Hello readers! I would like to thank Sefirosa—after yukino76—for reviewing the previous chapter plus Wais for commenting in the first chapter! Thank you very much! I really appreciate it!

Thanks yukino76! (:

...Okay Wais. Creepy chain letter is creepy. By the way, I deleted it. O_O

Disclaimer: I do not own any aspect of Naruto or Fairy Tail. They belong to their respective owners. I only own this and every other story I have.

Thank goodness the eight knew about this beforehand...or else their eyes and mouths would have joined the countless pairs cannoning into oblivion and jaws dropping to the bottom of the universe. Thank goodness indeed.

"Why does Fairy Tail get to have two teams?!"

"What's going on here?!"

As you can see, the ruckus had yet to die down. Until Chapati came back on yet again. "Well, it seems as though there's a lot of people still confused over the revisions to the rules this year, don't you think Yajima-san?"

"That's right...this year, each guild can have not just one, but two teams enter into the tournament." The addressed answered.

Sasuke scoffed. "Does anyone read the rules anymore?"

"But in this tournament, each team has the possibility of being matched up against every other team...will members of the same guild be capable of fighting themselves?" The younger of the announcers demanded.

Naruto gaped. "Then both Fairy Tail teams would be forced to fight after all?!"

"Not necessarily." The Uzumaki swiveled to face Itachi as he spoke. "If two teams are selected to fight each other for the first round, the chances of Fairy Tail A or B being drawn from the eight teams is 1/4. The chances of the remaining Fairy Tail team being chosen then is lowered to 1/7. Multiply those two probabilities together, and you get 1/28, or 3.571%, a low chance." He shrugged. "If each subsequent match is kept as one-on-one, the probabilities will rise to 1/21 or 4.762%, 1/15 or 6.667%, 1/10 or 10%, 1/6 or 16.667%, 1/3 or 33.333%, and then 100% respectively. There is also the possibility that one of the Fairy Tail teams will be eliminated before they can fight each other. And if they so happen to be chosen to fight each other regardless, if they still choose to not fight due to their sense of camaraderie, they can always make the match last as short as possible and make it appear they did harm only to not have. Of course, if the event styles are not the same every round, they could still do that, only the probabilities will change for the most part."

Sasuke sighed. "That's nii-san for you."

"They'll be fine." The previously addressed's voice brought the three's attention back to the emcees.

Miss Fiore put her own word in. "But...that seems kind of unfair, doesn't it? Like...what if the competition has each time send out 1 member at a time for a battle royale...then Fairy Tail would be the only guild to have 2 members in the ring at once, right?"

"Of the over 100 guilds that entered, Fairy Tail is the only one that still has 2 teams in the running...this is their advantage they've earned, don't you think?" Oh, and Chapati decides to be nice now?!

Yajima slurped up noodles as he gave his reply. "It's definitely in their favor, Maa-boy."

"Maa-boy?!" Where did that nickname come from?!

But Naruto was more concerned with other matters. "Aww man! I wish I had some ramen right now!"

"Even after those twenty huge bowls this morning?!" Sasuke's nightmares are here to stay.

However, it's time to move on. "Now, for the last team that made it through the preliminary round...that's right! You all know who they are! The Strongest! The Invincible! The Complete Dominators! Sabertooth!" The entire stadium immediately burst into the loudest, the wildest, the most uncontrollable cheers they had throughout the entire event so far as five majestic figures strolled to the arena like they owned the place.

"Here they come..." The pyro glared.

A handsome man who possessed slicked-back hair and a confident smirk wagged his finger at the Dragneel. "Looking forward to you, Natsu-san."

"Don't wave that finger at me, you bastard." The Redfox growled.

A fancily-dressed slender raven man sneered. "Gajeel."

"Over there..." Gray glanced at the arrivals. "That's Fiore's strongest guild."

Once again, back to the commentators. "That makes up all the teams that will be participating. Looking at the lineup, do you have any thoughts?"

"Ah, to be young again." The geezer gave a dreamy sigh.

Sweat-drop. "Errr...that isn't exactly what I meant..." Attention shifted as a tablet suddenly crashed from above. "Thank you for waiting, here is your lineup!"

There appeared to be five separate rounds in all with the first reading 'hidden+battle' and the subsequent pair '? ? ?+battle' followed by '? ? ?+tag battle' and just '? ? ? ? ? ?'. "The Grand Magic Games's program has been unveiled!"

"That much in just one day?!" Lucy gasped.

As if on cue, the announcer spoke once more. "Thanks to our special recuperation rooms and the top-of-the-line healers there, every team will be able to recharge and recover after each event! Of course, you have to be in the rooms themselves to receive their benefits which stop working as soon as you leave the rooms or anything that belongs in the rooms is taken out. And you won't be able to bribe our healers. And you won't have access to those rooms during unauthorized times."

"How elaborate." If it had been anyone else, the look on Sasuke's face would be that of admiration.

And yet another tablet crashed down. "As far as the matches go, this is how the points will be distributed amongst first through eighth place." 1st had 10 points, 2nd had 8 points, 3rd had 6 points, 4th had 4 points, 5th had 3 points, 6th had 2 points, 7th had 1 point, and 8th had 0. "As the rankings fall, the amount of points received decreases. For the contest part, you can select anyone from your guild to participate. For the battling part, the organizers will pair up cards selected from the fans' votes."

"What the?" Erza grumbled.

Gray grunted. "They're going to match us up on their own?"

"So if you have bad luck, you could use up all your magic power in the contest part and end up being selected to battle?" Lucy muttered.

Chapati continued. "The battle rules are simple. Each team will battle, like so. The winning team will receive 10 points. The losing team will receive none. If it's a draw, each team will receive 5 points." He cleared this throat. "Without further ado, I bring you the Grand Magic Games's opening game! Let's begin 'Hidden'! Each team will have 1 participant. After each team submits their player, I'll explain the rules."

"I'll go first! Leave this to me!" Quatro Cerberus had selected Jäger to go.

One of his teammates cheered him on. "Don't forget! Your soul is always...WILD, HO!"

"I think I should go first, if you don't mind..." Mermaid Heel had chosen Beth.

Her friend smiled. "I'll permit it."

"You're up, Nullpudding." Raven Tail declared its submission.

The addressed smirked. "Gotcha~"

"I got this." And Eve was Blue Pegasus's choice.

His companions were more than eager, cheering him on. "Eve-kun! Number 1!"

"One after another, each team is deciding on their player. Who will Sabertooth choose?" Chapati cut in.

A guy wearing a mask over his eyes below a fancy hat spoke up. "I'll go. The birds are singing a sweet song today."

"They've chosen! The Singing Bard of the Red Moon!" At that moment, the fedora was thrown up. "Rufus has entered!"

Natsu sneered. "Why the hell is everyone cheering like crazy over that jerk?"

"As a man, let me take point for the team!" Elfman shouted from Team B.

Gajeel scoffed. "There's not a thing about you that feels 'hidden', Meatball."

"We don't know anything about the rules of the game, but judging from the name 'Hidden', it's going to involve stealth." Erza mused.

Lucy nodded. "Wendy should go since she's so small."

"I'll go then!" The Marvell declared. "I will try my best for the team!" It's official now.

Meanwhile, Lamia Scale was making its own plans. Sherria beamed. "If small is better, then maybe Yuuka or I should go?"

"Don't call me small." The mentioned barked.

The burly member smirked. "OOOON."

"No..." Lyon muttered, a smug smile gracing his lips. "We should grab this from the very start. I'll go." And so it shall be.

And it looks like Team B made their choice. "I've got to show how strong I am to Gray-sama!"

"Juvia..." The Fullbuster only sweat-dropped at that.

At that moment, Mato appeared. "Will each team's participant for 'Hidden' please come forward?"

"Looks like it's time for me to go." The Marvell gulped.

The Heartfilia grinned. "Do your best!"

"Don't you dare lose!" Natsu screeched. "Especially to Gajeel's team! Or Sabertooth...or Raven Tail...or..." The list goes on and on.

And once again, it's back to Chapati. "We're finally ready to begin. I wonder what kind of contest Hidden will be? Yajima-san, is there anyone we should be looking out for?"

"Hmm...well, we all know Rufus-kun is a force to be reckoned with here..." He smiled. "But I'm gonna be keeping an eye on Wendy-chan."

It's to Miss Fiore now. "What about you Jenny-san?"

"I'm all for Eve-kun, he's so strong." That, and they're in the same guild.

The Lockser went up to Gray. "I've gotta tell you I'm sorry, but I don't have any intent to lose here."

"I wouldn't expect anything less." He smirked. "But don't underestimate Wendy."

A chuckling brought both of their attention to Lyon as he approached them. "Sorry, but I'm gonna be going full force, as well. For Juvia!" Well, it seems the fangirl has a fanboy of her own.

"Ignore him...or you'll catch his stupidity." What a nice thing to say. But then the Fullbuster turned to the host. "By the way, this has been bothering me since the preliminaries...what the heck are you?"

"Exactly what I look like! I'm a pumpkin!" An anthropomorphic pumpkin?!

The questioner sweat-dropped. "Huh? Was there something wrong with me asking?"

"Good work on your character design." Eve and Beth gave respectful bows to the disguised.

The lauded laughed. "Non, non, I had a lot of fun doing it, so it was no problem. Pumpkii~"

"Don't start overdoing your character, now." Tick marks pulsated on Gray's temples.

Nullpudding barged in. "We still haven't been informed about what kind of contests we're going to be taking part in. In fact...all of the contests are being kept secret...but regardless of what they might be, having two guildmates competing, Fairy Tail has a huge advantage, right?"

"What?" Again with this?

Mato gazed off into space. "That's just how it goes. The fact that two teams from the same guild made it all the way to the finals is nothing short of amazing. P...Pumpkii..." He nodded. "I'm fine with it."

"A little tune from the banks of my memory." Rufus smirked. "I guarantee that having two of you competing...ultimately will not be what'd you call advantageous."

Jäger grunted. "It makes no difference to me."

"I think it's okay, too." Beth agreed.

Nullpudding snarled. "Keh."

"Impressive. So there's something behind this royal price routine." Wendy muttered.

The addressed chuckled. "Your comrades can also become your weakness. Taking hostages, targets to threaten, interrogating for information...there's countless other ways your enemy can use them to create an advantageous situation. You should remember that."

"What a guy!" Naruto gasped.

Sasuke gave a nod. "He makes some pretty good points."

"We'll see how everything plays out..." As cryptic as always, Itachi.

The Marvell gulped. "Is that so?"

"Field open! P...Pumpkii!" All attention snapped to the structure materializing from thin air brick by brick.

Wendy gasped. "What is that?!"

"Huh?" Juvia was just as stunned.

The structure only became more and more complex as it continued to manifest. "A city?!" Lucy shrieked.

"It's huge." Erza couldn't help but comment.

Natsu's jaw dropped to the floor. "INCREDIBLE!"

"What the heck is going on?!" Gray exclaimed. Cheers of shock and awe erupted from the audience and the competitors alike. It's not every day a miniature metropolis pops up after all.

At last the municipality was finished. "Juvia?! Lyon?!" Fear crept into the Marvell. "Where's everyone else?!"

"They've all vanished." The Lockser muttered from elsewhere.

Eve smiled. "Are we playing hide-and-seek here?"

"UWAAAH...where should I hide?!" Panic took hold of Beth.

Nullpudding was less than intimidated though. "Hmmph."

"This is weird..." Jäger grumbled. "How are we going to play hide-and-seek like this..." He scanned his surroundings. "After all, nobody's 'it'." Good point.

Chapati glanced up at the humongous hologram. "Everyone in the stadium, you can keep track of everything happening inside the city with our Lacrima-Vision."

"So that's what it's called, huh?" The elder Uchiha uttered.

Pictures of each of the eight currently out there's faces flashed across the screen. "The 8 participating competitors don't know the whereabouts of each other. The rules of Hidden are simple. All of you will be 'it' and will be looking for each other mutually."

"What did he say?" The Dragneel muttered.

The explanation had yet to finish. "Find each other inside that city. You're free to use any Magic you like, you just need to land one hit. If contact is made, a point is added to the attacker and taken from the victim. Damage doesn't matter."

"What's happening?!" Wendy cried out. Figures began to flicker all around her and each other participant within. "What's going on here?!" Duplicates of all eight—including the originals themselves—surrounded each of them. Wow was that confusing.

Lucy gasped. "They've got all their faces!"

"UGHP!" Sweat drenched Natsu's—and Naruto's—brows.

Gray glanced at the pyro, concerned. "Is it making your head spin?" The answer would be...yes. For both the Dragneel and the Uzumaki. Poor them.

"This is going to be tough." The Scarlet grunted.

Not all of the rules have been announced yet. "These are all copies of you." No duh. "If you attack a copy by mistake...you will lose a point."

Jäger was as happy as before...meaning he wasn't happy at all. "Damn...hidden or not...how the heck are you supposed to find your opponents in this?"

"J...Juvia! So many Juvia!" Lyon was more than a little lovestruck. At least someone was happy with this arrangement. Hearts were in his eyes. "With this many of her...it should be fine if I take just one for myself...JUVIA!" He glomped one from behind. The jubilance was instantly replaced by shock as eyes bugged, the clone vanishing in an instant. "AHHH!"

Lyon -1. "Look at this, Lyon has attacked a copy and lost one point."

"I bet if I was in there, Juvia would have went after one of my copies and been the one to lose that point." Gray was definitely freaking out beneath that calm exterior.

Yuuka sighed. "What the heck is that guy doing?!"

"To handle this, we will wait 10 seconds, after which we will restart the same in a different area." Chapati announced to all. "If this happens to any other Mages, we will do the same...deduct 1 point, wait 10 seconds, and restart in a different area."

Sherria giggled. "This is probably not going to be easy for Lyon."

"As long as time is left on the clock, the game can be repeated as many times as needed." At that moment, a timer appeared beneath the screen. "The time limit is 30 minutes, the team with the most points wins!"

Mato laughed. "The real challenge isn't hiding...it's figuring out a way to find!"

"That's not fair!" Naruto screamed.

Sasuke snorted. "There isn't anything unfair about this."

"A clever play on words was enacted." Itachi smirked. "Everyone is hidden from everyone else and the key is to find the real participants."

Wendy had been scanning the crowd around her for any possible discrepancies only for a sudden voice to stop her short. "Well, well, well, well...now, if only you grasped the rules a little bit earlier, hmm?"

"Who's there?!" The Marvell cried out.

The addressed smirked. "Raven Tail's Nullpudding." A cackling rang out. "Well, it looks like you got me here...heeheehee." What creepy laughter.

"And saved me the trouble of finding you!" Steeling her resolve, Wendy gathered a gale around her, leaping into the air. "Sky Dragon's Claw!" However, the target had vanished the moment the blade of wind had sliced though him. "WHAT?!"

That ominous laughter echoed off of the walls once again. "Too bad it was a copy, hmm?" Wendy had lost one point.

"Wha...THE REAL ONE WAS BEHIND HIM?!" All of Team A's jaws dropped the moment Naruto's did the same.

But that wasn't all. "KYAAAH!" Wendy was struck from behind, flying into the ground. "ITAI! He got me!"

Translation: Nii-san=Older brother, Itai=Ouch

How was it?

Please review! I really apprecinate them and they motivate me to write more!