Hiromi gave a tsk of annoyance as he realized his magic was slightly weakened by Yuka's wave. He was pretty sure he only used magic, though he had noticed some of his magic getting through the anti-magic wave.

"I thought you only used magic."

"So did I," Hiromi replied to Yuka. "I'm not entirely certain what's going on here." He took an offensive stance. "However, it won't deter me." His ears were now burning with pain from the anti-curse wave. "Raienryuu no Kenkaku!" He burst through Lyon's ice wall, his body engulfed in electrified flame. "Raienryuu no Kagizume!" He attempted an element-assisted kick to Lyon, who caught his foot in ice. He looked desperately at Eallesander, who continued to be beaten up by Yuka.

"You're out of your league," Lyon boasted as he tossed Hiromi to one side.

"I wouldn't bet on that," Hiromi retorted, breathing heavily. "My magic can get partially through Yuka's anti-magic waves, and is nearly unaffected by anti-curse."

"It is indeed an interesting challenge," Lyon admitted. "Your power seems to have aspects of both. However, I do not believe it's enough to take on the two of us."

"I don't have to," Hiromi replied. "Eallesander has Yuka preoccupied, leaving only you."

"For how long?" Lyon inquired. "Eallesander does not appear to be used to hand-to-hand combat, while Yuka's magic requires him to learn such a skill. Furthermore, we're nearly four times your age and have far more experience than you. Icemake: Snow Tiger!" He put his hands together and created a tiger out of ice, which then lunged at Hiromi.

"Raienryuu no Houkou!" Hiromi once again unleashed his breath weapon, blasting the tiger to pieces and engulfing Lyon in electrified flames. Lyon tried throwing up an ice shield against the flames, but it was shattered by the added lightning.

"Lyon and Eallesander are both down!" Chapati announced. "That leaves only Yuka and Hiromi. They have twenty minutes to settle this before time runs out."

Hiromi ran over to where Eallesander lay on the ground, defeated. "Oi, Ealles, talk to me! Are you alright?"

"Sorry, Hiromi," Eallesander apologized. "I can't move at the moment. The rest is up to you."

Hiromi nodded in understanding, then stood up to face Yuka, who dispelled his anti-curse wave and put up his anti-magic wave.

"This seems to be a bit more effective against you," Yuka deduced.

Hiromi charged into Yuka's wave, his ears still ringing from the anti-curse wave. "I believe Lyon may be right, though." He tried lighting up his hand, but most of the flames were dispelled, leaving mainly lightning. "My power isn't quite magic, and it isn't quite curse. It's something else. Raienryuu no Tekken!" He engulfed his entire arm in electrified flames.

Yuka tried blocking the punch with his hand, but was still thrown back by the force of it, as well as stunned by the lightning. He skidded across the ground, his anti-magic wave dispelled.

Hiromi walked up to Yuka and raised his right hand, engulfing it in electrified flames. Then he did the same with his left hand. "Raienryuu no…" He brought his hands together. "…Kouen!" A brilliant explosion engulfed him and his opponent, sending Yuka flying through the air and then landing on the ground, defeated.

"And the winner of the first tag team battle is Sabertooth B Team!"

The crowd cheered as Hiromi raised a victorious fist. Then he stumbled and fell to the ground, quickly falling asleep.

Natsu smiled. "It seems both our kids have grown over the years."

Lucy nodded in agreement. "It's good to be back." She looked out at the arena. "It seems Hiromi's overexerted himself again, though."

Natsu shrugged. "Well, it's what happens when you use two elements, and he doesn't know how to use either one separately."

"He'll be fine," Nashi reassured them. "This happens all the time when he's on jobs."

"Now for the second match of the day: Sabertooth A Team versus Crime Sorcier. It seems that Sabertooth A Team has chosen Rogue Cheney and Yukino Agria, while Crime Sorcier has chosen Erik and Macbeth. Begin!"

Nashi peeked in through the door, then spotted Hisoka sitting up and walked over. "How is it?"

"Better," Hisoka wheezed. "I'm allowed to talk now, since my lung's been re-inflated."

Nashi looked over at Akane, who had fallen asleep in the corner with William.

"Not only that," Hisoka added. "My healing factor may not be able to help with the wound itself, but I've regained most of the blood that I lost. What did you think of your brother's performance?"

"It was interesting," Nashi replied. "Although I had to cover my ears for most of it."

Hisoka nodded. "I was able to faintly detect that noise even from here." He looked at the LacrimaVision. "Now that's interesting."

Nashi glanced over at the screen. "Which one?" She could see that the fight was split between Yukino versus Macbeth and Rogue versus Erik.

"Rogue versus Erik," Hisoka replied. "Neither of them are landing any hits on each other, because Erik's incredibly agile and Rogue keeps turning into shadows."

Nashi shrugged. "I'm not sure what the appeal is, but sure."

"It's my kind of fight," Hisoka replied. "I prioritize not taking hits in the first place over being able to take them."

"You know, there's a flaw in that," Nashi pointed out. "I personally find it better to take hits head-on. I mean, some you have to evade them, but evading blows is like evading your problems. It will temporarily keep you safe, but you'll never solve them."

Hisoka shook his head. "That's not it at all. You can dodge around the hard bits of a problem, then get up close and solve it. Basically, if you want to dodge all of your opponent's attacks, you'll want to hit them hard and fast in return."

"And what if you can't dodge it? What if it's omnidirectional, or you have to take it to protect someone?" She waved a hand at the bandages around Hisoka's upper torso.

Hisoka's eyes narrowed. "Don't bring that up."

"Why not?" Nashi demanded, raising an eyebrow. "Sure. You survived that. But what about next time? And this doesn't just apply to fights and blows. I worry about you, Hisoka."

"I know," Hisoka apologized. "Because that's what friends do. That's how we survive."

Nashi nodded. "Oh, and I'm the one who prevented you from bleeding to death or getting an infection. You owe me one."

Hisoka pondered for a moment. "Actually, now we're even."

Nashi raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"Well, there was the first time we met, when I healed you after hitting the street really hard. Then there was that time I broke up that fight with you and your Edolas version. And finally, when I went after you after you got captured by the Baildagch. As for you, you convinced Flutlogia to return to his dormant state when his power was killing me, as well as when you had my back fighting the Baildagch prince. Finally, you saved my life just a few hours ago."

"Are we really going to count past instances?"

Hisoka shrugged, then grimaced in pain and placed a hand on the location of the entry wound. "Okay, I shouldn't be using those muscles. Anyway, yeah. Isn't that the sort of thing what you meant by me 'owing you one'? There should be some sort of system for that."

Nashi sighed. "Alright, fine. However, I'm not any more or less likely to save your life again just because of what we technically 'owe' each other."

Hisoka nodded in understanding. "Likewise."

"However, I will be keeping track."

"So will I. I bet I'll save your life more."

Nashi grinned eagerly. "You're on!"

"And time!"

The two looked over at the screen. Erik and Yukino had been defeated, while Rogue and Macbeth were still standing, breathing heavily.

Hisoka looked back at Nashi. "I guess after the break, you and Emma are up."

Nashi nodded. "I still disapprove."

"So does Emma. Merlin left to go talk to her just a few minutes ago."

"Well, at least that's one thing we can agree on. This suuuucks!"

"Don't be like that," Hisoka scolded. "You'll do great."

Nashi pouted. "Whatever. That doesn't mean I'll like it." She turned and headed out. "I'm going to go take a shower. I was told this arm would be fine with water, and I could really use one."

Jonah looked up in a response to a knock on his door. He closed his book, then got up from his bed, walked over and opened it to see Elkhart standing there with some royal guards. He looked between the two guards. "Leave us. He can be trusted."

The guards exchanged glances.

"Excuse me, Jonah-sama, but we're under orders from your mother not to leave us."

"And this is personal. Besides, if he wanted to, Elkhart could take both of you out before you could make a sound. On top of that, he's a good friend of mine. Leave us. That's an order."

Elkhart watched as the guards turned and left, then turned back to Jonah. "How did you know it was personal?"

Jonah shrugged. "I just happen to be fairly insightful."

Elkhart smiled. "And that's one of the things that will make you an excellent king."

Jonah nodded. "So what is this personal matter that you came to me for?"

"You sure you don't know?"

Jonah sighed. "I can pick up on basic feelings, not read minds."

"Ah. So sort of like Hisoka."

Jonah shrugged. "I guess, though I'm not sure how it works with him."

"His ears are sensitive enough to detect neural activity," Elkhart explained. "He can pick up on basic feelings and intent."

Jonah nodded. "Well, yeah. It's basically like that, except with faces. Anyway, what were you here for?"

Elkhart opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out.

"Take your time," Jonah reassured. "If it makes you that nervous, don't rush it."

Elkhart took a deep breath, then exhaled. "I'd like some advice on coming out."

Jonah grinned. "So you finally figured it out?"

Elkhart nodded. "And I got my old magic back in the process. It's kind of a weird story, actually. I found myself using my old magic to protect a friend, and then everything just clicked into place in my head. In that moment, I stopped caring about anything except for protecting my friends, and whatever emotions were blocking my magic just disappeared. And upon no longer caring about things like being normal, I was able to process other things, such as my identity."

"Friendship is key to so many things," Jonah pointed out.

"It would seem so," Elkhart agreed. "Anyway, I plan on coming out at the Post-Games Ball. Any advice?"

Jonah raised an eyebrow. "You mean like, to everyone at once?"

Elkhart shrugged. "Everyone who sees me, anyway."

"Yeah, you probably don't want to do that," Jonah advised. "Coming out to everyone at once is not a terribly good idea. I mean, my mom's cool with it, and she's the one hosting the ball, but it would still be better to come out step by step. Like, come out to a close friend first. Then you can move on to your other friends. You'll want some backing from them, you see. Like, at first, I only came out to Hiromi. Then I moved on to Carli and a couple of the royal guards. I was a bit hesitant about my mom, considering how long it took her to enact laws protecting people like us, but she was pleasantly supportive. Of course, there are some people who will be fully comfortable with just expressing themselves without a coming out process. However, you seem pretty nervous, and you should definitely pace yourself in a comfortable way."

Elkhart nodded in understanding. "Friendship is key to so many things, yeah?"

"That's the idea, yes."

Elkhart glanced over at the clock on the wall. "Well, I was planning to watch this next match, so I guess I should be going now. Thanks for the advice, though."

Jonah smiled. "Anytime."

Nashi walked into the infirmary and looked around. Her eyes fell asleep on Akane and William. "Still asleep, are they?"

"Indeed," Hisoka confirmed. "They seem really comfortable. Is that what you were here for?"

"No. I just wanted to check in on you. How's the injury?"

"Much better, actually," Hisoka replied. "I mean, my internal organs are permanently damaged, but I've regenerated most of the lost blood, so I should be able to walk back to the hotel tonight."

"I think I'll walk with you, just to make sure."

Hisoka nodded. "Anyway, is that all?"

Nashi shrugged. "I don't really have anything else to discuss. Plus, I have a match to win." She looked around. "I see Merlin's also fallen asleep. Where are Thomas and Porlyusica?"

"On a supply run," Hisoka replied.

Nashi nodded, then turned to leave.

"Do your best, Rika."

Nashi stopped, and turned back to see Hisoka smiling at her and making the backwards L sign with his thumb and forefinger. She smiled back and repeated the gesture, then turned and headed out.

"Now for the third match of the day: Dragon King versus Fairy Tail B Team! It would appear that Dragon King has chosen Nashi Heartfilia and Emma Redfox, while Fairy Tail B Team has gone with Romeo Conbolt and Asuka Connell."

Nashi's eyes widened. "This was a bad idea."

"I knew I should have made Merlin do it," Emma seethed. "Those two are a really strong team."

"Begin!"

Asuka drew her guns with blinding speed, and immediately shot flames at Emma.

"Tetsryuu no Uroko!" Emma quickly covered herself in iron scales.

"Yeah, she does that with me all the time." Nashi held up her left arm. "Gate of the rabbit, grant me speed: Tù!" She rushed towards Romeo as everything slowed down around her, but was caught off guard as Romeo grabbed her by the right arm, flipping her over. She let out a yelp as she felt the now-familiar pain in her shoulder, then hit the ground flat on her back, the wind knocked out of her.

"You'll have to do better than that," Romeo advised.

Asuka pointed her guns at Nashi, this time releasing powerful gusts of wind. However, Nashi had barely even felt it when an iron pillar knocked Asuka off balance and threw her aim off.

Romeo began to shoot fire at Emma.

"Karyuu no Kagizume!" Nashi pulled the same move as yesterday, using her flames as thrust, then flipping up to kick Romeo in the side of the head. She once again yelped in pain as her right arm swung around, out of her control.

"You dislocated it again, didn't you?" Emma inquired.

"It's seven times as heavy as my old arm," Nashi complained. "I'm still not used to it."

Before Nashi could react, Emma stomped on the ground, and an iron pillar sprouted out of the ground and hit Nashi in the elbow.

"Gaaaahhh!" After reacting to the initial pain, Nashi realized her shoulder was back in its socket. She looked over at Emma. "Thanks."

"Just this once, since we're working together."

Nashi nodded in understanding. "I wouldn't have it any other way." She deactivated the rabbit symbol on her arm. "I guess Romeo knows how to work around enhanced speed. So that wouldn't be so useful. Gate of the Dragon, enhance my flames: Lóng!"

"Good thinking." Emma charged towards Asuka. "Tetsuryuuken!"

"I'll go for the flame guy." Nashi rushed towards Romeo, then clasped her hands together. "Karyuu no Kouen!" At first, the flames seemed to engulf Romeo, but then they imploded, slammed into Nashi, and disappeared.

"I control flames," Romeo explained.

Nashi charged forward.

"Are you really going to try the exact same thing that got your shoulder dislocated?" Romeo grabbed Nashi's arm. Then his eyes widened, and he yelped and withdrew his hand.

"Flames aren't the only hot things," Nashi chided. She held up her right arm, which was now giving off a faint red glow. "Have fun with this."

Emma blocked shot after shot, desperately trying to find an opening. Then she jumped in surprise as Romeo slammed into Asuka, sending them both tumbling to the ground. She looked over at Nashi. "A little heads-up would be nice."

Nashi shrugged. "It worked. Come on." She charged. "Karyuu no Houkou!"

"Tetsuryuu no Houkou!"

The flames combined with the iron filings, creating a shower of molten iron droplets that battered Romeo and Asuka before they could get up.

Nashi and Emma grinned, then passed a casual high-five. Then their expressions changed to concern as they saw steam rising from the dust. As the dust cleared, they could see a water shield which was being held up by Asuka.

"Dammit," Nashi hissed. She pulled out a key. "Well, it's been a while since I summoned you guys so… gate of the Scorpion, I open thee: Scorpio!"

The Scorpion spirit poofed into existence. "We are! Need my help again, Nashi?"

Nashi nodded. "These guys are pretty tough. Romeo can control flames, so I can't hit him."

"Well, who needs flames? Sand Buster!" The sand blaster on his back curled around to point at Romeo, then blasted sand in his face.

"Oh, no you don't!" Asuka pointed her guns at Scorpio.

"I'd say the same to you. Karyuu no Tekken!" Nashi swung a flame-engulfed metal fist at Asuka, punching her in the stomach and causing her lightning shots to hit the ground harmlessly.

"Nice going!" Emma congratulated. "Tetsuryuu no Houkou!" She unleashed her breath weapon into Scorpio's sand torrent, causing it to become a dangerous mix of sand and iron filings.

Asuka looked over at Romeo, who was now unconscious. Then she looked back at her three opponents and nodded. "You've done well. However…" She stowed her guns, then brought up her arms. "I will say that my guns merely focus my magic to make it less destructive." She extended an arm towards them, and a whirlwind tossed them high into the air like dolls.

"Gate of the tiger, maintain my balance: Hǔ!" Nashi righted herself in midair and skidded to a halt on the ground.

"I'm not done yet." Asuka then launched lightning at the three of them.

Nashi shakily maintained her footing. "I won't… go down… that… easily…"

Emma got to her feet. "Gihi! I'm just getting started."

Hisoka watched the LacrimaVision and sighed. "You say you can't work together, and yet, this?" Suddenly, he sensed two minds slowly gaining consciousness. He turned his head to see Akane and William stirring. "Oh, boy…" He watched as the two slowly became aware of one another, then jumped back, avoiding eye contact. "Look, I'm not going to tell anyone if you don't want me to…"

"I-It's not like that!" William protested.

"Like what? That you two are comfortable enough to sleep together? I beg to differ, since you fell asleep like that."

"We're not…" began Akane.

"Not what? Comfortable enough with each other to sleep together? Look, I'm not assuming anything other than what I saw. You two are clearly comfortable around one another, and there's no reason to be embarrassed about it."

"There is when you consider what the rest of the team thinks it implies," muttered William.

"I won't tell, okay? Besides, everyone already saw it." He sighed and laid back on his pillow.

Suddenly, the room shook violently, knocking a few things over and jolting Merlin awake.

"Whazzat?!" Merlin started.

Hisoka looked at the LacrimaVision, which had gone static. The audio, on the other hand, was working fine.

"It seems the fight has become intense enough to destroy the arena floor for the second time in a row," Chapati announced. "Sorry to those viewing from a LacrimaVision. They should be working again in a moment…"

Asuka walked over to where Nashi and Emma lay on the ground, unmoving. "Was that all you had?"

No response.

Asuka sighed. "Look, I know you can do better than this. I'm not saying I'll go easy on you or let you win, but… I want you to win, okay? You are the daughters of two of the most powerful dragonslayers in the world. I know I did a number on you guys, but are you really just going to give up like this? I know you can defeat me, and I know you have more in you than this. So come on!"

Torden watched the LacrimaVision in dismay. "Come on, young humans. I watched you defeat dragons. How can you be taken down this easily? I know Asuka is powerful, but you can surpass her, alright? You two are Fairy Tail mages. You can't go down this easily."

"Don't you dare end the match!" Asuka shouted to the commentators above. "I know they have more in them than this." She looked down at the two dragonslayers. "Come on, you two. What was all that talk about supporting your friend and having the same conviction as him? Give me everything you've got!" She looked specifically at Nashi. "What was that when you were fighting your dad, if you can't stand up to that?" She jumped in response to a hand on her shoulder, and turned to see a battered-up Romeo giving her a look of pleading.

"Leave it."

"I can't…"

Romeo shook his head. "If they won't get up, they won't get up."

Asuka looked back at her still unmoving opponents, then at Romeo. "They're the new generation of this guild. They're not going down this easily. I can't let them!" She took one last look at Nashi and Emma, then gave a sigh of defeat. "Alright, fine. Let's just…" She broke off with a yelp of surprise as an explosion threw both her and Romeo into the air. They fell through several more levels of the mines below Domus Flau.

"While looking at my body, I think you failed to notice my left arm," Nashi's voice echoed throughout the cavern.

Asuka slowly got up, groaning. She looked over at Nashi's body. Sure enough, three of the symbols on her arm were glowing, as well as the red line below them.

"Tetsuryuukon!" An iron pillar clipped Asuka's shoulder from above and slammed into the ground next to her. She clutched her injured shoulder, which luckily hadn't been dislocated, but still hurt like hell; it would probably leave a bruise. She looked up to see Emma lowering herself, in much better shape than Asuka remembered seeing her when she last looked.

"Thanks for the healing, Nashi. Now how do I use your magic?"

It's your magic, except focused more on aggression than hardening yourself.

"I'm going to pretend to know what that means."

Just try imagining something you really hate, Nashi suggested. Something that would make you really aggressive. I did that when I was first learning to use my magic.

Emma clenched her fist, picturing a crystal clear image of Nashi. Her fist then ignited. "Nice." She covered her flaming fist in iron scales.

"What…? How…?"

"Tetsuenryuu no Shakunetsuken!" Emma caught Asuka off-guard with the combination of red-hot scales and swirling flames, sending her sprawling on the ground.

"Flames? From you?"

"It seems Nashi's new Eastern Zodiac powers come in handy in team fights," Emma mused.

Asuka grinned, then created a swirling sphere of high-speed wind, tearing up the surrounding floor, walls and ceiling. She was surprised, but kept her cool when she saw that Emma was standing there unaffected.

"Heat up the air around you enough, and it'll get too thin to do much to you." Sure enough, Asuka could see the debris getting sucked towards Emma and then shooting up towards the surface. "Tetsuenryuu no Houkou!" Emma released a new breath weapon – millions of tiny droplets of molten iron, which sent Asuka flying into a back wall and slumping to the ground, unable to stand and covered in burns.

"Well… done…" Asuka groaned. "While I wanted you to win, I didn't expect you to do it. And those abilities were even more unexpected."

Emma's iron scales disappeared, and Nashi's body stirred, the glowing symbols on her arms going out.

"You alright, Nashi?"

"Y-Yeah…" Nashi groaned. "I shouldn't have thrown my body around like that."

"And the winners are Dragon King!" Chapati announced.

Emma and Nashi could hear the crowd cheering above.

Hisoka looked up to the sound of footsteps. "You know, I wasn't expecting to see your opponent rooting for you."

Nashi shrugged as she and Emma walked in. "It's sort of like wanting more of a challenge, I guess." She glared at Emma. "And that was only a desperate situation where you were my only available teammate. Don't expect me to do that again."

"Well, to be fair, I absolutely hated having you inside me," Emma retorted. "I'm glad it's over."

"Oh, yeah," Hisoka remembered. "Nashi, I meant to ask you what the hell that was."

"Separating from the body isn't the only thing the gate of the sheep can do," explained William. "You can also go inside someone else's body in order to temporarily give them your powers. As for Emma's sudden recovery, that was the gate of the horse, which allows the user to heal people they touch."

Nashi grinned at Emma. "See? It was all me."

Emma pressed her forehead aggressively against Nashi's. "Oh, yeah? And who was pulling off all the battle moves while you were lying on the ground."

"Ahem!" Porlyusica cleared her throat at the girls, prompting them to stop so as to avoid the old woman's wrath.

Hisoka sighed, then looked around the room at the rest of the team. "Well, tomorrow's our break. What do you guys want to do?"

Thomas shrugged. "Explore places?"

"I'd like to go swimming," William declared. "It's pretty much the only rigorous exercise I can do without hurting myself."

"I'm down with that," Merlin agreed.

"I think it might help me recover," Hisoka speculated. "I'd like to go there, too."

"I don't think so," Porlyusica argued. "Those bandages aren't waterproof, and the chlorine could get in your wound."

"I can breathe underwater at swimming pools with no ill effects from the chlorine," Hisoka reassured. "I think I'll be fine."

"Breathing and sanitation are two different things. You can't let that wound get poisoned."

"Aren't there special waterproof bandages available?"

"If you really want to. However, you'll have to change out of them and clean the wound as soon as you're done, because watertight bandages are not very good for you."

Hisoka sighed. "Right. Well…" He watched the LacrimaVision. "I guess we have one more fight, and then our break."

Yeah, sorry that this arc hasn't had a proper plot (unless you count cool new powers and tragic injuries that will stick to the story). This was just sort of a synopsis of the team recovering from their adventures, as well as finally getting to the thing that brought them all together in the first place. Hope you enjoyed!