Next to the splendorous cities in Iceberg, Crocus stood as the most beautiful city Kai had ever seen. He rolled up to it in the same cart as Wendy, Carla, Erza, Gray, and Iggy, all of them marveling at not only the beautiful architecture and soaring buildings, but also the banners and flags and signs put up for the Grand Magic Games.
Vendors from all over the kingdom lined the streets and paraded around, selling items to families and other wizards. Kai saw more guild emblems on people than he thought he'd ever see in his entire life. Iggy marveled at all of them, even recalling some that she remembered from years and years ago. Kai sometimes forgot that she was so much older than her appearance let on. He wondered, then, what she would look like when the curse was reversed. Maybe she'd be super old like Makarov.
The cart eased toward a plaza, where Kai saw that some other guild members were waiting. He smiled at them and waved out the window.
It was a bit strange for him to be with these guys and not everyone else. He, Iggy, and the Exceeds were, in fact, the only members of Team Natsu not selected for the Grand Magic Games team, as Makarov revealed the other day:
"Wow, two Dragon Slayers," Droy had muttered.
"We're a shoe-in this year, for sure!" Romeo exclaimed.
Lucy approached Master, who also wore a confident expression on his face. "Master…why us specifically?"
"You all have the best synergy," Makarov said. "And the other members haven't shown up, so it wouldn't be right for me to announce them as our team moving forward."
"And the five person rule is a hard and fast limit, right?" Erza had asked, looking to Kai, who still stood near them.
"It must be five people, yes, but should there be injuries or exterior circumstances the roster is subject to change," Makarov said.
Kai shook his head at Erza who was ready to speak up for him. Instead, he let her join in the festivities for a bit before he approached Makarov, who sighed.
"I was waiting for this."
Kai grunted a laugh. "I'm glad you didn't pick me for the team, actually."
"You are?"
"You know I have a long way to go, Master," Kai said. "It's not as simple as putting all the muscle together. Those five are our best chance here of winning the Grand Magic Games."
"If it were about muscle I would put you on the team in a heartbeat. It doesn't take much to notice the strides you've taken, even discounting your Second Origin getting unlocked. I'm proud of you, son."
Makarov gripped Kai's shoulder and the two exchanged a grin.
Kai had no remorse about it, and had to make sure everyone else understood, since they were all willing to give up their spot to him. Kai didn't want that.
This team represented the very best of Fairy Tail: Natsu's tenacity, Lucy's heart, Gray's versatility, Wendy's hidden power, and Erza's authority. What would Kai add to that mix? He did yearn for the chance to jump in and join the rest of the guild in the arena to show what Fairy Tail was capable of, but could also give a great amount of support from the stands.
And at night for Erza, but that was quite a personal matter.
The carts stopped in the plaza and everyone stepped out. Makarov, Jet, Droy, Romeo, Macao, Wakaba, Bisca, Alzack, and Asuka waited them near a small fountain. Kai nodded to them as he approached behind Team Fairy Tail, who received quite the reception again. They got some strange glances and looks from people around them on the streets, though.
"Alright, gather around," Makarov said. "It's time you learned a bit of the rules of our stay here. Things are quite strict in Crocus during the Grand Magic Games."
"Rules?" Natsu asked. "How annoying."
"If you want to win you better get used to playing by them," Makarov grumbled.
"Well then we may as well forfeit," Gray sighed. Lucy held Natsu back.
"Rule one," Levy said, a rulebook appearing in her hand. "Guild masters cannot participate. That much should be pretty obvious by now."
"You're on your own," Makarov said.
"Another big rule," Levy said. "We cannot have others from outside the guild participate in our team."
Makarov blushed at that for a moment. Kai pretended not to notice.
"And maybe the biggest rule," Levy said, closing the book. "We all have to be in our own living quarters by midnight."
"No rules for the events themselves?" Lucy asked.
"They're all a secret until the night before," Levy said with a shrug. "I'm sure the rules will be described then. But until that point, I have no idea what we're going to be up to."
"Doesn't matter, we're going to smoke the competition!" Natsu exclaimed. "I'm fired up!"
"That's the spirit," Jet muttered, nodding to Natsu.
Kai gripped his sword handle. Without even being in the tournament, he could sense the electricity in the air emanating off his guildmates, particularly with those that were participating. There was still some hesitation and trepidation about those who had been around for seven years and still felt the scourge of embarrassment.
He glanced around. It'd just turned nighttime, and the shoppers still roamed about the streets, some taking careful notice to avoid the wizards at all costs.
"Got some time to kill," Kai said while little conversations broke out in the crowd. "Any plans?"
"I thought about going to the inn," Erza said. "I'd love you to join, but I think you'd have more fun with Natsu."
She gestured at him. He, Happy, Lucy, and even Iggy were already tromping off into the city, pointing out and gawking at the various buildings and decorations all around. A slight grin crept along Kai's face.
"You know me too well," he said. "Meet you later?"
"Not too much later." They kissed and he hollered for Natsu and the others to wait up.
Crocus delighted them. They bought so many tasty snacks and treats and galivanted about the city ablaze with beautiful lights.
Fireworks displays went off all over the place. People hollered and sang for their regional guild. Individual wizards put on marvelous displays across the city, with others joining in momentarily and they worked beautifully, as if they'd practiced routines for their entire life.
After three months of hard training, of breaking his mind and body down only to put it at its peak condition, Kai couldn't help but feel a small lump form in his throat at the sheer beauty of it. Iggy and Happy cried out in joy while Lucy danced among the lights like the angel she was. Natsu roared with joy and laughed alongside Kai, the two encountering so many like-minded wizards who didn't care they were from Fairy Tail or that they were Dragon Slayers.
Some were trepidatious about the two, thinking they were a pair of wizards from Sabertooth, but that was quickly assuaged when they realized how fun Kai and Natsu could really be, how much of a ball of light Lucy was, and how adorable Iggy and Happy were.
He could've stayed out on the town all night, and as the night progressed, fast but also quite slow, Kai couldn't help imagining himself partying like this every night. It would get even better, too, as they would befriend the other guilds and other citizens of Crocus!
But, of course, that could not last.
The group continued on toward the main plaza, where a few shouts rang out…and not the good kind. Kai was still feeling the buzz of positivity and initially played it off until the crowd parted and couple of guys stood from the fountain, the others in the crowd paring in fear of them. Their eyes locked on Kai and Natsu.
Kai's nose twitched. Did he know these two? He exchanged a curious glance with Natsu, who must've had the same inclination. The group stopped.
"Well, glad we can finally run into one another," the blonde one said, placing his hands on his hips and approaching them.
"Natsu Dragneel, Kai Hope," the dark haired one said. He also wore rather dark clothing, while the other wore tighter clothing to emphasize their muscles.
"Are we supposed to know you or something?" Natsu asked.
"We're the Twin Dragons of Sabertooth," the blonde one said. "I'm Sting, this is Rogue."
"We've been expecting you," Rogue said.
"Waiting for Fairy Tail's actual wizards to show up," Sting said. "So we could actually shut everyone up once and for all."
"Excuse me?" Lucy asked.
Sting and Rogue paused a few feet from them, Sting sneering at the two of them while Rogue maintained his stoic, but dark, demeaner.
"All we've heard for years is how much better Fairy Tail was than us," Sting said. "But that's all in the past, and now we have the opportunity to show them how wrong they were. Sabertooth's Fiore's number one guild now and forever, and we're at the top of that order."
"You're not at the top of anything yet," Kai said. "We'll see what happens once the games are over with."
Rogue shook his head. "You've missed seven years."
"You've missed the last three months," Kai said. "You have no idea what we're capable of."
Sting chuckled. "We know you're not even capable of defeating Acnologia. Rogue and I? Could've taken him out easily."
Iggy had to jump on Kai's shoulder to try and calm him down. Lucy actually stepped in front of Natsu.
"Don't do anything stupid."
"You could've what?" Kai asked. Even Happy trembled.
"Hehe, look, Froshe, these two have a couple ladies holding them back."
Kai's anger was only momentarily broken up by the arrival of two other Exceeds: a brown one that approached Sting and a green one in a pink frog suit that approached Rogue. Both crossed their arms and stuck their tongues out at Fairy Tail.
"Exceeds?" Lucy asked.
"They're Dragon Slayers," Kai said. "Figures they'd have Exceeds."
"Not just Dragon Slayers," Rogue said.
"We're Third Generation Dragon Slayers," Sting said. "We were taught by real Dragons and we got our powers enhanced by lacrima. First and second generation combined makes the third generation. The best generation."
"Hard to beat the originals," Kai said.
"Oh trust me, we will," Sting said.
"If you were trained by dragons, did yours also disappear in X777?" Natsu asked.
"Sure did," Sting said, and lit his hand full of white light. "At our own hand."
"We killed our dragons to prove our superiority over them," Rogue said.
The color rushed out from Kai's face, but his hand dropped to his sword. Rogue did the same. Lucy's eyes darted over to Kai and she slid in front of him before he could get his sword out.
"Why would you kill your own dragon?" Natsu asked.
"You murdered your own parents?" Kai asked.
"We're the strongest Dragon Slayers that ever lived," Sting said. "And we're going to prove it in this tournament. Fairy Tail's going down, and then, we'll find and destroy Acnologia."
"You have no idea," Kai said, his hand trembling on the sword.
"Try me," Sting said.
"Kai!" Lucy and Iggy shouted.
"Now is not the time," Iggy said, almost right into Kai's ear.
Kai glowered into Lucy's hard brown eyes. She stood firm in her stance. No matter what happened, if Kai wanted to attack Sting and Rogue, he'd have to go through her first.
He released the grip on his blade and nudged Natsu, who still seethed.
"They're not worth it," Kai said.
Sting and Rogue flared their auras, drawing gasps from the crowd. A pillar of white and a pillar of black rose from both of them.
"Not worth it?"
Kai glanced between the two, then turned his back to them. "Not worth it for both of us. Natsu can take care of both of you alone in the arena. My ring's outside it this time."
Lucy stepped between Natsu and Kai while their Exceeds floated on overhead. Sting hurled insults back at them that echoed off the once-beautiful Crocus sky.
"I'm happy you both didn't step in there," Iggy said. "Things would've gotten ugly."
"I meant what I said," Kai said, and he and Natsu locked eyes. "Inside the ring, they're all Natsu's. The second I see them outside it doing anything messed up? Nobody's stopping me from putting those two punks down."
The group returned, rather dourly, back to the Honey Lodge Inn with plenty of time to spare. The rest of the guild stood in the lobby, while Erza rested her hands on her hips, ready to lay into them, but one look from Kai had her backing down.
"I'll explain later," Kai said. "Needless to say, you all better take down Sabertooth."
"They've got it coming," Natsu growled.
"We ran into the Dragon Slayers from Sabertooth," Lucy said. "And they tried to pick a fight with Kai and Natsu."
"Good job on holding them back," Gray said.
"Come on, then," Erza said. "We should head into the room to discuss strategy."
They bade the rest of the guild members in Crocus goodnight and headed into Erza and Kai's room. Natsu and Happy set themselves up on the bed while Kai stayed by the window, observing the Crocus sky as the rest talked strategy…notably, that a key component of their strategy was missing: Wendy.
"She hasn't come back?"
"Nobody's seen her since we got here," Erza said. "I'm starting to get worried. It's too late for her to be out."
"Then we should go look for her," Gray said. "Come on!"
"We can't, we need to be back here by midnight, remember?" Lucy asked. "We just…I guess we just need to trust she'll be okay."
"Carla's watching her," Iggy said, though her voice did not imbue the greatest confidence.
"Still, I—"
The door creaked open. Everyone's attention broke toward the doorway, where Lisanna cheerily stood next to a hulking monster of a man.
"Holy crap, Elfman, is that you?" Natsu cried out.
Elfman was jacked. He held an entire crate of drinks in his arms that looked positively tiny. Kai couldn't believe it.
"We just got back from the mountains and wanted to wish everyone good luck before the Games!" Lisanna exclaimed.
"Had to get you all ready like real men," Elfman said. "Drink up!"
Kai laughed with the rest and only took one drink while the rest caught up with the two Strauss siblings and started formulating their plan. Nerves ebbed in Kai as they neared midnight and still no sign of Wendy.
Lisanna promised to go look for her should midnight pass. Kai also spoke up, vowing to do the same while Iggy and Happy would fly around, able to cover more and higher ground.
And indeed midnight arrived and indeed Wendy was not there.
Kai and Lisanna headed for the doorway with Elfman when a voice rang out from outside. Lucy propped the window open, and they all gawked at the humongous structure floating up above, along with the lacrima screen that appeared in several points of the city, revealing a small man with a pumpkin head.
"Hello all you beautiful wizards!" he exclaimed. "And welcome to this year's Grand Magic Games! There's quite a bit of you, and I'm sure you all know the rules already, so let's just cut to the chase and let the fun begin!"
What should've been a raucous round of cheers was instead and unsure agreeance, hoping beyond hope that Wendy would just show up. Kai balled up a fist.
"And wouldn't you know it, our first event is about to take place!"
"What?" everyone in Fairy Tail burst. Kai's heart sunk. Wendy, where the hell could you have gone?
"The rules here are simple! See this great big maze above the city? You and your guild mates must make it through the maze and arrive at the Domus Flau arena…all five of you! Any of you drops out and you're disqualified! Like I said, there's quite a bit of you. One hundred and thirteen, in fact, and we need to dwindle you down to eight!"
"A hundred thirteen guilds?" Lucy exclaimed. "That's ridiculous, there's no way Fiore has that many guilds."
"Something strange is afoot here," Erza muttered, glancing at Kai. Maybe one of those housed the black magic from Zeref.
A chill ran through Kai. What if Wendy's disappearance had something to do with that? He yearned to have that connection with Meredy again; she would sense his distress and know to help.
"You better move quickly!" the pumpkin man said. "And the Sky Labyrinth begins now!"
"But we only have four members," Erza grunted.
"Damn it!" Gray exclaimed. "Now what do we do?"
Kai sucked in a breath, but Master's words held him back. He shook his head.
"I'll go," Elfman said. "It's just temporary until we can figure something else out. Lisanna and the others have another important job they need to do right now."
Kai sighed. That much was true. He hadn't been chosen for the Grand Magic Games. But Wendy had. Wendy was deserving and she was missing.
"Good luck," Kai said, saluting them. "Get us to the top!"
Elfman, in one fell swoop, scooped up his other guildmates. "To the top it is!"
With a mighty kick, Elfman blasted into the sky, leaping over other buildings and into the maze itself. Lisanna chuckled.
"Alright, ready?" she asked, instantly able to change to a game face.
"Let's go," Kai said, and the two dashed out of the building. Iggy and Happy soared out the building as well, taking to the skies immediately.
Lisanna transformed into an animal to enhance her senses while Kai could just rely on his potent ones.
He made it about two blocks away before he turned a corner, tracking a familiar scent. As he closed in on it, though, he realized it wasn't Wendy. Damn, probably just some wizards he—
The scent got strong and stronger until someone jumped down in front of him, momentarily encased in shadow before the streetlight illuminated them.
"Long time no see, kiddo," said Ichigo, the Water God-Slayer.
"Oh, dad," Kai said, a mix of surprise and relief washing over him. "You're here?"
His dad flashed a smile, as well as a guild emblem on his shoulder: Lamia Scale. "You've been gone a while, Kai, and I was hoping to catch up before my guild wins the Grand Magic Games."