A/N: Hello, readers! Another chapter is here!

Enjoy!

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN: TENROUJIMA

A week later, it is revealed that Wendy has partnered with Mest, and they, along with all the other two-person teams participating in the S-Class Trial, prepare to board the ship to Tenrou Island.

The sun shines down on the boat where the participants are dying from the heat. "So hot... Even though it was winter at home... What is this?! I think I'm gonna melt!" Lucy muttered, sprawled out on her chair in her bikini. "I'll turn into ice cream and get eaten by Happy!"

"Not very appetizing..." Happy stated, sweating like crazy as well.

"Lu-chan, sit up straight." Levy said, smiling sheepishly at her.

"Because of currents, this area has the same climate all year 'round." Cana informed, fanning herself with a fan.

Wendy weakly groans as she feels the heat beating down on her.

"I feel sluggish..." Happy mumbled.

"I'm gonna turn into ice cream..." Lucy continues to sit on her chair improperly.

"This heat ain't nothin'." Gajeel commented, not being fazed by the heat.

"Juvia, aren't you hot all bundled up in that?" Lisanna questioned.

"Juvia is not hot..." Juvia responded.

"Hot..." Aira mumbled weakly as he was shirtless.

"I feel sick!" Natsu groaned. He stumbles over the ledge of the boat where Gray is sitting.

"Natsu! Keep it away from here, okay?" Gray, sitting naked in his chair, told him.

"Wendy didn't perform a Troia spell on me!" Natsu hurled, crying a waterfall. He then throws up over the ledge.

"You can't blame her. After all, she's Mest's partner." Gray reminded him.

"I'm sorry, Natsu-san." Wendy smiles innocently at him. Natsu continues to suffer with his sickness as he cries in tragedy.

"I don't care for chumminess when soon, we're all going to be enemies." Evergreen said.

"It's hot to be a Man!" Elfman shouted.

"I have no idea what that means." Evergreen said.

"I wanna eat ice cream..." Lucy sighed.

"Don't eat me, okay?" Happy said.

"I can't even imagine you as ice cream, Happy..." Lucy replied. She lies her back all the way until she sees the island with the large tree, upside down in her vision.

"It's in sight." Gray pointed out with Juvia behind him.

"Have we arrived?" Aira questioned.

"That's Tenroujima?!" Lucy sits up in her chair.

"What a freaky shape!" Elfman exclaimed.

"Is that an island on top of an island?" Levy asked.

"Wow... Even from here, I feel magic power in the air around the island." Wendy said.

"Very impressive." Mest praised.

Natsu continues to hurl and groan from his motion sickness until Happy jumps at his side. "Natsu! We're almost there." He pats him on the shoulder to comfort him.

The Master appears from the second level of the boat standing on top of the wooden railing. "It's said that long ago, there were fairies on that island. Also, in reference to the very first Fairy Tail master, there's Mavis Vermilion's Sleeping Ground!"

"What's with those clothes?!" Aira asked, pointing at the Master.

"After all, it's hot!" The Master replied, fanning himself. "Now, I will announce your first trial."

"First trial?" Wendy repeated.

"Usually, the test is split up into different levels." Mest explained.

"You see the smoke rising over the shore?" The Master points out the smoke on the island. "First, head over there. You'll find 8 passages, but only one team can enter each passage. And at the end of each passage, this will happen." A projection appears beside him that shows the layout of the paths. "Only the teams that get through this will pass the first trial."

"'Battle'?" Natsu reads off the projector.

"It says 'Pitched Battle' on Erza and Gildarts' faces..." Aira pointed out.

"What is that?" Lucy asked.

"There's 'Calm', too." Gray added.

"In the 'Battle' route, two teams amongst the eight go ahead to head, and only the team that wins can go on. 'Pitched Battle' is the most difficult route, as you must defeat a current S-Class wizard to proceed. 'Calm' is a route that can be used to get to the end without fighting. In this first trial, you're being tested on 'armed might' and 'luck'!" Master Makarov explained.

"'Luck'?!" Everyone exclaimed in utter shock.

"If it's about luck, we have a chance!" Lucy said, pumping her fists.

"There's only 1 in 8 chance of getting the 'Silence' route." Cana informed.

"Theoretically, 6 teams at most can past the stage." Evergreen said.

"I-Impossible!" Elfman clenches his fists and grits his teeth. "I can't get past the path guarded by Gildarts or Erza!"

"Don't be such a coward!" Evergreen scolded.

"In a worse-case scenario, only 3 teams would past this..." Levy said.

"Interesting! I'll put the boot to all of 'em!" Gajeel said.

"Uh, look..." Levy muttered.

"So, get going! The test has begun!" The Master informed.

"Huh?" Aira said in confusion.

"We're still at sea." Gray stated as the Master grins to himself.

"You know what to do, Happy." Natsu and Happy jump off the boat and fly into the air. "We'll choose our passage first!"

"No fair!" Aira shouted.

"Natsu! You bastard!" Elfman exclaimed.

Natsu and Happy attempt to fly to choose the first path, but they are stopped by some runes.

"Relax! It'll disappear in 5 minutes!" Freed informed, flying away using his runes as wings and Bickslow standing on his dolls.

"Freed!" Natsu bangs his fist against the runes.

"Bastard!" Aira yelled.

"We probably should be sealed them off 'til the whole thing's over!" Bickslow stated.

"What kind of test would that be then?" Freed pointed out.

"Hey, Gramps! Is that kind of thing allowed?!" Aira asked.

"Well, it's not a race..." Master Makarov answered.

"If we let them get to the island ahead of us, they'll probably set up runes all over the place!" Aira stated.

Natsu, still in the air, bangs on the runes. "Dammit!"

"I know! Levy can get through!" Happy exclaimed.

"Right, I can rewrite the spell!" Levy uses her magic pen to change around the runes. "But... Only for Gajeel and me!" Gajeel and Levy jump off the boat into the sea.

"What?!" They all exclaimed.

"Levy-chan!" Lucy called out to her.

"Sorry, Lu-chan!" Levy smiled innocently at her. "See you guys later!" They swim away to the island.

"Jerks!" Natsu exclaimed.

Evergreen also knew how to change the runes. "I've known Freed for a long time, too."

"Evergreen!" Elfman said.

"Perhaps a more complicated trap would've been a problem, but I can rewrite a rune like this. Let's go, Elfman!" Evergreen and Elfman jump off the boat.

"Man!" Elfman dives into the water.

"Dammit!" Natsu exclaimed, getting irritated.

"How many more minutes 'til it turns off?" Lisanna asked.

"There are still 4 minutes left." Juvia answered.

"Then Levy escaped the rune in just one minute?" Cana questioned.

5 minutes later...

"It's dispelled!" Everyone yelled.

"Let's go, Lucy!" Cana starts running.

"Yeah!" Lucy runs by her side.

"Come on, Gray!" Aira wastes no time.

"Right!" Gray agreed.

"Happy!" Natsu and Happy fly away to the island like they originally planned.

"Ice-Make..." Gray started to say. "...Floor!"

"Smart, smart!" Aira and Gray slide on the ice.

"He turned the surface of the water to ice!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Lisanna-san, would you follow me?" Juvia asked Lisanna who's turned into a fish.

"Of course!" Lisanna responded.

"The sea and a fish?!" Cana questioned.

"Hey, Cana! We're last!" Lucy informed.

"No, Mest and Wendy are still up there." Cana stated.

They look up and find nobody. "Where?!" Lucy asked.

"They disappeared?!" Cana exclaimed.

"When?!" Lucy questioned.

"If we don't hurry, we won't be able to choose our passage!" Cana and Lucy start to swim towards the island.

Natsu arrives on the island and, believing that Path E would lead him to a battle with Erza, chooses that path and prepares to battle his friend.

Path H, Path F, Path B, Path A, and Path E are all blocked.

Cana and Lucy meet with Freed and Bickslow and end up winning over them.

Natsu hoped that Path E would lead him to Erza, but he ended up with Gildarts instead.

The S-Class candidates who have chosen their paths that led to the current S-Class Mages are revealed.

Juvia and Lisanna face off against Erza where they are at a disadvantage.

Elfman and Evergreen meet Mira while Natsu battles Gildarts.

Past...

A young Natsu attemps to attack Gildarts in his home, but he gets sent flying away. Gildarts merely smiles at the young boy.

At the guild, Natsu challenges Gildarts to another fight, but Gildarts easily karate chops him to the ground.

The young Mages watch Natsu get pulverized to the ground.

"He's at it again..." Elfman sighed, sitting at a table with Mira and Erza while reading a book. "This makes how many times?"

"That kid never learns his lesson." Mira said.

"Still, to keep facing Gildarts, no matter how many times he gets slapped down, he deserves recognition for his courage." Erza stated.

"'He deserves recognition for his courage', she says!" Mira mocked. "Who the hell do you think you are?" Elfman looks away and hides his face in the book.

"You got something to say to me, wench, why not just get it off your chest?!" Erza glares at Mira.

"Don't go acting like you're some kind of mentor! I'll clean the floor with you!" Mira glares back at her.

"I'm back! And now..." Natsu recovers himself from the beat down.

"And now..." Happy parroted.

"Fire Dragon's Claw!" Natsu kicks Gildarts on the back of his head while he is drinking.

"That's pretty low!" Lisanna exclaimed.

"Grin..." Gildarts, with booze spilling out of his mouth and nose, evilly grins at Natsu.

"Scary!" Natsu and Lisanna shrieked.

Gildarts easily flicks Natsu and sends him flying away through the roof from the guild. "Amusing! Come outside, Natsu!" Gildarts is now determined to fight Natsu.

"He's already outside!" Happy said.

Erza and Mira are still fighting each other as Elfman nervously sweats while reading his book. "Hold on! Time out!" Erza begins to pull Mira's hair.

"That looks more interesting, Erza!" Mira said.

"Mm! What do you say we check it out?!" Erza suggested, breaking their fight so they could go see Natsu fight Gildarts.

"Nobody around here has ever heard of an 'indoor voice'!" Aira grinned.

"But you're going to watch it too, aren't you, Aira?" Elfman asked.

"Well I guess..." Aira responded. He looks over at Cana who's busy working with her cards. "What's wrong, Cana? Aren't you going?"

"I'll pass..." Cana replied, nervously smiling at him.

"Suit yourself." Aira said.

Outside...

Natsu charges at Gildarts with multiple moves, but Gildarts easily blocks all of them and defeats Natsu. Natsu looks up at Gildarts and swears that he'll beat him one day.

Present...

Although Natsu does not beat Gildarts, he passes the first phase due to learning about fear.

Lily, Carla, Cain, and Boris - who was carrying Satsuki - fly over to Tenrou Island. "That's Tenroujima." Carla pointed out holding a map in her paw.

"Are you sure it's okay for us to follow them there?" Lily asked.

"Why not? We're just going to watch." Carla replied.

"Worried about Wendy, I see." Cain stated.

"She's not the only one worried about someone." Boris added, referring to Satsuki.

"Shut up! I'm not worried about Poseidon! Not one bit!" Satsuki denied.

"Funny... I didn't even mention Aira in that sentence. I could've been talking about Gajeel for all you know." Boris teased, causing Satsuki to grumble in annoyance and Cain to chuckle.

Carla grips the map as she almost rips it into pieces. She begins to complain about everything furiously shaking the map around. "Even though I was so dead-set against it, she..."

Lily simply just sighs at her.

"It happened a week ago..." She tells them about when Mest asked Wendy to be his partner in the trial.

Carla found Mest weird and opposed their partnership, but since Mest told Wendy that he is Mystogan's disciple, Wendy decided to help him out in Mystogan's stead.

"And in the end, she decided to help Mest in Mystogan's stead." Carla concluded.

"And that's why you haven't spoken this past week." Lily stated.

"She's a lot more stubborn than she looks." Carla sighed.

"Same to you." Cain teased.

"I don't really care about this Mest guy." Carla muttered. "It's the exam as a whole I have a really bad feeling about."

"Your power to see the future, is it?" Lily questioned.

"I'm not sure... It's too fragmented, so I can't say." Carla replied.

"There's definitely something off about Mest, though." Satsuki spoke, getting the Exceeds attention. "From what I know, Mystogan wasn't the type of person to interact with anyone."

"He did always place a sleeping spell over the guild whenever he took a job request." Cain recalled.

"Exactly. Not to mention, I've never even heard of a 'Mest' in Fairy Tail. Even during my Phantom Lord days." Satsuki added.

"I'm curious about this Mest fellow, as well." Lily agrees with Satsuki's statement. "Mystogan's disciple... It doesn't sit right..."

A/N: Yes, I had to add Satsuki in here somewhere. Did y'all really think she was going to sit at the guild for seven years?

Thanks for reading!

~ Kaleb.