Chapter 20
In a land far, far away lies the kingdom of Fiore, a small, peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some, however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards. Banded together into magical guilds, they apply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore. But there is a certain guild in a certain town that soars high above the rest, one from which countless legends have been born. A guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. Its name... is Fairy Tail.
The entirety of the guild was standing in front of the stage a waiting Master Makarov and the S-class wizards to come out and select this year's candidates for the S-class trials. When Makarov walked onstage followed by the S-class wizards, minus Mystogan and Laxus, and Makarov walked up to the mic and cleared his throat.
"Each year we select guild members to partake in the annual S-class trials. The participant will select a partner, who is not S-class, and they will work together to complete the S-class trials." Makarov explained to all of the new members that were in the crowd.
"Come on Gramps tell us who got in this year already!" Natsu shouted with a wide grin. Makarov just chuckled and shook his head in response.
"The ten to have passed this year are Natsu Dragneel," Makarov announced.
"I'm all fired up!" Natsu exclaimed.
"Gray Fullbuster,"
"About time." Gray said crossing is arms across his suddenly naked torso.
"Cana Alberona," Cana looked slightly deflated at her name being called.
"Levy McGarden,"
"M-Me?!" Levy stuttered.
"Elfman Strauss,"
"Only real men can become S-class!" Elfman exclaimed
"Juvia Lockser,"
"W-What?!" Juvia exclaimed breaking out of her naked Gray induced trance.
"Freed Justine,"
"I will make Laxus proud." Freed stated with a determined expression.
"Mest Gryder," Earning a nod from the mage.
"Kaito Murabba,"
"Fine, guess if I have to." The Albino said with a sigh.
"And Dakura Scarlet." Makarov finished with a gleam in his eye.
"Is only proper to have both Scarlet siblings S-class." Dakura stated with a smirk.
"Each of you will select a partner who is not a fellow participant or an S-class mage already. In two weeks you will all meet at the docks to take a boat to the location of the S-class trials, Tenrou Island." Makarov explained concluding the speech allowing the guild members to split and for the S-class trial participants to choose their teammates. Dakura and Kaito both rejoined their guild team and sat down at a booth.
"So since I know Kaito is going to be asking Riley, Abigail would you be my partner for the S-class trials?" Dakura asked of the stone mage.
"Sure it'll be fun to take down Kaito and Riley along with helping you become S-class." Abigail replied acting as if the two mentioned mages weren't sitting right next to them.
"You know we can hear you right?" Riley stated with a little annoyance in her voice.
"Yeah we know, it's just fun to act like that." Dakura said with a shrug.
"Anyway, all joking aside. I suggest we begin our training for the S-class trials." Kaito said with a slight glare at his male team member who put up his hands in surrender with a slight shake of the head and chuckle.
"Sure, and I think I know the best place for us to train." Dakura stated with a smirk of amusement. "BUT we can't get there by train and it would take to travel by foot so we will have to use my shadow travel." Dakura revealed while wearing a shit-eating grin receiving a glare from Kaito, a groan from Abigail, and a confused look from Riley.
"What's so bad about using Dakura's shadow travel?" Riley asked, and was about to be answered by Kaito, but was stopped by Dakura covering his mouth with a hand.
"You will see in due time. Just collect enough supplies for yourself for about two weeks and we will meet back up at the park." Dakura said as the four split up to prepare for the training trip they were about to have. After about 5 minutes they all met under the tree in the park with Kaito practically dragging himself into the park and Abigail tying back her hair. Riley looked at them in confusion, but didn't get to ask them what was wrong when Dakura appeared out of a shadow with a massive smile surprising her.
"Ok everyone place your hand on my shoulder, and hang on tight." Dakura said as the three mages grabbed his shoulders. One he made sure they had a good grip on him he started melting into a shadow pulling his team with him.
"I fucing hate you." Kaito got out before he was pulled in.
(Jagged Covert Forest)
Team DARK melted out of a shadow in a clearing in the Jagged Covert Forest. When they emerged all but Dakura lost their lunches.
"I am never traveling that way ever again." Riley panted out.
"That's what Kaito said the first time, and he still lets me do it sometimes." Dakura stated with a chuckle. Kaito glared at him while wiping his mouth and looked at his surroundings.
"Where are we?" He asked of his long time friend,
"The Jagged Covert Forest, not far from the Lamia Scale guild. This forest is full of different types of bugs. There isn't many other forms of wildlife in this forest other than the bugs so we can really push ourselves while training and not worry about harming anything." Dakura explained as he set his pack down on a log that sat next to a small circle of stones. The rest of his team followed suit and placed there packs on the log as they spread out and begun their own individual training to start with.
(Two Weeks Later)
All of the participants of the S-class trials can be seen on a large boat sailing towards the site of the S-class trials, Tenrou Island. All were having a fairly pleasant boat ride except Natsu and Dakura who were handing over the side of the boat puking their guts out. The rest of the boat's occupants can be seen wearing as little clothing as possible to ward off the heat, all except Juvia, Abigail, and Kaito who were all wearing their normal attire.
"How can you be wearing that in this HEAT!" Riley exclaimed as she fanned herself with a large white fold-up fan.
"Simple. Ice Lacrima." The resident Albino replied, opening his coat slightly revealing some of the aforementioned lacrima set into the sides of the cloak. Abigail shrugged signifying that she didn't know why she was so heat resistant. After a few more minutes of the Dragon slayers groaning and people being bathed in their own sweat, Tenrou island can finally be seen not far from where the boat laid anchor. Makarov suddenly appeared at the wheel of the ship with a chart floating behind him.
"On the island there are ten tunnels. Three of the tunnels house one of our guild's S-class where you will have to take on any challenge they give you. Six you will fight another team to decide who goes on. One is a safe route where you will move on without a fight. The tunnels are located at the smoke signal, and you may use any magic to your disposal to reach there." Makarov explained. After a few minutes the group noticed that the boat wasn't moving.
"Wait we have to SWIM?!" Lucy exclaimed. This seemed to knock everyone out of their trance as each team scrambled to the side of the boat, but were stopped when a rune barrier stopped them.
"What the?" Gajeel exclaimed as he started pounding on the barrier. Freed and Bickslow could be seen flying of towards the island.
"Don't worry it's only temporary!" Freed shouted back. No one noticed Dakura grab Abigail and fly up towards the top of the barrier and ate his way through and quickly got out before it regenerated. Down below he saw Levy rewrite the barrier so she and Gajeel could get through.
"See yah later!" Dakura shouted as he shot of towards the island. As this was happening, Kaito had some of his shadow beetles out, consuming a small line of the runes as he and Riley managed to squeeze their way out of the small hole formed before it closed back up.
"Hah! Glad I got those guys earlier." The Albino shouted as he had a platform of beetles carrying himself and Riley off towards Tenrou. Back on the island Dakura and Abigail touched down next to the signal fire surrounded by cave entrances marked from A to J with path F blocked off.
"Which one do you want to take?" Abigail inquired of the darkness mage. Dakura took a couple of sniffs before grinning and going down path I followed by Abigail. Once they passed the entrance, it was blocked off to stop anyone from following. After walking down the dark path for some time Abigail asked Dakura what had be in her mind for some time.
"Why did you choose this path?" Abigail asked as she saw a light up ahead.
"Simple I smelled someone in this path, and I've wanted to have this fight for some time." Dakura explained with a smirk.
"Who?" Abigail asked as they entered a long corridor that looked like the ruins of a tomb with a woman standing in the center.
"Erza." Dakura stated with the widest grin Abigail ever saw on him.
"Dakura even though you are my brother I will not hold back. You must defeat me to continue." Erza stated while requipping into her Heaven's Wheel armor.
"I wouldn't think of it." Dakura stated as he was covered in a black aura. "Abigail stay out of this fight, and only help when I call for it." Dakura said before rushing his younger sister.
(With Kaito)
"So, which path are you going to choose, Kaito?" Riley asked as the insect user looked at the remaining paths.
"Let's see here, Dakura most likely went after Erza, so that leaves me with no choice but to go down path J." He said as he entered the cave, triggering the blockade to spring up behind him and Riley as they continued down the path.
"Wait, why J?" The darker skinned female asked of him as they continued, Kaito having some of his flame beetles out to provide light.
"It's closest to K, for Kaito. That, and I didn't really want to face Gildarts or Mira, so I figured this was the best bet." The insect user revealed as they came up to a flooded cavern with varying platforms dispersed throughout the water. "And now, we wait."
"Why though, we could clearly just keep going." Riley replied, as Kaito gave a tired sigh.
"It's not that simple, Riley. This is clearly one of the battle paths, otherwise it would have been a straight shot all the way through." The Albino said as the sound of distant footsteps resonated from the opposite end of the cavern. "And here comes our opponents now…"
(With Dakura)
Both Dakura and Erza have been going at it for some time trading blows with both their swords and ranged attacks. Abigail was off to the side in a stone shell to protect herself from the stray attacks that were destroying the chamber. Looking out of her peep hole she could see that both Erza and Dakura were tired, but Abigail knew that Dakura was faking the tired look and was just trying to catch Erza off guard.
"Dark Dragon ROAR!" Dakura shouted sending the beam straight at Erza.
"Requip: Adamantine Armor!" Erza exclaimed as she threw up her shield just in time to block the attack, but was surprised when she sensed something behind her.
"You left yourself open Little Sis." Dakura whispered as he kicked Erza into a wall. She made to get up, but stopped when she saw Dakura's sword pointed at her neck and his gun pointed at her head.
"Yield." Dakura stated. Erza sighed and requiped into her normal armor.
"I yield." Erza stated as Dakura put away his sword and gun before offering his hand to Erza, who accepted it and let Dakura pull her up and into a hug. "Good job. At the end of the hall is a door wait in the clearing with Master until the other candidates have finished their first trials." Erza explained after pulling away from her brother.
"Thanks, and I hope I didn't hurt you to bad." Dakura stated while rubbing the back of his head. Dakura then was joined by Abigail and all three of them exited the cave, and Erza split off from them and left them with the Master.
(Back with Kaito)
"Ice Beetle Cannon!" Kaito shouted as the condensed ball of frost launched at Juvia, his opponent. Riley sat behind him in a dome made of Hercules beetles, safe from harm as he continuously fired off attacks.
"Water Slicer!" Came the shout of the bluenette as the attack tore through the frosted sphere, but otherwise not impeding it.
"This is getting tedious, to be honest." The albino said, ducking to avoid the residual effects of the previous attack. 'Wait a minute… why didn't I do this earlier?' He thought to himself as he had some of his Shock Beetles enter the water at his feet before jumping onto a platform, before having the insects discharge throughout the water, effectively defeating Juvia. Kaito and Riley then walked to the exit of the tunnel past a twitching Lisanna, who also got shocked. The two mages exited the tunnel and joined the other participants who were all sitting around waiting for the other participants. Eventually all groups were present except for Natsu and Happy, and after a few more minutes a dazed Natsu along with a scared cat came walking out of the last tunnel.
"Who did you get that got you so spooked Hot-head." Gray taunted his rival, but Natsu didn't respond with his usual enthusiasm.
"Gildarts." Was the only thing Natsu said and it caused everyone to look at Natsu with shocked expressions, except Makarov.
"How did you beat Gildarts?!" Gray exclaimed.
"He didn't. Natsu gave up after Gildarts started to exert his full power. When Natsu gave up Gildarts passed him saying it best to know when to give up." Happy explained to everyone, who relaxed at the explanation.
"Now that everyone has arrived I will explain the next part of the trial. The reason for this island being sacred to Fairy Tail is because Fairy Tail's first Master, Master Mavis, is buried somewhere on this island. You must find her grave to move on in the trials. You have until the sun sets. Good luck, and be careful the island is home to many creatures and beasts." Makarov explained and when he finished all the teams split up and started scrounging the island for the grave.
"Man where is this grave?" Dakura questioned to no one after he and Abigail have been searching the island for about an hour and a half.
"I don't know, but we need to keep searching." Abigail stated as she and Dakura continued to search, but when the entered the next clearing they couldn't help but feel like they were being watched. When they got to the middle of the clearing they were suddenly surrounded by multiple grunts wearing masks and holding a wide variety of weapons.
'Why does that guild symbol seem so familiar. Wait a minute is that? Shit it's Grimoire Heart. How did they get on the island? Wait why am I feeling my magic being drained? They must have gotten Azuma on the island somehow, and if that is the case then the forests are very dangerous right now, but first we have to get rid of our attackers.' Dakura thought to himself. "Abigail send up the flare, we need to warn the others because these guys didn't come alone." He ordered of his partner, who quickly complied and sent the flare into the sky and in the distance they saw many identical flares went up signifying one thing. Tenrou island was being attacked, and the attackers were Grimoire Heart.
(With Kaito)
(Half an Hour Earlier)
"Alright, we need a plan to find this 'grave' as we were told to." The albino stated, floating above the treetops on a platform of beetles to survey the land, when he noticed something odd in the distance. "Hey Riley?"
"Yeah Kaito?" The brunette woman asked as she too noticed the oddity in the distance.
"Are there any major guilds beside Blue Pegasus that own airships? As I doubt that is the Christina." The Scarab king began, "Unless those pretty boys suddenly became edgelords or something in a few weeks." Glancing at the growing dark shape in the distance, slowly become more visible as a black and white airship with red highlights.
"From what you told me about those guys, I wouldn't put it past them but I doubt it. That seems kind of dangerous though, especially with how close it is to the island." The darker skinned female retorted before what looked like a purple and black streak of lightning blasted off the ship, landing somewhere in the northern end of the island.
"What was that? Some sort of attack perhaps?" Kaito muttered before a much lighter streak launched off, small bubble like shapes descending from behind it. As the white streak made another round, it passed uncomfortably close to Kaito, staggering the beetle user from the force. As he regained his balance, some of the 'bubbles' popped in the air above him, revealing what looked to be masked grunts, the only common feature being the white masks with a heart-like emblem imprinted on it.
"Kaito, we got company!" Riley shouted out as the grunts somehow managed to launch themselves at the two despite the lack of platforms allowing them to do so.
"I see them! Beetle Storm!" With the shout, most of Kaito's swarm erupted around him, knocking the grunts that were close enough away and into the dense forest below. Drawing his swarm back in, Kaito jumped from his beetle platform onto the forest floor, punching one of the nearby grunts as he did so. Landing in a roll, the albino suddenly felt his magic begin to leave him for unknown reasons despite the lack of magic usage. As he noted this, he created another beetle platform and jumped onto it, his magic quickly returning to him when he left the ground. As he stood on the platform he made, he glanced into the sky for a brief moment, noticing one of the flares they were distributed lighting up the slowly darkening sky, signalling whoever sent it off was in some form of distress.
"Kaito! We need to get going, now!" Riley shouted out before grabbing the albino's arm and dragging him towards the source of the flare. Arriving at the sight of Dakura and Abigail fending off a large group of masked mages. Kaito and Riley quickly joined their teammates in fending off the seemingly endless group of mages.
"Who are these guys, and why are they attacking us?!" Riley exclaimed as she sent a wall of light crashing into a large group of the grunts.
"They're mages from the dark guild Grimoire Heart. I have no idea why they are attacking, but I know that these are only the foot soldiers. I will explain everything after we take care of these grunts." Dakura informed and the four Fairy Tail mages started to push against the Grimoire grunts, and after a few minutes they managed to defeat all the grunts nearby. Riley then turned to Dakura waiting for an explanation.
"Remember what I told you of my past?" Dakura started and after getting nods from everyone present he continued. " When I was Him I was sent out to inspect the other high ranking dark guilds, and I had to inspect Grimoire Heart a few times and when I inspected I studied every high ranking member. What their magic is, how powerful they are, so on and so on. Luckily this will help in the fight against Grimoire Heart. The reason you are feeling your magic draining is because Azuma, one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, has taken control of every tree on this island with his magic The Great Tree Arc. This magic allows him to control and manipulate the properties of trees, and to an extent, the ground. He is most known for causing explosions to incapacitate and kill you." Dakura explained gravely. The other three members of team DARK gained shocked expressions and started looking at the forest around them warily. "I suggest we fly around the island and help others where needed." Dakura stated earning nods of agreeance from his guild mates and created wings and picked up Abigail while Kaito went into his swarm form and made a small platform for Riley to stand on. The four flew around the island, and at some point it started raining. On the ground they saw a large group of Grimoire grunts searching the forest for any Fairy Tail mages, and Team Dark quickly flew down and started fighting off the group of grunts. When they finished of the grunts they were about to fly back up, but Dakura stopped when he saw a moving pillar of rain that seemed to be falling more intensely.
"Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit! Why is he here!? Why would Hades send him?!" Dakura exclaimed.
" Who are you talking about?" Abigail asked.
"Bluenote Stinger. He is the most powerful in Grimoire Heart right behind Hades, the master of Grimoire Heart." Dakura explained.
"Ah. I have finally found you Dakura Scar-." Azuma started, suddenly morphing out of a tree, but stopped when he looked at Dakura. "Lord Erebus what are you-" Azuma started, but never finished because Kaito slammed a Beetle Sphere into Azuma's chest sending him back some.
"Go. Take care of Bluenote. Me and the girls can take Azuma." Kaito stated with a serious face. Dakura nodded in thanks and formed his wings and took off in the direction of Bluenote.
Rage: Well another one bites the dust-
Blueghast: Did you say, [Another one Bites Za Dusto]?
Rage: *Facepalms and sighs* Anyway, this officially starts the Tenrou Island Arc.
Blueghast: No seriously though. Am I the only one seeing Jojoke material here?
Drake J: Did you just make a anime pun and reference in one word?
Blueghast: Hey man, Jojokes are awesome, some may say they are the greatest in [Za Warudo].
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Blueghast: Shit. I think I stopped time. Uh… Time has begun to move again?
Rage: What just happened!?
Blueghast: I… may have stopped time briefly.
Rage: Let's end it here before we break something else.
Blueghast: Hey, be glad I didn't utilize [D4C] on accid- OH SHIT!
Blueghast 2: What the hell?! Two of me?
Blueghast 1: Hey, other me. I used a certain [Stand] on accident and ended up here.
Blueghast 2: Wouldn't that normally break the multiverse?
Rage 2: OH GOD THERE'S TWO OF THEM! *Jumps out window*
Rage 1: I'll go get him, while you two end the chapter. *Jumps out window after other self*
Blueghast 2: Wait, chapter? You still are on those?
Blueghast 1: Yeah, why have you moved onto writing novels or something?
Blueghast 2: Nevermind.
Blueghast 1+2: As Always, Read, Rate, Review, And Favorite.
Rage 1+2: WHY IS EVERYTHING BURNING!
*Blueghast900 1 and 2 have signed off*
*Rage721 1&2 have logged out*