AN: Thank you Goku275, Kriim-Sauce786, RabbitHaremLover24, and ShadowScythe666. Kriim-Sauce786, I agree that Natsu and Millianna should call each other by nicknames, though I probably won't start doing so until the next arc. I am open to any suggested nicknames (within reason), as the only thing that comes to mind is Natsu calling Millianna "Mil."
Anyway, here is the chapter. Enjoy!
"Welcome to Day 3 of the Grand Magic Games!" announced Chapati energetically. "The theme for today's event is 'Flags.' Teams, you may now choose your mages."
At Team Fairy Tail, Droy, Alzack, Max, and Jet discussed about the upcoming event. While Jet still needed crutches to get around, he refused to be anywhere other than alongside his teammates.
"It's gotta be capture the flag," declared the speedy mage. "What else could it be?"
"I'm telling you," argued Droy. "The event is going to be like a game of tag, but instead of tagging, everyone has a flag that the others have to take."
"No way, it'd be impossible to assign everybody first through eighth place with that!" disagreed Jet.
"Like your idea is any better!" retorted Droy.
"Guys, this isn't the time to be fighting like little kids!" reprimanded Alzack. "Nothing we do will let us figure out what the event is. We just need to choose somebody and adapt to whatever is thrown our way."
"Wow," snickered Max. "Now that Bisca's here, you're acting super mature. You really want to impress her, don't you?"
"W-what!?" stuttered an embarrassed Alzack, his face the shade of his guild master's hair. "Bisca's arrival in Crocus this morning has nothing to do with my behavior!"
The gunner's reaction caught Jet and Droy's attention, the two stopping their argument.
"How slick of you," teased Jet. "Why don't we have you compete, so that you can really impress her."
"Not a bad idea," added Droy, joining in on the fun. "You can break Fairy Tail's losing streak and win Bisca's heart in one fell swoop."
"Yeah," agreed Max. "She might just kiss you if you win!"
Alzack imagined that for a moment, his face going from the pink of Natsu's hair to scarlet of Erza's. Kissing Bisca, his crush, would be a dream come true.
"F-fine," responded Alzack, still blushing. "But only because my Guns Magic gives me the longest range out of the four of us. Being able to stop enemies at a distance would be an effective defense in either of the events you mentioned."
With that, the gunner stepped forward to compete for his team. He looked around and saw his opponents for this event: Toby from Lamia Scale, Jenny from Blue Pegasus, Minerva from Sabertooth, Jäger from Quattro Cerberus, and guys from Titan Nose, Orochi's Fin, and Twilight Ogre whose names he did not know.
"Now, the event is as follows," spoke Mato. "You will all be placed in an artificially created town, like the maze from yesterday's event. This town will contain one hundred blank flags like this—" Mato help up a small rod with a white, triangular flag attached to it — "in random locations, though they will all be outside and easy to spot. The first person to touch a flag claims it for their team, causing it to display their guild's symbol. After five minutes, everyone will be ranked by how many flags they have. In the event of a tie, whomever claimed their final flag first gets the higher ranking."
"Oh, COME ON!" roared a furious-but-familiar voice from the crowd.
"You've gotta be fucking kidding me!" yelled Natsu. "Why do we keep getting such shitty luck in this competition! First, Laki has to fight the toughest guy right away and gets so badly beaten that she has to forfeit the next two rounds! Then, Jet gets sneak attacked by Sabertooth and knocked out of the competition! And now, not only does today's event turn out to be a terrible one for Alzack, it would have been a fantastic one for Jet!"
"Calm down Natsu! You're making a scene!" exclaimed Wakaba panicked. He agreed that failing in the GMG, especially due to a string of bad luck, was frustrating, but screaming about it wouldn't change anything. Instead, it would make Fairy Tail's reputation collapse even faster than their disastrous performance here.
"Aye, sir," affirmed Happy. "Sit down and believe in Alzack. His odds of victory might be low, but that will just make it more awesome when he wins anyway."
"Yeah," spoke Millianna, clutching and rubbing Natsu's hand soothingly. "He's a Fairy Tail mage, which means that he can overcome bad odds as long as he has his nakama on his side."
"Besides," added Macao, smirking. "There's no way he'd lose with Bisca watching."
"What does that have to do with anything!?" exclaimed Bisca, flustered by what Macao was implying. "I-it's not like we're boyfriend and girlfriend!"
Listening to everyone's words, the dragon slayer calmed down and took a seat. The spectators surrounding Fairy Tail's group scowled at them.
"Wow, what an interruption by Fairy Tail's guild master!" commented Chapati.
"Guild Master Natsu of Fairy Tail is correct, though," spoke Yajima. "If the circumstances had been a bit different in the first two rounds, then they would likely be in the middle of the rankings instead of dead last. Additionally, today's matchup is rather poor. Alzack utilizes Guns Magic, attacking from a distance, while this event requires direct contact with the flags. Jet's High Speed Magic would have been perfect for this event, easily getting him first or second place."
In response to the elderly mage's words, some of the spectator's glares shifted to looks of respect and pity. In their minds, Fairy Tail changed from being a group of past-their-prime losers to a gang of skilled, down-on-their-luck mages. Of course, many of them just brushed off the words without a second thought.
Back in the arena, the field for this event appeared. Alzack and the others were teleported in and found themselves surrounding a large water fountain in what appeared to be the town square.
"You have all been teleported into the middle of the town," explained Chapati. "The event begins… Now!"
Immediately, all eight mages shot off in different directions to claim some flags. Well, except for Minerva who just disappeared. If he had to guess, Alzack would say it was some sort of teleportation magic.
"Of all the luck," grumbled Alzack, followed by a sigh. "At least she won't have any reason to attack me."
As he talked to himself the gunner ran down a street, finding and claiming a flag. Then, he ran into a T-intersection. When he looked to the right, he saw a second one, along with Twilight Ogre's participant.
The two locked eyes, and the other mage rushed for the flag. However, Alzack was quicker, pulling out one of his trusty revolvers.
"Guns Magic: Spark Shot!"
"Guh!"
Bullseye. The Twilight Ogre mage collapsed, paralyzed.
Not wasting any time, Alzack claimed the flag – a red and orange Fairy Tail mark appearing on it – and went on with his search.
Four minutes remained. The gunner found two more flags, then ran into another competitor when exiting an alleyway.
"Paralysis Claw: Mega Jellyfish!" shouted Toby, his fingernails extending. The mage from Lamia Scale charged at his opponent. Alzack fired several regular shots, but Toby was able to either dodge or slash apart all of them.
"I need to slow him down," thought Alzack. "Guns Magic: Mud Shot!"
His change in ammunition soon had a visible effect. Toby avoided Alzack's first two bullets but struck his third one, releasing a spray of mud onto the dog-man.
"Ooon! I got it in my mouth!" complained Toby.
"Guns Magic: Tornado Shot!" A tornado burst forth from Alzack's revolvers, shooting towards Toby. However, the Lamia Scale mage leaped to the right, avoiding the blast.
Toby then moved to rub the mud off of his face, but his hands stopped before touching his head.
"Wait! I know what you're doing!" shouted Toby accusingly, pointing a finger at Alzack. "I'm not gonna to let you trick me into scratching and paralyzing myself! Not after your guild master fooled me into doing that on Galuna Island!"
"What?" said Alzack, confused. "I wasn't trying to do that. I didn't even know that you knew Guild Master Natsu."
"Huh?" responded Toby, growing embarrassed. "Please don't tell anybody that, then."
An awkward atmosphere set in, as the two stared at each other. Luckily, it broke with an announcement from Chapati that the event had reached its halfway point. The two resumed their fight, forgetting all about the temporary awkwardness.
"Ooon!" shouted Toby, charging towards his opponent.
"Guns Magic: Spark Shot!" exclaimed Alzack, firing a storm of electrified projectiles.
Unfortunately for the gunner, Toby had learned his lesson after the Mud Bullets. The Lamia Scale Mage dodged all the bullets, realizing it would be harmful to touch them.
This also allowed Toby to close the gap between them. The dog-man brought down a claw, but Alzack blocked it by crossing his revolvers over his head. The gunner leaped back, trying to put some distance between him and Toby, but the Lamia Scale mage followed.
Toby assaulted Alzack with a barrage of slashes. The Fairy Tail mage attempted to protect himself with his revolvers, but he was a long-ranged fighter. Eventually, a strike got through and Alzack was paralyzed.
"Ooon!" cheered Toby, celebrating his victory. "For Lamia Scale!"
Toby clutched his right hand into a fist, then brought it in front of his heart.
"Ooo– Ugh."
Toby froze up, having clenched his hand too tightly in the excitement of victory. The dog-man had accidentally dug his nails into his hand and paralyzed himself. On the sidelines, his teammates groaned at Toby's mistake while his guild master shouted that he would be spun around after the event.
The two remained paralyzed for the rest of the match.
In the end, Minerva came in first with 25 flags. Second was Jenny, who claimed 20 flags. Third belonged to the Orochi's Fin mage, who had 17 flags, narrowly beating Jäger's 16. Fifth was Titan Nose at 12 flags, followed by Toby (5 flags), Alzack (4 flags), and the Twilight Ogre mage who hadn't recovered from Alzack's attack until every flag was claimed (1 flag).
"I failed everyone."
A depressed Alzack sighed. After getting so worked up about acquiring the guild's first win, his defeat left the gunner crushed.
Fairy Tail had, again, gone to a bar after the day's GMG event. Only this time, instead of Jet, Alzack was the one who the rest of the team had to cheer up.
"You put up a good fight," offered Jet. "Compared to me, taken out by a sneak attack, I'd say you did pretty well."
"Yeah," agreed Droy. "You got Fairy Tail our first point. It may not be much, but it's still something. Especially with the huge lead by the top five teams."
"Droy is right," spoke Max. "At most, Fairy Tail would have gotten a second point. It wouldn't have made any real difference in our ranking."
"Maybe," responded Alzack, his mood a bit lighter. "But I still feel like it's all my fault, like I could have done better if I just tried harder."
"You're being too hard on yourself," spoke a familiar woman's voice.
The men turned and saw Bisca speaking. Alzack dropped his head, recalling that his crush had seen him lose to Toby and cost Fairy Tail the event.
"It's like Guild Master Natsu and Mr. Yajima said," continued Bisca. "Your magic was a bad match for that event. If it had been something else, I'm sure you would have done great."
"T-thanks," stammered Alzack, a blush creeping onto his face. "I'm sure that you also would have done great. You know, if you had been here when our team was made."
"T-thank you," replied Bisca, a matching blush growing on her face.
Having given her two Jewels, Bisca quickly walked away to conceal her flustered expression. Fortunately, Alzack was too embarrassed himself to be bothered by her sudden exit. Jet, Max, and Droy smirked at this behavior and, when Bisca moved out of earshot, channeled a certain blue Exceed to tease Alzack.
"You like her," the three sang in unison.
Alzack's face turned crimson, and he began sputtering out a response. His depressed state from earlier was entirely forgotten.
GMG Day 3 Final Score:
1st Place: Sabertooth, 28 points
2nd Place: Blue Pegasus, 22 points
3rd Place: Lamia Scale, 18 points
4th Place: Orochi's Fin, 12 points
5th Place: Titan Nose, 10 points
6th Place: Quattro Cerberus, 9 points
7th Place: Twilight Ogre, 2 points
8th Place: Fairy Tail, 1 point
Omake
"Listen Natsu," started Macao, using the voice of a parent lecturing a toddler. "You can't just scream your complaints. It may have been… well, not acceptable… but at least tolerable when you were just another mage in Fairy Tail, but now you're the guild master."
"Your actions affect how people view this guild," continued Wakaba. "Even if we somehow come from behind and miraculously win the Grand Magic Games, nobody will hire us if they think we're all a bunch of hotheads."
"Fine," answered Natsu through gritted teeth. His arms were crossed in frustration.
"If you feel like you're gonna yell, just take my hand," proposed Millianna.
"I think I will," replied Natsu, smiling at his wife and dropping his arms as his anger evaporated.
"You can always take out your frustration on your next opponent," suggested Happy.
The dragon slayer grinned at his partner, liking the sound of Happy's idea.
Natsu's future victim felt a chill run down his spine, a premonition of his upcoming suffering. However, he ignored it, too confident in his own strength to recognize what was coming.
AN: with that, the Grand Magic Games are over halfway done. However, as a reminder, the GMG is only part of this arc. I am not sure how many chapters there will be after the GMG, but I am guessing at least four.
This chapter contained a small bit of Alzack/Bisca, and I plan to make next chapter's omake about another minor canon pairing. Until then, though, goodbye!