Chapter 10- Welcome to Crocus
Puffy white clouds hung low in the sky, fluttering their way over the rolling green hills peacefully as the sun shone warmly. Flowers were blooming along the grassy landscape and colorful butterflies flitted their way through the air lazily. Natsu sat with his legs dangling over the train at the back of the caboose and practiced his writing, trying hard not to vomit.
The letters were getting more and more legible, the lines were straighter and the spacing was becoming unified. Natsu was proud of his progress. The n he hurled over the side. He heard the door slide open behind him and footsteps along the metal.
Kinana leaned against the railing and looked down the endless tracks and fields. Natsu looked up at her and knew what was on her mind.
"If you could pinpoint one thing that made you nervous, what would it be?" He kept his face in his small practice notebook.
"I'm so young! I've never been on a job. I serve drinks at the guild. I don't have the experience necessary to compete with… powerful mages." She sighed deeply and buried her chin in her forearms. Natsu chuckled as his pen moved along the paper.
"Wendy was your age when she took on Oracion Seis. And so what if you've never been on a went toe to toe with an ancient shaman for awhile. You rescued my ass from a bunch of rebels. Don't discredit yourself, Kinana. You're gonna make us all proud. Now I sure wish I could do the same, there's a guild master banquet if you make it past the qualifiers and my etiquette is awful…" he then stopped talking and heaved another load off the cart.
Kinana laughed lightheartedly. As usual Natsu had put her in a good mood. She turned around and walked back through the carts, passing different members who were coming to watch, as well as her teammates. She shared momentary pleasantries with Bisca and Alzack and kept moving.
Bisca nestled into Alzack's shoulder as the two sat side-by-side and enjoyed the scenery. He enjoyed hearing her soft breathing as her soft hair ran along his chin.
"Are you nervous?" He asked. Bisca didn't speak, she only shook her head. Alzack smiled. She was always sure, and it was something he loved about her. "I know I am…" Bisca opened her eyes and looked up into his. She didn't need to utter so much as a syllable, her eyes were affirming and filled with love and Alzack felt an intense sense of belonging and strength. But then her mouth curled into a grin.
"I know something that'll… ease your tension…" Alzack's lip quivered as he tried to keep a straight face and he blushed slightly.
"A-and what's that?" He didn't know how to properly respond to her dirty talk so he shut down every time.
"I'm going to go to the restroom. In three minutes you get up and knock, and I'll let you in…" And with that Bisca planted a kiss on Alzack's cheek before she stood up and swayed down the aisle. Alzack sat and smiled like a fool as he shuffled his feet.
Lia sat a few rows back and put a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh erupting from her sides. She was no stranger to this type of lewdity, but Alzack's pure reactions were too comical. She watched him stand up and strut down towards the restroom.
"Good luck," she whispered under her breath. As the restroom door clicked closed she let it out, drawing a few awkward glances from Nab and Shadow Gear. "It's nothing." She then pulled out her iron bearings and began to twirl them in the air in front of her for practice.
"Guys! Come look!" Kinana yelled from further in the cart. Lia scrambled up and ran down the aisle, pressing her face against the glass on the right hand side of the train.
There it was.
Glistening in the early sun the golden spires of the royal palace shimmered their radiant gold. It was a sea of tiled red roofs and high stone walls. And behind the city was a floating stone topped with a large coliseum.
"That must be it…" Lia whispered. The train chugged forward and the scenery changed drastically from a soft countryside to a slow creep of urban sprawl, until they passed beneath a huge stone arch. And then they were in the city proper, losing speed.
'I'll go get Natsu," Nab declared. Lia and Kinana didn't even hear him, they were too busy taking it all in. The views changed as they ascended deeper into the city, passing several kinds districts until they were moving at a crawl and the engine began to billow steam along the pistons.
"I think we've arrived…" came a queasy voice from behind them. Natsu was slung over Nab's shoulder, his head spinning and his cheeks bloated trying to keep from vomiting. Now let's get off this thing…"
The guild began to extract their luggage from the compartments before filing down the aisle and out of the train. Lia hung back and glanced at the bathroom door, wondering if they would finish soon or if she was going to have get them. But then the door opened and Alzack fell out, drooling and stumbling. Bisca followed, running a hand along her chin. Lia turned around and cackled into her palm. Those two were certainly something else.
"That was the last time until after the games," Bisca whispered to Alzack, who in response only nodded dumbly.
"Uh-huh," he managed to croak. Bisca giggled as the two followed Lia, who was a ways ahead of them, down the cart and out through the side entrance. They stepped into the sunlight and were astounded. They'd not been present with the rest of the guild when the city had first come into view, so for them this was their first time taking it in.
"Come on everyone, we're gonna walk to our inn...:" Natsu announced, still slung over Nab's shoulder like a sack of lard. "Follow m… Or I guess Nab." And with that the guild made their way into the streets of the capital.
"Alright!" Natsu bellowed as he slapped his palms against his knees. He, and the five members of Fairy Tail's competing team sat in a small room in a half circle. Natsu sat in the middle of them and glanced around. He grinned manically and the passion burned furiously in his eyes.
"I know the five of you are gonna go out there and smash the competition! But I had these uniforms made for you guys." Natsu pointed to a chest at the end of the room. He stood up and opened it, tossing each wizard a bundle of purple clothing. Each uniform was emblazoned with a the guild's insignia in white. "Unfortunately they weren't made in likeness of my design, but they're each tailored to your magic and style. That doesn't mean much for most of you, besides Lia. Your uniform has metal blades inside of it so you won't have to rely on your surroundings as much. Don't worry, I had Warren read through the thick rules and sub-rules. It's technically legal." Each of the Fairy Tail team, who will from now onward be referred to as Team Bisca, unfolded their uniform and inspected it more closely. "Any questions?" Natsu asked.
"When do we start?" Alzack fired immediately. Natsu crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.
"The qualifiers start after twelve A.M., no further details were given to me. Be on your toes, though. I'm gonna go get settled in to my room, you guys plan and talk and do whatever you feel like you have to do." Natsu paced out of the room and down the hall. He smiled and wistfully thought about how it would go if he could participate. Perhaps in a different universe he could. But he shook his head, knowing he was here and now and he'd have to be proud of the people who represented him. Still, whooping some ass in a government sanctioned death pit sounded appealing. But maybe not the death part.
Meanwhile, back in the room, team Bisca had all changed into their uniforms. Bisca's was made of flexible pants, boots, and a jacket that gave her wide range of motion. Alzack kept his signature poncho, but purple with the logo. Nab had nothing covering his chest, but his pants followed the theme of the rest of the team. Kinana's looked mostly similar to Bisca's, just with her forearms bare.
And then there was Lia's. It seemed that most of her joints were covered in a metal band, and along her limbs in regimented lines were small flat pieces of metal. On her shoulders and back were longer curved metal blades the protruded slightly outwards, but not enough to be a hassle or impair her mobility. Her boots also had the entirety of the sole made of metal, along with a pointy steel toe. She played around with the blades, pulling them out and guiding them around her in an elegant dance. She shen directed them beneath her feet and found that she could shakily hover in the air this way.
"Damn, Lia. Looking good," Bisca complimented. Lia grinned like an excited child who just learned to ride a horse. It was exhilarating. But then she stumbled and fell on her ass. The rest of the team laughed, but Bisca held out a hand towards Lia as she did so. "Just keep at it, and you'll be fucking amazing." Lia took Bisca's hand and smiled at her green-haired comrade. This was definitely her new family.
The clock struck midnight and the belltower chimed twelve consecutive times. This didn't awaken any of Team Bisca, however. But then exactly one minute after midnight a loud horn blared and lights shone in the sky.
They all sat up in their respective rooms quickly, and scrambled for their uniforms.
"Contestants!" A loud voice boomed across the city. "There are six golden idols in Crocus, each with a light shining down on it." Bisca looked out her window and saw that there were indeed six pillars of golden light pointing down into the city. One was quite close. "The six guilds that bring these idols to the coliseum will qualify for the main event." The entirety of Team Bisca gathered in the lobby of the inn and began to jog their way into the streets, listening to the continuing instructions as they pushed towards the nearest pillar. "The light will continue to shine even when a guild has obtained it. Feel free to steal it away from your rivals. Until your guild gets through the archway into the coliseum, every idol is fair game. Good luck!" And the voice ceased with a loud popping noise. And suddenly the idol that Team Bisca was approaching started moving away from them and in the direction of the coliseum.
"Shit, another guild has it!" Kinana yelled. They all picked up their pace and Bisca requipped to a gun none of them had seen before. She aimed it at a high clock tower and a grappling hook zipped through the night air until it hit it, and then suddenly she pulled off her feet and towards it. Alzack assured his teammates she wasn't abandoning them.
"She'll be our eyes in the sky, don't worry." They were getting closer to the golden pillar when Bisca crackled over the communication lacrima in Alzack's poncho.
"Five enemies six o'clock, about twenty yards back." Alzack nodded and spun around, palming the hammer of his revolver several times in quick burst. Small bursts of electricity sparked off in the distance and the pursuing guild dropped.
"They must've been weak, I didn't make those stun shots very powerful…" Alzack chortled as he fell back in line with the other two members of Team Bisca. Turning around a corner into a much wider street they finally spotted the guild with the idol.
Meanwhile, Natsu sat on his balcony and clenched his fists tightly. Live updates were spilling from the lacrima in front of him, and it was more or less what he expected. Lamia Scale had firm control over an idol, as did Blue Pegasus. He had never heard of Saber Tooth, Quatro Cerberus, Cyclops Eye or Raptor Talon, however. But he knew that Raptor Talon was the closest to his team, and that a fight would be happening soon.
"Come on, I believe in you all…" Natsu whispered.
Back in the streets Team Bisca was chasing Raptor Talon, the latter of whom were certainly quick.
"Takeover, Raptor Soul!" The one at the front of their spearhead shouted, taking on the form of a huge eagle as he lifted himself, and the idol, into the sky. But then a bolt hit him in the chest and he careened down to earth.
"Thanks, babe!" Alzack laughed as Lia hopped onto her metal plates shakily to intercept the idol in the air. But a buffet of rose petals from one of the Raptor Talon mages destabilized her already quaking balance and she tumbled down. Another two guilds spilled into the street as the idol landed in the center.
It became a tumultuous and chaotic brawl, with magic flying all around and nobody really knowing who was winning. But then Kinana scooped up the idol and took off in the direction of the coliseum. An enemy wizard tried to run off after her but was hit by a bolt from Bisca who still occupied her clock tower.
Nab shifted to his bear stance and tossed four enemies off of his broad shoulders. He smacked another with a huge palm and began to charge after Kinana. Alzack and Lia wrapped up with the stragglers and tried to follow as quickly as possible. But Fairy Tail had lost formation.
Kinana bolted along the dimly lit sidewalk with the idol hugged tightly to her chest. A huge roar echoed down the street and Kinana stopped suddenly in fear. A huge takeover mage barreled out of an alley possessed by some sort of reptilian soul. He looked around and quickly laid his eyes on Kinana, dropping his jaw to roar again. Kinana backed away and tried to make a run for it in the opposite direction but didn't go far before a huge scaled hand wrapped around her legs. The reptile swung her against the side of a building, winding Kinana and knocking the idol out of her grasp. She fell to the ground and went prone like a limp ragdoll, giving the reptilian time to get hold of the prize. Several energy bolts hit him in the chest, but his skin was too tough to be penetrated.
He swung back into his alleyway, and Bisca cursed loudly as he left her sights. Her team was too separate to keep tabs on all at once, but she realized she'd made a huge mistake by not focusing on Kinana.
"Alzack, have Nab chase down the idol. You and Lia grab Kinana." her lacrima crackled as Alzack confirmed the instructions. She glanced through her scope once again but as she did so something knocked her from her perch. Bisca had no time to register what hit her and requipped back to her grappling gun. She hooked to another portion of the tower and swung around, requipping a sawed-off shotgun in her other hand. She saw what had hit her, it was the Raptor Talon man from before and he was diving towards her in a Falcon form. She raised her left arm and squinter her eye to line up her shot perfectly, and just a few feet before the two met she pulled the trigger. A cone of flat rubber pellets erupted from the twin barrels and hit the man hard in the chest, pushing him back slightly before he dropped out of his form and tumbled into the air downwards to the ground. Bisca huffed exasperatedly at the distraction and hoisted herself back onto her vantage point, quickly requipping to her sniper rifle.
In the winding labyrinth of alleyways nab sped through the corridors and vaulted over crates and trash in his hawk stance. It didn't allow him the ability to fly, but it boosted his speed and agility significantly. A ways ahead of him the huge reptilian knocked over stacks of barrels and other obstacles to halt the fairy Tail wizards' advance, but found it more and more futile. Nab quickly jumped on a crate and then ran across the wall for several paces before switching to his bear stance, where he leveled a powerful punch at the reptile man's cranium. It connected and instantly knocked the opponent out cold. The idol flew forward and slid across the cobble, bounding like a coin and clanging audibly.
Nab moved to retrieve it but a speed mage ran by and scooped it up like a football, taking off down the street.
"Bisca!" Nab screamed. From atop her tower Bisca switched her focus from Alzack to Nab's new foe, and hit him square in the back with a bolt. He dropped comically and Nab was finally able to get his hands on the idol.
"Fairy Tail has regained control of the idol!" The announcer yelled. Natsu stood up and punched his fist in the air.
"Yes!" he yelled happily as he danced around on his balcony.
"What's this? It seems Kraken Maw has occupied the staircase up the coliseum and is waiting for the first guild with an idol to ambush!" The announcer declared. Natsu looked up instantly and sighed in relief. Fairy Tail wasn't the closest guild to the coliseum. But he wondered who this Kraken Maw was.
The members of Cyclops Eye shouted in elation as they moved closer to the grand staircase. Victory was theirs for the taking.
"Takeover, Leviathan Soul!" They heard from above them. Suddenly a huge man with features of an enormous Manta ray fell out of the sky and landed in the center of them. But the onslaught didn't halt there. A huge crescent of water swirled around them and a woman with long silver hair phased through the crescent to the center of them. The water receded towards her, pulling all the Cyclops Eye wizards with it, knocking them off their feet. She summoned a sphere of water in the air and used it to encircle the idol, before the Manta Ray wrapped his arms around her and in one great leap skyrocketed into the sky.
"And there it is! Kraken Maw is our first qualifying guild!" Natsu once again looked across the city indifferently. Kraken Maw didn't matter to him yet. His eyes followed the golden pillar that was Fairy Tail grow ever closer to their final destination.
"Come on…" Natsu huffed.
Back in the streets Lia, Kinana and Alzack had finally caught up to Nab. Resistance was becoming more minimal as they watched the other pillars draw nearer to them. And that's when a familiar trio of very attractive young man and Ichiya burst through an alley and onto the main street with them.
"Men! It seems you have also wrestled control of a golden idol, well done, Fairy Tail. We shall run with you to the coliseum!"
"Ichiya, do you think Jenny will be okay?" Ren asked. Ichiya nodded while posed then pointed dramatically to their goal.
"Let us advance! Men!"
"The next qualifying guild is… Blue Pegasus! Immediately followed by Fairy Tail!" Natsu bellowed in delight and bounded around his balcony, making punching gestures and eventually rolling around on the dirty floor. He couldn't contain his excitement. They'd done it. "Up next we have Lamia Scale, then Saber Tooth, and finally Quatro Cerberus! We have some good looking teams folks. The guild with the most takedowns for the qualifiers is Lamia Scale. I mean they have a wizard saint participating, I'd sure hate to face them come the group stage! This has been your qualifier coverage, I'll see you all in a few days!" Natsu clicked off the lacrima and grinned. It was going to be a fun time from here on out.
The Next Afternoon
Natsu wasn't happy. He tugged at the collar of his pressed shirt feeling uncomfortably claustrophobic. He had never worn 'proper' clothes before, and he could say already that he was definitely not a fan.
The whole thing felt wrong. He was sitting around a long table with Ooba, Bob, Goldmine, and a huge man with a big ugly nose. And then there was empty seat where the Kraken Maw guild master was supposed to be. But at the end of the table was the most important person in the room. King Toma Fiore.
Natsu felt sweat build on his forehead as he reached for his utensils, but there were too many and he had no clue which he was supposed to use for what. He gulped and looked up desperately for help. Ooba raised her eyebrows and set her eyes on the smaller fork. Natsu gave her a subtle head bow and grabbed it. He wanted to dig in but forced himself to be moderate, though it was a painful decision.
"So Master Dragneel, it made my heart weep to hear about your guild," the King said from across the table. Natsu quickly swallowed what was in his mouth and began to speak, but he recalled he hadn't wiped his mouth. He did so in a quick motion and cleared his throat.
"It was difficult at first, but I know they'll be back." Some of the other guild masters gave each other looks. Bob and Goldmine, however, smiled.
"Makarov would be proud," Bob assured Natsu. "You've been doing a fantastic job so far. You're nearing a year now, correct?" Natsu nodded in response before sipping from his glass of champagne. He didn't really like the taste but he felt fancy doing it.
"Hmph, he's a weakling and a fool," the man with the red nose huffed. "They're dead and won't be returning, and from what I can tell you no longer have a single S-class mage in your guild. Saber Tooth will obliterate you in the group stage." Natsu began to laugh aloud, which shocked the present company more than Jiemma's outburst had. Natsu regained his composure and glared Jiemma down, his face now completely still and a cold fire burned in his eyes.
"You're going to see…"
The door suddenly burst open, interrupting anything else happening in the room. The guards at the walls all moved their hands for their weapons but as soon as they saw who it was, they eased up.
She was the most enormous woman Natsu had ever seen. She was easily as tall as Jiemma, and equally as wide. Her long black hair was shaved but the mohawk on top, but then it spiraled out in a great ponytail of wound dreadlocks. She was covered in tribal tattoos, most of which were covered by her huge pants, boots, and black tube top. Over it she wore the white jacket of a wizard saint, and all across her abdomen was a glowing guild mark that looked like an enormous quid. She was the guild master of Kraken Maw.
"You're late, Ne'e!" The King laughed as she sat at the other end of the table. She looked down the grand banquet and reached for the entire platter of roasted bird, before tearing into chunks with her hands. She dug in voraciously, and Natsu looked at her in shock and envy. He began to eat like regular Natsu, though he attempted to do so more cleanly than the brute beside him.
"Yes," Ne'e declared with a mouthful. She picked up a bottle of wine and downed it in seconds. "I am late. The tide ebbs and flows, and currents swirl. But all fish swim where they need to in the end." After sharing her philosophical excuse for her tardiness she returned to the food.
"How barbaric…" Ooba huffed. Ne'e looked up as meat hing from her teeth and smiled wide.
"Life is too short for the constraints of man. The ocean is wild, untameable, and powerful. I live my life by the flow of the ocean, not by the rules of man." She turned her head to Natsu. "This one, this one is moving. You all though, you are all stagnant. Stagnation only breeds pestilence."
"This woman is an affront!" Jiemma roared, standing up and smacking his palms on the table. Further down King Toma laughed hysterically. He snapped his fingers and small door in the corner opened.
"Come out, Hisui! Come meet these fine people!" A young girl dressed in elegant silks with green hair bashfully entered the room and hid behind her father's chair. "Everyone, this is my daughter, Princess Hisui E Fiore."
"Ahh, she as well moves powerfully. Her future holds promise. But risk as well," Ne'e stated. Natsu ket staring at her ponderously. She seemed more like a priestess than any sort of mage or guild master. "Now, I will tell all of you this instant, that my guild is filled with powerful wizards. I am excited to see what you all bring to the table, but I guarantee that I will win. That is all." She stood up, wiped her mouth and strode out of the room. Everyone was dumbstruck. Besides Natsu, who had never been more curious in his life. And beyond that he wanted to fight her.
But he knew there'd be time for that. For now, he had to prepare for tomorrow. The games had almost begun.
A/N: I feel like growth has stagnated. And I'm in the process of writing chapter 17 but I've been blocked since I released 8 so I need to get out of this slump. PM if u wanna help me bounce ideas around, I could use a lil inspiration/ assistance.