Age of Silver
Introduction:
The X792 Games - The Stakes
" Rufus how lovely to see you again!" A white haired girl ran up to the memory make mage, as he gulped this wasn't good... Why were they hear? He thought. He looked around for one of his guildmates but they were enjoying being back in the capital.
" Is Magnus Reign competing this year Lorelai?" Rufus tried to keep his calm and collected manner.
" Yes we are, haven't you heard along with The Silver Smiths! Both guilds from Oridex are being forced, so I guess we have to prove something don't we Rufus Lohr? That's the problem with memory make mages, we both recall things that we don't necessarily want."
" Magnus Reign will be bringing down those Smiths and we will finally get our revenge on you Rufus, for abandoning us!" Lorelai hissed as Sabretooth's guild master and his brother saw the flamboyant but calm and collected Rufus.
" Oi Rufus who is your friend?" Sting called out as Lorelai walked away.
" Not a friend, just simply an old aquaitance," Rufus simply said as they spotted Fairy Tail making a circus of them selves.
As the Fairy Tail guild strolled down Crocus's cobblestones, they couldn't believe the grandeur of the whole city, Lucy was amazed at how fast they were able to rebuild it and she . Fireworks were set off into sky, welcoming them into the capital. Exotic dancers, marching bands and balloons flew down the street as the mages watched in awe . The teenage Wendy Marvell looked at the grand castle in amazement, she couldn't help but admire it. Cana Alberona already had found the barrels of beer, Mirajane shook her head disapprovingly knowing that Cana's liver was going to take some serious damage. The Thunder God Tribe had surrounded an unknowing Laxus, Levy McGarden and Gajeel Redfox were walking together. Juvia accompanied the iron dragon slayer and the solid script mage but she was keeping an eye on her beloved Gray-sama, as he walked with his team.
Natsu had obviously went straight to the food, and Happy saw a fish balloon next to the food, Lucy knew this was going to be a long day as she saw her partner's excitement, Wendy and Charles followed the trio. Gray and Erza were discussing battle techniques and who was going to be the reserve member of their team. They decided to go for Elfman again at Erza's suggestion, he was seriously underrated last time and Gray nodded his head in agreement. The ice mage and Titania, saw Jellal and Meredy at the corner of their eye and the duo blended into the crowd.
" Meredy!" Juvia called out.
" Ladies and gentlemen, please can all competing guilds for the games go to their inns immediately," The voice boomed. " If a single mage isn't at the inn, in exactly ten minutes - disqualification is automatically started and you will be rejected from the games!"
" Come on Natsu! We can get food at the inn!" The celestial mage whined, at the irritation of the fire dragon slayer who was in the middle of his meal of his exceed's favourite dish.
" Natsu, please..." Lucy said and suddenly she felt an hand and they were running straight to Honey Bone Lodge and once again Lucy felt a warm sensation on her arm as Natsu had a burning grip. She screamed, as she was getting pulled along. Happy giggled at the celestial mage struggling, as she proclaimed she was fast enough to get there and that made the exceed laugh harder and Natsu smirked. She was being underestimated again, she realised.
" What took you so long, flame brain!" Gray said, he Erza, Gajeel and Laxus were by the door.
" Shut up you ice bastard!" Natsu was about to throw a punch but Laxus picked them both, throwing them inside and Gajeel grinned walking into the guild where Lilly, Levy and her two stalkers were waiting. Erza and Lucy followed the four men.
Markarov walked in and he looked clearly agitated. " Now listen up brats! The games format has changed again, we won't be having the traditional A and B team again, there will be three teams this year - Team Fairy Tail, Attack and Defence which need team leaders. A mage can be in all three teams, if he or she chooses, but the rules clearly state that each team has to be different." Markarov paused as the guild looked confused. " And a mage who is on two or more teams will have a fraction of their power taken away," Most thought that was rather unjust.
"Team Fairy Tail has to be the top five ranking mages but the attack team will normally be the ones doing the traditional fighting and the defending team will be tested on knowledge, there will be three sets of games each day and the games will last much longer than usual. The prizes are much more important than jewels this year, the winning guild will reach the opportunity for the Princess's hand in marriage for the top male mage and the guild will be given power across the land in the form of old recovered artifacts that descend from the time of the dragons, and apparently this artifact will reveal finally where the Dragons are," Markarov stated as the guild stood in shock.
" Juvia will not let Gray-sama marry the Princess!" The guild were used to Juvia's outbursts now, Gray shook his head and so did the rest of the guys.
" I can't believe the King would do that to his Daughter," Lucy stated.
" It's understandable, he probably wants the best protection for her but we have a more pressing issue at hand. We need to sort out the teams," Laxus pointed out as Freed agreed.
" Personally, I think me and the rest of the Raijinshuu should go into defence, along with Levy McGarden but we need a fifth member and a reserve," Freed said as he looked to Levy and Gajeel.
" Lu-chan should be the fifth member," Levy said and everyone simultaneously agreed. Lucy was secretly pleased that she wasn't going to do any fighting at that point.
" Put me down for the reserve," Kinana piped up. Most raised their eyebrows at the trainee takeover mage and violet haired barmaid. " I have a feeling, I could help with the history of takeover, potamelian language and the theories of the one magic,"
" Why not?" Lucy said as she turned to the former snake and Mirajane had soon wrote the defence team down with Freed as the leader .
" For the attack team I personally suggest Gray or Gajeel as the leader," Markarov stated as he looked at the clock and he felt a little rushed, " along with Juvia, Cana, Elfman and Wendy," The team seemed a little odd but Gray realised they'd need somebody who probably could keep a lid on Cana, and Gajeel had a bit of short temper.
" I'll be the leader," Gray responded and everyone agreed that would be the better option. " But we do need a reserve member," Gray said.
" I'll be the reserve member," Lisanna said, she was feeling a little put out as obviously Mirajane and Elfman were first choices but she did want to fight alongside her brother.
" And obviously that means we have our three S-Class members - Laxus, Erza and Mirajane along with our two dragon slayers Natsu and Gajeel as our Team Fairy Tail," Markarov concluded.
" What about our reserve Gramps?" Natsu asked.
" That'd be me," "Mystogan" emerged from the shadows and every member of Team Natsu grinned, it was great to see Jellal again and Markarov nodded, he knew Jellal wanted to check out where the artifact was being kept and after last year's incident, Markarov knew it was good idea keeping Jellal around.
After Mirajane wrote the teams down, everyone went up to their rooms as one of the royal officials collected the form off Mirajane as Markarov and Jellal talked in the corner.
" Mystogan do you know anything about The Silver Smiths and Magnus Reign?" Markarov questioned silently.
" Magnus Reign and The Silver Smith's both reside in the port town of Oridex and Magnus Reign was a guild firmly about justice while The Silver Smiths were nearly classed as a dark guild, but their crimes could never be proven. Both are supposed to be in the line up of the GMG - the magic council specifically asked for their presence to be known, everybody knows that," Jellal answered unsure where the Master was heading.
" I find it strange 'Mystogan', extremely strange that these two guilds are being forced to participate while other guilds are forced to compete to get a place in the GMG and the prize and the stakes seems to be raised this year," Markarov added.
" Yet Zeref's current location is unknown and we know that Tartorous is planning an attack at any moment, something unsettled me about The Silver Smiths, while I was in Oridex with Meredy. I saw them today as well, all carrying daggers made of silver, and they seemed like they were plotting something, if that announcement didn't go off. I could have heard!" Jellal paced back and forwards while Markarov patted him on the back and shook his head as he waited for the first challenge for his three teams.
" Jenniveve, Arthur, what are you up to?" Markarov pondered aloud, as he thought of the two guilds - Magnus Reign and The Silver Smith's guild masters. His old friends...
A/N - Chapters will be longer in the future around 3-4k words but this is a little opening just to set the scene! So R&R, critique appreciated :)