Harem (Up to this chapter): Seilah, Irene.
"Naruto" Normal Speech.
'Naruto' Normal Thought.
"Rasengan" Jutsu/Power/Technique.
"Kurama" Demonic/Dragon Speeches.
'Kurama' Demonic/Dragon Thoughts.
Fairy Guardian: Resurrection
Chapter 10
Twice a year, the Grand Magic Game for mages was held. The capital of Fiore, the flower blooming capital, Crocus was busting with its citizens as well as mages of Fiore coming from all over the world in order to participate in this certain event. In the centre was the King of Fiore's palace, Mercurius, an extremely large and tall building, appearing as one of the most visible elements in the valley where Crocus is located, and towering over all of the city's other buildings.
Mercurius was surrounded by a lush garden, which, much like the rest of the city, was adorned by a large amount of flowers, possessing flowerbeds and, in addition, artistically arranged plants and small, tidy hedges, which have square, hollow spaces on their edges, housing ornately decorated street lamps, with wavy poles ending in large orbs, with circular objects surrounding them, seemingly floating. The streets there were adorned with mosaics, which consisted of a variety of small, flat rectangular stones arranged to resemble semicircles. In front of the palace sat a fountain, surrounded by a ground-level, round and shallow pool; water jets jut upwards from both the fountain and the pool, with the former also housing some plants, or possibly statues of plants, on its base. In the mountains to the West, the great magic tournament was going to be held in the Domus Flau. The place appeared to be a large, round, open battle arena and had no cover on the top. It has numerous arches in its walls and a large entrance. The Domus Flau also had four gigantic statues, each holding a staff with a big circle on top, facing inwards, surrounding the Domus Flau. Four gigantic chains could also be seen around the Domus Flau; each starting from a circular metal on the ground around the Domus Flau, connecting to circles behind the statues, and reaching down another circular metal in the ground.
And in the middle of the town, was Fairy Tail's strongest team, Team Natsu. Five of them were lying on the ground in the middle of the street, exhausting from all the hardcore trainings they had gone through to get used to their newfound powers. Erza Scarlet, meanwhile, was completely fine and was standing beside her huge luggage with a map of the capital in her hands.
"Oi, I still don't feel so great about all this…" Gray said through gritting teeth, trying to push himself up to his feet "We don't know for sure if that spell worked." He still remembered every single detail about the pain he had to go through to boost his own ability and unlock his Second Origin. He didn't know if it was really worth it or not.
"Yeah, but I do feel like my magic power has increased." Lucy said with a long sigh "All my joints are still totally sore, though."
"Geez, don't you guys feel embarrassed for yourselves?" Erza asked as she looked away from the map and turned her eyes to her teammates.
"Why are you completely fine, Erza?" Lucy asked with a sweat dropped, looking at the taller woman.
"She probably had her second origin unlocked from the start," Gray concluded, and Lucy could only nod her head in agreement.
"That makes sense." Natsu agreed whole-heartedly before he stood up from his position on the ground, raising his hand above his head and asked the strongest woman of Fairy Tail "Can I ask you something?"
"Go ahead."
"What is he doing here?!" The pink haired dragon slayer cried in a dramatic manner, throwing his hand at Naruto, who were standing beside Erza's luggage and reading the new issue of the weekly Sorcerer Magazine while eating a big hot dog, something he took from Natsu before he could even take a bite "Didn't he say he don't want to participate in the Grand Magic Game with us?" After witnessing, and experiencing first hand, the powers of the new member of Fairy Tail, Natsu had decided that his guild needed someone like him to ensure their victory at the tournament.
However, much to Natsu's surprise and Erza's expectation, when he asked Naruto to join his team, Naruto refused without thinking, claiming that he didn't want to waste his time fighting for the guild. His answer caused Natsu to explode with anger, but a glare from Erza was more than enough to shut him up and make him back away in fear.
"You know, as her teacher, it's only natural for me to come here with my student." Naruto answered simply, while Erza nodded her head with a small smile "This tournament is a perfect opportunity for Erza to test her powers, and I really want to see how well she handles herself against someone other than me, who is far stronger than her." He finished while grinning smugly.
"And you said my head was big enough." Erza told him with a tone full of sarcasm, but Naruto simply gave her a foxy grin in response "Anyway, since you are here to see the result of our training, does that mean that I can only use ninja techniques in battles?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. It would be too bad if he didn't allow her to use her magic. She was both a mage and a ninja. She didn't want to give up on something in favour of the other. She also wanted to fight for her guild with the best of her abilities, and with everything she had, something Erza believed she had to do in order to bring glory back to Fairy Tail.
"Don't worry about that. You can use anything you want, as long as you can come out with the victory." The scarlet head mage nodded her head with a smile "After all, you're a mage first and a Kunoichi second, aren't you?"
"Yeah, you're right." Erza smiled, nodding her head. He could be strict with his training. He might be a pain in the ass sometimes, but in the end, Erza had to admit that he was a very good teacher, as well as a very understanding one.
"But of course, you lose a single match and there will be hell to pay." Erza nervously took a step back when she saw an evil smirk crossing his face.
"I will try… my best then." A forced smile was all that she could manage.
Naruto then looked around and caught sight of the third master of Fairy Tail, Makarov with Asuka sitting on his shoulders, her parent following closely behind them. Jet and Droy were with them as well. Those two weren't going to participate in the Grand Magic Game since they were too afraid to go through the same pain Team Natsu had to go through to unlock their Second Origin.
"So you guys have finally made it!" The master greeted them with a huge smile "Oh my, I didn't expect you to come here too Naruto." He said brightly, looking at the blond.
"I have my reason to come here." He answered simply.
"Alright, let's get on with this even already!" Makarov said, crossing his arms on his chest "Kahahaha! We'll show them the power of Fairy Tail!" Makarov announced while laughing confidently.
"Did you hear that, Fairy Tail?"
"Where? Them?"
"The weak little guild forever claims the last place?"
"Pft…kufufu… you guys gonna get the last place again this year too!"
"Everyone knows Sabertooth is gonna dominate this year too."
"GRRR!" Natsu gritted his fist in anger, glaring angrily at the citizens around them.
"Whoever wants to laugh them let them go ahead and laugh." Makarov said with a confident grin "We will just wait and see which one is going to get the last laugh." He then turned back to look at Team Natsu, who he had decided to be the team who participated in the Grand Magic Game, since the other teams couldn't make it "Okay everyone, the first day of the Grand Magic Game is going to take place tomorrow morning, but I was informed that all participants must return to their lodgings by twelve p.m. so make sure to return to your place before that time alright?"
"I see. It's just like that Cinderella story then." Lucy said with a bright smile.
"You know that story is going to be a lot easier to understand if Cinderella could have approached him and told him everything he should know about herself." Naruto pointed out, making Lucy look at him with a nervous smile "They danced all night and what, they stared at each other the whole time? Cinderella could at least tell him something about yourself, it's a bit creepy don't you think?" Lucy wanted to argue, but before she could do it, he asked, changing the topic with a simple question "So, have you finished my book yet?"
"Oh, of course, I'm so sorry for taking it so long." Lucy nodded her head as she reached into her package and took out the book Naruto had lent her "I actually finished it last night. It's really good so I wanted to enjoy it thoroughly."
"Once again, I'm glad that you like it." Naruto smiled and put his book away.
"Um… have you finished my books?" Lucy asked, fidgeting nervously and continued when Naruto nodded his head "What do you think about them?"
"Honest opinion?" Lucy nodded "Well, I can see that you're not a professional. There're many plot holes in your early works, and the writing style is a bit… inexperienced" Lucy smile dropped a little. She had expected that, but it's still sad to hear "Still, I could see many improvements in your latest works, so all I can say right now is that you have great potentials to become an author who is going to write best-selling novels in the near future."
"Is that so?" Lucy's expression immediately brightened up when she heard that "Thank you!"
"Only telling the truth." Naruto smiled in response.
"Shut it guys!" Natsu jumped in between the two of them with a toothy grin, his previous frustration for Naruto had disappeared "Stop talking nonsense! We've come all the way to this city and still got plenty of time left, we may as well hit the town!" He grabbed Lucy and Happy before dashing off. He also tried to grab Naruto too, but the immortal Shinobi easily slipped out of his grip and stood in the same place.
"Hey! Do you even know where the lodgings are?" Erza shouted after them.
"Honeybone right?" Lucy asked loudly "We'll be there by twelve for sure!" With that, the trio dashed away.
"Excited, isn't he?" Naruto asked before he reached his hand into the inner pocket of his jacket and took out a thick book, with the words 'Rulebook' written on the cover. He then gave it to Erza, who widened her eyes in shock at the thickness of the book "Erza, finish the tournament's rulebook before midnight."
"R…read this?" Erza stuttered "Before midnight?"
"Don't worry Erza, I will help you." Levy stepped forward with a smile, wearing glasses "I brought wind reading glasses."
"Magics, how magical of them!" While Erza smiled gratefully at her friend, Naruto could only grumble in annoyance "Alright then, do what you must before midnight." He pointed his hand at her before walking away.
"Where are you going, sensei?" Erza asked, but Naruto simply waved his hand above his head without turning around before disappearing into the crowd of the people of Crocus.
"So Erza…" Makarov stepped forward and asked Erza with a small smile, holding his hands behind his back "It seems things have been going well for the two of you."
"Hm? Oh… yes, yes it does master." Erza nodded her head with a smile. The others parted away after that, with Erza heading to the Honeybone lodge with Levy to read the Book of Rules Naruto had given her.
Wandering around the streets of Crocus, Naruto turned his head around, double-checking his surroundings and making sure that no one (especially Fairy Tail's mages) was following him, or looking at him in a strange way (talk about paranoid). After Naruto was sure that he wasn't drawing any unnecessary attention, the blond started looking for his favourite demon, Seilah, who he was sure had been following him since morning. He felt bad that he had to tell her to stay behind, because first, he wasn't sure about their opinions about demon like Seilah, and second, he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable around the race, and the people she hated so much. It took Erza two weeks to fully trust the demoness, and even more time for the later to consider the strongest female wizard of Fairy Tail someone worthy of her attention, despite knowing full well who she was. Seilah had become a little bit more civil with the human after spending the last seven years with him, but he wasn't sure how she would react (which she probably not show it visibly) if he introduced her to anyone else other than Erza.
Spotting Seilah standing next to a local souvenir shop, Naruto quickly made his way to her. Seilah was wearing a dark cloak, which had a hood that was large enough to cover her horns. The cloak hid most of her feature, except for her face, which was having a disgusted expression as she glared at the citizens around her.
However, seeing him approaching her, Seilah immediately brightened up.
"There you are." Naruto grinned as he stopped in front of her.
"Master." Seilah lowered her head "How do you do?"
"I'm fine." Naruto smiled before asking "Have you been following me since morning?"
"Yes, master."
"When I said you should stay behind, I really didn't want you to follow me from behind, you know." Naruto sighed as he put his hands into his pockets and looked at her "You're free to do whatever you want, so why don't you head home or find something entertaining to do?"
"Because I want to make sure that those humans aren't going to bother you, master," Seilah replied, the expression on her face remained unchanged.
"Don't worry, they're not." He grinned, shaking his head "Plus, even if they were, you wouldn't come out of your hiding and curb stomp every single one of them, would you?" Knowing her, it was probably what she would do if she had the chance and the permission for it "Anyway, follow me… there's something I want to discuss with you." He walked away and gestured her to follow him.
"What is it master?"
"It's the reason I am here. Do you remember what happened exactly four hundred years ago, during the Dragon Festival…"
"They're late."
Wearing her favourite Heart Kreuz pyjama, Erza scolded lightly as she looked at the cards in her hands with half-lifted eyes. It was one hour before midnight, and none of her teammates had yet shown up at Honeybone, the lodging that had been assigned to Fairy Tail's team. Levy had left as soon as they had gone through the rulebook, leaving Erza alone in her room. With the wind reading glasses, it didn't take the two of them more than two hours to go through the rulebook and remember some of the most important points of the Grand Magic Game.
Unfortunately after that, aside from cleaning her some of her weapons to make sure that they would stay in the best shape, Erza couldn't find anything more interesting to do. She had checked her room to make sure that there was no funny business in the place but she couldn't find anything suspicious in the end.
Knock! Knock!
Then suddenly, when she was about to drop her cards (she was playing with herself to kill time), she heard the sound of someone knocking on the door. Standing up from her position on the floor, Erza quickly made her way across the room, hoping that it was Natsu and the rest of the gang.
"Coming!" She called when they knocked again. Twisting the doorknob, Erza opened it, and widened her eyes in surprise when she saw Naruto standing in front of her with a bag in his hands "Naruto-sensei? What are you doing here?"
"Just this time, I will allow you to call me Naruto." Naruto said as he raised the bag he was holding at her eye level "Yo! Hope you're up to some late meal. I brought snacks."
"Oh, thank you. I'm a bit hungry right now." Erza smiled as she took the bag from Naruto's hand. Peeking inside, Erza's eyes shone with excitement when she saw a small, white box that contained her favourite strawberry cheesecake "Please come in." She stepped out of the way and insisted him to enter.
"This place isn't so bad." Naruto commented as he removed his shoes and made his way into the room "When I heard Honeybone was one of the worst places a guild that participates in the Grand Magic Game could get, I thought it was a dump or something."
"Yes, it's very nice." Erza nodded her head in agreement.
"Do you know that Sabertooth gets to stay at Crocus Garden?" Erza shook her head "It's the best hotel in this city. Talk about the benefits of being the number one guild of Fiore."
"Not for long, though." Erza stated confidently "Fairy Tail is going to climb to the top this year."
"Well, we will see about that." Naruto grinned before spotting the cards lying on the floor "Look like you're in need of company. Want to have a few rounds with me?"
"Of course, feel free to join Naruto." With that, the two of them settled down. Naruto picked up his cards and took a look at what he had while was pretty much doing the same thing, only that she was trying to form a plan to beat him with the cards she had.
"So, have you finished reading the rulebook?"
"I have," Erza answered his question.
"That's good then. What do you think?"
"Well, it's very interesting." Erza shrugged "Since the competition changes every year, and no one knows what they have to deal with until right before it begin, victory will be decided by those who can dominate several different kinds of competition. I guess of among the members of the team, I am the one who can face all the challenges the tournament throw at us."
"Agree." Naruto nodded his head, throwing a card out "Base on the competitions of the past few years, it seems there'll surely be matches between members of the guilds. To tell you the truth in my opinion, aside from the matches, you can easily dominate the entire competitions with just what you have learnt from me."
"There're many strong mages who will take part in the tournament, you know." She pointed out "There are Bacchus of Quatro Cerberus, those five extraordinary wizards of Sabertooth who are responsible for their current position at the number one, and even Jura of the Wizard Saint from Lamia Scale. I should keep my guard on around them rather than taking them lightly because I have a few tricks up my sleeves."
"Those tricks can easily take someone's life, and do more harm than good if you're not careful." Naruto reminded her. Some of the techniques he had taught Erza, while they weren't even close to A-class (aside from the Rasengan) or S-class, were extremely dangerous in the current era, as they were nearly as powerful as the more advanced spells "Don't want to deliver a kill-strike, do you?"
"Yes, but I heard there are protection spells around the arena to prevent the competitors from facing life-threatening situations, so I don't have to hold back." Naruto nodded his head "Speaking about that, when will you start teaching me the stronger techniques?" So far, the Rasengan was the highest ranked technique she had learnt from him, and she couldn't even use some of the lower ranked ninjutsu as powerful as he could.
"When you are ready." Naruto answered simply before she could say anything, he continued "And for your information, I didn't know anything other than Henge (Transformation technique), Kawarimi (Body replacement technique), a couple of basic wind-style and some random techniques and Rasengan before I was nineteen." Erza widened her eyes in surprise. Naruto believed he shouldn't tell her about the amount of variants of Rasengan he could use at that age, because it would not go well with what he was trying to teach her "You see, it's not about the ranks, it's about how effective you can use them, even a simple Henge can become a distraction that can fool even a primordial god."
"Well, if you say so." It was the only response Erza could come up.
The played for a few more rounds, with Naruto being the one who won every time, before Erza got impatient and started walking back and forth in the room, waiting for her teammate to return.
Around a quarter to twelve, everyone except for Wendy showed up and immediately Erza brought them to their knees. While Gray and Lucy looked guilty, Natsu was shaking, growling and cursing in frustration.
"You guys… seriously, you're late" Erza Scarlet crossed her arms underneath her ample chest, scolding at the three younger mages kneeling on the floor in front of her "Where have you been wandering around up till now?" She asked, glaring at them. Naruto meanwhile was sitting on his bed writing something into the small notebook with a pencil, having returned to their room as soon as he walked Mira back to her own lodge.
"Just another boring dinner…" Gray said with a nervous smile.
"Well… it's complicated… well… I mean… err" Lucy tried to explain, but all she could was making out some incompetent words.
"You guys met the Twin Dragons of Sabertooth, didn't you?" Naruto asked. While wandering around the streets with Seilah, Naruto had seen two Sabertooth wizards showing their strength against guilds' not too far away from where Natsu, Lucy and Happy were playing. He had seen them before. They were the Twin Dragons of Sabertooth, whose magics were Light and Shadow Dragon Slayer magic.
"How did you know?" Lucy asked in surprise.
"GAH! I'm so gonna get those guys back, no matter what!" Natsu and Happy cried out in frustration, balling their hands into fists.
"You will have your chance soon enough Natsu," Naruto said and turned his eyes to look at the clock. It was a quarter before twelve "It's nearly midnight, I wonder what the organizers have in store for us."
"Anyway, where is Wendy?" Erza asked, looking around "We decided that she will be our reserve."
"That's right." Lucy nodded her head "She's late… it's almost twelve though, that little girl is out there alone" Lucy said worriedly "I hope she is okay."
"Don't worry, she'll be fine." Happy spoke up "Carla is with her, so I don't think they're lost."
"Want me to go look for her?" Naruto suggested before he started counting "One, two, three, four… you need a team of five to participate in the tournament, you know?"
Tick!
"Should have suggested that a bit sooner," Naruto muttered sarcastically as he looked at the clock. It's twelve o'clock. The church belt at a local church started to ring
"What's going to happen?" Lucy asked with a little nervousness in her tone. The whole city had become quiet and the only things that could be heard were the belt's tolls.
"To all the guilds here for the Grand Magic Game!" A loud and playful voice that could be heard all over the city hit them, surprise team Fairy Tail. They immediately ran outside to see what was happening.
Above the city was the hologram of a short man wearing a pumpkin head with large eyes and mouth, striped shirt with white cuffs, a black shirt underneath, a dark cape with white edges and white underside, a pair of white pants, white boots, white gloves, and a dark witch-like hat "Good morning!"
"Whoa!" Natsu gasped in amazement "He's massive."
"Show off," Naruto said as he leant against the balcony.
"In order to reduce the participating teams from one hundred and thirteen down to eight…" The Pumpkin said, "We will now begin a 'Preliminary Event."
"Preliminary?" Gray cried out in shock "No one said anything about this."
"Every year, more and more come to participate in this event. Unfortunately, that's a sign this event was starting to be taken too lightly~!" Pumpkin started to dance around and said with a sing song tone "This year, we've brought the number of final competing teams down to eight~" He then pointed his index finger up and the whole city starting to move, shocking everyone. Every single lodge for the participants starting to rise up from the ground "You will all now compete with each other. The goal is the event's ground, Domus Flau. The first eight teams to make it will participate in the event. Your lodging will be the starting line for the preliminary." After that, paths started being created on the balcony of the lodges all around the capital of Fiore and all connected to the place where the preliminaries would take place, a massive structure floating in the sky "Feel free to use any magic you like, because there are no restrictions as long as you can be one of the first eight team to make it. But if all five members of your team don't make it there, you still lose. And… one… more… thing," Pumpkin said with a dark chuckle "We take no responsibility for anyone who loses their life in the Labyrinth." Pumpkin cried and the whole city lighted up with flashlights "The Grand Magic Game's preliminary event! SKY LABYRINTH! Has BEGUN!"
"Oh no, we don't have enough members," Lucy exclaimed in horror as she looked at her team.
"Where the hell is Wendy?" Gray gritted his teeth, asking in both frustration and worry.
"We're not going to make it like this." Erza could only say while her mind was racing with thoughts.
"Why you look at that." Naruto said simply as he turned his head around, looking at the other teams that were already heading to the Sky Labyrinth on their respective paths "You guys better get going, or else you're not going to make…" He then stopped and turned his head to the side to look at Erza, who was looking at him hopefully "Why are you looking at me like that?" It didn't take him long to realise her intention "No, absolutely not."
"We have no choice." Erza shook her head before saying "Naruto, we need five members to participate. You have to join us, or Fairy Tail is going to lose." The others widened their eyes and started looking at Naruto the same way.
"I have already told you multiple times. Count me out of this mess." He said, holding up both of his hands "I can find Wendy for you. It will only take a second." But before he could go anywhere, Erza grabbed the sleeve of his shirt, stopping him.
"Wendy can join later, each team can have one reserve member." The whole team nodded in agreement.
"How about I bring Juvia here?" Naruto suggested "How about Levy? They are here to cheer for the team, aren't they?"
"Are we really having this conversation?" Natsu asked as he pointed his hand at the "The others have already gotten into the Sky Labyrinth. You said you didn't want to participate because it was going to waste your time? Guess what, you are wasting our time here." He growled, poking Naruto's chest with each word he said: "Forget it, guys!" He turned around and jumped onto the platform "Happy is a member of Fairy Tail right? He can be a member of our team too. Let's take off before any other team can take our place."
"Aye!" Happy said and flew after Natsu.
"Wait for me!" Lucy cried and quickly ran after the dragon slayer and the cat with Gray.
Erza jumped onto the balcony and followed her teammate, but before she did it, she turned her head around and gave Naruto a glare.
"What?" Naruto asked awkwardly. He didn't need his ability to tell what Erza was feeling, because the moment he looked into her eyes, he could see hurt, anger, and most of all… disappointment.
It was the first time she had looked at him like that. Even when he told Erza her precious teacher was an asshole, even when he pushed her through hellish training to make her stronger, she didn't look at him with those eyes.
It nearly made him flinch in surprise.
Erza left with her team after that, leaving him behind all by himself.
"What's that all about?" Naruto pondered as he turned around and made his way back into the lodging.
He was alone now.
Alone…
which would only lead to the feeling of loneliness…
Thinking about them, for the first time in a very long time, he started to hate those feelings... again.
It was strange… because Naruto thought he had gotten used to those feelings by now.
… and the way Erza had looked at him, full of disappointment… made him disappoint in himself.
"God fucking damn it!" Naruto cursed as he punched the wall of Honeybone, causing the entire building to shake violently "Fuck!" He yelled and turned around, running as fast as he could while constantly cursing as loud as he could in hope of releasing his frustration "Fuck!"
Naruto became a blur as he jumped onto the path that connected Honeybone to the Sky Labyrinth.
It didn't take him long to catch up to Team Natsu, and when he did, he grabbed all four of them, much to their surprise.
"Naruto!?" Lucy asked in surprise.
"The hell man, slow down!" Natsu cried as he felt ill. He and Gray were being held in Naruto's arms, while Erza and Lucy, who immediately wrapped their arms around Naruto's neck, trying to hang on for dear life when he threw them onto his shoulders.
"I swear, Natsu, if you throw up on me and ruin my clothes, I am going to fucking rip your balls off, you got that!?" Natsu immediately slapped his hands over his mouth, trying his best to keep his dinner in his stomach.
"Cat!" Naruto looked at Happy, who, even with max speed, was finding it hard to keep up with him "Go find Wendy and your girlfriend, I will take it from here."
"Aye!" Happy yelled his catchphrase excitedly before flying away.
"What are you doing, Naruto?" Erza asked as she looked at him with her eyes widening in surprise.
"It's sensei for you, girl." He yelled over the wind "And also, why the fuck did this fucker choose a fucking cat to take the freaking position when I fucking refused it?" The number of curses in a single question was enough for them to know how frustrated he was at the moment "A cat? A freaking cat!? You think that a cat is fucking as good as I do?! I say fuck it! I will take the position and join your team! Happy now?"
"You know, your reasons make absolutely no sense." Gray chuckled nervously "You have problems with cats, pal?"
"You all owe me big time, got it?" He growled and three of them nodded their head, one weaker than the other two.
"Thank you, Naruto." Erza smiled softly as she tightened her arms around his neck.
"It's sensei for you."
"Don't worry, just this time."
"This place is so confusing!" Lucy hollered while doing her best not to fall from the hover platform she was standing on, her blonde hair swished side to side as she turned her head around, searching for the right decision. They had gotten the labyrinth and were currently finding their way to the arena.
Naruto, who had calmed down and regained his composure, was standing on a higher ground, a massive pillar twenty feet higher than where the other were standing and scouting around the area with his eyes.
"We have to head east," Erza instructed.
Lucy grinned "I've got this!" She pulled out a silver key and waved it above her head. "Open! Gate of the Compass, Pixus!" In a brilliant flash of light, a small penguin-like creature with a compass on its head appeared, flapping its tiny wings. "All right, Pixus," Lucy said, bending down, "Which way is east?" After a few spins of the compass, Pixus squawked a cheer and pointed. The squad followed his gaze and saw platforms upon platforms of difficult climbing.
"Actually," Erza mentioned, "I have a compass right here." The Queen of the Fairies held up a small silver circle with a red and white needle in the centre. This made the celestial mage smiled dropped and had to call back Pixus.
"We should get moving, I saw some fights ahead of us." Naruto pointed out "Try to avoid battles as much as possible since we don't want to waste any more time than before." The others nodded their head in agreement.
The labyrinth was indeed not making it easy for the Fairy Tail team, even with Naruto's help and Erza's compass. Gray continuously made stairs of ice for everyone to climb, and at several points, in time they came across other guilds. Even if they tried to, conflicts were unavoidable. The group attempted to make a map and three out of the five members were very keen on the idea of stealing maps from other groups. But once the maze began to shift, Naruto knew immediately the maps were useless.
"It's moving!" Lucy howled and fell off the platform. Natsu immediately went after his friend and grabbed her before she could fall, but he too fell off the platform when it shifted once again. Natsu tried to hold on, but the platform twisted around again, this time vertically and hurled his hand away. Both Salamander and Celestial Mage gasped in shock as they started falling.
Fortunately for them, Naruto appeared in a blur and grabbed Natsu's wrist, saving both of them.
"There you go!" Naruto smirked and pulled Natsu and Lucy up. His chakra allowed him to stick his feet to the platform no matter what angle it was in "Be more careful." The two breathed out a sigh of relief and nodded their head.
"Man, I wish Happy is here, he can take us to the Domus Flau for sure."
"You said it yourself, Natsu. Happy is a member of Fairy Tail and is considered a member of the team, so he cannot come here." Naruto then suggested, must to Natsu's dismay "I can just grab you and take you all there in a few seconds, you now."
"Hell no man, I nearly threw up back there." Natsu immediately crossed his arms in front of him.
"Suit yourself."
"Whoa!" Erza started sliding backwards off her platform and their last member, Gray was having enough troubles holding onto his own platform.
"This place is a mess" was his comment before he was helped up to his feet.
After a few minutes of travelling, team Fairy Tail encountered a group of man with very familiar guild mark
"Twilight Ogre!" Lucy gasped.
A man, who appeared to be their leader, said as his lip curved up. "Fairy Tail! You really think you have a chance-"
He never finished his sentence. "I don't have time for this," Naruto called, leaping forward with his feet put together in a drop-kick, which then connected with the man's face and sent him away. The remaining for members growled and gripped their weapons tightly, but they were met with an ice cannonball shot with high speed and Natsu's flaming fist to the heads.
After they had dealt with the rest of the ogres, it didn't take it long for them to find a long path that led to a huge door. Encouraged by the prospect that they were close, the whole team ran faster.
It didn't take them long to reach the exit, where Mato the Pumpkin stood waiting for them.
"Well, that was easy." Natsu grinned as the team stood in front of Mato, who was clapping his hands rapidly to congratulate them for passing the preliminary "So how did we do it?"
Gray asked quickly. "We were first, right?"
Mato rubbed his palms together nervously. "Not exactly." The anticipated win that the Fairy Tail team expected did not come. "You got the fourth place." This made Fairy Tail's hopeful smile dropped.
"Well, at least we didn't make it last." Naruto said before asking "I take that we also aren't allowed to know who passed this before us, right?"
"Yes, you'll know about the others tomorrow morning." He smiled, nodding his head in response "Now, come along, come along…" he ushered everyone in through the gateway "You all deserve a good night rest."
Around seven o'clock in the next morning, it was the moment they had been waiting for. The citizens of Crocus were gathering together inside the Domus Flau, excited for the upcoming event.
"The annual Magic Festival finally starts! The Grand Magic Tournament!" And the crowds went wild as the declaration, waiting eagerly for the revelation of the teams that had made it through the preliminary round. "I'm Chapati Lola here. I'll be covering today's events." He introduced himself. Chapati was a middle aged short man, thin and pale-skinned. His smooth face was rather unusual, square and very big when compared to his small eyes, thin eyebrows, nose, mouth and chin, all close together and located in the middle of the face. For attire, he wears a simple dark suit with a light shirt under it, dark pants and a tie, where it reads 'Grand Magic Games' "We are honoured to have Yazima-san, a former member of the Magic Council, as our commentator. It's a thrill to have you here, Yazima-san."
The old man gave a nodded of acknowledgement. "The pleasure's mine," replied Yazima, and Chapati continued the introductions of the special guests of the day.
"For day one's guest, we're privileged to have Miss Fiore, Jenny Realight from Blue Pegasus!" Loud exclamations were heard and many cheers from fans could also be heard as she made her comment.
"We're gonna win this year~~!" Jenny stated with full confidence.
Inside, Four out of five members of Team Fairy Tail were dressed in purple and white uniforms, but with different designs. Erza was a dress split open in the front, revealing midriff and short shorts. Lucy had a white skirt and purple top, Natsu's had one with long sleeve, covering his left arm but left his right arm exposed. Gray, however, wasn't even wearing his shirt at all. They were all waiting for their name to be called. Naruto, meanwhile, kept his clothes and had no intention of changing them.
Wendy, their reserve member, was currently resting inside their infirmary. Happy found her unconscious on the street last night, attacked by what she claimed to be a small, black creature, which Naruto had a feeling that Seilah would know what it was. She had lost a lot of magical power, which caused her physical strength to suffer greatly, but with Porlyusica's help, she should be able to have a swift recovery.
"Okay… contestants are arriving. First Team ranks the 8th in the preliminary event. Let's welcome them… The Hounds of Hell's Army, QUARTO CERBERUS!"
"WILD!" and some of them flexed to show off some muscles.
"The 7th place is a female guild. Dancers of the Ocean… MERMAID HEEL!" Some of their members waved or blew kisses while the leader looked nonchalant.
"They are a new guild" Lucy informed them "With only one S-class mage, I didn't know that they could make it through the preliminary as well."
"Coming up, the 6th place is the Wings that Sparkle in the Dark, BLUE PEGASUS!"
"KYA! EVE-KUN!"
"HIBIKI-SAMA!
"REN!"
Many girls yelled as they all posed in their famous handsome men pose. However, Ichiya and the person who was in bunny costume weren't making a very good impression.
"The 5th place, Goddess of Love and War, Sacred Destroyers… LAMIA SCALE!" Lamia Scale, led by Lyon made their entrance.
"5th place?! Were you guys holding back, you idiots?!" their elderly guild leader raged as she watched from the sidelines.
"Alright everyone, despite the fact they always got the last place over the past few years, they managed to make an incredible return this year, claiming the 4th rank this year!? Let's welcome, the wild and rowdy, TEAM FAIRY TAIL!" Naruto took the lead and walked out of their entrance. The crowd was booing at them, unlike his team, Naruto paid no mind to them and continued to make his way to the centre of the stadium with his hands in his pockets
Yazima, who saw this, gave a thumb up to them. "This is wonderful. Congrats, Fairy Tail."
"HURRAY, HURRAY! FAIRY TAIL!" the whole guild yelled from the sidelines as they cheered with big signs and everything.
"Hm… isn't that…?" Gray pointed to spot beside their Master.
"Hurray, hurray, Fairy Tail~!" she cheered and punched a fist into the air as her legs swung in the air "GO GO Naruto!"
"MASTER MAVIS?!" the whole guild yelled in surprise as their eyes bugged from their sockets.
Mavis had on a perfectly confident face as she smiled "I'm here to cheer for you. Nobody can see me unless they're Fairy Tail, so don't worry about that."
"Is… that so?" he said nervously.
"Who informed her?" Naruto growled, pointing his hand at Mavis, who was still acting as innocent as ever.
"It's a relief to see the First come here to cheer on us!" said Natsu as Gray nodded in agreement with him.
"Even if she is a spirit…" Lucy added.
The announcer continued "The 3rd place… wow, for a first-time guild to get such a high rank, let's welcome the Midnight Raiders… RAVEN TAIL!"
"Raven Tail?!" Natsu yelled out in shock.
"This is… the guild founded by Master's son, Ivan." Erza explained to Lucy, who nodded.
"But… I think it's…" she trailed off and Makarov finished the sentence for her.
"A DARK GUILD!" Makarov looked furious. "IS IT OK TO LET THEM PARTICIPATE?" he raged as they all tried to hold him back, while Mavis noted thoughtfully.
"I do feel a malicious force." She nodded her head.
"Isn't it a Dark Guild?" Someone in the crowd whispered worriedly and the announcers started explaining it. "Well… according to official records, Raven Tail has existed for more than seven years, and has been approved as an official guild recently."
"So it's not a Dark Guild since it has been approved by the Guild League." Yazima finished the announcement for him. Hearing this, Makarov was pissed beyond words with veins throbbing violently on his forehead.
"Ivan… what the hell are you planning… how did you make it…"
The man in question, who was sitting at the back of the crowd, smirked evilly "I've waited in patience for so long, father. All for this day to come…"
"And in next place… oh, my! Can the broken wings of the fairies be mended and allow them to take the skies once again? Let's welcome… FAIRY TAIL B TEAM!" His declaration led the crowd into stunned silence.
"Wha…" was the only thing that left Fairy Tail's team, now A Team as they stared at their friends, who had formed a team of their own. "WHAAAAAAT?!" They all exclaimed in absolute shock. Even Naruto was surprised by this sudden turn of event.
"MIRA?"
"GAJEEL?!"
"JUVIA?!"
"LAXUS! WHAT IS WITH THAT HAIRCUT!"
"Another Team from Fairy Tail…?" the crowd whispered among themselves, confused at the fact that they had two teams participated in the tournament.
"WHY IS MYSTOGAN HERE?"
Erza stared at him before she decided to ask. "Are you saying… you are Jellal?" He quickly put a finger to his lips, signalling for her to keep her voice down, as many members of the Magic Council were watching.
"IT'S REALLY YOU?! OR NOT?!" Gray and Natsu yelled at the same time.
"What a surprise!" Naruto said as he looked at Mira, who looked as beautiful and radiant as ever "I didn't know that you guys could make it here, and have such a flashy entrance too."
"Thank you Naruto-kun" Mira giggled "You joined Team Natsu? What a surprise, Naruto-kun."
"Unfortunately…" He shrugged "You heard about Wendy?" Mira immediately stopped giggling and nodded her head grimly "Well, they didn't have enough member to participate. Since I'm a very generous person, I decided to lend them a hand." He joked, trying to light up her spirit.
"You know, forming this team is actually master's idea. We want to have a team with the strongest members." Mira smiled, changing the topic. "We wanted to have you as our team's reserve, but couldn't find you anywhere so we have to ask Juvia, and…'Mystogan' over there instead." She pointed her hand to the masked man before turning she turned her attention back to him "You guys made it to the fourth place, not too bad." Mira said, but he could that she was teasing him.
"Don't get ahead of yourself." Naruto smirked, "I don't know about the matchups, but we might have to fight each other in a battle, and for your information, we might thrash you, you know."
Mira then glanced around. Natsu was facing Gajeel in a glaring contest, Juvia was trying to hug Gray, Erza was talking with Jellal and clearly wasn't happy with him here. Lucy, meanwhile was terrifying when she was left with Laxus, who was looking at the place his father was sitting "Well, it seemed the two of us is paired with each other now. Hate to face you in a real battle Naruto-kun."
"Don't worry." Naruto said lazily "I won't hurt you… much anyway." Mira pouted before noticing the forehead protector on Naruto's forehead "But still… been looking forward to another fight with you, if you know what I mean." The white haired demon laughed excitedly at the idea.
"Doing that in front this crowd? No thank you. Even my demon-self isn't that naughty." She then glanced to Erza for a second before asking "So, have you…" But before Mira could ask her question, the announcer continued his team introduction after he had finished explaining to the crowd why Fairy Tail was allowed to have one more team.
"Alright! For the last team that made it through the preliminary round…" the crowd began to get wild "that's right, you all know who they are! The strongest! The invincible! The complete dominators! SABERTOOTH!" Team Sabertooth led by Sting, one of the twin Dragon Slayer of the currently strongest Guild of Fairy Tail appeared in the booming welcome of the spectators. Everyone was cheering out for them, as expected from the number one guild of Fairy Tail.
"Here they come." Natsu hardened his eyes as he eyed their strongest opponents.
"Looking forward to you, Natsu-san" Sting waved his index finger to the pink haired Fire Dragon Slayer.
"Don't wave that finger at me, you bastard," Gajeel muttered darkly.
"Gajeel," Rouge said, keeping a calm expression on his face.
"Over there is Fiore's strongest Guild" Gray nodded his head.
"Alright! Thank you all for waiting, here is your lineup!" a stone board shot up from the ground "The Grand Magic Games' had been unveiled!" The crowd started to cheer again as Chapati started explaining the rule. The tournament would be divided into 5 days, with two events held each day, one battle and one hidden event. For the hidden event, each team will receive an amount of points based on their position in the end of it."
"For the battles, the winning team was going to get 10 points and the loser wasn't going to get any at all; if the fight ended up in a draw, both teams got 5 points for themselves. The battles would be decided by the organisers based on the fans' votes. However, some battles are arranged according to the Fiore's King's desires and would be set up like so:"
Team A vs Team B
Team C vs Team D
Team E vs Team F
Team G vs Team H
"Without further ado, I bring you the Grand Magic Game' opening game!" Chapati cried "Let's begin, Hidden!" he then lowered his voice, so it wasn't as loud as before "Each team will have one participant. After each team submits their player, I'll explain the rules."
Quarto Cerberus sent out Yeager, while Mermaid Heel had a girl whose hair tied into two ponytails behind her, Beth, participated in the first competition. Raven Tail had Narpudding on the go and Ren represented Blue Pegasus. The one who nicknamed the singing bard of the red moon, Rufus removed his hat and greeted the excited crowd with a smile on his face.
"If small is better, then maybe Yuuka or I should go?" Shelia suggested, looking at her thick eyebrows teammate.
"No, we should grab this from the very start." Lyon shook his head and put on a confident smile "I'll go"
"Yeah, in that case," Gray stepped forward, looking at Lyon "I'll go too"
However, before he could make one more step, Naruto surprised everyone when he suddenly stepped grabbed Gray by the top of his head and pulled him back to step ahead.
"No. This game's name is hidden, so it's all about stealth. Strategically speaking, someone has the best sneaking skills should participate." Naruto explained to the team before turning around and looked at Erza "Erza, you handle this."
"Eh?" Lucy, Natsu and Gray asked in surprise. Even the other members of Fairy Tail were surprised by his decision.
"Sending Erza out right off the bat?" Makarov asked, tilting his head to the side as he crossed his arms on his chest "And also, while she is one of the strongest, is she the most suitable for this event?" Everyone understood that the members of team Natsu were destructive in nature, and they tended to fight the enemies head on instead of stealthily sneaking behind them.
"Well, Naruto is the best in this, but I trust his decision." Mavis smiled with a nod of her head "Let's just wait and see."
"It seems they're not going to change their decision," Laxus concluded after observing Team Natsu. He then turned to Juvia, who he believed to be the most suitable member of the team to fight in the game. She had the least destructive power among them, and also the shortest member of the team "Juvia, can you go first?"
"I can." Juvia nodded her head rather nervously. She had fought Erza once before, and it didn't end well for her because Erza had weapons to deal with her water body, which was physical attacks resistance.
"Don't lose, even if your opponent is Erza," Gajeel said, patting his friend on the shoulder.
"I will."
"Are you sure, sensei?" Erza asked, looking rather nervous.
"Sure." Naruto nodded "Consider this a test. Whatever you are going to out here, do not get yourself detected, got it?"
"God it." Erza nodded her head and stepped forward, joining the other competitors.
The other teams had already left the field, leaving only the ones who were going to fight in the first game behind. Most members of Fairy Tail's Team A had done the same, but Naruto was still standing in the same place, looking at Erza who was talking to Juvia.
"Naruto, let's go," Natsu called, looking back at the blond.
"Hold on a second." The blond replied back just as loudly, before calling for Erza "Erza come here!"
"Yes?" Erza asked as she walked toward him.
"What am I thinking, I cannot let you fight without this." He reached his hands into his pockets, searching for a specific item
"Just how many things do you have in those pockets?" Erza asked in disbelief.
"A lot." He answered simply "They are everything that is important. While I can use requip to store them, I want to keep them as close to me as possible. Ah, there we go." He smiled and took out a headband composed of a metal plate and a black band of cloth. There was a swirl symbol that greatly resembled that of a leaf with a long, horizontal scratch across the symbol.
"What is this?" Erza asked curiously.
"It's a forehead protector." Naruto answered with a smile "While you've been trained in our arts, it doesn't officially make you a ninja, or a Kunoichi to be specific." He held the metal plate "Forehead protector is one of the most important parts of our tradition, the proof of one's worthiness to the name of 'ninja'." He stated softly before bringing it forward, holding the headband by its metal plate.
"Then, does that mean…" Erza gasped in shock.
"This headband belonged to the most important people in my life, and now, it belongs to you." Naruto smiled "Congratulation because, from this day, you are officially a Kunoichi." A huge smile spread out on Erza's face, and she almost squealed out like a schoolgirl because of his declaration but stopped herself at the last moment so she wouldn't make a fool out of herself in front of everyone.
"T-thank you" She stuttered, putting her hand on the metal plate and gripping it tightly in her hand before Erza replaced her current armour with Kunoichi armour. She accepted the forehead protector from him when he loosened his grip on it.
It was called forehead protector, so she had a basic idea of where she should wear it.
"Wear it with pride, Erza, like everyone before you did." Naruto said as he watched Erza putting on her forehead protector "My father would be proud."
He would be proud.
"Of course he does." Erza smiled as she tied the cloth into a knot at the back of her head "What about you?"
"Me?" Naruto chuckled "Well, a little bit of this and that, but becoming a Kunoichi doesn't mean that you can skip your daily training with me. got it?" Erza pouted, and he laughed "Anyway, good luck out there. and don't worry about your perfomance. Show them hell."
"Thank you, Naruto-sensei."
End of Chapter 10
Note: Surprised!? While I said in the last chapter that because school has already begun, I could only write one chapter per week, I couldn't help but sit down and write this chapter for you guys. Because it is weekend and I have a lot of free time!
I hope you have enjoyed this chapter everyone. As you can see, this chapter has a lot of similar passages from the original Fairy Guardian. While I want to write something more… original for my story, I cannot find a better way to start it, and keep the flow for this chapter up. So I asked my brother, and he agreed to let me use his work as much as I desire. I have added a lot of changes, but there're still passages that noticeable the same, so I hope you don't take it too hard on me. I warned you that this story would follow closely to the original, didn't I?
Anyway, Erza has officially become a Kunoichi, and the one fourth of the next chapter will entirely focus on her fight at the Hidden Game, while the rest will focus on Naruto, who will have a match that will shock and terrify the guilds and spectators at the Grand Magic Game at the same time.
I actually want to finish the entire day one with this chapter, but I guess it'd be a little bit too much so I have decided to move it to the next chapter instead.
Anyway, once again I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter. I really put my heart and soul into writing it!
The number of reviews for the latest is a bit of a disappointment to me, while over fifty reviews is a very impressive number for any story out there, I believed that chapter could have done a whole lot better.
SO remember to review for this chapter everyone, after you have read it of course.
And I will see you in the next chapter!
Bye bye