A/N Gomenesai, Minna. I'm still pretty new to this site, so I'm sorry if the text is all bunched up T^T. I'm still trying to get the hang of this.

..:Third Person's P.O.V.:..

And so, when the rain stopped, Lucy's training began.

"Alright! We'll start by doing easy physical exercise! Run four miles!" Memoria declared.

Shizumi's expression didn't change, while Lucy sweatdropped, that was easy? She didn't complain because Memoria was taking the time to train her. But... when she ran half a mile, her face was red, she was panting, and her legs hurt. Shizumi wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Come on Blondie. Still weak?"

Shizumi didn't believe that Lucy was weak, she just said it to get Lucy riled up. Lucy's eyes flared, and she sprinted full speed ahead. Bad idea. When she completed a mile and a half, she fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. Shizumi shook her head in disbelief, and finished her four miles. Then she dragged a worn out Lucy back to camp.

''Well, you did better than most." Memoria offered, "Now, how proficient are you with weapons?"

"I am proficient in using a whip." Lucy said.

Memoria noticed Fleuve d'étoiles attached onto Lucy's belt, and before she could protest, snatched it from her belt. Memoria unraveled it, and looked at it in wonder. To her, it was gorgeous. It was a blueish colored matter, with an orangeish light wrapped around it.

''It's gorgeous! Where did you get it?" Memoria sounded like a fangirl.

Lucy and Shizumi sweatdropped. ''I'm a Stellar Mage.. and Virgo gave me this whip after I lost my old one.'' Lucy explained.

''Alright, summon some of your spirits, I want to see how many you can summon before depleting your magic power."

Lucy scratched her head, ''You see.. my spirits, erm, are on vacation, and they called me w-weak and..." Lucy trailed off at the end.

Memoria cast a dark glare on Lucy, ''Summon your most ill-tempered one.''

''H-Hai! Do you have any water?''

Memoria found a bottle of water. Lucy prayed to live through the day.

''Open! Gate of the Water Bearer, Aquarius!"

''YOU SUMMONED ME FROM A CUP?! I told you, we spirits are on vacation, and I was on a date with Scorpio!" Aquarius screamed.

''Aquarius. Shut up. I don't give a damn that you were on a date with... who?" Memoria said darkly, ''But Lucy is known for treating her spirits with kindness and respect. Yet you called her weak. You're the pathetic one.''

Aquarius narrowed her eyes on Memoria, ''Who the hell do you think you are?! I can treat my so called 'master' in any way I want!"

''Not if she dies, right? If I killed her, technically you would be responsible, and be kicked out of the Celestial Spirit World, and eventually disappear." Memoria snarled.

''Wahh... So morbid.'' Lucy commented.

''Lucy, open another gate.'' Memoria ordered, and then continued to argue with the mermaid.

Reluctantly, Lucy called Loke's gate, "Open! Gate of the Lion,Loke!"

Loke appeared rather worried, "Princess! I'm sorry! That letter was a prank from Aquarius, and-"

"It's fine Loke." Lucy murmured, a little exhausted from opening two gates.

Loke's comment added more fuel to Memoria's fire as she argued more with the ''Blue Haired Bimbo''.

''Open! Gate of the Crab, Cancer!" ''Lucy-sama, ebi, ebi.''

Memoria stopped for a moment and demanded Lucy to open one more gate.

''Open! Gate of the Ram, Aries!"

Aries appeared extremely flustered, ''G-Gomenesai, Lucy-sama! Aquarius-''

''I heard." Lucy said flatly.

Then she leaned on the cave for support.

Memoria nodded in approval, ''That's very impressive, Lucy. I think I should start teaching you a Time Dragon Slayer spell. Now, a little about Time Dragon Slayer magic. Time Dragon Slayer spells are both supportive and offensive. For example, you are granted the ability to heal physical wounds, and replenish magic power, because in time, both will heal. When using offensive spells, it's quite destructive. For example, Roar of the Time Dragon drastically changes the opponents' body age. So if you're twenty, the spell multiplies the body's age by ten. So your body would be two hundred. But your opponent wouldn't die, and the effect is temporary."

Lucy shuddered at the thought of being hit by that kind of roar, and closed all four of the gates. Shizumi then placed both of her hands on Lucy's shoulder, and Lucy felt her magic power be replenished.

"Now, Shizumi, Lucy. Imagine time flowing, and then suddenly speeding up. The clocks are turning faster than normal.'' Memoria said.

Lucy heard a slight emphasis on the last sentence. The clocks are turning faster than normal. She frowned slightly, and imagined it.

''Now, roar!''

''Roar of the Time Dragon!" Shizumi/ Lucy yelled.

Lucy released a wave of glowing white light mixed with light caramel brown. Almost transparent clocks could be seen spinning. Everything the wave touched turned old. Shizumi's roar seemed catastrophic, drying up the stream, making the caves tumble down, and the trees wither. Lucy sweatdropped at the thought of being hit by Shizumi.

''Excellent. Now you two, run another four miles.'' Shizumi ended up dragging Lucy back again.

..:At Fairy Tail:..

At Fairy Tail, things were going pretty much normally, except everyone had the feeling that something was missing. At first, they just dismissed it as seasonal depression. As the days went by, the feeling of emptiness wouldn't go away. Finally, Natsu spoke up.

'It feels lonely here.''

The master fake coughed, ''You finally noticed something's wrong.''

''Yeah, what is it?" Natsu asked, he just wanted the irritating feeling of emptiness to go away.

''Have you noticed your nakama is gone?'' the master asked coldly.

''No, everyone is here! Except for Team Shadowgear since they're on a job- wait, where's Lucy?"

Everyone was silent. Nobody knew where the blonde Stellar Mage was.

''Lucy left Fairy Tail."

''Nani?!"

..:At the Cave:..

''Good work Shizumi and Lucy. I like the progress you're both making. Even though it's only been a couple days, I say you guys are on par with that Wendy girl." Memoria proudly declared.

Shizumi and Lucy cheered. Both had been working hard to improve their stamina and magic capabilities. Lucy's magic power and stamina had gone up greatly during the last few days, but she still had a long way to go.

''Memoria... We're out of groceries.. again.'' Shizumi muttered.

''There's fish in the pond, and plants." Memoria said.

Which brought on a big argument between the two.

Lucy stepped outside of the cave, savoring the crisp, cold winter air. Since she was training to become a dragon slayer, all her senses were slightly enhanced, since she wasn't full blown dragon slayer yet.

But it was good enough, to hear the faint yell of,

''Ice Make: Lance!"