A/N: So this chapter basically finishes off the last one. Hooray, its finally time to start the main event ;P Well no quite yet but we're getting there slowly.
There was one last part to this competition and it was easy to assume it would involve both of the partners. Taro had to admit he felt pretty good, he'd been lucky with the last round, had he gone first his score would have been a whole different barrel of fish, the ability to go after the other three S-Class mages had meant that he could collect the residual energy left over from their attacks and use it. That had been his game plan from the moment Mirajane's name was called and he was pleased to see it had worked a treat. If he had to bet on the next round he would assume it would be something to do with teamwork, that seemed like a necessary attribute and something that would definitely require both he and Natsu to participate. He didn't have to wait long for his assumptions to be proven correct. Levy quickly announced that the last part would require the S-Class mages to show their leadership qualities. Each 'subordiate' would be blindfolded, and in Natsu and Gajeel's case have their noses plugged, whilst they would attempt to make a sandwich. The ingredients for which were spread out around the arena, hidden by obstacles that would be difficult to pass even with sight. The S-Class mages were to act as the eyes to the participants, directing them on where abouts to go and what to add to the sandwich. Levy was particularly happy to promote the fact that Team Shadow Gear's very own Droy would be the one to taste, and thus give the final verdict on which team was the winner. Taro smiled to himself as Natsu quickly had two of his senses removed, it was probably an advantage for Natsu to not be able to see what he was doing, after all, Natsu was a hideous cook.
The five mages made their way to the arena as best they could, it suddenly occurred to Taro that although they hadn't started yet Natsu was going to need help to get into the ready position, he quickly directed the dragon slayer who found his way to the starting line with relative ease. It gave Taro some confidence. Taro quickly observed the arena, the most obvious thing to go for was the bread, after all, what was a sandwich without bread, but Taro was devious enough to realise that 5 blind teenagers running for the bread at the same time would be a catastrophe. Instead he located the cheese and decided he would send Natsu there first. To Taro the simpler the sandwich the better, he was expecting a blind fire mage to craft it after all, however it was possible to use Natsu's powers to his advantage, there had been no mention of a restriction on magic. Taro quickly surveyed his competition, trying to mentally map what he would expect each mage to do. He wondered if any of them would decided to skip the bread and go back later, he shrugged it off, as long as they got some by the end it wouldn't be a problem. The round was limited to a 10 minutes. There was a slight pause as the crowd settled down in their seats again, those whom had sat in the front row shakily returned, not looking all too confident. It made Taro chuckle.
As soon as Levy gave the word Taro ordered Natsu to take three steps forward. Natsu did so without hesitation, it was nice to see the boy could listen if he wanted to. Taro made a mental note of how far the boy travelled, if he could picture Natsu's stride length it would enable him to more accurately direct the dragon slayer. Taro gave the order for Natsu to walk 10 paces forward, turn to the left and walk 5 more. Natsu moved as soon as the words left Taro's mouth walking quickly forward ten paces and turning on his heels... to face right. Taro almost slapped himself, did the boy really not know his lefts and rights, he shouted at Natsu to turn the other way to which the boy sheepishly rotated. Taro sighed, he was glad Natsu was competing with him, after all the two of them got on very well, but it would be nice if he was a little more competent at times. He directed Natsu under a beam of wood and across some hot coals so that the dragon slayer stood facing a pile of sliced cheese. When Natsu returned to Taro 3 minutes had passed. It was decision time for Taro, he had been right to assume that the other S-Class mages would go straight for the bread and the four helpless teenage participants were still trying to fumble their way through each other to get to it. It was a pretty funny sight and most of the crowd were in hysterics pointing and imitating the mages who were doing a fantastic job of looking like beached whales. Taro focused, what else would be good in a cheese sandwich and was easy to access. A plate of tomatoes was visible at the other side of the ring with little to no obstacle, he smiled to himself and commanded Natsu to the plate, the dragon slayer set off immediately. They had this in the bag.
Lucy wasn't sure which way was up any more, Erza had told her to grab the bread as quickly as possible but she had somehow fallen over along the way, likely due to the firm muscular bodies she found herself competing with. She had completely lost all sense of direction and was currently stretching her arms out hoping she would feel the soft texture. It wasn't helping that she could hear Erza screaming at her as if it was obvious where to go, she was blind for goodness sake! Had the girl forgotten. Lucy sighed, losing all hope in her partner she tried to listen to one of the others, since they were trying to direct their charges in the same direction. She heard Mirajane ordering Elfman to take five paces to his left. She assumed that every three steps of Elfman would be worth about 5 of hers and moved as Mirajane had said. Maybe it was dumb luck but she felt something soft under her fingers and squealed in delight when she realised it was bread. She tuned back in to Erza who was cheered louder than the crowd before ordering her back to the beginning. Surprisingly she made it back without a hitch. Erza gave Lucy some praise but informed her that it was no time to be resting. They needed another ingredient. Lucy found herself being ordered to walk a rather strange path but she followed without complaint, she could hear Mirajane still telling Elfman where the bread was and realised that they were at least ahead of someone.
Natsu returned with the tomatoes a triumphant look on his face. Taro smiled and let Natsu know that all they really needed was the bread now. Natsu nodded and was ready to follow the instructions Taro gave him. Taro refused to send Natsu to collect the bread yet, only Lucy had actually managed to find any and the three male mages were still falling over each other. Taro decided that he could add ham to the sandwich in the meantime. He instructed Natsu to head for the moist meat and let the boy get to work. He watched as Lucy moved towards the same place, a sudden 'evil' thought sprung to mind. As both Natsu and Lucy edged closer to each other and to their joint destination Taro told Natsu to stick his hand out. Natsu obliged like a well trained dog and thrust his hand out meeting something round and soft. Taro couldn't contain himself and burst into fits of laughter, he turned to see Erza's reaction, the mage had turned a bright red and looked incredibly embarrassed.
Natsu was confused as to what he was holding, this didn't feel like any ham he had ever tried before. He allowed his fingers to slowly squeeze the object in his hand and was surprised when he was struck by a palm across the face. Lucy wailed at him, calling him a pervert. Natsu didn't really understand what was going on but by the tone of Lucy's voice he had done something bad. He did what every man should do in a situation where a female had been angered, he begged forgiveness. He wasn't exactly sure if Lucy excepted it or not but she seemed to calm down at his apology. He quickly grabbed a slice of ham and moved back to Taro for an explanation.
Taro could barely contain himself, there were tears running down his cheeks and his side was burning. He had never felt like such a bastard and a genius at the same time. Watching Natsu grope Lucy had been the funniest thing he had witnessed in a while and the fact Lucy had taken a second to react made it all the funnier, maybe she enjoyed it! When Natsu approached him he did his best to play it cool but even he could tell he wasn't doing a good job. Natsu asked what had happened but instead of answering Taro commanded the boy to the now vacant bread pile. He took a second to view his opposition and was shocked to see how well the others had picked themselves up after the dreadful start. Still it made no difference, Natsu returned triumphant with the bread, the hard part done all they needed to do was stick the ingredients together. Bread, followed by cheese, ham, tomato and topped with bread. The sandwich looked good but it was missing something that would give it that winning edge. Taro asked Natsu to lightly toast the sandwich, he knew it was a risk but he assumed the boy could be trusted at this point. Natsu let out a little flame and instantly the bread caught alight. For the second time that day Taro almost slapped himself, he really had expected too much of Natsu, he ordered the boy to put the flames out but it was too little too late. The top slice of bread had blackened and singed. It was ruined in a typical Natsu style. There was no time left to grab another slice of bread so they turned the slice over just as the timer clocked down.
Droy looked at the five sandwiches he had been presented with, none of which looked particularly enjoyable. He started with Taro's effort, a cheese and ham toasted sandwich, it looked by far the best prepared of the lot. How sadly mistaken he was. The bread crumbled in his mouth and he coughed up soot, what the heck had happened. He turned over the bread and looked at the horrifying truth. The underside had been blackened hard, like burnt toast. Droy threw the sandwich to the floor declaring it trash. Taro sighed and gave a reassuring shrug to Natsu, least they had tried. Erza's sandwich consisted of ham, bread and what looked like tobasco sauce. Needless to say Droy was not impressed and soon the sandwich received the same treatment. It occurred to Taro that although Lucy could cook, Erza wasn't exactly a gourmet chef. In fact the girl had rather strange eating habits which consisted mainly of cake. The contest between the final three was much closer, it turned out both Laxus and Guildarts weren't completely incompetent when it came to cooking, after all they were often away from the guild for long periods of time. Mirajane was undoubtedly a pro. In the end the game was given to Mirajane for her sublime cheese and chutney sandwich, followed by Guildarts BLT, and Laxus's chicken tikka. Both Erza and Taro scored no points.
The final scores for the event were not given out. Somehow master Makarov was able to stamp a big 'To be Continued' on to the competition and told everyone that they had to come back the following year to see the competition completed. The master's reasoning was incredibly sketchy, especially since Fairy Tail had raked in a lot of money with the event, regardless it was soon forgotten and the Fantasia parade was performed. Natsu, Taro, Lucy and Happy shared a float, although Natsu really only walked in front of it. It was a fantastic night for all involved and a good day in general for the guild. It was late by the time Lucy walked the empty streets back to her house with Natsu and Happy in tail. She had offered them her house for the night since expecting them to walk through the woods on their own at this time was potentially too much. It had occurred to her that even if she hadn't offered, they more than likely would have been in head bedroom come the morning.
As they made their way through the streets in silence a mouse jumped out from a fallen trash can. Lucy jumped with fright letting out a high pitched squeal. Natsu jogged up to her, her typical knight in shining armour finding it quite hilarious. It was only then that the man made himself known. A hooded figure stepped out of the alley way, he had a long pointed nose that protruded from his hood and thick bushy eyebrows. His back was hunched over to the point that it looked like he didn't have a neck at all. The man looked positively hideous and if Lucy hadn't been classically trained she probably would have shown her disgust to the man. He smiled up at them showing a set of decaying yellow teeth.
"What a lovely night for a walk," the man's voice sounded like fingernails on a chalk board, it occurred to Lucy that from what she had seen and heard so far, this man had no appealing qualities. Was that even possible in a human being? Lucy felt Natsu shrug next to her and realised the man had been talking directly to them. "There aren't many more things in this world that are more precious than these moments. Make sure to cherish them."
Lucy couldn't stand being around this man any more. Every impulse in her body was telling her to run as far as possible. She had never felt so repulsed by someone in her entire life. The man walked towards them, passing them whilst still speaking.
"Those keys though deary, those are precious too."
Lucy didn't exactly know what the guy meant but he was gone and that was all that mattered. She sighed in relief. For some reason the man had completely shaken her. The fantastic day had been ruined by the incident, if only Lucy knew why.