Back with the continuation
"speaking"
""thinking""
On with the story
At a beach
4 days later
Natsu and the others had finally arrived in Crocus, the capital of the Kingdom of Fiore and the site of the Grand Magic Games.
Gray, Lucy, Wendy, and Carla all fell to the ground exhausted when they reached the center of town; the citizens giving them weird looks
"Man, I feel like crap." Gray groaned.
"Yeah my body still hurts." Lucy moaned as she rubbed her shoulder. "I thought I was doing fine a couple of days ago."
"All of you are disappointing." Erza said as she looked down at her guild mates, "Surely all of you aren't whining about a little pain."
Natsu who was wearing a cat mask, while carrying Aya in his arms was looking over the still tired members.
"Well not all of us are monsters like you two, Erza." Gray grumbled.
"What was that?" Erza asked with a frightening gaze.
Gray nervously shook his head. "I didn't say anything."
Lucy looked around the city square, taking in the size of the city proper for the first time. "Wow, I didn't even notice how big this place is." She said in awe.
Wendy nodded with an astounded smile. "It's even bigger than Lumina."
"maybe even bigger than Edolas" Charla added in
"Well this is the capital of the kingdom." Erza said. "It only makes sense that it would be the biggest city."
"It certainly is an overwhelming sight." Carla commented.
"I see you all made it!" A voice called from a distance. The group looked over and saw Master Makarov, Jet, Droy, Levy, Alzack, Bisca, and Asuka, Bisca's and Alzack's daughter, walking towards them.
"Master." Erza said in slight disbelief.
"Aya!" Asuka exclaimed excitedly, getting down from her "seat" on Makarov's shoulders and running towards her friend.
Natsu set down his daughter to the street as the two girls met halfway and began to talk excitedly about their time apart as they were of the best friends
"Hey gramps." Natsu greeted to him
"We weren't expecting to see you so soon." Lucy said.
"We finished all of the registration for the game." Makarov said. "Now we can show everyone just what the Fairy Tail guild is made of."
"which brings to my question" Jet said as he pointed to Natsu
"why are you wearing a mask?" Jet said with Droy nodding in agreement to his question
"two reasons," Natsu answered them
"one, Aya likes me wearing the mask and two, this will hide my face from the crazy fans that sprouted out from the past few years" he told them as he sighs before carrying up Aya into his arms
"I like seeing Papa wear it" Aya agreed in
"fans?" Gray said as Natsu passes Aya to Lucy and went to the center of the town and took off his mask
"kyaaaaaa! It's Dragist!" a girl screams as a crowd instantly formed around Natsu, as they wanted his autograph, his photo and his rights to marry him
Natsu then disappeared in a flash as he was now beside Gray with a dog looking mask on him
"see my point?" Natsu asked him as they watch the crazy fan girls trying to find Natsu everywhere
Makarov then coughs as he pulled out a book
"Here's the rule book for the games Erza, I want you to have it read by tomorrow." Makarov said.
"What?" Erza's eyes widened at the thick tome. "You want me to read it?"
"Don't worry I'll handle it." Levy smiled, taking the book. She put on her gale force reading glasses and began quickly flipping through the pages. "Seems pretty straight forward so far." She said still reading. "No guild masters may participate." She read aloud.
Makarov nodded. "Of course."
"Any person without a guild mark is forbidden to enter." She continued.
"No duh." Gray commented.
"The type of competition and goals are kept a secret and the rules are not revealed until just before the competition itself."
"That's a bit weird." Lucy said. Wendy nodding in agreement.
"It looks like there's a warning at the end too." Levy said.
"What does it say?" Erza asked.
"All participants must be in their reserved inns by midnight." Levy answered.
"Midnight?" Gray said. He and the others looked at the huge clock in the middle of the square.
"Midnight tonight?" Lucy asked.
"Well it's only 1 'o clock now." Jet said.
"I'm taking Aya to the playground" Natsu said as he takes Aya from Lucy who passes her to him
"at Honey Bone inn, right?" Natsu said as they all nodded
"see you there" Natsu said as he walks the street towards the playground where many children were playing and parents were chatting with each other
"I suppose we have some time before we have to be at the inn." Makarov said. "Perhaps we should take a cue from Natsu and do some sightseeing." He suggested, the others, save Erza, nodding in agreement.
"I'll head towards the inn and take a look at the room." Erza said.
"I'll go check out some of the shops." Gray said. "Maybe some of the people here have an idea what to expect in the games."
"I'll join too, there are lots of beautiful clothes there" Lucy said as she imagines the beautiful clothing that is being sold in these city
"I wanna go look at some of the landmarks." Wendy said with wide eyed wonder. She pulled from her bag a guide book she received upon entering the city.
"Looks like everyone has a destination then." Makarov nodded. The group started to splinter off towards their respective locations. "Have fun, but don't forget about the deadline."
"Right." Gray nodded.
"Ok." Wendy smiled. "Come on Carla." She grabbed the tabby's palm and ran off in excitement.
At the shopping street
"It looks like no one here knows any more about the games than we do." Gray sighed irritably as he scratched the back of his head.
"but at least we got some great clothes" Lucy said while carrying a shopping bag
Their stomach then growled. "let's get some food before heading to the inn."
Gray said to Lucy who nodded in agreement
"Gray!" A familiar voice called as both turned their heads to see Juvia happily standing a few feet away from them.
"Juvia? What are you doing here?" he asked surprised.
"I came to cheer you on, my love." She answered with a wide smile before giving a cold glare to Lucy who sweatdrops
"LOVE RIVAL!" Juvia muttered out in a deep dark tone
"still with that?" Lucy said to her
"Everyone from the guild is here." Juvia said as her mood instantly changed to Gray
"Oh, I see. That makes sense."
Juvia looked down, a blush on her face as she began twisting her toe into the ground.
"I-I couldn't help but overhear you say you were hungry." She quickly made eye contact with Gray, the red on her pale face growing before she looked at the ground. "I-if you want, d-do you want to m-maybe…eat lunch with me?" she asked.
"Yeah, sure." Gray said simply.
Juvia's eyes lit up. "Really?!" she squealed.
"Yeah." Gray nodded. "I'm pretty hungry."
Juvia clasped her hands together as she sighed dreamily.
""A romantic lunch with my darling Gray."" She thought as images of her and Gray feeding one another while classical music played in the background danced in her mind.
"um" Lucy said with a sweat drop as she feels a little out of place
"If you're concerned about being a third wheel, perhaps I can assist." A third voice called from behind Lucy.
Gray turned around, his eyes widening. "Lyon?!"
"There's a nice little restaurant I know." Lyon said as he placed his arm around a confused Juvia and walked off. "We can go there now."
"Hey, come back here with her you jerk!" Gray yelled after him. "And weren't you just inviting all of us?"
Lyon then came back with Juvia as he and Gray bumps fist
"how's Ur and the others doing, Gray?" Lyon asked his friend about their teacher
"doing well, and still gives the most painful knocks on the head" Gray said as the two laughed it out
"I hear you'r guild entering the games for the first time this year, Gray." Lyon said.
"Yeah? What's it to you?" Gray countered.
"You know, Lamia Scale will be the winners this year." Lyon proclaimed with a cocky smirk.
"How ya figure?" Gray inquired with a smirk of his own.
"Up until now Jura and I never entered, and our guild still placed second." Lyon boasted.
"Then it looks like it'll be the same result this year." Gray retorted. "Because Fairy Tail is winning the games."
"Oh yeah?" Lyon challenged.
"Yeah." Gray returned.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah."
The two bumps their foreheads together, staring each other down as they continued their battle of "wits".
Lucy and Juvia looked on from the side lines as they really felt out of place.
"Let's make a wager then." Lyon declared, stepping back and holding out his arm.
"A bet?" Gray asked with a raised eyebrow.
"If Lamia Scale wins the Grand Magic Games, Juvia will join our guild."
"What?!" Juvia squealed.
"Well…what if we win?" Gray asked, slightly lowering his head. He was a little ashamed he was entertaining Lyon's outlandish idea.
"Juvia will join Fairy Tail." Lyon said simply.
"She's already apart of Fairy Tail!" Gray argued.
"This is promise between men, Gray." Lyon pointed at him. "You can't back out."
"I didn't even accept it, you idiot!" Gray retorted.
"Are you afraid to lose?" Lyon inquired.
"What did you say?" Gray asked, his focus renewed.
"Gray!" Juvia shouted, forcing herself in the middle of him and Lyon.
"You can't have us all! Do you choose me, Lyon, or Lucy?! Please make up your mind!"
"why am I in the list?" Lucy asked her
"I honestly have no idea what you're talking about." Gray said deadpan.
With Wendy and Charla
As the sun began to set, Wendy and Carla found themselves standing outside the final spot of their tour, Mercurius; the palace of the king of Fiore. The pair looked on in awe as they stood in the palace's vast garden.
"I wonder what the king is like." Carla pondered aloud.
"Maybe he has a beard." Wendy said.
"A beard, huh?" Carla wondered as she imagines an old looking king who was at the same height of Wendy
"Perhaps." She said.
The two continued to happily converse on their ideas of the king's appearance, unaware of the mysterious presence watching over them from the tower's peak.
With Lucy, Juvia and Gray
"They're flowers everywhere around here." Lucy pointed out as she and her group continued to stroll through Crocus' marketplace as she was wearing a flower crown
"I heard the people who live here call it the 'Flower Capital'." Juvia explained.
"Makes sense I guess." Gray said half-heartedly while scratching his back
"Uncle Gray!"
Gray then hears the sound of Aya calling him as he and the others look to the side and sees Aya running to him
"Aya," Gray kneeled down as he looks at the child
"where's Natsu?" Lucy asked her as Aya pointed to a library where Natsu was paying the cashier some jewels as he was holding some children's story book
"papa is there" Aya replied
"you can't just go running around like that, you know?" Gray told her
"there are some bad people at night, you need to be careful" Lucy told her
Aya nodded before seeing a crowd up ahead
"what's going on there?" Aya said excited as she ran off.
"Aya hold on, come back!" Gray yelled, running after his niece.
"Gray, wait up!" Lucy called, she and Juvia following him.
Aya made her way through the crowd where there was a commotion and she see two young men, one with blonde hair while the other had black hair
Next to them were two cats that reminded Aya of Charla and Lily. Except that they look different from the fact that one was red while the other one was wearing a frog costume
"Anybody up for round two?" the blonde man challenged with a cocky smirk.
"These guys weren't even worth it." The red cat remarked.
"Fro thinks so too." The green cat commented smiling.
Aya stood frozen in place as she continued watching them, fear slowly consuming her small frame. "Papa…" she whimpered.
"Huh?" the blonde looked over, noticing the young girl. He smirked as he approached her. "What are you doing here kid?" He kneeled down to her level. "You got lost?"
Aya didn't answer as she was too afraid.
"Why don't you run along back to mommy and daddy before you get hurt?" He sneered, his cold eyes sending a shiver down the child's spine.
"Aya!" Gray shouted as he, Juvia and Lucy made their way to the front of the crowd. The child turned around when she heard his voice, running into his open arms.
"Uncle Gray." She cried while gripping his shirt with her little hands.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Gray asked, rubbing her head to calm her. "Why are you cryinG?"
"Aren't those guys from Sabertooth?" one of the people in the crowd asked.
"Hey yeah, that's Sting and Rogue." Another said.
"The twin dragons?! Here?!"
"Sabertooth?" Gray looked up at the pair of men standing before them.
"I know you, you're Gray Fullbuster from that guild called Fairy Loser" Sting said with a sneer
"what did you say?!" Gray said while passing Aya to Lucy
"you looking for a fight, blonde shit!?"
"if I was, does that matters?" Sting said that made a vein grew on Gray's forehead
"Gray stop it!" Lucy exclaimed to him
"we can't fight in the crowd" Juvia told him as she pulls back his hand
"yeah, listen to your little wench" Sting said that made Gray loses his calm
"that's it!" Gray shouted as he was about to use his magic on Sting
Sting smirks as he had light appeared in the palm of his hands
The two were about to brawl it out before Natsu appeared as he holds both of their fists with his bare hands
"You're!?" Sting exclaimed as both he and Gray back off from Natsu
"Gray, learn to cool your temper down" Natsu told to Gray before looking at Sting and Rogue as the pair looks at Natsu with wide eyes
"You're-" Sting began.
"Natsu Dragist!" Rogue finishes.
"Papa!" Aya went to her father as she cried on his pants
Natsu patted her head as he comforts her
"Yeah I'm Natsu." The fire dragon slayer answered. "Who wants to know?"
"Ha ha I knew it." Sting laughed. "So, the rumours about you entering the games this year were true. So, is that little girl your kid?" he pointed at the still frightened Aya
"does she know that his dad is someone who hides in their little house after not being able to slay a dragon?!"
"What?" Natsu's stare intensified.
"Acnologia right?" Sting questioned.
"What good is a dragon slayer if he can't even do what his title says he does?" a smug smirk appeared on his lips. "I used to look up to you, you know, once upon a time. My friend here was more of a Gajeel guy." He pointed at Rogue.
"I was just curious as a fellow dragon slayer." Rogue stated plainly.
Natsu's eyes squinted to their words.
"dragon slayers?"
"Let's make things easier. How about you call us true dragon slayers?" the blonde said.
"We would have taken down Acnologia."
"You only say that because you've never seen Acnologia." Lucy chimed in.
"when you see that monster, you will really know what the word terrifying really means!" Gray told them
"This guy is pretty stupid, isn't he?" the red cat said while pointing at Gray.
"But you're smart, right Lector?" the frog cat asked.
"Salamander's exceed might also be stupid as him as well" Lector said before North appeared in front of the two as the ice wolf let out a growl at them
"hi there, my name is Lector and he's Frosch, and now we will be bidding you a goodbye" Lector said to North before the two ran back to their partners and hide behind them
"It doesn't matter if we've seen him or not." Rogue explained.
"It's all about our ability as dragon slayers, which far outshines yours." Sting boasted.
"Maybe I should give you guys a crash course." Lector, said arrogantly while hiding behind Sting's leg as he was still scared from seeing North
"Natsu Dragist, Wendy Marvell, and Gajeel Redfox learned magic from the dragons that raised you. That makes you guys First Generation Dragon Slayers."
"Cobra from Oracion Seis and that Laxus Dreyar in your guild had Lacrimas put in their bodies that gave them their Dragon Slayer abilities. They're Second Generation Dragon Slayers." Lecter continued.
"But Sting and Rogue." He pointed at the pair. "Both learned from Dragons AND had lacrimas put in their bodies making them Third Generation Dragon Slayers, the strongest generation."
Natsu looks at them as he patted Aya's head and motions her to go to Lucy
"So, did your dragons disappeared in X777 like Wendy's and Gajeel's?" he questioned them as he crossed his arms.
"That's one way to put it." Sting answered vaguely.
"Perhaps we should tell him." Rogue said.
"Tell me what?" Natsu asked.
"We killed the dragons that raised us, with our bare hands." Rogue told him as Sting stood behind him with a sadistic smile.
the look in their eyes signifies that they felt no guilt about their actions.
"We did it to become true dragon slayers." He finished.
"You…killed them?" Lucy gasped with widened eyes.
"Humans killed dragons?" Gray said as he couldn't believe the creatures that are the same as Acnologia were killed by humans
"It's only natural for a dragon slayer to kill a dragon." Sting told them
"But they were your parents." Lucy retorted. "They raised you."
"That doesn't matter. We did exactly what we were chosen to do as Dragon Slayers." Rogue said.
Natsu had his eyes foreshadowed before everyone felt a rise of magic power coming from him
"can you really say that after seeing this?" Natsu told to them as his voice suddenly deepens and darkens
Sting and Rogue looks at him before their eyes widening in shock
A crimson red dragon appeared behind Natsu as it roars at them, but that wasn't what made them look in shock. It was the other creature standing behind the dragon
It was a black demon, and it was laughing evilly at them as the two creature looks at Sting and Rogue while the heat was rising
"let me make things clear for you two," Natsu said as the right side of his face burst into flames
"you can make fun of me as much as you want" Natsu told them as a glowing red eye appeared in the flames
"but never make fun of my friends and never make my daughter cry… AGAIN" Natsu told them as the streets cracked and shatters a bit that made nearby citizens back away from him
"or both of you will pay with your lives"
A hot gust of wind blow through as it made Sting and Rogue sweat a bit in fear
Natsu continued to make the heat rise before lowering it down as his flames disappears
"let's go" Natsu said as he picks up a plastic bag filled with children's story book and then holds Aya's hand, before walking back to the inn
"we will settle this in the games"
Gray and the others looked at him before following him
Sting and Rogue with their exceeds looks at the retreating figure of Natsu as they never felt such terrifying power from him
""so! So strong!"" Sting thought as his body was shaking in excitement
At Honeybone inn
Erza sat inside the room, clad in her pyjamas.
She was playing a game of solitaire, her eyes looking over at the clock hanging on the wall next to her every few minutes. "They're late." She grumbled.
She then hears a knock on the door and stood up. "Finally." She said as she walked over to the door. She opened it, seeing her teammates on the other side.
"It's about time you got here".
Natsu nodded as he went in first to place Aya on the bed and moved the blanket over her.
He caresses her head before giving a peck to her forehead
Natsu smiles to her sleeping before looking to the others as Erza was sitting on the bed with her legs crossed while Lucy and Gray were sitting on the floor with an apologetic look on them
"Explain yourselves." She commanded. "Why were you all late?"
Gray spoke first. "I was eating dinner, or at least tried to." He looked over to the side, exasperated as he thought of all the shenanigans that happened between him, Lyon, Juvia, and Lucy.
"we meet with Lyon on our way to grab a meal" Lucy told her
"we meet into some of the participating guilds" Natsu told her as he started to tell her how Gray and the others met Sabertooth and how Gray and Sting nearly made a brawl happen in the streets
"alright, I think I get the gist of it." Erza said before realizing that they were missing one person.
"Now where's Wendy?" she asked looking around the room for the sky dragon.
"I haven't seen her since this afternoon." Lucy said. "I hope she's ok." She fretted, thinking of all of the dangerous situations the young girl could have been caught up in. Everything from kidnapping, to becoming a thug.
"Carla's with her, so I don't think she got lost." Gray pointed out to her.
"Regardless of the reason it's almost midnight." Erza said. "A girl her age shouldn't be out so late."
The group heard a knock at the door. "Maybe that's Wendy." Lucy said.
"Come in." Erza called. The knob twisted and the door opened, revealing Lisanna and very muscular Elfman.
"Lisanna! Elfman!" Lucy said with a smile.
"Hey how's it goin?" Elfman greeted. "We brought you guys some snacks." The siblings walked into the room, carrying cola and various food items.
"You need the energy for tomorrow, right?" Lisanna asked with a smile.
"You guys back from the mountains?" Gray asked while taking a cola bottle and freezing it a little.
"Mhm." Lisanna nodded.
"Yeah, we thought we should get all beefed up for the games, but we weren't even picked." Elfman sulked as he set the cola down on the floor.
"Man, this suck, I wanted to show Lisanna and Mira how much more manly I got."
Lisanna walked over to Erza's bed and placed her bag down.
"were we interrupting some team planning?" Lisanna asked Erza
"no, you weren't. but you two came at the perfect time." Erza said to the Strauss siblings.
"We did?" Lisanna asked confused.
"We can't find Wendy." Erza answered.
"And we can't go look for her because we have be here at the inn by midnight." Gray chimed in.
"What's supposed to happen at midnight anyway?" Lucy asked looking at the ice make wizard.
"I don't know." Gray shrugged. "But the rules say we gotta be here, so I guess we'll find out soon."
The clock struck twelve and a loud gong began echoing throughout the entire city.
"Speak of the devil." Gray said.
"look" Natsu said as he pointed outside
Everyone looks outside as they see a hologram of a strange creature with a pumpkin for a head appeared in the middle of the capital.
"Good Morning to all participants in this year's Grand Magic Games!" the pumpkin creature greeted. Its voice had a singsong quality to it, its pitch lowering and raising every few words. It also had a constant smile on its face.
"What is that thing?!" Gray pointed out. "It's huge!"
"A pumpkin?" Natsu thought out loud before he got the idea to make a pumpkin field at near his home
The pumpkin creature continued speaking.
"We will now begin winnowing down the 113 teams assembled to 8 with our Preliminary Competition!"
That's a wrap!
Bye bye