There had been no time for any of them to properly discuss Natsu's plan or what was planned for the Crystals as work was instantly gotten to; A band of Earth-Make Mages decided that the crystals used by the astrologers were blaspheming the Lady of the Earth. Which left Natsu to take care of the head "Monk" of the Order while Kai was stuck outside dealing with his far bigger associate who had thrown him straight through the wall of the observatory.
"Sinful man…You will be broken and forced to confess all of your wrongdoings before the Mother of the Earth." The hulking behemoth of what was meant to be a peaceful monk spat at Takeda. "The vile spreader of evil that dares to call themself a Hellhound."
"Okay, first of all…I never once called myself that, that's just what my old Guild used to be." Takeda said as he cracked his knuckles. "And secondly, I don't do wrongdoings like this…I believe thuggery like this is more up your alley, Mour."
"You…Know who I am?" Mour asked as he let the rock forming in his hand crumble to the floor. "How?"
"Come on…I have an inkling of people in Fiore, you were just a two bit thug using your Earth Make Magic to try swindling people out of their money." Takeda remarked as he let the flames on his glove dissipate a little while they talked. "Though I didn't think you were that ballsy to try something like this cult stuff."
"It matters not…Because my new bond to the Mother of the Earth will shield me from your hellish flames, your arrogance in allowing yourself to be publicised everywhere will be your downfall." Mour snarled before slamming his heel into the solid stone beneath him, making the rock slowly creep up his body and form segmented armour around his body.
"I knew Jason's articles would be a problem…" Takeda grumbled to himself before ducking under a heavy swing from the Monk's stone coated arms and swinging a Storm Flame coated glove into it's head…Which barely seemed to graze the stone.
"You are a fool! Such a sinful fire can never hope to penetrate the loving embrace of the Mother of the Earth!" Mour guffawed before swinging again, this time hitting Takeda square in the stomach across the dirt.
Takeda coughed a little as he stagger to his feet, noticing that the Storm Flames ate away at the stone armour but it seemed to reform itself just as quickly as it burned away. "Okay, that's new."
Mour's armour was built like a knight's body; It was making him just as large as Elfman, spikes on his knees, knuckles and head, though while it looked incredibly bulky and slow, it pulsed like it was a natural skin. "You think that blasting me with fire like a one trick pony will work? My Terracotta Armour is durable on it's own but while it's connected to the earth, it's invincible!"
Takeda was about to complain how much of a pain it was but then saw that in spite of it being bulky and large, it still had joints to move his limbs and swing any created weapons. "Hey, Mour…Have you ever heard the sound of a dozen angry bees inside of a clay pot?"
Mour paused his grandiose bragging at having overcome the Hellhound's supposedly monstrous flames as the confusion of that sentence set in. "What, did you get hit with a rock to think that kind of braindead question would mean anything?"
Takeda hummed as he noticed that there were gaps in the armour that were way too small for even a skinny knife to fit, though his diabolical smirk proved that this was enough before holding up a different box and ignited a bright blue flame on his finger.
This one was white in colour on each side but it had a rust coloured honeycomb pattern engraved into it, it also had Takeda's Emblem on the lid with 7 different coloured gems circling it.
"Well, would you like to?" Takeda said with a cryptic smirk before he injected the blue flame into the opening on top, it opened up to a bright blue fire inside along with the sound of violent buzzing.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Natsu roared out as he delivered a fire laced punch to the head Monk who had eventually run out of smaller monks and rocks to throw, sending the man flying into the wall and hit the ground in an unconscious heap.
"Natsu, be careful! if the crystals break then we won't get paid." Happy warned as they saw the giant crystals hanging from the ceiling in an illustrious pattern jingle ominously as they threatened to come loose.
"I got it! Plus I got him anyway so we're all-" There was a loud crash and a very bumpy Mour came crashing through one of the walls and landed in a groaning heap next to the head Monk. "Done."
Takeda climbed through the hole he had ended up making and looked rather cautious as he peered around, sighing in relief when the crystals remained unmoved. "Okay, I think that's the last one…Everything okay?"
"Well, I fireblasted the hell out of the monk guy AND we got to keep those crystal thingies safe." Natsu said with a wide grin on his face as he thumped his fist into his hand.
However as he said that, Mour got to his feet and used a nearby chunk of rock from the shattered wall to make a spiked gauntlet, rushing forward at Takeda with a menacing yell. "If I'm losing this then I'm taking one of you with me, you gangster scum!"
Takeda however had been more prepared as he reared his own fist back, the glove crackled with green lightning as he thrust forward with a powerful haymaker. "VOLTA CROSS!"
The resulting blow shattered the flimsily made gauntlet and then sent the "fallen monk" Mor flying back into the wall through the head Monk after he tried to get back up, the room vibrated with the resounding rumble of thunder as Takeda stared them down. "H-How…"
The gem on Takeda's ring had a light green glow with extremely sharp dark neon-green electricity-like "spikes" jolting from it like sparks, it formed round shapes around its source with the sharper parts violently thrashing about, like a serpent. "Give it up, unless you want to add more hurt to what you have already." He said and pointed to the numerous bumps that spattered across Mor's body, some of them having the same glowing wisp of blue fire lingering on them.
"Uh…Yoshida, what exactly was that?" Natsu asked as he was both taken aback at the fact that Takeda had just used what appeared to be Lightning Magic when he was a Fire Mage…Apparently, along with the fact that he could also smell rain even though it wasn't wet outside.
"Uh uh…Dragon Father first, THEN I'll tell you my stuff." Takeda put his foot down on the matter as he was not going to let the fact that someone had a Dragon for a Dad.
"Well, turns out that Natsu's dad is-" Happy started but then an ungodly shriek rang out from the top floor of the observation station…One that came from one of it's employers.
"THE CRYSTALS!" The Overseer bellowed as they saw that the crystals which were once clear and almost as blue as the sea, had turned into deep green and orange colour that resembled juice had been soaked up into a rag. "Who is the barbarian who shot off that energy in the room with the crystals so in reach?!"
"They should be fine, right?" Takeda asked as he was starting to feel anxious that this may have messed up on his watch. "You did say that the crystals needed to stay intact, right?"
"Intact AND uncorrupted by outside magic, you fire throwing imbeciles!" The Overseer screeched as they were freaking out about their now multicoloured crystal. "The Crystals were supposed to remain in here away from ambient Magic before the ceremony!"
"Then why didn't you warn us about it?" Natsu asked in confusion. "Besides, they actually look better now."
"I was explaining the intricacies of each crystal's worth and the history of how imperative it is that they remain out of touch but somehow both of you wer-" The Overseer explained before the crystals finally started falling and shattering to the ground like glass, causing the robed man to look like he was about to have an aneurisym.
Natsu was trying his hardest not to laugh at his face while Takeda looked like he was equally trying to not have a heart attack but for a different reason…Though in the end, they had to relinquish the fee for their services so the Observation centre could repair.
Happy looked to Takeda as he flew next to him with the most genuinely disappointed expression as they headed back down the mountain. "This happened twice now on your watch, that's shame on you, Yoshi."
"Me?! What did I do?"
"You ended up losing out on our chance for fish money…You caved in the cathedral with those culty guys." Happy explained as he tapped his paw like he was counting.
"That was Natsu smashing up everything, the only thing I actually damaged was the upper floor."
"So that's shame on Natsu…Now you ruined the Crystals here so therefore." Happy said and then pointed at Takeda. "That's shame on you."
"Last I checked, Natsu's fire is also orange! Why not blame him too?" Takeda mentioned as he then crossed his arms.
"Because those crystals didn't change until you did that weird zappy thing…So come on, tell me what that was because there is no way that's Fire Magic." Natsu interrupted as they finally stopped halfway down the stairs.
"That's because it's Lightning…Or…I guess at least the closest thing to plasma." Takeda explained, knowing that Natsu wouldn't stop until he got a satisfying answer. "Just like the Sun Flame's power is Activation, the Lightning Flame's power is Hardening."
"Hardening?" Natsu asked as he stopped to listen, though that didn't mean it was any easier to understand. "I…How does that even work?"
"Aye! Lightning doesn't get hard, it flashes and goes bang in the sky!" Happy chimed in as he flapped near Natsu's head. "Also, lightning isn't green."
Takeda then decided that the best way was to show, not tell; He picked up a nearby rock in his ringed hand, the ring began to crackle with glowing green electricity like it did with the monks and then he threw the rock towards a tree like he was skipping a stone.
The front part of the tree where the rock hit burst into a flurry of splintered wood, the rock had managed to carve out a large chunk of the surface once the dust cleared and the rock had embedded itself a quarter of a way through.
"Whoa…" Happy said in shock as Natsu quickly got more and more excited at the prospect of Takeda having more to him for their next eventual fight. "So you can do that with like…anything?!"
"If you're going to ask me if I can coat a fish with this then yes I can…And no I will not because A) it's incredibly reductive and B) it's a waste."
Natsu then started shaking Takeda back and forth in his excitement. "If you could do that before then why not do it against Laxus when he kicked you around at the guild?!"
"Because I'm not going to give that thunderheaded jackass the satisfaction of seeing me use the same element as him." Takeda said dryly as he then let the electricity on his hand die down. "Plus, knowing how that guy's ego is, he'd think I was trying to copy him or something."
"Eh, I guess so...But you still shouldn't hold back on your magic." Natsu remarked as he let go and started walking down the stairs again. "I don't and I'm doing great."
"We also just lost out on our payday because of it." Takeda said with depression in his voice. "I'm never gonna be able to recover from my commission costs at this rate…"
"Commission?"
Takeda sighed as he recalled the lightness of his wallet and kicked a nearby rock into a bush. "It's a long story and my business…So since we've essentially completed the mission, what now?" He asked as he decided to find something to distract himself.
"We're gonna get a train into the next city and we're gonna do some digging." Natsu said as they left the last few steps and headed for the station. "I heard some people earlier talking about Salamander was hanging around a place called Hargeon so I'm getting in on that."
"You mean we." Takeda remarked as he took out his wallet to pay for the tickets.
"You can go back if you want, this is a me thing." Natsu shrugged as he took the ticket that Takeda handed him and Happy.
"No, this is a WE thing because I HAVE to go with you…Court ordered Guild Seal remember? Besides, I can try to help you out with tracking down your supposed Dragon Dad with any connections that I can find." Takeda said and then lifted up the sleeve of his shirt to show off his Fairy Tail guild mark: One that had been coloured orange to symbolise his surveillance bind to Natsu. "At the very least, someone needs to make sure you don't end up sick on the train and miss your stop."
"That will never happen! I have Happy with me so I can handle things fine." Natsu protested as they both got on the next train.
Takeda got off of the train once the conductor rang out the stop for Hargeon; A small but equally beautiful town that thrived from it's fishermen and it's marina moreso than from Mages, at least that was from what he had been able to glean from left behind magazines and brochures of the town they visited. "Okay Natsu, where are we starting to look?"
"Oh Natsu didn't make it off the train." Happy said with a remarkably upbeat tone as he watched the train start to trundle off towards it's next destination…With a very queasy Natsu trying to wave at them to help him get off his inevitable bad time.
"Why didn't you get him?!" Takeda snapped at Happy who didn't that worried.
Happy however knew that this happened a lot even when he was paying attention so he wasn't worried, mostly since Natsu always found a way back to him eventually. "I told you, Dragon Slayers don't do great on transportation..Don't worry though, he'll catch up with us."
Takeda was about to get more annoyed at Happy's casual brushoff when it came to Natsu's motion sickness; Even though he got irritated by Natsu's insistence to fight, he did believe that he should at least look out for his fellow...Though he did also realise that Natsu was also a very capable Mage on his own regardless so he decided to drop it for now. "Alright, if you say he's okay then we may as well start looking, you know about what Natsu's looking for so you start off flying around…Tell me as much as you know about Natsu's Dad and I'll see what I can dig up."
Happy wasn't 100% helpful when it came to details but Takeda took down everything that he could get from him, though while he was making a peculiar scene of taking a statement from what looked like a blue cat, someone else was making their first steps into the town... A blonde haired girl with a whip fastened to her waist along with a string of keys that dangled from her belt, her mind fully focused on another task entirely while she travelled through Hargeon. "I'll go catch up with Natsu and see what we can find."
Takeda nodded as he decided to let Happy handle Natsu, it's not exactly like he could go anywhere if his linked partner was too far away anyway. "Alright, time to start low and work up." He thought to himself before starting at the bar, if anything was going to soak up gossip or good intel then it was here.
The streets were starting to get filled and the ambience around Takeda were getting louder as the sound of cheering and clamouring were forming in the square with a chorus of "LordSalamander~!" to try getting that person's attention, though unbeknownst to him: A blonde girl nudged past him in order to check out the crowd too. "What the…"
Takeda recognised it as the name Natsu and Happy gave him and decided to go check it out, figuring that this was at least worth setting up some groundwork before Natsu came back; Though as he got closer, he could notice a couple of things that felt out of place: The first was that this "Salamander" was a man with a face tattoo and a smarmy look as he took in the praises, the second was that this was just a man and not…Well, a dragon, something that got his suspicions along with Natsu's when he burst through the crowd too. "Igneel?/Salamander?"
"Oh, I see someone who knows my reputation well…Perhaps I can help to give you boys a little something to commemorate this occasion." Salamander remarked as he grabbed two pieces of paper and began to write on them, before handing what looked like autographs to the both of them. "There, now you two can brag about meeting me to your little friends."
However Natsu's refusal earned him getting kicked out of the mob while everyone else looked at Takeda expectantly.
Takeda looked at the autograph and then to Salamander who seemed like he was waiting for worship. "Give it to someone else." He remarked before passing the autographed scrap to someone else and then disappeared into the crowd, the sounds of insulted people and demands for him to apologise made it all the easier for the Flame throwing Mages to take their exit.
After watching both the pink haired boy and the man in the suit getting essentially shooed away while "Salamander" flew away on a flame cloud, the blonde girl decided to go check on the two who had somehow managed to break whatever funk she was in…Or at least try to track down the pink haired guy since Takeda had vanished into an alleyway to carry on his work. "That guy nearly had me convinced...The least I can do is give those two my thanks." She thought to herself before disappearing from the crowd, not only feeling a little disappointed at "Salamander's" behaviour but also the fact that her attempt to barter for a Celestial Key failed.
Takeda's first stop took him down some back alleys and under a bridge to where an out-of-the-way bar was nestled in the underside of what was the bright and cheerful town, He felt relieved about being in his element once he entered in the doors; The whole place was awash with talk, business deals that were better left out of the limelight and the occasional word of recognition for their most recent guest.
Takeda was used to people talking about him and when it came to certain "Backdoor" outgoings during his time at Hellhound Claw, he accepted that people would recognise him for not so desirable reasons. "Only thing I can really do is keep a low profile." He thought as he headed for the bar, this wasn't his first time in a place like this and he certainly wasn't doing it unprepared.
"Not seen you around here before…I'll just warn you right now, keep your wallet close and don't make eye contact." A particularly buff man from behind the counter remarked as he seemed to be unfazed by the level of fighting, dealing and general lack of law in this bar. "Because this isn't a place for tourists."
"Why would I go to any normal bar when places like this are where better stuff gets passed around faster than the booze." Takeda replied by giving his own knowing words to clue in the bartender before taking a pouch from his pocket and sliding it across to him. "Besides, I'm here to get some foundation laying…"
The bartender didn't change his expression but the slight raising of his eyebrow made it clear that he could pick up on Takeda's clueing in. "Depends on what you want to know…" He said before fluidly moving the pouch off of the table and into his apron. "Because right now, I can tell that the festival's bringing a lot of revenue, even more with the talk of Salamander being in town."
"I met the guy…He's a self absorbed prick." Takeda snarked as he tapped the countertop and watched his ring glimmer in the light. "He was going on and on about this party boat to a bunch of girls."
"From what I heard in terms of chatter, all kinds of people will be going to this party…And if you want some good foundations for your land laying, that's the place to be." The bartender said impartially as he passed a drink to Takeda. "Though you may want to be careful…you hear rumours about the famous and the popular, sometimes they're legit but a lot of people thought the same about some Merchant guilds that got ripped apart a week or so ago…Then again, I don't need to explain your own line of work to you."
"You certainly don't…Thanks for the tip." Takeda remarked as he drained the last of his drink and then flicked a coin towards the bartender, though he stopped when he felt an arm slap around him and he was suddenly surrounded by some of the less pleasant types.
"What's the rush, friend? Stick with us for a little and we can show you some little tidbits of our own…A private tour of Hargeon's underside." One hulking man with his arm latching around Takeda said with a toothy grin, not quite noticing the eye roll of the barkeep.
Takeda shook his shoulder to knock the guy's arm off. "Too busy so I can't really stick around…Now if you'll excus-"
That however wasn't allowed to finish as the pinprick of a knife pressed against Takeda's other side, making it clear that he was sticking around. "Come on, don't be so harsh with us, bro…" One ratty looking imp of a man said as he waved his hand to prompt for the bartender to get them drinks. "Being a loner down here's bad for your health…And turning down a good time's liable to hurt someone's feelings, especially when it's someone like Bora."
"And we wouldn't want that, now would we?" The larger man rumbled as he glanced down at Takeda's hand, noticing the ring and felt his hunger grow with a single glance. "Tell you what? You hand over your money and that pretty little ring of your's, maybe we'll leave it at a slap to the face."
Takeda remained silent except for a small exhale of breath through his nose, he knew that taking it too far would cause an all out bar fight but he also couldn't excuse the blatant threat of taking his ring. "I'm really not in the mood right now, so last warning…Back. off."
"You stupid or something? We've got you blocked off AND you're about one bad mistake away from being gutted like a fish, so make it easy for yourself and hand over your goodies." The ratman whispered to Takeda and made sure to poke the knife more firmly against his side.
The bartender had dipped under the bar to make it look like he was replenishing some of his alcohol, he was actually about to grab a weapon to give Takeda a little backup but a sudden sound of a crunch and a metallic ringing could be heard from above him, he then realised how little it was needed when he rose his head.
The large man was whimpering on his back and clutching a bloody mouth while using his other hand to pick up teeth from the wooden floor, leaving the ratlike man to roll on the floor with a nose that was now pointing in a completely new direction.
"Sorry about your countertop." Takeda apologised and placed a few notes on the counter as he pointed to the divet that the larger man made in the rail with what was assumed to be his head. "I have to get going…"
The bartender nodded as he peered down at the men who looked like they were questioning their recent choices. "Well, if there's one thing that this place teaches…It's that if stupid people try shaking down someone like him, stupid SHOULD hurt." He thought as he pocketed the money while Takeda left the bar, knowing exactly who he was.
The blonde girl meanwhile was watching Salamander sail off into the sky on his cloud, she had managed to catch on to his attempt to use magic on her when they first met but he still managed to sway her into coming to the party regardless. "So I've got a chance now…Okay, maybe I'll have to keep on that weirdo's good side but once I get the all-clear…" She thought to herself as she sat down on the bench with Sorcerer's Weekly, she had time to go but she wanted to see what else Fairy Tail had been up to…That was until she saw someone in the distance.
Takeda was passing by when he decided to take a breather; After the incident with the bar, he had tried to ask around about Igneel but he mostly got weird looks when he tried to elaborate. "Damn, you'd think talks about Dragons would be more common in a place like this…" He muttered but then saw Salamander zip up into the air on his cloud and leaving the girl alone, normally he would've just ignored it but he saw a girl waving him over with a curious look on her face…And the magazine in her hand. "Oh good…She either wants an autograph or to question me…"
"Excuse me, I was wondering if I could talk to you for a minute." The girl asked him as she walked up to him, the events of the earlier day still fresh in her mind along with the fact that he was there along with Natsu…It only felt right that she talked to him too.
"Sure…But I can't stay for long, I have friends to catch up with." Takeda said to meet her halfway, though his eyes did glance to the magazine in her hand. "Fan of Mages?"
She nodded and then smiled. "Yep, I've set out because I wanted to be one myself…Well, I actually am one at this rate but I'm not really part of a guild quite yet." The girl explained before catching herself when she forgot introductions. "Oh, I'm Lucy by the way."
Takeda nodded politely, choosing to omit his name at least for a moment since that part was the dealbreaker. "Nice to meet you…I'm guessing you're one of those Celestial Spirit Mages?"
Lucy nodded as she shook her hip a little to make the keys jingle. "Yep, I've stopped off here because I wanted to see whether they had anything noteworthy here….Though there isn't that much to begin with." She admitted with a dejected sigh, she did manage to get one key….Though her attempt at using a "special discount" by flirting with the shopkeeper only knocked down a small amount, that seemed to sting her self esteem more than the price.
"I mean, it's a pretty good deal, you're not limited to one type of magic as long as you have the keys for it." Takeda mentioned; While he did make it a note that what he could do was nothing to do with Earthland's Magic, he still found a lot of curiosity when it came to actual Magic…Celestial Spirit Magic happened to be the one he took to the most despite the fact that one aspect of his abilities could do something similar. "You guys make it look fun."
Lucy nodded, relieved that this was a lot easier than the talk at the restaurant with Natsu. "Well, it's a little complicated but it's down to both the Spirit and the Mage to make it work." She explained though she took another look at him, she thought he looked familiar but hadn't caught up with the latest in her Sorcerer Weeklies. "Anyway…I wanted to thank you for helping me out earlier, I thanked the pink haired guy earlier but you both really got whaled on in the crowd."
"It's no problem, I had stuff to do in that crowd regardless…Besides I'm not really one for celebrities, certainly not ones desperate enough to use a Charm Spell." Takeda mentioned as he waved off her attempt at thanks.
Lucy nodded as she scratched her head. "Yeah, it was actually because yo…Wait, you KNEW he was using a Charm Spell?"
Takeda nodded as he tapped his head with a finger, it was common knowledge that Charm Spells were in that grey area of legal/Illegal but the general consensus for it's use was frowned upon. "Hello, everyone in a nearly 15 foot radius was slavering over making eye contact with the guy…Unless he was a walking sex symbol or a Succubus descendant, I'm not believing someone is that well liked."
"Well…I guess you have a point, though how were you able to notice that he was using one to begin with?" Lucy asked as she was a little confused, most people don't normally register they are under the Charm spell unless they know that it is being used.
"Old habit…You can't get manipulated by charm if you think someone's trying to use it." Takeda said with a rather jaded tone. "Besides most of the time that people approach me then it's because they want something that I can do or offer…It's never normally about me as a person."
Lucy winced a little as she heard that kind of comment just get rattled off like it was nothing. "I can't tell if he's serious or not…And if he is, that's concerning." She thought to herself before clearing her throat. "That makes sense, I suppose…But give yourself more credit, there'll be people out there that'll see you for who you are."
Takeda nodded before stretching himself, feeling that his guild mark was pulsating through his sleeve which was an indicator that Natsu was nearby…He needed to get back before it became trouble. "I'll keep it in mind…I've got to go look for a friend otherwise he's gonna go nuts on his own."
Lucy smiled and then waved. "I should probably get going too, I've got a party to prepare for and it might be my big chance to get into Fairy Tail." She agreed and then started to walk off but then turned back to him in the distance. "It was nice meeting you, though!"
Takeda gave a half hearted wave back but then felt his thoughts start turning as he mulled over what she said; First the fact that "Salamander" was clearly talking to her, Lucy's mentioning of Fairy Tail…But what made him uneasy the most was the Bartender's words about "Salamander" and the supposed guests at his party.
That niggling feeling in his mind made him blur the fine line between paranoia and a gut feeling, picking up a box from his waist and then inserted the ring into the opening; This particular box was a cobalt blue box that had a lighter blue engraving that etched into the sides, snaking around the whole thing before stopping at the snarling dog symbol that formed at the opening.
Once the box opened up, there was a loud, authoritative bark as it sat at attention in front of him; This particular dog looked very similar to a German Shepherd but it had an armoured collar with Takeda's symbol around it's neck, a small plume of fire flickering on the back of it's neck like a hyena's mane and along it's tail.
"Alright boy, I know it's been a while but I want you to tail someone for me."