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It was another beautiful day in the Kingdom of Fiore. The sun shined its bright light onto the green pastures and stone roads as people went to and fro. In Magnolia Town, there was a three story building adorned with three flags. The middle flag being a red one with the symbol of a winged tail. This was the Fairy Tail Guild, one of the most well known guilds in the kingdom.
Inside, several guild members were going about their usual business. Eating, drinking, and chatting it up while discussing jobs and recent experiences. It was a moment of definite happiness and tranquility.
Sorry folks, this apparently can’t last…
Almost as if in cue, the door burst open as a familiar fiery individual kicked it open. Natsu was never one to do things the subtle way, and today was no exception. His friends Happy and Lucy were right by his side, bringing a smile to some of their guild members’ faces. Though there was a fourth person with them who caught everyone’s attention.
“Jeez Natsu, would you keep it do-” Gray was about to let loose another insult at his rival. But his focus shifted toward the new person currently sitting on Natsu’s shoulders. As the young individual got down and stood on the floor, some more members of the guild began to gain interest. “Hey, what’s with the kid?”
The child in question was currently looking around the place, his bright starry eyes filled with adorable curiosity. His skin had a slight pinkish tint to it, going along well with his head full of bright pink hair. He appeared to be roughly the same age as Wendy, and was wearing red shorts with a yellow star on one pant leg, red shoes, and a pink sweater with a yellow star in the middle. There was no doubt about it, this kid was just too cute.
Wendy and Carla approached the young man, the former smiling as she offered him her hand. The latter simply glared at him with her usual stoic demeanor. “Hey there, nice to meet ya. I’m Wendy and this is my friend Carla. What’s your name, friend?”
“Poyo! Hey there, I’m Kirby! Nice to meet ya, Wendy!” He said with glee as he shook her hand eagerly.
“It would appear this one is rather childish.” Carla said with a huff.
“Looks like you got a lot of energy, kid. But try to channel it into being tough like a real man!” Elfman chuckled as he gave Kirby a pat on his back. His sister Mirajane came over and smiled as she rubbed the pink child’s head.
“Aww, you’re so cute. Hey Natsu, why didn’t you tell us you had such a cute little brother?”
“Well, I didn’t really kno- HEY, HE’S NOT MY BROTHER!” Natsu practically spat fire in confusion, while Happy simply chuckled at his expense. Lucy was about to make a comment, when Erza suddenly stepped forward. She gave Natsu a stern look as she pointed towards Kirby.
“And just why exactly are you both traveling around with a young child?”
“Bit of a crazy story there, to be honest” Natsu admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck. Lucy decided now would be a good time to chime in to the conversation.
“We were out in the woods on the way back from a mission, when all of a sudden…”
Flashback
The trio were heading through the forest at a steady pace. Natsu and Happy were laughing and joking about how fun the fights they were in had been. Lucy was more exasperated at how once again there was major property damage caused by their antics.
“An entire castle reduced to rubble. Why must it always end up like this?” she sighed to herself as she followed behind the pair.
“Don’t worry, Lucy. We’ll let you have fun during our next fight and see what you end up wrecking.” Happy said with his usual cheeky smile.
“No thanks, cat!”
BWOOM!
Before anything more could be said, the three bore witness to a sight as spectacular as it was unusual. A large glowing multicolored star-shaped portal appeared in the air above them. Natsu stood ready to take on whatever was about to come out, sure that it would attack them. It could be a giant monster, or an insane evil wizard, or…
A child. The next thing they knew, the portal spat out a little pink haired child. Their focus was aimed squarely on the unconscious young man as the portal began to shrink.
“A kid?!” The three of them screamed out as they approached him. He slowly began to stir, opening his eyes to look at the three of them.
“Mmm… Elfilin, Magolor, I think that experiment might've gone wro-” the young stopped when he saw that he was surrounded by unfamiliar faces. “Poyo? Who are you guys? And where am I?”
They all looked at each other for a moment, before Happy decided to make a comment.
“I think today just got REAL interesting…”
End of Flashback
“So we figured we might as well bring him here. Either somebody might know Kirby or they could know a way to get him back.” Lucy finished summarizing, upon which Erza decided to ask about some of the details.
“A star-shaped portal? Perhaps our young friend is from another world, like Edolas.” she theorized. “Speaking of which, what exactly is Kirby doing?”
They all looked over at the bar to see Kirby was currently eating some meat. A rather large piece of meat, much to the shock of some of the guild members.
“Whoa kid, are you really gonna eat all of that? It’s freaking huge!” Elfman said with shock as he saw the star warrior dig into his snack. Kirby looked the larger man straight in the eye and responded with
“Honestly, this isn’t near enough to fill me up. Ya got anything bigger, Elfman?”
Many of them were left shocked at his question, and began to wonder just what was up with this kid. Some got impressed as they watched eat at a rapid pace, almost like he had a black hole for a stomach.
“Well, he’s got quite the appetite. That’s Natsu’s little brother for you.” Mirajane said with a cute laugh
“I told you he’s not my little brother!”
“Is that really such a big deal, Natsu? Romeo’s practically like a little brother to you” Lucy pointed out.
As the Dragonslayer thought that point over, Kirby finished his meal and came back over to the group. He reached out to comfort his new fellow pink haired friend, causing one of his hands to come out of its oversized sleeve. As soon as it made contact with Natsu’s hand, the little rosy cheeked half pint’s body was bathed in white light.
“What the-?!” Everyone cried in shock as they saw Kirby’s power in action. After a few seconds it subsided, and their new friend was… changed, to say the least. A change Kirby could feel as it happened, and it felt all too familiar to him.
“Huh, my Copy Ability? But I haven’t even inhaled anything yet.” Kirby said out loud as he went to a nearby mirror to look himself over. His hair was now adorned with a golden, gem encrusted crown… that was also topped with a blazing fire. Along with that, the star on his shirt had turned into an emblem displaying a raging fire.
“Is that…?” Natsu and Lucy said as they looked at Kirby with surprise.
“Whoa! His head’s on fire!” Happy cried out in shock.
“So… is Kirby a fire magic user?”
“I doubt it. He called it a Copy Ability, so perhaps he can mimic the magic of others. An interesting ability to have, at least” Wendy and Carla said to each other as they observed.
“Huh? Oh yeah, this is my Copy Ability. I can take on different forms when I use it, and each form can either do heavy damage or solve puzzles. Usually both.” Kirby said casually when he noticed everyone’s reaction. “Pretty cool, huh? This is my Fire ability.”
Many of the guild members began to chat about the recent discovery with varying opinions. Some were astonished, while others were speculating how useful such an ability could be. A couple of them were rather openly jealous, especially since said ability was being wielded by a child.
The biggest reaction however came from Natsu himself. Seeing Kirby the first time took him by surprise, which grew into concern when he learned the little guy was far from home. Then the jokes from Mirajane, while a bit annoying to hear, did make him feel a bit fuzzy on the inside. The thought of having a younger sibling admittedly wasn’t so bad in his opinion, especially after growing to see the rest of the guild as family. But seeing his fellow pink haired friend now wielding the same type of power as him… it made him imagine what could’ve been in another life.
As such, he immediately rushed forward and scooped the little pink puff into a big hug. Cheek got nuzzled against rosy cheek as the scarfed fighter smiled from ear to ear.
“Great power, Kirby! That’s a real great look for you, Lil’ Bro!”
“Wait, so NOW you’re cool with him being your little brother?!” Lucy cried out in exasperation.
“Natsu, don’t forget that we still need to return Kirby to his home… somehow.” Erza said, choosing to ignore Lucy. “Though I suppose in the meantime, we can take Kirby in and watch over him. Perhaps he could even become a member of Fairy Tail…”
“Really?! That’d be great! In that case, lemme just say to all of you… HIIIII!” Kirby called out in the cutest voice you can imagine.
As Natsu put Kirby back down on the ground, the latter’s stomach began to rumble. This caused the (presumably) young man to ask a simple innocent question.
“Hey big bro, can we go out for ice cream?” Kirby looked up at his newly appointed older brother with excitement in his eyes. As Natsu looked down at his surrogate sibling, the Dragonslayer only had one response.
“Only if you’re good, kid. Now come on, lil bro, let’s get you joined up with the guild. Then we can figure out how to get you back home.”