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Natsu's P.O.V

The sun, the breeze, the clouds, everything is perfect for today.  The first day of training, as well as our first test.

I was walking to school with Lucy, both of us in an excited and competitive mood.  We continued walking until we reached the front of the school.

Most of the upperclassmen were going to the locker rooms to change into the training uniforms and then head to the training fields right away, while most the freshmen and sophomores were entering the school and then heading to their classes.

"See ya' on the fields Natsu."  Lucy says then she walked in the direction of the girls locker rooms.

I say a quick bye as well and turn around just to see Gray, Gajeel, and Jellal walking towards me.  They all give me a nod and we walk together to the Men's locker rooms to go change.

I don't know what the girls training uniforms look like, but for the guys, it's a black athletic training jacket over a black t-shirt, and then black athletic shorts, or, if you choose, black sweatpants.

I walked out of the locker rooms to see Lucy waiting there, already changed for training. She has the same athletic jacket on as me, though the shorts are really short.  They're basically volleyball shorts. 

I almost feel bad for the girls since we have such a perverted principal, but hey, I'm not complaining.  Lucy turned her head towards me and noticed me staring at her.

"Hey! I know what you're thinking!"  She yells.  "I already tried talking to principal Makarov and he said it was either these or sweatpants and it's too hot out for sweatpants."  She finished seeming annoyed.

"I see nothing wrong with your uniform."  I say with a smirk.

"Shut up, perv." She blushes then started to head to the fields and, I not wanting to go alone, follow her.

The training fields are made up of three different sections.  One section is for magic and battling, one is for physical strength and the last section is for individual magic types and training.

We all get into our groups which is separated by class and grade and wait to be instructed.

"Everybody quiet down!"  Principal Makarov yells out.  The crowd then dies down.  "As you all know, today is your first day of training as well as your first test to see what your ranking is." 

He then explains where each class is going first.

Our class is going to physical strength first.  Everybody then gets to where they need to be.

The physical strength section is filled with many different obstacles as if it were some boot camp.
There were also different lifting equipment.  This section was least about magic and more on physical strength, obviously.

Mr. Clive walks in front of our group, most likely because he is in charge of this section. 

"Okay, listen up!  So, for the first part of testing today, you will have to complete the whole obstacle course as fast as you can."  He explains.  "Just a little warning, this course is going to be extremely difficult. I'd explain more on the different parts of the course, but I'll just let y'all find out for yourselves, just how hard it really is."  He says with an evil look. 

He keeps explaining.  "We will have one girl going on one side at the same time as one guy goes on the other side, and remember, a barrier is all around the course, meaning, you will NOT be able to use magic, AT ALL.  Good luck!"

As we get in line, I find Lucy and purposely get in the same spot symmetric from her line so we'll go at the same time.  This'll be fun.

She notices my action and rolls her eyes.  I just smile at her and smiles back.

As time passes, we realize a few people actually got hurt doing this course and couldn't go on.  Many who finished it had to do reruns of a certain part and only a few ended up finishing in good condition.  So far though, no one had gone through the whole thing perfectly.  Well, not yet anyways.

More time passes by, and it was our turn to go.

We both smirk at each other as we wait for the whistle to blow.  The rest of the class was anxious as well to see us go at the same time.

"Ready to lose, Luce?"  I ask with a laugh.

"Definitely not losing this, Dragneel."  She says in reply.

In a matter of seconds, the whistle blows.

I run as fast as the speed of light, thinking that Lucy is way behind, though she's meeting my pace exactly.

We reach the first part of the course. 

Metallic rings the size of soccer balls make some sort of path, getting higher and higher as they go.  I spend no time to think and just go.

I grab onto one of the rings.  Once my hand makes contact with it, a burning sensation flows through my hands.  I see through my peripheral vision that Lucy's bearing with it, well so am I.

The rest of the rings are spread out way too far, that it'll take major swings just to get to the next.

I use all the force I can and bring myself up, letting go of each ring I get my hands on, and grabbing on to the next, my hands burning more and more each time. 

'Damn,  I'm a fire dragon slayer and these rings still have affect on me.'  I think to myself.

Wasting no time I end up at the last ring, barely making it, with Lucy right behind me.  We were about 40 ft. high off the ground by now.

Lucy P.O.V.

My hands were still burning like hell from the rings, but I'd bear with it.

'Jeez, what kind of school is this?'  I think to myself.

Natsu was barely ahead of me, and I soon caught up to his speed once again, as soon he reaches the next obstacle.

A metal triangle shaped handle hangs on to a bar that goes about 13ft. across.  Confused at first, I put my hands on the handle.  My body just hangs there as I figure out what to do.  I looked down and realized that if at any time I let go, it'll be a 40ft. drop with nothing to support me from below. 

I then looked up, noticing how the bar is hollow, meaning I'd have to use all the force in my body, and swing to get the handle moving across.

I start swinging my body with all the force I can, and the handle being almost 30lbs. barely moves.  It takes all my strength for it to keep going.

Natsu realized, right after my discovery, what to do, obviously not thinking for himself.  I rolled my eyes at this.

I ended up getting across all the way with him right at my tail.  With my hands slightly burning and my arms a bit sore,  I run as fast as I can and stop at a giant ramp that's so steep, it's almost vertical.

A rain cloud hovers just above it, shooting down rain that looks as if it's going down at 100mph....

'Wow, so we're not allowed to use magic, yet some of these obstacles use magic.' I think to myself.

Just to make sure it's safe or not, I reach my hand out hesitantly into the rain.  My hand drops straight away as if the rain weighed a million tons.  The rain leaves my hand stinging and I wince at the pain.

Already annoyed at how ridiculous this obstacle course is, I realized the only way to get up the ramp is to just...run.

Natsu realized at that same moment and we both take a few steps back.

Simultaneously, we sprint at the speed of light up the ramp.  The rain shoots pain straight onto my skin and weighs me down as I try to sprint up.  My hand barely latches on to the top, but as soon as I try to get up the rains shoots my body down, leaving me hanging at the top.

I noticed Natsu pushing himself up slowly, using a lot of force.  My arms almost felt useless, though I still tried to push myself up.

Feeling as if the rain is getting heavier I finally ended up bringing myself up to the top, laying there for just a second before I get up again.  My body felt a bit numb but I still have the power to go on.

"There's no way I'm letting you win this one Dragneel."  I say, more to myself.

Once I got to the next obstacle,  I saw that Natsu beat me to it.

Natsu's P.O.V.

I'm already sick of trying to figure out every one of these obstacles.  It's too much thinking. 

'Damn that old Gildarts for not explaining the course beforehand.'

I beat Lucy to the next obstacle, though she caught up right away.

Two gigantic walls stood before me with little space in between. 

'Obviously, I'll have to go up the walls, but there's nothing to hold on to at all.'  I stand there confused.

I then walk in between the little space, put my hands on the sides and do the same with my feet.  I kept myself up by pushing out against the sides and climbed higher.

I look and see that Lucy had already figured it out and was not too far ahead of me.  As I climb higher and higher, the space contracts more and more making it harder to move. 

I start moving at a faster pace, as my arms and legs started to feel like jello.

Obviously having broader shoulders than Lucy, is making it harder for me to deal with the tight space, though she still seems to be struggling a bit as well.

We both reach the top at the same time, then, ignoring the pain, we kept sprinting.

Running is getting a little harder with the pain in my body, and being 120ft. above the ground makes it harder to breathe, but it's definitely bearable.

We kept running until we reach a thin rope that connects to the other side 20ft. across.  There was nothing under the rope, and I was still surprised nobody got seriously hurt from this course yet...

Having no other choice I walk across the rope almost falling five times.

I look over at Lucy and her expression is great.  Her face being all scrunched up and trying not to look down.  I laugh at this, but try not to loose my balance.

She hears me laughing, looks over and glares, then goes back to that weird expression.

As we finish walking along the rope, we continue on to the next obstacle almost moving simultaneously.

Lucy's P.O.V.

'Errgh,  I hate the fact that we're using so much strength over some dumb obstacle course.'  I think to myself, still annoyed.  'Oh well,  I still gotta beat Natsu.'

The next obstacle confused both of us at first.  Two giant platform like rocks are hovering, each being attached to each other with string.

I stepped onto the platform, not wasting anytime until I realized that there's no way I can get to the other one.  The string that's attached is as thin as yarn.

I come up with the idea to hang from the string, though right as I'm about to, I notice the change in color of the air about one foot under the string.

Curiously, I reach my hand down under the string to see what that's all about.

As soon as my hand hits the purple colored air, a shock of pain shoots through my hand and travels through my arm.  I slightly wince at the pain.

'Can this school get any more ridiculous?' 

I realized that the only way to get to the other platform would be to hang from this stupid string.

I grab the string and swoop my body under, now feeling the shock like pain all throughout my body.

I take a quick glance over at Natsu and see that he's already started to move forward.

I started to move, trying to ignore the pain.  As I reach the end, I start to bring myself up onto the platform.

Right as I bring myself up, the worst possible thing could happen. 

My foot slips, and I'm now hanging onto the edge of the platform, being over 120ft. above ground, and still in pain.

I try not to look down.  Through my side vision, I could tell Natsu looked at me with concern for a few seconds before realizing he has to keep going.

I try to bring myself up with all my strength.  Once I bring myself onto the platform, my whole body felt numb. Though, that's no excuse to quit.

I kept sprinting, with Natsu just ahead of me.  We seemed to be running downhill, getting closer and closer to the ground.  I then realize that the last part of the course is to just....run.

'There's no way he's winning this.' 

I sprint as fast as I can, as some of the pain from the last few obstacles started to wear off, though my body still felt numb.

I finally matched up to Natsu's speed. He looked over with a smirk and we both start gaining speed, while getting closer and closer to the end.

The end point was now visible to both of us and we were running even faster than before, if that's even possible with the speed we're going at.

We both crossed the end point, not knowing who was first. We were standing there panting like crazy. 

After we both regain our strength and the pain slightly gone, Natsu walked over to me.

"Sorry, but I think I won."  He says proudly.

"What?  It was, obviously, me who won."  I say while glaring at him.

"No way!  I won!"

"No, it was me!"

Mr. Clive and the rest of the class walk over to us.

"Okay okay that's enough!"  He yells.  We quiet down.

"Well, first of all,  that was outstanding.  You both were the first to end in perfect condition.  On top of that, both of you set the record for the fastest time completed."  He says in a happy tone.

The rest of the class gives looks of amazement and some of jealousy.  Some are too tired from the course to realize what's happening.

"Wait does this mean-"  I start to say, but he cuts me off. He better not say what I think he's about to say.

"Yes, I'm sorry to say, but after all that work you both did, it ended in an exact tie." 

He then starts laughing.  "You two amaze me."  He says while still laughing.

I look over at Natsu and glare at him.

"See, I told ya'.  You can never beat me."  He smirks.

"Don't get too cocky, it was still a tie."  I roll my eyes.

I then noticed Levy and Juvia walking over to us.

"Lu-chan that was amazing!  I wish I had your strength."  Levy says, with an amazed look in her eyes.

"Juvia agrees.  Love rival did very well."  Juvia states.

I just laugh.  "It's no big deal.  Just an obstacle course."

"Easy for you to say,  I didn't even finish!  I put more of my strength in magic than physical strength!"  Levy says while pouting and looking at her thin arms.

"It's fine Levy!  You tried your hardest, that's all that matters!"

Natsu's P.O.V.

I'm not that disappointed that it ended up a tie.  Though I still wanted to be first...oh well.

As Lucy talks to her friends, I noticed Gray walking over to me.

"Yo' flamebrain.  I heard you made it out with no reruns."  He says, slightly impressed.

"Yup!" I say proudly.

"Yea yea, whatever, I only had one rerun!  God that course was annoying."

"Wait, where's Gajeel?"  I ask.

He then starts to laugh.  "Oh yea.  Apparently in the middle of the course he got mad 'cuz he couldn't figure out how one of the obstacles worked, so, he ended up eating part of the course that was made of iron."  He sweat-dropped.  "Yeaaa...so he had to do a rerun and now he's sulking over there."

He points over to Gajeel who was sitting on a bench, his arms folded, and a mad pout on his face. We then start talking but as usual it leads to us fighting.

"Stripper!"

"Flambrain-!" He then gets cut off by Juvia pouncing on him, yelling something about missing her beloved Gray-sama.

I just try to ignore the situation and walk back over to Lucy.  She was talking with Erza and Mira.

"Okay everybody!  Listen up!"  Macao Conbolt yells.  I'm guessing he was in charge of the individual magic types section of the fields.

He explains where we have to go next.  Apparently individual is next for our group.

'Ugh, i just wanna go to the battling section already.  This means I'll have less time to spend with Lucy.'  I think to myself while pouting.

I headed over to the individual magic section with Lucy so we can get instructed.

It's sort of laid out like the battling area, expect you train individually.  Well I'm guessing since it's called individual magic types.

"Okay, so for those of you who don't know me, I'm Macao Conbolt, but that's Mr.Conbolt to you guys."

He starts to explain.  "Anyways,  this section is set up so that everyone can train their individual magic type.  For example, if you're a fire mage, once you step into the realm,  you'll be going against monsters and demons that use the magic of ice.  The realm knows you're ranking and gives you opponents that are a few ranks higher"

"If at anytime you feel like you can't go on, then just step out of the realm, and everything vanishes.  Okay?  Good luck!"

Lucy's P.O.V.

Thank goodness we're doing individual training and testing now, it gives me time away from competing against Natsu. I started making my way towards all the realms.

Natsu then comes out of no where and catches up with me.

"I'm so gonna defeat more demons than you, Luce."  Natsu says with confidence.

Oh great.  Just when I thought I had time without competing, he brings this up.

Though, my competitive side takes over and I couldn't help it.

"Oh yea? We'll see about that!"  I say competitively.

He walked closer to me, shortening the distance between us.  I hated whenever he did this 'cuz it only made me realize how much taller he was than me.  He's always been about 7 inches taller.

I pout as he smirks and says the nickname I hated the most from the first day of our rivalry. 

"Bring it on, shortstacks."

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Hey y'all!  Thanks again sooo much for reading!  Sorry again if it's still moving slow, I just don't want things to be rushed!  Please comment what you think and vote as well! (• 3 •)/