Hey there everyone. Sorry for the wait. I've been busy studying for finals, as well as some other stuff, but now that finals are over and summer is upon us, hopefully I'll have more time to work on updating. Now, let's get started! I don't own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does.

Chapter 24: Lucy vs Natsu!

3rd Person POV

Upon the announcement of the first battle, the stadium shook in cries of excitement and approval. In the stands, however, Team Sabertooth and both Fairy Tail teams had a different reaction. Excluding Lucy, everyone in Team Sabertooth seemed to have a small smile on their face, happy that Lucy would be able to fight Natsu. Lucy, however, was staring out at the arena with a blank expression on her face. Inside, she was having an internal struggle as to how she felt about this fight. In one side, she felt glad that she would have a chance to prove herself, as well as get some payback on Natsu. On the other hand, even though she hadn't forgiven Natsu yet, she had forgiven the others, which led to her to fear that if she hurt Natsu, that the rest of the guild would turn against her and begin to resent her, for real this time.

On the other side of the arena, both Fairy Tail teams, as well as the rest of the guild sitting in the stands, had a shocked expression on their faces. While they were all worried about having to see two former friends fight against each other, they were worried about Natsu hurting Lucy again and then losing her again. However, they trusted Natsu wouldn't hurt Lucy too bad, and this was a competition, so injuries were to be expected. At the same time, however, they were curious as to how strong Lucy had become in the time that she was gone. Slowly, they all began to look forward to their fight. Simultaniously, they all turned to see how Natsu looked. Once they saw his expression, however, they felt all that excitement go down the drain, only to be replaced by worry.

Natsu had a shocked expression on his face, unable to believe that he had to fight Lucy. He didn't want to fight Lucy, he wanted to regain her trust. He turned to see how Lucy looked, and once he saw that she looked indifferent, he felt a sting go through his heart. Looking down, he realized how hard it would be to regain Lucy's trust and friendship. When he looked back up, however, he saw Lucy smiling at him and nodded at him. Once he saw that, he felt relieved, as if Lucy was telling him that she wanted him to fight her with everything he had. Determined to fulfill her request, he ran towards the stage and yelled out while shooting fire out of his mouth, "I'm all fired up!"

Lucy shook her head as she walked out to the field. It seemed that no matter how much time passed, Natsu would still be the same person he always was. Once they were both standing on the field, Mato, the GMG mascot walked forward and said, "You will have thirty minutes to try and knock your opponent out or have them surrender. If after thirty minutes neither opponent has been knocked out or has surrendered, then the match will be declared a draw. The entire arena will be your battlefield. Ready?"

Once Lucy and Natsu nodded their heads, a gong sounded, signaling the beginning of the match. Instead of fighting immediately, Natsu grinned at Lucy and said, "I'm not going to go easy on you Luce!"

Lucy flinched at the nickname Natsu had for her and said, "I don't want you to go easy on me. I want to show everyone how strong I've gotten. Oh, and one more thing… Don't call me Luce… I haven't forgiven you and therefore you don't deserve to call me that…"

Natsu flinched at that statement and then remembered the situation that they were in. Lowering his head, he said, "I know, I'm sorry." Suddenly raising his head, he said, "Let's do this then!"

Instead of answering, Lucy simply nodded before calling out, "Spica Hole."

Natsu looked confused but then was surprised when the ground underneath him gave out and a hole appeared. Caught off guard, Natsu fell and found himself in a trap, with rocks and earth keeping him inside. Grinning, he lit up his hands before smashing his way through. Once he was free, he grinned at Lucy and said, "That was new. That looked familiar though…"

Lucy nodded and said, "That's because it is. It's one of Virgo's attacks. Now come on. I thought we were supposed to be fighting."

Natsu grinned and said, "I'm all fired up!"

Back with the announcers, Chapati was talking with a lot of excitement in his voice. "Lucy has started off the match by showing us an impressive attack. It seems that the two know each other, so this will bring upon us an interesting match."

Yajima nodded and said, "I've seen her fight before and the way she's fighting today is a lot different than the way she used to fight. It's obvious she has gotten stronger."

Back with the fight, Natsu charged at Lucy with a flaming fist aimed at her face. Just as he was about to land the hit, Lucy ducked the fist and then engulfed her fist in a bright light before landing a hard hit on Natsu's chest. The punch caused Natsu to fly back and slide across the field, before stopping a few feet from where he had been standing originally.

Natsu grinned and said, "You're just full of surprises, huh?" With a loud roar, Natsu released his Fire Dragon's Roar at Lucy. Lucy grinned and then moved her hands in a round motion before realeasing a large torrent of water towards Natsu's roar. The two attacks met halfway and began to push each other. Just as Lucy was about to apply more pressure to the attack, she decided to hold back, so she let Natsu's roar overpower her attack. Just as the roar was about to reach her, she jumped out of the way and looked towards Natsu, where he was grinning like an idiot. She shook her head and said, "Don't get cocky Natsu. I still have lots of tricks left."

By this time, Chapati seemed to be going crazy with excitement, "Whatever type of magic Lucy is using is amazing. She seems to have control over several elements. Natsu will be in trouble if he doesn't do something soon."

Yajima shook his head before saying, "I don't think that's right. If I remember correctly, she used to use celestial spirit magic, and she had a lot of spirits that had different ways to fight. Based on that fact, as well as the attacks she's used so far, I think that she is someone able to use her spirit's powers as her own, something that requires a lot of skill to do."

Chapati looked shocked and said, "Well there you have it folks. While at first appearance Lucy doesn't seem to be using too advanced magic, the fact that she can use her spirit's magic as her own shows her skill."

Ignorant to everything that the announcers were saying, Natsu kept on grinning but then remembered something. "Hey, where are your spirits? You haven't used them at all this entire time." The rest of Fairy Tail also looked at her with questioning looks while Sabertooth simply shook their heads at their cluelessness. One would think that after using so many of her spirit's attack that they would figure out what was going on, not mention that Yajima had just explained how Lucy was able to fight the way she was.

Lucy shook her head and said, "That's where you're wrong Natsu. I have been using my spirits. Just beause they're not here with me physically doesn't mean their not fighting with me."

Natsu looked at Lucy confused and said, "What do you mean? How can they fight with you if they're not with you?" While Natsu continued to look confused, the rest of Fairy Tail slowly but surely began to understand exactly what Lucy meant.

Lucy shook her head once again and said, "I can't believe you still haven't figured it out. Well, I don't feel like explaining, so instead, I'll show you." Holding out Scropio's and Taurus's keys, she simply called out, "Scorpio, Taurus!"

In a flash of light, Scorpio stood in his signature pose and yelled out, "We are!" Next to him,Taurus stood tall and proud, while yelling out, "Moooo! I'll protect Luuuucy's booody!"

Natsu grinned and said, "That's what I was waiting for." Charging in blindly, he brought his hands together and tried to finish this in one hit. With a loud roar, he released his Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame.

At the same time, Lucy called out, "Let's attack together you guys!" The two spirits nodded before Scorpio called out, "Sand Buster!" Instead of aiming his attack at Natsu, however, he aimed it at Taurus's axe. At the same time, Lucy held out her hand and also yelled out, "Sand Buster!" Her own sand buster met with Scorpio's before the two attacks joined and reached Taurus's axe, where Taurus used his power to control the sand around his axe. He then smashed his axe on the ground, yelling out, "Sandstorm Axe Aldebaran x2!" Immediately afterwards, a large shockwave surrounded by the sand rushed out from where Taurus's axe hit the ground and charged at Natsu's attack.

Once the two attacks met, the shockwave easily overpowered Natsu's attack and crashed into Natsu, who proceeded to fly across the Arena and crash into the side of the arena.

Chapati looked shocked at first but then said, "Amazing! With an amazing combination of attacks, Lucy has overpowered Natsu's attack. Not to mention that she used her power while having out two spirits out at the same time."

Back in the arena, Natsu groggily stood back up and whipped a small amount of blood that had dripped out from his lips. He grinned and said, "That was amazing Lucy! Now it's my turn to go all out though."

Charging with full power, he surrounded himself in flame before calling out, "Crimson Lotus Exploding Blade!"

Lucy grinned before dismissing his spirits and calling out, "O God of the Sea, Beckon my call, Come to my side, Poseidon!"

In a large shine of blue, along with a small wave of water, Poseidon stood protectively in front of Lucy and said, "Is it that time, milady?"

Lucy nodded and joined hands with Poseidon before the two called out, "Neptune's Wrath!" Immediately, a large highly pressurized cannon of water blasted out of their joined hands and met Natsu's attack. After a single second, Natsu's attack was dismissed and the cannon blasted Natsu once again at the other side of the arena, where Natsu fell to the ground unconscious.

Once the attack dissapeared, Poseidon bowed at Lucy and then had a large wave surround him before returning to his gem form around Lucy's neck.

The entire arena was silent at the display of power but after a few seconds, they all snapped out of their surprise and all began to shout and praise the fight, as well as Lucy's skill.

Mato walked over to Natsu and after comfirming his loss, he said, "Natsu is unable to battle. The winner is Lucy of Team Sabertooth!"

Everyone cheered and Chapati called out, "What an amazing first first. Despite Natsu's attempts, it seems Lucy was simply too much. Also, what an amazing display of camaraderie between Lucy and her spirits. The final shock, however, was Lucy's ability to call upon one of the famous eleven gods after having used so much magic to fight and call two golden gate keys. What else will she surprise us with as the tournament progresses? Keep watching to find out!"

Yajima nodded and said, "Lucy has shown us how strong she's become. With such an amazing display, she should be proud."

Jenny huffed slightly and said, "I guess it was kind of impressive. Props to her."

Back with Fairy Tail, they couldn't believe how easily Lucy had overpowered Natsu and defeated him. Shacken out of their surprise, they watched as Natsu was brought to the stands, where Wendy proceeded to heal him.

Turning to Lucy, they saw her back with her team, laughing at something Minerva seemed to have done. Looking at how happy she was, they all could only think one thing, It seems Lucy has finally found happiness again. I hope she can be that happy with us again someday soon.

There you go guys. I was originally going to include more fights in this chapter but then I decided that I wanted to have Natsu and Lucy's fight take up the entire chapter. Stay tuned for what happens next. Don't forget to review and favorite. Later!