Hello new and old readers! My name is NeoShadows, but some of you might know that already.

While I know some of you may be asking why am I writing a new story when I haven't even finished the next of The Story a Dragon, a Knight, and a Fairy Hunter I had to to post this new story up. This story won the poll contest I held last week and I had to take the day to finish the first chapter. Son't worry, I'll get started on the other story later this day and take all day if I have to finish the next chapter.

For now enjoy this new story. I'll be exploring all of Fiore and even a few other countries in Natsu's pursuit of finding Igneel. This story will focus on Natsu's adventure of trying to find Igneel while also meeting a few familiar faces from Fairy Tail and other guilds, both light and dark. I love the idea of changing the events of canon Fairy Tail before Natsu even joins the guild. Adds something new that I'm sure no one else has thought of.

Don't worry, he'll join Fairy Tail. Eventually.

And for the pairing, it's going to be a Harem. Which girls, I don't know. If you want, give me some ideas of which girls to add. Till then, we'll see which girls he attracts on his path.

Anyway's, enjoy the new story. This is going to be a big one and full of surprises.

Disclaimer: I do not own the right's to Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. *Sigh* I need a job. Writing stories is fun, but it get me nothing on my salary.

Okay, new plan. Learn the art's of robbery, buy a plane ticket to Japan, and rob Mashima blind!

All I need is Ten-thousand dollars and a dog who cat eat fire. Why? I don't know. It just sounds cool.

. . . . Where am I?

Chapter 1: A Dragon's Tail.

Fiore. A country true to it's name. A blooming country where passing's of fabled wizards spread from town to town. And where future mage's will eventually rise up to take place of the old generation of magic to bring in a new era to the magical world where maybe unity can finally be achieved. Names like Laxus, Mystogun, Gildarts, Titania, and Salamander where already well known and would only be the beginning to the new age of magic to come. The future was bright while at the same time dark. As always, where there is light, there is darkness. A struggle of good and evil was in-eventful to bring in change and the struggle would be long one that would be spoken for many ages to come till it too, like the names the brave heroes and heroines who had brought in peace, would be lost in the sands of time.

But before the coming of the future, their was always the past that would shape the tools to destiny. Only this past would suddenly be changed from it's original future by the small and big encounter's of a fire mage.

And that fire mage just so happened to be a fire breathing Dragon Slayer who would spark the coming of the new age of magic to come. He would be true to his magic. Bringing destruction to those in his way that did not understand the power of his flames, no matter how small they were. And hope to those lost in the darkness that was ready to consume them at the tiniest falter.

Natsu Dragneel would one day become the one who would lead both mages and non-mages through the darkness that would consume them all.

Of course, that was all the coming future. The gears of fate, time, and destiny were only now starting to turn slowly. Before that, the man would have to grow up. He was still only a child after all. Going through the heartbreak of abandonment for the second time in his short life.

Funny how a child's unbelievable goal of finding his foster parent who just had to be an almighty entity of flames, would eventually lead him to saving the world.

It was here, in an unknown part of Fiore, that a small, spiky rose colored haired boy, would take the first steps to a future that would bring him joy, happiness, laughter, grief, anger, pain, sorrow, and love.

While also causing mass property damage everywhere he went. No one was safe from the destruction the boy would bring with him.

Oh yeah, this was going to be fun.

Somewhere far off north of Mt. Hakobe, in a high off cliff surrounded by numerous amount of different foliage, a small boy with spiky rose colored haired began to wake up from his sleep. The light of the sun shone into the cave he sleeping in, resting in an almost nest like patch of grass that was atleast a half a mile wide with random patches of grass burnt black like charcoal from an unknown fire source. The cave was big, it was almost too unnatural how big and deep it was. It looked like it could fit atleast two guild halls inside of it with plenty of room to spare.

Natsu slowly began to wake up, his eye's fighting off the urge to shut back into dream land as he moved around the large patch of burnt grass he called a bed sleepily, "Tou-san." he yawned tiredly revealing the small sharp canines in his teeth, ", could you blow up that annoying sun? It won't let me sleep and every time I try to glare at it, it burns my eyes." he pouted, blinking as he caught the lack of his father inside the cave.

Natsu frowned. That was weird. Usually every time he complained about the giant fireball floating in the sky and told his father to blow it to bit's with his fire, he would get a small smack to head about how he couldn't just blow up the so called sun and that he should stop trying to goad it into a fight. One of these day's he was going to walk up to the sun and kick's it's ass!

Looking around the cave him and his tou-san shared, Natsu couldn't help but feel a small sense of dread make it's way up to his stomach.

Where was he? Did he go out to catch some fish for breakfast? Yeah, that most of been it. The pink haired boy grinned. He was just out getting fish at the bottom of the mountain like he always was. And with that, Natsu threw away any sense of dread he had felt as he began to make his way out of the cave entrance.

"OH NO!" he shouted in alarm before running back inside the cave. His frantic black eyes searched all over the large patch of burnt grass, looking for something till turned to look at the spot he was sleeping at, " Their you are!" he happily grinned, picking up a scarf that was folded as pillow. The scarf was white with a dragon scale like pattern design. He hugged it, feeling small sense of reassurance as he did.

Placing the white scarf around his neck, Natsu began to run off to where he knew his father would be. Ignoring the sense of dread he was sure he had gotten rid off.

( Lower Mountain side of the cave)

"Tou-san!" Natsu yelled, his voice slightly trembling as he ran alongside a river swimming with many types of fish. His eyes rapidly moved left and right in small panic he searched for his father.

When he had run down the small mountain trail his dad had made for him so that he could also come down to river with him as he fished he was sure would see his dad catching fish in river, maybe even grilling a few thinking he would of known he would of rand down their to find him. Huffing from the long run down the mountain, Natsu was about to shout at his dad for leaving him behind to catch fish when he knew just how much he loved to fish and try out one the new tricks he had shown him when his voice died from his throat.

He wasn't their. His tou-san wasn't their. There wasn't even a small sign that he had been here, not even a small scent of him near the river bed.

"Tou-san?" he whispered as a small gust blew by, blowing a couple of leaves in the wind that eerily danced around the spot he would normally see his father, "Where are you?"

The small sense of dread grew with every passing moment as he stood waiting for his father to show up out of thin air. Nearly an hour had gone by before he started moving again and ran off to try and find his father, calling his name as he looked all around the rocky terrain of his home.

"Tou-san!" why wasn't he answering? He had to be somewhere close by. His father had never left alone before, only to catch food and find some clothes for him to wear but he had gone anywhere without telling him. A lump was beginning to form in his throat as yelled louder for his father, "TOU-SAN! WHERE ARE YOU!"he cried out loud, small tears slowly beginning to form in his eyes.

Tears prickled his onyx black eyes. His stomach growling as he had skipped breakfast in his search. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about food. He needed to find his tou-san.

Hours began to pass by and still no sign of tou-san. Natsu was starting to get tired of all the running around, up and down, the mountain with no luck of finding his dad. He even had gone back to their cave to look for clues of where he had gone. In midst of the books he had read him and taught him with to read, the toy's he had scavenged on one of his trip outside the mountain range that he had played with, the writing utensils he taught how to wright with, Natsu found nothing.

He wanted to cry. But he was a big boy now. Big boy's didn't cry. That's what Igneel, his father, had taught him. To stand strong because crying got you nothing but wasted time. Natsu sniffed back the tears and went back to his search for Igneel.

The scenery around him began to blur as he began to ignore his surrounding's. He didn't care anymore that Igneel had warned him about not leaving the cave unless he was with him, he needed to find him.

'Where are you, Tou-san?' he cried inside his head, his heart feeling as it was being stabbed by a sharp twig, 'Where are you? This isn't funny anymore! I just want to find you so we can go back home and eat grilled fish like we always do! I'll even listen to those boring lessons your always trying to teach me! Just please,' the tears were finally beginning to drop as he fell on his knee's in exhaustion, his little fists angrily digging into the soft, firm soil of the woods he ran off too unknowingly, "TELL ME WHERE YOU ARE IGNEEL!"

The exhaustion and hunger finally got to poor little Natsu. The whole day he had been running for sign's of Igneel on an empty tank of food, his little feet tiring from all the endless running. He was still a child and while it was impressive that he had gone half the day without eating while running around the small mountain he live in, he still didn't have the stamina to keep on going. No matter how hard he tried to fight off the exhaustion, Natsu still ended up staggering towards a tall oak tree, falling against it's trunk with a thump.

"N-no." he tiredly whispered hoarsely, his voice scratchy from not having a drink all day, "I-I c-can't fall asleep. I need t-to find. . . Igneel." his eyes drooped, succumbing to sleep. Natsu's arms fell limply at his sides as his body shut down and he fell asleep against his will. One thought floating in his mind as he fell asleep.

'Where are you, tou-san?'

The sun shone through the trees of the forest, waking up all the woodland critters to another bright and shining morning.

All except one depressed rosy haired boy.

He was still exhausted from yesterday's event's that he could barely move. He was sore all over and even moving his legs into a more comfortable position stung him. Again, a growl escaped Natsu's aching tummy, practically snarling for something to eat like a mad dog that made him groan.

Even the thought of moving hurt! He didn't know how it was possible, but just thinking about moving to get something to eat hurt his head. The squirrels looking down at him with their nuts wasn't helping his hunger neither. He swore those fuzzy jerks were eating their meal in front of him on purpose just to spite him. It made him angrily growl up the squirrels causing them to jump and run off to safety incase the young boy decided to satisfy his hunger out on them. He huffed as he watched them run away. He wouldn't eat them anyways. Tasted too gammy even when cooked in fire.

Natsu sighed hugging his knee's closer to his chest as the thought of his foster father leaving him hit him. No matter how many times he tried to fool himself into believing that this whole nightmare was a dream it wouldn't do Natsu any good. The pain and exhaustion of running around for his father was all too real, no matter how much it hurt him he couldn't denie it.

Small tears welled up in the young boy's eyes at the thought of being all alone without his father to protect him. That and he didn't even recognize the area he was currently resting in. He had never really left the mountain range before besides the times Natsu had flown around their home with his father.

'This is all Igneel's fault!' the spiky pink haired pouted sniffing back the tears threatening to spill out, 'What kind of father leaves his one and only son all alone in the wilderness? When I find that idiot, I'm going to kick his fat ass! I'm only eight year's old for god's sake! I barely know how to cook a meal that's not basically some wild animal cooked up with my fire.' Natsu suddenly licked his lips at the thought of something to eat. The thought of gammy squirrels on a stick roasting on an open fire sounding more appealing to him with each passing minute.

Weakly getting back up on his feet, Natsu decided to go back to his search for Igneel after he had caught something to eat. Their was no use chasing after Igneel on an empty stomach.

Catching the sight of a familiar looking squirrel looking down at him, Natsu glared at the furry creature before said creature blew a loud raspberry at the boy. Natsu growled angrily at his 'enemy' before twitching as the squirrel wagged it's full moon towards him.

By 'full moon' we all know butt.

"What the hell's wrong with you, you furry bastard?" Natsu angrily shouted at the small critter, shaking his fist's threateningly at the squirrel.

A tick mark started to develop on top of Natsu's head as he could of sworn he heard the squirrel laugh in it's own language, holding it's small sides while rolling on the branch it was sitting on in laughter.

A dark grin made it's way to Natsu's face as he cracked his knuckles menacingly. 'That's it. I think I've decided I'm going to have squirrel for breakfast. I know Tou-san always told me not eat the small animals of the mountain range or the forest, but since he's not here right now, I think it would be the perfect time to try out some light meat.' the odd sound of a click escaped Natsu's throat as he breathed in a large amount of air, his eye's never leaving the snickering animal. Natsu inwardly smirked preparing to barbecue the ignorant bastard laughing at him before the sound of something whirling towards his head made him stop. A small barrage of acorns rained down upon the rose haired boy's head, the culprits, a pack of squirrels.

"Oww! What the hell?" Natsu frowned in pain as he tried to protect his head from the raining acorns. Turning to look up at the culprits, Natsu felt the twitch in his eye only grow seeing nearly a dozen or so more squirrels sitting on the same branch as his enemy. Oh, so the furry bastard was too much of a chicken to take him on his own was he? Calling for back up, Hah! 'More breakfast for me, I guess.' smiling evilly up at the family of squirrels, Natsu felt his stomach agree with him as it growled loudly for food.

The squirrels suddenly looked down at the small boy with a sense of fear, swearing they had heard the loud growl of a beast wanting nothing more then to roast them alive.

Natsu scoffed as he watched the squirrels turn on their tails and run away from him, grinning as he felt the sense of a hunt run through his veins. He always did love a good chase.

Running off after the squirrels, Natsu went completely unaware of the three black cloaked men concealed in the bushy forest moving in the opposite direction. The men paused a second suddenly feeling a small gust of wind pass by them. Frowning, one of the men stopped to look back at what he thought looked like a small pink haired child before scoffing at the thought.

"Did you feel that, Alastor-sama?" asked one of the man wearing a black cloak with ox horns on the top of his hood.

A small smirk concealed under Alastor's cloak made it's way to the man's face, laughing slightly as he could see a small pink dot disappear deeper into the forest, "Nope, it was nothing." he chuckled before turning serious, "Now where are those two new morons you recruited into my little organization, Tetsu?" he questioned dangerously.

The ox hooded man sighed feeling his leader burn holes through his skull in agitation. He never did like newbies he himself didn't pick out, "They said they were getting a little bored, so they wandered off to look for some 'fun', if you know what I mean." Tetsu answered with slight disgust.

" 'Fun'?" Alastor deeply frowned before carelessly shrugging the thought off, "Meh, I don't give a damn. They could be the worst of the worst for all I care, as long as their strong they could do whatever they want. My plans for this country require strength, whether the ones holding said strength have hearts of pitch black or hearts of blinding light I don't care. Power is power and that's what my organization needs."

". . . Their not strong."

"What?" Alastor growled in anger as he turned his eyes to the cloaked 'man' on his right. Unlike Tetsu's hood, gray fox ear's poked out of the hood and 'he' stood up a foot shorter then Alastor reaching up to the middle of his chest. "What did you say, Volpe?" the leader of the group whispered fiercely.

Volpe didn't bat an eye under her hood as she looked up to answer Alastor, ". . . They aren't strong. I had met the two new recruits awhile back before they even caught Tetsu's eye and I had dealt with them easily. Even a weak mage from a guild could deal with them. Trash are trash but even maggot's like them are nothing." the little girl said with a soft voice that chilled even Alastor.

"Goddammit, Tetsu!" Alastor shouted out in anger as he turned his angry eyes at the ox hooded man, "What the hell did I say about bringing in weak dumb ass's into the organization? Did you even test them to see if they were strong or did you just pick them out because of some rumors some of the villagers in the town near here spread out?"

"I was actually going to test them as soon as you met them to gauge their strength until they ran off in boredom. And yes, I did pick them out from the rumors of the village near here. They had spoken in fear of the two dark twins behind the assault of multiple girls, multiple mission poster's already reaching big guild's stationed in Magnolia." Tetsu said patiently ignoring the heated glare pointed at him, "But after learning of their sinful action's, I could careless if they didn't make the cut." a golden light enveloped the man's hands before an elegant long blade with golden trimmings and a silver cross on the bottom of the handle appeared in his hand, "It just give's me more of a better reason to enact god's judgment on them." he said coldly.

Alastor continued to stare angrily at Tetsu before suddenly bursting out laughing, patting the ox hooded man on the shoulder that as he continued to laugh, "You my friend, are one judgmental bastard! But it really doesn't matter now." he chuckled before stopping his laughter and taking one last look at where he saw a mop of spiky pink hair run off to, "Their not going to last long if what Volpe said is true. I'm sure even a little kid will be able to beat those losers!" he grinned before roaring with more laughter.

"Whatever you say, Alastor-sama." both Volpe and Tetsu agreed before they disappeared in a plume of shadows.

Jumping over a large branch in his way, Natsu continued to chase after the annoying family of squirrels with a smile on his face. The thought's of his father disappearing momentarily escaping his thoughts as he ran after his breakfast. "Hey, you stupid squirrels!" Natsu shouted with a grin, "Why don't you make thing's much more easier for us all if you just stop running! You can't escape the dragon's maw!" he laughed.

Turning a corner near a few trees, Natsu quickly flipped over a group of large rocks, grabbing onto a branch from a tree, he landed on a large wide branch stemming into an almost walkable pathway running all around the forest. Seeing his group of prey running north, Natsu began to jump after his breakfast through branching pathway. The exhaustion of the yesterday's events leaving his system at the thought of food.

"You can't run forever!" grinning Natsu jumped up to grab another branch to swing closer to the squirrels. He flipped in the air before landing on a narrow little pathway in the trees. The squirrels looked back at the small boy with surprise at seeing him keep up with them. The head of the pack of squirrels twitched his nose in anger. Natsu smugly smirked seeing the furry bastards cower in fear of his awesomeness. Now to finish this and get some breakfast.

The squirrels were suddenly startled by the top part of the trees burning like wild fire, the embers falling onto the branching pathway cornering them in. They could of sworn they saw the small flicker of flames coming out of the small fists of the pink haired boy.

"Now let's see what finely crisped squirrel kabobs taste like." Natsu licked his lips hungrily.

About to grill the little critters into a fine forest breakfast Natsu had to suddenly stopped when an ear piercing scream from down below nearly deafen his ear's.

"Noooooo! Please!" the female voice cried terrified, "Let me go! Get your dirty hands off of me!"

"What the hell?" Natsu scratched his head confusingly as he turned his eye's down below the trees to see what was going on. Seeing the small boy distracted, the squirrels made a quick get away.

Looking down Natsu saw two men dressed in black tying a brown haired girl to a tree. One of the men was sleek gray haired man standing at a tall seven foot tall. He was dressed in a dirty black cloak with a few rips under brown loose shirt. His gray long trouser's were wrapped in ropes and odd eerie charms tangling on his belt. The man had yellow eye's that held a dark creepy look that he stared at the girl with an emotion that Natsu didn't like. But what caught Natsu's attention was the the gleaming black ax attached to a belt around his chest. It had a long handle wrapped with tattered bandages around it and a sharp spike on the bottom. Three holes ran along the side of the ax's blade with golden hoops encircling the holes, several foreign kanji etched into the gleaming blade.

The other man Natsu couldn't tell if he was a large plump sack of skin or just fat. He was bald with round eye's and tan skin. The brown tank top he wore was stretched over his fat belly with what looked like scraps of food dirtying the his clothing. Natsu almost laughed at the torn up stretchy pant's the fat man wore, the belt with the same looking charms as the other one made him wonder why he even wore a belt. Just like the other guy he had a dangerously looking weapon laid against his shoulder. It was black mace with spiky red crystals attached to a silver chain that connected to his belt.

Was the that thing Igneel called a circus in town? These guy's looked like freaks!

The tall lanky man with loose gray hair grinned as he tied the last of the rope around the defenseless girl, getting a teary scowl out of her, "That should do it!" he cupped the girl's cheek running his finger's over the delicate that girl didn't like, "Your a fine piece, I'll give you that. But your not as exotic as I was hoping for. The exotic types sell for big Jewels on the slave trade." he laughed.

The man's tied up captive was a girl right around her late teens with wavy brown hair that reached the middle of her back with a white bandanna, gleaming green eye's, and beautiful pale skin. She wore a green summer dress that reached the bottom of her knee's with white knee socks that was torn up in a few places that got the tall man grin hungrily. A golden heart shaped pendant dangled around her neck that could probably sell for a high price on the market.

"Your a waste of human life, you know that right?" she said seethingly.

The man slapped her face a second later as he laughed. He pulled her crying head up by her face to get her to look at his madly grinning face, "What the hell do I care what my plaything thinks of me? All I want to hear out of my toy's are the sweet screams of pain as I break you in for the slave market in Bosko. I can't be selling useless toy's, now can I?"

"Is Zankoku-nii going to have fun again?" the fat man said innocently in a childish voice.

"Yes, Soko." Zankoku licked his lips causing the girl in his hands to flail desperately against the rope tying her to a tree, "After this we'll seal her in our Kuku Miryo(Void Charms). Hopefully our new boss will let us sell the rest of our little toy's to the nearest black market." he cruelly laughed jangling the black little charms in shape of a purple box with black little chains wrapped around it. There must have been at least fifteen charms attached to both mens belts.

That guy Tetsu better let them go off to sell these chicks or Zankoku was going to cleave his head off. Zankoku was cruel man when he didn't get to sell his toy's. All lot of head's were chopped off when he didn't get what he wanted.

Zankoku moved his hand lower from the girl's face getting her to start screaming before he put his left hand over the girl's mouth. Tears leaked out of the poor girls mouth as she felt his hand begin to go lower to a place she didn't like.

Just as Zankoku was about to start his fun a loud annoying yell caught the ax man's attention before a small pair of feet kicked him him in the side of his head. He shouted in pain falling to his side from the double kick to head. Cringing from the painful blow, Zankoku turned to his side to look at the dead bastard who dared to hit his face.

A small boy about eight to nine years old with spiky pink hair and lite tan skin grinned smugly down at Zankoku with his hands crossed against his chest. The only thing the kid wore besides the long black rags tied to his waist with some rope was an odd white scaly scarf wrapped his neck.

"Zankoku-nii are you okay?" Soko frowned with his finger pressed against his cheek.

Zankoku growled menacingly at the ignorant little brat stupid enough to interrupt him from playing with his toy. Did the kid want to play hero? Stupid brat. Zankoku had no problems with cutting little kids down.

"Dumb little gaki." picking himself back up, Zankoku grabbed the large black ax strapped to his back to point it threateningly at Natsu, "Are you looking for a death wish or something? Cause I'll gladly give you a dirt nap fifty feet deep in the ground!" he shouted angrily.

Instead of being scared of the menacing blade pointed at him, Natsu grinned wolfishly waving his hand in a 'bring it on' motion, "I have no idea what's going on, but I don't like it. Tou-san always said to follow my gut and it's telling me to kick your ass all the way into the mountains." he really didn't know what was going on. Natsu was still too young to understand the dark lining in Zankoku's words. He was kid for god's sake! But the girl's screams were enough to tell him what these two freaks were doing was wrong.

"What's wrong?" Natsu mocked, "Scared?"

'Why you stupid little piece of shit.' this kid had the utter balls to challenge him into a fight. Zankoku shook his head chuckling darkly. What the hell were they teaching kids these days? How to play hero?

"W-What the hell are you doing?" the brown haired girl said trembling, "Get out of here kid. These guy's are bad men. Didn't your parents ever tell you to run away from bad men?"

"Nope." Natsu said cheerfully before shocking them all as orange-red flames engulfed his small fists, "Tou-san mostly said, if I ever met some bad men, to grill their asses black! He also said to stop burning down the trees around the cave just because I'm feeling like causing trouble, but that had nothing to do with what were talking about." he grinned with his fire glowing in his face.

"Oooooh, pretty." giggled Soko clapping his hands from watching the flames magically appear on the kid's hands.

"Fire magic?" Zankoku whispered in disbelief. How the hell did a kid like him get his hands on fire magic. It wasn't really surprising considering most guilds out their had kid's as young as six already learning how to use magic, but it was still surprising to see some random kid summon fire around his hands without getting burned.

Quickly snapping out of his shock, Zankoku scoffed at the small display of magic in the Natsu's hands, "So what? You think just because you can use a little magic, you can be some sort of super hero? Don't be stupid you little gaki." a black hue of shadowy magic surrounded Zankoku's ax as he grinned from his magic enveloping him in a black aura, "Those little embers of yours won't stand a chance against my shadow magic. Little mages like yourself who think there some big shit just because they can use magic really piss me off. Just before I cut that annoying grinning head off, I'm going to show you just how below of me you are."

"Soko!" turning to look at Zankoku with innocent eye's, Soko looked over at the man in a black aura with confusion, "Watch over the girl for me like a good little nii-san. This won't even take more then a minute."

"Okay Zankoku-nii." Soko obediently nodded.

"Good." the shadow mage smiled before Natsu suddenly had to jump to the side to avoid a blade of purple lined shadows from Zankoku's ax. Zankoku grinned sadisticly before slamming his ax down in front that cracked a long line towards Natsu.

"Kage no Hanran(Shadow Uprising)!"

Black spikes rose up along the cracked lined heading towards Natsu. Natsu quickly dodged the spikes by running to the side with his fist pulled back to punch the dark man. More spikes rose up from the ground to try and stop the pink haired boy only for Natsu to dodge the spell. Flipping over a sudden black spike in front of him, Natsu landed his blazing fist against Zankoku's defending blade.

"Karyu no Tekken(Fire Dragon's Iron Fist)!"Natsu shouted. The ground under Zankoku erupted into a crater under the man as he fought to push Natsu off.

The boy's strength was really surprising. Who knew a little kid could punch so hard. Steam flowed from Zankoku's ax blade as a red hue caused his forehead to sweat. How strong were these kid's flames? He was starting to feel a slight burn on his hands.

"Get off you little shit!" Zankoku roared before he blew back Natsu in a black, purple lined sphere, "Insei Fera(Negative Blow)" the sphere sent Natsu crashing against a tree with a pained shout before he jumped out of the way of a black blade of magic that cut into the bark. Zankoku tsked in slight frustration watching the little mage dodge another blade of his magic. The shadow mage shot off his feet to chop the brat in half with a mighty swing of his ax aimed at his midsection.

Natsu jumped back from the swing to get some distance from the ax before jumping on top of the large bladed ax's flat. Running along the blades hilt, Natsu punched Zankoku in his dirty mug with a blazing fist. "Karyu no Tekken(Fire Dragon's Fist)!" watching as Zankoku was sent flying past some trees out of his sight, Natsu held his slightly bruised stomach from the Insei Fera(Negative Blow).

So, this was how a real fight with another mage felt like? Natsu was starting to get a little fired up. He could already feel the rush of adrenaline rush through his veins. Smoke steamed out of Natsu's pores answering to the boy's feeling of excitement.

Meanwhile, the brown haired girl watched on the battle between the two mages with awe. While she was still terrified of what was going on, she couldn't help but watch the small fight.

That little boy, was actually fighting back against Zankoku. And he wasn't losing! How the hell wasn't he losing? He was just a kid!

"Is Zankoku-nii alright, toy?" sniffed the fat man beside her.

She growled angrily being called toy. She had name you know!

"My name's not 'toy', fat man!" she spat, "It's Carol! And I hope to god that bastard's not alright!" looking back at the pink haired kid, Carol cheered, "Go weird pink headed kid! Kick that guy's ass!"

"Who the hell are you calling weird lady?" Natsu angrily shouted back shaking his fist at the tied girl.

About to march over to the brown haired girl, Natsu's eye's widened as a large stream of black fire tore apart the ground flooding towards him. He was barely given any time to avoid the deadly flames before he was consumed in the dark magic.

"Kage no Jigoku(Shadow's Inferno)." Zankoku grinned darkly as he watched his spell turn Natsu into nothing but ash in the wind. Walking out of the trees, Zankoku spat at the floor as he made his way towards Soko. "Soko," he smiled warmly, "Finish the bad little boy for me."

"Okay." the bald, child-like man nodded before he swung his crystal spike mace towards the black inferno by it's chain, "Kokyo Ana(Boom Mine)."

Carol was left to watch the trapped little boy inside the burning inferno erupt into a shower of earth and fire as the chained mace blew up in a large explosion that slightly shook the ground beneath their feet. The twisted laugh from Zankoku only made the tears streaming down her cheeks all the more real.

'This has to be some twisted dream!'now of this had to be real. A little kid did not just die trying to protect her. She wasn't about to be sold as some twisted perverts slave. None of this was real. 'Please, some one, wake me up!'

Zankoku scoffed as he watched his flames continue to reduce the little boy into nothing, "Stupid little gaki. To think he actually thought he kick my ass." suddenly hissing in pain from the second degree burn on his left cheek, Zankoku had to give the kid one thing, he had one hell of a scalding punch.

"Now, where were we?" Zankoku licked his lip's hungrily as he made his way back to the tied up girl.

Carol shut her eye's not wanting to believe any of this was happening. It was just some twisted nightmare. 'I just want to wake up! Some one, save me!'

Munch, munch, munch.

"What the hell?" frowned Zankoku as he turned towards his brother, "What the hell are you eating Soko? I thought I told you to stop eating while we were working."

Soko shook his head, "I'm not eating. Nii-san told me not to eat any."

Then what the hell was that sound?

"Bleh! These flames taste a little bit bitter."

Everyone was left baffled as the burning inferno swallowing Natsu suddenly blew back and began to spiral into his mouth. His stomach blew up like a balloon as Natsu inhaled the black and orange-red blaze into his stomach before finally eating the last of the spell. He smirked wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and burping a small flame.

The flames Igneel were much better. But he was starting to feel light headed without anything in his stomach. Even if this guy's flames tasted a bit bitter they were enough to fill his stomach for the moment. Natsu patted his ballooned stomach satisfied before it returned to it's shape as flames rushed out of his body in a ring of fire.

"What. . . did you just do?" Zankoku whispered in stunned silence watching the flames pour out of the kid without hurting him.

That wasn't regular fire magic. Zankoku had met a number of fire mages before and none of them could produce flames from their body parts. And even if they could, this kid was a kid! He shouldn't even be alive after his last spell.

Natsu looked confused at the gray haired man's question, "What? You mean eating fire?" he scratched his head, "What about it? You can eat fire too, can't you?"

'Who the hell eats fire?' they all shouted in their heads.

". . . Does it taste good?" Soko licked his lips hungrily.

Natsu smirked as he pulled back his hands enveloped in fire all the way to his elbows "Here, try a taste of my new spell I just made up!" he shouted before two waves of fire in an 'x' pattern shot off towards Soko, "Karyu no Kosa Tsubasa(Fire Dragon's Crossing Wings)!"

"Soko!" Zankoku shouted in alarm as he watched Soko get hit by the crossing flames sent barreling him into a tree where he lay knocked out. A dark glare made it's way to his face as he madly swung his ax at Natsu sending blade after blade of shadow magic at him, "Kuro Katto-ha(Black Tearing Waves)!"

Dodging the sloppy spell of black blades, Natsu ran under Zankoku's large ax to slam his fist under the man's chin sending him flying off his feet. Zankoku fell onto his back with a pained grunt. How the hell was some little kid barely reaching his waist able to knock him off his feet? Pulling himself back with the help of his ax, Zankoku rubbed his chin feeling a slight burn were the brat hit him. A kid his age shouldn't even be able to have that kind of strength.

Not giving Zankoku any time to get himself time to think, Natsu ran over to the man only to flip over his head to slam him face first into the ground with a scorching hot heel, "Karyu no Kagitsume(Fire Dragon's Claw)!"

"Get the fuck off!" Zankoku roared pushing Natsu off with flare of his shadow magic, "Insei Fera(Negative Blowback)!"

Natsu quickly jumped over the black sphere only to be slammed into the ground by multiple shadowy fists. He groaned feeling the fists dig into his back before flaring his body with fire just in time to move away from the shadow mage's ax. The bladed weapon split the ground, missing Natsu causing Zankoku to gain a look of blistering anger.

Mind being clouded by anger, Zankoku fired off spell after spell of shadow magic at the pesky little pink haired boy. Why. Won't. He. Die! Every spell he sent the boy's way he dodged. Like he had dodged bigger attacks. How the hell was a kid like this alive!

"He's doing it." Carol whispered in awe as she watched Natsu avoid the blades and waves of shadow magic with a excited grin, "What kind of little kid can fight against a dark mage and eat fire like it was nothing? It's like some kind of fairy tale."

Zankoku cut off his barrage of spells to ran over to Natsu with the intent to cut his head off. He swung his ax in a horizontal wave that Natsu jumped back from to avoid the flashing steel. Another swing for his head made Natsu duck under the ax. Zankoku snarled seeing the spiky headed brat dodge every swing of his ax. Raising his ax up, Zankoku dropped the blade over Natsu's small body to split him in half.

Small blazing hands caught the descending blade as Natsu blew a raspberry a in the tall man's face. Zankoku was pissed. This wasn't some normal little kid. Putting more force behind his blade, Zankoku started to snarl like some crazed animal feeling his ax struggle to split the kid open. The kid was pissing him off more then he had ever felt.

"I'm tired of this stupid thing." Natsu pouted getting a raised eyebrow before the shadow mage watched his ax's blade start to melt from the flames in engulfing Natsu's hands, "Their, all better!" Natsu happily grinned.

The blade melted into a fine puddle silver liquid causing Zankoku to drop what was left of his weapon to the ground.

"What the hell are you?" Zankoku shook with anger and a bit of fear. "That ax cost me one hundred fifty-thousand Jewels! It was suppose to be made with the best steel money could buy! How the hell does some gaki melt my ax into nothing but a puddle!" left with nothing but his bare hands, Zankoku kicked Natsu away before he began to focus all of his magic into his hands.

An aura of darkness wildly flared out from the shadow mage, cracking the ground under him from the magical build up in his hands. A look of insanity overcame Zankoku as he called on even more magic to kill the annoying pink haired pest. Even if he ended up ill from the using the last of the magic in his system, he was going to kill this little monster. Just to settle the madness in his eye's.

Natsu coughed furiously feeling his stomach bruise from Zankoku's kick. After pulling himself of the tree bark, he caught the smell of something vile in the air. The smell made Natsu feel a bit sick to stomach. The shadows under him began to be pulled towards Zankoku as Natsu saw the odd black purple lined magic in the man's hands. Teeth snapped as the magic shaped into the head of what looked like a dragon. Wisps of black magic wavered from Zankoku's body, he grinned arrogantly at the stunned look in Natsu's face thinking he was in awe of his spell.

"It's over you little piece of shit." Zankoku laughed madly, "It took me forever to steal this spell from one of the dark guilds nearby but it was worth it. This spell steals the shadows from everything in the area and feeds on it like some beast. And seeing as the sun's out, my spell is powerful enough to take on an S rank mage with all the shadows it's feeding on!" red eye's narrowed as the dragon head in Zankoku's hand's grinned, it's teeth snapping at Natsu hungrily. "It's over kid! Get ready to be devoured by the darkness! Kokugatsu: Eiju Abare(Black Moon: Shadows Rampaging Beast)!" the spell in the shadow mage's hand's howled before charging out towards Natsu with it's body manifesting into a slithering dragon like snake. It tore apart the earth under it as it shot off, it's wispy arms popping out from it's sides looking like some grotesque beast.

Natsu stood still watching the dark spell rushing towards him, worrying Carol at the way Natsu wasn't doing nothing to avoid the spell.

"What do you think your doing kid? Get out of there!" she shouted.

Instead of listening to the brunette, Natsu smirked before putting him hands over his mouth to create a funnel as his cheeks began to puff up. "Karyu no Hoko(Fire Dragon's Roar)!" orange-red flames spewed out of Natsu's mouth like a jet that met Zankoku's shadowy beast head on.

A loud boom kicked up a gust of wind as the two spells fought. Zankoku struggled to push back the powerful flames fighting against his spell as he sweated in concentration. None of this was making any fucking sense! Kokugatsu: Eiju Abare(Black Moon: Shadows Rampaging Beast) was suppose to of devoured the brat! Why the hell was it struggling to push back the little brat's flames? How the hell was he even breathing fire! His feet began to skid from the flames beginning to burn through his beast. He grit his teeth. 'What the hell are you?'

"It's like he's a dragon." Carol smiled feeling the pleasant heat of Natsu's spell from her spot.

Zankoku's eye's widened in feared shock, the flames devoured at least three-fourths of his slithering beast leaving him with only a feet away from the blazing jet of fire. His whole body sweated from the heat of the flames as it came closer to burning him alive. Eiju Abare(Shadows Rampaging Beast) finally died away making him have to coat his hands with shadow magic to hold back Karyu no Hoko(Fire Dragon's Roar) with his bare hands. The flames still burned his hands no matter how much he tried to use his magic to protect him until he couldn't hold back the spell no more.

As he was flooded with the almighty roaring flames of some spiky pink haired kid, Zankoku could swear he was being devoured by the flames of a dragon. Engulfed by Natsu's roar he could only curse Natsu to the deepest parts in hell before disappearing within the flames.

'Fucking little bastard. I hope you rot in hell one day just so I can kick your ass.'

Zankoku was engulfed in a sea of fire that raged on for a couple of seconds before Natsu's spell died down. The shadow mage dropped to his knee's covered from head to toe in red burns, his clothes were nothing but burnt rags that smoked. His mouth was opened in a soundless scream before he fell on his stomach surrounded by small flickering flames.

"Heh. . .how. . . do you. . . like that!" Natsu grinned gasping from the drain of using too much magic. Igneel did always tell him that Karyu no Hoko(Fire Dragon's Roar) was too much for him with his current magical reserves. It took too much magic to keep the flames going and drained him of half of his magic.

Ignoring the pain in his stomach and the weariness from using too much magic, Natsu slowly made his way over to the tied girl near the trees. Natsu summoned a small jet of fire on his fingertip to burn through the ropes tying the brunette before he suddenly found himself in the girls arms being smothered to death by her developing chest.

Sigh. Lucky little bastard. Too bad he was still too young to enjoy the bountiful hug of cleavage.

"!" Carol happily cried ignoring Natsu's pleas to stop, "Your my hero! How did you do that? Who are you? And why do you have pink hair?"

"Itai. It hurts." the soft flesh pressing into his face somehow wasn't helping.

Again. Lucky bastard.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Carol sheepishly apologized dropping Natsu on his feet. She smiled at the small boy before remembering something important. "Sorry, I don't even know your name. What's your name?" she asked politely.

Ignoring the fact the girl infront of him nearly suffocated him to death, Natsu grinned as he pointed to himself proudly, "My name's Natsu Dragneel." he smiled brightly getting a small giggle out of Carol, "And I'm the strongest fire mage in the entire mountain side! Igneel said so." he said simply.

"Natsu Dragneel?" smiling, Carol ruffled Natsu's hair getting an irritated growl out of the small mage. To think she was saved from a horrible fate by a little kid. A kid who could breath fire and eat fire like a dragon. Natsu Dragneel. Her little savior.

A loud growl caught Carol's attention as she looked down to see Natsu laugh sheepishly with his hands clutching his black and blue stomach in hunger. She frowned seeing the bruised skin and few other bruises and small cuts over Natsu. He was really hurt but it looked like all that matter to him was his empty stomach. He really was a little kid if he was ignoring his wounds.

"Are you hungry?" she grinned causing Natsu to look away embarrassingly with a blush on his face, "You know if your hungry you can just say so. How about this!" she clapped her hands together, "As your reward for saving me from that dirty pervert and that fat ass, how about I get you something to eat back at my place. I'm sure my parents won't mind."

Grinning widely at the thought of food, Natsu was about to jump at the offer before a few knocks on his head knocked him out.

"Natsu!" Carol screamed in alarm before she looked down at the small objects that knocked him out into her arms, "Are those. . . acorns?" she frowned confusingly.

The small giggling chatter of small animals suddenly caught Carol's attention as she turned to look up at the tree's above her. A family squirrels sat on top of the branches rolling on their sides laughing down at the pink haired mage knocked out with swirly eye's. That was. . . strange. Did the squirrels knock him out? Why?

Carol sighed deciding to just forget about the squirrels to walk over to the unconscious bald man to look for rope to tie them to a tree. Today was really weird. Getting kidnapped by two perverts and being saved by a small pink haired kid who could eat fire was too much excitement for her.

Somehow, she felt like this was only the beginning of her strange day's to come.

Finished tying both dark mages up, Carol picked Natsu up over her shoulder as she made her way back to town. Ignoring Natsu's unconscious mumbling that made her sweat dropped.

"Stupid furry bastards. All I wanted to do was eat you."

Strange kid indeed.

Watching Carol walk away with Natsu back into town, a shadowy figure laughed quietly to himself before he vanished into a plum of darkness.

"What do you know. Volpe was right. So much for the 'Dark Twin's'. Natsu Dragneel, your starting to earn my interest."

Magical Item's

Kuku Miryo(Void Charms): A purple flat box wrapped in black spiky chains. This magical dark charm is able to trap the victim into it's possession by sucking them into a pocket dimension that keeps them in a deep sleep. The person trapped inside the charm won't wake up until their released from the charm by the user and even then it takes up to three hours for them to awake. A forbidden charm used mostly for slave trade.

Spell List

Kage no Hanran(Shadow Uprising):Shadow Magic: The mage strikes the ground with their hand or weapon coated in magic to summon rising black spikes of shadows. This spell is used for keeping the enemy at bay and stopping them in their tracks.

Insei Fera(Negative Blow):Shadow Magic: This spell is used for blowing back the enemy. The mage creates a black sphere of magic that shoot's out towards it's target before trapping them inside the sphere and slamming to an object. It can also cause blunting damage to the area hit by the spell.

Kage no Jigoku(Shadow's Inferno):Shadow/Fire Magic: A strong fire spell created by shadow magic that can reduce the enemy into ash. It's black purple lined fire is created by engulfing a small flame in Shadow Magic that turns it into a raging inferno that burns everything in it's way. The mage would have to know a bit of Fire Magic to learn this move.

Kuro Katto-ha(Black Tearing Waves):Shadow Magic: A spell where the mage sends wave after wave of black bladed Shadow Magic using a bladed weapon. The spell is great when trying to cut into multiple enemies but fail when using it against only one as it becomes easy to dodge the blades coming in one direction.

Kokugatsu: Eiju Abare(Black Moon: Shadows Rampaging Beast):Dark/Shadow Magic: This spell takes nearly all of a mage's magic. That's because if it is used incorrectly by a mage who doesn't understand it's full use, it will suck out all their magic in one use. Kokugatsu: Eiju Abare(Black Moon: Shadows Rampaging Beast) is a spell that is used almost like a whip where the slithering dragon is swung by the mage's hand to tear apart the enemy. Only a moderate amount is needed to manifest the spell beast and is needed to be pump with magic to keep using it. Charging all the mage's magic into the spell to send it shooting like a projectile spell is another use, but it becomes less stable and if met with a stronger spell it would dissipate back into nothing.

Kokyo Ana(Boom Mine):Weapon Mace Spell:The mage throws, swings, or smashes their mace into an object or person and upon contact, violently explodes with the use of Fire Magic or Explosive Lacrima.

Karyu no Tekken(Fire Dragon's Iron Fist):Fire Dragon Slayer Magic: The dragon mage engulfs their fist's with Fire Magic which adds burning effects to their punches. Their punches also increase in strength which can send a mage flying away.

Karyu no Kosa Tsubasa(Fire Dragon's Crossing Wings):Fire Dragon Slayer Magic: Engulfing their arms up to their elbows with flames, the mage crosses their arms in an 'x' before sending a crossing wave of fire magic at their enemy.

Karyu no Kagitsume(Fire Dragon's Claw):Fire Dragon Slayer Magic: Fire is ignited on the mage's feet adding more power to their kicks and a burning affect.

Karyu no Hoko(Fire Dragon's Roar):Fire Dragon Slayer Magic: The mage fills up their lungs with Fire Magic before roaring out a jet of Fire Magic at the enemy. The power behind this spell depends on how much magic is stored within the lungs.

I need OC's! I got a couple of character's already set up, but I would like some help creating bad guys and extra characters. And idea's would be awesome.

As you can see, I added a two new thing's to my story writing and that would be the Magic Item list and spell list. Just in case you might want to borrow the spell's or want to know what they do.

Updates might take a while, not because I can't write them or I got writers block, but because my sister hogs the laptop. This thing is the only computer in my home that let's me type. But don't worry, my sister has summer school this whole month. I got more time to write now!

Read and Review.

NeoShadows fading out.