They were all gathered in the park again, much to Makarov's dismay, and Emi and Laxus were leading a training session.
"We wanna show you how to do a Unison Raid," Emi explained.
"But I already know how to do one! This is so boring. Just fight me already!"
"Natsu, you did one Unison Raid," Lucy scolded. "Please pay attention."
"Okay...who has done one before?" Emi asked hesitantly.
Juvia, Gray, Lucy, Wendy, Natsu, Laxus, Sting and Rogue raised their hands. Emi sweatdropped and huffed.
"See? We can just skip straight to the fighting!"
Emi smirked and slyly responded, "Oh? You wanna just skip ahead? I think we can do that."
Laxus started laughing when he saw the evil glint in her eyes.
"You really shouldn't be so mean to them," Laxus playfully chided.
"Who says?" Emi shot back.
The two ended up bickering as the rest of them watched on in confusion.
"Weren't they...just kidding around?"
Laxus ended up picking her up by the back of her shirt and placing her down with the rest of them. He gave a smug look towards her and crossed his arms as he stood in front of them again.
"You're gonna be split up into pairs and you'll practice your Unison Raids."
The people who were already able to do Unison Raids all paired up with their partners. Emi clapped her hands to gain everyone's attention.
"Actually, what he means is that we'll be picking the groups for you to work in."
"W-What?" Lucy stuttered. "But we can't do--"
"That's her point," Laxus broke in.
"You should be so in sync with all of your allies that you should be able to accomplish this with any of them. Your Unison Raid partner is not always gonna be around to do it. They might not even have enough magic energy left to participate in one. This is to widen your choices."
"The groups are as follows: Juvia and Emi, Natsu and Orga, Lucy and Gajeel, Wendy and Rogue, Rufus and Gray, Cana and Yukino, Mira and Erza, and Sting and...me."
"Oh come on!" Sting immediately complained. "We're the least compatible of everyone!"
"Hey I didn't make the groups," Laxus defended.
"Em, what the hell do you think you're doing?"
Emi shrugged and explained, "You two need to learn to work together."
Laxus rolled his eyes and stated, "I mean I don't have a problem with it. You're the one who can't do it."
Sting scoffed and stood up before standing toe to toe with the lightning mage.
"What is she thinking?" Lucy whispered.
"They're gonna end up killing each other," Gray added.
"Okay everyone!" Emi clapped again and stepped in between the two. "Let's start!"
"Where is everyone else?" Erza spoke up.
"They're off sparring with each other. Now shoo!"
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"Juvia thinks that this isn't working right."
"We just gotta sync. Let's breathe together."
Juvia and Emi both closed their eyes and slowed their breathing until they were breathing at the same time.
"Okay, let's try again. I have a cool combination that I want to do with you."
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"This should be easy! I just did one with Laxus the other day, and you guys are the same magic."
"Actually, dragon slayers and god slayers have completely different magic. You should know that by now."
"Well whatever it is, we're gonna be great at this!"
"Then why have we been at this for an hour and not made any progress?"
"Because you're doing something wrong."
Orga huffed and smacked him down to the ground.
---------------------
"So..."
"This is stupid. Why am I paired with you? I would have rathered the Salamander."
"Hey! I'll have you know I'm just as capable as at Unison Raids as Natsu. I was able to do it two different times."
"Fine. Summon your digging spirit or whatever."
"Her name is Virgo!"
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"It's nice to finally work with you, Mister Rogue."
"You as well."
"Should we start thinking of spells we want to combine?"
"Sure."
They both sat down and faced each other. Rogue had revealed his new spell to Wendy, and she listened intently with sparkles in her eyes.
"That's so cool, Mister Rogue! We should use that one."
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"Well it seems we keep running into each other," Rufus started. "I have no memory of fighting and working with the same wizard."
"So do you wanna do an ice spell combination or use one of your many other type spells?"
"We could try my Night of Falling Stars with some Ice Lances."
"It's worth a try."
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"You're a celestial wizard, right?" Cana hiccuped.
"That's right. Though I'm not as strong as Lucy."
"I would say that we should pair it with my Fairy Glitter, but I think the masters would yell at us for it, so I'll stick to my card magic."
They both planned for a few minutes and came up with a tentative strategy.
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"Well it seems we're working together for this one," Erza calmly stated.
"I think this'll be fun," Mira happily replied. "We can use our rivalry to our advantage. We already know most of each other's spells fairly well from all our fighting, so it should be easy to pick a combination."
"Let's try Halphas with my Heavens Wheel."
"But the master said I'm forbidden to use that form."
"This is fighting very powerful foes. I'm certain the master would allow it for this occasion."
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Sting had been glaring at Laxus for the past 45 minutes with his arms crossed. Laxus just looked at him wearing a bored expression and mirrored crossing his arms.
"You know if you keep glaring at me like that we'll never get anything done."
"I don't get why we're even trying. There's no way we'll ever be able to pull it off."
Laxus sighed and started to speak, "Listen man, I'm sorry about--"
"Sorry? You're sorry?"
Laxus rolled his eyes and uncrossed his arms.
"Fine," he declared, "if you wanna fight it out then I'll be glad to. But after that we work on the Unison Raid or else she's gonna kill me."
Sting went to pounce at Laxus when something grabbed the back of his shirt.
"What the fu--"
Sting looked behind him to see Makarov sized up and gripping at Sting's collar.
"We've all been briefed on this kind of fighting, and having one of you die is not going to be productive for anything. Now I expect you to work together, whether it be as a mature master and a mature master's grandson...or as two people who care deeply about Emi's well-being. Make your choice."
Sting growled and shook the hold off and glared at Makarov. He felt a cold touch on his arm and immediately paled.
"Tell her to stop doing that!"
"She said that you're being childish," Laxus taunted.
"What did you--"
"Laxus, stop egging him on and work together."
Sting and Laxus looked at each other and groaned.
"I guess I have an idea."
---------------------
"So how was everyone's...wow you all look so tired," Emi observed.
"We've been at this for five hours!" Natsu groaned. "When do I get to fight you again?"
"I'm way too tired to yell at you right now Natsu, so please stop," Lucy moaned.
"I think you all made great progress! Do you wanna show everyone what you did?"
They all groaned and laid down on the grass.
"Okay," Emi giggled, "maybe another time."