Chapter 107: Smoke On The Horizon
That night, on the third day of the Grand Magic Games, Kynigós and Arcadios sat in a seedy little hole-in-the-wall bar that Arcadios liked to frequent for some peace and quiet. Each was nursing a tankard of ale, and Kynigós flopped against the wall, moaning; "Ah, it's been so long since I could get drunk!"
Arcadios inspected the young man curiously. "You're a soldier," he commented.
"What? No, I'm not. I'm a hunter," the blond boy huffed.
The knight chuckled. "What do you think it means, to be a soldier?" he asked.
Kynigós paused. "Well . . I dunno. To follow orders, to fight?"
"That's not it at all," Arcadios rebutted. "A soldier is someone who protects what's dear to him. Who takes up arms to fight so that his home, his family, will be safe," he explained. "A soldier is someone who carries the memories of what he treasures in his heart and draws courage from them. Who'll do anything he has to if he thinks it'll protect what's in his heart,"
Kynigós paused. "Did you say . . something that he treasures?" he raised an eyebrow, suddenly remembering someone else who had said the same thing to him. "If you ever find something that you treasure, hold it close and never let anyone take it away. Because every pirate needs something to treasure,"
"That's what a soldier needs, isn't it? Or else, what is he fighting for?" Arcadios shrugged.
Kynigós chuckled, deep and throaty. "Sorry, you just reminded me of someone I used to know," he muttered, thinking of Bellamy.
"Oh?" Arcadios settled down, a smile tugging at his lips. "Tell me about him,"
The hunter snorted. "Alright. But first," A wan smile crossed his face. "Have you ever heard the legend of the One Piece?"
-[CoT]-
"Welcome, everybody, to the fourth, penultimate day of the X791 Grand Magic Games!" Chapati roared.
"Y'now, I really like these Games," Tyria offered to the members of Team Pierce.
"What makes you say that?" Hare scoffed. After the beating that Grace had taken, everyone had agreed that she deserved the day off. So - much to her chagrin - reserve team member Hare had been drafted into active participation for the day.
"It's a good chance to let off some steam without worrying about the stakes. For once, the world's not gonna end if we lose. We won't die if we lose. This is just fun and games," Tyria sighed in relief.
Pierce briefly thought back to how satisfying it had been to hit Natsu Dragneel two days ago. "Can't argue with you there," he agreed.
"Now, I think it's about time that we introduce our guest for today's proceedings!" Chapati declared, and everyone looked up at the guest seat, which was currently unoccupied.
A large, hulking figure suddenly appeared behind the two regular commentators. "Hey. This is the place, right?" a dry, unamused voice questioned.
"Indeed it is!" Chapati's upbeat voice was sharply at odds with the tone of the newcomer. "Please give a warm welcome to an emissary from the World Government's Marine peacekeepers, here on official diplomatic business! Everybody say hello to Vice-Admiral Smoker!"
Down in the Black Eye Pirates Bay, Kenzie, who had made a full recovery from yesterday's match with Wendy's help, paled. "I've got to get out of here," she blanched. A quick glance over at the Phoenix's Eye box showed that Lance and Shelley were already making their excuses and ducking out
The tall man with spiky white hair puffed on the twin cigars clenched between his lips. "It's a pleasure and blah blah blah," he declared, his white coat falling around the armrests of his chair as he sat down, heedless of the smoke that rapidly filled the box.
"Who is that guy?" Masquerade questioned.
"He's a Marine vice-admiral," Kenzie hissed. "That's the third highest position someone can achieve in the World Government's navy, second only to the three admirals and the Marine Fleet Commander. And I'm certain he's earned that position,"
"You mean, the people who have a bounty on your head?" Artorias checked.
"Tell Master that Eve will have to cover for me today," Kenzie instructed as she swung open the door at the back of their bay. "See you all later!"
The four wizards blinked as she vanished. "I guess there's a downside to having a wanted criminal on the team," Lync shrugged as he stood up and made for the door. "Well, I'll go get Eve,"
"Now, how about we take a look at the scoreboard?" Chapati suggested, and the leaderboard obligingly appeared as a massive projection in the centre of the arena. "Unsurprisingly, in first place is the guild everyone loves, Sabretooth with 36 points! But I don't think anyone expected a set of strong contenders to match them at every turn, and they're right here in second place, Phoenix's Eye Team B, or, rather, Team Black Eye Pirates!"
"Team what?" Smoker thundered. Suddenly, his entire body burst into smoke and he threw himself from the desk, seeping through the cracks in the box's windows and flying down to the arena floor with a cloudy trail and hitting the ground with a smoggy shockwave. Every eye watched him go.
"What's with his body? It's like he's made of smoke," Tyria murmured in shock. Sarph raised an eyebrow. "It is. He's a Logia Type Devil Fruit user. Logia types are transformed such that their bodies are made of the substance associated with the fruit. Whether that's fire, stone, or even smoke,"
The door swung open and Lync emerged, dragging Eve behind him, barely a second before Smoker span and looked over the contents of the bay with hostile suspicion.
Artorias and Masquerade each stepped forwards, Sif crouched between them and growling. Behind them, Donna, Lync and Eve watched, the tension palpable.
Smoker's lips twitched as he counted, then checked again. No sign of the black hair with a central red stripe that adorned Black "The Succubus" Kenzie's 150,000-berrie head. Still, he recognised the team name . . "The lot of you wouldn't happen to know Black The Succubus, would you?"
With a perfectly straight face, Artorias replied; "I can honestly tell you that I do not know anyone named 'Succubus',"
Smoker quirked an eyebrow, but nodded. "Fair enough," With that, a burst of smoke propelled him back into the commentator's booth, where he immediately began to fill it with smoke once more.
"Um," Donna diplomatically began, but Artorias turned to her with a tight smile. "I told the truth. Kenzie's name, after all, is not 'Succubus'. It's just her title," Lync smirked at this. "I like the way you think,"
"Now, if that's quite -" Chapati's sentence was broken by a cough. "- over with, it's time to announce to-" he coughed again, choking on the cigar smoke - "-day's event! We like to call it -" another cough interrupted his sentence, and Chapati wheeled to glare at Smoker. "Would you please quit it with the cigars?"
"No," the man grunted.
"Can someone get me a fan, please?" the announcer questioned.
"Could someone get me a gas mask?" Yajima added.
Smoker huffed, before lunging forwards and shattering the glass into fragments, letting his smoke waft outwards into the sky and out of his fellows' faces. "There. Now get on with it," he huffed.
"Why did this man get approved for this position?" the wig-wearing spokesperson whispered to Yajima, who just shrugged.
"As I was saying. Today's event is a tasty piece that the folks at the game design team have called 'Naval Battle'!" he excitably exclaimed.
Kenzie was just barely out of range of the speakers when she heard this, and silently cursed. "That would have been the perfect event for me,"
Back on the team that she had just left, everyone exchanged glances. Lync, Artorias, and Masquerade had all competed on previous days. That left Donna and substitute member Eve . . but Donna had engaged in a battle in the first day, which meant she was less likely to be picked for the battles in the afternoon. "I'll go in this time," the Celestial bluenette offered.
Seeing that her fellow Celestial Wizard was entering the arena, Lucy strode forwards from her team. "It's my turn!" she declared.
Donna stiffened, seeing that Minerva was emerging from the Sabretooth bay. She glared with menace at the woman who had hurt her teammate on the previous day.
While the other teams sent in Juvia, Jenny and Risley, Jashie stepped forwards in Lamia Scale. "It's about time I had a turn," she declared. No one complained, so she went forwards.
This only left Phoenix's Eye A to pick a participant.
"No," Hare grunted.
"Well, I can't go. My machinery won't work properly underwater," Tyria pointed out.
"Have you tried talking underwater?" Boomer questioned, before patting his boombox. "Imagine that, but a hundred times more useless,"
"What about you two?" Hare gestured at Sarph and Pierce.
"We've both already competed. It wouldn't be fair," Pierce pointed out.
"Perhaps more to the point, the other teams know what we can do. But they don't know your abilities. You're the most strategic choice," Sarph pointed out.
Hare huffed, but accepted this argument. "Hmph. Fine. I'll go. But first," She reaches under the bench and produced a familiar-looking harness, strapping it on over her robes. Her teammates' eyes widened. "Is that . ." Pierce started, and Hare nodded. "I'm going into this with an advantage,"
"Now, let's get everyone dressed appropriately!" There was a poof of smoke, which enveloped the eight women in the centre of the arena. When it cleared, the clothes of each had been replaced with scanty, two-piece swimsuits.
Smoker and Yajima's eyebrows each slowly rose until they were a solid two inches above their eyes.
Donna screamed. "Wha - wha - where's my hat? And my robes?" she demanded, spinning around frantically, before spotting her clothes collected neatly back in the bay. She sprinted back and hastily reclaimed her Alfheimic sailor's hat and billowy white coat, which she shrugged on like a cloak around her shoulders, before nervously rejoining the other seven participants.
"What a prude!" Cana shouted from Fairy Tail B. "You know those are just going to get wet, right?" Lucy more reasonably offered.
"I'm sure there's a dry cleaner's somewhere in Crocus," Donna shrugged it off.
"Now, let's set up the arena!" Chapati declared, and a massive sphere of water erupted from the ground, sweeping up the eight combatants.
-[CoT]-
From a nearby bar, Kenzie watched the events. Even if it was too risky for her to be present, she still wanted to know what was going on. She rolled her eyes at Donna's prudishness, and chuckled when Cana called her out on it. "Hear, hear!" she declared, to some small cheers from the men in the pub with her. The pirate sipped at a mug of ale, resigning herself to a long, quiet day watching her teammates fight. Damn Smoker. How the hell had he tracked her and her crew here? Sure, she'd been all over the lacrima-vision for the last couple of days, but it should take more time than that for Marine forces to get from the Grand Line to Crocus.
Looking at the eight women in swimsuits, she sighed, realising her earlier assessment had been off. "I get it now. It's not 'Naval Battle', it's 'Navel Battle'," More to the point, being submerged in salt water would be a real problem for a Devil Fruit eater like herself.
Kenzie's musings were brought to a screeching halt when the door to the pub swung open and heavy footsteps strode in. She quickly turned away and used a mirror hung behind the bar to catch a glimpse of the newcomer.
Her fears were confirmed; the entrant was a woman with prim black hair, wearing red glasses and a pink coat with a Marine's signature golden epaulets over a dark red V-neck, with the hilt of a sword protruding from her coat. In her wake trailed half a dozen Marine soldiers - whom Kenzie noticed were above average in terms of brawn compared to most Marines she'd seen.
'Smoker,' she wracked her brains for the name. He was a Marine, obviously, and a Vice-Admiral - Chapati had mentioned that. He was in charge of one of the branches of the Marines, she thought . . daring to peer out of the corner of her vision as the female Captain advanced, she caught a tag on the uniform of one of her backups. 'G-5'. Now she remembered.
G-5 was widely considered the 'problem child' of the World Government's navy. Out of every ten soldiers in G-5, nine would have been demoted from one of the other branches of the Navy for bad conduct. G-5 had a reputation for being unruly, undisciplined, and for causing unnecessary collateral damage. She remembered reading that Smoker, a rising star in the Marine forces, had been transferred to G-5 by his superiors in hopes that he would be able to instil some discipline into them (and, some suspected, to diminish the risk that he would snap up the promotions and bonuses his competitors were eyeing up) . . and he had convinced his superiors to transfer his trusted second-in-command, Captain Tashigi, with him.
Kenzie felt it was a reasonable assumption to make to believe that this woman currently poking her in the back was the same Tashigi whom Smoker trusted so much.
"Oi, you. Show me your face," the Marine commanded.
Slowly, Kenzie stood up and licked her lips. "Y'now, it's a real shame that a pretty face like yours," In a flash she elbowed Tashigi's chest, knocking her a foot away before springing upwards, twisting and landing on the table. "Has that ugly jacket around it,"
Tashigi stepped back and peered at her in a mix of curiosity and irritation. "Who are you and what's wrong with my jacket?"
Kenzie blinked, confused, but her men chimed in. "Tashigi-chan, put your glasses on! It's her, Black the Succubus!"
Tashigi obligingly produced a slim pair of reading glasses and slipped them over her nose, before looking back at Kenzie. She gasped, realising who she was looking at, and stepped back. As Kenzie rolled her eyes - weren't Marines supposed to be professional? - every patron in the bar inched away. "You are under arrest!" she declared, doing her best to sound authoritative. "Surrender peacefully and I won't have to -
"Be humiliated?" Kenzie cheekily asked. "As much as I'd love to fight, I'd rather not wreck this bar. So, with that said . . bye!" A plume of shadows erupted around her feet, launching her into the air.
Tashigi and the Marines watched her blast a hole in the ceiling. "She's on the roof! We need to get up there!" she shrieked.
"I saw a fire escape next door?" one of her soldiers offered, and Tashigi smiled at him. "Good work. Show me,"
-[CoT]-
Back in Domus Flau, the eight women competing were adjusting to the situation. Juvia looked ecstatic.
"Now, here's the rules! It's basically your standard 'ring out' game, last one still in the water wins it for their team! But be warned, there's a special rule in place this round!" Chapati declared. "Once there are only two people left in the arena, a five-minute timer will start. And if either of the final two competitors are knocked out in those five minutes, they'll be considered as having placed last and will earn zero points for their team!" he explained.
Everyone blanched at this. "High stakes," Risley observed, concerned.
"Well, if everyone's ready . . let's begin!" Chapati declared.
Immediately, Hare clapped a hand to her stomach and chanted, words made of light popping info existence around her. "Futto mezakke vayezuli plorthul shippura dweren!" Instantly, she flickered and faded out of the visible spectrum.
"She can turn invisible?" Risley exclaimed, shocked.
"That's fine. Alfheimic magic has time limits," Minerva shrugged.
"Real nice," Donna rolled her eyes, before producing a Silver Key. Neither Mars nor Hades could fight well underwater (if only she owned the Crystal Key of the Sea Deity Neptune), but her two Celestial Deities weren't her only Keys. "Open, Gate of the Dolphin! Delphinus!" The familiar doorbell sounded, and a new spirit materialised.
The newcomer was clad in a black wetsuit with blue stripes on the arms and legs. She had sea green hair and twinkling grey eyes, wielding a purple plastic hoop with yellow stripes. She beamed, raising her hoop and declaring; "Showy morning, ladies and gentlemen! My showy friends and I are here to put on a wonderful showy performance for you today!"
"I can do you one better. Open, Gate of the Water Bearer!" Lucy commanded, pulling her own golden Key. "Aquarius!"
Donna blinked. "Is that the Zodiac spirit who's renowned for her bad temper?"
The two female Celestial Spirits eyed each other up. "Showy morning, old friend! What say we put on a showy performance today?" Delphinus questioned with a winning smile.
Aquarius raised a haughty eyebrow. "Do I know you?"
Delphinus melodramatically clutched at her heart. "Oh, you wound me!"
Meanwhile, Juvia eyed Aquarius warily and gulped. "I can't let her survive. Water Cyclone!" she burst out, launching a wide-burst attack that stirred up the water and sent everyone flying.
Donna shrieked, but her Spirit had her covered. She span her hoop and a dolphin made of pale blue energy swam out, darting through the water and catching the witch as her cloak billowed around her, soaking up water and hampering her movements.
Meanwhile, Jenny took advantage, targeting Risley, who turned and tried to counter. But she was too slow, and the chubby witch found herself out of the arena.
"And Mermaid Heel loses out! What a shame, but things are heating up in the water!" Chapati narrated.
Jashie floated before Minerva, and the two black-haired women locked eyes. "We should probably fight," Minerva suggested, and Jashie shrugged. "I'm fine with letting the others thin each other out if you are,"
A smile tugged at Minerva's lips, and she nodded, continuing to float.
Meanwhile, Aquarius and Juvia were locked in nautical combat, each matching the other blow for blow, while Delphinus span her hoop frantically, projecting a watery shield to keep her master in the game. "First Act: Showy Shield!"
"I'm almost enjoying this," Aquarius purred during a brief pause.
"Likewise, but I won't allow you to defeat me," Juvia retorted, and the Spirit pursed her lips. "That's fine," she declared, before turning to Lucy with a callous smirk. "I have to go meet my boyfriend for a date, anyway. You'll have to finish up without me. By-eee," And with that the mermaid vanished.
"And apparently Aquarius has better things to do, leaving Lucy high and dry!" Chapati narrated to the fuming blonde witch.
"Delph, take her out before she summons someone else!" Donna instructed, and Delphinus nodded and held up her hoop, declaring; "Second Act: Showy Dolphins!"
A pod of magical dolphins raced out of her hoop, darting in every direction with chaotic strikes.
Lucy shrieked. "Open, Gate of the Ram! Aries!" she commanded, and the sheep-like Spirit appeared before her. "Sorry!" Aries shrieked, throwing fluffy pink wool in every direction, which absorbed the dolphins directed at Lucy. "Don't be sorry, be showy!" Delphinus corrected her.
"Whoa! I can't even see what's happening!" Chapati explained, and Smoker shrugged. "The dolphins just hit the stripper girl,"
"How can you tell?" Yajima asked, but a second later, Jenny burst out of the bubble and went down.
Jashie and Minerva both looked down, and, noticing that the other witch was distracted, Jashie smirked, building a pulse of negative energy on her right foot. "Nega-Force!" With a twist, she kicked out and caught Minerva in the chest.
Of course, the Sabretooth could have blocked it, but why bother? After all, it wasn't like -
That was the point at which Minerva realised she was suddenly outside the bubble. Somehow, the strike had generated enough recoil to knock her clean out of the arena.
Holding herself in mid-air, she span and glowered at Jashie, who smirked and waved. "Yeah, I lied. I'm surprised you fell for it," she winked, before swimming away.
Minerva growled, silently swearing revenge, and sunk to the ground as Chapati declared; "And a surprise attack from Jashie sends Minerva out of the running!"
Aries' protective barrier of sodden wool encapsulated Lucy and Hare was nowhere to be seen. This left Juvia, Donna and Jashie eyeing each other up.
Characteristically, Jashie spoke up. "You know, I should thank you," she addressed Juvia, who raised an eyebrow. "If it weren't for you and that Gajeel chump joining Fairy Tail, Laxus never would have gone crazy and me and my brother never would have been kicked out of Phoenix's Eye and joined Lamia Scale,"
". . . I don't really understand your logic, but I suppose you're welcome," Juvia responded.
Jashie's smile turned into a wicked sneer. "That's fine. Allow me to express my gratitude. Nega-Nova!" she roared, launching a maelstrom of negative energy at Juvia. Juvia weaved, trying to avoid it, but the wide-burst attack was too far-reaching.
With a burst of lightning-like energy, Julia was expelled from the water. "And Fairy Tail B takes fifth place! What a shame," Chapati observed.
This left Jashie and Donna facing each other. "So, who's first?" Donna questioned, eyeing her opponent.
Suddenly Jashie flung up a hand and struck an invisible object. "I may not be able to see you. But I can use my other senses," she hissed at the unseen Hare, whose eyes widened.
With a flourish, the Lamia flung Hare away, hoping to quickly eliminate her. But Hare had learned from Minerva's loss, and she tugged on her harness. With a flash, green, fairy-like wings materialised on her back from her Alfheimic flight harness, blurring into motion and catching her before she could hit the edge. "Nice try, but no enchilada," She took a deep breath. "Futto famudro-" The words caught in her throat and she choked, feeling her magic circuits lock up. Hare silently screamed. She still couldn't do Majutsugo above fifth magnitude. And the spell she needed right now, Aeroblade - zhukaru - only worked with sixth-magnitude or higher.
And another flaw with Majutsugo was that trying to use a spell of any one magnitude would, for a few seconds, lock her out of any spells of equal or lower magnitude. Her failed attempt to use a sixth-magnitude spell had just locked her out of all of the fifth-magnitude or lower spells she could muster. Normally, this would mean Jashie had an opening, but luckily for Hare she was still Transparent - why was Jashie swimming right towards her?
Hare made to dodge, but Jashie was locked onto her, effortlessly correcting and striking with a negatively-charged double punch, simultaneously hitting Hare's sternum and shoulder. The recoil knocked her to the surface, her wings blurring in an attempt to catch herself. But it was fruitless, and she broke the surface, gasping for air.
"And Phoenix's Eye A takes fourth! What a pity, but let's see how the three remaining teams are doing! Remember, we need one more elimination, then the five-minute rul-"
"You talk too much. They know what's going on. Let them watch," Smoker growled, and Chapati nervously nodded. "Shutting up,"
As Hare flew out of the water and back to the ground, Lucy peered out from her protective barricade of fluffy pink wool. "Okay, we'll let them duke it out then take on the winner," she whispered to Aries, who nodded.
At the back of the crowd, a hooded figure dressed all in black smirked, pulling out a rifle. "This is an unfavourable matchup for you, Mordonna. Let me help you out," he murmured, taking careful aim at the cloud of wool.
A gunshot rang out.
Aries' breath caught in her throat, and Lucy turned to eye her Spirit. "Aries, are you -" Her eyes widened at the bloody gunshot wound that had blossomed on Aries' collar. "What the -"
"I'm . . sorry," Aries choked before vanishing in a flash of light.
"What the -" Lucy spluttered in disbelief, looking around for the source of the attack as the bunker of wool disintegrated around her.
"It seems that Lucy Heartfilia has run out of magic for her Spirit!" Chapati narrated. "Pity, though I suppose maintaining that barrier must have taken its toll," Yajima agreed.
"What - that's not -" Lucy spluttered, but before she could formulate a coherent argument, Jashie struck, a black-energy-infused kick aimed directly at her waist that knocked her back towards the edge of the bubble.
But in a flash of light another body caught her, and Lucy found Virgo, clad in a swimsuit, with her chains at the ready. "I'm here to help, princess," the pinkette narrated.
"That's great, but . . isn't a spirit with the power to dig tunnels a bit useless in open water?" Lucy protested.
"I had thought there was a theme of women in swimsuits. That's what Big Brother told me," Virgo shamelessly replied. Her mistress just facepalmed. "I am going to have words with Loke," she growled.
"Third Act!" Delphinus took the initiative. "Showyrangs!" She threw her hoop into the . . water, where it spat out a series of rings of water that shot in every direction, mostly aimed towards Virgo and Jashie. Bobbing and weaving, the Lamia dodged each one, while Virgo deflected as many as she could.
But Jashie knew an opening when she saw one. With a grin, she spread her arms and cast; "Nega-Nova!"
The blindside struck Lucy side on, moving too quickly for Virgo to take the hit. Lucy screamed in shock and pain as she was blasted backwards, soon breaking the bubble and being sent flying out to the arena floor.
"And with a stunning blindside from Jashie, Fairy Tail A takes third place! And now, the five minute rule is in effect! Can Jashie and Donna survive the next five minutes?" Chapati questioned.
"Shouldn't be too tough. I sure could," Smoker grunted.
"Delphinus. Go on the offensive," Donna instructed. Her Spirit nodded confirmation and dashed forwards.
Jashie sneered. "I have no patience for members of Phoenix's Eye. Nega-Tana!" she cast, materialising a crackling blade of black energy. "Eat this!" she roared, charging at Donna.
Delphinus blocked with her hoop - but the black sword cut straight through it. Building a charge of magic in her left hand, Jashie struck the Spirit in her chest, knocking her backwards, before charging forwards, targeting Donna again.
Realising she had little choice, Donna withdrew a Key - but Jashie knocked it from her hand, spinning and unleashing a roundhouse kick that -
In a flash of light a steel tower shield blocked the blow. Donna gasped. "Mars?!"
"Reporting for duty," the warrior Spirit saluted, bracing his shield against Jashie's onslaught. The rounded barrier moved slowly in the water, but with Mars' strength behind it he powered through the opposition and moved it to block every blow Jashie threw.
And then Delphinus was attacking from behind, screaming and twirling like a dervish, preparing to strike Jashie with her ring.
"Nega-Lectron!" A whirling barrier of spinning orbs of negative magic erupted from Jashie, knocking all three of them away.
"Where did you come from?" Donna asked Mars, who declared; "I came under my own power. You needed help,"
"You can do that?" Donna questioned, and Mars bashfully shrugged. "Never had a reason to until now,"
Jashie charged towards them, hoping that her swirling orbs of magic would force them backwards. Mars held up his tower shield, and the projectiles bounced off it, before settling back into their orbit for another go around. The constant onslaught had him sweating under the strain.
"Final Act! Thousand Showy Hoops!" The three looked up to see Delphinus above Jashie, wielding a hoop that seemed to be glowing with Celestial light and splitting into a thousand blurred hoops. "You can move in three showy dimensions underwater, bitch!" she shrieked, before launching her hoops downwards, targeting Jashie.
In response, Jashie flung her arm up and twisted her magical orbit, sending it flying upwards to intercept and strike at Delphinus. Without the endurance of Mars, the onslaught rapidly tore through the Spirit. "See you at my next performance, folks! Showy to let you down, Mistress!" Delphinus mustered, before disappearing.
Donna blanched, and Jashie grinned, turning her attention back to her opponent. "Time to wrap this up. Nega-Net!" she shrieked, throwing a net of negative magic at the two of them.
Mars raised his shield, but the net was too large, hitting him and wrapping around them both. Donna squealed as the stinging magic met her skin, and shivered as Jashie swam above them and smirked at her incapacitated prey. "It's over," With a shove, she pushed them towards the bottom, and Donna was helpless to stop it as she and Mars broke the surface and hit the ground beneath.
"What a pity. After a strong and showy effort, Donna falls short!" Chapati declared.
Pausing, the Celestial witch turned to look at the scoreboard.
Ten-foot blinking letters read 4:34. She had missed out on the five-minute rule by twenty-six seconds.
The Black Eye Pirates banner slowly slid from the top of the leaderboard to the bottom. Donna had earned zero points.
"And it's a pity that our top contenders ran afoul of the Five-Minute Rule, but that's the rules," Chapati narrated.
Donna could only pound the ground in frustration.
A/N
A/N
Sabertooth: 39
Fairy Tail A: 38
Phoenix's Eye: 37
Black Eye Pirates: 35
Lamia Scale: 33
Fairy Tail B: 31
Mermaid Heel: 25
Blue Pegasus: 23
Fun chapter, am I right?
Also, let's give a warm welcome to our latest crossover characters, Vice-Admiral Smoker and Captain Tashigi, from One Piece! They'll be around for a couple of chapters. I'm excited to work with them! Peace!