Author's Note:

Alrighty everyone! Sorry it's later at night, I've been trying to post earlier in the day lately, but just didn't get around to it today. But anywho, I hope you all enjoy the new chapter!

Of course, as always, let's hear a big round of applause for all the wonderful reviewers out there who made this chapter (whole story really) possible! *lots of cheering and applause* Big hugs and kisses to my repeat reviewers: Catherine, ThatOneAnimeGirl08, xxIt'sAllAboutThemxx, ravenqueen162, thechani, 19vanelkc, WisdomDragon27, Daisy73, Wolves silver wind, valerioux, TheJSmooth, Lucinda, KitsuneLover05, Anna5949, Donthedarkdragon26, Ksta, Firefly9917, kilatails, Leomae2.0, Lady La-sara, Alice, mr-simba-722-97, FantasyDreamer06, TheAvatarShadow, and Serika2001. Equally big hugs and kisses to my newest reviewers: thetrywriter, FluffyWuffy, Trollka21, HeavenlyEclipse, Aoekae, Forever Nalu, and neffateri13.

Also, I'm so glad everyone seemed to like the horns! In fact, a couple people asked about the book I mentioned (in reference to the horn thing). It's one of Kresley Cole's books from her paranormal romance series 'Immortals After Dark' (I would highly recommend the entire series to anyone who likes supernatural romance) But specifically the horn thing refers to the demons in that series, so any of the books with a demon as the main male lead will get you there. ;D Specifically...I think book 6 and 7 both had demons.

Alrighty, well, on with the show! And stay tuned till the end for a sneak peek of next chapter. ;D

Soon they returned home, and the rest of their week of training was spent back in Magnolia.

Natsu and Lucy continued to train by having her absorbing his magic power and then using it to summon spirits for longer and longer. They made an impressive amount of headway, so by time it was required for them to show up at the Hargeon port, Lucy felt somewhat hopeful that they had a chance of making S-Class.

Everyone boarded the ship upon arrival … aside from Natsu of course, who poofed as soon as transportation came into the picture. Happy kept her company though, even if he wasn't actually part of the trials and wouldn't be able to assist her in any way. Once they got to Tenrou Island, he would just have to sit out the trials in the camp. Everyone who was eliminated from the Trials would need somewhere to nurse their wounds and get something to eat and rest while the rest of them battled it out.

Once everyone was on board and settled, and the boat had departed – heading for Tenrou Island – Lucy sat back and took the time to look over all her competition.

Wendy and Cana might make a tough pair, but they were probably the least worrisome. Even though Wendy was a sky dragon slayer, she wasn't the most skilled in combat yet…at least as far as Lucy was aware. Of course, Carla had also come along, but she would be sitting on the sidelines with Happy…a fact which he was inordinately happy about.

More concerning by far was the fact that Gajeel was Levy's partner. In comparison to Wendy, the iron dragon slayer was a very formidable fighter. Lucy knew firsthand how brutal and strong he was, and though she'd completely forgiven him for that, she wasn't happy at the prospect of going up against him in a competition.

Freed and Bickslow were another potentially problematic team that she needed be wary of. She'd also gone up against Bickslow – during one of Laxus's temper tantrums – and knew he could be a real pain in the ass to beat. The helmet wearing freak had nearly yanked her soul out to turn her into one of his little puppets, which was a terrifying prospect to be sure. And Freed was no pushover either. He was a master of script magic, and he could prove to be a real annoyance if he started laying traps. Of course that wasn't even the worst of it…he also had some forbidden magic tucked up his sleeve, and if he used his Dark Ecriture then his opponent was a goner. He'd even held his own against Mirajane before…though she beat him soundly in the end.

Speaking of the Thunder Legion, it was no surprise to anyone that Elfman had teamed up with Evergreen. They were yet another a team to watch out for, though Lucy was mostly concerned about Evergreen's ability to turn her enemies to stone, and not so much Elfman's beast takeover magic. She was pretty sure her spirits could take him.

Gray and Loki were also definitely worth keeping her eye on, but she wasn't quite as worried about them. If Lucy was lucky, Juvia might prove a hindrance to Gray and Loki would have the same problem with her.

Similarly, she wasn't as worried about Juvia, because her blue-haired friend would probably have her work cut out for her trying to compete against Gray. However, she had teamed up with Bisca, and the green-haired sharp shooter was no slouch.

Lucy had been a little worried about Juvia finding a partner, but it turned out to not be a problem at all. Bisca and Juvia had actually been hanging out quite a bit lately and had bonded over girl talk and boys. Of course, everyone knew that Bisca had the hugest crush on Alzack, and it was equally apparent that her feelings were reciprocated. But those two had been dancing around each other for years, despite being partners for just as long. Apparently Bisca had gone to Juvia for advice on how to express her feelings, because she was jealous of the water mage's ability to be so open about hers.

After sizing up the competition, Lucy sighed and settled in a lounge chair, ready to wait out the rest of the trip with her notebook and pen. Happy had already abandoned her for his white-furred paramour, so she was left to spend her time trying to figure out a kink in the plot she was currently working on.

Soon after setting sail, a pervasive boiling heat set in, and everyone on board the small vessel began to melt…. with three exceptions.

Gray made himself an ice igloo to keep cool, which everyone was jealous of and tried to capitalize on by leaning up against it. Of course all that body heat melted the ice quickly, so he kept having to beat people off with a stick. Likewise, his girlfriend also seemed untouched by the weather, which wasn't surprising since she was a water-woman. The only kind of temperature Juvia would have trouble with was either freezing or boiling – and she was pretty good at controlling her internal temperature with magic.

The third person to be less affected was Lucy – because after training with Natsu's fire, this felt like nothing. It was still hot, and she was still quickly covered in sweat, but she didn't feel the need to complain about it. Everyone else though kept up a constant stream of protests and whining as they lay strewn across the deck in various unproductive heaps.

"How are you still busy writing Lucy?!" Cana complained, fanning herself with a magazine.

Lucy shrugged. "Let's just say this is nothing compared to the training I've been doing."

"What the hell kind of training have you been doing? Sitting in an oven?!" Gray called out from inside his ice shield, which Juvia had parked herself in as well.

"That's a secret." she replied with a wink and a grin.

Soon though, everyone's suffering came to an end, because the island came into view.

This was the first time any of them had been here, and they were awed by the sight of a truly massive tree growing out of a relatively small island. The leafy thing was practically the size of the whole landmass and had grown much taller than any plant had a right to do. It looked like a skyscraper…or a giant umbrella that shaded the entire island. Plus, the land itself was eye-catching, even without the monstrous tree. The whole island looked like it was made of sharp jutting pieces of land that had been glued together, and Lucy couldn't help but wonder what sort of crazy geological incident had created such a shocking landmass.

"Woah! Look at it!"

Various exclamations erupted from the crowd, some of them complementary, others critical, but soon Master Makarov had come out on deck and caught all their attention.

"There's a legend about Tenrou island…. They say it once had fairies living on it."

"Really?" Wendy asked eagerly, sounding excited by the prospect.

"No one knows if it's true or not, but what we do know is that this island is very important to our guild. It's the resting place of Fairy Tail's first master, Mavis Vermilion"

"And you're going there dressed like that?" Gray questioned, pointing at Makarov's short khaki pants and his Hawaiian shirt.

"Said the nudist to the stylish man." Makarov shot back, and Lucy couldn't help but laugh.

As usual, Gray was naked, this time completely naked … probably because it was so hot out.

"Speaking of, could you put on some clothes? Nobody but Juvia needs to see your junk, Gray." Cana interrupted the show and nodded at his dangly bits. She didn't seem perturbed in the slightest though. If anything, her smirk said she was just trying to embarrass him.

He yelped and dove for his igloo, where his trousers were probably located.

Meanwhile, Master was getting cranky. "Anything else? I'd like to reveal the first round of your trial if I may."

"There's more than one round?" Wendy asked anxiously, sounding pretty nervous.

"Well yeah. If any of Master Makarov's events were called simple, he'd probably keel over." Cana answered with an eye roll.

Ignoring them, the master in question continued. "Please direct your attention to the smoke coming from the shore." He pointed at a tall column of smoke. "Your first task will be to head for its source. Once there, you will choose one of the seven routes leading into the island. Each is meant for a single team only, so don't dawdle and pick one. After you've made your choice, you will have to conquer these obstacles."

A magical display suddenly popped into being next to him. It showed a map of sorts, with an area that had multiple paths leading off it. Each path was numbered, and was labeled either "intense combat" or just "combat." The "intense combat" labels also had the name of an S-Class wizard attached to them.

"Combat routes are self-explanatory. Two teams clash, but only one moves on. You should use every power at your disposal. Intense Combat routes are more difficult. Find yourselves on one of these, and you'll be fighting one of Fairy Tail's elite."

From the back of the group, Elfman loudly commented, "This sucks…. If we pick one of the routes with an S-Class mage on it, we're gonna get a manly pounding!"

Evergreen scoffed. "You're not a real man. You're a real wimp."

Meanwhile, Levy was cringing off to the side. "I don't want to fight any of my friends…"

"Sounds great to me, I've been looking for an excuse to pick a fight with some of these fools!" Gajeel countered, his arm resting on top of Levy's head like an arm rest.

Lucy rolled her eyes. "As long as it's not me."

"Oh, don't you worry Bunny-Girl, that dragon of yours is plenty. I'd just love to take him on again."

She scoffed. "Yeah, remember how well that worked out last time?"

"This time it'll be different!"

Before they could get into an argument over who would win in a fight between the iron dragon slayer and the celestial fire dragon, Makarov interrupted. "All right! You ready? Your trial starts right now!"

"Hold up, it starts before we hit the island?!" Loki shouted.

Makarov grinned and chuckled, and after a shocked pause, suddenly everyone was caught in a mad race to get off the boat. Freed managed to escape first, but not before he wrote an enchantment that kept the rest of them on. As Lucy ran face first into a wall of purple script while attempting to dive overboard, it became clear that they were stuck.

"Don't worry! It's not permanent. You all just have to stay on that boat for five more minutes … plenty of time to give us the first pick." Freed called back over his shoulder as he flew off with his enchanted wings. Bickslow flew along next to him, carried by his "babies," and all he had to offer was cackles.

"Ah man! We're all screwed if he gets to the island first! He's gonna lace it with enchantments!" Gray yelled, pounding on the enchanted wall.

Levy though wasn't intimidated in the least by the purple wall. "Not a problem for me!"

She quickly pulled out her pen and started to rewrite the enchantment. When she and Gajeel jumped overboard, everyone else tried to follow suite, but ran into the wall again.

"Sorry! I only rewrote it for me and Gajeel!"

"Hey! No fair!" Cana yelled back.

"All's fair in war, Losers!" Gajeel yelled back, and soon they were out of sight.

Evergreen also proved to have the ability to rewrite Freed's enchantments, and soon she and Elfman were also diving overboard. The rest of them though had to wait for the five minutes to expire, and then when the enchantment disappeared with a pop, everyone lunged overboard all at once.

Gray made an ice slide for him and Loki, Juvia used her water magic to make her and Bisca swim super-fast, and Wendy tried a sky dragon roar to propel her and Cana though the water.

As for Lucy, as soon as she hit the water she called Natsu.

"It's about time! Let's get this party started! What's our first goal?"

"See that smoke? We're supposed to go there."

"All right! I'm all fired up now! Let's go!"

And with that, a blast of heat escaped him and his wings popped out – causing a wave of water to fall to either side. Lucy nearly went under with the fierce splash, but Natsu deftly plucked her out of the water and soon they were flying ahead of the rest.

"Haha! Aren't you glad you have a partner with wings!"

"Yeah!"

On the way, she caught him up to speed since he hadn't been present for the debriefing, and he grinned. "Cool! We get to fight Fairy Tail's strongest wizards! This is gonna be awesome!"

Lucy could only roll her eyes at his enthusiasm.

By the time they got there, at least half of the paths were already blocked off with glowing magical barriers … and just in case that wasn't clear enough, a big red X marked them as closed for business. There were still quite a few options though, so they just had to pick one.

None of them were labeled the same as the map Master had showed them – they had letters instead of numbers – so there was no way to tell which was which. It was blind luck at this point who they ended up going against.

"Let's pick E! I bet Erza's down that route!"

"Huh?" Lucy asked, confused about his reasoning.

"E for Erza! It's the first letter of her name!"

"Seriously? That's all you're going off?"

"Come on Luce!"

And without further ado, she was dragged into the cave, which closed with a magical pop behind them.

"Well, I guess we're going this way then…" she sighed, rolling her eyes. Really, any route was fine, they were all the same risk in her book.

So, they walked down the dim path, and Lucy marveled at the tiny little spirit flies that lit their way. They were so beautiful really, and if she wasn't about to get into a fight with one of her guildmates – potentially one of the unbeatable ones – she would have been enamored. As it was though, she was too tense to fully enjoy the romantic looking scene.

It wasn't long before they arrived in a large cavern, and the sign hanging over the entrance stated "Combat," which meant at least they wouldn't be going up against one of the S-Class mages. With a sigh of relief, she let herself relax some, knowing that it was probably still going to be tough, but at least they had a chance now.

"All right, it's about time! I was starting to get bored!" A taunting voice rang through the passage, and she winced.

"Shit. Bickslow…one of the ones I didn't want to go up against," she cussed and slowly looked around to see him. Sure enough, perched on a rock, the long-tongued freak sat and cackled.

That meant that Freed was here too, and they would have to be very careful of any enchantments he might have set. "Watch where to step Natsu, Freed could have written all sorts of nasty traps into the ground…. Natsu!"

Of course Natsu – being Natsu – hadn't bothered to stick around and pay attention to her advice. Instead, he had barreled headlong into the fight and knocked Bickslow off his rock podium with a firm fist to the face.

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Woah!" All of Bickslow's 'babies' squeaked in alarm as he hit the wall with a crash that knocked some stones loose from the ceiling.

With the two of them getting into it, that left Freed up to her, and to be honest he was the more dangerous of the two.

As they squared off, Freed murmured, "I apologize in advance. I would rather not hurt you, but I cannot lose."

"Yeah, same here." she grunted back, eyeing his sword. He wrote his rune spells with the thing, and used it for physical attacks too, so it was worth eyeballing.

"Before we start though, would you please put on a shirt?"

She blinked at her opponent and noticed that he was blushing lightly.

It wasn't like she was naked or anything… she was wearing a bikini top and short-shorts. It was just so hot and tropical that a swimsuit seemed appropriate. She glanced down at her attire, and then cocked an eyebrow in his direction, intrigued by the show of a potential weakness.

"Are you a prude Freed? Do swimsuits make you uncomfortable?"

He flushed even darker and scowled. "It's simply not appropriate attire for combat! And clothing yourself in such a manner is a crude underhanded tactic!"

Actually, it was nothing of the sort, but she wasn't above turning it into one. Smiling, she felt her confidence mount. Maybe she had a chance if she exploited his discomfort with unclothed women.

By this point, he apparently determined that she was not going to heed his request, and so with a long-suffering sigh he unsheathed his sword fully and pointed it at her.

Immediately, her mind was racing as she wondered which one of her spirits would be best suited to dealing with Freed. As far as she knew, none of her spirits were particularly well-versed with enchantments, so that meant she would need to incapacitate him, or trap him somehow. With this thought in mind, she summoned Aries.

"Open! Gate of the Ram! Aries!"

With a pink poof and 'baaa,' her shyest spirit made an entrance. "H-hello Miss Lucy. I'm so sorry…"

Before Lucy could say anything to her spirit, Freed sputtered and gawked. "A cute fluffy female? What sort of perverted sorcery is this?!"

As expected, Freed was enchanted by the cuteness that was Aries – as most men were, Lucy had found – but of course she wasn't going to use her spirit in any sort of inappropriate way.

"How can I help?" Aries timidly stammered, looking like she was expecting the worst.

"All I need is for you to incapacitate Freed with one of your wool balls! And hurry, he's getting ready to write an enchantment!"

True to what Lucy said, Freed's sword was out and about, waving frantically in the air, and soon purple script flowed from the tip. Thankfully Aries's wool ball got to him before he could complete whatever spell he was writing, and he gasped as a cloud of pink engulfed him.

"What is this?! A cloud of pink cotton candy!? Why do I feel so warm…and…wooly…?"

As was always the case with Aries's main attack, the victim caught within her wool ball was lulled into complacency through sheer comfyness … which gave Lucy the perfect opportunity.

"Open! Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!"

"Hello Princess! How may I be of service?" Virgo asked perkily as she emerged, dressed in a fanservice maid bikini.

Lucy didn't even bother asking her why she was dressed like that. All that mattered was that Freed squawked and his eyes bugged out of his head. "A bikini babe?! How many women do you have tucked up your non-existent sleeves?!

She ignored him, and instead pointed at the ground directly under the wool ball. "Virgo! Dig a deep hole and plop him right down it!"

"Your wish is my command!"

Instantly Virgo disappeared, and a pit opened up right under Freed. He plummeted into it with a loud yelp – wool ball and all. Of course Lucy knew he could use his Dark Ecriture to sprout a pair of wings, so she dismissed Virgo and Aries, and instantly summoned Taurus and Scorpio in their place.

"Each of you cover one of the holes Virgo left! Freed's gonna be coming out of one of them and it's up to you to knock him out!"

They nodded with grins, and one dashed to each hole, Taurus raising his ax and Scorpio aiming his tail. Meanwhile, Lucy unrolled her whip, in case he escaped and she had to drag him back for her spirits to beat up. Sure enough, a few moments later, he popped out of the one Scorpio was covering. That wasn't a smart move, because the instant his green hair showed over the lip of the tunnel, Scorpio was blasting him with sand. The swirling sand storm pushed him back down into the hole, and Scorpio just kept pumping it in, which would drive him out the other side.

"Smart move Scorpio! Good job! Taurus, he's coming your way! Feel up for a game of whack a mole?!" Lucy shouted with a broad grin, beyond proud of her spirits and their power.

"Absoluuuutely!" Taurus bellowed with an equally broad grin, and he hefted his ax.

"Just don't kill him okay?"

It was a good thing she thought to mention this, because as soon as Freed attempted to make an escape from the sand storm tunnel, Taurus smacked him with the flat of his blade – knocking him out cold but not splitting his head open.

As soon as he passed out, Lucy caught him with her whip and dragged him out of the sand-filled hole so he wouldn't suffocate down there.

"Thanks guys!" she huffed, starting to run seriously low on magic power. "You're the best!"

"Wicked!" Scorpio said with a grin, and they both poofed, leaving her feeling rather drained.

She sat and breathed a sigh, relieved and a little shocked that she was able to take out Freed so easily. It was probably only because she'd been able to take him by surprise and beat him before he could write an enchantment. If he'd been able to do that, he would have beat her, hands down.

Soon she felt heat behind her as Natsu approached, still toasty from his fight.

"Yo!"

She tipped her head back to look up at him. "Hey. Did Bickslow give you too much trouble?"

"Nope." His shit eating grin was answer enough.

With a groan she hoisted herself back to her feet. "All right then, let's head through that open gate over there. It's probably the way we're supposed to go."

"Makes sense to me."

As she wobbled a little on her feet, he reached out to steady her. "Woah! Did you use up all your magic already?"

"Not all of it, but I burned through a lot pretty quickly summoning two pairs one right after the other."

"Here, let me give ya a little boost."

Without waiting for her response, she felt that telltale sensation of fire flooding her body.

As soon as she topped out, she raised a hand and gasped, "That's it." She'd quickly found out that she had to stop him before he overdid it, otherwise she'd end up feverish.

The heat tapered off quickly, and she sighed as her body cooled a bit. The heat still lingered in her veins from Natsu's magic, but after training so vigorously with him, she guessed that her body had somehow adapted to handle it and cool down fast. With the infusion of fire, suddenly her energy levels perked back up and she felt like she'd taken a caffeine shot, but without the jitters.

"Better?"

"Much," she sighed and grinned at him, which he returned and bent to peck her lips.

As they walked through the gate and then continued on down the path presented to them, Natsu nudged her side with his elbow. "Have I ever told you how hot you are when you fight?"

She sent him a bemused look. "No? Have I ever told you that you're weird?"

He just flashed his fangs in her direction, and she snorted in amusement. To be honest, she knew what he meant though, because she enjoyed watching Natsu fight too. The way his body moved, the flexing of his muscles, the fire in his eyes, and the fierce grin on his lips … it was like when she'd watched him dance on stage, but more natural to him.

After a second of chuckling, he nudged her again. "Yeah, but I'm your weirdo. You know you love it."

At that, she couldn't help but scoff and lightly bounced her shoulder off his. "Yeah, I love you, Weirdo. I guess that makes me weird too, huh?"

"Oh, you're weird for more reasons than just loving me," he said with another of those thousand-wat smiles of his. "But I guess weirdness attracts weirdness, cause it just makes me love ya more."

They walked the rest of the way hand-in-hand… both grinning a little stupidly.

After traversing the tunnel, they emerged into a clearing in the woods, where they encountered the other winners of the first round as well as Master Makarov.

"Congratulations for making it to the winning circle, Lucy, Natsu," he said as they walked out into the clearing.

"Thanks Gramps. So who else made it? Is this it?" Natsu asked, scratching his head and looking around.

"What d'you mean 'is this it'?!" Gray fussed, taking offense to a comment that probably didn't mean anything.

"What flew up your nose, Blizzard-Butt?" Natsu countered with a glare.

As their foreheads clunked together, Loki and Lucy shared a look and dashed forward to pry their respective partners from each other.

"Natsu! We can't waste energy here! We have to save it for the trials!" Lucy scolded as she yanked on his scarf and he mildly choked.

Loki was in the middle of saying something similar, when Gajeel and Levy staggered into the field. They looked battered and a little traumatized, but overall relatively okay.

"What happened to you two?" Lucy asked, concerned for her friend.

"Don't ask…" Levy whined, looking about ready to pass out.

Even Gajeel seemed shaken, so she didn't bother asking them any further questions. Shortly after, an equally battered and bruised Elfman and Evergreen limped in, and this time it was Gray who commented.

"You look like you got chewed up and spit out. What happened man?" He addressed Elfman, since Evergreen wasn't exactly sociable.

"We beat my big sister!"

That got everyone's attention. "You beat Mirajane?!" Gajeel spat, looking dubious. "How the hell did you two manage it? I mean I could've taken her easily, but you guys…"

"Don't write us off just yet." Evergreen interjected snootily, pushing up her glasses and glaring at the iron dragon slayer.

"And that's everyone!" The master's words drew their attention. "As it stands, Gray and Loki beat Wendy and Cana in combat. Lucy and Natsu beat Freed and Bickslow in combat."

Gray whistled and sent Lucy an impressed look. She grinned back.

"Levy and Gajeel were passed by Gildarts in intense combat."

"Passed?" Natsu chuckled, sending Gajeel a smirk. He got an iron pipe to the face, and Lucy had to hold him back by his scarf so she could listen to the rest of the master's commentary.

"Elfman and Evergreen defeated Mirajane in intense combat."

"Hey, where's Juvia? She didn't even make it through the first round?" Gray suddenly asked, sounding both concerned and skeptical.

A pained expression settled across Makarov's face. "Juvia and Bisca went up against she-who-knows-no-mercy."

Everyone flinched at the mention of Erza.

"Ouch…sucks for them." Loki muttered, wincing along with everyone else.

"Yes indeed. Now, I will explain your next trial. To complete this task, you will need to find the resting place of Mavis Vermillion, the founder of Fairy Tail. It's somewhere hidden on this island, and you have six hours to successfully find it. If you do not, you will fail this challenge and cannot continue the trials. Understood?"

When everyone nodded, he grinned and exclaimed, "Then your second trial starts now! Good luck everyone. I will be waiting for you at the first master's grave."

And with that, the second part of their trial began.

Sneak Peek

They landed in a shower of dirt and sparks as Natsu softened the impact with some fire, and Lucy dropped off his back and hit the ground running…. or would have if she hadn't tripped … skipped a few steps … fell … skidded into a roll … and scrambled back to her feet. Then she hit the ground running.

She could see that Erza, Mira, Juvia, Wendy, Cana, Freed, and Bickslow were all eating food in the mess tent, so she made a beeline straight for them, waving her arms manically to get their attention.

Erza was the first to notice Lucy, and her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Lucy? You aren't supposed to be here until the end of this round, which is in…one hour and twenty-four minutes."

"Never mind that! Natsu and I just saw an enemy ship approaching the island, and when we went to investigate, I saw the guildmark for Grimoire Hearts!"