"Can you see who it is?"

Lisanna was crouched behind a bush on the pathway they had picked, holding three of the totems in her arms as she tried to keep them still. Bickslow was up on his knees, peeking out through the leaves and using his soul sight to scout out the way ahead of them. He was wearing nothing but trousers, the rest of his clothes either lost to the ocean or left on the ship as they were yet to dry out.

"I can… but you're not going to like it."

Lisanna sighed. Welp, it was obviously a S-Class then. It was just their luck to run up against one so early in the trial. But, there was still hope.

"Is it at least Mira or Laxus? Maybe they'll go easy on us?"

Bickslow shook his head, still staring out down the path and squinting slightly to get as much information as possible. But she still had a chance. She had been close with Gildarts when she was younger, and he had once told her after a few too many beers that he was sorry he couldn't be there to help her in her past. Plus, Natsu had said he hadn't actually had to beat him, just show him that he was capable of being an S-Class wizard…

"Gildarts?"

Bickslow's lips were set in a thin line as he replied.

"Nooope."

Lisanna sighed heavily. It looked like they were going out in the first round after all.

"Oh, we are so fucked."

Erza stood still in the centre of the clearing, eyes closed as she tried to discern any movement coming from around her. Although many of the teams that were heading towards her may have ploughed directly at her, there were one or two who may try to skirt around the sides. She knew that the master had left it vague enough - "You need to get to the base camp" - to allow competitors to try and be stealthy but she wasn't allowing them to do it easily.

She heard the rustle of bushes behind her, which was odd. Whoever it was had managed to sneak past fine, but had decided to attack her anyway. Had they not figured out they didn't technically have to fight? She requipped a sword into her hand and spun, using the flat of the blade to block the person's attack without even looking.

The force of the attack, along with the fact the girl was already off balance from her advance meant Lisanna toppled easily, scraping across the ground and kicking up dust. She was already in her cat form, and Erza bit back a smile when she realised cats didn't always land on her feet.

"It will be good to see how you've improved in the last year, Lisanna."

Lisanna groaned, standing to her feet and preparing to fight again. Glancing around she tried to spot Bickslow, but there wasn't any sign of him. She wasn't too surprised he wasn't anywhere close, it wasn't a secret he wasn't the best at hand to hand combat and facing her would be suicide. But the lack of any of his babies… that was surprising. Was he making Lisanna to fight all by herself? That in itself wasn't terribly surprising. He wasn't above skulking around and letting his teammates do all of the fighting. But there had to be a reason Lisanna had still attacked, even though she'd gotten around the clearing. Maybe he wasn't able to sneak past?

"Where is your partner, Lisanna? I cannot condone him leaving you to fight alone just because he's afraid of me."

Lisanna didn't answer, standing back up to her feet and preparing to attack again. Erza held her sword in her hand. Let her come then. Lisanna sprung forward, bringing her right hand up to swipe across Erza's arm where it lay unprotected. She tried to bring her sword up to block it, but it was suddenly heavy, refusing to move from it's position in front of her face. The moments confusion let Lisanna's attack hit, forcing her to hiss at the sharp claws and jump backwards away from the threat. She swore she heard her sword giggle but… oh. She could see what they were doing.

"Nice going, Poppo. You couldn't stay quiet for two seconds longer could you?"

Her sword made a sad noise at Lisanna's words, before wrestling itself out of her grasp. Lisanna was different now, a green glow surrounding her and it dawned on Erza just what Bickslow was doing. He was off on the sidelines, using Lisanna as a puppet and he was the puppet master. But what would the point in that be?

She got her answer with Lisanna's next attack. She had always been quick, but this was something else. Adding to that the sword moving seemingly in tandem, and Erza barely had time to summon another sword to her hand to defend with. The metal clashed together loudly, and Erza shoved back with the blade in her hand to knock the other one away. Or at least, she tried to. This one resisted her also, but she didn't waste more than a moment trying to move it. It would be a waste of energy and a futile effort, so she let go, leaping back as she summoned another sword.

Lisanna followed her closely, the two swords flying next to her as she rushed Erza. The S-Class wizard drew yet another blade, feinting an attack at the girl, throwing the blade at her chest. She was already calling up two more swords, one in each hand, not concerned about the one she threw. She knew at this point that Bickslow wouldn't let anything happen to his partner. That's five.. To try and slow them down, Erza thrust the last two blades that she had summoned into the ground, hoping he'd keep them there instead of moving them to the newest blade. She and Lisanna had kept up a sort of pacing circle as she went through these steps to neutralize the spirits as weapon, Erza easily walking backwards and Lisanna matching her steps. The redhead smirked as she saw the swords that she'd jammed into the ground wiggling to try and free themselves.

She summoned another sword, watching as the two remained moving, remained possessed. She blocked another attack with the blade, and watched as for the first time in the fight Lisanna stumbled, missing a beat. Erza used it to her advantage, trying to bring the sword around to counter attack but to no avail. It confused her, sure, but didn't force her to pause for as long as she brought her foot around to collide with Lisanna's lower back. The girl looked like she was going to go sprawling, but in a display of acrobatics Erza had never seen from the younger girl before she landed on her hands, before springing up to land on her feet again. Erza took advantage of the momentary pause to try and pull on her sword, running a count of the weapons that she had out already. Six… how are there six? He hadn't abandoned any of the other blades, that was confirmed when they all started racing after her.

There was no way to know how many he could take control of, if he'd already exceeded the five spirits he normally had. Maybe all of those extra totems that he'd brought had contained some hidden souls. She had a quick debate with herself to decide if calling up more swords would be beneficial or not, and then Lisanna was charging at her again. With a determined grin, Erza waved her right hand out to the side, dismissing all of her swords and immediately balling her fist, throwing it forward at her attacker.

"Very good, to find a way to use my weapons against me. Unfortunately for you, I don't need them."

Lisanna looked terrified for a moment, but her body kept moving, dodging the fist and trying to throw a punch to Erza's stomach. Erza bent around it, if they were going hand to hand she would have to up her own speed… She swung her hand around, smacking Lisanna's arm wide and leaping back a few feet. As she did, the redhead called her magic to her, feeling new armor wrapping around her body. She felt the ears of her Flight Armor settle into her hair, felt the breeze reach her skin, felt the magic course through her limbs. She smiled a little and lifted her hands up in a defensive stance, nodding to the younger girl.

"Whenever you're ready."

The first blast caught her off guard. She'd never expected any of Bickslow's totems to be stealthy, but they had managed to build up a Baryon Formation behind her and it exploded across her back in a blossom of pain. She rolled forward with the momentum, coming up on one knee just in front of Lisanna. Throwing a jab at the girl's stomach, she came up onto her feet, her right fist coming in to strike at her jaw. Lisanna's hands flew to block the first attack, but that left her a little hunched over so the uppercut hit her square, snapping her head back and making her stumble back a few feet. By the time she shook her head clear, Erza was up and running at her, determined to stay close to her. Lissy could see the wisdom of that, really. The babies would be hesitant to attack when Erza would just have to shift to the side and let them take Lisanna out for her.

"You're out here doing all this work and Bickslow isn't doing anything, how's that making you feel?"

Bickslow scoffed from the tree he was stood in, way out of view of Erza and her attacks but still watching the scene in front of him. His hands cut through the air like a conductor, mind racing as he fought to control all five of his babies and Lisanna in tandem. He got it wrong, once or twice, but Lisanna didn't seem to mind as much as he did. Was it fair that Erza thought it was being lazy? No, probably not, but he couldn't afford the cognitive process to think that through right now.

Lisanna jumped, landing squarely on Pappa and Peppe and flying up into the air to vault over Erza's attack as the remaining three totems tried to get a clear shot on the redhead. Maybe if he added more targets to the mix…

Slowly he crouched, never taking his eyes off the scene in front of him as he grabbed another doll. Throwing it up into the air he winced as he pulled one of Lisanna's animal souls out of her body, making sure she was far enough away that the sensation didn't cause her to be hit, and shot it through into the doll. This was more difficult, and he started to sweat as he added it to the battlefield. Erza wouldn't know that this particular totem couldn't attack with a beam, all he needed to do was make it look like it was moving with the others as he bent down to grab another doll.

Not to be left on the ground, Erza leapt into the air, grabbing at the closest totem. Of course it wouldn't cooperate for her like it was Lisanna, but it would be all the extra lift that she needed. Before the doll could start lurching around, Erza swung her feet a few times, launching herself at Lisanna feet first. The two totems that the Take Over mage was standing on dropped a few feet, making Erza's assault go high, but the older woman simply spun in the air, twirling like a dancer. As she soared over Lisanna's head, she dropped her arms, grabbing the girl's shoulders and pulling her to the ground with her. She noted an extra totem flying around the clearing, but couldn't tell where it had come from.

As they fell to the ground, Erza wrapped her arms tighter around Lisanna's easily overpowering the girl's struggles. They twisted as they fell the last foot, and landed on their sides, a shock shooting through Erza's arm at the impact, although she didn't let go. Lisanna hissed, her hands clawing at the arms restraining her, but Erza just tightened her grip. The younger woman planted a foot, shoving off the ground to roll so she was laying on top of her opponent before lifting her feet into the air and slamming them down onto the redhead's thighs. Erza cried out, her voice directly in Lisanna's sensitive ears making her wince a little, even as she readied to do it again, willing to do anything to break free. She noticed that Bickslow had given her most of her control back at the moment, and she smiled a little, realizing that she did actually have more experience in this sort of fight. Having wrestling matches with her siblings had been for more than just fun.

Her second kick was enough to make Erza throw her off, both women leaping to their feet. There wasn't much of a hesitation in either before they were coming together again, Erza throwing her left arm up to block Lisanna's punch, immediately following it with one of her own. Lisanna moved easily to the side, her movement continuing into a spinning kick, her aimed at her opponent's ribs. Even as fast as Lisanna was in her cat soul, Erza saw the move coming and caught her leg, huffing a small breath out at the impact. She threw a solid punch at the inside of Lisanna's thigh, the smaller girl not having much in the way of defense in that moment. She was surprised however, when her fist collided with a wooden block, pain shooting up her whole arm. The shock was enough for Lisanna to pull her leg free, easily slipping into a backflip that landed her ten feet away, three of Bickslow's totems hovering in front of her to act as a shield while she caught her breath.

Lisanna's chest heaved. Well, this never was gonna be an easy fight. She watched Erza, the other woman not looking half as bad as Lisanna felt, and swore internally. She was getting too tired, too fast.

Lissy. Scorpion. Need armour.

The girl's face set in determination as she processed through what her partner was telling her. Before she could get much thought into it though, the babies started shrieking and whistling, the word "Scorpion!" being echoed by five voices around the clearing. She shook her head, unable to do anything but laugh at their enthusiasm before laughing and yelling out, "I KNOW!"

Erza simply watched this whole thing, taking a moment to slow her breathing. Sure, that let her opponent do the same, but Lisanna needed it more than she did anyway. Letting her have a moment wouldn't hurt. She glanced around at the ground when the noise began, having thought that she heard someone shriek about a scorpion. She wasn't overly concerned about one being in this region of the island, but being diligent was never a bad idea.

A crash filled the air, a roaring boom that must have been audible across the island. Lisanna screamed, clutching her hands to her more sensitive ears as Erza looked up to the sky. Suddenly the ground shook, forcing Erza to rebalance herself as Lisanna toppled to the side. She couldn't see any smoke, or any sign of an attacker, nevertheless she was still on her guard.

"What was…"

Erza's sentence was cut off by a whoop of jubilation coming from the trees, followed by a familiar voice.

"Fucking Thunder Palace! Laxus is over there kicking some arse! Man I feel sorry for whatever poor fuck just felt that."

Erza grinned and didn't waste a moment, pushing her magic through her body as she called out her Heaven's Wheel armor and all of the swords that came with it. She threw her right hand towards the sound of Bickslow's voice, willing her swords to move at him. She hoped he'd be too caught up in his excitement to be able to defend against them. There was a sound of several wooden thunks as her swords impaled the tree the Sieth was in and a few around him, paired with an inhuman shriek.

"FUCK ME! WHO HURT YOU IN THE PAST?!"

As the women peered into the shade of the trees, they could see the man with his arms and legs splayed out, swords under each arm and above each shoulder. His shorts were pinned in several places, but it was the dagger that was embedded in the tree almost to the hilt that had probably elicited the scream, its placement would have made any man scream. Lisanna couldn't help but smirk, a gesture that she regretted almost instantly when Erza whipped around, leg kicking back behind her and aiming for her chest. She managed to get her arms up in time, Erza's foot hitting the armour plating that now ran across her skin and sending painful shockwaves through her arms and upper body.

"Fuck. FUCK."

Erza had figured it out. With Bickslow's concentration broken, one of the dolls had dropped to the floor with the other five now taking to screaming and flying around randomly as they fed off his panic. It also meant Lisanna was on her own. All of her energy went to blocking Erza's frenzied attacks, two more to her arms, one to the outside of her thigh where she didn't have any plating and uncountable to her tail when she did manage to bring it around in time. Erza's attacks were faster now, hits coming more frequently and being blocked less and less. Bickslow's voice came from the trees, but Lisanna couldn't afford to look up at him, she was losing enough ground as it was.

"Erza!"

She didn't stop. It wasn't at all malicious, Lisanna knew that. Erza was just showing the power of an S-Class wizard, and just how far Lisanna was away from that power.

"Erza please you have to stop!"

Bickslow's voice was closer now, as if he had gotten free and was heading over to them. Erza didn't pay him any mind. A couple more hits and Lisanna would be out, and she could focus all of her attention on the Sieth. A well aimed strike to the stomach had Lisanna buckling over, wind knocked out of her.

A body crashed into Erza's back, bare arms wrapping around her and she immediately started to struggle to break free. Bickslow was closer than she had anticipated, and she'd made a mistake. She prepared to flip him over his head, but he panted in her ear. He sounded scared.

"Please; you can't hurt the baby."

Erza froze. That last kick to the stomach had been fierce. Why had they agreed to do the trials with Lisanna in that condition? Lisanna looked shocked, more than she should from just the hit, and it dawned on her that maybe she didn't know.

Her thoughts were stopped by the incredibly fast movement of Lisanna's tail, stinger snapping forward and sinking into her skin between her ribs. It didn't hurt, to start with, but the low ache of poison started to spread through her chest quickly. She felt her body go limp as she collapsed back into Bickslow's arms, before her mind started to go fuzzy.

Lisanna moved quickly, helping Bickslow lower Erza to the floor and feeling her forehead. The poison hadn't acted this quickly with Laxus, but then she supposed he hadn't been exerting himself and he was a whole lot bigger than Erza.

"Bickslow, where's the antivenom?"

The Sieth sprinted back towards the trees, around the swords that he had pulled out of his clothes to get free and grabbed the bag he had bought with him. Rustling through it he grabbed one of the potions Kinana had given them before they left, and returned to Erza's side.

She didn't look good. Black veins were apparent on her skin, inching their way over her chest and up towards her face. He slipped the cap off the needle, kneeling down beside her before stopping.

"What are you doing?"

Lisanna's voice was panicked, eyes blown wide in fear as she watched the girl in her arms slip slowly into unconsciousness. Bickslow held his jaw firm, turning Erza's face to look into his eyes.

"Tell us we can go forward first."

Lisanna gasped, not expecting Bickslow to do this. They didn't have time, the poison was…

"Bickslow! You can't… she's…"

"We beat you! We beat you and now you need to let us through to the next round."

Erza's nod was almost imperceivable, and Bickslow took it as a yes. He plunged the needle down into the wound, slowly pressing the plunger as the sickly green liquid inside entered her body. Erza gasped a little at the pain, Bickslow's bedside manner left much to be desired, but clenched her fists through it.

"We''ll need to get her back to base camp, we can't leave her here."

Lisanna nodded, transforming back into her human form and shooing away the babies that had started to gather around.

"Erza, did you want to let Bickslow take you over, he could walk you…"

Erza shook her head viciously, brain still not letting her form words. Lisanna looked shocked at the violent reaction, but Bickslow just smiled sadly.

"I'll carry you, don't worry. Lissy, can you grab my bag and the spare totems? I think I might need them later."

Lisanna nodded, and Bickslow slid his arms under the back of Erza's shoulders and hooked under her knees in order to lift her up. Her head lolled against his shoulder, still unable to move much.

"You'll be paralysed for a couple of hours even with the antivenom, I'm sorry. It was the best Kinana could do."

Lisanna's voice drifted into her ear from behind Bickslow as all three of them started to head towards the base camp, Bickslow's totems drifting around them lazily. There were only five again now, and she made a mental note to make sure she asked him more about them in case she ever came up against him in the future.

"Hey, Bickslow?"

She watched as the man looked down at Lisanna, walking by the side of him and occasionally laying a cool hand on her head.

"Why on Earthland did you tell her I was pregnant!? That's how rumours get started you know, and yes I know you love starting rumours but if you could keep from spreading them about us…"

If Erza could have rolled her eyes then she could have done, but she was still too paralysed to move her eyes just yet. Bickslow shrugged, squashing her to his chest as he did.

"It's not my fault! I panicked, and Evergreen said it worked with Mira last time!"

Erza sighed deeply, and Lisanna made sure to check on her but she wasn't doing it out of pain. She was doing it out of knowing that it was a ten minute walk to the base camp, and the whole time she would have to be listening to their incessant chatter.