Okay, so someone messaged me saying that I hadn't uploaded this chapter… At first I got angry saying that I did, but then I realized that I had uploaded it to the site, but hadn't submitted it to this story… I feel like a fool! And it took a week for someone to realize that I hadn't posted it like I said I would! So… my apologies, here you go, I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 37: The Games Continue

The Next Morning

Natsu awoke with a groan, a familiar weight pressed against him from both his right and left side. He opened his eyes and was met with a mess of blue hair. The woman on his left squirmed closer to him, her warm breath playing across the skin of his neck, forcing Natsu to suck in a sharp breath and thus moving the woman on his chest. "Too early, more sleep." Wendy ground out in a near whisper. Natsu couldn't help but chuckle a little.

With as little unnecessary movement as possible, Natsu removed himself from between his three mates. The three clutched at him in vain. "Come back to bed, Natsu." Lucy whispered, barely opening her eyes to squint up at him in the early morning light.

"We need our heater, it's cold this morning." Mirajane reasoned, reaching one of her arms up towards her Dragon Slayer. Natsu bent down and kissed the palm of her hand.

"Go back to sleep, I'm going to go make us something to eat." He smiled down at the three as they begrudgingly wrapped themselves around one another in an attempt to get comfortable. He watched the three of them for a moment while he pulled on a pair of black shorts and a red short sleeved shirt.

Once downstairs Natsu quickly found his way into the kitchen and started to pull things from the fridge. He was surprised that the rest of the Fairy Tail team members were still asleep, but shook it out of his head and went back to what he was doing.

After a few minutes of cooking he heard the telltale signs of others waking up. Footsteps and mumbled conversation started up until finally someone decided it was time to start breakfast. He had his assumptions on who it would be, and wasn't surprised when Kinana poked her head into the kitchen. She dawned a smile when she saw the Dragon Slayer standing at the stove with a few pans cooking up food. "Morning Natsu, I'm surprised to see you up so early!"

Natsu shrugged and smiled back at her. "I just thought it would be nice to cook the girls some breakfast."

Kinana went about her business, happily humming to herself before taking up her place next to Natsu, using the burners that he wasn't using to start on a large breakfast for everyone. The two continued with small talk about what they had planned for after the Games. Kinana had plans to travel to search for the one that had been talking to her, in her head, over the past few years. Natsu thought about what she was talking about for a few moments before responding that he hoped she would find whoever it was. It reminded him of his search for his father, the one that he was nearing the end of. It wasn't that he didn't want to find his father, but he was getting closer to finding out what really happened all those years ago.

"Mind handing me some of the plates in the cupboard next to you?" He asked gesturing with a nod of his head.

Kinana nodded and leaned over to pull out a few plates and handed them to him. While he was piling the food onto them, she couldn't help but look over his figure and see just how much he had changed over the years. His hair looked a few shades darker and was a few inches longer than it had been, making it droop slightly in it's usual spikiness. He had always been muscular, toned to be more exact, but now looking him over she could see that he had indeed developed his muscles. She realized what she was doing and blushed slightly, yet froze when her eyes noticed his neck. Tentatively she reached out and ran her fingers over the mating mark that Wendy had given him.

Natsu shivered slightly and turned his eyes towards the waitress, but didn't make any move to stop her. He knew how odd it looked and let her work out her own curiosity. "S-sorry… I couldn't help myself." She admitted with a small pink blush covering her cheeks.

"It's fine." Natsu answered with a smile. "It isn't every day that you see a Mating Mark between two Dragon Slayers."

Kinana nodded and withdrew her hand from his neck. Natsu picked up his plates and turned to leave, making Kinana giggle at him. He stopped and turned to look back at her questioningly. Kinana giggled again and stepped up to him, touching the other side of his neck in a few places. "You might want to cover these up before the rest of the Guild sees you."

Natsu paled slightly and realized what she was touching on his neck. Thoughts of the night prior flooded his conscious thoughts and he blushed in spite of himself. "I… Well… Thank you for your help, I gotta go." He said quickly before leaving the kitchen. He didn't dare make eye contact with anyone that was sitting around waiting for their food, but he did hear a few cat calls and comments about Natsu being whipped.

"I wouldn't let any woman push me around like that, no matter how good in the sack they were." Gray called out. Juvia hit him over the head and dropped into his lap.

"Are you saying you wouldn't do anything for me?" She whispered, trailing a finger down his chest. Gray stuttered out that he would indeed do anything for her. Juvia giggled and kissed his forehead. "That's what I thought." She hopped off of his lap and gave Natsu a small smile and wink while the rest of the Guild turned their attention to the Ice Mage.

Natsu gave an appreciative smile and disappeared up the stairs towards his room and knocked on it with his elbow. "It's me, open up. My hands are full." After a few seconds of muffled movement in the room, Mirajane appeared at the door and cracked it open to make sure that it was just him and opened the door for him, shutting and locking it once he was through. He followed Mirajane over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it, handing a plate to each of the women.

A few bites into the meal Lucy paled, shoved her plate into Natsu's arms, and bolted for the bathroom before slamming the door shut behind her. The three sat there stunned for a few seconds and Natsu bent to sniff the food. Nothing seemed wrong to him. "Is it really that bad?" He asked the other two.

Mirajane popped a bit of egg into her mouth and shrugged. "It's not too bad, little heavy on salt. I've had worse." Natsu frowned at the statement and looked over to Wendy. The blue haired Dragon Slayer shrugged her shoulders absently and continued to eat her food to show him that she didn't care much about how it tasted. Natsu sighed and looked down at the plate, muttering under his breath about how he thought it tasted just fine.

When Lucy didn't come back out, Wendy set her finished plate down on the side table and, after pulling some clothes on, walked over to the door and knocked on it. "Lucy, are you alright?" The door cracked open in answer and a thin arm shot out to snatch Wendy's wrist and drag her inside, then slammed shut behind her to lock the two in the room alone.

Natsu and Mirajane shared a questioning look before shrugging and finishing off the rest of their food. Natsu quickly ate what was left of Lucy's and took the plates over to the side table. He turned and watched Mirajane drop the sheet that she had been holding to cover herself and Natsu couldn't help but watch her pull clothes out of their suitcases, focusing solely on the way her body moved.

The woman felt her mate's gaze on her and cast a look back over her shoulder and winked at him. "Didn't get enough last night?" She teased, draping her dress of choice over her arm. Natsu smirked at her but couldn't stop the blush that spread over his cheeks at having been caught. Mirajane wasn't detoured and instead stepped up to him and ran the fingers of her left hand through his hair. She leaned in and took his lips with hers gently, quickly dropping her dress at the foot of the bed and let herself be pulled into Natsu's lap. Natsu didn't waste any time in deepening the kiss.

"I hate to interrupt this…" Both Mirajane and Natsu broke from their kiss, still looking in one another's eyes for a brief moment before turning to see Wendy poking her head out the door. "I need Mira for a few…" She said in response to their questioning looks.

The older Dragon Slayer smiled and gestured with his head for Mirajane to go on with her. "We need to get ready to go anyways. We don't want to be late for your debut battle." Mirajane raised an eyebrow, but got off his lap and quickly made her way over to the bathroom, throwing an unnecessary amount of sway into her hips to entice Natsu to watch her curves.

After the women disappeared into the bathroom, Natsu sighed and made up the bed, laying out Mirajane's dress that she had picked out as well as something for Lucy to wear. He knew it wasn't exactly what she would have wanted, but knew he couldn't go wrong with a dress and one of their team's jackets. "After you girls have your moment, I'll see you downstairs. I'll let everyone know our plan for battle." He called over his shoulder before leaving their room to join the rest of the Guild.

Natsu took a seat across from Erza and the rest of her team to listen to what they had to say about their own plans. He could only smirk at their plan to overwhelm their opponents as quickly as possible. It wasn't far off of his own team's plan.

After half an hour of waiting, Lucy, Mirajane, and Wendy joined the rest of the Guild. As soon as she locked eyes on Natsu, Lucy sprinted away from the other two and leapt over the table that he sat behind. The two of them fell back in his chair. After the sounds of their tumble settled down, everyone looked questioningly down at the two and watched as Lucy clung to Natsu like her life depended on it, but none could miss the grin that split her face in two.

The Dragon Slayer held one arm around her shoulders to hold her to him and ran his right hand through her hair. The tattoo that he had gotten to represent her power lit itself up at her touch, the color brightening considerably. "Lucy… you alright?" He asked, somewhat worried for his mate.

Lucy pulled back from him and grinned to herself, now straddling his waist and looking down at him. "You couldn't wait until the Games were over could you?" At Natsu's confused look she leaned down and kissed his cheek gently. "I think we have some ass to kick in today's challenge…"

"What do you mean-" Lucy stopped his question with a small kiss. "You'll know soon enough. All you need to focus on right now is our next few matches." Natsu continued to watch her before sighing and accepting her conclusion. Whatever it was had to be important, otherwise she wouldn't be reacting like this, but he knew she would tell him when she felt the time was right.

At the Grand Magic Games Arena

"Welcome back to the Third day of the Grand Magic Games! As we have stated earlier, today will be an array of one on one matches." Toma cried out, a lacrima communicator carrying his voice throughout the arena. He cast his gaze around and took in all of the sights. Each of the Guilds stood in their designated areas and grinned to himself, none of them expected what he was about to pull. Truth be told, it wasn't his idea to change things up like this, but he had to admit that everything was turning out to be a great day. His eyes continued to sweep across the audience, drinking in their cheers for their favorite teams.

"However!" He continued, pausing for a moment to allow the cheers to die down. "Today is quite a special day indeed. Not only are we joined by our very own Princess Hisui Fiore, but one woman that we have had the pleasure of getting to know… Princess Cecilia Rantel of the Country of Seven! These two women will be joining our judges' table."

Both women stood from their places at the tables to let everyone get a good glimpse of the two Princesses. Princess Fiore had taken it upon herself to look more formal than her usual wear, choosing to wear a long white dress with green accents around the edges that clearly matched her glowing green hair. She wore her usual ruby statured tiara and a navy blue necklace that hung deep into her, slightly exposed, cleavage.

Princess Rantel wore a similarly lengthened dressed that was dark red in color with purple lining to match her violette hair. The stunning emerald on her tiara and the sheer amount of regal command that she held around her would never lead one to believe that her country was only recently getting itself out of an overdrawn depression. Toma grinned inwardly that it had been through his daughter's own intuition and the intuition of the foreign Princess that they had managed to draw the Country of Seven out of poverty.

He had to shake himself mentally to draw himself back to what he had to announce. "These two lovely women have forced my hand today in changing up the battle plans. Yes, they will still be one on one battles… But that is not all. Each team has two members that have not entered a challenge yet. Both members will be utilized today. One member will battle while the other member completes a challenge of sorts."

Toma gestured with a wave of his hand and an obstacle course lifted out of the ground around the arena. "As you can see, there is an obstacle course that we have put together. This is meant as both a physical challenge as it is also meant to challenge your puzzle solving abilities. While the first member battles, the second will race through the course with their opposite opponent. When you finish the challenge, you will join your teammate in battle. Should you arrive before your teammate finishes off their opponent, it will be a two on one battle. However if your opponent is defeated in battle, you will be going on a two to one fight."

He watched as the teams quickly began to make arrangements for who would take what place and grinned to himself. "Oh silly me, I forgot to mention one little fact. You will not be able to choose who enters what part of the competition… that will be decided for you through a drawing. Also, so as to not give one team a better chance than another by watching others go through the course, the teams that are not competing will be unable to watch the previous challengers compete."

Everyone watched in surprise as the man made his way up to the judges' table to where the other three judges were sitting, bowing low once he stood before them. "If I could get the two beautiful Princesses to assist me with calling the first teams down…"

Hisui gave her father a small smile and nodded, opening the first envelope. "The first teams are Raven Tail and Lamia Scale." Her quiet voice rang out as her father's had, but it was Cecilia's voice that commanded the attention of both teams for she was the one that would determine who was fighting who while the others ran through the obstacle course. Fairy Tail, however, did not hear her announcement as a purple wall rose up in front of their booth. Natsu just managed to catch her grin evilly for a moment before it slammed into place.

Later

The second match turned out to be Fairy Tail's B Team and Blue Pegasus, but still the wall held up in place to keep Fairy Tail's other Team from learning anything that would give them the upper hand in battle. Next was Sabertooth and Mermaid Heel. Still Fairy Tail didn't hear of any of what had happened in any of the battles, not even who had won what battles. It seemed they were keeping everything hidden in order to keep everyone out of having an unfair advantage. When it finally came down for Lucy and Mirajane to enter the battle, Wendy pulled the two over and gave the two a few whispered pieces of advice. The shroud fell just as Wendy found herself under attack by the two women, sharing a gentle kiss between each of them

Silence surrounded the entirety of the arena and it's audience, surprise reigning in while everyone watched the tender moment between the three women. After Mirajane and Lucy had leapt over the railing to enter the arena, Natsu stepped up behind Wendy and wrapped his arms around her stomach to hold her against his chest. She let herself sink into his warmth and settled her hands on his arms to watch the two women meet Bacchus and Nobarly in the middle of the arena.

Once again, Cecilia's voice rang out over the challengers. "As our last battle of the day, I would like to once again thank Mistress Hisui for allowing me to join you all today. Now, without further ado, would Mirajane and Bacchus remain in the center of the arena while Lucy and Nobarly take their positions at the entrances of their obstacle courses?"

Mirajane grinned to herself and settled into her place in the arena, not a dozen yards from her opponent. She could not have asked for a better pairing to test out her abilities. She wanted a strong opponent and between Bacchus and Nobarly, she would have taken Bacchus every time. She knew he was strong, knew she would have a hard time beating him, and knew she would win.

Lucy felt that she was in her element as well. Making her way over to the entrance of her course, Lucy looked back over her shoulder at Nobarly and smiled. This was exactly what she wanted to do; she could easily rely on her brains and spirits to help her fight through the obstacles. She was smart, but she knew there would be times that she couldn't think of everything.

With Mirajane

Mirajane stood loosely across from Bacchus, both of them grinning at their luck. They were both excited to see who they were up against. "Are all of our contestants ready?" Toma asked standing between the two fighters on the arena. Neither spoke but gave a nod in response while Lucy and Nobarly called out in affirmation. "All set… Begin!" Toma called out launching himself backwards and away from the fight.

Mirajane narrowed her eyes and fell into one of her most practiced stances. Her fists clenched and she raised one hand up in front of her with her other hand held level with her shoulder and one foot in front of the other, her lead foot pointing directly at her opponent. Bacchus didn't move too much, simply lowering hi center of gravity and letting his hands hang loosely at his sides, his right hovering near the bottle of sake at his waist.

They stood watching one another while the crowd cheered around them. Mirajane tuned it out and let out a slow breath. "You are going to have to get serious if you think you are going to beat me. Why not go ahead and drink your little sake so we can get this underway?" She teased.

Bacchus grinned devilishly. "Oh? So quick to get me drunk so my hands will be all over you?" He let his eyes wander over her curves and licked his lips at what he saw. He had to admit that he enjoyed what he saw and was exceedingly jealous of Natsu's relationship with the woman. "Tell you what, if you and your little friend take me on together, I'll make sure to show you both a good time before I put you in your place. I will show you what it's like to be with a man of my capabilities."

"Oh, you will, will you? You talk a big game, but can your strength back up those big words?" Mirajane asked raising an eyebrow.

"There's a reason people call me Master, you know." Bacchus continued his teasing, giving her a seductive wink.

"Tell you what…" She started, casting her first Take-Over form and transforming into her usual Satan Soul. "If you manage to beat me, I'll give you the chance to take me from Natsu. If you can beat him… you can have me all to yourself." Bacchus grinned at that possibility. "But first you have to beat me down and make me submit to you." Mirajane didn't waste another moment and threw herself forward, almost blurring out of existence in her attack.

Bacchus backed up and knocked her attacks away, slipping into a defensive stance to continuously deflect her attacks. He bent at odd angles, but she could see that his stiff movements would only make it harder to hit him when he loosened up. But, if he wasn't willing to go all out just yet, neither would she. She wanted to test out what she was capable of, not throw her around the arena while she waited for him to get serious.

Bacchus ducked under a punch, spun around to his right hand side and sent a back spinning kick aimed for the back of Mirajane's head on the right side.

'Fast!' Mirajane thought in surprise, unable to spin around to block the attack because of the momentum from her missed attacks, but luckily thanks to that same momentum, she was able to duck under the assault and followed that by twisting rapidly with a sweeping kick aimed at Bacchus' grounded left leg.

At the very last moment possible, Bacchus steeled his single grounded leg and took the attack before propelling himself upwards, flipping backwards in place and executed an ax kick that was aimed for the Take-Over Mage's head.

Mirajane reacted to the danger of his attack and formed a cross arm guard over her head and successfully stopped the Palm Magic user. She smirked and reversed her hand to grab his ankle. She summoned her magic to her palm and squeezed down roughly. "Dark Palm!" Keeping her hand firmly attached to her opponent's ankle, Mirajane spun and released the pent up magical energy with explosive results.

Bacchus slammed into the ground and skipped along the stone ground of the arena before slapping the palm of his right hand on the ground to flip himself over and continued to skid on the balls of his feet a few meters away while grinning to himself. "It looks like I won't have a choice but to show you exactly what I'm capable of!"

The Palm Magic user pulled his bottle of sake from his side and pulled it up to his lips, a thin trail of alcohol dripping down his chin and down his throat. Mirajane didn't allow him to finish it and instead threw herself forward once again in hand to hand combat to ward him off from drinking his sake any further. "I'll just have to end this before you have a chance to come at me with everything you have!"

Fairy Tail's Balcony

Wendy looked back over her shoulder at Natsu and sighed when he kept an emotionless mask over his features. "I know what you're thinking, but you don't have to worry. She wouldn't make a bet like that if she didn't know she would win. Besides, he still has to fight you ya know?"

Natsu cracked a small smile in return, his eyes flicking down to meet Wendy's. "For his sake he should hope he loses to her." The others closest to the two Dragon Slayers shivered at the sheer amount of animosity that he held in his tone. Wendy, however, couldn't help but smile at Natsu's protective nature.

'To think that simple comments like this could make him this tense… I would hate to see someone actually attempt to claim one of us from him.' Her thoughts were interrupted when Natsu pressed a small kiss just below her ear. "I know what you're thinking and you have a right to be afraid for him." Wendy shivered at his statement and looked over her shoulder at him.

She couldn't explain it, but thinking about what he would do to a potential rival for their love made her shudder in… dare she admit excitement? She knew well about his past and what he had done, but that was something else entirely. When he fought for them, it wasn't out of a sense of duty or to protect the innocent. No, it was a primal need to stake his claim to what was his. She wouldn't admit it out loud, but she loved seeing him like this. It was partially the reason that she had chosen to stay with him that day instead of running away. She wouldn't admit it, but she knew that he knew how she felt.

She watched as his grin darkened, his canines stabbing into his lower lip as his upper lip peeled back from his teeth in a near snarl. His eyes started to develop a small vertical red slit similar to that of a Dragon's. "I won't go back on my promise, I won't kill him." Somehow that didn't make her feel any less afraid for the suspected opponent. She pulled his arms tighter around her and looked back down at the match.

With Lucy

As soon as the battle began, Lucy took a moment to observe the obstacles that were in front of her to plan out her route for the best possible outcome. 'I'm going to have to make this fast if I want to have anything to do with the battle that Mira's got on her hands…' She thought to herself. It wasn't that she didn't think that Mirajane couldn't fend for herself, quite the opposite in fact. She merely wanted a piece of the action.

She fingered the keys at her right hip and traced them individually to grow herself acquainted to grabbing each of them specifically without looking. It had been one of the particular bases that she had trained herself in. Aside from training herself to battle on her own in hand to hand combat, Lucy had forced herself to learn how to coordinate her spirits' attacks together with her own. No one knew how to work more in tandem together than she did with her spirits. It was nearly as close of a relationship as she had with Natsu, Mirajane, and Wendy. The only reason she could fight better with her spirits than her mates was simply a matter of time and experience.

It had nothing to do with trust for she trusted her spirits and her mates with her entirety. She would give her life for both parties in an instant if it meant they would see just another moment of happiness. She knew it was wrong to think that way, selfish to want to sacrifice herself rather than live without her loved ones. It would make them sad to not have her around, but she knew she wasn't strong enough to live without them on her own so she deigned it a better route to give herself up for them if the need ever arose.

Casting those thoughts aside, Lucy tensed her muscles and exploded forward in as much speed as she could muster. The first obstacle was a simple angled net that she would have to climb. Opting to hold back her Magic due to her weak reserves she tackled the obstacle and started to climb. Hand over hand she brought herself to the top. At the top she stood on the bar that held the rope netting up to look out over the rest of the obstacles.

The next was a single rope over an expanse of water that she would have to either run or shimmy across, followed by a solid thirty foot tall wall that she would have to climb, some pedestals with what looked like scrolls on them, and finally some kind of lacrima visual component that she would have to get across.

Giving a confident nod she leapt from the bar and hit the ground running off to the next obstacle. In a matter of seconds she crossed the ground between them and leapt into the air to land nimbly on the thin rope. As she sprinted across she could feel the wind around her shift and heard metal objects slicing through the air towards her. She reacted without thinking, her right hand gripping onto the key that she needed. "Open Gate of the Scorpion: Scorpio!" She commanded slashing the key in the air to her right side. Scorpio appeared behind her on the rope and bent forward, his iron stinger launching controlled bursts of sand to her sides that intercepted the blades before they could come into contact with his summoner.

"Thanks Scorpio!" Lucy called out throwing herself off of the rope as soon as she knew that she could reach the other side. "I'll take it from here!" She felt some of her magic return to her as the gate closed.

Before her feet could even touch the ground, Lucy grabbed her whip with her left hand and lashed out to stick it to the top of the wall. She stashed her key away and used her whip as a rope to pull herself up the vertical wall, almost running up it as if it were flat ground. By the time she reached the top her arms were crying out in pain, but she pushed through it. If she gave up now her training would have been all for naught.

By the time she reached the next obstacle she cast a singular look into the arena that the corners of Mirajane's lips were turned up in a small smile as she fought with Bacchus. 'Good, she hasn't finished him off yet. I still have a chance to get in there and show what I'm worth.' She thought stepping up to the first pedestal. She quickly took up the scroll and opened it to read the words written.

Back with Mirajane and Bacchus

'How is this possible? How can a simple bottle of sake increase his speed and strength so much in him? I understand the alcohol can make him unpredictable, but how much could it really increase his power? What am I missing here?' Mirajane thought to herself angrily as she backpedaled away from his attacks, barely able to get away with glancing blows.

It wasn't something that would cause her to question the chances of her victory; as far as Mirajane was concerned she still had a few levels of power that she could throw at him before she gave in. Then again, she had no idea what Bacchus was truly capable of. In all of the past Games that she had seen him fight, he had never gotten serious enough to actually go all out on someone. Alcohol couldn't be his only ability.

In an attempt to gain distance from Bacchus, the Take-Over Mage back flipped out of the way and flew into the air overhead where he couldn't reach her. "Demon Blast!" Mirajane built up energy around her fists for a brief moment and unleashed it towards her opponent. The black and purple energy streaked down, but Bacchus rolled to his left. It only took a moment before the attack was past him and he threw himself into the air to attack Mirajane while she was still releasing her Darkness Magic.

Mirajane didn't stand a chance at deflecting his attacks this time and took a series of strikes across her arms and chest. Mirajane rocketed down to the ground and slammed into the arena, creating a crater where she landed. Cheers broke out at the suspected defeat of the Fairy Tail Mage.

Smoke started to cover the ground as Nobarly ran over to stand next to Bacchus. "Already took out the Demon? How pathetic." He spat at the downed Mage. "Well if what I heard is correct, all you have to do is beat her pathetic boy toy and she is all yours."

Bacchus smirked and folded his arms across his bare chest. "Oh I'm not stopping there; I'll take the blonde bimbo too. Maybe the…" He trailed off when Lucy ran over to the crater that Mirajane was lying in, yet from the distance he couldn't hear the discussion that was going on between the two.

'Well this could get interesting. No worries, if I get in close with this girl then she won't be able to stand up to me.' He thought to himself with a grin. "Stay here and back me up with ranged attacks." Bacchus told Nobarly.

Lucy, seemingly hearing Bacchus, cast a look over at the two Quatro Cerberus members and smirked to herself. Once again her right hand dropped to her keys at her hip, this time pulling out two. Bacchus threw himself forward in an attempt to reach her before she could summon her spirits. "Open Gate of the Goat: Capricorn!" Capricorn appeared to her left, already positioned in a battle stance. "Open Gate of the Giant Crab: Cancer!" Cancer appeared on her right side, also in an attack stance with a pair of scissors in each hand.

"You called for us, princess?" Capricorn asked, his eyes narrowing at the approaching Mage.

"Keep him busy, but don't push yourself too far. Stick with our standard formation around the crater." She said dropping into a fighting stance of her own. Bacchus stepped into her guard and thrust a quick right palm at her shoulder only to be slapped out of the way by Capricorn.

The four started a flurry of attacks with Bacchus unable to land an attack due to the sheer amount of fists and legs that were used to deflect his attacks, but the three Mages couldn't touch Bacchus either due to his extreme amount of flexibility. Finally, Bacchus caught onto their abilities and caught Cancer's wrist instead of dodging around it. He twisted and pulled him forward before connecting a destructive kick into the crab's chest. The spirit turned into a speeding bullet of limbs and disappeared from the battle, his gate force closing as soon as he hit the wall.

"Cancer!" Lucy cried out, turning to watch her spirit disappear. It was just enough time for Bacchus to step in and unleash a devastating right hand at Lucy. Capricorn shouldered Lucy aside to keep her from being hit and brought up his knee to block the attack. When he retracted his arm, Bacchus smirked and sidestepped Capricorn's counter attack, expecting Nobarly to utilize their brief lapse in concentration to deal some damage. He frowned when the attack never came and jumped back out of Capricorn's attack.

When he landed he turned to see Nobarly lying on the ground under Mirajane's foot, her heel on his chest. 'When did she get out of the crater? I didn't even see her move!' He cried out in his head, faltering completely when he got sight of her attire.

Gone was her Satan Soul form to show that she was in a new form, her Dragon Soul form. Bacchus stood motionless, his eyes wide in fear of what he saw. "Wh-what… where did you get…" He stuttered. It wasn't just seeing her in that form, he could feel the Magical Energy that she was emitting. She hadn't even met his gaze and he couldn't bring himself to move out of sheer terror of what he saw. Here in front of him was a woman, not a Dragon Slayer, that was strong enough to absorb the soul of a Dragon. How could he ever hope to defeat her in such a way?

Silence rung out as everyone stared in awe and fear, no one daring to speak in case they drew the sight of the Mage. The only ones that were unaffected were the Dragon Slayers, yet most of them shuddered in thought of what this woman was capable of. Mirajane's voice rang out, sickly sweet in tone. "I thought you were going to beat me down and claim me as your own, what happened to that plan?"

Bacchus' eyes widened while she slowly stepped up to him, each step echoing in the arena. He dropped onto his rear end and attempted to scoot away from her, his confidence completely broken. "I was mistaken… p-please don't kill me."

"Oh you shouldn't worry about that. I don't plan on doing anything drastic; this is merely a friendly competition between Guilds. Now, what should I do with you?"

"I gi-" He stopped when Lucy covered his mouth with her hand. "Oh no, we can't have that. You insulted my love and we can't have you getting away without at least a little punishment."

When he didn't offer anything else, Mirajane looked up at Natsu and Wendy who were watching the scene play out in front of them, devilish grins playing out across their lips. "Natsu? What would you have me do?"

Silence once again. The Dragon Slayer unwrapped his arms from around Wendy and stepped up to the ledge and grabbed ahold of the bar, leaning forward as his own power leaked out. He gave everyone a show of the anger he held for those like the ones he had punished. "I have just the plan…"

"Oi, Natsu…" Gildarts said grabbing Natsu's arm. Most of the Fairy Tail Mages were afraid of what he would suggest her do. They knew they could trust him with their lives, but they didn't know how far he was willing to go to keep his mates to himself. "Don't do anything you'll regret."

Natsu's grin widened and he licked his lips, all of the lacrima viewers directed at him so everyone could see what he was doing and so that even across the arena they would hear him. "Break him…" He growled out through clenched teeth.

A collective gasp rang up around the arena, even in the Fairy Tail balcony. No one dared move though as Mirajane turned her attention back to the man in front of her. Lucy let go of him and he shook like a leaf, his eyes refusing to leave the woman approaching him painstakingly slow. She bent down in front of him and let out her own shaky breath. "Don't go dying on me now…" She whispered.

She reached out and touched his forehead with her pointer and middle fingers and the effect was instantaneous, his eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out. In the blink of an eye both Natsu and her released their magic and stood up straight. No one expected what happened next. They laughed and everyone could feel the air lighten up.

Once everyone was able to move and they were sure that no one was going to attack again, Mato strode out onto the arena, still sweating, and made his way over to the downed Mage. He touched his fingers to his neck to check his pulse and sighed a breath of release. Mirajane scoffed. "You didn't really think we would truly hurt him did you?" The look on his face told him that he did and she sighed. "It was a joke. We used everything to our advantage, including their fear of 'The Vigilante'. It's insulting that you would think we would do otherwise…" She said quietly while walking over to Lucy so they could make their way off the arena.

A soft giggle sounded out and another joined in shortly after, the cameras turning to the two Princesses. "They pranked all of us!" Princess Cecilia exclaimed. "That has to be the biggest prank in history!" Quite unlike how everyone expected a Princess to act, but it eased the tension as everyone realized the meaning of her words. Most of the rich men and women began to call out angrily that they had come to see a fight, not to get pranked, while the rest of the audience erupted in cheers. It was completely unorthodox to win as they had, but they proved that mere strength wouldn't hold up to mental stability.

Didn't see that coming now did ya? Review on how you feel this story is going, please! You are all my motivation on how fast I update! More reviews and whatnot, the faster you will get chapters! Yes I took the easy way out with Nobarly, mainly because I don't know how he fights...