Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
The Ultimate Challenge
1. The plan
It was late at night and the guild of Fairy Tail was unusually calm.
In the large main room, darkness had fallen except for the weak light that came from one or two of the sconces high in the walls. But there was a warm glow lighting one table at the corner. At the table, three people were sat, eating and chatting in low voices.
Three illustrious mages of Fairy Tail were having their meal.
Lucy placed her cup a little forcefully on the table before heaving a sigh. She slouched slightly on her chair, placed one elbow on the table and rested her face on her open palm. With her free hand she held her fork and was moving it distractedly over the few bits of food that still remained on her plate. With another sigh, she looked at her companions.
"This is too much." She told her friends. "Did you see how the main room ended?" she let go of her fork and made a wide arc with her hand.
"Tell me about it." Mirajane was quick to reply before taking a swig from her cup. "And guess who's going to have to clean up? Now that the Master's absent, I'm going to have to do all the cleanup and they won't pay me any mind when I'll go and scold them."
"I didn't see what happened," Erza started saying, before having another bite, "but the boys don't seem to have behaved all that well." She gave a quick glance at the rubble and shook her head. "I'll have to talk to them."
Lucy's mouth twitched before settling in an amused smile. "Yes, I'm sure that they're going to listen to you." She exchanged a glance with Mira and they both seemed to be thinking the same; 'before you turn your back and they have another chance at creating havoc while you're not looking'.
"Well, we're going to have to do something." Mirajane was quick to continue. "Their rivalry and…" she seemed to be searching for the right words, "contests to see "who's the best" are going to have to have an end."
"Yes, the disasters that follow aren't all that fun." Lucy added.
"They're a bit over the top sometimes," Erza added seriously, swirling her drink in her cup, "but I'm sure that we'll be able to tame them a little."
"Tame would be the right word…" Lucy drawled, earning a giggle from Mirajane.
"That, it would." Mirajane agreed with a laugh. Then she tilted her head at Lucy's sudden stiff countenance. "What?"
"I think I just had an idea!" Lucy said with a devious smile.
"What?" Mira wondered.
"Do tell." Was Erza's reply.
"I think that we should…." Lucy paused for emphasis. "Create a challenge to settle their rivalry. We can have the whole guild watch, without butting in, and then the thing will be settled." She ended joyously.
"I think that such a thing might be hard. What would be that challenge?" Erza placed her silverware on the plate before emptying her cup, placing it on the table and looking around.
"Yes, and how would we have the whole guild just watching – I don't think that they would like to just stand aside and not intervening." Mira added.
"Well, I hadn't thought that far ahead…" Lucy answered, seeming slightly deflated.
"Hey, Mirajane, do you have cake? I feel like having some…" Erza suddenly asked.
The aforementioned mage made to start getting up when the blonde mage suddenly gave a loud "that's it!". Both older mages were there waiting for her to continue.
"What?" they said.
"I think I know something that can be interesting and not all that destructive," she winced slightly before adding a quick, "I hope."
"Yes, but what can that be?" Mirajane sat back down, eyes sparkling with curiosity.
"A bake-off." Lucy said joyously.
The older mages looked slightly confused, looking at each other before looking back at the blonde mage.
"You know… Erza was just saying that she wanted cake and we might have them do cakes. That way, they don't have all the destruction and, if things go well, we might even have cake in the end."
"Cake would be nice." Erza nodded.
"Haha, it would." Mira said, followed by a snort. "But do you think that it is a good idea?"
"Yes, I mean, the boys cooking…" Erza said with an amused smile. "I don't think that they're all that good cooks…"
"Well, yes. But… what if the outcome's a good one? Besides, we'll give them recipes. It's not all that difficult to follow a recipe, right?" Lucy pushed her plate to the side and stretched her hands on the table top.
"No, it isn't but…" Mira placed a hand in front of her mouth, letting out a new giggle.
"I don't know how the boys would handle that…" Erza wondered out loud, looking down at her cup. Then she glanced at Mira, "Why are you laughing?"
Mirajane just started laughing out loud, holding her sides.
"It's nothing…" she was interrupted by a small fit of giggles. "I was just imagining them, with aprons and with flour in their faces and hair and-" she crumbled on the table top in a stronger fit of giggles.
The other two mages caught the idea and started laughing themselves.
"That is funny." Erza said, covering her mouth with a hand.
"Oh, wow, I hadn't thought about that!" Lucy added, a huge smile on her face as she gave a few gasps after her laughing fit.
"But now, to serious things." Mirajane sobered up a little. "We must be practical. What are we going to ask of them?"
"Well, I think that, since they're a fire mage and an ice mage, it would be fitting to have a cold and a warm cake." Lucy said.
"Or dessert." Erza added. "Hmm, it would be quite nice…" the red headed mage added.
"So, that settles it!" Lucy rose from her chair, placing both hands on the table. "We're going to have the boys have the challenge of challenges!"
A/N: This is just a quick little fic that suddenly hit me. Around half of it is already written but since my life's kind of chaotic at the moment, the next update's going to be in two or three days.
This story's unbetaed.
Feedback's awesome, as per usual. Are there any recipes that you would like to see? I've made a list with the four recipes I've thought of but ideas are always welcomed.
