The Rise of a Warrior: Fairy Tail

by The Legendary Dragon Reaper

Luke Drako, S-class wizard of the Fairy Tail guild, the true Lightning Dragon Slayer, student and son of the Lightning dragon Kaminari. This is his story. The story of a Dragon Slayer trying to find his place in the world, and make one hell of a strong team along the way. And with any luck, he just might win the heart of a certain brunette card mage. OC x Cana. Read and review.

34. Tenrou Island I

I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it, and I also want to thank you for getting this story to over 36,000 views! Also, I want to thank all of you for getting this story to over 200 favorites, as well as over 200 followers! I honestly never expected this story to get anywhere near as much love as it did, and believe me when I say that this story would be nothing without all of the support it's received from all of you over the past year. Thank you all.

Guest: Thanks, I'm glad to see you enjoyed this arc. Yes, Luke and Cana is going to become a thing soon enough.

Ragnas Bredvolts: Thanks, I'm glad to see you like it. I haven't actually watched Game of Thrones as of yet, but I am interested in doing so. Yes, I am aware that a majority of people consider season 8 to be a disappointment. Luke was right though, he didn't really have any say in who Tempesta killed. As for the king dying, while I do agree that he's rotten to the core, keep in mind that Noah has his own set of morals despite being with a certain dark guild, and I think something like that would go against his character. Yeah, including Madara's meteor jutsu was all kinds of fun, and it's true that anime is a good source of inspiration for attacks. That's all I have to say for now, and you have a nice day as well my friend.

Ragnas Bredvolts: I never actually thought about that, but yeah I can see that sort of relationship going for Luke and Noah, and maybe they don't drink with each other but they do have lunch. Yeah, given everything he's been through, I think Tempesta has had enough of fighting for one lifetime. I did consider giving his Shatterstorm to Luke, but like I said, I didn't want to make him too overpowered. But don't think I'm sidelining Shatterstorm, it's just for this arc, and even then that's only because of what's around the corner. I never even considered the thought of Edo-Gajeel coming to Earth Land, and while the scenario you described would be funny, it also seems like a bit of overdosing on Gajeel. You can't have too much of a good thing or risk ruining it. Yeah, the fight with Mystogan was fun to write out too. Yes, Tenrou Island is my favorite Fairy Tail arc too. I actually never considered how much of an asset Levy actually could be with her Solid Script magic, and that actually does extend to Cana too thanks to her Card Magic. Next time we meet will be on the one-year anniversary of the story, so until then, you have a nice day as well my friend.

Guest: I know of how the spells go, but I base them on the english dub versions, rather than the Japanese dub. Also, Noah and Lucy? I will admit that sounds rather interesting, but it's not going to happen in this fic.

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About 2 weeks had passed since the events in Edolas, and things were nice and quiet in the city of Magnolia.

Luke was back in his apartment, taking a shower after a hard day of training "Okay yeah, this definitely feels good. After everything that's happened over the past few weeks, a little bit of downtime is exactly what I needed."

"This does feel pretty great."

"I know, that's what I-" Luke glanced over, then his expression dulled considerably, and he just looked away and stared at the wall as he spoke "You've gotta be kidding me."

As it turns out, it was Cana in there with him, sitting naked in his bathtub "You know if you ever wanted a roommate or something, I wouldn't mind living here at all."

"Looks like you're making yourself at home right about now, not that I should be surprised by that by this point."

"You really shouldn't. Hey you wouldn't happen to have any booze hidden away or anything in here would you?"

"...Why do I put up with this? Anyway, if you want to find that sort of thing then see if you can find Bolt's secret stash. Also, you do realize that this is my apartment right?"

"Yep."

"Just checking. Yeah, the beautiful busty brunette bating in front of me is Cana Alberona. Out of everyone from the younger generation of the guild, she's been in Fairy Tail longer than any of us, even the likes of Gray and Erza. So yeah, for the record I'm not turning around until you put on some clothes."

"Yeah I figured as much, hold on a second." Cana stepped out of the bathtub, dried herself off and tied on a bathrobe, but the sullen look on her face didn't fade away "You can look back now, I'm decent."

"Depends on your definition of decent." Luke turned back to face her and promptly tied a towel around his waist "So what's up, is there something bothering you?"

"Not really, but I do have to ask. Do you make it a habit of bathing with other people watching you?"

"That depends, do you make it a habit of watching other people bathing? I mean you and pretty much everyone else in the guild already break into my house, so…"

"Ha ha. So have you found any new leads on your dad, you know the lightning dragon?"

"More or less, the last bit of information I found in that regard was when Gildarts told me about how he met a dragon on his Century Quest that basically ripped him apart. But that thing is long gone by now, so that won't be of any use to me. Why the sudden interest?" he was met with only a small sigh "If you want to talk about anything then I'm always willing to listen, so what's the matter?"

"Well… Okay here's the deal, I've been seriously considering quitting the guild."

"...Oh shit, it's that time of year already huh?"

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Another day came, and the sun was shining brightly over the skies of Magnolia.

"Wait what?!" Lucy's jaw dropped at what she was hearing from Luke "You mean to tell me she actually said that? I thought Cana was in Fairy Tail for life! Did she at least tell you why she said something like that? I mean do you know the reason?"

"Yeah I do." Luke took a bite out of his sandwich and downed a few of his fries "But it's not my place to say why, if you're gonna hear it then it will have to be from her. I wouldn't worry about that too much though, she always talks about quitting whenever this time of year rolls around, but she never goes through with it."

"Say what? Oh man, is something bad going to happen?"

"I think the answer to that depends on your opinion, but it's something that only happens around here once a year. Speaking of which, it feels like it's been a lot longer than that, but it's only been a little bit over 6 months since I returned to Fairy Tail. So much has happened in that time, from fighting off evil tyrants in this world or another, to fighting Dark Guilds to taking part in some of the various events and traditions that I missed being part of, and now's the time where one of the biggest comes into play, and it's going to be soon. Well in the meantime I'd better go see what's got Erza so worked up, it's usually worth looking into when that happens." and so he promptly walked off.

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Meanwhile, with Erza and Mira…

Erza looked at Mira in what appeared to be a mix of shock and disgust "You can't be serious, I can't believe you actually just said that!"

"What's the big deal?" Mira gave a shrug "It's the truth, that's all there is to it."

"The truth? The fact that you said something so ignorant is both surprising, as well as a little bit disappointing."

"I'm surprised you don't agree with me, I mean you claim to know the true meaning of the world quality."

"I do, and that's why I can state for a fact that you're wrong on every account."

"I'm wrong on every account? You've got a lot of nerve saying that red."

"You have some nerve making the claim that you did in the first place."

"Oh for fuck's sake, a guy can only listen to so much." this was when Luke made his way over to them looking rather irate "I'm pretty sure they can hear the two of you in Edolas, and to be more realistic I can't enjoy a decent sandwich without people screaming their heads off around here can I? Alright, what's this about?"

"This is about a rather ignorant statement just uttered by a recently-returned comrade."

"Define ignorant."

"We can use that to make jabs at each other later, I'm trying to tell red here that my opinion is a valid one." Mira told him flatly.

"...Wait a second. A contentious topic, heated arguments, today's date… Oh crap, I think I know what this is about. Word of advice Mira, I'm thinking that you should let Erza take the win, at least for today."

"Not a chance Thunderclap, it needs to be said and heard loud and clear and it needs to be unimpeded. You know what, I'm gonna say it again."

"Wait no don't!"

"The Last Airbender movie is overhated!"

"...Wait what? You've gotta be freaking kidding me, so that's what you two have been arguing about?"

"Yes, that's all there is to it." Erza told him "Did you honestly expect the two of us to comment on the newest season of the Seven Deadly Sins?"

"Me and probably everyone else listening to you two."

"Well I'm almost sorry to disappoint you then."

"Yeah, I hate to break it to you Thunderclap, but on that point me and Erza actually found some common ground." Mira told him flatly "About The Last Airbender, well that's a whole other story entirely."

"How in the world can you call it overhated Mira? That movie is an atrocity in every sense of the word."

"And I'm gonna bet you a month's worth of job fares that you can't tell me why and make it convincing."

"Well prepare to lose that wager, because I most certainly can. The effects are far from worthy of being called special, the story is rushed, poorly paced and poorly written, and the performances by the cast are just horrific, and don't even get me started on the pronunciation of the names all throughout the movie."

"I'm not going to deny any of that, but you at least have to give the movie credit for still being true to the source material. The same can't be said about other movies like that."

"Would you care to name an example?"

"The perfect one that comes to mind is Dragonball Evolution. That movie isn't even true to the source material, it's horrible in every sense of the word. The way I see it, that movie was far more of an atrocity in every sense of the word than The Last Airbender could ever even dream of being."

"You know when you think about it, both of those movies actually do have a lot more in common than people realize." Luke pointed out.

"Bite your tongue." Mira spat at him.

"I'd rather be biting into a panini. Seriously, I'm missing lunch for this."

"Well what do you think about this Luke?" asked Erza "We need a third opinion to break this stalemate."

"I'm not losing brain cells over either of those movies, they've got pros and cons just like everything else, even though the cons obviously outweigh the pros in this case, though I personally think it's pretty sad when people tear into people who don't like the same things that they do. Live and let live, that's what I think. But with that being said, I think there are two things that the three of us can all agree upon without hesitation."

"And those would be?"

"One, live-action adaptations of cartoons and anime never work under any circumstances. Two, the Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie was fucking amazing."

Erza and Mira shared a look, then both grinned "Oh of course, there's no way anyone could deny that."

"Good, now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to my panini." and so he made his way back over to the bar, or at least tried to.

"Before that, have you seen Lisanna at all today?" asked Mira.

"Oh yeah, last I saw she left with Natsu and Happy on a job pretty early. As Natsu stated before he left, along with a certain finger gesture, Team Dragon has officially been disbanded until further notice."

"Team Dragon?"

"It was the only way to get him to stop calling it Team Natsu, but either way it's disbanded for the time being."

"You're damn right it is, now it's the season of Solo Missions!" this was when Gray rushed into the guild hall and held up a flyer, and he didn't have any clothes on "I'm back and I've got another job done."

"You forget something again, as in putting on some pants?"

"No time for that right now, I'm gonna take this job so I'm out." and so he bolted off.

"And speaking of leaving, I am too." and so Luke sat back down at the bar and went back to his panini and fries.

"So what was that about?" asked Lucy "Why are they all going on solo gigs?"

"I'm out, this is a job for a real man!" and then Elfman bolted out the door.

"I'm gonna pull the trigger on this job right here!" and then Alzack.

"I've got dibs on this one!" and then Bisca.

"Sorry pal, but this one is finder's keepers!" Warren bolted out of the guild hall with a flyer in his hands.

"Hey get back here, I called dibs on that job!" Max ran out of the guild hall after him.

"The great and mighty Team Shadow Gear is splitting up for now!" Jet and Droy shared a pissed of glare with each other, then bolted out of the guild hall, amidst the sounds of various other nameless guild members scrounging for one other flyer.

Luke just calmly pushed them aside and then sat back down at the bar "Yep, looks like things are definitely back to normal around here."

"I don't suppose you can explain why everyone is going crazy?" asked Lucy.

"Not really, but I do know why they're acting crazier than usual. My guess is they're going to make the announcement sometime in the next few days, so you're just gonna have to wait and see until then."

"That's not very comforting."

"Neither is Natsu dive-bombing into the fray over there." he jerked a thumb at where Natsu was charging at the fray of people, and he let out a sigh "If he gets picked for it, chances are I'm going to have my hands full."

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Meanwhile, with some of the girls…

Lisanna and Wendy blinked at what they were being told by Carla "You mean you can see into the future?"

"Yes, it's a trait that I share with the Exceed queen." Carla told them "Both of us have been blessed with the rare gift of clairvoyance. I wasn't aware of this ability until recently, but now that things have started calming down I have a small degree of control over it."

"Wow, that's totally amazing. So can you use it to tell which guy is going to end up being my future husband?"

"I don't need clairvoyance to see something like that, but even besides that I wouldn't be able to see that far ahead. Something sooner is another story though. For example, you two keep an eye on Macao over there. My prediction is that any moment now, Wakaba and Luke will walk up to him and start discussing over some of the younger folks of the guild, and a certain event that's about to take place."

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Meanwhile, with the targets of Carla's prediction…

"Hey there." Wakaba made his way over to Macao, cigarette in mouth "So what's shaking with you old timer?"

"Hey now." Macao shot him a grin.

"Well so much for lunch." this was when Luke sat down next to them with a mug of booze in hand, and he let out a sigh "You try to enjoy a panini in piece, and the next thing you know everybody starts pouncing on you like a pack of vultures, and that's what happens before we break out the booze."

"You seem kind of agitated."

"That's one way to describe it, you guys know we're getting to that time of year again. I'll be honest though, I'm not exactly looking forward to it."

"Why's that?"

"It's not my place to say why exactly."

"Huh. Suit yourself, but this time of year definitely takes me back."

"I know the feeling, it's only been a few years but it feels like yesterday when I got the crap beaten and scared out of my by Gildarts during that time, but all the while I've never forgotten what he taught me either."

"You've definitely come a long way since then, but stuff like that really takes a guy back doesn't it?"

"Yeah tell me about it, those were the good old days." Wakaba let out a sigh.

"We were so full of spunk back then."

"I'll tell you what though, this new crop is something else, especially their derrieres!"

"Wait what? No way in hell!"

"So what then, you're more of a breast man?"

"Look I'm trying to raise a kid here, I don't have time to go checking out butts."

"You got that right, you're more of a leg man then aren't you?"

"Now you're speaking my language, I'll stick behind a pair of legs any day."

"And I'll stick behind leaving you two alone and stay far away from you." on that note, Luke just walked calmly away, then sat down with Wendy and the others "Please tell me the three of you are talking about something that isn't lecherous and possibly pedophilic."

"We're talking about how Carla can see into the future." Lisanna told him "She just made a prediction and she hit it right on the nose, though she didn't tell us it would sound so creepy in context."

"To be totally realistic, I think we all should've seen that coming. Either way, if you were able to literally see that coming then I'm impressed."

"Thank you for that." Carla shot him a smirk "But I still have a great deal to learn about how to properly control it."

"And speaking of which, I'm gonna go see if I can find a decent sparring partner." and so he promptly left.

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About an hour went by, and things had calmed down in the guild hall, more or less.

Luke and Lily were in the middle of conducting a sparring match with swords only, which ended after a few moments "So how about it, was that enough to satisfy you for the time being?"

"For the time being at least." Lily promptly transformed back to his small form "It would seem that while I can access my original form, I can't maintain it for a long period of time."

"Maybe so but you're still pretty impressive, your skills with a sword are top notch."

"You flatter me, but then again I think I should be the one complimenting you. It seems that your skill does indeed rival your counterpart from Edolas, if not surpassing him."

"You spar with him?"

"On a regular basis, I held a deep respect for him."

"I assume it was mutual, and with blade skills like that chances are that you'd probably be able to give Erza a run for her money. Chances are I'm gonna pay for that later on, but I can deal with it when the time comes."

"So what's your verdict?" this was when Gajeel suddenly popped up in front of him "What do you think Thunderclap, my cat is a force of nature isn't he?"

"I don't know if I would go that far, but he definitely knows how to back up his talk."

"I assume that your level of skill is what people in this guild refer to as S-class." Lily noted.

"It's more about title than the skill level, it takes a lot more than that. I learned that the hard way during my exam."

Lucy seemed rather put out by everything that was happening "I don't get it, why is it that so many people are going crazy with the jobs, but everyone else is just goofing off without a care in the world."

"Don't worry about it too much, it'll all make sense by tomorrow."

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The next day came, and as dark clouds gathered over the city of Magnolia, nearly even member of the Fairy Tail guild had gathered inside the guild hall, awaiting a major announcement.

"So what's all this commotion about?" asked Lily.

"Beats me." Gajeel gave a shrug.

"You think the master will tell us about something big happening?" asked Wendy.

"I can't say I'm too excited for it." Carla told her flatly.

Alzack was growing rather excitable over the events "What's he going to say? The suspense is killing me!"

"Take it easy, we both know we worked our asses off." Bisca assured him.

Happy was quick to try and call off Natsu from twitching left and right "Just settle down, you've got this Natsu, so don't worry."

"The tension here is huge, very manly." Elfman noted, earning a small chuckle from Gray as a response.

Lucy was standing in the crowd with Juvia getting rather angsty "Well this is weird, I'm dying to know what's going on."

"This is so exciting it's unbelievable!" Juvia was considerably excited herself, though for a different reason that also led to her having hearts in her eyes "My beloved ice prince is almost within reach!"

"Oh yeah, be still my heart." Lucy glanced through the crowd to see Cana isolated from the rest of them and looking rather downcast 'She seems kind of upset, does this have anything to do with what she said to Luke the other night?'

The curtain on the stage rose up shortly after, revealing Makarov and all of the S-class wizards in the guild, but Luke was the only one to actually step forward "Yeah yeah guys, you all know it's that time of year again. Just calm down for a minute and let the master speak, and you'll see if you made it in."

"Thank you for that Luke." so Makarov stepped forward and motioned for Luke to take a step back as he spoke "In accordance with the time-honored tradition of the Fairy Tail guild, I will now announce the candidates for this year's S-class wizard promotion trials!" he was met with various cheers.

"And for the newcomers of the guild, yes this is why everyone else has been acting like a bunch of lunatics over the past few days. But in all seriousness, shut up and let the master finish what he has to say."

"Again, thank you Luke. As I was saying, the trials for this year will be taking place on Tenrou Island, the sacred ground of our guild."

Hearing this, Lucy glanced over at Lisanna "So do you have any idea what the master is going to make them do?"

"Well it's hard to say." Lisanna told her "The master makes the candidates do something different every year, it's a lot of difficult tasks, but if you can pull it off then he'll promote you to an S-class wizard."

Makarov went on in his explanation of the trials "The strength that you possess inside, the strength of your character and ths strength of your heart, these are what I considered while making my selections, and as such I have chosen 8 participants. Natsu Dragneel."

"Alright!" Natsu let out a roar "You can be sure as hell I'm all fired up now! I've got this one in the bag!"

"Gray Fullbuster!"

"About time." Gray gave a smirk "I was wondering when I would get the chance to move up."

"Lisanna Strauss! Elfman Strauss!"

Lisanna blinked "Really master, me?"

"Don't sell yourself short, you'll do fine." Elfman assured her "As for me, well S-class could use a real man in its ranks."

"Best of luck big brother."

Makarov went on listing the rest of the candidates "Cana Alberona!"

"Whoop de doo." Cana just looked away, a bunch of thoughts going through her mind.

"Freed Justine!"

"So it's my time." Freed noted, his tone deadly serious "At last, I'm going to be following in the footsteps of Laxus."

"Levy McGarden!"

"Holy crap this is so awesome!" Jet and Droy chorused their feelings on the matter "Levy is totally going to win this one!"

"And the eight and final candidate is Mest Gryder!"

"NOOO!" Alzack promptly fell into comical despair "I worked so hard, so why didn't he pick me this year?"

"Hey come on now, buck up." Bisca tried to cheer him up, to no avail "It's bound to happen someday right?"

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Despite most of the other members of the guild not being picked, they still seemed to be happy for the others.

"Looks like the master finally chose Natsu."

"Don't forget Gray."

"Figures he'd pick Elfman, but Lisanna too?" Wakaba muttered.

"Yeah tell me about it." Macao gave a smirk "I'm so proud of those kids, to think that he even picked Lisanna."

"I bet they're all pretty excited aren't they?"

"How could they not be?"

"Alright, that settles it!" Romeo pumped a fist "When I grow up, I want to become an S-class wizard too! You just watch me, I'll show you!"

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Luke made his way over to the edge of the stage and glance over at Lucy "So how about it, does that answer satisfy you then?"

"More or less, but either way I think I get it now." Lucy told him "Everybody was rushing around like a bunch of lunatics because they wanted the master to pick them, so they were working their butts off to try and impress him." but then she glanced over at Cana 'I wonder, is this why she was talking about quitting before?'

"I know what you're thinking but don't say anything now, if you're going to hear it then it should be from her. Now make sure to keep quiet, the master isn't done yet."

Sure enough, Makarov continued speaking to everyone in the guild "Although eight participants have been selected from the guild, only one will emerge victorious. The trial is scheduled to begin in one week's time, so you had best step up your preparations."

"Which means that you should take the time to train, rest, get your affairs in order, or for those who haven't been chosen, make bets on who's going to become the newest S-class wizard of this guild."

"This is bullshit!" Gajeel pretty much exploded from within the crowd "Why the hell would they pick Salamander but pass me over?!"

"I don't know of the specifics, but from what I've gathered you seem to have a shady reputation in this guild." Lily pointed out "And I get the feeling the others don't hold a great deal of trust for you."

"That's a load of bullshit, they can all trust me just fine! I just can't tell them what I'm really doing around here, that's all."

"I suggest you take it up with Luke then."

"Fine, yo Thunderclap-"

"Let me save you the trouble." Luke cut him off dryly "We all agreed that you're not ready for something like that."

"This whole thing sucks!"

"Sure it does, now quit complaining so we can finish."

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"And as usual, everyone here loses control at the drop of a hat." Carla muttered from her place within the crowd, but then she suddenly froze as her expression turned grim.

Wendy was quick to notice this "Hey Carla, is there something wrong?"

"No.. it's nothing, I'm fine. It's so strange, what was that I was seeing? Some sort of massive tree breaking apart, Cana breaking down in tears, Natsu in terror, and a figure with black hair and eyes cold as night, someone that I've never seen before. What was that? I have a bad feeling about this.'

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Unaware of this exchange, Makarov continued elaborating on the S-class trials "For the benefit of any newcomers that may be participating, I believe it would be beneficial to go over the rules of the challenges in question."

"I've got this master." so Luke stepped back up to the plate "The eight participants in the trials will each be required to choose a partner, and the person they choose will be allowed to train with them in the week leading up to the trials themselves. Ultimately the trial turns into a battle between teams of two wizards, and a big part of it is putting your friendship and camraderie to the test as well. There are also two rules that you have to abide by when you make the choice of who your partner is going to be. The first rule is that whoever it may be, your partner has to be a member of this guild. The second rule is that whoever you choose to pick, they can't be an S-class wizard, which rules out myself, Erza, Mira and Gildarts. We want these trials to be fair of course, and we don't want any team to be too overpowered. The rest of the particular details about the trials will be revealed once we arrive on Tenrou Island, but for now it's only fair for all of you to be aware that you'll have to get past the likes of me and Erza if you want any hope of becoming an S-class wizard, and now that Mira's back with us she'll be helping out herself to weed out the rest of you right behind us. So to sum up, defeating at least one of us may very well be the only way that you'll get to become an S-class wizard. Don't worry though, supposedly we've been ordered to hold back a little bit, but that doesn't mean we're going to just let you win either. And for those who still aren't satisfied, stop whining already. Keep in mind that the four of us had to go through these trials too, so to just let you guys slide wouldn't be fair. And yes, I said the four of us, which means that Gildarts is getting involved too."

"Holy crap this is awesome!" Natsu had comical stars in his eyes "I get to fight both Luke and old man Gildarts, this is gonna be fu-" he glanced at Lisanna "Freaking awesome!"

"Anyway, the eight participants the master listed, along with the partners they've chosen, are ordered meet at the port of Hargeon one week from today, so you should all be sure you use this time wisely.

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After the announcement was over with, everyone split up and things quickly calmed down in the guild hall.

"Damn, they definitely set the bar crazy high this year." Gray noted.

"I have to admit, I'm kind of surprised that none of you have ever been chosen for these sorts of trials before." Lucy commented.

"I'm ready for the bigtime, S-class here I come!" Natsu let out a fiery roar.

Elfman seemed more freaked out than excited "I know I'm the manliest guy in the guild, but I'm as scared as a little girl right now!"

"I know the feeling big brother." Lisanna gave him her usual smile "I mean I'm surprised I got picked myself, but I promise I'll do my best, and I know that all of us will too."

"This all sounds pretty tough to me, but good luck everyone." Wendy told them.

"Hey guys." this was when Mira sat down at their table with a mug of booze in hand "Let me take a wild guess, my little siblings are freaking out over being picked for the trials?"

"That's one way of looking at it." Gray told her flatly "I don't blame them for that, considering they'll probably have to go through you when the time comes."

"Well they might have at least one advantage going for them, sure I've been training a lot since I got back but I'm still out of practice with my Satan Soul by about two years. Plus I hear that one of them has been training with Luke and the other has a certain surprise that she's been working on in secret."

"Wait what?" Lisanna's head snapped up at this "How do you-?"

"You can thank a certain blue cat for giving me your diary."

"...Oh."

"Yeah. It's an interesting idea though, I guess we'll just have to wait and see as to how that works out for you. Anyway, it might interest you guys to know that Freed over there has already ligned up Bickslow as his partner, something about needing an S-class man in their ranks now that they don't have Laxus to follow around like a bunch of lapdogs and showing them that the Thunder Legion's still got it. Speaking of which, where the hell is Laxus? I haven't seen him around here and I've been back for almost two weeks."

"Don't count on any of them telling you for awhile." Luke sat down with the group "I was back for almost three months before I found out why he wasn't here, and even then I had to hear about it from Laxus himself."

"So what did happen?"

"To make a long story short, a year ago he tried to take the guild by force, but then Natsu, Gray and Mystogan beat the ever loving crap out of him, and as a punishment he got expelled from the guild by Makarov, and since then he's been travelling the continent training. I actually met up with him before the whole thing with Edolas went down, we fought and it ended in a draw."

"...Shit."

"Oh yeah, tell me about it." Luke glanced over at Natsu "So how about it, since fellow candidates aren't allowed to pair up who are you gonna go with?"

"Who else, I'm going with my little buddy over here." Natsu jerked a thumb at Happy, which earned an "Aye!" as a result.

"Fair enough."

"Hey!" Elfman promptly rounded on Natsu "Not so fast there pinky, if this whole thing turns out to be a race then having a partner that can fly is an unfair disadvantage!"

"But to be fair Elfman, if this turns out to be a battle then having someone like Happy would be an unfair disadvantage, as in he can't throw or take a punch to save his life." Bolt told him "And in all honesty, him taking a punch might actually end his life."

"You know I'm sitting right here." Happy pointed out.

"Yeah I know."

"Whatever, you're just jealous that I'm going to make Natsu into an S-class wizard! What do you have to say to that?"

"Two things. First, Luke is already an S-class wizard." Bolt dealt Luke a fist bump "And second, I've got this going for me." he held up Shatterstorm "Since someone has to look after all of these schmucks while you're gone, I'm gonna take the opportunity and learn how to use this thing properly."

"...Well forget this, Natsu let's roll!" Happy suddenly flew out of the guild hall.

"There goes one simple-minded idiot."

"The hell with a bunch of sitting around, we've got training to do!" and so Natsu promptly bolted off after him.

"And there goes the other one."

"Bye Natsu, good luck!" Lisanna waved at him with a dreamy look in her eyes "Even after everything that's happened, I still find it kind of hard to believe that Natsu's gotten strong enough to be in the running for becoming an S-class wizard."

"He's gotta compensate for the lack of a brain somehow."

"Hey!"

"Come on Bolt, that's not necessarily a fair way to look at it." Luke pointed out "Sure he can be, and usually is, pretty simple-minded, but deep down he's only doing it because he's convinced himself that getting strong enough and hitting things hard enough is the best way for him to finally see Igneel again. I just wish I could believe the same thing, that if I work hard enough then I'll be able to see Kaminari again."

"He probably has at least twice the motivation to move ahead than anyone else."

"I know for a fact that's not true, not with everyone at least."

"What do you mean?"

"I know someone in the running who has just as good of a reason for becoming an S-class wizard this year, but it's not my place to tell you who or why. So anyway, what about you? I can imagine you're not too thrilled about not having Natsu as a partner?"

"Well yeah I guess, but that's no reason for me to give up. Natsu wouldn't want me to do that, and neither would anyone else. I'll find someone though."

"I'm sure you will." Luke glanced over at Gray "So what about you, I take it you've already got someone lined up as your partner for the exam?"

"HEY!" Juvia suddenly exploded at him "Don't you dare think about trying to steal him away from me!"

"I couldn't if I wanted to, I'm one of the people conducting the trials."

"Be honest with me Gray, would you rather him or some bimbo on your team?!"

"Settle down." Gray called her off "And I hate to break it to you, but I've already got someone lined up for it."

Sure enough, this was when Loke walked up to the group "Hey guys how's it going, it's been awhile."

"And for the record, he's my partner."

"Wait what?" Lucy's jaw dropped at this "You mean you're hijacking one of my spirits?"

"I wouldn't call it hijacking, we worked this whole thing out a year ago after the trials from last year."

"But-"

"Sorry about this Lucy, please don't take this too hard but I'm gonna have to put a hold on our contract while I team up with Gray for the trials." Loke told her "And just in case you were wondering, I used my own power in order to pass through the gate, so you don't have to worry about running out of magic power because of me."

"Well okay, but I kind of wish you would've run this by me first."

"To be fair, I set this up before I became contracted to you."

"Wait a minute Loke, are you still a full-fledged member of the guild? I mean we've barely seen you since we found out about your secret." Elfman pointed out.

"Oh yeah, check it out." he pulled down his shirt to reveal the Fairy Tail guild mark present on his back "See here, I'm still a proud wizard of the Fairy Tail guild, and as such it's my duty to help Gray reach his full potential and make it to the ranks of S-class."

"And I'm personally glad to hear it." Gray shot him a smirk "I appreciate the help."

"No worries man, I've got your back."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Lucy just pouted at the sight of this arrangement "I don't remember these guys being each other's BFFs before today."

"So anyway, the rest of you feel free to come at me with everything you've got, I have no problems with going at it hot and heavy with each of you."

"Hot… and heavy…?" that was enough to send Juvia spiralling into one of her fantasies "I don't know if I can handle such a thing!"

"You know if you want Juvia, I can make you part of my team." Lisanna offered.

"You sure about that?" asked Mira "I mean you barely even know her."

"She's been in the guild for awhile now, and if she wants to participate then it wouldn't be right to just blow her off."

"You mean… you would choose me?" asked Juvia.

"Yeah why not, we're all friends here. So what do you say?"

"I suppose so, but I have a feeling you're just using me to get to Gray."

"You realize that she's with Natsu right?" Luke pointed out dryly "Even if you insist on being paranoid, there's no need to be with her of all people." he was met with a glare "Alright then, whatever lets you sleep at night." he glanced over at Elfman "So what about you? You're still going to need a partner for the trials."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Elfman let out a sigh "To think, you spend all that time training and I fail because I can't even find a partner."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, just take a look at the chick who's been giving you what I like to call the Medusa Glare." he jerked a thumb at where Evergreen was brooding at the bar and giving them the glare in question "Call it a hunch, but I have a feeling she was less than thrilled about Freed choosing Bickslow to be his partner instead of her."

"She's… She's looking right at me…"

"Yeah see, this is what I meant by the Medusa Glare. It's not so intense of a stare as it is downright petrifying. But at the same time, at least you have yourself a partner, so good luck with that."

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Meanwhile, with a certain Salamander…

Gildarts glanced down at the sight of Natsu's so-called training, which was really him being put through all sorts of hell by Happy 'Looks like Happy isn't pulling any stops with him, not that I can blame him. In the meantime, I guess I had better head over to Tenrou Island, so I'll be sure to see you there Natsu. Maybe I'll end up taking him on, maybe not, but I'll make sure I get the point across regardless.'

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Meanwhile, back at the guild hall…

Jet and Droy didn't waste any time in singing Levy's praises over her being chosen for the S-class trials.

"Master finally chose you!"

"You're gonna be an amazing S-class wizard!"

"Totally!"

"You're gonna pick me to be your partner right?"

"Why the hell would she pick you instead of me?! I'm hundreds of times faster than you!"

"Speed can go to hell, why don't you just admit that I'm the better fighter!"

"Whatever, you've just got a thing for Levy!"

"What and you don't?" their arguing like a bunch of idiots quickly drained Levy's excitement right out of her.

"Yeah let me solve that problem for you." Gajeel promptly shoved Jet and Droy to the side and stood behind Levy "If you really want to make it to S-class then you should go ahead and pick me instead of those two clowns."

Levy was taken aback by the offer "Wait are you serious?"

"I've got a chance to beat up on all of those other idiots if I do this don't I?"

"Oh. That. I guess there's going to be some fighting involved, but I'm so puny and weak, and between the likes of Natsu and Gray we'll probably just lose right away!" she was picked up by the back of her shirt.

"Hey come on shrimp, don't go wimping out before the whole thing even gets started."

"Hey what are you doing?! Let go, please put me down!"

"Take it easy little girl, now that I'm here I'm going to make you that much bigger than you've ever been." this caused Levy to blush and Jet and Droy to sink into comical depression."

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Nightfall came, and the snow was starting to descend over the city of Magnolia, the first of the season.

Natsu sat on a snowy hillside overlooking the city, his thoughts drifting 'It's weird, but whenever it starts to snow, I start thinking about him.'

"Hi."

Natsu glanced over to see Lisanna sitting down next to him "Oh hey, I thought you were training with Juvia."

"I was, but then she saw Gray and-"

"Got it."

"So what are you doing? I thought you'd be training with Happy right now."

"I was."

"...You're thinking about Igneel again aren't you?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sure you'll see him again." she scooted closer and leaned her head against his shoulder, and she was pulled closer by Natsu, causing both of their faces to turn red.

"Thank you." the two of them locked their gaze on each other, their eyes closed, and then their lips met, which also acts as the final nail in the coffin for any NaLu shippers.

"Hey guys the soup's on-" Happy started coming up to them, only to stop himself when he realized their current situation and backed away with a smirk 'Aye sir, get the girl and become an S-class wizard. Things are going great for him.'

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Meanwhile, with Wendy and Carla…

While the two of them were travelling through the streets of Magnolia, Carla took the opportunity to warn Wendy that she had a bad feeling about the trial, and that she absolutely shouldn't get involved, and Wendy assured Carla that she was okay since nobody wanted to have her as a partner. This was when Mest made himself known before them, claiming that she shouldn't think like that, and then he introduced himself as a disciple of Mystogan.

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Meanwhile…

By this point, Luke was walking through the streets of Magnolia with Lucy and Bolt by his side, gazing up as the snow gently fell over the city "Yeah, this is definitely one of the things I missed the most about being back home."

"Wow, this is amazing." Lucy looked on in awe "I didn't think it ever snowed in Magnolia, but this is beautiful."

"Yeah, snow around these parts makes it look like something out of a Dream Land. It's one of the things I missed most while I was gone for a year and a half. So I have to ask though, are you disappointed about not being picked for the S-class trials?"

"I didn't even know it was a thing until the announcement was made, but it would be kind of nice to have the privileges of being S-classes. I mean granted I don't really need them, but it's just nice to know you have them."

"Like car insurance, you don't really need it most of the time but you're still glad to know it's there regardless."

"Kind of a weird analogy, but okay."

"Weird as it may be, it's still accurate, and I'm sure a certain drunk brunette in the alley would agree with me."

"Wait what?" Lucy glanced over to the alley and nearly freaked at the sight of Cana passed out and drunk as hell, partially buried under some snow "What the hell is she doing passed out in the alleyway?!"

"I think you know the answer to that already." Luke walked over and picked up Cana's form in his arms bridal style "Come on, let's bring her back to my apartment and dry her off, and when we get there, I have a favor to ask of you."

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About 20 minutes later…

Cana wrapped a blanket further around her body to stop herself from shivering "Man I really owe you one, if you hadn't found me then chances are I would've frozen my butt off out there in the snow."

"Not to mention you were drunk as fuck." Luke pointed out dryly "Seriously, at the rate you're going you're gonna die from alcohol poisoning before you're 30."

"I know I know, you've given me that shtick before."

"And yet it's never stuck. Look, you've already told me about why you act like this, so I'll just leave the two of you alone for now. I'm gonna go make sure Bolt doesn't blow up half the city with that weapon he got from Edolas." and so he left, leaving Cana alone with Lucy.

"So…"

"You wanna tell me why you've been acting like such a lunatic lately?" asked Lucy.

"You mean Luke hasn't already told you about it? I always get sort of crazy around this time of year, at least when S-class trials roll around. It happens every year."

"Does this have something to do with you telling Luke you want to quit the guild?"

"More or less. This is going to be my fifth trial to become an S-class wizard, that means I've been picked four times but I've never been able to go all the way, because I suck."

"Oh come on, don't be like that. Just because you haven't made it yet doesn't mean you can't or won't."

"You don't get it, I'm the only person in the entire guild who's failed four times, and that's why this is going to be my last one. I made a promise to myself, if I don't make it this time then I'm leaving Fairy Tail for good."

"Hey come on, that's not a fairy thing to think about yourself. Even if you don't make it this time there's always next year, besides there are plenty of others in the guild that haven't made S-class themselves."

"Well I don't want to be one of those losers okay?!" her sudden outburst left Lucy considerably taken aback "You don't get it, I have to become an S-class wizard. If I don't then I'll never be able to look him in the eye."

"Who, you mean Luke?"

"No." and then she proceeded to narrate her story, leaving Lucy speechless as a result of her revelation "That's why if I don't make it this time, then I'm leaving Fairy Tail for good. I've already made up my mind, you can't stop me."

"Cana… will you please let me be your partner in the S-class trials? Fairy Tail just wouldn't be the same without you."

"Lucy…" at this, Cana looked up at her with tears streaming down her face "Thank you…"

"And I know Luke wouldn't want to imagine Fairy Tail without you either."

"...Oh crap, you had to go there didn't you?" her face turned red.

"Come on Cana, just come out and say it. You like him don't you?"

"Well… alright fine, I don't just like him. I'm in love with him. I have been for years, but I didn't realize it until after he left for that year and a half training excursion. That's another reason why I have to do this, if I keep screwing it up then how could I look him in the eye."

"Take my advice, if you want that to work then try the direct approach. But we'll worry about that later, for now if we're going to get you to S-class then we'd better get started."

"Right."

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The next day came, and the snow was still falling over the skies of Magnolia.

Luke made his way to the East Forest and was surprised to find Lucy already there "You seem pretty serious before it's even dawn, so what's up?"

"I think you already know the answer to that." Lucy pulled out her new Celestial Weapon that she had acquired from Virgo during the events in Edolas "I think we both agree when I say that Fairy Tail would never be the same without Cana, and I don't want that to become a reality, so I have to get a lot stronger if I want to make sure of it. To that end, I've gotta make sure that I can use this thing to its fullest extent."

"You sound like you're pretty fired up. Fine by me, I'll help you how I can, but don't think I'm going easy on you."

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A week passed, and the day of the trials arrived.

Luke stood on the bow of the ship as it pulled into Hargeon, his camera hanging around his neck, and he looked down at the eight teams that would be participating 'So we've got Natsu & Happy, Lucy & Cana, Gray & Loke, Elfman & Evergreen, Freed & Bickslow, Gajeel & Levy, Lisanna & Juvia, and Wendy & Mest. I have a feeling this is going to be very interesting for the S-class trials this year.' he pulled out a telescope and peered into it to see the Fairy Tail guild hall far away in the distance 'Well I guess we'll be seeing you guys when we get back.'

Unfortunately, what none of them would realize was that nothing would ever be the same by the time they did return to Fairy Tail, or how long it would be until then…

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But putting that ominous message aside for the time being, it only took about an hour before the ship was setting sail for Tenrous Island… and the trip wasn't particularly pleasent for at least a few of them.

"Oh come on, why the hell is it so hot?" Lucy let out a groan "Didn't we just see it snowing the other day?"

"Back in Magnolia yeah, but now we're roaming the high seas." Luke told her flatly.

"Yeah yeah, only I don't feel like a One Piece character. I'd love to turn into a popsicle, but I don't trust any of you not to try and eat me."

"I'll pass on that personally, and Lucy I know it's ridiculously warm but do you really have to sit like that? It seems sort of like overkill if you ask me."

"What, do you actually think this is warm?" Cana let out a scoff "It's fucking boiling around here year-round because there's almost never any wind."

"I know that all too well, lucky for all of us I come prepared." Luke pulled out a bag that held a large number of water bottles "Get them while they're cold."

"And it's official, you're a fucking life-saver." Cana promptly poured the water down over her face.

"You're welcome."

"My kingdom for an ice cream cone…" Lucy mumbled, only to be handed an ice cream cone, along with Cana and a few others, by Luke "Thank you."

"I do what I must to protect my guild, even from something as simple as heat stroke."

"Where did you get these anyway?" asked Cana.

"I got them from a shop in port before we left, you don't get to be an S-class wizard without being prepared with at least one contingency plan." Luke glanced over at where Juvia stood, still fully clothed "Speaking of which how are you still okay? You're probably gonna suffocate in an outfit like that."

"I assure you that I'm perfectly fine, however there is one thing that might do it." and she promptly got hearts in her eyes "And that is the sight of my beloved Gray's naked body!"

"That'll do something to the rest of us, and by that I most likely mean wretch."

"I'm dying here…" Gray let out a moan of agony.

"For fuck's sake man, at least keep on your underwear."

"Alright we get it, it's a scorcher now all of you stop whining!" Gajeel barked.

"Says the dude who's sweating buckets while he's brooding in a corner."

"So this is what hell is like…" Natsu let out several loud wretching noises as he tried to hold it in, though he wasn't having much luck.

"We've been over this Natsu, just point your face over the side of the ship. Keep in mind that we're renting this thing by the hour."

"It wouldn't be so bad… if Wendy would cast that miracle spell on me…"

"You mean Troia? Natsu don't forget that the spell only works on people a few times before your body adapts to it, she said so herself. Besides, technically she's your enemy now remember?"

"Yeah…" Wendy gave a sad smile "Sorry Natsu, just hang in there."

"He'll hang in there, he'll just hate every second of it."

"Well isn't that just touching?" Evergreen's tone was practically oozing sarcasm "Here we all are about to engage each other in brutal combat, and they're acting all buddy buddy."

"Dammit I'm roasting!" Elfman let out a groan "I feel like a man-steak!"

"Well if you're going to roast then you would mind doing it away from me?"

"Dial it back on the attitude Evergreen, it's not fighting to the death and keep in mind it hasn't even started yet." Luke pointed out.

"I personally believe in the spirit of competition."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself, but in the meantime I have a feeling the rest of you are gonna want to look alive." Luke jerked a thumb towards where an island was starting to come into view in the distance, though the appearance was rather questionable "Looks like we're almost there, that my friends is Tenrou Island."

"It sure took us long enough though." Lucy muttered "And for that matter, that's the ugliest island I've ever seen."

"Hey come on, show some respect. Yeah it might not be the most visually appealing, but it's still the resting place of Fairy Tail's first master." he promptly took a picture of it with his camera.

"Wait what?!"

"Yep. Besides, take a look and tell me you can't feel all of the magic power radiating from the island."

"Yeah I know, I can feel it all the way from here!" Wendy could only look on in awe at the sight of the island.

"See Wendy knows what I'm talking about, it's definitely impressive. Just hang tight guys, we're gonna be there soon."

"There is a legend about this island." this was when Makarov made himself known to all of the others "The legend states that this island was once populated by fairies."

"Hence the name of our guild, so is it true?"

"To this day, nobody knows, but it is of great importance to our guild, because as Luke said, it is the resting place of the first master of the Fairy Tail guild, Mavis Vermillion."

"And we're going there dressed like a bunch of tourists, or in bikinis, or in Gray's case, not dressed at all."

"Wait what?" Gray looked down "FUCK!"

"Seriously man, at least have the decency to put on some clothes?"

"Anything else?" asked Makarov dryly "I would like to reveal the first round of the trials to the candidates if I may."

"By all means. But for the record guys, this trial has multiple rounds going for it. No one ever said that these kinds of things were easy, so you should never expect them to be. Anyway I had better get going, after all one of you may have to fight me in order to advance. I'll be seeing you guys on the island." and so he disappeared in a flash.

"Thank for you that Luke.. All of you please direct your attention to the smoke coming from the shore, your first task is to head to its source. Once you do arrive at the source, you will have to choose one of the eight provided roots leading into the island. Each root is meant only for a single team, so make sure you don't waste any time in picking one. After you have made your choice, you will have to conquer these obstacles." he summoned a layout of the first round of the trial "The teams that make it through these tests in one piece will be the ones that advance to the second round."

"And a few of those routes have us fighting against S-class wizards." Cana noted "Looks like you're not holding anything back for this year, but what's the serenity route?"

"Combat routes are fairly self explanatory, two of the teams will clash but only one of them will move on. Use every ability and tactic at your disposal. Intense Combat Routes will be more difficult, find one of these and you'll be fighting one of the elites of Fairy Tail. On the serenity route, you'll pass through the first round without fighting, but you're still going to be tested regardless. Passing this trial requires quality levels of teamwork, and a great deal of luck."

"How the hell are we supposed to test that?"

"Well I say we count on luck, am I right?" Lucy tried to act pumped up, but failed miserably.

"No, no you're not. Lucy I'm a hardore gambler, and even I think that plan sucks. Our odds are one in eight, so you'd better be ready to brawl. Frankly I'm just hoping that we don't get one of the Intense Combat Routes. Besides, if I know the odds in this case like I think I do then only 6 teams at the most will be able to move on to the next round."

"Yeah but if we pick the routes with the S-class wizards, then that means we might end up having to fight Erza or Luke." then she lowered her voice "But do you think Luke would let us pass? I mean he knows about-"

"Don't be ridiculous, of course Luke wants us to succeed but he would never just let us pass without earning it in his eyes."

"Oh. Oh crap."

"Yeah."

"Well that's just great." Levy muttered from where her head was being comically used as an arm rest by Gajeel "The first round could be the end of us, I don't want to have a bunch of my friends here."

"I'm perfectly fine with it." Gajeel commented dryly "I don't know about you, but I've been looking for an excuse to beat the crap out of at least a few of these idiots."

"Oh believe me, I know."

"Alright, are you ready?" and so Makarov made the call "The first round of the S-class trials starts right now!"

"Wait a second, you mean right now? But we haven't even reached the shore yet!"

"Yes I know."

"You know what that means little buddy, it's time for us to jet!" so on that note, Natsu was promptly picked up by Happy and the two of them took to the air "Looks like the first pick is ours losers, and Lisanna, so catch ya on the flip side!"

"Losers?! Hey!" Gray promptly rounded on Natsu "Get back down here so I can shove an ice sword so far up your-" he was cut off by the sight of Natsu and Happy slamming face first into what appeared to be an invisible wall "Okay, so that's karma at its finest."

"But it's because of an enchantment." Cana pointed out.

"So that means-"

As it turns out, Freed and Bickslow had already left the boat and were soaring towards the island at full speed "Don't worry, my enchantment isn't permanent! Five more minutes on that boat isn't going to kill you! Well except maybe for Natsu."

"Hey get back here, that's cheating!"

"The master never told us this was a race, besides I could've chosen to leave you in there all day, but it wouldn't be much of a trial then would it?" and so Freed and Bickslow disappeared from their sight.

"Dammit gramps do something, that has to be against the rules."

"Chill, like Freed said it's not a race so just wait." Makarov told him flatly.

"Dammit this is bad, if he gets to the island first we're all screwed. He'll be able to cover the entire place with enchantments!"

"Dammit this is so not fair!" Natsu started pounding against the wall of the enchantment, to no avail obviously "Come on come on COME ON!"

"Wait a second!" this was when Happy thought of something "Can't Levy find a way to get us out of here?"

"Oh yeah sure!" so Levy was quick to rewrite the enchantment, but then she turned around and winked at them "Sorry about this guys, but I only rewrote it for me and Gajeel!" and so the two of them dove into the water.

"Hey, so not cool!" Lucy could only gawk at her "I thought we were friends!"

"Not today LuLu, we'll be seeing all of you on the other side!" and so they started swimming towards the island.

"What the hell, when did she become such a traitor?!"

"It matters relatively little for me." Evergreen pulled out a magic pen, and within a moment she rewrote the enchantment with ease and shot a smirk at Elfman "Now then, aren't you glad you teamed up with someone who knows Freed so well Muscle Man?"

"Holy crap that's amazing!" Elfman lit up at this "I didn't know you knew how to do that."

"It's as simple as child's play for me to rewrite something as simple as this, someone that has my talents can handle the toughest enchantments with ease. Now then, let's go."

"Right! Manly dive!" and so the two of them promptly dove in.

"Well that's a heaping dose of plot convenience." Cana noted dryly "While they get to go on without a care in the world, we're all stuck here for another four minutes. Still though, somebody make a note to remind me to have her around the next time I piss off Freed."

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It took another four minutes before Freed's enchantment finally wore off, allowing the other teams to get off the boat.

"Well it's about fucking time!" Cana and Lucy were the first to take off running "Remember, once you hit the water you have to go all out or we're screwed!"

Loke and Gray were next "Looks like we're playing catch up, but do you think you could play with some pants on?"

"Come on little buddy, let's get moving!" Natsu and Happy took off through the skies towards the island.

"Time for a little bit of this! Ice Make: Floor!" Gray used his magic to create a walkway of ice that led them towards the island, allowing him and Loke to slide there on foot.

Lucy only blinked at the sight "Well that's one way to get across."

"And apparently another way is to go under." Cana jerked a thumb at where Lisanna and Juvia were swimming underneath the ice floor "I never thought I'd envy a fish, and that's a sentence I'll most likely never say again."

"Yeah." and then the dots connected "What the hell are we gawking for? If we stay here for too much longer then we're gonna be the last ones there!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Wendy and Mest haven't even left the ship yet." the two of them looked up and saw that Wendy and Mest were both long gone "What the hell, when did the two of them leave?!"

"How the hell am I supposed to know?!"

"If we don't get there ASAP then we're gonna end up fighting Luke or Erza, or worse!"

"We're dead, we're so fucking dead!"

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A few minutes later, on the island…

"S-class here we come!" Natsu and Happy dropped onto the ground of Tenrous Island.

This was when Happy suddenly tensed up "Do you feel that Natsu? There's so much magic power in the air that it's kind of freaking me out."

"Yeah, I know the feeling. Alright then, let's go!" the two of them charged ahead, only to find that four of the routes were already closed "Holy crap, we're way behind!"

"Half of the routes have already been taken! So you go ahead and choose, which one of them should we pick?"

"Hmm, let's see… I say we go for that one, route E!" he pointed to a nearby cave entrance "If we take Route E then we're bound to fight Erza!"

"That's definitely not the path that I would choose."

"Well it's the path I'm choosing, I finally get to fight her mano-a-mano! You'd better hope to all hell that you're ready Erza, because I'm coming for you!"

"Have you thought about what you're gonna do if she isn't on this path?" this was followed by the entrance to the cave being sealed off "Too late."

"So what, S-class here I come!"

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After Natsu was gone, Lucy and Cana soon arrived on the island, only to find that they were in last place and every other route had already been taken, though Lucy believed it was okay and that they would pass because she was lucky and they would get the quiet route. However, she was quickly proven wrong when they found that they had taken a Combat Route. To be more specific, they had to battle against Freed and Bickslow in Path C, which shocked the two of them and made them realize they were screwed.

The battle between both teams began, but not before Freed asked the two of them to put on some clothes over their bikinis, mainly because he found it to be distracting. This gave Cana an idea full of fan service, in which she distracted Freed with her Sexy Lady Card.

Lucy decided to keep this trend going and summoned Virgo in a bikini outfit, hoping to use her to distract Bickslow, only for Virgo to be easily defeated by his dolls, which then proceeded to attack Lucy and Cana, forcing them to narrowly dodge his attacks.

Lucy then made a comeback by summoning Aires and disarming Bickslow, allowng Lucy to strike him down with a Lucy Kick, knocking him out cold. However, this was when the effects of the Sexy Lady Card wore off and Freed started getting serious again, allowing him to overpower the two of them. However, they still managed to defeat him thanks to Cana trapping him in a huge cage of sexy women from her Sexy Lady Card and then tricking him into stepping into a trap that electrocuted him, supposedly knocking him out cold.

With the battle over, the passage opened and allowed Cana and Lucy to pass through, which meant that they passed the first trial.

However, after they were gone, Freed and Bickslow suddenly pulled themselves together and revealed their little secret: they had thrown the fight and let Cana and Lucy win, claiming that they owed the two of them a debt, and being part of Fairy Tail was more important than following in the footsteps of Laxus.

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Meanwhile, on Path E…

"HEY ERZA!" by this point, Natsu was making his way through Path E, more focused on searching for Erza than anything else at the moment "Quit hiding like a coward and get the hell out here and fight me, if I'm gonna kick your ass then I'd like for it to be today!"

"Come on Natsu, we don't even know if or not she's on this route." Happy pointed out "You need to remember that."

"No way, I chose E for Erza so it has to be her path! I'm gonna claim the title of an S-class wizard, and I'll have a fucking field day kicking Erza's teeth in while I do it!"

"Um, about that… Hey check it out, the path is opening up!"

"Holy crap you're right, and I think I see somebody!"

"Is it Erza?"

"No, but the scent is… Oh shit."

Sure enough, light began shining throughout the clearing to reveal Luke standing before them, dressed in a new outfit, consisting of an azure blue martial arts gi, a black t-shirt underneath the gi, a black obi around his waist, a pair of white shinguards, a pair of black wristbands and a pair of black shoes, and he shot them a grin "Hey guys, I was wondering who was going to take this path."

"No way, no fucking way!"

"Yep, yours truly is your opponent. You like the outfit? I've been saving this one for a special occasion, and I figured that this meets the qualifications. Hate to break it to you though, but this is as far as you go Natsu."

"We're dead." was all Happy could say.

"I don't know if I would go that far, but it's only fair to warn you now that I have no intention of going easy on you. Granted I talked Gildarts into letting me handle this so you'd have a fighting chance, but regardless you'd better be ready to come at me with everything you've got."

"Oh is that right?" Natsu's body started radiating a large amount of flames, the grin never leaving his face "Well it's only fair to warn you that I'm fired up now!"

"Is that right? Well this is going to be pretty interesting to say the least."

Another battle was already well underway.

Lisanna was sent skidding backwards by her opponent, whereas Juvia was sent flying into a nearby wall "I guess I shouldn't be surprised, you've always been incredible."

"I appreciate the flatter, but it won't do much good for you." the smoke cleared to reveal that their opponent was Erza, clad in her Sea Empress Armor "You're going to have to do much better than that Lisanna, you'll never become an S-class wizard if this is the best that you're capable of."

"And you've already made sure that Juvia's attacks won't have any effect on you thanks to your Sea Empress Armor."

"No, I can do this… I will defeat you!" Juvia suddenly morphed into water and hurtled herself forward at full speed.

Erza used her Crystal Sword to cut through Juvia, forcing her to revert back to her physical form and forcing her back a short distance.

"Water Slicer!" Juvia then followed up with a barrage of water blades.

Erza deflected each blade with her sword, leaving it to cut through the nearby rubble and shatter a good amount of it.

'She deflected my attack like it was nothing. I'm not going to be defeated so easily! Water Claws!" Juvia summoned a pair of water claws and burst forward.

Erza dodged the water claws and sent Juvia skidding backwards with a single kick "You have improved a considerable amount, I admit I'm impressed, but you could still use some work on your timing, as well as the types of attacks you choose."

"I'll be sure to take that into consideration. That's it, Erza's vulnerable when she counters my attacks, so if Lisanna strikes at the right moment then we should be able to take her down. It's the only hope we have right now. I said that I would defeat you! Water Whip!" Juvia unleashed a water whip and hurtled it forward.

Erza blitzed around the Water Whip and dealt Juvia a sharp and powerful kick to the stomach, the force sending her tumbling backwards "I have to say Juvia, I'm somewhat disappointed in you. You have to be more creative, attacking your opponent while they're in between attacks is one of the most obvious strategies that you could've chosen. Not only that, but as you've seen such an attempted is thwarted far too easily. I expected much more from you." then she promptly addressed Lisanna without turning around "Would I be correct to assume that you were considering trying to attack me while I was dealing with your partner?"

"No, that's way too predictable."

"Then what should I-?" Erza turned around, and her eyes widened in shock at what she was seeing before her 'What is this?'

A white glow had engulfed Lisanna's body, and when it disappeared it revealed her standing where she was before, but her appearance was vastly different: She had claws, gills, talons and various other attributes from other animals "Animal Soul: Chimera! I have a few tricks up my sleeve. Tell me, what do you think?"

"I think this just became a great deal more interesting."

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At the same time, Lucy and Cana were taking a break after their victory in the first round by relaxing in a lake next to a waterfall "Oh yeah, this is exactly what I needed. This feels absolutely amazing."

"You're unbelievable, you know that?" Cana told her dryly "I don't think I've ever seen someone get overheated so easily."

"Hey cut me some slack, it's not like I can help it when it's so freaking hot out here."

"I guess. Hey, we should probably get going?"

"Can't we stay just a little bit longer? It's not like we're in a rush or anything."

"What's with this attitude like you don't give a crap?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm starting to worry that Natsu's stupidity might be rubbing off on you."

"Don't be ridiculous, I don't hang around Natsu that often. Besides, I'm only being hardheaded because I don't want to get out right now. Come on Cana, we're drenched in sweat and this is our chance to wash it away."

"For crying out loud, give me a break will you?"

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Meanwhile, Elfman and Evergreen had chosen Path A, only to find themselves in the trouble of running into Mira as their opponent, and judging by the fact that she had already enter her Satan Soul, it was clear that she had no intention of holding back.

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Meanwhile, back with Route E…

Luke wasted no time in cracking his neck "It's only fair to warn you Natsu, I don't have any intention of going easy on you."

"Well it's only fair to warn you that I'm fired up now!" Natsu got ready to attack, only to stop when he noticed Happy hauling his stuff away "Hey Happy, what the hell are you doing?"

"Oh nothing, just trying to save our butts." Happy told him nonchalantly "I figured we might as well head home."

"Hey come on little buddy, it wouldn't kill you to have some faith in me. I mean if you really stop and think about it, I'm the one Luke should be scared of. I'm gonna kick his ass and I won't let up until I hear him say mercy!"

"Fine, mercy." was all Luke said.

"Dammit man you can't say it yet, I haven't even laid a hand on you!" Natsu ignited both of his fists in flames "I'm coming for you hot and heavy Luke, you're not the only one who's gotten a hell of a lot stronger the past two years and now I'm gonna show you just how much!" and so he charged into the fray like a crazed bull.

"Okay Natsu dial it back for a second, I'm not quite ready. Seriously, charging at me like a crazed bull without thinking isn't exactly S-class material." Luke promptly pulled out Raiden from its sheath, stopping him in his tracks and snuffing out his flames in an instant, and then he unleashed a simple surge of electricity that engulfed Natsu in an explosion, and when the blast subsided, a scorched crater was all that was left of him "I tried to tell him I wasn't ready, it's not my fault he didn't listen."

"Natsu… no…" Happy could only look on in horror with tears streaming down his face "How could you… the poor guy's been blown to smithereens…"

"Two words Happy, look up."

"Coming in hot! Fire Dragon SWORD HORN!" Natsu burst downwards from above while preparing a fire-enhanced headbutt.

"Lightning Dragon SURGE!" Luke held up a hand and unleashed a quick surge of electricity that stopped Natsu's momentum, the force of the brief collision creating a crater beneath his feet as a result.

'He used a blast of lightning to stop me! There's more where that came from!" Natsu ignited both of his fists and started launching a furious barrage of punches.

Luke blocked every strike with ease and dealt him a simple one-handed smash attack to the head, sending him crashing to the ground with a loud thud "You know attacking blindly can't solve every problem, even Dragon Ball characters have to use their heads at some point."

"Head be damned, how about using my foot! Fire Dragon Talon!" Natsu bolted upright and aimed a fire-enhanced kick at Luke's head.

Luke caught the kick with his bare hand and threw Natsu back a short distance 'He's really serious about this, I can tell by the look on his face. Charging in blindly is one thing, he does that pretty much all the time, but now he's actually trying, and even now he's still smiling.'

"I'm not out of this yet, not by a long shot! Fire Dragon ROAR!" Natsu let out a roar, and with it came a powerful stream of flames.

Luke gave a small smile at the sight "Yeah you've definitely gotten a lot stronger, I've gotta admit I'm proud of you Natsu… my fellow Dragon Slayer. Lightning Dragon ROAR!" he let out his own roar that overpower Natsu's roar in an instant, engulfing Natsu in the explosion that followed.

When the blast subsided, Natsu was lying on the ground in the middle of a crater, supposedly unconscious.

"Dammit, looks like I put too much power into that one."

"You jerk…" Happy had tears streaming down his face "I'll never forgive you for this… This was just supposed to be a test… You killed him…"

"Take it easy Happy, have a little more faith in him than that. I made sure to hold back on that blast, like you said this is just a test. Just be glad it's not Gildarts testing him, thanks to his Disassembly magic we'd probably have an army of tiny Natsu's on our hands. The world can't handle more than one of him, so that would probably lead to the apocalypse. That actually happened to me when I took my exam, it felt so wrong. He should be fine as long as he doesn't push himself too hard and shakes off the disorientation. Unfortunately this also means that the trial is over for you Natsu, sorry but I can't pass you like this."

"Not so fast you son of a bitch!" Natsu bolted to his feet and wiped the blood from his face "I'm nowhere near finished yet, I'm just getting started! I'm in this to win it, I'm not gonna settle for anything less than pounding your ass into the ground and taking down anyone else in my path, you got that?!"

"...Yeah that figures." Luke promptly placed his sword back in his sheath "Let's see how do you ten, I won't even use Raiden for it."

"You never use that sword on me."

"Maybe because you're a fellow Dragon Slayer, or maybe I just didn't want to risk maiming you with it whenever you tried to jump me."

"That didn't stop you from sending me blasting off again like 50 times!"

"To be fair you always attacked first, and when you think about it whenver you get into a fight you always throw the first punch, except maybe in case of Gray. Frankly I'm amazed you haven't suffered any serious brain damage before now."

"So what? I swore back then that I was gonna beat you and Gildarts, and Erza and all of the others too!"

"Well you did already beat Laxus, I heard about that during the Festival, so nice work. But I did say that I wouldn't hold back against you, or lose for that matter."

"And I never hold back period! Here I come you son of a bitch!" Natsu pounced at Luke with his eyes blazing with determination "Fire Dragon ROAR!" he breathed out a second blast of fire at full speed.

"Dragon Sword Style: Thunderclap Strike!" Luke pointed Raiden forward and unleashed a blast of lightning from the blade, the surge of electricity evaporating the stream of fire into nothing, and then he went on to sheath his blade "Lightning Dragon STREAM!" he spread out both of his arms and slam one of them into the ground, unleashing an electrical current across the clearing.

Natsu rebounded just in time to be forced on the evasive by the current, leaping across the clearing to avoid being electrocuted, and so he started summoning flames in each hand "The flames of my right hand combined with the flames of my left, and this is what you get! Fire Dragon Brilliant FLAME!" he slammed the two-handed blast of fire into the ground, cancelling out the current and resulting in an explosion, resulting in a thick cloud of smoke covering the battlefield.

'So he cancelled out the lightning using his own flames. Not bad, so what next?'

"Fire Dragon SWORD HORN!" Natsu charged forward through the smoke with a fire enhanced headbutt.

"Lightning Dragon Surge!" Luke unleashed a surge of lightning from one hand, the force allowing him to stop Natsu's headbutt, despite him being sent skidding backwards a short distance, and then he put more power into it so the surge sent Natsu flying.

Natsu was sent tumbling backwards, but he quickly rebounded and wiped the blood away from his face "Stop fucking toying with me, come at me like you fucking mean it!" he suddenly blitzed behind Luke and aimed a kick at his head, along with a fiery barrage of punches and kicks.

Luke gracefully weaved his way around every blow Natsu was throwing at him, but eventually he launched a counterstrike in the form of slugging Natsu in the gut hard enough to the point where he coughed up blood and fell to his knees, and Luke promptly up his sword to Natsu's throat "So you gonna give up yet?"

"Not a fucking chance! Fire Dragon TALON!" Natsu suddenly dealt Luke an uppercut kick that sent him skidding backwards "Fire Dragon ROAR!" he breathed out an even larger stream of fire from his mouth.

"Dragon Sword Style: IRON HAMMER!" Luke thrusted his sword into the ground and unleashed a surge of electricity, blowing away Natsu's roar and nearly blowing him off his feet as a result "I told you before Natsu, I wasn't going to hold back against you."

"And I never hold back period! Here I come you son of a bitch!" Natsu pounced at Luke with his arms coated in his own flames "Dragon Slayer Secret Art…"

"So that's where we're going with this. Thunder Drive!" Luke activated his Thunder Drive "If that's the way it has to be then so be it, now come at me!"

"Flame Lotus: EXPLODING FLAME BLADE!" Natsu summoned forth a massive spiralling blast of flames and hurled it forward, engulfing Luke in the explosion that followed. Natsu on the other hand, was left panting heavily as he fell to one knee, but then his eyes nearly bulged out of his head at what he saw "Oh you've gotta be fucking kidding me!"

When the smoke cleared, Luke had been pushed back a considerable distance and had fallen to one knee, and while his outfit hadn't sustained any damage, he was sporting some light burns across his body "Well that just goes to show how lethal Dragon Slayer Secret Arts can be in comparison in comparison to the basics."

"True enough, but ha! I've got you!"

"This is bad." Happy muttered "Your attack barely even fazed him, and it didn't even hurt him at all!"

"Yeah it did little buddy, you've just gotta take a closer look! He tried to stand firm with that last blast, but my attack scorched his arms and almost blew him clean off his feet!"

'Holy crap, did Natsu really do it? Now that I think about it he might be right, Luke hasn't even taken a single step without Natsu forcing him to! Wait a second, that's bad news for Natsu! That means that Luke has been beating the crap out of him while he's barely even moving!'

"I'm one step closer to taking him down!" but then Natsu stumbled slightly as he tried to compose himself.

"Great, now you're wobbling all over the place like the last time you fought him!"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Luke dusted himself off and cracked his neck "But all things considered you did a pretty impressive job this time around Natsu, this gave me a good feel about the level you're at right now. You may not have defeated me in battle, but seeing as I'm your examiner, I think you've done well enough to move onto the next round of the trials."

"Not a fucking chance in hell, there's no way I'm giving up now! I'm gonna beat you whatever it takes Luke, what the hell is the point of moving up to S-class if I can't even do that?!"

"...You know Gildarts told me you were going to say something like that, and now I can see that he was right on the money. That means you still don't get it." the ground beneath Luke began shaking as a faint golden glow surrounded his body "I doubt you're going to want to keep this up once I unleash my full power."

'There's some kind of pressure building up in here.'

"In order to walk the path of magic and eventually reach its peak, there's one thing that you still need to understand. Gildarts showed it to me during my S-class exam, and now I'm going to show it to you!" and then a massive surge of electricity and magic power engulfed his body, which slowly began to cover itself in dragon scales, the force of the power proving to be enough for Natsu to be left in disbelief.

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Meanwhile, with the waterfall…

Lucy and Cana were just drying themselves off by the waterfall, but they felt the sensation all the way from there "What the hell is that?"

"I recognize that feeling." Cana muttered "That's magic power, an incredible amount by the feel of it, and I recognize it too. I felt it back during the battle with Phantom Lord."

"You mean…?"

"Yeah, that's Luke when he's using his full power. I don't feel sorry for whatever sucker has to fight him."

"What do you think the odds are he's fighting Natsu?"

"...I'd say pretty good."

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Meanwhile, with the powerhouse and the embodiment of plot armor…

Natsu was left stunned and speechless by the sheer display of power before him, but after a moment he managed to steel himself somewhat "You… You don't scare me!" he pounced forward and tried to land an attack, only to immediately be left frozen in place by a fierce glare courtesy of Luke, and he was shaken so bad it got to the point where he had fallen to knees, sweat dripping down his face from the pure fear and adrenaline he was feeling.

Seeing Natsu in this state, Luke took the opportunity to deactivate his Dragon Force and power back down to his normal form, and he breathed a sigh "For the record, this is nothing compared to what Gildarts showed me during my exam. So what do you say?"

"I… I accept defeat…"

"To think that you of all people would give up." Luke gave a small smile "That's good, it means the lesson is actually kicking in. I have respect for anyone who has the courage to stand up and face their enemy, even when they're that much stronger than them. However, the ones who know the true meaning of courage are those exceptional few who know when it's better to just stand down and back off. Keep in mind Natsu, fear is as natural as breathing and there's nothing wrong with feeling it. After all, how else would we come to know our own weaknesses? Knowing something like that is absolutely crucial if you want to become a stronger and gentler person, and it's essential for those who want to earn the rank of S-class. Gildarts passed this piece of wisdom with me when I became an S-class wizard four years ago, and now I'm passing it onto you as well." he let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair "And now that I've shared this with you, the only thing I have left to say is… you pass."

"Wh-What?" Natsu's head snapped up at the news "But I… I didn't beat you… I didn't even come close…"

"Don't waste your time arguing with me, I'm the one who's conducting your exam and I say that you pass. You made it through the first round but this is just the beginning, you know as well as anybody else how Master can be, so I'm sure that this was nothing compared to what he has in store for you and the others. Have some faith in yourself, make sure you keep that bright head in the clouds and your strong feet on the ground. Now that we're through with your exam, let me tell you something as a friend, and as one Dragon Slayer to another. Possessing powerful magic isn't the be all end all. One thing I've never lost respect for is your hunger to win, your burning desire to overcome every obstacle on your path. I say that because I myself have it too. Like you, I hate the thought of losing. If you want to fight me again then just say the word, I'll take you on anytime. Now go and give it your all, see how far you can get."

Natsu said nothing, he just stayed where he was with tears streaming down his face.

Luke glanced upwards as a light began shining down on them 'So that's one down, but now I only hope that Cana and Lucy are okay. This problem has to be dealt with too, or else it might end up spiralling out of control. That, and I have a bad feeling in the pit of my gut. Something is coming, and it's gonna be bad.' he had no idea how right he was.

A/N:

And with this chapter, not only to we reach the beginning of the Tenrous Island arc, but we also see the one year-anniversary of the day I first published this story, and hot damn it's been one hell of a year. When I first started this story, I didn't expect it to get anywhere near as popular as this, but not only has it received the highest number of favorites and followers of any of my stories, but it's also my second story to crack 100 reviews. None of this would be possible without all of your support, and I thank each and every one of you for that.

One minor change from canon I decided to make was having Lisanna be the candidate for the S-class wizard instead of Juvia. I know it's not a huge change, but I figured that since she was actually around during the two years before the Edolas arc, it would make some sense.

I glossed over the Cana & Lucy vs Freed & Bickslow fight because, to be honest, I never really gave it too much thought, and that wasn't the part I wanted to focus on, especially when you consider what came in the second half of this chapter: Luke vs Natsu, Dragon Slayer vs Dragon Slayer. Granted this chapter turned out to be over 16k words, but I figured it was worth putting all of it into a single chapter.

I knew going into this arc that I was going to have Luke be the one to fight Natsu in the S-class exam. I know some of you may be disappointed that I'm changing it from having Gildarts fight Natsu, but having these two fellow Dragon Slayers go at it is something I've sort of been hyping up for a long time now, and I think it went fairly well. Besides, I mentioned at the beginning of the Edolas arc that Luke had to fight Gildarts when he was becoming an S-class exam.

Yes, I know that I'm cutting Bolt out of this arc so that he stays behind with the rest of the guild, and unlike Carla and Panther Lily he doesn't go to Tenrou Island later on, but I'm going to go somewhere with that. It will show up later on, so I need you to bare with me. Oh and if the ending of the last chapter is anything to go by, yes he's going to be keeping Shatterstorm for himself. Luke does already have his own sword, and I don't want him to be too OP. OP to a certain extent sure, but I know where the line has to be drawn.

Oh, and for the record, I share Mira's opinion on The Last Airbender and Dragonball Evolution to an extent. When I say that, I mean that while I fully agree that The Last Airbender is a horrible movie, I truly believe that Dragonball Evolution is the worst of the two. Feel free to tell me what you think about that in your reviews, I'm curious as to how other people feel about the subject.