Nothing Without It

Recap: 

"Look, babies!" Bickslow grinned. "It's Cana and the blonde!"

"Sorry, it appears that you won't be making it past this round." Freed taunted.

"On a scale of 1-10, our level of screwed up-ness is an 11." I stated like it was a fact, and Cana seemed to believe it too.

---

LUCY'S P.O.V.

'Cana was basically helpless against Freed's power! And if Loke hadn't paired up with Gray, we might even still have a chance!' I deduced in my head, whining to myself.

I glanced at the metal gate, which Bickslow had seemed to notice. "The gate opens when a team wins!" Bickslow stated. "And it sure ain't gonna be one of you bimbos!" And his babies were also taunting us! How insulting.

"Sorry, Cana. I can't allow you to pass this round, if I am to follow Laxus's path, then I must win here." Freed apologized, giving us a side glare. 

"Bring it on!" Cana shouted and lifts a finger up at Freed, "I am not going to let the S-Class slip through my fingers for the fifth time!"The two members of the Thunder God Tribe merely just smiled. Meanwhile, I stripped off my backpack to be more comfortable.

Freed's face quickly turned red. "Before we begin," Freed sighed, "would you ladies mind covering up a little?"

"Come on man! It's better this way! Whassa problem?" Bickslow commented. 

"Bouncy bouncy!" His babies said. Now that just insulted us a lot more. 

"A little shy, are we?" Cana grinned before throwing some cards into the air, suddenly spawning women in bikinis, trying to get a hold of Freed, who looked like all his blood just went to his face, and maybe down there. 

"Not gonna work on me." Bickslow boasted and got into position.

Cana gave me a knowing look and I immediately summoned Virgo, who proved to be not of use after being hit by all of Bickslow's babies. 

And after that, the babies suddenly started aiming at our way, which was quite difficult to avoid. I quickly summoned Aries who used her wool magic on Bickslow and his babies, which  immobilized them.

While Aries was repeatedly apologizing, I finished Bickslow off with a Lucy kick which sent him flying.

"Woah." I looked down at my feet and smiled. "That felt good, and stronger." I felt so much energy but it disappeared when Aries appeared beside me telling me that she wanted to go home. 

But suddenly Cana's bikini women spawn disappeared and gave Freed an advantage. Cana's every attack was useless because Freed would just slice through them. Until Cana summoned a violent water-thingy that could possibly 'kill.' I used that to summon Aquarius, who was of no use and started fighting with Cana. 

"I'm going to use the bikini girl trick again." Cana stated. I was quite skeptical that it would work on him again, because Freed's Freed. But it surprised me when he reacted the same way. The bikini girls formed a cage around him, which gave us some time.

"Y'know, to finish this round, we need to defeat him." I said uneasily.  We saw a rock that intercepted with the barrier of bikini women, and placed a few cards there. And right on time, Freed sliced up the rock and stepped inside the magic circle.

"Summon lightning!" Cana chanted. Freed cursed to himself before getting shocked by lightning and passing out.

Cana and I celebrated for a moment before heading out. Leaving the two back in the cave.

---

FREED'S P.O.V.

We lay there staring at the glittery stalactites in silence, but Bickslow quickly broke it.

"You sure that's for the best? You lost S-Class."

"I'm sure." I replied.

"We put on a good show but yours was the best. You were so dead set on following Laxus, so what's up?"

"I'd like to, but being in Fairy Tail is all that matters."

"I guess they're pretty lucky after all."

---

Meanwhile in Route E...

"HEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY ERZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Natsu! You've got to remember that Erza might not be on this route!" Happy complained.

"But I chose E for Erza! I'm going to be an S-Class wizard!" Natsu complained.  

While the salmon headed dragon slayer was ranting, there were green glowing orbs moving around, only to shine on the face of a person.

"Hey, d'ya see that?" Natsu inquired.

"Looks like a person. Is it Erza?"

But unfortunately, it was the face of an orange haired man called...

"Gildarts!?" Natsu and Happy were more than shocked. In fact, Happy was practically accepting his death. 

"Sorry, dead end. No holding back in here." Gildarts taunted, walking closer to the pair. But suddenly, Natsu lit up his flames, which surprised him.

Natsu then lunges at Gildarts but was blown away, leaving a crater in the ground.

"I told you, I'm not that kind of person who holds back." Gildarts deadpanned.

Blow after blow, Gildarts would always have a way to protect himself from Natsu.

That is, until Gildarts turned Natsu into a million mini Natsus which managed to piss Gildarts off and make Natsu normal again. 

But then Gildarts had seemed to get more serious, releasing energy that can be felt in the whole island. It seemed like an hour of torment for Natsu, but it only lasted for a few minutes. Now, he was kneeling on the ground crying, completely overwhelmed by the power.

"Natsu," Gildarts smiled, "There's nothing wrong with feeling fear. After all, how else can we come to know our weaknesses. You need to know them, in order to become a more stronger and gentler person." Gildarts paused for a while, only the sobs of Natsu was being heard.

"A necessity for those who want to be S-Class. You passed, kid. This is just the beginning."

Natsu's sobs quickly turned into wails as he realized that the point of this round was not only to fight and win, but to become a better person to be ready to become a S-Class wizard for people to look up to. 

Meanwhile, when Wendy was fighting pickled plums and Elfman was facing his sister's wrath, Natsu, Lucy, Cana, Levy, and Gajeel were already at the end point, waiting for the other winners. They waited for a few moments before Gray and Loke joined them. 

"Wow, are we the only ones who were able to clear the first round?" Gray asked, looking around.

"Hmm, where's Natsu?" Loke added.

Happy quickly pointed at Natsu sitting on a rock, thinking of something deeply. "He's over there!"

Master then suddenly appeared and announced that all the winners were here now, and informed us about who fought who. 

"Don't count us out yet!" Someone exclaimed. Everyone's head turned to the direction of the sound, and saw Elfman and Evergreen.

"Didn't think I would be able to beat my big sis did ya?" Elfman bragged. 

Happy asked about how they got to defeat Mira, which silenced the two for a bit. Not like they announced they were getting married which stunned Mirajane for a while and ambushed her. 

"Alright, well, the second round starts now! All you have to do is find the first master's grave. I'll be waiting!" Master then walked away.

"No time to lose," Cana said and dragged me away. "Let's go!" 

Everyone split paths once again.