They weren't supposed to see eye to eye. They were natural born enemies with the same mission in mind; kill or be killed. That was the name of the game. It could take one shot, or it could take many, but the objective was domination and to become the champion. The champion of...laser tag!

A/N: Ok guys, please take care of me. My first story upload. Thanks to Shannahollows and Wordsaremyspells1331 for the support, encouragement, and dedication to being part of a team that has never met in real life, but became good friends (^_^)

Ok, so you know I don't own fairy tail...which if I did, hell yeah! I rock! But since I don't...well...you know. Without further ado, please enjoy the following...

Lucy had finally done it. She finally had the gall to do what not many in or outside of the guild would ever dare to do. Her temper had gotten away from her. She had had to muster all her courage and rage in order to issue the challenge...but it was done. A whopping two hours ago, Lucy Heartfilia challenged the Great Salamander, Natsu Dragneel! Just after the challenge was issued, the blonde celestial mage felt so full of life, it was like she was in charge of the world. What she had forgotten at the time, was that she had challenged Natsu to a game he was more than familiar with... the game of laser tag.

Not just any game of laser tag, no. This was a game of tactical laser tag. The rules are a bit different. You see, when it comes to regular laser tag, it's usually a small little room with a middle wall and both sides of the room exactly the same. In tactical laser tag, you can go all over the room and even into enemy territory. The whole point of this laser tag is to come up with different tactics to defeat your Opponent. Each gun has two different battle weapons equipped to them. Lucy's favorite combo was the sniper rifle and the machine gun. Of course, the sniper rifle made top of the list in everything. Hey! They didn't call her a "killer blonde" for nothing!

The reload for the bullets were easy enough to handle. When you needed to reload, you had to press a small red button, located on the side of the gun. If you had to respawn during battle, you had to go to a special box unit located on each team's walls and wait to be cleared. If you don't want to go head to head with another group, you could always switch the game to infection mode and have one player start off against everyone else. Once you were infected, shot by another infected member, then you help infect the "survivors" while they try to kill you. If you don't want to kill, you can always be a "medic" and "heal survivors" before they became permanently infected.

The battlefield room was the best part. Mainly because it looked so tripped out under the black lights (even only using cardboard boxes as walls), but also because there was another special box located on each side. It held a special lacrima to cancel out all magic abilities in the room. So for Lucy, she was looking forward to exposing Natsu's weaknesses while he was unable to use his enhance dragon slayer abilities. That, and the fact that it was the one place in all of Magnolia they could go to without burning the place down, accidentally or otherwise. Master Makarov still had issues paying off the Council for the last job in Crocus, and all they had to do was watch a huge shipment of apples! Ok, to be fair, they hadn't known the apples were part of a smuggling ring of one of the dark guilds. But hey! They did their job and got paid from the Council, who took the money right back for only a PART of the required repairs.

Lucy was beaming as she walked the familiar route to her little apartment. As she strolled beside the river, she started thinking about her best friend/team mate in some very provocative situations. These thoughts have been coming about more and more frequently lately. That was, until a familiar pixied bluenette broke her of her reverie.

"Hello. Earthland to Lucy. This is only the tenth time I've called your name. Are you home up there?" That woke her up. "Hey Levy. Yes I'm here. Just thinking about the game of laser tag Natsu and I will have later." And Lucy proceeded to explain what had happened only two short hours ago. "So why did you decide to challenge Natsu to one of his favorite games in the first place?"

"Because he pissed me off. He ate all the food in my fridge...AGAIN! He needs to start paying for him and Happy if he keeps doing this. I'm sick of just barely making enough with jobs to cover my rent and buy the little bit of food I do have only to have those two eat it all. Another thing that seems to be bothering me lately, is that Natsu seems to be choosing jobs that don't pay as much as they used to. I mean, we still go on jobs together, like the Crocus job, but the jobs only seem to be watching something or labor jobs. When the jobs involve going against an enemy, he goes alone and says that he can handle it himself. When he goes off on his own though, he promises me that we will go on some more jobs to make sure my rent is paid. I guess I just kind of feel like I'm not strong enough to be his partner anymore."

The blunette listened quietly. She felt bad for her friend. Lucy was stronger than she realized, but before you can believe others telling you that, you need to figure it out for yourself. Still, Levy knew secretly that Natsu liked Lucy. "Are you sure it isn't something simple like, I don't know, trying to protect you to keep you out of it? I mean, you do realize he treats you differently than anyone else in the guild, right?"

"What are you talking about Levy?" Lucy answered with a blush. "I'm his teammate. I mean, sure he chooses me over most of the others on the team sometimes, but we are best friends. He knows I need the money for rent. He just helps me out knowing I need it. I just need to strengthen up some in order to go with him on the fighting missions. Then things will be normal again." Or at least I hope.

"Ok Lucy." Levy mentally face palmed at the obliviousness of her friend. She couldn't wait to let Gajeel know on their date later about this. After Natsu had drunkenly spilled the beans about being in love with Lucy at a party with Gajeel, Levy had been trying to get her completely ignorant blonde friend to admit that she was in love with her pink haired best friend as well. There have been way too many cover-ups during conversations with Lucy for the possibility to have gone unnoticed by the bookworm. Perhaps she could help push them along a bit.

A few hours later, it was time for the showdown. After this morning's spectacle where Lucy challenged Natsu, everyone in the guild wanted to witness the event and place their bets. Most of the guild had their money on Natsu for the win, but some had their money on Lucy. Mira and Levy exchanged glances and put all their money down for neither of them winning, but coming out of the room dating. (Of course, they rigged the room with romantic items to help the obtuse pair move things along, as well as one other secret item) This of course, resulted in a whole new betting pool.

In the next room, Natsu and Lucy were getting the low down on the battlefield, and choosing their preferred weapons. Since they had both been to the arena before, the computer lacrima had their information saved from all their previous games. It surprised both Lucy and Natsu that they both chose to go with sniper rifle and machine gun. The technician gave them the all clear to head in for the countdown and Natsu gave Lucy his biggest, cheesiest smile and his famous yell. "I'm all fired up!"

Ok, so this was originally supposed to be a one shot, but I've decided to turn it into a short story. I don't know how well I would do with a longer story yet, but let's see if this works. Please send all the feedback as necessary. I welcome all comments.

Until next time, ttfn! (^_^)