In the street of the small town of Fairy Tail, a crowd gathered. Children, adolescents, adults; people of all ages stood around in a circle. In the center of this crowd, there was a fire-breather with bright pink hair, who wore a raggedy brown tunic, splattered with mud and covered with scratches. He was known as “Salamander”. He had the ability to spit out fire in all different shapes and sizes, using his magnificent flames to portray a story of a courageous knight defeating a vicious dragon. Not only that, but a blue cat with wings had added to the spectacular show, he flew around in the air and acted as the knight of the story. Whenever he’d attack the beast, he’d swing his wooden sword, chopping it straight through the fire. He would also call out “Happy Slice!” or “Happy Thrust!” stating his name in each attack made. After several miserable attempts, he had finally slain the fire-breathing dragon. The crowd, especially the children, enjoyed the stories. The fire-breather would even boast and claim he had actually gone on such adventures.
However, these were plain lies. Salamander had not gone on these sorts of adventures, but he had fantasized of them; he hoped to one day ditch his poorly-paying profession as a fire-breather, and become a royal knight. Oh! How gallant it would be, to save a princess, and to slay a dragon!
One day, as the Salamander had sat on the windowsill of his apartment, his legs dangling outside. He stared at the clouds in the sky, imagining another made-up fairy tale. “Hey!!” Someone had shouted, interrupting his thoughts. He looked down at the cobblestone road, seeing an actual knight in a shining golden armor. The knight had been calling the fire-breather, and finally caught his attention. “The king awaits your presence, Sir Salamander!” Salamander’s eyes grew wide, his mouth slightly ajar. He jumped down from his two-story apartment, landing on his feet. He whistled, and when he did, his cat partner, Happy flew down from the roof. As Salamander was about to state something egoistic, the knight grabbed him by the wrist, dragging along the dirty road as he squirmed and shouted.
When the knight had released Salamander, they were in a long corridor, in the castle of the king. “Quiet, Natsu, stand up and walk.” the knight hissed. Salamander jumped up to his feet but was confused.
“How do you know my real name?” He said, a dumbfounded look spread on his face. The knight smirked and said, “I’m a knight of the king. I should know the names of his subjects, shouldn’t I?” To this Natsu looked over at Happy for an explanation, but instead saw his partner had been equally as confused. The knight stopped all of a sudden, causing Natsu/Salamander to walk right into him. The knight got down on one knee, head down. Then he took off his helmet, revealing long, red hair. He… was a she.
“Erza. Please stand.” The command came from an elderly man sitting on a fancily decorated throne at the end of the large room. “Your Royal Majesty, I’ve brought Natsu ‘Salamander’ Dragneel as you’d requested.” the red-headed knight announced, now standing erect.
“Thank you. Now, please allow me to speak to him.” She moved to the side of the room, standing at attention. “Oh! It’s you! Old man Makarov!” Natsu realized, pointing at the old king. “That’s King Makarov to you, fire-breather. However, that’s not the point, nor of importance at the moment. I need your help.”
“You see,” the king continued, “My daughter, princess of our kingdom of Fiore, was kidnapped by a… dragon. I’ve heard that you have gone through multiple successful ventures on your own. I need you to save my only child.” The fire-breather gave a sharp-toothed grin. “Of course! I’m a dragon slayer, after all! You can count on me!!” Excited, he breathed out massive untamed flames into the air, then turning to run out of the throne room, but was stopped short by the female knight. “One more thing.” Natsu turned around to face the elderly king. “Normally, I would send a knight to aid you, specifically Erza here, but most of my knights are off fighting a war with our rivaling kingdom, Phantom Lord’s* own. Thus, Erza must stay here to protect the castle. I do have someone to accompany you, however.” He signaled to another individual, standing unnoticed beside his throne. A blonde female wearing armor one too many sizes for her walked out from the shadows. She looked nervous and puny, and she held a sheathed sword close to her, looking very insecure, as if she’d be attacked at any moment. “Lucy is just a page, but she should help you in some way, I should hope. She’s been in training now for several years, and knows several sword techniques.” She smiled, hearing this, as did Natsu.
“Sir, I’ll do my best!” They said simultaneously, except for Natsu who’d added an “Old man” rather than saying sir. Equipped with several helpful materials bestowed upon them by the king, the three, Natsu the “Salamander”, Happy the cat, and the page Lucy, had set off to slay the dragon who’d taken the princess captive.
I’d originally planned for this to be a one-shot, but it may actually take up to four chapters! Anyway, I hope I haven’t made them OOC, in which case, please tell me, especially for Lucy, Happy, and Natsu. It also feels a tad rushed, sorry about that. Anyway, thanks for reading!
*Phantom Lord= the guild of Phantom Lord, but since it would not fit as a name for a kingdom; I made it into the name of the head of the kingdom. I’m still pretty much talking about Fairy Tail’s actual rival guild, Phantom Lord.