Gray had given up being sociable within ten minutes of getting on the boat. Between Natsu throwing up his guts and the other Dragon Slayers laughing at him; and the girls all squealing and gossiping he had decided he needed to get away. It was still in the back of his mind that he would absolutely need to fight these people soon, and he had to clear his head.

He tried to go down into the belly of the ship but instantly ran into a wall of runes. He couldn't even see Freed around, but knew it must have been him that put up the barrier. Fuck knows what the nerd was doing down there that needed such secrecy. Makarov was locked in the office on top of the deck with most of the S-Class wizards, excluding Laxus who refused to join them for whatever reason, which left him with one choice.

Anyone else would have been bothered by the frigid temperature of the platform that he sat on, but being an ice wizard came in handy from time to time. It was on the back of the boat, far enough down that anyone looking over the side would have to lean over and stare straight down in order to see him. He took off his shoes and dangled his feet in the water, allowing the current to flow past him and cool his body down even further. Juvia was off somewhere doing… who knows what. Probably still talking to the girls up top. He would never admit it, but he kind of missed her. He would love to be spending this time on tactics, but it appeared that the water wizard had other ideas.

"Gray-sama?"

Gray was shocked out of his thoughts by a quiet voice, and lay back on the ice to look up at the person who had shouted his name. The first thing that he saw was soft blue hair falling in waves over the wood and a smile on her face.

"'Sup, Juvia."

Juvia waved down at him, and before she even spoke he knew he would be heading back up to her and talking to everyone else on the boat, just like she would want him. Well, at least he could possibly find something out that could help him. He allowed his platform on the back of the boat to grow, raising him up until he could stand on two feet and step back onto the boat. Juvia grabbed him up into a hug almost instantly, and he buried his nose into her hair.

"Do you at least realise you have me wrapped around your little finger?"

Juvia giggled into his chest, before pulling him away and back to the main body of the ship. It had started to heat up again the closer they got to the island, and he found himself stripping off more and more of his clothes as he went along, starting to think that this was definitely a disadvantage for the both of them. An ice wizard and a water mage fighting in blaring hot sunlight? How could that be called fair, in any sense of the word?

"Could you stay still for two fucking seconds?"

Gajeel groaned as Bickslow spun on the edge of the ship, folding his body in half so his hands clasped onto the railing before kicking his legs up backwards and over his head. He stayed upside down for a while, before he twisted on his hands and stared at Gajeel, his cape dropping down over the edge of the boat as his tongue lolled out of his mouth. The Dragon Slayer wasn't suffering from motion sickness right now, but watching the Sieth's constant motions in this heat was still insufferable. The man had retrieved a large bag full of creepy wooden dolls from the hold of the ship almost as soon as they had set off, handing it to Lisanna who had sighed but ultimately took it without any further protest so Bickslow could perform his show.

"What's the matter there, Rust Bucket? Worried in case I fall in?"

Bickslow shifted his body at an almost impossible angle so he was lying almost parallel to the water below before flexing his arms and bringing himself back up, just to prove that he could. A lot of things Bickslow did seemed to be just to prove that he could.

"I will be honest, never took you for a concerned type."

Gajeel groaned as he narrowed his eyes at the other man, noting the bright green glow that came from inside his mask. He was enjoying this far too much. The Dragon Slayer had already removed his shirt and changed his trousers for some swimming shorts that he had thankfully had the presence of mind to bring with him, but it was still getting more and more sweltering the closer he got to the island. How Bickslow was surviving in his normal, ridiculous clothing he would never know.

"Or maybe you're jealous that you don't have this kind of control over yourself? All of those muscles, they don't do you much for acrobatics, do they? Are you too heavy?"

The Sieth remained staring him in the eye as he lifted one arm up slowly, supporting himself solely on his left arm as he flipped the Dragon Slayer the bird, and Gajeel pretended not to notice Lisanna giggling behind him. He bit back a growl and made a quick decision, watching Bickslow as he swung himself around on the one hand. The guy could practically fly, right? Surely he was just testing either how good his balance was or how quickly he could get his babies underneath him, he was helping with training! The totems were currently just flying around the ship, annoying everyone they could. If he had to justify it to anyone he could always say he was helping out the whole ship.

He waited until Bickslow had started to lower himself down to lay perpendicular to the waves again, timing it perfectly to where he would have the least balance and shooting his right hand out, a long pillar of iron forming out of his arm to hit the Sieth square in the back. To his credit he managed to hold still for a few seconds, wobbling slightly and Gajeel thought he would be able to right himself before his elbow gave way and he fell off the side of the ship.

What the Dragon Slayer hadn't expected was that the high pitched shriek that erupted from the Sieth's mouth as he flailed into the water. The Dragon warned him of someone charging up from behind and he spun to the side, arms up to defend himself when he realized it was Lisanna rushing to the railing to look overboard.

"What the hell happened?!"

Laxus' shouts almost deafened Gajeel, and he had to fight to stop his hands covering his ears. The other Dragon Slayer was by Lisanna's side, pulling his shirt over his head as electricity started to spark off his skin. He was halfway over the railing before Evergreen grabbed him and pulled him back onto the ship. He sent daggers her way, and when she spoke it was with a calming cadence Gajeel had never heard from her.

"If you go in there right now you'll electrocute him. We need…"

She was cut off by Freed almost appearing by her side. He was moving remarkably fast as he burst out of the ship's hold, sprinting for the edge. He'd already shucked his coat, and he paused a moment at the rail as he tied his hair back.

"He was screwin' around on the rail an' I knocked his ass in the water. He should thank me, it's fucking hot up here!"

The Rune Mage's glare startled Gajeel a little, his right eye shifting colors in anger.

"He can't fucking swim!"

All of his anger melted away immediately at the other man's words flying back to him as Freed leapt from the ship after his teammate. Lisanna immediately dove after him, her legs becoming a tail as she shifted to her mermaid form. Gajeel stepped forward to move to the rail, but his momentum was immediately reversed, a shock going through his body.

"Hey, watch it!"

Natsu yelled as he pulled himself from his nausea to grab onto Lucy, shoving her out of the way moments before Gajeel slammed into him, Elfman seamlessly sidestepping as the two of them tumbled to the ground. The Iron Dragon Slayer growled as he pushed himself up, glaring across the deck at the blonde standing where he'd just been. Laxus' sides were heaving, sparks flickering across his skin, leaping between him and any metal within a few feet of him.

By this point everyone on the boat had appeared, either to offer help or watch the spectacle. Bickslow's totems had descended into unholy screaming, zipping around the ship in random directions as Mira tried desperately to round them up, shoving them into the hands of the other guild members to try and wrestle to keep them still. Gajeel could see Levy's hand at the ready beside her, charging up a protection spell. When she spoke her voice was quiet, the kind you would use to talk down someone on the edge of a tall building.

"Hey, Laxus, maybe we should calm…"

"You tell me why I should FUCKING calm down."

Lucy grasped onto Natsu's top as she watched the blonde man crowd over to Gajeel, sparks multiplying as he raised his voice. She hadn't ever seen him like this, helplessness transforming into pure rage on what had happened to the Raijinshuu. She had always assumed Laxus didn't have a weakness like the other Dragon Slayers, but now she was seeing that he had three.

Freed had no chance to keep up with Lisanna as she powered downwards through the water towards Bickslow. The man in question was flailing in complete panic, arms and legs moving completely independently of each other as he tried to claw himself back up, the water around him illuminated a bright green as his magic raged out of control. His clothes had soaked through with water now Freed had lifted the protective runes on them, and they were dragging him further and further down into the depths.

He grabbed onto Lisanna like a lifeline as soon as she pulled level with him. She wrestled with him for a moment, trying to drag him up before realising his struggling and waterlogged clothes were making it too difficult for her. She flashed a worried look over to Freed as he caught up to him and Freed responded with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Bickslow was still struggling, pulling Lisanna further and further down with each kick as he tried to get up to the surface in his panic.

The first thing to do was to deal with his magic. If he took the two of them over down here they would all be dead. Freed drew a quick rune across Bickslow's skin, making sure to channel it onto him solely as Lisanna unclasped his cape and let it bloom down through the water. As soon as she saw the light in the water dim down she unclasped his mask, pulling it away from his face and letting it plummet down.

Glancing up above her and weighing her options she knew she had no chance of getting back to the surface with even one of the men beside her, let alone both of them. Freed wouldn't be able to get up there on his own, they were too far down even though they had stopped sinking any further into the water. Bickslow was clasped onto the skin of her back, although at least he had stopped flailing around and Lisanna looked at Freed and pointed to her neck to indicate their need to breathe. She hoped beyond hope he had a rune to help with that.

Freed's face flashed in recognition, his hair floating up behind him and clothes billowing out from him as he moved his hand through the water with a purpose. The rune trap appeared quickly between them, and Bickslow spluttered as he took his first breath of air. He looked between the two of them gratefully, before Lisanna beckoned Freed closer to her side.

"I can't move the trap, I'm afraid. I can make it movable but it'll take a while and the ship will probably be at the island by then."

Bickslow whimpered, the idea of spending that much time underwater really didn't appeal. Lisanna looked down at where he was clinging to her and carded her hand through wet hair.

"Come on. Take a deep breath, I'm gonna try and get you both back up. You may need to… grab onto me."

Bickslow simply nodded, too afraid to even try to talk right now before filling his lungs with air. Both men wrapped arms around her waist and chest, Lisanna supporting them with arms under their shoulders before starting to pump her tail to shoot them up towards the surface as Freed kicked his legs in an attempt to help her out, if only a little. She felt Bickslow squeeze her tighter as they left the relative safety of the rune trap and reentered the cold water above them.

Her arms let go of the men as they neared the surface, prompting Freed to look at her in confusion as Bickslow simply buried his face in her side. The magic started to wrap around her arms even as she was still submerged, but waited until her shoulders were up and out of the water before they sprouted feathers and she was seamlessly in the air, and heading towards the ship which had by now floated a few hundred metres away.

Bickslow started coughing as soon as they got out of the water, but when Lisanna dropped them onto the deck he rose onto all fours and spluttered salt water onto the deck. His babies all screamed excitedly, and no one holding them had any chance of keeping them still as they all struggled to return to their Papa. Freed started to strip out of his wet clothes, debating whether or not he should waste any magic on drying them off with runes as Laxus ran over to the two of them, barely containing the worry that was etched on his face. Bickslow took a few deep shuddering breaths before looking up at Freed, and Lisanna watched as they had a fast unspoken conversation. Lily and Wendy hovered above them, the girl knowing that as soon as she landed she would be useless. Bickslow waved her away with one hand, assuring her that he could see to it himself.

Gajeel had tried to follow Laxus, the Dragon inside of him refusing to back down from the challenge that had been posed to him by the Lightning Dragon Slayer, but he was quickly interrupted by Juvia standing in his path, chest puffed out as she squared up to him. His Dragon noted an old friend, before he began to feel heavy rain drops fall across his skin. He watched in the background as Lily landed on the ship, instinctively covering his ears from the Thunder he expected to follow the sudden rain storm.

"What the fuck was Gajeel thinking?"

Her hands shoved at his chest before Gray grabbed her bicep to try and calm her down. Gajeel looked down at her and was torn between the pride he felt that she felt strong enough to square up to him and the anger that she had turned against him for a sin he was sure he hadn't committed. He opened his mouth to respond before he felt the familiar feeling of his stomach turning and he fell to his knees as his motion sickness overtook him.

He looked up to try and spot Levy despite the way his stomach was threatening to release its contents any second, and finally saw her stood at the other end of the ship, hand still raised from where she had dispelled the magic that had been helping him. The most obvious thing that he could see was the green glow that was surrounding her as she looked blankly off over the railing of the ship.

Erza watched as Levy stood perfectly still at the side of the ship before sighing and making her way over to where Bickslow still lay on the ground, grinning as he watched Gajeel groan in pain as he clutched his stomach.

"Bickslow… let her go."

The Sieth groaned, rolling onto his back and looking up at the woman.

"But why? He pushed me off a fucking boat. I'm not hurting her, and all she's gonna do is immediately help him out again."

"What do you expect? It's not like Gajeel has ever had any kind of impulse control."

Freed's voice was filled with sarcasm, and Erza was just about to open her mouth to keep arguing with him, but Gray appeared by her side and looked down at the Seith for the first time since he had gotten back on the ship.

"Where's your mask gone?"

Bickslow rolled his eyes, pulling his hands up to interlink behind his head as he looked up at Gray.

"As it turns out, a huge metal mask appears to be some kind of dead weight when you're being dragged underwater."

Gray sighed, Juvia rubbing his arm now she had calmed down slightly and the rain had stopped completely. She looked down at him, voice questioning him in a way that made it almost impossible for him to refuse to answer.

"Did Bickslow not bring a spare one?"

Bickslow sighed, flexing his abs to sit up and cross his legs in front of him, before pulling off his shirt and dropping it into a pile next to him.

"Surprisingly, I didn't expect to be pushed off a fucking boat. Why is no one getting that?"

Gray rolled his eyes back at Bickslow, trying to ignore the constant heaving noises that were now erupting from two Dragon Slayers at the same time.

"You can't do the trials without your mask, you'll just be taking everyone over all the fucking time! It's not fair!"

Gray wasn't expecting Lisanna to get in his face, squaring up against him as she stared at him in challenge.

"You do know that his eyes are a part of his magic too, right Gray? Shall we forbid Juvia from making it rain to get stronger too, hm?"

Juvia narrowed her eyes, and storm clouds started to roll in again. Lisanna looked back at her, eyes full of challenge as she made sure to defend Bickslow even if he didn't defend himself.

"That's enough!"

All movement on the boat stopped as Makarov's voice ran out, and everyone turned in sync as they looked towards him standing next to the wheel of the boat.

"Leave all of your fighting until we're on the island. We will be there in less than half an hour, if you children can keep it together for that long."

Everyone looked down in embarrassment, but Makarov hadn't finished.

"Bickslow, release Levy from your control. I will agree that your eyes class as a part of your magic and I won't forbid you from using them, if you don't want to."

Bickslow sighed, and in seconds Levy had dropped slightly, shaking her head in confusion as she tried to clear her mind.

"Gajeel, please refrain from pushing anymore of your guild members off the boat."

Gajeel simply groaned in response, incapable of articulating any further around the pain in his stomach as Levy rushed to his side and hurried to recast her spell. Makarov nodded, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes at all of his children.

"Thirty. Minutes. Can you all play nicely until then?"

Everyone drifted off into their own respective corners of the boat, waiting for their arrival on Tenrou Island before they got started on the trials properly.

A hushed silence fell over the boat as the distinctive outline of Tenrou Island appeared over the horizon. Every single person on the boat was remembering what had happened the last time they had been there, and none of them were able to joke around about anything with that memory in their head. Once again the boat stopped a fair distance away from the island, the first trial actually getting to the island of their own volition.

"S-Class Nominees!"

Makarov had expected everyone to turn around to face him, but they were all still enraptured by the sight of the island in front of them. He couldn't blame them, really. No matter how many times he saw the island it still held a certain hypnotic quality about it.

"Every single one of us on this boat has been here before so I won't bore you with any preamble. If our current S-Class wizards could please make their way to the island?"

A wave of magical energy swept across the boat as all four of the S Class wizards took to the air. Mira's black wings unfurled from her back as she picked up Gildarts, and without another word they flew off towards the island. Laxus took one last look at his Thunder Legion, nodded to each of them before jumping into the air, his entire body turning into lightning as he overtook the two other S-Class wizards and bolted towards the island. Erza's body swirled with magic as she requipped into her Black Wing Armour, and followed the other three off the boat and towards the island. Everyone watched them go, collectively holding their breaths when they realised that four teams would have to fight them in the near future.

"The rules of the first round are slightly different this year."

Makarov's voice rang clear across the boat, as every member still present turned to look at him.

"The goal is to meet me at the base camp which is located in the same place as last year. This year there are nine paths. Two combat paths, four intense combat paths and finally one serenity route. Two teams will face each other, four teams will face one of our S-Class wizards and the final team will be allowed to pass without challenge."

Everyone nodded to each other, this was all very much the same as it had been the year before. The teams all gravitated towards the side of the boat closest to the island, each of them wanting even the small advantage a quick escape would supply.

"Without further ado, I would like to start this year's S-Class Trials!"

The first person to move was Natsu, already excited to get out of the boat and into the cool water beneath, hoping that it was going to relieve the churning in his stomach as quickly as possible. Grabbing onto Lucy he sprinted towards the edge of the ship, regretting it almost instantly as he ran straight into a barrier of runes.

"Oh for fuck's…"

Everyone spun around to look at Freed, smirking over at all of them before he swished his hand through the air and his eye flashed darkly as two runes flew from it. His wings unfurled from his back and he took to the air, with Cana following not long after on her own just as magnificent set of wings. She lurched a little bit as she tried to adjust to them, but quickly caught up with Freed as she got the hang of it.

Gajeel looked at Levy at almost exactly the same time as Elfman looked at Evergreen, and the two women immediately started to rewrite the runes. Lisanna sidled over to Bickslow, looking at him expectantly as he hoisted his bag of dolls over his shoulder.

"Hey, Bicks, did you want to start rewriting the runes?"

Bickslow looked down at her in confusion as his totems chattered in excitement around him.

"What makes you think that I would know how to rewrite the runes?"

Lisanna looked at him incredulously, as Levy broke through the runes and she jumped into the ocean below along with Gajeel and they started quickly heading towards the island.

"You're on a team with Freed just like Evergreen! You should know how to rewrite these runes like she does!"

Bickslow shrugged, sitting back down on one of the loungers while the others all swore about Freed's runes again.

"Just because I'm on a team with Freed doesn't mean I know how to do all of this bullshit."

Lisanna stood over him, crossing her arms as he rolled his eyes up at her.

"You knew he was going to do this, he did exactly the same fucking thing last year, why didn't you brush up on how to undo these!?"

Bickslow sighed, rolling his head back to look up into the sky as all of the totems huffed in annoyance around the two of them.

"I mean, you knew he was going to do this why didn't you learn how to rewrite them?"

Lisanna took a deep breath, about to start shouting at him before Gray threw his trousers at her in annoyance.

"Can you two just shut the fuck up? We're all in the same boat as you, literally, and you are just making this worse!"

Lisanna huffed, throwing herself down heavily onto Bickslow's lap and only protesting slightly when he wound his arms around her waist and tugged her down to lie more completely on top of him.

It was ten minutes later when the runes disappeared with a pop from around the boat, and there was a mad rush to get off the boat and head to the island. Natsu pulled Lucy off the railing where he had been pacing impatiently waiting for the runes to fall. The girl screamed as they hit the cold water, but was swimming towards the shore within seconds. Gray and Juvia followed not soon after, a bubble of water erupting around the two of them as Juvia started to power them both towards the island. Bickslow jumped onto his totems, the five small dolls screaming in excitement as Lisanna transformed her arms into wings and followed after him, the totems getting louder as they noticed they were being followed by others as well. Pantherlily took to the air about the same time, carrying Wendy over the waves and speeding up as they hoped to not be the last team onto the island and getting lumped with whatever the last path left open to them was.

Makarov smiled as he watched the last of the teams hit the shore, each running into their own path. He knew which path led where, of course, and he knew that the first round of the trials was shaping up to be the most exciting yet.

A/N - Next week the trials really kick off! Be prepared to see some of Gajeelswoman's incredible fight choreography and me trying to keep up!
We would love to hear your theories on who is going to fight and who is going to win and other things you think might happen!