Here's the next chapter! I hope you all enjoy!

Zale and Wendy were continuing to make their way through the island cavern after defeating Gray and Loke.

"I'm surprised at how much stronger I've gotten in the last few months." Zale said. "I never really considered myself much of a fighter, and neither did anyone else, until just last summer. Some of the other guild members would ask to spar with me and I would usually be on the losing end half the time. Now, I can't believe I managed to win a fight against Gray and Loke… Then again, it was all thanks to your help, Wendy."

"Oh, I'm not really that strong." Wendy protested.

"Natsu and Gray weren't even as tough as you when they were your age." Zale stated. "One day you might even become stronger than either of them."

"I don't think I'll ever be THAT strong."

"You never know…"

"Hey!" Wendy pointed forward at a shining light ahead of them. "There's the exit!"

As they walked into the light, the sudden brightness disoriented them a little and they were greeted by a familiar voice.

"Zale! Wendy!"

Once their eyes adjusted to the light, they saw Lucy, Cana, Levy, Gajeel and Happy waiting around in a fork in the forest path.

"Ms. Lucy! Ms. Cana! You made it!" Wendy greeted them.

"Where's Natsu?" Zale asked. "If Happy's here, he has to be here, too."

"He's over there." Happy pointed at Natsu, who was sitting quietly on a rock and not listening to anything they were saying.

"Natsu is not that quiet." Zale said. "… I'm a little scared right now…"

"I suppose this is everyone here…" Makarov said as he walked toward the others. "Let's go over the winners of the first test. Cana and Lucy best Freed and Bickslow in a 'Battle' area."

Lucy chuckled proudly as she stood next to a smiling Cana.

"Natsu and Happy got past Gildarts in an 'Intense Battle'."

"GILDARTS?!" Zale and Wendy exclaimed.

"Did he just say 'please' and he got a pass?" Zale questioned from this baffling turn of events.

"Levy and Gajeel were lucky enough to get the 'Peaceful Path'." Makarov continued.

"'Lucky' my ass!" Gajeel shouted while Levy giggled. "I didn't get to fight a single person!"

"And Zale and Wendy managed to best Gray and Loke in a 'Battle' area."

"ZALE beat GRAY?!" Cana shouted. "Am I dreaming?!"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence…" Zale muttered sarcastically.

"Sorry, it's just… You're so different than how you were a few months ago." Cana said.

Zale turned to Makarov. "What about Juvia?"

Makarov then had a strange, almost shock-like expression with a notable gaping of the mouth.

"Wh-what's that face for, Master?" Zale nervously asked.

"Juvia and Lisanna… went up against… Her…" Makarov replied. "Erza!"

"Of all the rotten luck…" Zale had a mental image of Juvia and Lisanna lying on stretchers and completely wrapped in bandages.

"So all that's left is Elfman and Evergreen, huh?" Lisanna surmised.

"But by process of elimination, they fought…" Cana said.

Both of them had sullen looks when they realized that the only fight left was with Mirajane.

"That poor team!" Levy lightly sobbed.

"If it was me, I could win, but them…" Gajeel grinned.

"HOLD ON A MINUTE!" A loud, easily recognizable voice rang from the forest.

Out of the forest came a bruised Elfman being propped up by a just as bruised Evergreen.

"We're here!" Elfman shouted. "We beat Big Sis!"

"We've passed the first test!" Evergreen said.

"What?!" Makarov yelled.

"How'd you get past Mira?" Happy inquired.

Elfman didn't look like he wanted to answer. "I can't say! As a man!"

"All I'll say is that we took advantage of a momentary distraction." Evergreen stated.

Makarov cleared his throat to get back everyone's attention. "In any case, these five teams pass the first test! So we will now start the second test!"

*I wonder what this test is going to be like…* Zale thought.

Suddenly, Natsu stood up and pointed at everyone.

"Zale! Cana! Levy! Elfman! I'll take you all on to become an S-Class wizard!" Natsu proclaimed.

"There's the Natsu we all know and love." Zale joked before getting serious. "I wouldn't expect anything less. I had no intention of losing to Gray and I have no intention of losing to you."

Cana smiled at Natsu.

"Same here!" Levy nodded.

"I accept your challenge as a man!" Elfman responded.

"The second test of the S-Class Trials will be a hunt for the grave of the First Master, Mavis Vermillion." Makarov announced. "The time limit is six hours. I will be waiting at the grave for the victor." He began to walk away, but then turned around. "And don't get any bright ideas about following me there! I'll disqualify you on the spot!"

Makarov went off, leaving the five teams to search for the grave on their own.

"I wondered how he would handle the 'following him' strategy." Zale expressed.

Everyone thought this portion of the exam would be easy, but…

"I didn't think the S-Class Trial would be THIS dangerous!" Zale shouted.

Zale was carrying Wendy piggyback while running away from a giant, monstrous lizard.

"Aren't you supposed to be really smart?" Wendy shouted her question due to the hectic situation. "You didn't know there would be monsters here?"

"I've never been here before!" Zale answered. "Everything's new to me! And I never thought Master Makarov would put us in such a life-or-death situation! Is he really willing to let us die to these things?!"

After running for what felt like an eternity, Zale and Wendy managed to escape the monster. Both were catching their breath at a cliff with a tree nearby.

"We lost it…" Zale panted.

"Why would the Master nearly kill us like this?" Wendy wondered.

There was nothing but silence for the next few seconds.

"… Mr. Zale?"

She looked over at Zale, who was simply resting his head against his arm, which was resting against the tree.

"I'm sorry, something just occurred to me." Zale said. "Remember what the Master said about the trial?"

"Yeah, we had to find the First Master's grave in six hours."

"Did he give any hints?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Or did you just not catch it?"

"I listened to the whole thing. Even if he muttered it, my Dragon Slayer ears would've picked it up."

"Or perhaps the hint lies within the trial's description."

"Huh?"

"The words he used… Perhaps the hint lies there…" He closed his eyes. "… Find the grave in six hours… Find grave, six hours… grave… six…"

Wendy kept quiet so she couldn't break Zale's concentration.

"This puzzle is with words… So maybe if I can think of every synonym for 'grave', I can… Perhaps something with six letters… 'Shrine'… Maybe I'm thinking of it the wrong way. Maybe another meaning for 'grave'… Or 'death'… 'Demise'… That's it!"

"You got it?!" Wendy asked.

"Remember how we had paths labeled with letters? What's the most prominent letter in the word 'demise'?"

"'D'?"

"Not a bad guess, but I was referring to 'E'."

"Wait, so does that mean-"

"The grave is on Path E!"

"Wow, Mr. Zale! You really are smart!"

"Let's go!"

Before they could run off, they saw a large spark of light rise from the ground and let out a bright red firework.

"That's not good." Zale said.

"What's going on?" Wendy asked.

"Someone's on the island… And they're not from Fairy Tail… Or friendly." Zale answered. "We'll have to forget the test for now. Getting to the others is our top priority for now."

"Wendy!"

Zale and Wendy turned toward the source of the voice to see Carla and Pantherlily flying to them.

"There's an army of ships heading straight for us!" Carla shouted.

"What?!" Wendy gasped.

"Wait… That signal flare came from the middle of the island." Zale pointed out. "How could they notice the ships when we can barely see them from here?"

Suddenly, something grabbed Wendy and her startling exclaiming made everyone look to her to see that the man Zale saw the night of the S-Class participant announcements.

"You!" Zale growled.

"You know him, Zale?" Lily asked.

"I saw him in front of the guild on the night when Makarov announced the S-Class candidates." Zale answered. "I don't know exactly who he is, but he's definitely not with Fairy Tail."

"Are you the reason for the flare?" Lily asked. "Who are you?"

The interrogation was cut short when a spontaneous series of explosions trailed along the ground. Zale, Lily and Carla moved out of the way and the intruder disappeared with Wendy and reappeared a few meters away from the explosions.

"Teleportation magic?!" Lily exclaimed.

"I'm more interested in where those explosions came from." Zale said.

"Who's there?!" The mysterious man shouted. "Come out!"

Just then, the tree looked like it was stretching until the shape of a face appeared.

"I'm surprised you saw through me." The tree-face said.

"EEEeee!" Wendy squealed.

"Creepy!" Zale exclaimed.

"Who are you?" The man asked.

"My name is Azuma. One of Grimoire Heart's Seven Kin of Purgatory."

"Grimoire Heart?!" Wendy gasped.

"Is your guild the reason for the flare?" Zale inquired.

The face on the tree continued stretching out until it took the shape of a man, almost as if he was standing on the side of the tree.

"Unfortunately, you are too late…" Azuma said.

"I figured a problem or two would occur if I snuck on Tenrou Island…" The man muttered. "But Zeref AND Grimoire Heart? This has to be my lucky day."

"Just who are you?!" Carla demanded.

"You still haven't figured it out?" He grinned deviously. "I'm an agent of the Magic Council. I infiltrated Fairy Tail to find an excuse to shut you down!"

"The Council?!" Carla gasped.

"You're kidding…" Wendy said.

"Well, well…" Azuma said.

"But it's all over." The agent continued. "It ended the moment Grimoire Heart set foot on this island. If I can shut THEM down, my career is set! I arranged to have the main force of the Council's Heavily Armored Capture and Containment Division and their battleships on standby. Guess I made the right call. With a snap of my fingers, I could have this whole island wiped out."

"Battleship, you say?" Azuma asked. "You mean those?"

Suddenly, the battalion of ships were engulfed in a fiery blaze, leaving the agent and the Fairy Tail wizards in shock.

"Wha-?!" The agent shouted.

"Wh-what happened?!" Wendy wondered.

"How did he do that?" Zale questioned. "And from so far away?"

Azuma's body detached itself from the tree, completely revealing his identity as a dark-skinned man wearing green and brown clothes.

*Is this the power of Grimoire Heart?* Zale thought. *And there are at least six more of these guys? Are they all just as strong as this guy?*

Lily changed his shape from the small cat form to his larger, burlier form and charged at Azuma, who simply held out his hand.

"Bleve."

An explosion burst right where Lily was. There was nothing but smoke for a second, but Lily came out of it, somewhat wounded by the explosion, and uppercut Azuma in the jaw and sent him flying. Azuma didn't seem fazed and Lily was caught in another explosion, this time the shockwave sent the agent, Wendy and Zale flying back a bit. When the smoke cleared, Lily was still standing, though his injuries were pretty bad.

"Lily can't handle this on his own!" Zale said.

Zale charged forward.

"I'll help!" Wendy said as she began chanting. "Arms! Vernier!"

Zale and Lily had a red and blue aura surrounding them, enhancing their strength and speed.

*So this is Wendy's support magic.* Zale thought. *I feel stronger and lighter!*

Azuma summoned another explosion where Zale and Lily were, but they jumped out of the way with ease.

"Water God Hook!"

Zale and Lily tried to deliver powerful kicks to Azuma, which he blocked but still must have hurt from the attack boost. After fighting for a few seconds, the agent teleported behind Azuma with Wendy in his arms and she looked like she was about to let out a powerful sneak attack Dragon Roar.

"… Predictable." Azuma muttered. "Tower Burst!"

All around Azuma rose a pillar of flames that engulfed Zale, Lily, Wendy and the agent. It was so powerful that Wendy, Carla, Lily and the agent were rendered unconscious. Zale was still highly damaged from the blow, but he was able to retain consciousness.

*He's… so powerful…* He thought. *I don't stand a chance…*

A/N: It's great to be back! I got this done a lot faster than I thought I would! I do have a fight planned for Zale for the Tenrou Island arc, so try guess who it is; it's an easier answer than you might think. Also, Zale is much more of a thinker than a fighter, so he would figure that riddle out just as, if not almost as quickly as Lucy did. Sorry there wasn't much of Juvia in this chapter, but I wanted to focus on Zale. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed!