"The Grand Magic Games are held once a year." "Natsu and the rest of the Tenrou group began a three-month-long training camp." "And so... Natsu and the others returned to the guild." "We're here!" "Why are all of you so exhausted?" "!" "Get a hold of yourselves!" "That's what a Man is!" "the Blooming Capital!" "Elfman!" "You sure bulked up!" "Mira-nee and I secluded ourselves in the mountains and trained there." "Muscles are a Man's romantic adventure!" "my former most-hated food!" "I conquered my fear of heights!" "I don't think that'll really come in handy..." "Our firing accuracy has got even better." "Yep." "I finished reading a 30-volume horror novel series." "Just reading?" "!" "you need to work on keeping that stomach in!" "My Sandstorm has become more powerful yet." "I'll beat even Natsu!" "What?" "!" "everyone!" "Gramps!" "It looks like you've all done your best to prepare for the Grand Magic Games." "That's not precisely the case... gather inside the guild." "Alright..." "I'm going to announce the five members who will participate in the Grand Magic Games as our representatives." "Natsu!" "Yeah!" "Gray!" "Naturally." "Erza!" "Leave it to me." "of course those three would be chosen." "Two left." "Being chosen like that is a Man!" "Juvia is going to be separated from Gray..." "No!" "The remaining two are Lucy and Wendy!" "Dang!" "So this is how it shakes out..." "Juvia and Gray-sama will be apart..." "It's unthinkable!" "I can't do this!" "You could choose Laxus or Gajeel instead!" "they haven't come back yet!" "Master based his decision on teamwork more than individual power." "let's do our utmost." "Yeah." "You're right." "Yes!" "I have to do my best! I thought..." "But you're sayin' it!" "Everyone!" "These Grand Magic Games are the perfect chance for Fairy Tail to regain its reputation! and Fairy Tail will become the number one guild in Fiore!" "I'm fired up!" "And so... the blooming capital of the kingdom of Fiore." "is held here." "The city teems with wizards and spectators from all over Fiore." "Mercurius." "is in the western mountains." "And... in the middle of the city..." "We still don't feel well...?" "!" "Did it really work?" "!" "The magic to unleash Second Origin... even though I still have a little pain in the joints." "Yeesh." "You people are pathetic." "Erza?" "!" "I bet she had her Second Origin all along." "I buy that." "I've never been to a city this huge before." "Me neither!" "It's bigger than Edolas's castle town." "So you finally made it..." "Master!" "I took care of all the entry paperwork." "You better show me the power of Fairy Tail!" "he says!" "Those chumps?" "!" "The perennial last place losers?" "!" "Who just laughed?" "!" "Stifle it." "too!" "And Sabertooth is sure to win it." "let 'em." "Then I won't hold back..." "Don't look at us and laugh!" "Listen!" "I've got 30 million jewel... do your best to aim for the number one guild in Fiore!" "who saved our lives! I have no idea what it is!" "right?" "The competition changes every year." "Pick me up!" "they had a shooting contest... they had a race..." "The team with the greatest cumulative points over a number of events is the winner... but it seems there's no consistency with the events." "then we'll just play it by ear." "though!" "we sense a strange magical force." "A mysterious force... and mysterious contests..." "Erza!" "Read the official rulebook by tomorrow." "Read this...?" "Leave it to me!" "I've got Windreading Glasses!" "Levy-chan! I'd say there are three important things." "The first is that a guild master can't participate." "that makes sense." "Anyone who doesn't have the guild emblem is counted as a spectator and may not participate." "too." "the rules for each event won't be revealed until right before the event starts." "Not much info of use there." "There is a warning at the end." "It says that all the participants have to be back at their designated inn by midnight." "Midnight?" "When?" "right?" "Back by midnight... the princess with the glass slippers." "How can Gray-sama be saying romantic things when Juvia isn't around?" "!" "my prince!" "we still got plenty of time!" "It's not every day you get a chance to visit a town this big!" "Let's go exploring!" "sir!" "Let's go!" "Hey!" "Do you even know the inn we're staying at?" "!" "right?" "!" "Just make sure you're back by midnight!" "Got it?" "!" "Aye!" "Midnight... at the designated inn..." "Honeybone." "six beds have been prepared..." "So we're all supposed to sleep in the same room?" "but still..." "Gray-sama!" "Juvia!" "What are you doing here?" "!" "It's not only Juvia!" "Everyone in the guild came to cheer you on." "Jeez." "Those guys have too much free time..." "Um..." "Would you like to have dinner together?" "I am hungry." "I know a good restaurant in town." "Lyon!" "It's combined with the aquarium." "A really fashionable restaurant." "Huh?" "Wait..." "What is this?" "Hey!" "Don't just walk off with one of my members!" "Gray." "though." "I hear you guys come in second every year." "And you guys are in last place every year. but that was without Jura-san or me participating." "don't you?" "Are you forgetting?" "We got this monster named Erza on our side!" "Let's make a wager." "Juvia will join our guild!" "What the hell is that?" "!" "And if we win...?" "I'll return Juvia to your guild." "She's ours to begin with!" "Gray." "Gimme a break!" "That's no kind of bet!" "Are you afraid of losing?" "What's that?" "!" "Gray-sama!" "Do you want Juvia?" "!" "Or Lyon-sama?" "!" "Please make up your mind!" "are you?" "You're always right." "That's not true." "I live my life to the fullest." "That's all..." "Erza..." "Men!" "You have the same beguiling parfum as always." "How dare you enter someone's room uninvited?" "!" "Men!" "You're beautiful when you're angry." "though." "Have a hot washcloth." "That goes the same for you!" "Forever Trimens!" "look at that!" "Wow!" "Mercurius." "I wonder what the king is like..." "I wonder if he has a mustache..." "I bet he does." "They've got flowers everywhere in this town." "No wonder it's called the "blooming capital"." "A fight!" "You can't have a festival without a fight!" "Where is it?" "!" "This is what I'd expect with all the guilds of Fiore gathering here." "wait!" "This smell..." "What's wrong?" "It smells similar to a dragon..." "Don't tell me..." "Move it!" "Move it!" "Move it!" "Anybody else?" "oh yeah!" "too." "What the...?" "!" "You!" "Natsu Dragneel!" "Cats?" "!" "What's up with this stupid-looking cat?" "Stupid!" "They talk!" "Do I have to say something here...?" "Who the hell are you guys?" "Sting and Rogue?" "!" "They're the cornerstone of Fiore's strongest guild!" "Then these two are... huh?" "Rumor has it you're gonna be in the Grand Magic Games." "Is that true?" "You know about me?" "Acnologia... right?" "Are you sure you should keep calling yourself a Dragon Slayer?" "I used to look up to you." "this guy was into Gajeel-san." "I was just interested as a fellow Dragon Slayer." "Dragon Slayer?" "!" "Both of you?" "!" "Maybe you oughta call us true Dragon Slayers..." "We would've beaten Acnologia." "That's easy for you two to say when you've never even laid eyes on Acnologia!" "That's right!" "cat." "right?" "It doesn't matter if we've seen it or not." "The point here is the difference in our aptitude as Dragon Slayers." "I'll explain." "Natsu-kun and the rest learned Dragon Slaying Magic from dragons." "They're the so-called First Generation." "Your Laxus-kun and Oracion Seis's Cobra-kun are known as the Second Generation." "They can use Dragon Slaying Magic through a Dragon Lacrima embedded in their body. but also have a Dragon Lacrima implanted in their body... the hybrid Third Generation!" "Third Generation?" "!" "they're the strongest Dragon Slayers!" "you say?" "There's a world of difference in ability between the First Generation and Third Generation." "It's not even worth talking about." "too?" "!" "in a manner of speaking..." "I'll give it to you straight." "The dragons who taught us Dragon Slayer Magic so we could become true Dragon Slayers..." "You killed dragons?" "!" "Humans killed dragons...?" "You murdered your own parents?" "!" "They're late..." "You guys..." "Where the hell were you all this time?" "!" "I had dinner that was no fun at all..." "We got into a weird tangle with some people... or maybe we started it... I'll show you the power that can slay a real dragon!" "Let's go." "I'm not interested in the older generation." "Both the outdated Dragon Slayer and his cat companion are lame-o's!" "too!" "I'm not gonna let 'em get away with it!" "Wendy's not back yet?" "Come to think of it..." "She's late... so I doubt she's lost..." "It's almost midnight..." "That little girl is out this late..." "Staying out late..." "Bad company..." "Juvenile delinquency!" "This town is mine!" "What should we do?" "!" "Do all fiction writers have this kind of imagination?" "Hey!" "We brought treats!" "Tomorrow's the big day!" "Elfman!" "Lisanna!" "too?" "!" "Yeah. but giving up is also a Man!" "Good timing." "Can I ask you a favor?" "What is it?" "Wendy hasn't come back to the inn yet." "And we're apparently not supposed to do anything until after midnight." "Is something going to happen at midnight?" "but there's a rule that says we have to be here by midnight." "I notice it is midnight now..." "What's gonna happen?" "!" "Everyone in the guilds who have gathered together for the Grand Magic Games..." "Good morning!" "Outside?" "!" "What the hell is that?" "!" "It's huge!" "A three-dimensional image!" "A pumpkin!" "we're going to take the 113 participating teams and have an elimination round to pare them down to eight!" "Elimination round?" "!" "We didn't hear about this!" "Was there an elimination round last time?" "No." "What does this mean?" "So midnight is the time the elimination round starts?" "And it'll suddenly narrow down 113 guilds to eight?" "113..." "Huh?" "That's more than the number of guilds in Fiore..." "They couldn't have notified everyone beforehand about an elimination round?" "Peculiar behavior..." "Too many guilds..." "Mysterious magic power..." "Is the sponsor the one we should be suspicious of?" "the number of participating guilds increases and it was pointed out that the events were getting stale." "there will be only eight teams competing in the official games." "The elimination rules are simple!" "What the...?" "!" "What is this?" "!" "The inn is transforming!" "Look!" "It's the same with the other inns!" "Transforming is a Man's romantic fantasy!" "All of you are going to race each other." "Domus Flau." "The first eight teams to arrive there will go on." "Paths!" "We have to take the path?" "You're free to use your magic." "There are no restrictions." "only the first eight teams to get to the goal will survive this round." "all five members must arrive together or it doesn't count!" "And one more thing!" "We take no responsibility for any lives lost in the labyrinth." "Labyrinth?" "!" "The Grand Magic Games elimination round!" "Sky Labyrinth... begin!" "man!" "What the hell is that?" "!" "A giant labyrinth in the sky?" "It looks like that's the venue for the elimination round." "I suck at mazes!" "the first eight teams to get to the goal will make it past this round." "So it's a competition!" "But I guess all five members of the team have to get to the goal together." "Crap!" "Wendy's not here!" "Next time:" "Sky Labyrinth!" "how about if I fill in for Wendy...?" "Elfman says he'll join the team!" "Figures..."