Disclaimer: Hey guys! Firestorm40 here with a new chapter for you all. At last, the GMG arc! It's going to be very epic. I do not own any of the characters except my own. Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.

Special thanks to the reviewers and to the readers who Fav/Alert this story. I truly appreciate it. So without further ado, Enjoy!

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Crocas...

The time has arrived, the Great Magic tournament was being held in the mountains to the west of the flower blooming capital named Crocas, in a place called the Domus Flau. In the middle of the town square a small group of Fairy Tail mages, exhausted from their training the other day.

"H...Hey..." Gray wheezed as he looked around. "I still don't feel so great about all this...We don't know for sure if that spell worked..."

"Yeah," Lucy agreed. "but I do feel like my magic power has increased. All my joints are still totally sore though..."

"Well, I feel a bit okay" Sora said as he stretched.

"Geez, don't you guys feel embarrassed for yourselves?" Erza shook her head as the expense of her teammates' sufferings.

"This is my first time being in a city this big." Natsu commented while Lexi and Wendy nodded their heads in agreement. All around them were little shops and vendors with merchandise available for mages to buy. Once a year, in the capital of Fiore, this festival for mages is held so the city is always bustling full with the mages and its citizens.

"So, you guys finally made it." They looked up to see Makarov arrive with Bisca's family, Asuka riding on his shoulders. "Let's get on with this even already! Kahahaha! We'll show 'em the power of Fairy Tail!"

"Did you hear that? Fairy Tail!"

"Where? Them?"

"The weak little guild forever claiming last place." Soon the square was full of gossip, teasing and bad-mouthing. Balling their fists in rage, Sora and Natsu had to keep their inner rage in check because they knew that if they were attack then it would just hurt them in the end. Even Makarov told them to let their tormentors go.

Give every last bit of your strength, we're aiming for the number one guild in Fiore!" He looked at them with a determined look on his face. "So we can face Mavis, who saved our lives!"

In the Great Magic tournament, each guild will elect 5 or 6 members to represent them as competitors. Before they set off, Makarov elected Sora, Natsu, Gray, Erza, Lucy and Wendy as the 6 representative members. Lucy and Wendy were about to get into an argument with him but he told them that he had a plan.

"The matches will begin tomorrow...unfortunately, we don't know anything about the rules. Here Erza," He handed a huge book towards the red-head. "read this by tomorrow."

"Leave it to me Master. I brought my reading glasses." Levy smiled as she took the book and flipped through the pages. "If I were to summarize things, there are 3 really important points. First of all, each guild's master cannot participate. Anyone without the guild's insignia cannot participate either, and must simply observe. Each event will remain a secret up until right before they begin, at which point the rules will be explained. Ah!" She exclaimed, "There's a warning written at the end...all participants must return to the lodgings by 12:00."

"We still got plenty of time." They looked at the clock tower, "We've come all the way to this huge city, we might as well hit the town!" And so the group all split up to do their own touring of the city until it was time to return.

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Sora's group...

While Sora, Natsu, Lucy, Happy and Lucas wondered around the town, the sound of mages fighting caught their attention.

"Those are the dragons of Sabertooth."

"Sting and Rogue!"

"The strongest members of the strongest guild!"

"Sabertooth?" Breaking through the whispering crowd, Sora and Natsu laid eyes on the two dragon slayers from Sabertooth as they grinned at the crowd while their opponents groveled underneath their shoes. Lucy stood next to them before eyeing the beaten opponents with disgust. As it stands, anyone who would dare challenge Sabertooth would no longer live to see the light of another day...so to speak.

"Natsu...Dragneel...and Sora...Lionheart" The two of them stared at the sakura-head and the orange haired in shock.

"What's with these cats and their idiotic faces?" Lector sneered, pointing at Lucas and Happy with a paw.

"Who are you calling stupid!?" Lucas yelled, butting heads with Lector.

"It spoke?!" Happy exclaimed.

"Should I be surprised?!" Lucy muttered as she watched the Exceeds exchange words.

"Hahaa!" Sting laughed as he approached Sora and Natsu, "So those rumors about you two entering the Great Magic tournament...those were true?!"

"You know about us?" Natsu asked as the distance between them closed up.

"Acnologia..." He leaned down to sneer at him, "You're the dragon slayers who couldn't defeat a dragon...right? Then...what's the point of being a dragon slayer?"

"Ah?" Natsu glared right back, his blood starting to boil. Sora remained quiet.

"I used to look up to you two, a long long time ago...By the way this is Rouge." Sting pointed to his companion. "So just like you, we wanted to become dragon slayers."

"Dragon slayers?!" Natsu gasped, "You two are?!"

"No way..." Sora muttered.

"You should probably call us 'true' dragon slayers." Sting grinned with a glint in his eyes, "After all...we'd probably be able to defeat Acnologia."

"You're only able to say that because you haven't seen Acnologia!" Lucy shot back. "Besides, Sora was able to injure that dragon!"

"Yeah, that's right!" Happy backed her up as he glared at Lector.

"You tell em', Lucy!" Lucas said

"What stupid looking cats." was the response.

"You're so smart, Lector." Frosch said as he stood by his friend.

"Say that to my face, I dare you!" Lucas growled.

"It doesn't matter if we've seen it before." Rogue said calmly.

"This is the difference between the kind of dragon slayer you are and we are." Sting said.

"Let me explain things." Lector spoke up, "Natsu and Sora, having gained their dragon slaying magic from actual dragons, are known as First Generation. Laxus and Cobra, who are able to use dragon slaying magic from Dragon Lacrima being embedded in them are known as Second Generation. And then Sting and Rogue...are hybrids, having both a dragon parent like you, and also having Dragon Lacrima in their bodies, known as Third Generation!"

"Third Generation!?" Natsu and Lucy stated in wonder. Sora stood there with narrowed eyes as he took in the whole conversation, his mind cataloging the most important information.

"Did you lose your dragons in the year 777, too?" Natsu asked them.

"Ah...well not exactly..." Sting stammered.

"Let's tell them the truth." Rogue said. Suddenly their entire demeanor changed as they grinned at the small Fairy Tail mages. "The dragons that taught us dragon slaying magic...we destroyed them with our own hands...in order to become true dragon slayers."

"They killed...dragons!?" Lucy gasped in horror.

"What...?" Sora bared his teeth in anger.

"Humans...killed a dragon..." Happy muttered, not believing his ears.

"I don't believe it..." Lucas gaped.

"You killed...your own parents..." Natsu's eyes dilated as an angry vein throbbed on his forehead. Laughing Sting and Rogue bid them farewell and disappeared back towards their own guild. Hearing the jeering from the other observers at how weak their own guild was, Natsu and Sora both had urges to go all out and destroy the entire city right then and there. Unfortunately they were late and with Lucy's persistent tugging on their scarf and jacket, respectively, they trudged back to the inn.

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The inn where Fairy Tail was staying...

"You guys!" Erza glared at them in anger; she was already dressed in her pajamas and getting ready for bed. "Just how long were you intending to be out there?!" Sora, Lucas, Gray, Natsu, Happy and Lucy were sitting in front of her, different expressions on their faces.

"Just another boring dinner..." Gray sighed.

"Well...it's complicated..." Lucy hesitantly said as she looked over at Sora and Natsu, who were shaking furiously after that encounter with the Sabertooth duo. "Well...I mean...err..."

"I'm gonna get those guys back no matter what!" Sora, Natsu, Lucas and Happy simultaneously roared, venting their frustrations.

"Anyway, where's Wendy?" Erza asked and the others looked around for the said Sky Dragon slayer.

"She should be with Carla so I don't think they're lost." Happy said but he was still concerned.

"It's almost 12, though...she is out there all alone..." In an instant Lucy started to imagine horrible things that Wendy and Carla could be doing, like hanging out with shady characters or getting drunk in a bar.

"Yo! We brought snacks." The door swung open and Elfman and Lisanna walked in with food items in their hands.

"Are you back from your mountain stay?" Natsu grinned as they helped the siblings in.

"We planned on it increasing our strength a lot..." Elfman told him before stretching out his muscles. "But we made a bad choice...I just wanna show off for Lisanna!" Soon the clock struck 12 and the bell rang throughout the entire city loud enough for everyone to hear.

"What's that?" Sora wondered.

"To all the guilds here for the Great Magic tournament!" A voice spoke and a giant hologram of a person wearing a pumpkin head appeared in the middle of the square. "Good morning! In order to reduce the participating teams from 113 down to 8...we will now begin a 'Preliminary event'."

"Preliminary!? Gray exclaimed as they looked outside the window. "No one said anything about that!"

'113...!? Huh? That sounds like way too many guilds for Fiore...' Lucy thought before swallowing nervously.

'If they were going to have a preliminary event, they should have told us...This whole setup is mysterious.' Erza was puzzled by the entire process as well but something in the back of her head told her that this entire event smells fishy. 'And too many guilds...a mysterious magical presence...maybe its the even organizers we should be suspicious of?'

"Every year more and more guilds come, that's a sign this even was starting to be taken too lightly." The pumpkin announcer continued, "This year, we've brought the number of final competing teams down to 8. The preliminary rules are simple!" Snapping his fingers the entire buildings in the area started to shift and move as they constructed themselves into a giant "You will all now compete with each other. The goal is the event grounds, Domus Flau. The first 8 teams to make it will participate in the event. Your lodgings will be the starting line for this preliminary event."

"A path...are we supposed to follow that?" The Fairy Tail mages watched as wooden planks started to create a stairwell towards their destination.

"Feel free to use any magic you like. There are no restrictions. As long as you're one of the first 8 teams to make it. But be warned, if all 5 or 6 of your members don't make it there, you still lose. Also, we take no responsibility for anyone who loses their life in the labyrinth..."

"Labyrinth?!" Natsu gritted his teeth in surprise as a giant ball floated in the sky, connected by the stairs to each lodgings.

"I guess this is it..." Sora muttered.

"The Great Magic tournament's preliminary event! Sky Labyrinth has begun!"

"If this is a competition, we'd better hurry." Gray said.

"Wait. The rules are that 'five or six members' need to be at the goal. Wendy is still missing." Erza replied.

"If Wendy's not here...we still gotta go!" Sora said, strapping his sword to his back.

"We don't have a choice...there's no time to wait for Wendy." Gray said even though he was gloomy at the thought.

"Lisanna! Happy! Lucas!" Erza craned her neck as she looked at the four left behind. "Go look for Wendy! And try to stay out of trouble!"

"Roger that!" Lucas nodded.

"Okay!" Lisanna shouted back. "We'll go see who all the guild members are here."

"Good luck everybody!" Happy jumped up and down. 

"Alright, let's head out!" Sora shot out of their lodge first and shouted, making his way up the path lead to the floating labyrinth.

"Yeah!" Natsu smirked confidently "TEAM FAIRY TAIL! Let's go!" he shouted out and followed after Sora, with the rest of his team following shortly behind sharing the same determination smile.

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Line Break

"This is so confusing!" Lucy hollered, stomping her feet. They were currently inside the labyrinth, standing on floating platforms in the maze. Lucy's blonde hair swished side to side as she turned around. Sora meanwhile was standing on a higher ground, a massive pillar twenty feet higher than where the other were standing and scouting around the area with his eyes.

"Which way do we go?" He called down to the others.

"We have to head east," Erza instructed.

Lucy grinned. "I've got this!" She pulled out a silver key and waved it above her head. "Open! Gate of the Compass, Pixus!" In a brilliant flash of light, a small penguin-like creature with a compass on its head appeared, flapping its tiny wings. "All right, Pixus," Lucy said, bending down, "Which way is east?" After a few spins of the compass, Pixus squawked a cheer and pointed. The squad followed his gaze and saw platforms upon platforms of difficult climbing.

"Actually," Erza mentioned, "I have a compass right here." The Queen of the Fairies held up a small silver circle with a red and white needle in the centre. This made the celestial mage smiled dropped and had to call back Pixus. Sora patted her back in comfort.

"We should get moving, I saw some fights ahead of us." Sora said "Try to avoid battles as much as possible, since we don't want to waste any time." The others nodded their head in agreement.

The labyrinth was indeed not making it easy for the Fairy Tail team, even Erza's compass. Gray continuously made stairs of ice for everyone to climb, and at several points in time they came across other guilds, even if they tried to battle was unavoidable. The group attempted to make a map and four out of the five members were very keen on the idea of stealing maps from other groups. But once the maze began to shift, Sora knew immediately the maps were useless.

"It's moving!" Lucy howled and fell off the platform. Natsu shot forward and grabbed her, but he too fell off the platform when it shifted again. Natsu tried to hold on but the platform twisted around again, this time vertically and hurled his hand away. Both Salamander and Celestial Mage gasped in shock as they started falling. Fortunately, Sora saw this and shot forward, grabbing Natsu's wrist and stopping them from meeting their ultimate end.

"I got'cha, guys." Sora grinned and pulled Natsu and Lucy up. He used his magic to allowed him to stick his feet to the platform no matter what angle it was in "Be careful where you're going." The two breathed out a sigh in relief and nodded their head.

"I wish Happy is here, he can take us to the Domus Flau for sure."

"Same for Lucas. But, They're both counted as members of Fairy Tail, so we can't have them here." Sora shook his head.

"Whoa!" Erza started sliding backwards off her platform and their last member, Gray was having enough troubles holding onto his own platform.

"This place is a mess" was his comment before he was helped up to his feet.

After a few minutes of travelling, team Fairy Tail encountered a group of man with very familiar guild mark

"Twilight Ogre!" Lucy gasped.

"Them again?" Sora said.

The man, apparently their leader curled his lip. "Fairy Tail! You really think you have a chance-"

He never finished his sentence. "Typical villains' speech" Sora called, leaping forward with his feet put together in a drop-kick. His feet connected with the man's face and sent him away. The remaining for members growled and gripped their weapons tightly, but they was met with an ice cannonball shot with high speed and Natsu's flaming fist to the head.

"Piss off!" With a simple kick to the ass with his hands in his pockets, Sora sent the last member of Twilight Ogre, the smallest member off the platform they were standing on, not before he took the map he was making from the ogre's hands.

"Here's another map, Luce." Sora gave Lucy the map, who nodded her head and started checking it with what they got along the way "Let's go before this whole place shift again." After much more discussion and movement, it didn't take them long for the group to find themselves on a long path. Encouraged by the prospect that they were close, Team Fairy Tail moved slightly faster, keeping a good pace.

And then they saw the exit, and Pumpkin waiting for them.

"Congratulations on completing the preliminary event." He told them.

"Of course!" Natsu replied, "It totally worked out for us..."

"Yeah, it was nothing" Sora grinned.

"So, I'll bet we got first place, right?" Lucy asked.

"Nope. You just barely made 8th place."

"Ehh!?" They looked at him with shocked faces, not believing what he had just told them. Of course it was to be expected since they have been gone for seven years so they were bound to be out of practice. Whatever the cause they were a part of the 8 teams so Fairy Tail will be participating in the upcoming events.

That's a wrap! The beginning of the GMG has started at last! Let me know what you guys thought of the team and see if I should change it or not. Comment on you favorite parts and don't forget to vote!

Be sure to review. Until then, see ya!!!