Fairy Tail: Rainwater, Chapter 1

"This ain't right," whimpered a cloaked man while he was using his Wind Magic to continuously stream a gust of wind from the palms of the both of his hands. As the cloaked man expelled gust after gust of air from his palms, the gusts pushed against cloths of a cyan-colored crystal. The cloths were the lacrima sails of a naval cutter-like vessel called a windrider, so the gusts' push against the cloths were propelling the windrider along the hot and sandy surface of Desierto.

"I'm telling you boss, this ain't right!" reiterated the cloaked man with a glance at the desert sky. Which, strangely enough, was dark and grey from thunderclouds of all things! "That ain't natural! It's witchcraft I tell you! A witch's craft!"

"Shut up you idiot! Witches aren't real!" snapped a bulkily top-heavy man with a lash of his bullwhip. Like most bullwhips, the top-heavy man's whip crackled whenever it was lashed. However, unlike most bullwhips, the top-heavy man's whip crackled with thunder rather than a pop. A thunder that shook the windrider like an earthquake. "Stop letting them Desert folks' talk get to your head, Gasuto!"

"B-b-but boss-"

"I said shut up!" snarled the top-heavy man with a foot stamp that reverberated through the windrider and into the sands below. Subsequently, as the force of the foot stamp kicked up a tidal wave of sand, the top-heavy man pointed at the silhouette of a city that could be seen in the distance. "Just keep blowing Gasuto! Just keep us sailing to Iram! There ain't not witches in these sands! But there are rock beasts! And if we don't get to Iram before sunset, we're gonna have to deal with them all night long! I'd much rather deal with some fake witches than some real monsters! So don't you stop for nothing!"

"Y-y-yes Rizado. But, uwa! I don't like this!" sniffled Gasuto, the cloaked man, as he did as he was told and continued to keep the windrider en route towards Iram. "I don't like this one bit!"

"Will you just be quiet already‽"

"Hmm. Rizado. He may have a point,"

"What‽ Not you too Bangu!" gasped Rizado, the top-heavy man, as he whirled away from Gasuto and towards a finely dressed and masked man whom was seated in a corner of the windrider. "Don't tell me that you believe in this superstitious nonsense as well‽"

"Those clouds, they're not water vapor..." murmured Bangu more to himself than to Rizado naught but an instant before the thunderclouds began to coalesce and reshape themselves into a funnel cloud! "...they're eternano!"

"What‽ No way!" exclaimed Rizado in disbelief as the funnel cloud dived towards the windrider with all of the grace and haste of a peregrine falcon! "Ahh! Abandon ship! Abandon ship!"

"Uwa!" screamed Gasuto as Bangu, Rizado, and him jumped overboard. Subsequently; before Bangu, Gasuto and Rizado managed to so much as land on the ground; the funnel cloud pierced into the windrider as if it was a giant spear and then completely and utterly destroyed the windrider with gales that tore the windrider asunder and lightning that burned the windrider into ashes. Before long; just as Bangu, Gasuto and Rizado were landing on the ground; the windrider had been reduced to nothing but a roaring sandstorm of cinders and sawdust.

"Wh-wh-what the‽" stammered Rizado in disbelief. Not at the sight of the funnel cloud. Nor at the sight of the windrider's destruction. But rather, at the sight of the fact that the funnel cloud was harmlessly swinging around a chained and locked down casket. A casket that had been on the deck of the windrider. And thus, most definitely should have been destroyed with the windrider. "What in the world‽"

"It's a witch! It's a witch!"

"Sh-sh-shut up!" screamed Rizado at Gasuto as he struggled to push himself off the ground and onto his feet, because a tremble in his knees was making it difficult from him to muster up any of his legs' strength. "It's not a witch! It's not a witch damn it!"

"It's a mage!" gasped Bangu as his right hand was obscured by a blinding light. Subsequently, after the light had dimmed and then faded, an assault rifle could be seen in Bangu's right hand. "It's a goddamn mage!"

"That thing's a mage‽" exclaimed Gasuto as the funnel cloud exploded into a shockwave of air and debris! The shockwave washed over Bangu, Gasuto and Rizado like a tsunami, sweeping the three of them off of their feet and throwing them about. "Uwa! Uwa! How is this a mage‽"

"Damn it!" cursed Bangu as he crashed into the ground and then rolled into a quick rise to his feet. Immediately afterward, where the funnel cloud had been, Bangu could see a fair-skinned lad with blonde hair and baby blue eyes. The lad was casually dressed in a jacket, a hoodie, checkered pants, and tennis shoes. As if he was some sort of schoolboy. Yet he was also floating in the air with the casket hovering above his right hand. And thus a Wind Magician of great power and skill rather than the mere schoolboy that he appeared to be

"Explain yourself!" demanded Rizado with a halfhearted lash of his bullwhip."Who are you‽ What do you want‽ And why did you attack us‽"

"I don't need to explain myself to you..." began the lad as a gust from his right palm cut off all of the chains and locks that were on the casket. "...only him,"

"Huh? What? Him?" asked Rizado with a glance at Bangu and then Gasuto. "He's just a street urchin, right‽"

"Yeah, well, I mean..." murmured Bangu without dropping his guard or losing his aim at the lad. "...as far as we know, I guess?"

"Oh great witch! W-w-we thought he was just a brat with traces of eternano! W-we just wanted to sell him into slavery for a quick buck!" sobbed Gasuto in a squeaky and trembling voice. "We didn't want to hurt him or nothing! And we didn't know he was yours! Honestly! I swear!"

"He's not a witch!" hissed Rizado as he clenched his fists and thereby hardened all of the nearby sand into rocks. "He's just dead if he doesn't answer my damn questions!"

"Heh," chuckled the lad with a snap of his right fingers and a spark of electricity that burned and shattered the casket into a myriad of embers and splinters.

"Huh?" squeaked the scrawny and short boy whom had been encased and trapped within the casket. "Ahh! What‽ I'm free? And I'm flying‽ What?"

"You see‽ It's just a kid!" spat Rizado with an indignant wave of his right fist. Rizado then chuckled and smirked at the lad. "Ha! I bet you feel stupid for wasting all this effort and time on-"

"3 months,"

"Huh?" uttered Bangu, the boy, Gasuto, and Rizado in response to the lad's out-of-nowhere proclamation.

"If you agree to stay with me from 3 months, I'll save you from those 3. That's only a month per captor! Great deal, right?"

"Huh‽" exclaimed Bangu, the boy, Gasuto, and Rizado in response to the lad's out-of-nowhere offer. The lad furrowed his brows and puffed his cheeks. He then pointed his left hand at Bangu, Gasuto, and Rizado.

"These guys want to sell you into slavery?" explained the lad in a tone of exasperation. "You know what this is, right?"

"Of course I know what that is!"

"Well then, if you don't want to be a slave, you should accept my offer. If you're willing to stay with me for 3 months; just 3 months; I'll be willing to save you from those three," explained the lad with a wave of his left hand.

"Oh that does it!" growled Rizado an instant before he outstretched his arms and thereby opened an enormous hole in the rocky ground that he had made around himself. "Bangu! Gasuto! Waste him!"

"Wild West! (Romaji: Wairudo Uesu; Kana: ワイルド・ウエス)" called Bangu as he began to use his assault rifle to fire a thick and wide stream of bullets that meandered into the air and towards the boy and the lad.

"W-W-Welkin Wail! (Romaji: Uerukin Ueru; Kana: ウエルキン・ウエル)" hesitantly spluttered Gasuto an instant before he began to scream a draconic and spiraling updraft towards the boy and the lad.

"Gaea Burp! (Romaji: Gaia Bapu; Kana: ガイア・バプ)" roared Rizado as an elephant-sized cannonball of magma erupted out of the hole and towards the boy and the lad.

"Drop, (Romaji: Doroppu; Kana: ドロップ)" cooed the lad as an invisible hand of compressed air dropped from him and towards Bangu, Gasuto, and Rizado. As the hand descended towards Bangu, Gasuto, and Rizado; the hand deflected the bullets from Bangu, broke apart and through the updraft that was being screamed out by Gasuto, smashed Rizado's cannonball of magma into a hail of molten rocks!

"What‽" hollered Rizado as bullets and magma rained around Bangu, Gasuto, and him. "What did he do‽"

"Th-th-that's amazing!" breathed the boy as Bangu, Gasuto, and Rizado scrambled about in order to avoid being pelted by a rock or shot by a bullet. Not long after; Bangu, Gasuto, and Rizado screamed for all of a second as the invisible hand dropped onto the three of them with enough force to embed the three of face-first into the ground! "Simply amazing! Who are you?"

"Tsuyu Cloudburst," answered the lad as Rizado jumped to his feet with bloodshot eyes and gnashing teeth. "And you?"

"K-K-Kanki Droughty," answered the boy just as Rizado was beginning his counterattack.

"Quake Shot! (Romaji: Kueiku Shotto; Kana: クェイク・ショット)" chanted Rizado as he lashed his whip in Kanki and Tsuyu's direction. Subsequently, the whip's thunder quaked the earth and thereby launched a myriad of rocks off the ground and towards Kanki and Tsuyu.

"Aqua Lash! (Romaji: Akua Rasshu; Kana: アクア・ラッシュ)" chimed Tsuyu as a drip of water appeared on the tip of his left index finger. Immediately afterward, Tsuyu's left arm blurred into a flurry of swings as Tsuyu elongated the drip into a whip made of naught but water and then used the whip to either smack away or smash apart all of the rocks that would have hit Kanki and him.

"Gather Earth! (Romaji: Gyazaa Aasu; Kanji: ギャザー・アース)" growled Rizado with clenched teeth as he clasped his hands together and thereby caused all of the rocks thatmissed Kanki and Tsuyu to surge towards Kanki and Tsuyu from all directions!

"Zeus Mantle! (Romaji: Zeusu Manto; Kana: ゼウス・マント)" grunted Tsuyu as he enshrouded Kanki and him in an aura of electricity that managed to ward off all of the incoming rocks with naught but the sheer force and volume of its thunder!

"You have got to be kidding me!" cried Rizado as the last of his rocks were destroyed by the thunder of the Zeus Mantle and just as Bangu and Gasuto were awakening and standing up. "Bangu! Gasuto! We've got no choice!"

"So, Kanki, what's it going to be?" asked Tsuyu as Bangu, Gasuto, and Rizado began to flare their magical auras! Bangu began to smolder with gunsmoke, a tornado arose from Gasuto, and Rizado began to shake the ground like an earthquake! "Slavery forever, or me for three months?"

"Y-y-you! I chose you!" screamed Kanki more at what Bangu, Gasuto, and Rizado were doing than at Tsuyu. "N-n-now hurry! They're doing something!"

"Unison Raid! (Romaji: Yunizon Reido; Kana: ユニゾン・レイド)" roared Bangu, Gasuto, and Rizado as one as the three of them thrust their arms in Kanki and Tsuyu's direction and then proceeded to use tornadoes of tephra to propel elephant-sized bullets of molten tungsten towards Kanki and Tsuyu.

"Alrighty then..." started Tsuyu as he used Requip to conjure a longsword into his left hand and then gritted his teeth as he elongated a funnel cloud from the guard of the longsword. "...Cloud Nine! (Romaji: Kuraudo Nine; Kana: クラウド・ナイン)" chanted Tsuyu as he slashed the longsword in Bangu, Gasuto, and Rizado's direction and thereby swung the funnel cloud through the air and towards Bangu, Gasuto, and Rizado. Much to Bangu, Gasuto, and Rizado's horror, the funnel cloud pulled the entirety of their Unison Raid out of the air and into an orbit around itself! Immediately afterward, the funnel cloud hacked and slashed the Unison Raide into eternano and then began to carve a fissure into the earth as it whiplashed along the ground and continued its path towards Bangu, Gasuto, and Rizado!

"I told you! I told you! It's a witch! He's a witch! There's no way he's a mage! He's a witch! He's a witch I tells ya!" cried Gasuto as Bangu, Rizado, and him attempted to run away from the incoming funnel cloud.

"SSSHHHUUUTTT UUUPPP!" screamed Rizado naught but a moment before Bangu, Gasuto, and him were caught and torn apart by the funnel cloud...

"That's not amazing..." thought Kanki as the funnel cloud dissipated into air and as he futilely searched the area for any of the non-existent remnants of Bangu, Gasuto, and Rizado. "...that's terrifying,"

"Mhm. I have fulfilled my part of our deal," noted Tsuyu as he dropped out of the sky and landed on the ground. Subsequently, with a snap of his fingers, Tsuyu dropped Kanki out of his hover and into a face-first drop onto the ground. "Now you must fulfill yours,"

"They were clearly weaker than you," groaned Kanki as he rubbed his face and spat out dirt. "Did you need to kill them?"

"No,"

"Then why‽" asked Kanki with a slam of his hand onto the ground. "Because they attacked you? I mean, that's fair I guess. Because they were slavers? Please tell me it was because they were slavers! That would actually be good,"

"What? No!" refuted Tsuyu in a snort. "Are you stupid? Slavers are a dime a dozen in these parts! If I set out to kill them all I would be killing for all eternity!"

"Then-"

"I killed them..." began Tsuyu with a dismissive wave if his hand. "...because killing is easier than holding back,"

"...what?"

"Because killing easier than-"

"I heard what you said but..." interjected Kanki in a snappish tone. "...what? Cause it was easier than holding back? That's it? You took three lives only because sparing them would have required a bit more effort‽"

"Uhh, yeah?"

"...who, exactly, have I just agreed to stick around for three months?" wondered Kanki as Tusyu stretched and yawn like a cat that had just finished playing torture the mouse. "And, more importantly, why does he want me to be with him to begin with‽"

"Oh; by the way; we're not going to Iram," said Tsuyu in a dark chuckle that sent a chill up Kanki's spine. "And all of the peanut gallery's food and water was destroyed with their windrider,"

"...what are you getting at?" hesitantly asked Kanki in a squeak as Tsuyu turned to face Kanki and thereby revealed the devious and toothy grin that was on his face. "Tsu-Tsu-Tsuyu! Wh-what are you getting at?"

"3 months,"

"What?"

"If you want to eat any of my food or drink any of my water; it'll cost you 3 more months per article of food and cup of water," explained Tsuyu in the happy-go-lucky tone of voice of an excitable child whom was finally going on a much awaited field trip.

"...WHAT‽" exclaimed Kanki with his mouth dropped into a gape. "WHY‽"

"Bitch I ain't a charity," was all the answer that Tsuyu gave Kanki before he turned and walked away. "Now come on. I don't like to camp where I've killed people. It's creepy. Oh. And the death attracts rock beasts. Lots of rock beasts,"

"R-r-rock beasts‽"

"Hurry up Kanki! Before I kill you for reneging on our deal~" called Tsuyu from a distance as he skipped off like a frolicking schoolgirl. Kanki gawked at how little Tsuyu cared about the possibility of a fight with rock beasts of all things and then hurried after Tsuyu. Before long, Kanki managed to catch up to Tsuyu and Kanki and Tsuyu began their journey together.