Finally, the Grand Magic Games are over! Now we can get onto the good stuff!

NOTICE: This chapter contains content and characters that haven't appeared in this story thus far. So if you haven't read past chapter 322 in the manga yet, I suggest you do.

Also, assume everything has happened like it did in the manga (minus Natsu's presence on the rescue team).

Alright, enough from me. Here's the chapter!

Kyodo POV

Dust. That was all I could see. Dust.

Maybe I saw it because the collision of two massive attacks had flung a lot of dirt into the air, or maybe there was another reason.

My dream of defeating Natsu had turned to dust.

As I fell to the ground, I was dimly aware of Natsu's roar of victory.

I had lost.

Natsu's fire had trumped over my ice.

And, to rub salt in the wound, he still had power left over when he was finished.

And, because of me, Sabertooth had lost.

I could feel tears brimming in my eyes. Because I got so caught up in enjoying the fight, I had forgotten the consequences of losing…

I reached down into my pocket for the photo of Ur I had put there so I could maybe get some comfort from it, when my hand brushed against something else.

I frowned and pulled it out.

It was Ophiuchus' key. But when did I… my eyes widened, and then I smiled.

Glae.

Only she would have thought of this. She had put it there to remind me about something important.

My friends. Always supporting me.

This battle…it hadn't been about the guild. It hadn't been about Sabertooth winning. It hadn't been about making Ur and Aisuma proud.

It had been about me doing what I wanted to do.

Fight Natsu.

Since the day that Sting had told me about the Fire Dragon Slayer, I had wanted to fight him. To fight the element that was my polar opposite.

And to win.

But I had lost.

Or had I? Sure, Natsu won the fight. Sure, I was the one lying in the dirt, and not him. But had I really….lost?

Losing is when you don't win and mope about it. But this…this wasn't my loss….this was my win.

I had won the knowledge that Natsu was stronger. I had won the ability to perform a Dual Element Mode.

And I had won…the power to lose.

Losing wasn't a sin. It wasn't something that you should be ashamed off.

It's something…you should be proud of.

You should be proud of the fact you tried. You should be proud of the fact that you had the courage to do something someone else didn't.

That's what losing was about. Learning from your mistakes.

So you could try again.

I smiled as I tucked the key into my pocket. I sat up and looked around.

Natsu was celebrating with the rest of his team (who I noticed weren't uninjured, meaning we had managed something), and a few other mages were trickling in to congratulate them. I smiled and stood up, walking across the destroyed town square. I guess that's what happens when you set two dragon slayers against each other.

I was about to walk out of the square when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I turned around to see Gray Fullbuster.

He smiled. "Thanks."

I raised an eyebrow. "For what?"

"I can tease Natsu about how he almost lost to an Ice Mage." He grinned.

I smiled. "Well, I guess I must've inherited something from Ur."

Gray smiled, but then turned serious. "By the way, your sis-"

"Don't worry, I'll handle it. Some things…I need to do on my own."

Gray nodded and smiled. "Well, I guess I'd better go make sure Natsu doesn't let this get to his head too much. See you around, Kyodo."

I smiled as he walked away, but then I noticed something. "Gray!"

He turned around. "Clothes!" I shouted.

"GAAAHH!" he yelled as he realized he had stripped. I laughed and turned, walking away. I walked out of the town square onto one of the streets, and immediately saw two familiar faces.

Sting and Rogue.

They both looked a bit worse for wear, but I don't think it mattered, given the fact that they were both smiling.

I looked at my feet. "Well…I lost."

Sting shrugged. "Who cares? Natsu's really strong. We've should've have known that from the start."

I was a bit taken aback. "You're not…mad?"

"Mad? That's not going to get me anywhere. If you can't beat him…well, you can't beat him."

I was still a bit surprised, but Rogue said, "I think Sting's learnt that not every battle can be won."

"Fro thinks so too!" My eyes widened in surprise as Frosch, Glae, and Lector appeared.

I looked at Sting. "Wait…Minerva…"

Sting shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe we were wrong about her. The important thing is that we're all unhurt."

Rogue and I looked at him. Sting realised his mistake and laughed. "Well, at least most of us aren't."

We laughed, and I looked down and spotted Glae. I leaned down and patted her on the head. "Thanks for the key." I whispered.

Glae nodded, and I stood up. "Well, I suppose it's about time we found Org-"

Suddenly, a sharp pain flared up in my head. Sting turned to look at me. "Kyodo?"

Then everything went black.

/

"Look, he's waking up!" I heard Glae say. My eyelids fluttered open and I saw Glae staring at me.

I sat up, realizing I was in a bed. "What happened?" I asked.

"You passed out from a concussion." A voice said. I turned around to see an old lady with pink hair standing in the corner.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"My name is Porlyusica. I treated your concussion."

I nodded, then me eyes widened. "Wait, a concussion? How long have I been out?!"

Porlyusica sighed. "About six hours. Really, not that long."

Not that long?! I exclaimed to myself.

I started to get out of bed, but Porlyusica suddenly got angry. "Are you an idiot?! Your wounds from your match still haven't healed! You can't just get up and start walking around!"

I was about to protest about being fine when the door burst open, revealing a panting Dobengal.

"Dobengal? What is it?" I asked the ninja.

"You must come with me to the town square immediately!" Dobengal said.

I frowned. "What's wrong?"

Dobengal shook his head. "I am unaware of the specifics, but the entire city is being evacuated and all the guilds are being gathered in the town square."

My eyes widened. "What?!"

Dobengal nodded. "It's true. A member of the military also informed me that it was crucial that you and the other Dragon Slayers were there."

At this, I was out of bed and pulling my jacket on. I turned around to face Porlyusica. "Thank you for treating my concussion. Glae, let's go!"

We rushed out of the room and ran down the hallway. "What on Earthland do they want the Dragon Slayers for?" I asked Dobengal.

"I have no idea, but the person who informed me was extremely insistent you come."

I nodded as we burst out of the doors. I turned to face Dobengal and Glae. "Glae, take Dobengal and go to the town square. I'll be right behind you."

"But how are you going to get to the town square?" Dobengal asked.

I smiled. "Have you learnt nothing about me in all the years I've been at Sabertooth, Dobengal?"

I slammed my fist into my palm. "Ice-Make: Wings!" I shouted. I took to the sky, and Glae followed, carrying Dobengal. We raced across the city as fast as we could.

What the hell is going on? I though frantically. Why do they need us? Has something happened?

It didn't take us long to reach the town square, and when we landed I was shocked by the amount of people there. I realized that every guild in Fiore must be here. Seriously, what was going on?

"How do we find Saber?" Glae said.

"This way." Dobengal said. I followed him and almost immediately ran into mages from Sabertooth, who parted to let me get to the front of the crowd.

I almost barged into Sting, who turned and grinned. "Well, if it isn't sleeping beauty."

I sighed at his idiocy. "What's going on?"

Sting shrugged. "Don't know. We just got asked to gather here."

I frowned. "I was under the impression that it was really urgent."

Sting shrugged, and then I heard a familiar voice. "Oi you!"

I turned around and Natsu ran up to me. "Natsu?" I asked, slightly nervous (remember, he had just defeated me a few hours ago).

But Natsu just grinned. "I never got to say thanks! That was an awesome fight! We should do that again sometime!"

I laughed nervously. Then I realized something. "Hey, didn't we blow this place up a few hours ago?"

"They fixed it with magic, apparently." Natsu said. "So anyways-"

"THE KING WILL SEE YOU NOW!" Everyone jumped when a soldier bellowed out to the crowd from the small tower in the center of the garden. Natsu headed back to his guild and everyone was quiet.

A figure started walking out from within the pedestal, clad in expensive clothes, flanked by two bodyguards…and unbelievably short. My jaw almost dropped. This guy ran Fiore?

"Greeting, mages. I am your king, Toma E. Fiore. You are no doubt wondering why I have gathered you tonight."

The short man, breathed in, clearly nervous about what he was about to say. "The fact of the matter is…this city…will very soon…be attacked by ten thousand dragons."

I couldn't speak. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I was GOBSMACKED.

Ten thousand dragons?! But…but…my eyes widened as I realized something. No way…Aisuma…he couldn't be…

A quick glance at Natsu told me the same thought was running through his head. "Fortunately, we have prepared a way to defend ourselves. We have in our possession something called the Eclipse Gate. In it is stored enough magic power to wipe out the dragon horde. However, there is a possibility that some, perhaps even several hundred of these dragons may survive. If that is the case...I beg of you, please help defend Crocus!"

The crowd was silent for a few moment, then someone cried out. "Of course we will!"

"Yeah!"

"We won't let some dragons just tread on us like ants!"

"You can count on us!"

Pretty soon, the entire crowd started cheering. Then I realized something. If Aisuma was in that horde, and he got hit…he would die.

No. If dragons were coming to attack us, surely Aisuma would fight to stop them? He had always said he loved humans.

But where was he?

"Kid." I span around to see Gajeel, with Natsu and Wendy. The Iron Dragon Slayer motioned for me to come closer.

Natsu was looking pretty serious. "I guess you're all thinking what I am. We don't exactly want our parents getting slaughtered."

"But we can't just stop the cannon launch. Then the city-no the entire world will be destroyed." I said.

Natsu nodded. "I know that. But still…."

He didn't need to say what we are all thinking: if we didn't do something, our dragon parents would die.

Suddenly, Wendy turned towards me. "Wait, Kyodo. You can make chains of ice, can't you?"

I nodded. "Then do you think you could somehow pull the dragons out of the way before the cannon fired?"

I shook my head. "I doubt it. Remember, dragons are pretty big."

"What if you knocked them out of the way?" We all turned to see a blue haired girl walk up to us.

Gajeel frowned. "Shrimp?"

The girl scowled at Gajeel. "I realized you lot would be thinking of something like this. So, here's my proposal: Each of you fly up, find your dragon parent and knock them away from the main crowd of dragons before the beam fires. Then, once the beam is fired, lure them back to down to the ground and we'll capture them."

"Capture them? How do we do that?" Natsu asked.

"There will be a lot of us, and four of them. It will be tough, but we can do it."

Everyone nodded.

And that's when I noticed the black portal open behind Natsu.

"Natsu!" I shouted. Natsu turned around but not fast enough. Two arms wrapped around his neck, and started dragging him into the shadows.

"Salamander!" Gajeel shouted. He reached out to grab Natsu, but a bolt of shadow flew out of the portal and stung Gajeel in the eye, and Natsu got sucked in. The portal closed, turning in a blob, and then flew into the air, heading towards…

"It's heading towards Mercurius!" I said.

Gajeel tch'd. "This is bad. Just when we need Salamander, he gets kidnapped…"

I turned to face Gajeel and Wendy. "I'll go get him back. If we lose Natsu, then we're in serious trouble." Before the two could protest, I ran over to Glae.

"Glae!" I shouted. The exceed turned to face me.

"Kyodo?"

"I need you to fly me to Mercurius, fast. I'll explain on the way there."

Glae nodded and hopped onto my back, activating her Aera. "Max Speed!" she said. We took off at an insane speed, hurtling through the night.

/

General POV

Jellal sat bolt upright as he realized what he had missed. "That's it!"

Ultear was woken from his shout, and stared at Jellal groggily. "What?"

"How could I have failed to notice something so simple? All this time, and it's been staring me in the face!"

"What has?" Meredy said, extracting herself from her sleeping bag.

"The Lucy that came from the future said she came on the 4th of July, a couple of hours before we met. However, earlier that day, I saw her watching the tournament!"

Ultear and Meredy processed this. "Isn't it strange that every year, we felt this magic, yet Future Lucy only arrived just recently?" Jellal continued.

"But we determined that magic we sensed was the Eclipse. Because Future Lucy came through the Eclipse which was made using the book of Zeref, she still had magic reminiscent of Zeref's on her." Ultear countered.

"But if everything Future Lucy said is true, she arrived midnight of the third day. Meaning the Lucy we saw in the afternoon of the third day…"

/

"Princess! Princess!" Arcadios cried as he ran towards Hisui.

The princess turned around, her face lightning up. "Arcadios-sama!"

Darton looked uncomfortable. "Chief Arcadios…about Hell Palace…"

Arcadios waved his hand. "That doesn't matter now. How goes Eclipse 2?"

"We're spreading word among the soldiers about it. The Hungry Wolves will hear about it soon enough." Hisui said. "It seems the words the person who came from the future told me about are coming to pass."

"What about destroying Zeref?" Aracdios asked.

"That can wait. The dragons are our first priority now." Hisui said.

Arcadios nodded, processing this.

Then he reached for his sword.

Darton's eyes widened. "Arcadios, what are yo-"

But the knight didn't point the sword at Hisui.

He pointed it at himself.

"A knight should never doubt the words of his monarch." He said. "That's why, when this whole fiasco is over…I'll give up my life. That is the price I shall pay for my dishonor."

Hisui was shocked. "Are you crazy?" Darton shouted.

"Princess…there's something I have to know." Aracdios said.

"The person from the future you talked about…I met her. And….she didn't know about Eclipse 2. She cried, because she knew what was going to happen, but not how to deal with it."

Hisui shook her head. "No, that person told me exactly what I needed to do."

"Are you saying she was lying?!" Arcadios exclaimed. "She didn't look the sort of person to deceive her friends for her own sake!"

Hisui's eyes widened. "She?"

Arcadios frowned, but nodded.

Hisui spoke slowly. "The person who spoke to me….was a man."

/

Jellal, Ultear and Meredy took off at a run. "The person I saw at the Domus Flau on the third wasn't Lucy! There's another person from the future!"

/

Lucy looked around. Things weren't looking good.

They were surrounded. While the rescue team had managed to break Lucy and Yukino out, they were now surrounded by soldiers (not to mention, Arcadios and Yukino had vanished, to which Mira had ran after the former Sabertooth mage).

"Loke! What do we do?!" Lucy shouted as she swung her Fleuve d'étoiles, making the guards back up a bit.

"I don't know! They just keep on coming!" Loke shouted back.

Lucy looked around desperately, looking for an answer.

And that's when Natsu fell on top of her.

Lucy's eyes widened in surprise as the Fire Dragon Slayer landed atop of her. Natsu looked up and realized just who he was on top of.

"Oh, hey Lucy. How's it going?" Then he jumped up and breathed a stream of fire at the guards, sending them scrambling backwards.

"Natsu!" Happy cried.

"How did you get here?" Loke asked confused.

Natsu frowned. "I don't really kno-" He was cut off as a freezing cold wind suddenly blew down the corridor.

Suddenly, the guards at the back started making a commotion for some reason.

Natsu tried to see what all the fuss was about, and then his eyes widened as he saw what the guards were panicking about.

A massive wave of ice was coming down the corridor towards them.

Natsu didn't even have time turn around as the wall of ice flowed over the guards and trapped them within its cold embrace. Natsu and co. raised their arms to try and defend from the tidal wave, but…

…it went straight around them.

The mages looked on in shock as the ice moved around them, completely missing them, capturing more and more soldiers, until finally even Natsu and Wendy couldn't hear the soldier's panicked cries for help.

Then the ice sunk into the floor, not leaving a trace of its victims behind.

Natsu and the others stared in shock until a voice snapped them out of their trance. "Well, that was easy."

Natsu saw a figure approaching them, his face obscured by the shadows in the hallway.

"Who are you?!" Natsu shouted.

Natsu could see enough of the figure now to spot his smirk. "As quick-tempered as always, I see."

Natsu's eyes widened. No way…that voice…

The figure finally emerged from the shadows, and the mages gasped as they recognized the man in front of them.

The figure grinned. "Long time no see, Natsu Dragneel." Said Kyodo.