Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone but my OC Charlotte, but even she originates from the Black Butler series.

Warnings: same as in previous chapters.

Enjoy!

"Ready for today, Luce?" Natsu asked his friend with a toothy grin.

Lucy smiled innocently in return. "Of course! It should be pretty fun, ne?"

"Fighting is always fun!" Natsu agreed with a laugh, before his eyes dimmed slightly. "Well, maybe not always…"

"Friendly battles are fun." Lucy said calmly, knowing that he was thinking of all the times where they and their friends had almost lost their lives.

After all, that was where her mind had gone, and believe it or not her and Natsu were occasionally on the same wavelength, as scary as that was.

"Yeah." Natsu agreed, smiling genuinely again.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BOYS AND GIRLS, HUMANS AND NON-HUMANS, MAGES AND NON-MAGES ALIKE!" Max coughed awkwardly, realizing that he'd gone a little too far before mentally saying 'to heck with it' and continuing to scream his introduction into the microphone. "Welcome to the 17th Fairy Tail Exhibition Match event!"

The thousands of people in the crowd screamed their approval, all of them extremely excised for the three matches that were about to take place.

Jura Neekis versus Toph Beifong, Lucy Heartfilia versus Natsu Dragneel, and Erza Scarlet versus Mirajane Strauss?

These fights might very well go down in history.

And even if they didn't, they would still undoubtedly be talked about for decades to come.

"Come on, old man!" Toph shouted with a large grin, eyes closed as she faced her opponent.

Not that she could actually see him.

Jura let out a booming laugh, appreciating the young woman's fighting spirit, before launching his first attack: Iron Rock Spikes.

"What on Earthland?" Freed asked in awe, wide-eyed as he watched his guildmate manipulate the solid Earth beneath and around her in a single fluid movement, easily countering Jura's attack. He noticed that the girl didn't say her attacks out loud, and she also wasn't using magic circles. "How is she doing that?"

"She doesn't use Earth Magic, she uses Earth." Lucy answered with a delighted and proud smile as she watched her friend hold her own against one of the Ten Wizard Saints. "Basically, she is Earth. Just like Juvia is Water."

Juvia's pretty blue eyes lit up from where she was standing a few feet away.

For years, all throughout her childhood since the moment her magic had manifested itself, she had been called a freak by everyone around her.

The reason she had joined Phantom Lord was because the former master Jose hadn't. Juvia hadn't even cared that he wasn't a good man, she was just happy that someone had finally accepted her and her magic for what they were.

Still, Fairy Tail was much better than Phantom Lord had ever been, even before they became a borderline-dark guild.

"Toph-chan developed her Seismic Sense technique herself, correct?" Juvia asked the blonde girl.

Lucy hummed, nodding in agreement. "Yes. Now that I think about it, a lot of people have probably tried to duplicate the skill since it became common knowledge, but I don't think anyone managed. I don't know if it's because they use Earth magic instead of Earth, or because she has the advantage of her other senses being heightened to compensate for her lack of sight."

"Both, perhaps." Juvia tilted her head thoughtfully, blue curls dancing in the slight breeze. "Many have also tried to copy Juvia's Water Body, and they have all failed. Juvia would bet that the Earth mages would fail as well."

"Most likely." Lucy agreed. "You two definitely have a stronger connection with your elements that most regular elemental mages do, that's for sure."

Juvia smiled proudly, before the two women turned their full attention to the match.

Jura grumbled a bit as his opponent dodged yet another one of his attacks.

Despite the fact that the Fairy Tail mage was mostly playing defense, she had managed to land a blow on him, while he couldn't say the same.

And then she struck.

Jura's eyes widened anxiously as large columns of solid earth came speeding at him from every direction, too quickly for him to stop it or gain control of the rock for his own use.

He fled underground, managing to dodge the attack, but in his haste he had forgotten one very important thing about Toph.

He didn't realize it just yet, but with that action, he had already lost.

Toph smirked as she felt Jura burrow underneath the surface of the arena, disappearing to everyone who was watching.

Luckily for her, she wasn't limited by sight, and she had literally grown up in underground tunnels with the Badger Moles of the East, the first Earth users.

She easily kept track of Jura's movements, and just when he was about to spring up from the ground, remembering her abilities and realizing that he was in danger, she stomped her foot forcefully.

A moment later Jura shot up, not of his own accord, but held in a tight grip by a fist made of solid rock. He tried to cast another spell to escape and overwhelm her, but he couldn't manage to free his limbs enough to do so.

A projector lacrima appeared in the space above their heads (though Toph obviously couldn't see it) and showed a ten second countdown, anticipating either Jura's escape or Toph's victory.

It was at six seconds when Jura conceded his defeat.

"And the winner is: Toph Beifong!" Max announced, screaming himself hoarse in his excitement as the crowd went wild.

"That was amazing!" Wendy said breathlessly, wide-eyed as she stared at the black-haired girl down in the arena triumphantly punching the air.

"Wasn't it?" Romeo agreed with a large grin from the seat beside her.

"She is certainly skilled." Carla commented, impressed even though she still thought the girl was too rough to be a good influence on Wendy. Then again, Toph was quite confident, which was something that Wendy could use more of…

"She made S-Class three months after she joined Fairy Tail." Romeo said, admiration evident in his voice.

Wendy and Carla gaped, and Romeo used the distraction to wave over one of the people walking up and down the stairs of the stands selling snacks, buying water and cotton candy for each of them.

"Oh, thank you." Carla said in surprise when the boy handed them theirs. Wendy herself blushed before thanking him quietly.

"You're welcome, Miss Carla, Wendy." Romeo said with a kind smile.

"What is this?" Wendy asked after a moment, sampling her treat. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"It's called cotton candy." Romeo explained, taking a bite of his own. "Be careful, it's a bit sticky, and it'll get worse if you lick your fingers to try and get it off."

"Noted." Carla responded, appreciating the warning as she tried it herself.

"Not bad." The white Exceed decided, before glancing at theirs. "Why choose pink for yourself?"

"Eh?" Romeo asked in confusion, before glancing down at the sweet in his hands. "The blue and pink don't taste any different." And then he seemed to get what she was really asking. "Oh! I don't mind pink. I always thought the whole boy/girl color thing didn't make any sense. That, and I figured blue suited Wendy better than it did me."

Carla smiled approvingly, eying Wendy as her face turned slightly—you guessed it—pink.

Trying not to call attention to her red face, Wendy giggled as the cotton candy stuck to her fingers. "You know, it's kind of like I'm eating air!"

"Really?" Romeo asked thoughtfully. "So this is kind of what it's like for you? I always wondered."

"W-what do you mean?" Wendy asked, blushing again. He had wondered about her?

"Oh!" This time Romeo had a blush to match hers. "Well, when you first joined the guild, I was really curious. I'd seen Natsu eat fire for years, and then Gajeel with his iron, but I couldn't really imagine what it would be like to be able to eat something that you're constantly inhaling. Do you have to do something different so that you eat instead of breathe? Do you sometimes 'take a bite' by accident when you don't mean to?"

As Wendy explained her powers to a curious Romeo, Carla glanced at the two thoughtfully.

'At least this one has some manners.' She thought with a slight sigh, realizing that the two kids might end up together in a romantic sense at some point in the future.

'And good taste.' She added, taking a bite of her own pink cotton candy.

Please review! :)

Hope you guys liked it!

Note: Toph's last name is Beifong, not Bei Fong as I've been writing it. I'm not going to go back through every chapter and correct it, but I will try to write it correctly from now on.