The Salamander's Sister

Chapter 105: And We Aim for The Top!

Natsume's pov

"I win!!!" Satoru smiled, standing to his feet as he threw the cards down on the board game. "What? How?" Satomi and I looked at him in amazement, wondering how he won this game so quickly. We had only just started playing, I shook away my shock as I remembered that Satoru has always been really good at card games. Cana, Kosuke and Gray were all watching the game between Satomi, Satoru, Chase and I. Most of the guild members were spread out around the hall, Lucky and Happy were napping on one of the tables while Lucy and Wendy sat at the bar, talking and bonding. "See!! This is why I don't trust him!" Chase shouted, I chuckled at his reaction. It was always Chase who lost his temper during board games, he hated losing to his siblings for some reason that I still can't figure out. "I don't see the problem, Chase. Satoru won the game fair and square." Gray pointed out, Chase turned to him with a look of disbelief. "No, he didn't. I know he cheated. You cheated, didn't you?!" He turned away from Gray, his eyes landing on his brother. "I didn't cheat, Chase. You're just being a grumpy because I won." Satoru teased, "You won nothing! I know you cheated this time, Satoru. You always cheat when we play this board game!" Chase accused, standing to his feet. His chair flew back from Chase getting up so quickly, hitting the floor with a thud. "Oh no," Cana rolled her eyes, "I told you, I didn't cheat! Stop saying I did." Satoru stood to his feet, his chair scooted two feet away from him.

"Or what?"

"I'm warning you, Chase. Don't test me."

"C-H-E-A-T-E-R! You are a big fat cheater!" Satoru launched himself across the table, knocking the game pieces over as he tackled his brother onto the floor. "Ugh, why must you two do this every time we play this board game?!! You ruined it!" Satomi threw her cards down onto the table, standing to her feet. From the look on her face, I could tell that she was over her brother's and their stupidity and I didn't blame her. Things were peaceful but I could tell that we had a long way to go, for those who were stuck on Tenrou Island for seven years, I had heard rumblings of other guilds that had now surpassed Fairytail in terms of strength and tenacity. Even with the others back now, I knew they had a long road ahead of them. They are going to have training very hard within the next few months, especially if Master Makarov lets us participate in the upcoming Grand Magic Games. I had seven more months of training and then some ahead of the group that was trapped on Tenrou. "What are you thinking about, Sume?" Gray brought me out of my thoughts, "Nothing really. Just liking how peaceful it is right now." As soon as I said that, the front door was kicked open by none other my idiot older twin brother, Natsu. "Happy!!" He shouted, "And there goes the peace." Gray muttered, Cana just shook her head and chugged on her ale. Natsu immediately headed over to Happy, who had been sleeping beside Lucky on the counter. Poor Happy. "Natsu, why are you being so loud?" Lucky whined, rubbing her eyes as she walked up to him. "I need your help Happy!! This is all your fault." The two started arguing back and forth, causing me to roll my eyes and turn back to the game. Gray walked over to them, telling the two to stop arguing but it seemed Natsu wouldn't let up. It seemed that Natsu wanted a sparring partner. As his twin, I thought it would be a good idea to help him out and spar with him. "Hey, Natsu!" He turned his head to me, "You still need a sparring partner?" He smiled at me, "Mind if I fight him first?" My eyes turned towards the doorway of the guild hall, surprised as I saw Max, Vjeeter, Warren and Nab just walking into the guild hall. "Sure," I nodded to Max, so I followed them outside to watch. Natsu started off strong but I could tell that he was getting tired, Max on the other hand, he had the speed and training of seven years ahead of all of those who were trapped on Tenrou Island. I watched in awe of Max's strength, proud to see that he can beat Natsu. "Wow, Max really has gotten stronger than Natsu." Gray said, he stood beside me watching Natsu and Max spar.We watched Max continuously have the upper hand against Natsu, until Natsu finally uses his Lightning Fire Dragon Roar against Max. The attack misses Max, managing to singe a few strands of his hair. "Alright, you win, Natsu. I surrender." Max stood down, there was something about his aura that was special and it must have had to do with the fact that he is stronger than Natsu now. "Sume, I haven't forgotten about our sparring session. Get over here!" I shook my head as I could tell that Natsu was tired, "Natsu, you're gonna.." Natsu fell backwards, passing out from exhaustion. "pass out.." I sighed heavily, looking at Natsu laying on the ground.

"And there goes your sparring partner." Gray stated, "Yep."

"You guys really have grown so much over the seven years we were away. You are stronger than us now. Good job." Wendy complimented Max, giving him a warm smile. "Thank you, Wendy." He smiled, "You guys could have defeated Twilight Ogre without a problem. Why didn't you?" Carla asked, I was confused about that. See before I arrived in Magnolia, I was all the way in another big city. That's where I spent a lot of my time training, I never knew about Twilight Ogre's issue with Fairytail. Erza and Mira must have squashed that problem when they first got back from Tenrou and Natsu, he didn't talk about what happened on that Island much. With their strength, Max and the others would have no problem taking them down, so why did they? "It wasn't that we weren't strong enough. The money was the problem. We didn't have a lot." Max explained.

"Ah, I get it now."

~

Natsu, Erza, Lucy, Gray, Happy, Lucky, Wendy, Carla and I sat around at the table in the guild hall. We were discussing everyone's magical abilities and powers, I got the feeling that all of them were feeling very down about how strong the others have gotten and they can't keep up with them all, including other guilds who are now vying for the number one spot in all of Fiore. "Natsume, when we were gone for seven years on Tenrou.. Where were you?" Lucy asked, turning all eyes on me. Natsu looked at me with curiosity as Lucky tried to scoot away from the table, "Oh, come on. Where are you going?" Happy grabbed Lucky by the paw and pulled her back to the group, I could see she didn't want to talk about it. "Did you guys go on adventures to different places and all that? Did you see lots of fun places and do things together?" Wendy asked, I shifted uncomfortably in my seat and sighed.

"No."

"No?" Natsu asked.

"We didn't explore places..." I started, "I was at a magic academy for a few months. Before I heard that the Salamander was back in Magnolia." I looked up at Lucky, who looked away from me. "Why is Lucky so angry with you about this?" Carla spoke up, noticing Lucky's attitude. "She wasn't allowed to be there with me at the academy. It was some kind of rule pertaining to the magic that was being taught. And I chose to go anyway.. Without Lucky." I explained, "You left me in the hands of that jerk while you went off to that Academy for five months! I have never felt so unwanted in my life. When you chose that school over me, I thought you didn't want me." She snapped, standing to her feet. "Lucky.." I started, "I don't want to hear it!" She flew off before I could say anything, I let out a groan and rubbed my face as I felt stressed. Gray placed a hand on my back and rubbed it soothingly, "I've apologized thousands of times for leaving her with that friend of mine I met while in Town. All I cared about at that time was getting stronger, I wanted to get revenge for everything Kato did and I wanted to make things right with the people he hurt. It was my fault in the first place that he ended up that way."

"Natsume.. It's nobody's fault but his. It was his choice to do wrong and harm others." Erza said, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"You can't control other people's actions, Sume. He chose to do all of those things." Natsu stated. I rubbed my face wanting nothing more than to stop talking about this, which was pretty obvious to Gray. Happy looked at me with concerned eyes, I could tell that he knew that I wanted to stop talking about this. "Other than training is there a way we can boost our strength?" Happy asked, changing the subject entirely. I sent him a thankful look, "I know someone who could help us." Wendy said, "Who?"

"We could always go see Porlyusica. She could help us." Wendy said.

"Then let's go see her." The eight of us set off to see Porlyusica, I just hope she helps us. Then again, I heard that Porlyusica can be really mean.