Today was a day like any other in the port town of Hargeon in the magical kingdom of Fiore. Boats entering in and out of the dock at the edges of the city. Men, women and children spending their time outside on the streets and enjoying their day, eager for new experiences.

But for some, the term "new experience" hadn't occurred in quite some time. Some who were perfectly content at one point with not having changes occur and were okay with the idea of a "routine." But on a certain day with a certain encounter, one young man with a slowly growing desire for something different or unique to occur in his life would start a journey of his own.

A journey into his own realm of wizardry.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Hargeon Thrift shop, 12:30 a.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Excuse me! Hello!" Said a large man in a suit and tie as he banged on a service desk. The building he was standing in was a thrift shop for clothes and accessories for people to buy pre-owned wares at discounted prices with many racks and mannequins holding up clothing for display. "I have been waiting here for an hour! Does this place have any service?!"

Behind the desk was a curtain to the back area, shuffling out from the back was a young man with a nervous look on his face. He sported an average height and build, a green T-shirt, black baggy pants and a pair of black sandals. A grey and brown beanie on his head to keep his down his long ashen and unkempt hair and a pair of matching black bracelets on his wrists.

"Hi, I'm sorry for taking so long..." Said the young man with a nervous look on his face.

"You should be sorry! My time is valuable and I can't believe I am wasting it here in this used clothing store!" Said the large man.

"If your time is so valuable, then why are you spending it in a thrift shop, you twit?" The young man thought as he put on a fake smile as he listened to the large man complain.

"I was told your store had cheap and low cost clothing and yet I have spent an hour in here and have yet to find a single article of clothing in this place that could be deemed remotely cheap! A pair of disgusting washed up socks in this place are 800 Jewels!" The large man said in an angry and annoyed tone.

"Sir, if you dont understand how a thrift shop works, then I apologize that you came in here in the first place but to some, 800 jewels for a pair of old socks is cheaper than a designer brand place that will cost them an arm and a leg." The young man said with his smile disappearing and his eye twitching profusely.

"I know that already, you obnoxious kid! I wish to buy these for less!" The large man said as he lifted up a large bin filled to the brink with old pre-owned black socks and dumped them all over the countertop. "200 jewels for each pair." He continued as the young mans face then contorted into one of complete rage as he slammed his hands down on the countertop in front of the large man in response.

"You can't be serious right now! That would basically mean I would be selling these socks for practically nothing!" The young man said in frustration.

"Which is fair if you asked me!" The large man shouted back.

"Why would you need all these socks anyway?!" The young man retorted.

"I happen to own a very successful suit and tie company and came up with the idea to sell a pair of socks with all purchases of full complete suits! It's called "a way to make money." Something a moron like you wouldn't understand working in a thrift shop where you make minor coins off the jewel!" The large man said with a haughty attitude after revealing his intentions.

"Whoa, hold up. You're planning to sell old used pairs of socks with full high priced suits? That's ridiculous and stupid!" The young man argued as the large man became frustrated.

"What is your name?! I wish to speak to a manager, right this second!" The large man ranted as he requested the young man's name.

"It's Bernard O'Halloran... And you can shove those socks up your keister!" The young man, revealing his name to be Bernard, had exclaimed as he went in the back behind the curtain.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Hargeon Thrift Shop, 2:01 a.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Bernard sat at a table in the back of the thrift shop as he sat with an older man with a large nose wearing an apron that said "Bossman" on it.

"Bernard, this is the fifth time this month you have had some kind of shouting match with a customer." The old man said.

"Look, Mr. Filler, I'm not trying to deter business or anything but-" Bernard tried to explain but was cut off by his boss named Mr. Filler as he raised his hand.

"No "buts!"' Mr. Filler exclaimed. "What is actually wrong with you? I want to know now!" He continued in a tone that mixed anger and concern.

"...What do you mean by that?" Bernard said with some hesitation.

"When I hired you about two years ago, things were completely okay. You did your job, you made decent money, you put up with the customers who were having problems, you didn't even mind me giving you tons of hours without much free time outside of work... But lately, you have been getting very angry with the customers and have been struggling with doing your job as well as you used to." Mr. Filler described to a slightly nervous Bernard.

"...Maybe I'm just starting to get stressed out a little..." Bernard said as he put his head down slightly.

"No one gets that stressed out that easily... What is really wrong here? You can talk to me, you know?" Mr. Filler said as Bernard remained silent as he scratched an area around the left side of his chest. "Is it because of some of the patrons are wizards?" Mr. Filler questioned.

"No..." Bernard said quietly.

"There's no shame in not being able to perform magic, Bernard. They say only ten percent of the world can actually pull off magic, that's why the wizards guilds are even around. It's not necessary you feel any sort of jealousy or animosity towards them." Mr. Filler explained.

"That's not it!" Bernard said as he continued to look down.

"Well then... If you don't want to spit it out, I am not going to force someone to work who isn't in the mood to put in an effort to do a decent job." Mr. Filler said as he scratched the top of his head, prompting Bernard to look up.

"Dont tell me... I'm fired, aren't I?" Bernard said with a twitch in his eye.

Mr. Filler proceeded to nod to the boys question without saying a word as Bernard stood up and had walked out the curtain to leave the store. As he exited the front of the thrift shop, he clutched as the left side of chest at the same spot he was scratching at earlier.

"Gruf…." Bernard scowled as he walked out of the place, putting his hands in his pockets as he walked down the street.

As Bernard walked down the streets of Hargeon with a sullen look on his face, he passed by a bunch of small businesses and food stores until he wound up sitting on a bench next to the main road in town.

"Two years down the toilet... All this time spent working there and they throw me out for a couple days of bad performance. They never would have done that back-... Forget it. Calm down Bernard... You look like an idiot right now..." Bernard thought as he sat on the bench, pondering his what he was doing and what he was going to do. "It was a moderately okay job too... I did the same thing every day. Every day..." He continued to think as he looked down at the ground before turning his attention to the marks in the bench.

"Oh yeah, I remember this bench. I always sat here for my lunch breaks and I accidently made some of these scratches with my nails scraping it... Every day..." He continued to think as Bernard then looked over to see a food stand with a man working as a vendor. "And there is the same guy I always went to buy a hot dog from... Almost every day..."

"Oh damn it! This is so frustrating!" Bernard said aloud as he shouted at the sky, prompting some passerbys to turn their heads to see him being odd and shouting. "Ugh, sorry." Bernard said with an embarrassed look on his face as he saw people stare at him as he clutched at his left side chest again. Standing up from the bench, he walked over to the food vendor. "Um, I would like... the usual?" Bernard questioned to see if the man would give him what he always tended to order.

"A hot dog with chili on it with mustard? You got it." The vendor said as he gave Bernard his food.

"I've even been eating the same things for the past two years... The hell's wrong with me? I never got so annoyed by little stuff like this before." Bernard thought as he took a small bite of his hot dog as he walked back to the bench.

Sitting down, Bernard had begun to stare off into the sky as he put down the hot dog next to him.

"Maybe this is a sign that I need something else to happen... Something new or exciting... I'm 20 years old and yet I haven't remotely done anything out of a routine that consisted of waking up in the morning, going to work and then coming home to sleep..." Bernard said aloud to himself.

"I barely have any money saved up that doesn't go to my tiny room rental... and now that I lost my job, I got to find something else now before I become a homeless bum... Maybe that's the change I need, just a new job... No, that's thinking too small..." Bernard thought as he reached down to grab another bite of his hot dog. "I need a major change... Something new and different to happen- Wait, where is my hot dog?"

As Bernard reached for his hot dog, he noticed all he could feel was the wood from the bench. Turning his head, he noticed a sight that had caused his eye to twitch profusely yet again and as well as shock him into a state of surprise.

Next to him on the bench was a rather odd looking large bird. It sported a large set of black wings and a purple chest, its heads eyebrows were yellow and standing upright high above its black feathered head with its black feet and talons. The bird was also scarfing down what looked to be a hot dog, one that looked similar to Bernards. Standing up, Bernard eyed down the bird with a look of anger in his eyes.

"You are eating my food..." Bernard said with malice in his voice.

The bird, however, had an uninterested look in its eyes as he looked back at Bernard, who was shaking with rage.

"I have never seen whatever you are before... I wonder what you'd taste like..." Bernard said with angry look.

As he said that, the look of disinterest in the bird had changed to a look of worry as he noticed that Bernard was sizing it up with hungry eyes.

"You stupid bird!" Bernard screamed as he then jumped at the bird on the bench, who proceeded to spread its wings and had started to fly off as Bernard missed and fell on his face on the pavement. "Damn bastard... Get back here!" Bernard shouted as he saw the bird fly off with a smirk on its face.

Turning its head, the bird had then shifted its head back to look behind and noticed that Bernard was running after him on foot. Seeing such an action, the bird expressed a look of shock and then begun to flap its wings harder to speed up.

"I might not be much but I can still keep up with a stupid bird like you!" Bernard shouted as he chased the peculiar looking bird that had eaten his meal.

The bird had flew quickly through the air, passing by multiple buildings as Bernard rushed to keep up.

"Damn... Bird... Got to... Keep up!" Bernard thought, mentally panting.

The bird had rushed out of the city of Hargeon and into the woods around the city.

"Woods aren't saving you, you piece of crap!" Bernard shouted loudly into the woods. "This shouldn't take too long... I think?" Bernard said to himself with a sweat drop on his head.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Hargeon woods, 7:11 p.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As the night rolled out and the sun went down, Bernard continued his hunt for the mysterious bird who ate his meal from hours ago. The level of exhaustion on his body was taking it toll as he breathed heavily and laid down against a tree to regain his strength.

"Stupid bird..." Bernard said to himself as he continued to look for the bird. "It's too damn dark out here now..." He continued to speak to himself.

Bernard got up after clutching his left side again and continued his search, looking up at the trees using the moonlight to see better.

"Damn it, this is a mess." Bernard said to himself as he tried to keep looking for the bird. "...Ah ha!" Bernard exclaimed as he saw the bird sitting in a tree, scratching its head and beak with its wing. Looking down at the ground, Bernard found a rock and prepared to pitch it.

"Hey! Asshole!" Bernard shouted as the bird twisted its head in the direction where Bernard shouted from.

The birds eyes opened wide as the rock Bernard threw nailed it right between the eyes as it fell down out of the tree and hit hard on the ground.

"Got you, you stupid pile of bird crap!" Bernard exclaimed with a smirk on his face after he rushed over to where the bird hit the ground. Grabbing the bird by the neck, he pulled it up to his face to meet the bird eye to eye. "I think I'll turn you into a nice stew, that outta make up for the chili dog you poached from me." Bernard said with a sadistic look on his face.

"Blawk! No, don't!" Said the bird to the shock of Bernard as his eyes opened wide, prompting him to drop the animal.

"What the- you can talk?!" Bernard said in shock as he saw the bird try to stand back upright.

"Yes, I can talk! What the hell is wrong with you!?" The bird said in a critical tone.

"What's wrong with me? What is wrong with you?! You ate my lunch!" Bernard said angrily.

"I was hungry!" The bird exclaimed.

"So was I!" Bernard retorted.

"You could buy another! Do I look like I can buy a nice delicious chili dog?!" The bird explained.

"I didn't want to buy another hot dog! I wanted the one you inhaled next to me!" Bernard shouted.

"Hey, I am sorry but I was starving!" The bird explained with an agitated tone.

"It wasn't your damn food to eat!" Bernard said as he approached closer and grabbed the bird by the wings, lifting him up the eye level.

"Oh! You are so lucky right now that I can't do what I can do!" The bird said with a mad look on its face.

"What the hell is that supposed to- Huh?" Bernard continued to speak until he noticed that bird was started to spark up wildly.

As he held the bird, he noticed bolts of red and white electric energy appearing until suddenly a magic circle had appeared right in front of Bernards face.

"Holy crap!" Bernard screamed with wide eyes and a look of fear.

"Whoa!?" The bird shouted at the same time as Bernards scream.

A large bolt of red and white lightning had then emerged and struck the ground where Bernard was standing, the energy attack had forced Bernard and the bird to go flying into a pair of trees opposite distance from eachother.

"Gah!" Bernard clutched at his backside and his left side chest as he still felt the stings from the shock still felt through his body.

"Whoa... I did it!" The bird exclaimed loudly. "I haven't been able to use my magic powers in so long! Hey, random guy, tell me how you- Uhhhh? Hello?" The bird continued as he saw Bernard had a scared face, looking in its direction.

"...The one day I wanted some change in my life and I piss off a bird that's going to kill me..." Bernard said to himself as he looked off randomly into the sky.

"Hey, you alright? I'm not-" The bird said, weirded out at Bernard talking to himself.

"Stay the hell away from me!" Bernard said as he ran away from the bird.

"Wait! Come back!" The bird exclaimed as it started to flap its wings. "I need to talk to you!" It said as it chased after Bernard, who begun to run back into Hargeon with the bird following close behind.

And so begins the journey. Welcome to the Menagerie, a Fairy Tail side story. This is a first for me after making... and failing... to make a set of My Hero Academia fanfics so I figured I'd try something else and go for a more quick and shorter chapter lengths to speed up production on chapters. More to come and stay tuned for more. Also to those confused at the Jewel to American dollar ratio: it's 100 Jewel = $1 American.