They had one month to prepare for the Ishgar's Strongest tournament. That was a lot of training but it had to be done. Since Natsu was training with Keele at Al Dente!, this left Lucy with Laxus and the Raijinshu. She was not expecting to be picked up by Laxus and his crew and it didn't bode well for her. "Put this on." Laxus demanded, handing Lucy a vest of some sort.
"Okay…" Lucy wasn't sure what this was. Still, she put it on. As soon as it closed around her, the lacrima inside the vest activated and weighed her down considerably. "Gnk…!" She nearly collapsed to the ground on the spot. It took all the power she had to stay on her legs, but she wasn't sure how much longer she would even be able to stand. "W-What is…this…?"
When Lucy looked up, she saw that Laxus and the others were wearing the same vest, but they weren't struggling like she was. "This is a lacrima weighted vest." Freed explained. "This is what we use to expand our physical capabilities. Magical strength can indeed carry you far; however it can only go but so far. There will be times when you have to rely on what you can do with your own power."
"You can stand, can't ya? That means you can run!" Bickslow started to laugh along his dolls.
"R-Run!?" Lucy's eyes widened. Did they really expect her to run with this thing on!? It felt like they tied a sack of bricks to her chest.
"Honestly, it's not that hard." Evergreen said while frowning at Lucy. "We do this very often it's become second nature to us. You're representing Fairy Tail and Fiore, so we have to work on your strength."
"Ugh…" Lucy groaned. She tried to move her leg but she could barely even drag it.
Laxus merely folded his arms over his chest. "You've done a lot of improving over the years, Lucy. But you're still not exactly a fighter like Natsu, Gray, or Erza. You've done some good things, but they've been close calls at the same time. So I'm going to personally make sure that we rework your fundamentals from the ground up."
Oh, lucky her. "I-I see…" Lucy didn't bother objecting. But she did get an idea! In a flash, she changed to her Star Dress: Taurus! The boost in strength made wearing the vest a little more bearable and she could actually stand up straight now. "Ah ha!"
As soon as Lucy did this, Laxus glanced at Freed. "Freed."
"On it." Freed then drew his sword, slashing at Lucy's back. The slash wasn't painful but he did inscribe some runes onto her vest. "No physical enchantments allowed."
As soon as this happened, Lucy ended up falling to the ground again. "Agh! What the heck was that for!?" It felt like they were just bullying her!
"You're not going to improve your physical strength if you use that Star Dress as a crutch." Laxus said. "Like I said, we're going to work you from the ground up. Improving your strength starts like this."
"…" As much as Lucy hated to admit it, Laxus was right. She wouldn't gain anything using Taurus' Stardress like that. She had to use her own strength.
"I'm sure you know that you'll have to fight Mii again sooner or later. You want to drag her back, don't you? When she starts kicking, screaming, and pushing back, do you or don't you want the strength to hold on and push back?" Laxus asked.
"Ah…" Lucy paused. Laxus was absolutely right. She needed to be strong enough to hold on when Mii tried to push her away.
"Do you understand now? It's rough, but we're not allowing you to give up." Evergreen said.
"So get ready to run." Laxus turned his back to Lucy. Without warning he started to sprint, Freed, Bickslow, and Evergreen following. "And after that, we're working on that trump card of yours. I noticed a lot of flaws that need ironing out."
They were going to run now too!? Lucy groaned while lagging behind the others. "F-Flaws?" Her Spirit King Stardress had flaws? She already knew about the downsides of it, but…
"Your movement is horrendous. You can't use your speed well, your flight turns are too wide, your swings use excessive motions, and the fact it barely lasts you two minutes doesn't suit well at all. So after this mile run, we'll be focusing on that." Laxus explained. "And that's just the start of our day."
"A-A MILE!?" Lucy's eyes widened and she started to let out comedic tears. This was only the beginning!? She wouldn't last. She could only wonder how Natsu was doing and if his conditions were anywhere near as cruel and demanding as Laxus' were…
Keele stood over an exhausted Natsu, pointing down at him condescendingly with his transformed Dragon Ape arm. "C'mon, is that all you got? If you can't show me improvement then I won't bother training you anymore!"
"I'm just getting started!" Natsu roared excitedly. He pushed himself up with great speed, flames exploding from his feet to headbutt Keele right in the chin! It was a direct hit and Keele actually staggered back.
"Nice, Natsu!" Happy cheered.
Keele wiped his chin, letting out a slight scoff and smirk. "All right, so you aren't terrible."
Training would have to come to a halt. "Keele! Natsu! Rowan says that dinner is ready." Juliet told the two of them before hurrying back inside.
"Guess that's it for now." Keele said, making his way back inside as well, with Natsu and Happy following behind him. The restaurant was closed so the members of Al Dente! could take part in their usual weekly dinner. Everyone present was gathered around the table, and since Natsu was their guest, they included him as well.
Natsu and Happy were salivating at the delicious food in front of them. It was a feast! "It smells so good…" Happy dove for the fish and started to eat it.
"…I thought we had a no animals rule at the table?" Blair shot her eyes at both Happy and Keele. "They're going to ruin the food."
"Now Blair, try to be a little nicer to our guests." Rowan told Blair.
"No." Blair immediately replied.
Blair always had to be difficult. It made the others glance around before Yuki was the one that said something. "Don't mind Blair." The hostess said to Natsu. "She's always like this with new people."
"I agree!" Vernal commented from the other side of the table. Her annoying smile and tone already caught a glare from Blair. "Blair tries to act edgier than the steak knife she's using, but in truth, she's actually one huge softie~ I bet if you put that cat in front of her she would pet it!"
Happy had a sweat drop on his forehead. He didn't exactly feel comfortable near Blair, which is precisely why he was sitting as far away as possible from the woman. "Uh…"
Blair's bandaged arm let out fierce crimson glow. She was about to jump at Vernal but was held down by Juliet and Yuki, and that was far from an easy task. "I'm gonna kill you."
"Nwhehehe…" Vernal snickered at Blair's predicable reaction. She knew what she did.
"Vernal, we've talked about this. Don't provoke anyone at the table." Ezekiel said. Vernal just kept an innocent smile.
"Her acting skills aren't so far off from my own." Alfred quietly remarked. Vernal was quite the actor when she wanted to be.
"We have guests here, after all, B." Yuki said. It was then that she eyed Natsu for a bit before opening her mouth. One would notice that she didn't take too much out of the plate in front of her. Yuki was a different type of wizard, as she began to inhale Natsu's magic from afar and consume it! Even though Keele said Natsu wasn't much, his aura was different from a normal mage's and she couldn't resist.
Juilet noticed this and frantically shook her head. It didn't seem like Natsu was catching on just yet but he would soon. "Yuki…!"
Yuki blinked once before pouting and ceasing. She did get quite a bit and it was going to become a problem if she got more; everyone knew it but she couldn't help herself. "Fine…"
This place reminded Natsu a little of Fairy Tail. But he couldn't help but stare at Blair as she angrily ate her food. Blair noticed this and shot her glare towards the dragon slayer. "What do you want?"
"I have a bone to pick with you." Natsu said. "What you did to Chelia-"
"Don't feel like talking about this over dinner." Blair cut him off. She already knew where that conversation was going and she did not want to discuss it ever. She nipped that in the bud before the topic could bloom.
Natsu narrowed his eyes. He couldn't let what Blair did to Chelia slide, since Raven and Chelia sacrificed so much for Fairy Tail's sake in the war. For now, he'd let it slide, begrudgingly. "…"
"This fish is sooo good…" Happy munched happily on the fish. "I didn't know guild could be a restaurant too."
"It's the other way around, actually." Rowan said. "This was simply a restaurant before it became a guild."
"And what changed?" Natsu was curious as well.
"I came." Keele said smugly. The thing was, he wasn't wrong.
"He's right." Rowan said. "Keele came by from Pergrande and before I knew it, Fiore's best restaurant turned into a rather strong guild. We did have some trouble during the war with Alvarez. Some troops refused to leave."
"So we had to serve them the Al Dente special." Ezekiel said with a coy smile.
"They were chumps." The hybrid takeover mage scoffed. "But we're the strongest guild." Keele said once more. "Too bad the mages in Fiore aren't even worth trying to fight. All too weak."
"We'll see about that when I'm done training with you!" Natsu replied with a smirk of his own. Keele may have outpaced him now, but Natsu was always one to catch up.
Juliet couldn't help but giggle just a bit. This was a rare sight; usually banter at the dinner table meant that someone was about to fight. "This is a nice change of pace."
"You're telling me." Yuki nodded in agreement. "We've only had to stop B from lunging once tonight. It's nice when she's mellowed out."
"Mhm. She can be pleasant when she wants to be." Juliet also nodded.
This only annoyed Blair. A comical tick mark appeared on her forehead. "Can you two not talk like I can't hear you!?" And that's precisely why they did it. Blair was so easy to bait since she was so irritable.
"All right, I'm done!" Keele stood up from his seat, staring at Natsu. "We're going back to training."
Natsu had already scarfed down the rest of his food. As soon as Keele made the notion of more training, he was already on it. "I can beat you there!" A competitive spark was lit in Natsu's spirit and he sprinted off, he and Keele now racing to the back. But Natsu did feel a little woozy; he wasn't sure why, but it was Yuki's fault for sure.
"Animals, the both of them…" Blair rolled her eyes.
"Oooh! Maybe I should get a whip and become an animal tamer!" Vernal had a flash of inspiration.
"You want to deal with those rabid idiots? I hope you learn to like yourself." Blair shook her head.
Erza, Kagura, and Zelos were all training together, focusing on enhancing their sword play. Despite the effort Zelos displayed before during the finale against Jura and Yukino, he wasn't doing half as well against Erza and Kagura. They both noticed this and were rather annoyed. "You're holding back." Kagura narrowed her eyes. "We've already seen what you're capable of."
"We won't improve if you half-heart it." Erza scolded Zelos.
Zelos sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry ladies. I think I just need a little motivation before I can kick up that level of skill again. Being scolded by two beautiful women isn't all that bad, though~"
"Can we replace him?" Kagura turned to Erza. She wasn't sure how much of this she could take.
"Only if he wants to." Erza sighed. It was clear that Zelos wasn't going to do that.
Kagura rolled her eyes, turning her attention back to Zelos. That lazy stance annoyed her so she took initiative, swinging at Zelos with no warning. Zelos reacted on a dime, parrying her strike perfectly. Kagura withdrew her weapon, keeping that annoyed stare. "I knew it. Why are you holding back? Are you patronizing our abilities?"
"N-No, not at all, Kagura-chan!" Zelos waved his hands frantically. "Listen, it's not easy for me to attack a woman at full force. It really did take all of my willpower to even swing at Yukino-chan during that fight." It wasn't like he was lying either. Even during his secret fight with Mii, he wasn't exactly able to swing full force, even knowing full well it wouldn't even hurt her.
"That's a flaw we'll have to iron out." Erza immediately responded and glanced at Kagura. The two of them were in sync. "But before we begin, is there any reason you feel this way?" Erza was trying to poke a bit into Zelos' past. They didn't really know much about him; not that it mattered once he joined Fairy Tail, but she was curious.
"Woman are amazing. If I'm to blame for blame for even one unsightly blemish on their perfect bodies, I could hardly live with myself! After all, I think of all women as someone precious and important to me." Zelos responded oh so dramatically. The magic swordsman was aware of the curious prodding but decided to flip the tables on them. "Don't you two have someone precious to you? I mean, don't you have the hots for that Jellal dude, Erza-chan?"
As soon as Zelos said that, Erza's face matched her hair! "N-No! It's….it's complicated…!" That turned her into a flustered mess. Why did he have to bring it up like this!?
"And what about you, Kagura-chan? Anyone special on your mind?" Zelos continued to pry.
There was someone that came to mind. Kagura visibly shuddered as Zelos continued to call her 'chan' however. "Don't call me that." It reminded her too much that idiot. She also refused to answer his question because she was annoyed and largely because she was still trying to sort that part out.
"Ah ha! I knew it! I know that look." Zelos could see it on Kagura's face. "Why don't you trust me with your problems? I happen to be something of a love gen-" And before he could finish, he was put into the ground with gravity. "Guh!"
"Be quiet." Kagura grunted. "And get ready."
"G-Get ready?" Zelos managed to crane his neck upwards as Erza and Kagura stood over him.
"We're going to iron out your weakness." Erza told him. "We will be coming at you with everything we can muster. We hope you can do the same." Her expression darkened. This training session was no longer leisurely. Zelos was about to fight for his life.
"Wait, please! I beg you! Not my hair or my face!" Zelos begged. Would the two women listen? It didn't seem likely.
Bacchus' training consisted of both drinking and fighting. To a normal fighter this would seem extremely detrimental, but to the Drunken Falcon, this was perfect. Drinking kept his senses sharp and allowed him to fire back on all cylinders. Whereas most may have had predictable actions and movements, his inebriated style of fighting gave him an edge. If a drunk person didn't even know what they were doing, This held true as he practiced with Blues and the other members of QC. "C'mon you guys! I haven't even started yet!"
"Yes you have!" Rocker objected. Bacchus was going pretty hard on those drinks! Just one look at his face said that he had been drinking a lot. "But keep going! You'll be untouchable at this point!"
"Yeah! It's wild! So wild that it's bringing me to tears!" Warcry exclaimed, crying a river as he was elated to see Bacchus' progress. Training hadn't been this intense since, well, ever!
"We're only just getting started." Blues said with a smirk, cracking his neck as he entered his Dragon Force. "I was hoping to get chosen, but I wasn't so lucky. That means we're gonna put you through the ringer so the world can see how WILD Fiore can be!"
"HELL YEAH! FOOOUR!" Bacchus roared out at the top of his lungs.
Goldmine watched. On the one hand this band of idiots could come off as really embarrassing. On the other, watching them work so hard to support one another did warm his heart a bit. These were his idiots after all, and the fact that one of them was going to the world stage? Well, it did fill him with pride. "If you're going to go against the world, be sure to push back with all you can. Although with your drunken tenacity, I'm sure they'll have a hard time knocking you down. Wild…"
"FOUR!"
Sting and Minerva were taking on a different sort of training. Minerva sat cross legged on the ground, closing her eyes to concentrate on some meditation. She forced Sting to get in on this and he was a little fidgety. "Lady, are you sure this is going to work? I can't do this."
Minerva remained silent for a moment. "You best learn." The Tigress responded sharply. "This is for concentration. You act too fast sometimes."
"She's not wrong." Rogue remarked. "You're always rushing ahead, just like Natsu. You're a Guildmaster, so you need to think your actions through a little more. You don't know what kind of mages you'll encounter out there. Rushing ahead could cost you."
"Ah…" Sting sighed, because Rogue wasn't wrong. "Can we at least do combat training after this?!"
"Sting-sama, you should be more patient." Yukino said.
"Nah, let him rush in there and get demolished." Sorano waved her hand casually. "Maybe then he'll learn to wait a bit."
"But Sting rushing in always saves the day!" Lector objected.
"That holds some truth according to my memory." Rufus said. "Although there have been times Sting's nature has gotten him in trouble as well. It would not hurt to exercise come caution."
Even Rufus huh? Sting lowered his head comically. They had a point. He was a little reckless. But it had done more good than harm, yet he could see where they were coming from. "Fine. I'll try to slow down just a little bit. I am representing Sabertooth after all."
"That's more like it." Minerva didn't once open her eyes. "And after this, I'll have Rufus attack us with every spell in his arsenal. It's best to be prepared for any and every type of spell. Although I'm certain there is magic we haven't even seen before waiting for us."
"I'll give it my best effort to prepare you both." Rufus gave a slight bow.
"Fro thinks they'll do great!" Frosch lifted his hand up.
"Yes! I believe in the both of them!" Yukino's eyes lit up and she clasped her hands together. "Sister and I will cheer with all we have!"
"W-Wait…don't drag me into that." Sorano said with a sweat drop.
Luke was busier than Reve. Luke spent every day either working out, or training with one of his guild mates. As it stood right now he was sparring with Cygnus, keeping his senses and combat sense sharp. After they finished, they sat in the snow, taking a quick breather. "I really have to work hard. The Queen said that winning wasn't an important factor, yet out of everyone who's been picked, I'm the only one who outright lost their fight."
"You lost to Lucy." Cygnus was rubbing it in a bit now. "She really pulled the rug out from under you."
"Yeah…" Luke glanced up at the sky. "I thought I had her just like usual, but she really surprised me. I'm not entirely sure what her motivation was for it, but it easily trounced me." Admitting that was just as painful as losing to her. But he was able to brush this off and move forward. "I can't have her show me up on the big stage."
"If you do, we'll never let you hear the end of it. I know Reve won't." Waiston remarked from the sidelines.
"But you'll be fine!" Kuro said with his usual smile. "You know how strong you are, so you can only go up from here!"
"Thanks guys." Luke said with a grin before standing back up. "But I'm not done yet! Keep coming! I'll take you all on!"
Meanwhile, Reve wasn't doing so much. Just some lazy target practice but he was content with this. Ilaria was curious about Reve's lack of effort compared to Luke's. "Not training?"
"Don't need to." Reve responded casually. "I'm always at the top of my game. It's almost cheating that I've been selected; I alone am worth more than those four Fairies we've been paired with. So that just means I'll be doing most of the work. Luke will be doing the rest, and I guess the others can watch from the sidelines as White Eclipse takes Fiore to the top."
"Wow! You're amazing!" Ilaria's eyes sparkled at Reve's cocky statement. She found it cool, while the others somewhat agreed. As for any other mage that would hear it? Of course they would be irritated.
"There he goes again…" Aira pinched the bridge of her nose. "Before you and Luke leave, I need to give you two a round of shots!"
"Don't need it." Reve said calmly.
"Don't want it!" Luke shouted.
"Nonsense!" Aira smiled while pulling out a gigantic needle. "We can't have you two getting sick in another country! My medicine is always the best, you know this!"
"A little needle doesn't scare you, does it?" Jaxon asked with a coy smile. "White Eclipse mages don't lose to sickness."
"Well…" Luke gulped.
"It won't hurt a bit, I promise!" Aira gave a sweet smile. Though to Luke that smile betrayed what he considered to be malicious intentions.
Everyone was preparing for the tournament with the time they had. A month seemed like a long time, but it also wasn't enough for some people. Regardless, time flew by. The month passed faster than anyone anticipated, and one week before departure, it was time for Team Fiore to meet with Hisui and discuss their plan of action and what awaited them…
.
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Next Time: The Stakes.