"I'm back!"
As always, the front doors of Fairy Tail creaked ominously, right before Natsu kicked them open again.
"Laki!" he called out, his voice sharp. "Where's Rhodes?"
Laki, who was closest, flinched. "Hey! You know how hard it is to fix the doors when you bust 'em, Natsu!"
But Natsu was already storming through the guild hall like a volcano with legs.
"Don't shout so loud!" Laki groaned. "Rhode's either in the backyard, the library, or with Mira. Go find him yourself."
Natsu flung his backpack aside and bolted for the backyard. He could already smell Rhode's scent, familiar and ready to fight.
Happy picked up the tossed bag with a sigh and floated over to the front desk, submitting their mission paperwork.
Mira tilted her head. "What's with Natsu? He seems riled up. Did the mission go badly?"
"Aye!" Happy flopped down dramatically. "The client for that forest ranger job Rhodes picked for us was a total nightmare. We were supposed to work for fifteen days, but then they extended it to twenty, and then even longer!"
"Even though we're getting paid per day, they kept adding more and more weird rules." He rolled his eyes.
"That sounds rough." Mira gave a sympathetic sigh. Wizards sometimes ran into clients like that. As long as the requests weren't unreasonable, most of them just bore with it.
Natsu was the type to break a wall before breaking a contract, he'd caused his fair share of trouble over the years, but he'd never once raised a hand against a client.
Still, being bossed around for that long without a proper fight clearly drove him stir-crazy. So the whole trip back, all except the time he was busy being carsick, he'd been fantasizing about punching Rhodes.
"Take this, Rhodes! Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
"Whoa, what the hell, Natsu?!"
Out in the backyard, Rhodes was in the middle of sprint drills when Natsu charged him out of nowhere and opened with a flaming punch.
If Rhodes hadn't dodged on instinct, his handsome face would've needed Mira's healing touch.
"Don't even ask. Just fight me!"
"Fine, then let's fight!"
It had been a while since the two sparred properly anyway.
Boom!
Their fists collided with a blast of heat and force.
Flames erupted from Natsu's knuckles, while Rhodes met him with a solid punch of his own, his hand covered in dense stone armor, courtesy of his Krug form.
While he typically preferred the Murk Wolf form, its natural fur didn't mix well with fire, so the Krug was a better match against Natsu.
Rhodes had gotten quite good at using partial and full-body take over magic. Right now, he was using partial takeover, only coating his arms with the Krug's durability. It looked like earth-style magic—and if he shouted "Earth Dragon's Rock Fist," someone unfamiliar might believe it.
Bam! Crack! Thud!
Fists flew, knees struck, and boots slammed into the ground as fire and stone clashed in a blazing, dusty dance.
Every one of Natsu's attacks came laced with heat. Rhode's blocks timed perfectly, each one sprouting stone armor on the spot.
It was flashy, it was fierce, and it was effective. A visual feast for anyone watching.
It also showed just how much Rhodes had improved his control over Takeover magic.
That was thanks to Mira's patient instruction, and Elfman, who'd put in the hours as a dedicated sparring partner.
But there was one downside to this reaction-based, adaptive combat style.
It was exhausting.
Rhodes gritted his teeth. 'Man… I really need to work on my reflexes.'
At first, things were manageable, but as Natsu started getting more serious, Rhodes found it increasingly difficult to keep up using just partial takeover.
After all, Natsu wasn't the kind of opponent you could handle with a few tricks.
"Full-body Take over: Krug!"
"Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang!"
Flames surged like a dragon's claws, crashing down onto Rhodes' shoulders. He raised his forearms to block, leaving behind three glowing burn marks etched into the stone armor covering them.
Rhodes struck back with a sharp knee to Natsu's stomach, but Natsu quickly planted his hands on the ground and flipped backward.
"When did you get so tough?" Natsu called out, rubbing his stomach as he landed.
Rhodes cracked his knuckles and grinned. "Got hit a lot. Come here and let me hit you a hundred times too, you'll get tough real fast."
"Liar! Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"
Waves of flame swept down like the wings of a mighty dragon. But just before impact, Rhodes seemed to melt into the ground, sinking below the surface like he'd stepped into water.
Natsu landed with a loud thud, only to feel his ankles grabbed from below. Rhodes yanked him into the ground, leaving just his head sticking out.
Jumping out of the ground himself, Rhodes looked at his scorched training dummies and groaned. "You flame-brained pyromaniac! Are you trying to burn down the guild?!"
"You talk too much! I didn't actually burn it down!" Natsu shouted from the dirt.
Flames burst from Natsu's feet, launching him from the ground like a firework. He charged at Rhodes, one arm raised in a classic punch.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
Rhodes met the strike head-on, but the force pushed him backward through a wooden wall. His chest and arms were now charred black from the impact.
"Great," Rhodes muttered. "He's wrecked the place again. Natsu really is cursed."
"Take over: Brambleback!"
In an instant, Rhodes transformed. His body shot up to nearly three meters tall, wrapped in thick vines and bark-like plating. A crimson orb pulsed on his chest like a beating heart, framed by glowing green leaf patterns.
Natsu gawked at the transformation. "What the heck is that?!"
"Take my slap and find out!"
Rhodes raised a massive hand, each finger glowing like it was tipped in embers, and brought it down with a thunderous smack.
"Wahhh!" Natsu braced himself, but the force was too much. He was smacked into the dirt.
"Come get more!" Rhodes swung his massive vine-covered arm across his body, slapping Natsu clean in the chest.
"Whoa—!" Natsu was launched through the guild wall with a loud crash, shattering part of the request board as he flew. Sheets of mission orders fluttered everywhere like oversized snowflakes. Natsu landed on top of Nab and the two tumbled into a heap.
"Natsu?!" Happy gasped in disbelief. "Did you just get smacked... by Rhodes?!"
"Ahhh~" Mira called out from the counter, not panicked but gently concerned. "Hey, don't lose the mission requests."
Nab, still dazed, flailed upside down. "Wait—is that the priority right now?"
"It hurts! What kind of fire even was that?!" Natsu groaned, leaping back to his feet and charging through the same hole he'd crashed out of, making it even bigger on his way back in.
"Rhoooodes!!!"
This time, Natsu was serious. Flames blazed from every inch of his body as he launched into a full combo.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist! Fire Dragon's Claw! Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!"
With every fiery strike, Rhodes answered with an open-palmed smack. One after another, the flaming blows met stone-hardened counters. Vines crackled, sparks flew, and the backyard looked more like a battleground with every hit.
Rhodes could feel it in his hands, Natsu's attacks were getting heavier, hotter, and faster. He wasn't sure if Natsu had been holding back earlier or if he was just revving up now.
They traded blow after blow, each one louder than the last. But just as Rhodes stepped in with another counter, Natsu suddenly ducked under his guard, lunged forward, and bit his arm.
"Agh! What are you doing?!" Rhodes yelled, as Natsu latched on to the flaming arm like a wild animal.
"Gonna eat your fire!" Natsu mumbled around a mouthful of magic, trying to inhale the flames directly from Rhodes' hand.
"That's disgusting!" Rhodes shouted, flailing his arm violently. "Let go already!"
But Natsu held on tight.
With a roar, Rhodes started whipping his arm through the air, flinging Natsu around like a fire-breathing ragdoll.
"Let go, you flame-brained lizard!"
"Mmnnnhhh!"
It was chaos.
...
Omg, didn't expect us to break into the Top 10! Seriously, you guys are wild, with all those shiny stones flying my way! Thank you so much for the support!
Bonus Chap@800 $tonks 💎💎