One final large jump later, Erza landed in an open field. Hearing the thump of a body behind her, she turned to face Naruto who was looking around curiously. Narrowing her eyes when he wasn't looking, she scrutinised the blond. He wasn't showing a hint of fatigue after all that running despite keeping pace with her. Erza probably had the highest levels of stamina in the guild so meeting someone who had just as much energy as her was unusual.
Dropping to the ground in a wide split, Erza reached for her toes as she warmed her muscles up. Seeing the girl stretching, Naruto gave her a curious glance before shrugging and beginning some gentle exercises himself.
If she wanted to fight him, who was he to say no?
XxXxXxX
Levy and Lucy were now standing at the training ground with both their mouths open a little as they watched the show going on before them. The conversation they were previously having was completely forgotten as they watched the two combatants dance for them. For how energetically they were going at it, the girls guessed that they must have been doing at it for over fifteen minutes. But with them having only just left maybe twenty minutes ago, that means they made it all the way out here in just over five minutes.
"Wow... I had no idea he's be able to keep up with Erza-san of all people..."
"Uh-ha..."
What made them even more nervous though was that during the brief flashes they could see, both fighters had huge grins on their faces, looking like they were having all the fun in the world. Tearing her eyes away from the spectacle, Levy made herself walk to a free bench and start sorting out her books. Lucy followed and began laying out her pile as well.
"So, what's the next step with Naruto-san?"
Levy showcased some impressive multitasking abilities as she continued to talk while sorting through her material. "Well, now that we can talk a bit with Naruto, I wouldn't mind learning his language. I'm expecting that I'd be able to pick it up faster than he would, so doing that means no more annoying pieces of paper. It'll probably take me a few days, but I'll get it soon enough. For how weird it sounds though, I think his syllabary doesn't have all that many more characters than our own, so thankfully that will make it pretty easy to pick up. Every now and then though he throws in a new symbol I haven't seen. Some seem to double up on meanings though so it's becoming a game of pick and choose what character I'd like to use."
Lucy sweat dropped and just nodded, quite happy she wasn't the one tasked with translating Naruto directly. Dropping down beside her friend, she turned her eyes back to the two fighters and let out a sigh.
"What's wrong?"
Resting her chin in a palm, Lucy gave Levy a lopsided grin. "Oh, it's nothing. It's just that all of a sudden, this random boy pops out of nowhere and he's as strong as Erza! I'm just wondering how long it'll be before I'm as strong as them."
Smiling up at her friend, Levy patted her arm. "Soon Luce, real soon, I'm sure of it! Just keep practicing and I bet in maybe a year or two, you'll soon be in the middle of fights just like that."
Lucy shivered as Levy went back to organising papers. "I certainly wouldn't be in something like that by choice..."
Hearing a final boom, both girls looked over to see Naruto and Erza spring apart, each wiping a light coating of sweat from their brows.
"Well done! It's been a while since I've had a fight like that. Come take a break before we get started again."
Erza then sighed as Naruto gave her a clueless look. Waving him over, she pointed at the seat and made a tipping motion with her hand like she was drinking something. Understanding springing to his face, he nodded happily and ran over, passing Erza as she calmly walked back.
Reaching the seat, he looked around for a bottle but didn't find one. Looking back at Erza, he shrugged. Rolling her eyes, the woman let out a sigh before pointing at a bubbler. Wondering what it was, Naruto wandered over to it, walking around the pole a few times. Tapping it, he grasped the handle and twisted, receiving a blast of water to his face. Coughing and spluttering, he stumbled back and wiped his eyes as all three girls burst out laughing. Sneezing once, Naruto looked at them through a half opened eye and blushed slightly, though grinning all the same. Erza shook her head with a smile as Naruto tried again and looked down at the smallest of the three.
"So what do you think will be happening next? I'd imagine you'd want to learn his language."
Nodding, Levy flicked through a few pages that had most of Naruto's alphabet on it. "Yep! I nearly understand his written language so from that, I want to start talking to him without paper. Then, I can teach him our language!"
Erza smiled at her and placed a hand on her head. "As I'd expect of you. I do ask that you try and learn it as fast as you can though. I'm quickly growing tired of writing to him like he's my pen pal."
Chuckling to herself, Levy blushed at the praise. "Oh, it's nothing special, just doing what I can. Anyway, here's that pen and the translating piece of paper. I'd assume he'd have some questions for you. Oh, and I also tweaked it so it will pick up any mistakes and correct them as the chance comes."
Nodding, Erza walked over to Naruto and found him wiping his mouth as he finished drinking. Handing him the pen and paper, she refreshed herself as Naruto started scribbling away on the paper. Wiping her own mouth, she accepted the question.
"So howe did yu get so srong? Nd what was up with the glow body?"
Erza chuckled and started writing. "To answer your first question, just lots of hard work. As for the second, that's my magic, requip."
Handing it back, Naruto studied the paper before he looked up at Erza in confusion. He handed her the paper back.