It was a rarity for the master to make such strange, sudden and serious announcements in the middle of the day on stage. This either meant excitement or complete life-or-death situations were about to arise. Little did they know that it would be both?

So when the short, extremely old man clambered up the stairs at the side with Gildarts, Laxus and Mirajane following, Levy had to do a double-take. Her animated conversation with Jet faded as she scrutinised the scene unfolding in front of her.

"Excuse me you brats!" The master shouted all of a sudden. The guild fell silent hanging on the edge of each word he spoke. With his eyes slightly closed the Master said in a throaty voice: "As you may or may not have known according to the rumours Mira has possibly spread" – he gave a pointed looked at the bikini-model to his side, who blushed bashfully – "I have decided to reinstate another S-Class trial this time" – roars followed this statement, allowing the entire guild to resort to a brouhaha. It was Gildarts who broke the tie of chaos. "QUIET WHEN THE MASTER SPEAKS!"

"Thank you," Makarov said only briefly looking at the destruction wizard. "As I was saying, I have already decided the candidates for this year. There will be ten, yet the most of them aren't currently here. I will be having another announcement to present the candidates."

Whispers echoed.

"Also I would like to say that within the next few days we'll be having a few guests to help me with the tri…"

Master Makarov was cut off suddenly when they heard a bang come from the guild doors and suddenly a pink-haired mage busted through the doors, shouting in excitement: "We've arrived, fairies!"

Levy's jaw dropped in surprise when she saw the pink-haired girl with curves that could compete against Lucy's full figure. The new girl was dressed in a black kukuta with white and gold linings as her curly hair framed her heart-shaped face. She seemed to be extremely mature and serious when you first saw her with the carefully picked outfit and his shockingly gorgeous face, but then she doubled over laughing.

"Gosh, your faces are all HILARIOUS!" she shrieked in amusement.

Soon Levy noticed another figure running in after her – another girl, but this time with wild and long blue hair tied up into a pony-tail with piercings dotted all across her face. She was also clad in mostly black, but with black and blue accessories dotting her outfit for more to look at. Her jeans were fashionably ripped and her leather jacket fit snugly on her small figure. She also had the most adolescent face Levy had ever seen, with multiple spots of acne and slight oily hair. She also seemed to carry herself with quite discomfort.

"I'm sorry guys," she said rather loudly. "This idiot" – she punched the first one on the arm – "keeps running into every other guild claiming it to be Fairy Wing or something. This is it right?"

"It's Fairy Tail," the first one said with sudden seriousness in her tone. "I thought you were supposed to be the smart one."

"That's us!" someone shouted from the crowd who was now focused on the newcomers.

"Ha!" the pink-haired girl said suddenly with the statement directed at the pierced girl. She on the other hand sighed.

"You must be the newcomers," Mirajane said and walked down the stage's stairs. She came up through the crowd to meet the two dishevelled teens. "Where are the others?"

"Oh they're coming any moment now," the pink-haired girl said.

The pierced girl scoffed and muttered under her breath, "That is if Selene didn't manage to ambush another bar."

"Oh come on, Giselle - Stop being grumpy!"

As if on cue another set of teens ran into the guild, half of them out of breath, especially the one with the big cloak and a set of swords tied to his back. He was red in the face (or what you could see of it) and his shoelaces were both untied. His arms and neck were wrapped in bandages and there was an eyepatch on his left eye. Levy felt threatened just by looking at him, so she averted her gaze.

There was another girl with dark curls and carefully folded hands. Her nails were painted navy and white and she also had piercings, but only a set of earrings of two water drops. Her dress went down to her knees and below she wore brown leather boots. Her face was covered by her black locks and she was constantly fidgeting with the beanie on her head.

The other odd two were twins, both boys. They had their orange/ginger hair parted both sides and wore simple, cotton suits with satin ties. They seemed to radiate confidence and an aura that Levy was pretty sure was abnormally familiar in the sense that they didn't belong there (not in a bad way). Suddenly a little girl with hot-pink hair and a little with dress came running up to the twins and tackled the one on the right yelling, "Big brother Li!"

She seemed to realise what she did and exclaimed in shock, "Gomenesai!" and dropped to the floor, still clutching to the unhindered boy's pants leg.

"Is that everyone?" Makarov finally asked as she surveyed the group carefully.

"Not really," the girl with the water-drop earrings spoke up. "Selene still has to turn up, but I'm pretty sure she stayed behind at that bar we saw along the way."

"Trust me," the first girl spoke up once more when she calmed down from her crazed laughter. "She won't be leaving that bar until she's broke."

"Sounds suspiciously like someone I know," Gildarts joked as he glanced at his daughter. Many others laughed at this and even Cana giggled in her tipsy state. She wasn't going to disagree.

"Alright then," Makarov said and with a wave off his hand invited them to the stage. "Come forward and introduce yourselves." The group carefully followed Mirajane up the stage as the guild's eyes followed them.

As they stood in a line in order of appearance, they spontaneously introduced themselves. "Hi, my name's Nashi and I have Satan spawn dragon slayer magic due to a dragon slayer lacrima I had implanted."

"The name's Giselle and I don't like talking about my magic…" the piercing girl said shyly.

"Aww come, Elly! Say it! It's sounds so epic!" Nashi exclaimed, trying to convince her friend.

"Yeah," one of the twins piped up, "Go ahead."

She sighed and mumbled something incoherently to the floor. Laxus frowned. "We didn't quite hear you, kid."

Giselle swallowed. "I have reptilian transformation magic, meaning the only thing I can change into has to be a reptile or something."

"I'm Danielle!" the next one with water-drop earrings said suddenly. "I have water magic!"

"And a stripping habit," the other twin added innocently.

"I don't have a stripping habit!" Danielle defended and glared at said twin. "I just get hot very easily!"

"Button up your shirt darling, your cleavage is showing," he said nonchalantly.

Danielle huffed and unbuttoned another button just to annoy the twin and have many other guild members gawk at her. One moment she was shy and the next that demeanour disappeared instantly with the loss of a shirt button.

"We're the legendary twins of the heavens!" they said in unison.

"I'm Lamina," the one with the hair parted to the right said and the one who scolded Danielle (and with the hair parted to the left) said, "I'm Lemasiin and this is Ari."

The little pinkie waved a small hand in the direction of the crowd and the cooed at her adorableness. "We have the blessing of the house of the Lion so we are pretty much that catnip loving zodiac," Lamina joked.

"And Ari here," Lemasiin added, "Is still developing her magic."

"She's so adorable!" Lisanna squealed. Ari blushed and hid even more in her brother's trousers.

They group turned to the final boy; the one with the hidden face, the eyepatch and the sword.

"He's Storm," Nashi said.

"He doesn't talk much," Danielle added.

"Or at all," the twins added. This seemed to strike a nerve and before anyone knew it, he was fleeing the guild with his cape flying behind him. Nashi sighed heavily.

Mirajane gasped and so did many others in shock when he fled. It had taken them by surprise to see his sudden outburst. Makarov just followed him with his eyes calmly. "I see."

"It's no big deal. He always does that," Danielle explained. "He can't really be around people. I'm surprised he even came along."

"Does he speak?" Levy finally piped up.

"He can, but he hasn't said a word in ages," Lemasiin said.

"Years, actually," Danielle added, slightly softly.

"Well, everyone," Makarov said as he interrupted the conversation. "I would like you to treat them like Fairy Tail does. Now, Mirajane, take them to their rooms and Laxus go find that boy and the other girl."

"'Right, gramps," he said and shot away as fast as lightning. The guild's chaos dispersed and Mirajane led the others to another room at the top floor where two bedrooms were for the new students. Nashi belly-flopped onto the nearest bed with a squeal, Giselle calmly placed her bags on her one bed and the little Ari went over to sit on the bed closest to Nashi. Danielle sighed happily and thanked Mira on her way to the bed closest to the window, leaving one spot open for Selene.

The boys got the other room, but since it was only the twins left at that moment, an immediate pillow-fight ensued. Nimble as cats the two brothers jump, rolled and tackled each other while throwing pillow-hits left and right. The noise caught the girls' attention and before anyone could stop her, Nashi was joining in on the fight while laughing like the giddy-teenager she was.

"What…" Danielle statement was cut short when a pillow struck her face. She froze and so did the twins. A bad idea on their behalf since Nashi had managed to hit them behind the head.

"That's it," Danielle snarled. She grabbed a pillow from Storm's bed and next thing Nashi went flying from the force of her hit.

Nashi's eyes lit up in mischief. She grabbed the pillow and went running after the raven haired girl. She hit, but the pillow-fight master dodged her attack with another one. Of course the Queen lost her crown when all of a sudden Lamina hit her back and she stumbled over Lemasiin who grabbed her ankle and she landed on her ass.

Laughter sounded through the teammates' room as the pillow fight continued. It soon died down when Lamina almost lost a tooth from Danielle's attack.

"Guys?" Nashi asked carefully. "Where do you think Storm is right now?"

Lemasiin shrugged. "I don't know, but he should stop being an asshole!"

Danielle scowled and threw him with another pillow. "You should chill your ego, your highness," she sneered sarcastically.

"Finally! You see me as royalty!" Lemasiin exclaimed happily, obviously choosing to ignore the insult.

Nashi rolled her eyes and said, "Yeah, a royal pain in the ass."

Lamina laughed. Oh goodness, it was a surprise this girl didn't have a boyfriend yet again. Maybe she scared them all away? He decided to test out his theory.

"Let's play truth or dare!" Lamina exclaimed.

"Well done brother," Lemasiin added mischievously. "This will be a game for a night we cannot forget!"

"You filthy cat," Danielle said with absolutely no tone to her voice, but a slight apprehension to the pervert teen's thoughts. Of course she couldn't do a thing.

"Let's go in a circle and dare each other randomly," Lamina said and before anyone could object he said, "Nashi, I dare you to make out with either one of us."

He said it so bluntly that Nashi had to do a double-take. "What? Why!" Her eyes were wide and mortally terrified. Who knew what this pervert had up his sleeve?

She couldn't do anything when Lamina leaned forward and planted a firm kiss on his ex-girlfriend's cold lips. That was one of the reasons they only temporarily dated. Her lips were freezing! He was suddenly punched in the shoulder and was forced down on to his butt into a sitting position.

"Fuck off! I don't need you," she sneered angrily. She jumped up and left the room in a flurry.

"Game over?" Lemasiin questioned. Both twins simultaneously shrugged.

Danielle sighed as she stood up. She cautiously left the room and followed Nashi who had fled to her own room and was now cuddling her pillow. Ari and Giselle seemed to be missing.

"That douche…"

"NATSU FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME WIL YOU SLOW DOWN!?" Lucy yelled as she desperately tried to catch up to him. "You're going the wrong way!"

"No I'm not," Natsu disagreed stubbornly. "I know exactly where I'm going."

Before Lucy could object to this statement Natsu jumped up on the nearest roof just as the monster came flying up from the ground. She was a mermaid-demon with sharp teeth and skin peeling off and see-weed hair. She somehow had the ability to move at the speed of light and could fly and burrow underground. She was technically a demonic Juvia Lockser high on love. It was scary what she would do for someone she cares about…

Yup, utterly terrifying.

And that was the case with this mermaid freak. She was madly-in-love with her deceased boyfriend from a few hundred years back; to the time where witches and wizards were shunned and burned on a stake for their bad deeds. Even before the times of the dragons and Zeref. Her boyfriend had been killed by the villagers and she was put to rest. After regaining full power after a millennium she awoke to seek revenge on the village. Unfortunately, Gray and Erza managed to get lost and Wendy was busy healing, so Lucy and Natsu were left to fight this hag. Of course no S-class job would be easy enough like fighting one demon. No, all of them! All of those demon things working for the main witch… thing. And now she had powered up while fighting Natsu and he was getting a good beating. It was almost like his first time fighting Gildarts seriously.

Lucy summoned Sagittarius and told him to shoot the demon thing… what should we call her?

"Yes, Lucy, moshi-moshi," he chanted. Without further ado he shot the flying fish demon or FFD if you will. His shots hit her every time but seemed to have no effect. Then Lucy came up with a great idea. All she had Natsu do would be lead FFD to another place where she wouldn't destroy the whole town.

"NATSU!" she yelled at the top of her voice, trying to get his attention over the noise.

"Yeah?!"

"GET THAT WITCH THING OUT OF TOWN! I'M GOING TO TRY URANO METRIA!"

Natsu frowned but obeyed and fled the fighting scene, making the FFD follow him immediately. He fought her off while trying to escape and lead her somewhere.

Lucy ran after them, but running through the buildings was wasting her time. She summoned Virgo and with her help she got to the nearest opening she thought Natsu was headed in. When she got there, the fighting two were a fair distance off, but if she focused hard enough she wouldn't hit Natsu.

She closed all spirit gates and her eyes. Feet in line with her shoulders and a firm frown upon her face she started the chant, concentrating on nothing but the heavens aiding her.

(Enter chant here.)

With a sudden blast she managed to send the FFD demon falling to the ground. She was utterly exhausted and her vision was getting blurry, but somehow she stumbled forward to the direction Natsu was in.

Natsu had managed to pummel the FFD without restraint while she was in her weakened form and Lucy supposed she wasn't going to wake up very soon.

"Natsu!" she shouted excitedly.

"Good job, Luce," Natsu complimented, his eyes still trained on the demon mermaid.

"Thanks," she mumbled, stumbling a little on her feet and eventually almost falling, had Natsu not caught her. "What do we do with her now?"

Natsu shrugged. "Tie her up and throw her in the ocean?"

"She may just escape the bondage," Lucy reasoned. She thought carefully alongside her teammate as the two decided what to do with the demon. Natsu's eyes were turned into a frown and Lucy dared question this.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know what to make of this thing. What if she's another enemy? Then we better kill her before she tries hurting Fairy Tail," Natsu mumbled.

"Natsu," Lucy mumbled, "What's going on?"

Natsu's usual childish smile appeared, putting Lucy at ease. "Nothing; just a little… uh, messed up. Pretty freaked out about the whole Zeref thing and whatnot. I'm just trying to keep Fairy Tail as safe as possible! Now let's get this job done and get back home."

Lucy grinned happily and tugged on Natsu's sleeve. "Great idea. Let's put this demon down under where she belongs!"

They had taken the mermaid demon thing back to the Town Hall where she got tied up in magic-chains, supposedly made to possible keep her there all tied up and stuff for another millennium or so. Turns out she wasn't a demon, but a breed between a demon and a wizard and both sides kept fighting to take control over the body, thus leading to her to become this strange hybrid.

Natsu and Lucy found the others on the way there. Gray and Erza had gotten side-tracked (EXTREMELY SIDE-TRACKED) at a cake shop. Well, Gray was actually dragged there, but they also served shaved ice so he wasn't complaining.

Wendy was with the two exceeds, quite drained of magic since she was constantly in charge in healing the attacked citizens. Luckily most of them came out alive, except for the unfortunate ones who were left dead on impact.

The reward was so big that they could cover their week's stay at the hotel with all the Jewels earned and get first class train tickets while having a few hundred Jewels each to spare. Even Lucy was able to pay off her rent for two months and get a new outfit. Especially since the one she wore on the mission there was torn to shreds.

On the train ride back as Natsu and Wendy lay half awake and half-puking their guts out, Lucy conversed with Erza and Gray about her theory she got from Natsu's suspicion when they caught her.

"You see, if the hybrid kept on attack each millennium, then why haven't they killed it in its sleep? Natsu and I were closing in to ending it off, but decided last minute to take the hag back. If I think about it we could have done it, but we both didn't want to…"

"Maybe you just don't have the heart to kill anything," Erza explained calmly, "Unless the case comes to a life-or-death situation."

"I don't think that's what Lucy means," Gray interjected. "Are you saying there was something else, a sixth sense maybe, which stopped you from hurting the hybrid?"

"Yeah, even though we were able to do it all the other times. Like a spell, maybe," Lucy explained.

"We can always do research on hybrids if that's what you want," Erza said helpfully.

Lucy nodded, before slipping back into thought. Why couldn't she hurt her at the end? Why couldn't she kill her?

Immortality.

That's the enemy they were fighting, but neither one of them knew it…

"DO YOU WISH TO LIVE!?" Nashi screeched.

She was calmly indulging herself in a book (comic, she's like her dad) when all of a sudden her worst nightmare come true. Danielle, the twins and Giselle continued playing truth or dare while she was fuming over her ex's pathetic move. Then all of a sudden she heard a snip and her head felt lighter. She had instinctively grabbed at her hair only to feel her open neck. Danielle went running out of the room and Nashi followed soon behind.

There in her right hand was a pair of scissors and in the other a lump of pink hair. Danielle was already on the first level of the floor when Nashi was outside of her room. She jumped over the balcony and tackled the dark haired water mage to the floor.

"Get off!" Danielle shrieked playfully and shoved Nashi to the side.

"What did you think would happen when you snipped off my hair!?" Nashi seethed in fury. "Huh, stripper?"

"I'm not stripper! You're the one who uses a whip!"

"To hurt people, not entertain them!"

"Sadist."

"Masochist."

"You wish," Danielle hissed and punched Nashi hardly. She jumped up immediately and threw a punch at the dark haired girl. Nashi then noticed the hair and scissors were missing.

Meanwhile, the guild watched along unhindered. It was obvious that this group of friends fit right in at Fairy Tail – no doubt about it.

"Ah," Mira sighed, slightly nostalgic. "They're like Natsu and Gray. Slightly more violent, but you know."

"Yeah, don't you think it's freaky how much they look like them?" Lisanna muttered.

Mira smirked and winked at her sister briefly, before continuing cleaning out a beer mug. Lisanna's eyes shot wide open at realisation of what her sister was implying.

"You're not telling me…"

"You're a smart kid, Lisanna. I knew you'd figure it out before the rest," Mirajane said with a smirk.

"Why are they here?!"

"Like master said," Mira said only loud enough for her sister to hear, "They're here to help with the S-class trials and… they have their own mission."

A few hours later as the fight died down and Nashi was left freaking out about her hair while Juvia and Bisca were trying to calm her down, Fairy Tail's strongest team arrived moments later.

"Hello guys!" Mira greeted cheerily. "How did the job go?"

"Great," Lucy and Natsu said simultaneously, bursting out in laughter right after.

"Perfectly well," Erza agreed.

"No complaints at all this time. Thank Lucy," Gray added. Hearing this, Juvia seethed slightly in private about her 'love-rival' getting serious attention from her 'man'.

"Fishy!" Happy squealed and flew straight towards Lisanna who went into the kitchen to get the blue cat his meal. Lucy also noticed in the corner of her eye someone exchanging cash.

"What's that about?" she asked Mira who also noticed this.

"Oh, everyone's been betting if you guys were going to destroy an entire town or not. Of course, nobody gambled with Cana, as usual," Mira giggled.

Erza laughed when she noticed a slumped-over, half-drunk Cana at the bar. "No wonder."

"What did we miss?" Natsu asked curiously.

"Nothing much," Lisanna said when she came back with Happy's meal. "We just have some guests over. There's going to be another S-class trial."

"Yeah!" Natsu shouted and fist-pumped the air. "I'm going to get it this time!"

"You go Natsu!" Lucy said, cheering him on. She then noticed her best blue-haired friend sitting next to someone she assumed to be one of the guests. Lucy then decided to join them, leaving her team behind at the bar.

"Hey Levy!" Lucy greeted and slid in across her at the booth.

Levy looked up from her book with a smile. "Oh, hey Lu-chan! I was just looking for an enchantment to fix Nashi's hair over here. She's one of our guests, but some idiot snipped her hair off."

Nashi smiled and waved flamboyantly at Lucy.

"Hello, Nashi," Lucy greeted. "I'm Lucy."

"It's nice to meet you! What kind of magic do you do?"

Lucy smiled at the girl's enthusiasm. "I'm a Celestial Wizard, and you are?"

Nashi giggled. "A second generation dragon slayer, but now it seems my magic's messing with me."

"Why do you say so?" Levy asked.

Nashi shrugged. "I don't know. My attacks aren't as powerful for some reason. I'm an A-rank student at my magic academy. It's my first time at a guild!"

"Seriously?!" Both Lucy and Levy gushed.

"You'll love it here! Fairy Tail's like a family!" Lucy said happily.

"Yeah," Bisca added when she suddenly turned up with a glass vial in her hand. "It's the best guild to be at, mentally and success wise."

Nashi smiled at Bisca. "True. My mom used to be a Fairy Tail wizard, but I don't really know her or her magic all that well."

Lies.

"I grew up with my dad who knew a dragon slayer. That guy taught me my skills."

More lies.

"My dad doesn't have magic."

Three strikes, you're out.

"Really? Well, enough chit-chat, I need to fix your hair," Bisca interrupted, but her tone wasn't harsh. More loving, like the mother she really was.

Great, now Nashi had the perfect back-story. Nobody will figure her out. If only….

Lucy was ripped from the conversation when suddenly Natsu dragged her out of the guild and she went flying behind.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow, Nashi!"

"Come on Luce! I want to show you something!"