The returning members decide to participate in the Grand Magic Games, a tournament in Crocus that determines the ranking of the strongest guilds. The reigning champion, Saber Tooth, includes two Dragon Slayers (Sting and Rogue). The team plans for 3 months of training, but Natsu and his friends actually spend this time in the celestial world with Lucy. They meet Jellal, Ultear, and Merudy (forming Crime Witch), who double their power in exchange for investigating the magical anomaly they detected around the arena. Wendy disappears before the preliminary event; Elfman replaces her. The team narrowly makes it to 8th place (last).