Here's the next chapter! Hope you all enjoy!
The next day, the fourth day of the Grand Magic Games, started with what was referred to as a Naval Battle. The rules were that each participant would duke it out in a giant sphere of water in the arena and anyone knocked out loses with the last one remaining taking first place in the event. However, when only two combatants are remaining, there will be a five-minute round in which the loser will be ranked last.
"Now it's officially started! The competition for the fourth day!" Chapati said to the audience.
"It's like underwater shumo wreshling, hm?" Yajima commented.
"I am so looking forward to this, thank you very much." The day's guest commentator, Rabian, said.
"Isn't he that guy that's responsible for those horrible stage shows?" Flynn asked.
"Now that you mention it, I think I heard about this guy from Lucy and Erza." Zale said.
"And?"
"Uh, how do I put this?" Zale scratched his cheek. "Lucy said he was a slave-driving, god-awful writer and Erza recalled it as the most artistically wonderful experience of her life… I find Lucy's opinion to be more believable."
"Why don't you guys stop chatting and start watching?" Callista suggested. "Your girlfriends are out there in their swimsuits! You should be seeing them in action!"
"We got to see them last night." Zale pointed out. "Why do you always assume men think about nothing but breasts and butts?"
"Because they do." Callista replied as she crossed her arms. "Try saying that again with a straight face after giving those ladies another look."
"Well, I'm about to prove you-" Zale motioned his eyes to Juvia and instantly blushed at the close look at her in a purple, polka-dot bikini complete with a matching frilly skirt on the bottoms.
"I rest my case."
Their attention went back to the fight that was just about to start.
"If this is an underwater battle, Juvia's pretty much got this… although…" Zale's eyes motioned toward the representative of Sabertooth for the event, Minerva Orlando. "None of us know what that Saber woman has up her sleeve."
"The more I look at her, the more I feel…" Flynn said. "What's the word? Uuuuuum… Uneasy?"
"Yeah…" Zale agreed. "I don't know why… but it feels like a tiger staring down its prey."
The gong was struck, signaling the competitors to begin the battle. Fairy Tail's A Team representative, Lucy, immediately pulled out one of her golden keys.
"I'll take out everyone in one shot!" Lucy said as her key shined brightly. "Open, Gate of the Water Bearer! Aquarius!"
Aquarius appeared and she looked seriously angry.
"You're on my turf, you floozies!" Aquarius raised her urn and a twister began to form within it.
"No, you won't!" Juvia shouted. "Water Cyclone!"
Juvia matched Aquarius's underwater twister with her own, Sherria and Lisley were caught up in the conflicting torrents. Jenny Realight took this opportunity and kicked Quatro Puppy's Rocker right out of the water sphere. After getting out of the currents, Sherria tried to attack Lisley, but she used her Gravity Magic to alter her body type and slip away from Sherria's attack.
"We're not getting anywhere like this!" Aquarius said. "I'm leaving!"
"Huh?! Why?!" Lucy questioned. "You're the spirit I depend on most in the water!"
"A date!" Aquarius turned to Lucy with a happy look on her face.
"Wait a sec-!"
Aquarius vanished and returned to the spirit world.
"You're open!" Juvia had turned half of her body into a water stream and zipped through and past Lucy, sending her flying towards the outside of the sphere.
"VIRGO! ARIES!" Lucy pulled out two more golden keys and shook her arms frantically to rush the spirits to her side.
Virgo and Aries appeared, keeping Lucy from leaving the sphere with their arms and a cloud of fluffy wool. Both of the female spirits were wearing bikinis which made the men in the audience go wild.
"I am your sexy guard, Princess!" Virgo said.
"I'm so puffy!" Aries said apologetically. "Please forgive me!"
"That was close!" Lucy turned her head to notice that it was almost outside of the sphere.
"The watery battles rage on!" Chapati commented to the audience. "Hang in there, Shelly-Welly! And Fairy Tail A! Why didn't you Wendy-kins instead?!"
"Shut up!" Lucy shouted with a shake of her fist.
"It's time to finish you in one strike!" Juvia began spinning her body in place, slowly creating a vortex around her. "Nobody can beat Juvia in the water! And with Juvia's Second Origin, Juvia has a new ultimate attack to unleash now…" Hearts started to appear in the aquatic vortex. "This is for you! The Wings of Love! Juvia Adores Zale!"
Zale blushed in a bit of embarrassment at Juvia's public proclamation of love as her attack pushed Jenny, Lisley and Sherria out of the water sphere, in that order. However, Minerva managed to part the current with ease and Lucy's spirits were holding onto their contracted wizard.
"Look at what just happened!" Chapati shouted excitedly. "Juvia just eliminated three opponents in one shot! She may be an unrivaled force in the water-bound battlefield!"
"Awww!" Sherria pouted. "My power just didn't come out like I wanted in the water."
"You did really great, Sherria!" Wendy cheered up her newfound friend from the stands.
*Are you looking at Juvia with wonder and love, my beloved Zale?* Juvia thought as she turned her head to her boyfriend.
Unfortunately, Zale was looking at Juvia with an odd mixture of shock, embarrassment and confusion.
*Why's he looking at me like that?!* Juvia thought with her mouth agape.
Juvia then realized she was in midair, outside of the sphere. She then fell to the sandy ground, flat on her face.
"She was amazing, but it's just too bad!" Chapati said. "Juvia's out! But even so, she's third! Six points!"
"What did you say about Juvia dominating in the water?" Callista asked smugly.
"She took HERSELF out with her opponents…" Zale groaned aloud clearly. "How lost in her head was she?"
"The pot and kettle sure go well together, don't they?" Callista joked.
"Just two people left, Minerva and Lucy!"
They resumed listening to the commentators.
"Now… who will come out the victor? Sabertooth? Or Fairy Tail? Now begins the five-minute sudden death round! Whoever ends up outside the water sphere will automatically place last for the event!"
"What'sh the reason for thish rule, anyway?" Yajima questioned.
"So we can watch a tense battle to the bitter end! Thank you very much." Raban answered.
Everyone watched the remaining ladies in eager anticipation.
"With my power, I could eject you from the arena in an instant." Minerva had a mischievous smile on her face. "But that wouldn't be fun, would it?" She waved her hand which was surrounded in strange, magical power. "So endure this… Fairy Tail!"
A bubble appeared to Lucy's left and before she could react, it exploded and the heat burned her side. Another bubble appeared above her and it exploded as well.
"LUCY!" Flynn shouted.
"What kind of magic IS that?!" Zale wondered aloud. "I've read hundreds of books on magic and even I can't tell!"
"This time, it's weight…" Lucy had a hand on her head as she recovered from the force. "Like it's made of lead… I can't just stay and be her punching bag!"
Lucy's other hand reached for her keys, but couldn't feel them or the pouch they were in.
"Huh?!" Lucy gasped as she looked back to find that her keys were missing. "My keys?!"
She looked at Minerva, who was holding up the pouch and keys for her to see.
"When did she…?!"
Before Lucy could finish her words, another explosion, more powerful than the previous two, sent her hurling toward the outside.
"Lucy! If she goes out of the sphere, she won't get any points!" Chapati shouted.
Just as Lucy was about to reach the edge, another explosion came from behind and stopped her momentum, but it still caused her a good deal of pain.
"Lucy!" Happy whined.
"She can't use her magic without her keys!" Carla was almost biting her lip.
Over the next two minutes, Minerva bombarded Lucy with more explosions without ever knocking her out of the sphere. Zale looked to Flynn and saw that his hands were tightly gripping the balcony and shaking a bit. There was now only one minute left on the timer.
"I think it is time to push you out." Minerva raised her hand as she readied another attack.
"If I fail here…" Lucy spoke as she grasped her injured arm. "… I won't be able to face my friends who got us this far! I can't betray everyone's feelings! So I won't give up, no matter what you do!"
After hearing Lucy's proud words, Minerva lowered her hand as thirty seconds remained.
"Wh-what's going on in there?!" Chapati questioned into his microphone. "Minerva's attacks have stopped! If she doesn't do something, the five minutes will expire! After that, the order will go back to normal!"
With a terrifying look on her face, Minerva raised her hand again and Lucy was engulfed in a huge explosion.
"Lucy!" Natsu shouting could be heard all throughout the stadium.
Everyone watched in horror as Minerva brutalized her opponent.
"Know your place, Fairy Tail! Just who do you think we are?! We are the greatest guild in the world! SABERTOOTH!"
Another explosion was about to push Lucy out of the arena, but she vanished and reappeared in front of Minerva, who kneed her in the back.
"Kyaaaaa!" Lucy screamed in pain.
"It's some kind of spatial magic!" Zale said. "That must be how she got Lucy's keys! But why didn't she just end it? To make a point?!"
Callista had to cover Amber's eyes so she couldn't see the brutality happening before the entire audience. As Minerva continued to wail on Lucy, Flynn's grip on the balcony tightened and his teeth started gnashing against each other. What made it even worse was Minerva's laughing and Olga, Sting and Rufus's smug smiles. Not only did it piss off Natsu, Gray and Erza, but also Zale as his fists clenched. Zale got up on the balcony and stood up he could get as many people to notice him as he could.
"STOP THIS!" Zale shouted at the top of his lungs. "STOP THIS BEFORE SHE KILLS LUCY! END THIS MATCH RIGHT NOW!"
The royal guard began to mobilize and Mato raised his hand to signal the end of the event.
"The referee has called the match! And the winner is Minerva!" Chapati announced. "Just as we expect from Sabertooth… but that was ruthless!"
Minerva held the unconscious Lucy outside of the water by her neck.
"Lucy hasn't moved in a while! Is she all right?!"
Several of Lucy's friends and guild mates ran as fast as they could to Lucy, including Zale and Flynn who had jumped over the balcony and rushed into the arena. Minerva dropped Lucy so she could fall to the ground, but Natsu and Gray dove in and caught her in time. Zale and Flynn stopped in front of them and the latter knelt down to Lucy's side and cupped her face.
"Lucy!" Flynn tried to wake her up. "LUCY! Speak to us, Lucy!"
Zale glared at Minerva, who showed no sign of remorse for her actions. Actually, she seemed to feel proud of what she had done.
"That bitch…!" Zale growled.
When Erza got there, she leered at Minerva as she floated down and exited the water.
"Why do you look at me that way?" Minerva calmly asked Erza. "I simply followed the rules of the match. Frankly, I believe you should thank me. I allowed your team to attain second place… even with that worthless trash woman of yours."
Natsu was about to get up and punch Minerva, but her three guild mates got in between them like bodyguards. Erza had to hold Natsu back to keep him from doing anything rash.
"SHUT UP!"
The sudden scream drew everyone's attention to the trembling Flynn as he stood up and lashed out at Minerva.
"LUCY IS NOT TRASH-"
"Flynn, that's enough!" Erza shouted to keep things from getting out of control before turning back to the members of Sabertooth. "You may be the 'strongest' or 'Fiore's best'. I neither know nor care. However, I will say this one thing." She gave Sabertooth an intense, terrifying death glare. "You have taken the single guild you shouldn't anger… and made it your enemy!"
A/N: For those of you who've been keeping up with the manga, you may have seen a moment where people who have… um… been deflowered… are weakened by a… STRANGE… magic. Sometime between the end of the games and the disbandment of Fairy Tail, I was originally planning to have Zale and Juvia spend a 'special night' together, if you know what I mean. I asked my friend, and he says that I should hold off on it. If anyone else thinks I should hold off until after the final battle, please let me know. I'm sorry this chapter wasn't very interesting, but I felt like I had to write this in and I tried to tie it in to my OCs a bit. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed! Stay tuned for next time!