A Flower Blooms in the Rain

is the 25th episode of the Fairy Tail anime. It first aired on April 12, 2010.

Mirajane discovers the way to stop the Super Giant Mage Phantom MK II from casting Abyss Break upon Magnolia Town. They move to defeat Phantom Lord Guild's strongest team, Element 4, which is actually the power source of the Giant Mage. They manage to defeat three of the four. Only Aria, the strongest of the four, is left standing.

Synopsis
Elfman Takes Over the Beast. Sol is immediately intimidated by his strength and tries to justify his actions, but the Beast doesn’t care. Their battle resumes, but now the Beast is winning. Sol is easily defeated and faints. The Beast then goes to Mirajane. She is fearful that Elfman’s control has left him again, but this time, that is not the case, as Elfman saves and hugs her, then apologizes for taking this form. Mirajane comforts him, and the Take Over duo are once again safe.

Mirajane notices that after Sol’s defeat, the Giant's chanting speed decreased. After giving it some thought, she concludes the Giant's power source is the Element 4. The Element 4 comprises of four Mages each controlling one of the four main elements, the same elements that Abyss Break uses. If they are defeated, the chanting would stop and the threat of Abyss Break would be eliminated.

Natsu Dragneel, meanwhile, has a plan. He believes that if he defeats Jose Porla, the fight will be over. Happy scolds him based on the fact that Jose is just as strong as Makarov. Natsu thinks that no one is left to defeat him, so he has to, and this makes Happy think about the fact that Natsu’s presence gives hope to everyone. They run into a hall and find Aria.

In the meantime, Gray Fullbuster encounters Juvia Lockser. It starts raining as soon as she approaches and after Gray boldly states that he will not forgive anyone who hurts his friends, Juvia blushes, bails on him, and gives up. She falls in love with Gray, which renders her unable to fight him.

However, the fight begins, albeit in an odd way. She tries to make Gray hers, so she locks him in water. Gray freezes it and releases himself. He hits Juvia with ice, but her body, made of water, recomposes itself. Juvia asks for Lucy Heartfilia, going as far as saying that she will make their master retreat, but Gray doesn’t hear any of it. When he calls Lucy an ally, and worse, when he says he would give his life for one, Juvia is shocked to find a “Love Rival”. This makes her feral and the water she used boils. She attacks rapidly and Gray doesn’t even have the time to create ice for counterattack. He is forced to retreat to continue looking for a way stop the giant, as he doesn't know the power source yet, but Juvia ambushes him. He is shot in mid-air, and so he jumps straight into Juvia's boiling water and freezes the whole stream as well as Juvia herself. He makes a “little” mistake, and out of embarrassment, releases her.

Juvia says she cannot harm him and tries to tell him she loves him, but Gray comments on the rain being gloomy. This makes Juvia remember about past relationships that were dissolved (partially) because of the rain. The rain that followed her turned her into a recluse and she unleashes all her anger on Gray, in the form of super hot water. She screams that Phantom Lord is the only one that accepted her, but Gray frees himself from the beam of water, and delivers the final attack on her, Ice-Make: Geyser. She precipitates and thinks she is facing her end as she falls down, but Gray saves her. By this act, she is so touched that the skies clear, and when Gray asks to restart the battle, she faints. The giant's speed is once again decreased. Mirajane and Elfman reach Gray and explain everything. With three of the Element 4 defeated, they go after Aria, the last one standing.

Lucy and Reedus Jonah are staying in the safe house, when the ceiling crumbles. At the same time, Natsu is having difficulties with Aria, but he refuses to give up. Their battle continues...

Fights

 * Elfman Strauss vs. Sol (concluded)
 * Fairy Tail vs. Jose's Shades
 * Natsu Dragneel vs. Aria (started)
 * Gray Fullbuster vs. Juvia Lockser (started and concluded)

Magic used

 * Beast Soul (ビーストソウル Bīsuto Sōru)
 * Beast Soul (ビーストソウル Bīsuto Sōru)

Spells used

 * Platre Sonata
 * Freeze
 * Water Body
 * Freeze
 * Water Body
 * Water Body
 * Water Body

Abilities used

 * Hand-to-Hand Combat

Weapons used

 * Magic Cards

Manga and Anime Differences

 * The fight between Elfman and Sol was much longer in the anime.
 * In the manga, Elfman didn't have a very brief flashback of Lisanna
 * Laki, Alzack and Wakaba did not talk about Loke leaving them in the manga.
 * Instead of using the steam to block Juvia from seeing him when he jumps into the hole, Gray simply went though the hole in the manga.
 * Juvia and Gray's fight was a bit shorter in the manga.
 * The anime showed more flashbacks of Juvia when she was a child than in the manga.
 * The scene in the anime were Juvia falls to the ground and Gray catches her was not shown in manga.
 * Juvia fainted when Gray asked her to do another round of the battle in the anime, but in the manga, she fainted after Gray removed her from his Ice Make: Geyser.
 * The part in the manga were Laki and the other Fairy Tail members are talking about their possible success was not shown in the anime.