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.

46. Grand Magic Games IV

I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it, and for getting this story up to 60,000 views. Here's hoping that number continues to grow as time goes on, and I hope all of you continue to enjoy this story as much as I enjoy writing it.

Morregen: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. The Luke vs Jura fight was something I really enjoyed doing, and it seems like it's gotten a lot of positive reception. Yep, the Luke x Cana moments are really enjoyable to me too. Though just to clarify, the members of Crime Sorciere do know about Luke's Dual Element Dragon Force, seeing how almost all of them (with the exception of Jellal) were present on Tenrou Island.

Fpinheiro96: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. The Luke vs Jura fight was something I really enjoyed doing, and it seems like it's gotten a lot of positive reception.

Altajir95: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. The Luke vs Jura fight was something I really enjoyed doing, and it seems like it's gotten a lot of positive reception.

Guest: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. Yeah, Lucy having to lose was unfortunate but still necessary, though I think I made up for that with the Luke vs Jura fight, which was one I really enjoyed doing.

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The first day of the Grand Magic Games, with one of Fairy Tail's teams in dead last, and the other in 4th place, and now the guild was coping with this in the only way they really knew how to…

"COME ON PEOPLE, DRINK UNTIL YOU PUKE OR PASS OUT, AND THEN YOU KEEP DRINKING!"

'Yeah that figures.' Luke sat at one of the tables in the corner of the inn where the Fairy Tail guild was staying during the games, a sandwich in front of him "Let's be real about this for a second, these people would always find one reason or another to celebrate by getting drunk until they puke and then keep drinking."

"Even if we ended up in last place?" asked Cana from where she sat next to him with a mug of booze in hand.

"Especially then. Tell me I'm wrong."

"I can't and I won't, so I'm not even gonna try."

"And there you go. I can't deny that everyone does have the right mindset though, and they have the right idea to go with it. They know as well as any of us that it's important to try and stay as optimistic as you can, if not for yourself then for the sake of those around you. It's been one hell of an eventful day."

"No doubt about it there, it felt like reality, or in this case Raven Tail, kept bitch slapping us over and over again for some sick and twisted form of amusement."

"Yeah, I think it's safe to say that we've got our work cut out for us."

"Oh come on, you're the last person in this entire freaking world who has the right to complain right now. You beat a Wizard Saint for crying out loud, AGAIN!"

"Yeah but don't forget that god only knows what tomorrow is going to bring."

"Well whatever happens there, I think it's safe to say that the A team copped it a hell of a lot worse than our team did."

"Yeah I can't really argue with that, not only did they get screwed over by Raven Tail two events in a row, but now Natsu is insisting on competing in the big event tomorrow, and if he's trying to shoehorn his way in then you can be sure that Gajeel's most likely gonna do the same to try and one up him. Speaking of which, you see Lucy or Gray at all lately? I know you went to try and help Lucy calm down after what happened, but Gray just stormed off after the whole Hidden thing and I haven't seen him since then."

"That was the last time I saw him too, but last I saw Lucy's doing a lot better."

"That's good, glad to see she's doing okay."

"You know you can't blame either of them for being angry over what happened, Raven Tail showing up at all was something we never would've seen coming before today."

"I don't blame them for being upset over it, I couldn't if I wanted to. But it's not like there's really anything we can do about it, the only thing we can really do right now is try and work around it."

"And I'm guessing they just realized that too." Cana jerked a thumb at where Gray and Lucy were making their way into the bar "I guess they decided to stop feeling sorry for themselves, or rather they decided that they might as well do it along with everyone else."

"Makes sense, I wouldn't want to be alone at a time like this. Or more like I would but you and the others wouldn't let me."

"No she's forcing herself on him, I just know it!" unfortunately, Juvia was completely unaware of the new arrivals "She could be confusing my beloved and taking him all for herself!"

"You know they're right behind you right?"

"I think it's safe to say her imagination doesn't have an off switch." Cana noted dryly "And neither does her mouth for that matter."

"No denying that. Anyway hey guys, how are you two holding up?"

"You don't have to worry about me, I'm doing okay." Lucy gave the two of them a reassuring smile "I just know I have to work that much harder so something like that doesn't end up happening again. But enough about me, what about Wendy and Carla?"

"From what Lisanna told us they're both still pretty out of it, Porlyusica is keeping a close eye on them. I think it's safe to say that Wendy is the only one of us that she actually likes, even if she won't admit it."

"Alright then listen up!" this was when Makarov got their attention as he leapt onto one of the tables with a mug in hand "I'd like to make a toast! Today we may have lost, but we still started our long climb to the top, and tomorrow that climb will continue, because the Fairy Tail guild has never backed down before and you can be sure that we're not starting now! We are the greatest guild in Fiore, we always have been and we always will be!" this was met with a large number of cheers.

"Here here master, tomorrow we're aiming for number one, and we're not gonna settle for anything less."

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Meanwhile in the castle, the white knight Arcadios was in the middle of having an audience with the king and asked what he would like to see during the events of the second day of the Grand Magic Games, to which the king told him that he wanted to see Bacchus fight against a member of Fairy Tail that had the ability to transform. Arcadios appeared to understand what the king meant by this and assured that he would arrange it, and then he promptly excused himself and took his leave, musing about how he could not afford to rest, seeing how a certain event was drawing near.

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Meanwhile, in the city…

"Alright idiots, who wants to get in on it next!" now that the party was in full swing, Cana was enjoying herself in the best way that she knew: drinking either herself or some other poor jackass into a stupor, in the case it was the latter, and the latter just so happened to be Macao in this case, leaving him on the ground in a drunken heap "Come on you guys it was just getting fun, why would you want to chicken out now?"

"Well you can say one thing about her, being out of it for 7 years with the rest of them hasn't made her any more of a lightweight." Bolt commented dryly "Plus if I had to guess then I would say that the three months of training and getting the Second Origin released made her tolerance that much higher than it already was."

"God helps all of us is what I say." Max grumbled from where he sat next to Bolt, a mug of his own in hand "You ever feel like you were completely outclassed in every sense of the word and totally helpless to do anything about it?"

"I've felt that way for more than a decade, it wasn't until I got this thing during that whole mess in Edolas that I was actually able to do something about it." he jerked a thumb at where his Shatterstorm was strapped to his back "So what about you, you and Natsu try getting a rematch at some point?"

"No not really, he said something about how Sting was the only one he really wanted to fight until the games were over. Probably for the best too, if he really got that Second Origin thing along with the three months of training he'd probably rip me a new one."

"Don't look down on yourself like that, up until they got back you were the only person in the guild who could be a halfway decent sparring partner. Frankly I still think you're up there with the others now, maybe you couldn't win but you'd still give a good fight. Besides, don't forget about what we promised each other after what Ivan and Raven Tail pulled. We weren't gonna let anything like that happen again."

"...You're right. Second Origin can go to hell, whether I can oneshot Natsu or get oneshotted by him, I'm gonna keep pushing myself and fight with everything I've got."

"Drink to that sandman." the two of them promptly shared a toast "Good thing Natsu isn't trying to beat the crap out of everyone he can get his hands on, if he actually gets serious then we'll end up having to pay for the repairs."

"Tell me about it. You mind if I ask you a favor though?"

"You wanna fight at some point later on to see how you compare to me don't you?"

"Granted I doubt I've been training as much or as hard as you have over the past few months, but I've been working on a few tricks of my own. For starters, instead of just using the sand I can generate on my own, I've been working on summoning more from the ground around me by using the rocks and minerals as the substance to make it work."

"So basically what Gaara does?"

"That's about the sum of it."

"Nice, looking for anime for inspiration. It makes a lot of sense too, Noah literally named one of his most powerful Dragon Slayer spells after Madara's giant middle finger jutsu."

"That Limbo move where he makes invisible copies of himself?"

"No the other one, the Planetary Devastation. The one that's actually earth based." Bolt then glanced over to see what was happening at the other end of the bar "Let's see here, Gajeel trying to partonize Laxus while Levy is trying and failing to hold him back, and Freed is drunk off his ass and trying to defend Laxus' honor and calling on the others from the self proclaimed Laxus Bodyguard Core, only to find that they're both passed out drunk. Yeah that sounds like typical Fairy Tail to me."

"No arguments here." they shared another toast.

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Meanwhile, at the other end of the bar…

Now only slightly drunk, which really was a feat for her, Cana looked down at the past out forms of Bickslow and Evergreen "For crying out loud, it looks like some people don't know how to hold their stuff down do they?"

"Now this looks like a party that's actually worth joining." this was when an unfamiliar figure showed up before Cana, a guy with black hair tied back in a bun with a short purple jacket covering his shoulders, and a certain guild mark in the middle of his back "What would you say that you and I have a couple of drinks to pass the time?"

"So we're skipping the introductions and small talk and going straight for the fun part then are we? Sounds to me like the classic sign of a jackass who's got something to prove."

"Or someone who knows how to back up his talk, more than what can be said for most of the guys around here."

"Maybe, I guess there's only one way to find out."

"So there is."

"Oh joy, so this is happening now." Luke breathed a sigh from where he was watching the scene going down from a nearby table "Take my advice and walk away while you still can, the only thing that can rival her tolerance for alcohol is the amount of power that her dad puts out, and if you knew the first thing about who that is then you know you're pretty much screwed if you go through with this."

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About 20 minutes later…

Luke glanced down at the unconscious form of Cana lying on the floor in a heap, his expression having dulled considerably "Then again, what the hell do I know? Based on what I've seen here and now, nowhere near as much as I thought I did. You've gotta be freaking kidding me, this dude just went and literally drank Cana right under the table. Cana of all people drinking until she drops, definitely not on the list of things I thought I was gonna see here tonight, or really ever for that matter.'

"And that's how we do it in my guild, now if you'll excuse me I'm gonna go ahead and claim this little thing as a trophy for my win tonight okay?" on that note, the drunk guy knelt down towards Cana and snatched her bra before waltzing towards the doorway, only to be cut off by a flash as Luke suddenly materialized in front of him, his sword pointed forward "So is there something I can do for you Mr Bigshot?"

"Actually there is, you can start by returning that trophy to the one who took it from in the first place." he pointed at where Cana lay on the floor, now topless to go with being unconsicous "You can do it now or I can make you do it, or my personal favorite option, I make a shoutout to her dad and let him deal with you." this just caused the drunk guy to burst out laughing "Mocking isn't going to get you out of this."

"Yeah well what can I say, I like mocking people." then the guy fell flat on his face on the floor, but his leg bolted upright and aimed a kick back, only for him to look up and see that Luke had easily caught it with one hand "Well now, looks to me like someone here actually knows how to fight a little bit. Not too shabby pretty boy."

"If it's a fight you want then let's take this outside, believe it or not I'm the one guy in this guild that actually does give a crap about not damaging property." Luke was gritting his teeth as he said this, his body slowly surging with electricity.

"Is that so? Wait hold up a second, glasses and the sword, lightning magic, actually gives a crap about not breaking stuff, you must be Luke."

"You know who I am?"

"You're damn right I do, you think you're the only Fairy Tail jackass that I've crossed swords with over the years? Nope, you're the second."

"And who would the first be?"

"Well as a matter of fact…"

"Hold on a second, Bacchus is that you?" this was when Erza came up to the two of them, which prompted the drunk guy, now known as Bacchus, to bolt upright and get up in her face.

"Well well what do we have here, if it isn't Erza Scarlet herself."

"I see you're as still as much of a drunk as ever."

"And whether I be sober or not you still be smoking hoy."

"And you certainly know how to flatter a girl, and yes I'm being sarcastic."

"I heard you and a bunch of other losers have gone into hiding awhile back, it seemed like such a damn shame in my eyes.:

"It was something like that, but what about you? From what I've heard you're actually competing in the Grand Magic Games." this caused Bacchus to burst out laughing.

"Well at first I figured this whole trip would be nothing but a good excuse to get wasted and sample some of the local stuff for myself, but after I saw Warcry make a fool out of both himself and the rest of our guild, the spirit of manliness inside of me got thirsty for a metric fuckton of vengeance, so I entered the games as a reserve member for my guild and I plan to raise all sorts of hell for your guild and all the others. I'm gonna go ahead and warn you now, my soul is as shaken as it is stirred. Maybe the two of us will get to have our own little party in one of the battle rounds, it would be pretty nice if we get to settle the score. Don't forget about what we always say in our guild, we always have been and always will be…"

"Wild." her expression was dull and unimpressed.

"At least you're still good for a few laughs red!" on that dull note, the drunken jackass made his way out of the inn, leaving Cana's bra behind as he left.

"Back up a second." Luke shot a raised eyebrow in Erza's direction "You mean to tell us you know that drunk jackass?"

"That would be one of the few S-class mages of the Quatro Cerberus guild, I've run into him on jobs more than a few times over the years, and I know from experience just how strong he is all too well. That man is Bacchus the Drunken Hach, the master of the Drunken Chop Hanging Palm technique, we've fought on a number of occasions but there has never been a clear winner."

"So what then, you mean he's as strong as you?"

"He was in the past, but those were mostly back before I became an S-class wizard, so I haven't the slightest clue about how strong he is right now."

"Which means that being the powerhouse you are, the chances of you beating him within an inch of his life and hanging him up by his entrails are that much higher."

"It's not like you to be so aggressive about an opponent, what is it with you?" she was answered with him pointing at Cana's unconscious form, having been stripped topless by Bacchus "Oh I see. Still though, a bit too brutal for your style."

"Fine, I'll settle for you decking him in the schnozz, but I'm not dialing it down any further than that."

"I can live with that."

"Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some other business to attend to." on that note, Luke promptly covered his eyes, removed the t shirt he was wearing under his gi, then knelt down in front of Cana and placed the shirt on her, then picked her up on his back and promptly made his way out of the bar, leaving everyone with raised eyebrows about his anger.

"I know he's always been protective of Cana, but to be so aggressive about it, I wonder what's gotten into him."

"Wonder no more, because do I have one hell of a story for you." Bolt suddenly popped up in front of Erza with a huge shit eating grin plastered across his face.

"Do tell."

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Back in the infirmary, Carla was talking to Porlyusica about the visions she had experienced during her dreams, how she had only seen some bits and pieces of some events, which included the appearance of a white knight, a massive magic circle the castle collapsing, and the sight of a member of her guild singing.

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The second day of the games had come, and the festivities were about to get started.

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen, we've reached the second day of the Grand Magic Games and the stands are exploding with cheers and excitement from every corner! Joining me once again is Mr Yajima himself, and in place of Jenny we have a brand new special guest in the form of Jason from Sorcerer Weekly!"

"SO COOL!"

"Yeah that's right, I'm referring to that guy. Anyway it's about time we get back into the action that's already in progress as our wizards take on the Chariots! The point of this event is that each competitor has to reach the final goal without falling off the chariot they're riding. That sounds pretty simple right? Wrong! The Chariots they have to ride are constantly in motion, and while they're moving at the pace of a snail one wrong move could cost you dearly! So this is the question: Which of these teams will survive this rough and tumble sight seeing tour through the city of Crocus and be the first one to cross the finish line?! For those of you who are here with us at the Domus Flau colosseum, you'll realize that we're here showing you the race in crystal clear lacrima vision, HD style no less!"

"SO COOL!"

"Yes thank you Jason. Anyway, for those of you who haven't caught up yet, let me give you a rundown on who's competing in this event. First we have Sting from Team Sabertooth, I'm sure you all know him very well. Next we have Kurohebi from Team Raven Tail, Natsu Dragneel from Team Fairy Tail A, Yuka from Team Lamia Scale, sir Ichiya from Blue Pegasus, Bacchus from Team Quatro Cerberus, Risley from Team Mermaid Heel, and lastly we have Cana Alberona from Team Fairy Tail B. Tell me something Mr Yajima, I'm sure that you've seen a lot in your days, but would you have ever predicted something like this?"

"Well…"

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Meanwhile, with Team A…

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me…" Lucy let out a groan at the sight of Natsu struggling on his chariot "So remind me again why we decided to let him participate in this one, you would think that the name Chariot would be a big clue even for him."

"He was absolutely insistent that he participate in this one." Erza told her flatly.

"So what then, he thought he was gonna get the chance to fight a chariot or something?"

"I never know with someone like him, but there's nothing we can do about it now."

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Meanwhile, with Team Fairy Tail B…

"I still call bullshit on this." Gajeel was less than thrilled and was showing it quite well from where he was brooding against the railing "I still say that I would be pulling ahead into first place faster than you can blink."

"That's not the case and you know it." Luke told him flatly "It doesn't matter how strong you might be, the fact is that everyone who uses Dragon Slayer magic gets motion sickness and you can't get past it."

"And that right there is bullshit to me, I've ridden on vehicles before and I've never had any sort of problems."

"It doesn't kick in at the same time for all of them, but no matter when it might be the fact is that it always does. The point is that's a risk I didn't want to take with you, and that's why I didn't let you take part in this event."

"Oh no, I don't know what it is that's wrong with Natsu from Team Fairy Tail A, but it can seem that he can barely put one foot in front of the other."

"And that right there raises another question: Why the hell did Erza cave in and let him take part in this one?"

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"But that's not all, mere feet away from him is none other than Sting of Team Sabertooth, and

from what I can tell, he seems to be in the same boat! I can't even begin to imagine just what it is that's causing the two of them to slow down like this."

"I could be wrong about this, but I suspect the two of them share a common weakness in the form of motion sickness."

"I see. It seems we have a lot to learn about Dragon Slayers."

Sure enough, Natsu was struggling to move an inch on his chariot, which of course was being caused by his motion sickness "Dammit… I thought this one was… gonna be about… getting to fight chariots… not have to ride them… Why do I always have to deal with this crap?"

"Welcome to the world of being a Dragon Slayer." Sting told him dryly, though he was pretty much just as bad 'Well isn't this just fucking typical, master just had to force me to take part in the game that has my one and only weakness, so those other assclowns have no clue how easy they got off."

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Meanwhile, with the other competitors…

"Well we've seen where the two Dragon Slayers are, so why don't we see how the rest of the teams are fairing right about now. I have to say folks, this race is proving to be about as neck and neck as it can get. In first place at the moment, we have Kurohebi from Raven Tail, followed close behind by Ichiya from Blue Pegasus, Yuka from Lamia Scale, Cana from Fairy Tail B and the last of them is Risley from Mermaid Heel."

"Maaaaan, feel the burn!" Ichiya was still running ahead of the others, though by a very short margin.

Yuka on the other hand took the opportunity to make a jab at Risley "I have to be honest, a large part of me is pretty surprised that someone with your figure can run for this long."

"Hate to break it you short stuff, but you don't want to underestimate chubby power." Risley told him flatly.

"This isn't Naruto chubby, and even if it was it won't do you any good!" it was at this moment that Cana suddenly bolted past the two of them.

"And Cana Alberona bolts right into third place. Coming in behind this group is Bacchus, the reserve member from Quatro Ceberus."

Sure enough, Bacchus was trailing a fair bit behind the others, letting out a shallow hiccup as he did so "Oh for fuck sake that guy is loud, would it kill you to let a man work off last night's booze in peace like a normal dude?"

"Sorry Bacchus, but that's not in the job description."

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Meanwhile, back with the front runners…

"Get a feel for this! Wave Boost!" Yuka was quick to use his Wave ability to push himself past the likes of Ichiya and Risley, until he was now neck and neck with Cana "Good luck being able to use any magic while you're inside the shockwaves from my Wave!"

"I thought you were listening to what I said before, chubby power rules!" with her body starting to glow, Risley started running along the side of the chariot she was on.

"And there she is, Risley is now using her Gravity Change magic, with which she was able to dodge Yuka's Wave ability and is now making her way towards the leader!"

"A wave that has the ability to neutralize magic? Well in that case… Witness the abilities of my swiftness perfume, point blank absorption style! MAAAAAN!" with his new perfume taking effect, Ichiya suddenly bolted past Yuka with remarkable levels of speed.

"Not too shabby, but I've got a trick of my own. Card Magic: Gale Burst!" Cana threw one of her magic cards onto the ground behind her, which resulted in a large gust of wind, and then her bursting forward even faster than Ichiya, now at the front of the pack.

Far behind the rest of them, Bacchus was watching the lot of them push forward, his eyes blazing with excitement "Oh wow, all of them are really going all out aren't they? I can just feel how much it's making my soul all stirred up. Well if that is the case, then I might as well go ahead and put a little bit of effort into this race too! Check this out!" with his own body glowing gold with magic power, Bacchus unleashed his own capabilities, in which he ran so fast that he destroyed the chariots he was racing across, bolting past Cana and the others with ease.

"I don't believe what I'm seeing folks, Bacchus just demolished the chariots using brute force and nothing more than that! It's plain as day to everyone who sees it that his bragging isn't just for show! He truly is deserving of his title as an S-class mage of Quatro Cerberuys!"

"Catch all of you assclowns and losers later, try not to fall off before you can see me cross the finish line!"

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me!" Risley was particularly irritated by Bacchus suddenly pulling ahead, though the biggest change that people noticed was that her chubbines had totally disappeared "No one makes chubby fly and gets away with it."

"What on Earth happened to Risley of Mermaid Heel, is it some form of gravity change? Now that was definitely unexpected."

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Meanwhile, with the frontrunner…

"BOOYAKASHA MOTHER FUCKER!" with his enhanced speed, Bacchus was able to easily overtake Kurohebi and reach the colosseum before bolting across the finish line and then screeching to a stop "Now that's what happens when you let one of us get wild!"

"And in the blink of an eye it would seem that we have a winner, Bacchus just earned 10 points for the Quatro Cerberus guild!"

"Now do you see it, you see what we're capable of?! This is how and why Quatro Cerberus is about to win this whole damn thing!"

"And on that extremely confident note by Bacchus, we have Kurohebi of Raven Tail coming in second place! Following a short distance is Cana in third place, Risley in fourth place, fifth place is Yuka, while Ichiya comes in sixth place. That just leaves an honestly pathetic one on one battle to avoid coming in last place."

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Meanwhile, with the battle to avoid coming in last place…

While the others had all finished, Natsu was still struggling against Sting for the win, or rather to avoid the loss, but he could barely make any progress at all thanks to his motion sickness "God dammit… why couldn't I… just punch them instead?"

"Well look on the bright side.." Sting resisted the urge to vomit and shot a smirk at Natsu "That just means that you're the real deal after all."

"What the fuck… does that mean?"

"It means you're seriously the real deal… a true card carrying Dragon Slayer… Too bad you don't know the trick… to dealing with it…"

"There's a trick…? WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN THERE'S A TRICK!" on that enraged note, Natsu promptly tried to elbow Sting in one of his kidneys "WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU ONLY TELLING ME NOW?!"

"Because there's only a 50/50 chance it will do anything. Just go on an empty stomach, keep in mind that you can't puke your guts out if you don't have anything to puke out."

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As a result of seeing Sting struggling as much as he was, Team Sabertooth began discussing the concept of Dragon Slayers getting motion sickness, and when he was asked about having this problem, Rogue went on to reveal that it was a problem that apparently all Dragon Slayers had, though up until recently he believed that he and Sting were the only ones. He also noted that he was glad it wasn't him in the Chariot race.

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Meanwhile, with Team Fairy Tail B…

As a result of witnessing the motion sickness of Dragon Slayers, Mira promptly shot a raised eyebrow over at Laxus "So what then, does that mean you get it too?"

"Just don't let Natsu know about it." Laxus muttered, his arms crossed "If he finds out about it then I'll never live it down."

"And who says the rest of us will?"

"...Fuck, I should've seen that coming."

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Meanwhile, back with the showdown between motion sick Dragon Slayers…

"Come on, come on, come on!" despite the crippling motion sickness, Natsu continued to try and push himself forward as fast as he could, which was barely above the pace of a snail "I've gotta keep moving… I'm not gonna lose to him… not like this…"

"Dammit, talk about uncool…" Sting gritted his teeth as he gave an arrogant smirk "Anyone could see that you don't have any strength left in you… You're just making a total jackass out of yourself…"

"Shut… UP!" with a primal roar, Natsu then resorted to crawling forward, allowing him to move at a slightly faster rate.

"Fine whatever, it's not like we really needed this win so I'll just let you have it, but this is mostly out of pity. After this one Sabertooth is just gonna keep racking up the points 10 at a time after this, so in the end one measly little point isn't gonna change the outcome."

"One point is nothing to scoff at you dick, and don't you forget that!" so Natsu let out another scream as he continued pushing forward.

"Yeah whatever you need to tell yourself, but just explain something to me. Why did you even bother with entering the Grand Magic Games in the first place? I mean the fact is that you and the others are nothing like the Fairy Tail that I knew from when I was growing up. You're obsessed with proving how tough you are and what the rest of the world thinks of you. What happened to the Fairy Tail that I knew from when I was a kid, the guild that did whatever the hell it wanted whenever the hell it wanted and however the hell it wanted, and could never give less of a damn about what anyone else in the world said or did or thought about them."

"You wanna know why?" Natsu gritted his teeth as he continued struggling on "Fine, then I'll tell you why… The reason why we're here… is for our friends! It's for the friends who waited for us for all the years we were gone, the ones who never lost faith that we would come back, and for the ones that died before we got to see them again! We never even got to say goodbye! The ones who did get to see goodbye had to wait for years for when we come back, fighting through all of the pain and the heartache, the loss and the loneliness! They had to deal with the humiliation and abuse, the pain of seeing your loved ones die and the rest of the world just looking down on them and spitting at them! But even so, despite all of the hell they went through, they were able to band together and stay strong, and they kept our guild together! What we're doing here and now is for all of them, for the friends that died before we returned, for the ones that were still here, and we're gonna make sure that every last person in this entire fucking kingdom knows that the people of Fairy Tail never gave up hope, not even for one fucking second, so we don't have the right to give up now or ever!" and so with that epic speech that left Sting taken aback (and a large number of Fairy Tail wizards, at least most of those that were around during the past 7 years, in tears), Natsu continued pushing himself forward bit by bit until, with one final roar of determination, he forced himself across the finish line "Yes…"

"He did it ladies and gentlemen, he really did it! Natsu of Team Fairy Tail A managed to claim 7th place in the Chariot race, and he scored 1 point as a result!"

"It's about fucking time… we got somewhere…" and then he fell forward, only to be stopped from hitting the ground by something catching him, and he looked up and his eyes widened slightly "Luke…"

Sure enough, Luke had made his way down to the finish line and caught Natsu before he hit the ground, and he gave him a small smile "I couldn't have said it better myself Natsu. You did a good job out there. You know I heard a lot of things from the audience on my way down, they heard that epic speech you made and they're starting to change their perspective on our guild now."

"Good… but this is just the start… we'll keep pushing through the ranks… until we're number one again…" and then he finally passed out in a heap from his motion sickness.

"I know we will, but neither of us can do it alone. This is gonna be a team effort, and all of us are gonna have to play our part."

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Meanwhile, in the colosseum…

"In a shocking move that none of us could've predicted, the crowd favorite Sting had decided to forfeit the race in favor of Natsu, so Sabertooth is going to get 0 points for this event."

"Yeah whatever, rub salt in that wound why don't you?" Sting was left brooding as he made his way through the halls of the colosseum, musing over what Natsu had said to him "You expect me to believe you're really doing this for your friends? Don't give me any of that crap, that means nothing and you know it as well as I do."

"And after the events of Chariot, Raven Tail just pushed itself into 1st place, and now Sabertooth has been bumped down to second place. In a move that I doubt could've been predicted by many spectators, Team Fairy Tail B is doing increasingly well in the games, as now they're in third place. Right behind them is Blue Pegasus in fourth place, followed by Team Quatro Cerberus making a giant leap into fifth place, Team Lamia Scale in sixth place, then Team Mermaid Heel in seventh place, and in dead last is Team Fairy Tail A with 1 point, but can be sure they earned that point."

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Meanwhile, in the infirmary…

"The poor thing, I can't imagine how much pain he must be in." Lisanna knelt down next to the sleeping and still motion sick form of Natsu, then turned to Porlyusica "So you said that he's going to be okay right?"

"There's no decent reason why he wouldn't, he's just dealing with motion sickness like he always." Porlyusica told her dryly "Now stop harping on him and let him get some rest."

"What about Wendy though?"

"She's coming along nicely, just a bit more rest and she'll be good to go by tomorrow."

"I see, that's a relief. At least you're up and about now Carla, so how are you feeling?"

"Fine." was the blunt response she gave.

"That's definitely a relief. Well I should go let the others know, they're probably waiting right now so I'll come back and check on all of you later okay?" and so she left the infirmary and headed back towards the others.

'If there is a later.'

"You were quiet about it." Porlyusica shot a glance over at Carla "So you don't intend to say anything to her?"

"I just don't think such a thing would do any good, it's not like any of them would ever even believe me. Not about a future like that one anyway."

"I suppose it's just as well that you don't mention anything about it, besides it doesn't seem as if you even believe it yourself."

"You're right about me not believing it, I mean how can I? It's too bizarre to be true. It wasn't a premonition, it was just a foolish dream

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Meanwhile, out in the arena…

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, now we get to the part that everyone has been waiting for, myself included, the battle portion of the second day! In the first match we have Kurohebi, the dark python of the current first place guild Raven Tail, against the balanced and harmonic martial artist of the Lamia Scale guild, Xian Lee."

Sure enough, before Kurohebi stood Xian Lee of Lamia Scale in all of his glory, only he had traded his typical attire for a green sleeveless martial arts gi, complete with green boots, black wristbands, a black obi and a white ribbon tied to his right arm and he eyed Kurohebi with a great deal of suspicion 'I sense a great deal of malice coming from this one, and judging by the underhanded tactic I saw his guild use in yesterday's battle between his guildmate and Miss Heartfilia, I had best not let down my guard."

"It's a battle between chi and a serpent, which one of these two warriors is going to come out on top in this battle? I should warn you that I expect to see a clean and fair fight out there, no dirty tricks or hitting below the belt alright?"

"Rest assured, I will make sure that this battle is fair and honorable."

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At the same time, Lucy and the others were watching the matches, when she glanced across the arena towards Raven Tail's balcony, only to see Flare (heavily bruised) being abused both physically and verbally by her teammate Alexei. To Lucy's great shame, she merely looked away from the scene.

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The gong sounded, and the match officially began.

'This one is crafty and will not hesitate in using underhanded tactics. Perhaps I should start with some simple moves to gauge his abilities.' so with a deep breath, Xian dropped into a combat stance and charged forward.

"Am I supposed to be impressed?" with surprising gracefulness, Kurohebi was able to dodge and weve his way around Xian's attacks, and then he disappeared in a cloud of dust and sand.

'He disappeared? No, he's likely moving at high levels of speed. I need to concentrate, let my body take in my surroundings.' Xian paused for a moment, then his eyes snapped open and he suddenly leapt back a short distance right before a torrent of sand could entrap him.

The sand then materialized into a physical form, revealing Kurohebi in its steed as he shot a wicked smirk "You didn't think I would go into a fight unprepared did you?"

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From their place in the Fairy Tail team's stands, Max was taken aback by seeing how his magic was being used, and Mavis was intrigued by the sight of someone being capable of using Mimic magic.

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Meanwhile, in the arena…

The sand then materialized into a physical form, revealing Kurohebi in its steed as he shot a wicked smirk "You didn't think I would go into a fight unprepared did you?"

"No, I don't suppose you would." Xian breathed a small sigh as he slowly dropped into a combat stance "I have to admit you're stronger than I expected you to be."

"You're not so bad yourself, pretty quick on your feet."

"And Mimic magic is something I had only heard rumors about in the past. Tell me, where did you learn it from? I was led to believe that magic was all but extinct."

"I had never heard of a wizard martial arts either, I guess those sorts of things are pretty unique among the wizard community."

"I'm one who traverses the path of martial arts first and foremost, and I consider wizardry to be more of a job in itself, but my loyalties do mainly lie with my friends and comrades in Lamia Scale. But you haven't answered my question, where did you learn it from?"

"I don't have a problem with telling you that if you beat me, but what will I get from you if I beat you?"

"Then I will tell you a secret of my own, one that I've only told a select few people in my lifetime. I believe that sounds fair."

"And it does sound intriguing. So be it then, I believe we have a deal. But with that being said, if you think I'm gonna make this easy for you then you're dealing with the wrong opponent."

"I would expect nothing less in the heat of battle. Come at me with your strongest attack and I'll see for myself how I handle it."

"So be it then, but don't forget that you asked for it. Sand Rebellion!" Kurohebi held out his hand and sent forward a wave of sand.

"Of course I should warn you, martial arts is more than just punching and kicking as some people believe." Xian simple held out a hand as it began glowing gold, and in one swift movement he brought down a chop attack on the wave of sand, causing it to dissipate in an instant "As I said, it's far more complex than many could understand."

"Pretty interesting trick there, what was it?"

"That was how I make use of my chi, the name that was given to the energy that flows through all living things. It's not as simple as being able to use what many refer to as magic, it's far more difficult to learn and utilize effectively. To master chi requires years of training and discipline, but above all it requires mastery of one's self."

"Sounds more complex than magic."

"In a number of ways it is, but it still has its practical uses for those who understand it and how to use it properly. Observe." Xian suddenly blitzed in front of Kurohebi and dealt him a knee to the jaw, the force of the blow sending him tumbling back across the arena "As I said, its uses can be very practical, the key phrase being "can be" in this case."

"What in the-" Kurohebi picked himself up and spat out some blood 'Where the hell did that come from? He moved so fast I never even saw him coming! No calm down, all that happened is that I let down my guard. I can just grab hold of him and use my Mimic magic to copy his abilities, and then I'll be able to counter them!' so he burst forward towards Xian and managed to grab him by the wrist, his body glowing golden as a result, and then he promptlyaimed a chop attack Xian's neck.

Xian suddenly leapt into the air and dealt Kurohebi an elbow squarely on his skull, driving him right into the ground as a result "So you attempted to copy my abilities in order to find a weakness in them for you to exploit?"

'Dammit, this shouldn't be happening! I can't think of a single reason why I shouldn't be able to defeat him! This is ridiculous, even allowing for moments where he gets me to let down my guard there's no way he should be able to send me flying so easily like this!'

"Technique is not something you can copy so freely, it takes years of dedication and practice to perfect such a thing."

"Shut up!" with his enhanced speed, Kurohebi charged towards Xian at full speed and tried to hit him with another Sand Rebellion.

Xian simply blitzed through the wave of sand and kneed Kurohebi in the gut, then dealt him a chop to the back of the neck, the force of which was able to send him flying into the wall of the arena 'He is persistent, as is something I should've anticipated. His Mimic magic allows him to copy the abilities of his opponents, but just because he has stolen abilities at his disposal doesn't mean he knows how to use them to their fullest extent.'

"Go to hell you arrogant son of a-" Kurohebi burst upright and charged at Xian, launching a rapid barrage of attacks as he did so.

Xian easily waved his way around Kurohebi's attacks and buried his fist in his stomach, causing him to cough up blood, then blitzed behind him and dealt him a kick to the back that sent him crashing into a wall.

"Damn you little… Sand Rebellion!" Kurohebi rebound and burst towards Xian, unleashing a wave of sand and dust to cover him as he charged.

When the dust settled, Xian was revealed to have caught Kurohebi by both of his wrists with visible levels of ease "There is one detail regarding my use of chi that I had neglected to mention to you earlier. Those who use chi have learned an important skill regarding it, and that is how to amplify our base chi into short intense bursts whenever we utilize it, and that is how we are able to enhance our physical abilities in short and intense bursts, such as speed, agility, endurance and in attack power. You may have been able to mimic my abilities, but you only learned how to use them on the level of an amateur. It doesn't matter if you are able to mimic the most powerful type of magic in the world, it wouldn't do any good for you unless you actually know how to use it properly." and on that note, he dealt Kurohebi a swift yet clearly powerful uppercut kick to the jaw, sending him tumbling across the arena and then crashing into the wall behind him, before falling to the ground in a heap "Still though, I do have to give you credit where credit is clearly deserved."

"And with that impressive display of physical prowess, we can see that Kurohebi has his back against the wall, and it was his undoing! That's it ladies and gentlemen, Xian claims the win in this match and earns 10 points for Lamia Scale!"

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Meanwhile, with Team Fairy Tail A…

Gray let out a low whistle at the sight of Xian claiming the victory "Pretty impressive fight from the guy, but I get the feeling that the Raven Tail punk was holding back."

"I don't know if I would say that." Lucy told him "Xian wasn't wrong when he said that it doesn't matter how much power he has if he doesn't know how to use it properly. And don't forget that this one didn't even bother cheating in his fight."

"Yeah I guess, but I'm not ruling it out just yet."

Erza stayed silent during this exchange, staring intently at Xian 'It's strange but there's something about him, even back when we met during the meetling of the coalition to defeat the Oracion Seis, I had this feeling that I had seen him somewhere before. Xian… that name sounds so familiar…'

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Meanwhile, down in the arena…

Xian made his way over to the wounded form of Kurohebi and knelt down in front of him "As arrogant as you appear to be with you mimic abilities, you did fight with honor during our battle, which is more than can be said for the rest of your guild. And based on our agreement from the start, you owe me your true name…"

"You little…" Kurohebi let out a groan "Fine, whatever… It's from the master of my guild, he taught me how to use Mimic magic. Are you happy now?"

"You kept your word, so I am satisfied. However, out of respect for your sense of honor, I'll return the gesture by revealing my own secret to you. Do you see this?" he gestured to the white ribbon tied onto his arm "This ribbon wasn't originally mine. It initially belonged to someone that I hold very dear to my heart, but she started down the path of vengeance and lost her way, something that I tried to convince her to stray from but she refused, and so we parted ways. This ribbon reminds me of the vow I made to free her from that path at any cost, and I will wear this ribbon every day until that comes to pass. Follow your path however you see fit, but be aware that it will most likely be filled with strife." and on that note, he walked out of the arena while leaving Kurohebi to be taken away on a stretcher.

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Meanwhile, with Team Mermaid Heel…

Risley let out a low whistle "Talk about a guy who actually gets something done instead of just screwing around. I guess Jura isn't the only really tough wizard they've got going for them in Lamia Scale."

"Weren't you listening?" Kagura shot a disinterested glare in her direction "He called himself a martial artist, not a wizard." and on that note she promptly walked away from the rest of her team, but once she was in the hallway she leaned against a wall, gritting her teeth furiously as she did so 'So you're here after all… Xian…'

"Now moving on ladies and gentlemen, I think it's about time for us to move onto the second round of the one on one matches for today. First off from the Quatro Cerberus, we have ourselves the god of drinking himself, Bacchus! And his opponent in this match is a certain member of Team Fairy Tail A!"

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Just as the announcement was being made, the King of Fiore appeared in the colosseum and informed Arcadios that he was looking forward to seeing Bacchus and Erza fight. However, this comment caught Arcadios off guard, seeing how he had misinterpreted the request for a battle that the king had made earlier, and arranged for a different opponent for Bacchus.

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Meanwhile, with Team Fairy Tail B…

"Dammit, so none of us then?" Luke gritted his teeth at the sight of Bacchus waltzing his way into the arena, looking as smug as ever "Well isn't that a total copout."

"So what if it's gonna be Natsu that has to fight him?" asked Juvia.

"Then they go and wake him up, either way I want to see this guy get decked in the schnoz at some point today."

"I've heard stories about this guy before." Gajeel noted "Word going around is that he's supposed to be on the same level as Titania isn't he?"

"Don't give a damn, all I care about right now is the fact that someone in our guild is going to avenge Cana today."

"Since when did you care so much about vengeance?" Cana glanced over at Luke and shot him a raised eyebrow "I didn't think you were the vengeful type."

"I'm not one for vengeance, but that drunken bastard crossed a line last night with what he did to you."

"Drinking me under the table?"

"More like stealing your bra, and since Gildarts isn't here to scare the guy to death, that task falls to me. I did make a promise to him that I would protect you."

"...When the hell did you become so macho?" Cana looked away from him, her face turning red as she did so.

"I'm not macho in really any way, I just do what I have to in order to protect you." Luke turned away himself, trying not to blush and somewhat failing 'Dammit now I sound like some kind of macho jerk.'

"Now then, the matchup is going to be Bacchus from Team Quatro Cerberus going up against the transformation master of Team Fairy Tail A… Elfman Strauss!"

"...Okay I think I speak for everyone when I say, what the everlasting fuck? I thought for sure they were gonna pick Erza."

"Yeah well, I guess they decided to pick my brother instead. You gonna have some sort of problem with that?" Mira shot a certain look in his direction.

"I never said that, I know that Elfman should should be able to take him down as long as he keeps his cool and thinks the situation through without letting his emotions get the better of him in the fight."

"Which is more than you can say right now." Laxus pointed out dryly.

"Yeah fair point. Anyway I'm gonna go cool off for a little bit, let me know how the fight turns out." and on that note, Luke picked up his sword and took his leave.

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The battle was about to begin.

As Elfman made his way onto the battlefield, Bacchus decided to make a wager with him: If he were to win the match, he would get to spend the night with both of Elfman's sisters, both at the same time. Greatly angered by what he was hearing, Elfman then decided to declare that he would rip Bacchus apart, which signalled the start of their battle.

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Meanwhile, inside the colosseum…

'Yeah they're right, I need to calm myself down for a little bit.' Luke made his way through the halls of the colosseum still trying to calm himself down, when he made his way past the infirmary and found Natsu making his way out "What's the matter with you?"

"Aside from everyone else leaving me high and dry? I came to but everyone else was long gone by the time I did" Natsu shot him a look and led him into the infirmary "Take a whiff, someone else was in here while I was out."

"...This is bad, I recognize those scents. I know who we're dealing with."

"How bad are we talking?"

"If I had to guess then I'd say we're dealing with another dirty scheme by Ivan and the rest of Raven Tail."

"So bad then."

"No doubt about it. Come on we've gotta move, we don't have a second to waste." and so the two of them took off down the hallway, where they found four cloaked figures making their way towards the exit of the colosseum carrying Porlyusica, Wendy and Carla with them "And just where the hell do you think you four are going? Let me answer thatfor you, you're not taking them anywhere if you don't want to get a few dozen holes in your body."

"So you recognized us, it seems your intuition and senses are sharper than they were the last time we met Luke Drako." the four figures turned to face Luke and Natsu and revealed their true appearances "This is a day that the four of us have been looking forward to for far too long."

"The Elementors of Raven Tail, I thought me and Laxus sent the four of you to rot in prison cells last time. But that doesn't matter now, if you guys are trying to kidnap my friends then you're gonna be in for a world of hurt."

"If you think we'll go down as easily as last time, you're even more delusional than the rest of your guild! Blazing INFERNO!" Blaze charged towards Luke and unleashed a large ball of flames.

"Natsu."

"Way ahead of you." Natsu leapt in front of the Blazing Inferno and promptly swallowed it whole in a single gulp "Thanks for the grub, I've had a lot worse than that."

"Don't waste any more time with these guys than you have to, they're dangerous on their own but if they manage to fuse together then they end up on a whole other level. Don't forget that this is about protecting Wendy and Carla, so we're not screwing around. Change Mode: Lightning Sea King Dragon!" Luke didn't waste any time in activating his Dual Element mode "So no holding back."

"Got it. Change Mode: Lightning Flame Dragon!" Natsu didn't miss a beat as he activated his own Dual Element Mode "Fire and water are gonna be all mine, I'll get those two while you go after the others and get Wendy and Carla."

"Got it."

"You think we're going to fall that easily? I think not! We have orders to grab the wretched girl from the infirmary and we never fail in our orders, but if we have to delay fulfilling our missions in order to make you suffer, then I believe we can multitask! Cyclone CANNON!" Tempest blitzed towards Luke and promptly unleashed a sizeable tornado from both hands.

"Lightning Sea King Dragon Heavenward Trident!" Luke didn't miss a beat as he formed a large trident in one hand and hurled it forward.

"Lightning Flame Dragon FIRING HAMMER!" Natsu burst towrards Blaze and Wave with a fist coated in flames and lightning, his and Luke's attacks resulting in a large explosion that devastated the entire area.

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While one battle was going in Fairy Tail's favor, the other was not.

With the battle having started, Elfman was visibly struggling against Bacchus since he was unable to land a single hit on him, and so he charged at him as he flashed into a new form: Beast Soul: Weretiger, a form meant to increase his movement speed. Unfortunately, Bacchus was still able to dodge all of his attacks with ease and then went on to go on the offensive.

While this was going on, Erza was quick to explain to the others about the type of magic that was being used by Bacchus, a magic that focused his energy into his palms which, combined with the style of martial arts he was using, made him a powerful opponent. She also went on to note that he wasn't being serious yet, as he hadn't had anything to drink up to this point.

As a result of the attacks Bacchus was dealing him, Elfman was forced out of his Take Over and back to his original form. However, his spirit hadn't waved and he refused to give up, and even told Bacchus that if he won, Quatro Cerberus would have to change their name to Quatro Puppy for the rest of the tournament. Bacchus agreed to these terms and started drinking alcohol from his gourd, claiming that he was about to finish the fight.

Once he finished drinking, Bacchus dropped into a stance while Elfman proceeded to use a Take Over spell. Bacchus then went on to attack with enhanced levels of speed, landing seven hits in the blink of an eye, only to discover that Elfman was using his new Beast Soul: Lizardman, which covered his body with sharp scales that wounded Bacchus every time he landed a strike, while at the same time acting as armor. Elfman then taunted Baccus into charging at him, which led to a struggle between the two of them, leaving everyone to wonder which one was going to win out, Bacchus' attacks or Elfman's endurance. After this process repeated for a while, it came to a stop as the two of them collapsed, Elfman losing his Beast Soul as a result. Bacchus was the first one to stand back up, but then he collapsed, giving Elfman the win and earning 10 points for Team Fairy Tail A. Needless to say, this earned a massive amount of cheers from everyone in the audience.

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Meanwhile, back with the two Dragon Slayers…

At the same time, Luke and Natsu, having defeated the Elementors with ease and subsequently rescued Wendy and the others, observed the results of the match "Well how about that, he pulled through in the clutch."

"Oh fuck yeah!" Natsu barked out a laugh "That's what happens when you look down on Fairy Tail!"

"Don't start laughing like an idiot now, this is Elfman's win and his alone, even if your whole team gets the points. He assessed the situation logically, judged his opponent's capabilities properly and developed a strategy accordingly. Way to be a real man out there, using both brains and brawn to come out on top. You did good Elfman, you did good. So what about you Wendy, you feeling any better now?"

Wendy gave them a nod and a smile "Oh yeah I feel fine now, and it's all thanks to the care that I was given by Grandeeny?"

"...Come again?"

"Nevermind that, I told her not to call me that." Porlyusica told him flatly "So in the meantime, about these wretches?"

"Yeah I know, this isn't the first time I've gone up against them. I fought them 7 years ago, after the whole mess with the Oracion Seis but before the ordeal in Edolas. I was training out of town and I met up with Laxus, and the four of them ambushed us because they were trying to harvest the Dragon Slayer lacrima that Laxus had implanted in his body. They were doing it on orders given by Ivan, which means they work for Raven Tail, and they said they wanted the girl that was in the infirmary."

"Dammit, those sons of…" Natsu let out a loud snarl "Raven Tail is gonna pay for this, this and a lot of other crap!"

"They've got a lot to answer for, but we need to go about this properly. Who else was in the infirmary that they could've been targeting?"

"Don't forget that there was one in there before Wendy was." Porlyusica told him "She was in here checking on Wendy before the games started for today."

"So that means… they're going after Lucy aren't they?"

"I would have to assume so."

"So that's what they're resorting to now." Luke gritted his teeth, but then took a deep breath to compose himself "They've been lurking in the shadows for years, they poke their heads out once and stain their hands with the blood of some of our friends and comrades, then they show up here thinking they can do whatever they want and lie, cheat and steal their way to victory in any way they can. To think that their master is the son of Makarov and the father of Laxus, which makes this that much worse."

"What does that have to do with this?"

"That I can't say for certain, but it's definitely person. I just wish I had a damn clue about what the hell they were after. Whatever it might be, from here on out we can't afford to let down our guard."

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Elsewhere, Arcadios was informed about the failed plan to capture Lucy and told the guard that they would proceed with plan B, and he then went on to explain that they would use the level of discord between Fairy Tail and Raven Tail to capture Lucy and use her in the Eclipse Project.

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Meanwhile, back in the arena…

By this point, Luke and the others hade made their way into the infirmary, where they would all find Elfman heavily wounde and bedridden, but still triumphant "Far be it for me to deny credit where it's clearly deserved. You harnessed your magic power and used your training in the best way you could."

"I did what you taught me to do." Elfman told him flatly "You were right about me, everything you said to me was the truth. For a long time in every fight I was in, all I was doing was psyching myself up. Telling myself that I had to win or that I was a real man isn't training, there's no point to it and there never was. I had to face the reality and do the real work. I knew that if I couldn't tape into my true power then all of the motivation in the world wouldn't be enough for me to protect my sisters. Sure having something that I have to protect and fight for can be a good source of what drives me, but when mu emotions dominate they can easily drag me down in a fight. What I want and need is for my emotions to complement my strength instead of holding it back. If I'm too filled with desperation to win, if my emotions cloud my judgement then I won't be able to asses a situation logically. I would misjudge the abilities of my opponent, and I would lose as a result."

"But you pushed through all of that, you used both brains and brawn and you were able to defeat him that way."

"Just barely, I still have a long way to go. But now I realize that there's no such thing as a fight that you can't lose. If I had lost then our guild would've been disgraced even further. That was a face that I had to accept and come to terms with it, and only then was I able to face off and beat that bastard."

"And you did it all like a real man, there wasn't a doubt in my mind that you were gonna come out on top."

"I'm glad to her it, but as much as I want to keep going, the way I am right now I'd do a lot more harm than good, so Wendy is gonna have to tag back in for me."

"Right." Wendy gave a nod of determination "You can count on me."

"I know I can."

"Now this is all very nice and entertaining and all of that good stuff, but you can't afford to lose focus." this was when Porlyusica was quick to shut everyone up "Don't forget that you have to get back to the games, you have to study your enemy if you want to beat them."

"Yeah, you guys should get going. No need to worry about me, I'll be fine."

"Hey Elfman?" this was when Lisanna got his attention "I'm really sorry about this, but I kind of want to go and watch with them."

"I would too if I were you, keep in mind that Mira's gonna be up next so you'd better go out there and cheer extra loud for the both of us."

"Sure thing, and at least you won't be alone. Freed and the Thunder Legion volunteered to stay behind and keep watch over you, well actually Evergreen volunteered and then she ended up dragging Freed and Bickslow too, but they still offered to write an enchantment and keep an eye on you."

"I see. I feel kind of bad about this, forcing them to look after me like that."

"Don't worry about it, we're all a part of the same guild so we all have to do our part and look out for each other. But in the meantime you should try and get some rest for the time being, I know I would need it after a fight like that."

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Meanwhile, with the protagonist of this fic…

At the same time, Luke had met up with Bolt and the two of them were walking through the halls of the colosseum, discussing a recent development that attracted a lot of attention "So what's this anime called again?"

"It's called Yashahime, Princess Half Demon." Bolt told him "It's a sequel to Inuyasha, but so far it's anime only."

"Is it any good?"

"It's only about three episodes in so it's too soon to tell whether or not it's really gonna hit a stride, but based on what I've seen so far it's pretty promising. Turns out Sesshomaru actually mated with someone and has twin daughters in this one, and Kagoma and Inuyasha have a daughter too, but they haven't shown up yet."

"Any of the main ones at all?"

"So far we've only seen Kaede and Kohaku, but that's not to say we won't see the other main characters at all. Like I said though, it's only three episodes in so we're gonna have to wait awhile to see if it lives up to the original."

"You think it will?"

"Well that's pretty tough to call, keep in mind the backlash Boruto has been getting, and Dragon Ball Super definitely has some problems."

"But a lot of those problems started with Z, frankly all Super did with them is make them more noticeable."

"Tell that to the fucking weaboos."

"If I thought my life wasn't worth living then I would." this was when the two of them met up with Cana and the others "Hey guys, sorry to keep you waiting."

"Forget it, I know how anime discussions work." Cana gave a shrug "We all do."

"Yeah, sorry about losing my cool back there. I'm usually better at controlling my emotions than that.

"Don't worry about it, it happens to the rest of us. Besides, I think it's safe to say we've got a lot more important stuff to worry about right now."

"Yeah you're right, we can't just let Raven Tail run around on the loose doing whatever the hell they want. Sure they're only screwing with us right now, but if they're resorting to kidnapping members of our guild then how much longer do we have before they try and lash out at the rest of the guilds here."

"It is concerning on a number of levels." Erza frowned in thought "Part of me wonders if they're simply trying to take us out one by one."

"Maybe, either way we can't let down our guards."

"Actually I'm not entirely sure that assumption is accurate." this was when Carla finally voiced her opinion.

"You can't seriously believe that we're wrong about this after everything that's happened up until now."

"Those elemental cretins that Luke and Natsu defeated earlier that they were acting on orders from Raven Tail to try and capture Lucy for some reason, but the plan they had concocted had ultimately ended in failure. Not only did they choose the wrong targets, but they were easily thwarted in their attempted escape."

"That actually is a fair point, and even if they did manage to catch Lucy we have no idea what they were planning to do with her, and I'm pretty sure we don't want to know either."

"The method that they were using raises a red flag. Raven Tail has in their ranks a certain wizard that is able to drain the magic power of his opponents in an instant, and that's the one that had attacked Wendy and myself before the games even began."

"Yeah that's definitely true, and based on what Makarov has told us it's most likely the same wizard that interfered in Lucy's match and cancelled out her Urano Metria spell. She would've won for sure if that hadn't happened."

"My point is that if Raven Tail was truly the one who possesses that sort of cabilitiy, then why would they not choose to include him in that sort of plot?"

"Yeah that's fair."

"Maybe they thought it would be too suspicious." Gray commented "I mean if they sent out one of their guys right before a battle then people would probably notice it, and they don't even announce who's gonna be fighting until right before the match starts."

"And keep in mind that we're talking about a guild like Raven Tail, my guess is that they don't give a damn how they get things done as long as they end up making Fairy Tail suffer while they do it. But it doesn't matter, if they're trying to target us both in and outside the arena then we have to be sure that we never let down our guard no matter what. From here on out nobody goes off on their own, have at least one other member of the guild by your side at all times. That might come off as a little bit excessive, but with Raven Tail doing their thing in any way they can we can't afford to take any chances."

"Fair enough."

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About 5 minutes later…

It didn't take long for Luke and Cana to make their way back to the B team section of the stands, where they found Mira looking increasingly smug, a smirk plastered across her face "Okay what gives, I thought you were about to fight against the model from Blue Pegasus."

"I was, it didn't last very long." Mira told him flatly "She was more blonde and boobs than actual brawn. So how's Elfman holding up in the infirmary?"

"He's gonna need to get some rest but he'll pull through just fine, though he did ask Wendy to fill in for him on the A team. So going back to the fact that we were gone for less than 10 minutes and your match is already over."

"Oh yeah sure. Anyway she tried to get me to agree to a pose off with her but I was more interested in fighting, since this is actually battle round, so I finally agreed to an alternative to it just to make her shut up. So we made a bet, whoever lost the fight would have to pose nude for the next issue of Sorcerer Weekly. I agreed and the actual fight finally got underway. She then summoned her battle armor, whereas I summoned my Satan Soul: Sitri form."

"Isn't that the strongest Satan Soul form you've got? I thought you couldn't use that thing anymore because of the magic power output."

"I took about 5 months of training until my bones cracked but I finally managed to make up for the two years I was in Edolas. Anyway, I used my Sitri form and one shotted her for the win, which earned us another 10 points and pushed us into first place."

"...Okay then, I wasn't expecting that, but I give you points all the same." and yet despite the good news, Luke could only frown in thought 'We're about to reach the end of the second day of the games, and sure we're in first place now but we've still got a lot of questions that need to be answered. Not only do we have to deal with Raven Tail trying to put us through hell, but there's still that whole matter of the strange magic power that Jellal and Aftershock were trying to figure out.'

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While the games were still underway for the day, Arcadios was confronted by Darton, the Minister of Defense for the kingdom, over his secret plans, which apparently required the involvement of Celestial Spirit magic. Arcadios then went on to explain his plan to Darton in extensive detail, in which he referred to it as the Eclipse Project.

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Meanwhile, back in the colosseum…

"After an exciting day filled with one incredible matchup after another, the final match of the second day of the Grand Magic Games is about to take place! This match is going to test the skills of Kagura Mikazuchi of the Mermaid Heel guild against a crowd favorite, Yukino Agria of the Sabertooth guild! Once again we're going to be treated to two lovely ladies about to go head to head!"

Upon hearing of the matchup for the final battle, Frosch turned to Lector "Hey Lector, Fro wants to know who you think is gonna win this fight?"

"Oh come on Frosch, are you really that big of an idiot?!" Lector let out a scoff "You should know as well as I do that Yukino is gonna wipe the floor with this chick no problem!"

"Then Fro thinks we should cheer her on!"

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Meanwhile, with Team Fairy Tail B…

"So it's those two going up then is it?" Luke frowned slightly in thought "I haven't seen anything from either of them yet, so it's hard to tell who's gonna win this one."

"You don't need to wonder about it, if anyone actually saw her in action then I think it would be pretty obvious." this was when Bolt suddenly popped up next to him "That is to say, I know damn well how this is gonna work out. And spoiler alert, this is one battle that Sabertooth isn't going to win."

"You seem dead certain about that."

"I am. You remember how I told you about my loss in the games last year?"

"Yeah, you said that Max had to fight Jura and you got wrecked by the strongest member of Mermaid Heel."

"Yeah well, that chick down there with the sword is her. Sabertooth is getting one gigantic middle finger from fate today."

"I guess we'll have to see how this pans out."

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After having a bit of conversation with their respective teams, Yukino and Kagura both headed down to the arena, and once they were there, Yukino proposed that the two of them bet their lives against each other.

The crowds in the stands were quick to display how shocked and uncomfortable they were about hearing Yukino's proposal, though Kagura was quick to calmly accept the bet, and the crowd was quick to become tense for the fight to come.

Once the battle began, Yukino was quick to reveal herself to be a Celestial Wizard by summoning the Zodiac spirits of Pisces and Libra to attack Kagura. However, using her ability to manipulate gravity, Kagura was able to defeat both spirits with ease, which forced Yukino to use the gateway that would summon Ophiucus, the Celestial Spirit regarded as more powerful than any of the other 12 Zodiacs. However, even despite this, Kagura was able to defeat it without even pulling her sword out of its sheath, and then she went on to defeat Yukino with ease.

After the match was declared over and Kagura announced as the winner, many of those watching from the stands were forced to watch dumbstruck by the quick conclusion, while Kagura was quick to remind Yukino that her life was now in her possession, and then she walked away without another word.

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Meanwhile, with Team Fairy Tail B…

After watching Kagura's triumph in the battle, Luke could do little more than let out a low whistle at the sight "Okay you were right, Sabertooth didn't have a chance in that one."

"You think I don't know that?" Bolt let out a snort "Prowess with gravity magic combined with swordsmanship skills that could give any sucker a run for their money. You still think you'd be able to beat her?"

"I never said that, I definitely didn't expect her to be that good so at the very least it definitely wouldn't be an easy fight."

"You think you'd have to use Dragon Force?"

"That I don't know, Thunder Drive at least but Dragon Force might be a bit excessive to use against her. But that's not even the most unsettling part of seeing what she's really capable of in a fight."

"...You met up with Xian didn't you?"

"I met him the day we got to Crocus, before the qualifier started. He told me everything about who she is and what her goal is."

"You gonna try and talk her out of it?"

"If I have to then I'll give it a try, but I don't really know if it's my place too. Besides, it's not easy to try and guide someone away from the path of vengeance. But there is another problem to consider, the fact that we haven't been sensing any of that evil magic power Aftershock told us about.

"Alright then ladies and gentlemen, that officially wraps up the second day of the Grand Magic Games, so let's go over the results. First off, with a total of 27 points, something that I doubt really anyone would've seen coming, we have Team Fairy Tail B in first place! Next up right behind them, we have Team Raven Tail in second place with 26 points! Despite a total setup on the second day, Sabertooth hasn't fallen any further than 3rd place, with a solid 20 points! The next guild had a rough start on the first day but managed to bounce back with an incredible win, so in fourth place is Lamia Scale with 19 points! After scoring 10 points today in a spectacular fashion, Mermaid Heel jumped up from sixth place to fifth place, with a total of 17 points. Next we see Blue Pegasus drop down from the top three to sixth place with 16 points. After them, falling back to seventh place with 12 points is Quatro… Puppy. Yeah, for those of you unaware there was a manly wager made between Elfman of Team Fairy Tail and Bacchus of Team Quatro Cerberus, and since Bacchus lost they will now be known as Quatro Puppy until the conclusion of the Grand Magic Games. You've gotta give it to Bacchus, he's a man of his word. Last but not least, although they did manage to earn an impressive 11 points today, despite their efforts, Team Fairy Tail A is still in dead last, but only by one point. That's all for today, so who knows what sort of exciting battles and drama are awaiting us on the third day, so for now we bid you farewell ladies and gentlemen!"

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"As the second day of the Grand Magic Games came to a close, only five were left to pass by until that fateful day came."

A/N:

Now we get into the second say of the Grand Magic Games, and things are growing more and more dramatic by the second, in ways that are both good and bad, especially with sinister forces at work in the shadows of the games.

The second day starts out with Chariot, though the biggest difference here from canon is that Team Fairy Tail B has Cana participating instead of Natsu. Keep in mind that Luke is sort of the unofficial defacto leader of the team, he's calm and intelligent, and while he knows that he wouldn't be able to perform effectively in the Chariot event, Gajeel wouldn't be able to do any better, so he wouldn't want either of them to participate. This is where Cana comes into play, since I want to give her more spotlight and show the results of her training, especially since she only participated in one event in canon, which honestly disappointed me. While she didn't take first place, I didn't want to put Fairy Tail too far too soon, she did finish in the top three, which I think is respectable enough. Unfortunately, putting her in place of Gajeel meant that Natsu ranked 7th place instead of 6th, which puts Team Fairy Tail A down by 1 point from where they were in canon, but that didn't take away from that epic speech he made. Seriously, the first time I watched that it shook me to my core.

One other thing I probably should've mentioned is that Xian takes Toby's place on the Lamia Scale team. Let's face it, Toby is more of a comic relief character than anything else. Xian on the other hand, he's an experienced fighter and I wanted to dive deeper into his abilities and personality, so I had him fight Kurohebi and unlike in canon, Lamia Scale wins this one.

So yes, Elfman vs Bacchus happened like in canon. Don't get me wrong, there was a very large part of me that wanted to have Luke rip Bacchus a new one, mainly because that same very large part of me hates Bacchus with a burning passion, but that's most likely because I think Cana is best girl. But either way, while I would've loved to have Luke go to town on him, I have been somewhat neglecting Elfman up until now, so I didn't think it would be right to deprive him of his chance to shine in the games. Besides, him getting ousted by his injuries that he sustained in the fight would make room for Wendy.

Mirajane vs Jenny was one of the fights I had a harder time with, at least when I was going through my thought process for it anyway. The big thing about these two in canon was that they were fellow models for Sorcerer Weekly, but Mira never did that in this fic since she was sent to Edolas, but I think it went well enough. Also, there is one other thing I should note: I skipped over that whole posing fest with all of the female wizards. Don't get me wrong, I love fan service as much as the next guy, but there are times when it just becomes too much, and in my opinion this was one of them. But if it's any consolation, I'm working on adding some content to areas that I felt were rather weak, such as a certain showdown between family that will be coming in the next chapter. That one is getting an overhaul, as I had already foreshadowed in a previous chapter. You'll see it soon enough.

So yes, while he's trying to cool himself off, Luke and Natsu run into some old enemies that are trying to capture Wendy and Carla in the form of the Elementors, the elemental villains that Luke and Laxus had fought against in the Omake III chapter, back before the events in Edolas. While their appearance wasn't really anything major, I thought it was a nice little callback,

Kagura vs Yukino was the same as canon, and the only thing that's really worth noting is that Bolt knows better than anyone how formidable Kagura is, since I've already mentioned that he's fought against her in the games before and has experienced her power first hand.

Again for the sake of clarity, here's the results of the second day of the Grand Magic Games:

Day 2:

Team Fairy Tail B: 27 points

Team Raven Tail: 26 points

Team Sabertooth: 20 points

Team Lamia Scale: 19 points

Team Mermaid Heel: 17 points

Team Blue Pegasus: 16 points

Team Quatro Puppy: 12 points

Team Fairy Tail A: 11 points