Hey everyone, here is the next chapter of the story! This is my first fan-fiction on here so any helpful criticism would be much appreciated to help me improve my writing!

dianaloveanime- Thanks so much! I hope that you continue to enjoy! :)

Dark Shining Light- I hope that I live up to your hopes! And thank you for the review! I will try and update as soon as I can, I have a lot coming up here soon so I might not be able to update as fast.

Now I guess that's enough talking from me, on with the story! I don't own Fairy Tail, though I sometimes wish I did! (I wouldn't do nearly as good of a job though.)

1 Week Later (Fairy Tail Guild Hall)

"Hey Gramps! Where are Lucy and Levy? I haven't seen them for a week!" yells out Natsu.

"They're probably taking advantage of the prize I told them," chuckles a slightly drunk Makarov, "They are already training for the trials, I can say that much!"

"What! Hell if I'm letting them get ahead of me on training!" came the fading voice of Natsu as he is already dashing out of the guild. Pretty soon, all the participants for the trial had left the guild not wanting to be left behind in training.

"Rowdy punks," chuckles Makarov as he drinks some more of his beer.

With Lucy and Mira...

"Faster Lucy! Put more power into you punch!" calls out Mira, pounding her drills in the blonde. Panting, Lucy continues to strike at the target Mira had set up with her fists. She would not show any weakness when it came to this training, she had something to prove!

Somewhere further in the forest, Levy was getting similar training from Erza. Neither elder mage was holding back in their training as they wanted to get the best results. They had decided they would start with physical strength and endurance and then head to strengthening their magic prowess.

"This will be a long three months," thinks Lucy to herself as she strikes the target again.

Then Lucy takes a deep breath, closing her eyes. Once she opens them, her gaze sharpens and she hits her target with renewed vigor. No way was she losing this challenge.

Once the training is finished...

Finally, everyone returned from their training a day before the trials. The last two to arrive were Lucy and Levy who were followed closely by Mira and Erza. Both girls' had a stronger presence then they had had before leaving.

"What are Mira and Erza doing with you?" asks Freed curiously.

"Oh, hehe," chuckles Lucy.

"That was our prize for winning the riddle," Levy says smiling, "We could train with current S-Class mages if they agreed to it."

After a moment of silence Natsu yells out, "No fair Gramps! How come they are the only ones who got to know this!"

"That's because they answered the riddle correctly, they could have shared the information with you if they wanted but they chose not to," says Makarov with a grin.

Natsu frowns slightly at hearing this. Before Lucy would have easily shared anything with him, but ever since she had left the team she rarely talked with any of them. Natsu inwardly flinches. Had kicking her off the team weakened their friendship?

"Now, all of you better rest up because tomorrow we are off to Crocus where they graciously allowed us to hold our exams this year!" yells out Makarov.

He makes his way back into his office while several members start to talk with others around them.

"Levy-san, Love Rival, what kind of things did you learn from Erza-san and Mira-san?" asks Juvia curiously as she comes up to them.

"I'm not your… ah whatever, lots of things," says Lucy enthusiastically, "You'll have to wait until tomorrow to see!"

"Yep! They trained us super hard so we had to have toughened up a bit, ne?" says Levy perkily, "Well, see you tomorrow, Juvia, Lu-chan." Levy gives the two a smile and a wave before making her way back outside the guild.

"I think I will head home too, good luck tomorrow Juvia!" says Lucy as she also walks out the door.

"You too Love Rival!" Juvia calls out after her, promoting an exasperated sigh from Lucy.

Crocus, the Blooming Capital of Fiore!

Stepping off the train, Lucy once again marvels at the sight of Crocus. They had already repaired the damage that had been taken by the attack last year and if anything, the city looked more impressive than ever.

"Alright, listen up! The King has graciously offered to let us use the Coliseum and all its perks for our trials with the exception that we must let the citizens and other travelers watch if they wish! So," says Makarov, pausing to glare at Natsu in particular, "Try not to destroy everything."

Small chuckles go through the entirety of the gathered mages. All of Fairy Tail had come to watch these exams and were eagerly waiting to watch the start. They all followed Master as he led them to the arena where those who were not participating went to the balcony they had stayed at during the last Grand Magic Games. Meanwhile, the participants and current S-Class mages all followed Master into the center arena. In the balcony, several citizens had already gathered to watch as they had heard of the occurring event.

Lucy was surprised to see even some other guilds' members watching what was taking place. The Trimens and Ichiya from Blue Pegasus, Lyon, Sherry, and Jura from Lamia Scale, Kagura and Millianna from Mermaid Heel, the Quatro Cerebus team that had participated in the Grand Magic Games, even some Sabertooth members. Sting and Rogue were seated with Yukino, Rufus, and Orga in the surrounding balconies, looking on with excited expressions.

With a laugh, Lucy waves happily to everyone in the stands. Some looked a little surprised while others waved back to her happily. She turns back to Master as he begins to speak.

"Alright, similar to last year, we will have a maze like event with battles taking place."

A small projection appears behind him showing a sort of map. It showed 10 possible paths, with three showing the current S-Class mages' faces. "This year, there will be one 'calm' route and the rest will be battles with either another participant or with a current S-Class mage. Gildarts will not be participating this year in the battles and will instead be helping me judge over the victor."

Ten entrances rise from the ground behind him, showing the letters A-J above their entrances. Laxus, Erza, and Mira disappear from their sights as mist covers their sight and sense of smell. Each one entered a separate tunnel entrance where they would wait for their opponent. (Laxus-G, Erza-B, and Mira-J (The Calm Route is A)) Slowly, the mist clears up so that they could see clearly, but none of the participating dragon slayers could sense which tunnel the S-Class mages had gone into.

"Go ahead and pick your paths," says Master Makarov, taking a step back from the entrances. Each mage quickly entered their selected tunnels…

Natsu-E (For Erza… again the idiot)

Gray-C

Freed-F

Levy-J

Cana-I

Elfman-H

Juvia-B

Lucy-G

Gajeel-A

Bickslow-D

As each mage steps into their tunnel, they emerge into glowing caverns that are lit with various small sources of light around the room. Outside of the tunnels, lacrima visions are shown displaying each area and the battling participants.

(Natsu-Bickslow) (Cana-Elfman) (Gajeel)

(Gray-Freed) (Juvia-Erza)

(Levy-Mira) (Lucy-Laxus)

From tunnel A, you could hear large strings of curse as Gajeel reemerges, "WHY THE HELL CAN'T I GET A PATH TO FIGHT SOMEONE?"

As he exits, his eyes widen upon seeing the other match-ups. "Shrimp against that She-Devil and Bunny Girl against Laxus?"

I hope everyone enjoyed!

That's all for this chapter, hopefully I will have another up tomorrow, but who knows!

Levy: I'm against Mira! How am I going to get through her!

Me: Well you did train with her and Erza remember? So you will somehow make it through!

Levy: Yeah, I suppose... But Mira can be really scary x.x

Me: Haha, don't worry, you'll do fine! In any case, thanks for reading everyone! I hope you enjoyed! Please inform me of any grammatical errors so that I can fix them if I can!