Italic = narrating

"Speak"

- Thought

"CAPS LOCK" = SCREAMING

Disclaimer: not owning Fairy Tail nor the original fairy tales


Jellal and the armor clad princess

"After Natsu defeated his childhood enemy, Lucy was up next. Having made it this far, she was determined to win once more. It was a though battle for her, but in the end she defeated her opponent – a "pretty-boy" not really wanting to get his hands dirty.

Lucy swung low on Hibiki's sword and it left his hand. After the sword had flown out of his hand, he was looking at the hand carefully to make sure she hadn't even made the tiniest scratch.

- Such a man isn't befitting of being our king anyway, Lucy thought as she headed back to her sisters.

"What are you doing?" she asked her sisters as she strode up to them.

"We've been calculating on who of us that will be up next", Erza answered.

"And?"

"Julien. You and I both have had the same amount of fights so far."
"How many do you think are left?" Juvia asked.

"I was going to ask Lucien to help me since he's even better at numbers", Erza said and looked at Lucy. "Together, I think we'll be able to figure it out."

"Prepare for your match Julien, you could be next."

Juvia nodded.

The girls were not far off, but Juvia had to wait a little more before her time.

"Gray Dragbuster and Mest Doranbolt, please prepare yourselves."

"Looks like I'm up", Gray said and rose from his seated position next to his brother.

"Don't let Siegrain down", Natsu said. "He put a lot of time into training us."

"I won't."

The blonde referee was waiting on the fighting grounds. Gray was first out and watched as his opponent walked out. He was walking in a normal pace not seemingly nervous or in a rush. But suddenly he stopped, pulled his helmet of and threw himself at the ground, rubbing his face against the ground. Then he stood up, nodded to himself and put the helmet back on before proceeding to the awaiting men.

- What is wrong with this guy? Gray thought and frowned.

Mest walked the last bit up to them.

"What was up with that?" the blonde referee asked slightly annoyed.

"I just got so curious on how the ground would feel against my face", Mest answered and Gray thought that Mest must be the weirdest person he had ever seen.

"Whatever, are you ready?" both men in armour prepared their stance. "Begin."

Gray had planned on being the one to attack first but he found himself having to block his opponent's sword in the last second. Then Mest had disappeared and Gray had to look around to find him. Once again he tried to attack but Mest was even quicker.

- What the...? How does he move this quick?!

Over and over again Gray found himself blocking his opponent the last second and hitting in empty air if he tried anything. When their swords clashed again he suddenly recieved a kick to his stomach and flew back. As soon as he stood up he recieved another kick and although the atmour protected him he gasped for air from hitting the ground the second time.

- It's no use, I can't win like this... I can't even attack properly.

He was preparing to get hit again but then Mest suddenly stopped and stood still for a second.

"I must know!" he screamed and turned his back towards Gray. Then he ran before he jumped forward and slid on the stomach against the ground.

And that's when Gray figured out how to beat him.

The two fighters met in the middle, clashing swords.

"Hey, don't you wonder how it feels to drop the sword?"

"That would mean I lose", Mest answered. "I MUST KNOW!"

And Mest withdrew from Gray and dropped his sword.

"The winner is Gray Fullbuster!"

"I do not enjoy this sensation", Mest said and Gray pat him on the shoulder when he passed by.

"Sorry man, but we all want to win."


Brains beat muscle - or in this case speed.

Sorry for the absence - but this is how it's going to be for awhile... I just have a hard time with this story.

But I want to thank you all for your patience with me! And please do continue to review even though I suck at answering them and at updating - it's very uplifting to go back to the computer and remember what you've told me ^-^

A big thanks to the people who wait patiently and come back for more of my chapters, and also to you guys that just keeps reviewing!

...

Guest: I'm very glad to hear you liked the Gale my fellow shipper ^-^

Anonymous 13: Well yeah, I suppose Gajeel is kind of brute but torture... maybe befitting when he was in Phantom but now I don't think he would have done someting like that... But I take it as if you enjoyed our Gale at least ^-^ thank you for complementing my writer-skills (but I still have a lot to learn), it means a lot to me when I'm told as this has been one of my favorite hobbies since I was quite young :)

Anonymous: I'm glad you liked the Gale ^-^ but I also know you're just waiting impatiently for the Jerza to come (and this is something that really scare me - what if you get disappointed?)

Honestly I doubt that Natsu will ever be able to beat Erza - not because he might not be stronger, but because of the psychological part. He has never won before so that's probably something that sticks in his mind. But then Erza also said once that Natsu will be able to surpass her one day. And he is crazy strong now... I was thinking at first "wow, he's as strong as Gildarts back on Tenrou" and then "HOLY MOTHER OF... HE FRIGGING DEFEATED A GOD!" So it might not be impossible.

But since we don't know how strong Erza's gotten lately... hm...

Katie: I'm glad you liked the Gale ^-^ But the Jerza will have to wait some more...


Extra warning to all my readers!

I don't know when next update will show up and I'm sorry for that. It will be like that for some time forward now and I don't know for how long. I'm sorry.