Hey it's Natsu here.
So I'm doing this tournament idea mainly because that's something I've always wanted done in Fairy Tail and it hasn't yet. So I'm taking the liberty to do it myself. Enjoy your chapter cookie.
I'm not the Fairy Tail owner.
Ch 17:Preparations
Team Natsu along with Connor had just arrived back in Fairy Tail and had informed master Makarov of the situation. As Erza predicted he was surprised but mostly calm and willing to hear them out. Connor had told him all that had happened to he and his brother when they were younger, how he met Ridrica and became the crimson dragon slayer and Makarov listened intently.
"Based on your story Connor I see you have been through much in your life. I suspected something when I met you but I did not expect this" He said.
"I know master. I apologize for not informing you" Connor replied apologetically.
"Think nothing of it my boy. I understand why you kept this a secret it was not only dangerous to you but all of Fairy Tail. I thank you for trying your best to protect my children."
"Thank you master"
"And as for your abilities. You have never intentionally harmed Fairy Tail nor any of it's members. I trust you Connor but you must do all you can to fight off this impending threat."
"Of course master"
"Master if I may" Erza said.
"Go ahead Erza my dear"
"We would like to propose a tournament of the dragon slayers in order to determine which would be the best to face Acnologia himself"
"A tournament you say?"
"Yes master"
Images of thousands upon thousands of jewel filled Makarov's head "this could be an excellent way to bring money to Fairy Tail and pay off the rest of those bills to the magic council and an even better way for me to earn a little extra" He smirked and jumped for joy "get right on it Erza! The Dragon Tournament hosted by Fairy Tail! The jewel will flow in like a flood!"
They all sweatdropped save for Erza. "I'll begin preparations immediately master!" She shouted.
The wizards all left Makarov's office and sat in the guild hall. But as they left Lucy could've sworn she heard whoops of joy from behind the door.
"Hey guys I'm heading home" Gray stood from their table "my ribs are still killing me I think I need to ice them for while"
"Do what you want ice queen" Natsu said waving him off and irritating him at the same time.
"We'll see you tomorrow Gray we're gonna need your help setting up" Lucy said.
"Speaking of which I should get started on that. I need to get into contact with Sabertooth to get Sting and Rogue and get them to participate. Not to mention I need to somehow have to convince the magic council to let Cobra participate. I'll be busy for a while so I'd better get started" Erza said walking off to begin preparing.
"I'm going off to train" Natsu said "if I'm gonna beat all the other dragon slayers I need to be ready"
"Aye!" Happy agreed "you need to make sure Laxus doesn't beat you too fast"
"Shut it Happy" He growled and began staking toward the door.
"Wait Natsu!" Wendy shouted.
"What is it Wendy?"
"I want to train with you! I need to get stronger before the tournament and I think you could help me do that"
"Don't be ridiculous Wendy. Natsu will eat you alive with his training and I won't allow it" Carla said.
"This is something I have to do Carla. You can't protect me forever" the young girl argued "I know Natsu trains hard and I am very nervous but if I don't put everything I have into getting stronger I'll never get any better"
Carla sat quietly thinking things over. Although she was technically younger than Wendy she had always thought with a clear mature head and she felt it was her responsibility to be Wendy's protector and her guidance. She knew she would have to let Wendy make her own decisions but she didn't expect get to develop so quickly. Fairy Tail had done well for her. "Fine but I'll be coming along"
"Thank you Carla" Wendy said with a smile.
"Then let's get going!" Natsu said dashing off to his home.
"I'm coming!" Wendy said chasing after the older boy.
"Well they're definitely ready to go" Lucy giggled "I'm gonna help Erza out you should probably get ready as well Connor"
"Yeah I should start training as well" he said walking off with Cerberus in tow.
Lucy smiled and went to inform the other dragon slayers in their guild of the upcoming event.
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Gajeel
When Gajeel heard of the upcoming he jumped for joy he would have a chance to finally prove he could defeat his rival Natsu a.k.a. Salamander. He rushed off to train immediately with his exceed Pantherlily. They climbed deep into the mountains unaware of the bright blue haired woman right behind them.
"Iron dragon club!" Gajeel shouted turning his arm into a giant metal pole and smashing a boulder in front of him "Salamander won't have a chance against me"
"Gajeel you should keep training don't get cocky or it will be your downfall" Pantherlily advised.
"You're right Lily so come at me right now with all you got!"
"Understood" Lily transformed into a much larger version of himself. He was as tall as Gajeel and had a ripped body. He was now in his battle form. He drew his musica sword which grew to match his preference and pointed at Gajeel. "Begin!" He shouted.
"Iron dragon sword!" Gajeel shouted turning his arm into an iron sword with jagged spikes along the outside. The spikes began whirring and circling around the blade effectively turning it into a chainsaw.
They charged together and their blades clashed. Lily had managed to jam his sword between the whirring spikes and stop their deadly rotation. They stood, two powerful opponents fighting to get an advantage over the other. Gajeel smirked and fell to the floor "Iron dragon's club" as he fell to the floor he landed flat on his back and turned his feet into iron clubs and elongated them into Lily's legs and sent the exceed falling to ground. Gajeel shot back up before Lily was able to recover "iron dragon restraints!" He then clad Lily's arms in iron cuffs and bolted him to the ground.
"Good move Gajeel" Lily complimented "you should remember that one" the large exceed then returned to his smaller default form and escaped the restraints.
They heard movement coming from behind one of the many boulders across their training ground. "That better not be you salamander! Or I'll beat ya down!" Gajeel shouted.
"Its not Natsu" a woman's voice replied.
"That you pipsqueak?"
A small petite woman stepped out from behind the rock. She had long bright blue hair held back behind her head and hazel eyes. She wore a bright orange dress which she seemed to wear quite often.
"It is you Levy" Lily said "what are you doing here?"
"I came to help you train" she replied.
"And why do you wanna help us?" Gajeel asked.
"I... well.." she hesitated.
"Whatever I don't need help your help pipsqueak"
"Yes you will I don't see any iron out here and I can make as much as you'll need" she argued "solid script: iron!" Suddenly the word iron actually made of iron appeared a few yards in front of her.
Gajeel stared at the iron for a little while before taking a bite out of it. "Alright you can stick around. But on the condition that you'll train to"
"Deal" she agreed.
And so the iron dragon team began its rigorous training.
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Laxus
"A Dragon Tournament?" Laxus asked.
"That's right" Lucy said. Erza had asked her to gather the other two dragon slayers of the guild for the tournament. Gajeel was extremely excited hearing about it but Laxus seemed less enthusiastic about the event.
"Why the hell would I wanna fight a bunch of people who are weaker than me?" He asked.
"Well you'd be able to prove you really are the best of them all"
"I already know I am" He went back to his mug of beer and ignored the younger girl.
"I think you're just scared" she taunted.
"What did you just say?" He said with a glare.
"I said you're scared to face the other dragon slayers especially Natsu"
"What makes you think I'm scared of that little punk"
"Well you do always avoid fighting him. You're just running scared Laxus" This irritated the lightning dragon slayer and Lucy smirked as she began to walk away "oh well guess you'll never prove you're not scared of all the others"
"Tell Erza I'm in. I am the best and I'll prove it" He rose from his chair "I'm off to train"
"Oh great Laxus wait for us!" Freed one of the members of the thunder legion shouted "please Laxus allow us to assist you" He said gesturing to the other members of the thunder legion beside him.
"You'll need a beautiful woman to keep you inspired" Evergreen said holding a fan which hid part of her face.
"My babies and I can help you out!" Bickslow said laughing maniacally and sticking his tongue out.
"Fine you can come along" Laxus replied walking off.
So then the thunder legion began their preparations for their upcoming competition. All the while Lucy was smirking "reverse psychology is the best!"
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Sting and Rogue.
"So there's going to be a tournament soon?" Sting asked Erza through the Sabertooth guild's communication lacrima.
"Yes. I understand that being the new guild master of Sabertooth must keep you busy but..." Erza began.
"This will be great! I'll get my rematch against Natsu!" Sting shouted cutting Erza off "I'll inform my guild that Rogue and I will be gone for the tournament. Thanks Erza" He shut off the communication lacrima and rushed off to tell Rogue of the coming event.
"I don't care" was Rogue's response.
"Come on Rogue. You'll get to fight Gajeel again."
This piqued Rogue's interest "Gajeel..."
"Gotcha" Sting smirked "so how about it Rogue?"
"Fine I'll go" He replied.
"That's more like it! The twin dragons of Sabertooth will be the champions of the dragon tournament!" Sting shouted excitedly.
"Whatever"
"Come on let's get started"
"On what?"
"Training obviously!"
"Fine let's go" Rogue's mind drifted to the iron dragon slayer "Gajeel this time I will defeat you"
Sting began to think of his idol Natsu "I will beat you Natsu Dragneel. And I'll prove my strength."
The twin dragons of Sabertooth had entered their training ground.
"You ready Rogue?" Sting asked.
"Yes I am"
"White drive" Sting said calmly. White energy surged around the white dragon slayer as he entered one of the most powerful states a dragon slayer can enter.
"Shadow drive" Rogue said as he entered the powerful shadow dragon drive.
The white and shadow dragons charged each other. And began their training to defeat the two men they wished to bring down the most.
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Cobra.
"So you expect us to release a deadly criminal just so you can have a tournament for dragon slayers?" Asked Lahar captain of the magic council's custody enforcement unit.
"That would be correct sir" Erza replied via communication lacrima.
"You Fairy Tail wizards are all insane"
"Believe me sir this does have another purpose other than a simple tournament."
"And what would that be?"
"Acnologia" Erza replied.
"You can't possibly be serious" Lahar said in disbelief.
"I am very serious. We are using this tournament to determine which dragon has the power to lead all the others in the fight with Acnologia I would not be requesting this if the situation was not so dire."
Lahar thought this over for a few minutes "fine then Titania we will release Cobra for this event."
"Thank you Lahar I hope to see you at the tournament" Erza said closing the communication.
"You're not really going through with this are you Lahar?" Asked Doranbolt second
Natsu and Wendy.
"Fire dragon's iron fist!" Natsu shouted throwing a fist in Wendy's direction.
Natsu had decided it would be best to spar to increase Wendy's fighting skill. As Carla had said Wendy was barely able to keep up.
Wendy managed to dodge Natsu's fist "sky dragon wing attack!" she shouted swinging her arms down and releasing fierce winds whipping Natsu away.
"Good one Wendy" Natsu complimented "you're getting a lot stronger"
"Thanks Natsu I'm not so sure I'm ready for the tournament yet though"
"You'll be fine Wendy you tied with the sky god slayer. You'll last a long time but you need more attacks."
"What do you mean?" The young girl asked.
"Well um.." Natsu scratched his head "I'll just show you. Fire dragon's iron fist!" He struck a straw dummy in his training field with a flaming fist setting it on fire.
"I see so what you're saying is I need to learn more fighting techniques"
"Exactly. You're really awesome when you're with a team when you use your support spells but you're not much of a solo fighter yet"
"Alright I get it!" She said excitedly "let's get started again!"
"Alright! I'm all fired up now!" Natsu shouted.
And as they trained together Wendy progressed and although she hadn't learned any new techniques they were both confident they would get far in the tournament.
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Connor.
Connor and Cerberus had just arrived back at their home in the forest. It was a pretty place surrounded by trees with plenty of space in the forest for Cerberus to run around without causing damage to the city. And that had been the main reason for Connor moving all the way out there but he also enjoyed the peace and quiet. Gray and Natsu had helped him build his log cabin home. It was a small little cabin with two bedrooms, one master and one guest just in case he had someone overnight, Natsu had even stayed once when they decided to train together. Since he had no plumbing he had also built an outhouse farther out and bathed in the lake which lay nearby the cabin. And cooking was a no-brainer since he used fire magic.
The outside of the cabin looked quite nice with a rather large porch where he would usually just watch Cerberus run around. It came complete with a rocking chair and a small fire pit beside the lake.
Every time Connor looked at his home a wave of nostalgia and depression washed over him. It reminded him a lot of the cabin he and Luna had stayed in a long time ago. Sometimes he even imagined they were there with him with Ridrica right beside them.
"Well it's good to be home" He said "go ahead and go play Cerberus I'll be busy for a little while" Cerberus barked happily and rushed off into the woods.
Connor walked up his porch and headed inside and laid in his bed. There was something bugging him. For the past day all he could picture was his friends looks of fear when his powers were revealed. Wendy's face when she realized what he was. Erza and Gray 's reactions when he told them about his powers. It bugged him even though they had apologized for it. And it irritated him to know that he may have doomed Fiore and all the people he loved. He could never escape his past no matter what he did and that irritated him further.
"Maybe its not too late" He said. He thought things over for a little while trying to consider any possibility that could save his new family."there's no other way" He said solemnly rising from his bed. He grabbed a backpack and a few spare clothes and headed for the door stopping to stare at a picture of he and team Natsu sitting on the nightstand beside his bed. They had taken the picture about maybe three months ago. Natsu stood right in the middle he had his arms wrapped around Lucy and Connor's necks smiling his big toothy smile. Lucy had large smile spread across her face as well. Gray and Erza stood a bit further back staying calm and collected as always. Gray wore a small smirk on his lips and in true Gray Fullbuster fashion he lacked a shirt. Erza stood calmly with a small smile She still gave off an aura of intimidation, even though it was only a photo. Wendy stood in front of everyone else with an adorable smile that would melt the heart of anybody evil or otherwise. And Connor had also wrapped his arm around Natsu's neck he probably had the biggest smile of them all. Connor remembered how happy he'd felt with everyone that day. With a heavy heart he placed it back and headed for the door.
"Cerberus!" He called to his pet who came running instantly "come on buddy we gotta get going." Connor climbed onto Cerberus' back and they ran away into the night.
Hey it's Natsu here.
I do hope you have enjoyed reading. Thanks to Virgil Leonidas for the feedback, you rock. Once again I hope you enjoyed have a nice day.