Hello there! My name is lepidus - it's not my actual name, just to clear that up - and I had a lot of free time (although I have to admit I always have a lot of free time) and felt like it'd be a cool experience to try to write fanfiction. Honestly, I've never done it before so I doubt the story will be super awesome. Also, I've started watching Fairy Tail recently and it's pretty freaking cool. At least to me, anyway. I checked out quite a few other Fairy Tail fanfictions and I really enjoy ones where Natsu becomes really strong. I mean, I don't think I'm alone in thinking that, but it's a big thing for me. Obviously, this means that you're going to see evidence of that in the story. And on a side note, I don't think writing fanfiction will become a very large part of my daily life so I hope you don't expect lots of writing (though I type extremely quickly and not to brag but I have English grammar and spelling skills and knowledge far beyond my years). But yeah, I think I've said enough about why I'm writing so let's get to whatI'm writing.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any trademarks of Fairy Tail. Fairy Tail and all trademarks of Fairy Tail are owned by Hiro Mashima.

In the land of Fiore, there is something known as magic. For most of its population, magic is simply a tool, a convenient help with mundane and not so mundane tasks. Some even use magic for toys.

However, for a smaller percentage of Fiore's people (though just as important), magic is a part of who they are. They wield magic as a weapon and use it for good or for evil. Due to the existence of these magic-users, who were and are most commonly referred to as mages and/or wizards, magical guilds sprang up with proposals for those very people. Join a guild, and you could then do jobs that required a certain amount of skill for a fair amount of remuneration. These jobs were presented to the guilds by regular residents of Fiore who wanted help with different problems. The guilds and the people of Fiore worked in harmony to create a more peaceful nation.

One specific guild in this magical country was revered and spoken of throughout the land, and known as the strongest. They had powerful mages with reputations as unbelievable as their magics themselves. One boy would eventually join this guild and make it even stronger. The boy in question has his own story, so we must begin his unique tale.

On usual sunny days in the forests of Fiore, birds chirped and squirrels ran up and down trees as rabbits hopped and sounds of life were heard everywhere. However, this was not a usual sunny day in Fiore, and in fact the forest was having a bit of a breakdown due to a certain creature stomping throughout it.

This creature was, as strange as it sounds, a dragon. This specific dragon was covered with red scales and had several scars that gave it an intimidating look. In my opinion, though, it was intimidating enough already just because it was a dragon.

As the dragon stomped through the forest, it caught a strange scent with its sensitive nose and began heading in the direction the smell was coming from. He recognized it as human, but when he got closer he was surprised to see a small human baby that couldn't be older than three.

Now, you may expect that a dragon would gobble up any humans it met, but in this world dragons are surprisingly intelligent and many favor humans. This specific dragon, who happened to be known as Igneel, was pretty much indifferent. When it came to this human child, however, he could not help but feel the urge to take it in as one of his own. He picked the sleeping child up in one hand and walked back to the top of the mountain he resided on. He gently set the boy (he knew his humans well enough to differentiate the genders) down onto a pile of leaves in a clearing on the mountain. He then wrapped his body around the child and covered him with his wings before dozing off.

As time went on, he became more and more attached to the boy as the child grew to love his newfound father. Igneel would not allow himself to have a weak or idiotic heir, and began training his mind and body to surpass their supposed limits. He had him run, lift rocks, crush boulders, and even taught him the Fire Dragon Slayer magic that Igneel was a master of. But that was nothing compared to what he had to endure to work on his mind.

Igneel taught the boy to write and read with confidence and to think things through before taking action. He strengthened his reasoning and logic skills as well by challenging him with complex puzzles and riddles.

After a few months, Igneel knew he had to name the boy or it would become an inconvenience to refer to him as "child" or something or other. He decided Natsu was fitting for the son of a fire dragon, and the last name was not too difficult to decide upon either.

"Dragneel. The boy is a dragon in his heart and I have too much pride to not allow him to bear at least a part of my name," he thought with a chuckle.

"Natsu Dragneel ... You are going to become the strongest human mage this world has ever seen," he said confidently. And with that, he strode back to check on his newly named child.

3 YEARS LATER

"Dad?" Natsu called as he looked around for his father.

"I'm out here, Natsu!" came the answer from the other side of the mountain that they had been living on for the past three and a half years. "Did you already finish up with the early morning training?"

Natsu (now a six-and-a-half year-old) flew straight up into the air with fire seemingly shooting from his feet, propelling him. He looked down and saw his loving dragon of a father - and that is quite literal - and dove headfirst toward the ground beside him, shooting flames out at the last second to flip himself around and lessen the damage caused from his fall. Nevertheless, a small crater was created where he landed but he came out fine. Evidence of this frequent occurrence was obvious on the unfortunate floor of dirt and stone underneath his feet.

"Of course I've finished, did you think something as easy as that would take me very long?" Natsu asked with an exaggerated look of incredulity obvious on his face as he walked up to Igneel.

"If you think it's so easy, then why don't you go take another crack at the black and white hat riddle?" Igneel answered with another question, knowing Natsu had always struggled with that riddle.

"Already done, Dad. I've been working on it and I wrote down the answer and put it on the table," Natsu answered smugly.

"How about you explain how it works then?"

"Well, since the guy in the back can have no idea what color his hat is, his is obviously the one wrong answer that is allotted in the rules. Saying "black" or "white" has to send a message, and it can't explain the specific number of each h-," Natsu was cut off as Igneel threw a boulder straight at him. Natsu instinctively punched the large piece of stone into a pile of dust with insanely fast reflexes.

"I believe that you've figured it out, but I'll be sure to check out your answer when I get back there. And I'm actually impressed by how much you've improved in such a small amount of time." Igneel praised Natsu but made sure that he didn't get a big head. "For a six-year-old human, anyway."

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks and all, but I really want to step up this training so I can get even stronger!" Natsu replied energetically, causing Igneel to chuckle knowingly.

"If he wants harder training, then he's gonna get it." Thought Igneel mischievously, as he said something a bit less ominous to Natsu. "If that's really what you want, then I'll put you on a training regimen that will make you ten times as strong within only two years, but it'll be difficult and you'll need to learn other magic."

"I'll do it! I'm going to be even stronger than you someday, and I'll have to train you to get stronger!" Natsu said with a huge grin on his face.

"Now, now, don't get ahead of yourself. I'm the one training you, so you'd better not get me angry!"

2 YEARS LATER

"So what's it like out there?" Natsu inquired as he thought about the fact that he'd never seen another human before. He looked at the space between his feet quietly, waiting for an answer.

Igneel laughed, but figured Natsu's curiosity about other humans was warranted given the fact that he hadn't been in the presence of other people even once in his life. "In a word? Crowded. People everywhere. Eating, drinking, walking, talking, kissing, and doing pretty much all of it at once. One thing about them, though, is that they're all unique. Different in their own ways."

Natsu frowned slightly. "That sounds pretty gross. Are they all like that?" He kicked the dirt in frustration, wishing he could meet some people for once, even if they were weird.

The dragon looked over at Natsu for a moment before opening his maw to say something else, but then deciding to stay silent.

"So when are we going to make that trip? I've been looking forward to it, but you never have told me a specific time." Natsu said.

Igneel sighed. "We might as well go now, since you've basically mastered those other magics."

"What?! Really?" Natsu exclaimed with excitement practically dripping from every part of his body.

"Let's go. But I want you to fly as far as you can with me using those fire wings you've developed. It will help you get used to them and increase your magic power as well as your endurance." Igneel said, as he began to flap his wings quickly along with Natsu, who created wings out of fire that protruded from his back. They flew out into the distance, and even after they were out of sight it seemed as though you could still feel the strength of their magic even from that far away.

Hey, guys! Glad you finished the chapter, and I hope you enjoyed it. I know this part wasn't very exciting, but it set the stage for what will come next. Tell me what you liked about it if you can, and I hope you'll keep reading as I write!