There was a tension emanating from the two teams of the same guild as they are in front of each other in a face-off.
Two members of the first team in particular are almost staring daggers at the pink haired dragon slayer. Yes, Gray and Lucy haven't came on terms with the fact that Natsu's team bested them at the preliminaries. Gray is also being seen glancing a few times to his former admirer who stood beside the fire mage.
It is not that she actually hated Natsu, well, besides how their last quest went. It is just that they rarely seen him at the opposing side rather on their own. For as long as Lucy could remember, Natsu has always been on his side. In fact, no matter how much she hates to admit it, she is actually crushing on him. So seeing him as her opponent felt very wrong for her.
As for Gray, it was a completely new experience for him to not receive Juvia's antics about loving him or something of that kind. Although the experience was quite refreshing, there was this unsettling feeling that he is not the target of her affections anymore.
However, Natsu and Juvia were staring at another person from the other team. With their eyes seen with a frown and a slight twitching, they stared at other dragon slayer in front of them. Their stares were so intense that the other members of both teams were slightly taken back.
"If fight is what you're looking for then I won't back down." Gajeel smirked while taking a stance.
The two continued their stare until Natsu finally cracked up a laugh. Juvia soon followed, causing others to be confused by the gesture. Why they were frowning earlier is because they were restraining their laughter.
"Pfft- Nothing... Just... Your clothes... Pfft!" Natsu said in between his laughs.
"Yeah Gajeel-kun, you in purple is just... Pfft!"
The reason the both of them were laughing is because Gajeel is wearing a purple version of his normal attire, which actually looked kind of feminine because of the said color. (A/N: Can't help it. I tried editing his GMG attire to purple and the result is... weird to say the least.)
As for Natsu's attire, the only thing that was being changed was the trimmings of his vest now white instead of the usual orange.
"Oi, not you too Ameonna!" Gajeel complained with a visible blush from embarrassment.
"Don't say that Gajeel-kun, you look cute in that outfit!" Mirajane further rubbed salt to the wound by commenting.
Everyone began laughing from Gajeel's reaction, except for Erza who was kind of insulted by their reaction to her choice of color. With that, her aura suddenly darkened that didn't go unnoticed by both Natsu and Juvia; the initiators of the laughter.
"And what's wrong with purple, Natsu?" Erza glared at him, causing him to immediately halt his laughter.
"Ah... Uh... Yeah, it looks good." Natsu replied.
"At least we're clear on that."
However, everyone from Team A cannot help but notice the sudden closeness of Juvia and Natsu, something that they have never witnessed before. What they expected is that Juvia will rush towards Gray in an obsessive manner, but that event didn't came.
They were interrupted by the sudden cheer from the crowd. The cheer was so loud that it defeats the collective cheers from the rest of the participating teams.
"Finally! The team everyone is waiting for! The strongest guild in all of Fiore, Sabertooth!"
Everyone turned their heads to the so-called best of Fiore. And yes, they really lived to the expectation, at least from the eyes of most people inside the stadium. Every one of them boasted an incredible amount of magic power leaking from their presence.
"So this is the number one guild of Fiore, huh?" Natsu muttered to himself.
Unlike the rest of the Fairy Tail contestants, Natsu and Juvia seemed confused of why their teammates are staring daggers at the newly introduced guild. For them, this is just about competition and reclaiming the title of the number one guild but for some reason, their teammates looked hostile towards them.
What they didn't know is that Sabertooth are a boastful bunch and they even went on badmouthing the guild's dragon slayers, including Natsu, that they were too weak that they were beaten by Acnologia.
Natsu then caught a glimpse of the two men of their late teens approach him with boastful expression on their faces. As expected of his short temper, this gesture irritated him. He also noticed that the black-haired fellow was going towards Gajeel.
As the two dragon slayers came face-to-face with both Natsu and Gajeel, the blonde one decided to speak up. "So, I finally got a chance to fight you, Natsu Dragneel."
"Well yeah, I'm excited about the fight but... Who are you?" he asked in confusion to the man.
The man smirked, feeling proud of what he is about to say. "You're just speaking to the true dragon slayer, the one who killed the white dragon Weisslogia. Sting!"
At first, Natsu was surprised by the statement, thinking how strong this guy is if he managed to kill a dragon. However, the amazement was turned into hatred and anger that this guy in front of him just killed his parent. He knew this dragon he is speaking of treated him like a son because as what Igneel said to him before, a dragon only teaches their magic to their offspring. He had been looking for his dragon parent all this time, only for some random chump to say that the killed their own.
This caused his eyes to release a flicker of blood red flames for a moment. But, he quickly calmed himself, knowing that attacking him now won't do any good. After a short while, he stared at the dragon slayer known as Sting with a smirk only reserved for those he deemed as enemy, not a plain contest opponent.
"This makes it much easier than I thought. It's easier to not hold back now that I think of you as an enemy."
The other Fairy Tail mages at the vicinity took notice of his statement, knowing well what he meant when he said the word 'enemy'. But what surprised them is that how well he handled the situation without immediately punching Sting on the face.
The twin dragon slayers went back to their team after their 'greetings' towards their former idols. Upon their leaving, Natsu glanced at Gajeel. Understandably, the two were furious upon hearing the other two's parent dragons being killed.
...
At last, the first event of today's games is finally about to start. Before the rules are given, each of the teams are only given the name of the event which is "Hidden" as a clue of what the game is about. Upon hearing the title, Natsu immediately lost interest as it sounds like a hide-and-seek game. He only wanted to be a part of it if it involves head-on fighting.
Being from the same guild, both team A and B are discussing their strategy together at one spot at the spectator's area on the arena. It was decided that Gray and Juvia would go for their respective teams. For some reason, Natsu was uncomfortable with the setup.
Finally, the rules was announced. The game is about attacking a participant whenever they spot them. Regardless if the attack had no effect as long as it connected, a score will be given to the attacker. A small city instantly formed out of thin air at the center of the arena, with each player scattered across the area. Multiple copies of each player also emerged from the area, serving as a distraction and an obstacle to the players as attacking them will result in deduction of points.
"Come on, what the hell is Gray doing?" complained one member of Fairy Tail.
It was then that they realized that Nullpuding, Raven Tail's player, was fixated on attacking the ice mage. It was like he had a personal grudge on Gray himself. Everyone was also going full throttle on the game, each using their own tricks to find their opponent.
However, as the remaining Fairy Tail members turned their gazes to Natsu, they were confused on his lack of worry. Even Happy was not worried in the slightest.
"Oi Natsu, aren't you worried about them? They're losing, you know?" Lucy asked.
"Oh Luce, I didn't notice you there!" Natsu greeted her like normal. "Well, I'm kinda worried for the ice prick, but Juvia seemed to be doing just fine so..."
Before he could finish the sentence, the lacrima vision in front of them showed Juvia coming down from a building, kicking Lyon in the process. She immediately scored a point from the attack.
"There you go." Natsu finished his sentence.
Lucy remembered that they were actually a different team this time, so it won't really affect him that much if team A is losing.
Back to the games, Juvia is seen confronting Gray. Being from the same guild they were both hesitant on attacking each other. The latter was again irritated by the former's interference with his fight with his rival.
"I don't need your help, you know?" Gray told Juvia.
"Juvia knows, but it's just too tempting not to attack an opponent who's wide open." she retorted.
But suddenly, Nullpuding appeared near them and launched an attack that is meant to hit both of them. The attack did managed to hit Gray but not on Juvia. Just before the attack landed to her, she immediately transformed into water and flowed towards the attacker's back. With a quick chop to the neck, she rendered him unconscious.
"There. Now you may concentrate on the games without that one interrupting you." Juvia spoke to Gray, then immediately left looking for another players.
"I said I don't need your help!"
Everyone was shocked upon seeing what had just transpired at the arena. Some cheered, but many called her out for cheating by using too much force to an opponent. This claim by the crowd, mostly initiated by the members of Raven Tail, made Fairy Tail feel uneasy.
"Come on! It's not cheating, he's just too weak to faint from a single chop to the head!" Natsu screamed which elicited a few laughs from the guild.
To settle the crowd, the commentator Yajima spoke up about the rules, saying that it is not the violation if someone managed to knock someone unconscious. The only reason that using strong attacks is not advisable is because they tend to affect the area around them, hitting the other copies which can lead to deduction of points.
Eventually, the complaints of the crowd and switched to cheering their favored players at the arena. And thus, the game continued. As expected, Gray's performance improved upon the removal of Nullpuding from the game due to being unconscious. However, he was way too behind that he only managed to return to zero points due to his previous negative ones.
However, while everyone was battling their way to score as much points as possible, one man just stood at the top of a tall building, memorizing the location of each participant.The man was no other than the mage of Sabertooth, Rufus. He was biding his time so that when he finally scored his points, there will be no time left for a comeback from other teams.
Then after several minutes, he launched his attack, hitting almost everyone at the arena with his Memory Make magic. Everyone was already cheering loudly for the defending champion, including the announcers themselves.
When suddenly, a torrent of water suddenly launched right at the feet of the Sabertooth mage, knocking him upwards with the impact.
The focus of the lacrima visions were immediately pointed towards Juvia, who was just reforming back to her normal body. Counterattacking is one of the main things she practiced during her training with Natsu. And thus, an additional point was given to her, elevating her to the third place next to Eve of Blue Pegasus.
The audience didn't care much about that last clutch pulled by Fairy Tail as all their focus was on how awesome that attack from Sabertooth was. Some even went to say something like Fairy Tail could only pull some cheap tricks because they were too pathetic in a head-on fight. Some also said that the attack wasn't really that strong to hurt the Sabertooth mage.
What they didn't know is that the attack did a considerable amount of damage to Rufus, making him have difficulty in catching his breath after his fall to the ground. However, the lacrima visions didn't show this scene as the game was already so close to its end.
"That's it everyone! The Hidden game ended with a spectacular turn of events!" the announcer shouted.
"Indeed, no one expected that last attack from Fairy Tail, although the leading team is still at the expected team Sabertooth." Yajima added.
The ranking is as follows: Sabertooth, Blue Pegasus, Fairy Tail B, Lamia Scale, Mermaid Heel, Fairy Tail A, Quadro Cerberus, with Raven Tail at the bottom.
...
The battle portion of the event is already approaching its end. The winners of the battle so far are Raven Tail against Fairy Tail A, Blue Pegasus against Mermaid Heel, and Sabertooth against Quadro Cerberus. The only remaining match is Fairy Tail B against Lamia Scale.
"Here it is folks, the final battle of the day! Fairy Tail B versus Lamia Scale! Both guilds are considered to be the strongest during their prime, so it's only rightful that we'll present to you one of their most famous and spectacular mages!"
The members of the guild began guessing which of them will be chosen.
"I'm sure it's Laxus. He was one of the strongest and most famous before." one member.
"If Erza was there at their team, I'm sure she would be chosen considering that the name Titania was so famous before."
But as their guessing continued, Makarov was thinking of who might be their most famous mage seven years ago that is a member of the B team. He thought of Mirajane but she wasn't an active member of that time. Juvia was famous that time as a Phantom Lord mage, and Mystogan was, well, his name and the word famous doesn't really go well. His remaining guesses are Laxus and...
"Everyone, we present to you, Lamia Scale's Jura Neekis, versus, Fairy Tail B's Natsu Dragneel!"
"They're famous indeed in their time. Well, Jura is still famous now, but Salamander is a well known name seven years ago. But I think this is a bad matchup." commented Yajima.
The guild was in utter shock. They didn't expect that the matchup would be this unfair. Well, Salamander was indeed famous seven years ago, but he was definitely not on par with a wizard saint such as Jura. What's worse is that they're talking about a wizard saint who had the whole seven years while Natsu just skipped them all together.
"What? Natsu versus a wizard saint, that's way too unfair!" reacted almost all of the guild members.
"We can't do anything about it. All we can do is cheer for Natsu even if his chances of victory ate slim." Makarov said to his children.
However, despite everyone's worries about the matchup, Natsu just went down to the arena with an excited smile on his face. "Finally, I get to fight you Baldy!" he muttered to himself as walked towards the center of the arena.
Standing at the center of the arena, the two contestants faced each other with a confident smirk on his face. Ever since their alliance back then Oracion Seis and Nirvana incident, they were both impressed by each other's fighting capability. In addition, Natsu just wanted to battle strong opponents, regardless of the outcome.
"I must thank you for this opportunity to battle you, Natsu-dono." Jura then bowed to him as his very normal thing to do to people who he deemed a worthy opponent.
"Me too, Jura!" was the excited response of Natsu.
"Here it is everyone, Iron Rock Jura versus the Salamander Natsu!"
The fans of the famous wizard saint erupted their cheers, expecting a royal beatdown. From the loss of Lucy, Fairy Tail unfortunately gathered a massive amount of haters from the guild, thus them also joining the cheer for Natsu's defeat.
Being the impatient person Natsu is, he immediately charged towards Jura, punching every rock pillars that were blocking his way. Then with a tall jump, he brought his hands engulfed in yellowish white lightning together.
"Lightning Dragon's Jaw!"
The others were surprised by his sole usage of the lightning dragon slayer magic. From what they've seen before, he could only use lightning as an additional aspect to his flames. For him to use it as a separate magic is nothing short of an amazement for them. Although, Laxus was slightly irritated by the usage of his magic without his consent.
"What? I thought Salamander was a fire mage!" the question of everyone who has heard of him before.
Jura had seen the attack coming to him quite easily as he just summoned a rock wall in front of him without even moving from where he was currently standing. Although Natsu's attack didn't penetrate, the rock wall was shattered, resulting to Jura using the shattered rock to hit him with its sharp edges.
Natsu saw the incoming attacks. As soon as the rocks came in contact with him, he stepped backwards immediately using his lightning enhanced feet. But as soon as his feet landed on the solid ground, he was met with a solid rock pillar erupting from beneath him, knocking him upwards with the impact.
However, the attack didn't hurt him in the slightest as he just maneuvered his airborne state towards Jura. He then brought his heel up and cloaked it in lightning. Together with his fall, he delivered a lightning axe kick, only to be blocked by Jura's right arm.
"Where are your flames, Natsu-dono? I want to give me your best shot!" Jura said as he tossed Natsu back.
"Heh, if flames are what you're looking for, then here they are!" he responded as he ignited his aura in black flames, much to the confusion of the audience.
"Fire God Mode!"
"I guess it's not quite what I'm looking for but that will do!"
As both their magics danced on the arena, the spectators watched in awe. Some commented about the wizard saint holding back for him. Well, it is true but the same can be also said for the dragon slayer who is seen using different kinds of magic. More confusion is felt by the guild as some of them have already seen this kind of flames their guildmate is using. Without Natsu here to answer their questions, Erza decided to ask the most knowledgeable person when it comes to the dragon slayer.
"Happy, can I have a word with you?" she asked.
"Aye! What is it?"
"That." she said while pointing towards Natsu who was still keeping up with Jura from their battle. "Why did he acquire that Grimoire Heart fellow's magic?"
Happy, with a confidence in his face replied. "Why wouldn't he? Same as Laxus's lightning, he also ate Zancrow's flame, thus acquiring the magic. Because they're both of quite similar nature to his Fire Dragon Slayer magic, all he needed to do is an intense training on manifesting those elements... I think."
While she believes that training will always be a key towards improvement and mastery, for him to reach this level of power just from his secondary magic, just how intense was his training? "So... He just trained very hard? Just how hard are you talking about?"
"Well, I have to drag Natsu and Juvia's half-dead bodies after their training everyday. We're only taking a break once every week and that still involves hunting giant beasts for the most part."
"Does that mean Juvia is also of similar level as Natsu?"
"Kinda, although I can't really tell accurately."
The statement made the her think about the previous game wherein Juvia launched a fierce counterattack after evading the magic from the Sabertooth's mage. Even she as a spectator could easily tell that the attack she launched was a powerful one.
Back to the fight, Natsu was starting to have some minor difficulty in catching his breath while Jura was still as good as when they started fighting. Even with his current strength, fighting a wizard saint who has been around for seven years is just too much for his measly three months of training, at least for his God Slayer magic.
"I suggest we take this fight to the next level, don't you think, Natsu-dono?"
"I couldn't agree more. Bring it on, Baldy!"
With that, they both took their stance while being away from each other. Natsu began manifesting his trump card for this fight. As soon as he started shouting, bluish white flames started showing around his body. With a final push, the flames erupted, causing the flame's heat to be felt even at the spectator's area.
"That's quite new but familiar. Is that what I think it is?" Jura asked, though he has some suspicions about it.
"Yes. It turned out differently last time I've experienced its power and I'm not yet able to master this, but yeah, this is... "
It is the signature power of the Magic Council, the one that he forced to eat during his time at the Tower of Heaven. In fact, that concentrated mixture of different magics is the reason why his body somehow adapted on digesting other magic elements.
"Ethereal Flame Dragon Mode!"
Some only considered it as a simple massive power boost, for the people who recognized the look of the flames he is emitting, a terrified look were plastered on their faces.
"How can this be? That's somewhat similar to that of the Magic Council's signature weapon!" Makarov blurted out just loud enough for his children to hear.
The fight resumed with both contestants now in their magic-enhanced hand-to-hand combat.
Jura was so intrigued by the developments of the fight that he lost his usual fighting demeanor and fought like the brawler his opponent is, although a bit more refined. For the longest time, he has always been a fan of a good fight but due to his rise in rank as a wizard saint, no one has the courage anymore to battle him. So seeing this challenge in front of him, he can't help but feel hos blood boil in excitement.
With each exchange of blows, the arena exploded with rock debris and white flames that the officials decided to put a magic barrier inside the fighting stage so that they won't accidentally hit a spectator.
Natsu flipped backwards to gain some distance. Taking a very deep breath, he prepared to launch is current strongest attack with the form.
"Ethereal Fire Dragon's-"
"Time's up! The battle is now over!" the announcer screamed on top of his lungs
With that, he relaxed the built up of magic power in his mouth, along with letting go of his Ethereal Flame Dragon mode. Saying that he was unsatisfied was an understatement as he knew that Jura wasn't also going all out on him, yet the time doesn't allow them to continue.
It was at this moment that the whole arena was at a complete silence, feeling every bit of dissatisfaction as the combatants are.
...
A/N: I know, I'm also not satisfied with the fight. However, I can't just make Natsu and Juvia a total Mary Sue (I don't know what's the male counterpart of that) no matter how much I want them to be. And also, writing action has never been my strong point.