Completely numb.

'...'

Dull pain to the head.

'Mrrrruh… God… dammit…'

Sharp pain to the head.

'Gah! What hell?'

An eye and arm that refused to move.

'Seriously... this shit again?'

An eye opens, a brick alleyway is revealed.

'This… doesn't look familiar… at all.'

A hand gripping the wall behind him, a surge of pain at the attempt to stand.

'Come on… I can at least stand…'

The man brought to his feet, he glances to his right and sees bright light. His sense of sound and smell slowly returns, bringing echos of conversation and the smell of seawater.

'There's the opening…'

Foregoing the wall's support… forcing himself to stand on his own two feet… a step forward… a second… the will to never give up driving him on…

'Almost there… This'd be a lot tougher if I still had my… sword…'

An alien scene. Crowds of people where styles of clothing he'd never seen before, old fashioned wagons made of wood, wares that he'd never seen before in his life…

"Wh-where… Where the hell am I?!"

Episode 001: Arrival in Fiore

"Well… this is just my effing day," the man thought aloud, his good eye taking in the scenery around him with a narrowed glare. "Definitely not feelin' any Seither in the air, otherwise I wouldn't be stuck with a damn double handicap." The man hadn't gone far from the alleyway he'd awoken in and he certainly wasn't oblivious to the several gaze he'd his way, many of them looks of fear or concern. Glancing down, he saw that his favorite crimson red coat and black hamaka had looked like they still had all of the marks from the last round of fights he'd been in. To make matters all the more familiar, the right section of his jacket had fallen, leaving his right gauntleted arm exposed in full.

"Shit… I gotta get this thing repaired," he thought as he glanced the buildings. "Maybe I can find a tailor shop or something to…"

He paused as his open green eye landed on a small oddly shaped town with two words on the front; Magic Shop.

'Magic… as in real magic? Not the Ars Magus that Nine created, honest to god magic?' he thought to himself thinking back. The man's hand went to his wallet, just remembering a key detail. '...I'm broke… not that Platinum Dollars would do me any good here… probably…' Sighing to himself he headed to the door. 'Free to look at least…'

He slowly opened the door, giving him the first sense of this world's idea of the arcane… He wasn't immediately impressed; at first glance it looked entirely like any other store with bottles lined up on the shelves. There were crystals and fortune teller's ball further back, but their quality made them seem like cheap knock offs or knick-knacks instead of what he'd been expecting.

'Not what I had in mind…'he thought to himself before noticing the young lady at the counter talking the clown like shopkeeper. The lady herself was dressed in blue and white top and a deep blue mini skirt. Her hair was a bright blond which might've reminded him of someone he'd used to know… if not for her brown eyes and the enormous difference in cleavage.

"What!?" she said with surprise to the old man, slamming her hands down on the desk. "You mean to tell me there's only one magic shop in this whole town?"

"'Fraid so," the old man told her. "The people around here are more fishin' folk than they are magic folk. I reckon most people in town don't even know how to use magic. I built this shop to sell to the wizards that happen to be passing through."

'Must not be a high end shop then,' the man thought to himself. 'That'd explain the cheap quality, and if this is a port town that means that I'm definitely not in the mage town Isayana… So where am I then?'

"Aw man, I can't believe I came all this way for nothing," the blond haired woman said with disappointment.

"Now, now, don't say that little lady," the old shopkeeper said digger behind his desk. "I have all the greatest goods, let me show you. This Colors magic is popular, all the young girls really seem to like it. It lets you change the colors of your clothes, anytime you want."

The item in question was a small, pink tablet. The shopkeep did some fiddling with the dial on the front an arcane circle formed before him.

"Purple!" the said excitedly with a wave of his hand. Just like that, his clothes turned purple.

'That doesn't look like Ars Magus or whatever the hell that witch was doing,' the man thought to himself as the shopkeeper changed his clothes to green.

"I already have one of those, the blond woman waved off. "What I really want are some powerful gate keys."

'Gate Keys?' the man thought to himself. He then noticed the woman's complexion change to one of excitement as she looked at a small silver key.

"Oh wow! It's the little doggy!" she said excitedly.

"Hey, what the hell's a gate key anyways?"

The old man and young lady both gave a startled jump as they turned to face the man that had spoken; neither seemed to have been aware of his presence before now.

"Um… H-How long have you been standing there?" the woman asked nervously.

"Not long," he told her passively. "So what's a gate key do anyways?"

"Y-you've never heard of a Celestial Wizard?" she asked him. The man shook his head. "Well… they're a type of magic user that summons Celestial Spirits to assist them with their powers."

"You must be new to Fiore; even in a port town like this people would know that much about magic; it's the basics of the basics," the old shopkeeper told him before noticing the state of his clothing. "Now that I look at you it seems that you've had a rough trip, where are you from?"

"...A church in the plains a long ways from here," the man told him, not tearing his gaze away from the key. "Hey, is it possible for you to show me one of these… spirits?"

"Uh… I don't think that's a good idea, summoning one of those creatures here could destroy my shop," the old shopkeeper said worriedly.

"Why don't I just summon the Little Doggy then?" the young woman said, apparently confident in her abilities. "I've been looking to pick up one of those keys for a while now anyways. Let me do it just so I can make sure the key works."

'Almost seems like she wants to show off,' the stranger said to himself before glancing to the shopkeeper. "That a problem for you old timer?"

"I...If she's going to be buy it I don't mind," he relented. The girl gave a giggle before grabbing the silver key from the box and making some room for her summoning. "But, you should know that spirit is rather weak."

"I know, but I've always wanted to keep one of them as a pet," she said before swiping the key. "Open! Gate of the Little Doggy!" A bell's toll was heard as a massive circle of magic formed before her. Wisps of light circled the area before connecting and forming-

"A snowman… with legs? The hell?" the man muttered as he stared down at the thing with his green eye as it looked back at him. He wasn't sure if the thing was constantly shivering because it was scared of him or if it was usually like that. "I thought this thing was supposed to be a dog."

"That's just what it's called," the girl said as she grabbed the creature and brought it in for a hug. "Awwww! It's so cute!"

"Now now, don't get ahead of yourself," the shopkeeper told her. "You can play with it and form a contract all you want after you've paid for the key."

"Oh, right then," she conceded as she put the key on the desk. "You can go ahead and head back little guy." The creature gave a small nod before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"Where do they go when you're done with 'em anyways?" the enigma asked plainly.

"Back to the Celestial Realm," the woman told him, as if that explained everything. "So how much for the key?"

"Twenty-Thousand Jewels," the owner said, happy he'd be able to do business.

"...I'm sorry, how much was that?" the woman asked, her complexion seeming to darken.

"Twenty-Thousand Jewels," the old man repeated.

The silence was deafening, leaving the red coated stranger to raise an eyebrow (he could really on raise the one anyways). The girl smiled before before getting up on the shopkeepers desk and seductively putting her hand behind her head, leaving her full cleavage on display.

"Aw come on, how much is it really worth? Surely you can cut me a deal," the young blonde said innocently before winking.

The man in red facepalmed at the display. 'How low can one person go?' he thought to himself.

-Later-

"Ugh! I can't believe he only knocked off a thousand jewel! That old geezer must be blind!" the blonde said as she angrily stomped away from the shop.

"Heh, count yourself lucky he didn't just throw you out of his store," the red coated stranger nettled with a snarky smirk. "If I were in the old man's shoes I'd have tacked on a couple thousand for screwing with me."

"Oh! Yeah! Real nice!" she shouted angrily. "And while we're at it why are following me around?!"

"Following you? I'm wandering around town aimlessly, you're the one that's following me," the man said… before glancing over his shoulder to the blonde behind him. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm the guy in front."

"Oh... right," she admitted with a hint of embarrassment, leaving the red coat to chuckle before he looked over the side of the bridge they were on.

"Eh? Looks like some sort of a crowd's forming down there… and it looks like all them are screaming fangirls for some reason."

"Screaming… fangirls?" the blonde woman asked as she looked over the side to get a look for herself.

'Is it really him?!" one girl squealed with excitement as she ran by the two.

"The famous Salamander?!" her friend said, equally excited.

"Salamander?" the blond traveling with the mystery man repeated before her eyes turned bright. "As in the wizard who uses fire magic you can't even buy in stores!? Wow! ...He's in this dead end town?"

'Fire magic that can't even be found in stores? Sound pretty impressive,' the red coated man thought to himself before shrugging. "Might as well she what all the fuss is about, wanna check it out?"

"You bet! C'mon!" the blonde said as she ran off at full tilt leaving the man to follow.

-Down Below-

'You've got to be kidding me… A guy like him? Really?'

The reason why the redcoat was a so agitated was because this Salamander reminded him of someone he used to know, but put a rather large emphasis on their bad sides. He had dark spiky hair and a constant smirk on his face as he did a few simple (stupid) poses that seemed to make to girls around him go completely wild. To add to the insult, he even wore a cloak that was all too similar to his friend's.

"I don't know why, but for some reason this guy looks like a bust," he muttered to himself before looking to his apparent companion. "Come on there's no need to-" He was caught off guard by how red in the face she was getting. 'Is she really falling for this guy's act? There are even frickin' hearts in her eyes!'

"Oh, you ladies are all so sweet," Salamander said with a charming voice, suddenly turning to the blonde. Her blush deepened and the hearts in her eyes actually grew.

'Hearts in her- It's a damn love spell!' the red coat thought as the blonde made her way towards the sleazy looking gentleman. His arm immediately shot out and grabbed her by the shoulder to halt her advancement.

"Wake the hell up!"
"Igneel! It's me!"

A pink haired young man had managed to shove through the crowd of giggling fangirls, causing everyone to grow silent. The red coated man paused gave him a wayward glance before turning his attention to the blonde. The hearts in her eyes seemed to shatter, leading for her red faced complexion to immediately die down.

"You okay?" he asked gruffly.

"I… I think so," she said nervously before noticing his hand on her shoulder. "You can take your hand away now."

"Oh, s-sorry."

"Who the heck are you?" the pink haired traveller asked the apparent idol with great disappointment.

"Who am I!?" exclaimed Salamander, the man's body to go rigid with surprise. He tried to downplay his shock by posing with another confident grin. "I'm Salamander, surely you've heard of me before."

"If they'd heard of some jackass using love magic for attention I think that repulsive mug of yours would be on a bounty poster," the red coated man slandered, his green eye turning to a harsh glare. Salamander returned the glare in full.

"Damn, what a waste of time," the pink haired traveller groaned before turning to walk away.

"You're so rude!"
"How dare you say those wretched things about our Salamander!"
"Apologize to him before we rip you to shreds!"
"I'll tear out your throat out if you say that again!"

These were the threats shouted by the several fangirls that tackled the two, beating them down in every painful way a guy could imagine.

"Seriously, what is it with these girls?" the pink haired traveler moaned from beneath a pile of clawing girls.

"Love magic and being a general pain in the ass," the white haired man muttered from beneath his own pile of lovestruck groupies.

"Now now, that's enough my lovelies, let them go," Salamander said with a style that basically said that he owned these girls. He then grabbed out a board and maker and wrote down Salamander, like he needed to try and make it cool while the piles of girls moved off the two at his request. "Here's an autograph for the both of you; why don't you let all of your friends know that you've met me and brag to them about it?"

"How's about I tell them what a massive prick you are? That sounds better to me," the red coat bit with continued ire.

"I don't want that thing. Throw it away or something," the pink haired youth said. Unsurprisingly, both were instantly thrown into a garbage pile by the idol's angry fanclub.

"I believe I must go my ladies, I have business to attend to," Salander said with his usual charm.

"You're leaving already!?" the girl's questioned with remorse all at once, making the love spell seem even further apparent.

"Yes, but as a show of my affection I'll let you see my infamous Red Carpet spell!" A collection of strange pink energy formed beneath the man and sent him into the air where he hovered. The fan girls were going absolutely wild. "I'll be having a soiree on my yacht tonight! And you're all invited!" The man then soar off into the sky, soon disappearing from view.

"Who the heck was that guy?" the pink haired teen muttered as the fangirls continued to gossip amongst themselves about tonight's party.

"Some sonuvabitch that needs a punch to the dick, that's who," the silver haired one groaned with his usual vulgarities as he painfully stood. 'Damn girls, if they'd have torn me any harder my damn wounds would've reopened…' He then noticed the blonde girl from earlier smiling at them both. "What the hell are you so happy about?"

"Want to grab something to eat?" she offered.

"Aye!" came the sudden call of a blue cat from besides the pink haired man. Silver haired looked completely flabbergasted as he looked at the creature… before remembering he'd been raised by a talking cat that was simply larger.

"So… interested in lunch?" the blonde asked again. The silver haired man's stomach gave a low groan, so he conceded and gave a submitting nod.

-And then-

'Jeeze this guy can really put food away,' the silver haired man thought to himself. The four had gotten a small booth in a nearby restaurant and the pink haired youth was scarfing food down by the plate with his cat. The silver haired man shook his head as he contently continued enjoying his food… as best he could with his non-dominant hand.

"My name's Lucy, it's nice to meet you," the blonde said as she tried to keep a straight face. "Natsu and Happy was it?"

"Aye!" Happy the Cat said as he and Natsu continued to stuff their faces.

"Jeeze, show a little tact would ya? You got people staring at us," the silver haired enigma groaned as he finally managed to get a few noodles of his tempura udon to his mouth.

"That reminds me, I never got your name," Lucy said as she looked to the man sitting beside her (thank God I can stop playing the adjective game).

"...Ragna," he finally said before taking a long drink from his glass. When finished, he smirked at Lucy. "There goes your charm money."

"Shut it you, or do you want me to pay for your food with the money you obviously don't have!?" she retorted angrily. Being smarter than he looked, Ragna shrugged and resumed eating. "Speaking of charm, that's the kind of magic that guy just now was using. Hypnotism magic like that's supposed to be illegal, how'd he manage to find it?"

"Black Market maybe, it's the first thing that comes to mind," Ragna told her as he thought back to the creep. "His fire magic looked weak as ass though…"

"They probably wouldn't let him into a guild with magic like that," Natsu said as he began throwing tomato after tomato into his mouth.

"Aye," Happy agreed.

"A guild?" Ragna asked, looking towards Lucy for her knowledge.

"Oh, guilds are places where wizards come to together to share information, find work, stuff like that. You're not considered a full fledged wizard until you join one," she told them before her eyes seemed to sparkle. "But the guild that I really want to join is supposed to be really tough to get into! I always read about them in Sorcerer's weekly and they're supposed to be the greatest in Fiore!"

Ragna cringed a little as Lucy continued to fangirl. He glanced towards Natsu and Happy, the two merely looking at each other with deep concern. "At any rate, why the hell are you two here. I heard you say something about some… Igneel back in the crowd."

"Yeah, we came to this town because we heard a rumor that a Salamander would be coming here, but it just turned out to be some other mage," Natsu said with disappointment. "He didn't even look like a dragon, doubt he could breath fire like one."

"Yeah, probably not," Happy agreed as he continued biting into his fish.

"I don't get it, your friend Igneel looks like a dragon?" Lucy asked as Ragna sipped the broth of udon.

"He doesn't look like a dragon, he is one," Natsu told her, Lucy's gaze went completely blank.

"Dragon's aren't too common then I'm guessing," Ragna voiced aloud. Everyone continued to stay silent. "I'll take that as a yes. Seems kind of strange for one to be showing up in the middle of town then."

"Well…" Natsu began before he realized his mistake. "Point taken."

"Hey, at least you're willing to look as hard as you can to find the guy," Ragna said as Lucy got out of the booth. "Heading out?"

"Yeah, I'll leave money if you guys need to keep eating or anything," Lucy said as she began walking away and spoke to one of the girls working there. "Thanks so much and sorry about the mess."

"Um… miss?" the woman began looking behind Lucy. The blonde herself quickly turned her head with concern, her jaw hitting the floor at what she saw.

"THANK YOU FOR THE FOOD!" Natsu and Happy shouted while prostrate at her feet. If anything the stares that had been sent Lucy's way earlier were growing larger and larger in number each passing second.

"EVERYONE'S STARING! Look, you helped me out earlier so let's just call it even," Lucy said trying to calm the situation down.

"Well we owe you something…" Natsu said before his eyes lit up. "That's it!" He grabbed out the board with the poser Salamander's signature on it "This is for you!"

"NO WAY!" Lucy shouted, not wanting to get anywhere near the thing.

"Well…" Ragna began as he stood from the booth himself. "In that case, mind if I take it?"

"Wait, you want that?" Lucy asked with complete bewilderment.

"I… guess you can have it," Natsu said as he handed it over. "I mean it's not like it's going to do either of us any good."

"...Your loss," he told them both with an evil smirk as he headed out of the restaurant with the signature in under his arm. Natsu and Happy glanced to each other shrugged and headed back to their table to resume their meal.

"Okay, what's he doing now?" Lucy thought before she decided to see what was up. Exiting the establishment herself, she saw that Ragna hadn't gone far and was now surrounded by several girls.

"Yeah! That's right! A signature from the one and only Salamander! You all spent your sweet time clawing my face earlier before he gave it to me, so you know that this is the real deal!" Lucy's face blanched as he saw all of the girls going gaga, all of them grabbing for the board with ferocity. "Now… do I hear 100!?"

"YOU'RE AUCTIONING IT OFF!?" the blonde screamed at him.

-And then what happened-

"Heh, easy payday," Ragna said with a satisfied smirk as he looked at the wad of cash in his hand. "Looks like they were willing to pay a lot for that thing."

"You cheated a girl out thirty thousand jewels while she was under a love spell, that's just low," Lucy muttered in annoyance as she walked ahead of him.

"She had it coming; I still have her nail marks on the back of my neck," he muttered. "You're just jealous that I managed to get some quick cash…"

"...Maybe a little," Lucy admitted. "Now I know this time I'm the one in front of you, so mind telling me why you're deciding to follow me?"

"...It's cause of a bad feeling I've got," Ragna told her. "After what nearly happened with that Salamander creep I get the feeling that you're a magnet for trouble and with my damned conscious I can't really let you go on your own… there are probably a lot of perverts like him that would want to take a beautiful girl like you by force."

"B-Beautiful…" Lucy repeated, her face starting to grow red. "You think I'm beautiful?" 'Maybe I underestimated Ragna, looks like he can really be a charmer when-'

"Also I'm lost in this town without someone to guide me," he continued with titanic bluntness.

'There's no way,' Lucy thought, her earlier consideration for Ragna dead as disco. What she didn't notice because she was so distracted by her thoughts was that she actually managed to trip over her own feet, send her bag and keychains flying. A omen of pure dread filled her eyes as she snatched her keychain out of the air, letting her bag fall to the ground and scatter its contents.

"Jeeze head in the clouds, much?" Ragna muttered as he knelt behind the pile to help with her things. "Got a lot of stuff in that bag of… eh?"

"What is it?" Lucy asked before her face paled. 'Oh man, did he manage to see that pair of lingerie that I bought!? I knew I should have packed it tighter away!'

"Why the hell do you have a damn pin-up book in your bag!?" he demanded holding the magazine up so Lucy could see the picture of the bikini clad silver haired woman on the cover. "I mean to each their own, but you're into this!?"

"Th-that's not a pin-up magazine you moron!" she shouted, taking the magazine from his grasp. "It's Sorcerer's Weekly! That's the best known magazine in Fiore!"

"I can see why it draws a large audience," he muttered.

"I-It's more than just photo shoots!" she insisted, as if the way she titled them made the situation completely different. "It covers story about all the major events of the guilds! I always read it for the stories of-"

"Lucy…" Ragna began with a despondent complexion. "You had the centerfold pictures bookmarked…"

Knowing the blonde couldn't deny that accusation, she merely crossed her arms in a very irate manner. "And what's the problem with that? Mirajane is a lovely wizard and a member of the Fairy Tail guild, why shouldn't I want to aspire to be like her?"

'She wants to be photographed in revealing bikinis? Okay then…' Ragna was having more trouble than usual figuring Lucy out, and given even his regular denseness around girls that was saying something. "So Fairy Tail… they the guild you were going on about back in the restaurant?"

"Well yeah, I mean who else could I have been talking about?" she asked him before remembering a key detail about him. "Oh yeah, you're not from around here. Well Fairy Tail's… a complicated group."

"I've heard it been called worse," said a sudden but familiar voice from behind them. Lucy immediately jumped behind Ragna in her shock as his scowl returned in full. "My apologies, I didn't mean to startle you."

"Liar, you've been stalking us and hoping for a chance to get the jump on us," Ragna bit back with annoyance."

"Get the jump on you?" Salamander repeated with a gentlemanly chuckle. "You misunderstand my intentions, they're far from as devious as you try to put them."

"Says the guy using girls to fall for him using charm spells!" Lucy shouted at him. "That magic's one of the lowest trick you can pull, and all to gain popularity!"

"I wanted to get as many people to the party aboard my yacht as possible, I even took the time and effort to come find the young lady to give her a private invitation."

"You joking, you have got to be joking," Ragna said as his lip slowly curled into a snarl. "What the hell makes you think that-!?"

"Have you ever heard about the famous Salamander of Fairy Tail my dear?" the caped man asked, stopping Ragna's statement cold. "If you're looking to join I could try to put in a good word for you."

'Damn it! He's-!' Ragna couldn't finish his thought as his new acquaintance made her way in front of him. "Lucy?"

"So I come to this party… And you can get me into the guild?" she demanded with a cold gaze.

"It's practically a certainty," Salamander told her. "After all… Mirajane does need someone to work with…"

"Okay, I'm in," she told him instantly, leaving Salamander's smile to grow ever wider.

"Excellent, then I suppose-"

"Hold it," Ragna interrupted, his glare still present as it usually was. "If she's going to that party I'm going with her, end of story."

"Ragna!" Lucy shouted with ire as she tried to whisper so that only he could hear her. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity; I can't have you come and ruin it for me!"

"Now, now, that won't be a problem," Salamander told her with another of his smiles. "If your bodyguard wishes to travel with you, then by all means let him come."

"Bodyguard?" Lucy repeated as Ragna stepped in front of her protectively.

"So long as we're clear on that," he told him.

"As the water we'll be sailing over," Salamander told him before examining his outfit. "We should probably find you something better to wear than those rags… On second thought perhaps they suit you just fine." Before either of them could protest, the wizard used his Red Carpet spell and left the two in a hurry.

'Rags eh?' he thought as his lip curled once more, this time forming a haunting smirk. 'You're about to get what's coming to you asshole, count on it.'

"Don't," came Lucy's voice. "I know you can't stand the guy, I can't either, but I can't have you showing up at the party just to cause trouble."

"Don't worry, I won't say a word unless you tell me to," he promised her. "After all it's a great chance right?" The blonde was surprised with his readiness to comply, but nodding eagerly dragging by his good arm so that she could shop for a dress for tonight. 'If I tell Lucy she can't go she'll just try and leave me behind. I might need to look out for her this way, but at least I'll get to the bottom of whatever that S.O.B.'s got planned…'

-And then-

"Whew! That was probably the best meal we've had in quite a while, right Happy?" Natsu asked with a smirk as he leaned against a guard rail overlooking the town.

"Aye!" the little blue cat agreed as he sat on the guard railing looking out into the starlit sea. "Hey, isn't that ship out there the one that Salamander is having his party on?"

"Glad we're not there," Natsu said with a groan. "Being on a boat with that poser would just make me twice as noxious…"

"Aye," Happy agreed, remembering Natsu's extreme motion sickness.

"Is that the ship that Salamander is on?" one girl asked her two friends a short distance away.

"It has to be, look at the size of that thing!" one of her friends said.

"Hold on, who's Salamander?" the other friend questioned.

"You haven't heard of him? He's an awesome wizard with fire magic that can't be found anywhere else!"

"He's so good I've heard that he's even a top member of the Fairy Tail guild!"

As the girls continued to gossip amongst themselves Natsu's expression darkened considerably. "Fairy Tail…" he muttered through his clenched teeth, gritting them so hard that a drop of blood feel from his lips. "Damn boat…"

-On the boat-

For as much as Ragna hated the Salamander guy (whoever he was), he could at least admit that the party was decent. The ship was plenty large to host himself and all of the guests that were on board, many of which were beautiful young women… in fact it looked it looked like he was the only guy here besides the host.

'At least it's easy to keep a distance from everyone,' he thought to himself as followed Lucy while she got a good look of the dining area. "So… how'd you know where to find a dress like that on such short notice anyways?"

"Shopping for a dress like this comes easy to someone like me," Lucy told him with a confident smirk. "You think it's a good match for me?"

"...Doesn't really matter what I think does it? You just need to make sure Salamander likes it," Ragna told her off. Seeing the glare she was giving him, he let out a sigh and tried that again. "You look nice."

"Good that you think so," Lucy told him with a flirty smile that Ragna smirked at despite himself. "Here he comes, try not to do anything that would upset him."

"I already told you I won't try anything…" 'Yet.'

"Ah, Lucy was it?" Salamander said as he approached the two. Ragna couldn't help but notice all of the girls trying to retain their conversation, even while glaring daggers at the two of them. "Would you mind accompanying me? I have this lovely bottle of wine that I've always wanted to share with a beautiful lady."

"I'd love to," Lucy told him with a fake smile on her face. The red coated man was about to follow them, but with the elbow he received in the stomach from Lucy he knew he'd need to stay back for now.

'Hope she'll be alright,' Ragna thought before he looked at the buffet being offered. It was a decent spread and though he'd eaten earlier he was starving for some food.

"So that girl you were with… is she like your main squeeze?" one girl asked him, leaving Ragna to nearly choke on the very air he breathed. "Well is she?"

"NOTHING like that!" he shouted earning giggles from all around him as the girls drank their wine. 'Great, looks like I'm going to be on display for a while… This sucks.'

"Why then? You seem to be looking out for her like a lovestruck puppy," another said, her tone carrying a hint of mockery along with a suggestion of intoxication.

'Damn, now I'm actually starting to miss the rabbit,' Ragna thought to himself. "None of your business, I have my own reasons."

"Yeah, perverted reasons if you're looking out for a hussy like her," the woman said as she took a long sip from her wine glass, draining the beverage. "It's only because of her boobs that people pay any attention to her. Why couldn't Salamander have noticed meeeeeeeee-!?"

Her drunken rant was cut short as she dropped her glass and hit the deck of the ship. She didn't appear to be moving. Before any of the other girls could grow panicked or scream out in fear they all started fallen to the floor leaving Ragna the only one still standing.

"You can come out now, I'm already well aware you were watching us," he said as his green eye scowled at the doors to side the ship. A collection of dirty chuckles was heard as a gang of brutes exited from the doors and started to surround Ragna and the fallen girls. "You had to drug the food to take out these chicks?"

"It helps keep their faces from being ruined, but the boss told us to mess yours up as much as we could before we throw you over the side," one told him as he cracked his knuckles and the rest of the men laughed. "Don't make this any harder than it has to be."

"Too bad, I was always the problem child back home; had a lot of trouble listening to others," Ragna told them with a cocky smirk.

"You damn idiot! This isn't close to all of us!" one man shouted. "This entire boat filled with almost a hundred of us! You can't even fight with the condition you're in!"

"Only a hundred? That sounds pretty dull," he muttered, turning his back to them as he looked at the food spread that he hadn't gotten to. "Damn, probably can't eat this if its got magic on it…"

One of the brutes had apparently had enough and charged Ragna from behind, ready to piledrive the cripple's heading into the table. But before he could be caught in the grab, Ragna's good arm shot out and grabbed one of the food trays and swung it violently behind him, causing all of the food to go flying off before it was smashed into the thug's face. The tray was left with a deep imprint of the victim as he fell back unconscious. Most of the other guards looked to their fallen ally before glaring back to the crippled man that stood before them.

"What was that about not being able to fight?" Ragna asked cockily as he dropped the tray to the ground with dull clatter. 'Wonder how bad I can cut loose with just one arm?'

-Inside the Cabin-

'It's just about that time,' Salamander thought with confidence as he poured drinks for himself and his guest. "Do you mind if I make a small toast my dear?"

"That's fine with me," Lucy told him, trying to stay pleasent.

"Good, then here's to your beauty and future place in the great guild of Fairy Tail," he said before snapping his fingers. Droplets of liquid from the drinks he'd just poured floated into the air and slowly made their way towards a startled Lucy. "I want you to just relax, focus only the heavenly taste of each droplet."

"I…" Lucy started before scowling and slapping the droplets away. "I can't believe you! I came to this party because you said you could get me into Fairy Tail; I'm not about to get drugged by your sleep magic!"

"So you've figured out that little ploy out… my dear," Salamander said before snapping his finger. A curtain was pulled back, reveal all manner of thugs, each of whom carried an unconscious woman over their arm. "Though I'm afraid you realize too late, sleep magic or not."

"Wh-what is this!?" Lucy demanded, as the men let out a dark chuckle.

"Just a roundup of all the beautiful ladies of the party scattered around the ship," he told her, an evil smirk growing. "And don't bother screaming out for that guard of yours. My men are already in the process of beating him into a bloody past for those harsh statements at me from earlier." Lucy glare at him was full on nothing but hatred. "My advice? Lose the attitude, it's a decent journey to Boscow and who knows what we could have time for?"

"B-Boscow!? But that's nowhere near Fairy Tail!" Lucy shouted leaving Salamander to give a sickening round of laughter.

"Maybe what they say about dumb blondes is true after all, you still don't get it!" he mocked. "You're just like these girls here, about to become one of our slaves for a very long time."

"Why you-!?" Lucy shouted as she reached into her dress to grab her gate keys. Salamander proved the faster of the two and knocked them away with tendrils of his fire magic. 'Oh no!"

"The gate keys of a Celestial Wizard," he said with a smirk. "You're the only one that could use these keys… meaning that as of now they're worthless." With a malicious heart he tossed the keys out of the boat and into the endless ocean.

"You…" Lucy began through a pained face as tears fell down her face. "You're the worst wizard alive! You're taking advantage of others with magic and killing someone who was only trying to look out for me!"

As soon as she'd said that a massive crash was heard from the roof as a familiar pink haired youth fell through. She gasped as she recognized the figure as Natsu. The mysterious traveller had a look of unspeakable rage on his face… right before falling to the ground with motion sickness.

"That was... something," Salamander said unwittingly. "Is he supposed to be your little hero?"

"Aye!" came an unexpected voice from above. Lucy hadn't been expecting to see happy here as well, nor was she expecting to see him with wings.

"A flying cat!?" Salamander shouted incredulously, right before Happy grabbed Lucy with his tail and took off for the skies.

"Whoa!? Happy!" Lucy screamed as she was flown into the air.

"Those little… PROMINENCE WIND!" Salamander shouted as he created a magic circle before him that shot out several flaming projectiles, only to have them intercepted by a figure that leapt out of nowhere and destroyed them in an instant. "What the-!? YOU!?"

"Sorry I'm late to the party, I had a whole shipful of assholes to deal with," Ragna said as he landed on the ground before glancing to the fallen form of the traveler from his earlier encounter. "Natsu? When did you-?"

"Not long ago…" he muttered while he was sick on the ground from motion sickness. "Ugh… stupid boat…"

"Okay then…" he began with slight worry before turning to face the thugs before him. "Just sit back for a moment if you can't move; I'll take it from here."

"How…" Salamander began, a deadly scowl creeping on his face. "How are you still alive!?"

"C'mon, if those thugs were all it would take to off me even without my arm, I'd have died long before now," Ranga told him with a demeaning smirk. "What's wrong? Is the great and powerful Salamander about ready to piss himself?"

"Like there's a chance in hell of that!" he shouted before waving hands, not to use fire magic but to signal to his flunkies. "GET HIM!"

The smirk stayed on Ragna's face as the first man of the batch made their way towards him. With a simple uppercut using his left arm, the silver haired fighter sent the thug into the ceiling. The second man that charged him was met with a harsh roundhouse kick to the stomach and sent flying into the wall. A third thug attempted a bull rush, but he merely raised his left leg into the air bringing it down and causing the man to face plant into the floor. The fourth man in the charge only received a powerful punch to the diaphragm before falling to his knees.

"Any more flunkies that you want to throw at me or are ya actually going to grow a pair?" Ragna demanded smugly at Salamander. The wizard was starting to lose his nerve and Ragna had him right where he wanted him. "Well in that case-"

All at once the ship started to rumble, most of the standing thugs were knocked of the feet as the tremors grew.

"What the hell's going on!?" one of the shouted.

"There's some huge wave hitting us! We're going to hit the town!"

"Now what!?" Ragna muttered before grabbing Natsu under his good arm and struggling to stay standing. "Brace yourself!"

"If think I'm gonna be sick…" the pink haired traveller could only moan from his motion sickness.

"Throw up on me and I swear to god I'll drown you!"

When the wave had finally died down the boat was beached on the port town. Ragna had made his way up to the top of the ship in the chaos and was catching his breath after what had just happened.

"Damn, well at least that's done," he grumbled before spitting out some saltwater that had gotten in his mouth.

"Not just yet," Natsu said angrily as he rose to his feet, seeming to recover now that they'd stopped. "I've got a score to settle with that Salamander…" The red coated man then saw Happy and Lucy approaching from the beach.

"Ragna! Natsu!" the blonde celestial mage called out to them. "You're okay!"

"...Do what you have to," he said ominously before jumping ship and landing next to Lucy. "You alright?"

"I'm fine," she told him before letting out a sigh of relief. "I was more worried about you. Salamander said that he'd sent his goons out to kill you!"

"He did, but I'm not about to lose to trash like them," Ragna told her before glancing to the top of the ship. "Natsu looks like he wants to finish off this whole mess, let's see what he's got in store."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Lucy asked nervously.

"Aye! 'Cause Natsu's a wizard too!" Happy said merrily, chomping on a fish that had been beached during the huge wave.

"HE IS!?" Lucy exclaimed.

"Figures," Ragna muttered. "Something about that kid just didn't seem right to me."

"So you're saying that you're a member of Fairy Tail?" Natsu addressed Salamander from up above on the ship.

"Why do you care? Get him!" Salamander shouted, ordering his lackeys forward once more. Natsu threw his coat in their faces, blinding them both before striking the them both away.

"My name is Natsu Dragneel! I'm a wizard of Fairy Tail and I've never seen you before in my life!" he shouted, showing of the red insignia on his shoulder in full.

"You've got be kidding me!" Lucy shouted. "Natsu is in Fairy Tail?"

"Now we're talking," Ragna said with strange excitement. "Let's have look at what real magic's like."

"That mark's the real deal!" one of the thugs shouted with worry. "He's a real wizard Bora!"

"You idiot! Don't tell them who I am!" the fake Salamander shouted in annoyance.

"Bora the Prominence?" Happy voiced aloud. "I heard that he used to be in the Titan Nose guild a while ago, but they kicked him out because of his behavior."

"I don't care who you are or what you're trying to pull!" Natsu shouted. "You use Fairy Tail's name in vain and I'm gonna put you in a world of hurt!"

"I've had enough of this!" Bora shouted as he parted his hands and a magic circle appeared before him. "Prominence Typhoon!' A burst of purple flames were sent out causing an explosion where Natsu had been standing.

"Natsu!" Lucy called out in fear. She grabbed her keychains and tried to decide what spirit she could summon to defeat Bora.

"Don't worry," Happy told her, a creepy smile seeming to form on his face. "Fire magic can't hurt Natsu."

"What?" Lucy asked before seeing Natsu was still fine… in fact- "HE'S EATING THE FIRE!?"

"Okay… I wasn't expecting that one," Ragna admitted as he watched the girls from the party run out the ship screaming. "Looks like the love spells been broken, 'bout damned time."

"Ew! Is this really the best fire you can cast? It's disgusting!" Natsu shouted. Bora and the rest of his men were understandably in awe as they watched. "But now… I've got a fire in my belly that's raging to get out!" He slammed his fists together and created another magic circle. "FIRE DRAGON ROAR!"

The burst of fire from Natsu completely obliterated the ship and left all of his men in a heap within the rubble. Many of them moaned in pain as their boss floated in the air over Natsu using his Purple Carpet spell.

"I think it goes without saying," Ragna began as Natsu's form slowly emerged from the smoke. "But I'd say we've found the real Salamander." He then noticed Lucy was still staring in awe as his pink haired acquaintance continued to beat down Bora and destroy the town. "So Happy, how's Natsu do it?"

"It's an ancient spell, giving him the lungs, scales, and claws of dragon! It's called Dragon Slayer magic! Igneel was the one that taught it to him!"

"A dragon taught someone dragon slayer magic? That's a new one on me…" he admitted before seeing that Natsu had Bora on the ropes. "It's over…"

"I'm gonna cook you like a smoked fish!" Natsu threatened as he leapt into the air.

"You're gonna do what to me!?" Bora exclaimed with fright as his opponent soared forward.

"FIRE DRAGON IRON FIST!" Natsu shouted as his fist was covered in fire. He then smashed into Bora and sent him flying through the town, causing him crash into buildings until he smacked into a bell at the center of town and went still.

"Don't be silly Natsu! Everyone knows you smoke food with smoke, not fire!" Happy said, referring to Natsu's earlier threat.

"I think that's sort of beside the point now…" Ragna began with a glum expression.

"He… He overdid it! The city's a wreck!" Lucy exclaimed. Indeed the town was a destroyed mess, many of the buildings had become deformed due to the damage Natsu and Bora had inflicted in their fight.

"Damn it… I know that this is gonna get blamed on me," Ragna moaned before he heard marching. "Is that-?"

"The army!?" Lucy finished before both were grabbed by Natsu as he fled from the scene. "Hey hold it!"

"Just keep running until we get back to the guild, alright!?" he shouted, causing Lucy's eyes to grow wide, Natsu turned his head and grinned at her. "You said you wanted to get into Fairy Tail didn't you? ...So let's go!"

The blonde face was lit by a smile the easily went from ear to ear. "Alright!"

"Now wait a damned minute!" Ragna shouted before looking behind him and seeing the army chasing after them. It was either stay with them and hope they be lenient in their judgement and he could answer any questions he needed to about this new, alien land or follow the guy that had just toasted a city. "OH HELL!" He shouted following closely behind the two.

Author's Note: IMPORTANT

S: Hey everyone, it's Storm VII-

H: And Happy! Aye!

S: Yeah, I'm bringing the cat into this too… So anyways, that was my first chapter of Ragna in Fiore. What'd you think?

H: It almost sounded word for word from the anime in a couple of places…

S: I kinda needed to do that, but have no fear, next chapter will be something new I promise… or it could be if I do it…

H: You might not continue the story? How come?

S: I want to be sure enough readers like where this story is going before I decide to continue it. Now before I go on, let ME worry about the number of stories I'm doing. Things are working okay so far with my list system, so don't stress yourself over that detail.

H: Yeah so… how are you going to order this in the update?

S: Well I figure I'll wait until we get ten reviews in favor of continuing this story and then I'll post chapter two when that happens. After that I'll update it right behind 'A Reaper's Soul.'

H: What about pairings? How are you going to handle those? 'A Reaper's Awakening' is still receiving some backlash because of your recent decision.

S: That's… a bit tougher… Unless I see that enough people want a specific pairing or collection of pairings I'm going to leave him single or make an OC… That sounds fair? Right?

H: Aye! And for every person that reviews this, Storm says he'll give me a barrel of fish!

S: I NEVER SAID THAT!

H: Until next time everybody! Ciao!

S: Hey! That's my closing line!