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CHAPTER THREE: LUCY JOINS FAIRY TAIL

Meanwhile, Natsu and Lucy arrive at Fairy Tail and Natsu immediately kicks the door open while screaming to everyone that they've returned. The guild member who had informed Natsu of the appearance of "Salamander" (who Natsu thought was Igneel, but it was actually Bora) in Hargeon Town immediately shouts at him, commenting on the damage he caused to the town. Natsu responds by kicking him across the hall while shouting to him that the Salamander they found was fake.

The guild member that was kicked screamed that it wasn't his problem and in the blink of an eye, a fight throughout the whole guild is raging.

"Wow! I'm really here! Fairy Tail!" Lucy happily says as people are fighting around her.

"Oh? Natsu's back?!" A man with long dark blue hair and gray eyes, wearing a white jacket with nothing underneath, black jeans, a light blue scarf around his neck, and black boots, shouts in anger. A dark blue cat wearing a black hoodie, black pants, and white shoes was next to him. "It's time to settle things from the other day, Natsu!" Aira shouted, trying to find Natsu as Lucy sweat drops at him.

"Aira, don't go causing trouble with Natsu... again." His partner and best friend, Cain, said as he sighed. "Who says I'm causing trouble?" Aira said. "You always cause trouble when Natsu's around, Aira." A raven haired man with no shirt replied.

"Gray. Your clothes." A woman with dark brown hair and purple eyes, wearing a light blue bikini top with capri pants, reminds Gray about his missing clothes while she is drinking whine.

"Ah crap!" Gray jumps in surprise realizing his clothes are gone.

"This is why I can't stand the men here. They have no class at all." Cana sighed as she grabs a barrel of booze and chugging it. Lucy with her mouth wide open and eyes popping out, stares in amazement.

"Come on! Fight me!" Aira kicks a person to the side, shouting at Natsu.

"Can't you see I'm busy here?!" Natsu shouted back while wrestling with a guild mate.

Then, a man with white spiky hair and black eyes, wearing a dark blue jacket, loose pants, and Japanese geta sandals appeared. "It's only noon and you're already whining and crying?" Elfman said with his arms crossed. "You aren't little kids, you know." Lucy looks up at him. "Real men speak with their fists!"

"He's encouraging fighting after all." Lucy muttered.

Natsu and Aira turn around and punch Elfman across the room. "Butt out!" They both scream in unison.

"And is already knocked out?!" Lucy sweat dropped.

"Ugh. How noisy." A man with glasses and orange spiky hair wearing a green jacket and an orange shirt underneath, with two girls sitting on his lap, complained. Lucy notices him from behind. A glass hits his forehead causing him to fall out of his seat. The girls worry about him but he gets up like nothing happened. "I'm gonna join in! For you girls!" Loke charms them, giving them a thumbs up as the two girls wish him good luck.

"He's off my list for sure." Lucy marks a red x on his picture in her book. "But what's with this place? There isn't one normal person here!" Lucy gets annoyed with everyone around her.

"Oh, are you new here?" She turns around to see a barmaid with white hair and blue eyes, wearing a long red dress with a pink bow in the middle of her dress, holding a tray of drinks in her hand, asks Lucy.

"Mirajane! The Mirajane!" Lucy fangirls a bit when she sees her idol in front of her. Mira gives a warm smile. "Sh-Shouldn't we stop them?" Lucy suggests pointing to everyone. Mira looks at everyone who is fighting.

"They're always like this. We should just let them be." Mira doesn't worry about the brawls. "Besides-" Elfman flies into Mira, crashing into a table. "...it's fun, don't you think?" Mira passes out as her soul leaves her body.

"Mirajane-san!" Lucy screamed and worries about the unconscious barmaid. Gray crashes into her as Aira whips around his boxers, laughing at Gray.

"My boxers!" Gray angrily yelled. Lucy covers her eyes. Gray notices her, going up to her. "Miss. Could you lend me some underwear-?"

"Yeah, right!" Lucy swings at him with a weapon, knocking him out.

"I simply can't stand these insensitive fools." Loke carries her bridal style, freaking her out. Elfman comes in the picture, punching Loke away.

"Real men speak with their fists!" Elfman shouted.

Aira kicks him away. "I said butt out!"

"He's at it again..." Cain said, sighing at his best friend.

"Aye!" Happy shouted.

"Ugh, how annoying. I can't even have a nice relaxing drink." Cana gets irritated with everyone. She takes out one of her cards so she can end the fight. "You guys better knock it off!"

Gray puts his fist into his palm. "Oh yeah? Says who?"

Aira's fist gets covered in water. "You people are pissing me off!"

Elfman uses his Magic, screaming as he covers his entire right arm in rocks.

Loke uses his ring to finish the fight as well. "What a nuisance you people are."

Natsu engulfs both of his hands on fire, screaming at his guild mates. "Bring it on!"

Lucy grabs Happy and uses him as a shield. "A fistfight with magic?!" Lucy said, scared for her life. Happy simply replies with an "aye" at her. "Don't give me, "Aye!"

Then, a black foot steps on the ground, revealing a huge angry black monster, yelling at everyone to stop fighting. "That's enough, you fools!"

Lucy notices the enormous monster, screaming out loud. "Huge!" Everyone stops fighting and listens to the enormous black monster, filling silence in the room.

"Oh, you're still here, Master?" Mira smiles at the master.

"Master?!" Lucy yelled, surprised that the huge monster is actually their master. Natsu has his hands on his hips as he laughs loudly at everyone.

"What a bunch of wimps!" Natsu continues to laugh. "Looks like I win this-" The Master steps on Natsu causing him to stop laughing. Lucy shrieks when she sees Natsu splattered on the floor. The Master notices the new person in the guild, scaring Lucy a bit.

"You new here?" The Master asked, turning his gaze to Lucy.

"Y-Yes!" Lucy terrified by the master who is still a monster. The Master uses his Magic to turn himself back to normal as Lucy stands there dumb stuck. She is surprised to see that an enormous monster turns out to be a small old man.

"Nice to meetcha!" The Master greeted Lucy as he smiles at her.

"Tiny! Wait, he's your master...?!" Lucy asked Mira who is smiling at them.

"Yep! This is Master Makarov, Fairy Tail's master!" Mira replied. The Master jumps up the second floor while doing a couple of flips but accidently hits his back on the wooden railing. He gets up like nothing happened, clearing his throat before he speaks.

"You guys have gone and done it again!" The Master complains to the guild members. "Just look at how much paperwork the council sent me this time!" He shows the stacks paper in his hand. "And it's all complaints!" The Master trembles as he speaks, about to burst out at them. "All you guys ever do is get the council mad at me!" Everyone looks down, feeling sorry for their master. Lucy worriedly looks at him. "However..." He burns the papers, trying to cheer them up. "To hell with the council!" Throwing the paper in the air, Natsu jumps up and catches it with his mouth.

"Listen up. Power that surpasses reason is born from reason. Magic is not a miraculous power. It is only realized when the flow of energy inside us and the flow of energy in the natural world comes into perfect sync! Magic comes from mental strength and focus- nay, it comes from your entire soul! Worry about the eyes watching from high above and you will make no progress in the ways of magic! Don't let those fools on the council scare you! Follow the path you believe in! That's what Fairy Tail wizards do!" As the Master lectures them he puts his thumb and index finger in the air to show pride in of the guild. Everyone else does the same thing, cheering for their master.

As Lucy shows Natsu her new pink Fairy Tail insignia on her right hand, he continues to scan the request board not caring about what Lucy is saying. Lucy goes to the bar, sitting next to Elfman and chats with Mira. A boy walks up to Master Makarov while he is drinking beer. The boy worriedly asks about his father, Macao, but the master tells him to wait patiently and have faith in his father. The young boy, Romeo, punches the master and runs away, crying. Natsu gets angry, almost breaking the request board which concerns Lucy.

"What happened to him, anyway?" Lucy asked, feeling sorry for Romeo.

"Natsu's in the same boat as Romeo." Mira replied while polishing some drinking glasses. "I guess he sees part of himself in him. All of us Fairy Tail wizards have our own issues of some sort. Whether it's scars, pain, or suffering..." Lucy thinks about the pain she's been through. "Natsu's father left and never came back. Well, technically, he was only his foster father. And a dragon."

"Huh?! A dragon?!" Lucy freaks out. "Natsu was raised by a dragon?!"

"And he's not the only one. One of our members named Aira was also raised by a dragon." Mira stated. Lucy thinks for a second, realizing it was the guy who wanted to fight Natsu earlier.

"Even him?!" Lucy asked in shock. Mira nods and smiles softly.

"When they were both young, their own dragons took them in, and taught them all about language, culture, and magic. But, one day, their dragons suddenly disappeared on the same day." Mira tells her.

"Oh, that must be Igneel, then..." Lucy only remembers Natsu's dragon. "But what about Aira's dragon?"

"Aira never really talked about his dragon that much like Natsu because it would only remind him of the pain." Mira responded. "But, Natsu looks forward to the day he'll see Igneel again. That's kind of cute, don't you think?" Lucy smiles softly, thinking about the guy's dragons. Then, Lucy goes after Natsu to save Macao and bring him home back to his son, Romeo.

Team Natsu is formed, consisting of Natsu, Happy and Lucy.

"Huh? Did someone take that 200,000 Jewel job for stealing a book?" A woman with blue hair and hazel eyes, wearing an orange headband, Levy, stares at the request board, looking for the job her team wanted to go on. Two guys are standing next to her, one has black hair with black eyes, wearing a white shirt with yellow belts crossing his chest, known as Droy. The other one has orange hair with black eyes as well, wearing a brown hat with a brown coat with fuzzes around it, known as Jet.

"Yes. Natsu said he was going to ask Lucy to help." Mira replied.

"Aww, I was considering taking it, too..." Levy and her team sigh in disappointment that they are not able to take the mission anymore.

"It might for the best that you didn't go, Levy." The master informed as they look at him. "I just received word from the client."

"Did he cancel the job?" Mira asks the Master.

"No... he's raising the reward to two million Jewel!" Master Makarov said. Team Shadow Gear are shocked to hear about the increasing price.

"Ten times as much?!" Levy said.

"Two million Jewel for one book?!" Droy commented.

"That's the kind of reward you'd get for defeating monsters!" Jet stated. As Team Shadow Gear talk about the price increasing, the Water Dragon Slayer smirks to himself as he sits at the bar next to Gray.

"Things are getting interesting now." Aira muttered.

"You think?" Gray agreed.

"Gray. Pants." Mira reminds him. Gray looks down and freaks out again when his pants go missing.

Together, they take on the job with a two million Jewel reward that demands the destruction of the book Daybreak written by the father of the cilent, Kaby Melon. After their initial plain to sneak in Lucy as a maid fails, they infiltrate Everlue's mansion to steal the book, only to be stopped by Everlue himself and the Vanish Brothers.

Lucy emerges victorious in her fight against Everlue and returns "DAYBREAK" to Kaby Melon, where the truth about the book is revealed.

The team take a shortcut to return back to the guild. Natsu is walking in the swamp with Happy on his head while Lucy is in Horologium.

"Hold on. Are you sure this is the right way? She says." Horologium speaks for Lucy.

"Happy says to go this way, so we go this way, I say." Natsu mocks Horologium.

"How rude! I am a cat, you know! Cats have great sense of smell!" Happy stated.

"You're thinking of dogs." Once again, Horologium speaks for Lucy. "What does smell have to do with pathfinding anyway? She asks."

"Why can't you walk on your own?" Natsu asked.

"I'm tired, she says." Horologium responded as Natsu grunts at her.

While they are walking, something moves in the bushes which catches Natsu and Lucy's attention. "Who's there?!" Natsu shouted as he jumps into the bushes to attack someone.

"You're too quick to fight! She says." Horologium said. Happy cheers for Natsu to win. The Dragon Slayers come out of the bushes, fighting each other. They both angrily glare at each other as they land on the ground.

"It's Aira!" Happy exclaimed.

"What's he doing here?! She asks." Horologium said.

"I was looking for a bathroom!" Aira replied.

"Why would there be a bathroom in the middle of a forest?!" Natsu asked.

"You should butt out when people are trying to use the bathroom." Aira said, glaring back. The Dragon Slayers continue to argue as Lucy sweat drops at them. They break their fight afterwars the ds so they can talk as Happy goes fishing.

"Oh, you're on your way back from a job?" Lucy asked.

"Cutting through this forest is the quickest way back to Magnolia." Aira answered as Happy agrees with him.

"You bragged about your nose, but you couldn't even smell Aira out here." Lucy stated.

"There are some odors I don't want to smell." Happy added.

"What's that mean?!" Aira shouted getting annoyed with Happy.

"You're annoying. Just hurry on home." Natsu muttered as he puts his hands behind his head.

"I was planning to. We're in big trouble if we don't hurry back." Aira gets up, turning around as he puts his hands on his hips.

"What do you mean?" Lucy questioned.

"Erza's going to be back soon." Aira informs them with a serious look. Natsu has a shocked expression when he hears the name "Erza."

"You mean the Erza?!" Lucy asked.

"They say she's the toughest wizard in Fairy Tail." Happy stated with his mouth full of fish.

"Wow I want to meet her!" Lucy puts her hand on her cheeks as she fangirls. Natsu and Aira get scared. "Oh, but I've never seen any photos of Erza in the magazine at all... What's she like?"

"Scary." The three responded to her. Lucy sits there dumbfounded.

"A wild animal?" Aira asked Natsu.

"A beast?" Natsu suggested.

"More like a full-fledged monster!" Happy added. "She's not that big."

"No, she's surprisingly big." Natsu stated.

"In terms of scariness, Lucy's image of her isn't far off the mark." Aira said. "No, she might be even bigger!"

"About this big, maybe?" Natsu describes her as large as a mountain.

"No, I'd say she could demolish three mountains with one kick...!" Aira claimed.

"Three is an exaggeration, I'd say like two." Happy said.

"A woman who can destroy two mountains with a single kick?" Lucy believes the three who are describing Erza as a scary monster. "She might be scary..."

"Anyway, we gotta hurry back." Aira suggested.

"Crap! Let's go!" Natsu stands up, ready to go until a wizard attacks them. Aira and Lucy's bodies are buried under the sand as Natsu's head is buried under sand.

"A wizard?" Aira asked looking around.

"Happy!" Natsu called out with sand falling out of his mouth, worried about his partner.

"Aye..." Happy's paws are tied to a stick like they are about to cook him alive. Five wizards surround the poor blue cat.

"Haven't had protein in a while!" One of the twins said while drooling. "I'm sick of eating nuts!" The other twin said, drooling as well.

"Meat!" The large yellow chicken chanted.

"Looks good!" The Mage with a purple sphere in one of his hands said.

"Oh, look." The twin said as Happy is shaking. "It's shaking." The other twin snickered.

"Sorry. I know you're scared, but you'll be in our stomaches soon enough." The other mage, known as Snarl, said with his arms crossed.

"No, I'm not shaking because I'm scared..." Happy said. The Mage looks at him in confusion. "I need to go to the bathroom." The rest of the Mages all look at him confused as well. "I don't think I can hold it in. It'll probably make me taste weird, too..."

"Shut up." Snarl doesn't believe in Happy, thinking he is lying. "Do it!" He orders Eisenwald Chicken to cook him.

"Meat!" Eisenwald Chicken chanted, lighting his stick on fire.

"Make mine medium, please." Fortune Teller added.

"I can't hold it in anymore..." Happy warned them. "It's gonna make me taste strange! I hope you don't mind...!"

"Hold it right there!" The Fire Dragon Slayer shouted, startling the Mages who are about to cook Happy. Lucy calls out for him checking if he's okay.

"Thank goodness I didn't end up tasting weird!" Happy shouted in relief.

"You're still saying that?!" Snarl gives him a straight face.

"That's our friend you have there." Natsu cracks his knuckles. "We can't let you eat him just 'cause you're hungry!"

"You guys are wizards. What guild are you from?" Aira asked.

"None of your business! Get 'em!" Snarl replies as he smirks at them. The Mages jump, following orders from Snarl.

"Let's do it, Aira!" Natsu said.

"Don't tell me what to do." Aira said with his arms crossed. Natsu and Aira dodge most of their attacks.

"Take this! Sand Bomb!" Snarl attacks Natsu with his sand, trapping him in the sphere of sand. Lucy calls out for Natsu, worried about him.

"Don't worry about him!" Aira said. "You get Happy!"

"R-Right!" Lucy goes to Happy to save him. The Eisenwald twins attack Aira with their daggers. Aira dodges them, using his combat skills.

"Wahh! Lucy's going to eat me!" Happy jokes around in a monotone.

"Shut up, cat!" Lucy gets annoyed with Happy. Eisenwald Chicken walks behind them, holding his fire stick in the air, ready to attack them. Aira kicks the chicken aside, waiting for the next Mage's attack. Fortune Teller looks into the future with his purple sphere.

"You will see the person you wanted to see. I see trouble with women in your future." Fortune Teller said.

"Just a fortuneteller?!" Aira gets irritated and sweat drops at him. "You're obnoxious!" Aira elbows him, knocking him out.

"He's not even using magic... Incredible!" Lucy said as she notices Aira fighting without using his magic.

"Who are these guys?!" Snarl said looking away from the sand. The sand bomb explodes, releasing Natsu. "Aww, crap!"

"Why, you...!" Natsu shouts in anger, landing on the floor. "I'll teach you to fill someone's mouth with sand!" Natsu wipes his mouth as he threatens Snarl. Crashing his fists together, he uses his fire attack at Snarl. "Here goes! Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" His right hand lights on fire as he knocks out the last Mage. They tie up the five Mages onto a tree.

"Don't get serious against small fries." Aira looks away with an irritated look and his hand on his hip.

"Want me to burn that mouth of yours?!" Natsu with his arms crossed, looking away as well, threatens.

"You wish. You know my magic will put out your fire." Aira insulted.

"Huh?! What'd you say?!" Natsu shouted back. As the Dragon Slayers argue once more, Lucy sits next to them, examining them.

"Lulla..." Snarl weakly said.

"What? "Lulla"?" Lucy asked wondering what that means.

"Lulla... by... is..." Snarl can barely speak due to his injuries. Natsu and Aira take a break from fighting, hearing what Snarl has to say.

"Look out!" Happy flies into them, saving them from the shadow that is heading their way. The shadow had a form of a hand, appearing underneath the tied up mages and pulling the tree underground along with the Mages.

"What was that?!" Lucy asked, concerned about the shadow that appeared out of nowhere.

"Who's there?!" Natsu shouted.

"I already can't sense them anymore. Whoever it is, they're fast." Aira said as they stare at the figure who is running away.

"Damn! I don't know what's going on!" Natsu gets annoyed with the situation they're in.

"Lullaby?" Lucy wondered what that word means.

The citizens of Magnolia stare at the woman with a giant horn over her head, carrying it with one hand. She is wearing metal armor with a blue skirt, red scarlet hair and a blue Fairy Tail insignia on her left arm. Was this the Erza that everyone was talking about