Me and Freed found a quiet field away from the guild hall, this was the perfect place to get some practise in.
"So, where should we start?" I asked Freed.
"Well, you're most likely gonna need to fight an opponent, so you will try and beat me." Freed said as he took his sword out.
"Okay." I replied.
Me and Freed faced opposite each other, preparing to fight.
"Let's go." Freed said as he launched himself towards me.
"Right." I said with a grin as I dashed towards Freed.
Freed began attacking me with his sword, slashing towards me at a fast pace. I jumped backwards after every attempted attack, trying to avoid being hit.
"You're good at dodging attacks..." Freed said with a grin.
Freed disappeared suddenly, I couldn't see where he went. I turned my head and saw Freed stood behind me.
"But what about actual fighting?" Freed questioned before slashing me with his sword.
The attack knocked me backwards and caused me to roll on to the ground. I got back up on my feet and looked at Freed. He's fast and skilled, no doubt about it. I've got to attack him now if I have any chance of defeating him.
"How did you get behind me so quickly?" I asked.
"Teleportation, I can turn my body into runes to transport from one place to another." Freed answered.
As Freed was about to attack again, I dodged his attack by transforming into a lightning bolt and dashing past Freed to get behind him. I turned back to normal and unleashed an attack.
"Lightning flame dragon wing attack!" I said as I spread out my arms and pushed them together to send lightning and flames towards Freed, pushing him to the ground.
"Nice move, looks like it's time to move up a level." Freed said as he got up.
"Dark Écriture: Absolute Shadow." Freed declared as he changed his body became covered in armour.
I've never seen Freed use this form before, he must be getting serious.
Freed ran towards me and began hitting me as I tried to block his attacks. He is really strong when in this form, but can he take my lighting?
"Lightning Dragon Roar!" I shouted as I released lightning from my mouth which hit Freed.
"You have to do better than that." Freed responded as he turned around quickly and kicked me in the abdomen, knocking me against a tree.
I'm gonna need a higher voltage to bring him down, and I'll need a bit more heat...
As I got back up again, Freed attacked me with his electric shockwave attack, he produced lightning in his hand and transferred it to his sword, employing it to a melee attack. I struggled to fight back, he was too quick, I couldn't fit an attack in. The electricity didn't effect me as I absorbed it to top up my magic power, however, I did have several cuts on me from Freed's sword, which felt pretty painful. As Freed was about to attack me with his sword again, I managed to stop it with my two hands.
Freed's POV
She's putting up a good fight, but how is she managing to stop my sword from striking her again, she's got a lot of strength in her.
Akari's POV
I still managed to hold the sword away from me, but my strength in my arms was beginning to lag. I charged up lightning and fire in my hands and transferred it onto the sword, it charged through the sword and created a shockwave onto Freed, blasting him away from me.
"Got ya." I said with a grin as I charged towards Freed and continued attacking him.
Freed was down on the ground and I pounced on him to hold him down. My fists lit up with fire and lighting as I began hitting Freed as much as I could whilst he was down.
"Dark Écriture: Reflect." Freed said under his breath as he managed to draw runes in the air whilst I was busy attacking him.
"Shit." I replied.
All the attacks I inflicted on Freed reflected back on to me and managed to knock me away from Freed.
"I won't go down that easily." Freed said.
Freed looked around trying to find me, I managed to use my lightning form to get away before he could attack me again.
"Where has she gone?" Freed questioned quietly as he looked around for me.
"I'm right here. Dragonslayer secret art: Thunder slashing swords!" I announced with a grin as I summoned a multitude of lightning swords and threw them towards Freed, giving him a high voltage attack that struck him down to his knees.
Freed left his 'Absolute Shadow' form and returned back to normal, but with a few scrapes and bruises from the attacks I used on him. He looked up at me with a smile as I crouched down in front of him.
"Was that a good enough fight for you?" I asked with a massive grin on my face.
"That was pretty good." Freed replied with a grin.
"That was so awesome!" I heard a couple of loud voices say.
Me and Freed turned out heads to see who was there, a few kids from the town were stood a fair distance away from us and must've been watching the fight. I saw Pika sat with them.
"They're big fans of yours Akari." Pika said to me.
The kids ran over to me excitedly, still ecstatic over the fight they just witnessed.
"You're the dual Dragonslayer we heard about!" One of the kids said.
"You're super awesome! I want to be a wizard like you!" Another kid exclaimed.
"Well that's really nice to hear, thank-"
I was cut off as Freed used his 'Dark Écriture: Destruction' spell on me, causing me to be knocked down with multiple slashes across my body. I couldn't move and it hurt me really bad.
"What the hell was that for!" I exclaimed as I tried to sit up.
"There are kids here Akari, watch your language. I was teaching you a lesson, I said that it was a pretty good fight that we had, but I never stated that I was finished. When fighting an opponent, always concentrate, never be distracted by anything. Even if an enemy is down, stay composed and ready to fight until you know for certain that they are down." Freed explained, as he sat down next to me.
"I thought I had you as well." I said with a small chuckle.
"It was a good attempt, but there is still a lot more you need to learn before the trial. That's what I'm here for, I'll help you train and learn defense and attack techniques based off my own knowledge and tips that I have learned from Laxus over the years." Freed said with a smile.
The kids sat down in front of me and Freed with beaming smiles on their faces.
"Have you ever slayed a dragon before?" One of the kids asked.
"Well... metaphorically speaking..." I giggled.
"Akari..." Freed warned with his cheeks tinted pink.
"Sorry." I laughed.
"Have you been to Howling Dragons since joining Fairy Tail?" Another one of the kids asked.
"A couple of times yes, they're doing really well." I smiled.
"I want to join Howling Dragons when I grow up, I'm already learning lightning magic!" The kid said excitedly.
"Really? What's your name kid?" I asked.
"Audra." The girl replied.
Audra appeared to be about 9 years old, her hair is dark blonde and medium in length, she has hazel eyes and wears a sky blue dress, black leggings and navy ankle boots.
"Show me some of your magic Audra." I said.
"Okay, I'll try my best." Audra smiled.
"Go Audra!" Some of the other kids cheered.
Audra bent one of her arms back and spread her hand out, with her other arm, she bent it and formed her hand into a fist. She brought her fist to her open hand and began to produce sparks of lightning.
"Lightning make: Dog." Audra said as lightning came from her hands and molded into a dog.
The dog ran around us and sat down in front of Audra, she petted it for a little bit until it dissolved, leaving small lightning sparks sinking into the ground.
"That's really clever Audra." I said with a smile.
"I haven't seen anything like it. The only maker magic I have witnessed is Gray and Lyon's ice maker magic." Freed commented.
"I've been practising hard, so one day I can join Howling Dragons because it sounds like an amazing guild." Audra said with a smile.
"Well, there is a vacancy for a lightning wizard there, I'll put in a good word for you when I go there next time." I said.
"Thank you." Audra said as she ran to me and gave me a hug.
Me and Freed finished our training for the day and spent some time showing the kids some of the magic we use. The kids wanted a photo with us before they went home, so I used my camera to take a selfie with all of us and printed out a picture for everyone when we walked back to town at the print shop. We waved goodbye to the kids before walking back to the guild to see if Juvia managed to make the pillows me and Freed asked for.
"Well, today didn't go entirely to plan, but it still turned out great." Freed said happily.
"Yeah, we still managed to get some training in, even if it wasn't as much as what we expected." I giggled.
"The kids adored you Akari, you'd be a great mother." Freed commented.
"Haha, I don't know about that, I can look after kids if I needed to, but raising my own kids, I don't think I'd be up to the challenge." I laughed.
"I think you could, you and Laxus would be great parents." Freed replied.
"I guess, but we're not even married yet, that stuff is way too ahead in the future." I said.
"Fair enough." Freed said.
"I can see something happening in the near future though." Pika giggled as she was attached onto my back.
"If you don't keep your mouth shut, I'll make you fly the rest of the way." I said.
"What is she talking about?" Freed questioned.
"Nothing, she's just a weird exceed that blurts out random stuff." I replied.
"Are you sure?" Freed asked.
"Yes, of course I am." I replied.
Me and Freed made it back to the guild hall and looked around for Juvia, we couldn't see her anywhere so we decided to sit down and wait for her to turn up.
A little while later, we saw Gray arrive at the guild hall.
"Gray!" I called out.
"Hey Akari. Hey Freed." Gray replied as he walked over to us and sat down.
"Have you just finished training?" I asked.
"Yeah. I managed to get a lot done, I thought it would be best if I trained by myself for today so I could get some proper training in." Gray responded.
"Does Juvia tend to distract you?" I questioned.
"A little, it only tends to be when she fawns over me and tries to do 'couple' things with me, but once I remind her of the work we need to do then she gets really invested in training." Gray explained.
"That's cool, speaking of Juvia, have you seen her at all recently?" I asked.
"No, I haven't seen her at all today, I presume she will turn up eventually though since she'll want to spend time with me." Gray said.
"Gray sama!" We heard Juvia's voice call out.
"She must've sensed you talking about her." I giggled.
"Yeah right." Gray sighed with a grin.
Juvia walked over to us with a big bag in each hand.
"You okay, Juvia?" Gray asked.
"I'm fine thank you, my love. I've come to drop off the pillows I made for Akari and Freed." Juvia said with a smile.
"Thank you Juvia, I really appreciate it, how much do I owe you?" I asked.
"Does 5000 Jewel sound reasonable?" Juvia asked.
"Yes that's great." I replied as I handed over the money and then Freed handed over his money too.
"Thank you." Juvia said.
"What's this about pillows?" Gray asked.
"Akari asked for a bodypillow of Laxus to hug at night since he is away on Tenrou island, so I agreed to make her one." Juvia replied.
"So that's what you were up to today, that's really nice of you Juvia." Gray said with a smile.
"Really!" Juvia said excitedly.
"Yeah, it's a lovely gesture." Gray replied.
"See Akari, Gray complimented me and not you." Juvia said smugly.
"Why did I not see that coming?" I sighed.
"Be nice, Juvia." Gray said.
"Sorry, Gray sama." Juvia replied.
"Well, I better be getting home, I need to rest up lots for a new day of training tomorrow." I said.
"Same here, we want to be able to beat you in the trial." Gray grinned.
"Don't get your hopes up, although I guess it's quite nice to dream." I smiled.
"Yeah yeah. I'll see you soon." Gray said.
"Same here." I replied as I picked up the bag with the bodypillow in and walked out of the guild hall with Freed and Pika.
I walked back to my house and departed from Freed for the night.
"So, I'll see you in the morning then." I said as I stood outside my house.
"Yes, at the guild hall?" Freed asked.
"Yeah that'll be good. Do you really think I can do this? I mean I'm up against a couple of members from Fairy Tail's strongest team." I said.
"Of course you can do it, Laxus believes you can and so do I. Today was just the first day, if we keep up the good progress then you'll be super ready for the trial." Freed reassured.
"Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow." I smiled.
"Good night, Akari" Freed replied as he walked down the road back to his flat.
I unlocked the front door and entered my house, locking the door behind me. I walked upstairs with Pika in my arms and took the bodypillow out of the bag.
"She did such a good job on it, I absolutely love it." I said with a smile.
"Yeah, it looks just like him." Pika added.
"Yeah. It'll be fine, it won't be long until I'll get to see him again." I said.
I put the bodypillow on my bed and had a nice relaxing bath before getting changed into my nightwear and going to bed. Pika slept at the end of the bed by my feet and I cuddled my Laxus bodypillow under my duvet cover. I looked out of the window by my bed at the night sky, wondering if Laxus was thinking of me. I was really tempted to use my communication lacrima to contact him, but I knew that I could risk losing my place in the S-Class trial if I did. I closed my eyes and fell asleep, resting up for a new day of training.