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.

44. Grand Magic Games II

I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it, and for getting this story up to over 59,000 views. I would never have expected this, but the fact is that now that it's gotten as many views as it has, it now has the most views of any of my stories. Thank you all for your support, and here's to hoping that streak continues.

Donumah36: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. Yes, Noah is back with the rest of Crime Sorciere, and he's easily one of my favorite characters to write out. Also, thank you for understanding about my updating situation.

ItsMeGuys12349876: No it's not Kaminari from My Hero Academia, and yes you are overthinking it. I didn't give much thought to naming Luke's dragon.

Guest: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. Yep, I've got a few things in play for the Grand Magic Games this time around, and while Tenrou Island is my personal favorite, Grand Magic Games is a close second.

Altajir95: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it.

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It was a long and arduous task, but before anyone knew it, the three months of training had finally come to an end.

With their training finally completed, Luke and his party, which actually only consisted of the likes of Bolt and Cana, made their way back to the temporary guild tavern, and he breathed a sigh at the sight of the building before them "Home again home again, however the hell that nursery rhyme goes."

"About time you guys showed yourselves!" this was when the cavalry greeted them, consisting mainly of Elfman, Mira, Lisanna and most of the others "Now get over here and show us how much stronger you've grown, like a bunch of real men!"

"Nice to see you too Elfman, I've gotta admit you're really packing some manly looking muscles there."

"Me and Mira both trained harder than ever before up in the mountains for the past few months, we would've brought Lisanna but Natsu basically kidnapped her, like a real man. As for me, I've got the muscles every real man dreams of."

"Just remember that less is more, it takes a lot more than muscle to win a fight. What about the rest of you?"

"I think it's pretty safe to say that thanks to my two years in Edolas, I'm out of practice by a fair amount." Mira pointed out "So I've basically been doing with my Satan Soul what you're trying to do with your Dragon Force."

"Learn to maintain it as naturally as possible so you don't have to waste any magic power on the transformation itself?"

"And learning to use a new form or two."

"Nice. So what about Natsu's group, are they back yet?"

"See for yourself." she jerked a thumb at where they were lying on the ground in multiple simultaneous heaps, though Natsu seemed to be more brooding than exhausted.

"Asked and answered, at least we know they've been training hard."

"And that a certain someone is actually keeping quiet for once." Cana promptly jerked a thumb back at Natsu "Say the word and I'll just go ahead and knock him out with one move."

"Don't be too overly enthusiastic about that, just because you can do something doesn't mean you should."

"I know, though I'm not gonna lie, that would feel pretty good. Not the only thing I've been working on either."

"True enough, in terms of hand to hand combat skills you could hold your own against almost any of the others."

"You being one of the few exceptions obviously."

"Don't be like that, you've made a lot of progress."

"And you're still too modest for your own good." Bolt pointed out dryly, then turned to his former sparring partner "So how about you Max, you make any decent progress?"

"You'd better believe I did." Max shot him a smirk "Not only is my Sand Storm more powerful than it ever was before, but I'm sharper now and that makes it all the better. For all we know, if I were to go up against you then I might actually be able to win. Natsu is a sure thing too."

"No doubt about that, with this thing at my beck and call I can stand up there with some of the best of them no problem."

"Which honestly concerns me in a few ways." Luke commented dryly "So what about the rest of you, you make any decent progress?"

"I'd say more than just decent in some cases." Lucy shot him a grin "I've made a lot of progress myself over the past few months, and I've learned picked up a little secret weapon that just might surprise everyone."

"I look forward to seeing it."

"As do I, good work to all of you." this was when Makarov made his way onto the scene to greet the others "It would appear that all of you have spent your time well and trained very hard to prepare for the Grand Magic Games."

'Master, you don't have a goddamn clue about that.'

"But for the time being, I'd like to get down to business. Listen up kids and listen well, the time has come for me to announce the five wizards who will be presenting the Fairy Tail guild in the Grand Magic Games. Natsu Dragneel."

"Oh fuck yeah!" Natsu promptly bolted upright from the slump he was in.

"Gray Fullbuster."

"I'm honored." Gray gave a smirk.

"Erza Scarlet."

"I won't let you down." Erza gave a reassuring nod.

"I know you won't."

'So those three huh, it only makes sense. Who next though?' Luke frowned in thought 'Well I'd probably be the most likely choice, but there is that mysterious dark power that Aftershock and the others from Crime Sorciere told me about, so I have to consider that. But at the same time, I can't just neglect my responsibilities to the guild.'

"And the remaining two spots in our team will go to… Lucy Heartfilia and Wendy Marvell."

'...Okay, wasn't really expecting that. Let's see, most of the others are upset about the master's choice, none moreso than Juvia, which really shouldn't surprise anybody.'

"I'm counting on all of you."

"No offense master, but are you really sure about this?" asked Lucy "I mean Wendy and I aren't really the best fighters we have, don't you think Luke and Cana would be better choices?"

"Believe me, I'm fully aware of their prowess and potential, but I actually need their assistance for something else, and Laxus and Gajeel haven't come back from their training yet, so I can't pick them. Besides, all of you weren't chosen for your individual strength, but your strength put together as a full team."

"...You really think we can do this?"

"I believe so from the bottom of my heart."

"Well then, all I can do is give it my all I guess."

"Yeah Lucy, I think you're right." Wendy lit up at this "I promise all of you, I'm going to do my very best."

"We all will, and we're gonna show everyone why Fairy Tail is still the guild to beat, even after all these years."

"Alright everyone, now listen up and listen well." Erza quickly got everyone's attention "The Grand Magic Games, like Lucy said before, are the perfect opportunity for our guild to reclaim the prominence that we once held. On this day Sabertooth is regarded as the number one guild in the kingdom, but the time has come for us to take that title back from them. We're going to make sure that Fairy Tail is the top guild once again!"

"Well said Erza, very well said." Luke gave a small smile "Looks like I'll have to take a back seat to all of you for the time being."

"I wouldn't say that, I could actually use your help with something." Lucy told him "I was hoping you and I could spar with each other, see if my training over the past few months actually paid off or not."

"You serious about this?"

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea to me actually." this was when Cana stepped forward "I mean granted I doubt either of us could beat you in a one on one fight, but the two of us together should make for a pretty good fight. Plus I want to see if all of the training that I did with you and that psychopath you call a cat wasn't a waste of time."

"Huh. You know when you put it like that, it does sound rather interesting. Alright then, meet me in the East Forest in about an hour, and then we'll get this little test match underway. See you two then." and he disappeared in a flash using Teleportation magic.

"Looks to me like he's pretty excited, he's been like that for awhile now too."

"Yeah tell me about it, but from the look of it, he's not the only one." Lucy shot a sly look towards Cana "So how about it?"

"How about what?"

"Did you tell him about you know what?" she was met with a dry look "I'm guessing that's a no then."

"We've got other things to worry about right now, he himself said that the reputation of our guild has to come first for the time being." she lowered her voice so only Lucy could hear "But if it will get you off my back about it, I'll tell him after we win the games."

"So claiming the win and then confessing? Sounds pretty romantic to me."

"That's the idea, but that will have to come later. So what's this new trump card that you told us about before, some kind of new trick?"

"Yep, it's something that I learned from Capricorn regarding my Celestial Spirits, it's different for reach of them. As for what it does exactly, well you'll just have to wait and see."

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Meanwhile, with Luke…

At the same time, Luke was walking through the streets of Magnolia, with Bolt following right by his side, the two of them discussing the upcoming events "So every guild in Fiore gathers in this tournament huh?"

"Pretty much yeah, but it's not like it's mandatory or anything." Bolt told him "Truth be told I'm kind of surprised Blue Pegasus agreed to participate, considering what happened back then."

"What do you mean?"

"So you haven't heard about that? I shouldn't be surprised, I can't think of a single person who would want to relive that nightmare."

"Why, what happened?"

"Something more terrifying than Ivan and his Elementors could ever be… It was about a year after Ivan launched his attack on us. Apparently the creepy little troll doll Ichiya created some kind of "handsome perfume" that spilled into the sewer system and started turning everyone in Magnolia into some kind of Ichiya zombie clones that spread the virus by sniffing people and getting way too close for comfort. I was able to avoid getting sniffed on account of the fact that I can fly, and I was able to track down Max before he got infected and we started running and hiding from everyone else, trying to figure out a solution to the crisis. Lucky for me I was able to remember something that you gave me before you left for Tenrou Island, a deodorizing lacrima that can nullify the effects of certain scents and other things."

"Oh yeah I forgot, I gave you that thing so we could air out the apartment whenever you ate too many of those special brownies of yours."

"It was a damn good thing I never used it, because there was only just enough to nullify the effects of the virus."

"So you turned everyone back?"

"Nope, never got the chance too. Max and I got cornered after I got shot down, and I had to stall them so Max could get away to the apartment, and before I knew it they sniffed me too. My memory is a little bit hazy after that, but from what Max told me he was able to spread it through the city and turn everyone back. To make a long story short, Max saved the day."

"Huh, well good for him. Sounds to me like the past 7 years were more eventful than you let me believe."

"In both good ways and bad."

"So I hear. Changing the subject, I'm kind of surprised the master didn't pick me to be on the team roster for the games."

"Yeah I know, I figured he'd want our heaviest hitter to be on the team. You're powerful as fuck and you're level headed, that's more than can be said for like 99.9999999% of the other members of the guild."

"And you have experience participating in the games and now you're one of the most powerful members of the guild too, probably up there with Mira and Erza."

"And yet I got bodied by God Serena in less than 10 seconds, no better than you faired when you first started training with him."

"He's the top ranked Wizard Saint, you shouldn't be surprised by that."

"I know, but it's still frustrating as all fuck. Speaking of which, did he say he was gonna watch the games too?"

"He said he'd try too but he couldn't make it in person, something about digging up any lead he could find on Tartaros. Truth be told I think he has the right idea."

"You're that concerned about it huh?"

"With the Oracion Seis and Grimoire Heart out of the picture, Tartaros is the only member left of the Big Three of the Balam Alliance, and since the others fell they've had seven years for them to do god only knows what. We can't know for certain what they'll do or when or how they do it, so the only thing we can do is make sure we're ready for it."

"Speaking of getting ready, you've got two busty chicks to beat the crap out of in the East Forest any minute now, whereas I've got a date with a gigantic pizza."

"Good point, grab a meat lovers for me and bring it back to the apartment would you?"

"Sure thing, as long as you don't chicken out on telling Cana how you feel about her."

"I didn't chicken out, I'm putting the well being of the guild first."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself."

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Meanwhile, in the East Forest…

By this point, Cana and Lucy had made their way to the East Forest and were waiting for Luke to show up, but one of them was growing restless "For crying out loud, is he gonna make us wait for him all day?"

"I know what you mean, it's not usually like him to keep people waiting." Lucy muttered "But to be fair this is Luke we're talking about, so I'm sure he has a good reason."

"Like binging Avatar or Dragon Prince? Quality shows for sure, but he binges them like they're addictive as all hell."

"Nice to know you have so much faith in me." this was when Luke appeared before the two of them in a flash "And to answer your question I was with Bolt, and he was telling me a story about how Max apparently saved the day once while we were gone."

"You mean that whole Ichiya virus thing?"

"Oh, so you heard about it. Well good for him either way, anyway we've got more important things to do right now. Let's get this underway, I want to see just how far the two of you have come over the past few months. After all, even if we're out of practice by 7 years you haven't let yourselves grow complacent have you?"

"Not a chance, what the hell do you think we put ourselves through all of this training for?"

"Just what I wanted to hear. The rules of this little challenge are pretty simple, I'll be fighting you two on one and you two give me everything you've got to defeat me. I'm even giving the two of you a little handicap, I won't use my Dual Element mode, Dragon Force or even my Thunder Drive. This is my base power, and it's all you're gonna see from me in this fight, no matter how bad things might get. And remember one other thing… If you're not prepared to attack me with the intent to kill, you don't have a chance in hell of beating me."

"So the bottom line is, if we want to win then we can't show any mercy."

"You have until sundown today to do it. Now then, I think it's about time for us to get this underway already."

"On that we can agree." Lucy pulled her Fleuve d'étoiles and gave a smirk "Just promise us that you're actually going to take this fight seriously, there's no real point to this if you're just toying with us."

"Oh believe me I know that all too well, keep in mind that I trained with the most powerful mage on the continent for a total of six months now. The bottom line is that this time, things are going to get serous." Luke dropped into a combat stance, his expression calm as can be 'Now let's see what the two of you can do.'

"Well I say we get this started, now let's go!" in a flash, Cana threw forward a series of magic cards at a rapid speed.

Luke ducked underneath the cards with ease, then drew his dragon scale sword from its sheath and thrusted it forward.

Cana leapt high into the air to avoid the thrust of the sword 'He's still going easy on us, I can see his attacks so clearly.'

'Even after only a few months, I can tell so easily that her strength, speed, agility and reflexes are miles ahead of what they were before.'

"Now for the second one!" Cana pulled out another volley of magic cards and prepared to hurl them forward, only to stop when she felt Luke grab her by the arm "What the-"

"I think that's going to be enough of that. She's really changed a lot since we got back, now that this whole thing with Gildarts isn't weighing on her shoulders anymore, she's improving way faster than ever before. Not only that…' he glanced back to see Lucy holding her Celestial Whip aimed at his back 'Looks like they've got some teamwork practice under their belt too. Not too bad of a start, I can see that the two of you have grown a lot over the past few months. But even so, I think it's safe to say that you've still got a ways to go. You're a little bit too eager to get this underway, you attacked before I even had the chance to say go. Now what do you say we do this the proper way? Ready? Go." and he disappeared in a flash via Teleportation magic, taking both of them by surprise.

"He was gonna use that the entire time, the smug son of a bitch."

"No need to worry about that, I've got just the thing." Lucy pulled out one of her golden Zodiac keys and held it high above her head.

"You're gonna summon one of your spirits to track him down?"

"Not exactly. I call upon the power of the Golden Bull, Taurus!" a golden light suddenly enveloped her body "And now for the next step: Star Dress: Taurus Form!" the golden light subsided to reveal Lucy, but with a new appearance to her, which included an outfit consisting of a bra and sleeves with a cow pattern and pants that leave her right leg entirely revealed. She also donned a pair of gloves and boots as well as a belt where Taurus Zodiac sign is located and a bag around her waist. She also had her hair in two buns, one at each side of her head abut also leaving some hair hanging. Once her transformation was complete, she shot a smirk at Cana "So what do you think?"

"I don't know what the hell I'm supposed to think, what is is this some kind of Requip spell?"

"In some ways it's similar but it's actually a little bit different. Capricorn taught me how to use this during the past three months, and he told me that along with summoning Celestial Spirtis, I can incorporate some of their magic into my own body. To make a long story short, I don't have to rely on them to fight my battles for me, and now I can jump into the fight myself."

"Huh. Nice. Now let's focus that new skill of yours on tracking him down."

"Got it. Nothing on the right, above us, to the left or behind, so that leaves only one place. Take my advice and get behind me Cana, this isn't going to be pretty. Earth WAVE!" Lucy whipped around and struck the ground with her whip, shattering the ground beneath her with surprising levels of strength.

The smoke soon cleared to reveal Luke amidst the rubble, and he looked considerably put out by what he was seeing "Okay… Not going to lie, I did not expect that. Looks to me like you weren't kidding around when you said that you had a surprise in store for the games, and this form grants you the earth based magic and physical strength of Taurus right?"

"You catch on pretty fast."

"Someting like that has to require a lot of reserves of magic power, all things considered I have to say I'm impressed. So do you have these forms for all of your spirits?"

"No not yet, I only had enough time to learn about three or four of them. As for the other three forms I have, you'll have to come and see them for yourself."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind. But in the meantime, you guys may have had your shot, but now it's my turn. Lightning Dragon Roar!" with a surge of magic power, Luke blew away the rubble surrounding him and let out a roar of lightning from the mouth aimed at the two of them.

'Shit, he's fast!' thinking quick, Cana leapt out of the way of the roar at the last second, though she ended up with some burn marks on her foot, leaving her to tumble a short distance away as a resul "Magic Card: Majestic Blaze!" but then she quickly rebounded and sent forward a series of fire-enhanded magic cards.

"It's gonna take a lot more than that if you want to win." Luke simply cut through the blazing magic card with ease, resulting in a sizeable explosion that he quickly cancelled out with a quick surge of electricity, but then he quickly took notice of a series of cards being hurled at him through the smoke, and he was forced to retreat a short distance and land atop a high branch on a nearby tree "So the exploding ones were just a ploy to distract me and then use a second attack to catch me off guard, not a bad ploy but still pretty basic in the grand scheme of things."

"But just because something is basic doesn't make it bad, just check this out if you want some proof of that!" still in her Taurus Star Dress, Lucy pounced at Luke and started unleashing a rapid barrage of punches and kicks "One shot is all that I need!"

"I can tell from your movements that you're a great deal stronger and faster in this form, but it doesn't mean anything if you can't hit me." Luke spun himself out of the way of one punching, leaving it to destroy a tree behind him as a result 'That one was a lot closer than I'm comfortable with.'

"Magic Card: Majestic Blaze! Prayer's Fountain! Wind Edge! Rock Rush! Elemental Barrage!" Cana unleashed a series of magic cards with properties of each of the four main elements.

"Fine by me, I say bring it." Luke wasted no time in dodging, weaving around and cutting down the various cards being hurled at him, his surging magic power also snuffing out any potential explosions in the process, and then he leapt up atop a tree branch.

"Don't think you can get away that easily, Taurus Form isn't the only trick that I had hidden up my sleeve! I call upon the power of the Lion, Leo! Star Dress Leo Form!" Lucy held up one of her Zodiac keys and was bathed in a golden light, and when it subsided she was revealed to now be cloaked in an elegant, frilled, black ball gown that is slit up her left leg and tied with gold sash that sits around her hips. A black, frilled choker sat around her neck, and a ribbon with the mark of the Leo zodiac emblazoned upon it fell between her breasts. The accompanying sleeves of the dress were detached, sitting on her upper arm and falling to her forearm, where they flare outward. Around the bodice of her dress was more golden trim, curving inward under her bust. Additionally, she sported a pair of black heels and her hair was now tied up in a quaint bun that is decorated with a black flower "You said before that you wanted to see how much stronger I've grown, but you're gonna have to work for it! Regulus IMPACT!" she quickly catapulted herself into the air directly underneath Luke and unleashed a blast of light energy from a magic circle, aimed up towards him.

"Lightning Dragon SURGE!" Luke unleashed a surge of electricity from his hand, aiming upwards in order to propel himself downwards, and he managed to rebound just in time to land gracefully on the ground "Not bad, looks like you've got more variety than I was giving you credit for, so what next?"

"Why don't you come and check it out for yourself! Magic Card Combination: Scorching Inferno!" Cana suddenly leapt out from the bushes and hurled two cards forward, one for Wind Edge and one for Majestic Blaze, the two unleashing simultaneous blasts of wind and fire that combined into an even greater blast of flames.

'Shit, a combination attack!' with no time to dodge or counter, Luke was forced to raise his arms and try and block it, resulting in him being engulfed in the explosion that followed. When the blast subsided, Luke was standing in the middle of a medium sized crater and his arms were considerably scorched by the blast, and he let out a sigh 'Maybe this comes off as arrogant, but I honestly thought this was going to be a lot easier. They haven't fought together as a two man team since they fought Freed and Bickslow back on Tenrou Island, and even then that was because they let them win. Even so, the fact that their teamwork is on this level is actually pretty impressive. I take it the two of you are ready for the next round?"

"You'd better believe we are." Lucy leapt back down to the ground, still clad in her Leo form Star Dress, and she dropped into a combat stance.

"Come at me."

"Fine!" and so Lucy and Cana both charged forward at full speed, charging at Luke with two simultaneous and rapid barrages of punches and kicks.

Luke dodged and weaved his way around most of the attacks, until he was forced to defend himself against two simultaneous punches that sent him skidding backwards a short distance, but he wasn't deterred and stayed calm 'Looks to me like their attacks are getting sharper even as they fight.'

"We're not done yet!" Cana and Lucy charged towards him and continued unleashing a rapid barrage of combined attacks.

Luke was once again forced onto the defensive, dodging and blocking their attacks "You two had better get ready, I say it's about time I take my turn! Lightning Dragon STREAM!" he spread out his arms and unleashed two simultaneous streams of electricity, forcing the two of them to go on the evasive.

"Regulus Lucy KICK!" despite being forced on the evasive, Lucy was able to blitz through the stream of electricity and dealt him a Regulus-enhanced uppercut kick to the jaw, the force of which sent him flying into the air.

Luke rebounded and returned to the ground a short distance away, and then he promptly wiped the blood from his lip 'Their teamwork isn't perfect, they're clearly not used to fighting as a team so their combination attacks aren't really harmonious with each other, and yet it's confounding me more or less, and they're using it to their advantage, whether they know it or not. You're both doing pretty well against me so far, a lot better than I was expecting from the two of you to be completely honest. But with that being said, if you think that's going to be enough for the two of you to beat me, I'm afraid you're in for one hell of a rude awakening."

"Oh believe me I know, even if I can't beat you in a straight up fight I'll be damned if I just lie down and do nothing."

"You've got that same fire in your eyes, only now it's burning brighter than ever before. I'll have to bring out the big guns then, but not the big guns if you take my meaning."

"We do."

"Good. Dragon Sword Style: Thunderous Blade Dance!" Luke drew his sword and unleashed a series of lightning-enhanced slashes from the blade.

"Two can play at that game!" Cana leapt over the series of lightning slashes and fired forward a series of magic cards.

Luke leapt over the series of magic cards and stopped an attempted kick that was being aimed at his head 'Cana's going for the frontal assault, so where the hell is Lucy?' he looked up and got his answer 'Oh so that's where she is, closing in for the kill while I was distracted.' so he quickly made a move to dodge the attack.

"Regulus Lucy KICK!" sure enough, Lucy dove down towards Luke from above while aiming a Regulus-enhanced kick, and while it missed Luke it did end up shattering the ground beneath him as a result.

Luke landed gracefully on the ground and was confronted by Lucy and Cana "You're doing a lot better than I was expecting, I guess I had better get serious before you pull an Erza on me. So be it then, now I'm bringing out the good stuff. Lightning Dragon ROAR!" he let out a massive roar, and with it a massive blast of lightning.

"Get moving before it torches you!" Lucy pulled Cana out of the way of the blast before they could get torched, leaving the blast to create a large crater in the ground, but not to harm either of them "Okay so now where is he?

"Dragon Sword Style: Thunderclap STRIKE!" Luke suddenly dove down from above and unleashed a powerful blast of lightning from his sword.

'Crap!' Lucy was forced to dive out of the way to avoid the blast of lightning, leaving it to create an even bigger crater than the original one.

Luke landed on the ground with a soft thud and looked over to see Lucy and Cana both charging towards him "You know I was hoping to save this one for the games, the element of surprise and all of that good stuff, but I think it's safe to say you've earned this, so get ready. Dragon Sword Style: Thunder Dragon Chase!" he held up his sword and a massive dragon avatar made of pure lightning materialized from the blade, which promptly shot towards them "You're gonna have to get creative if you want to counter this one!"

"Way ahead of you!" Lucy quickly pulled out one of her keys and held it above her "I call upon the power of the Archer, Sagittarius! Star Dress: Sagittarius Form!" she was engulfed in a golden light, and when the light subsided, clad in a new outfit consisting of a twin-tailed coat and sleeves that left the shoulders and upper back bare. A pair of dark thigh-high boots with light trim at the top, which split above the knees to reveal the front of the thighs, were also donned on her as part of the new ensemble. Her hair was styled into a typical ponytail with two bangs framing the face. Now clad in her new Star Dress form, she held up her new golden bow "Get ready to see what the power of Sagittarius can do! Star SHOT!" she summoned a series of golden colored homing arrows and fired them at their targets, with 20 of them proving to be enough to cancel out the Thunder Dragon Chase spell, though it did leave her noticeable winded afterwards, but even after the lightning dragon had vanished, the Star Shot arrows continued hurtling forward, this time being aimed towards Luke.

'Shit, so she's going in for the kill then huh?' thinking quick, Luke brandished his sword and channeled the blade with electricity as he started cutting one arrow down after another, surging his magic power to minimize the effects of the explosions, and while he didn't receive any burns or damage that was really noteworthy, he was sent skiddng back a great distance, though he was able to stop himself after only a few feet, and he noticed a golden light shimmering from within the smoke 'So they're going in for a final attack is she? Fine by me, I think it's about time for us to wrap this up.'

"Regulus Lucy KICK!" now back in her Star Dress: Leo Form, Lucy blitzed towards Luke and aimed a Regulus-enhanced kick directly at his face.

"Lightning Dragon IRON FIST!" Luke met the Regulus Lucy Kick with a lightning-enhanced fist to counter it, resulting in a blinding clash, and he gave a small smile as he did so 'You've gotten stronger, a lot stronger than I gave you credit for… I guess it serves me right for the way I underestimated you.' and cue the blinding explosion that followed.

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It took a few minutes for everything to die down, but once it did, it was clear as day that the battle was over.

Luke shook off the disorientation he was feeling and looked over at Lucy and Cana, the two of them sporting some noticeable but minor bruises and burns across their bodies "Well I've gotta admit, I didn't think the two of you would be able to come as far as you have, and in such a short amount of time too. Truth be told I'm pretty surprised, but then again I did underestimate you so I guess that one is on me."

"Like you said, we're not to be underestimated." Cana gave him a smirk, earning a small smile from him in response.

"You've both definitely grown a great deal since we got back from Tenrou Island, not just in terms of power, but in character too. Keep in mind Lucy, you said before that you weren't very sure if you would be the best candidate to represent Fairy Tail during the Grand Magic Games, but based on your performance here today, it's my honest opinion that the Master made the right call in picking you."

"I appreciate the vote of confidence, and I think you're right." Lucy gave a small smile "Seeing how I can fight now, I think I'll do just fine in the games."

"I think so too, but in the meantime you two should go and get some rest. We're heading out to the capital for the games, it's a pretty long trip so we're gonna have to leave fairly early in the morning." and on that note, he spun on his heel and started walking away, with Lucy and Cana both walking off in the other direction, though his mind quickly drifted to them 'To think how much you've grown since you became part of Fairy Tail… Not just her either, I've changed a fair bit too since I came back, and not just me either… Since I returned from my little excursion for a year and a half, so much has happened, and even more so after we were stuck on Tenrou Island for 7 years.'

"Alone with your thoughts again?" this was when Bolt suddenly materialized in front of him in his human form "So how did they do?"

"To be honest, a lot better than I expected them to, especially Lucy. She's grown a lot since we brought her into Fairy Tail, and not just her either. This guild really has a way of changing people for the better. Take a look at you for example, you've been alone with the others for about 7 years and you've really grown up and mellowed out."

"I had to, someone had to compensate for your sanity while you were gone. But you're right, it does change people for the better. Anyway we'd better get going, we still have to pack."

"Right." the two of them started walking through the forest.

"Just to be clear, you were holding back a metric fuckton of your power with the two of them in that battle right?"

"Yeah of course I was, it's not like I was out for blood or anything, but I figured that the two of them could use a little boost in confidence before the games get started."

"Fair enough."

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A few days went by, and consisted mostly of traveling and training, but mostly travelling.

Luke glanced around at his new surroundings, with Bolt and Cana by his side 'Less than two days until the Grand Magic Games begin, and now here we are in Crocus, the flower blooming capital of the Fiore kingdom. Once a year guilds from all over the kingdom come to this majestic city for the sake of a festival of wizardry, the Grand Magic Games, being held in its orders. The streets are full of excitement and the hustle and bustle of curious spectators alike, not that I can blame them for it though. At the center of it all sits the castle of the king of Fiore, the palace known as Mercurious.' he promptly took a picture of it 'Sitting high atop a mountain that sits to the West of the city is the Domus Flau, the colosseum where the Grand Magic Games are going to be held. Probably for the best, that way the city won't get damaged in all of the insanity of the games. As for our proud contenders, they're in a ball on the floor.' he looked down at his feet where Lucy and the others were lying on the ground in front of him in clear pain "Let me take a wild guess, it's only now that you're starting to feel the after effects of the Second Origin being released?"

"That's one way of putting it." Gray muttered "I sure as hell hope that the whole Second Origin thing wasn't just some fucked up joke on Ultear's part that was supposed to make us lose the games."

"I can assure you that it isn't, and we're all the proof you need of that."

"And why the hell aren't you guys writing in agony?"

"Because while we did get the Second Origin awakening too, the main difference is that we got it at the start of the three months of training, so I got used to it."

"Does it even make a difference if you get it sooner or later?"

"I could lie and say it doesn't to give you a boost in confidence, but it does. It lets you accelerate your improvement rate in your training if you unlock it sooner. But in any case we don't have time to talk, we've got shit to do so let's get moving."

"Woah…" Natsu on the other hand looked around in awe at the sight of Crocus "I don't think I've ever been in such a gigantic city before in my life."

"I know the feeling, I've never seen the capital before either. It sure as hell puts the Royal City back in Edolas to shame."

"Nice to see that you kids have finally made it." this was when Makarov made himself known to them with the entourage, which consisted of Levy, Alzack, Bisca, Max and Asuka (riding on top of Makarov's shoulders), following close behind him.

"Speak for them master, my group has been here for about 45 minutes. But in the meantime, what's up with your group?"

"We just finished with the registration process not too long ago, so the time is almost upon us to show everyone why Fairy Tail is still the number one guild in Fiore."

"Oh trust me, that's the plan." unfortunately, their presence attracted the attention of some obnoxious bystanders.

"Hey check it out, it looks like the Fairy Tail guild is here."

"What, you mean those losers? Well I guess it makes sense, some pathetic chumps have to come in last place right?"

"Is that right?" Bolt calmly turned to face the idiots in question, though his expression appeared to be one of suppressed rage "You wanna try repeating that and saying it to my face?"

"We're just calling it like it is, you guys finish in last place every year, everyone knows for a fact that Sabertooth is taking the top spot. Besides, you've only got like two members who can even do anything."

"And one of them doesn't put up with people's bullshit." Bolt suddenly blitzed in front of one of the loudmouths and held a dagger to his throat "And that any one of us could kill all of you faster than you can blink if we wanted to. I'm not saying we will, just remember we can."

"Easy thunderbolt, put the tiger back in the cage." Luke grabbed Bolt by the collar of his shirt and yanked him back a few feet "Don't waste energy making death threats, people that that aren't worth the effort. Besides, if people want to mock us or laugh at us now then I say let them. Keep in mind that we're doing this in order to show people that we're still number one, and then again there's all of the other good stuff too. The First Master herself came back from the dead to save all of us from Acnologia, so let's make her proud."

"...Fine, I'll back off for now."

"Good enough for me."

"Now then, listen and listen well." Makarov got everyone's attention "We already know that the games are going to begin tomorrow, but unfortunately we don't know what sort of events are going to take place."

"No one told you about it? I thought our guild took part in this every year, even if we did always come in last."

"We did but it doesn't make much difference, the one thing about having variety in their events is that they change it up every year." Bolt told him "The year the lovebird snipers over there chose to bail on the games, they put up an event that was basically about sharp shooting. The year after the attack on our guild by Raven Tail, they had a foot race. Max and I were the only ones that participated in the games ever year, so we know what we're talking about. They take the team scores over a number of different events in order to determine which guild comes out on top, and they like to mix it up so there's a lot more variety than your typical anime tournament. You can check the records for the previous games like the bookworm did." he pointed at Levy "But there isn't any sort of consistent pattern to them."

"So the short version is, we have to play it by year, and expect some sort of brawl to come into it pretty soon. Plus there's still that whole thing Aftershock and Jellal told us about, so that means a mysterious magic power, and the games are a mystery to us too.'

"Now then Luke, and Erza too." Makarov handed both of them copies of the rule book "I would like for the two of you to read through the official rule book by tomorrow."

"Fair enough. Quick question though, anybody got a pair of those Wind Reader glasses on them at the moment?"

"Way ahead of you." Bolt promptly handed him a pair of Wind Reader glasses "I've learned a lot over the past few years, but it can be summarized in a few simple words: Always be prepared for anything."

"Good enough for me, thanks." so Luke started skimming through the rule book using the glasses for a few minutes, and then he stopped "Okay, so to sum it up so even Natsu could understand how it works, there are three main rules that we have to keep in mind. The first rule is that the master of each guild isn't allowed to participate."

"Sounds sensible enough." Makarov noted.

"The second rule is that a guild isn't allowed to have anyone that doesn't have their respective guild mark take part on its behalf. That one is kind of a given, but I think it's still worth noting regardless. The third and final big rule is that every game will remain a mystery until the very moment it gets announced, and only then will the rules of the games be explained in detail to all of the participants."

"Well that certainly isn't very helpful." Erza muttered dryly.

"Pay attention because this one seems like it's worth noting too. All participating members of each guild must report to their inn by midnight, so basically there's a curfew."

"Or what then?" asked Gray "Are we all gonna end up turning into pumpkins or something?"

"Either that or they just want to spend the night setting up the events for the next day and they don't want to spoil anything."

"Well either way, that sort of thing kind of reminds me of that story about the princess and the glass slipper."

What they didn't notice was that Juvia was stalking Gray as usual, and she overheard this 'So that must mean my darling Gray only talks about tales of romance and lost love when I'm not around to hear it? Oh my icy prince!'

"Kind of weird."

"Well either way it's nothing to worry about." Luke gave a shrug "We've still got a ton of time until the curfew takes effect, and since this is our first time in the capital we might as well go ahead and check it out or do whatever."

"Sounds good to me, I say we go check it out!" Natsu promptly took off, with Happy following behind him with a quick "Aye sir!" and Lisanna going with him.

"Hold on a second pyro, do you even know where we're staying?"

"It's the Honeybone Inn right? We'll be there, don't worry!" Lisanna called back to him.

"It's not you I'm worried about, make sure those two get back before midnight and they don't pick any fights. The last thing we need is to get disqualified before the games even start." he let out a sigh "Nothing's even happened yet, and I already have a feeling that this is going to be a long week."

"Well in that case, I think I have a way to cheer you up." Cana told him.

"Oh really, what's that? I already told you I'm not a drinker or anything-"

"Not that you idiot, I mean let's go exploring. You like seeing the sights and taking pictures, so let's make the most of it." she gave a bright smile as she grabbed him by the hand and promptly dragged him away.

"And suddenly I'm alone." Bolt commented dryly "Is it just me, or did that just get really depressing out of nowhere?"

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A few hours went by, mostly with people from Fairy Tail exploring the city just for kicks.

Luke glanced around at the city surrounding him and Cana, his mind drifting 'How much of an idiot I must be, I'm noticing now just how beautiful she really is. I can't believe it took me so long and nearly dying to realize how I feel about her. It's kind of strange to think how much has happened in the past year or so, or at least the past year for us anyway. I can't believe that a year ago I was travelling across the continent with Bolt, drowning myself in guilt and self pity over what happened that day, and now…"

"And now you're back where you belong, with the rest of us. With me." Cana gave him a small smile as she gripped his hand reassuringly.

"Yeah, sometimes you have to travel pretty much everywhere in order to find out where it is you truly belong."

"Yeah. You know I still can't believe I finally told my dad the truth, and now that I did I just feel so free."

"And you got Fairy Glitter out of it. You know there is one thing I've been noticing lately, I haven't seen you drinking, like at all lately."

"I haven't really felt the need to, I just feel so at peace lately. Even so, I can't help but think about how things are so different now compared to before."

"Yeah they are, and they're gonna keep changing, but we'll make sure that they're changing for the better. Oh fuck it, I can't wait anymore. Speaking of which, there's something I've been wanting to talk to you about."

"Yeah I've been thinking about something myself, but you go ahead."

"Alright. You see Cana, I-"

"Is this is a bad time?"

'Mother fucking-' Luke took a second to compose himself, and then he turned around to find himself face to face with Xian from Lamia Scale "Your timing could've been a lot better, let's just leave it at that. So what's up?"

"The word going around the kingdom is that you're entering the Grand Magic Games, is that correct?"

"Yeah that's right, and we're aiming to win it all."

"I see. I would like to say that Lamia Scale will win easily, but I'm far more realistic than to be so arrogant, so I will simply tell you that we have no intention of making it an easy win for your guild, especially considering Lyon and Jura intend to participate as well, so even if you do emerge victorious, you will have to work for it."

"I wouldn't expect anything less. That all you have to say?"

"No actually, there is something else. I understand that your feline companion with the strange weapon and the transformation magic, Bolt I believe, lost last year against Kagura."

"You mean the ace of Mermaid Heel right?"

"That is her name, and that's actually what I wanted to discuss with you."

Unfortunately, that foreboding note will have to be elaborated on in a later chapter.

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While they were sightseeing themselves, Juvia had decided to confront Gray and promptly asked him out to dinner, something that he actually agreed to. However, that was when Lyon popped up out of nowhere and tried to take Juvia to a romantic restaurant himself, something that Gray was not happy about at all. Lyon quickly came to a stop and spoke with Gray about how he heard that he would be competing in the Grand Magic Games. The two of them ended up clashing heads with each other as Lyon began to brag that Lamia Scale had always been in second place, even without him or Jura participating, to which Gray countered by stating that they had a monster with them in the form of Erza. Lyon then decided to make a bet stating that if Lamia Scale were to claim victory in the games, then Juvia would join their guild. Gray asked what he would get if he won, and Lyon claimed that he would get to keep Juvia, something that Gray wasn't exactly thrilled about, seeing how she was already part of their guild. Juvia promptly tried to stop the two of them by asking Gray to choose between her and Lyon, which led Gray to the realization that she had absolutely no idea what was going on.

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Meanwhile, back at the inn…

After checking around the inn and making sure that nothing was afoot, Erza had gone through a typical nightly routine of hers, and now she was resting on her bed in her nighties thinking about her reunion with Jellal just a few days beforehand, until her brooding was rudely interrupted by the sudden arrival of Ichiya, in which he complemented her perfume and started sniffing her hair, which she didn't take too kindly too, given that she tore into him for showing up uninvited and and promptly punched him out. This was followed by the Trimens popping up around her, in which they surrounded her as they started flirting with her, until they followed Ichiya's lead and got punched out by Erza.

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At the same time, Wendy and Carla had headed to the palace of Mercurious to walk around and explore a bit, but what they hadn't realized was that a small black creature was watching the two of them from afar.

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Nightfall came, and the moon was shining brightly over the skies above Crocus.

By this point, Luke and Cana had met up with Bolt and Lucy, and the four of them were walking through the streets of Crocus exploring and just talking "So what's this I hear about you guys having some kind of all nighter party with Lucy's spirits in the Celestial World?"

"Well it wasn't exactly like that, though it did come close to being one, and I've gotta tell you that I'm really glad it didn't." Lucy told him.

"How so?"

"Well it was about a week into our training at Akane Beach, when Virgo popped up and told us about some kind of crisis that was about to destroy the Celestial World, and she asked us to come with her and help to save them. Of course we agreed, but then Loke popped up and explained what was really going on. It turns out the whole thing about the crisis was a ruse to give them an excuse to summon us to their world, something that was apparently a once in a lifetime chance for people."

"So then why go and ruin the surprise?" asked Cana.

"Because something that they hadn't taken into consideration was that there's a time difference between this world and the Celestial World. It turns out time moves slower than it does in this world, so one day there would be the equivalent to three months here. Good thing the Celestial Spirit King was pretty understanding, so we just did the party on the beach instead, and then we got back to training once it was over. I'm just glad Loke warned us when he did, could you imagine if we lost out on three more months of training in addition to the 7 years we were stuck on Tenrou Island? There's no way we would've been able to catch up in time for the games if it did, not even with our Second Origins awakened."

"Not without a metric fuckton of plot armor." Bolt pointed out dryly.

"Exactly, and since we're so far behind as it is, I don't think any of us can afford to lose any time either."

"I know the feeling, that's why I agreed to have my Second Origin unlocked before I started training for three months, the same with the others." Luke told her "Speaking of the whole Second Origin thing, what's up with Natsu? He hasn't really been himself since you guys came back."

"As in he hasn't been a massive pain in the ass constantly screaming at the top of his lungs and picking fights he never wins, unless the situation calls for it?" was Bolt's dry commentary.

"You said it, not me. So what gives?"

"Oh yeah, that." Lucy cringed slightly and looked away "Yeah, I was wondering when people would start to notice."

"So what gives?"

"Well it started after Natsu got himself together once he had his Second Origin unlocked, the first thing he did was go up to Noah and try and fight him."

"As payback for what happened on Tenrou Island?"

"Probably. Anyway, Noah wasn't really willing to fight him then, so…"

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(Flashback- Noah's refusal)

"No." was Noah's blunt denial to Natsu's request, or rather demand made through a poorly planned assault.

"I said fight me!" Natsu tried to launch another attack, only to be stopped by Noah using only one hand.

"And I said no."

"Why the fuck not?!"

"Because I would rather do literally anything else in the entire fucking world."

"So what, you mean you've got something better to do?"

"At the moment, absolutely nothing."

"...FUCK YOU, FIGHT ME!"

"Tell me something first." Noah finally stood up and actually turned to face Natsu "Give me one good reason why I should fight you in the first place?"

"Because we fought on Tenrou Island, you owe me a rematch for that."

"Yeah here's the thing about that Salamander, I owe a lot of people a lot of things. The list of that includes but isn't limited to, money, a few unspecified organs, one dude I actually owe a live tiger, I get enough shit from the animal rights people for that. But what your small mind doesn't seem to get Salamander is one simple detail, and that is that I don't owe you shit. I never have and I never will. You think whatever challenge comes your way you can beat on your own if you hit it enough times and hit it hard enough, you spend almost every day sleeping, stuffing your face or picking fights you never even win because of your own screaming ego, and you never learn from it. You don't even bother to train unless you have to, you just assume that whatever power you've got going for you will be enough to get the job done as long as you hit your enemies really really hard. That only works in Dragon Ball, and even then it fails half the time, but at least they learn from their mistakes, which is a metric fuckton more than can be said for you. You know you remind me a hell of a lot of Zancrow, but at least he had the common courtesy to die. So how about you take that massive inferiority complex and get the fuck out of my face, and then maybe I'll fight you again someday, but only after you learn to grow the hell up, stop thinking you're better than everyone else without putting in some kind of effort, and stop acting like such a massive (bleep)." and with that, he promptly walked away, leaving Natsu in a stunned silence.

(And that's how Noah refused to fight Natsu, and yet ended up destroying him anyway)

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Lucy cringed slightly as she finished explaining "And Natsu has been pretty out of it ever since then, not even Lisanna has been able to snap him out of his funk."

"To be honest, that doesn't surprise me in the slightest." Luke let out a sigh "I think it's pretty obvious that Aftershock isn't exactly fond of Natsu, but he's not exactly wrong either. I think this will end up doing some good for him in the long run. So did he and the others tell you guys about what they're gonna be up to during the Games?"

"You mean about that magic power they're linking back to Zeref? Yeah they did."

"Looks like we're gonna have to multitask during the games after all." then Luke glanced over to see a large crowd of people chanting over a fight "And with or without Natsu, people are already getting into fights and the games haven't even started yet."

"Well it only makes sense, keep in mind that guilds from all over the kingdom are showing up to participate in the games." Bolt pointed out "There's bound to be at least one dipshit from each of them that loves picking fights they can't finish."

"Can't argue with that, history pretty much speaks for itself." that was when their enhanced senses of smell picked up on something "You smell that? The scent I'm picking up has traces of dragon in it."

"Don't get your hopes too high, I know who that scent belongs to."

"What's the big deal, one of them is Ryos isn't it?"

"Yeah but that's where the problem lies, where there's him there's his partner, the most arrogant bastard on the face of the continent right now."

"I'll keep that in mind." Luke and Bolt promptly shifted their way through the crowd of spectators.

As it turns out, what drew the attention of the crowd was Sting pretty much going to town on a group of thugs, an arrogant smirk plastered across his face "So does anyone else want to be on the receiving end or is that the last of them? Seriously I need some relief, and these losers were nothing but a bunch of pathetic weaklings."

"That's your own fault you know." Rogue told him from where he stood off to the side, his arms crossed and Frosch hanging onto his shoulder "I told you that you dealing with them was nothing but a waste of time and energy."

"What's the harm in looking for a challenge?"

"Yeah sure, it's all fun and games until someone gets maimed." this was when Luke finally made his way through the crowd, instantly drawing some attention from the others.

"Well what the hell do we have here, is that Luke Drako himself? Now this is definitely an unexpected twist."

"So you know my name, you know it's only common courtesy to give out yours. I mean I already know about Ryos over there, but what's your deal?"

"So you haven't heard about me yet? Well I guess that's only fair. I already know who you are, and you already know about Rogue over there, but the name is Sting Eucliffe if you're so interested about it."

"So I've heard, Ryos actually did mention you before, and judging by the guild mark on your arm I'm guessing you're a member of Sabertooth too." then he looked down and something caught his eye in the form of Lector and Frosch "Talking cats on two legs, Exceeds no doubt about it, so I'm guessing that this is some kind of trend among Dragon Slayers now."

"Lector is my buddy and that's all there is to it. As for me and Rogue, you're face to face with the Twin Dragons of Sabertooth, the ultimate weapon of the strongest guild the kingdom of Fiore has to offer."

"So I've heard, apparently a lot of people consider you to be the be all end all."

"The two of us have heard things about you and your guild as well, and based on the fact that you're here with the rest of your little possy, I'd say that the rumors about your guild entering the Grand Magic Games this year turned out to be true. Natsu and Gajeel and the rest of them are one thing, but you're a whole other level."

"What makes you say that?"

"I've heard about the things you've done over the years, single handedly taking down the master of Phantom Lord and the master of Grimoire Heart aren't the sort of things that someone would've taken lightly. You always did have a thing for exceeding expectations, so I've gotta give you props."

"Uh huh. Well thanks, I do appreciate that. There wasn't really anything special about those fights, I was just doing what I had to do in order to protect my guild."

"And there's that ridiculous level of humility. To be honest I was kind of disappointed to hear about what happened on Tenrou Island."

"Because everyone thought we were dead?"

"That's part of it." he failed to notice Rogue facepalm when he started talking "When I heard about your little run in with Acnologia, I thought that what I heard was wrong about you, that you were one of those kinds of Dragon Slayers like Natsu and Gajeel, but now I'm seeing that I was wrong to assume that."

"Uh huh." Luke was growing less and less impressed with Sting's attitude "And would it be a problem to you if I was?"

"That doesn't matter, because that's not the case. You're not like those two, you're something much more. Those two are Dragon Slayers that couldn't actually slay a dragon, they only held you back and that's why you failed that day. The sad part of all of it is that I actually used to look up to Natsu when I was younger, and Rogue happened to be a big fan of Gajeel too, though he keeps saying that he was only curious about him as a fellow Dragon Slayer."

"So where exactly are you going with this?"

"We're not like those pieces of trash, the three of us are what I would like to call true Dragon Slayers. Either myself or Rogue here could've taken out Acnologia without breaking a sweat, and you could've too if you didn't have them holding you back." Sting was promptly silenced by the sight of Luke holding out a hand in front of him.

"I've heard all that I need to, so what you're saying is that you think Natsu and the others were holding me back, and I could've defeated Acnologia if they weren't there?"

"That's about the sum of it."

"And at the same time, you're saying that my actions against the likes of Phantom Lord and Grimoire Heart would be less impressive in your eyes if I didn't have this thing jammed in my back?" he jerked a thumb at his back, his question seeming to throw Sting off slightly.

"Uh… Well that's not really what I was saying."

"That's what you're making it sound like, just like you say you could defeat Acnologia single handedly."

"Oh that I'm saying outright."

"I think you'd be singing a different tune if you actually went up against that thing."

"It doesn't matter if we were there or not, what it all boils down to is that our kind of Dragon Slayer is the superior one."

"Is that so?"

"You've got a lot of nerve talking down about us like that." Cana prepared to draw a few magic cards, only to be stopped by Luke holding out a hand "Fine, but what makes you assclowns so superior anyway?"

"He's referring to the hierarchy of Dragon Slayer magic, in which there are three known types of users. The first one on the list is First Generation Dragon Slayers, those who learn how to use their magic directly from a dragon. Those that would fall into that category would be Natsu, Gajeel, Wendy and Aftershock. Then there's the Second Generation Dragon Slayers, those who got their magic from having a Dragon Slayer lacrima implanted in their bodies. Examples of those would include Laxus, Cobra from the Oracion Seis, and God Serena, the highest ranked of the Ten Wizard Saints. Then you have the Third Generation Dragon Slayers, those who both learned their magic from dragons and had Dragon Slayer lacrimas implanted in their bodies, so that makes them hybrids of sorts. In this case I'm talking about Sting and Ryos over there… and me."

"To put it simply, our kind is far superior to the others." Sting gave a cocky smirk "We're the ultimate Dragon Slayers, the best of the best, and I told Natsu that to his face when I met up with him earlier."

"The power of a Third Generation Dragon Slayer is impressive sure, but where you're gravely mistaken is that you think it makes you better than everyone else."

"I don't just think it, I know it for a fact. You of all people should know that there's a huge difference in power between First Generation and Third Generation. Just take a look at how much more powerful you are than the others."

"I don't like bragging or showing off my power, but the power that I do have I got through years of hard work, perseverance and dedication. I don't go around trying to prove my superiority to others."

"I never understood why either, you should understand how much better you are than the rest of them."

"You should understand that you're not, none of us are." Luke breathed a sigh of frustration and pinched the bridge of his nose "Let me just ask you one question, did your dragon disappear on the 7th of July, in the year 777X?"

"Yeah I guess you could say that, but not in the same way. To make it more to the point, my dragon Weisslogia died on that day."

Luke's body stiffened considerably when he heard that "I see, and how exactly?"

"It's pretty simple really, the creature that passed down my Dragon Slayer magic to me, I ripped him from the world of the living with my own two hands, so that I would be able to earn the title of a true Dragon Slayer. The same with Rogue over there." this was met with horrified gasps from both Lucy and Cana, and a low growl from Bolt.

"...I see." Luke took a deep breath to calm himself, and then he turned around "I think I've heard enough then. Come on you guys, we should head back to the inn before Erza starts hunting for heads."

Sting gave a scowl at the sight of Luke walking away "So that's it then, you just found out that me and Rogue killed our dragons and now you're just gonna walk away?"

"Unlike most of the other members in my guild, I don't make a habit of picking fights unless it's absolutely necessary. I know the fact that we'll meet in battle is unavoidable, but I'd rather save it for the games if it's all the same to you. Let me just say that while I don't enjoy picking fights, I also don't take very kindly to people who insult or try to hurt my friends. You would be smart not to forget that." and with that, he promptly walked away, with Cana and the others following right behind him, leaving Sting fuming as a result.

'That son of a… Where the hell does he get off turning his back on us?!'

"He's not wrong Sting and you know it, so get ahold of yourself." Rogue was quick to snap him back to reality "It would be a waste of time and energy to try and fight him before the games even start."

"...Fine, I'll let it slide for now. Just wait and see, even if he and the others somehow manage to make it past the qualifying rounds, we'll be sure to give them a taste of what true Dragon Slayer magic is capable of."

"We'll see. His arrogance is going to be his undoing soon enough, all I have to do is look at him to know that.'

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Some time passed, and almost everyone had returned to the inn.

Erza stood in front of Luke and the others, her arms crossed and her gaze firm "So I don't suppose you would care to explain where you've been all this time, or why all of you had returned so late?"

"Well aside from running into an old friend from Lamia Scale and learning something rather heavy from him, we had another run in a little while ago." Luke told her flatly "We ended up running into Ryos and his buddy Sting from Sabertooth, and based on my experience with him I wasn't impressed." he glanced over at Natsu brooding in the corner and grinding his teeth in suppressed rage "And judging by Natsu's brooding and the sound of his teeth grinding, I'd say he had an encounter with them too, and that got his fire back."

"Aye, Sting said some pretty nasty stuff to him back then." Happy told him "And his Exceed was pretty nasty too, so now we're gonna make sure those stupid jerks regret ever messing with the two of us."

"And now rather than brooding out of self pity, he's brooding out of anger. Yeah that actually sounds about right for him. Speaking of which, I don't suppose any of you have any idea as to where Wendy is right now?"

"I was actually about to ask you the same thing." Erza told her "She hasn't returned yet either, and none of the others know where she is."

"It's not long before midnight too, forget about the thought of a little kid like her wandering around alone at this hour, but there's still the overall curfew to take into consideration."

"Hey you guys." this was when Lisanna and Elfman showed up in the room with lots of snacks and drinks in hand "We brought you guys some supplies to help get you through the tournament, tomorrow's gonna be a pretty big day after all."

"Good call, they'll need all the strength they can get. Anyway the rest of us should probably get going, we don't want to keep you up any more than we have to. It's kind of a shame the rest of us don't get to fight." he suppressed a snort, but it didn't go unnoticed by Erza.

"Yeah I know what you mean." Elfman let out a sigh "I did want to get in on the action at first, see if my training would pay off and impress my sisters with how far I've come, but I guess a real man has to know when to quit."

"Good call."

"Yes a smart move, but it's good that you're here now." Erza spoke up "Would the rest of you mind doing us a small favor?"

"You want me and the others to go out and see if we can track down Wendy right?"

"I know you're as concerned about her as the rest of us, and I believe it would be for the best if those of us competing in the games wait here until the curfew becomes official. Keep in mind that the rules state we have to be here by midnight."

"Which just so happens to be right now." he jerked a thumb at the clock, followed by the sound of the clock chiming throughout the city.

"Attention all contestants participating in the Grand Magic Games of the Year 791X, I wish you a good morning!"

"And now that's happening, coming from outside too."

"Take a look and see for yourself." Bolt jerked a thumb up at the massive figure floating in the sky above the city "Some people say it's the Great Pumpkin from Charlie Brown in the flesh, but I say it's nightmare fuel taking form to scare the ever loving crap out of people."

"In order to narrow down the 113 guilds that have arrived to participate in the games this year to 8, which is much more manageable, now we're about to start the preliminary round!"

"Preliminary round huh? Well that's something new to me. There hasn't been a preliminary round in the games over the past few years."

"So that's why they wanted us to be back at the inns at midnight." Lucy muttered "But to think that 113 guilds aimed to participate, to be completely honest I didn't even know there were that many guilds in Fiore as a whole. That number seems way too high. It doesn't make any sense either, why bother to keep this preliminary round a secret and what's with all of these new procedures?"

"The excessive number of guilds aiming to participate, the mysterious magic power that we heard about from Crime Sorciere. Looks like things are gonna be a lot more complicated than we thought."

"Alone the number of guilds increase and multiply each year, the Grand Magic Games as a whole have gotten boring now! It's all that I ever hear, so I think it's about time for us to fix that by whittling it down and let us give only 8 a solid cheer! The rules put in place for this preliminary round are quite simple!" this was followed by the inn they were in rising up from the ground, the same with the other inns throughout the capital.

"Okay not gonna lie, I definitely wasn't expecting that."

"And now the time has come for all of you to participate in a race, the finish line for the race is going to be the Domus Flau colosseum! Only the first 8 teams to reach it will be allowed to move onto the true Grand Magic Games!"

"Check it out." Bolt glanced ahead to see a pathway forming in front of the balcony "Call it a hunch but I get the feeling you guys are supposed to follow the path."

"All participating teams are free to use magic in any way that you see fit, there are no imposed restrictions in this event! But keep in mind that only the first 8 teams to reach the finish line are going to clear this round! However, all 5 team members must cross the finish line in order for it to count! One more thing, we are not responsible for any loss of life that may take place within the labyrinth."

"Well that's not ominous at all." Bolt glanced up at the labyrinth that materialized in the skies above the city.

"So without further ado, let the preliminary round of the Grand Magic Games, AKA the Sky Labyrinth, begin!"

"Well if it's a race then we'd better get moving, I say we go!" Natsu prepared to pounce onto the pathway.

"No, hold on." Erza was quick to stop him "Didn't you hear what he said? The rules state that all 5 members of our team have to reach the goals, so without Wendy here there's no chance of us being able to pass."

"Dammit, you're right." Gray swore under his breath "So what the hell are we gonna do about this?"

"Well without her here, we'll have to have a replacement for her." Erza glanced back, only to see that Luke and Cana were nowhere in sight "What the- Oh you've gotta be kidding me, of all the times for this to happen."

"Why bother to wait for a little girl when you've got a real man here ready to fight!" this was when Elfman stepped up to the plate, flexing his muscles as he grabbed hold of the others "Looks to me like we're gonna have a change to the roster!"

"Okay, so… that's happening now." Bolt shared a glance with Happy and Lisanna "So let him do what needs to be done I guess, it's not like they have time to wait for Wendy."

"I heard from Mira that he had been doing some serious training for the games, so I guess he's confident enough he can handle it." Lisanna noted.

"Fair enough. Anyway I'm pretty sure Erza wanted someone to go track down Wendy and Carla and make sure they didn't end up in some kind of trouble."

"So you think we should go and ask around town and see what we can find?"

"That's your job, but I can use my nose to try and track her scent. That way we'll get results a hell of a lot faster. So we have our job, let the others go and wreck some shit for now. They've got this."

"We should try and track down Luke and Cana too, it's not like them to just up and vanish out of the blue like that."

"Oh, you mean the master hasn't told you yet?"

"Told me what?"

"He's got Luke and Cana doing something else during the games, and call it a hunch but I have a feeling you're gonna be in for one hell of a surprise. Anyway we'll split up and see if we can track them down, if you find them then call me on this." he handed her a communication lacrima, and then he promptly sprouted a set of wings and took off. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with the Fairy Tail team…

"MANLY!" with a mighty roar for a battle cry, Elfman led the rest of the team up the path to the Sky Labyrinth "We're getting close to the entrance, and with each step we take we take a step closer to being number one in the kingdom again! We're taking that title and showing everyone why Fairy Tail is the best! LIKE REAL MEN!" and so they bolted into the entrance at full speed, where they got a clear image of what was in store for them within the labyrinth, in the form of a bizarre maze.

"Be sure to keep in mind that the planing committe for the Grand Magic Games is not to be held accountable for any casualties that may occur during the events of the Sky Labyrinth preliminary round. I wish you the best of luck everyone!"

"Looks like we're in some kind of crazy 3D maze."

"Oh fuck." Natsu let out a groan "I suck at stuff like this!"

"A real man knows when not to whine, don't forget that we have to finish in the top 8 or else any chance we have of becoming the top guild in the kingdom again is gonna drop faster than the ratings of Doctor Who."

"Fuck you're right, we're gonna have to get through this if we want any chance of beating the ever loving crap out of Sabertooth. Let's start by reaching the goal before they do."

"The hell with just that, a real man would never settle for anything less than first place no matter what!"

"We can't just rush head first into this." Erza pointed out "When we were on the ground I saw that the colosseum was to the East, so I think we should start by heading in that direction."

"No need to worry about that, I've got just the thing to help us out with that. Now open, gate of the Compass, Pyxis!" Lucy pulled out a silver Celestial key and opened the gate, which summoned a red and white bird spirit "Sorry I haven't summoned you in awhile Pyxis, but we need your help. Can you please show us which way is East?" this prompted the compass that it had attached to its head to spin and rotate into the proper direction "And there we have it you guys, now we know that the East is that way!"

"Yes Lucy, I actually knew that." Erza promptly held up something in her hand "Because I had brought a regular compass with me."

"...You couldn't have bothered to just say that? Anyway thanks for the help Pyxis." with her moment ruined, Lucy promptly closed the gate and took off running with the others "Well putting that aside, at least we know which way we have to go. We'd better get moving you guys, call it a hunch but I have a feeling we've got a lot of ground to cover in this thing. Though as much as I hate to be a downer, based on the way they laid this thing out, I don't think us going straight East to the colosseum is going to be an option. We're gonna have a hard enough time just trying to figure out which way is up and down."

"Perhaps, but we can't let that deter us." as they kept running, Erza glanced over at Natsu "Tell me something Natsu, are you not feeling your motion sickness rigth now?"

"I'm as shocked by it as you are." Natsu gave a shrug "I mean you would think that I'd be puking my guts out right now, but I feel just fine."

"That is surprising, I wonder what why that's the case."

"Allow me to explain! A special magic spell was cast on the Sky Labyrinth that allows any participants, even those with weaknesses such as motion sickness and fear of heights to be able to compete on equal terms in the preliminary round! Best of luck to all of you!"

"...I see, well that's convenient."

"No kidding, it's like Wendy's Troia magic." Natsu commented.

"Yeah but I doubt anyone here gets motion sickness as easily as you." Gray let out a snort "All things considered you're about as durable as a five year old."

"Hey you know I can hear everything you're saying!"

"Yeah I know that dumbass, that's why I said it."

"This isn't the time for your squabbles, now shut it." Erza was quick to call them off "Let's keep heading towards the East." and on that note, the five of them took off running again.

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That ended after a few minutes.

Elfman and the rest opened a doorway they found, only to find that it lead to a spiralling staircase that boggled the mind on a certain level "Oh you've gotta be kidding me, I can feel myself getting dizzy just looking at it. My stomach is already churning at the sight of it, and that's the stomach of a real man."

"We're wasting time standing here and staring at it, now let's get moving!" Erza was quick to charge forward, with the rest of them following right behind her.

"You're right! A real man would never hesitate or let themselves get distracted, they always keep their eye on the prize!"

"Okay we get it, but how long is this creepy tunnel anyway?" asked Lucy.

"There's no way to know without actually reaching the end of it." to prove his point, Elfman then opened the door they found at the end of the path, only to find that it led to a dead end "Take it easy you guys, we can't afford to lose any members."

"Yeah I know, but this is pretty unsettling. When that pumpkin guy was talking about possible loss of life, I guess he wasn't bluffing about it."

"Makes sense, even a real man probably wouldn't survive falling into the city head first from a thing as high up as this, at least not unscathed. We're gonna have to be a lot more careful about choosing our path from head on. We won't reach the goal if we keep looking down either, we need to make sure that we keep heading towards the East."

"Perhaps, but morale alone won't be enough to achieve results." Erza frowned in thought for a moment "I believe it would be for the best if we were to take notes as we move along. We should write down the path we've taken from the point where we started and the locations that we've gone past, if we're going to make any progress when we need to have a firm understanding of exactly where we are."

"Makes sense, if nothing else it'll keep us from running around in circles like a bunch of amateurs."

"Oh come on, there's no way that's gonna work." Natsu was quick to protest "How the hell are we gonna make a map of a crazy as hell place like this?"

"A real man knows not to whine, and can't you just use your nose to try and help us sniff out the goal?"

"Don't you think I would've done that by now if I could? I can barely even smell you guys right in front of me as it is."

"So your nose isn't working?"

"That doesn't help us." Lucy frowned in thought when she heard this "The spell they cast on the labyrinth must have dulled your sense of smell."

"You're right, that doesn't help us."

"But it doesn't help the other teams either." Erza pointed out "Don't forget that the conditions are the same for every team, so it's for the best if we keep moving."

"Right, like real men."

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On the outside of the Sky Labyrinth, Romeo and Nab had met up with Lisanna and Happy, and the two of them were shocked to find that Wendy and Carla had gone missing. When Romeo asked about what happened to the others, Lisanna informed him about how Elfman stepped up to take over Wendy's place, which frustrated him to no end, since he wished that he could've stepped up to join the others instead of Elfman. But putting that aside, Lisanna instructed the others to split up into teams and stay connected with each other using Warren's telepathy, in order to find out if someone were able to track down Wendy and Carla."

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Meanwhile, back in the Sky Labyrinth…

By this point, Erza and the others had started mapping out the route that they had taken in the Sky Labyrinth "Remember that the East is in that direction."

"So I've heard, but seriously." Lucy let out a sigh as she continued writing down Erza's instructions "Looks like mapping this maze out is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I mean I get that everything around us looks the same so it's hard to figure out what's what, but even still…"

"Hold that thought."

"What's the big-" Natsu's head suddenly snapped up "You heard it too Erza?"

"Yes I did." they were met with the sound of arguing from a number of other voices "They shouldn't be too far away."

"I almost forgot about that." Elfman muttered "It's been so quiet up until now that it seemed pretty easy to forget that there are other teams from other guilds in here."

"And it's not any friends of ours I can assure you." Erza pointed in a certain direction, and all of their faces fell.

"...Oh. Them. Crap."

As it turns out, it was Thibault and the rest of his group representing Twilight Ogre, and they scowled at the sight of Fairy Tail's team "Dammit you've gotta be fucking kidding me, the last thing we wanted is to have to deal with any more crap from your guild."

"How do you think we feel, we didn't want anything to do with the rest of you."

"At least we can back up our talk, I think it's safe to say your guild is about as shitt as it had ever been."

"We're pretty surprised to see you unmanly losers in the tournament too."

"Like you pieces of trash have any right to call us losers, you're the guild that always shows up in dead fucking last every year."

"Yeah we'll we're aiming to chance that." to the surprise of the others, Lucy was the one to step forward to tell off the thugs of Twilight Ogre "We might have come in last place before, but we're going to be aiming for the top this time. Just wait and see."

"Is that right, well we'll see about that." Thibault was quick to draw his mace from his back.

"So what then, you just wanna pick a fight here and now?"

"Why not, don't forget that they said we could use our magic without restrictions. I don't blame a blonde bimbo like you for being scared, you worthless pieces of Fairy Tail trash are gonna go down hard."

"You really believe that? Well alright then."

"These guys are never gonna learn, so we'll just have to teach them the same way over and over again, which is just fine by me." Gray stepped forward and prepared to fight, but he suddenly stopped at the sight of Lucy holding out a hand in front of him "Uh, what gives?"

"None of you are fighting them, I want to do this one myself."

"Come again?"

"I want to fight them on my own. I know what you're gonna say, but just hear me out. I know I've been letting all of you do all of the fighting up until now, I tried to fight alongside you and my Celestial Spirits whenever I summon them, but I personally haven't been much help. I've been training as hard as I have over the past three months because I want to change that, and now I need to see for myself if all of my training was worth it, and if I can't beat these guys on my own then we know that I wasn't good enough. So please, let me do this."

"...Alright." Erza de-materialized her swords and stepped back, forcing Natsu and the others to do the same "Just make sure you know your own limitations."

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." Lucy took a step forward and shot a smirk in the direction of the Twilight Ogre team "You guys made it clear that you wanted a fight, so now you're gonna get one. Come on."

"This isn't gonna be a fight, it's gonna be a slaughter!" as arrogant as ever, Thibault and the rest of his thugs charged towards Lucy at full speed "You and your buddies back there are gonna pay for making us look bad in front of the boss, and I can guarantee that you're gonna be begging for mercy when we're done with you, but you ain't gonna get any!"

"We don't have time to mess around with you guys, so I'm gonna go ahead and get this done without showing off more than I need to. I call upon the power of the Lion, Leo! Star Dress: Leo Form!" Lucy held up one of her golden Zodiac keys, and was bathed in a golden light, and when the light dissipated she was clad in her Leo Star Dress. Once her transformation had been completed, she dropped into a stance "As far as we're concerned you guys are just a stepping stone, our main goal is to dethrone Sabertooth and show everyone why Fairy Tail is still the greatest guild in the kingdom!"

"Spare us your prattling you little bitch!" one of the Twilight Ogre thugs pounched ahead of the rest and threw a punch.

Seeing this coming from a mile away, Lucy was able to step sharply to the side and aimed a powerful elbow to his head, with the one blow being enough to send him sprawling to the ground in a heap.

"You little bitch, you're gonna pay for that one!" the next nameless thug charged at Lucy with his sword drawn.

"Regulus Lucy KICK!" Lucy dove towards the thug and dealt him a Regulus-enhanced kick to the face, sending him tumbling across the area in a heap, and when she saw the third nameless thug charging at her like a crazed bull, so she grabbed him by the arm and threw him into the last thug, knocking both of them out cold in an instant "I really have to thank Capricorn for this the next time I summon him."

"You're gonna die for that one you (bleep)!" Thibault drew his mace from his back and promptly charged at Lucy in a blind rage.

"Regulus IMPACT!" Lucy stuck out her fist and unleashed a medium sized blast of golden colored magic energy, the blast sending Thibault flying and hurtling down towards the ground at high speed. Seeing that the fight was over, Lucy breathed a sigh as she de-materialized her Star Dress and turned to the others "Well that's taken care of."

"And a fine job too." Erza noted with a small smile "Quite the impressive display, I take it this is that Star Dress ability you mentioned to me earlier?"

"Yep you got it, I only had enough time during training to get three of them, but it should be enough for the games." this was immediately followed by the Sky Labyrinth shaking violently and then rotating "Okay, I wasn't expecting this, so does anyone have any idea what the heck is going on?"

"It's more than just the ground shaking, it seems that the labyrinth itself is starting to rotate!"

"You've gotta be kidding me!"

"I'm not, just look around and see for yourself!"

"No fucking way, nobody warned us about this!" and then Natsu started falling towards the ground below, along with several others that actually did fall out of the labyrinth.

"It's turning on it's Z-axis everyone, you have to move to the sides if you want to avoid falling off!"

"I would if it wasn't for the fact that I was already falling!"

"Fuck!" Natsu screamed at the top of his lungs like he did "If only Happy were here!"

"Or Bolt, just something that stops us from falling!"

"Who the hell needs a flying cat?!" this was when Elfman pounced towards them, grabbed hold of them and made one hell of a landing on a nearby platform that shattered from the impact "You have a man like yours truly on your team after all."

"Thanks for the save Elfman, we really owe you one."

"Not really, just doing what I have to do to protect my friends. It's what I trained for after all isn't it?"

"Are you guys okay over there?!" Gray called out to them from where he and Erza stood on their initial platform.

"We're good!"

"Just making sure."

"That is a relief, but a bit concerning at the same time." Erza looked around and her frown deepened "The labyrinth has stopped moving, so that's good."

"I don't know who the sick jackass is that designed this thing, but I do know they're pretty fucked up in the head."

"I'm personally not surprised by how intricate a labyrinth is proving to be, keep in mind that the purpose of it is to narrow over 100 teams down to 8."

"And it does look like that last move was enough to get rid of a lot of them."

"So it would seem." then Erza noticed one of the Twilight Ogre thugs that Lucy had knocked out had dropped something "What do we have here?"

"What is it, did those jackasses make a map too?"

"That does appear to be the case."

"Talk about a lucky break then, if we combine the notes we have with theirs then we're gonna have an even better map of this place going for us."

"...I see." and cue the wicked gleam appearing in her eyes.

As it turns out, Thibault had avoided falling out of the Sky Labyrinth even after Lucy's attack, and he was trying to crawl back onto one of the platforms "Hey what the hell do you assholes think you're doing?"

"Oh I'm sorry, does this belong to you?"

"You're damn right it does, now give it back."

"Oh goodness me, let me think about it… Not gonna happen." she promptly kicked him out of the labyrinth and down towards the ground, and then turned to Lucy "If it's any consolation this was still your win." she was met with a thumbs up "Okay good."

"And from the looks of it I'd say another one bites the dust."

"Well how about that?" Erza suddenly got a mischievous gleam in her eye, which was mirrored by the likes of Natsu and the other male members of the team "I think I just figured out how we're going to get ahead in the preliminaries."

Lucy cringed at the sight, the only one without that gleam in her eyes "And once again I find myself to be the only sane member of this team, I don't even know why I'm surprised by this anymore.

"The preliminary round is about to take a serious turn, and a vast majority of the teams still remaining are about to be eliminated, one right after the other! Oh this is so exciting, I can barely contain myself!"

"That did not sound promising."

"Now this is something I can get behind, we beat the every loving crap out of the other teams and steal their maps to get ourselves ahead! They wanted us to think it's a race, but it's a fucking huge battle!" with a cocky smirk plastered across his face, Natsu coated both of his fists with flames and pounced forward "Take the maps or not it doesn't mean a damn thing to me, all you assclowns need to know is that we're experts when it comes to going up to guys who look down on us and beating the ever loving crap out of them!"

"That sounded even less promising."

"Now I've got a fire in my belly!"

"And that's about as stereotypical for him as I should expect."

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About 10 minutes of beating the crap out of other teams later…

"Oh fuck yeah, like real men!" soon enough, Elfman and the others had beaten up enough idiots and taken enough maps "Well on one hand, we did a lot of really manly stuff to get about half a dozen maps. On the other hand, I don't have a goddamn clue how to read this thing."

"This sort of thing is more one of Lucy's strengths than ours." Gray pointed out "I say we just ask her about it."

"So basically you're saying that we beat the ever loving crap out of as many guys as we can and take whatever maps we can find, and then let Lucy figure them out?"

"Pretty much yeah."

"...Yeah okay, I can live with that." and so the four main fighters (minus Lucy, since she's been stuck with deciphering the maps) started doing their thing, which led to this:

"Alright assclowns one to however many, fork the fuck over all your maps!"

"You heard the idiot, hand them over!"

"The real man has already gotten three of them so far!"

"Not too shabby, but the Queen of the Fairies has already gotten seven!"

Lucy just cringed again at the sight of the others going to town on the other teams, and she looked down at the member lying in a heap at her feet "I'm really sorry about this."

"No you're not." was all he said.

"I'm more sorry about this than the rest of them." this was followed by the Sky Labyrinth beginning to shake again "Oh crap it's about to move again, everyone hurry and grab onto something now!" and then it began rotating, which caused several more teams and members to fall out, but fortunately they were able to stay in "Okay that wasn't too bad."

"Oh fuck yeah!" Natsu started radiating some flames "I'm all fired up now, so let's get back to kicking some ass!"

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Outside in the open city, Max met up with Warren and Alzack and informed them that he hadn't had any luck in tracking down Wendy, seeing how it was pretty late and they didn't have a clue as to where they should look.

In another part of the city, Lisanna and Happy were informed by Warren that despite the fact that they had searched through most of Crocus, their efforts were unsuccessful. It was at this moment that Happy remembered that Wendy and Carla had decided to go sightseeing, and Lisanna was able to deduce that they had headed towards the palace, and so the two of them decided to head for it.

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Meanwhile, back in the Sky Labyrinth…

Now that they had a high enough number of maps, Lucy was looking over them and trying to make use of them "Let's see, I feel like there's no real point in trying to head to the East from the surface of the Sky Labyrinth or else we're just gonna end up running around in circles because the stupid thing keeps rotating and throwing us off."

"So is that why you had us come to the center of it instead?" asked Elfman.

"Pretty much yeah, I figured that it was gonna be a lot easier to find the East from here, but apparently I was wrong. I never would've thought we'd end up coming across a peaceful landscape in the middle of a sphere of doom like this."

"It would be a lot more peaceful if it wasn't upside down." Erza pointed out dryly "And as if that wasn't strange enough, it would appear that there's no indication of East or West anymore."

"And that just makes things all the better for us. Now there's no way of telling exactly where we're supposed to go."

"True as that might be, we can't afford to stop moving." Erza was suddenly met with a suspicious sounding chuckle from Lucy "I really don't like the sound of that."

"I've been saying that about all of you since this whole thing started, but now you don't have an excuse to ruin my moment. Open, gate of the Compass, Pyxis!" Lucy pulled out a silver key and opened the gate, revealing Pyxis once more, only for it to start cowering.

"Why does it look so scared and upset?"

"If I had to guess, and it's really all that I can do since he can't actually talk, it would probably have to be because you traumatized him with your compass earlier."

"...That's what you're going with?"

"That's my theory and I'm sticking with it."

"Well I never intended to offend him in any way. Alright little buddy you're finally going to get your time to shine, her compass is completely useless."

"Observe, it keeps spinning with no actual sense of direction."

"See I told you that it was useless, we could really use your help right now."

"I apologize for upsetting or offending you in any way, could you please assist us in finding our way to the East?"

Natsu and Gray shared a look and let out simutlaneous snorts "That's one hell of a simple minded bird, I fucking dare you to say anything, but I bet he's still smarter than Erza by at least a few miles." this put them on the receiving end of Erza's death glare.

"Would you care to repeat that?"

"Repeat what, we said absolutely nothing."

"That's what I thought."

"Save your ego later Erza, we've got some results." Lucy and Pyxis were quick to get everyone's attention "We know where to go, East is in that direction!"

"Yeah but there's one small problem, that direction is going up." Gray pointed out "Are you sure your Pokemon is right about this?"

"Of course I'm sure, and he's not a Pokemon. Believe me when I tell you that Celestial Spirits just so happen to be a hell of a lot stronger than some regular old compass."

"So do you have any ideas on how we're going to get up there?" asked Elfman.

"Oh yeah, good question actually."

"Isn't it obvious? Just give it a second." Erza held out a hand, which was immediately followed by the Sky Labyrinth rotating again.

"You mean we have to fall?! Oh come on Erza, that is so not cool!" and they ended up falling into a river below them.

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About 10 minutes later…

After pulling themselves out of the river, Elfman and the others took some time to lie on the ground and dry off "It's the little things in life that make it really worth living, and a real man knows that if you don't stop and look around in life, you never get anything out of it."

"Come on you guys, we've fallen too far and worked too hard to get knocked out of the games in just the preliminary rounds!" Lucy was the first one to pull herself back to her feet "We have to get back at it, we're still in the middle of a race so we don't have time to sit around watching birds fly by."

"Lucy is right, we've come too far to give up now." Erza was the next to bolt upright "Let's get moving, we won't settle for anything less than first place in the preliminary round!"

"Oh yeah to the oh yeah!" and so the five of them took off running with renewed vigor.

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It didn't take long for Elfman and the rest were running along a narrow path going over a large and vast ocean, but they did notice one concern "How in the name of hell did they manage to fit an entire freaking ocean into this thing?!"

"Who cares about that, how long is this freaking path?!" was Lucy's more prominent concern over their current situation.

"Never mind that, just take a look up for a moment." Erza pointed upwards at the sky above the pathway "The sky they have above us isn't actually real, they just painted it on to make it look more authentic. You can see the gears and some of the paint coming off."

"If that really is the case then this must actually lead somewhere, and that somewhere has to be the actual goal!"

"Alright everyone we're almost there, the time has come for all of us to make that one final sprint towards our goal! Now let's go, we have a title to claim, and this is the first step towards making that happen!"

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By this point, Happy and Lisanna had reached Mercurious, the palace and home for the king of Fiore. The guard were quick to block the entrance and question them over what they were doing at the palace so late at night, and upon being informed of the details of Wendy and Carla going missing, they allowed them in because the king was apparently looking forward to the Grand Magic Games, with Warren and the others (overhearing using his Telepathy) being shocked that they were allowed in, and along with Alzack and Max, he was quick to make a beeline for the palace. Once they were inside the palace gardens, Lisanna and Happy both agreed to split up and search for Wendy and Carla.

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Meanwhile, in the Sky Labyrinth…

Mato (the guy with the pumpkin head) was quick to greet the Fairy Tail team and applaud them when they finally arrived at the goal "Elfman Strauss, Erza Scarlet, Gray Fullbuster, Lucy Heartfilia and Natsu Dragneel, the team representing the Fairy Tail guild. I really do have to congratulate all of you on clearing the preliminary rounds, and as such you'll be advancing to the Grand Magic Games."

"Oh fuck yeah, now I've got a fire in my belly!" Natsu pretty much exploded in the same way he always did "So tell us Great Pumpkin from Charlie Brown, did we come in first place or did we come in first place?!"

"Actually neither, your team came in 8th place. Your team just barely managed to pass the qualifier round."

"...WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN EIGHTH PLACE?!"

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Meanwhile, in the palace gardens…

By this point, Bolt had made it to the palace gardens as well, his mind racing 'Okay I've been following what the others are saying and following my nose and I haven't had any luck in tracking down Wendy. Dammit, I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Attention ladies and gentlemen, the eight teams participating in the main event of the Grand Magic Games have at last been determined! The preliminary round of the Grand Magic Games, AKA the Sky Labyrinth, has been completed!"

"Well that doesn't sound ominous at all." note the sarcasm in his tone "So at least give us some details Great Pumpkin, which guilds are gonna move onto the next round?"

"Now I can imagine many of you want to know which of the guilds are going to be participating in the main events, am I right? Well sorry, but you'll just have to wait and see when the time comes for the opening ceremonies!" and then the magic hologram disappeared.

"For a guy who's so chipper, he sure as hell takes joy in being a major dick. Well I doubt I have anything to worry about, all of them made it through no problem, I know they did." he dropped down to the ground when something caught his eye.

It was at that moment that Lisanna and Happy came rushing towards him "Bolt how did you get here, did the guards let you in too?"

"They don't know I'm in here, their security just sucks so I was able to pass over them without them even noticing. But we've got another problem." he motioned for them to join him on the other side of the bushes, where he was holding the unconscious forms of Wendy and Carla, both of them sprawled out on the ground "From what I can tell they're okay, I'm not seeing any sort of major wounds on either of them, but I'm barely sensing any magic power coming from either of them. If I had to guess, I'd say we've got someone who's able to absorb magic power from others like a fucking sponge.'

This was when Wendy slowly opened her eyes and looked up at him "Bolt… is that…?"

"Yeah it's me, try not to move too much. You need to recover your strength."

"Bolt… what is it… what happened… to me…?"

"I was hoping you'd be able to tell me that, I just found you and your denmother cat sprawled out on the grass a few minutes ago. You don't remember?"

"No… I don't… I'm sorry…"

"Forget about it, just try and save your effort so you can recover your strength. The way she is right now, there's no way in hell she'll be able to compete in the games. I guess I was right when I got the feeling in my gut that the games this year would be more eventful than the others, but for all the wrong reasons. Sorry Luke, but you and the others are definitely gonna have your work cut out for you this time around.'

A/N:

And with this chapter, we finally get to start the Grand Magic Games themselves, even if it was only the qualifier, and yet despite that this chapter ended up being a hell of a lot longer than I was expecting it to be. The lineup for Fairy Tail Team A for the games is pretty much the same as in canon, but the B Team is another story, and the reason for that is pretty simple, but we'll get into that next chapter. The fight between Luke, Lucy and Cana actually serves a pretty strong purpose, in which it not only do we see how strong Lucy and Cana in comparison to the insane powerhouse that is Luke, but we get to see Lucy's new secret weapon in action in all of its glory: the Star Dress, specifically the forms of Taurus, Leo and my personal favorite out of all of them (the Star Dress at least), Sagittarius.

Yep that's right, Lucy is getting the Star Dresses of her Celestial Spirits, an ability she revealed to us in the final season a hell of a lot earlier than she did in canon, which is courtesy of none other than Capricorn You can go ahead and say whatever you want about the final season, and I do plan on fixing a lot of the problems that it had working against it, but I think this ability is really epic, and its debut gives Lucy the ability to fight on their own. Don't get me wrong, I know she almost always fights alongside her spirits, but this way she can fight on her own if she should have to.

In case it wasn't clear, that exchange between Luke and Bolt regarding the incident with Ichiya zombies was referring to episode 226, Fairy Tail of the Dead Meeeeen, an episode that was both hysterical and terrifying at the same time. I just thought it would be fun to reference it, and it would build on the fact that stuff actually happened while the Tenrou Team was gone for 7 years. Plus it gave me an opportunity to give Max a win, since I think he's criminally underrated, and out of the members of the canon b-tier characters (those who weren't on Tenrou Island during the 7 year time skip), he's probably my favorite.

So yeah, that little exchange between Luke, Bolt, Cana and Lucy was meant to do two things: One, it clarified that in this fic the group didn't lose out on three months of training because of the party in the Celestial World. While I did find it funny, I also thought it was kind of stupid. Two, it's meant to show Noah tearing into Natsu and hitting him in way more emotional spots than he's comfortable with, which I included mainly because I'm trying to give Natsu more character development than he had in canon, but the payoff is going to be towards the end of the arc. You'll see what I mean by that soon enough.

One other thing that I feel is worth noting is that Sting, while he's still pretty much the same arrogant bastard that he is in canon, he does hold a certain level of respect for Luke in this fic, considering that he's a Third Generation Dragon Slayer just like him and Rogue are. Needless to say, the respect that Sting feels for Luke isn't returned thanks to his attitude.

So yes, Elfman taking Wendy's place is pretty much the same as in canon. I know it might seem kind of lame to make it the same as canon, but Luke and Cana already have their task during the games, which is going to be revealed next chapter, and I feel that Elfman hasn't had enough chance to shine in the story, so I felt as if I owed it to him.

Now to close out this chapter, I just want to take a moment and apologize for taking as long as I did to get out the next chapter. I mean seriously, two full months between each chapter is unacceptable in my eyes. It's just that since the new semester started for me, I've been really busy with my classes. Combine that with all the stress that comes with the hell the world is turning into, along with a general lack of motivation to write, and this story ended up a lot lower on my list of priorities than I would've liked. But here it is now, the start of the Grand Magic Games themselves, or at least the qualifier round.