User blog comment:FairyRaven/Exceeds and Earth Land Counterparts/@comment-904888-20120820112643

My theory:

1. Remember the very reason why Exceed were sent to Earth Land: "To hunt Dragon Slayers", which could possibly result in the Anima Portal directing the eggs to the Dragon Slayers on purpose, which would lead to at least some exceeds meeting a Dragon Slayer.

2. Gajeel MAY have met an Exceed in its egg form (since it was not mentioned, I can neither prove nor disprove this), but due to his upbringing and personality, may have ignored it completely back then (either due to apathy or ignorance), and possibly resulting in that Exceed ending up with someone else.

3. The only 2DS we have met that we definitely know that had their lacrima implanted BEFORE the Exceed 'invasion' is Laxus, Cobra is a BIG question mark, we have absolutely no idea when he was implanted. And 2DS only display their DS powers when they actually go into Dragon Force to use them, hence anima may not have recognised them as such, and didn't give them Eggs. Given the history of Cobra, I highly doubt he would have met it regardless due to his imprisonment in the Tower of Heaven.

4. Gajeel's Power: remember that Gajeel mentioned that Metalicana was anything but benevolent towards Humans, this suggests that Metalicana didn't teach Gajeel with the same fervor as either Grandeeny or Igneel, so his powers were less developed when Metalicana dissappeared. This, coupled with the fact that we know Natsu has a very headstrong personality, would result in much more frequent use of his DS powers than possibly Gajeel (since we have NO idea about his childhood), and certainly more than Wendy (since she only knew healing spells as a younger kid, and there wasn't many instances where it would be used regularly). This is my theory as to why Gajeel wasn't motion sick initially but Natsu was, since he was already more 'advanced', Gajeel's motion sickness only kicked in after 3 months of intensive training.

5. It's certainly possible that the Edolas counterpart of any human would be an exceed (Ichiya and Nichiya for example), but apart from the obvious humor that pair has, and the fact that their personalities are IDENTICAL rather than polar opposite (no pun with respect to Gray), it could also be an odd exception.