"Hey flame brain." a very deep and masculine voice was heard.
"Gray..." Natsu wavered, trying to hide the tears of happiness he had.
"Haha, I knew you'd missed me." Gray chuckled.
"H... how do you know?" Natsu stuttered.
"Dude, you look like your gonna cry." Gray teased.
"Shut up!" Natsu shouted, as Gray walked over.
"Aww heck. I've missed you too." Gray admitted, giving Natsu a handshake.
"The next mage!" The king shouted, as the curtain closed.
"You haven't changed a bit in two years." Natsu laughed.
"Oh yeah, why?" Gray asked looking amused.
"Where's your shirt?" Natsu answered, laughing out loud.
"*Sigh* I knew you were gonna say that..." Gray said.
"The next mage will be coming now." The king announced.
Gray and Natsu stood next to each other, their eyes facing the curtain. Suddenly, the curtain opened to reveal a blonde haired mage with similar clothes (and teeth) to Natsu.
"Sting?" Natsu said, sounding suprised. The blonde wizard looked towards them and beamed a toothy smile, showing his fangs.
"Natsu, Gray." Sting greeted them kindly.
"Sting." Gray Said back. "Hey, where's Rouge?"
Sting looked down at the floor.
"Well, I don't actually know where he is." Sting admitted, still not looking Natsu and Gray in the eyes.
"Hey, if it's the strongest mages in Carter Rouges gotta be here." Natsu said encouragingly.
"Yeah..." Sting didn't seem convinced.
"The next mage!" They all looked at the curtain. Out stepped a black haired mage, his hair was actually drooping over his one eye, he looked very blank and didn't have much expression on his face.
"Rouge!" Sting shouted as he ran over and hugged Rouge.
"You didn't do that to me" Gray stated.
"Wanna know why?" Natsu asked.
"Lay it on me." Gray answered.
"Just watch." Natsu instructed.
Rouge looked uncomfortable as he pushed his way out of Sting's grasp.
"Yeah, yeah I missed you too. But stop hugging me." Rouge said.
Sting stopped.
"Why?" He asked looking confused.
"It's kinda gay." Rouge finished. Sting immediately went scarlet and started looking down at the floor again. Natsu and Gray burst out into laughter.
"Shu...shut up!" Sting shouted. "The next mage is coming out anyway"
"Dude, the only mage 'coming out' is you" Gray joked. Natsu couldn't hold it back anymore.
"AAAAHAAAAHAHAHA!" He practically died of laughter. " Oh man Gray" Natsu said, wiping a tear of laughter from his eye. "You crack me up."
"Bad choice of words Sting." Rouge said, being the only one who didn't laugh. Apart from Sting of course.
"The next mage!" This time another black haired wizard came out. Except this time his hair went past his shoulders.
"Gajeel!" Natsu shouted.
"Salamander!" Gajeel shouted back.
"People still call you that?" Gray asked.
"Not really, it's Dragon King now." Natsu joked.
Gajeel walked over to the other mages.
"Is Gray the only normal mage?" He asked.
"Yeah, he must be pretty weak then." Sting stated. Gray was getting agitated, Natsu could tell. But even Natsu knew that Gray wouldn't stand a chance against Sting.
"Gray, don't." Natsu warned him. Gray looked at him with piercing eyes.
"Why?!" Gray raised his voice. "Don't you remember what he did to me?"
Natsu thought back to the Grand magic games.
"Oi! King!" Sting shouted.
"How may I be of service." he answered.
"Seeing as we already know that Natsu is the strongest, what is the order of strength out of the other 4 of us?" Sting asked with a smile on his face.
"Well, it goes Gray, Gajeel, Rouge, and then finally you Sting." The King informed him. Sting was tensing up.
"That can't be right, I am a third generation Dragon Slayer! How can a puny ice mage beat me?"
"Now..." Natsu said quietly, but loud enough for Gray to hear.
"What?" Gray asked, not hearing him perfectly.
"You can punch him now. Gray, beat the shit out of him." Natsu said angrily.
"Happily" Gray agreed.
"Haha! Your actually going through with this?" Sting laughed.
"I never lose to the same opponent twice, you of all people should know that." Gray scowled.
Sting winced.
"Shut it Gray!" Sting shouted. "White Drive!" Sting's hair stood up on end and white dragon scales appeared on the sides of his face and arms.
"Take this! Sting shouted, shooting a beam of white light towards Gray.
"Ice Make Shield!" Gray stopped the light with a few hand movements.
"What the?" Sting said.
"Ice Make Cannon!" In seconds A huge cannon of ice was formed and the force of the ice rocket that was shot knocked Sting across the room.
"I win." Gray finished, looking in phased.
"Gray, when did you get so strong?" Natsu asked, astounded.
"Over the years I took down two dark magic groups." Gray said.
"Yeah so?" Natsu replied.
"Alone." Gray answered.
"Damn you Gray, I underestimated you." Sting admitted.
"Yeah, but imagine how powerful Natsu is if that's how powerful Gray is." Rouge suggested.
"It scares me just thinking about it." Gajeel said sarcastically. They all laughed as the curtain opened again. All Natsu saw was the blonde hair and keys and he already new who it was.
"Lucy..." Natsu whimpered as she smiled at him with a tear in her eye.