Chapter 2 – Tournament

Magnolia, Summer time,

Year X792

The members of Fairy Tail all stood quietly as the group of wizards left the guild; four from the Zollzero family, and four from Fairy Tail, along with Sting. They walked as one group, although with clear division; the four children of the Zollzero family walked together in one line, with Arthur as the closest to the other Mages.

"It's quite a pleasant day… for a fight" Arthur commented nonchalantly as the group walked to the open space out the back of the guildhall, where they would then fight. After enough distance was put between the guildhall to be considered 'sage' Makarov stopped the group.

"This ought to be far enough" he stated loudly. Arthur looked to the old man for a moment, before nodding in agreement.

"Fair enough, now…" he looked to the gathered group of Mages, "Shall we explain the rules?" he asked them. Erza, by far the most threatening of the four assigned combatants, nodded.

"Yes, you said we were going to fight, but neglected to say how" she stated in a flat, unamused tone. Arthur shrugged.

"You have a point there" he said calmly, "So… as agreed between myself, Master Dreyar, and Master Eucliffe, Natsu Dragneel, Gray Fullbuster, Sting Eucliffe, and of course yourself, Erza Scarlet, will be taking on each of us in one-on-one duels" Arthur began to explain. "The rules will be simple; defeat your opponent by any means. Should you win three of the four engagements then the debt will be wiped, if not, it will remain" Arthur added.

Gray frowned at this explanation. "What about if we win two and lose two?" he asked, seeking clarification from the blond twenty-year-old.

Arthur smiled at the question. "If that situation is to occur, then the two least injured combatants from each side will hold a final duel in order to decide the outcome, sound fair?" he asked calmly. Gray, Erza, and Natsu all nodded at this. With that confirmation, Arthur looked to his group. "Edric, you'll be going first. The Mages, you may select your first person to duel" he announced, before parading over to a place about twelve steps away.

Edric took up a different position some half-way between where his brothers and sister now stood, and where the Fairy Tailers, along with Sting, were standing. "I'm ready for whoever" Edric called out, a cocky smirk on his slightly rounded face. Natsu grinned, looking to the group.

"Can I-" he began to ask, before he was cut off by Makarov.

"No. Gray, you go first. You can try to gauge their strength, then we'll know what we're up against" the old man instructed, his tone leaving no room for Natsu to argue or disobey, which caused the pinkette to frown and pout miserably.

Gray glanced to his teammate for a moment, before he nodded to the guild master. "Okay, just leave it to me" he stated with a confident tone, before he began to walk out to meet Edric.

"Oh, so the Snowman's going first?" Edric taunted. Gray scowled at his opponent.

"This coming from a kid" he retorted, folding his arms as he stood a couple of paces away.

"Oh, 'kid'… real original insult" Edric laughed sarcastically.

Gray sighed. "Let's just get this over with" he stated. Edric nodded in agreement.

"Fine with me" he said, "Let's begin".

/

Fight 1; Edric Zollzero vs. Gray Fullbuster

Gray eyed Edric carefully. The teen appeared to be no older than fifteen years of age, however his eyes suggested something much older. He's seen… stuff… which I guess is understandable Gray thought.

Edric, like his other siblings, had bright green eyes and platinum blond hair. He wore a blue-coloured three-piece suit, different from all of the other suited henchmen still remaining within the guild building. From a precursory glance, Gray could see some trace outlines of musculature on the boy, along with some slight twitches to his body. Does he use some kind of specialist close-combat magic? The Ice Mage thought.

Before he could consider anything else, a voice rose up. "On the count of three, you may begin" Arthur shouted from his distant position. Edric eyed Gray up at this declaration.

"I apologise in advance for trouncing you in front of your friends" he stated, his cocky smile never leaving his face for a moment. Gray shrugged.

"I could say the same 'bout beating you in front of all your family" he replied with a frosty tone.

Edric chuckled, however he made no additional comeback as Arthur began counting. "One… two…" he said, before inhaling a deep breath "Three!".

Gray took the initiative as soon as Arthur shouted out the last number. "Ice Make; Lance" he bellowed, immediately taking his Maker Magic stance and sending five lances outwards towards Edric. The blond smiled, but made no attempt to dodge them, instead he just held up his hand.

"Four, One; Flame Rampart" he barked. Gray was taken by surprise at the boys suddenly commanding tone, however he was even more greatly surprised by the effect. As Edric gestured forwards with an outstretched arm, a wall of flames exploded upwards, melting all of the icy lances before they could even reach him.

"You're a fire wizard?!" he barked in surprise. Edric shrugged.

"Is it really that surprising. Perhaps Makarov should have let the Fire Dragon Slayer fight, hmmm?" he laughed loudly, directing this comment more to the whole crowd, rather than just the Ice Mage before him. Makarov silently cursed his own decision and glanced to the pinkette at his right, however Natsu stood back, surprisingly without saying anything. He just watched from his place on the side-lines. With a frown, the older guild master looked back towards the fight.

Gray shrugged off the failure of the last attack with a smile. "It doesn't bother me if you're a fire wizard, I've felt way hotter flames just sparing with Natsu" he declared, before calling on his magic once more, an icy mist rising from his body. "Ice Make; Saucer" he barked, a spinning saw-like blade charging forward along the ground. Edric chuckled, and dodged the blade expertly.

"Nope" he laughed. Gray frowned.

"Not gonna try any more fire tricks, or was that one just a little quick for you?" he asked. Edric shrugged.

"I could try fire, or…" he paused for a moment, giving another cocky grin, "I could try this; Two, Two" he declared, "Storm Lance".

Pointing his index and middle fingers together at Gray, a sudden amount of magical energy grew at Edric's finger tips, before a spell was unleashed. Gray barely had time to dodge as a stream of lightning bolts flew towards him and struck him in the chest, knocking him to the ground. "What?!" he barked once more in surprise, as Edric displayed not just one elemental magic, but two. "You're also a Lightning Wizard?" he asked.

"Perhaps" Edric shrugged, a bright grin on his face. Getting back up onto his feet, Gray frowned.

"Although… even if you do have two magics your attack didn't pack much punch" he stated, rubbing his chest a little. Edric looked like he was going to make another comment, however Natsu got in first.

"Gray, pay attention, he's tricking us" the pinkette barked.

Gray frowned and almost turned to question Natsu, however Edric butted in. "Hmph, no help from the cheerleader section please" he stated, before smirking wickedly. "Now; Two, Two" Edric called out again. Recognising the number sequence from his last attack, Gray readied to defend, however he was surprised to see that no lightning erupted forth from the blond teen. "Speed Enhancement" Edric called out in an amused tone, laughing at Gray's sudden reaction.

The Ice Mage frowned. "So you can do more with those numbers than shoot off attacks…" he mumbled. Edric nodded.

"Indeed, however… you've still to work out how my magic works; here's another clue. Three, Six; Shadow Trap" he called out, waving his arms wide. From the arc of his arm movements, hundreds of tiny black spheres floated outwards, filling the space between Gray and Edric in moments.

"Now shadow's too?" Gray mumbled with surprise. "Is there any element you don't use?" Edric laughed but gave no response to the question. Seeing the effort as fruitless, Gray decided another tactic. He said trap so I should probably avoid those balls he thought, I know…

"Ice Make; Snowball" Gray barked, summoning up a spherical orb of ice and snow. Edric looked a little confusedly to the sphere, but made no move to react. Smirking, Gray threw the ball out into the field of floating shadow-spheres. As he suspected, as soon as it made contact with an orb, it expanded and the shadows absorbed the snowball, seemingly destroying it in the process. Edric watched the action with faint amusement. "Hmm… clever" he said, "But unoriginal".

Gray frowned. "Like you'd know anything about originality" he stated, before taking his Maker Magic stance once more, "I'm a Maker Mage, I can make anything I want out of ice, like… for example… Ice Make; Cannons" he stated, summoning up two round-barrelled cannons. Smiling, Gray commanded them to fire.

"Oooh, scary" Edric mocked, as the Ice Cannons began propelling freshly made snowballs at the minefield of shadow-spheres. "Regardless of if you take the trap out, I can always make another one" he stated.

Gray shrugged. "Go on then, but if you do what I think, then you'll give your magic away" he stated, folding his arms in challenge. Edric frowned and shrugged.

"Fine then" he stated, before taking a short pause. "Three, Three" he called out, "Mist Trap".

"Ah hah!" Gray declared, making the blond boy jump. As the spell activated a faint mist began to form in the air.

"What is such a revelation, have you finally realised I'm going to win?" Edric asked with a suspicious tone as his magical fog began to set in. Gray laughed from his own position, the Ice Cannons still firing away.

"No, I've worked out what your magic is" he stated victoriously. Edric's smile faded for the first time that duel.

"Really, pray tell" he said in a slightly warier tone now.

"Every time you cast a spell you pause before shouting out two numbers. When you do then the numbers differ, however if it's a three at the start it makes a trap. Also, you can use the numbers to enhance yourself instead of attacking. Based on the numbers you've called out so far, they go from one to six, so you must be using some sort of dice to make your spells. You're a 'Dice Mage'!" he declared boldly. Edric stood in shock for a moment, before he clapped his hands, allowing the mist to dissipate and reveal himself.

"You're not as stupid as you appear, Mr. Fullbuster" Edric smirked at the Ice Mage. "However, you are almost correct" he added, earning a slight frown from Gray. "I am not just a Dice Magic user, I am the Gambler Wizard. I don't just use die but cards as well… for example" with a fluid movement Edric pulled out a playing card; the ten of hearts. "Card Magic; Arme de Carte" he barked, making the card glow. Gray gave a surprised look as the glow grew brighter and suddenly the card was replaced by a knife, which Edric held expertly. The blonde smirked wickedly, before he bolted forward with his speed-enhancement propelling him towards Gray, and stabbing the Ice Mage in the side with the blade. "Heh, I win" he stated.

The Fairy Tailer's all gawked in shock as Gray was stabbed by the boy, however their faces soon changed as the Ice Clone crumbled in Gray's place, and Edric was left with a look of surprise on his face. Whirling around, the blade still primed to stab, he was met by a smiling Gray, who had another Ice Cannon by his side. "You're good, but you left yourself wide open with that mist trap. Although thank you for telling me your magic, it's nice to know I was right" he said, before placing his hand on the cannon. "Fire" he commanded it.

Edric didn't have time to react, before he was pelted with high-force snowballs. "Urgh!" he moaned, as he fell to the ground defeated, "Damn it".

Gray strode over to his opponent and offered him a hand of friendship. Edric accepted the assistance up, and, dusting the snow off of himself, smiled. "Guess I still have to work on my strategy" he stated, "Good use of my spell though… although I didn't even get to use my other magics yet" he grinned. Gray smiled.

"You had more?" he asked. The blond nodded.

"Of course, as I always say" he flicked a card from his sleeve and showed it to Gray, "I'm just like this card, a Jack of Hearts. Great and stealing all the lovely lady's hearts, but also Jack of All Trade's and master of none" he laughed. Gray sighed and made his way back over to his side, as Edric made his way back to his family. Despite his loss, they did not seem displeased.

"That's our win" Makarov declared, to which Arthur nodded in agreement. "So, who's up next?" he asked.

Arthur smiled and looked to the other twin. "Thomas, please get up, smarten yourself up, and then duel" he instructed calmly. Thomas, who had been watching from a seated position on the nearby grass, sighed and got up to walk over to the duel.

Without so much as a glance in his direction, Makarov selected his next combatant. "Natsu, you're up" he said boldly. The pinkette grinned.

"Finally!" he smirked, his hands balled into fists.

/

Fight 2; Thomas Zollzero vs. Natsu Dragneel

Natsu walked confidently up to the other Zollzero twin, his hands balled into fists and covered in flames already. "I'm ready!" he called out to the blond boy, who barely even looked at the pinkette.

"Okay" Thomas stated, before looking away, leaving Natsu a little confused.

"Are you?" Natsu asked. Thomas did no answer the question, and Natsu grew angry. Seeing the boiling anger rise, Edric immediately called out to his brother.

"Thomas, answer Natsu" he said, his voice stern but still caring.

Thomas briefly glanced over in his brother's direction, before looking up at Natsu. Seeing the boy's eyes, Natsu suddenly got a shiver of fear. Thomas was by no means threatening on his own, in fact he appeared much more like a child than his twin. Whilst Edric wore a dark blue suit, and had his hair stylishly swept across his head, Thomas wore a black suit jacket, but then only a white t-shirt, and black shorts, with white trainers and socks to match. His hair was as light blond as Edric's, however it was haphazardly brushed, and had parts sticking up at odd ends. Perhaps most unnerving about the boy was his deep emerald eyes, that cast a very far-away stare in the Dragon Slayer's direction. "I'm ready" Thomas said in a flat tone.

Natsu did not know how to reply to the boy; he seemed so unusual, especially compared to his cocky and talkative brother. "O-okay" Natsu stated, before looking over at Arthur. The eldest sibling nodded, and began counting down.

"Ready… one, two… three!" he exclaimed. Natsu smirked at the declaration, and his flaming fists grew in intensity as he fuelled his magic into them.

"Ha, I'm gonna finish this quickly. There ain't no way I'm losing to Gray" he barked, before beginning to close the small gap between him and his opponent. Thomas did not even flinch at Natsu's declaration, and instead activated his own magic.

"Brother said I had to fight, but it's such a hassle" he complained, as a couple of yellow magically screens appeared before him, along with a console.

"Archive Magic?" Natsu commented, unperturbed by the inherently supportive spell. "Hah, that could never stop me!" he laughed, increasing the speed at which he was moving forward, priming his fist to strike the other Mage as quickly as possible.

This was when Edric finally called out. "You really think you're gonna win against Tom?" he jeered from his position in the side-lines.

Natsu scowled at the teen. "Sure, I am, if Archive's all he's got" he replied, before leaping up to strike down at the blond boy before him. Edric snorted in laughter, however made no move to call out anything else, as it was Thomas who was going to prove Natsu wrong on that account. "Archive is all I've got, however…" Thomas stated, "I can win with this alone. Observe. Defence Protocol" he commanded. Natsu frowned as suddenly a barrier of yellow light engulfed Thomas' position, a perfect dome. The Fire Dragon Slayer, who had increased his speed to such a point that he could not stop, just ran straight into the barrier and bounced harmlessly off.

"What's this?!" he barked in surprise as he was sent careering backwards by the new field. Thomas barely looked up from the screens and console in front of him, however he did quickly glance to see if his spell was successful. "How'd you do that?" Natsu asked in surprise.

Thomas did not bother with a response, so Edric took it upon himself to explain. "My brother has a unique way of using Archive. He can basically store magical spells away and then release them at a later date. That means he doesn't use his own magic to cast spells, but rather uses magic he's already stored up, isn't that right, Tom?" Edric explained. Thomas frowned.

"It's Thomas" he stated, before looking at Natsu, "However he is right. You have no chance against me Dragon Slayer" he added, much to Natsu's fury.

"What do you mean no chance?" he growled, getting back up and immolating his fists once more. "I'll show you, Fire Dragon Wing Attack!" he said, fuelling his magic into his flames, before sending twin waves of flame to lash against the barrier, to no avail. "Hmph. Fine then, if fire won't work then… I'll just use my fists" he stated, before rushing forward and beginning to pummel the barrier. Thomas dispatched his console and screens to finally observe the Dragon Slayer directly. With a slight smirk on his face, he went from standing to sitting cross legged, removing his suit jacket and folding it up to use as a pillow as he began laying down on the ground. "It will take years for you to break through that, once you wear yourself out I'll have won" Thomas stated with a slight yawn, which infuriated Natsu quicker than this sudden predicament.

"Don't just lay there, fight me!" he howled in anger, bashing the light-shield with even more force. Thomas glanced at Natsu with amusement, but neglected to say anything further.

After a few moments of trying the Fire Dragon Slayer stopped and looked over to his guildmates. Makarov and Erza were both standing with withdrawn and panicked looks on their faces; clearly neither of them had foresaw this predicament either. Gray sat with a slightly fatigued expression on his face, he was surprised also, however he was tired too from his prior duel. Only Sting stood indifferent, like he was more focused on Natsu than on the situation. After a moment, the White Dragon realised that Natsu was looking over to them and he shot Natsu a friendly smile. "Come on Natsu, show 'em how it's done" he cheered. Natsu frowned, and turned back to Thomas, who had a screen up and was looking at it with distracted interest. "If you don't do something, doesn't that leave us at a draw?" Natsu asked the boy. Thomas shrugged.

"Even if that was true, my brother and sister will win their fight. I only need to draw with you to ensure my teams victory, and as this isn't a proper fight I don't need to go all out" Thomas stated dismissively. Edric heard these words, and tugged at Arthur's sleeve. Natsu registered the movement, but was too far away to hear what was said. After a moment, the brothers nodded to each other. "Thomas," Arthur called out, earning his brother's attention, "If you don't win this, then you'll end up with more work, having to recalculate the figures for our finances" he stated. This statement earned a scowl from the teen, before he sighed audibly.

"I suppose that means I should fight properly then, since it'll mean more work for me later" he stated, looking at Natsu, but not moving from his cross-legged sitting position. Summoning up another console Thomas pressed a few keys. "Attack Protocol" he commanded, before a screen materialised in front of Natsu. The Fire Dragon Slayer barely had time to register the attack, jumping up at the last second as a beam of energy shot out from the screen and scorched the earth where Natsu had been standing only a moment ago, "Ha, that's more like it" he declared, "fight me properly".

Thomas barely batted an eye at Natsu's evasive manoeuvre, as his fingers were already dancing over yet more keys on his console. "Multi Attack Protocol" he declared after a moment, as multiple screens appeared before him showing more data and information than before.

Simultaneous to the appearance of these Archive screens, multiple screens also appeared around Natsu's position. The Dragon Slayer grinned as he dodged and dived, left and right, as beams of energy were blasted forth, each missing their target, only for another screen to appear out of nowhere to take their place. "This is so boring, I thought you said you'd fight me!" Natsu howled, before engulfing his whole form in flames. "These aren't anything special, show me some real ATTACKS!" he added, before leaping up and bringing a flaming barrage down upon Thomas' position. Despite the force of the attack, each fireball just rebounded harmlessly off of Thomas's force shield.

"There's no point, you won't break through my defence" Thomas called out, a little light-heartedly. "And anyways, this is how I fight" Thomas added, before his fingers pressed a few more keys. "Mine Protocol" he declared.

Natsu frowned at the boy's spell casting, seeing no visible attack, however as he fell back down to the ground from his previous barrage, it was only by the timely warning of Sting that he was saved from defeat. "Natsu, watch out beneath you!" the blond declared from the side-lines. The pinkette frowned at the blond, glancing over briefly, before he realised why the Sabertooth Master had called out; right on the spot where Natsu was going to land a yellow symbol had appeared. With eyes wide in surprise, Natsu emitted flames from his feet to avoid landing on the symbol. "When did that happen?" he barked at Thomas. The Archive Mage smirked.

"That's my minefield, in the time it took you to cover the distance I've covered this whole place with hidden destruction spells" he informed the pink-haired Mage. "You'll never be able to reach me or destroy my shield, so I will win this by default" Thomas added informatively.

Natsu frowned, as he managed to identify a safe place to land. "Hmph… this is boring" he complained, "however, there's no way I'm gonna lose" he added, before taking a step forward.

Thomas grinned. "Wrong move" he stated, as a symbol lit up under Natsu's foot and exploded in a mini pillar of light, launching the Dragon Slayer high up into the air. Despite the attack, Natsu smiled wickedly.

"Now I can beat you!" he called down below, as he began a controlled dive downwards towards Thomas' position. The Archivist frowned for a moment, before his eyes went wide in realisation.

"No" he cursed, as his fingers rapidly began typing away on his console. Natsu laughed all the way down, as he easily avoided the minefield, his magic power being completely focused into his fists.

"Fire Dragon…" he began shouting as he increased the speed of his descent, "Iron… FIST!"

Natsu's fist slammed into Thomas' shield at full force, shattering the barrier as his fist arced to strike the blond in the stomach. "I've… Wo-" Natsu began to declare, before he was stopped by the now stoic-faced Thomas.

"Not quite" he stated flatly, before gesturing towards Natsu's fist. Then the Dragon Slayer noticed the yellow screen that had formed in front of his hand, holding back the force of the punch. "I stopped your attack with a super strong barrier" Thomas explained.

Natsu shrugged, "That won't matter because I can just do this; Fire Dragon Roar" he charged his magic to his mouth, ready to belch forth flames, however once again Sting called out, quickly followed by Gray.

"Don't Natsu!" they said within seconds of each other. Natsu frowned and shouted out to them without looking.

"Why?" he inquired impatiently.

"Look down" Thomas smiled. Natsu did, and his eyes grew wide with surprise; beneath his foot was a lit symbol. "I could've blown us both sky high, although I wouldn't have suffered any damage" Thomas explained, "However I don't need to waste any more energy. That's a draw, isn't it Arthur?" Thomas called out. The eldest blond sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I guess, Thomas, although…" he trailed off as Thomas deactivated his magic and began padding back over to this family without so much as a single word. Arthur and Edric watched their brother with tired gazes, before looking back to the guild wizards. "That draw means we only need two wins to settle this, agreed?" Arthur called out, asking Makarov. The tiny guild master shrugged.

"Fine. That means we only need to win one more" he grinned.

This was when Medea finally decided to speak up. With a hair flick, the red-haired Zollzero woman stepped forward. "Step aside boys, I'll win us that money" she said, giving Edric a slightly wicked smirk. The blond teen stuck his tongue out at his sister.

Shut it, slut" he retorted, as Medea took to the field.

Makarov looked at the women for a moment, before looking to Erza. "Erza, you can fight this one" he instructed. Sting, however, shook his head.

"No, let me. She reminds me of M'Lady and that'll motivate me to win" he stated.

Natsu sulked as he re-joined the group. "Hmph… that was not a fair fight" he whined "That kid didn't fight properly" Sting smiled at the pinkette as he re-joined the group, before patting him on the shoulder friendlily.

"Don't worry, your fight was awesome, I just hope mine is too" he said with a bright smile. Natsu gave a slightly confused look, which made Sting smiled brighter, "Watching you fight got me fired up to fight good too" he grinned "Just you watch me" Natsu smiled back at Sting's kind words.

"Good luck. Win us that money" he said in a slightly more up-beat tone. The White Dragon Slayer nodded, before striding up to meet Medea.

The woman, who was slightly taller than Sting, looked down at him with a confident glare. "My incompetent brothers failed in their fights. I will not do the same" she said, "No matter how sweet you might be" a slight twitch of a smile played over her lips.

Sting frowned at her. "Huh, I can't afford to lose either" he said, "Because that'd show Sabertooth up, and as Guild Master it's my responsibility to make sure that doesn't happen" he declared.

Plus… I don't wanna show myself up either. Not if I want to succeed he thought carefully. Medea smiled at Sting's bold words. "We'll see" she stated.

Arthur watched the fight from afar, a smile on his face; this was exactly as Thomas had predicted.

End of Chapter 2

Chapter Hint; Ulterior Motive