So i am so sorry about how long it took for me to get this chapter out. Its been a couple of months, and things have become very busy in my life. I have had only minimal time to spend on this story, but am still spending as much of it as i can for this story. Hopefully all of you are still here and waiting for this update, and i hope you will all enjoy it. I will try my hardest to get another chapter out asap, but i can make no promises as to win. So for now please enjoy this chapter and leave a review to help me get better.
Its the night after day one of the grand magic games, and the fairy tail guild was gathered in the bar at their hotel to celebrate the first day. Most of the guild was partying away. The guild was having fun and that was the part that mattered. Mikoto on the other hand was rather tired from her battle, and was instead sitting next to Touma sleeping as she leaned into him.
It didnt take long for some of the others to notice this, and Erza, Mirajane and Wendy walked over to sit with them.
"Mikoto looks like she is exhausted, is she asleep?" Mirajane asks.
"Yeah she is. She told me earlier that she used more power than she wanted to today," Touma explains, looks down at Mikoto while he answered Miras question.
"She looks so content right now, as if she is truly happy," Wendy comments.
"Probably because she is. Just being here with me, with the guild, with people she cares about, and not having to worry about them being in danger makes her very happy. She has had a rough time for a long time, so moments like this where she gets to relax is when she is most happy." Touma explains. While he was saying this, Mikoto had shifted, her eyes fluttering open. She sits up, taking a yawn before realizing where she was. Her quick rest had done enough to throw off her senses, and only the sounds of partying and the looks of her friends in front of her were what caused to finally realize where she was.
"Im guessing its not morning yet," Mikoto mumbles, wiping her eyes.
"Did you enjoy your rest Mikoto?" Erza asks with a smile.
"Yeah i did. I needed it." Mikoto responds, now almost fully awake. She looked around, watching as the guild parties. They seemed so carefree, that even though they were tied with all the other teams, they were still having fun. Thats the part of fairy tail that Mikoto loved so much.
"Oh Mikoto! We heard some news that we thought you may want to hear!" Wendy suddenly remembers.
"Oh what is it?" Mikoto asks, getting interested.
"The event organizers decided to have you as a fourth judge for tomorrow's events. They said its because of your amazing battle today and because of your status as a reserve member they are able to have you join them. The other guest judge would be jenny from Blue Pegasus." Wendy says.
"Well thats going to be interesting. Now im looking forward to it, so thanks for telling me Wendy." Mikoto says in thanks.
"So im guessing you know whats going to happen tomorrow?" Mirajane asks, finally getting to the important topics.
"Yes I do, but i need to tell the whole guild this, so can you three please help me get them to listen?" After a couple minutes of calming the guild down, that may or may not have involved erza fighting Gray and natsu, the guild formed up around Mikotos table to listen to what she had to say.
"Okay so tomorrows event is called hidden. Its a rather simple to understand, hard to do good event," Mikoto begins to explain.
"The goal of the event is to gain as many points as possible. The way you do this is by finding and successfully attacking your opponents among a group of fake opponents. Basically copies of yourselves and your opponents will be moving around a city along with you and your opponents. Your job is to find and successfully attack an opponent. You lose points for every time you are successfully attacked, or you attack a fake." Touma finishes explaining.
"So to win you have to attack the most people while not being attacked yourself, correct?" Lucy states.
"Yes it is. Previously team A would send Gray, while team B sent Juvia, and it went horribly wrong, Juvia managed to get one point while Gray didnt even manage that" Mikoto says.
"WHAT! How did I do so badly!?" Gray exclaims in shock.
"I failed!?" Juvia whispers is disbelief.
"Its not of fault to yourselves, well except one time when juvia hugged a fake Gray. Raven Tail sent in NullPudding, and he went only for Juvia and Gray. With him constantly attacking you guys, you couldnt really do anything," Touma explains, giving a look at Mikoto.
"So how do you plan to counter that?" A voice from the back of the crowd. The guild splits to allow mavis room to walk up to the front.
"Hello first master, its good to finally see you." Mikoto says politely, bowing her head.
"And its good to meet you Mikoto, your battle today was amazing to watch. You battle awareness is unmatched by anyone I have had the privilege to watch fight. But onto the task at hand," Mavis replies.
"The plan Raiden thought of was that now that you know, i suggest you try to avoid him at all costs. Also avoid Rufus, as if he spots you, he has the ability to get you. If Nullpudding finds you, he is rather stealthy for a person of his build, so you can't rely on hearing him or seeing him. You have to sense his magic, and avoid his attacks" Mikoto explains the plan.
"Yeah easier said than done, can't you just tell me where he would come from?" Gray asks, slightly annoyed.
"We can't do that. Every single day we are in this world, the future changes. We don't know if Nullpuddings movements will be the same or not. We know his motives will not change however, so that's why we still think he will target the fairy tail members." Touma interjects, looking cautiously at Mikoto to make sure Grays off handed remark didn't upset her.
"Well i guess i have to give it a try." Gray replies with a shrug.
"Is that the only match that there is going to be a problem with?" Mavis asks, thinking.
"No it is not, though truthfully i dont know whats going to happen in the other one." Mikoto responds, deciding to not tell them about Jellals match, and focus on Lucys, which was now a mystery to her.
"What do you mean by, you dont know?" Makarov asks in shock that there was an event Mikoto wasnt sure about.
"Lucy will be pitted against Flare from Raven Tail. Flares tough and it seems to be pretty even until Flare takes a hostage." Mikoto begins.
"Who does she take hostage? And how does she do it?" Wendy asks.
"She uses her flaming hair magic to threaten Asukas life if Lucy even attempts to fight back." Mikoto reluctantly admits.
The guilds reaction was immediately, with most of them yelling out in anger and shock. Asukas parents immediately grabbed hold of her as if to protect her.
"Does it work?" Lucy whispers, drawing everyones attention. "Does that allow her to beat me?"
Mikoto shakes her head slowly, "No it doesnt. Natsu senses the danger and destroys the hair, giving you a chance. You use Urano Metria, but the attacks power is drained by Obra, taking all of your magic and giving Flare the victory. The real issue comes with that part."
"What do you mean? Is the issue how to stop Obra from draining my magic?" Lucy asks.
"No, its that I killed Obra." Mikoto finally admits.
"You what!" The guild yells out spontaneously.
"The night of the preliminaries, i went to protect Wendy from what I assumed to be the pet of Obra, which also had the ability to drain magic. In normal time it would have succeeded and that would have taken Wendy out of the games for bit. However in this time I shot it in the head with an arrow, killing it. Only afterwards did I realize that was Obras real body, the one we see with Raven Tail is a fake, a puppet of sorts." Mikoto admits.
"So even someone that knows exactly whats to comes doesnt know everything about everyone," Juvia mumbles.
"Well not everyone has their whole lives open in the history books." Mikoto replies, sounding kinda pissed off at her mistake.
"Would you have acted differently if you had known at the time?" Makarov finally asks.
"Im not so sure. My initial intention wasnt to kill, but the creature acted faster than i expected and i took the shot without thinking of where i was aiming. My only goal was to protect Wendy and Carla as effectively as possible, i didnt think about possible changes to the future till after." Mikoto says shaking her head.
"So doesnt that just mean that Lucy will now win the battle?" Natsu asks, somehow following along.
"Im not so sure. When i fought the other wizards, the puppet was there as well. It seemed to be moving, though slowly, though it also seemed to refuse to use any magic. That means that either Obra someone survived the arrow shot, as i did not check to see if he was dead, or the puppet still has some remaining magic and is waiting to use it," Mikoto says.
"So Lucy, we are sorry to say this, but other than what we just said, we can not help you in this upcoming match." Touma finishes.
"No need." Lucy replies shocking Touma and Mikoto. They look into her eyes only to see calm determination. "Ill let the world know that fairy tail is back, and no dirty tricks will beat us down!"
The next morning, the guild prepared for the upcoming events. Mikoto had to take her leave to join the rest of the judges for the day, so that's where she was heading. She arrived at the restaurant that the judges were supposed to meet in and walked in.
"Well our last guest finally joined us, the now famous Railgun of Fairy Tail," Chapati Lola greets her as she enters. Mikoto walks over to the table that, Yajima, Jenny and Chapati Lola were already sitting at and sits down herself.
"Well sorry about being a little late, i had a hard time finding this place. It is still my first time visiting the capital." Mikoto responds respectively. She places an order then turns her attention back to the other judges.
"So we were just talking to Jenny about her past, both involving her guild and before it, so we might as well ask you about yours." Yajima states.
"Well in terms of before joining the guild, im not very proud of what i used to be. I joined fairy tail looking for a way to change myself, make my life worth every breath that i took, try to do something good for this world. I had known Touma, my boyfriend, long before joining the guild, so he joined in as well. This was only a couple of months before the events of Tenrou Island, and from the beginning i gained the reputation as one of the strongest members in the guild. Since joining I have been on many adventures, and i have never regretted my decision of leaving my past life." Mikoto responds.
"Not even after what happened at Tenrou Island? The reports say that you and Touma were also there during that horrific incident." Jenny interrupts.
"How did you and your guild make it through that?" She finishes.
"To be honest, we didnt. We got lucky that someone strong enough was watching over us," Mikoto answered honestly.
"What do you mean by that?" Yajima asks in confusion.
"Everyone on that island was exhausted. We were still recovering from our fight with Grimoire Heart. Then suddenly Acnologia, the black dragon of the Apocalypse, appeared above us. We attacked him with everything we had but we couldnt even scratch him. He then tried to finish us off, but in that moment someone activated Fairy Sphere, the ultimate defensive spell. In that moment we were saved, and my great failure was averted." Mikoto admits.
"And what failure was that?," Chapati Lola asks.
"When i joined Fairy Tail and then revealed just how powerful i truly was I made a promise to my new friends, that i would protect them no matter what, that i would die protecting them if i had to, and that no enemy to the guild would get past me, and i failed at that." Mikoto says quietly.
"Dont take that as a failure. Your guild survived, and i have to say they appear stronger than ever." Yajima states.
"Well enough about myself and my clan, should we focus on the events for today?" Mikoto says, trying to get away from the previous talks. The others agree to this, and begin to discuss today's events while Mikoto eats her food, which had just arrived. She was relieved to hear that the events were staying the same as to what she had previously known, so hopefully that meant that the outcomes of the events would stay unchanged, except for the ones Mikoto wanted to change of course. The rest of the breakfast is uneventful, mostly just small talk, so when it was time to leave for the arena, it was quiet. They got there before the games started, and Mikoto took her seat on the far left of the judging panel, while Jenny was on the far right. The pregames ceremonies begin, with the main judges introducing the teams, themselves, and the officials for the games. Finally they got to announcing the guest judges.
"Now to introduce our Guest judges for today. Just to remind you all, the guest judges hold as much power as the myself and can decide a match if needed. But they have sworn not to try to help out their own teams. Also we did something different for todays events by having two guest judges instead of just the one. First up is Jenny, one of Blue Pegasus strongest competitors." Yajima says over the mic.
"Its great to be up here for all of you. I hope you all enjoy my commentary and i expect todays matches to be an amazing sight to see!" Jenny announces.
Chapati Lola then grabs talks into his mic, "Now the other judge for today's events is the competitor that took the first days events by storm. The same young lady that beat all other competitors outside her own guild by herself in a large and hard battle. Please give a round of applause for Miss Mikoto Misaka! The Railgun of Fairy Tail!"
The crowd erupted, and Mikoto couldnt help but stop and bask in the cheers for a second before speaking, "Well its good to see all of you again! I must say that i am so excited to be a judge for these events, and as Jenny said i expect to see many exciting matchups. Hopefully I can respond in ways that might be inciteful or funny for all of you!" The crowd again cheered, but the events had to move forward so Yajima announced that each team had to pick a member for todays mystery event. The teams picked their representatives, and Mikoto was relieved to see the same people as she expected to be picked were in fact picked. Also to her relief, the hide and seek event was also unchanged.
Okay this is good. Hopefully the rest of the day follows this trend, though i dont know for sure how long that will stay true. Please Gray and juvia, use what i told you and at least do better than last place.
While Mikoto had been thinking, Chapati Lola had asked her and Jenny how they would handle being thrown into this sort of event. Jenny had provided a rather insightful answer, and they now had turned to Mikoto. She quickly realized what they were asking and began to answer.
"Well for me, this actually poses a bit of a problem in terms of staying hidden. My body will emit electrical energy, so if you're able to feel that you can use that to try and find me. Though this is also a double edged sword, as i can also use this to find my opponents. So for me i would just actively seek out my opponents, hopefully using my electrical energy to find my opponents before they find me." Mikoto responded quickly, hoping her answer was satisfactory. Apparently it was, as the judges moved on. The participants in the match then got teleported into the city, and the match starts. Even though none of the participants, fans, or teammates could see who was real and who wasnt, the judges were given a different screen to look at, one that colored the real people in a slight red tint. Mikoto watched as the events unfolded, though unfortunately most did not go in fairy tails favor. Both Juvia and Gray were getting kicked around early on, especially by Nullpudding. Eventually though it seemed like they were beginning to get the hang of it, with Mikoto noticing that it seemed like they were finally picking up on the magic energy technique she had told them about. The event ended with the ranking not changing from what it was going to be before Mikoto attempted to change it, though all teams had got more points than they did before, though cause the placement didnt change, either did the points actually given to the teams. The day continued, with the first match being announced. This match was going to be Lucy vs Flare.
"So Mikoto where does Lucys strength lie in this match?" Yajima asks.
"Lucy has alot of things going for her. She may not be the best hand to hand combatant, but with the use of her whip she can hold her own. In a pure magic battle, Lucy has alot to offer. Her connection to her spirits is unmatched and she is able to use each one to the best of their abilities. It really is a joy to watch her fight, not just because of the difference between how i fight and how she fights, but because she isnt afraid to give it her all. If she thinks she needs to try something new during this match, she wont be afraid to do it." Mikoto explains.
Chapati Lola then asks, "Now what about Flare? We all know that she is a member of Raven Tail, which used to be a dark guild. So where do her strengths lie?
Mikoto looks over at Jenny. Mikoto didnt really have much background info on Flare except for a small moments they fought during that 1 vs 31 and apparently neither did Jenny, as she didnt say anything.
"Well from what i can gather, Flare has very unique kind of magic, and that immediately gives her an advantage. Lucy hasnt faced someone like that, so it may take her time to figure out a way to beat her, time Flare can use to get the upperhand early on," Mikoto finally decides to say. The rest of the judges discuss Mikotos marks, but she zones them out, instead she was watching Raven tail, in particular, obras puppet. She needed to find out really how much that thing still had left. Quickly the match started, with Lucy starting the match off by attacking with scorpio and Taurus at one time. Flare counters with her hair magic. The battle goes back and forth, each getting an advantage only to give it up. Mikoto watched intently remember her own battle against flare in that earlier match, and watching how Lucy was reacting. This was the surprising thing, lucy was fighting on a level far above what she was at before Tenrou island.
If lucky has gotten this good over that little time of training, then i can only imagine how quickly the others grew too. They really dont let anything hold them down do they, thats whats special about Fairy Tail.
"Wow! As the first battle today, these two ladies are giving it everything they got!" Chapati Lola yelled out over his mic in amazement at the battle in front of them.
"It seems like they are evenly matched," Yajima states calmly. The match continued, with more commentary between the judges that Mikoto really didnt pay attention to. She joined in just enough to not seem out of place, but her focus was completely on the battle. Thats when it finally happened, Flare began to speak, and even though Mikoto couldnt hear what was said, she could tell by Lucys reaction. Flare had a bit of hair sent into the ground, and Mikoto knew exactly what it meant. She looked over at the Fairy Tail area, and sure enough saw the flaming hair standing up behind Asuka. But Mikotos warning paid off, as immediately the hair was attacked and destroyed by another member of the guild, who was not as inattentive as flare might have believed them to be. Using this to her advantage, Lucy called in gemini, who to the thanks of a big portion of the male crowd, came in as Lucy, but with only a towel as clothes. Lucy and Gemini then prepare to use Urano Metria. But right before the spell could be casted, all of Lucys magic vanished. Mikoto immediately stood up in her seat, and was able to catch sight of Obras puppet, moving slightly. But what she saw shocked her, as Obra itself was retreating back into the puppet. Somehow the creatured had survived from Mikotos attack, and had successfully drained Lucy of her magic. Lucy collapsed into the ground, with the match being called there with Flare as the winner. As Natsu runs onto the area to assist lucy, Mikoto turns to the other judges.
"Raven Tail just cheated," Mikoto says, her eyes dark.
"Your just saying that because fairy tail lost," Jenny counts.
"No im not. That attack Lucy was trying to use was a one shot, as in she can only use it once before all her magic is drained. The issue is that she didnt even get to use it, as all her magic was drained before she used the spell, which would normally, no matter how low of magic she was at, would only happen AFTER using the spell," Mikoto explained.
"Hmmm. For now we will just keep a closer eye on Raven Tail. If they do anything like that again, they will be punished." Yajima said, dismissing Mikoto. With that she sat back down and returned to her current job, commenting on the rest of the matches. The last match was Mystogan vs Jura, with the same result happening. Mystogan lost to Jura. With that the days battles were ended and Mikoto was dismissed from the judging booth. With that she meet up with her guild at the tavern. When she entered she was surprised to find them celebrating.
"Mikoto! Welcome back! Join us! We are celebrating last place!" Makarov says as soon as Mikoto closed the door.
I shouldnt be surprised, this is fairy tail. They find reasons to celebrate in the weirdest of things.
Mikoto went and joined Touma at a table, but she didnt grab a drink. Alcohol wasnt something she wanted to get involved in just yet, and she was happy to see that neither did Touma, as he only had a water. It wasnt that much later that a man, already drunk, walked in and challenged Cana to a drinking game. To the surprise of the guild, he won. He then took her bra as a prize, with Macao and Wakaba trying to stop him. He easily beat them and left the guild in a slight state of shock. Erza then explained who that was, and that she always struggled to beat him consistently. The guild then turned to Mikoto to learn all they could about the next day.
"Im going to keep the mystery event a secret for now, so lets move on from that. Elfman will be facing Bacchus, and then Mirajane will be facing off against Jenny. Now im not saying how those battles end, but i want you to go through it in your own way. Make your own plans, and do what you think is best. There is nothing i can tell you that would help either of you, except that I have faith that you will come out on top." Mikoto explained. The rest of the night went without incident, but the thought of obra having survived her attack bugged Mikoto. This might cause a problem in the future, but she wasnt sure. She would only know after the events of the next couple of days.
So first of all you should noticed that though Mikoto tried telling them what was going to happen, it didnt really change much. Im going to give a simple reason as to why. Mikoto has already came in and affected the timeline so much, that the changes she will make from now on will be much harder to achieve, and can no longer be done by herself. Yet there are changes she doesnt yet know about, and those are the ones that will have the biggest impact. I will leave you all with a song, and as always, may the light continue to guide you all.
Hello, hello
Can you hear me, as I scream your name
Hello, hello
Do you need me, before I fade away
Is this the place that I call home
To find what I've become
Walk along the path unknown
We live, we love, we lie
Deep in the dark I don't need the light
There's a ghost inside me
It all belongs to the other side
We live, we love, we lie
(We live, we love, we lie)
Hello, hello
Nice to meet you, voice inside my head
Hello, hello
I believe you, how can I forget
Is this the place that I call home
To find what I've become
Walk along the path unknown
We live, we love, we lie
Deep in the dark I don't need the light
There's a ghost inside me
It all belongs to the other side
We live, we love, we lie
(We live, we love, we lie)
We live, we love, we lie