him. But this was a chance for him to see where he stood in the guild on that hand. He was kind of excited.

Makarov stepped into the center of the field. "Ok boys, I want this to be nice and clean." He emphasized as he looked at Natsu. "The match is over when one side can't continue, understand." Both sides nodded. "Allright begin!"

Natsu immediately ran towards him, not showing a sign of letting up. 'Ok I've seen Natsu in action before so I know he's going to start with a fire dragon iron fist.' He thought. On cue the salamander coated his fist with fire aiming it for Zodie which he was able to side step and take hold of his arm and slam him to the ground.

"Not bad kid but, fire dragon talon." Natsu shot up and tried to kick Zodie but the boy used his wings to move himself away. Natsu went all in with his fire dragon iron fist attacks while Zodie coated his hands in darkness to block and parry them. Each blow was fast and hard this forced Zodie to sprout his wings to fly up and move on the other side away from Natsu.

"Dude come on you're not gonna win if you keep running away, if you're not gonna take this seriously then I will." Natsu breathed heavily alerting Zodie of what he was about to do. "Fire dragon roooooar." "Oh crap." Zodie was then engulfed in flames.

"Eh Zodie no!" Wendy Cried. But to everyone's amazement the flames were dissipated by a massive wing flap. "Ok my turn." Zodie ran at Natsu and launched a punch at the kid but Zodie used his left wing to deflect and threw him off with a full body spin then nailing Natsu with a punch to the face.

This surprised the crowd. "Wow Zodie actually got a hit in." Said Lucy.

"Not bad, I may want to test bird boy skills myself." Said Gajeel.

Natsu then grew an excited smile on his face. "Now that's what i'm talking about now it's time for me to get serious." Natsu had a pumped up smirk on his face, one that Zodie hadn't seen in a long time but one that was all too familiar. His late older brother Aria used to have that look on his face. Now that he thought about it Natsu pretty much had all the same traits as him, Zodie could still remember that tragic night . Apparently Zodie was so spaced out he didn't notice Natsu's flamed fist nearly connecting to his cheek which made Zodie stumble to the ground.

"Get your head in the game I ain't holding back on ya kid." Natsu was coming at him much harder and even Zodie's wings defense tactic wasn't helping him. Eventually the phoenix child became overwhelmed and Natsu dealt a blow to his gut knocking him back. Zodie rolled on the ground before coming to a stop and clutching his stomach.

"Zodie no." Whined Wendy.

"Oh crap, hey Z you ok."

Suddenly Zodies hand began to glow in a pure black and red aura before hitting Natsu in the face knocking him back. At that point of contact Natsu and Zodie both began to get a flash of images running through their heads. Both boys fell to the ground as they began to shake rapidly before they slipped into unconciousness.

"Natsu!" Cried Happy.

"Zodie!" Wendy raced over to them to use her healing magic on the two to try to ease their mental pain.

"Quickly get them inside now!" Makarov said.

Minutes later both Natsu and Zodie laid on separate beds sweating and lightly convulse in their sleep, Mira had placed warm towels on their heads to ease their tension. Things were so serious that they called in fairy tails semi-active member; she was elderly with pink hair tied in a bun on the back of her head by two large pins with crescent moon-shaped edges, and with two bangs of hair left framing her face along with red eyes. She wore a dark green blouse with a tie around the collar, paired with a long matching skirt and simple shoes. Her name was Porlyusica, an old friend of Makarov; he called her in for her help and tended to them. After around twenty or more minutes she exited the med bay and was bombarded by the members.

"WILL YOU ALL SHUT UP AND LISTEN!" She shouted at them. She ushered for Makarov to follow her to speak in private. After speaking with him for some time she left the master.

"Master, what did she say?" Erza asked.

"Yeah gramps what's the deal and what was with Zodies hand after he attacked Gray.

"Well I give it to you kids short, they're not in any physical pain but rather psychological pain."

"What do you mean?" Asked Lucy.

Makarov took a seat. "I mean that they're experiencing a nightmare-like state, reexperiencing unpleasant memories from their lives."

Upon hearing this many of the guild members already knew the type of memories Natsu was experiencing, Wendy had the same look of worry, Zodie told her everything from his past and from what he told her they weren't pleasant.

"And from what I saw it seems Zodie's magic was the cause of it. I admit I have seen nothing like it." Makarov said.

That's when Erza turned to Wendy. "Wendy." Titania said getting the sky maidens attention. "Has Zodie ever done something like this before with his magic?"

"Well there was one time when he lost control and really overwhelmed an enemy back when putrid carnage stirred up trouble."

"But this we've never seen before." Added Carla.

"It seems Zodie can do things with dark magic that other wizards can't." Juvia said.

"So what can we master?" Lucy asked.

"As of now we let those boys have their rest."

…

Nothingness…emptiness…there was nothing around but pure darkness… the one wandering through this void was Zodie.

"Where the heck am I?"

No response but his own echoes he began to panic as he ran through an endless darkness, he felt trapped in this never ending limbo. Til he came upon a portal he came up to it and it gave him a view of what looked like Natsu's memories, he could see a young Natsu and a red dragon. This must've been Igneel his dad, it then cuts to a scene where young Natsu stood in a field looking for him. Zodie could relate it was just as the same when Yubel disaapeared. Next it cuts to a memory of him older now with the Strauss siblings Mira and Elfman along with another girl with white hair.

"Who is she, and why haven't I seen her around the guild?" He soon got his answer when he saw Natsu standing in front of a makeshift grave. He could see that her name was Lisanna Strauss Mira and Elfman's sister and a close friend to Natsu. Zodie then got teary eyed himself after seeing this not knowing that Natsu had suffered a loss like he has. The phoenix child then shot himself awake sweating hard and hyperventilating before calming down after a few minutes.

"So you're awake huh." The sound of Natsu's voice startled the phoenix slayer that he slipped off the bed.

"Natsu I…am so sorry I…I don't know how that happened, it was an accident I swear."

The salamander merely shrugged it off. "Hey no biggie man I know it was;nt intentional."

"So then we're good?"

Natsu sticks his fist out. "Yeah we're cool." They stood there for about a few seconds till Zodie broke the silence.

"So by any chance did you have a nightmare?"

"Yeah I did, did you?"

"Something like that. I know this may seem personal but I'm sorry about your loss of Lisanna." Natsu shot a glance at him. "I think whatever spell I accidently hit you with let me see into your past." He then looked down. "If it's any consolation I know the pain." Zodie tells Natsu about his late older brother Aria how he risked his life so he could live.

"Oh man I…I never knew that, I'm so sorry Z."

"You know you kind of remind me of him in a way."

"And what way is that?"

Zodie smirked. "Crazy outgoing and wild." This earned him a noogie from Salamander. "But mostly brave." He looked down a little sad. "Not a day goes by when I don't think about that day, but I keep telling myself I owe it to him to live."

"I feel the same way with Lisana she'd never forgive me if all I did was mope around and not get a fire in my belly." If you need a shoulder to cry on, my door is always open bro."

Zodie smiled at this and the two made one last fist bump.

Ok and done so how was this seeing these two with a brotherly like relationship, next chapter i believe it's time to bring in gildarts followed by the first half of the edolas arc what yall think. Let me know what I should do and what yall may want to see till next time peace.