"Okay kids, let's take a test," Acnologia announced to the seven dragon slayers who were eating around the table. A collective moan went up. Two lives, eight hundred years alive... well alive and then reborn, and the children never change.

"What kind of test?" Rogue asked

"You'll like it Regal," Acnologia growled

"It's Rogue," Rogue corrected.

"Okay, first I want to see how well you all can read," Acnologia explained trying to ignore the fact that he had already forgotten most of their names.

Another moan went up around the table.

"Second, I'm going to assess your skill level," Acnologia smiled.

"How are you going to do that?" Sting asked.

"Read this and find out Sling," Acnologia answered handing him a job request sheet.

"It's Sting," Sting corrected.

"Read," Acnologia ordered clearly annoyed.

Sting sighed, "um... w...w...e...we r....r...re....qu...qu.....i....r...." Sting was struggling.

"Require," Rogue helped.

"Yeah, what he said, reequir." Sting nodded.

"Okay, Rogue, your turn," Acnologia sighed.

Rogue took the paper from Sting, "We require the help of many capable wizards to e...l...i..elimi...nate, eliminate-" Rogue began.

"Good, Gajeel you're up next," Acnologia nodded.

Rogue handed the paper to Gajeel. He looked at the paper with disdain.

"This is stupid," he said.

"Too bad, read it," Acnologia ordered.

Gajeel rolled his eyes and looked at the paper "to eliminate... the...d...da...dar...dark... g...g...g... grapefruit!" he growled and threw the paper towards Natsu. Natsu caught it and began to read.

"To eliminate the dark... gulf so we can eat food and beat up people!" he cried proudly. Wendy looked over his shoulders.

"Nope, not even close," Wendy said.

"Yes it is," Natsu argued... his hair caught fire for what must have been the billionth time that morning

"It says; we require the help of many capable wizards to eliminate the dark guild under the name Demon's Breath. Any wizard who takes on this task will be rewarded handsomely," Wendy read.

"Well done Wendy," Acnologia commended. Grandeeney obviously wasted no time educating her.

"So we're gonna attack another guild?" Erik asked.

"Yeah, Demon's Breath has been a problem, the magic council is asking for help. I figured that it would be a good way to train your guy's senses and magic," Acnologia nodded.

This put everyone in a good mood... well until they found out they had to take the train... no one was happy about that. During this torturous train ride, Acnologia used his magic to reach out to the dragon seeds in the seven dragon slayers. Natsu, Gajeel, Wendy, Sting, and Rogue had all been raised by dragons that had formed the dragon seed inside of them. It was the same relationship as Erik and Laxus with Acnologia himself. As such, Erik and Laxus also had a dragon seed inside them. Acnologia tried to suppress the dragon seeds in all of them; he did not want to be dealing with seven grown dragons... that would be very bad.

Finally, the train stopped and the eight dragon slayers fled the cursed vehicle. They found themselves in a train station that was practically in the middle of nowhere. Graffiti plastered the walls and trash rolled around the deserted train station. A forest surrounded the station and there was not a soul to be seen.

"So... where is this dark guild?" Laxus asked.

"Don't know," Acnologia shrugged.

"Well, then how are we supposed to find them?" Natsu asked annoyed.

"Use your senses," Acnologia smiled.

The seven began to sniff and listen. Then Wendy smiled.

"I smell magic that way," she said pointing to the west.

"I smell people that way," Natsu cheered eagerly pointing the same way as Wendy.

"I think I hear something in that direction as well," Erik nodded. Cubellios hissed happily.

"Well then let's start heading that way," Acnologia nodded.

He let the dragon slayers follow their instincts. Natsu and Sting, of course, forged ahead fearlessly through the shrubbery, Rogue sneaked in the shadows and Wendy jumped tree to tree. Laxus moved behind Natsu and Sting while Erik and Gajeel seemed content walking the actual path. Then the Demon's Breath guild hall came into view.

"Okay, Erik, how about you try out that sound magic we were practicing," Acnologia instructed. Erik gladly agreed and brought the house down... no joke. People began to pour out of the collapsing structure. Acnologia leaned down to Natsu.

"Do you know how to roar?" Acnologia asked Natsu.

"Yeah, but it's kinda weak," Natsu shrugged.

"Show me," Acnologia smiled.

"Okay, Fire Dragon ROAR!" he shouted. A small sphere of fire burst forth but then disappeared.

"Okay good try," Acnologia reassured hiding the hopelessness in his voice. Erik was fighting a whole bunch of dark wizards and was doing very well. Acnologia watched him and desperately tried to think of what made Igneel so powerful. Then it hit him, Igneel loved his family... Acnologia should know; he was a part of it.

"Okay Natsu... these are bad people," Acnologia said.

"Well yeah that's why we're beating them up," Natsu sighed giving Acnologia a look that made the Dragon King want to beat him senseless.

Acnologia however, dismissed the feeling and smiled as he came to the root of the issue,  "These people have hurt and destroyed families and will not hesitate to hurt yours." Natsu's eyes sharpened. There was Igneel's face. "So, we are going to stop them so they can't hurt anyone else... But, that means that we put our family at risk."

"So we gotta beat them up first," Natsu nodded understandingly.

Do you feel anything?" Acnologia asked.

"Yeah, it's like I have a fire in my belly," Natsu said using the same cursed lines Igneel used before a battle.

"Take that fire, harness it and then unleash it onto these monsters," Acnologia instructed.

Okay... Fire Dragon..." Natsu began.

"Hey Erik, I would move if I were you," Acnologia recommended.

Erik heard him and jumped into the air. Cubellios sprouted wings and flew him into the sky. She was one heck of a snake.

"ROAR!" yelled Natsu. A vortex of fire engulfed the enemies that Erik had been fighting.

"Decent," Acnologia shrugged.

Natsu yelled in victory. "Gajeel did you see?! Did you see what I did! Erik, did you see?"

Gajeel smiled at Natsu, "Nice going Amateur." Then Gajeel jumped in front of more attackers, "Iron Dragon ROAR!" he yelled. A whirlwind of tiny iron bits blasted fro,m Gajeel's mouth and hit the attackers. "IRON DRAGON CLUB!" he cried. His right arm turned into a club, which he proceeded to beat people up with. Yep, he was Metalicana's child.

Then Acnologia turned to the dynamic duo of Sting and Rogue... they were gone.

"What the - " Acnologia sighed.

"White Dragon ROAR!" he heard someone yell. Sting was in the middle of the fray, beating up people with his glowing fists and blasting them away with his breath. Rogue, however, seemed a bit overwhelmed. He had been surrounded and was trying to fight like Sting to no prevail.

"Erik watch those three!" Acnologia ordered cursing under his breath.

Erik circled and watched Natsu, Sting, and Gajeel, then he gave a thumbs up.

Acnologia walked up next to Rogue.

"Hey kid, are you Sting?" he asked.

"No, I'm Rogue," Rogue answered.

"I know," Acnologia scoffed, he wasn't that dense, "but I mean, you aren't Sting, and you don't have Sting's magic either, right?" Acnologia asked.

"Well, no," Rogue agreed.

"Hey! Stop talking!" one of the mages ordered.

"You deal with shadows right?" Acnologia asked, ignoring the mages remark.

"Yeah," Rogue nodded.

"I said SHUT UP!" the mage ordered again.

"Well, you see the shadows underneath each and every one of these guys?" Acnologia asked.

Rogue looked up understandingly.

"I told you, SHUT UP!" the mage yelled. Then he fired a beam of purple light towards Rogue. Acnologia caught it and then proceeded to eat the light. This made all the mages take a step back.

"Excuse me," Acnologia growled. Then Rogue leaped forward and turned into a shadow. He raced along the ground and entered another guy's shadow.

"Where'd he go?" one mage yelled.

Rogue leaped out of the shadows and grabbed two guys' heads before slamming them together. Then he leaped into another guy's shadow and threw him off his feet. Acnologia walked away, a smug look on his face.

Laxus was leaning on a tree listening to some music in his headphones.

"You want to join them?" Acnologia asked.

"May I?" Laxus looked up excitedly.

"Go ahead," smiled Acnologia.

Laxus turned himself into a lightning bolt and headed towards the center of the battle. Acnologia almost felt bad for those guys... almost.

Then Acnologia noticed that Wendy was hanging back. She looked on nervously at the battle.

"Hey kid, what's wrong?" asked Acnologia.

"Well... Grandeeney taught me how to heal and supporting magic, but I don't know much about offensive magic," Wendy said.

'Leave it to Grandeeney to make her kid a tranquil peace-loving child,' a voice in Acnologia head sighed.

"Okay kid, we're gonna fix that," Acnologia sighed. He thought for a moment. Grandeeney didn't fight much, but when she did, she was scary good at it. 

'What drove Grandeeney?' a voice in his head pondered. 

'Igneel ran on Anger,' another voice answered.

'Metalicana?' 

'SPITE! PURE UNREFINED SPITE!'

'Weisslogia ran on pride.' 

'What about Skiadrum?' 

'Well, he fought only when someone had messed up - ' 

'REAL BAD! When someone messed up REALLY BAD.'

'And Grandeeney hated violence' 

'She wouldn't mind giving her brothers a bruise when they were annoying. She fought for... well... everyone but herself,' a third voice answered.

"I got it, you love your family right?" Acnologia asked.

"Of course," Wendy answered.

"Okay, well, you know how air heals and supports your family," Acnologia said.

"I know that," Wendy said excitedly as if having the right answer was the best thing since Grandeeney. Her excitement disgusted Acnologia slightly.

"Just... hear me out. The sky is a beautiful thing that supports life with its air, but it is also one of the most powerful elements. I'm certain Grandeeney taught you that as well." Acnologia smiled. That sounded good, he was kinda proud of himself.

"But I don't know how to use that type of sky magic," Wendy pondered.

"You can do it, just harness the air around you."

"How do I do that?" Wendy asked.

"Did Grandeeney teach you how to meditate?" Acnologia asked.

"Kinda," Wendy shrugged.

Acnologia sat down and beckoned her to sit next to him. She did.

"Do you feel the air flowing through yourself?" he asked.

"Yeah," she answered.

"Now reach out and feel it flow throughout everything controlling all in that space," he instructed.

Wendy closed her eyes and slowed her breathing.

"Feel the power that the wind and sky possess," he smiled.

Air began to circle around her, magic power built up inside of her.

"Harness that power," he said, and then he put his hand on her shoulder and looked at s group of mages heading their way.

"Can you feel it? The power of the wind, air, and sky?" he asked.

Wendy nodded and stood up.

"Use it," he whispered, and then he backed away.

"Sky Dragon...ROAR!" Wendy yelled. A huge spiral of air blasted the dark mages and threw them off their feet. Wendy began to get the hang of it, using wing attack and talon.

Acnologia laughed and watched with pride as the dragon slayers beat up the dark guild. When it was all over and done, they turned the wizards into the rune knights and collected their reward. When they arrived back in Magnolia, Acnologia decided to treat the dragon slayers to a surprise. SOO... He gave them a reward that every dragon loves; food.

While eating Acnologia realized what the next lesson to teach the dragon slayers would be; table manners. But no matter how messy and rude they were, Acnologia couldn't suppress the feeling that resonated in his chest. As he sat there and watched them a memory came to mind.

"Get your claws off my meat!" Metalicana growled shoving Igneel aside.

"I caught it!'" Igneel growled.

"I helped you catch it jerk!" Metalicana growled butting heads with the red dragon.

"Well technically, it was your day to catch the food yesterday Metalicana," Skiadrum yawned. He was curled up around a stalagmite.

"Yeah, we didn't get much to eat yesterday," Weisslogia objected.

"It wasn't my fault! The damn battle yesterday scared all the meat away!" Metalicana growled taking a large undignified gulp of food.

"Perhaps we should move on to the next mountain pass," Acnologia recommended.

"No, the people in the pass need us," Grandeeney said sitting up shakily.

"No Grandeeney, you need to rest!" Weisslogia objected jumping to his claws. Grandeeney lay back down panting.

"You still haven't healed!" Igneel growled.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Grandeeney assured them.

Acnologia transformed into his human form and walked up. "Show me your leg again," he instructed.

Grandeeney winced as she lifted her wing and showed him the gash crossing her leg and stomach.

"Your magic couldn't do anything for it?" Acnologia asked.

"My magic helps others," Grandeeney retorted.

"Well at least eat something, and you shouldn't fight for the next week or two," Acnologia recommended as Grandeeney put her wing back, concealing the wound.

"You worry to much brother," Grandeeney said lovingly nuzzling Acnologia.

"Quit it! that's my plate!" Natsu cried pushing Gajeel into Laxus.

Laxus inadvertently shocked the metal dragon slayer.

"Jerk!" Gajeel yelled his hair standing on end. He then tackled Laxus at the dinner table.

Sting and Rogue were devouring their food while fighting each other for the last spring roll. Wendy was being an angel alongside Erik and happily told him about all the bad guys she had fought today, Erik listened intently.

Acnologia smiled and leaned on his hand. Who needed to go back in time? His family was virtually born again.