Chapter 9
After the first two fights everyone was very excited to see who was next, even Bixlow and Evergreen, who Wendy had easily been able to wake up, had shrugged off their loss and were fired up about the next match. "On to round 3" Lucy exclaimed, "next up is...Grey vs...Oliver!" Grey was both excited and nervous as they entered the arena, excited that he got to fight someone who wasn't in Fairy Tail but nervous that his opponent wasn't just an S-Class mage, but an S-Class Dragon Slayer and Grey had enough trouble dealing with pyro brain. Then there was what Lucy had said, that Oliver and Jennifer had both completed their S-Class exams in record time. "So you're the Grey I've heard so much about" Oliver said snapping Grey back to reality, "I've heard some good things about you, I was hoping I'd get a chance to test your skills." "Likewise" Grey replied, "I've been wondering what you could do so this should be interesting." Master Lucy activated the field and began the countdown. "Ready you two? Ok! In 3...2...1...FIGHT!" Both fighters jumped backwards to increase the distance between one another, Grey knew he'd lose quickly if he held back so he assumed his standard casting stance and exclaimed;
Ice Make: Canon
Ice instantly formed on his shoulder resembling a large bazooka or even an old cannonball firing canon. He used his hands to aim it at Oliver and fired, the force of which nearly toppling him backwards. Oliver did nothing to dodge and allowed the blast to hit him straight on, as the dust from the explosion swirled Grey wondered just how much damage he'd actually done when, as the dust began to settle, Grey heard a crunching and chewing sound. Once the dust settled Grey saw Oliver stood in the same place without a single scratch on him, eating the ice from his attack. "I have to say Grey" Oliver said swallowing his mouth full of magic infused ice, "your ice is certainly delicious and strong, if I wasn't a dragon slayer that used ice that would have done some serious damage." Grey sweat dropped, he knew Oliver was the Arctic Dragon Slayer but had hoped that meant he ate snow not ice. "Tell you what Grey" Oliver said, "to make it fairer I won't be allowed to eat your ice attacks...unless you hit me in the mouth and I do so accidentally, deal?" "Well..." Grey answered in an almost disapproving tone, "I don't like the idea of forcing a handicap on my comrades and friends...but I guess I have no choice, alright deal!" Oliver nodded and resumed a fighting stance, "I think you'll find this more to the point" he said before bringing his right arm across his chest with his fist closed and exclaimed;
Arctic Dragon's Shuriken
Throwing his arm back to the right and opening his fist he sent 3 4 point star shaped shuriken at Grey, who rolled out of the way before cringing along with the rest of the guild. "That pun...was just not necessary" he said, Oliver just smiled and shrugged before unleashing 2 more sets of shuriken.
Ice Make: Knight Shield
Grey formed a knight's shield on his left arm, blocking the shuriken and allowing him to move closer at the same time. As soon as he was close enough Grey exclaimed;
Ice Make: Knight Sword
This time he formed a sword reminiscent of a medieval knight's in his right hand, which he used to attack Oliver. Oliver was able to dodge slash after jab after slash and even countered with some punches, that Grey blocked with the shield before Oliver decided that that was enough.
Arctic Dragon's Glacial Fist
Ice wrapped around Oliver's fist and began to glow light blue, he aimed the punch at Grey who used the shield to block, but Oliver's fist just broke through the shield like it was paper and sent Grey flying. Keeping his sword firmly in his right hand Grey flipped back onto his feet and charged towards his opponent. Oliver dodged another couple of slashes before using his still glowing fist to back hand the sword, shattering it. Grey jumped back slightly startled by what just happened when he noticed Oliver sucking in air, having fought with and against Natsu hundreds of times he recognised it as a breath attack. Remembering the power of Oliver's last attack he jumped back again, slammed both palms onto the ground and shouted;
Ice Make: Quadruple Wall Barrier
Four walls, each 1.5 feet thick and 15 feet tall with 2 feet of space between them rose from the ground between Grey and Oliver. This was a spell that Grey had been working on for a while, his ultimate defence, as each wall was just as strong as his full powered Ice shield. Oliver puffed out his cheeks and unleashed the strongest Slayer breath spell that Grey had ever seen.
Roar of the Arctic Dragon
The raging beam of ice and snow impacted the first wall and shattered it like a dinner plate, the second lasted for a second before breaking, the third lasted 5 and the fourth lasted a full ten seconds with Grey watching as huge crack after huge crack formed and grew larger until the blast broke through. Grey tried to dodge at the last minute but the blast was too quick and painfully slammed him into the rune barrier. "Ow!" Grey weakly said wincing as he did, using the rune barrier for support Grey was able to just pull himself up with his other hand on his chest where the roar struck. Oliver walked towards him but Grey raised his hand and said "wait...wait a minute", he struggled to speak, his chest paining him a lot, "I give I give, Lucy! I officially surrender, I don't have an ice cube's chance in hell of winning." Lucy nodded and declared Oliver the winner but as she did Grey's legs gave out and he started to fall face first into the dirt. But Grey found himself stopping mid fall as someone had caught him, looking around he found Oliver's face looking down smiling at him. "You fought very well Grey" Oliver said still smiling, "few people have ever blocked so much of my roar. I doubt it'll be long before your S-Class yourself and, if you'd permit me, I'd like you to consider me a friend and let me help you to develop your already excellent abilities." Grey smiled and weakly said "sounds like a plan" before giving in and losing consciousness.
Oliver took Grey to Wendy, slightly concerned he may have gone too far and used too much power. Wendy looked at Oliver as he put down Grey and said, almost like she could read his mind, "you don't need to worry, we came from the Fairy Tail guild, this is how we always do it." She smiled at Oliver reassuringly who smiled back and nodded, before turning back to head for the spectators area. Standing next to Jennifer she whispered "so, was he as strong as you expected?" "No" Oliver replied also whispering, "he was far stronger than I expected. And not just physically either, their spirits are strong too, I doubt it'll take us more than a couple of months to get Grey and Natsu to S-Class," "yeah" she said, "after Lucy was kind enough to invite us to the guild because she liked us and thought we could find a home, not just because of our power, it's the least we could do." Lucy stood up with Cal's hat and shouted "well that was exciting wasn't it? Let's hope round 4 is too" she pulled the next two names out of the hat, "next up is...Erza! vs...Team Maka!" Erza, Maka and soul entered the arena with Soul staying on the side edge. Erza smiled and said politely "I'm rather looking forward to this, I wish you the best of luck." Maka smiled and nodded replying "yeah you too", before suddenly remembering Erza's magic, "Hey Erza, you said you used equip magic right?" Erza nodded, "huh" Maka continued "this will be interesting." "Ready?" Lucy shouted "3...2...1...FIGHT!" Erza summoned a sword and charged at Maka, she slashed horizontally and Maka rolled forward out of the way. Maka stretched out her arm and opened her hand
Reequip: Flame Scythe
A reddish orange scythe with flames etched into the curved blade appeared in her hand shocking Erza. "A..A..A Reequip!?" Erza stuttered, "yep" Maka replied leaning on top of the scythe which was only about ¾ of her height, "if I get separated from Soul then I can use these, now let's see how you handle this!" Using one hand she brought the blade down to her bottom right hand side before rapidly moving it to her top left exclaiming;
Scythe Magic: Flame Crescent
The movement launched a crescent shaped flame at Erza, who dodged and Reequipped into her Flame Empress Armour. She charged at Maka and attacked with her sword, which Maka blocked with the shaft of her scythe. The next few minutes consisted of Erza and Maka exchanging blow after blow with their weapons before Maka jumped back, held out her left hand and reequipped her Water Scythe, which looked the same as the Flame Scythe except it was blue. She raised both scythes and stabbed the blades into the ground.
Scythe Magic: Flame & Water Pillars
A pillar of fire and a pillar of water burst out of the holes the respective weapons had created and moved towards Erza quickly. Reequipping at an incredible pace Erza dodged the attacks by equipping her speed armour, before charging towards Maka. Using a combination of her enhanced speed and sword skills Erza landed several hits to Maka before knocking the weapons out of her hands and knocking her to the ground. "Alright then" Maka said through gritted teeth, "let's do this Soul" "It's about time" Soul replied, he jumped and transformed before landing in Maka's hand where she spun him before standing him next to her. Soul's weapon form, as you might expect, was a scythe, he was about a foot taller than Maka, had a metallic silver shaft, a protruding metallic eye at the top and had a red and black zig zag pattern on the blade. "Let's do this!" Maka exclaimed.
Scythe Magic: Soul Crescent
This time the crescent was made of a dark blue energy and was much more powerful than her previous attacks, but Erza's enhanced speed allowed her to dodge and move in for a counter strike. She moved to jab her sword at Maka who deflected it with Soul before countering with a slash of her own. For the next few minutes the arena was filled with the sound of blades clashing as Erza and Maka, at incredible speed, furiously attacked and blocked. Their speed was so great in fact that the other Fairy Eaters couldn't see all the attacks. Eventually Maka managed to strike Erza in the stomach with the back of Soul, before striking her again sending her flying. Refusing to give in Erza used her free hand to slow herself down and flip herself back onto her feet, before using almost Laxus levels of speed to appear in front of Maka, kneeing her in the gut. While Maka was winded Erza delivered a roundhouse kick sending Maka flying like she had a few moments ago. "Wow your good" Maka said wiping the edge of her mouth, "Looks like we've got no choice, Let's do this Soul!" "Right!" Soul replied from within the scythe. Seconds later Maka and Soul's energy levels rose to the point where Maka's clothes and hair were being lifted up like they were in wind. Having spoken to Stein a few times Erza recognised this as the beginning of Soul Resonance and knew that if she didn't act quickly she would lose. Rapidly she reequipped into her Titania Armour (A/N the low cut grey one with wings) and summoned a ring of swords around her, she spun them so fast that they appeared to fuse into one halo shaped blade. As soon as she could she fired it at Maka exclaiming;
Heaven's Wheel
Nervously she watched as her attack made its way. Thanks to her conversations with Stein she knew that both the weapon and the myster were immobile during the first few seconds of Soul Resonance, leaving an opening for an attack. BOOM! The attack had hit something but thanks to the dust cloud Erza couldn't tell if it was Maka or the ground. The entire guild watched with bated breath to see if the attack had hit, once the smoke cleared they saw Maka and Soul, who had been forced back into his human form, lying on the ground dazed but still awake. Realizing this was her only chance Erza summoned a sword in each hand and flew as fast as she could to her downed opponents, placing the tips of the blades at each of their throats. Lucy declared Erza the winner, who grinned with relief and returned to her clothes before helping Maka and Soul up. "Dam your good" Soul said rubbing the back of his head, "thank you" Erza replied with a smile, "Your very good yourselves, I think we'll be able to work excellently together." The three smiled at each other and made their way to the rest of the guild to enjoy the next round.
Lucy sat on her chair and watched as everyone in the guild chatted and laughed together, even Grey who had just woken up was happily talking to everyone. "It seems your plan worked quite well" said Lord Death, "Indeed, everyone has become much closer, they shall make a fine team" agreed Cal, "yeah" Lucy proudly said, "I'll make this guild into a true family, stronger than Fairy Tail's wildest dreams." Still looking at the other members she found a pair of eyes staring back at her, with a smile of pride and admiration on his face, it was Grey. Huh Lucy thought to herself, Grey's always so handsome when he smiles like that...Whoa there Lucy! That's quite enough of that! This is Grey we're talking about...you don't feel that way about him...do you? Feeling her cheeks get warm and go pink she shuck her head getting a weird look from Cal and Lord Death. Deciding that the best way to forget about the thoughts was to lose herself in the fight she stood up and shouted; "Ok everyone! It's time for the next round." Picking up Cal's hat she chose two of the remaining four names and shouted "the next two will be...Natsu vs...Jennifer!" Natsu exclaimed "YES!" and literally jumped for joy as he had been really hoping to fight one of the S-Class slayers and Jennifer was the only one left. Natsu asked Happy to stay out of the fight as he was still training to use his new power, he didn't like the idea but Happy reluctantly agreed. Jennifer giggled, finding Natsu's jump kinda cute, like a puppy getting a new toy, she made her way alongside Natsu to the arena and stood in the middle. "So it's me and you huh Natsu" Jennifer started, "Lucy told me a bit about you, she says you're really strong when you get 'fired up', though she never mentioned the cute little jump." Natsu's cheeks turned the colour of tomatoes, he put his hand on the back of his head and stuttered "c-c-cute!? I-I-I was j-just excited cos the only o-other S-Class slayer I've seen is Laxus and...well I...I wanted to fight you and Oliver to s-see h-how I m-measured up." Jennifer giggled again "It's a good reason Natsu, but I'm afraid it was still cute," she playfully stuck her tongue out and Natsu went a little redder. Well well what's this? Lucy thought to herself has Natsu got a crush on someone? Wondering how this would affect the match Lucy decided it was time to begin and activated the rune field. "Here we go! 3...2...1...FIGHT!" she shouted making Natsu and Jennifer jump backwards. "You better not go easy on me Natsu" Jennifer teased before pointing her right palm at Natsu.
Storm Dragon's Gale Shot
From her palm Jennifer fired a blast of gale force wind that hit Natsu directly on his chest, knocking him back about a foot onto his back. "Ow!" he moaned, "wouldn't dream of it", he sucked as much air into his slightly winded lungs before puffing out his cheeks.
Roar of the Fire Dragon
He unleashed the inferno of his breath attack at Jennifer, who was able to leap out of the way thanks to the distance between them. "Wow! Nice one Natsu" she said turning to face him, when she looked she found Natsu already charging at her with his fists blazing.
Fire Dragon's Iron Claw (A/N I think that's what it's called)
Jennifer dodged a frenzy of burning punches, up to this point she had just been trying to have fun with Natsu, but the look in his eyes told her he was very serious. Not wanting to hurt Natsu she was going to surrender until she realised that would make him angrier than being in pain, so she decided to use a combo that almost always knocks her opponents out. She let Natsu continue his punches until she dodged a left hook, leaving and opening so she made the air swirl violently around her fists and stuck with her right.
Storm Dragon's Tornado Punch
Striking Natsu directly in the stomach she left him a bit winded but before he could react she hit him with her left, this time with more of an uppercut motion which lifted him off the ground slightly. Before he could land Jennifer uppercutted him with her right, this time sending the tornado around her fist into Natsu's chest, sending him high into the air. Using the wind to help her Jennifer jumped so that she was above Natsu, she extended her legs, put her feet together and started to spin.
Storm Dragon's Tornado Drop
A tornado formed around her before shooting rapidly at Natsu, striking him just above his stomach forcing him to hit the ground with massive force, creating a crater where he impacted. Jennifer stepped out of the crater, took a few steps and turned around, hoping that would be that. Natsu however had different ideas, he climbed out of the crater and ignited his fists again. Dam! She thought to herself, I'm gonna have to immobilize him she put her hand behind her ear.
Storm Dragon's Lightning Spear
The lightning formed into a spear shape in her hand which she threw, like Zeus hurling lightning from Olympus. It impacted just in front of Natsu's feet causing him to lose focus and step back in surprise. Seeing her chance Jennifer raised both palms.
Storm Dragon's Storm Chains
A static charged tornado erupted out of each palm and wrapped around Natsu before attaching to the floor, completely immobilizing him. There she thought to herself that should be it right? Wait...what's he... she realised he was sucking in air for a breath attack, knowing the strength of it she knew she wouldn't have time to counter with anything but her own roar, so she sucked in the air, puffed out her cheeks and unleashed at the same time as Natsu.
Roar of the Fire Dragon
Roar of the Storm Dragon
The two attacks collided with incredible force, the blazing inferno of Natsu's fire battling against Jennifer's lightning infused, hurricane strength wind. It appeared to be a complete stalemate until Natsu's injuries and fatigue caused him to falter slightly, which Jennifer used as an opportunity, she pushed a little harder, overwhelming the fire, hitting Natsu straight on. Natsu was now laid on his back with his waistcoat torn to shreds and smouldering slightly. "Natsu please just stay down" Jennifer pleaded, "stay down?" Natsu inquired as he slowly got up, "Never! I AM NATSU DRAGNEEL, SALAMANDER OF THE FAIRY EATER GUILD! I WILL NEVER SURRENDER!" This hit Jennifer like a knife in the heart, barely holding back tears she decided she couldn't bare to hurt him anymore so was about to surrender when, "YOU TOTAL PYRO BRAINED MORON!" This shocked everyone as they turned to find Grey stood up with a look of absolute rage on his face. "HOW CAN YOU BE SO GOD DAM DENSE?! SHE ISN'T TRYING TO UPSTAGE OR HUMILIATE YOU, SHE'S TRYING HER HARDEST NOT TO HURT YOU! IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME THEN LOOK INTO HER EYES!" Not knowing how to respond he did what Grey shouted and looked into Jennifer's eyes and what he found made him feel like his heart had been put into a blender. The eyes he thought would be hardened and contain a battle lust really weren't, in fact they were watering to the point of tears and contained nothing but sadness, fear and pain. That's when it hit him, Grey was right, she was just trying to have fun with him. His heart broke a bit more and a horrible feeling in his stomach made him feel nauseous, I'm...scum he thought to himself, before anyone did anything else he raised his hand and said, "Lucy, I surrender, Grey's right,I genuinely believed she was trying to humiliate me...but she wasn't...she was trying to have fun and get to know us a bit better...I'm...I'm scum, I caused my friend so much pain...Jennifer...I don't deserve someone as great as you as a friend and you shouldn't forgive me, but I'm sorry...I'm so very sorry. If it's any consolation my heart feels like it's been torn to shreds and my stomach feels really bad...I guess I liked you a lot. I guess it's too late for that, I..." Natsu stopped, tears were running down his cheeks and he couldn't bring himself to speak anymore. Lucy declared Jennifer the winner and deactivated the rune field, Natsu hung his head in shame and turned to walk away, thinking no one would want to look at him let alone talk to him for a while. Just as he turned Jennifer grabbed his scarf and the remains of his waistcoat and turned him around, he expected her to hit him or yell or something, but instead she pulled him into her arms and hugged him tightly. As she did she whispered, with tears rolling down her cheeks as she couldn't hold them back anymore, "you're not scum Natsu, I forgive you completely."