Chapter 1-Naval Battle
Grand Magic Tournament, Day 4
Competition Portion: Naval Battle. 1 Participant per team.
A large sphere of water swirls lazily above the arena, held up by glowing violet runes. The sphere is large enough to cover the entire stadium, dancing water glimmering like a giant snow globe for the audience to admire.
"The player who leaves the sphere of water will lose. The remaining person will be the victor. In the event that there are 2 participants remaining in the sphere, a special rule will be added. The 5 minute rule. If within 5 minutes one of the two leave, that person will be given the least points." The judges explain the rules of the competition as one member of each guild dives into the orb of water.
Juvia is chosen to represent Fairy Tail team B. She welcomes the cool sensation of water against her skin. This is her element. She is confident that she will not lose— that she will redeem herself after her horrendous performance in Day One's competition.
Idly, she scopes out her competition: The bikini model from Blue Pegasus, the wind user from Lamia Scale, the chubby-skinny mage from Mermaid Heel, the replacement female from Saber Tooth, and Lucy. Out of all of them, the only ones that might pose a challenge are Lucy—Juvia knows Aquarius is strong—and the Saber Tooth woman—Minerva, the judge introduces—whose powers are unknown to Juvia.
It's too bad the water is magically enchanted to be breathable to normal humans. But Juvia supposes it wouldn't be much of a competition if everyone but herself were to suffocate in the water sphere.
"This has become quite the beautiful picture! A girl from every team here with their swim suits! Thank you x10!" One of the judges cries. The males from the audience seem to agree, if their frantic picture taking, wolf whistles, and heart shaped eyes are any indication.
"Umm… I'm also here with a kind of wild…" Quattro Puppy's member grumbles. The gel keeping his gravity-defying hair in place appears to be waterproof.
"Hmm?" Juvia glances around. She could have sworn she heard a whiny male voice mumble something incoherently. Must have been her imagination.
"The rules are simple: If you leave the water you lose! Naval Battle Commence!" The ringing of the gong echoes through the stadium, signaling the start of the event.
"Right off the bat, but sorry everyone!" Lucy shouts, brandishing her celestial key. "Open! Gate of Aquarius!"
How predictable. Juvia charges her spell as Aquarius emerges.
"AGGGHHH! The water is my playground!" The celestial spirit bellows, brows creased in vindictive fury. She was about to go on a date, dammit! And Lucy had to summon her now, of all times? She would finish this quickly and then give Lucy a good verbal thrashing. And maybe water whip her a few times. She lifts her vase to unleash a torrent of water to push out the contestants.
"Juvia won't let you!" Unleashing her Water Cyclone spell at the same time as Aquarius, the two water users clash and create a water vortex that sucks in several other contestants. Juvia pushes her magic, trying to overpower Aquarius. Though she is facing one of the strongest celestial spirits, her own powers over water are near legendary—she wasn't part of Phantom Lord's Element Four for nothing. Ultear's power boost might have helped too. Slowly but surely, she feels Aquarius begin to buckle under her assault.
"This isn't going to end well, so I'm going to return now." Aquarius tells Lucy.
"Eh? Why? You're the best in water, I have to depend on you!" The blonde mage argues.
"I have a date." The water spirit grins smugly. Unlike you~ And with that she vanishes, ignoring Lucy's shrieks of protest.
Seizing the opening, Juvia rushes in and shoves Lucy toward the edge of the water sphere with a strong current of water. But, inches away from being pushed out, Lucy manages to stop her momentum with the help of Aries and Virgo. Tch, Juvia was so close too.
Time to stop playing around and claim victory for Fairy Tail B. I'll throw them all out at once! There is nobody who can win against Juvia in the water! It's time to unleash that spell. Juvia had gone through excruciating pain when Ultear unlocked her second magical core, but it is worth it if it means she can make Fairy Tail proud. And with her newfound power, she has drawn inspiration from her precious Gray-sama and created a unique spell with which to win this match. Lifting her arms, she infuses the surrounding water with her magical power.
"Juvia will unleash a unique spell she acquired!" The water mage proudly announces for the stadium to hear. Water flows around her, heeding her every beck and call. "Go forward! Wings of Love! GRAY-SAMA LOVE!" She shouts with all her might. Heart shaped torrents spread from Juvia and encompass the entire water sphere.
Out in the audience, Gray's jaw drops. GRAY-SAMA LOVE? Did Juvia really name a spell after him, and not only that—shout it loud enough for the whole world to hear? "Q-QUIT IT!" He yells to Juvia, lest she feel the need to repeat herself.
He can see the headlines already: First Casualty of the Grand Magic Tournament: Fairy Tail Ice Mage Drops Dead from Embarrassment. And in a smaller font, a sub headline: Water mage proclaims love in front of billions. Okay so maybe that is a slight exaggeration—the stadium can't fit that many people—but still! There are a LOT of people out there. Many of whom are now pointing at Gray and openly laughing. Dammit, the big screen monitors placed around the stadium are zoomed in on his mortified expression too! For the love of ice-cream, go back to showing the contest! Where's a paper bag to hide your head in when you need one?
Next to Gray, Natsu is cackling like a madman, wheezing "Gray- kehehe… sama… haha… LOVE!" At the last word, Natsu doubles over and is practically rolling on the floor. If he was less traumatized, Gray might have taken the opportunity to kick him in the head.
Erza looks at Gray and dabs at the corners of her eyes, moved to tears. "What a beautiful confession." She croons. "Gray, you should name a spell after Juvia too, and show it to the world!"
Hell NO!
Wendy stifles a giggle and quickly puts on a poker face when the perturbed mage glowers at her. Well, as good of a poker face as a twelve-year old girl can manage. At least she's trying. Gray eyes the way her lips twitch upwards, clamp down into a forced grimace, then start twitching upwards again as her cheeks get redder and redder from the exertion.
"That Juvia… She's a feisty one," Lyon sighs happily from Lamia Scale's viewing balcony as he tries to imprint the image of her bikini-skirt into his mind. Polka dots are wonderful.
"Shouldn't you be a little more… discouraged?" His teammate Yuka wonders, a sweat drop forming above one of his garishly prominent eyebrows.
"Incredible! Juvia has thrown out three opponents in one go! Juvia's strength is unrivaled in the waters!" The announcer proclaims, and Juvia spreads her arms open as cheers erupt from the crowd. Certain that she has impressed her guild, she turns to the spectator stands—Did you get hot from watching Juvia? Gray-sama?—and freezes. There, on the wide magic monitors, is a close up of her dearest Gray-sama. But, rather than the expression of pride she had expected, Gray is dripping with perspiration, eyes sunken, and jaw hanging.
He's disgusted!
Juvia's confidence evaporates, her heart drops to her stomach, and she feels frozen like a statue; did Evergreen use stone-eyes on her? And the next thing she knows, she is no longer in the water sphere. She is falling and flailing through the air and she hardly has time to utter an unintelligible "eh?" before she hits the ground face first.
"Ouchieee!" She moans through a mouthful of sand. What on earth happened?
"Huhu." Within the water sphere, Minerva chuckles. That was almost too easy. She had expected the water mage to be at least slightly entertaining due to her elemental advantage, but she had dropped her guard so completely that the Saber Tooth simply couldn't resist teleporting her out. Taking advantage of weakness is like a built in reflex.
"The only two left are Minerva and Lucy! Now, who will be the victor? Saber Tooth, or Fairy Tail?" the announcer questions.
Minerva's perfectly painted lips quirk into a wry smile. Isn't the answer obvious?
"We have applied the 5 minute rule. During these 5 minutes, if one of them falls out of the water, they will gain the least amount of points from this event." The referee further explains.
"With my magical power, I could throw you out of the water in an instant." Minerva says to the stupid celestial spirit mage. She has seen Lucy's first battle. Being beaten by hair, of all things? Just because that now-disqualified mage threatened a useless child? The very epitome of weakness and stupidity. "However, that wouldn't be very satisfying. Let's see how long you last, Fairy Tail."
Lucy's screams echo through the stadium as Minerva unleashes a small barrage of heat bubbles. How pitiful, Minerva isn't even trying. After enduring several hits (and squealing with each one), the blonde finally reaches for her celestial keys and realizes they are missing. Unimpressed, the female Saber Tooth jingles Lucy's keys tauntingly, having stolen them some time ago. Really, celestial spirit mages are absolutely useless. Take away their keys and they can't lift a finger against you. No wonder there are so few left in Fiore.
Almost lazily, the dark haired mage continues to fire at Lucy, who does nothing but get hit and scream. She is beginning to regret teleporting the water mage out instead of the celestial one. That love-sick fool would have at least put up a bit of a fight, though she would inevitably lose, of course.
Minerva barely suppresses a yawn when she speaks. "It's about time I send you flying outside." There is only about a minute left before the five minute limit runs out.
"If I lose here…" Lucy replies, "I won't be able to face everyone who tried so hard! I won't betray everyone's emotions. That's why I'll never give up." Though one eye is nearly swollen shut, her face glows with determination. Rather than retreating like a logical person, she stands her ground even against overwhelming odds.
For a moment, Minerva halts her attack. Emotions… never give up…? What nonsense is this? She remembers her father's words, "Power is everything. In this world, those without power are trash. Become strong, or you are useless to me." Taking those words to heart, she trained every day until her bones broke and skin bled. Day after day of torture, and finally she is here now; one of the strongest mages of Saber Tooth, respected by even the guild master—her father.
"What's going on? Minerva has stopped her attack. At this rate, the clock will pass the five minute time limit!" The announcer broadcasts.
"Alright, you can do it Lucy!" Natsu cheers with the rest of Fairy Tail.
And suddenly an irrepressible rage fills Minerva's heart. This weak little blonde has gained the love and respect of her guild without even needing to try—without ever having to suffer—simply by spouting empty little words from her pretty little mouth. Minerva is sure that she has never trained a single day in her life.
Actually, Lucy did train. Once. Three months ago. Though she would have trained more if not for the mishap with the whole one-spirit-world-day-equals-three-human-months fiasco. But Minerva does not know of this, and likely would not have a better opinion of Lucy even if she did. All she knows is that this weakling has everything she ever wanted handed to her on a silver platter, while Minerva has had to claw, struggle, fight with all her strength to get to where she is now. And even now, she does not have the love of her guild, only respect—and perhaps fear—of her strength. It isn't fair.
Without warning, Minerva strikes Lucy with a strong blast of heat. She is putting some power into her attack now, though not enough to kill; just enough to cause pain—lots of it.
"You have your heads in the clouds, Fairy Tail!" She exclaims, "What kind of heart do you think we have? We are number one in the whole world! We are Saber Tooth!"
Her attack nearly sends Lucy flying out of the water sphere, but she teleports the blonde back in front of her and knees her in the side. You stupid, naïve, useless piece of trash! I will give you a taste of the real world—of the pain I endured every day to get where I am! She is enjoying Lucy's shrieks of pain. A wide, cruel grin spreads across her face.
This is fun.