#anyway this little salamander made a HUGE impression on me apparently because I think about him weirdly often for some reason

[curiosityschild]

It's Dippo!

I was going to leave a snarky comment like wow have none of you ever watched Land Before Time because it's clearly the salamander from one of those movies but after extensive study of the Land Before Time Wikipedia page I discovered I was wrong actually! Dippo is from Dink, the Little Dinosaur! Which is a series I had completely forgotten about!

hammerhead salamander

[firedragonalchemistofcourage]

A/N: I am notoriously bad at coming up with names. You may have noticed none of my one-shots even have one. When this AU was still going to be a two-shot, I figured it didn’t need a name. In fact, it’s saved in my drafts as just “Super Fairy Tail,” which makes it sound like an old SNES tie-in game for the show. But now I’m planning on at least five chapters, and I can’t come up with a good name. I want it to be something cheesy and Silver Age superhero-y, that relates to both Natsu and Lucy, but I just can’t come up with anything. If you have any ideas, feel free to message me and I’ll credit you when Part 3 comes out! (Great tip for successful writing: If you can’t come up with anything, ask your fans to do the work for you! That’s all they’re good for anyway, right? (The previous statement was merely a poor attempt at humor, I love all of you and thank you for reading the garbage I put out on an irregular basis))

(Find Part One here)

“Seriously, how do you mess up this bad? I’m majoring in chemistry, why would I ever want to take a creative writing class?” Going in to school during his winter break was never Natsu’s favorite pastime. Waiting in an enormous line to see his adviser to fix his messed-up schedule was even worse.

Well, now was as good a time as any to check his phone. Let’s see, a message from Gray, “Hey flame-breath, how’d you like your presents this year?” Natsu hadn’t even set up a tree this year, but Gray had still fulfilled his annual tradition of sneaking into Natsu’s dorm room and placing a present, labeled “From Santa,” with a piece of coal inside. Even more impressive this year, considering Gray had moved to a city three hours’ drive away from Magnolia over the summer. A couple messages from Juvia, “Have you seen Gray? Juvia can’t seem to find him,” followed by “Never mind, he’s back now.” Both dated Christmas Eve. Man, I need to check my phone more often. A...voicemail from Erza? Why didn’t she just text him?

“Natsu, you know I can’t get you your Christmas present if you don’t tell me what classes you’re taking next semester.” Erza had apparently wanted to continue her tradition, too. Unfortunately, he had forgotten to tell her his schedule, so she couldn’t buy his school books for him this semester. Might be just as well that I didn’t tell her, if I can’t get this mix-up sorted out soon.

One last message on his phone, a text from Gramps, sent this morning:

“Brat,

Get down to the orphanage as soon as you can. There’s someone here you need to meet.

Signed,

Makarov Dreyar”

It always annoyed Natsu that Gramps couldn’t just type out his message like a normal person, but that irritation was overshadowed by a strange curiosity. Something about this seemed off. As if Gramps was intentionally holding back information, not for the sake of a surprise, he never did that, but because he had something to hide. This could only mean it had something to do with the Other Guy. (Even thinking his name in a public place is dangerous. Never know who might be a telepath) Maybe Gramps had found some clues, or a witness had turned up?

“Hey, man, stop holding the line up! You can check your phone later!” Startled, Natsu looked up to realize the person behind him was right. The line had moved pretty far forward while he was checking his messages.

“Sorry!” he said, taking a step forward...And bumping into the girl walking past him, accidentally knocking her open backpack out of her hands, where the contents spilled all over the floor.

“Ouch! Hey, watch where you’re going!” She knelt to pick up her stuff, and Natsu, looking back and forth between the line (There were only three people in front of him now!) and the huge mess on the floor, sighed, stepped out of line, and started helping her pick it up.

“Sorry. Here, let me help.” As the incredibly long line moved forward without Natsu, the girl looked at it for a second, then shook her head and held out her hand.

“No, it’s not entirely your fault. I should have been paying attention, too. My name’s Lucy. You didn’t have to get out of line to help me, you know.”

“I’m Natsu. And yes, I did. I’m cleaning up the mess I made here. Annd...Looks like that’s the last paper!” After handing it to her, Natsu turned to head to the back of the line, until he heard Lucy gasp.

“Where is it? Did it fall off when he bumped into me?” Natsu turned back around to see Lucy fumbling around in her backpack.

“Hey, what’s wrong? Did we miss something?”

“Yeah, my key-or, well, no, it’s not really a key, it just looks like one-an old charm my mom gave me, it looks like an elaborate golden key, and I really need to find it. Could you help me again? I’m really sorry, I just-it’s just really important to me, and I don’t want to lose it.”

Natsu glared at the line for a second. Why were none of them volunteering to help this girl? None of them were even looking in her direction. He sighed, and got back down on his knees.

An hour later, Natsu and Lucy were still searching. They had covered the entire room multiple times, but still they couldn’t seem to find it. Natsu and Lucy had gotten to talking while they were searching, and Natsu learned Lucy had just moved here a few weeks ago in preparation for the new semester, that she was an English major, that she really didn’t want to talk about her father, and that she loved superheroes. Her favorites were the new one, Zodiac Girl, and of course the hotshot hero of Magnolia himself, Salamander. (Natsu smiled a bit when he heard that. Good to know Salamander’s hard work wasn’t going unappreciated)

“So, uh, why are you here today?” Natsu asked her.

“Buying books. My creative writing professor wants us to get the book he wrote, which of course is only available here, at a stupidly expensive price. I swear, I’m going to be so mad if this Professor Clive’s book isn’t all it’s cracked up to be…”

Wait a second. Wasn’t Clive the name of one of his professors? Natsu quickly dug out his schedule and checked.

Yep. Professor Gildarts Clive, teaching a Creative Writing course at 9:00 am on Mondays and Wednesdays. Honestly, if it weren’t for the early start, Natsu might have kept the class despite not needing it for his major. He’d heard Professor Clive was a pretty cool guy.

“And I knew I should have signed up sooner! His stupid 9 am course was the only one left!” Huh. Looked like she was gonna be in the same class as him.

“So, why’d you come here, Natsu? What were you doing in line?”

Natsu’s brain went into overdrive:

Step 1: Help out a pretty girl

Step 2: Be in the same class as said girl

Step 3:????

Step 4: Gray can never tease me about not having a girlfriend again!

“Oh, uh, just checking up on some stuff with my adviser. What time did you say your class was again? I think I might be in that one, too.”

“Professor Clive’s 9 am class on Mondays and Wednesdays?” Lucy asked, peering at the schedule Natsu held out to her, “Wow, that’s so weird! Well, I guess I’ll see you there!”

YES!

“If we can ever find my charm, that is.”

NO!

“Wait-”

MAYBE?

“What’s-Natsu, you’re not going to believe this.”

“What? Did you find it?”

“I am so sorry, but-it was in my pocket the whole time!”

Natsu’s jaw dropped. In Lucy’s hand was what looked like a large key, shining gold, with a complex design on it.

“I guess, uh, thanks for helping me look for so long. Here, let me make it up to you. Give me your phone.” Somehow both mentally crying out in anguish over all the time he’d spent and cheering over the way the current situation seemed to be headed, Natsu handed Lucy his phone.

She snickered for a second, then started outright laughing.

“What is it?” Natsu asked, before realizing it could only be one thing.

“I-I’m sorry,” Lucy sputtered, “But I really wasn’t expecting-that-as your background.”

“What’s wrong with Happy the Cat? It’s a great educational show!”

“Yeah, for little kids trying to learn about different types of fish. From someone like you, I’d expected a picture of Salamander, or maybe the Scarlet Queen.”

“Well, I just so happen to like fish. So there.” Natsu pulled his phone back and stuck his tongue out at Lucy.

“Alright, fine, I’ll stop. *Ahem* So, uh, back to what I was saying before, why don’t I treat you to lunch tomorrow? I’d do it today, but I’ve kept you from your line long enough. I’ll text you the details later. Bye!”

It wasn’t until after Natsu had gotten back up to the front of the line that he realized that, since he had decided to keep Creative Writing, he really had no reason to be waiting to see his adviser anymore.