Author's Note:
Alright! Back on schedule people! Yay!
As always, a HUGE thanks to all my wonderful reviewers! Big hugs and kisses to my repeat reviewers: Anna5949, Donthedarkdragon26, Lucinda, valerioux, Leomae2.0, TheJSmooth, Firefly9917, Stubenhocker, quidditchChick6, WisdomDragon27, and ravenqueen162. Equally big hugs and kisses to my newest reviewers: Littlepurplething and tataland.
Without further ado, on with the show! And you know the drill, there's a sneak peek at the end, so check it out. ;D
Shortly after their return, Makarov announced to the rest of the guild that they had entered the Grand Magic Games. He also announced who would participate.
According to the rule book, they were allowed to enter up to two teams of five, for a total of ten guildmembers, into the competition. After further research, thanks to Levy, they found out that many guilds – particularly large ones – did send two teams, but both rarely made it through the preliminary elimination round. Naturally it was a unison agreement that they should send two teams, since Fairy Tail operated under a, "go big or go home," sort of mentality. It was also good to know that – aside from the master – anyone from their guild could be a backup in case one of the official team members got injured.
And thus, Fairy Tail Team A and Team B were formed. Team A consisted of Natsu, Lucy, Erza, Gray, and Juvia – while Team B had Gajeel, Mira, Wendy, Laxus, and one last surprise member.
Erza had returned with the new 'Mystogen' in tow. There was some trepidation about including Jellal in such a public endeavor – after all, there was a chance that he could be exposed – but he was determined to prove himself as a new part of the guild. Normally, there would be little chance of discovery while wearing Mystogen's very unrevealing garb … but in a fight, there was every possibility that his hood or mask could be ripped off. However, he seemed relatively secure, and Lucy suspected he had more than one trick up his sleeve to disguise himself should the worst come to pass.
The Games were set to take place in one month, which would give them all ample time to train…. an endeavor which Lucy did her best to not liken to the time directly before the S-Class Trials, for fear that she might jinx it all.
The two teams split up, Team B heading into the mountains to train, while Team A decided to isolate themselves on a tropical island getaway.
When they got there, Lucy certainly wasn't unhappy about the arrangement. Frankly, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to get any training done… what with all the sunbathing, swimming, sightseeing, and relaxing that this beautiful place was practically demanding of her.
In contrast though, Happy was not pleased with the situation, because he was sulking about being separated from Carla for a whole month. It had been his choice to tag along with Lucy instead of Team B and Carla, but he seemed to be potentially regretting that decision. She knew that the blue and white cats had actually just started dating – whatever that meant for the felines – so she could understand him being mopey about getting separated so soon after becoming a couple.
To cheer him up, Lucy pointed out, "Hey Happy, look at all those jumping fish out there! I bet that outcropping of rock would be a perfect place to fish."
Thankfully it worked, and her little blue companion instantly perked up at the thought of both his favorite pastime and his favorite food. He immediately chirped, "Aye Sir!" and set off down the coastline, already pulling out his fishing pole.
Meanwhile, the first stop for the rest of them was to check out the cabana that came with the island.
This island getaway had actually been lent to them from an anonymous donor who had simply said they wanted to see Fairy Tail return. It was incredibly generous gesture, and they certainly weren't going to look a gift horse in the mouth…. aside from Erza, who immediately conducted a thorough inspection of the entire island from top to bottom, to make sure it wasn't a trap. The only thing abnormal about it that she could find was the incredibly lush and diverse vegetation, as if this whole island was the private tropical greenhouse of a really talented gardener.
The rest of them were all satisfied when their temporary home met her strict requirements, and nobody else bothered to do a search, despite her disapproving stares.
Once she had concluded her investigation, they all headed to the cabana that was located in the center of the island. As soon as they came within sight of it though, Lucy had to stop and stare for a moment, feeling a sensation of familiarity wash over her. It was a small two-story house and looked almost exactly like a small copy of their original guildhall…. so much so that it took her breath away.
She wasn't the only one to pause either. Both Gray and Erza also stalled a little and stared at it with equally surprised looks.
"Um, guys? Is it just me, or does that look a whole lot like….?"
"Our guildhall. Yes it does." Erza responded firmly. "I passed by on my inspection of the island, but I was so preoccupied looking for traps that I didn't notice the similarity."
"Wow. Holy shit." Gray muttered, shaking his head a little. "Do ya suppose whoever built this was a member of Fairy Tail or something?"
"It's possible. Whoever built this obviously loved Fairy Tail a great deal. Perhaps they left the guild and got homesick?" Juvia suggested timidly.
She and Natsu had hung back a little while the others gawked at the building in front of them. Since they hadn't spent any time in the old guildhall, it didn't affect either of them nearly as strongly as it did Erza, Lucy, and Gray – who had spent a large part of their adolescence there.
After shaking off the momentary nostalgia, they all crossed the last distance between them and their loaned home…. Largely because Natsu lost his patience and started forwards without them. With a groan, Lucy followed – slightly worried he might break something – and the rest followed.
The inside was homey and comfortable, with a small kitchen and sitting area downstairs and one small bedroom. There were two big bedrooms upstairs, and each had its own bathroom – even the small one downstairs.
Surprisingly, Erza volunteered to take the small downstairs bedroom.
Everyone blinked at her in surprise. When given a choice in the matter, Erza was notorious for picking the largest room available for her sleeping space, and she had a tendency of being very picky about it. It was similar to how she liked larger pieces of cake. Save the soul of anyone who tried to give Erza a small piece of cake…. unless it was the last piece of course.
When everyone stared a little too long, she frowned and asked, "What seems to be the problem? Did one of you want this bedroom?"
"Oh, uh…I just thought you would want one of the larger rooms. You know, for all your armor and…luggage." Lucy said quickly, sensing irritation from the redhead.
It was true. As usual, Erza was lugging behind her a cart piled high with luggage of every shape and size. It was no wonder why she always favored larger accommodations. It was practically a necessity.
Erza's scowl smoothed. "Oh, is that all? Yes, it's true that I tend to sway towards the larger rooms…. However, in this case it only makes sense for me to take these quarters. You two are couples, and therefore will house together, am I right?"
Lucy slightly flushed at the implication, but not much because everyone already knew that Natsu slept with her…even long before they became a couple. In fact, Erza had given him multiple lectures on the matter in the beginning, attempting to teach him proper manners when it came to women and their beds and sleeping with them without their consent. For once though, she hadn't been able to get through to him, and the rest was history. Natsu had never stopped sneaking into Lucy's bed. So by now she was hardly embarrassed by the notion. Juvia, on the other hand, flushed a bright pretty pink and got all flustered, acting very shy, silly, and excited about the whole thing.
Meanwhile, neither of the guys blinked at it. Gray simply shrugged in silent agreement, and Natsu grinned at Erza and said, "Sounds like a plan!"
Then he spun and tugged Lucy up the stairs behind him. "Come on Luce, let's drop off your bags and get back out on the beach!"
Gray and Juvia followed at a much more reasonable pace.
By the time she had done as he suggested and dropped off her luggage, she'd managed to calm him down a little – at least reining him in enough to reconvene with the others back in the kitchen instead of dragging her to the beach.
"Alright, now that we're settled, let's discuss our training regimens for the next month." Erza barked as they assembled. "First, let's all list our goals here."
She whipped out a light pen and drew up a chart with their names listed across the top. For each name, she used a different colored light pen, and then handed out those pens once she was done.
When nobody else stepped up, she started them off by writing her goals underneath her name in bright red. Then, when it was done, she tapped the first item on her list and said, "I think we should all aim to access our Second Origin as one of our goals."
"Second Origin?"
"Yes. You see, every mage has an 'Origin' – which is the technical term for your reservoir of magic. It's the container inside your body that you store magic in. Your 'Second Origin' is essentially a part of your magic reservoir that you normally don't have access to. However, if you can unlock this second part of your reservoir, you can almost double the magic you have access to. You can choose to constantly use it or store it for a tramp card in a battle. In either case, it's exceptionally useful."
After hearing it explained, achieving their respective Second Origins did sound like a really good thing to aim for.
Predictably, after Erza, the next person to approach the chart was their resident hyperactive dragon.
"I'm fired up now!" he yelled, and then bounced out of his chair and started writing on the chart. Almost instantly, he pulled back and glared at the pen. "Why is mine pink?!"
Erza wasn't even fazed. "I figured it was appropriate."
Natsu seemed dangerously ready to start a fight, so Lucy stood up and joined him at the chart to distract him. "Our goals are probably going to be the same right? Or at least one of them is, because I know we've talked about aerial training before."
Thankfully the tactic worked and Natsu turned back to the board with a grin. What he wrote though, didn't really translate well, because what he put was, "Teach Luce how to ride me."
Everyone stared at it for a long moment. And then Lucy face-palmed, Gray busted out laughing, Juvia cringed, and Erza turned as red as her hair. As for Natsu, he just looked confused by everyone's reaction. "What?!"
"Are you really that stupid Flame-for-Brains?!" Gray guffawed, almost crying because he was laughing so hard.
Even Juvia was a little flushed and seemed like she was having a hard time keeping a straight face. "Natsu…that sounds kind of…inappropriate." she said a little timidly and then her eyes brightened, and she turned to whisper something into Gray's ear.
He turned red, choked on his spit, and his laugh switched from guffaws to chokes. "N-no! We can't put that on the board!"
She pouted, and Lucy couldn't help but wonder just what she had suggested. Most of her attention though was on erasing the words from the board. "How about you write it differently?"
He just looked at her strangely. "What, you want me to reverse it? Because I'm not gonna be riding you."
And once again everyone devolved into fits of giggles, groans, and blushing.
"What is wrong with you people?! She doesn't have wings! I can't ride her!"
That only made things worse, and it was a long while before things were calm enough for Lucy to haltingly suggest, "How about just write, 'flight training'…okay?"
He shrugged and did as she suggested, shaking his head and muttering under his breath the whole time about how everyone was a bunch of weirdos. He also added in, "get stronger," and, "train in dragon form." When she looked questioningly at the second he explained, "You said you wanted to learn how to fight with me in that form. We can't do that unless we train."
"I don't know if the Arena for the Grand Magic Games is going to be big enough to handle your dragon form." Lucy mused, having never seen it.
"Actually, according to Levy, the arena is large enough for an entire city to be placed within it." Erza said.
"Really? Wow… I never imagined it would be that huge. Alright Natsu, we'll work on that too."
When it came to her, she wrote on the board in glittering gold, "Urano Metria," and, "get stronger," just like Natsu. He shared a grin with her when she wrote it.
Then Juvia and Gray took their turn at the chart and wrote similar sorts of things, listing specific attacks they wanted to work on or just generalizations.
After they had all written down their goals, they set off to start training. Gray and Juvia went to train in the ocean far down the beach, Erza went in the opposite direction but stuck to the sand, and Natsu and Lucy parked relatively close to the cabana.
To start with, Lucy decided it would be best to train with her newest spirit, Capricorn, who she had met on a mission not too long ago. At the time, he had been possessed by a dark mage, but as soon as she managed to free him, he had immediately given her his key. Even more amazing, he had told her that he'd been one of her mother's spirits – just like Aquarius. They were both delighted to meet, and Lucy was looking forwards to working with him.
Of course Natsu wasn't ecstatic to find out that she wouldn't be training with him, and he set off after Erza to try and pick a fight. So she was left alone to summon Capricorn.
"Open! Gate of the Goat! Capricorn!"
With a puff of white smoke, the impeccably dressed goat spirit appeared out of nowhere and bowed. "Hello Lady Lucy, how may I be of service today?"
Like most of her spirits, he was human in shape – but in his case, he possessed the head, tail, and feet of a goat. His choice of dress was similar to Leo's – since they both wore suits – but Capricorn's was quite a bit fancier. He wore a tux with the full accoutrements, including a waistcoat and coattails, which made him look almost like butler. The pitch-black sunglasses though made him look more like a body guard…. which was appropriate, since his specialty was hand-to-hand combat. Similar to Taurus, he possessed a great deal of physical strength – though not as much as the bull spirit – and he utilized that prowess to wield his mastery over all hand-to-hand combat styles with devastating effect.
"Hello Capricorn! I called you today hoping you would be able to help me train. We signed up for the Grand Magic Games and have a month to prepare for it."
"I see. In that case I would be honored to help you prepare for such an important event. We should start with meditation and increasing your magic intake."
With a sigh Lucy nodded, and folded her legs up under her to park on the warm sand.
"I take it you have done this before?"
"Yeah. In fact, I did it not too long ago in preparation for the S-Class Trials."
"Then this should be simple. I will observe and offer advice."
She nodded again and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Quieting her mind, she forced herself to focus on her breathing and trying to feel for the magic inside her. As usual, it took forever and a day, and she was still straining to find it when Capricorn began to guide her.
"Feel the land, the wind, the air. Focus on that sensation. You must control your breathing and try to become one with nature."
Refocusing her attention the way he described, she started to feel her magic well up inside her all on its own, and she focused even harder… until the wind began to circle around her. It picked up sand on its way but was gentle enough that she didn't feel distressed or uncomfortable, and she simply assimilated that sensation into her meditation as she melded her magic even more tightly with the surrounding nature.
"That's it Lady Lucy. Well done."
They continued in this manner, with Capricorn urging her to release more magic from time to time.
By the time they were done, Lucy was exhausted. She had filled her reserves only to expend them, over and over, absorbing magic from her surroundings before turning around and releasing it back to nature. It was a completely different sort of meditation than the kind she was used to. It was a constant in and out, making her feel a little like a busy train station – which was extremely tiring – but she could definitely feel her Magic Origin being exercised.
She was definitely ready to call it a day though after doing it for most of the afternoon, and Capricorn dispersed in a white puff and a bow. The sand was warm and soft, and she let herself indulge in laying down and resting on it for a long moment to catch her breath. Her magic slowly settled down to a low hum and then eventually went back to its normal gentle glow.
Her rest was abruptly interrupted though when a particularly aggressive boom sounded from across the island and shook the ground enough that the coconut trees around her started dropping their loads. She'd been hearing the sounds of battle from the direction that Natsu had run off to, but the noises of violence had been ignorable up till now. However, it sounded like their fight was getting closer, and it certainly felt like it. Lucy yelped and jumped to her feet, then dodged the coconuts now falling heavily from the trees by hopping, skipping, and jumping around like a crazy person.
One zipped by her nose and she squeaked, rearing back and throwing herself off balance. She wind-milled her arms desperately, but still fell backwards onto her butt. Then she quickly spread her legs as another fell right between them. She stared down at the coconut wedged into the sand between her thighs, and then scowled, feeling irritation well up inside.
She grabbed the coconut and then stomped towards the sounds of battle nearby. Soon enough, she came across Erza and Natsu roughhousing on the beach.
"Natsu!" she yelled, but he was too busy having fun fighting Erza.
With a growl, she hefted the coconut in her hand, and then lobbed it in his direction. Being a whip master, she had a good aim and managed to bean him right on the noggin. Of course Lucy wasn't exactly a weight lifter, so the coconut didn't really hit him hard, but it definitely shocked him and he reared back.
"What the…?" he sputtered, looking around wildly to see what had just popped him on the head. He finally glanced down to see the coconut in the sand, and Lucy stood still and quiet with her arms crossed as he scowled and picked it up.
"A freaking coconut? Where the hell did this come from?"
Erza was just watching the proceedings with a somewhat confused and slightly amused expression on her face, while Lucy cocked one hip and let her foot start tapping on the sand – waiting for Natsu to look up at her.
When black dragon eyes finally landed on her, his eyebrows shot up on his forehead. "Lucy! Hey, what's up? Do you know where this coconut came from?"
She pursed her lips and pointed back the way she had come. "Yeah…. It came from a tree and nearly brained me! You two have been fighting so hard that it shook the ground and made all the coconuts fall from the trees! How about let's not destroy the island or kill each other while we're training?!"
He stared at her and blinked, and then a broad grin spread across his lips and he laughed. "Oh yeah…"
Exasperation flooded her, and she threw up her hands. "Really?! That's all you have to say for yourself!?"
"What?" He glanced between her and Erza, who was now pinching the bridge of her nose and sighing.
"I am sorry, we got a little carried away." the redhead apologized to Lucy, and she calmed down a little.
Natsu just continued to look hopelessly confused. Maybe it was just because a coconut couldn't do all that much damage to him – dragons were impervious to projectile fruits and vegetable apparently… and most other sorts of projectiles really, with those tough scales of theirs.
As if to prove her theory, he asked, "It was just a couple of coconuts! What's the big deal?"
"If one of those things landed on my head, it could have killed me!"
He winced. "Oh…um…right, sorry."
Lucy just rolled her eyes and sighed. He was hopeless sometimes. "Whatever … just be a little more careful next time alright?"
"Sure." He agreed easily, and she walked over to join them as they started heading back towards the cabana together.
"Hey, where's Happy?" Natsu asked as they stepped inside the cabana.
As she headed to the sink to grab some water, Lucy replied with, "He seemed really sad, probably because he's going to be separated from Carla for a whole month, so I pointed him in the direction of a good fishing spot."
"Good idea Luce! That oughtta distract him."
When he turned to head out the door, Lucy called after him. "Hey, where are you going?"
"I'm gonna go find him. Duh. Fishing sounds like fun."
"Oh, I'll come with you then. I want to check on how he's doing too." She guzzled her water and hurried to join him.
And so Lucy and Natsu headed out, leaving Erza behind to grab a snack and then probably train some more.
They trekked along the beach and eventually came upon the little rock jetty – at the end of which a familiar blue cat perched with his fishing rod.
"Hey Little Buddy! Didja catch anything good?!"
Bright eyes turned towards them, and Lucy was relieved to see the cheerful smile on his face. He seemed to have completely forgotten all about his sadness and was entirely absorbed by his favorite hobby like she'd hoped.
"Yeah! Check these out!" He carefully set down his fishing pole – the one they'd gotten for free on their last job – and led them to a small tide pool where he had cleverly been storing his catches. There was an impressive selection there. Some of the fish were quite large.
"Woah! Look at all this fish! They look tasty! Can I eat some?"
"Not unless you help me catch a bunch more! You'll eat all my fish!" Happy protested, looking worried and a little irritated. If there was one thing that could get the normally cheerful blue cat mad, it was someone taking his fish.
Natsu pouted for half a second and then beamed. "Alright then! I'll catch even more than you!"
"You're on!"
The two males started to compete with each other over who could catch the most fish or biggest fish, while Lucy just joined in and fished for the fun of it. Being Happy's friend and partner, she was adept at fishing but took it much less seriously than him of course. She wasn't having much luck today though, and it took her a whole hour before she caught anything.
Finally though, she felt a tug on her line and excitedly leapt to attention and started reeling it in, squealing, "I got one! Finally!"
A big flat fish with a yellow streak came popping out of the water, and she stared at it for a long moment. It was the weirdest fish she'd ever seen, with a strange smiley mouth and a huge round body that was super thin and flat. It almost looked like a flounder, but the eyes were on separate sides of its narrow face.
"What the heck is this?"
"That's a smiling sunfish!" Happy exclaimed, sounding excited. "They're super tasty!"
She perked up at hearing this. "Oh yeah? Awesome!"
As she lugged it over to the tidepool – which was getting a little crowded by now – Happy started snickering. When she threw a questioning look over her shoulder, he just snickered some more, before eventually saying, "Hey Lucy? Has anyone ever told you that you kinda look like a smiling sunfish?"
She blinked, glanced at the large fish, and then back at Happy. A vein popped up on her forehead and she practically felt steam erupt from her ears. "What are you talking about?! I don't look anything like this fish!"
Happy's cheeks puffed up with laughter as he covered his mouth with a paw. It was obvious he was doing his, 'Lucy is fat,' joke, or something like that, and she was not amused. Dropping the fish unceremoniously into the tidepool, she stalked back over to her blue friend, cracking her knuckles.
"Are you calling me fat again Happy?"
He yelped and then leapt into the air, before snickering a little and chirping, "Aye Sir!"
"Why you little…! Come back here!"
She proceeded to chase him around, completely ignoring Natsu who was still fishing. He was concentrating fiercely, and then gave a shout as he apparently hooked something. "It's a big one!"
Happy and Lucy continued to ignore him as she did her best to catch the flying cat, intending to tickle him or possible give him a noogie for calling her fat. Her attention was grabbed violently though when Natsu suddenly pulled back hard and yanked a huge fish out of the sea. That normally wouldn't have distracted her so thoroughly…. however, considering that the thing came flying through the air and smacked her right in the face, she felt justified in paying absolute attention to the fish. It was so big that it knocked her back on her butt, and she ended up flat on her back with a flopping fish plastered on her face, smothering her.
As soon as she'd gotten over her shock, she immediately started screaming – close-mouthed of course since she didn't want to get a mouthful of fish – and started thrashing her limbs to try and get it off her head. Eventually she managed to shove it off her and sat up with a gasp, only to see both Happy and Natsu rolling around on the ground in a fit of giggles.
"You could have helped me you know!?" she yelled, standing over them with her hands on her hips.
"Couldn't…it was too funny!" Natsu gasped around a mouthful of laughs, and Lucy felt that blood vessel from before start to pound on her forehead again.
She kind of wished Erza was here to knock their heads together.
"Well while you two were busy laughing your butts off, your fish just got away." She pointed at the little ripple in the water where Natsu's fish had just hopped back into the sea.
That got his attention, and he yelped, running over to his fishing pole. "Damn it all! It freed itself! And it was a big one too."
It was her turn to laugh at him. "Well that's what you get for just sitting there and watching me get smothered by a fish. Maybe next time you'll come over and pick it up!"
He pouted.
The rest of the evening was spent in this manner, and by the end of it they had amassed enough fish to feed everyone who had come to the island – even with Natsu and his huge draconic stomach.
Sneak Peek:
After a long moment, he shot straight up, and this time she did have to grab onto his shoulders so she wouldn't end up tumbling off. "Natsu! What are you doing?!"
At an insanely high height, he stalled out and then turned to her. "You're going to practice falling." he said with a smile that was way too gentle for the words coming out of his mouth.
"I'm sorry…what?"
"You're going to fall, and I'm going to catch you. Simple. We'll do it over and over until you get used to it and stop freaking out."
Logically, it made sense – but it was a crazy Natsu sort of sense that Lucy just wasn't sure she could get on board with.