Training and the Duke

The sun began to rise across the continent of Fiore, the light was about to expand across the sky as explosions can be heard coming from Tyson's house.

Lucy had dropped down to all fours, sweat was dripping off her forehead as she desperately tried to catch her breath.

She had been training with Tyson ever since 5:30am, and it was currently 7:45, meaning she had endured his training regime for over two hours.

He was twenty feet to her right, lifting a massive barbell set with the same amount of weight he lifted back at the hotel in Hargeon.

He started her off by trying to lift 120 pounds, a good starting point for her training as he didn't want to overwhelm her in the beginning. Eventually after several tries, Lucy lifted it.

Tyson had her continue lifting the barbell for over a hour, whenever she was too exhausted he transferred magic into her body, this recharged her tired muscles and allowed her to continue.

Then, once that was over, Tyson instructed her to run for another hour with weights tied to her legs.

Now, he let her take a little break before they then moved onto the magic portion of the training regiment.

"That's totally insane! How do you manage to do that everyday?" Lucy asked, through her pants.

"Dragon Slayers have more stamina than regular humans and we can train in harsher conditions than them. This allows us to train our bodies and power levels to a higher degree than ordinary humans or other mages. Also, I've trained harder than this." Tyson said as he effortlessly lifted 200 pounds.

Lucy gave him a light glare but didn't say anything, she just wanted to end the burning sensation in her lungs right now.

After ten more minutes, Tyson then said, "That's the end of your break. Time to begin training your magic."

Lucy nodded and stiffly stood up.

Tyson then assumed a meditative pose and Lucy followed suit, meanwhile Happy did his own training.

He was currently in his base form and had large weights tied to his arms and legs while flying above the lake. This was meant to increase Happy's lifting strength in his base form, which was quite lacking in that area.

Tyson then said to Lucy, "Alright, what we are going to do is teach you how to channel your magic throughout your body and then learn to lower that to the lowest point imaginable and you will do that all day. The purpose of this is to acclimate your body to the Celestial Spirit magic, that way when you open a Gate or use a Celestial Spirit spell, the loss of stamina and magic will be nonexistent. The training style will also increase your magic container significantly with enough time, due to you constantly using your magic."

Lucy nodded and the brown-haired man said, "Now, pay very close attention to me and my magic. Watch how I channel it throughout my body and then try to replicate the process."

Lucy nodded once again and so, the Dragon Slayer closed his eyes and then began to channel his magic throughout his body, every vein, every cell in his body was now infused with magic, the currents of his magic moving throughout his body much like his blood was pumped throughout his body. The process was easy for him, he had done this technique countless times over the years, either training himself or to show to his pupils so they too might learn how to do this simple, yet incredibly useful technique as well.

Lucy watched in awe as his body began to glow softly, a slight, almost invisible orange glow was surrounding himself now. But the really exciting thing was his magic, it flowed through him like water did in a calm river. The magic flow was calm, steady and utterly at peace. There was not a hint of unease, not an ounce of instability, the magic was perfectly calm.

After watching him use the technique for a few minutes to make sure she had it memorized, she then closed her eyes and began to focus on her magic.

Her magic was the complete opposite of Tyson's, the difference between the two was significant.

Whereas his magic felt hot and excited, almost like a roaring campfire, Lucy's felt light and calm, like a night time star, still and uncaring of the actions of men.

Lucy focused on that feeling, stretching out her feelings to wrap that feeling in her hands and then slowly began to spread that feeling throughout her body.

She didn't know how long she stayed in that meditative position, but eventually she felt a soft touch on her right shoulder.

She opened her eyes to see her teacher's smiling face and said, "What?"

Tyson pointed towards her hands and when she looked down, she saw what he was pointing at.

She had a very soft, almost invisible golden glow to her body. The glow was softer than even Tyson's, if someone other than a person with magic tried to see it, they would most likely miss it.

He gave Lucy a proud look and said, "Good job Lucy. You're a natural with this. It took me a week to calm my mind down enough to get to this point and a majority of my other students took a day or two to get to this point, but you got to it in only four hours."

"What?" Lucy asked, surprised and when she turned towards the sky, the sun was now fully into the sky, signaling it was almost noon.

"We will stop for lunch and then we'll try to use the book I bought for you to expand your repertoire of spells. Right now your combat style depends on help from your spirits. That needs to change. Over the course of my training, you shall not only learn new spells and increase your magical abilities, you're going to learn how to fight barehanded and with a weapon, but that aspect will be handled by my girlfriend." Tyson said.

Lucy nodded and then asked, "Who is your girlfriend?"

He smiled and said, "Only the greatest person I met. I helped her become stronger physically and mentally, she gave me a reason to fight and someone to lean on when the weight of the world grew too great for me to handle. She is the strongest female member in our guild. She is the queen of the fairies. She is, Titania Erza Scarlet."

Lucy gasped and said in shock, "Erza Scarlet, as in the woman who fought Ur Milkowich and barely beat her? She who had fought 3 S-Class monsters at once and came out of that fight with only bruises and a few scratches, that Erza Scarlet?"

He nodded and Lucy then asked, "What is she like?"

"Erza is a kind and caring individual. She loves Strawberry Cheesecake and will unleash a unholy amount of pain and suffering to anyone who dares to harm her cheesecake. She is monstrously powerful, able to fight any one of the S-Class wizards in a one on one match. She had a rough childhood, but since then has overcome her inner demons and grown into an amazing person I am thankful to whatever deity who let such a wonderful person into my life." Tyson said with love and admiration in his voice.

"She sounds like a wonderful person." Lucy said.

"She is. She may seem a bit unusual what with her always wearing a suit of armor around herself, but that is just because she likes to feel prepared to brawl at any given moment. She sometimes wears regular street clothes, but she likes her Heart Kreuz armor which is her favorite outfit and she wears it a lot of the time." Tyson explained as the two walked over to the lake, where Happy was struggling to stay in the air now.

"You can stop now Happy." Tyson said to the blue Exceed.

Happy slowly flew down to the ground, where he collapsed in a heap after all that time lifting such a impressive amount of weight.

Tyson sent some magic into him, who instantly perked right back up and together the two took the weights off Happy's body and then the group of three went into Tyson and Happy's house, where lunch was quickly prepared.

While the group was eating their simple lunch, Lucy asked Tyson a question, "So how did you and Erza meet each other?"

Tyson stopped eating and then had a distant expression form on his face.

Lucy grew uncomfortable with the silence and said, "Sorry if that brought up bad memories."

"It's fine. Erza...went through some nasty stuff as a child. When she was ten, some Zeref cultists came to her village, Rosemary and burned the place to the ground, killed a bunch of people and then kidnapped her and several other children then took them to a place called the Tower of Heaven. After looking into it, I found out it's actually the R-System, a device created by Zeref which requires a sacrifice to..." Tyson struggled to find the right words to say.

"To do what?" Lucy asked, shocked.

"To...bring someone back to life." Tyson finally finished, the R-System's horrible secret finally exposed.

Lucy gasped and said in a scared voice, "It...could actually raise someone from the dead."

Tyson nodded and said, "But in order to pull that off, the R-System needs a extremely large amount of magic power and a human sacrifice. Based off the records, it was only activated once and someone was brought back, but the cost was too high. The person that was brought lost their mind because he had memories of what was beyond death and returning to this world was too much of a shock and eventually it was too much to handle. I never managed to figure out who was brought back, but they were very powerful before their death and afterwards they only became more powerful."

Lucy was stunned, the sheer amount of knowledge she was just told was a lot to take in. There was a way to bring someone back from the dead? But the cost...the cost was too high to use such a thing.

"So, the cultists took Erza to the Tower of Heaven to aid in it's construction?" Lucy asked after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence.

"Yeah. She and the other children kidnapped were taken to be slaves at the Tower of Heaven to complete it's construction. It was horrible. Barely getting any food or water, working from beyond sunrise to late at night, horrible work conditions, many did not make it out of that nightmarish place alive. After a year of living in those conditions, Erza and a group of slaves were planning to rebel against their masters, but then Erza heard something." Tyson said.

"What?" Lucy asked, completely entranced by this story.

"A voice in her head. It told her not to worry, help was coming, so she told the other slaves to hold off the rebellion for a few more days until the voice said it was time. Several days later, most of the cultists were taken out and slaves liberated as a pair of mysterious figures came out of nowhere. Eventually the slaves left the tower as the figures destroyed the tower and left the beaten Zeref cultists with the Rune Knights so they may be tried for their crimes. After that Erza, the mysterious figures, a boy with spiky brown hair and a elderly man by the name of Rob all went to Fairy Tail." Tyson said.

"Really? Who were the mysterious figures?" Lucy asked.

"I know who one of them was." Tyson said, smiling.

"Really? Who?" Lucy asked.

"Me. I was one of the mysterious figures. Mizu and I completely leveled the Tower of Heaven while also freeing Erza and the other slaves. Even now, I have no regrets about the things I did that day. Every one of those cultists is serving a life sentence in prison." Tyson said.

Lucy gasped, Tyson and Mizu destroyed the Tower of Heaven? Something bothered her though.

"Hey? If you and Mizu destroyed the Tower of Heaven, how did you communicate with Erza if you had never met before that day?" Lucy asked.

"Well, the thing about us Dragon Slayers is we sometimes form a telepathic bond with a random person. That person is destined to be very important in said Dragon Slayer's life, whether it is as a friend, an enemy or as a mate, that person is going to help shape that Dragon Slayer's future. There have been only three recorded times where that happened. There is no reason or purpose behind it, it just happens. The bond also increases the target's affection towards each other. Erza and I discussed it at length after a year following the bond forming and both of us decided we were far too young to get into anything serious, so we waited until 2 years ago to finally get into a serious relationship. Gotta be honest, Erza is the best thing that ever happened to me and us waiting to start a serious relationship was a good decision, but I have never been happier to have her as my girlfriend." Tyson said with a smile on his face.

Lucy nodded and then asked, "So is there a limit to the bond? Like distance or weather?"

"We have yet to encounter any limits. Even when one of us is unconscious, the other is able to feel and know where we are at any given time." Tyson explained.

"Ah, sounds like a very useful tool to have." Lucy stated as the three placed their plates in the sink.

"It is. There have been plenty of times Erza and I used the bond to find each other when we are in trouble." Tyson said.

The three then went back out onto the training arena.

Tyson turned towards Lucy and said, "Will you take out the book please."

Lucy nodded and then ran over to the table where she had left the book and brought it back to where Tyson and Happy were.

Tyson and Lucy then began to read the book and quickly found some simple spells Lucy could learn.

Celestial Spirit magic is a Holder type magic, the user must have Celestial Spirit keys in order to summon Celestial Spirits.

However, the author of the book Lucy had in her hands discovered a way to change that little fact, he had discovered a way to channel Celestial Spirit magic into it's purest form, allowing him to send blasts of pure Celestial Spirit energy out from his hands in a number of different ways. However several of the most powerful of these energy spells were lost as several sections of those pages were basically unreadable, the most basic pages were still legible.

The book gave very detailed instructions on how to channel and use this raw energy, even showing diagrams of how the energy was supposed to move and act as the spells were both charged up and used.

The spell Lucy was trying to learn was called Celestial Spirit Star Blast, a very simple spell that requires the user to concentrate Celestial Spirit magic in the palm of their hands and then send the blast outwards as a softball sized ball of energy. Over time the spell will become more powerful, eventually allowing the user to shoot out three blasts of energy from the same hand at once, causing moderate damage each time the blast hits, and due to the sheer number of blasts being shot out, the spell has the power to do serious damage in a short amount of time.

To begin, Lucy closed her eyes and focused on her magic that was flowing throughout her body.

She raised her left hand, opened it and showed her palm, spread out her fingers and pointed the palm of her hand towards a tree at the far side of the training arena.

She then began to slowly pour her magic into the palm of her hand, which manifested itself as a small ball of gold energy with bolts of yellow energy crackling off of itself.

Lucy slowly began to increase the size of the ball until it was as big as the palm of her hand and then sent a push towards the energy, sending it flying off of her palm and into the bark of the tree, causing a small explosion that left some scorch marks along the bark of the tree, but otherwise did nothing else.

Lucy sighed in disappointment, she had done her absolute best and all she did was leave some scorch marks, that was completely pathetic.

Tyson reached out and placed his left hand on her shoulder then said, "Good job Lucy. For the first time using a new spell, that was pretty good."

"But all I did was leave a few scorch marks." Lucy said.

"That was a brand new spell you just learned not that long ago. Believe me when I say, no one gets a spell down the first time they use it. It's taken me a dozen times to master new spells, just like everyone else. No one ever started out great. They all began horrible, but through hard work and determination, they become amazing. Here allow me to show you what I mean." Tyson said as he then took a few steps forwards.

He planted his feet into the ground, tightly clenched his fists, took in a deep breath and then with a thunderous voice, yelled out, "FIRE DRAGON ROAR!"

A massive jet of orange flames came rushing out of Tyson's mouth, the temperature of the surrounding area increased by fifty degrees, steam was now coming from every crevice as the massive jet of orange flames blew up nearly every tree in front of Tyson for nearly 300 meters.

Lucy was in awe of the power behind the attack that had just been shown to her when Tyson said, "That is the end result of over a decade of intense training, both courtesy of the mightiest Fire Dragon to ever walk the earth and my own training regiment. You have had a little training, but not a whole lot. Am I correct?"

Lucy nodded and Tyson continued, "So with such little training, you can summon a Zodiac spirit with little difficulty, quite a feat for a Celestial wizard. You are gonna go quite far Lucy, but only if you push yourself to the limit and not get discouraged every time something goes wrong."

Lucy thought about it for a few seconds and realized that Tyson was right, she could do this, but not if she didn't push on after things went wrong.

Lucy then closed her eyes once again and tried once more at a Celestial Spirit Star Blast, this time adding even more power to the star blast.

To her surprise, the ball formed faster and a lot easier than last time and so within 9 minutes and 50 seconds, she fired a slightly bigger and stronger blast that broke the bark of the tree a little bit.

Tyson smiled at her and said, "See what I mean? The more often you practice a combat spell, the faster and easier it is to use the spell. Using combat spells is like using a muscle, the more use you put it through, the better it gets. Now, continue to practice that spell until I tell you to stop." He instructed.

Lucy nodded and then went back to practicing it, doing the spell over and over until basically it became automatic for Lucy.

After two hours worth of practice, Lucy could make and fire a Celestial Spirit Star Blast in just over 5 minutes, reducing the time it took to create and fire the spell by half. An impressive feat for someone to accomplish after practicing the spell for only two hours, no matter how simple the spell is.

Lucy was panting really hard now, the constant stress of creating and firing those spells was incredible for someone who had as little training as Lucy did.

Tyson patted her on the back and said, "Good job Lucy. We'll stop for now and start all over again tomorrow. Then, after that, we will go on your very first job."

Lucy's face lit up and she said, "Really?!" excitedly.

Tyson smirked and said, "Yes. You are a official Fairy Tail mage now and you also have a apartment, so you need to go out on a job and you could also use the experience. We will do a rather easy one, B-Class or possibly A-Class if you're feeling up to doing it."

Lucy nodded and Tyson then said, "So, go rest up and get a good night's sleep. Come back to this spot tomorrow same time as today and we'll continue your training. Then, the day after that, we'll go on your very first job."

Lucy nodded and then said, "See you guys tomorrow!"

Lucy then started to walk back to her house, her large book underneath her left arm.

Tyson then turned to Happy and said, "So, what is your analysis of Lucy Happy?"

Happy was silent for a few seconds before he said, "She is extremely weak, has pitiful amounts of magic, has no combat style whatsoever, is slightly naive, has a weak amount of determination and overall is a very weak wizard."

Tyson nodded towards his furry companion, that was his conclusion of Lucy as well.

"But." Happy continued with Tyson listening in.

"She showed an extreme ability to learn, able to learn and master the basics of your magic mapping technique and also a new combat within only a day, and was able to lift 120 lbs for a short while. She may be extremely weak right now, but she showed a frighteningly high ability to improve herself. Given time and the proper motivation, she may become a S-Class wizard. Possibly within a year's time if we truly push her to the absolute limit." Happy concluded.

Tyson nodded and said, "I agree. I saw within Lucy that spark, the same one I saw within Cana, Gray, Lisanna, Elfman, Minerva, Yukino, Mira, and of course, Erza. They all have this...thing within them that allows them to grow to absolutely phenomenally high levels of power very easily. However, if she ever reaches her full potential that is all up to her. She could do a thousand push ups and not grow at all. She has to have the will and the confidence to push forward. I think I should try a gentler approach with Lucy then I did with you and the others."

Happy nodded his head and then Tyson said, "Let's get some more training in ourselves and then call it a night."

Happy nodded and the two of them began to train in 40 times earth's gravity, pushing their bodies to the absolute limit before they turned in for the night.

The next day...

Lucy was back training now, her muscles screaming out in pain as she lifted the 120 lbs of weight up for the two hundredth time that morning.

Several feet away Tyson was using his infamous barbell set at 200 lbs of weight, while Happy was in his Battle Form and was doing one armed push ups with a massive boulder on his back.

Lucy had thought long and hard about what Tyson had told her and had also thought about the mage's life in general.

A mage's life is not all candy canes and butterflies, there is danger at literally every turn, they place themselves in danger literally every second of every day they practice magic. If she is to not only survive on her chosen career path, but also make her mother proud, she must take her training seriously and diligently.

So, Lucy made a vow last night: to become a S-Class wizard in two years time, train every single day and to become powerful enough to make her mother proud.

From now on, there was no quitting, no complaining, no half measures.

From now on, she would give 110% to her training.

Since she had come an hour ago to train with Tyson and Happy, she hadn't complained once, not given any sign of calling it quits, only raw determination was burning in her eyes.

Tyson had noticed the change in her and knew that her newfound resolve wouldn't last.

A single day and a lecture managed to change Lucy into a diligent wizard? No way.

Not that she wouldn't ever find that level of determination, but Lucy needed a real reason to fight, a real reason for becoming stronger.

For Tyson it was becoming strong enough to kill Acnologia, which he had never seen or heard about since Igneel told him about it in that letter seven years ago and the other reason is to keep all his friends safe from those wish them harm.

Happy's reasons for fighting and growing stronger were the same as Tyson's, to protect everyone he loves and to keep them safe from harm.

Most of the mages in Fairy Tail had the exact same reason for fighting and growing stronger, they all want to keep each other safe from harm.

Lucy's reason for fighting and becoming stronger wasn't exactly a bad one, but whether or not she truly believed in that reason, whether or not she was willing to suffer for that reason was yet to be seen.

Tyson turned to Lucy and said, "Drop the weights, time to begin running."

Lucy nodded and put the weights down, meanwhile Tyson had gotten out both his and Lucy's leg weights that they would be using while running.

Tyson put his on, while Lucy put hers on and after the weights were on, the two began to run at a slow pace, while Happy had gotten the boulder off him and had taken out his trident then began to practice the training drills Erza had given him to train up his weapon skills.

While running, Tyson and Lucy began discussing how Yukino and Minerva joined the guild.

"So, how did Minerva and Yukino join the guild?" Lucy asked.

Tyson thought about the events that led to him meeting both girls.

Flashback...

Tyson was walking through the forest and swearing.

Somehow, even with his incredible senses, he was hopelessly lost.

He moved through the undergrowth and then heard what sounded like something crying.

Tyson began to look for the person who was crying.

After a few minutes, he came across the source. It was a teenage girl around his age, wearing a lite blue dress, the back of her hair up in two buns, tears going down her face.

Tyson calmly approached her, as she backed away from him out of fear.

"Relax, I won't hurt you." He said reassuringly as he continued to approach the frightened girl.

Then, out of nowhere, a monstrous wolf creature came bursting out of the bushes, and leapt at the girl, who tried to shield her face from the attack.

She closed her eyes and waited for the pain to come.

And waited.

And waited.

Eventually, she opened her eyes and saw that the wolf was now being held back by the strange boy's single hand.

He then yelled, "Electric Dragon ROAR!"

A massive bolt of blue electricity came out of his mouth and struck the wolf in the head, causing said head to become disintegrated within seconds.

The girl gasped, never had she seen such a display of power before.

The boy dropped the dead body to the ground and then turned back to the girl.

Tyson then bent down to her level and gently said, "You have no reason to be scared. I won't hurt you. I'm Tyson Dragneel. What's your name?"

The girl was silent for a few seconds before she said, "My name is Minerva Orland."

Tyson smiled and said, "Nice name. Why are you out here by yourself?"

Minerva's eyes began to water and she began to say, "M-my dad brought me out here. He s-said I was too weak and then said until I was strong enough to not come out."

Tyson didn't say anything for a few seconds and then turned away from her.

He took a deep breath and then shouted, "FIRE DRAGON ROOOOAAAARRRRRR!"

A enormous jet of fire came out of Tyson's mouth and destroyed a massive amount of the forest in a few seconds.

Several nearby monsters ran off in fear from the fire and the roar, that roar had not been heard around these parts in centuries, but every single creature in nature instinctively knew the roar of a dragon and all feared the wrath of an angry one, so all the monsters within a mile of the two humans ran as far away as their legs could carry them, none of them daring to face the monster that roar belonged to.

Tyson faced the now terrified Minerva and said, "Sorry, that brought back bad memories. No child should be abandoned."

Minerva now had tears running down her face as she remembered all the physical and emotional beatings her father had given her for being too weak.

"B-but, he is right. I-I am so w-weak." Minerva said before Tyson cut her off.

"That doesn't mean a thing. My foster father was a million times stronger than me and yet he loved me as if I was his own flesh and blood. He taught me everything I know and not once did he strike me or give me more than I could handle. That is what a dad should do. Show their children love and kindness, no matter what." Tyson said to her.

Tyson approached Minerva and placed a hand on her shoulder then said, "You aren't weak. I can feel the magic power within you, it is nothing short of incredible and you are only 16 years old, you have time to grow and become even stronger. If your father fails to see that, it's a shame." Tyson then gave her his patented "smile", the one that could make any sad person happy, or so he says.

Minerva now couldn't stop the tears from falling to the ground and with incredible speed, gave him a hug.

Tyson was briefly stunned by the hug, but he eventually gave one back to Minerva and gently rubbed her back as she cried all the tears that had been held back all these years.

After a few minutes, he let go of Minerva and then said, "Feeling better?"

Minerva nodded and Tyson approached the carcass of the dead wolf monster he killed and began to skin it so they could eat, since it was starting to become nighttime and that meant traveling out of the forest was not a option.

After about a hour, the two had a roaring fire going and some cooked wolf monster meat that didn't actually taste too bad, just give it some seasoning and it tastes just like cow flesh.

Minerva then asked her new friend, "So who was your foster dad?"

Tyson then smiled and said, "My foster dad was Igneel, King of all Fire Dragons."

Minerva then said, "Weird name."

"Not if you're a dragon, it isn't." Tyson said.

Minerva then said, "So wait, you're saying your dad was a dragon?"

Tyson nodded and not even two seconds later Minerva gave a loud girly squeal of excitement then said, "Dragons are my favorite creatures! So what was he like? How big was he? Could he destroy mountains? How many dragons have you met?"

Tyson held his hand up and said, "One question at a time. Igneel was kind, caring, he also had a massive ego, but he truly cared about me, so all in all, he was a pretty cool dad. Igneel was about 150 feet long at my estimate, he could obliterate mountains with ease and I have met another dragon, including Igneel."

Minerva's eyes lit up and she said, "Really? Who was the other dragon?"

"He was Thundreas, King of all Lightning Dragons and my uncle." Tyson said with a proud smile, he was proud to be the son of Igneel and the nephew of Thundreas, those were titles he held with pride.

Minerva's excitement grew even more and long into the night, the two talked, Tyson sharing stories with Minerva about Igneel and Thundreas' past battles.

Eventually, the two fell asleep, Minerva had a peaceful look on her face for the first time in a very long time.

Once morning came, Tyson and Minerva cleaned up and began their trek out of the forest.

After a few hours, Tyson and Minerva got out of the forest, but now they were completely lost, for they had come out of the forest to a point in which neither of them remembered.

With nothing better to do, the two begin to walk in a random direction and they eventually found the road and followed it to a small town.

Tyson approached a apple merchant and said, "Excuse me sir, can you tell me where the train station is?"

The apple merchant nodded and said, "Sure. The train station is on the other side of town. For five jewels I can give you a map."

Tyson nodded and handed over the jewels then received a map.

He opened it and saw that the merchant was telling the truth, the train station was on the other side of town, but due to the town being small, it would only take five minutes to get there.

Tyson turned to Minerva and said, "I found the train station. Let's go."

Minerva nodded, but Tyson noticed she was acting a bit nervous and said, "You okay?"

Minerva then said, "Are you sure your guild is going to accept me?"

Tyson nodded and said, "Fairy Tail is the best place in the world and the best guild in the world as well. We are only humans, so we make mistakes, but we accept everyone into our family, regardless of past actions everyone is allowed into the guild."

Minerva smiled and said, "Thanks, Tyson."

He smiled back and said, "It's no problem."

The two were about to head to the train station, when they heard the same merchant that sold them the map yell out, "Stop! Thief!"

They turned around and saw a girl around their age with a torn and dirty light blue t-shirt, with equally torn and damaged black pants and shoes that were barely holding together running away from the merchant, an apple in her hands.

The girl ducked down an alley, followed quickly by the merchant.

Tyson ran after the two, Minerva close behind him.

He turned down the alley and saw the girl had been cornered by the merchant.

"Alright you good for nothing street rat, now I got you." The merchant snarled out as he reached for the girl.

"Go away!" She yelled out as she kicked at him.

"Hey!" Tyson yelled at the merchant, who turned to face him. "What the hell are you doing?!" He demanded as electricity surged around his arm, letting the merchant know he wasn't asking.

"This street rat stole one of my apples!" The merchant said.

Tyson then said, "So you chased her into the alley and planned on doing what? Beating her up? Turning her into the authorities? Just for stealing a apple, which from the looks of it she needs more than you."

Tyson was right, the girl had not eaten properly in a long time, and had not had a clean shower in a while as well.

He then took out a hundred jewels and said,"Since you care more about money."

Tyson shoved the jewels into his hand and then gently grabbed the girl's hand and said, "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you."

He then began to use his magic to radiate a calm and gentle aura, hoping it would calm the girl down and to Tyson's joy, it worked.

Tyson then gently helped the girl to her feet and then led her away from the merchant and out of the alley, followed closely by Minerva.

After walking a little ways, Tyson then turned towards the girl and let go of her hand and said, "My name's Tyson Dragneel. This is Minerva Orland, what's your name?"

The girl was quiet for a few minutes before she said, "Yukino Agira."

"Nice name. Why did you take that apple?" Tyson asked.

Yukino looked down in shame and said, "Well, after my parents died and my sister was taken away from me, I have been living on the street and I have had a hard time getting food."

Tyson remained quiet and then said, "Follow me."

He led both girls down several streets, looking for something in particular and then said, "We're here."

Tyson took them to a clothing store and said, "Go inside and pick something out. I'll cover the cost."

Yukino blinked in shock and said,"Why would you do something like this?"

Tyson gave her a calm smile and said, "Because it's the right thing to do."

Tyson and the two girls entered the shop and after twenty minutes of looking at the clothes, Yukino and Minerva came out wearing much different outfits.

Yukino was now wearing a white sleeveless top, held up by a brown belt, had a pair of black pants, with brown boots on, while Minerva had on a light blue top, some black sneakers and a black belt on.

Tyson then said, "Well Yukino, how do you feel?"

Yukino then said, "A lot better than I have felt in a long time."

Tyson nodded and then said, "How would you like to join my guild, Fairy Tail?"

Yukino looked at him in shock and said, "You are a part of Fairy Tail?"

Tyson nodded with a smile and said, "Yep." and showed off his bright red Fairy Tail mark on his right shoulder.

Yukino then said, "How did you know I was a mage?"

Tyson then said, "You have a above average magic power level, no normal person has that power level."

Yukino nodded at his explanation and then shyly asked, "Are you sure they would accept me?"

"Absolutely. We never turn people away." Tyson said.

Yukino thought about it for a few seconds before she nodded then Tyson smiled and took his two new friend's hands and then ran over to where the train station was.

After a twenty minute wait for the train, the three boarded it and went to Fairy Tail.

Time skip...

It had been three hours since the train had left for Fairy Tail right now the train was just starting to pull into the Magnolia station.

Yukino and Minerva had both taken the time to get some showers so they would be presentable to Fairy Tail, while Tyson had drifted off to sleep.

He may no longer suffer from motion sickness, but that doesn't mean he likes the train, they are just so boring in his opinion.

After the train had stopped, the three departed from the train and were now walking towards the Fairy Tail guild hall.

Just as they were approaching, Tyson held his arms up and said, "Allow me to go first."

He then raised his right leg and kicked the doors open then shouted, "STOP THAT!"

Immediately, they became stone quiet.

Tyson nodded and then turned to his new friends and said, "Come on."

The two girls walked into view and Yukino shyly said, "Hello."

Before the other men could pull their usual stunts, Tyson shot them a look and the males remained still, when he had that look you stayed put and hoped he wouldn't beat you within a inch of your life.

He then said, "Meet Yukino Agira and Minerva Orland. You are to treat them like family and if I find out you flirted with them..."

"You're gonna deal with me, is that understood?" Tyson said.

The men all nodded, not wanting to try his patience.

He then faced the two girls and said, "Please follow me."

Tyson led both girls up to Makarov's office, then knocked on the door and said, "Master, I have two new potential guild members for you to meet."

Makarov looked up from his paperwork and saw Yukino and Minerva then said, "So you do."

He jumped up onto his desk to get a better look at the two girls and said, "Yep, very good potential guild members. So, you two want to join Fairy Tail?"

The two nodded, both too nervous to speak and Makarov then said, "Well, with your magic power, there is only one logical conclusion."

Makarov was silent for a few seconds, the tension in the room growing and then he said, "Welcome to Fairy Tail!"

The two were stunned, that was it?!

Sensing their confusion, Makarov then said, "All members of Fairy Tail are like family. We never turn down potential members for our family. Tyson, please go get these two girls their marks and then we shall celebrate with our two newest family members!"

Tyson nodded and then led the two girls downstairs, where he got the magic stamper and then said, "Where do you want your guild marks and what color?"

Yukino said, "The left side of my stomach and indigo please."

Minerva said, "The right side of my neck please and in orange."

Tyson nodded and then placed the stamper on those selected areas and after a few seconds, two new Fairy Tail marks were now on the young women.

Makarov then shouted out, "Listen up you brats! We now have two new members in our family! Let's give them a Fairy Tail welcome!"

The entire guild roared in agreement and soon the booze was flowing, the guild members laughing and introducing themselves to their new guild mates and ultimately, everyone was having a blast.

Yukino and Minerva smiled, their time in this place was going to be amazing.

Flashback end...

Tyson was so caught up in his thoughts, he stopped running and just stood still for a few minutes before Lucy walked up to him and snapped her fingers in front of him snapping him out of his memories.

"What's up?" Tyson asked.

Lucy then said, "I asked you how Yukino and Minerva joined Fairy Tail and you just spaced out for a few minutes." She said.

Tyson nodded and said, "Well, to answer your question, I was on a job three years ago and somehow got hopelessly lost in a forest when I found Minerva all alone crying. Apparently her father abandoned her all alone in the forest because she was too "weak." That set me off and I blew up a large amount of the forest in anger, freaking Minerva out. After apologizing, I made camp there and stayed with Minerva throughout the night. When morning came, I took Minerva out of the forest and asked her if she wanted to come back to Fairy Tail with me. She accepted and we made our way over to a small town. Once there, we got a map to the town's train station and were about to go there when we heard a commotion. We turned around and saw Yukino stealing an apple because she had no money to pay for her food, the merchant she stole it from hot on her tail. Minerva and I followed the two and once Yukino was cornered in a alley, I approached the merchant and paid for the apple then led Yukino out of the alley. I then talked with Yukino for a bit and then took the two girls to a clothing store to get them some better clothes. After that, I asked Yukino if she wanted to join me and Minerva on our way back to Fairy Tail and she said yes. So, then me, Minerva and Yukino all got on the train and went to Fairy Tail. Makarov let both Minerva and Yukino join the guild and the rest is history."

Lucy nodded and then the two of them got back to their training, which went from early to the morning into late in the afternoon.

Lucy was now panting really hard, she had been practicing her Celestial Spirit Star Blast and has gotten proficient with the spell to the point where she could fire a Star Blast every five seconds, having the speed of the spell once again, but she had encountered a problem: She could only fire 5 of them before she burned through her magic supply. She had gotten so focused on firing off the spell quickly that she forgot to increase her magic container to compensate for the increased consumption of the Star Blasts due to how many she was firing out.

Tyson had seen the issue she was having and told her, "After the request tomorrow, we will spend most of the training sessions focused on increasing the size of your magic container."

Lucy nodded and Tyson said, "Well, that's the end of training today. Go rest and get a good night's sleep. We have a big day tomorrow."

Lucy nodded then got up and got her book before stiffly walking back home, her muscles may have been screaming out in pain from the workout, but Lucy never felt better in her heart.

Tyson and Happy watched the blonde walk home and Tyson turned to Happy then said, "Did you get the job?"

Happy nodded then went over to a table and showed a piece of paper that said the job was to infiltrate Duke Everlue's mansion and destroy the book Daybreak. The reward for this job is 200,000 jewels for such a easy job.

The brown-haired Dragon Slayer then said, "For Lucy's first job, this will be easy."

Happy nodded and the two went to train for a little while longer and then the two went to bed.

The next day...

Tyson, Happy and Lucy were all inside a carriage as they rode out to the client's home.

"So, what is the job?" Lucy asked Tyson and Happy.

Happy explained the job to Lucy, "The job is to infiltrate Duke Everlue's mansion and destroy a book by the name of Daybreak. The reward for the job is 200,000 jewels."

Lucy nodded, it was a simple job, one they should be able to complete with no difficulties

After a little while longer, the three arrived at the client's home, which was a massive mansion.

"Hello? Is anyone here? We are the Fairy Tail mages. We are responding to the request you sent out." Lucy shouted.

"Shh! Quiet!" A voice said over the speakers. "Come around to the back!"

Lucy, Happy and Tyson were suspicious now, but they complied with the client's wishes and went around to the back then entered the home.

A few minutes later the group of wizards stood in front of their client.

"Thank you all for accepting my request. My name is Kaby Melon and this is my wife." Kaby said, introducing himself and his wife to the group.

"Hello. My name is Lucy, this is Happy and Tyson. We are happy to accept your request. What can you tell us of the Everlue mansion?" Lucy asked.

"The Everlue mansion is at least 5 stories and is 500 feet across. Everlue has increased his security recently, he now has at least 11 maids at his place at all times to defend the mansion. One of them is a massive maid at least 8 feet tall and has immense strength. She is the greatest obstacle to completing this job. If you are to successfully complete the job, I will pay you three 2 million jewels."

Lucy gasped at the sight of so much money, but Tyson's sense of danger was now pinged and he asked, "Why increase the reward money to 2 million jewels?"

"I cannot allow that book Daybreak to exist anymore. Please, go and destroy it." Kaby pleaded.

Tyson was a little apprehensive, but didn't feel like Kaby would betray them. Still something was off about this whole request.

Lucy nodded and said, "You can count on us sir!"

"Aye sir!" Happy said.

Tyson nodded then stood up and said, "Let's go. We have a book to destroy."

His two companions nodded and the three of them left the mansion and headed towards Duke Everlue's mansion.

"Do you think they will complete the job?" Kaby's wife asked.

Kaby let out a long sigh, the weight of all the years suddenly never more apparent than at this moment and said, "I can only hope so."

With our heroes...

Tyson and Happy were currently hiding behind several large bushes on the Everlue property as Lucy, now dressed in a maid's outfit that they had bought at a store and then Lucy changed in the dressing room, was now walking towards the front door of the mansion.

Suddenly, a massive woman with short pink hair dressed in a maid's outfit burst from the ground and landed in front of Lucy, scaring the poor girl half to death.

"What do you want?" The massive maid asked.

Lucy recomposed herself and said, "I am here to ask for a job as Everlue's maid."

Then, a short balding man with a horrible looking mustache came out of nowhere and said, "I am Duke Everlue. Let me check you out."

Everlue looked over Lucy for a few seconds, Lucy's hope of getting in and out of the mansion with the book quickly rose.

"Rejected! Get lost ugly!" Everlue said as a small white sign with the word, "Ugly" written on it pierced Lucy's chest.

"I only accept the fairest of the fair!" Everlue continued as several extremely ugly maids were seen behind him.

Tyson saw the maids and although he normally doesn't judge people based on appearances, but he couldn't help himself when he thought, "WHAT THE HELL! HOW ARE THOSE MAIDS EVEN REMOTELY FAIR!"

The giant maid then picked Lucy up and said, "You heard him, get lost ugly!"

The giant maid then threw Lucy into the air as another sign with "Ugly" written on it pierced Lucy again.

Happy quickly flew up and caught Lucy before she could impact with the ground and brought her to where Tyson was.

Lucy then began to bawl her eyes out in a comic fashion and Tyson began to rub her back while trying to placate the upset girl.

Tyson then said, "Looks like it's time for plan I."

Happy nodded and Lucy asked, "What is plan I?"

"Infiltrate." Tyson said as he created a Dragon Glyph on Happy and Lucy's right shoulders.

This particular Dragon Glyph was a simple serpentine dragon with a aura of lightning surrounding itself.

Then, Happy and Lucy disappeared from view, while Tyson used Fire Invisibility to cloak himself.

However, they were all unaware of the security lacrima behind them, allowing those inside the mansion to see what just happened.

Everlue frowned, these mages might be a problem.

"Vanish Brothers!" He yelled out.

Two men then entered the room and he said, "You two are to be extra vigilant tonight, we have mages trying to infiltrate the building."

The larger of the two nodded and said, "They will not get past us."

Everlue smiled, completely confident that the mages outside would fall.

How quickly his joy and confidence would evaporate.

With our heroes...

Happy, Lucy and Tyson were currently cutting a hole into one of the mansion's many windows, Tyson's fire being fine-tuned to the point it cut through the glass with ease, while not making any noise.

Tyson cut the entire pan of glass out and then quickly grabbed it before it could fall and then placed it onto the roof.

He then climbed into the room, followed quickly by Lucy and Happy.

"This is so weird." Lucy whispered as the trio entered the building.

Even though Lucy couldn't see herself anymore, she only knew where her arms and legs were, it was a bit disconcerting.

"Quiet, we don't want to be heard." Happy said as he quietly walked out into the hall.

The three mages quickly and quietly walked through the halls, making sure not to make any noise, until they came to the library.

Upon arrival, Tyson turned off the Dragon Glyphs and Fire Invisibility as he was getting a headache.

He could maintain Fire Invisibility and a single Dragon Glyph for several hours, but Fire Invisibility and two Dragon Glyphs at the same time, along with overworking his senses to try and find mansion security? That's too much for even him to handle.

The three of them then quickly split off and tried to find the book and after a few minutes, Tyson found it.

"Got it." He said to Happy, who went and flew over to Lucy, who then came on down from the ladder she was on and joined the two.

Tyson showed them a golden colored book with the name "Daybreak" on it and placed on a pedestal as he prepared to destroy the book.

"Wait!" Lucy said as she took the book and read the author's name then said, "This book was written by Kemu Zaleon."

"Really, I have read a few of his works. I didn't know he wrote a book called Daybreak." Happy said.

"Yeah, and that makes me suspicious." Lucy said as she took out a pair of gale force reading glasses and began to read the book.

Tyson nodded and said, "Make it quick. I don't hear anyone coming, but that can quickly change. Try and figure out why I sense magic coming from that book."

Lucy nodded and Happy said, "Do you think the book has magic?"

"There are two possible explanations why I sense magic emanating from the book. 1: It had a spell placed on it by a medium-powered wizard. Or 2: The book is sentient and is currently absorbing the souls of it's readers to gain strength before it launches it's plans to conquer the world."

Lucy gave Tyson a weird look and he said, "This happened once before. I came across a book that had become sentient and absorbed the souls of it's readers to gain power and was about to launch a plan to absorb all souls on Earthland, but I burned it before that could happen. The book was really weak, it never would have been able to absorb souls that weren't within twenty feet. It was sad really, but that gave me a reason to check my books for magic power before I read them."

Before Lucy could respond, a loud obnoxious voice cried out, "Stop right there, peasants!"

The group turned and saw Everlue standing there with all his maids and two new guys then he said, "Give me back my book, now!"

Lucy finished reading the book and said, "Never. This book belongs to Kaby. Get him!"

Tyson and Happy nodded and within seconds, Happy was in his Battle Form while Tyson had blue electricity coming off his body.

Happy and Tyson then charged towards the maids and the two new guys, while Everlue went towards Lucy.

Tyson and the massive maid reach each other first, his electricity covered fist smashing into the massive maid's larger fist.

The blast of electricity that came from Tyson's fist smashing into the massive maid's knocked everyone away from him.

Tyson then disappeared and quickly reappeared in front of the massive maid, his other fist cocked back and ready to strike, electricity crackling all around the fist.

He let the fist fly, striking the maid in the face, knocking her out and flinging her backwards into the wall.

Meanwhile, Happy had already dealt with all the other maids easily, never once having to use his blades, these maids had no magic and so they were almost too easy to beat.

Tyson and Happy then turned towards the Vanish Brothers, the smaller one taking out a massive frying pan. "Do you know what the main weakness of a mage is?"

"Not being awesome." Tyson said.

"Not having enough fish?" Happy asked.

The Vanish Brothers sweat-dropped and the taller one said, "No. It is their bodies. They spend so much time training their minds, they neglect their bodies. We mercenaries on the other hand train our bodies to the peak. And with our magic nullifying pan, we are unbeatable."

Tyson turned to Happy and said, "I believe he said they're going to beat us."

Happy nodded and said, "Yes, I do believe they said they would."

"Time to disappoint them." Tyson said.

Happy nodded and then he and Tyson charge the Vanish Brothers, they had no idea who they were picking a fight with.

With Lucy...

Lucy was currently fighting with Everlue and she had to admit, Everlue may be a filthy pervert, but his Diver magic was a good way to cause mages to overextend themselves.

He had dodged all of Lucy's attempts to counter attack, but Everlue couldn't land a decisive hit either.

Lucy decided it was time to end this and pulled out one of her keys then yelled out, "Open, Gate of the Giant Crab, Cancer!"

A golden glow appeared and from the glow a figure emerged.

The figure was clothed in traditional samurai armor, a large silver breastplate on his chest with the symbol of Cancer on the center and he wore a silver samurai helmet that had metal plates arranged like the claws of a crab on the forehead part, while his face was covered by a silver face plate, his emerald green eyes could still be seen peering through the armor. He wore large shoulder pads, had silver gauntlets on his arms, while a single red ribbon was tied around each of his elbows. He had silver waist armor and a silver metal combat skirt on, where a black katana holster was strapped onto his hip. He had silver leg armor, while his knee guards had a black Cancer symbol on them and finally, on the right side of his back was a flag pole, with a golden flag at the top with a black Cancer symbol on it.

"Greetings Aijin Lucy. What can I do for you today?" Cancer asked in a respectful tone of voice.

"Cancer, I need your help! This guy is way too tricky for me to catch." Lucy said.

"Say no more. I shall deal with him." Cancer said as he drew his katana.

The katana's blade was silver, with a golden line going down the center, the grip was made of black leather, the pommel having a golden crab on the end and a single red ribbon tied to the grip.

Cancer got into a defensive position and waited.

When Everlue suddenly jumped out of the ground, Cancer was already moving.

With blinding fast movements, Cancer struck Everlue three times before anyone could blink.

The defeated Duke flew backwards from the force of the blows, utterly unconscious.

Cancer then sheathed his katana and said, "You shall not touch my Aijin. I will protect her, until the day I can no longer protect her."

Lucy smiled and hugged Cancer then said, "Thanks Cancer!"

Cancer turned towards his master and said, "If you do not require me anymore, I shall be taking my leave."

Lucy nodded and Cancer disappeared in a golden flash of light.

A few seconds later, Tyson and Happy appeared, the beaten and unconscious bodies of the Vanish Brothers in their hands.

"Well done Lucy." Tyson told her.

Lucy nodded and then noticed a single golden key near the fallen bookshelves.

She picked it up and saw the symbol on the key that this was Virgo the maiden's key.

'Huh, I wonder how Virgo's key got inside this mansion.' Lucy thought as she placed the key on her key ring.

Tyson and Happy had contacted the authorities after uncovering evidence of Everlue's crimes in his room.

After Everlue and the Vanish Brothers were taken away, Happy, Tyson and Lucy returned to Kaby's house with Daybreak in their possession.

"Why did you not destroy the book?!" Kaby asked extremely angrily.

"Because, I found out the book's secret." Lucy said as she used her magic to remove the spell placed on the book.

Suddenly, golden words began to fill the room, the words "Dear Kaby" most prominent.

"I read the book and found out that your father, Zekua Melon, was forced to write this book by Duke Everlue under the threat that his citizenship would have been revoked if he did not do as the Duke said. He wrote the book, but then placed a spell on the book to explain everything to you." Lucy said to Kaby.

Kaby, realizing what the book really represented, broke down crying and gently held the book, vowing to never allow harm to come to it.

After that, the mages prepared to leave, but Tyson refused the money they were going to get as a reward.

When asked why, Tyson said, "The job wasn't complete, we have our guild's reputation to think about."

Tyson, Happy and Lucy then went back home, their actions getting Kaby his father's last book filled their hearts with joy.

Once they returned to Magnolia, it was almost night time, so Happy and Tyson took Lucy back to her apartment.

"Well, that was a unusual first job." Lucy said.

"Yep. Most first jobs don't have half of the drama. Well, see you at Fairy Tail tomorrow." Tyson said.

Lucy nodded and said, "Sure."

Tyson and Happy then exited Lucy's apartment, all of them unaware that tomorrow, they would not be able to relax like they wanted to, for tomorrow is the day that will see the birth of Fairy Tail's strongest team, the team that will determine the course of the future of the entire world.

Tomorrow is the day Team Tyson would be born.