Outsiders (Fairy Tail - Gruvia, Gale)

5. Iron

The rest of the morning went by quickly with two battles. One between Arāna of Mermaid Heel and Toby of Lamia Scale, which gave Mermaid Heel 10 points, and then an explosive battle between Blue Pegasus's Ren and Erza Scarlet from Fairy Tail, leaving Fairy Tail with another 10 points.

Everyone was intrigued about the next fight, which would see the young, much loved and popular Sabertooth fight against Phantom Lord. 

The large, powerful Lamia Scale member, Jura, as well as most of the audience, looked at the guild, who were half hidden in the shadows.

He too, like Aria, was a member of the ten wizard saints. In fact, he ranked fifth, while Aria stood at seventh. As for the other members of the guild, he had no idea about any of them. None of them had ever crossed his path before.

He sensed a dragon slayer, and he knew that Makorov did too. The intimidating man in black with iron studs covering his body stood leaning against the wall talking to a girl with blue hair and sad eyes. Both of them had very powerful S-Class magic at their disposal. Something about her didn't  sit right with him either, but he knew things would become clearer once they fight on the stadium.

Gajeel was asked to go down to the doors leading to the stadium by a representative of the games. 

"Good luck," Juvia said as he passed her to leave.

"I don't need it,"he muttered.

Juvia frowned, then stayed in the same place, in the shade of the stand, close enough to see the stadium floor and not close enough for everyone to see her. Totomaru walked over to her and they started talking amongst each other while Sol anxiously thought about the memory he had seen between Gray Fullbuster and Juvia.

The announcement came quickly afterwards, cutting across his train of thought. "The audience have chosen Gajeel of Phantom Lord to battle against Rougue Cheney of Sabertooth!"

The audience muttered amongst themselves, because nobody knew what Gajeel's magic was. The two men appeared from two sides of the stadium and walked up to eachother. 

Rogue watched Gajeel carefully. There was complete silence in the stadium as they stood opposite each other, each one looking the other up and down.

Rogue broke the silence. "What an impressive guild you have. A member of the Ten Wizard Saints and the Element Four. And I have the honour of fighting a fellow Dragon Slayer too."

"Shut up," Gajeel muttered, striking the first blow with an iron fist, sending Rogue falling backwards. "Fake Dragon Slayer," he muttered. 

Rogue got back up. "Shadow Dragon roar," he called, but Gajeel's "Iron Dragon Sword" swiped most of it away, even though Gajeel did stumble slightly. 

They carried on throwing spells at eachother. 

"I know who you are, Gajeel Redfox. You're much more powerful than that," Rogue taunted him. "Or is everything I've heard about you a lie? Phantom Lord is elite, or am I wrong?"

"Shut up." Gajeel swung at him with an iron arm, but he ducked it by turning into a shadow and appearing behind him. 

In the Phantom Lord balcony, Aria frowned. "Why is he taunting the poor boy? He's barely raising a finger."

"Let him do it," Sol said. "We don't want to reveal all of our tricks just yet."

Totomaru and Juvia were stood together by the wall so they could speak to Tiger and watch the match. "What do you think will happen?" Totomaru asked. 

"They're both powerful," she said. "I think Gajeel has it, but..."

She stopped talking as Tiger yelled out a "look out!" as Rogue muttered a spell and Gajeel was pushed back, but probably not as far as Rogue had hoped for. Gajeel turned back around and punched him. 

"Shadow Dragon Roar," Rogue said again, and Gajeel was flung across the stadium. The whole audience were leaning forward in suspense. 

"Iron Dragon Roar!" was sent back, and due to Gajeel's stronger physique and age, the impact was much bigger that Rogue's.

They carried on back and forth for a while, until, as Gajeel was about to fling a powerful hit his way, the timer went off and he stopped. They stared at eachother for a second, before Gajeel walked away. 

"Lucky escape," he muttered, walking away. 

"Answer me one question," Rogue called after him. He stopped, but didn't turn around. "Why did you hold back? I know how powerful you are." 

Gajeel didn't move. "I wasn't going to kill you just yet," he said, then walked away into the darkness of the exit. 

He turned up in the balcony and Aria nodded at him in respect. Totomaru and Juvia congratulated him. "Good move, too, not going too strong," Totomaru added.

"Yeah, whatever," Gajeel muttered. "I could have beaten him."

"That doesn't matter. There's time for that still," Juvia said angrily, ready to leave and go back to their hotel. 

The commentator tapped on his microphone, ready to read out the results of Day 1. 

"And the scores at the end of day 1 are:

Fairy Tail - 13

Mermaid Heel - 12

Sabertooth - 11

Phantom Lord - 10

Lamia Scale - 4

Blue Pegasus - 1"

"We're right there with everyone else," Totomaru said. 

"Let's go," Juvia said. "Come on," she leaned down and Tiger jumped onto her back like he likes to do, and they all left to go back to their hotel and be alone again. 

On the other, happier side of the stadium, in Fairy Tail's balcony, there was one mage standing in the back, clearly distressed. 

"Hey, man, what's wrong? You did great today, don't worry about it. We've still got time..." Natsu told Gray.

"Why are they here? They've never competed in this before," Gray muttered, looking over at Phantom Lord. 

Natsu sighed. "I don't know either. I don't get why they're here either, I basically forgot that guild existed their so antisocial and elite. I still can't believe they're not a dark guild."

"They're not part of any guild alliances, which is unusual for legal guilds," Ezra started, as she turned around, knowing what the conversation was about. "But there's something else I'm confused about. Where's their master?"

"I don't know. Everything about that guild is wrong. I wish I knew what they were after."

Ezra sighed. "Let's not worry about that now. Come on," she said, looping her arm in Lucy's and leaving. 

Next to them in Sabertooth's balcony, Rogue returned to his teammates. 

"How was it?" Sting asked, who was just as curious about the new Dragon Slayer as Rogue was.

"He has an insane amount of power, that man."

"You did so well to get a draw then!" Yukino smiled, walking over and taking Sting's hand and leaning on his shoulder. 

Froche jumped up and down in excitement too. But Rogue frowned, and looked at Sting, who also frowned. 

"I don't know. I felt like he was holding back... That guild is strange..."

"I think everyone is thinking the same thing," Rufus smirked, as the whole stadium watched Phantom Lord leave the stadium.