"The Great Magic Games?! We get 2nd place every year! It's ridiculous! Absolutely preposterous!" Lamia Scale's Master, Ooba, said. As she shouted, she spun around. "You all thought this was the same old festival it's always been, right?! But we're not gonna let that happen this year!"

Man, she's noisy." said a member.

"She's off on another one of her speeches again." said another.

Finally, Ooba stopped spinning. However, she pointed at two members and spun the said hand. "Leon! Jura! You guys are gonna help out this time, too!"

"Ah, well...if she tells us so, we can't refuse..." Leon said.

"Having a festival once in a while isn't such a bad thing." Jura said. However, this riled up all the other members.

"So...Jura is going to enter this time..." said Master Bob.

"T-that's gonna make for some nasty perfume." Ichiya said.

"And right when we thought we had a chance at winning this year." Bob sighed. "I guess we oughta release some of our own into the fray..."

"Seriously?" Sting asked Lector and Frosch. "So, is Natsu and Sora going to enter the Great Magic Games?"

"Yeah...That rumor's been floating around Magnolia." Lector said.

"I heard it, too!" Frosch said.

"I'm starting to look forward to this..." He looked towards Rogue. "And you...Rogue?"

"Not interested."

"So you wouldn't be interested in me stealing Sora? I know you like her, too. It's just a matter of time before I steal her away." Rogue didn't answer.

Mage Guild: Raven Tail

"We've been waiting 7 long years...That Makarov..." Master Ivan said. "So...the time to pass judgement upon those Fairies and paint them black...has come." He smiled wickedly. "I can't wait for this Great Magic Games."

Meanwhile~~~~

With the Fairy Tail gang, Levy, Erza, Sora, Natsu, Gray, Lucy, Wendy, and Juvia had emotionless faces. They all sat down on the ground.

"How did we wind up in this mess..." Erza said.

"Our precious training time..." Natsu and Sora said.

"3 months...just like that..." Gray said.

"What are we gonna do...?" Lucy said.

Virgo spoke up. "Princess...I have a suggestion...please, give me an even harsher punishment..." She was tied against a tree with 3 enormous blocks of cement resting on her legs.

"Just go home..."

"The Great Magic Games is in just 5 days!" Droy said as he ate a watermelon.

"We haven't increased our magic power at all!" Jet said.

Levy sighed. "I guess we have no choice but to let other people compete this time..." Juvia sighed too.

"Once again, the gap in power to Lily has grown..." Happy had tears forming in his eyes.

"Eh?!" Wendy put her hand towards her mouth.

"You care about that?" Carla was dumbfounded.

"I can't take it anymore!" Sora stood up, standing in front of them. "Who cares if we have 5 more days left? Let's use that time to train instead of mopin' around! Least in that amount of time we can get a few more things in!"

Erza stood up. "Sora's right! We can still make it if we start now! We're gonna have a 5-day crash training from Hell! Every one of you better get ready! There won't even be time to sleep!" Lucy yelled. However, a pigeon flew on top of her head. "Hmm?"

"A pigeon?"

"There's something tied to its leg..."

"It's a message."

"What's it say?"

Sora took it into her hands, and opened it. " 'To Fairy Tail...come to the suspension bridge deep in the west woods'." Turning it, she tried finding more writing. "That's all it says."

Time skip~~~~~

As they went towards the bridge, Natsu looked around, prepared to fight. "Nobody's here...What the heck?"

"Why are you getting ready to fight?" Wendy asked.

"In case it's a trap." Sora said.

"Was it a prank...?" Gray had his hands in his trunk's pockets.

"I told you we shouldn't have come..." Lucy said.

"Doesn't hurt to check it out." Sora shrugged.

Finally, they came across the broken bridge. Before they could react, the bridge started fixing itself.

"This is..." Gray started.

"The bridge!" Levy finished.

"It's fixed?!"

"It's connected to the cliff on the other side!"

"This must be our invitation." Erza said.

"This might be a trap, after all..." Levy said.

"I'm getting scared..." Wendy held Carla close to her chest.

"I don't know who it could be, but let's go for it!" Natsu yelled.

"I have a feeling we know who it could be..." Sora sweat dropped.

After crossing the bridge, they walked deeper into the jungle. However, they saw three cloaked figures. Stopping at a distance, they prepared themselves.

"Someone's here!" Lucy said.

"Be on your guard!" Juvia said.

"That's saying the obvious." Sora crossed her arms over her chest.

However, the three figures let their hoods down.

"Thank you for coming...Fairy Tail..." Jellal said.

"Jellal..." Erza said what was on everyone's mind since they were too shocked to say anything.

Jellal smiled. "You haven't changed a bit, Erza...So, I'm sure you've all heard about my jailbreak by now?"

"Yeah..." She thought back to what Alzack and Bisca had to tell her.

"Though, to be honest...it's not what I had planned." He looked away.

"Meredy and I broke him out." Ultear said.

Meredy turned to her. "I didn't do anything. You did it all by yourself, mostly, Ultear."

"Meredy..." Juvia could only muster that.

Meredy waved to her, tilting her head, and smiled brightly with her eyes closed. "Juvia! It's been a while!"

Juvia smiled. 'So, she's able to have such a wonderful smile now...'

"Jellal escaped?" Lucy asked.

"These guys are Grimoire..." Natsu said.

Gray put his arm out. "Wait...that makes them our enemies..." He looked towards Ultear. "Isn't that right?"

"Isn't that being a bit too rash...?" Sora said.

"Yes." Ultear looked at Gray. "The sins I've committed throughout my life are many...Even if I spent my entire life atoning, it wouldn't be enough...So...I want to at least save as many people as I can, that I encounter throughout my life. For example, Jellal."

"It's fine. You and I both wrestle with the darkness...This is an old story."

Sora crossed her arms over her chest. "So? At least you're tryin' to do some good. I think if you live, you'll repay all your 'sins'." She kept a frown upon her face.

"Yes...but...what we did will never be erased..." Ultear said as Jellal and Meredy looked down ashamed of themselves.

"Yeah, but, dying is the easy way out. You living will prove that you can atone your sins." After saying this, silence ensued.

"Jellal...how's your memory...?" Erza started sweating.

Jellal looked down and looked away from her eyes. "It's all there. Every last detail." Erza's eyes dilated. "6 years ago...when I was still in prison, my memory came back. Erza...I don't know what I'm supposed to say..."

Ultear stepped forward. "I was responsible for what happened to you on that paradise island...Jellal was controlling me, though...So please, don't blame me too much."

"I thought I was going to die in prison...The death penalty...that's what I received. Up until Ultear broke me out, that is..."

Wendy looked up to Jellal. "So, does that mean you've found some reason to live now?"

"Wendy...I should tell you...the Jellal that you know and me...aren't the same people."

"Ah...yes! I've already figured that out."

"A reason to live...it's not something so wonderful as that..." He looked away. "We created a Guild. It's not a legitimate Guild, nor is it a Dark Guild...we are an independent Guild...Crime Sorciere."

"An independent Guild?" Levy asked.

"What does that mean?" Happy asked.

"So, they're not part of the federation?" Carla crossed her arms over her chest.

"I've heard of Crime Sorciere..." Droy said.

"They've destroyed many, many Dark Guilds over the years." Jet explained.

"I have but one reason..." Ultear started.

"Our Guild is here to drive away all of the evil brought into this world by Dark Guilds and Zeref...so that never again will Dark Mages like us be born..."

"Whooah!" Natsu said.

"That sounds amazing!" Lucy smiled.

"But then why don't you become an official Guild through the Council?" Gray asked.

"Because I'm a fugitive..." Jellal said.

"And because we're former Grimoire Heart members." Meredy sweat dropped as she laughed nervously. "Besides, official Guilds are prohibited from going after Dark Guilds."

"Our Guild is fine the way it is."

"So, why did you summon us here?" Sora asked.

Ultear reached her hand out towards the sky. "Well...the reason we summoned you here was not just to introduce ourselves...we've heard that you're entering the Great Magic Games."

"Y-yeah..."

Ultear put her hand back by her side. "We can't come near the event grounds...so it would appear we have a favor to ask of you."

Sora and Natsu looked at each other. "Do you want us to sign one of you up?" Natsu asked.

"We could do that for you." Sora said.

"Every year, during the event...I've felt a strange magical force...I want to identify the source of that magic."

"What the heck?" Natsu furrowed his brows.

"Fiore Guilds are going to be there, correct? There's surely gonna be one or two suspicious magical forces..." Lucy said.

"I thought that at first as well...but this magic had an evil presence to it, like Zeref's. Perhaps the presence is coming from us, since we've been so close to Zeref." Jellal said.

"Zeref..." Sora mustered out. She started remembering the day Natsu's scarf turned black.

Ultear looked away. "We want to know the true source of this magical force."

"From that, we might be able to track down where Zeref is." Jellal explained.

Meredy smiled, bending down, slightly. "Of course, winning or losing is a different story; we're going to be cheering on Fairy Tail from the shadows. But meanwhile, please search for the mysterious magic."

"Of course."

"It sounds like you're on a wild goose chase, but we'll help you out."

"We appreciate it." Ultear smiled.

"You sure, Erza?" Gray looked at her.

"I feel uneasy about a mysterious magical force in a gathering of Fiore Guilds."

"We'll give you your compensation upfront." Ultear said.

"Food money!?" Natsu and Sora asked.

"Rent money?!" Lucy asked.

"Err...I didn't mean money..." Smiling, she pulled out her crystal ball and held it in her hand. "With my new improved Time Arc...I can raise the level of your ability."

"Eh?"

"A power up...I guess it's fine to think of it that way, but it's a bit different. Every Mage has something like a container inside them that determines the limits of their magical power. in the case that the container becomes emptied, the Ethernano comes from the atmosphere and enter the body...After a while, the container is returned to normal.

"But...recent studies have identified a part of that container inside each Mage that isn't normally used. A dormant potential power inside of everyone...Second Origin.

"My Time Arc can evolve your containers so that they're capable of using Second Origin. In other words, it will give a giant boost to your magical power, even more than any of the training you've done until now." As they celebrated, Natsu said he didn't understand, making Sora face palm. However, Ultear smiled wickedly. "But...you're going to have to endure pain greater than your wildest imagination." Wendy and Levy started trembling.

However, Natsu ran towards her and hugged her. "I don't care! Thank you! Thank you! How can I thank you?! You're starting to look like a real woman!"

"Natsu, she is a woman.../I am a woman..." Sora sweat dropped while Ultear merely smiled.

"Can you let go...?" Jellal said.

As Jellal watched everyone celebrate, smiling at this scene, Erza looked towards him, frowning.