Natsu looked over at Gajeel eagerly, rubbing his hands together, and said "It's been to long since we've been able to fight like this" he finished.

Gajeel stretched out his neck and rolling his head around, "yeah, aside from a few guildhall brawls, we haven't really fought since the phantom battle" he finished, stretching his shoulders out.

Before they could share any more banter, Makarov interrupted, "here are the rules for this battle, it will last 30 minutes on my mark, no consuming elements of your magic, and I officiate who is knocked out to determine the winner" he finished.

"What about us!" Happy interjected.

"Oh, that's right, you two can help as well" Makarov shrugged off his blunder.

"So, fighters get ready!" he said followed by, "begin!"

Immediately Gajeel and Natsu leaned back taking in a big breath, as Makarov backed away.

"Fire dragon…" Natsu said inhaling

"Iron dragon…" Gajeel said as well.

And in unison, "ROAR!" as a red, orange, and yellow flame spiraled from Natsu's mouth, while a gray and black spiral of iron came from Gajeel's, impacting halfway between the two, and cancelling each other out.

Makarov was now sitting in his hammock, sipping on his drink, and then said, "and you two cannot harm me or this hammock, maybe get you two dragons to reign it in" he finished, much to the eyeroll of the two fighting.

In the moment Gajeel looked away, Natsu delivered a fire dragon iron fist right to Gajeel's face.

The iron dragon slayer glared at the smug Natsu, moving his lower jaw around.

"Not bad Salamander" he said, then finishing with, "for a cheap shot not even a dark guild would be proud of" he grinned malevolently adding, "I ought to arrest you for that". Natsu rolled his eyes as Gajeel motioned for Pantherlily, "take me up, I think we've had enough of a warmup".

Natsu motioned to Happy to lift him as well, and he was level with Gajeel.

Gajeel then shouted, "iron shadow dragon mode" and Gajeel's Caucasian skin turned to a dark gray metal color as black shadows came from him, his pupis dilated to white, and he grinned eagerly, ready for the real fight to start.

"Well then" Natsu said, "I better transform too" and then he shouted, "lightning flame dragon mode!" and Natsu's flames came alive with the crackle of lightning, and the fire dragon slayer was brimming with flames that could leave a spark.

Gajeel, stretched his neck for a minute as he prepared to attack, "not bad, I haven't had to use this in at least a year, we ought to really fight now and then he bellowed, "iron shadow dragon roar!" and a black and gray column of black shadow and metal came flying towards Natsu.

He then in response shouted, "lightning flame dragon roar" and a column of fire and lightning.

Once again the massive spirals of magic collided with each other, and dispersed.

Then came a command, "drop me!" Natsu and Gajeel said to their exceed's as they now floated in the air.

They charged at each other and began kicking and punching one another. Their moves were quick like that of a shadow or lightning! In a gigantic hard to see ball of dragon hate.

They backed off for a second, as Natsu began to lean back and take another deep breath before shouting, "fire dragon! Spit" and began to spit repeatedly like a machine gun in Gajeel's face and laughter came from Natsu as Gajeel wiped the saliva off him.

Gajeel rose into the air some more and came charging at Natsu, Natsu did the same in response. They looked like a black and gray stream of light colliding with a yellow and red stream of light. Charging and colliding.

Makarov sat up in his hammock watching all of this unfold in amazement of how the two had grown, sorta.

This continued for another 10 minutes until it happened. Natsu laid one final punch to Gajeel, a fire dragon iron fist. Knocking the iron dragon slayer from the air and to the ground.

He grunted but sighed as he laid on the ground saying, "alright Salamander, you win, but I'll get you next time" he said as Pantherlily came to his aid.

Natsu was woozy as Happy helped him down, he was grinning like an idiot. Makarov got up and walked over to him.

"Well then Natsu, I declare that you have passed the S-class promotion trial of 793!" Makarov said.

"Nicely done boy, but don't let it go to your head, you still have a long way to go" he finished.

Natsu was still grinning as he sat down, Gajeel and himself were now bandaging themselves up.

"So then, isn't it about time to head back to base camp? I hope Mira has dinner ready because I'm starving" Natsu said as his stomach growled in agreement.

Gajeel heartily agreed, and was ever chipper, taking the loss quite well as the quintet walked back to the base camp.

Pantherlily flew alongside Gajeel and asked, "you're mighty chipper about this, shouldn't you be upset you lost?"

Gajeel responded with, "you know, I should, but I am also happy to finally go toe to toe with Natsu for the first time in something proper since the Phantom Lord battle. He may have won this time, but I'll get him next time" he finished.

"Sure you will, but I'm still s-class" Natsu teased in response, Gajeel rolled his eyes, as they chuckled and walked back to base camp, blissfully unaware of the events to be discovered.