Natsu gave the three standing before him a good look and decided to get straight to the point. "Are you the Thief Harbingers?"

"Best believe we are," the bald man replied.

"Good, that makes things simple. Turn yourselves in, otherwise…things are gonna get ugly." Natsu provoked them by igniting his fist with a grin.

"You really think it'll be that easy, huh?" The muscular man slammed both his hands onto the sand. "Desert Divergence!"

Suddenly a large shock wave spread all throughout the dessert. Sand waves began to form and wash away everyone in different directions. "Aki!" Natsu and Wendy both shouted as they reached out for their daughter's hand.

"Mommy! Daddy!"

"It's too late," the woman said. "No one can escape my darling's Desert Magic. Not while they're in the desert itself."

"You're happy about this?!" Wendy was completely perplexed at that. "You're being washed away too, you know?"

"That doesn't matter," she responded with a smile. "Because I understand what my husband has planned. He wouldn't hurt me and Dante without having a plan in mind. So it's okay."

Wendy washed up in an entirely different area of the desert. She spit out some of the grainy tasting sand in her mouth as she got to her feet. She looked over at the wife of the man who had used that Desert Magic spell. "Hey, are you okay?" Wendy ran over to her to make sure she was alright.

"Heh," she chuckled as she gripped onto Wendy's ankle. She slammed the girl into the ground as she stood up. "Why would you check to make sure if your enemy is okay?"

"I just wanted to," Wendy answered honestly as she got up again, dusting off her black skirt.

"Shame," the woman scoffed at her. "Cause I want you dead."

Wendy braced herself, keeping her eyes fixated on her opponent. "Why do you want to kill me?"

"You were sent here to stop us, right? Anyone who gets in our way must be punished!" She scowled at Wendy. "Get ready, because you're about to face the wrath of Jessica of the Thief Harbingers!"

"Tornado Strike!" she called out as a massive tornado surrounded Wendy.

Wendy just breathed in as all the wind from the tornado was sucked into her mouth like a vacuum.

"What?" Jessica stepped back a bit. "I don't get it. What happened to my Tornado Strike?! That was my strongest spell!"

"I'm the Sky Dragon Slayer," Wendy informed her. "Wind and air attacks don't have any effect on me."

"Sky Dragon Slayer?" Jessica gasped as she finally realized who the person standing in front of her was. "No way, you're one of Fairy Tail's S-Class Mages…the Sky Maiden!"

Wendy nodded, "That's right." Wind billowed around her ankles as she shot off her feet. "Sky Dragon Crushing Fang!" Wendy slashed at Jessica with a hand covered in wind.

Jessica winced as she skidded across the desert sand. She clicked her tongue derisively, "Whatever, don't think just because you're the Sky Maiden means that I'm going to give up!" She thrust her hand forward and shouted, "Air Slicer!"

Sharp winds suddenly cut through the air as they slashed away at Wendy's skin. However, she took no damage from the attack at all. "I already told you, wind can't hurt me."

Jessica grunted in response to Wendy's words and just kept up her onslaught of razor winds. "Damn you…"

Wendy inhaled, taking in the all the air in the area. "Sky Dragon Roar!" A massive blast of wind erupted from her mouth, sending Jessica spiraling into a cactus. Jessica fell face first into the sand with some needles sticking out of her back.

In another area of the desert, Aki and Dante were standing face-to-face. "So, you're one of the Thief Harbingers, right?"

"That's right," Dante answered her, his headband blowing in the wind.

"And you guys have been stealing stuff from the people of Daisy City?"

Dante just nodded at that. "Don't think you can stop me, kid." He leered down at Aki. "No one's going to get in our way."

"Yeah? We'll just have to see about that." Aki launched off her feet and threw a fist forward.

Dante caught her fist with ease and just shook his head in response. "Too easy."

Aki grunted, "Don't think you've won just yet!"

The young bandit cocked an eyebrow. "But I have won. Because judging by the power of the punch you threw at me just now, you'll be out after a single hit."

Aki gasped a little at that, but still managed to contain her composure with a grin. "Go ahead and test it out then."

"If you insist." Suddenly, the orb on Dante's left gauntlet began to glow. "Oxygen Spears!"

Sharp slices of wind began to pierce through Aki's body. However, Aki simply stayed still, no harm being done to her. Dante backed away in confusion. "What?! What just happened?!"

Aki didn't dignify Dante with an answer and instead rushed in to deliver a fierce blow to his stomach. The bandit slid across the sand, clutching onto his injury.

Aki didn't give him time to recover and swung her leg clear across Dante's head. Dante grimaced as he held onto his aching skull. "Damn that little brat…I'm gonna make her pay for that. Oxygen Shell!" Air began to swirl around Dante until it had formed a shield around his body, while spinning rapidly. "Let's see you try and hit me now, little girl."

"You do know you're a kid too, right…?"

"Nope, I'm a pre-teen," Dante said, proudly crossing his arms. "Almost a teenager in a couple of months actually."

"Oh, really, happy early birthday!" Aki said with a cheerful smile.

"I don't need any birthday wishes from you! You're about to die!"

Aki pursed her lips as tears formed in the corner of his eyes. "I…I was just try to be nice." She sniffled a bit in between her words. She did her best to keep her tears from overflowing to no avail.

"She's crying?!"

Aki wiped her tears away and sniffled a bit more. "I am not crying! I just have sand in my eyes!"

"Yeah yeah, sure…" Dante sighed. "Anyway, as I was saying, you won't be able to attack me with my Oxygen Shell protecting me!"

Then, the air shield started to disappear. Or rather, it was being sucked into Aki's mouth. After swallowing all of it Aki let out a loud belch. "Oh sorry, excuse me!" Aki bowed politely.

"Did you just eat my Oxygen Shell…?" Dante questioned, completely baffled.

"Yep, I am the daughter of a Sky Dragon after all."

"The daughter of a Sky Dragon?" Dante raised his eyebrow. "Oh, now I get it…You're the daughter of Fairy Tail's legendary dragon slayer couple, Salamander and the Sky Maiden; Aki, the Dragonfly."

Aki simply smirked at that. "You guessed it. And that means, your magic won't have any effect on me."

Dante just sighed as the orb on his right gauntlet began to glow. "My magic won't have any effect on you, huh? Says who?!" His entire body instantly became coated in a crimson red aura.

Dante jabbed furiously as Aki just barely managed to dodge his assault. The wind from each of Dante's blows blew Aki's long salmon pink hair around as she continued to evade.

A sharp knee to the gut caused Aki to double over. Dante quickly threw Aki over his shoulder, slamming the girl into the desert sand. Aki coughed as she rose to her feet, the dry grainy taste of sand still in her mouth.

She focused her gaze on Dante. "You're really strong, aren't you?"

Dante didn't respond for a bit, but eventually decided to humor Aki. "What kind of question is that? Of course I am."

"That's perfect," Aki said with an eager smile. "That means you're worthy to be my first opponent!"

Dante couldn't help but make a puzzled face at that. "Just what are you getting at here kid?"

"My dream is to become the number one Wizard Saint," Aki informed him. "And to do that, I need to face strong opponents. That's why…I'm glad that my first opponent is someone like you!" Aki rose her hand up in the air as green aura began to emanate from her body. "I call upon thee, the stout might to clean the heavens, Arms!"

She ran forward, swinging her fist right into Dante's gut. Dante was blown back by the powerful punch. However, he managed to catch his fall. "He has an attack enhancement spell too?! You've gotta be kidding me…" He charged towards Aki as Aki did the same.

The two wizards' fists met, the sound of their knuckles colliding echoed in their ears. Dante dealt a blow to Aki's jaw as Aki struck his stomach. Aki's foot swept underneath Dante's as Dante jumped up to evade the strike. Dante's foot went clear across Aki's face as she tumbled across the ground.

Aki quickly recovered, but Dante was already hovering above her. The red orb on his left gauntlet started to glow. "Oxygen Burn!" And at those words, the air around Aki combusted.

Aki cried out as she hit the ground once more. She grunted, looking at her scorched hands. "Darn it…If I could use Daddy's magic, I'd be able to eat those flames…I was able to eat the flames from that torch, but that's because it was smaller." She clenched her fist and shook her head. Realizing that thinking about stuff like that right now would do her no good, she rose to her feet.

"Sky Dragon Claw!" Wind surrounded Aki's leg as she swiped it at Dante who simply caught it in his hand.

"Try again," Dante provoked the little dragon slayer with a smirk.

"Sky Dragon Roar!" A huge blast of wind burst from Aki's mouth, sending Dante spiraling through the air.

Dante fell on his back. Aki quickly dashed forward, wind surrounding her hand. Then, just as Dante got back up…

"Sky Dragon Crushing Fang!"

He was cut by Aki's attack. Aki delivered another blow in the form of a roundhouse kick. She continued her assault with a frenzy of punches to Dante's face. An uppercut to the chin was the final blow before Dante managed to regain his composure.

He swung a right hook at Aki's jaw. "Oxygen Burn!" Just as his fist made contact, flames burst up. Even so, Aki remained still, grinning all the same.

"Perfect."

"What?!"

Air began to envelop Aki's right hand as fire surrounded her right. The fire instantly expanded in size and blew around wildly. Both of the wizards felt the intense heat from the flames as it sizzled in their ears.

Sweat poured from every one of Dante's pores as he growled in irritation. "You won't win, Dragonfly!"

"Yes…I…will!" The wind around Aki's right hand continued to grow and in response, so did the flames.

The red orb on Dante's left gauntlet started to glow again. "Oxygen Vacuum."A hole opened up in the middle of Dante's gauntlet. Suddenly all of the air surrounding Aki's fist was being sucked inside of the hole.

"What?! What the heck is going on?!"

"It's my spell, Oxygen Vacuum," Dante answered. "And just as the name implies, it allows me to suck out the oxygen of anything I desire." He narrowed his eyes at Aki. "That includes the very air itself."

Character Bio: Hestia Heartfillia

Age: 8

Parents: Lucy and Loke Heartfillia

Likes: Pranks, Games, Romance

Dislikes: Vegetables, Learning, Being ignored

Magic: Celestial Spirit Magic (Eastern version)