Disclaimer: I don't own anyone or anything aside from a few OCs.

Warnings: same as in previous chapters.

Enjoy!

"Now it's time for the fourth match today!" the judge announced. "Competitors will be Yukino Aguria from Sabertooth versus Astrid Hofferson from the…Hairy Hooligans."

Was he reading that right?

Yes, yes we was.

"Okay then!" he continued. "This should be a good battle! Astrid is a Viking, with no magic, so it should be interesting seeing how her physical prowess holds up against Yukino's magic."

Astrid smirked cockily, sure that she would have no trouble beating the white-haired girl with the cloak decorated in feathers.

She ignored the girl when she bowed at her slightly in respect, just waiting for the gong to sound already.

When it did, she launched forward, axe raised high.

"Open, Gate of the Heavenly Scales." Yukino intoned calmly, holding a gold key above her head.

"She has Libra!" Lucy said, surprised.

"Lucy-nee, is that one of the Zodiacs?" Yui asked cutely from where she was perched on Kirito's lap.

Lucy grinned at the little girl. "Yup! Heavenly Scales…balance…I wonder what kind of magic she can use."

She got her answer a moment later, when Libra used Gravity Magic to knock Astrid down to the ground and keep her there no matter how much the blonde struggled, making her unable to continue the match.

Lucy worried about the dark fury in the younger blonde's eyes as her defeat was announced.

She glanced at Erik, who had noticed the same thing, and was reading the girl's thoughts.

Noticing her gaze, he grimaced at her with a small nod.

That girl was trouble, then.

Would she hold a grudge against Yukino specifically, or all mages because there were magic types that were strong enough to defeat her? Or the people of Fiore as a whole because of her hatred for Ryder and Toothless?

This was getting more and more complicated.

"Yukino Aguria of Sabertooth wins the match, leaving her guild with 29 points for today!" the judge called out. "The Hairy Hooligans, on the other hand, are left in last place so far with 1 point!"

Astrid glared at the Fairy Tail section of the stands, looking for Hiccup.

He wasn't looking at her, instead petting his demonic beast.

She looked away with a huff, not noticing that he turned to look at her as she did so, his light green eyes narrowed.

No one from Berk (the Vikings' home) had any idea that he was a mage, because he had been very good at keeping at hidden.

But the emotions he felt pouring off her, as well as his father and cousin?

They were cause for concern.

He turned, telling his guild mates about the emotions his empathy was picking up, which was confirmed by Erik a second later.

From the palace, Hisui's eyes widened.

There was another Celestial Spirit mage competing in the Games?!

How had she not known about this beforehand?

…And the single summoning hadn't given her a very good idea of the girl's skill.

Well, maybe she could fix that.

"Day one's matches are about to come to a close but we still have one more battle!" the judge announced.

"Looks like Fairy Tail Team A against Lamia Scale will be up for this match." Yajima glanced down at the schedule in front of him. "It's unusual that Team A will battle twice today while Team B doesn't battle at all, but we'll balance it out tomorrow by having Team B go twice and Team A not at all. As Orga Nanagear and Yukino Aguria from Sabertooth have both fought today, Sabertooth won't be up to battle on day 3, and the exorcists who—spoiler, won't be fighting today—will have an extra battle on day two or three."

"This'll be an interesting fight." Jenny said with a smile. "I can't wait to see which team comes out on top!"

"Alright folks, are you ready? The final match of the first day is going to be…Fairy Tail A's Jellal Fernandes versus Lamia Scale's Jura Neekis!"

The crowd's excitement reached an entirely new level at the announcement.

"Wow, I had no idea Jellal and Jura were so popular." Levy said in surprise.

"Well of course they are." Jet said from his seat beside her. "I mean he is one of the Ten Wizard Saints after all."

"He's about as strong as Master Makarov." Droy agreed. "And so is Jellal. He used to be one of the Saints too, and he was on the Magic Council."

"It would seem you're right Miss Realight, this will most definitely be an interesting match." Yajima said with a laugh before explaining to the crowd the same thing that Jet and Droy had told Levy. "This match may very well go down in history."

From the stands, Erza frowned thoughtfully. 'Jellal right off the bat. And he's up against Jura of all people.'

Natsu blinked. "Oh yeah! I forgot Jellal was kind of a big deal."

Lucy grinned. "Yeah, nii-san doesn't really seem the type, does he?"

"Good luck out there Jura!" Chelia cheered as Jura walked out of the tunnel and into the arena.

"This match is as good as ours." Yuka said smugly.

"He hasn't even started yet, Yuka!" Toby shouted, growling at his blue-haired friend.

"Chill out man, there's no need to get ticked off." Yuka said with a sigh.

From the Mermaid Heel area, Millianna bit her lip thoughtfully as she glanced at her once friend.

His eyes…they were kind again, like they had been before he and Erza had been taken away after taking the blame for Shō's escape plan.

Maybe, someday, she could handle being his friend again.

Kagura glared at the ground, frustrated that the man who had technically killed her older brother was right there but she couldn't even be angry with him because he was fucking possessed when it happened.

And she hadn't been able to kill Ultear, the girl who had possessed him, either, even though the woman had offered her life to Kagura, closing her eyes and awaiting her fate.

It had been the look in the pink-haired girl, Meredy's, eyes that stopped her.

And she was glad for it…when she heard the Arc of Time mage's story and why she had done it.

Tortured, thought to be abandoned by her mother, then manipulated into becoming a murderer…dealing with the guilt of killing Meredy's family and the thing with Jellal and the Tower of Heaven.

The guilt was punishment enough, she had realized.

Still.

Kagura wished that Grimoure Heart's guild master, Hades, was still alive.

She had a fair few ideas where she could stick her sword.

"Good luck, Jellal!" Lucy hugged her surrogate brother firmly before letting him go, grinning up at the taller man.

"You've got this." Ultear said quietly. "Just don't show off…too much, at least."

"Yeah, Erza already knows how great you are." Meredy threw in a wink, causing the girls to chuckle.

Itachi startled when Jellal poked Meredy on her forehead, causing her to pout slightly.

A memory flashed through his head of him doing the same thing to a small child…but he couldn't see what they looked like, and he didn't remember who they were.

A sibling, perhaps?

His heart clenched at the realization that he might have left someone behind when…well, whatever had given him amnesia had happened.

Did he have a family? Parents, siblings, cousins? Friends?

A lover?

He hoped not for that last one.

He valued Ultear's company greatly, respecting her intelligence and drive. He also wasn't so oblivious that he didn't realize that their relationship might eventually head in that direction.

A lover, or heaven forbid children (he was in his mid to late twenties after all, according to Porlyusica's estimates, so it was entirely possible) would just complicate that.

In the meantime he needed to stop creating more problems than he already had, he knew, nodding to his teammate as the blunette walked onto the field.

"Why is he using Mystogan's staves?" Gray asked in confusion after the battle had started.

"And how did he get them?!" Natsu demanded, just as confused. "They're supposed to be in Edolas with Mystogan!"

"I…I don't know." Ultear shook her head.

The Arc of Time mage narrowed her eyes at the blunette as he levitated off the ground and threw his staves, surrounding Jura before letting loose a five-layer magic circle.

A moment later, Jura's Rock Fist knocked him out of the sky.

"I should have known I couldn't beat you with someone else's magic." Jellal said quietly as he crouched down to the ground, where a yellow magic circle appeared. "METEOR!"

The Fairy Tail mages, both the ones competing and the ones in the audience sweat-dropped.

Why had he even bothered using Mystogan's magic in the first place? It wasn't like he was impersonating his Edolas counterpart, after all.

The blunette in question started flying low to the ground at an enhanced speed, running on the arena's walls around Jura, surrounded by a yellow light.

"IRON ROCK WALL!" Jura shouted, realizing that Jellal was about to hit him.

Jellal managed to dodge the wall in time, going around it and hitting Jura, which made the older man stumble, though he didn't fall.

The Lamia Scale mage grunted in annoyance, separating the wall into large rectangular bricks and sending them after Jellal, who flew higher to give himself more space to dodge, which he did effortlessly.

Until one of them hit, causing him to fall headfirst to the ground.

Jura smirked.

Jellal landed in a crouch. "Perfect timing."

Seven pale yellow magic circles appeared in the sky, forming the constellation of the Big Dipper.

"Woah! How did they get there?!" Natsu demanded.

"He must have drawn them when he was avoiding Jura's attacks." Erza answered.

"May the seven stars bring judgment upon you…" Jellal started quietly, before looking Jura in the eyes and shouting. "GRAND CHARIOT!"

The magic circles glowed brighter before thousands of beams of light flew towards Jura.

"Rock Mountain!" Jura called, clapping his hands together. From behind him, a giant figure made of stone burst from the ground.

The beams hit the guardian, and the arena was covered in a huge cloud of dust with random lightning, and the onlookers had to hold on tightly to something as powerful winds tried to blow them away.

"WAH!" Natsu shouted, grabbing onto the railing tightly.

"Oh my!" Mirajane said with a giggle.

"That is so MANLY!" Elfman cried approvingly.

The rest of the audience, including the judges, reacted similarly.

As the dust cleared, the two mages stared at each other.

Jellal punched the ground, cloak waving wildly behind him as if by a wind even stronger than what the audience had just been hit with.

Meredy, Ultear, and Lucy's eyes widened.

"His most powerful spell…" Lucy gasped.

"True Heavenly Body Magic…" Jellal began. "SEMA!"

The clouds above Jellal started circling overhead, creating a dark cyclone. A glowing orb formed at the center, growing, before speeding towards Jura.

"IRON ROCK WALL!" Jura screamed desperately.

But it didn't work.

Jellal's attack burst right through his defense, hitting Jura full on and causing the audience to be blinded.

When the dust cleared (for the second time), the audience saw Jura lying unconscious in a large crater.

"Jellal Fernandes of Fairy Tail Team A wins, bringing their total for today to 30 points!" Yajima announced weakly, sort of getting over his shock. "Lamia Scale has a total of 6 points so far! But remember, Fairy Tail Team A fought twice today, so they won't have an opportunity tomorrow, leaving Fairy Tail Team B to show what they're made of!"

That over, he slumped over a bit.

He had known the two men would be fairly evenly matched, but he hadn't expected how powerful Jellal's last spell could be with the right person casting it.

True Heavenly Body Magic, indeed.

Shura whistled, impressed. "I think we'd have more luck against Satan himself."

Yukio glared at her darkly, light glinting off his glasses as he hissed at her. "Don't say his name!"

The older woman raised an eyebrow curiously as the younger exorcist stalked off. "The hell's up with him?"

"Ignore him." Izumo sniffed in disgust from her place beside Shiemi, holding the blonde's hand to comfort her as she berated herself for ever having had a crush on the older boy.

Stoick's lips thinned, fury dancing in his eyes as he glared in the direction of the more powerful guilds in the coliseum.

His tribe considered Fairy Tail as their enemy already for 'harboring a fugitive,' but now, seeing just how much firepower the rest of the guilds had at their disposal, especially Sabertooth and Mermaid Heel (what stupid names, the chief of the Hairy Hooligan tribe thought).

Summoning spirits from another world? The blonde Fairy and white-haired Sabertooth bitch could both do that. He didn't know about the blonde's spirits, since the one she had used had only cut her opponent's hair, but the other one had defeated Astrid in one swift move, leaving the blonde Viking unable to so much as move.

Stoick knew that Astrid had incredible strength of will, so how much power did these mages have that they could stop them in their tracks so easily?

He had come to Fiore contemplating a possible war because his tribe associates mages with Loki, making them all evil in his opinion, but now…

If he did declare war, he wasn't sure that they would survive the encounter, much less win.

But where did that leave his former son?

The boy had joined one of Fiore's magic guilds, and Stoick refused to let him escape punishment.

So where did that leave them?

Erik had been listening to certain people's thoughts since Lucy's fight, and now that the day's battles had ended he was ready to give his report.

"Nothing to worry about from Toph's friends." He shrugged. "They're just here to enjoy the Games and cheer her on."

Toph rolled her eyes. As if she had doubted them for a second.

Still, she knew that the confirmation would calm the others, and it's not like they didn't have reason to be suspicious of the foreign guests this year.

"The ninja are paying attention to our strengths and weaknesses, but they don't bear us any ill will or have any plans to attack us or the kingdom. It's just information gathering." Erik continued, before glancing at Itachi. "I'll need to talk to you. In private."

Itachi blinked, slightly startled, but nodded his assent as their guildmates (Ultear especially) glanced between them worriedly.

"The Vikings, or at least the leader and the girl who fought today, would be more than happy to slaughter everyone in Fiore, mage or otherwise." Erik scowled, looking at Ryder and Toothless. "You especially."

"Surprise, surprise." Ryder muttered with a resigned sigh, leaning against Toothless as Jack sat beside him, his best friend and boyfriend offering their silent support.

"The exorcists, with the exception of, oddly enough, their competing team and one of the senior exorcists, would be more than happy if they could find an excuse to get Okumura alone." He glanced at Rin. "Your twin…you should probably talk to him."

Rin balked at the suggestion though he was pleased that his friends (and he would bet all the money he had that he knew who the 'senior exorcist' the Poison Dragon Slayer was talking about was) still supported him.

"Why would I do that?!" he demanded.

Erik grimaced. "It's just a bit of advice, feel free to ignore it. I think he's gained a new perspective, that's all."

Rin scowled, before a thought struck him. Erik had said 'their competing team,' which meant that he was including Yukio with his friends when he said that the team didn't want to hurt him.

That didn't make sense. Yukio had betrayed him. Rin was sure of that much.

…So what was going through his younger twin's head?

He huffed as he realized that he might end up taking Erik's advice after all.

The half-demon Son of Satan was startled out of his thoughts when he felt someone touch his hand, and he looked up to see Kozue glance at him in concern.

'Are you okay?' she asked, keeping their mental conversation private.

Rin sighed, but smiled slightly at her and took her hand gently. 'I'm not sure. I'm confused. But glad that I still have my old friends. Angry that the exorcists still want me gone even though I'm not their problem anymore. But I have faith that things will turn out okay, in the end.'

Kozue smiled at him encouragingly. 'I think they will be, too.'

In the meantime, Erik turned back towards the others, doing his best to give Rin and Kozue some privacy.

"Ivan was intending to use one of his mages to drain Lucy of her magic during her fight with Flare." He directed his words towards Makarov, glancing at Lucy. "But she finished the fight before they had the chance. And no, he doesn't suspect him."

That last statement had been in response to a question Makarov was thinking at him, in regards to whether Ivan knew that Gajeel was spying on his activities for Makarov.

The guild master nodded in acknowledgement.

"So it was those bastards that attacked Romeo and the girls." Macao's fists clenched as he teared up a bit. "Damn them…"

Erik grimaced. "Yeah, it was them. It's the weird guy with the mask that did it, but I couldn't hear its thoughts."

"What?" Kinana asked worriedly.

"I think it's a puppet." He continued, taking hold of his fiancé's hand. "Someone is controlling it from behind the scenes. But from Ivan's thoughts, I'm fairly sure that even he doesn't know that."

"We'll have to keep our eyes open and be on the lookout, then." Lucy frowned.

"Yes." Mavis agreed. "There's more to this than meets the eye."

Makarov frowned worriedly, and his frown deepened as he noticed Erik pull Itachi aside, out of earshot of the other dragon slayers.

Please review! :)

Yes, five different one on one battles. Since there are two more groups competing I did that to make it easier to match them up for their fights. I've also rearranged the schedule a bit, so don't freak out if a certain fight happens sooner or later than it's supposed to. Or if one of the groups doesn't battle on one of the days, because I'm doing my best to schedule it so when that happens they battle twice on another day to make up for it. One of the groups will have one less battle than the others, though, because I can't figure out a way around that.

Also, yes, Yukino will still be having her battle with Kagura, so that the plotline there doesn't get messed up. It's just that now she's had a chance to show that she's a competent mage against someone who isn't crazy strong like Kagura is.

My reasoning for the people (Hisui specifically) wanting her to fight again is that her fight with Astrid was an easy win, so they wanted to see her up against a mage.