Best Partners

The members of Fairy Tail prepare for the guild's annually S-Class Promotion Exam, which will grant the S-Class rank to the one who passes. The eight participants - Natsu, Gray, Juvia, Elfman, Cana, Freed, Levy, and Mest (a man who claims to be Mystogan's disciple) - are instructed to choose a partner to accompany them during the exam, which is to take place on Tenrou Island, Fairy Tail's holy ground. Natsu partners with Happy, Gray with Loke (who temporarily nullifies his contract with Lucy to do so), Juvia with Lisanna, Elfman with Evergreen, Freed with Bickslow, Levy with Gajeel, and Mest with Wendy. During this time, Cana tells Lucy that she intends to leave the guild should she fail the exam, stating that she has failed the exam four times before. She reveals her reasons for doing so to Lucy, who offers to become Cana's partner. Meanwhile, Charle has brief glimpses of disastrous events in the future, one of which includes the black-haired youth from the forest.