Gah, I am so, so, so sorry that this is coming out so late in the day, I literally on finished this chapter like a few minutes ago. I've been having trouble with this chapter for the last two weeks. Yes, I have been working on this chapter for two weeks straight.

I have been so stuck on this chapter that I stared at the screen for hours trying to think of what to write, then I stayed up so late trying to get it done. I've been trying. I really have.

But the good news is that you have the chapter now.

Chapter 21

Day 4 Part 1

Natsu P.O.V.

Sitting up I hold my hand out behind me, never taking my eyes off my target, and I feel Luce lay a marker in it. Slowly pulling the cap off so to not make a sound I hear Luce giggle and I turn my head away to shoot her a glare then turn back to my work.

Carefully, ever so gently, I press the felt tip of the permanent marker to the nude polar bear's forehead, giving him a unibrow, then draw up to the top of his forehead and off to one side, finishing off the design with a swirl. Then I put the cap back on and hand the marker back to Luce.

"Are you sure you wanna burn his hair like the others?"

I roll my eyes at her murmured words and ignite my index with a miniscule flame, not big enough to be smelled or felt, but hot enough for what I'm doing.

With a smirk, I lower the finger to the side of his head and get to work burning a design there.

When he moves the flame goes out and we let the shadows in the floorboards swallow us until he settles back down. Then I rise back up to finish my drawing while Luce stays in between the floorboards to stay out of sight.

Killing the flame I look at the clock and jump back in surprise when I read 3:00 A.M.

Looking down to where she sits in the floorboards I wave a hand at the clock. "Luce, we gotta get back if we're gonna get any sleep for today."

She rises up and scowls at me, her voice as equally low so as to not wake emo ice. "You're the one who suggested we get him as well, I've been ready to turn in since Max."

I huff, a cloud of smoke escaping me, and give in easily enough. "Alright, let's go. I think we've done more than enough damage for tonight."

Turning around she zips out under the door and I follow her down the hall and into our room where I see her walk out of the shadow and fall into the bed, not bothering to change out of her outfit she wore to the dance club. I yawn, only now noticing how tired I am, and manage to pull my shirt off before falling into the bed beside her. Her soft snore is the last thing I hear as I doze off.

I'm dreaming about a nice juicy steak until something zaps me and I jump up to stand on the bed, my mind still focused on the steak until I see Luce standing off to one side hiding a smirk while the electricity dies out in her hand.

I growl and she points at the clock. "Natsu, we have to get ready for the portal to the arena. Erza's already moved on to waking Gray up so I told her I'd wake you up."

Jumping back down to sit on the bed as she says this I take in the fact that she's already changed into her game clothes and that I can see mine sitting on the edge of the sink through the door behind her. Standing, I stretch and the memories of last night come to me.

"Hey, Luce, anything from the guild yet?"

She grins. "Nothing yet, but I don't think it'll be long, Gray should be up at anytime now."

Grinning in return I walk past her and shut the door to the bathroom behind me as I get changed. This time I don't have my cloak to mess with so I'm done changing sooner and step out in enough time to see Erza, Ice prick, and Wendy walking in the door.

When emo ice turns to me I see the five clawed print I burned into his hair last night and I can't help the smirk the rises to my lips.

"Nice hair cut, Ice prick."

He scowls but before he can retort there's a knock at the door and Luce opens it to reveal the portal to the arena. We walk through the door and as he walks by me I can make out the faint traces of the marker that still sits on his head.

We walk out onto the balcony and I look around to see Sabertooth and Gajeel and his team just entering theirs while the spectator seats are being filled.

Then Gajeel sees me and I see his expression go from disgruntled like he usually is to downright pissed off.

"Damn you, Salamander, you're a dead man for these fucking pranks!"

Luce leans on the balcony railing closest to theirs and her voice is sweet with an undertone of devil as she calls back. "What's the matter, Gajeel, don't like the new do?"

His jaw drops and he looks from Luce to me and back again. The look on his face, priceless and I start laughing so hard that soon I have a stitch in my side.

"Damn, Metalhead," I stop to catch my breath and even then I still chuckle. "She got you good."

He snorts and as he turns away I see, with satisfaction, the five claw print on the back of his head. I look down to see her giving me a fanged grin so I return it.

"That was a good one, Luce."

Her grin changes to a small smile and we look out over the field to watch as more people fill in the seats and the balconies start to fill up.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the fourth day of the games. As always, this is your announcer, Chapati Lola with retired council member, Yajima, but you are certainly in for a treat today. Today's guest announcer may be short, he may be old, but he is strong, as in strong enough to be one of the ten wizard saints. Of course if you're the master of Fairy Tail, you have to be strong, isn't that right, Master Makarov?"

We look up to the announcer's booth in shock and sure enough I can see Gramps standing on the desk in front of the lacrima mic.

"Actually, Chapati, it's not so much about control as you have to know when to let them have their fun."

Luce and I share a look and shake our heads in amusement as Mato walks out onto the field.

Normal P.O.V.

The stone rises behind Mato and the words blur, changing to reveal today's events.

Day 1: The Windy City

Day 2: One on One Battles

Day 3: Dark Labyrinth

Day 4: Morning: One on One Battles, Afternoon: Tag Team Battles

Day 5: ?

Day 6: ?

Day 7: ?

"This morning we will start with, punkin, one on one battles. Each battle will be an hour long; if both sides are still standing by the end of the hour it ends in a draw and both sides gain five points. If one side falls out before the hour is up then the winner earns ten points and the loser gains zero." Then he points at the Fairy Tail and Quatro Cerberus balconies. "The first one on one battle will be Erza Scarlet of Fairy Tail Team A against Bacchus Groh of Quatro Cerberus."

Cheers sound from the crowd as Erza and Bacchus make their way to the field. The yellow outline of the shield shoots across the ground, outlining their fighting space, and they take up stances on opposite sides of the arena.

Erza's eyes go to the bottle sitting at Bacchus's feet then back to him as he cracks his knuckles and grins.

"Well, Erza, this is gonna be one wild fight."

Erza nods. "Yes, this will be, but you won't be winning this."

Then the bell rings and Bacchus is rushing toward her, faster than she can blink. She moves out of the way allowing him to run by her harmlessly and her body glows as she requips.

The armor features very few armored parts. It's cheetah printed, and the outfit has a large collar around Erza's neck with a tail hanging from the back of her shorts, both made of bushy fur, plus a pair of large cheetah's ears adorn both both sides of Erza's head. A pair of short swords with elaborate hand-guards similar to a rapier's, shaped like a rose's thorns finish out the armor.

She runs after Bacchus and is able to get a swing in before he starts throwing punches at her. They trade blows for a few minutes then he backs away.

"Damn, Scarlet, with such a fine body I'm not surprised you can keep up, but let's see if you can keep up with this."

He grins and bends down to pick up the gourd at his feet but flinches away when an arrow hits it. He looks up to see Erza holding a bow where she stands fifty feet away.

On her back a quiver of red fletched arrows is seen over her right shoulder. Her hair is tied into buns on the sides of her head while two long bangs frame her face. The dress is tied around her neck and around her waist with a red sash. The skirt of the dress has a slash on both sides all the way to the sash and has a red hem while the rest of it is white. The sleeves of the dress start at the middle of her upper arm and billows down around her wrists. The bow in her left hand has a grip of dark blue, contrasting with the gold feathering work extending out and away from the grip.

"Nice try, Bacchus, but you'll just have to go without your liquor for this match."

Bacchus shrugs and settles into his fighting posture. "Okay, let's see how wild this fight really can get."

She requips and makes the first move, her Heaven's Wheel armor shining in the sunlight.

Meanwhile, up in the announcer's booth, a very curious conversation is taking place…

"Alright, Master Makarov, you have a lot of faith in your guild, but do you really think that the great 'Titania' will be able to defeat Quatro Cerberus's own Drunken Falcon?"

Makarov snorts in response to Chapati's question and places a hand to his chin. "It's a very even fight, that's for sure, and I have no doubt that Erza can hold her own, but the question you should be asking is how far can Bacchus go without his liquor? Now that Erza has prevented him from obtaining power for his stronger attacks, will he be able to hold his own?"

"Makey, I think you think a little too much of your guild. If you had paid attention you would've taken note of the second, smaller gourd he keeps on his belt."

Makarov's face goes pale at Yajima's observation and he jumps up to stand in front of his mic.

"Erza, kick his ass!"

The other judges sweat drop at his shout and look in enough time to see Bacchus break one of her swords.

As the fight continues on it becomes clear that both Erza and Bacchus are evenly matched and cannot overcome the other. Then the bell rings. Mato steps out into the field, halting the mages in their tracks.

"The one hour is up and both sides still stand. This match is a tie, punkin. Five points to Fairy Tail Team A and Quatro Cerberus."

At his words the crowd's cheering becomes so loud that the slayers grimace and cover their ears until it calms down enough for Mato to announce the next match.

"The next battle is Rufus Lore versus Kagura Mikazuchi."

Both mages walk out onto the field. Kagura's sword, Archenemy, shines where it sits on her hip and the feather on Rufus's hat moves in the breeze.

The bell tolls and Mato races off the field as Rufus raises a hand to his hat brim in greeting.

"This will certainly be a battle to be memorized, wouldn't you agree?"

Kagura remains stoic and places her hand on Archenemy's grip. "A battle is just a show of strength. Let's see who is strongest."

Rufus clasps his hands behind his back and whispers something too low for the gravity mage to hear.

The ground starts to shake and a spire of rock shoots out from under Kagura's feet, causing the mage to jump back and away. When another spire rises she swings her sword, still sheathed, and splits the spire in half.

"Your actions are memorized. Memory Make: Sword Maelstrom!" Rufus holds out his hand and a cloud of swords fly at Kagura.

She raises a hand and half the swords fall to the ground, the gravity in the arena having increased to immeasurable heights.

Rufus smirks. "Reactions memorized. Memory Make: Gale Force Destruction!"

The swords that had fallen to the ground are picked up by the heavy winds and start to fly around Kagura.

The gravity mage does her best to keep the swords away and manages to cut through quite a few of them but they eventually overwhelm her and she falls out.

While the crowds are going crazy cheering for the winner, in the Mermaid Heel base things are much quieter.

Beth, the vegetable mage, turns to her teammates, her frown matching theirs. "Well, I'll be a flea bitten mutt, I didn't think she would lose."

Risley, the other gravity mage on their team, shakes her head. "I thought for sure Kagura was gonna take him out."

"Chicas, don't forget we still have the afternoon fights." Beth and Risley turn to Araña as she watches the field where it's being cleaned up for the next match.

"What makes you think we'll be part of the afternoon fights, Araña?"

Araña turns her gaze from the field to Millianna. "Because it you've noticed they have each set of battles set up so that one guild goes up against another at least once."

"Well bust my bubble and call me a pancake, Araña's right. There's no doubt two people will be going up this afternoon."

Millianna giggles at Beth's words and the team of women turn back to the field when Mato walks out.

"Next match is, punkin, between Chelia Blendy of Lamia Scale and Jenny Realight of Blue Pegasus."

Everyone cheers as the blonde bombshell of Blue Pegasus and the sky maiden of Lamia Scale step out on opposite sides of the field, the shield having already been reinforced.

Jenny waves to the crowds as Chelia puts her hands on her hips and smiles. "Can't you just feel the love in the air?"

When Mato puts his hand into the air the girls take on serious looks and focus on their opponent. The clock strikes once, twice, thrice, and Mato is barely clearing the field as Chelia makes her first move.

"Sky God's Bellow!"

Black air rushes at Jenny but the blonde jumps out of the way in enough time to dodge the attack. She wears a smirk as she watches the god slayer closely.

"Really, kid, is that all you got?"

Chelia smiles and tilts her head. "I'm just getting warmed up, ready to see how much love I can put into this fight?"

"Sky God's Dance!"

Faster than Jenny can blink Chelia's running at her, twisting mid step, as a vortex of black air surrounds the slayer. The vortex lifts Jenny up and Chelia moves quickly, taking shot after shot at the blonde.

When Jenny falls to the ground she's down for the count and Mato steps onto the field.

"Jenny Realight is down and out, Chelia wins ten points for Lamia Scale."

Up on the Blue Pegasus balcony Jenny's teammates stare at the sight, stunned that their friend was defeated so easily.

Hibiki sighs and pushes his glasses up his nose. "Well, that was a one-sided fight if I've ever seen one."

"I can't believe she defeated Jenny so easily, two moves and she won." Ren turns to Eve as he says this and scowls.

"Like you're one to talk, Wendy defeated you in just the same amount of time."

Eve frowns. "At least I got several hits in before she moved, Jenny didn't get any."

Then Ichya holds up a hand. "Easy now, men, there is no need to blame, we'll claim our points in time."

The trimen bow to Ichya, then turn their attention back to the field.

Mato stands in the middle of the field and waits until the crowd somewhat settles then starts to speak. "The final battle of the morning will be between, punkin, Mirajane of Fairy Tail Team B and Mizu Kibō of Stele Cad."

In the announcer's booth Chapati turns to Makarov. "Now, Makarov, Mirajane is one of your best s-class wizards, yes?"

Makarov chuckles. "Aye, she is a strong mage who can most certainly hold her own in a fight."

"Makey, what do you think of the challenger, Mizu?"

The guild leader's gaze drops to the hooded figure where they stand across the field from Mira.

"Yajima, I can't believe I didn't see this earlier, but we have nymphs in our mix." Yajima looks at Makarov in surprise and turns his gaze back to the hooded figure just in time to see Mizu drop the cloak.

The cloak falls and the nymph stands there in a turquoise suit with matching shoes. His hair is short and spiky while the color goes from deep blue at the roots to a shade of blue lighter then the suit. Fabric billows from his back but without a second notice it changes into wings of water. Similar to his sister he has two sets of wings, a large set that points to the sky and a smaller set that points to the ground.

He holds his hands in front of him and slightly above his head as he chants, "Tumultuous Waters!"

Water rises up the sides of the arena in a single wall that comes crashing down on Mira. The impact is so harsh that the tremors can be felt on the other side of Crocus.

The water pulls away from their location of impact and gathers behind Mizu in pillars as Mira gets up, giggling.

"You really think that water is gonna hurt me?"

Her question has the nymph frowning in confusion as Mira changes to one of her take-overs.

Horns made of long sky blue scales, extending backwards to a pointed edge, the horn's scales also extend to form a pattern on her face. Her ears, hidden behind her horns, become pointed. Similar scales cover her forearms and hands as well as on her legs and she grows a large, sky blue, stocky and seemingly aquatic tail. Her clothes also change, with any attire she might be donning replaced by a light and dark blue, striped, one-piece suit with pointed shoulder-pads, revealing her arms and legs, which is open on the front and the back; exposing most of her stomach, wide cleavage, and upper back. She also permanently dons two sky blue wings composed of numerous spiky scales that are always pointing upwards.

Mizu grins when he recognizes the take-over. "Ah, Halphas, I was wondering when I would see you again."

Halphas tilts her head and looks down at her body, she clucks and looks back at him. "You know, Massster forbade me from usssing thiss form, but it ssseems to like you." As she talks she hisses on the 'S', and sounds similar to a snake.

He smirks. "Oh, trust me, we've never had a likable relationship, now it's time to finish what we started, wouldn't you agree?"

She nods in return and holds her hands together in front of her. "Cossmic Beam!"

A beam of blue and white light shoots from her hands and explodes when it hits Mizu, causing the nymph to jump into the air and rise above the explosion.

He barely has time to turn before Halphas is behind him and kicking him into the ground. He grumbles as he stands up and throws a layer of water in front of him to stop another kick aimed at his chest.

Throwing one arm over his head he deflects her punch and swings his left up, knocking her in the stomach hard enough to throw her through the shield and into the wall of the stadium.

She climbs out of the wall and looks at the mess, shaking her head. "I sswore to Masster I wouldn't make another messs, now it'ss time for you to pay the pricce."

Mizu cackles and throws his wings out to either side of him, making himself look bigger. "Bring it, Halphas, it's time to see who's the strongest."

Halphas jumps, her wings taking her higher into the air until she's hovering above the stadium. "Mizzu, it'ss time for you to acccept your defeat.

"Darknesss magic combined with a cossmic beam creates," she gathers her hands in front of her again, black veins run down her arms as the orb of energy in her hands grows larger and larger, "Crepituss!"

The beam of black and white fires down at the stadium, hitting Mizu and blowing out the floor of the arena.

When the smoke clears Halphas sits down in the arena on the edge of the hole and the transformation slides away as she takes in the sight of the unconscious nymph at the bottom of the hole.

She frowns and looks up to the announcer's booth where Makarov stares at her in shock. Then she bows.

"Forgive me, Master, I couldn't stop her from taking over."

Makarov gets over his shock and runs a hand down his face as the crowd gets over it's awe and starts cheering louder than ever. Mato walks to the side of the hole and looks down at the nymph then at the announcers.

"Mizu Kibō of Stele Cad is out, Mirajane Strauss wins the match and ten points for Fairy Tail Team B."

Chapati clears his throat and pulls everyone on track again. "Well, that was certainly a fight to watch, but now we'll be taking a one-hour intermission before we start the afternoon battles."

Almost as an afterthought the updated scores come up on the lacrima screens for the crowds to see.

Fairy Tail Team A—64

Fairy Tail Team B—60

Sabertooth—56

Lamia Scale—40

Blue Pegasus—26

Stele Cad—24

Quatro Cerberus—24

Mermaid Heel—23

As for the battles I know they're short, I know they lack some detail, but I hit a road block when I was writing them. Y'all know I can write a good battle scene, but as I was thinking of these I just *blows raspberries* I was a paddle boat without a paddle.

Anyway you may have noticed that the battle between Mira and Mizu was much more detailed, that's because I guess I found my stride again and it turned out to be pretty cool.

Now I want y'all to take special notice of the hole in the arena. That's the only clue I'm gonna give y'all about what's to come.

Before I leave to write up the next chapter there's something I have to do.

Review Corner:

StrikeForceHeroeTeller: Hope you like the pranks.

Samuel Bryant17: I'm glad you like the detail added to Ch. 19, as for the draco cams. You'll find out more about that next chapter.

diferntevryday: I've already told you this in a P.M. but in case anyone else has this question. Even though I haven't out right written Natsu and Lucy are intimate, they do have sex, but seeing as this is a T-rated story I will only ever barely scratch the surface of that.

Hime of Hearts: I will admit right now I am sorry that I haven't said anything about you. You've followed along just as diligently as Strike, or Blue, or Samuel and yet I haven't said anything about you. No, I am not gonna say you're crazy. You're a loyal reader and I love to read your reviews.

Draganalamander: I'm pretty sure I answered yours in a P.M. as well but no, Zeref will not be making an appearance. He's mentioned in Ch. 6 along with E.N.D. but that is all you will see or hear of him.

Bluedog197: WHERE THE HELL DO I EVEN START? Ya crazy nut ball. Your reviews always crack me up, you're just so expressive about them, that I can practically see you jumping in your seat as you read the chapter. I know because I do it too. When I see like ten of the stories I'm following update I get so excited that I can't even pick which one to read first.

erinburkinshaw: This story gets updated every Monday, in case anyone didn't already know.

Now that that's done, I have a headache, I'm tired and I have school in the morning so I'm gonna let y'all go.

Grizzly out for the night.

P.S. Be on the lookout for the one shot I drop on my birthday which is this Thursday.