The official start of the Grand Magic Games is almost here! I hope you all enjoy!

June 30, X791

The Phoenix Dawn mages finally arrived at Crocus and went to their inn, the Greedy Mimic, to settle in their rooms. Each room had six beds, enough for each team and the other wizards in the guild. Jayden, Wilbur, Sakura, Flora, Spiral, Azusa, Aqua and Hikari all went to settle in their room and placed their bags by each of their respective beds.

"I was hoping there would be five beds." Hikari said. "That way I could share one with Spiral."

"We've still got plenty of time before the games start." Jayden said. "So I'm going to head out into the city and take in the sights."

"Remember that we have to be back here before midnight." Aqua said. "Scratch that, we have to be back by 11:30. I don't care if the city gets destroyed or your being mugged, you get back here on time and not a minute later."

Everyone just stared at Aqua like she was acting like a crazy person.

"… Aqua, I think you might be a little high strung right now." Sakura said. "Calm down."

"Calm down?" Aqua questioned. "I'M COMPLETELY CALM!"

Everyone continued staring at her.

"… Okay, I'm going to leave now." Jayden said as he left the room.

"Why don't we go around and visit some sweets shops, Spiral?" Hikari asked as she wrapped her arms around Spiral's.

Aqua walked around the city by herself while the rest of her guild mates were off doing their own thing.

*There's no doubt Sabertooth will be participating in the games this year.* She thought. *And that means my brother must be here with them.*

"Well, well, if it isn't my weak accident of a sister."

Aqua turned around to see her older brother Kyrin standing behind her.

"Kyrin…" She leered at him.

"Don't try to act tough." Kyrin said. "Sabertooth is going to crush your guild."

"I'm not afraid of you or your guild, Kyrin! We'll settle this during the games!"

"I'd love to beat your ass to a pulp, but unfortunately I'm not going to participate in the games this year. You see, we got a new member and the Master wants to put her to the test. So we'll see how you fair against my Sting, Rogue and the others. Now if you don't mind, I've got more important things to do right now."

Kyrin left without saying another word and the atmosphere around them was thick with tension.

"I'll prove you wrong, you jackass…" She muttered before walking in the other direction.

Spiral and Hikari were sitting at an outdoor table outside of a sweets shop with a plate that had a wide variety of cookies on them.

Hikari took a bite out of one of them. "Mmmm… These are so good…"

At the same time, a beautiful young girl with a slim, well-endowed, athletic and curvaceous build covered by a white T-shirt, blue jeans and long, black hair that was held back tightly in a topknot that dropped below her waist was walking by. When she noticed Spiral, she stared at him for several minutes after which Spiral looked at her.

"Um… Can I help you?" Spiral asked.

"Sorry, I was just blown away by how cute you are." The girl answered nervously. "Did I just say that out loud?"

"Uh… Thank you?" Spiral wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"You know, you're the first boy I've ever been attracted to." She said as she took a seat next to Spiral.

Hikari glared at the girl. *Damn you and your big boobs!*

"My name's Momo Nishimura (Age 16)." The girl said. "What's yours, cutie?"

"Spiral. And didn't the Nishimura clan die several years ago?" Spiral asked.

"I'm the last surviving member." Momo replied. "So I'm under a lot of pressure to find a suitable husband."

"Excuse me, but his girlfriend here wants you to step away from him." Hikari said.

Spiral noticed something on the side of her neck. It was a black V with a shield in the middle opening of it and a spear piercing through them.

"Are you checking me out?" Momo asked almost as if she liked the idea.

"That mark on your neck…" Spiral said.

"Oh, this?" Momo asked. "I'm from the White Valkyrie guild."

"They're participating in the games, too?" Hikari asked.

"Oh, so you're in the games?" Momo asked. "Then how about we make a little wager? If White Valkyrie beats your guild, your boyfriend will become my boyfriend."

"Like hell we'll lose to you!" Hikari shouted. "You're on, bitch!"

"Don't I get a say in this?" Spiral passively asked.

It had just become nighttime and in a garden close to the palace, Wendy and Carla were looking around at the flowers until Wendy turned her head to the right to see Jayden and Wilbur walking nearby.

"Hey, Jason!" Wendy ran over to him.

"Wait, Wendy!" Carla chased after her.

"Huh?" Jayden turned his head to see Wendy. "Wendy?"

"It's been a while, Jason." Wendy said.

"Actually…" Jayden said as he looked down.

"Huh?"

Jayden told Wendy everything about what had happened to Jason and the Lexus family.

"I… I see…" Wendy looked kind of sad. "So Jason's gone?"

"Not entirely, but he lives on through me." Jayden answered.

"What about the promise I made him?" Wendy asked. "I was supposed to find him a girlfriend and make him happy again."

"Don't you worry about that, Wendy." Jayden knelt down and petted her head. "I'm happy now and I found a woman I really like."

"That's good to hear." Wendy said.

"Good, now I don't have to think of you as a pedophile." Carla said.

"Carla, that isn't nice!" Wendy said.

Jayden smiled and giggled for a brief moment, but he sensed something sinister nearby.

"Wendy, Carla, stand back." Jayden said.

A small, devil-like creature leapt toward Wendy, but Jayden caught it in his hands and brought it up to his face.

"What the heck is this thing?" Jayden wondered.

The creature began to glow and Jayden started to feel incredibly weak.

"What… M… My magic…" Jayden groaned.

Jayden's magic power continued to be drained out of him until he fell to the ground unconscious.

"Jayden!" Wendy shouted.

The creature turned his head to look at Wendy and she clearly started to look pissed.

"Sky Dragon Roar!"

A blast of wind erupted from Wendy's mouth and blew the creature clear across the city.

"Jayden!" Wendy ran over to Jayden. "Don't worry, I'll heal you!"

Wendy's hands had a green glow and she placed them over Jayden's body.

"… It's no use." Wendy said as she stopped. "His magic energy is extremely low. I need to get him to Ms. Porlyusica."

"We should look for one of his guild mates and have them-" Carla was about to say until she saw Wendy try to lift Jayden. "Wendy, there's no way you can carry him all the way back to our inn!"

"I have to try!" Wendy said. "He risked himself to protect us. I know he'd do the same thing for us."

"You have a point, child." Carla said.

Out in the city, Lionel, Eden and Volt were walking around the streets of Crocus.

"I can't believe they didn't pick me for any of the teams." Lionel said.

"Neither can I, but it's the Master's choice." Eden said. "Nothing else we can do."

"It's a fight!" A townsperson shouted from nearby.

Lionel began running off and Eden and Volt chased after him.

"Lionel, where are you going?" Volt asked.

"I'm itchin' for a scrap!" Lionel answered. "This is my only chance to fight this week!"

They arrived at a square where they saw a couple of familiar faces standing over several beaten up men.

"Anybody up for some more?" Sting asked the crowd.

"Not even worth talking about! Yeah." Sting's Exceed, Lecter, said.

"Fro thinks so, too." Rogue's Exceed, Frosch, said.

"They're the twin dragons of Sabertooth!" One of the people in the crowd said.

"These guys again?" Eden quietly asked.

"Don't worry." Lionel said as he cracked his knuckles. "We'll take 'em out just like last time."

"Sabertooth?"

They saw someone shuffle through the crowd of people and saw Natsu come out of them.

"You're…" Sting said.

"Natsu Dragneel!" Rogue gasped.

Happy then came through with a flower on his ear and stop in his tracks when he saw Lecter and Frosch.

"Cats?!" Happy exclaimed.

"What's with the weird cat with the funny face?" Lecter pointed at Happy.

"Funny!" Frosch pointed at Happy as well.

"THEY TALKED!" Happy screamed.

Lucy then came out from the crowd. "Are you really surprised, Happy?"

"Remember me?" Lionel asked Sting as he, Eden and Volt came up to them.

"Tch, I ain't afraid of you anymore." Sting said. "I've gotten a hell of a lot stronger since last time!" He then turned back to Natsu. "I heard a rumor you were in the Grand Magic Games. So it was true?"

"You know about me?" Natsu asked.

"You're the Dragon Slayer who couldn't slay a dragon… Acnologia, right?" Sting asked as he leaned in toward Natsu's face. "Then why do they call you a dragon slayer, anyway? Huh?" He stood back straight. "And here I looked up to you a long time back. By the way, Rogue liked Gajeel."

"I was simply curious as a fellow Dragon Slayer." Rogue said.

"You're both Dragon Slayers?!" Natsu gasped.

"How about you call us true Dragon Slayers?" Sting started acting pompous. "WE can take down Acnologia, you know."

"You only say that because you've never actually seen Acnologia!" Lucy said.

"It doesn't matter whether or not we've seen it." Rogue said.

"The difference is in our abilities as Dragon Slayers." Sting said.

"Natsu, his friends, and this guy right here…" Lecter pointed at Lionel. "You're all first generation Dragon Slayers because you learned your magic from dragons. Laxus and Cobra had lacrimas implanted in their bodies, so they're second generation. But Sting and Rogue are a hybrid of both, third generation! The strongest Dragon Slayers!"

"So you learned your magic from a dragon, huh?" Lionel asked.

"Does that mean your dragons vanished in the year 777, too?" Natsu asked.

"In a manner of speaking." Sting answered.

"Let's spell it out for them." Rogue said. "We killed the dragons who taught us magic. We did it to become true Dragon Slayers."

Lionel went up to Sting and held him up by the collar of his shirt.

"Do you feel proud of yourselves?!" Lionel asked angrily. "Killing your parents like that?! My friends in Phoenix Dawn were forced to do the same thing you did! They hated every moment of it! They didn't want to do it! But they had to end their suffering! Did you even feel a shred of remorse for killing those who took you in?! Huh, jackass?!"

"Whatever." Sting said as he got off of Lionel and started to walk away with Rogue. "I should really save my energy for the games. We'll show you what real Dragon Slayers can do then."

The twin dragons left the area and Natsu just glared at them, grinding his teeth in anger.

"Geez, what total jerks." Lucy said.

"I kind of wish I had a chance to wail on him." Lionel said. "Anyway, you're both from Fairy Tail, right?"

"Yeah." Lucy nodded.

"I'm Lionel Zenith from Phoenix Dawn." Lionel extended his hand out.

"Nice to meet ya." Lucy shook his hand. "I'm Lucy. What kind of Dragon Slayer are you, anyway?"

"I'm the Lightning Dragon Slayer."

"And I'm Eden Stormbringer, the Flame God Slayer." Eden spoke up.

"Do you mind?" Lionel asked Eden. "I'm talking with someone here. I'd love to talk with you some more."

"Maybe tomorrow." Lucy said. "It's getting late and I have to head back to my inn. You should do the same. Let's go, Natsu."

Natsu, Lucy and Happy left for their inn, leaving Lionel out in the cold.

"Ooh, Lionel just got rejected!" Volt teased.

Back at the Greedy Mimic, it was almost midnight and Aqua was impatiently tapping her foot against the floor while Spiral, Hikari, Azusa, Sakura and Flora were sitting by their beds.

"Where is Jay?" Aqua asked. "Didn't he remember what I said earlier?"

"Aqua, calm-" Spiral was about to say, but Aqua then leered at him. "… Never mind."

The clock struck midnight and there was a large bell sound reverberating throughout Crocus followed by a hologram of a short, pumpkin-headed man in the middle of the city.

"To all the guilds who have gathered for our Grand Magic Games…" The pumpkin man said. "Good morning! We will now winnow down the 116 teams competing to ten and to do that… We will start our Preliminary Competition!"

"116 teams?" Hikari asked.

"That's a lot of people we have to fight." Azusa said.

"That guy looks tasty!" Sakura said with a drooling mouth.

"There are more and more guilds participating every year and we don't want to spread the fun too thin!" The pumpkin man continued. "So this year, the competition will be between ten teams only! The contest rules are simple!"

The entire inn began to shake and everyone fell over.

"Is everyone all right?" Spiral asked, but then he noticed that his hand was pressing against Hikari's breasts.

"My, Spiral, you're so forward." Hikari giggled.

All of the inns in town were being raised into the air and change shape.

"We wish to engage you all in a race!" The pumpkin man said. "Your goal will be the stadium, Doms Frau! The first ten teams there will enter the official tournament!"

A flight of wooden stairs formed in front of the balcony and led to a giant mechanical sphere in the sky.

"You may use whatever magic you wish." The pumpkin man stated. "There are no limits. The first ten teams to make it to the goal pass the preliminary contest! But if all five members are not present, then you will be eliminated!"

"Good thing there are at least five of us." Aqua said.

"One… More… Thing! If any of you should die in the labyrinth, the organizers bear no responsibility! Let the preliminary contest to the Grand Magic Games, the Sky Labyrinth… Begin!"

"Let's go!" Spiral shouted.

Spiral, Sakura, Azusa, Hikari and Aqua all ran onto the stairs and toward the Sky Labyrinth.

From another room of the Greedy Mimic, Melody, Frost, Haru, Xanders and Static were ready to go.

"You guys go on ahead." Tristan yawned as he lied on the bed. "I'm gonna get comfy right here."

"Lazy ass…" Melody muttered. "Let's go!"

The five of them ran off toward the Sky Labyrinth, just like their other guild mates.

A/N: Sorry this one took longer than usual. I was busy finishing a couple of stories and starting another. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed! Stay tuned for next time!