"Where are we going?" Erik asked. The air was still, fog surrounded the group, yet Acnologia knew exactly where he was heading.

"To a place where no one can disturb us," Acnologia answered.

"And where is that?" Sting questioned.

"In the middle of the forbidden Isles," Serena answered.

"How do you know that?" Sting asked.

"Because he's looking at a map," Rogue said pointing at Serena's lap where a map lay.

"That's where we are, so I think I can assume that this 'training ground' is somewhere around here."

"What are the forbidden Isles?" Pantherlily asked.

"A dangerous area, high winds, unpredictable currents, sudden storms, the only thing that could safely navigate the waters is a-" Laxus began to explain.

"Dragon," Acnologia answered soaring into another fog bank.

"So nothing can disturb us," Gajeel smiled.

They arrived at the island at noon. When Acnologia breached the fog bank everyone gasped. The island was beautiful, the fog surrounded it, but it didn't dare touch the island so the sun shone brightly on the large area. Rich green trees sprouted out from the soil, bright flowers danced in the wind, and on the beach, the waves crashed in harmony with the soft breeze.

"This place is awesome!" Natsu laughed.

"How'd you know this was here?" Wendy asked.

"I used to spend time here... but it was so long ago... almost like another life," Acnologia explained. In all honesty, it had been another life. This island was where The Dragon of the Apocalypse had spent his time when he wasn't destroying everything. This island had given Acnologia, in all his confusion and unhappiness, it had given him peace. It had also sparked the idea that the world was better off without humanity -  but that's unimportant, right?

Acnologia landed and let the dragon slayers slide off his back before transforming. He stretched and heard a few things in his back pop, "that was a good flight," he sighed.

"Yeah, long and tiresome," Serena smiled.

"Okay, let's get to training, I'm all fired up!" Natsu laughed.

"When are you ever not fired up?" Erik scoffed.

"That's Natsu for ya," Happy shrugged.

"Okay, first let's go through the ideas behind your elements," Acnologia said sitting down.

"Ah come on, that's so boring," Sting sighed.

"But it's critical, the first step to fully mastering your element is fully understanding it," Serena explained.

"Tell me Serena, have you mastered any of your elements, it is my understanding that you have multiple," Pantherlily asked.

"Why yes, I've mastered all eight of my elements, with help from your Uncle of course," Serena said gesturing elaborately to Acnologia.

"Well, that's because Serena's elements are slightly different than your own," Acnologia explained pushing Serena's hands down.

"How so?" Rogue asked sitting down across from Acnologia, the others followed his example.

"Serena has very specific elements, for instance, his Gale Dragon Slaying Magic," Acnologia explained.

"The one he used to destroy faces," Wendy nodded.

"Yep," Serena nodded.

"Serena's Gale Magic only allows him to work with strong winds, this also means that he can only create, manipulate, and ingest strong winds," Acnologia explained.

"Which is why he was so efficient when he was with Wendy," Erik said understanding.

"Correct, Wendy was creating strong winds due to her dragon force which allowed me to stay full of magic power and manipulate the winds efficiently," Serena smiled.

"What about his other magics?" Charle asked.

"I have seven more, my Cavern Dragon Slaying Magic, my Purgatory Dragon Slaying Magic, my Sea King Dragon Slaying magic, my Light Armor Dragon Slaying Magic, my Dark Night Dragon Slaying Magic, my Acid Dragon Slaying Magic, and finally my Core Energy Dragon Slaying Magic."

"What are those, what do they do?" Sting asked intrigued.

"My Cavern Dragon Slaying Magic allows me to manipulate earth but I can't create it, so it's useless if I'm in the air or the middle of the sea."

"Can you eat rock?" Gajeel asked intrigued.

"Only rocks that are hollow, like Geodes," Serena explained.

"Cool," Gajeel smiled.

"And Purgatory Magic allows me to create a fire that surpasses Natsu's in levels of heat," Serena explained.

"No way," Natsu scoffed.

"Yes way, his flames are comparable to Atlas's flames, however, with this power comes weakness," Acnologia interjected.

"I can only consume flames that are high in temperature, and I can't lower the heat of my flames, like how you can cook meat Natsu, all I can do is incinerate it," Serena explained.

"Sea King?" Lector pondered.

"It allows me to summon huge amounts of highly pressurized water."

"Ah, but I guess you can only eat water that is highly pressurized," Laxus supposed.

"Correct, and I can't soften the water as Juvia can, so I can't make a safe water sphere that someone can hide in."

"What about Light Armor, I'm guessing that's holy magic," Sting guessed.

"Yeah, much like your own except it's an enchanting art, like what Wendy can do. That magic allows me to change my appearance, here I can do it now," Serena said standing up.

"You may want to block your eyes for a second," Acnologia advised.

Everyone covered their eyes as Serena spread his arms apart and a bright light briefly flashed. When they opened they saw that Serena was now encased with white light clinging to him like armor.

"This magic shields me and whoever I choose to enchant from all attacks, magical or physical, it also increases my attack power and speed... a lot of speed," Serena laughed.

"Show me," Laxus challenged.

"Sure," Serena shrugged; there was a flash of light. Wendy's and Gajeel's hair was now braided, Natsu had a little ponytail, Erik had his hair in a bow, Rogue's hair was also braided as was Sting's, and Laxus looked like a crazy lady with hundreds of pink bows had just gotten ahold of his golden hair. Serena was laughing; he stood right where he was before.

"I'm gonna kill you," Laxus threatened to rip the first few bows out of his hair.

"You have to catch me first," Serena laughed.

"What's your Dark Night Dragon Slaying Magic?" Wendy asked not caring about her hair.

"How do you undo these things?" Rogue asked trying to undo his braids; Wendy reached over and tried to help him.

"That magic only works while it's night, it increases my stamina and allows me to fully recharge my magic power. I can also fully utilize the power of a weaker dark dragon but with stamina that can last all night," Serena explained allowing the Light Armor enchantment to die away.

"There you go," Wendy said proudly, Rogue's hair was now in a ponytail, not a braid in sight.

"Hmm, thanks, Wendy," Rogue smiled.

"Help," Sting cried tears filling his large eyes as he pulled down on his braided blonde locks.

"They look cute on you Sting," Gajeel laughed.

"I like your hair like that Gajeel," Wendy smiled studying Gajeel's hair.

Gajeel scoffed as he madly tried to undo his braid.

Erik had ripped the bow out of his hair and was eyeing Serena threatening.

"Where'd you get all the bows?" Acnologia asked.

"I'm always prepared," Serena laughed.

"Do you have glitter?" Acnologia asked again.

"What kind of question is that!? Of course!"

"Okay, just asking, please explain your Acid Magic next," Acnologia nodded.

"Yeah, I'm interested in that, are you able to use some sort of poison dragon slaying magic?" Erik asked crushing the bow between his fists in a threatening gesture.

"No, you Erik can create a poison that can contaminate the water, air, and ground. You are also immune to all poison, acids, everything toxic. I could feed you nightshade and you'd like it," Serena explained ignoring Erik's hostility.

"It tastes good," Erik defended.

"An acid dragon can only ingest acids, if an acid dragon breathed in the poison, it would die. However, I can safely come into contact with acid and eat it. My acid is strong enough to eat away at... anything actually," Serena pondered.

"Okay, I'm starting to see why Uncle brought you along," Laxus gritted pulling the last bow out of his hair, "Your Gale Magic can help Wendy, Light Armor can help Sting, Night may be able to teach Rogue a few skills, Acid obviously goes to Erik, and Purgatory goes to Natsu, but what about the rest of us," Laxus asked.

"Yeah, namely Laxus and myself," Gajeel growled.

"Incorrect, while Serena will be in charge of pushing you all to your max and teaching you critical skills in terms of mastering your elements, the real reason I want him to be involved is because of his final magic," Acnologia said.

"That Core Energy Dragon Slaying Magic," Pantherlily recalled.

"Yeah, what the heck is it?" Natsu asked.

"Serena," Acnologia said.

Serena gave a stiff nod and slowly closed his eyes and began to meditate while standing up. The group felt an enormous amount of energy begin to gather. Serena brought his hands close to each other, in-between them a sphere of light began to flow. Blue, white, and yellow swirled within the ball of energy.

"This is the power of the Core Energy Dragon," Serena said smiling down at the ball of energy.

"What is that?" Rogue asked in awe.

"Pretty," Frosch smiled.

Serena dropped his hands and the sphere fizzed out.

"First it's important to know what a Core Energy Dragon is," Acnologia said, the seven looked to him, "A core energy dragon is a dragon born with no magic capability."

"What!?" Gajeel gawked.

"Is that even possible!?" Sting cried.

"Of course, although it is immensely rare. Core Energy Dragons have no way to harness or hold magic, so instead they must act as a vessel," Acnologia explained.

"What do you mean a vessel?" Rogue asked curiously.

"These specific dragons take the magic around them, and allow it to flow through their body, from there they can reshape it and create a multitude of spells from their own imagination," Serena smiled.

"No way!" Natsu cried.

"Core Energy Dragons were some the first dragons to want to train humans, they would take the unwanted children, multitudes of them and take them to the mountains where they would train them in a monastery. Not every child was able to harness such power, but those who did were greatly revered." Acnologia explained.

"So you can make the magic around you into anything, any spell you can imagine?" Laxus asked.

"Yes," Acnologia nodded.

"Can we do that?" Erik asked.

"Not to the extent Serena can, but with proper training, such practices will allow you to use magic even after you're out of magic power."

"So, how do we do it?" Sting asked in excitement.

"First you must know how to block off your magic reserves because such magic only works if you can make your body devoid of magic particles. Then you draw in energy from the surrounding area," Serena explained, he did so and placed his hands in the same place, "You then focus the energy on one point," the sphere formed, "you then must have a clear idea of what you want to be accomplished, how to do so, and how you can best reach the goal, while filling in all loopholes, and condensing it into one magic circle." Serena brought his hands together flattening the sphere, it spread out and formed a yellow, blue, and white magic circle. Serena set the magic circle upright and smile "God Dragon light ray!" Serena yelled. The magic circle erupted into a grand cannon that ripped through the island destroying all in his path. Serena smiled at the awed dragon slayers as he ignored the wreckage behind him.

"Destruction 101," Acnologia growled facepalming.

"How do we learn," Sting asked excitedly.

"First, you must all master your elements, then you must master two elements and their combined power, then we'll get to dragon force, and then we'll work on Core Dragon stuff," Serena smiled.

A collective moan went up.

"Hold on, Sting and I don't have multi-elements!" Rogue objected.

"Yes... we're gonna fix that," Serena smiled deviously.

"...Can we go home now?" Sting asked his eyes wide.

"Can... I... Stop... Now?" Sting panted as he continued to run.

"No, to be able to consume another element you must push yourself to the brink of exhaustion," Acnologia growled.

"Do I have to do this too?" Rogue asked meekly as he watched his brother hyperventilate.

"Yes," Serena nodded, "Once he's done."

Sting was running around a track that hadn't been there when he started.

"I'm hungry," he whined as he made another rotation.

"Gajeel, Sting is hungry, it's your turn," Acnologia called out.

"No! Never mind, I'm fi-" Sting cried.

"Iron Dragon Roar!" Gajeel cried engulfing Sting with metal. Sting emerged, but he was still Sting, the White Dragon Slayer.

"OW!" he scoffed as he continued running.

"So that's Natsu, Gajeel, Wendy, and Laxus off the list. We'll try Erik next, then Rogue, and then he'll go to me, one of them must work," Serena supposed.

"Erik's NEXT!" Sting cried.

"Sorry," Erik shrugged.

"Why can't Rogue be next!?" Sting cried.

"Work with us Sting," Acnologia answered.

"Oh come one, I've run so fast and so far I could have covered all of Ishgar, and Alvarez!" Sting cried.

"No way," Natsu scoffed.

"Yes way, and I would have beaten you if you were doing this!"

"Is that a challenge!?"

"Natsu," Acnologia warned.

"YES, IT'S A CHALLENGE I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU DO THIS!" Sting cried running around the track once more.

"IT'S ON!" Natsu roared.

"There he goes," Serena sighed leaning back in his fold-able seat that he had somehow stowed in his robe.

The two began running around the track full speed. Then Sting began to gain, he was using magic on his feet so that he could move faster and so that they wouldn't hurt as much.

"Go Natsu!" Happy cheered.

"Sting-Kun you're winning!" Lector cried in glee.

"I WON'T LOSE!" Natsu yelled his wrists became engulfed with flames and he propelled himself past Sting.

"YEAH NATSU! YOU OWE ME A FISH!" Happy laughed pointing to Lector.

"Come on Sting-Kun!" Lector cried.

"Not today!" Sting panted.

"Acnologia we did already had Natsu attack Sting right?" Serena asked.

"Yes, he was the first one, he volunteered for it," Acnologia answered.

"And it didn't work, right?" Serena asked.

"No it didn't, when Sting emerged from the fire on fire we thought it might of, but he was just on fire," Acnologia answered.

"Well..." Serena sighed looking at the race.

Sting used his teeth and bit down on the fire that Natsu had left in his wake.

"He's actually doing it," Laxus said impressed.

"Put him in a competition with Natsu and he'll do anything to beat him," Erik sighed.

A white fireball whizzed past Natsu, Sting planted himself at the end of the course and smiled. His hair was spiked upwards, more so than usual, and he was smoking.

"No fair! I demand a rematch," Natsu cried.

"Give it a rest Salamander," Gajeel sighed.

"Fight me you *&^#%$@!"

"So, the white fire dragon slayer, it suits you, Sting," Acnologia nodded.

"Look, my fire's awesome!" Sting yipped making small spheres of white fire emerge on both of his hands.

"HA, now you owe me a fish!" Lector said in triumph pointing at Happy.

"Why Natsu," Happy cried, "You had one job!"

"Okay Rogue your turn," Serena said.

"Wait, what!" Rogue cried.

They had gone through every magic they had, save Acnologia's magic, and Rogue was still the shadow dragon slayer.

"Can I stop now?" Rogue panted.

"No you stubborn brat keep going," Acnologia ordered.

"Should you try?" Serena asked.

"No, I don't need a Shadow Apocalypse Dragon Slayer, that's a disaster in the making!"

"It sounds kinda cool though."

"Here let me try again," Gajeel laughed.

"Gajeel don't you dare-" Rogue threatened.

"Iron Dragon-" Gajeel began.

Laxus slammed his fist onto Gajeel's skull, Gajeel fell to the ground.

"Give the poor kid a break Gajeel," Erik chuckled.

"Rogue do you want me to use my supporter magic on you?" Wendy asked.

"Wendy, you are not allowed to use supporter magic on him!" Acnologia yelled from the opposite end of the track.

"I'm gonna die," Rogue panted.

"Sorry," Wendy sighed.

This continued for the next couple of hours until Wendy cheated.

"Go, Rogue, go, Rogue, go, Rogue, go, Rogue," Frosch chanted

"He's slowing down," Serena sighed.

"Okay, I'm gonna give him a break," Acnologia sighed standing up, "Hey Rogue!" he shouted, "if you can make it around this track by the time I count to three you can stop!"

"What kinda break is that! You're a horrible person!" Serena scoffed.

"One!" Acnologia yelled.

Rogue swore and ran faster.

"Two!"

Wendy had wanted to help her brother for a while, and now she saw her opportunity, she sent a small burst of wind forward pushing Rogue onward faster.

"Wendy, I said no supporter magic!" Acnologia barked.

Rogue was very tired and slightly delusional, but this was mainly because he was hungry. When he saw wind full of magic power fly by him...his instincts, and hunger, took over.

"Acnologia," Serena sighed interrupting Acnologia's lecture aimed towards Wendy.

"WHAT!" Acnologia barked.

"You forgot to say three," Rogue laughed from Acnologia's side a slight breeze picking up as he said it.

"The Shadow Sky Dragon Slayer... should've known," Acnologia sighed looking back.

"YAY Rogue!" Frosch laughed.

"Now comes the fun part," Serena smiled.

And they trained for weeks. They grew in strength. And they thought they were ready.