A/N: CHA! A new chapter! I fear I may be spoiling some of you with these quick updates, lol.

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

Chapter 3: A Swordsman, a Biker and a Crush

April 3, X792 - Evening

Cordelia, Zinnia and Bones had made their way back to the front ship that evening after Amelia had found them on the middle vessel, letting them know that Hagi had finished his work. They had just walked onto the top deck of the white boat and they could already see a difference. The gold embellishments on the ship shined brightly in the dying sun of the evening. Cordelia hadn't seen the ship sparkle like that since Duke had been the guild master. It already had her smiling as she made her way down into the cabin that held the main office. A light scent of lemons filled the air, the disgusting smell from earlier completely gone. It almost felt refreshing to walk through the small hallways of the ship.

Cordelia threw the door open when they had reached it, seeing Hagi filing away a last few things in the large filing cabinets the office held. There were six filing cabinets total that lined the back wall of the office, three pushed to the right of a large window and three pushed to the left. In front of the filing cabinets was a huge, oak desk that held a small lamp, a green mat that had a calendar on top of it, a cup that held a plethora of pens and a simple blue coffee mug. There was also a wooden sign holder that was empty for the time being, but Cordelia assumed that it would eventually hold a plaque with her name on it. On the right wall was a huge map of Earthland and all the waters that surrounded it. Cordelia guessed that this was brand new since it didn't hold any holes or markings from pins or markers. There was a bin next to it that held several other rolled up maps for when she needed other ones to use or to look at other parts of the world or different oceans. The left side of the of the office was left blank and empty for the moment.

"Hagi…it's amazing!" Cordelia said, smiling as she twirled around in the now open office, "There's so much more room than I thought there would be!"

"And you even got the lights to work too!" Zinnia grinned as she flicked the lights on.

"I told you I would have everything cleaned up. Just don't let it get that bad ever again," Hagi said, still filing away the last few things he had lying on the desk, "I left the left side of the room blank for you to decorate yourself though. Oh, and everything in the filing cabinets are all the information on all the mages and crew members for Storm's Helm. I made sure not to look in the files, but I did alphabetize them all by last names."

"What letter are you on now?" Cordelia asked.

"Z of course," he answered, placing the last file in the last cabinet on the left side.

Cordelia quickly ran to the cabinets on the right side and pulled them open until she found the section labeled 'E'. She snickered as she pulled out a file that read 'Eskilsdotter, Ingrid' on the top tab.

"What are you doing, Delia?" Zinnia asked, quirking an eyebrow when she saw the name on the folder.

"Nothing, nothing," Cordelia said innocently as she dropped the folder onto the desk and pulled out a black permanent marker from the pen cup. She quickly started drawing crude designs on the file while adding in a few names and slurs she associated with the woman the file belonged to.

"Is that really necessary?" Amelia asked.

"What are you talking about?" Cordelia replied with an innocent smile as she called out her Chaos Tanto, "I'm just adding some pizzazz to this file," she said, continuing to smile as she stabbed the folder multiple times.

The rest of the group sweat dropped at her actions. Cordelia gave the file one last good stab, the knife only going about halfway through it considering the size of it, but she now felt satisfied in her work. She then filed it back away in its proper place, snickered one more time, and then turned back to the group after shutting the cabinet.

"Thanks again for cleaning everything up!" she grinned, "It's really wonderful. I can move my stuff into the bedroom on this ship too, right?"

Hagi shook his head, trying to forget about what he had just witnessed with the murdering of the file. He would have to make sure to stay on Cordelia's good side, "Yes. This ship has been cleaning from top to bottom, so you are free to move in whenever you like."

"What did you do with Gordon's things…if he had any that is?" Zinnia questioned.

"Most of what I found was trash, but what little he did have I had Amelia take to him. I believe she mentioned him being passed out on the main vessel still."

"I tried to poke him awake, but the man wouldn't budge!" Amelia replied.

"So that's why he had a pile of crap sitting around him," Cordelia smirked.

"I think one of the bartenders said that Nanami got to him," Zinnia mentioned, causing Cordelia to laugh with her.

"I might just have to give Nanami some bonus jewels for that," Cordelia said, "Now! Who would like to help me move my stuff into my new room?!"

. : + : .

As the small group worked together to move Cordelia's things from the women's S-Class dorms to the head ship, Cordelia missed the figure walking up to her until it was too late. She was walking backwards as she talked to Zinnia when she felt her back bump into a chest. She turned around to see a tall, blonde man standing in the middle of the bridge that connected the head ship to the dorm ship. She sighed upon recognizing who it was.

"Yes Jean?" she asked.

Jean's full name was Jeannot Marcus, but he had introduced himself as Jean five years ago and the shortened name stuck. He was twenty-four years old and stood tall at 6'1" with light skin. His body was agile looking, but he did have a good amount of muscle, adding a toned appearance to him as well. His long, blonde hair was kept neat and tidy, allowing for one to see his almond shaped, sharp blue eyes. His guild mark, when it could be seen, was silver in color and located on his right bicep. He always tended to lean more towards fancy or high class clothing and his outfit that day was no exception to this. He wore a white dress shirt with a gold vest over top of it, the top two button on the vest being left undone. He also wore a pair of white pants tucked into a pair of high quality, brown riding boots that reached up to his shins.

"I suppose congratulations are in order, Cordelia," he began in a cheerful tone.

Cordelia stood there quietly for a moment. While Jean was usually a good hearted man, she had been surprised by his cheerfulness. He hadn't really hidden the fact that he disliked Gordon, especially as a leader, so she had assumed he would have been one of the few that would have tried to overthrow the man. He had never come right out to say that was what he was doing, but as a previous S-Class mage, Cordelia had picked up on the fact that he had been training more recently. She had assumed that he had been training to take on Gordon and that was why she had challenged the metal mage when she had. She didn't want anyone beating her to the punch! But Jean continued to simply stand there and smile at her. She finally decided to give in, thinking that the man truly meant well by what he said.

"Well thanks, Jean," she grinned up at him, "Now then, I have to get back to work. I would like to get my bed into my new room before it gets dark out."

She began to make her way around him, but before Zinnia could hurry up and join her, Jean interrupted them again.

"The only reason you're the guild master is because my alarm clock didn't go off!" he suddenly shouted.

"I knew it!" Cordelia shouted in reply as she turned around to face him again, "You are pissed that I got the guild master position!"

"I'm not mad that you got it! I'm mad that I missed out on the chance to get it! So I want to challenge you for it!"

"What?! Hell no!"

"Every guild master has to take on every challenge they receive no matter how new they are! Those are the rules!"

"But…Jean! Come on! Give me a break! I just won the spot from Gordon this morning and I ended up fighting against Ingrid too! I'm tired!"

"Those are the rules!" he repeated as he called forth on of the rapiers from his re-quip space. This one was called Silver Point and was his usual standard blade. He even had several copies of the sword within his re-quip space just in case he lost or broke one. He pointed the end of the rapier at Cordelia, the tip of it almost touching her nose, "En garde!"

Cordelia stared down at the pointed end and then back up at Jean with a flat stare. She then grabbed onto the blade and pulled it down before releasing it and letting it smack the man in the face.

"Ow, ow, ow!" he said quickly as he grabbed his face with his free hand, "What the hell?!" he shouted, looking down at Cordelia with a long red line across his face now.

"Looks like I just won," Cordelia snickered, "So that means you have to wait a year to challenge me again."

"What?! That's cheap and you know it!"

"Those are the rules," she replied in a mocking tone.

"You shouldn't underestimate me!"

"I'm not trying to, I just found a quick way to resolve this issue," she shrugged, "But really, I have other things I need to finish up with, so if you don't mind…actually you know what! You can help us move things!"

"Why would I help you after you just smacked me in the face with my own sword?!"

"Hey, that was your own fault," she answered with a laugh, "But we could use a big guy to help out with some of the larger furniture."

"What about Eli and Seth? Aren't you always using them for things like this? Where are those bodyguards of yours anyways? And just how do you plan on making up this guild master challenge to me?"

"So many questions," Cordelia sighed, "First off! They aren't my bodyguards! They just happen to be big guys that I hang around with! And second, they've been out on a mission. Seth had an S-Class mission that he needed help on and he asked Eli to go with him. And if you really want a way to feel better about yourself," she said, earning an annoyed look from Jean, "There is always the S-Class spot that's now open from my move up. Maybe you should aim for that instead of the guild master position. Unless you have a problem with the way I'll be running things?"

Jean stared at her for a moment before sighing out heavily, "No, I don't have a problem with you being the guild master. Anyone is better than Gordon. I'm just upset that I overslept."

"Maybe one day you'll have another chance," she smiled at him, "But for now, try out for the S-Class spot. I plan to have a challenge tomorrow for it. If no one goes for it but you, then you'll get the spot, but I highly doubt you'll have no other challengers, so you should be ready for a fight or two."

"Of course I'll be ready!" he said, striking a pose with his sword.

"Good. Now, put that sword away and help us out already!"

"I still don't know how I was dragged into helping you out with this. Where is that brother of yours? Shouldn't he be helping out?" Jean asked as he recalled his rapier.

"I haven't seen that idiot since this morning. He's probably still off sulking somewhere because I made him help me hunt down Gordon."

"Well, I'll have to give him a piece of my mind later," Jean huffed, "Leaving such pretty ladies to do such heavy lifting," he added, smiling back at Amelia and Zinnia while sending them both a wink.

Amelia simply blushed in response while Zinnia giggled lightly and sent her own wink back at him.

"Come on Casanova," Cordelia sighed, pulling him along with her after seeing the light blush across his face from Zinnia's reaction to his flirting. The man stumbled along with the woman before managing to regain his composure and walking with her, "We have some heavy lifting to do and I can't be having you flirting with the girls and getting distracted."

"I think you're only mad that he didn't wink at you too, Cordelia!" Hagi called out from the back of the group, "I could always set you up on date with our handsome Jean if you're really feeling that left out!"

"No dates!" Cordelia shouted in reply.

"But you have to let me set you up with someone! I did clean that disgusting ship for you!"

"I said no dates!" Cordelia continued as she came to the deck of the women's S-Class dorms, still dragging Jean along with her.

"She'd probably be more open to them if Eli were here," Zinnia said back to them with a laugh.

"ZI! SHUT UP!" Cordelia yelled, a blush across her face.

"Ohhhhh, Eli," both Amelia and Hagi said together, leaning together as they fanned themselves.

"Why is everyone always fawning over that man?" Jean grumbled.

"Have you looked at him?!" Amelia and Hagi continued to speak at the same time, "He's like a God! It's like when he was made that he was sculpted from marble dipped in gold and then covered in diamonds!"

"He's really not that good looking," Cordelia mumbled.

"Sweetheart, don't lie to yourself," Hagi said, appearing next to Cordelia with a knowing smile, "I could set you up with him too if you really wanted."

Cordelia sputtered in reply as she blushed heavily, "N…no thank you! I can fend for myself in the romance section of my life!"

"And that's why you're still single," Zinnia said with a smirk.

"No one asked for your advice!" Cordelia shouted, "Now look! We have a room to finish moving. I don't want to hear anything else about dating or good looking men! So move it!" she finished, stomping off towards her room with the others following closely behind her.

Zinnia made her way over towards Hagi with a sly smirk, "You should really work at the Eli angle," she whispered to him, causing a large grin to spread across the young man's face.

. : + : .

"Tell me why you forced me onto this deathtrap again?!" a young man by the name of Chris Somata shouted.

He was twenty-three and was on the shorter side, standing at 5'7". His build was slim and muscular while his skin was lightly tanned. His messy, dark brown hair was spiked upwards with bright red highlights, pieces of his hair falling into emerald green eyes that were a bit wolf-like in appearance. When it could be seen, his dark red guild mark was on the upper left side of his torso. He wore a bright red t-shirt with dark blue jeans and dark green combat boots. Over top of his outfit he wore a black, sleeveless trench coat with several lines in light blue, green and yellow going all across it in random directions. He also had a tattoo of a claw mark on his upper right back when it could be seen. Finally, on his right wrist was a sliver bracelet that had three gems embedded in it in the colors of blue, green and yellow.

"You said you were bored and I needed to take Betty out for a spin anyways!" a young woman replied, revving the engine of her motorbike.

This woman was named Tazz Makia and was also twenty-three years old like Chris. She stood an inch shorter than him at 5'6" with an olive skin tone. Her build was a bit slim with enough curves to prove her feminine side, though she had some muscle tone built up as well. Her forest green hair was styled into a mass of curls that reached her chin, a few messy bangs falling into golden eyes that were filled with fire and passion, appearing a bit cat-like. Her white guild mark sat below her left collarbone, sitting a bit closer to her shoulder than her neck. She wore a pair of teal, high waisted genie styled pants with red sandals and a mustard yellow tank top. Her dark red, riding goggles were currently pulled down over her eyes. Finally, she had a snake-bite piercing in her bottom lip with silver studs and she had a beauty mark above her right eyebrow.

"I could have just gone fishing with the guys! I don't need to be drug across this place on this thing! What if we fall over the edge!"

"Don't worry so much! Ace never complains when I take him with me!"

"That's because Ace is an idiot!"

"At least he's a fun idiot! Now let's go!"

Tazz revved the engine again before hitting the gas on the bike and taking off from the co-ed dorms ship deck. She drove straight up the bridge that led up to the middle ship, feeling Chris holding onto her waist tightly to ensure that he wouldn't fall off. The bike jumped up a bit higher than it should have, bringing the pair down hard out onto the main deck. Tazz sped up even more, causing the bike to swerve a bit before it took off in a straight line. A number of people had to move out of the way as Tazz maneuvered her way through tables and chairs that had been spread back out across the deck from that morning's earlier fight.

"Don't hit anyone!" Chris shouted.

"Then they should be smart enough to move out of the way!"

"Well it's not like you're going for any points here!"

"Awww, why not?! Let's say chicks are worth ten points and men are worth five!"

"Why are the guys worth less?!"

"Because you all are the dumber species!"

"Oh yeah, because I'm the one that's driving a motorbike on a boat!"

"You're the one that decided to join me!"

"More like I was forced," he mumbled.

"Stop complaining and keep track of the points for me!"

"Don't actually hit anyone!"

Even though Tazz had seemed serious on their game, she made sure to keep her distance from actually hitting anyone as she continued her trek across the deck. As they continued to drive, Chris finally became used to the feeling and began to loosen up. He actually laughed as Tazz skidded around the table that Nanami sat at, Tazz pulling down an eyelid and sticking her tongue out at the violet haired woman. He watched Nanami's eye twitch at the action, Tazz and the S-Class mage having been rivals practically since the day that Tazz arrived on the ship. Though, it was Tazz that was the one that pushed the rival more than Nanami, the green haired woman always managing to find a way to get under Nanami's skin. Though, before the space cutting mage could do anything, Tazz straightened out the motorbike and took off across the deck again.

"You know she's probably going to get back at you for what you just did," Chris said.

"So what?" Tazz retorted, "She needs to loosen up somehow and what better way to do that than with a spar?"

"Whatever you say," Chris shrugged, "We're almost at the end of the line here, so where do plan on going now?"

"How about we visit out new guild master!" she answered, heading for the metal bridge that led down onto the front middle ship that was used as a large storage area. It housed everything from weapons to food to tools to materials to repair the ship. The bike easily made its way down the bridge and across the deck towards the sparkling white ship. Though, Cordelia had seemed to be ready for them as she was standing at the end of the bridge leading up to the white ship with a cannon at the ready.

"Holy hell! Don't go up that bridge!" Chris shouted, his eyes wide upon seeing the cannon aimed at them.

"This place just got cleaned up, so you better take yourselves elsewhere!" Cordelia shouted, "I don't want bike marks everywhere!"

"Party pooper!" Tazz shouted as she turned away from the bridge that led up to the head boat. Instead, she moved towards a bridge that led out to the left side boat that was used for training. They made their way across that bridge and out onto the deck just in time to dodge a red laser beam. As soon as Tazz dodged the beam, the pair on the bike was met with a pressurized water beam to the face. The pressure from the water was enough to knock them off the bike and have them sliding backwards in a tangled heap while the bike skidded forward across the deck. Eventually, the two stopped rolling across the deck and the bike had come to a stop as well.

"Yo! Are you two all right?!" a voice shouted out to them.

They looked up to see a young man running over towards them and recognized him as Rio Storms. This man was twenty-one and stood tall at 6'2" with tanned skin. He had an athletic build and messy and spiky black hair that fell all around him. It had blue highlights in it and pieces of it fell into his dark blue eyes. His light blue guild mark was located on the right side of his chest. He wore a black jacket that he left open with no shirt underneath. He also wore dark blue skinny jeans held up by a white belt and black, laced boots. Finally, he had an onyx stud in his right ear as well as having a gold tattoo of a trident on his right shoulder blade.

"Yeah man, we're good," Chris answered, pushing one of Tazz's legs off of his stomach. Rio then reached a hand out to help Chris stand up.

"You idiot! You're supposed to help a girl up first! Especially after hitting them in the face with water!" Tazz grumbled loudly from the ground, referring to Rio's Hydration Magic.

"Heh, not when that girl was the one to ride into the middle of the training grounds," Rio smirked, shoving his hands into his pockets and leaning back in a lazy and easy-going way.

"Tch," was all she replied with.

"Here," another voice said with a hand appearing in front of Tazz's face.

She looked up to see that another young man stood in front of her. She recognized him as Lance Herald, a nineteen year old boy with an athletic build like Rio. He was almost just as tall as the water mage too, standing at six feet even. His skin was tanned, matching nicely with his messy brown hair and dark emerald green eyes. His aqua guild mark, when is could be seen, was located on his back and he had a burn mark on his left shoulder that was covered up most of the time as well. He wore a loose, red t-shirt with faded blue jeans held up with a brown belt with a gold buckle. He had a brown knife holster on his left leg and he wore brown boots. On his right arm was a black sleeve that reached from his wrist up to his shoulder under the shirt. On his left shoulder he had a green bandana tied around it. And underneath the shirt was a hidden, thin plate of chest armor. He had also been the one to shoot off the laser beam, having Laser Magic.

"Thanks," she said, taking the offered hand and letting him pull her up to her feet, "At least someone around here has manners!"

"Whatever," Rio replied, "If we treated you like a princess, you'd kick our asses for it."

"He sort of has a point," Lance agreed, "You're kinda like that."

"You're all against me!" she cried.

"I thought you two were supposed to be fishing?" Chris questioned, ignoring Tazz for the moment.

"We were," Lance answered, "But then we got a bit bored and decided to do some training while we waited for you to come back."

"I want to fish!" Tazz shouted as she ran over to her bike to make sure it was okay. She had moved her goggles to sit on top of her head before she picked the bike up to check over it. Once she was satisfied that things were fine, she walked it back over with her to where the guys were standing.

"Are you sure you can do that without blowing something up?" Rio asked with a smirk.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" she shouted, "It's not like I'm going to use my Pulse Magic on a fish! Just show me how to do it!"

"Rio's right," Lance added, "Don't be sending out an spells at a fish when we catch a big one," he laughed, "Then we'll just have fish guts everywhere and no one wants that."

"I'm not stupid! Keep picking on me and you'll be sorry!"

"Okay, okay," Lance said, waving his hands in defense, "Let's catch some fish," he continued as he led the group to sit on the side of the ship where he and Rio had left their fishing supplies.

. : + : .

Jordan Dawson, more commonly known by Jay, sat at one of the tables set up on the middle ship. He stared over at Ace Murdock, sometimes still wondering how he had ended up becoming such good friends with the man. Jay was seventeen and had only been with Storm's Helm for two years, but somewhere in the at time span he had become friends with Ace and the older man had even taken him under his wing a bit when it came to his swordsmanship. He stood at the same height as Ace at six feet even and he had tan skin with a leaner build that was just starting to build up some decent muscle. His dirty blonde hair was short and scruffy in appearance and his eyes were a piercing green. He also had a scar across his upper left cheek. He wore a dark gray shirt with the sleeves reaching down to his elbows. He also had on cargo shorts, a pair of skater shoes and a red bandana tied around his neck.

"What's your problem?" Ace grumbled after taking a gulp of his beer, "You keep staring at me."

"So," Jay began taking a sip of his own beer, "What do you think of Cordelia becoming the new guild master?"

"I was waiting for the conversation to end up at my sister," Ace mumbled with a roll of his eyes.

Jay blushed slightly, but chose to ignore the comment for the time being, "Just answer the question, stupid."

"I think it'll be good for the guild," Ace answered, "She'll be a good master."

"Wasn't your dad the master of the guild at one point too?"

"Yeah," Ace answered with a proud smile, "He's actually one of the longest reigning masters. He got the title when he was eighteen and kept it for nineteen years until he passed down the title to Duke. Duke then kept his title for ten years until he unfortunately lost to Gordon."

"So Finn never actually lost the title through a challenge?"

"Nope," Ace said, "He just decided to step down for his own reasons and he handed the title over to Duke since the two were best friends and he trusted Duke. It's not the usual way that a new guild master takes over, but it's not unheard of."

"So it seems that Cordelia has some big shoes to fill."

"Yeah, but she's a Murdock. She can handle it. Plus, she's got me here to help out."

"Well, your sister is smarter than you, so I don't know what you'll do to help out," Jay snickered.

The blonde man was answered with a sword to his beer glass, slashing it in half with the beer spilling out everywhere across the table.

"What a waste," Jay sighed sadly as he watched Ace place his sword back into its holster, "I always forget how quick you are with a blade."

"It would be good to remember for future references," Ace grumbled at him.

"Ace! There you are!" Cordelia shouted, suddenly showing up behind her brother and hugging him tightly, "You disappeared all day!"

"Yeah, to get away from you and your pushy attitude," he snapped, earning him a quick bop on the head from his sister. He looked to the side to see Zinnia and Bones there with the new guild master, Amelia, Hagi and Jean having disappeared to go do their own things.

"I wouldn't have to be so pushy with you if you'd just listen to me in the first place," she bit back before looking over at the blonde that sat at the table. She smiled widely at him, having always liked Jay. She felt that he balanced her brother out nicely, especially in the intelligence department. Ace might be good with a blade, but coming up with battle plans just wasn't his forte, "Evening Jay!"

"Cordelia!" he answered louder than he had meant to, causing Zinnia to laugh in response while Ace sent him another eye roll. Jay quickly stood up and pulled the chair out for her, "Here you are. Please have a seat."

Cordelia looked down to see that beer was still dripping off of the table, "Maybe we should clean up first?"

"Ah! Right!" he answered, running off to grab a towel.

"He's as lively as ever," Zinnia said.

"Tell me about it," Ace mumbled.

"Be nice!" Cordelia chided, bopping her brother on the head again.

Jay quickly returned and began wiping the table off. Once things were cleaned up, he offered his seat to Cordelia again. Though, he felt his eye twitch in annoyance when he heard Ace laughing at him under his breath. He quickly threw the beer drenched towel in the man's face, the wet cloth easily sticking to Ace's face.

"What the hell?!" Ace shouted.

"Don't get your panties in a bunch," Cordelia snickered, "I thought you liked beer."

"Not in the face from a towel!"

"Easy killer," Cordelia said, waving off his anger, "You'll pop a blood vessel getting all worked up like that."

"Tch, I really don't wan to hear that from someone like you," Ace grumbled, but relaxed back into his seat nonetheless.

By this time, both Zinnia and Jay had grabbed extra chairs for themselves while Bones had laid down at Cordelia's feet. Zinnia pulled out a deck of cards from her pocket and set them in the middle of the table, "Since there's four of here, it's the perfect time to play some cards."

"Sure," the others answered as they watched Zinnia pull the cards out and begin shuffling them.

"Congrats, by the way," Jay said, looking over at Cordelia, "For winning the guild master spot."

"Thanks Jay," she smiled at him, "That means a lot. Think I'll do a good job at it?"

"You'll be the best!" he answered, once again louder than he had meant to, "You're a really good mage and strong and pretty and -" though, he suddenly stopped himself after he realized what he was saying. He coughed out in embarrassment and stood from the table quickly, "Ah, excuse me for a moment. I need to go grab a beer."

"I'll come with you!" Cordelia announced, not really having picked up on the boy's embarrassment or why he had been embarrassed in the first place, "I need a beer too!"

The two walked off, Cordelia practically dragging Jay along with her, still being oblivious to his current embarrassment.

"He still likes her, doesn't he?" Zinnia asked, looking over at Ace.

"Tch, yeah," he answered, "I just wish he wouldn't do that flirting in front of me."

"Poor boy doesn't know what he's doing until he's actually doing it. Don't hold it against him," Zinnia said, "Plus, I think it's cute that he has a crush on her. Though, Cordelia is a bit oblivious to it."

"Makes it worse for him, I think," Ace said.

"Well the poor guy is going to have an even harder time when Eli and Seth get back. I'm willing to bet they'll roll in some time tomorrow," she mentioned, "They've been gone for a few weeks, so Cordelia is going to have a hay day when they return."

Ace groaned loudly as he dropped his head to the table, "Those two…and mix in an excitable Cordelia in there…can you just kill me now?"

"You'll survive," she laughed lightly, patting the man on the head, "Plus, it'll be fun and exciting to have them back at the guild."

"You always enjoy the weirdest things, Zi," Ace mentioned.

"That's what makes me wonderful!" she grinned as she began to deal out the cards before Cordelia and Jay got back to the table.

A/N: And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

Credits

Jeannot 'Jean' Marcus - reven228

Chris Somata - frozenwolf94

Tazz Makia - IdentityCrisis.03

Rio Storms - ThePrinceOfLight

Lance Herald - Joshua1277

Jordan 'Jay' Dawson - Alienwolf

Once again, you all are just awesome! I've received all the OCs I need and all the S-Class mages as well! So thank you very much! So at this point I am NO LONGER ACCEPTING OCS. If I feel the need to eventually add more, I will open submissions again and let you all know how many I need. But for right now, I'm full up on what I need.

But all the characters I have received have been amazing and I just love them. Once again, I hope I have portrayed the newly introduced ones this chapter and I greatly enjoyed writing them all!

I still have the introduction chapters to get through and then I have the first arc…or I guess mission figured out. After that first arc, more split up missions will be happening, so if you all have some ideas, you are more than welcome to send them in.

I do have two dark guilds in mind right now, one will have a larger roll than the other, but when I need to start collecting villains for them, I'll let you all know and will open submissions on them as well. For the time being though, please do not send in an OC for the dark guilds until I open submissions as I need to figure out how many spaces will be open and such. I will let you all know when you can send those in though!

I don't think I have much else to say right now, so we'll head right into the review responses!

Thanks to all of you that reviewed the last chapter!

reven228 - Yeah, it's a bit of a wonder how Gordon last so long as guild master, lol. But I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the last chapter and the interactions between all the characters. And I hope I was able to write Jean properly for you! I really do like his character! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

CrazyAnimeForever - Got your PM and you should see another response from me soon about it. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

XLil MEkoX - Haha! Yeah, Cordelia definitely has some fire in her! But the guild should remain relatively safe…hopefully, lol. And I'm glad that you liked the first grouping of OCs! And both Hagi and Nanami were fun for me to write, so I'm glad you liked them so much. But yeah, poor Hagi being thrown around like that! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

CryptozoologyConundrum - Glad to hear that you enjoyed Hagi's character! He's so much fun for me to write! And I'm glad to hear that you liked the fight scenes too. And I really enjoyed the interaction between Squall and Nanami, so I'm glad to hear that you like how that turned out too. And LOL on the fancy pirate hats! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Origm2012 - No worries about the length of the review. But I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter so much! And yeah, I think most people on the ship are pretty happy about the change in guild masters since Gordon was just a poor example of one. And I'm glad you enjoyed Squall and Hagi so much. I really enjoyed writing them myself. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

frozenwolf94 - Yeah, I think Hagi managed to make it onto most people's favorites list. But he was super fun to write! And I'm glad you enjoyed the fight between Cordelia and Ingrid. That one was fun for me too. And eventually we'll find out who fixes the ship. I can see Cordelia forcing Gordon to do it, lol. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Sakura-Fiction - Yeah, that Cosplay Re-Quip was great when I read over the submission! Plus the personality to go along with it was great, so I'm glad to hear you like him too! And I'm glad to hear that you like the concept of the story as a whole! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Momochan77 - ^.^ Glad to hear that you loved the new chapter! And it seems that Squall and Hagi are making most people's favorites list. And yeah, I figured Mia and Hagi would work really well as best friends, so I'm glad to hear you like that friend pairing as well! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Benthino - CHA! Glad to hear you're enjoying the new story so much! And yeah, I figured moving things to the bottom might be better this time around. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Joshua1277 - Glad to hear that you're enjoying the scenes with Gordon, lol. And yeah, Ingrid was sent in as a rival for Cordelia and it just worked out so well that I had to do it. Plus, Cordelia is the type to have a rival and she wouldn't just stop that rivalry because she moved up in rank. So I'm glad you liked that bit! And I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

silverhawk88 - Glad you enjoyed that last chapter! And I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Ogrespi - Glad to hear that you liked the last chapter and the friendship between Nanami and Squall. And I'm really happy to hear that I got Hagi's character written so well for you! I had a lot of fun with him! And I haven't decided when or who will be the first person to damage one of the ships, but I'm sure Cordelia is high up on that list, lol. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

RansomeNote - Glad to hear that you enjoyed the last chapter! I hope you enjoyed this one too!

PlaguedAmbition - ^.^ Glad to hear that I could give you a new story to follow! And thank you again for the wonderful character you sent in! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

LightandDarkHeart - Yep, Nanami and Squall sure got the one up on Gordon, lol. But I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter and I hope you enjoyed the new one as well!

Dreadburner94 - CHA! I was so glad to hear that I got Nanami's character written correctly! You know that I tend to worry about those kinds of things, lol. But I had a lot of fun with her scene. And yeah, it's gotta be pretty humiliating for Gordon. I think he'll have a hard time for a while until he's ready to admit that he wasn't doing a good job as a leader and that Cordelia is better suited for the position. But I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter and I hope you enjoyed this one as well!

ThePrinceOfLight - Happy to hear that you liked the last chapter as well as Hagi's character! He was really fun for me to write! And I'm glad you liked the fight scene for that chapter as well! And I'm happy to hear that I made your day a bit better with a new chapter! Hopefully that happened again with this chapter!

And that's it for now!

I'll have the next chapter up soon!

Please remember to review!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson