"Hmph!" Natsu proudly slung his backpack to the ground with a loud thud and started pulling out his treasures. "These are the must-haves for delivering a dragon baby!"
First, he held up a wooden basin. "When a dragon's born, you've gotta clean off the placenta. Hot water's perfect for that."
Next, he pulled out a bottle filled with white liquid. "After a bath, it's feeding time. Gotta eat plenty to grow big and strong!"
Then came a massive syringe, as thick as a baby's arm, filled with murky green liquid. "Next up is antibiotics. I didn't know what those were, and none of the shops in Magnolia had any. But on my way back, a roadside merchant stopped me. Said he had something similar—called it an 'anti-stress agent.' Sounded close enough, so I bought it."
Finally, he yanked out a handful of grass seeds and a huge chunk of raw meat. "Milk alone might not be enough. If the dragon's shorter than Gray, it'll feel inferior. So I got meat and veggies too!"
He stuffed everything back into his giant backpack, wiped his nose, and grinned proudly. "I gathered all the knowledge from Erza, Mirajane, Rogue, Cana, Levy, Macao, Wakaba, and Lisanna!"
His eyes sparkled as he slipped into a daydream. "With this, my dragon's gonna grow taller and stronger than Igneel! It'll even beat Igneel in a fight! Heh heh heh…" He chuckled to himself, already picturing himself soaring through the skies on a massive dragon.
The guild fell silent. Everyone stared at his pile of "treasures," then at the pitiful egg, sweatdropping. With this setup, even a real dragon wouldn't survive a month!
Levy was the first to rush forward. "Natsu! There's no dragon care guide in any book! Mixing all this stuff will hurt your… uh… dragon!"
"No way!" Natsu scoffed, unconvinced. "Roasted meat's delicious, juice is tasty—how could combining them hurt me?"
"It's totally different!" Erza groaned, clutching her forehead, trying to figure out how to reason with this blockhead.
Crack… crackle…
A faint but clear cracking sound cut through the air, instantly grabbing everyone's attention.
It came from the giant egg in the basin! A thin crack spread rapidly across the shell!
"It's hatching!!!" Natsu scrambled in excitement, frantically laying out the basin, bottle, syringe, and everything else, ready for action.
Crack!
The top of the eggshell shattered, revealing a small opening!
Whoosh!
A dazzling blue light shot out, like a tiny meteor, blasting toward the guild's ceiling! In midair, it exploded with a soft pop into countless twinkling blue specks, drifting down like stardust.
As the light faded, a blue kitten with tiny wings hovered shakily in the air, flapping clumsily.
"A cat?!?!" the entire guild gasped in unison, jaws hitting the floor.
Natsu froze, eyes wide as bells. "∑(O_O; A dragon… hatched into a cat?!"
Cana facepalmed. "=_=|| That proves it's not a dragon egg, obviously."
The little blue cat, seemingly tired from flying, wobbled down and landed right on Natsu's messy pink hair. The moment it touched him, its tiny wings vanished with a pop like bursting bubbles.
The kitten stretched out a tiny pink paw, gently patted Natsu's forehead, and let out a soft, clear mew: "Aye!"
The warm, fuzzy feeling on his head melted away all of Natsu's disappointment and obsession with dragons. His lips curved into a goofy grin. "I… I've got my own Little Blue!!"
He carefully lifted the kitten from his head.
Rogue raised an eyebrow. "=_=? Little Blue?"
"Yeah!" Natsu held the cat up, nuzzling its face. "Cana's dog is called Little White 'cause it's all white! My cat's all blue, so it's Little Blue!"
He moved to dunk the kitten into the basin of hot water.
"Wait!" Rogue shouted, stopping him. "What are you doing?"
"Giving it a bath!" Natsu said, confused.
Rogue sighed. "It's clean already! Newborn kittens are fragile—water could make it sick!"
"It's Little Blue!" Natsu insisted, then looked at the fluffy, spotless kitten and nodded hesitantly. "Yeah… it does look pretty clean." He set the basin aside.
Rogue eyed the kitten's blue fur and muttered, "Don't you think 'Little Blue' sounds weird? Imagine if Igneel adopted Gray first, then you, and named you 'Graz.' Would you like that?"
Natsu exploded. "Why would I wanna be like that droopy-eyed jerk?!" He scratched his cheek, though, realizing Rogue had a point.
Frowning, he closed his eyes, deep in thought for a few seconds. Then his face lit up, and he shouted, "I got it! It was born in the guild, where everyone's happy! Let's call it Happy! Full of joy!"
He raised the kitten, gazing into its round eyes with a warm, radiant smile. "I want it to grow up happy with me!"
"Whoa!" The guild was stunned. Was this the same Natsu who only cared about fighting and could barely read?
While Natsu stepped away to grab something, Levy whispered, "Actually… besides that care book, Natsu borrowed a book on naming from me. It had stuff like that in it…"
Gray shook his head in disbelief. "That guy… he really went all out for this egg."
Cana smirked. "Weren't you the one mocking him for spending 5000J on a 'dragon egg'? Good thing he learned from that, or with his firepower now, Happy might not have made it."
All eyes turned to Natsu, who was staring at Happy, puzzled. "A winged cat? The books didn't say what to feed it… probably milk, like a regular kitten?" He grabbed the oversized bottle and held it to Happy's mouth.
The scent of milk made Happy's nose twitch. It instinctively grabbed the bottle with its tiny paws, squinted happily, and started guzzling with a glug glug.
Its adorable, satisfied look melted everyone's hearts.
"So cute!" the guild chorused in awe.
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