Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen – S Class, Part One

So, Makarov started off the S-Class exams with a very important message as we made our way to Tenrou Island.

"Listen here, brats! Now, we all know we're one of the most powerful guilds around! The world knows it! But there are regulations for S-Class, and if you morons don't start actually winning the trials, then this is gonna build up for a few more years! I got permission for you, and your partner, to both become members of S-Class if you win, which is why you had to team up with someone else who was nominated. But because you, and the rest of your guildmates, will all be over twelve soon, we're gonna have more and more of you every year, and Ooba and Jose are getting on my ass about it and how many people I'm allowed to make S Class a year. You understand me?"

Nods, all around.

He was right, about the more people who'd be strong enough to compete and even with what we already had.

"If we don't win this year, I'll fucking scream," Laxus muttered next to me, but I could tell that he was still worried.

I was kinda annoyed too, actually, that no one had gotten it yet. Maybe this year was the lucky one? Other than Laxus and I, there were only two teams. Erza still wasn't qualified for S Class (she didn't have enough armors and wasn't skilled enough in utilizing them), so Jellal (who was qualified) ended up paired with Ultear this year. Silver had yelled something at Ultear about betrayal, and ended up partnering with Erigor again.

Jellal and Ultear had made a hell of a pair back in the original timeline, and they each had some memories left over, so they'd probably be pretty in sync. And Silver and Erigor had done pretty damn well together last year.

But I had a good feeling this year.

"Also, Elle!" Makarov said.

"What the hell are you singling me out for?" I asked him.

"You can't just teleport to the end of the finish line," Makarov said. "You two need to fight the obstacles and make your way past."

"We know," Laxus and I said, rolling our eyes.

God, you do it one time…

"And your trial starts now!" Makarov shouted.

When it came to adjusting the timeline chart, Gildarts, Ur and Makarov didn't really move; they were still all in the Wizard Saint column, though Ur and Gildarts were still on the lower half.

SS was still empty, but I had a feeling it wouldn't be by the end of next year.

Lucy hadn't moved up at all from last year (still high S Class) but she was still ahead of herself in the other timeline, and Phoenix and Corvus said it would slow down around now.

Laxus and I had both moved up one; Laxus to high S Class and myself to average S Class. I was joined by Jellal and Brandish, who had also moved up one by last year, from low S Class. Silver also joined us, jumping up two spaces form the previous year.

Cana stayed where she was in the previous year, on low S Class, and was joined by Erigor who finally left the A column, as well as Ultear, who moved up two levels.

Mari, Macao, and Wakaba didn't move at all, but they were joined in the high A Column by Juvia and Erza. Erza was catching up quickly, but she still wasn't quite the force to be reckoned with because of the lack of variety in her armor.

The average A Column was made up of Gray, (who moved one) and Erik and Macbeth (who each moved two).

Something told me that would change next year, too.

Freed and Bickslow didn't move from the lower A column, but they were joined by Macbeth and Lyon, who each moved up one.

Levy, Enno, and Evergreen all stayed in the High B Column, but were joined by Richard, who jumped up one.

Orga and Sorano each jumped up one level, too, from low B to the average spots. They joined Nab, who didn't move this year, and were also joined by Droy, who jumped up two spots from the High C class.

Low B had Jet and Sawyer this year, (who each moved one) and they were joined by Simon, who jumped two levels.

High C contained Reedus, who didn't move, and Kagura, who bumped up two spaces.

Sho, Wally and Millianna all shifted up one, moving Sho from low C to average, and Wally and Millianna from the D column into the low C category.

On a separate paper, I wrote down

Gildarts and Ur

Lucy

Cana

Mari, Macao and Wakaba,

Freed and Bickslow

Levy, Evergreen and Enno

Nab

Reedus

This was the list of people who didn't move up this year. I took off Gildarts, Ur, and Lucy, and looked at who was left. Some of the more powerful guild members decided that they'd help out anyone who was getting stuck with their powers.

(Most people were still learning a Tertiary Magic, anyway).

Now, to add our newcomers.

We all agreed that you had to be five to be added to the chart, if you wanted to (after all, Maggie and Rex and a few others had all chosen to stay out of it.).

Warren was okay with us adding him, as was Max and Laki, and the slayers. Mystogan specifically asked to stay out of it. (I don't blame him).

I put Warren on the low B Class column from the previous timeline, and put him on low C Class for the current timeline.

As for Max and Laki…since we were using the end of the timeline, by late X792, both of them joined Levy in the high B column. I think on a power level, they were on a similar scale to Levy, but the reason Levy was nominated for S Class was because Makarov thought her brains would back her up (which they would). They joined Sho in the average C column of the current timeline.

Last was the slayers.

Of course, this was some of the most difficult parts.

In the previous timeline, Natsu joined the mid-SS Class column, while Gajeel joined the lower SS Column.

Gajeel was not happy about Natsu being higher than him.

Sting and Rogue both ended up in the high S Class column, and Wendy ended up in the low S Class column.

As for where they were now?

Gajeel was added to the low B Column.

Natsu ended up in the high C column (which took away some of his bragging rights about being more powerful than Gajeel. Not that it matters; Laxus knocked them both out not long after because of all the arguing).

Wendy was put in the high D column, and Sting and Rogue were both put in the mid-D column, not at all happy about Wendy surpassing them.

I refrained from telling them 'I told you so'.

Kinana was also added to the list properly. While in the previous timeline she was in high D, she already had a gold pin, because she was in middle C this time around already.

For the list of people who didn't move, I had a talk with the ones who didn't move because of a stop-gap of their age (like Lucy) so they wouldn't get discouraged. I had a different sort of talk with the ones that could get stronger by actually doing something (like Reedus) and came up with some plans.

After discussing with some of the others, the new timeline was unveiled and Makarov had revealed this year's candidates.

Macao and Wakaba were a bit upset they weren't nominated, though Makarov told them it's because they hadn't improved at all, and they were nominated before because Makarov thought they'd be stronger now. Mari wasn't surprised at all.

Apparently she had decided to mostly retire as a mage. She wouldn't be doing jobs anymore, just working around the guild and taking care of the babies. After what she's been through, she just wanted to relax.

She did say that she'd try and stay powerful because of some of the upcoming things (so she can still help fight) but she didn't want to actively go out anymore.

So in the end, there were only the six of us nominated; Me, Laxus, Silver, Erigor, Jellal and Ultear.

I had grabbed Laxus and teleported us off the boat and to the island. Laxus took a few deep breaths in order to take care of his leftover nausea.

"You want to choose a path?" I asked him.

He looked at me. "Any of your dwarf planets have a connection to Probability Magic?"

I rolled my eyes. "No."

"Okay," Laxus said, thinking. "Can you use Saturn to tell me what's waiting in each paths?"

I closed my eyes and breathed before pointing at the first path. "Okay...so I'm pretty sure there's a demon in that one."

"Wait, what?" Laxus asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, the energy feels…wrong. The second one and the third one…they're both human. I think the second is Gildarts and the third is Ur."

Laxus looked at the second two nervously and eyed the first one with a look of trepidation.

"Should we take the demon?" he asked.

I eyed the tunnels. "We don't know if we're strong enough to overpower the demon. Gildarts and Ur are known possibilities, and while we probably can't magically overpower them, we can still have a plan."

"Elle, the others are going to be here soon," Laxus warned, looking behind us. It was true. Silver and Erigor were riding to the island on wind and ice. Jellal was taking longer, because Ultear couldn't move as quickly, but it seemed like they were able to move along using Meteor in short bursts.

"Alright," I said, grabbing Laxus's hand and dragging him into a tunnel.

"This one?" he asked incredulously.

"Don't worry," I smiled at him. "I have a plan."

He stared at me before he mirrored my smile. "Okay."

There were footsteps as the participants crept closer. They were obviously trying to quiet them, but he could still hear them approach, along with the low murmuring of voices.

The footsteps stopped. It was still dark.

Out of nowhere, a fist formed of electricity and socked Gildarts in the jaw.

Gildarts stumbled back with a laugh as he looked around wildly. The room wasn't supposed to be that dark; that was my doing. I was using Pluto to cover the room in shadows, and because it was my magic, I could still see clearly. Laxus could still see through it because he's a dragon slayer. Gildarts can't, so he has to rely on his other senses.

"Laxus and Elle," he called giddily. "I was hoping I'd get you two. Well, you guys or Silver. I still need to get back at him. But I was looking forward to a rematch."

We didn't say anything.

"Silent treatment, eh?" Gildarts asked, still giddy. "Alright then. Let's get this party started."

He closed his eyes; probably so he could work on radiating his magical energy. Wizards tend to glow when they centered themselves (or, nowadays, when we'd sync and meditate with music). This would allow him to see.

This time, Gildarts didn't see the attack coming. And yes, I meant see, even though it was dark. I did a Unison Raid with Laxus, sheathing his lightning inside of a protective shadow. The two elements hit Gildarts and threw him back several feet, slamming him into the wall.

"Now we're talking," Gildarts said eagerly, before lighting up. "Let's do this."

He sent out a blast of energy at us.

Laxus went into his lightning form as he concentrated, and I teleported…above Gildarts.

I fell onto his shoulders and jabbed Venus's Sword straight through his head.

Even now, a few years later, it was still a bit weird to adjust to using an intangible sword. The thought that I can stab someone with a sword and that it won't physically hurt them is still odd.

The last time I used Venus's Sword on Gildart's it didn't work for too long. I was a lot more powerful now, and I was working on keeping him still as possible.

"Dragon Slayer Secret Art!" Laxus started. His magical energy lit up the entire cave, his eyes glowing a pure color. He put his hands on each of Gildarts' temples. "Roaring Thunder; Elevated Impulse."

Laxus told me about this spell awhile back – that he had used it after Lucy, Jellal and I passed out during the Tower of Heaven incident. It was primarily meant to send a signal through all the nerves (which would usually hurt) but Laxus had found a way for it to act similar to Venus's Sword – a way of controlling someone's body.

With a single glance at each other, Laxus and I both concentrated one thought into our spell.

And so Gildarts, frozen, toppled to the ground unconscious.

I threw myself off him before I ended up on the ground in an uncomfortable position. Laxus caught me the best he could, and my hands were splayed out on his chest in order to stop us from accidentally slamming our heads together.

Laxus swallowed, suddenly looking nervous. "Hi."

"Hi," I said, at a loss. God, his eyes were so pretty.

The moment was interrupted by a loud snore from Gildarts mouth.

We both turned to look at him and Laxus slowly put me down.

I kicked Gildarts' foot. "Asshole," I muttered. "You ruined the moment."

Laxus snorted and any tension was lost. "Come on," he said, smiling at me. "Lets win this damn thing."

I smiled back. "Yeah. It 's about damn time."

Sorry it's pretty tiny, guys. Next update should be coming pretty soon, and not just for this one, either. I'm on vacation, and after a few really busy days at Universal (the Marvel section and the HP sections were SO COOL) it's time for me to settle down and relax...and write. :D