Hey guys what's up? Not much to say here, chapter 3 has been redone you can check it out if you want or don't. Anyway on with the chapter!

Gajeel's reception into the guild had gone about how Natsu had thought, though the master seemed happy enough to have him. Not everyone was happy about it. In fact, Droy and Jet had both tried to beat his ass and he'd taken it. Not like they'd done much to him anyway. Levy had understood what he was trying to do and had forgiven him rather easily. Natsu had a good laugh when Gajeel tried his hand at singing. Most of the guild decided to never let Gajeel get his hands on a guitar again. Elfman, Macao, Wakaba, and Natsu thought it wasn't as bad as it could be.

It was at that point though, that Mirajane took the stage and began her own song which seemed to pacify most of the guild. That was good. Gajeel sat down at a table on his own but Natsu wouldn't have any of that given the way Laxus was glaring at him. Natsu had stood up but found that one bluenette had beaten him to it. Juvia seemed rather interested in talking to her old friend. At least he had one other person in the guild.

After the fiasco that was Gajeel, the rest of the day went pretty smoothly. The same could not be said for the Harvest Festival. Natsu had found himself at the Miss Fairy Tail contest, something that he didn't care about until he found Mira was one of the contestants. Well, that and both she, Erza, and surprisingly Juvia had asked him to come, though Natsu suspected Juvia assumed Gray would go if Natsu would go. Coincidentally, Natsu found a seat next to Gray and Elfman right in the front and watched as people went through their routines.

Natsu wasn't really paying attention until some of his friends came onto the stage. Natsu watched as Erza stepped up onto stage. At that, the crowd went wild. She seemed to be a fan favorite. Natsu laughed as she looked at him. She seemed surprised to see him there. She had asked him to come though so he figured he would go. Besides, he had to make sure nobody tried to kill Gajeel while he was gone. Natsu chuckled at the thought. It would be funny to see the pierced man covered in bandages and not being able to talk. Natsu brought his thoughts back to the show in front of him. He watched as Erza requiped into some sort of maid outfit thing. Natsu didn't understand why everyone liked it so much.

Sure, Erza was attractive but the clothes didn't mean much. Apparently that style was known as a goth loli? Whatever the hell that meant. Erza showed off her impressive magic abilities before the next person was called out. Levy apparently. Natsu liked the bluenette well enough. She seemed genuinely interested in learning about Igneel and his lifestyle as a dragon. She was dressed up like usual but her hair was done up in a pony tail and she had a book in hand. She did some stuff with her script magic though Natsu wasn't super interested.

Next came Juvia who stared only at Gray. Gray, needless to say, was very scared. Most of the other men were jealous. Natsu felt bad for his friend but hey, maybe something would come out of it. Propinkity or whatever Igneel had called it. Some big chemical thing in humans. Strange thing, humans were. Oh well. Natsu watched as the next person was called. Gray let out a sigh of relief and Natsu grinned. The next few people weren't all that interesting to Natsu but everyone seemed to love it. Natsu started paying attention when a particular platinum blonde came onto stage in a reddish dress with light pink highlights. And his scarf. It looked good on her, hanging loosely from her waist like a belt. It hung loosely around her hips again with the knot being elegantly done in the front in a way that made it seem like it was part of the dress. Maybe humans really did have a point about clothing.

"Hey Natsu," Elfman asked, "Isn't that your scarf?"

"Yeah why?"

"It's manly to give a girl your clothing!"

Natsu brushed that comment off. She really did look good. Natsu was utterly fascinated by her and watched as she did her own little routine. She winked at Natsu before going on to do her own little thing of transforming into random things which made Natsu laugh. She wasn't too serious about winning it, huh? Still, the crowd went wild when she left the stage. The next person was called up but Natsu found that someone else stepped onto the stage after them. Ah that was strange.

She proclaimed to be the true queen of fairies which Natsu didn't really care about. He did care when he felt a pulse of magic come from the strange brunette. He watched in mild interest as the woman (Bisca was it) started turning into stone. Huh. That was a neat ability. The commentator suddenly yelled for people to run for their life and Natsu found himself stuck in pandemonium. He grabbed Gray by the collar of the shirt that was surprisingly still on and hopped into the rafters.

"Does this always happen?" Natsu asked.

"No! What kinda question is that Flame Brain?"

"Humans are weird?" Natsu responded before any further conversation was cut off by a loud voice.

"Alright you wimps!" Laxus laughed, "Let's get this underway!"

He swept the the curtains dividing the stage back to reveal several more petrified women, one of which was Mirajane. Natsu growled. Gray would have taken a step back but he also would have fallen twenty feet. Natsu was not happy.

"Alright Fairy Tail, listen up! You have three hours before all of your precious women get blown to pieces," Laxus yelled, causing lightning to rain down around the statues, "It's finally time to weed out the weak from our guild so let's play a game. Everyone is going to fight until there's only one person left, me! Anyone who loses until the last couple is out of the guild once I become master."

"That's crazy!" Gray shouted.

"Now! Natsu, you have special rules!" Laxus said, locking eyes with the salmon headed slayer, "you stay in the guild until you get let out. If you don't, well I'll just have to break this statue right here."

Laxus wrapped his arm around statue Mirajane and Natsu nearly lost it. He wasn't going to risk it. He could do it but what if something happened to interfere. Not worth it. He was confident that he could make it happen. All he needed was for Laxus to give him just one opening. He was dead as soon as Natsu got an opening.

Natsu watched as Laxus suddenly started to spark before disappearing. The master wasn't doing so well. Everyone else who could fight was out and about. Natsu wondered if he could push his luck as Laxus had left Mirajane in the guild. He walked towards the statue first, only to see that there was a small lacrima stuck on her. Fuck. Well, that ruled that out. Natsu however didn't have one of those and as such there was no way for Laxus to know where he was. Laxus wasn't around either because Natsu couldn't smell him. So! Natsu could probably figure something out!

Natsu sat down, crossing his legs, in front of Mira's statue. He focused magic into his hands and then stood up.

"Natsu my boy," Makarov said, "Are you sure what you're doing is wise?"

"It's going to be the only way our family gets out mostly unscathed," Natsu said, "I've got to try."

"I see. Damn that boy," Makarov growled, "I should have seen this coming! I'll stop him myself."

Makarov ran towards the door but slammed into a barrier causing him to stop dead in his tracks. Natsu had to stop himself from laughing, "what the hell is that, Gramps?"

"Freed's rune magic. It's a set of rules by the looks of it," he said, reading it, "Nobody over eighty or stone statues may pass."

"Ah that sucks," Natsu said, pressing his hands against the lacrima.

A small crash was heard and both men turned to see one Reedus sitting behind a pillar. Natsu glanced back at his work. Makarov said something about finding that pink haired hag. He focused and painstakingly molded the lacrima that stuck to the woman. This was a very delicate job. He molded it until there was a narrow end that just barely attached to Mirajane. It was no thinner than a string of glass fiber.

He then focused more energy, but this time around him. Makarov watched in fascination as the fire enveloped Mirajane, hovering just above her skin. It completely surrounded her, just barely hovering over her. It covered everything except for the very thin point where the lacrima connected to her. Natsu rumbled for a moment before the fire snapped the rest of the lacrima off.

Luckily, Natsu had managed to stretch it so thinly that he could just snip off the tiniest portion of it so that there was essentially a scratch or gouge in the surface so that it did not rupture and release the magic inside. Natsu breathed out a sigh of relief and dropped the lacrima. It had taken entirely too long. Maybe close to thirty minutes of work that had gone by almost instantly.

"Alright, now that that's been," Natsu said before abruptly stopping, "Gajeel! Stop eating the spoons!"

Makarov watched as black hair poked up from behind the bar. He sweat dropped, "Wait! Why aren't you fighting?"

"I can't get out," Gajeel said simply.

"All first generation dragon slayers are about four hundred years over because of some magic stuff," Natsu shrugged.

"I thought it was just you," Makarov said.

"Nope!" Natsu said before his eyes narrowed, "Let's see."

"What are you doing, Natsu?" Makarov asked.

"Getting through this barrier," Natus growled, "I have a score to settle."

Natsu stood up, and sucked in his breath. He breathed out and just a small puff of smoke leaked out. Makarov wasn't sure Natsu would be able to get out of the barrier. Spell magic like that was extremely difficult to crack. Natsu walked forward and the runes flashed angrily at him. Natsu paused for a second and looked at the words that were displayed. Mostly matches. Gray had lost to Bixlow, Alzack to Freed, Elfman to Evergreen, Macao and Wakaba had knocked each other out, Jet and Droy had been knocked out by Alzack. Natsu was about to push his way through the runes but found that they began to change once again.

Reedus had also been knocked out. That mean one of two things, he had been taken out at the city outskirts or had been picked off on his way out. Regardless, Natsu wasn't really in the mood to care. Poor them, they lost. Oh well. Things happened.

"Natsu my boy," Makarov called, "How are you going to get through the runes?"

Gajeel answered instead of Natsu, much to the old man's surprise, "Never underestimate a dragon's magic. Pyro's magic can burn anything in its way, including magic."

"It can?" Makarov asked, "Incredible. The magic properties of the magic must be different."

"Well yeah Gramps! It's the difference between dragon slayer's fire and just regular fire," Natsu said, "We have to be able to destroy magic, dragon scales are imbued with natural, potent magic."

"I see," the old master stroked his beard, "Natsu."

"Huh?"

"Stop Laxus," the master said, "I'm too old for this shit."

"Don't have to tell me twice Old Man!" Natsu said before swiping his hand at the magic barrier. Fire swept out and a wave and smashed against the runes for less than a second before shattering them and billowing out onto the street and dissipating, "Gajeel. Go get the injured and bring them back here. Oh, and I don't mind if Gray is roughed up a bit more but try to be gentle with the others."

"Whatever," he grunted. Natsu shrugged before turning to Makarov and nodding. With the runes down and the lacrima broken, Natsu had nothing stopping him from kicking the blonde's ass.

"Take care of Mira's statue for me yeah?" Natsu said before turning and racing out of the guild.