Fragile Crystal Life
Chapter 21: Believe in me

As the audience slowly calmed down, allowing Toto to continue announcing, they all prayed for their favourite guilds to walk out. "Next place, coming third… Lamia Scale!" Slowly, ten figures walked out…

"Ice stripper number one, Lyon!" Lyon sweat-dropped as he awkwardly waved out to his fans who were all squealing at his appearance in the Grand Magic Games. "Adorable Sky God Slayer, Chelia!" Chelia jumped up and down in excitement as she waved to everyone cheering for her, suddenly, she slipped and fell face first onto the dirt ground where the crowd cheered for her even louder. "Sock finder, Toby!" Toby strolled out with a big smile. "Has anyone seen my other sock?" he asked as he showed everyone his new sock on his left leg. "The cute and sexy, Sherry!" Sherry walked out and blew a kiss to the crowd. "Hello everyone!" she cheered.

Fairy Tail all watched with a heavy atmosphere around them. "So it's the strongest representatives from last time with a few new ones… Sadly enough, we have no idea who those newcomers are and what magic they use," the green-haired woman, Bisca, mumbled as she kept a firm eye on the announcing and introduction of players. Levy frowned as she watched them slowly get introduced. "Other than that… We don't even know if they've grown stronger," she said.

"Next! We have Iron Rock, Jura!" Toto cheered as Jura bowed his head where everyone roared in excitement. "Go Jura! Beat their asses!" a member of the crowd cheered as they leaned forward to deliver their words of encouragement. "Lamia Scale's anti-Mage, Yuka!" (Sorry, I wrote Lamina, instead it being Lamia – I changed it so it's now correct.) Yuka grinned as he looked around. "Newcomer angel, Sasha!" A slightly-tanned girl squealed as she waved to the audience happily. "Minna! Sasha will do her best!" she cried out. "What's this? A lightning boy? Here's Ikki!" A young boy looked up confidently as he quickly pointed over to Laxus who frowned at his sudden action. "Just you wait Laxus-senpai! I shall overpower you with my magic!" he announced.

Everyone in Fairy Tail sweat-dropped as they looked over to Laxus who was scowling at the boy's determination in silence – Who knew the kid below had guts to yell it out to someone like him. "What's this? Laxus from Fairy Tail has a rival?" Toto teased as she covered her mouth with her free hand teasingly. "Continuing on, someone who imitates, Jen!" The girl with a book in her hands looked up boredly and forced a smile. "Nice to meet you all," she greeted before quickly looking down to her book where the audience all looked at the girl in awe for not being too hyped up about making it into the games. "Lastly. Earth manipulator, N!" Toto announced.

"N?" the audience questioned. "Yes! N!" Toto replied, making everyone look at each other in confusion. "My other name is Nathan," the dark orange-haired boy stated, making everyone awkwardly nod their heads. But in either ways, the crowd cheered in excitement. "Go Lamia Scale!" they cheered.

"Fourth place goes to Mermaid Heel!" Toto announced, pointing up where the screen changed from Lamia Scale's montage to Mermaid Heel's. "Cool and Elegant, Kagura!" The said girl looked up and nodded her head in respect. "Not so fat, and not so skinny – Half and half by choice, Risley!" Risley smiled as she looked around to the cheering audience. "Don't look down on the chubby!" she stated before changing her body to become skinnier for the audience to get even more hyped up to. "I personally love her! The Web-user, Arana!" Arana bowed to the audience with a big smile. "I won't lose like I did to Ren," she said.

"Kagura looks stronger than before…" Erza mumbled as she examined Kagura through the screen being broadcasted in the waiting room. "I'm surprised that she even wore a dress…" Mirajane gasped as she helped Wendy wear her team uniform. "Kagura-san looks up to Erza-san right?" Wendy innocently asked. Erza nodded her head. "Hopefully she won't be attacking me and threatening me to cut off my head like last time," Erza replied whereas Lucy was tending Takuto who wanted to run over to Sakura to question what was up with her.

Toto skipped out the currently standing players in the arena before stopping in front of the girl who was wearing a hood. "Cat-like fighter, Millianna!" Quickly, the girl pulled off her hood and winked to the crowd. "Hello, nya~" she greeted. "Country girl, Beth!" Toto then announced where Beth smiled. "Hello!" she cried out. "Next person, a person who has no fear against spiders, Arac!" The girl in between Arana and Risley jumped into the air with her arms up. "That's me!" she beamed, making everyone chuckle at her innocence.

"Fifth place is no other than the host-like guild, Blue Pegasus!" Toto announced before jumping away when three boys tried to jump onto her for a hug. Continuing her announcement, she sweat-dropped once she laid eyes on them – All ten of them were flirting into the audience where the girls (and boys) were all squealing at their rose backgrounds and stars shimmering behind them as they moved from side to side to flirt with another. With a flat monotone, Toto simply deadpanned her announcement in introducing the members. "And here we have, Ichiya, Hibiki, Eve, Ren, Jenny – Who's a beautiful model like Mirajane, Yue, Ichigo, Benjamin, Christian, and Touya," she said.

Team Fairy Tail all high-fived each other as they smiled in confidence. "Let's all do this for the guild!" Gray yelled as the others all responded with a confident "Yeah" while walking through the corridors where an exit had sunlight beaming through. "Yosh! I'm all fired up!" Natsu grinned as they all walked out. "Juvia shall not lose!" Juvia said strongly. "And sixth place, we have Team Fairy Tail!" Toto cheered as the stadium roared in excitement.

Again, the screen changed to a Fairy Tail montage and everyone was standing up from their seats in fierce encouragement as they called out their favourite member's name. The team all smiled as they waved to everyone, where Fairy Tail… Well, they were doing their encouragement cheer where the nine smiled from below.

"Mighty Titania, Erza!" Erza smiled as she fist-pumped the air with half of the audience following with cheers. "Salamander, Natsu!" Natsu gave out a mighty roar where giving out his signature grin. "Ice stripper number two, Gray!" The girls all cheered as they watched Juvia cry out to Gray being almost naked. They laughed as they watched the raven-haired teen run around looking for his uniform. "Rain and Water Woman, Juvia!" Juvia waved both of her arms in the air and smiled in glee. "Celestial Happy-go-Lucky, Lucy!" Lucy dipped her head as she genuinely smiled. "Sky Maiden, Wendy!" Wendy blushed as she awkwardly waved to the crowd.

Sakura glanced over to the sapphire standing along with Fairy Tail. Suddenly, her eyes began to glow bright red with Takuto's glowing blue. As Sakura directly looked at the boy, she noticed that he was looking at her too. With a harsh glare, Sakura scowled at him before looking up front where in the audience stood Akira who was frowning at the two's little eye contact. "You're not going to have her," he whispered darkly.

"Iron Dragon, Gajeel!" The boy looked around and gave out a stern gruff before grinning. "I'm going to beat your asses," he mumbled confidently. "Model and pure beauty, Mirajane!" Mirajane smiled where the crowd all roared with boys looking down with heart-shaped eyes. "Mirajane!" the audience cheered. "And last and not least… Newcomer, Takuto!" Toto announced where Takuto winked at the audience where the girls all squealed.

The crimson looked down with widened eyes as her head began to throb. "Ta… Ku… To…" she whispered in confusion before shaking her head as she looked up with dark, confident eyes. "This is all for my beloved Akira," she said as she looked up to the boy who was smiling at her.

"Now that everyone's here. Let's start off with the first game called 'Fight and Pose'! Each participant from each team will jump into these coloured frames," Toto announced as six coloured frames came levitation down with different scenery backdrops. "Each shall pick a frame and enter it… But there's a catch. Each must do an embarrassing pose displayed once the final timer counts down from five. Of course, there will be a monster waiting inside for you. Each frame, except for one, will have either a C, B, or A-ranked monster waiting. You must fight and win against them with twenty seconds where the last five seconds shall reveal your pose. If you are unable to defeat the monster and pose, or defeat the monster but unable to pose, you'll be eliminated," she stated with a big smile.

As Toto jumped forward a few steps, she suddenly spun on her heel with open arms. "Now… Please choose your fighters!"

Everyone looked uneasy but Wendy took on the challenge. "Minna… I'd like to go on first," she said as she looked at the team bravely. "Are you sure Wendy? There'll be A-ranked monsters," Takuto asked in worry as he looked at the small girl who smiled at him. "Believe in me Takuto-san. I'm a Dragon Slayer remember?" she asked as she reassured Takuto's uneasiness in allowing her to fight. When Takuto opened his mouth to speak, Erza interrupted him. "Let her fight… She isn't weak, but a stronger fighter," she said.

Takuto sighed and ran his fingers through his hair whereas Lucy was looking over to Sakura who wasn't contributing to her team conversation at all. "Can't I fight first?" Natsu groaned as he wanted to fight already. The team laughed at his stubborn mind and shook their heads. "No," they deadpanned, making him groan. "But I'm so bored already," he complained. "Stop complaining… You're not a child nor an old man," Lucy retorted, making the team sweat-drop at her attitude towards the pinkette.

"But Lucy~" he whined. The blonde paid no attention to him and walked back into the waiting room with Takuto silently following behind where the others dragged Natsu up to the viewing balcony with the guild.
"You can do it Wendy!" Levy cheered while the Exceeds and Fexceed cheered for the younger mage. Florai continued on forcing a smile, but she really couldn't as she painful gazed upon her partner fighting on the other team. Weakly looking at Mirajane, she seeked for comfort from her father. "Mirajane… Where's Takuto?" she asked.

Mirajane looked down to the Fexceed and sadly smiled. "You must be shocked as well. Since they're not here… Why not try heading over to the waiting room and check?" she answered.

As the six lined up in front of their chosen frames, Wendy balled her fists confidently. She was wearing a faint blue and white dress which landed on her knees with white comfortable sporting shorts underneath. Attached to her shoulders was a white cape which stopped above her waist with Fairy Tail's red insignia resting on the side of her dress. With her long blue hair tied up into high piggy-tails thanks to Lucy. She took a deep breath in and breathed out. "I will win, for Fairy Tail," she said to herself as she silently listened to her nakama's call of encourage behind.

"Now… Since everyone has chosen their frames, we'll begin. The remaining two during the games will have their time shorten to ten, so be careful," Toto explained to them before a lacrima screen popped up behind the frames where twenty seconds were seen ready to go. "Okay. Once the bell is rung and the timer is ticking, you may jump in. May one of you be lucky to find a safe spot during this event," Toto said before taking a few steps back again.

"Are you ready?!" she questioned in a bright cheer.

"Ready!" everyone cried out where the bell was rung along with the timer ticking away. "Okay! Go-Go-Go!" she announced. Like that, the six jumped in where they met their monsterly opponents. As five battle it out, Toto began to announce out who was fighting for what team.

"So! For Sabertooth, in the white frame, we have Yukino!" The lacrima screen began to show Yukino summoning out her spirits as her B-ranked opponent gave out a deafening roar with its tail swinging from side to side. "Lamia Scale, blue frame, Yuka!" The screen changed to reveal Yuka already defeating his opponent in ease before looking out to check the time. "Blue Pegasus, yellow frame, Ren!" Ren looked at the camera within his area and winked where the screen changed over to Wendy fighting against a B-rank monster. "Fairy Tail, blue frame, Wendy!"

Quickly, as time ran down to ten seconds, half of the monsters were defeated. "The Depthira's, black frame, Kuroko!" Kuroko let out a wolf howl as he kicked his fallen A-rank beast where he prepared for his pose. "Mermaid Heel, green frame, Millianna!" Millianna quickly struck a pose once the countdown was ticking.

"There's almost three seconds left!" Toto announced where everyone quickly struck a pose. Once the timer was up, the audience began to laugh their heads off as the bell rung, alerting that the round was over. Slowly, six connected images popped up around the stadium, and everyone began to laugh even louder as they held their painfully aching stomaches. "Bahahaha! Oh my goodness! Look at Yuka!" Natsu bellowed as he pointed at the image before crying out in laughter again.

Over to where Lucy and Takuto were, they were laughing insanely at the images as well. "I feel so sorry for them!" Lucy cried out as she wiped away her laughing tears. Takuto was trying to hold down his laugh, but couldn't help it. Without them maintaining proper balance, they fell from the bench with loud bursts of laughter. "T-This is too funny!" Florai squealed as she slammed her palm onto the bench while she clenched her eyes closed with tears brimming.

ihavenoideawhattosay...
Well, actually I do... Anyways! People have been asking me when NaLu's going to appear in this fanfic, and all I have to say is... SOON! But in either way, I'd like to have you all know - That for the GMG part, or, from starting now. I won't be focusing too much on the one-on-one battles UNLESS it's Fairy Tail's and the Depthira's. I may focus on a few, but not in majority.
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