Sorry for the delay. I had some urgent business pop up a few states away, and I kinda needed to deal with it fast. I just got back today, so I'm rushing out a chapter and plan to have another out hopefully by Sunday. I wish circumstances were different, but no one can change the past.

Still don't own Fairy Tail or its characters. As always, reviews are welcome and appreciated.

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(Last time)

"Have some faith, Master."

Makarov looked to the side, to see Wendy smiling at him, eyes closed. "After all," she continued, "he's never let us down before."

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Erza, Lisanna, and Mirajane were sitting around the inside of the tent, talking to each other and placing bets on which group would find the grave first. Being so deep into conversation, they failed to realize that there were several controlled bursts of energy all over the island, indicating heavy fighting. They did begin to realize something was amiss however, when the ground began to shudder. They looked around, curious, before belatedly realizing they would not see much from inside the large tent. They moved to the outside of the tent, Lisanna tripping twice due to the unexpected shudders which seemed to be getting more violent.

Upon reaching the center of the clearing, they all began to look in different directions. None of them said anything as they didn't see any signs of what could be causing the violent reactions from the ground. After several seconds, Mirajane spotted a large cloud of dust and debris.

"Erza, look there."

Lisanna, and Erza both moved to stand next to Mira so as to get a better view. After several seconds, when the cloud was beginning to settle below the tops of the trees, Erza spoke.

"I have no doubt that, that is a fight, but who is fighting? I don't recall anyone going in that direction, and even if two groups did end up in the same place, this trial doesn't involve fighting."

"Somehow, I have no doubt that Natsu is involved." Mira stated, sweat dropping. The other two opened their mouths to object, but sweat dropped too when they realized that she was probably right. Natsu was the cause of most fights back at the guild, and given that he seemed stronger now, they could definitely see him 'testing himself' against the others.

Erza thought for several more seconds before stating what they had all realized at that point.

"The energy does feel largely similar to Natsu's, but it is too big to be his."

"Unless the training he did in the last three months really helped him that much." Mira countered

"Either way, whoever it is, they are fighting an opponent of strength that is very similar… and also, they're heading our way."

The girls stood in the center of the clearing, watching the clouds gradually get closer and closer. The last words that Erza had spoken did not fully sink in until several seconds later, upon which they all began to get nervous.

"Do you think that they will actually pass through here?" Lisanna asked, wondering if they should move. The other two girls ignored her for several moments, which did not ease her anxiety. Eventually though, almost too late, Mirajane wiped around and scooped up Lisanna, jumping to the trees where there clearing and the dense woods met, Erza a half-second behind her. Just as they landed, two blurs slammed into the clearing, shattering the ground and causing an eruption of dust to fly out. Lisanna covered her eyes, trying to keep out the sudden burst of particles. Before the dust could settle though, she saw an orange and red glow come from the cloud.

Erza and Mirajane were now both raptly paying attention, having turned to watch, while staying crouched, ready to jump away if need be. A sudden, violent shock within the cloud of dust caused it to immediately disperse, revealing a Natsu, both hands engulfed in flames, pounding away at a strange, shirtless teen, who began to laugh after allowing himself to be hit for three times. When the fourth punch was on its way, he lit up both of his hands with eerie black flames, which were in stark contrast to Natsu's flames. After he had lit up his hands, the mysterious teen slammed his fist into Natsu's oncoming one.

Given that both combatants put all they could into their punch, a powerful shockwave was generated as a result, and they were both sent skidding in opposite directions of the clearing. The force of the colliding punches had fractured the ground even more, some cracks going past the edge of the clearing and several feel into the woods. The mysterious teen recovered first, rushing forward to attack Natsu, who had recovered fractions of a second after Zancrow. The two met in almost the same spot as last time, once more slamming their fists together in an attempt to overpower the other. The shock this time was more violent than before, ripping up the hard earth and forcing sections of the ground to rise above where it stood normally, while other sections sunk down below its natural point.

The ground under where Natsu was standing happened to sink down, while the section Zancrow was on rose up above. Natsu decided to use the brief period of time where Zancrow was adjusting his balance to hit him in the stomach, sending him flying once more, Natsu charging after him immediately.

Lisanna blinked, hardly able to comprehend what had happened. The portion of the fight that they had witnessed had lasted only about two seconds, and to her, it was mostly a blur. She looked out at the destruction of the clearing, her eye noticing movement. She looked slightly to the right to see the 'skeleton' of the tent falling slowly, three legs horribly crooked, with one leg valiantly trying to hold up the rest, but alas, it fell after only moments. When it hit the ground, Lisanna blinked, just realizing that she never noticed the canvas of the tent flying away.

"I told you we should have secured it better." Lisanna heard Mira say. She looked to the left to see Erza glaring at Mira.

"As if that would have helped. They destroyed the ground. If it doesn't have a flat, stable base, it is pointless. And they shattered the 'base' that we put the tent on." Erza retorted, crossing her arms across her chest. Several long moments later, Erza spoke back up.

"I, for one, want to go. They could come back at any second."

Lisanna looked over, staring at Erza with a confused expression. When Mira saw the look, she decided to elaborate.

"They destroyed the clearing, which is about fifty feet across, Lisanna. And that was without any big or complex magic. It looked like Natsu was using 'Fire Dragon's Iron Fist', which is one of his most basic and least destructive spells. The next time they come back, we may not get so lucky. With the level of energy that they have, something like 'Fire Dragon's Roar' could be devastating. Staying here is a bad idea."

Lisanna nodded, now understanding. Her thoughts turned to the others.

"We need to find the other guild members. They could accidentally get caught up in the fight. Or, even worse, they might have gotten caught up in it already."

Erza nodded, turning to Mira. "You stay with your sister and look for the others away from the path of destruction. I'll go up the path to see if anyone is injured, and if no one is, I will come back and follow them to help any who might accidentally get too-" Erza stopped speaking when she heard loud footsteps coming toward them at a fast pace. Mira moved Lisanna behind her, Erza moving to be closest to the sound. Within seconds, Gajeel burst into the clearing, stumbling over one of the bits that stood up from the rest of the ground. He looked over at the three of them, opening his mouth to speak, but Erza beat him to it.

"What are you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to see that fight. It has been a long time since I have seen Natsu fighting so seriously. I don't want to miss it once they reach the ocean."

Erza frowned, looking over at Mira, who looked at her and shrugged. Erza looked back at Gajeel, asking

"The ocean?"

"You kidding? Natsu wouldn't fight at full strength with us so close, and the other guy also has guild members of his own on this island. Both are fighting seriously, but neither of them have even begun to get fired up. Once they reach the ocean, they will have an almost unlimited amount of room to deck it out without having to worry about collateral damage."

Erza stopped and thought for several seconds. 'What he just told us has several worrying parts. First and foremost is that they are even truly fighting yet. The next problem would be that the man fighting Natsu has other guild members here. We could be ambushed at any moment.'

Erza nodded, having made partial plans. "Alright, for now, no one but S-class mages go anywhere alone. Mira, I need you and Lisanna to go find Gildarts, wherever he is…" Erza trailed off, seeing a man go flying high into the sky. "Start over there." She said, pointing to the direction that the came from. "We'll need him just in case any of Natsu's fight threatens to spill over onto the island when he isn't paying attention. After you send him to the east shore, where Natsu and the other man were heading, I need you to go find the other contestants. Tell them that we have been breached. Enemies are on the island. Also tell them to stay with their partner at the very least, and that if they run into other groups, to stick together unless circumstances force them to split. Tell every group you meet to move to the west shore, away from Natsu's fight. We still don't know how bad the destruction could be, and they will probably stick close to the shore, so all precautions to stay safe are welcome. Tell everyone everything you know, just in case they stumble across the Master."

They all nodded, turning to leave. They all stopped when Gajeel let out a screech. When they turned back, they saw Gajeel staring where he came from, eyes bugging from his head and his jaw hanging open. He grabbed his head with both hands, looking up at the sky to yell at the top of his lungs.

"Shriiiimp! Damn it! How could I let myself lose sight of her? Zyaful will kill me!"

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(Five minutes earlier)

Gildarts was making his trek through the woods, heading toward an energy source he felt earlier. He paused, leaning against a tree. He stood there for several seconds, catching his breath. He pulled out a canteen from the inside of his cloak, taking a deep swallow of the water inside.

'This forest will be the death of me. I hate hot places. Why did we come here during the summer?' he thought, wiping the back of his right hand across his mouth. He looked down, screwing the cap back onto the canteen. Just as he was about to finish screwing the cap into place, he heard a scream. He snapped his head up at hearing it, immediately spreading his senses out. He cursed when he sensed the energy he was heading toward nearby two energies that he was familiar with.

He began to run as fast as he could, but halfway there, he stopped, bending at the waist to grab his knees. Panting, unable to breath due to a dry mouth, he took out his canteen once more. He reached for the cap, but upon touching the lip, he came to the realization that it wasn't on. Shaking the bottle, he cursed once more when he tipped it upside down, with nothing coming out. Thinking back, he realized that he never did fully put the cap on the canteen. Sighing deeply, he put the canteen back, hoping one of the people he was going to meet would have water.

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Lucy groaned, getting crushed under the weight of Bluenote's spell. Suddenly, she heard a rustle in the bushes and a second later, she looked up at the same time Cana did to see Bluenote's face smashed into the ground, courtesy of Gildarts, who was crouching on Bluenote's back. Cana and Lucy stood up, staring at Gildarts, who was still on Bluenote's back after almost half a minute. Lucy leaned over to Cana, putting a hand up to keep Gildarts from seeing her mouth.

"I know he's your dad, and the guild ace and all, but is he… stable? Mentally, I mean?"

Cana sweat dropped, forcing out a tiny laugh. "I don't kno-"

Cana stopped talking as Gildarts suddenly slammed into her, hugging her at the waist, moaning. Cana lifted her right arm as fast as possible, inevitably bringing it down on top of Gildarts' head. He let go off her waist, hitting the ground, his butt in the air. Once on the ground, Gildarts continued to moan.

"Seriously, is he ok?"

"Not now, Lucy. Gildarts, what the hell?"

Gildarts slowly raised his head, still moaning. Once his head was up, the girls got an unexpected sight. Gildarts' lips and mouth were so dry, he had cracks all over his lips, some of which were bleeding, due to being so dry. He moaned once more.

"What? I mean, thanks for the rescue, Gildarts, but why did you try to tackle me?"

Gildarts slowly lifted his right arm, trembling as it went. The girls followed its painfully slow progress, but eventually, it stopped at the jug of alcohol at Cana's waist. They immediately understood, after having seen his mouth. Cana unhooked the jug from her belt, holding it out to Gildarts. He took it and finished it off in two gulps. After he was done, he turned on his knees to face Lucy, at the same time, handing Cana back her jug. Lucy unhooked her canteen, but before she gave it to him, she spoke.

"I still need this for later. Do you understand that?"

Gildarts vigorously shook his head up and down. Lucy sighed, extending her arm. Gildarts greedily snatched it from her hand, taking one giant gulp before handing it back to Lucy.

"Alright, now I'm ready to take this guy down." Gildarts said in a hoarse voice, spinning on his knees to face Bluenote, getting on his feet as he spun. He waited for Bluenote to be standing before he began to walk toward him. After three steps, he tilted his head to the right, a canteen flying past, right into Bluenote's face. Gildarts turned to look at Lucy, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't look at me like I did something wrong. You drank all of my water, even after I said I needed it for later." Lucy said, voice trailing off at the end as she finally realized where her canteen had hit. Gildarts turned back to see a black look upon Bluenote's face. He was visibly shaking from his anger.

"You will pay for that, girl."

"Did you miss the part where I'm between you and her?" Gildarts asked "I'd be a poor examiner if I let you hurt my examinees."

"Yeah" Lucy and Cana said, simultaneously, in the background.

"After all, it is MY job to hurt them. Seriously, I'm getting paid for this."

In the background, Cana and Lucy were sweat dropping, wondering why the Master was paying the examiners to hurt them.