Chapter 16: Training Part-1
[Previously:]
From there, all the groups started training and fighting. Working hard to improve their magic power and intensity for the war that will be brought to them.
[Group 1:]
Gray, Juvia, Lyon, Rufus and Eve arrived at the place where Meredy and Juvia fought, back when Grimoire Heart attack—Every one of them got into a battle stance, ready to help each other grow stronger.
The plan was that Juvia was going to fight against all four boys. She'll be tryin' to make her water attacks stronger, while the guys fight to freeze it.
So with that in mind, Juvia dived into the little pond that was knee-length deep. Immediately disappearing, completely turned into water and one with the pond, hiding in plain sight.
Gray and Lyon stripped down to their boxes without noticing, while Eve already had swimming trunks on with a regular t-shirt. Rufus, it was an odd sight to see him without a hat, but the mask stayed on, wearing red swimming trunks. When ready, the four walked into the middle of the pond and kept an eye open.
Everyone listened for any sign of movements in the water…
"WATER SLICER!" Water hit them from behind, no one having time to react at such speed as it threw them back. It felt like blades were cutting their skin.
"Arghhh," Gray grunted, flown back and slamming into a tree—The sight of her Gray-sama hurt almost threw Juvia off into a frenzy, but she reframed from running to his aid. Teeth grinding together.
"Memorized…" Rufus muttered, clenching in pain.
Eve hissed, splashes echoing around… They all stumbled to a stand, sure enough, already bruising.
Suddenly, Rufus got encased into a big dome of water, like a bubble, "Water-Lock!"
Rufus merely smirked, placing two fingers up to his temple as the water started heating up, but soon, it popped and disappeared. Freeing himself from Juvia's attack, "Memorized… but soon forgotten."
Juvia was confused, her attacks never failed. The water-mage accidentally reveals herself.
Eve took this chance, performing a spell so she couldn't escape and hide, "White-Out!" As soon as those words were said, snow surrounded them and fell from the sky, the pond freezing over. No one was affected by the cold except Juvia as she shivered, glancing at Eve and deciding he was the best one to strike.
"W-Water Nebula!" Juvia shouted, using her own power more than the pond to send Eve into the air. The ice wizard didn't have time to react, Juvia jumping into the air and swinging her fist to punch him across the forest. Eve took damage but still managed to stand.
Everybody else went to attack Juvia at the same time while she was focused on Eve, but then, she did something that Gray never thought she could do. "Water-Shield—Juvia will not lose; Juvia will knock you down one-by-one!" The ice cracked, cold water swirling from the pond to create a tornado of sorts to block them from getting to Eve and Juvia.
While the two were fighting, Gray, Lyon, and Rufus tried to figure out how to get passed. The first thought was to freeze it, but Juvia panted, trying her hardest to keep the water from turning into ice… Exhaustion to the max as she also tried putting her focus on Eve's counterattacks.
Rufus eyed the barrier, "Hm, memorized… but quickly forgotten!" However, nothing happened. The guys staring at the water in shock from it not disappearing.
Then, their ears picked up Juvia's muffled voice echoing from inside, "Juvia will not fall for the same trick twice! Juvia's memories will never be forgotten in Juvia's heart because JUVIA IS WATER!"
"Hm, well I expected nothing less from my Juvia," Lyon stated smugly, smirking.
"GET THAT SMUG EXPRESSION OFF YOUR FACE, IDIOT! And like hell would I let Juvia be with a white-haired bastard like you! ICE-MAKE: LANCE!" Gray shouted, icicle spears impaling Lyon… The attack injured him, but not as much as it should have, considering he was also an ice-mage. But before Lyon could counterattack, the water barrier stopped.
Juvia was in front of Gray in seconds, hearts in her eyes, "Is Gray-sama jealous for, Juvia?! Does Gray-sama finally admit he loves Juvia?! Juvia's heart doesn't think it can take this!"
The water-mage fainted in Gray's arms with a lovestruck expression on her face. The snow stopped as it disappeared in particles of magic, everyone looking to see Eve unconscious… Juvia must've finished him off.
After placing Juvia and Eve on dry-land where the two wouldn't drown or get in the middle of the fight. Lyon and Gray decided to team-up against Rufus.
"Ready Gray? I don't expect you to keep up with me but try anyways… Ice-Make: Ice Geyser!" Lyon slammed both his hands in the water, freezing it as a structure of ice came down on Rufus.
He smirked, "Your memory will be what destroys you—Memory-make: Illusion." Suddenly, just before Lyon's attack hit Rufus, an illusion of Juvia appeared. Making it seem that she got hit instead, illusion-Juvia screaming in pain as she fell to the ground.
"JUVIA! My love!" Lyon shouted, running automatically to her. Yet, when he was about to touch her skin, Juvia snapped her eyes open and smirked evilly.
"Memory-make: Frozen Drain Impact!" Lyon couldn't react in time as a block of ice encased him… While it wasn't cold, the spell was draining his magic until it broke, and Lyon fell into the water unconscious. The Juvia illusion is disappearing as well.
Rufus smiled in satisfaction, closing his eyes on winning, "I told you; Your memory will destroy you."
"Lyon may have lost because of his memory, but your forgetfulness will be YOUR downfall! Now maybe you'll remember my Ice-Bringer!"
"AHHHH!" Rufus screamed, fallin' in the water with a defeated splash.
The two ice-swords faded, Gray looking over his shoulder and smirking to himself. The only mage left standing was Gray Fullbuster, "You could never beat a Fairy Tail member, training or not, I won't hold back…"
An explosion and powerful dragon-roar echoed through the trees, practically shaking the whole island that had Gray stumbling in alarm and trying to catch his balance. Sighing, annoyance laced in his tone, "Dammit, if anything, that's flame-brains doing…" But just as those words escaped him, Gray felt a chill strike his core, something telling him that he should've kept his mouth shut.
[Group 2:]
Jura, Shery, Beth, Jäger, Rocker, Droy and Max observed the area where it was nothing but rocky ground.
Jura decided he was going to observe them train since there wasn't much to get higher than wizard-saint. So instead, he sat underneath a shaded area and instructed them to battle, wanting to see what they needed to work on.
"You guys will fight in pairs and try to take the other team out. This particular training is about teamwork! It'll be Sherry and Beth, Jäger and Rocker, and lastly, Droy and Max… Give it your all!"
Beth and Sherry attacked first against all four opponents.
"Rock-Doll! I'm not gonna hold my love back," Sherry growled, controlling a giant rock-puppet as she sat on top of its head. The rock giant smashed its fist, almost flattening Droy and Max but managing to push them backward.
Beth shot missile carrots at the two, Max creating a sand wall to block it—It was a struggle to keep the sand wall from breaking as the giant punched it, "Now Droy!"
"You got it! No one messes with a member from Team Shadow Gear—Chain Plant!" Droy threw a handful of seeds towards Sherry, Beth, and even managed a few tosses to Jäger and Rocker. The four were confused for a second until the ground shook, vines sprouting and removed Sherry off the rock giant as it crumbled to the ground before scurrying to grab Beth in a tight embrace.
Max released his sand wall, falling to his knees in pants to try and regain his energy. Meanwhile, the rest of the vines tried to wrap around Jäger and Rocker, but they blocked it. Rocker used his body and turned it into a drill, ripping the vines apart that even tried getting close. And Jäger used his own vines to battle them.
During that time, Beth and Sherry almost lost consciousness from the vines suffocating them. Droy instantly put them safely on the ground for them to regain oxygen that was lost, the two counted as defeated.
Soon, Droy got hungry, and his plants vanished, "T-That's it, I'm out. It's all up to you now Max… Anyone got a candy bar on them or something?" He wheezed, falling backwards onto his back, arms spread out and sweating like crazy—From his spot, Jura sighed and immediately decided to ask someone with gravity-change magic to make Droy his skinny-self once again when getting back to camp.
Jäger planted fly traps all over one side of the field, behind Max who was still huffing and panting on the ground. They blended with the rocky ground and hid from their opponents eye.
"WILD!" Rocker and Jäger both yelled, running to Max for an up-close attack—Although what they didn't expect was that the Max was a fake, turning into sand as they got trapped.
"Wha—"
"SAND-SLASH!" Rocker halted, a whip of sand hitting them both and sending them flying into the flytraps that were planted. The traps automatically close their mouths before spitting them into the sky. Max didn't hesitate, right hand swirling into a spiral formation and sending it toward Jäger and Rocker while the two were still in the air.
"Arrghhh!" They grunted in pain, crashing into the rocks as their clothes were ripped and their skin bruised. Max was sore and exhausted, falling to his knees for a break. The only ones that were awake were Jura, Max, Jäger, Rocker and Droy… Beth and Sherry having fallen asleep, tired from the fight.
Jura stood, walking onto the battlefield, "You guys did well—You just need to work on conserving magical energy… Droy, though, you need to work on a diet. Starting today, you're on a diet and we'll get someone that knows gravity magic to shrink you back to your skinny-self. I believe Kagura knows—"
The wizard saint was interrupted when the whole island shook, somewhere you could hear a huge explosion, along with a roar.
'He's at it again, huh? Even his dragon instincts are reckless as ever…' Everyone thought in amusement.
[Group 3:]
Wendy, Chelia, Ren, Wakaba and Semmes finally reached the highest point where the wind blew its hardest—Everyone had trouble controlling their balance and staying on the ground, well everyone but Wendy. The sky dragon slayer walked through the strongest burst of wind as if it was nothing.
The little dragon examined each one as Ren shielded his face, the heel of his shoes digging deeper into the dirt as the wind pushed him back. Chelia had her eyes closed, concentrating on her sky god abilities, allowing the black feathered wind to surround her and help push through. Semmes was like Ren, having trouble, but standing his ground. However, Wakaba fell on the ground and clawed the ground from flying away.
"Hm, seems like before training can get done, you need to learn how to handle the tough wind—So far, only Ren, Semmes, and Chelia are holding their ground… Let's see what happens when I crank it up a notch!" Wendy's inner-dragon tilted her head innocently and the next thing everybody knew, all of them were stumbling backwards. Their bodies hitting against multiple objects… and all Wendy did was let out a puff of air from her mouth.
The sky dragon gave advice, having them close their eyes and concentrate on their magic. Imaging the wind was like water to swim through.
Soon, all of them were able to do it, little-by-little.
Chelia breathed in and out, focusing her thoughts and calmly letting her wind travel to her arms and legs that let her take a step toward Wendy.
Ren decided to surround himself in his aerial magic, starting to walk through the wind like nothing but a closer inspection of his face. You could tell he was starting to sweat from the magical energy he was using to strengthen his air magic to not break the barrier.
Wakaba used his smoke pipe to wrap around his legs until reaching his shoes, making the smoke dig into the dirt like needles that held his footing together. Although Wendy got intrigued to see how long he can hold the smoke from not blowing away and mixing into the wind.
Semmes, with him being heavy weighted, used it to his advantage and took baby-steps. Making it through the wind like everyone else.
Wendy smiled at the improvement before grinning devilishly, "Good, nice improvement—Now let's see you handle it while being attacked. Remember… I'm not your innocent Wendy. A dragon NEVER holds back!"
Suddenly, she disappeared as her last words echoed around them—No one had time to react because in a flash, every single one of them was knocked to their knees.
Semmes was the first to stand, twirling his whole body like a tornado. "So you play like that… Okay! Let's play," Wendy's voice was sickly sweet, but no one saw her. Yet, Semmes didn't stop spinning for a second until a big tornado headed for him at a rapid speed, catching him into a spin. All you heard was a snap of fingers as it faded and threw Semmes into the sky before crashing into a rock and knocking him unconscious.
Wendy appeared in front of him, checking to see if he was alright… Ren took his chance to use his aerial dome around Wendy, locking her inside and decreasing the oxygen. Looking over her shoulder, Wendy's bangs covering her eyes, she disappeared. "Nice try, but this is MY element," Ren heard a whisper in his ear before everything went black.
Wakaba was shocked that their little Wendy beat those two in a matter of seconds, paling when she turned to look his way—Appearing right in front of him, staring deep into his eyes and letting out a puff that blew the smoke away that was keeping him stabled to the ground. Wakaba shouted, accidentally dropping his smoking pipe and sending him tumbling. He was still conscious but low on magic energy, staying in place and resting for a bit.
"Sky God's Bellow!" A purple blackish wind-like roar hit Wendy dead on, creating dirt to fly as well. Chelia coughed but positively she got Wendy. However when the air cleared, she was surprised to see an undamaged sky dragon. She didn't even move an inch… A lot different than when the two faced off in the Grand Magic Games. "Nice hit! But nothing can break a dragon's scales… Not even a God!" Since Chelia can heal herself, something she couldn't do, Wendy's inner-dragon got excited.
No longer hiding, Wendy used her own attack, "Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!" Chelia dodged most of the harsh whirlwind, nose scrunching at the pain but not making a sound. There was determination in her eyes, something Wendy had seen before. "Sky God's Dance!" Chelia ran towards Wendy, sending her into the air only for the sky dragon to use her feathery wings to float. Gritting her teeth, Chelia decided to use one attack that could either be effective or not, "Heavenly Gathering of Clouds!"
Immediately, Wendy recognized this attack from her human's side memories, eyes widening. This time, Wendy grinned and let the attack come head on instead of blocking it like last time. Once the attack was close, her dragon-like eyes narrowed, "Dragon Slayer's Secret Art: Sly Twister!" It was a new secret art that she learned with Porlyusica, wind coming out of both her hands as it twirled around and became a twister. The attack makes dirt and rocks fly everywhere and get sucked in… It was strong enough to break Chelia's strongest attack, hitting her and causing the sky god to scream in pain before falling to the ground with her body spread out.
She was still conscious but tried to regain her breath, huffing and puffing. Wendy walked to her, kneeling down and helping Chelia heal as she sucked in air as well. Wendy was about to speak until an explosion and roar was heard. Chelia's eyes widening at the magical power that was felt.
The sky dragon just narrowed her eyes, a "tch" leaving her lips and knowing exactly who was responsible. Shaking her head, she started to heal everyone else.
[Group 4:]
Erza, Kagura, Jellal, Jenny, Elfman, Evergreen and Meredy arrived at the empty side of the forest where Acnologia practically wiped it all away.
Everyone decided that Erza and Kagura would be each other's opponents since no one was dumb enough there to fight two monsters—Jenny decided to give it a go and face off Evergreen. While Elfman insisted he can take on both Jellal and Meredy by himself, shouting how only a real man can win against two opponents.
Requiping, Erza stood tall in her Clear-Heart clothing that was just a white sarashi wrapped around her upper chest with red hakama pants that had a golden flame pattern at the bottom edges. Her scarlet hair was now in a high ponytail, Erza's hand stretched out wide as her demon blade katana was called forth.
Kagura unleashed her blade as well, preparing for a fight and readying herself. Both hands held a firm grip, legs spreading in a defense position.
Their eyes narrowed, glaring intensity before bellowing out a battle cry and charging forth at incredible speed.
Meanwhile, Evergreen and Jenny were going to another area, farther from the two.
Jenny's magic performance wasn't quite equal to Evergreen, but her hand-to-hand combat was. Requiping into her battle armor that she used to face-off against Mirajane in the Grand Magic Games, the outfit is cuter for dress-up than fighting.
Evergreen was wearing her usual attire… Originally she was going to just use her eyes to turn Jenny into stone like she does with off-guard opponents, but the idea was thrown out the window since this was supposed to be training. Deciding hand-to-hand combat, as well testing some of her other spells.
Staring one another down, Evergreen initiated the first attack by using Fairy-Dust. Exploding on contact, with nowhere else to go, Jenny took the hit and shielded her face with both arms. After the dirt cloud settled, Jenny launched at Evergreen and delivered a roundhouse kick that sent her flying. Yet before Evergreen could stumble too far, she used her fairy wings to help slow her down. Heels digging into the ground.
Both hissed at one another like two female cats, determined to come out of this fight in victory.
On the other side, Jellal and Meredy were up against Elfman.
Jellal and Meredy are the first to react.
"Maguilty Sodom!" Meredy shouted, summoning her swords that targeted the pain nerves, sending them towards Elfman. At the same time, Jellal launched into the sky and used his Heavenly-Body magic, writing out the Seven Magic Seals, each of them connecting like constellations, "Grand Chariot!"
The combined power burst through the sky, temporarily blinding as dirt flew everywhere… No one was able to see anything until the dust cleared, Elfman standing tall and proud in a scaled take-over that looked like an alligator. It was the same one that was used during the Grand Magic Games, "Beast-Soul: Lizardman."
This fight was definitely getting serious… Elfman may not be powerful like the two, but lizard scales were DEFINITELY tough to penetrate with even the strongest magic.
Shouts and snarls were heard during Kagura and Erza's fight, both heavily bruised and clothes tattered up—The two were panting in exhaustion, swords directed at each other.
"I… will not," Erza panted, "lose! AHHHH!" She shouted with a new found determination, launching at an incredible speed. Kagura didn't have a chance to block it, surprised at her speed when almost peeled over.
So the Mermaid did the next best thing that she could think of to send the Fairy backward. Kagura activates her Gravity-Magic, "Gravity-Change: Backwards!"
Kagura was sure this would've done something, eyes widening in disbelief to see that even with the force of magical power, Erza still charged head on like nothing. There was a glint in her brown eyes that practically burned with fire, a battle cry leaving her lips—Kagura was so frozen in shock that she didn't realize when Erza jumped into the sky with her sword held above the heavens. She swung in a swiping motion, but Erza turned the sword at the last minute and jabbed Kagura in the stomach with the handle. The scarlet mage will save her blade lust for enemies alone.
The Mermaid coughed, oxygen leaving her lungs from the impact and eyes widened in disbelief before falling to the ground in defeat.
Erza huffed, grinning at her victory, turning to see how everyone else was fairing. Sweatdropping to see them either groaning on the floor in pain or unconscious.
Shaking her head, Erza was about to wake them up until a loud roar and explosion shook the island. Looking up, the scarlet mage was able to see magical power bursting into the sky where Natsu and the rest of the dragon slayers were.
Growling, massaging her temples in frustration, Erza punched a tree nearby and broke it in half, "Those stupid-idiots! Are they trying to destroy Tenrou island?!"
[Group 5:]
Romeo, Macao, Freed, Bickslow and his babies arrived at the location where their last campsite was to heal the injured.
"So… What are we going to do?" Romeo asked, arms behind his head like Natsu usually does.
Bickslow snickered, "Yeah, FOURTH-MASTER, what shall we do?" Freed chuckled, immediately covering it with a cough to show some respect.
Macao glared at the two but then ruffled his son's hair with a smile, "Let's work on improving your fire magic Romeo! As for Freed and Bickslow, fight against yourselves."
Romeo jumped in excitement at improving his magic to show Natsu, the last time he did was when going on a mission with Natsu and Lucy during the Infinity Clock fiasco—Freed and Bickslow glanced at the father and son duo before shrugging, walking a good distance away from them.
"Okay Romeo, see that giant boulder over there? I'm marking an 'X' right in the middle, and you gotta hit it with different types of fire attacks," Macao instructed, marking the rock before moving behind Romeo, the kid already in a fighting stance with a purple flare.
Normally his range was good, but Romeo got so excited in his thoughts that he ended up missing the boulder by a long shot, "Ughhh!" Romeo groaned in frustration, yanking his hair.
Macao just laughed, waving it off, "It's okay Romeo. Not even I got it on the first try when I was your age, try it again—This time really focus on your target with a clear mind."
"I'm all fired up!" Romeo shouted excitedly, using Natsu's catchphrase. Summoning a purple flare once again, he concentrated on the target and threw it as the burning flame hit the bolder. Grinning widely when his dad ruffled his hair, saying how proud he was—Romeo tried again, this time with blue flames that when hit on target, ice started to spread and form.
He went through multiple flames; From a red one that Natsu once said tasted EXTREMELY spicy, to a yellow flame that smelled like sewer, there was a green fire that wrapped around like vines as it burned from the heat, and finally an orange flame that could potentially blind or distract your opponents from how bright it was. "Good job, Romeo. I'm glad Totomaru's teaching was effective to you after all… What? You didn't think you could hide anything from your old-man now, could you?"
Macao laughed at Romeo's wide-eyed expression, remembering the first time Totomaru came to his home with a report card about his son. Although it came off as a shock, Macao continued to let Romeo have his little "secret" for now—Speaking of which, since Romeo was starting to get exhausted, Macao insisted on one last attack. The young mage decides to use his strongest one, summoning all his flames into a rainbow and throwing it at the boulder. It exploded on contact, Macao instantly shielding his son from the blow as rocks flew everywhere.
"OW! What the hell?!" A cry of pain was heard from where Freed and Bickslow were, the two turning to see Bickslow rubbing his forehead where a bump started to form. Surrounding them were pieces of broken rocks and pebbles, but what made them sweatdrop was that Freed and Bickslow weren't even training—Just sitting on the floor… Playing Go-Fish.
Macao gritted his teeth in irritation, "Just what in Mavis, do you think you're doing? You're supposed to be training!"
Freed and Bickslow, however, ignored him, "Do you have four hearts?" Freed asked. Rubbing his forehead, Bickslow grunted, "Go-Fish." When Freed reached over to grab his card from the pile, Bickslow's babies peeked behind him to see his cards before whispering into their owner's ears. Smirking, it was Bickslow's turn, "Say, do you have the eighth diamond?" Freed, not knowing he cheated, grumbled underneath his breath and handed Bickslow one of his cards.
Macao was about to yell at them again, until the ground shook and a roar was heard throughout the forest.
As the floor kept shaking, trees blowing from the intensity of the powerful explosion, the cards flew away. Freed and Bickslow's eyes widening, "NOOO! And I was winning. DAMMIT, NATSU! I KNOW YOUR BEHIND THIS!" They shouted in sync.
Romeo laughed, "Yep, that's Natsu-nii alright!" Macao sighed to himself, "I'm getting too old for this…"
