[Re-edited 04.19.23]

Hello my wonderful readers, please accept my grovelling for being a week late with this update!

But here comes round two and this chapter is pretty much all action for this sleepy Sunday.

Onward!

31

-The Second Trial-

The Tenrou Tree stretched high into the sky, dwarfing any other tree on the island. Though up close it didn't really seem to be a single tree, but rather a compilation of a tangle of thick roots and trunks and branches of numerous trees spiralling and twisting around each other to form a completely natural lattice-like structure, the knot of which created the sacred tree's massive trunk. The strangest part was the earth that had been lifted over the passing decades, or centuries even, creating a secondary island tucked in the canopy of the tree far above them.

Haru stood in a momentarily stunned awe, taking in the details. It had looked like an ordinary, albeit impossibly huge, tree from the distance they had first observed it at during their approach to the island. He'd even seen old grainy photos of it over the years in the Guild's photo albums and listened interestedly to the stories that had come to hold legend status within the Guild, about their sacred tree. It was even rumoured that anyone marked with Fairy Tail's emblem drew their power, at least in part, from this tree, and as he stood surrounded by hulking roots that spread outward from its base for a mile, he could believe it. Anyone with even the slightest inclination to magic could likely feel the ethernano that clung thickly to the air around the tree.

Haru glanced over at Lucy who was standing a few feet to his right on top of one of the tree's roots. She spun the seal-stone bracelet on her wrist subconsciously as she stared up at the treetop hundreds of meters above them, seemingly unaware of his attention.

So, this would be the second challenge.

Interesting play, Master…

To his knowledge, the Master had never designed a challenge that required the Candidates' partners to wear seal-stone bracelets. The challenge, (deceptively simple at first mention as usual), was to make it to the upper island at the top of the Sacred Tree without the use of flight magic. They would face their third and final challenge there.

After providing the basic details of the second trial, Makarov had cackled in amusement at his own sadistic tendencies and presented one anti-magic cuff. He'd spun it around an extended finger while explaining that this challenge would test the candidates' abilities to ensure their comrades' safeties in the real world, when someone inevitably ran out of magic.

Gajeel had squawked in indignation, furiously ranting about how he could achieve S Class without his magic. The majority of the crowd had merely watched him complain for a moment with a collective blank stare. Until, once again, someone reminded him that HE was not a candidate. The Iron Slayer wasn't alone in his reflexive discomfort at the stipulation though, all the partners, Lucy included, had voiced their displeasure with a range of audible groans and complaints.

Rustling pulled Haru from his thoughts and his head whipped in the direction of some shrubbery maybe ten meters away. Levy emerged from the forest with Gajeel on her heels, still grumbling and picking at his own seal-stone bracelet. The four opponents froze before Lucy quickly adopted an offensive stance prompting Gajeel to do the same. "Lucy, wait, let's see what they do… It's best to save our magic—" Haru began to tell the blonde telepathically. He cut off abruptly, the corner of his lip twitching upward sheepishly at the dark look she shot his way when he mentionedmagic, "—uh energy, best to save our energy… Unless they attack."

Lucy turned back to the other pair who remained rooted to their spot, though they were clearly arguing in a loud whisper that Lucy couldn't quite make out. "Gajeel wants to fight?" she assumed. Haru nodded in confirmation and Lucy rolled her eyes. "Typical."

They remained tense, waiting to see if Gajeel would impulsively launch himself into a fight sans magic, even knowing Haru would be at full power with access to his own. Haru could see the muscles bunching on his fellow dragon slayer's frame even at the distance. Levy was now actively attempting to drag him away from them with frantic energy. Gajeel took a step forward with a menacing growl before grinding his teeth together and caving to his partner's will. He let her lead him away quickly, but never took his eyes off Haru from over his shoulder.

"The Dragon Slayer competitive streak is a new level of unbridled idiocy…" Lucy drawled out loud. Her exacerbation was palpable through their link and Haru eyed her derisively as if to remind her of the claims that he was not that competitive. Her warning look put him in his place, he wisely said nothing.

Shaking his head, Haru peered upward, attempting to get a visual of the island cradled within the tree's branches and squinted at the bright sun overhead. "We need to get moving, that stand off wasted too much time... Freed and Gray will already be well on their way," Haru said, noticing that the blonde was already leaping into the mess of tree trunks and was currently weaving through the living knot, maneuvering her body upward with decent speed. He moved to catch up.

Base Camp

Brimming with energy, Natsu sat on the hammock's edge swinging his legs and the entire hammock with the resulting momentum. Erza sat beside him in the suspended fabric, growling at him to chill out, which only caused him to whine childishly. "Aww come on, watching them climb a tree is boring!"

The Fire Slayer dropped his elbows onto his knees in front of him and his chin into his hands, snorting out a puff of fire as his eyes scanned over a pair of lacrima screens that gave them a visual of the teams' progresses. Happy and Carla had left with a recording lacrima each, shortly after the candidates departed and were currently scouting around the giant tree providing the occasional visual. Though, that was easier said than done, because half the time the teams were navigating the tree internally, climbing the twisting trunks cloaked in shadow and obscuring lances of light as they wound their way upward.

"Damn…I should be out there," Elfman grumbled lowly from his spot sitting cross-legged on the ground. His large arms crossed in front of his bandaged torso, he shot a look over at the crash mage who was currently snoring loudly from his hammock.

"If you hadn't been too much of a boorish brute to let me fly us out of there, maybe, we'd still be in it!" Evergreen snapped, as she smacked the flat of her fan across the back of his head. He grumbled more, but didn't acknowledge her comment or the strike, eyes fixed on one of the lacrima that currently had sight of Gray and Juvia. Mira patted his shoulder, giggling dismissively at her brother's plight.

"If we're gonna be stuck here, where's the action at least?!" Natsu shouted, "come on, someone fight!"

"That eager to watch Freed kick Haru's ass?" Laxus taunted.

"OH Yeah?!"

"Yeah."

"You wanna go, Sparky?!"

"Nope."

As nonchalant as ever, Laxus just leaned back into the box behind him, draping one arm over the top and downed a deep swallow of his beer. He smirked at the irritation rolling off the fire mage but a flash of blonde hair caught Natsu's attention as one of the cats finally managed to catch a glimpse of Lucy. Natsu leaned forward with a grin spreading across his face, boredom temporarily pacified.

Lucy was crawling out between two thick coils of trunk, she grabbed hold of a branch up above and swung herself up, landing gracefully on a thick outstretched branch. A moment later Haru shot up from below with a stream of water propelling him toward her and landed on another branch a small distance from her. They spoke for a half a minute before continuing to make quick work of their ascent. For the first time in the last hour since the new event started, Natsu was silent, captivated by the screens. If he had to estimate, he'd say they were maybe halfway up the ridiculously tall complex tree.

Then the lacrima feedback was suddenly being jostled all over. A quick glimpse of Happy's frantic face was revealed as he swooped to catch the device he'd dropped when something had surprised him. Natsu gaped in confusion, his face a reflection of the rest of his companions. The lacrima angle was adjusted around rapidly as Happy presumably tried to get the pair back into the recording frame. He succeeded just as a massive, vibrantly coloured bird crashed into the side of the tree with its talons outstretched, right where Lucy had been.

Natsu's pupils blew wide, and he almost caused himself and Erza to fall out of the hammock when he threw his body weight forward in alarm, instinctually leaning toward the lacrima in search of more information. Erza yelped, slapping a bruising grip over his shoulder as she steadied the hammock but Natsu didn't really notice, his eyes darted around the frame in search of his girlfriend. He could see Haru's mouth working as he screamed something, and desperately wished they had audio feedback as well to hear what was going on. Happy had swooped in for a closer look, likely trying to find Lucy as well, and the screen was now close enough to make out the warring emotions on Haru's face as he tried to decide what to do.

"Why isn't he attacking the beast, like a MAN?!"

"He can't, he doesn't know where Lucy is! If he shot a breath attack or anything else at the bird, he'd risk hitting Lucy," Natsu snapped back irritably. Erza nodded knowingly beside him, having come to the same conclusion and Elfman went silent at the reprimanding tone.

"And besides, Haru has faith in Lucy… Or he'd have jumped in already," Mira added with a small smile, placing a hand on her brother's shoulder.

Suddenly the bird's wings were snapping at the air frantically in apparent surprise and from beneath, Lucy swung out gripping the end of her leather whip that was coiled tightly around a talon. Haru grinned as Lucy flung herself directly toward another branch and darted around to secure her end of the whip around another. She pulled it tight to effectively trap the bird causing it to work furiously as it tried to free itself from the binding, wings flapping uselessly. Haru took that telltale deep inhale and let loose a torrent of water to knock it out of skies an instant later. Lucy cracked the whip in the air, her face bright with apparent cheering as Haru dropped from the branches above to land next to her and answered her high-five.

"Yeah! More battles!" Natsu yelled excitedly, throwing his fists up and earning Erza's shriek beside him when his flames burst off his hands in a celebratory gesture. She shoved him out of the hammock without warning. Landing flat on his stomach, he launched back to his feet in seconds and rounded on the redhead, "Oi! MY hammock first, Red! If you don't wanna sit with me, you can go find a different spot!"

Erza was just opening her mouth to retort when Makarov interrupted, "Alright brats that's enough. Listen up!" he commanded. The group paused in whatever they were doing and turned their attention to him.

"All four teams have made it to at least the halfway point now… and that's your cue to go join in the fun."

A series of questioning remarks and boisterous cheering from Natsu sounded, and the elderly man waited for them to fall silent before he continued. "Laxus, Erza, Natsu and Mira, you will each be assigned a team. Go challenge their ascent, but—" he cut off Natsu's premature excitement again, "you are to rely only on long range attacks, no combat this time. You are simply supplying the unexpected," he emphasized the word with a smirk.

The S Class eyed each other and the Master as they nodded. Makarov had them draw numbered sticks again and then dismissed them to their new task.

"What no fun for me?" Gildarts asked sulkily.

"You'd crash the Sacred Tree!" Makarov yelled incredulously, "quite frankly, I'm nervous enough letting Natsu loose around it..."

Natsu and his fellow elite were just steps from disappearing into the island foliage when the master shouted his name. Natsu froze at the elderly man's warning tone alone, turning stiffly toward the camp as his comrades paused around him as well. "You do any irreparable damage to that tree Natsu, and mark my words, every punishment you've ever faced will pale in comparison!" Makarov vowed.

Paling significantly at the threat, Natsu nodded frantically to convey his understanding. Then he spun on his heel and retreated away from the base camp, rapidly putting distance between himself and occasionally terrifying elder. His boredom long forgotten; Natsu gave the others a thumbs-up before they scattered in different directions, each seeking out their assigned team.

'This is gonna be fun!' he thought as flickers of embers danced over his skin in anticipation.

Tenrou Tree

"Lucy hold up—" Haru called urgently from a few branches beneath the stellar mage. She stopped instantly, head continuing to swivel in circles as she scanned the mix of green and brown trunks and branches that formed their environment.

Lucy eased herself down into a crouch, setting one hand on the mossy branch she was poised on to brace herself as she peered down at him with a questioning expression. Haru held up a hand, silently asking her to refrain from further action for a moment. His eyes stayed locked on the other side of the Sacred Tree across a webbing of smaller trunks that tangled together and traversed the entire hollow space. A moment later Lucy swung down and landed silently beside him. She took a defensive posture as her eyes trailed over to the same spot he was watching intently.

Haru smirked, peaking at her out of the corner of his eye. "Here they come…" he announced vaguely, but she didn't press him for an elaboration.

They'd been making rapid progress unhindered for quite a while. The tree was massive, sure, but the total silence that hung in the air had still seemed impossible. Not to mention, until now, Haru hadn't gotten even the slightest whiff of one of their competitors, he'd been suspicious as to the cause and now those suspicions were confirmed. Across from them, rays of sunlight broke through the occasional gaps in the Tenrou Tree's trunk, and the light that bathed a thick central trunk was briefly blocked as Freed and Bixlow crept through the gap to join them in the hollow.

"You were right… It must have been Freed's enchantments blocking your senses—" Lucy started.

"That's not all—"

When Lucy realized he wasn't focusing exclusively on the Thunder God Tribe members, she followed his gaze to the source of his attention again and caught sight of Gray and Juvia a couple meters below them as well.

"This is going to get interesting, keep your guard up."

Suddenly the temperature around them was plummeting and the tree's limbs were taking on a thin coating of frost as Gray released his magic pressure. Haru heard Lucy gasp beside him, surprised or impressed or both with the rapid spread of ice. Gray's magic pressure hadn't been nearly as daunting a month ago, he'd been training hard as well, clearly. Above them, Freed had his sword drawn and a purply hue of magic power clung to his form.

Haru still hadn't answered his fellow candidates' show of power with his own just yet. Choosing instead, to carefully analyze the situation he and Lucy now found themselves in. He was confident that Lucy was adept in handling herself without access to her magic, after all, she'd spent years fighting alongside her spirits before honing her Star Reform. Normally, that would have give their team an advantage in two-on-two fights, but there was no way that Gray and Freed had just happened upon them at the same time by coincidence. Even now, before anyone had made a move, both the other teams' attentions seemed squarely focused on himself and Lucy...

This was an alliance.

"Listen up Gray, as soon as we take Haru out, all bets are off," Freed announced stoically, "but until then, I have your back."

The ice mage clicked his tongue through a smirk, not bothering to respond. In a flash he vanished and crashed into Haru with freezing winds blowing out around him as the pair collided. Haru had only just managed to get his hands up in time to block. Gray spun with his Cold Excalibur forming in his grip and the two agilely danced around each other. Haru focused on dodging without countering the attacks just yet.

Obvious irritation bloomed on Gray's face, "What the hell man? Not even going to fight back? Don't tell me you've used up all your magic!" he growled.

Haru still didn't respond. The sparring had gradually shifted more to the center of the tree's interior and as Haru leaned back to miss the wide swing of the ice blade, he caught a split-second warning sight of Freed leaping into the battle from above. Clenching his teeth and planting the palm of a hand on the branch that held them, Haru struck out with a water enhanced side kick catching Gray in the gut. The hit granted him just enough time to springboard himself off the ice mage to meet Freed in the air. The two collided, and the momentum sent them spinning to the side, both wrestling for the grip on Freed's sword. The rune mage planted the flat of his boot into Haru's sternum and kicked him back to regain control of his blade. Stumbling back a few steps before quickly regaining his balance, Haru bent low and eyed Freed's tall, if cocky, posture before both men leapt forward again and two blades met with a resounding clang.

Freed's eyes widened at the shimmery blade now in Haru's hands. Haru's own sword rippled like water, but had a blunt ice-like edge to it that encased the swirling waters to maintain its shape. "But how? That's Gray's spell!" Freed demanded, stunned.

"Not quite, Blizzard Dragon Slayer magic allows me to freeze over my water to form it into a tangible form longer... But it isn't Maker Magic"

Haru dipped, and struck with his blade, pivoting around the green-haired man, and slashing downward. Acutely aware his sword skills couldn't hope to keep up with Freed's, Haru knew he needed to get the other's sword away from him as soon as possible. He also couldn't let himself forget about Gray either, the ice mage would be waiting close by, watching for an opportune moment to jump back into the fray.

A flash of gold cut across Haru's periphery from below and he immediately knew his partner was up to something as well. Prior to Lucy's move, all three of their partners had stayed out of the match, resigning themselves to observation. Haru wondered what the stellar mage was doing, but didn't have the luxury to check with Freed demanding his entire focus. He got his answer soon enough though, both Freed's and his own attention were snapped to the side when Gray shouted in shock. Lucy had him caught by the ankle with her whip, preventing his attempted attack in Haru's blind spot, she had yanked back hard on the leather which had slammed the ice mage down into the twist of trunks below.

"Thanks Lucy!" Haru called, realizing how close he'd been to taking a close-ranged ice attack to the back. He parried Freed's slash again and vaguely registered an angry Juvia throwing herself at the blonde with a furious screech. Bixlow appeared all together uninterested in throwing himself into the battle without his babies though. He sat cross-legged on a perch well above the ongoing fights and watched with an air of boredom.

Haru's head spun with information flooding his senses as he tracked all his potential attackers' positions. He knew Lucy would have his back when she could, and at the very least would keep Juvia preoccupied… But he still needed sharper awareness. Flipping back multiple times to dodge a series of precisely timed strikes from Freed and Gray, the Water Slayer finally released his magic to answer his opponents properly. He'd been hoping to avoid this. Makarov hadn't said there would be a break between this and the final event, and he had wanted to end this round with his magic stores as untapped as possible.

No choice.

Cerulean scales crawled over his pale skin, and he let the further enhanced awareness of each of the five other people's scents and sounds wash over him. Gold flecked eyes following each of their movements at insane speeds, he closed them briefly, standing still as he released a steadying exhale.

Clearly the random moment of meditative stillness confused his opponents, because they both brashly launched themselves at him, both brandishing their swords. Eyes snapping open and flicking between the two as though they were now moving in slow motion, water magic burst up around Haru in a swirling vortex, briefly catching them both in a watery trap. "Lucy," Haru called telepathically as his magic swelled up to thrash around him in a visible bluish light, "get to ground above me." He waited just the brief instant it took to feel his partner's presence shoot away from Juvia, zigzagging between branches to get to a higher vantage point.

"Dragon Slayer's Secret Art: surging tsunami!"

Immobilized by the whirlpool neither Gray or Freed had a chance to escape. The explosive waters of Haru's attack slammed into both men, sending them, along with the massive wave of waters turned white with coursing froth, to collide brutally with the outer rim of the tree. Juvia had managed to avoid the attack by a hair, when she'd noted the urgency with which Lucy had disentangled herself from their fight and shot upward. The two women had apparently forgotten their own fight momentarily as they, and Haru below them, watched the surging waters drain away over the tangled core of the tree.

"Gray!" Juvia wailed, and then sputtering coughs were breaking the quiet and both Gray and Freed were choking up lungs of water and shooting angry glares at the Water Slayer who remained unmoving as he stood above. Juvia leapt down to Gray's side, easing him into a seated position. He was worn, but certainly not down, if the way he forcibly fought off Juvia's fussing was any indication. Freed was back on his feet as well, looking like a drowned rat and down a sword, he must have lost grip of it in the attack. Neither he, nor Gray appeared any less ready to throw themselves right back into the fight.

"Let's go while we can Lucy," Haru suggested. Letting go of his Water Drive in attempt to conserve some magic, he began vaulting upward again. Lucy followed suit right away, moving toward a twist of branches bathed in light above that suggested an escape to the exterior might be possible.

. . .

The sun was lower in the sky now, casting the island and the ocean beyond in an orangey twilight. Haru and Lucy were each panting for breath at this point, refusing to slow for even a moment, knowing that Gray and Freed would likely be giving a relentless chase. At least with Freed back below them again, they could be more certain there would be no rune traps to get caught up in any longer.

"Gajeel and Levy are up ahead," Haru's surprisingly calm voice washed through Lucy's head. She was impressed the other pair had made such quick work as well, but they hadn't gotten caught up in Gray's ambush. Lucy wasn't surprised to see that Levy couldn't be talked into ganging up on her team. It just wasn't in the bluenette to use tactics like that, strategic as they were. If Levy was going to become S Class, she would do it on her own merit, with brains, not brawn, Lucy was sure of that.

Around her, branches were beginning to thread out and the vibrant green leaves were getting denser. They were nearing the top and Lucy was becoming more confident that they would manage to get there before Gray and Freed caught up. A loud crack echoed around them and Lucy's eyes shot up, widening to take in lightning streaking through an otherwise clear sky. She slowed to a stop, leaning away from the grip she held on a branch to get a better look through the increasingly dense canopy above them. Ahead of her Haru had come to a stop too, eyeing the ribbons of lightning cautiously. It wasn't natural, that much was obvious.

"What is it Haru?" Lucy yelled up.

"Another of Master's unexpected twists, I'm sure," he drawled back irritably, "what now…?" Lucy heard him grumble under his breath.

Another bolt of lightning preceded a high pitched cry and Lucy looked up to catch sight of Levy falling toward them from somewhere above. Her arms swiped at the air and the branches around her, trying to gain purchase on something to prevent her fall. "LEVY!" Lucy screamed for her friend as the other woman plummeted by them with wide terrified eyes.

"Dammit!" Haru cursed out loud, he leaped from the branch he was standing on, launching himself toward their falling comrade. Opponent or not, he couldn't let her fall. He snagged her wrist and looked up just in time to catch the end of the whip he knew Lucy would send snapping towards them. He cringed as the leather bit into his skin when it wound around his forearm and he closed his fist around it in response. Lucy threw her weight back as soon as she caught them, her jaw snapping shut with a clack as she braced herself and dug her heels in to absorb the combined weights of both her friends.

"We wouldn't have let her fall, you know..."

All three heads whirled toward the new voice, eyes finding Erza in her Black Wing Armour and Happy grunting as he flapped his wings hard to keep himself and Laxus in the air.

"But now that you've caught her, you've prevented her elimination," Laxus added dryly, "strange way to compete, Haru."

Haru growled in frustration as he sent a pulse of water out to swing himself and Levy back to the safety of the Tenrou Tree's trunk. When he was sure Levy's shaking had subsided enough to get a steady grip on the tree, he released her and gave her a confident nod. Then he skipped up between the branches toward Lucy again, just as Gajeel came leaping and swinging down calling for his trial partner.

"What's going on now?" Haru demanded. They were mere meters from the upper island and the finish line for this round, and now the S Class were back?

Erza smiled, "Just the unexpected," she stated, spinning her Lightning Empress Staff in the air to summon bolts of lightning to rain down on Haru and Lucy. The two split apart in opposite directions to dodge, keeping their eyes on Erza as Happy dove at Laxus' instructions, heading for the recently reunited Levy and Gajeel.

As she watched the Lightning Slayer send zaps of his magic into the tree around their fellow competitors, something dawned on Lucy as Haru was firing a breath attack up at Erza. "Haru, I don't think they're allowed to attack at close range!" she called, he glanced back in her direction momentarily before focusing back on Erza.

"Go on…"

"I don't think this is another battle challenge, I think they're just trying to slow us down or knock us off if they can."

Recognition flew through his eyes as he met her stare again, followed by a snap of irritation. Lucy just knew he was berating himself for not noticing that as well, and if it weren't for their precarious situation she'd have laughed at the predictable reaction. He ran across the branch toward her, "Water Dragon's Lair!" he shouted, and a dome of water swirled up around each of them, "good catch Lucy, ignore her, let's climb!"

Erza directed the entire force of her attacks to attempting to burst the watery shields, knowing that there was a limit to the durability of the spell, and a limit to the magic capacity that Haru could draw on to feed the shells to maintain them. Aware of the exhaustion to Haru's magic container at each lightning infused blow, Lucy continued to keep Erza in her sights so she could dodge her strikes as often as possible. Fortunately, as Haru's breathing grew heavier under the demands of climbing and the constant out pour of magic, the thick canopy of the tree's top began to close in around them offering more shelter from Erza's onslaught.

"We're not far now Haru, I think you can let the spell go, it'll be harder for Erza to take us unaware."

"I'm not risking that; you don't have access to your magic to defend!"

Even at his words, Lucy noticed that he'd dropped his own water shield to save some magic. The leaves were so dense around them now that she couldn't see the skies, or Erza beyond them. The hardest part was up ahead, the trunk ended at the base of the upper island and branches outstretched below it to cradle the land like loose roots. Now they had to maneuver themselves over the underside of the island, upside down.

Haru gritted his teeth, reaching for a branch and swung toward the outer rim of the island, swinging from branch to branch. He paused about halfway and latched his legs around one thick branch and motioned to Lucy who snapped the whip toward him, he caught it and braced while she used it as a safety line to follow after him. Both knew if Haru fell, he could use his water magic to propel himself back to the tree, but Lucy didn't have her magic to do the same right now. They followed this pattern carefully until they were finally pulling themselves up over the edge of the island, crawling a few feet inward to safety and then collapsed with fitful puffs of air.

"Did, did we… make it?" Lucy asked through laboured breaths.

Erza appeared above them and descended to land a couple meters away. Lucy's eyes widened in concern as Haru jumped back to his feet to find a defensive stance even though exhaustion sent him staggering.

Smiling, Erza released her Requip and dropped a hand on Haru's shoulder, looking passed him to Lucy who was only just pushing herself up into a half kneel. "Congrats you two, you've cleared round two."

"OH, thank the Gods!" Lucy cried and let herself drop back onto the lush grass, sprawling her limbs wide as Erza approached and removed her seal-stone bracelet. Rubbing at her wrist, Lucy smiled softly as she felt the warmth of her magic swell inside her again, almost instantly banishing some of her fatigue along with it. Haru had also dropped back to his butt, leaning back on his hands behind him as he let his head tip back in relief at the news.

Just one round left.

"Hey Haru," Lucy called to draw his attention.

She had donned her Aquarius Star Dress and the anticipation and gratitude that immediately coloured the water mage's face when he looked her way, made her smile. Lucy quickly built up a large orb of water magic between her palms and fired it at him. Downing the meal in eager gulps, Haru released a long sigh in satisfaction and in an uncharacteristic move, ran over to Lucy to pull her into an aggressive hug. "You are actually the best partner I could have asked for," he rambled, "you're awesome!" Haru announced enthusiastically.

"Hey! I resent that…"

The trial partners turned to find Natsu walking toward them with his usual toothy grin in place and his hands interlaced behind his head. Freed and Bixlow were sprawled out on the edge of the island behind him, in similar fashion to the moment Haru and Lucy had first reached the top just minutes earlier. Gajeel pried himself up not long after, an arm wrapped around Levy's waist, who he had slung like a sack of potatoes over his shoulder. For once, she didn't seem too opposed to being man-handled by him, despite her half-hearted comments about his 'brutish manner,' to save face in front of the other teams.

Joining Erza and Laxus who had appeared in a flash of lightning, Natsu cocked his head at them, "Just missing Ice-Dick then?"

Erza nodded her confirmation and Natsu continued, "Eh, he'll be here," he said confidently. Gray wouldn't let the evil orbs and whatnot that Mira was sure to be tossing at him, stop him from reaching the last event. As if to prove his point, a rambunctious but distinctly relieved cheer split the relative quiet as Gray climbed over the ridge and turned to pull Juvia up behind him.

"S CLASS HERE I COME!" Gray shouted with his fists in the air.

"Hey Ice-Princess, you're dead last, you got nothing to cheer about!" Natsu laughed tauntingly. Despite the vein throbbing on Gray's forehead, he didn't seem to have the energy to meet his rival's challenge with any physical response.

"Shut up Flame-Brain, no one asked you!"

The S Class made their way around to remove the seal-stone bracelets from the Candidates' partners, as Makarov and Gildarts joined the group. Makarov rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he scanned the four teams, "Looks like everyone made it passed the second event, I'm very proud of you all." The teams smiled back weakly at him and each other.

"You will have only 30 minutes to strategize and recover for the final round. A strict one-hour time limit will be in place, this is to be a no magic-barred, no limitations, all-out battle royale that will determine Fairy Tail's next S Class mage."

A/N. I changed up the description of the Tenrou Tree a bit to make it more interesting for the challenge, inspired by Erza's canon fight during Grimoire Heart's invasion. Anyyyways!

Okay round two is a wrap, I'm trying to keep these challenges interesting and fun, so hopefully they've hit the mark. Next week will see the conclusion of the Trial, some fluff and, of course, some inevitable drama.

After this… there's some original arc stuff in the works, and down the road setting up Tartaros. Not sure yet if I will play with the GMG, I think if I do, it won't be so battle description heavy and if I do anything, it'll be a shorter arc. What do you all think? Do you want to see a different spin on GMG?

Shout out to Valerioux, EternalFlame and an anonymous guest for giving me some love. Always appreciated!

See you all next weekend!