Hi All
Whew, another long chapter. Story is starting to head toward the final climactic showdown. Had to make all kinds of charts for this one.
Thanks for some really lovely reviews :D I did a little prance around the living room reading some of them. *Le Heart U.
EDIT:
BONUS CONTENT: You guys have been so supportive, I feel quite excited writing as we speak. If you hang out a little longer after this chapter goes live (an hour, two at most), I should be able to get the next chapter up too. *Luff u
EDIT 2: Sorry folks, It'll be at least another hour or two. Want to give you something meaty.
-Kami
Volume 1
Chapter 7 - Tactics and Sacrifice
Day 6
Lucy sat up in bed feeling like she had spent the evening under a ton of bricks. While she had dozed repeatedly the night before, every time she had almost fallen asleep, it felt like a wave of darkness threatened to drown her. She would sit up with the sense that she was choking on it. At first she thought that it was the Marquis, taunting her with his dark reach. Then she understood that it was the gate. Once opened, the gate could not be closed again.
Now, dawn threatened to bestow an overcast day on the Games, and Lucy dragged herself out of bed to shower and get ready. She bought an apple and a flask of water on her way to the Colosseum. On the way, she popped her spirit glasses on under her mask. She and Yukino did not like wearing them often because ghosts could be… distracting.
Even now, a fat cross dresser in stilettos walked beside her, speaking rapidly in a language she did not understand. Mavis walked on her other side. "Are you all right?" She asked, a small frown marring her delicate features. Lucy nodded almost imperceptibly. "You look like you haven't slept. I don't like what they are doing to you." Lucy frowned beneath her mask. "We don't have time Mavis. I'm all right." The ghost didn't look convinced but decided to take her at her word.
"I've done some looking around. The arena for today is, complex. " She touched Lucy's hand, and the girl thought she could almost feel it. "I don't think I'll be competing today. I've already competed in most of the matches. I've had my solo match too." Mavis shook her head. "You have to volunteer. This next arena requires a bit of thinking, and aside from the Marquis, I don't know who else could handle it.
Lucy sipped the straw in her drink. Bile threatened in her throat, but the water seemed to settle it a bit. She ate two bites of the apple but then threw it away. It was too tart, her stomach threatened a revolt. "All right then. Whats the plan?" She gave Mavis a sidelong glance. "The plan will work this time right?" Mavis waved one hand at her with a pert smile "Ki ni shinaide neeee? [Don't worry about it ok?]". It was going to be a long day.
"YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME?" Lucy glanced over at the balcony to her right. Natsu was angrily shaking a fist at Erza. "Juvia is a substitute and she has been in more matches than I have! WHEN DO I GET TO FIGHT?" Erza pummeled Natsu into the ground. "DOES THIS LOOK LIKE AN ARENA YOU KNOW HOW TO WIN IN?" Gray laughed loudly with his arms crossed in front of him. "Yeah Natsu, clearly this is a puzzle and you need brains to figure out how to win." Erza struggled to keep the two apart until Makarov pounded them both to the ground with over sized fists.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, WELCOME TO DAY SIX OF THE GRAND MAGIC GAAAAAMES-kabo. I am your host Mato and with me in the commentator box I have as always Chapati- Lola and today's guest is Master Bob, the guild leader of Blue Pegasus." Chapati took over, turning to look at Master Bob. "So far in the tournament, have there been any surprises for you Master Bob, and what has been your favorite part?"
"Ooooh." Master Bob'w wings fluttered for a moment. "Such wonderful handsome mages in this tournament. Orga and Freed, Gray and Lyon, EVEN Natsu and the Marquis are wonderfully good looking."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'EVEN' FATSO?" A voice called out only to be silenced with a loud 'BAKA! Shut up Natsu!"
"But my favorite part is how exciting this all is. There are so many new contestants this year. Witch Elba drew in her match with Kagura, an epic upset. Never mind Erza's defeat at the hands of Silver Star, the silent femme fatale of Black Moon. But what excites me more than anything is how quickly the ranks have been shifting. Black Moon is second thanks to Mermaid Heel's five point climb, and consistently high scores. Sabertooth, Lamia Scale and Fairy Tail A are not far behind at all. Any match could change the balance, and I'm looking forward to this match in particular because it requires Brains AND BRAWN!"
"Well lets get right to it then- kabo! Chapati would you explain the arena for our spectators?" Mato hopped down into the ring.
"Absolutely. Today's arena, as you can see has been replaced with Ten Large Battle Arena Squares." The ten squares, arranged in two rows of 5 all lit up in different colors. "Each guild will have two players from their team in the arena at all times. One from each guild will be battling it out with the opponent opposite them in the battle ring. The second team mate will be outside the battle squares, fighting for theeeeeese!" Above the arena two hundred square tiles flickered into existence. There were four tiles of each color, and each color had something different written on them.
"As you can see, each battle square has a console behind it. While contestants in the five squares on the one side are fighting the contestants opposite them on the other side, their teammates hold the key to the flow of the match. Once the teammate brings the tile to the console, he can affect the 'board' in a way that is written on the tile. For example. One tile says "Switch any two players". Another might say "Shift all Players over one." The crowd roared their excitement.
"OOooh Yeees!" Master Bob said putting palms to his make-up-ed face and fluttering his wings. The effect made his man boobs wobble with excitement. "This means that any of the ten contenders can end up fighting any of the others. It also means that if contestants are clever, they can pit the most formidable contenders against each other. But tell me Chapati. Is it best to keep the strongest in the ring or outside?"
"That is a good question Master Bob. Let me hand you over to Mato for the answer." He pointed at Mato down in the ring.
"Thank you Chapati! I will answer your question right after I do the line up. As you can see, the guilds have already chosen who will be in the ring and who will not. Contestants will be placed on the initial battle squares by random draw. Here comes Number 1. Laxus Dreyar. We haven't seen a lot of Laxus this year but we all remember his epic victory from the last time he battled here. I can't wait to see who his opponent is. At number 2 we have Juvia. Juvia is replacing Levy in this team match and her power makes her an ideal candidate because its very difficult to hit something like water. At number 3 we have Black Moon's Matass and at number 4 Warcry from Quattro Cerberus. And the last person in the first row will be Mermaid Heel's Milianna. Lets find out who their opponents are." He bounded back over to the square opposite Laxus.
"Facing off with Laxus will be Rogue from Sabertooth. But who knows how long they will be matched up? Facing off with Juvia is Eve from Blue Pegasus. Master Bob, any words of encouragement for Eve?"
"Ganbatte- ne Eve-kun." He waved his handkerchief at the youth who smiled and waved back. In the crowd, a cheering section sighed loudly in adoration.
"Facing off with Black Moon's Matass we have Honey from Tea Party Superstars. How will the kid fare against this hulking monster, I'm scared to find out." The kid in the ring smiled at the lacrimas with a v peace sign despite Matass glowering down at him. Lucy really hoped he could hold long enough for her to shift Matass away to where she needed him. She needed to win this, but didn't want anyone getting killed either.
"Facing Warcry will be Tomaz from Lion Tri Force and lastly against Milianna, we have Lyon from Lamia Scale. Now lets meet the brains. " The consoles behind the ten arenas lit up. "You asked before if it was better to keep the heavy fighters inside the ring, and that's a matter of debate. On the outside we will have ten more contenders fighting it out for the colored tiles, which once used, cannot be used again. So fear not, it'll be a brawl out here too. Our tile runners are, in order: Erza from Laxus, Wendy for Juvia, Silver Star for Matass, Rocker for Warcry and Arana for Milliana. In the second row, Minerva for Rogue, Ren for Eve, Talla for Honey, Bladez for Tomaz, and Sherria for Lyon. And can I say its good to see Sherria back on her feet. Back to you Chapati!"
"Very exciting to see what match ups we get here. The important thing to note is that the fight is over once the fighter in the ring is down. But should a runner be knocked out, the runner can be replaced by a teammate. So as you can see, anyone in the guild could be called in next, but the fight is over and points are scored once the ring fighter is KO. Is there anything else, the fighters should take into consideration Master Bob?"
"Oooh Yes! There are two more details to note, and one very important twist. Tiler runners may keep up to 10 tiles stacked by their console for use, no more. And once tiles are placed in the box beside the console, other contenders may not touch them. As for the twist: Of the four coloured tiles of each command, at least one is fake."
"Fake you say?"
"Thats right Chapati." Master Bob ran his fingers through Chapati's wig as he spoke. "The only way players will know the tile is a dud, is when it they've used it on the console and receive the DENIED message. "
"I think thats about all folks, CONTENDERS, ARE YOU READY?" Lucy, positioned behind Matass at the console watched the tiles above her head, memorizing the ones she needed by colour and location. "You better not mess this up blondy." Matass looked at her over his shoulder. Shut up and watch yourself fatass. She wanted to say it to his face, but beside her, Wendy stood ready and focused at Juvia's panel and a bit further off, Erza stood at her own. Either of them would recognize her voice.
"SET," Master Bob said, excitedly fluttering his wings and jiggling his moobs.
"GO- kabo" Mato disappeared up into the commentator box as 200 tiles began to feel the weight of gravity and came clattering down into the arena in a giant mess of colors. At the same time the walls between the battle squares came down, and contenders charged one another. Lucy and 9 other tile runners bolted for their colours. She wasted little time, popping all over the arena collecting ones she needed.
Even with the Fairy Tactician's input, there were so many variables and chances, that Lucy's plan seemed shaky at best. Quickly she popped back to her console and dumped them in the box before heading out to find others.
"Ariana has placed the first tile in the box, switching out contenders Lyon for Honey. This fight swop will pit her teammate Milliana against a possibly weaker opponent in Honey."
"Will ya look at that." Lyon Vastia smiled as Matass looked around confused. His opponent disappeared and Lyon stood in his place. "I've been meaning for a little payback for what you did to Sherria." Matass smiled back. "I crush little boys too. Wanna see?" He swung his mace hard. "ICE MAKE: SHIELD" The mace came crashing down. Ice splinters shattered across the floor. "ICE MAKE: DRAGON." Matass roared and charged. "Mace strike: FURY"
Lucy slotted the tile in just in time, and swopped the panels. Matass disappeared and Juvia appeared in his place, just in time to be knocked back hard by the Ice Dragon. In the slot beside them, Matass' mace strike knocked Eve out cold. Sorry Juvia, Eve. I need Matass to stay in play for now. Lyon crowded around Juvia making sure she was all right, apologizing. In the crowd Gray yelled something that Lucy didn't hear but Lyon yelled something back angrily.
"A wonderful stroke by Silver Star, earning her team two points for her first KO of Eve Tearm." She glanced to see Erza watching her. This wasn't good. If anyone made Lucy extremely nervous, it was Erza. The redhead was a game-changer that Lucy had to constantly be on the lookout for. Lucy ran out and grabbed more tiles. She had nine in her box and there were still many littering the ground. Behind her she could hear teams being moved, and tiles being played. From now on out there was only one plan. Disrupt anything that would get Matass hurt. As much as she would like to put him in position for every hit and attack, there were bigger things at stake.
Lucy was knocked hard from her side, the tile in her hand taken from her. Erza flew above her in wing armor with the green tile in hand and Lucy gritted her teeth behind her mask. Suddenly Arana threw a web out that snared Erza out of the sky. As she ran back to her console, her feet began slowly sinking in the floor. Behind her Talla made a grab for her second tile, but she popped over to her console in time.
Teams were switching so rapidly around the board now, that Rogue looked almost motion sick from where they were trying to fight while switched back and forth. Rocker saved Warcry from defeat by playing a reflect tile, hitting Tomaz hard. Erza found a tile that multiplied your attack, granting Laxus a powerful strike against Rogue, who barely managed to avoid being hit by Minerva's tile which reflected the damage to fight ring 5, Millianna. Arana fumed as her tile was DENIED with a loud buzz.
Lucy could barely keep up. She didn't use her boxed tiles but instead ran back and forth using as many tiles as she could from the pile. The mountain began dwindling. Warcry was knocked from the game by a brilliant stroke from Talla and Honey. Minerva saved Rogue from annihilation with seconds to spare, playing the 'switch partners' tile which put her into play, absorbing an incoming attack while Rogue found himself at the console.
Lucy breathed hard. The gate was throbbing inside her and she was running out of power. She could feel herself flagging between her injury from Jellal, her fight with Erza and her exertions today. This would be part of the plan, but Mavis didn't know about the gates. A second wave brought her to her knees. "Are you all right?" Wendy asked from her console.
"GET UP BLONDY." Matass snarled from where he faced Laxus. Lucy rose to her feet, struggling not to throw up. Gate of the SECOND PLANET: OPEN. A Green summoning circle appeared around her and then shrunk inside her. She almost screamed in pain but bit back the sound. Suddenly, relief as power surged into her, and she sprang back into play. It flowed through her like a river, soothing and strong.
"An interesting development, we haven't seen this spell before but it seems to have given Silver Star much renewed energy much like Sherria's self heal. Will it be enough to keep the other contenders off her partner? Let's find out." Lucy knocked Wendy aside as gently as she could without appearing to favor the girl as she grabbed the last green tile. Around her there were only a few tiles left and they were being grabbed quickly. Suddenly players who had been using all their tiles began to stockpile like she had been doing from the beginning. Erza's box too was full.
"Will you look at that, someone has played the Merge Teams tile, bringing Millianna and Matass into the same team against Minerva. How long can the raven haired beauty keep it up. A second merged team! Minerva and Lyon. Things are happening hard and fast now with only a few members left in the match. Oh Talla's tile was DENIED." Lucy played her tiles diligently. She didn't need them. She was just trying to cause bad situations now for her opponents. One tile left on the floor before it was snatched up by Wendy.
Lucy stood panting at her console as did all the partners. This was it. All or nothing. She looked up at the FairyTail balcony directly in front of her and above. Makarov was leaning across the balcony and seemed to be staring directly at her when something drew his attention and he looked to the side. Mavis. "PAY ATTENTION STAR." Lucy jerked her attention back to the match. Matass was not in good condition. Despite their plan, he had angered a lot of people. Whether they meant to or not, he had taken some hard hits from a lot of fighters today.
Wendy was almost out of tiles. Erza had four. Millianna was knocked out. Then Honey. Matass yelled something obscene as he was hit by another of Lyon's ice make statues. Just take it dammit. Why was she in a match that required communication? GAAAAA. Juvia faced off against Lyon now with a last tile played by Wendy. Clever girl. Lyon would never beat Juvia intentionally. Even now he hopped up and down on one foot wondering what to do. Juvia didn't wait to bring him to the ground. Erza played a tile but was DENIED. She played another and Laxus joined teams with Juvia.
Minerva knocked herself out a second later with a recoil tile played by Bladez. Tomaz was eliminated by Matass. Now there were only three players left. "Its come right down to this ladies and gentleman. Matass in a match against Laxus and Juvia. Erza has two tiles left to play. Silver Star has one. Matass looks awfully tired. You think there was a bit of a grudge out on him today Mato?"
"I think so Chapati-kabo. Erza has just played her second last tile." On the arena, the ten battle squares had merged to become two for Juvia and Laxus and one longer one for Matass who faced them. "It looks like Erza is going to bring Matass low with one strong blow from Laxus. His attack power is going up a huge amount. Now she's playing her last tile. Silver Star's last tile must not be playable because she's not moving. Juvia too has gained an attack power increase! Is it over for Silver Star and Matass? One hit by these two and Matass is done for!"
Lucy picked up her tile as Juvia and Luxus charged at Matass. Placing it in the slot, she waited. Her heart was thumping crazily and the whole world seemed to slow. Closer and closer they moved toward Matass, who by now was too tired to move. Lucy pressed the button. Just when it seemed that it was all over for the sadistic giant, Juvia and Laxus passed straight through him and crash into each other.
Instantly the pair screamed as his electricity and her water amplified by Erza's tiles coiled in an endless circuit of pain. It was almost a mercy when Matass picked himself up and stupidly swung his mace into them, his form once more tangible. Though he clearly didn't expect the shock, he wasn't as hurt as Laxus and Juvia who now lay wet on the ground, electricity arching over their still forms.
The stadium erupted in cheers and Lucy let out a sign of relief, but Matass was not done. He picked Juvia up by the neck and Lucy could see his blood lust had him in a full frenzy. He was going to break her neck! Fear coursed through her, as Juvia hung limply. A thrum of power pulsed from Lucy and hit Matass in the side. The giant shot across the arena and crashed in to the wall leaving a crater imprint as he fell to the ground.
Behind her, Gray and Erza took up positions between her and Juvia and Luxus but she shook her head at them. Erza at least seemed to relax a fraction while Gray looked as if he was considering trapping her in his ultimate ice prison. She walked away. Behind her, Mirajane helped Luxus to his feet and watched her move off into the tunnels. Gray gathered an unconscious Juvia against his chest and sent one more angry look their way. As Lucy passed Matass, she indicated he should follow, and for the first time since she had known him, Matass followed without argument.
Three more days. Just three more days until this was all over. Behind her, the scoreboard shifted Black Moon into first position once again, with FairyTail A sharing second place. One more solo match, a day of rest and then a team match. Then this would be over. Lucy felt like she was bleeding through her skin, the power was so intense. Her head pounded and every step felt like she was sliding into the abyss. She just needed to hang on a little longer. Three more days.
3 more days!
Still have today and tomorrow off so hopefully will get to write lots. But first... housework. :/
-Kami
