**I don't own Fairy Tail or the characters. They all belong to Mashima.
Chapter 11 is here! Sorry for the long wait, but I was really struggling with the Erza/Jura fight for some reason. Anyway, it's done now, and hopefully you all like it :D
Also, a heads up, I have some busy weeks ahead of me so I don't know how frequently I'll be updating my stories. I'll try to get at least one story updated a week though.
Read and review!**
A thunderous roar echoed through the air in Domus Flau as two of the strongest mages in Fiore stepped out into the stadium. Erza stepped in dressed in her usual Heart Kruz armor, a smile gracing her features as she acknowledged the cheering crowd. As she reached the center of the arena, she turned her attention to the mage opposite to her. The 4th ranked wizard saint wouldn't be a simple opponent to beat.
The air was tense as she took her place across from him, a bead of sweat dripping from her brow. She blocked the roaring of the crowds from her mind, focusing on the match referee who was about to start the fight. She saw his lips move, reading the starting words as quickly as they reached her ear. The moment he finished she requipped to one of her strongest armors. "Requip: Fairy Retribution Armor!"
Her lip curled in satisfaction as she heard the surprised gasps from the crowd. This was an armor nobody except her strongest enemies had seen her in, and normally she wouldn't even think of using it for a duel. But she was fighting a wizard saint, and one who was ranked higher than her.
"Rock Fist!" He started with a straightforward attack, causing the rock below them to form into a giant fist that raced toward her. She dodged quickly, easily even. Then stumbled quickly to recover her balance. Her body always took a few moments to get used to the speed enhancements her fairy retribution armor gave her.
"Rock Avalanche!" Erza cursed under her breath as a rock grazed her, knocking her off balance again. Even such a simple mistake could be dangerous when fighting an opponent as skilled as Jura. He wasn't the fourth wizard saint for nothing, after all. More rocks shot at her, giving her no time to fully recover her balance. She put all her energy into just letting them graze her.
But by the time the Rock Avalanche was over, her body fully adapted to the enhanced speed and agility. Jura was already beginning his next spell, but she didn't give him the time. As she saw the last of the rocks approaching, she charged forward through the spell, accepting a glancing blow from one of the rocks. But it was a measured risk. By taking the hit, she could reach her opponent before he thought it possible.
Her first strike was blocked as she expected, but she forced Jura to interrupt his spell to block her. She pressed her advantage, coming underneath with a blade toward his gut. Then across his neckline. Without breaking her body's fluid motion, she continued with another attack to his left side. And even as that sword withdrew another raced forward to pierce his neck.
She continued thrusting, parrying his occasional attempts to get past her swords with a fist or rock palm, slicing, and stabbing. She needed to keep him off balance long enough. The swords were very powerful, but their magic took some time to complete.
But now the spell was finally ready, and in her next attack she leapt back from her opponent, bringing her swords both above her head so they pointed toward the sky. "Fairy's Devastating light!" A pillar of pure white energy descended from the sky at the speed of light onto her opponent, enveloping the entire area around him to within inches of where she leapt back to. She then jumped away, quickly, just before the pillar condensed into a large sphere, then exploded, causing a shockwave that shook the entire arena.
"What an amazing attack!" Chapati yelled from the announcer's booth. "I don't know if there's anyway Jura will still be able to fight after that! Has Erza done it? Has the 5th wizard saint overcome the fourth?"
His answer came when the dust cleared from the explosion, revealing Jura, breathing deeply, surrounded by the last shards of his Rock Mountain spell.
"Amazing! Jura's iron defense withstood the Fairy's powerful blow!" Chapati yelled, as the rest of the stadium just watched in breathless anticipation.
"As expected of the 4th wizard saint," Yajima said calmly beside him. "I think this battle is far from over."
"Rumbling Mt. Fuji!" Erza leapt back, but even her enhanced speed wasn't enough to fully evade the immense blast of magic energy that shot from the ground below her. At the last moment, she requipped to her Adamantine Armor, bracing herself against the magic power that surrounded her. The force of the attack was enough to crack her armor in several places, and she had to requip back to her Fairy Retribution Armor.
"It looks like Erza somehow fended off the attack! She heard Chapati say as the light from the magic energy faded. She looked at her opponent, breathing deeply as she gathered her strength.
"Fairy's impending doom," she muttered, not giving him time to attack again as she took an aggressive stance, her swords crossed and held out toward her opponent. A large glowing sphere, much like the Fairy Sphere, appeared around Jura, and beams of yellow-white magic energy began to strike at the wizard saint from every direction. Beams quickly shattered the rock pillars created by his Talus spell. The sphere, combined with the blinding white-yellow flashes of energy, made it impossible to see what was happening inside beyond that.
"In-incredible! This is the first time I've seen an attack of such magnitude!" Chapati yelled from the announcer's booth. "Does Jura even have a chance to survive this?!"
"Jura's the 4th wizard saint for a reason," Yajima said calmly beside him. "It will take more than this to bring him down."
And when the light beams faded and the sphere disappeared, Yajima was proved right. Jura remained, a bit more bruised and cut now, standing in the middle of a crater left behind by the powerful attack. Erza whipped her swords up at the ready, but she didn't have time to block the next attack.
"Supreme King Rock Crush!" Erza just had enough time to requip to her cracked Adamantine Armor before she was enveloped in a mountain of boulders. She could only hope the already breaking armor would hold out against this powerful attack…
~~~~~~Natsu~~~~~~
"Natsu, you smell that?"
Natsu didn't look away as Jura's rocks crashed down on Erza from all sides, threatening to crush her in their embrace. "Of course I smell it, scrap metal."
"Very funny flame head. You coming or not? If we want to find out who this is, now's the time."
Natsu sighed, casting one long look at the pile of boulders before following Gajeel. He could faintly see the hood disappearing through the crowd beyond them.
Who was the mysterious man in the hood? Why did Crime Sorciere claim his magic was like Zeref's magic? And most of all, why did he smell so familiar?
Natsu and Gajeel stayed back as they pushed through the crowd, careful not to stare at the cloaked figure ahead. Should he turn back, having their attention focused on him would be a dead giveaway of what they were doing. So Natsu mostly watched him in his peripheral, directing his gaze toward other people and things that they passed as they pushed through the crowd of onlookers.
Once they were outside the arena and the crowd cleared, Natsu motioned to Gajeel and the two closed quickly. The figure sped up as well, seeming to sense their presence, but he wasn't getting away. The two dragon slayers had years of combat and survival to hone their speed and strength. He barely got 100 feet before they caught up to him, turning him back toward them.
Natsu felt his eyes widen as he looked at the figure in front of him. The man was older, certainly. His face was half covered in some strange black markings. But the eyes and the other half of the face were unmistakable.
"Gray…" Gajeel must've seen it too, as he was the first to speak. "No wonder you smelled so familiar."
"If you really are Gray," Natsu said cautiously, "then you can't be from our world. You're too much different. And an old man too."
The Gray before them looked between the two, his eyes conflicted as though he were trying to decide what he should do in this situation. Finally he appeared to arrive at an answer, and he drew himself up, snorting softly. "I'm far from old, flame-brain." The voice was Gray's. A bit deeper. A little more mellow in tone, but definitely Gray's voice. "And I'm not from another world. I'm actually from the future of this world."
"The future?" Natsu smelled him again. He smelled like Gray, but different too. And the black markings on his face had a strange feel and scent to them. "If you're Gray from the future, how did that happen?" He asked, narrowing his eyes at the stranger.
"Ah. This is a power I acquired at great cost…" Gray's eyes took on a hint of sadness, but then returned to determination. "And before you ask, I'm here to stop somebody that I was unable to stop in the future. This power is what I need to be able to defeat him."
"Who?" Natsu asked, narrowing his eyes.
"I can't tell you that," Gray replied. "The future hasn't happened yet, and knowing who I was unable to defeat could cause you to make different decisions and throw the whole future out of whack."
"Or we could help you find him and defeat him," Gajeel said quietly. "If he's a threat, there shouldn't be a problem."
"I'm sorry, but I can't let you get involved. As I said, it could change the course of the future."
"Whatever popsicle," Natsu said with a sigh, stepping back. "But don't expect us to help you if someone else, like Crime Sorciere or the magic council, catch up with you."
"Oh, I'll be sure to be more careful," Gray responded as Gajeel reluctantly backed off as well. "After all, if I let a flame brain like you catch me I must be getting careless."
"Pff," Natsu scoffed. "Get out of here ice princess."
In that moment he thought he saw a look of undiluted anger flash through the ice mage's eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it came. "Later flame brain," he said. Then he turned and headed off in the direction of the castle.
"Something's strange there…" Gajeel said as Gray departed.
Natsu just shrugged. "It's Gray. When is he not strange?"
"I meant more than usual," Gajeel said, glaring at him.
Whil Natsu agreed with the iron dragon slayer, he couldn't really be bothered to think too much of it right now. He was just here to enjoy the games, and maybe fight a few interesting people. He could only hope those two dragon slayers from Sabertooth were more powerful than they seemed when he ran into them on the street…
"Let's get back to the games," was all he said as he started back toward the arena. A few moments later he heard Gajeel follow him and sighed. The iron dragon slayer wasn't ready to give this up easily.
~~~~~~Erza~~~~~~
The weight of the rocks was a crushing force. She could feel it even through her Adamantium armor. The armor was already cracked, and with this pressure…
*Crack* she heard it before she felt it. The moment when her armor was about to be shattered. But she couldn't let it be shattered by the attack. With no armor to protect her, this would certainly take her out of the fight. She had only mere milliseconds before the rocks brock through her armor and there was nothing between her and their crushing weight. She couldn't even hear the roar of the crowd or the announcer through the thickness of the boulders surrounding her.
"Requip: Nakagami Armor!" It was a gamble, but if she could pull it off…
She strained against the rocks, barely managing to move her arms, but it was enough. With her peerless sword she broke through, just as the rocks collapsed behind her, panting from the strain of the crushing weight and the magic power she had to use to sustain this armor.
"What a shock!" Chapati's words rang in her ears through the utter silence that descended on the arena. "It seems Erza managed to cut through the attack at the last minute and escape! But she didn't come out unscathed. Now both combatants are tired and worn down, but they're not about to give up! This has been a spectacular battle!"
"As expected of two of Fiore's wizard saints," Yajima commented beside him. Erza cringed inwardly. Was that all the former council member knew how to say?
"This next attack will finish it," Jura said calmly across from her, reminding her that the battle was still not over yet. But he was scraped up, bruised, and tired also. A small smirk crossed her lips. He wanted to finish it because he didn't know if he had any more left after the next attack.
"My thoughts exactly," she said. If she allowed herself to be hit by another one of the wizard saint's powerful magic attacks she wouldn't be able to continue. She requipped to her most dangerous armor, the armor she would never pull out in a normal battle because of its deadly power.
"Requip: Elemental God's Armor!"
The armor that appeared on her almost looked like one of Mirajane's take-overs. The breastplate, legs, and arms were composed of a thin sheen of pure diamond. Flames burned bright inside the diamond, creating brilliant red and orange patterns that were ever flickering, ever changing across the surface. The diamonds were set over a flexible black material that fight somewhat like a one-piece swimsuit, revealing a good amount of cleavage. The helmet was made of a pure black substance, yet inside it looked like liquid, with wind swirling just beneath the surface. Two swords were in her hands, one with a blue blade that swirled like the ocean, yet without losing any of the sharpness of the edge. The other blade was a bright metallic gray, shining like sunlight reflecting off titanium. When the requip finished, she was in a ready stance, dropped into a slight, forward facing crouch, with her swords held just outside her shoulders in front of her.
"Raging Earth!" Jura plunged his palm downward, then pulled it back up. The ground beneath Erza shook and began breaking apart, chunks of rocks rising from the trembling ground and flying at her. The experienced wizard used the solid rock beneath her to shoot forward through the attack, her swords slicing through rocks that would surely have cost her the match as though they were butter. This was the deciding moment. The finishing blow. If she slowed down even for a moment it was over. If one of the large boulders made contact she surely wouldn't be able to recover. Her arms worked furiously, slicing through one rock after another, and all the while she felt the firm ground slipping away even as her feet left it behind.
Then she was close enough, reaching inside the powerful finishing attack Jura had launched. With her last strength she lunged forward.
"Strike of the 5 elements!" As her swords impacted Jura, who was unable to dodge the attack, his body became encased in a diamond-like substance similar to her armor, only with no cloth underneath. Then, inside the diamond, the elements broke loose, appearing one after another. Water battered the mage inside the shell. Fire scorched and burned. Earthen spikes protruded from the casing. Wind whipped through, so sharp that it was slicing the skin. Ice formed inside the casing, chilling the person inside to the bone.
After a few moments the casing faded, and Jura dropped to his knees. "It was a great battle," he said before he fell, his eyes closing as he lost consciousness.
"And the winner is Erza from Fairy Tail!" Chapati yelled. Erza waved, acknowledging the cheers of the crowd even though she was barely able to stand. But looking out she noticed that Natsu wasn't with Team B in their booth. Gajeel also seemed to be missing. Where could the two have gone off to in the middle of the fight?
But her mind didn't have time to worry about that as she struggled not to fall to her knees, exhausted from the fight against Jura. This had been her most difficult fight, and she barely had energy left to remain upright. Holding her head high, she somehow summoned the strength to walk back to their team booth, where she quickly sat by Laxus and Levy.
"That guy's a monster, huh?" Laxus said with a slight smirk.
"That's what people say," Erza said. "But then, most of them haven't seen real monsters, have they?"
Laxus just smirked at her. Levy pretended to be ignoring the conversation, directing her gaze toward the next battle that was starting.
"Speaking of monsters," Erza said, "what happened to Natsu and Gajeel?"
"They left to check out something interesting," Laxus replied with a shrug. "They should be back soon."
"I hope so," Erza replied. "I'd sure hate for them to miss anything important."
Just then Natsu came into the booth. He glanced over at Erza and offered her a toothy grin. "Hey, you look really exhausted," he said. "But at least you won, right?"
"Of course I won! And who said I'm tired? I could go another round right now!" Erza glared. How could he tell just by looking at her that she didn't have a drop of energy left anyway?
"How about a quick spar then?" Natsu said with a wink.
"How about we watch the rest of the fights and see what we're up against?" Erza said, annoyed that the dragon slayer called her bluff. Of course, she also knew that he was bluffing to an extent. But he wouldn't hesitate to fight if she took him up on it. So he wasn't really bluffing.
"So what did you two go out after?" Erza asked as Natsu and Gajeel each settled into seats nearby. She wondered what could have come up that would cause the two to leave in the middle of her match. Especially since they seemed particularly interested in watching her battle.
"We tracked some guy who's probably the one Jellal's group sensed," Natsu said with a shrug.
"Oh really? Did you catch him?"
"He got away," Natsu said with a shrug. Erza didn't entirely believe him. He had that look he got when he was trying to lie, or at least conceal important information. She looked to Gajeel to see if he would add anything, but the iron dragon slayer remained silent.
"So a random stranger managed to evade two of the all powerful dragon slayers?" She asked, a hint of sarcasm in her voice. Please take the bait. Please take the bait.
Natsu didn't respond, just shrugged and looked out at the battlefield where the next one on one was taking place.
"I wonder when we'll get a turn," he said.
Just then an announcement was made by Chapati. "Attention ladies and gentlemen. This is a highly unusual occurrence, but due to the popularity of this request and the desire of the king and the princess to see this match, the following match that was scheduled for tomorrow will take place today instead. Today the twin dragon slayers of Sabertooth will test their battle strength against the dragon slayers of Fairy Tail! The next battle will be Rogue Cheney and Sting Eucliff verses Natsu Dragneel and Gajeel Redfox!"
A smile spread over Natsu's face as he listened, turning to Gajeel with a smirk. "Rumor has it these guys killed dragons. Maybe this'll be a fun match."
"I wouldn't count on it," Gajeel muttered, and Erza had to lean in a little to hear him. "Their magic power feels pretty low."
"I thought so too," Natsu replied. "But maybe they're just masking it somehow. It sounds crazy, but there was no hint that they were lying when they said they killed their dragons, so they absolutely believe what they said."
"That doesn't make it true," Gajeel's response echoed what Erza was thinking. "Many people have believed things that were nothing more than lies, planted in their minds by others."
"You may have a point their metal head," Natsu said. "But we won't find out till we fight them, will we?"
"Bah, there's no talking to you about anything." Gajeel growled.
"I'm all fired up," Natsu grinned. Then the two headed out into the arena to start their battle.
"So what do you think the outcome will be?" Chapati asked Yajima over the loudspeakers.
"I can't really say," Yajima responded. "Both Natsu and Gajeel are coming back from a seven year time gap, seemingly. So it's possible that the Sabertooth dragon slayers have an advantage, since they've battled and trained for 7 years. However, we also don't know for sure what happened during the 7 years that Fairy Tail's dragon slayers disappeared, so the advantage may go to Fairy Tail."
Jenny grabbed the microphone. "I think Saber's gonna' win. Natus and Gajeel may have been powerful back in their day, but the world moved 7 years while they were just gone. My prediction is they won't even put up a good fight."
Erza couldn't help but laugh at the girl's arrogance. She, and probably Sabertooth from the looks of it, were about to be very surprised. She then noticed that Sting was saying something to Natsu and Gajeel. Straining toward the combatants, she was able to pick up the conversation.
"You call yourself dragon slayers, but you couldn't even slay a single measly dragon?" Sting was saying, a huge smirk on his face. "Dragon wimps is more like it. Both of us killed dragons when we were still children."
"You talk a lot," Natsu said, trying to look bored. But Erza could see from his eyes that he was actually eager to start this fight. "If you killed your dragons when you were children, then your power will show here."
She then watched as he leaned forward, his voice getting louder so that the whole stadium could hear. "But you better hope you're not making it up, because if you don't have the power to kill dragons, you've already lost this battle."
"We'll see about that," Sting sneered, and Rogue broke his silence for a moment to agree with his partner. "The twin dragons of Sabertooth have never lost together, and we're not about to start now."
"Once again, you talk a lot." Natsu said, yawning. "Why don't you save all that for the battlefield?"
"You'll be singing a different tune after we're done," Sting said, glaring at the dragon slayer. "I'll teach you not to make light of Sabertooth."
"Ooh, I'm so scared…" Natsu said, his sarcasm evident. Erza could tell that he was intentionally angering his opponent, possibly hoping for a better fight and a fuller display of the other dragon slayer's power. But she'd seen Sting and Rogue fight before, and she knew that the pink-haired mage was in for a disappointment.
Then Chapati spoke the words that everyone was waiting for. "And now the final fight of the day: the twin dragons of Sabertooth vs. Natsu Dragneel and Gajeel Redfox. Third generation dragon slayers face off against the first generation. Which will win? We'll soon find out."
A toothy grin spread over Natsu's face. "I'm all fired up."
