I know it's nowhere near Thanksgiving, but I want to fill up my account with a few stories and not just one. I made this for last Thanksgiving, so I hope you like xD.
"Hey Luigi! Did you get the flower?"
"Natsu...for the countless times, it's Lucy! And it's flour, not flower!"
The spiky headed guy cocked his head in confusion. "What's the difference? They both come from outside."
Lucy face-palmed her forehead. "No…flower the plant comes from outside, and flour the food comes from...uh...who cares! They are two different things, and you pointed outside, so I'm assuming you meant that flower."
A certain blue cat chuckled a little. "Lucy tried to state a point and failed~hehe..."
"Just shut it Neko-chan!" she curled her fingers together into a fist. "At least I got the flour as requested."
"Good!" Natsu held a thumbs up. "Jii-chan said all we needed was flour, fruit, and eggs. Since you got the flour, all we need is to wait for Erza and Gray to get the fruit from the mountains and Gajeel to get the eggs from the market."
"Okay!"
The guild at the moment was organizing all the ingredients over some tables as instructed by their master. They were still lost as to what they were gathering these things for, because they were supposed to be celebrating the holiday, Thanksgiving. This was Lucy's first time having it with Fairy Tail, and she was pretty excited, yet terrorized. Usually with events like these, the building is sure to go down in flames. If that happened, they would have to rebuild the guild all over again, and who knows how long that would take if each time it was rebuilt, it was more advanced and luxurious than the previous. Lucy didn't even want to think about it.
"Lu-chan?"
She jumped at the sudden greeting from her friend.
"Hi Levy-chan!"
"Are you okay? You seem lost."
"I'm fine Levy-chan!" she replied with haste. To not make things more awkward than they already were, she decided to bring up a random conversation.
"How's you and Gajeel?" What am I saying? Such a wrong move I made.
Immediately, the leader of team Shadow Gear blushed in complete embarrassment. As she went to open her mouth to speak, the one they mentioned of burst into the guild with his cat partner beside him. Levy sighed relief since she no longer had to speak of her current relationship with the Iron Dragon Slayer.
"Sorry for the long wait," his cat, Panther Lily started. "Gajeel couldn't resist some of the iron products we saw, so we had to take most of the jewels from our pockets to replace what he ate."
"That iron was the best I've tasted by far, so it was worth it. What I don't understand is why it was so expensive to replace the things back!"
Lily froze. "It's probably because you tried to sing a song to them when you attempted to lower the price."
Lucy and Levy looked at them with sweat drops. Even Lucy wonders how Levy has an interest in this guy. Lily examined the place.
"It seems Lucy got the flour already. So all we need is the fruit. But..."
The girls blinked at the sudden pause. "But what?"
"Makarov hired Erza out of all people. Knowing her, she'll probably just go out to get strawberries in the mountains," he remembered a shady memory. "I'm glad it's not me that's with her, but Gray will have to suffer the consequences.
The girls sighed at their visions of what could possibly be going on. Levy had positive thoughts though. "It's okay! That's why Gray's with her right?"
"I guess that's true," agreed a hesitated Lily. Meanwhile, the rain woman was in a corner depressed, bringing confusion to everyone that laid eyes on her. Wendy and Carla were walking by when they saw her.
"Should we ask what's wrong Carla? Juvia-san seems sad."
The female cat crossed her arms. "Hpmh! It's obvious what she's worried about. Probably the thought of that ice mage being alone with that strawberry cheesecake fanatic."
She looked at her friend with concern. "Carla. Don't you think it would be nice to help Juvia instead of ignoring her?"
"We should let her cry it out on her own. Wendy, sometimes you can be such a simpleton. You know girls like her need personal help with mental issues, and you shouldn't get in the way of that-"
When she turned around, she realized she was speaking to nobody but herself. Carla stopped in surprise.
"Wendy?"
It's obvious where she's at. Running to her friend, she listened to her conversation with the rain woman.
"Hi Wendy-san..." she whined in nervousness. Wendy still smiled at ease.
"Hi Juvia-san. Are you worried about Gray-san-"
"YEESS! Gray-sama is alone with Erza-san again! What if she's another love rival along with Lucy-san! Gray-sama looked like he needed help when they went out in the first place. I think he wanted to go alone with Juvia!"
"Hehe well..." Wendy started in uncertainty. "How come you can't visit Gray-san? You could spy on him from afar to be sure he's okay..."
Out of nowhere, the former Phantom Lord mage got on her two feet and had an expression of realization.
"How come I couldn't think of that earlier! Wendy-san, you're so smart!"
"You usually do watch him when he is alone with someone though," she recalled in surprise. She was really in surprise when Juvia grabbed her by her hand and rushed out the guild.
"Wendy-san. You're coming with Juvia so you can learn how to keep an eye on your future love!"
"EH!?"
Carla jolted after her owner. From where she was at, Wendy looked like a plush doll being dragged away by the water woman. She would NOT let her friend get taken away to do such a sneaky deed.
"Wendy! Wait!"
"I'm sorry Carla!"
By the tiny footsteps her paws took her, Wendy seemed to be getting smaller and smaller until she went from a speck to nothingness. She was nowhere in her sight now. Carla panted in tiredness. She tried a little too hard to catch up to her best friend. She flinched when she realized what she could have done. With irritation and shame, she spread out her wings and flew in the direction of where the two dashed off to. How did I not think of this? I could have even turned human! I hate to even think about it, but even Happy would have thought smarter than me just now!
~The Mountains~
The two were trekking in the mountains for the food they were assigned to. Both were carrying what seemed like endless heavy loads of barrels full of food: fruit. The scarlet haired one didn't carry them in her hands, but rather on her moving cart. The ice mage, however, had to carry them in his hands. He somehow managed to hold four barrels at a time. He would put more barrels on her cart, but he decided to hold the rest that they were gathering so it wouldn't get too heavy for her. Seriously, even he couldn't manage to roll that thing. Not even a centimeter. He sighed guiltily. She looked TOTALLY tempted. The only reason why she didn't go off on a strawberry spree was because he was here. He felt like a party pooper, because he realizes that when he's here, she can't really be herself. He knew everyone back at the guild was waiting for them, but...
"Erza."
A ghostly aura emerged from her as she turned around to face the ice user.
"Is something wrong Gray?"
I should be asking you that, is what he wanted to say. Instead, he sat on the ground and crossed his arms. She stared at him in confusion.
"Gray..?"
"Just go," he said. "You seem desperate."
She raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean desperate? Do I look desperate to you?"
Yes. Very. He thought, a little petrified. Seriously, she's way too dishonest with herself. He picked up an empty barrel. "You want strawberries right? We'll just get one barrel full of them, then go back to the guild. We've spent hours looking for other fruit, but I believe looking for strawberries will take minutes."
The Titania said nothing. Gray seemed a little nervous to what her response could be. Maybe he put too much pressure on her.
"Erza..."
When she turned around, he flinched back.
"Are you...sure...about...this..." she stuttered in embarrassment. Gray sighed once again.
"Yes, I'm sure. You seem like you need to have more-"
When he looked in front of him, the cart, Erza, everything was gone. It was spotless.
"Fun." he finished. "Gramps, I still don't know why you assigned her to fruit."
As he ran into the vast mountainous range, the two girls finally made it, and hid in a bush nearby. Juvia bit on her handkerchief in displeasure while Wendy watched unsuredly.
"Where is Gray-sama going? Shouldn't he leave her and go find Juvia instead?"
Wendy took a small laugh of uneasiness, at a loss of words. "Should we follow them though? I mean, he's starting to disappear on us-"
"You're right! Let's go, Wendy-san!"
The Sky Dragon Slayer was completely lost now. "Hai..."
Trying to figure out any possible places she could have gone, he searched high and low. For instance, if he saw a stampede of animals or people running his way, that would mean she was in the opposite direction. In a way, Erza is scary when it comes to food. He bet even the strawberries themselves would be the first thing gone in this world if she tried to take over the world. Out of the blue, he finally heard the picking of fruit off bushes, but it was more like an endless sound of picking. When he reached it, sure enough, it was Erza. There were two piles: one with fresh strawberries and the other with overripe strawberries. He was frozen stiff when he saw the speed she was picking them out; he sweared she accomplished the world record of picking strawberries at infinity miles per hour. With the keen senses she had, she managed to sense that he came.
"Start picking." Was all she said with the quickness, which made him shiver a little in fear. Knowing this was their task, he began to pick. Because he knew how precise she was with this, he observed it 100 times harder than he would any other object before throwing it in the pile it belonged in. Juvia was full of impatience.
"He's picking fruit with her...he's picking fruit with her...like a COUPLE!"
Wendy patted Juvia on her head. "It's okay, Juvia-san. Master ordered them to do this. Also, they don't have romantic feelings for each other anyways, right? Erza-san already likes-"
She got cut off from her sentence when she was drawn into a huge hug. "You're right Wendy-san! You will be quite successful in love! Juvia looks up to you!"
The girl with navy blue ponytails blinked in surprise. "Really...?"
While they were still chatting, the flying she-cat finally caught sight of them. She sighed relief.
"Thank goodness Wendy! What would Caitshelter think of you if you still went there-"
Juvia covered up the cats mouth instantly so they would attract their attention. It obviously did, causing Gray to stop.
"Did you hear that?"
She raised her head up. "Yea." And went back to picking. Gray didn't know what to say about her actions. Since she didn't try to go check, he would do it in her place. Going in the direction he heard it from, the girls tried their hardest not to make too much noise.
"Um...Juvia-san. Gray-san is coming."
"We're sure to get caught," Carla crossed her arms. "So you better tell the truth and serve your consequences-"
"JUBIN!" Juvia whispered in panic. Out of nowhere, it rained in the zone where Erza and Gray were at, leaving everyone astonished.
"What the hell? When did it start raining? And why only here? It's sunny skies over there!"
The first thing Erza did was gather the strawberries picked and put them in the barrel so they wouldn't drown in water. She put the barrel on her cart and rolled it on.
"We're ready. Let's go back."
And she's not concerned about this sudden change in weather. Gray thought in confusion. When they were going on their way back, Juvia was in complete satisfaction.
"Yay! Juvia stopped them! We're going too."
"Hai," Wendy forced. Carla just made a "hpmh" sound again at their futile watch. When she went to take a step, she soon stopped when the ones in front of her did suddenly.
"What is it now?!" the cat argued in complaint. She found out the reason when she saw that one of the wheels of Erza's cart stumbled upon a rock and made her lose grip. The whole thing went tumbling down the hill. Everything managed to stay on, but it wouldn't be long when everything would drop off of it. Of course, Erza dashed down with it at high speeds and reequiped into her Soaring Armor. Instead of trying to catch up to her speed by running, Gray used his ice magic to make a floor underneath him in midair and slode down on it like he would a rail. When Erza reached her cart, she tried pushing it back the opposite way with her super strength, but it still rolled down the hill. It was just too heavy for her. Thinking up an excellent idea, Gray decided to use his ice magic to stop it.
"Ice-make shield!"
In like half a second, a shield made of ice appeared in front of the rolling object to prevent it from going anymore downhill. At last, the object stopped, and nothing fell out of the barrels. Thank goodness they didn't lose the barrels either, because let's say they came from someone he knew who used them quite a lot...
Erza got a hold of her cart and went to push it uphill again. Gray breathed a sigh of relief. If he let the fruit go and they came back empty-handed, not only would he get a scolding from Master, but also a crying Erza. That would not be pleasing to his eyes at all. Not noticing he was still sliding, Juvia and the others saw him and not sure what to say.
"Gray-sama?"
"Uh...Gray-san?"
"What is that moron doing?"
Erza soon noticed and called out to him. "Gray-"
But it was too late when they all heard a crash come from that direction. Erza stood still for a minute, looking back and forth between that direction and her cart. It seemed like she was trying to make a life or death decision. Tying the cart to a nearby tree, she dashed down to go get him. The others were just in complete shock.
"Gray-sama...Juvia wants to save you so badly!"
"Carla..? Is Gray-san going to be okay?"
"He's alright.. I knew one of them would come back to the guild with at least one injury anyways."
~Back At The Guild~
Master Makarov examined the late children of his as they entered the guild with what seemed like endless barrels of fruit, making his jaw almost drop to the floor. It almost could if he wanted it to, because Makarov was so short. He coughed an "ahem" in a fist.
"I see you finally gathered the fruit, and as expected, you gathered as much as I assumed. Maybe a lot more."
Erza nodded. "I'm glad that we were successful in this task, Master."
Their Master smiled, before he got a good look at the one next to her. His smile faded when his eyes lay on him.
"And what happened to you?"
Gray scratched his head in slight embarrassment, bandages on his body. "I wasn't paying attention to what was in front of me and fell off a mountain. It was a long fall."
He was silent for a moment to his response, then gained his grin back. "Okay. I thought you might have destroyed a few mountains or had a fight with some butchers. But to my surprise, you came back with no property destroyed somewhere."
Gray hesitated for a second there, because he realized that when Erza came to save him, about three mountains were missing from when he last looked. It was pretty obvious she cut them down while searching for him. He hid it from Master though. Pretending not to know how he got the bruises, Juvia rushed to his side.
"Gray-sama! Are you okay? You seem hurt! Juvia will nurse you back to health!"
"No thanks!"
The next person who noticed him was his lifelong rival: Natsu. Out of all people here on this earth, that was who he didn't want to see. He even would have accepted seeing Lyon over him. The flame mage poked him.
"What happened to you? Beaten by Erza?"
"No," he answered. That actually was a great guess, coming from his mouth. "Just fell off a cliff, Flame Princess."
"I was just asking Shaved Ice! You didn't have to get smart with me!"
"You annoy me with every little sound that comes out of that mouth of yours, even if it is breathing!"
"Oh yea? My eyes start to melt every time they come upon that body of yours."
Engaging in another fight, Lucy and Juvia just stared. At least Juvia was cheering for Gray, but Lucy thought to herself, "not again." Gray is injured, and still has the energy to fight him. Sometimes they make Lucy's mind whirl in wonder. Finally, Master Makarov stood on the stage in the guild.
"Ahem!"
Hearing his gesture, everyone in the guild turned their heads to look at their master. By the looks of it, he was finally going to announce why they had gathered everything. He spoke loud and clear with his magnificent voice.
"You see that in the guild hall we now have much ingredients. The more, the better. You also may be wondering why we gathered ingredients instead of food for this holiday people celebrate. The truth is, we are doing things differently this year."
The crowd grew confused and excited in one as he went on.
"Instead of eating on Thanksgiving, we are cooking on Thanksgiving! We're having an All-You-Can-Make Contest!"
The guild members were delighted at the idea. It was quite a twist to the holiday, since they did things the same each year. Everyone was fixed on it.
"Afterwards, you get to eat the creations like we would a regular traditional Thanksgiving meal! But not just us...all the ally guilds are coming here!"
Their chatter died down instantly. He explained.
"We are doing this together. Sabertooth, Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale, Mermaid Heel, Quatro Cerberus, or ahem, Quatro Puppy. I even invited Crime Sorciere if they want to come. Only a few members from each guild will come, to save space. The teams will also be chosen randomly."
The excitement soon turned into a riot when they heard the news.
"No way am I working with Sabertooth! For sure, Sting and Rogue are coming, right Happy?"
"Aye!"
"No one's taking my Lily!"
"Why would anyone dare to take me anyways?"
"Anyone who teams with with Nee-chan and Lisanna has to be a MAN!"
"Elfman, we'll be fine."
"If Laxus and I are separated, this guild will explode immediately with my runes!"
"Freed, please don't go there! You're remark was even worse than a certain elf over here!"
"MAN is important, Evergreen!"
"Gray-sama and I cannot be separated! We have an invisible thread of fate linked between us that can't be undone!"
"What?!"
"Ahem!"
The riot died down when they heard their master's gesture cough again. He's coughed quite a lot today, and they knew that was a bad sign.
"They should be here now."
Footsteps of other guilds and smells erupted the place as they all came inside the Fairy Tail guild. The place was packed now, but due to Master's suggestion of "bringing in a few from each," they were still able to move. Everyone had their talk with the other guild members like a family reunion.
"Sabertooth's been getting stronger everyday! How about on your end, Natsu?"
"Obviously Sting, if we beat 'your' guild in the Grand Magic Games!"
"Hi Wendy! Long time no see!"
"Sheria!"
"Gajeel, have you been training? Me and Sting have been at it."
"What do you think! I train everyday Rogue!"
"Hey Happy-kun? Been any helpful to the guild?"
"Aye, Lector! I help Natsu fly to where he needs to get to!"
"That's it? That's pretty lowly if you ask me."
"Fro thinks so too!" ^^
"How was Ren when I was away?"
"Excellent! He longs for you a lot Sherry!"
"Will you be my Nee-san?"
"Eve, don't say that to Sherry-chan in front of Ren please."
"Let's have a drinking challenge again while we're here!"
"Can't help but agree with you, woman."
"Juvia-chan, my heart aches for you when we are apart. Fate is cruel to us as it is to Romeo and Juliet."
"Well...Juvia..."
"Lyon, please stop annoying her. She doesn't seem like she's enjoying it."
"Such abuse you do to Juvia-chan's feelings!"
"Could Gray-sama be...jealous?!"
The guild masters (except for Sabertooth's Sting) watched their members in no surprise. They knew how crazy they were when they got all together, like wolves in a cage.
"I wonder how this is going to turn out," Makarov started. This is our first year doing this."
"I believe this will turn out beautifully!" Master Bob thought positively. "You children are full of wonder and creativity after all Makarov!"
"Bacchus is the only one with creativity and guts to do something like this, so he's representing all of Quatro Cerberus," stated Master Goldmine. "He's the pride of his Wild Four!"
"Anyone who doesn't win in Lamia Scale will get a turning from me!" Master Ooba warned, glaring at Lamia Scale members Lyon, Sherry, Sheria, and Jura. "You know who you are!"
The four of them felt a chill down their spines at the thought of getting dizzy from her spins. They shook it off quickly. The guild masters held out a huge bucket of sticks to decide the teams. The members saw the buckets and already knew the meaning it held, causing the whole guild hall to be quiet. Makarov was the one to give instructions.
"We have fifteen members from Fairy Tail, four members from Blue Pegasus, four from Lamia Scale, two from Mermaid Heel, six from Sabertooth, three from Crime Sorciere, and...only one from Quatro Cerberus, and this includes the five exceeds. That's a total of 40 mages. There will be eight teams of five mages. The numbers of the sticks will have numbers 1-8, and you come together with the people who have the same number as you. Now come up here and pick a number!"
"Yeah!" they all roared in excitement and competition.
"Even if it's only me, it's still Wild, FOUR!" Bacchus screeched in confidence. A drunk Cana punched him in the back.
"Aw, come on, it's going to be Softie Four when you lose, because you'll be begging on all fours when you lose to me, drunken hawk!"
"We'll see about that."
It was chaotic, but everyone was choosing their numbers blindly. For the results:
"Happy, what did you get?" asked Natsu.
"Two! You Natsu?"
"Aww man! Four!"
"Did someone say four?"
Natsu turned around to the person whose voice it belonged to. He froze in complete astonishment when he saw who; the White Dragon Slayer, Sting Eucliffe.
"Don't...tell...me...you got four too..." Natsu stuttered.
"Uh, yea. Do you know someone else who did-"
"You're looking right at him apparently..."
Sting looked totally confused at first until he sweated in agony. "No...that's impossible...you and I in the same group, ha! Is there someone else standing in between us..."
"It is me! You're so late!" Natsu pointed at the other Dragon Slayer.
"Impossible!" Sting mimicked, also pointing back at his partner in terror. "Something must be haunted about those popsicle sticks!"
Others were also not appreciating their pairings. The whole guild hall was filled with revolt and anger at their teams.
"I'm glad we're not on the same team Lyon. It'll feel nice to face off against you again," said the ice mage.
"Yes. However..."
"What kind of people did we group up with!" they argued in unison. Apparently, Gray, who got four, found out that Erza was someone on his team and Lyon, who got one, found out that Mermaid Heel's Kagura was on his team. They were at a loss of words while Juvia was depressed again.
"Why does such fate lie with Juvia! At least I got a number that wasn't the same as Lyon-sama's, but I didn't get with Gray-sama either! Juvia has a three!"
Someone tapped her on the shoulder. Feeling the tap, she turned her head to see Crime Sorciere's Jellal. He held up his number, which happened to be the same as hers.
"Guess we're on the same team," he said. Juvia was still depressed, but felt a little better to know that she wasn't with Lyon or Lucy, her love rival, who got a two.
"Yea."
With the Number Four group, there seemed to be a bigger argument than it already was.
"Oh great. Not only is White Dragon here but so is Ice Princess!"
"Got a problem with that?"
"I have endless reasons as to why it's impossible work with you!"
The two got into another argument once again, with Sting joining them. Instead of stopping them, the scarlet head had her eyes glued on someone else. With all of her heart, she wished he was her team, or vice versa. However, when she saw Juvia on his team, she disappeared. Sting noticed her presence was gone and became questioned.
"Uh guys? Where did Erza-san go?"
Natsu stopped fighting next. "Erza's on our team? I didn't know that!"
"That's because you chose to fight me before I could say anything," Gray argued. "I have a feeling I know what she's doing. Probably trading sticks with someone else."
"Why would she not want to be with us?! complained Natsu. The scarlet haired mage walked up to Juvia, who was still not too happy.
"Hey, Juvia."
"Yes, Erza-san?"
She held out her stick. "Wanna trade? I know you must want to be with Gray-"
Juvia, as fast as lightning, snatched the stick out of her hand and gave her own to Erza. She also gave her a tremendous, powerful hug. The moment she was LONGING for all day: to be with her Gray-sama!
"Thank you so much, Erza-san! I'm happy you care about Juvia's feelings!"
She nodded. "Have fun."
With such excitement too large to contain, Juvia bolted to her new group and jumped on her love, grabbing him by the arm.
"Gray-sama!"
He jumped in surprise. "Juvia?! You got the same number as us...?"
"Yup! Erza-san was thinking about Juvia's feelings and we traded numbers!"
"Actually, I think she was aware of her own feelings," Gray corrected, already knowing her intentions. She seemed quite happy already with the trade, but didn't show it as much as she wanted to. Again. Inside, she was quite overjoyed to be with Mr. Fernandes. The mysterious wizard gave a small grin.
"You'd do anything to be in the same group as me. You haven't changed."
She didn't say anything back. She held back a smile, to show she was content, yet dishonest to admit the answer.
Out of bad luck, Cana and Bacchus got the same number when they wanted to be on different teams to go against each other. They had the number six. Even Wendy wasn't very happy with her number so far. She had a seven, but she knew no one so far who had one, not even Carla, who had a two. Since she was so small in size, everyone about towered over her, and when she would ask, they couldn't hear her because it was super loud. She wouldn't give up though!
"I can do this..! Oof~"
Accidentally, she bumped into someone else, not knowing who it was yet.
"It hurts..." she whined softly, rubbing her behind for a second. Finally looking up to see who it was, she sighed with relief.
"Romeo-kun."
At least he was almost about her size. Thank goodness, she wasn't the only one having a hard time with this. The Exceeds may be smaller than her in size, but they can fly. But now that she thought about it, did Lector and Frosch ever fly? That thought questioned her for a moment as Romeo held out a hand.
"Need a hand?"
She jumped, startled at the sudden offer. She was still on the ground, now that she looked. She took his hand.
"Hai. Sorry..."
"It's fine," he reassured, still baffled as to what she was thinking about. "But have you seen Natsu-nii? I wanted to see if we had the same number..."
Now that she thought about it, when she was running through the crowds she did catch him having a fight with Sting and Gray. She pointed in the direction.
"Over there, I think..."
"Okay. Thank you, Wendy!"
"Yea...her voice trailed off as Romeo left. She sighed in defeat again. Still nothing accomplished. But then again, she never knew what Romeo's number was. She was tempted to chase after him, but no, he was too busy looking for Natsu. He was still in sight due to the crowds of people blocking him, so he didn't get too far. However, when he tried to barge through he dropped his stick, revealing his number. Glancing her eyes over it from her distance, she jumped in shock as if a miracle happened right before her eyes. Romeo had a seven! The same as her! Guess she had to chase him anyways. Before he could get lost again, she barged through the legs of mages.
"Romeo-kun! Romeo-kun!"
He still couldn't hear her. Still trying to catch up to him, she tripped and dropped on her feet, again. But this time is was in her usual style. Both her and Sheria were known for clumsy acts like this, but it wasn't her fault. With the tiny squeal she made from falling, Romeo managed to hear her that time.
"Wendy."
She stood up again with the quickness and bowed. "Sorry if I fall all the time! I was just looking for you!"
"Hmm?" he said, confused. The confusion faded when she held her number up.
"Don't you also have seven?"
"Uh..yea," he replied. "So that means we're on the same team then!"
"Yea," Wendy agreed, feeling a bit awkward. The next thing she knew was that the young fire mage grabbed her hand and dashed off again into the plethora of people.
"Let's look for Natsu-nii to see if he has the same number. Hold on and try not to get lost, okay?"
"O...okay," she said, feeling slightly lost in thought. She also felt embarrassed, because now that she thought about it, a boy had never held her hand before. Carla has, but she was her friend and also the same gender as her. Not even Mystogan has, when she traveled with him as a little girl. It felt strangely weird to her, but it also made this small warmth of passion flicker on in her heart somewhere. Never mind this, let's look for Natsu-san!
The guild masters were talking amongst theirselves, trying to come up with a solution to the catastrophe. Makarov held a hand up, and the other hand had a scroll in it.
"Halt!"
Unexpectedly, everyone stopped, even bringing amazement the masters at the immediate obedience. The Fairy Tail guild master rolled the scroll down.
"Bob, Goldmine, Ooba, and I overlooked your numbers once everyone choose and wrote everyone down on the list under their numbers. That way this should be easier for you to know who you're paired up with."
Listening to what he ordered, everyone took a look at the list and went to arrange themselves. It took quite an effort but it got done, showing how such a task was possible. On the scroll was listed:
Team 1:
Lyon
Kagura
Sheria
Frosch
Sherry
Team 2:
Happy
Carla
Lucy
Lisanna
Meredy
Team 3:
Jellal
Erza
Jura
Millianna
Ichiya
Team 4:
Natsu
Sting
Gray
Juvia
Yukino
Team 5:
Gajeel
Rogue
Levy
Minerva
Ultear
Team 6:
Cana
Bacchus
Mirajane
Freed
Hibiki
Team 7:
Wendy
Romeo
P. Lily
Lector
Eve
Team 8:
Laxus
Evergreen
Bickslow
Elfman
Ren
"We're starting in five minutes. In this time, adjust to your teams!" Master Bob announced, with a tiny chuckle. Knowing who else was on their team made some mages feel relief, while others felt extreme pressure and anger. Erza wanted to reequip into her Heaven's Wheel Armor so badly so this person could fall into the deepest pits of hell, far away from her. She could NOT believe he was on her team. The Titania inched a little closer to Jellal. Millianna was filled with joy to be on her team.
"Yay! Er-chan's on my team!"
She still felt a little uneasy about Jellal, but if Erza could trust him, maybe she could too. Erza waved at her childhood friend.
"Hi Millianna..." she greeted, feeling a little creeped out. The cat was still confused as to why she had such a sudden change in mood. When the man she was hiding from appeared, she sighed and stood tall. Jellal watched them in concern.
It's just Ichiya. Just Ichiya. Is what she kept repeating to herself. Finally busting a move, the Blue Pegasus mage tried to sniff her, making her jump and hold on to Jellal.
"Hello, my honey. You have such a sweet parfum! He held her hand and bowed. "After this, would you like to share a large parfait..."
Losing her patience, Erza kicked him with all her strength. She kicked him like a football going across the entire field, like a touchdown.
"MEEEEEENNNN!" His voice faded, for he was nowhere in sight. Millianna and Jellal blinked in amusement.
"Wasn't that the one with the Neko at the Grand Magic Games? They managed to win that round too! Do you two have something going on-"
"NO!" she replied quickly, with a deadly aura emerging from her. Millianna jumped in surprise.
"Nya! Okay!"
Jellal whispered to his companion. "Someone you know?"
"Yes. But I wish I didn't."
He almost laughed, but didn't. "We all meet those types."
"I guess."
Jura seemed to be in thought about something, so nobody tried to bother him. Millianna on the other hand, was groaning in haste. "Aww, I wish one of the Nekos was on our team! Especially that frog Neko! Now that you think about it, Kagura-chan is with him!"
Meanwhile with Team 1, it was just as expected. The cat Exceed who believed he was a frog introduced himself to his temporary comrades.
"Hi there! I'm Frosch! I'm a frog, but Lector says I'm a cat."
They all studied the Exeed for a moment. His spotted-frog costume amused them the most. The circle of friends was still silent, but it suddenly broke when they couldn't help it.
"Kawaii!~" they all chorused. Kagura snatched him up first before anyone else.
"Fro thinks so too!" he spoke. The mage of Mermaid Heel held him up.
"I wish I could take you back to my guild," she complained.
"Let us see!" The cousins Sherry and Sheria begged. Lyon peeked over Kagura's shoulder.
"Now that you look at him closer, he is a little cute." He stared at him a little closer, making Kagura feel uncomfortable with what he may do next. He raised a hand as if he were to state a vow.
"But not as cute as my Juvia-chan!"
The three of them wanted to fall over headfirst to the ground. Frosch raised his tiny hand.
"Fro thinks so too!"
Juvia felt a chill down her spine all of a sudden. Yukino noticed and looked at her in worry. The rest of their group was still fighting in the back.
"Is something wrong, Juvia?"
"Juvia felt a sudden chill."
Yukino smiled. "If it's because you feel lonely, it's okay. You're not the only girl in this group."
"WHY AM I THE ONLY GIRL IN THIS GROUP!" Evergreen screamed in irritation. "Not only that, but I'm stuck with an elf over here too!"
"I don't wanna be here either! I want my sisters, and we're all separated!" complained Elfman. "There better be a worthy MAN watching them."
Evergreen sighed. "Well, at least I have Laxus and Bickslow here. But I feel bad for Freed..."
The rune user sat in a corner, angry. His spirit felt completely destroyed. To avoid the fighting between Cana and Bacchus, Mirajane went to Freed.
"You really want to be with Laxus, don't you?"
He faced her, his eyes sore from tears. "Yes! Why did they exclude me from the Rajinshuu?! Even Bickslow and Ever are with him! Is this world not meant for me to be united with Laxus?"
Mirajane put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. We're with you. It's only temporary."
He wiped his tears, even though his mood never changed. "Alright."
Makarov held up the timer. "You all have thirty seconds left, and I'll use this time to speak. You'll have two full hours to do this, and that's plenty of time. The meal can be anything you want it to be, and you can use magic. Just get it done within the amount of time! Get ready, because there's ten more seconds.
Everyone was silent, ready to start. Who would be the winner? Is there a prize for who wins? They'll see. The ding sound rang in the air.
"GO!"
The masses of mages were thinking of the dish they were going to make. Random dishes we're being talked amongst them.
"It has to involve chicken!" said Natsu. Sting punched him in the head.
"Idiot, we're not having a cookout! This is Thanksgiving! Get your facts straight, it should be a turkey!"
"I agree with him," said Gray. Natsu wanted to break down this whole guild with his roar.
"Jii-chan! This isn't fair! I have two people against me!"
Getting involved into another argument, Juvia and Yukino did it theirselves.
"What if we combine all of our ideas together," Yukino suggested. "They both came up with great ideas. We just need to be more creative with it.."
The rain women jumped in excitement. "How about something in the shape of Gray-sama!"
"What's going to be in my shape?" Gray questioned in his fight. Yukino came up with an idea at the second.
"I got it!"
Juvia seemed to be the only one listening, but at least someone cooperated with her. "What if we do a turkey that is in the shape of all five of us? We can decorate with other ingredients to make it look more realistic and creative."
It seemed crazy at first, but Juvia high-fived her.
"Juvia agrees!"
Team 3 also seemed to be having a hard time coming up with an idea. Erza raised her hand.
"I have an idea! Let's do..."
Millianna was excited to hear her friend's opinion. She knew how quick and brilliant Erza was, and if it had something to do with food, they were sure to come up with the best idea...
"A 10 foot strawberry cheesecake with a thousand strawberries on it!"
Millianna's joy flew away from her when she heard her answer. "Of course...that's so you, Er-chan."
Jellal chuckled a little at her choice. Like Millianna said, it was so her. The cat woman sat on the floor and crossed her arms, tail waving.
"What are we going to do? Er-chan blew it..."
Jura stood up from his spot, making the others stare in amusement. He seemed pretty confident.
"I have an idea. And as sad as it sounds, that parfum man made me think about it."
Erza flinched for a minute, then held it cool. "Okay, let's hear it."
As he was telling them of his idea, one of the groups already started: Team 1. Sherry and Sheria were gathering ingredients while Lyon and Kagura stayed behind to think more on it's structure. As they were thinking, Frosch got into a tiny maid costume over his frog one as Kagura instructed him to. Lyon thought the idea was ridiculous, but still went with it if Kagura worked seriously that way.
"We're the first one's gathering ingredients. We're unstoppable," Lyon stated. "Strange how we're pretty compatible despite we fought harshly in the Grand Magic Games. They say yesterday's enemy is today's friend"
Kagura raised an eyebrow. "Actually, it's yesterday's friend is today's enemy. But you can put it that way in this condition."
Frosch finally got into the costume and showed them. Kagura couldn't help but pick him up again and hug the stuffing out of him.
"It's perfect," was all she said when she held him up. He looked like a toy from Lyon's perspective now.
"Fro thinks so too!" he said proudly again. "I wonder how Lector is doing."
In Team 7, the members had zero thoughts on what to make. Wendy did indeed cook with Carla on her freetime, but it was usually Carla that came up with the ideas. Team 2 would be lucky with her on their team. Eve was still thinking of an idea for their dish, and made tea to help him think. Romeo also had a hard time. The Exceeds of the group seemed irritated.
"Why did they put P. Lily to abbreviate my name?" argued Gajeel's cat. They must be that lazy."
Lector shrugged. "Maybe your name was just too long."
"Maybe. And anyways..."
"What?"
"Why do we have all the kids on our team?" Panther Lily complained. "There's no one here at least 18 or higher! Are we the Kiddie Squad now?"
"I'm above 18. I'm 23!" said Eve, shining as if he were with the rest of his Trimens. Panther Lily and Lector had sweat drops.
"You seem like you're just a teenager, the way you act," commented Lector.
"I can't help but agree with you," Lily joined. In their talk, Wendy was still thinking, stressing for an idea to magically pop into her head.
"Ah...only Carla came up with ideas! I'm such a disgrace to this team."
Romeo turned to her. "It's okay. You're not a disgrace. It just takes time to think up things like this. We have 2 hours, so that's plenty of time to think!"
"Yea, but..." Wendy hesitated. "That's less time to cook!"
Romeo held a thumbs up. "It's okay. Just take your time. I'll be thinking too."
"Okay."
Like Wendy said, Team 2 was on a mission. Just like Team 1, they were already gathering ingredients, but also actually making it too. Happy and Meredy were getting ingredients while Lisanna and Lucy were cooking the food. Carla was... the team's coach.
"Lucy, make the batter thinner. Make it as thin as possible, but don't break it in two!"
"Hai!"
"Happy, you get the milk while...pink hair gets the sugar."
"Aye!"
Meredy made a pouting face. "Aww, why did you call me "pink hair?" It's Meredy!"
"Just stick with it for now until I get used to it! Lisanna, while you're waiting until Lucy's done, boil some water."
"Okay!"
Meredy sighed and looked up at Happy. "You're not feeling tortured?"
"Nope! If it's Carla, I feel joy in her words!"
Meredy was in shock. "Wow! You're name is Happy, after all." She glanced over her shoulder.
"I wonder how Ul is doing.."
"Seriously..." Ultear said in anger with her arms crossed. "When are you guys going to stop bragging and start working! Minerva and I already figured out what we're going to do, so get to it!"
She dropped a slip of paper with a list of ingredients on it in between the two Dragon Slayers and stepped back. Gajeel and Rogue were currently in a mini argument, while Levy tried to stop them.
"I'm telling you, MY CAT IS BETTER THAN YOURS!" Gajeel yelled in his face. "My Lily is way better than your Frosch! He's more stronger, more smarter, and WAY more cooler than that frog Exceed of yours!"
"No...MY FROSCH IS BETTER! He's much cuter than your ugly scarred cat, and everyone wants him! He also has potential, since he wanted to get back to the guild one time all by himself!"
"Lily can get back anytime with no troubles! And how come he couldn't 'fly' back to the guild huh? Explain that!"
"Flying is cheating!"
Levy watched them go back and forth and tried cutting in between them. If she tried breaking them up, maybe at least Gajeel would listen to her.
"Uh, Gajeel? Could you please stop fighting? We have work to do..."
He faced her. "And I have work to do here! Try proving to him that Lily is a better cat than that frog Frosch!"
Levy made a long face. "Gajeel, you idiot!"
Minerva and Ultear sat there in defeat. Ultear smashed a fist to the table.
"What are we going to do?"
The group doing the worst was not them, but Team 8. They had no progress at all. They couldn't think of any ideas. They felt as if they wanted to turn away from the challenge.
"Guys, let's give up," Ren said. "This isn't my style anyways, and I want to go on a date with Sherry after this."
"You're right," agreed Bickslow. Laxus, on the other hand, refused to say the words 'give up' but inside, he was feeling that way. It was obvious Evergreen wanted to give up because her group's determination was weak. Elfman...
"Guys! Get up! We shouldn't be giving up now! We must have spirit if you want to win! Laxus! Bickslow! Ren! We are MAN! MAN must get up and charge through their obstacles! They must assist women, like Ever! So get up!"
At first, no one moved from their spot. Elfman, felt pumped up, so he still looked determined. Finally, they stood up, touched by his words.
"You're right!" agreed Bickslow. "We can't lose!"
"If I win, I can face Sherry!" stated Ren. Laxus stood up.
"I'm ready."
Elfman nodded approval. Evergreen stared at him for a moment. He actually got the team up and going, like a coach. That was... a true man's spirit. Bickslow nudged her on the shoulder.
"Ever falling for him?"
She smacked him. "What are you thinking? You know that's not possible even in a hundred years!"
Elfman held out bandanas for everyone. "Then put these on."
They all did as asked. Evergreen felt irritated once again. On all of their bandanas, there printed MAN on it, except for hers, that printed WOMAN. She wanted to punch that elf so badly, but she would save that for another time. Elfman put a hand out.
"Put your hands in."
Everyone put their hands in as instructed. Evergreen had a bad feeling about this.
"Now say 'man' on the count of three! One, two-"
"MAN!" they screamed in unison. Evergreen wanted to give up now. This was probably the most idiotic thing she's done in her life, but at least it got them motivated.
"Achoo~" sneezed the drunken hawk. Cana looked over at him, bewildered. "What is it? Getting a cold?"
"No. Someone's copying me behind my back. Anyways, where were we..."
The two of were already on the structure of their piece. They worked together pretty quickly, because they're having a race to see who could be the most involved in the work. So far, the dish was turning out quite nicely. They were way ahead of the other groups. Hibiki served Cana on her end because she ordered him to be her servant since she beat him in the section of the Grand Magic Games where they had to hit the floating lacrima. Freed and Mirajane got the ingredients for both of them. Their team was working like a machine.
The guild masters were quite impressed with their progress and work. One hour had passed, and some teams were on their final touches, or trying to add more. Other teams however, were still lacking behind slowly. However, despite their different speeds, everyone was somewhat starting to get along with one another. Even Natsu, Gray, and Sting were working together, due to the girls's will. Since Ichiya still didn't come back, Erza's group was cooperating quite well. Lyon's, Carla's, and Elfman's groups were working like clockwork just like Cana's group, and Rogue's group was working decently now, since Minerva beat her guild member to a pulp, making Gajeel get in line as well. Wendy's group...still no progress. It seemed to take them eons to come up with an idea.
"I'm sorry everyone! I can't think of any good ideas!"
Eve shook his head. "Me neither."
Panther Lily crossed his arms in defeat. "I knew this was going to happen. We have a zero percent chance of winning if our team is full of kids. Even I can't come up with an idea."
Lector shrugged. "Neither can I."
Wendy wanted to cry. Romeo stood up.
"Don't worry! I'm sure we'll all come up with some idea soon! We still have one hour left!"
She sighed. "I hope so."
There was now thirty minutes left. The teams were still working on their pieces, but super close to finishing. Everyone was putting either finishing touches on their pieces. Wendy's group...was still in the same place as the start. This wasn't working for them at all. The Sky Dragon Slayer huddled in a corner, depressed and finished. It's all her fault. If only she had the same creative mind as Carla. Other than that, everything was hopeless for their group. Lily and Lector sat desperately with Eve. They also didn't know what to do. Romeo stood up from his spot.
"What are you doing?" Panther Lily asked.
He took a few steps, surprising them.
"Could it be you came up with an idea?" Lector thought, with a small urge of happiness rising within him. The fire mage walked on.
"No. Just giving her a few words of encouragement."
When he got farther away from them, Lily and Lector looked at each other and blinked. Romeo reached the crying mage.
"Wendy."
She wiped some of her tears and looked behind. "Romeo-kun?"
"What's wrong? How come you can't think up ideas when you're alone?"
She hesitated for a minute before giving an answer. "Well..Carla comes up with the best ideas. I can't do much, nor can I think as sharp as her. All my ideas seem to be rubbish." She glanced at the crumpled papers near her previous spot. "I'm afraid no one will like my ideas. They're too kiddish. But then again, I am a kid after all."
He listened to her troubles. She didn't know what to say next. Please, she didn't know what Romeo would say. She was still huddled, waiting for a response. He finally opened his mouth to speak.
"So be it."
She turned around to him, and jumped when he put a hand on her shoulder. "So what if you're a kid. Like adults, kids are good in many ways too. They learn faster and learn from adults' mistakes. They have a brighter mind. They're the most energetic, and never learn when to give up on what they're doing. That's what good and bad habits are, right? And if you think other's will think you're kiddish, who cares? Just be yourself."
He thought of the times when he was a kid and believed Fairy Tail was such a great guild and his friends thought it was just a guild full of drunkards. They thought he had crazy, yet childish dreams. But Natsu taught him that if it's what he wants, so be it. Wendy finally wiped the rest of her tears. Out of all the people in their group, Romeo never gave up. He continued to encourage them, knowing they would come up with something. He didn't give up on his team that easily. She smiled brightly back at flame mage.
"You're right!"
A tiny blush appeared on his face, but Wendy was too overjoyed to notice it. "Thank you, Romeo-kun. Let's try again!"
He was still in awe for a small moment, then shook it off. "Right!"
With the remaining twenty minutes they had left, Wendy and her group finally got onto something, and began working diligently. The other groups were quite surprised at their sudden outburst, but they continued the guild masters watched the young uns work, amazed by their determination as well. Ten minutes were left. Wendy was nervous, because their piece was small in size compared to the others. Everyone else's looked magnificent and full compared to theirs. But she was fine, because of what Romeo had told her. Five more minutes left. They were all on finishing touches now, including Wendy's group. Before they knew it, one minute was left. Almost all ingredients were gone, even the fruit, which had been the largest in numbers. They only had a few more ingredients to arrange.
"Romeo, are there anymore leaves left?"
He searched in the ingredients to see if there were any more, but sadly, there wasn't.
"Nope."
She was trying to think. If they didn't have a leaf for decoration, then...
"It's okay. We'll just draw it then!"
"Huh?" They all paused. She got a pastry squeeze bottle and showed it to them. Seeing this made them understand now.
"Okay! Who here has the most artistic ability?"
Panther Lily put a paw up. "You can skip me. I have none at all. Gajeel is worse than me though."
"If only Reedus joined the contest," Romeo brought up. Eve seemed to be flaring up with passion behind him though.
"Did someone say artistic?"
Lector and Lily had sweat drops.
"Oh gosh, he seems like he knows how to do it," Lector thought. Eve flicked his hair back.
"Of course I do-"
"Hurry it up if you have the ability!" Panther Lily warned. "There's 30 seconds left!"
He flicked his hair again. "Alright. Prepare to be amazed!"
The timer was down to 10 seconds. Wendy was indeed in awe at Eve's talent. He made their dish look more professional than it looked before he put his touch to it. He even used his Snow Magic to make it more realistic. The guild masters were counting down.
"Five!"
"Four!"
"Three!"
"Two!"
One!"
The whole guild hall roared out the last and final number.
"ZERO!"
The timer went off and everyone stopped what they were doing. The master were in their seats, ready for the taste test. From the looks of it, they were the judges. Everyone got their things ready, filled with nervousness and excitement for the results.
"The maximum amount of points you can get are 40 points. Another words, each of us judge your dish through numbers 1-10. Are you ready for the taste test?"
"Yea!" Everyone screamed.
"Wild...FIVE!" screamed Bacchus, Cana, and Hibiki rooting for their own group. Mirajane and Freed did it too, just a lot softer than them. Makarov had his fork and knife in his hands.
"We'll go in order. Team 1 is first!"
Lyon and his group were very excited to go. Their piece was a beautiful pasta, made of pure white cheddared macaroni and cheese with Lyon's touch of Ice-Make Magic to it and mushrooms professionally salted by Kagura. Sheria also added a squirt of pineapple to prevent the mushrooms from making the dish too salty. Lastly, Sherry had arranged the extra cheese on the plate to look like snowflakes with her Puppeteer magic. The guild masters finally put their forks into their piece, bringing tension to the makers. Master Bob raised a hand.
"I would love to know what the frog did to make this."
Lyon knew they were busted, so he went to say the truth.
"He was there for-"
"He was our mascot," Kagura interrupted. Master Bob nodded. Lyon whispered to a minimum.
"Mascot?" He questioned with a confused, yet serious expression.
"What? He was. Why do you think I put the costume on him?"
They stopped the conversation knowing the masters would be finished in a few bites. When they were about to give the results, Lyon seemed uncomfortable. Mascot. Yeah right, you just wanted to dress him up for his cuteness.
They held up the numbers: Bob gave a 10, Ooba gave a 10, Makarov gave a 7, and Goldmine 6. That was 33 points total. The team was proud of their score, but thought they knew they could do better. 7 points away was more than you think.
"It tasted great," Goldmine started. "You did well blending all your magic together to create such a wonder piece. However, something was off about it, and it was the structure.
They were puzzle. They were positive went over the structure many times, and it was flawless. When Goldmine pointed to a certain part of their full dish, they froze in defeat. There were a few pieces of macaroni and mushroom cut off as if someone bit there. None of them would have eaten it though. No one none other than...
They all turned to the frog Exceed. Clearly, his hand had a trace of melted white cheese on it. Lyon was through.
"You didn't watch HIM?!"
"Maybe he wanted to go from the mascot to the taste tester," Sherry and Sheria protested. Kagura had no words to say. Lyon looked as if he wanted to chuck the troublemaker Exceed. Sherry and Sheria stared at the frog.
"But he's just too cute to get mad at!" they complained. Frosch raised a hand.
"Fro thinks so too!"
Rogue was crying in his group. "Frosch!~ Even when we're on different teams, you give me advantages to win! You are the best Exceed! I feel like such a proud father!"
Gajeel crossed his arms in annoyance. "Quit your crying, will ya!"
Next was Team 2. Carla's team had made a chocolate opera cake. It was well decorated with a music note, a chocolate covered-strawberry, and chocolate leaf by Carla herself. Lisanna made the chocolate while Lucy made the texture. Happy and Meredy obviously got the ingredients. With the taste test, they managed to pull off a 38. Makarov had gave them a 8 because the texture was too soft, showing that Lucy was the one who messed up.
"So close!" whined Meredy. "Just 2 points!"
"At least we tried," Lucy reassured. Carla seemed angry, but also somewhat happy.
"I guess."
Everyone couldn't wait for team 3's dish, because they knew how clever Erza was. When they laid eyes on Team 3's creation, everyone about to fell out. Erza's team (excluding Ichiya) had made a parfait with a countless amount of fruits! No wonder all the fruits were almost gone! There were obviously other ingredients in there, like ice cream and vanilla. There also hung an orange on the side of the bowl. They even titled their creation called "A Thousand And One Strawberries" because they managed to fit a total of 1001 strawberries on the top in the shape of a heart kreuz. Their creativity may have been brilliant, but for the results they got just a 20, bringing Erza to the pits. They all said it was the flavor: all they tasted was strawberries!
"I see...I still have a long journey to make when it comes to cooking..." Erza said in depression. Millianna pat her on the back.
"No need to fret Er-chan! You tried your best!"
Jellal held out a hand. "At least you had fun."
Still a little sad, she took his hand and stood up.
"We failed this time..but next time, we're winning!"
"She seems quite flared up there," Jura pointed out.
"Did it suddenly get hot in here?" Millianna added.
Team 4: Natsu's team. Like Yukino planned, they made the turkey in the shape of the members that made it. The seasoning was put on there well enough to fit the decoration of the piece. Gray didn't seem too pleased with it, but at least they got something. Natsu, Sting, and Juvia on the other hand were delighted with it. Their team got a 30, since Natsu heated the chicken a little too much, causing the taste to be totally different than they anticipated.
"I knew we weren't going to get a good score because of you!" Sting roared with fury. "You just had to smoke it down to the bone!"
"It was an accident, Sting!" Natsu replied in anger.
"You were sure having fun burning it too," Gray agreed. "With your Roar of the Fire Dragon that is."
"Why you two..."
Juvia and Yukino stood aside and watched their pointless fighting. They sighed in defeat.
Team 5 made a dessert that brought off a feeling of nature. Ultear and Minerva came up with the idea of doing a nature kind of dessert. The idea came from looking at Levy's hair accessory. Gajeel and Rogue thought it was the stupidest idea, but they still went along with it because they were forced. It was decorated quite well, and the smell gave off such a calm feeling of green tea. The team got a score of 36, surprising the Dragon Slayers of the team.
"I see why Sting calls you 'my lady' now," Rogue bowed to Minerva. Gajeel was quiet, leaving Levy questioned.
"I guess using features from you aren't a bad idea sometimes," he muttered. Levy blushed, feeling quite happy inside. Ultear sat in a chair.
"I'm never cooking again in a long time..."
Team 6 had a breakfast dish: crepes. Since Mirajane was known to be "the ultimate cook" of her siblings, the piece was sure to taste great. Just looking at it on the outside made everyone drool. Cana and Bacchus eyed each other with rivalry as they got their results of the taste test: a 39! Everyone about flipped. They already knew their score would be high on the charts.
"After this judging business, why don't we have a drinking battle again?" Bacchus asked.
"Nice plan. But don't expect to win like last time."
Hibiki rushed up to Cana. "Is there anything else you would like?"
"No. Get outta here," she said, drinking her barrel again. He bowed.
"As you wish."
"Thank goodness this is over," Freed said firmly. "Now I can go to Laxus."
"It isn't over yet," Mirajane stopped him. "The judging isn't done yet."
The rune user was impatient. "It should be over, because no one stands a chance at our score of 39 points."
Mirajane smiled innocently. "We'll see."
Wendy was very ready. She was nervous, but she felt at ease since her comrades were there with her. They were Team 7. Their piece was a tiny vanilla cake with a strawberry and a few other berries on top. There was frosting on the top that was in the shape of a beautiful flower, done by Eve. He even put a signature in the corner of cake, just to add creativity to it. His Snow Magic also made it pop out at them, with angel wings made of a mixture of vanilla and snow on it's sides. Wendy decided to name the piece herself; it was named Angel's Glory because the glory of her comrades made her fly like an angel, making the flavors of her and her friends combine into one unique taste. Panther Lily and Lector knew they were going to lose.
"We're probably going to get a 10 because it's too plain," Lector whispered in worry. Wendy smiled back at the Exceed.
"It's okay. I thought really hard on this one okay?"
For the taste test results: Freed closed his eyes in impatience, knowing that his group would be the victors, and wanted to leave. But when the results were given after a long moment of thought, the silence in the room broke immediately. By his intentions, they must have gotten a high score, but he highly doubted it would beat their score of 39...
"What the...what is this?!"
Team 7...got 40 points. A perfect score. Many had cheered for the young group, while others passed out, like Lector and Lily. How was is possible? Well, the answer they gave was that it almost felt as if they were in another world; a world like heaven. They felt the strong bonds of the team working together, and because they learned from their mistake, they shined flawlessly. Wendy was at a loss of words. Romeo enjoyed the cheers from the crowd. Eve flicked his hair..again.
But they were not done yet. Team 8 still had to go. Elfman felt very proud of his team's work. They made a homemade apple pie, and it was decorated with Evergreen's fairy accessories. It looked quite delicious on the outside. They couldn't wait for the score.
"If they get a 40, we'll probably have to do a tie-breaker," Romeo thought. Wendy still had high hopes though. Their score...
"HAHAHAHA!" The whole guild burst out laughing. The team was done with their lives. They got just 8 points. 8 points TOTAL. The reason was that they didn't wash their hands before doing the piece, so pieces of rubble and other things were in the pie. Evergreen took off the bandana and tossed it across the sea.
"So much for manly spirit!"
They all didn't know what to say. They failed horribly. Elfman held a fist up.
"It's alright men! We were manly today, and put our MAN spirit into our cooking. You should be proud!"
"Spirit that was wasted for nothing," Laxus said. "I have my own kind of spirit. This isn't it."
"I'm with Laxus," Bickslow agreed. Ren went to Sherry.
"Sherry. You still love me right? Even after an embarrassing act..."
She punched him lightly on the shoulder. "Oh course Ren! I wouldn't hate you for such a clumsy thing!"
He hugged her tightly, yet gently. "That's nice."
She pouted. "Gosh Ren, you can be such a tsundere at times!"
Master Bob got everyone's attention. "So the winner of the All-You-Can-Make Contest is Wendy Marvell and her friends!"
Everyone cheered and clapped for the winners. Wendy scratched her head in embarrassment. Then she looked at Romeo, who waved to everyone.
"Thank you, Romeo-kun."
He turned his head when he heard her thanks. "No problem.."
Master Makarov came up to the winner's group. "For your prize..."
"PRIZE!?" They all repeated. Natsu dashed up to his master.
"You didn't mention there was ever a prize Jii-chan!"
"I didn't want to stress you out too much!" he said. "Anyways, go outside."
"Okay..." Wendy said in wonder. When the whole team reached outside, they stood there, frozen. In front of them were loads of trucks. They were loaded with jewels!
"The prize is 2,000,000,000 jewel! Spend it on anything you like!"
They were still planted to the ground, stuck to their spots. The guild started a riot.
"Hey Jii-chan! Where did you get this much money!?"
"The Council. They gave it to me as a reward for not causing any damage lately from guild requests!"
"But Gramps, this is too much!"
"It's okay Gray-sama! You have Juvia!"
"This would have been ours if the frog here wasn't so greedy!"
"It's not his fault. We should take responsibility for not watching him correctly."
"I told you Lily is the better cat! He won the whole thing!"
"Sacrifices had to be made, and Frosch was brave enough to let his own team lose!"
"7th place...I have a long journey of cooking to do."
"Don't bring yourself down, Erza!"
"Come on Er-chan! Feelin' spiffy?
"No..."
"MEEEN!"
"Millianna...please get rid of him again for me..."
"No problem, Er-chan!"
"Time for a spinning, children! None of you even managed top 3."
"NO!"
"I beat you this time, Bacchus, or should I say baka!"
"We'll see about that!"
The whole guild hall was in chaos once again. Most people were arguing, but at least others tried to eat the creations the teams had made. Wendy was delighted. She was thankful for coming here after everyone from Caitshelter disappeared. She was thankful for her comrades here. And lastly, she was thankful for going on and living strong. Even though she was not so confident with herself, she got back on her feet again when she did lose confidence, due to the help of her friends. She loved this guild.
~Epilogue~
The guild hall was a mess. Luckily, it was still standing. Everyone was sleeping, or either passed out on the ground from partying or eating too much. Cana and Bacchus passed out from drinking too much. Lyon, Sherry, Sheria, and Jura passed out from dizziness. Makarov was in complete joy, because for once, he didn't get any reminders from the Council that one of his members damaged property. This time, it was held at his own guild, so they couldn't charge anything for it. He would just clean it up himself, with the help of his members. He sat somewhere on the ground, ready to sleep like his own children...
Suddenly a letter came flying in and hit him in the side of the head. Grabbing the piece of paper and opening it, he read it. When he read the whole thing, his jaw literally dropped through the ground. The letter had read:
In regards to expenses...
There has been a recent rumor that two mages hiking in the mountains had cut off three mountains. They happened to look like Fairy Tail wizards.
If you want to get away with this, please pay an expense of 2,000,000 Jewel. Have a nice holiday!
~Magic Council~ (Pay Up Makarov!)
He was through. He just couldn't hold it in.
"ERZA! GRAY! YOU TWO ARE IN BIG TROUBLE! WENDY, I NEED YOUR JEWEL BACK!"
His voice echoed in the distance, with no one to hear his anger outburst.