Author's Note:
Hey! It's Wednesday! And time for a new chapter! The much anticipated start to the GMG arc! I hope it lives up to everyone's expectations. ;D
Also I have an IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: So listen up for a sec. The next few chapters are going to be extra super big, like three times the normal size, because I wanted to fit each GMG day into one chapter. So, for the duration of the Grand Magic Games, I'm going to have to slow my posting to once a week (every Sunday) instead of twice. The chapters are just too big for me to have time to edit two a week. But you'll still be getting the same amount of content, just in one chapter instead of two. So I hope that's not too upsetting for anyone, and it's only going to be through the GMG as I said. After that I will resume posting on Wednesday (as long as I get 10 reviews by then of course, but I have no worries there. ;D)
Alright, end of announcement.
As always, a huge sparkly thanks to all my fantabulous reviewers. Big hugs and kisses to my repeat reviewers: WisdomDragon27, TheJSmooth, quidditchChick6, Donthedarkdragon26, valerioux, Anna5949, Syfenos U, Leomae2.0, thetrywriter, SunnieDayys, stranger1999, Firefly9917.
Equally big hugs and kisses to my newest reviewers: Azzzimoth and AlchemistLyn.
And on with the show! You know where to look for the sneak peek. ;D
After a month, Team A returned from their island getaway.
They had cut it a little close to optimize their training time, and as soon as they got back they had to head straight for the capitol and the Grand Magic Games. Their departure times had been planned ahead of time though, and Team B had been completely on board with the idea of getting in as much training as possible. So, they all intended to meet up at the train station just a day before the start of the Games. Naturally, everyone in the guild who planned to go and see them compete – which was basically everyone – met them at the train station as well.
"Natsu! Lucy! Erza! Gray! Juvia!" Their names were called by their friends as they arrived at the station, and the cacophony easily led them to the group of mages. Their guild had taken over an entire landing, and it was obvious that they'd likely end up commandeering a whole train car – if not more.
Happy made a beeline straight for Carla and made a scene, which she didn't seem to appreciate too much, all things considered. She did, however, hug him back, despite telling him to keep it down. It was actually pretty cute.
Similarly, as soon as a certain turquoise pair of eyes landed on Erza, a tall hooded man came their way to greet them. 'Mystogen' embraced her – in a slightly abrupt manner that said he couldn't prevent himself from doing so – but after a moment he suddenly pulled back and looked awkward, the visible parts of his face flushing pink. Clearing his throat, he took a few steps back and fidgeted.
"Hello Erza…I trust your training went well?"
She was also blushing … but smiling too. "Yes, it did. And you?"
He nodded jerkily.
Lucy rolled her eyes at them, knowing that they were definitely together by now, but were obviously still awkward when it came to public displays of affection. Or maybe they just hadn't gotten used to physical intimacy yet… who knew?
After a moment, Lucy's attention shifted to Levy and Gajeel – who were also very awkwardly reuniting – and she smirked a little, wondering to herself how long it would take for them to pair up too.
"Yo…"
She turned and greeted Laxus, who had just walked up with Fro. "Hey Laxus. Frosch. How was your training with Team B?"
He shrugged and glanced around with his patented disinterested expression. Until, of course, the Thunder Legion found him and made a huge scene. Lucy had to skip back a few steps to avoid the train wreck, and then dodged when they all got thrown off and zapped after accidentally treading on Fro's tail.
"Watch where you're stepping!" the lightning dragon slayer growled, still visibly sparking with irritation as Fro nursed her sore tail with slightly teary eyes.
Panther Lily quickly came over to see if she was alright – and probably also to get away from the awkward-fest still going on with Gajeel and Levy.
The Thunder Legion all fell back and apologized, and Freed went so far as to kneel down to her eyelevel to apologize. It seemed the little green cat was apparently quite fond of Freed, because she perked up very quickly and offered him hugs.
Lucy just rolled her eyes and then turned to hug Cana as she came up for greetings.
…
Approximately one chaotic hour later, they were all on the train heading to Crocus and everyone was busy being loud and cutting up and celebrating and visiting.
Cana had somehow procured a barrel of wine from somewhere, or maybe she had snuck it aboard in one of her cards. Wakaba and Macau were playing poker while Romeo visited with Wendy in the seat next door. Carla and Happy sat with their tails twined together while Happy ate his fish and Carla read a magazine that Wendy had recently gotten interested in. Laxus was sitting in the corner with Frosch, listening to music as the Thunder Legion congregated around him, visiting loudly and boisterously. Lucy and Levy were engrossed in a fierce discussion over the books they had read in the past month, while Gajeel lingered nearby with Panther Lily – who was watching Frosch. Juvia and Erza had apparently payed a visit to one of the many food options available at the train station, because they were both occupied with their edible purchases. Juvia was in the process of attempting to feed Gray what looked like dumplings of some sort, while Erza was preoccupied with a lovely piece of cake. Her masked boyfriend ate an identical confection right alongside her.
It all seemed perfectly normal.… until suddenly everything went very quiet.
Lucy glanced over to where the silence originated, only to see a small girl with long blond hair parked in the booth next to Master Makarov – who was staring down at her with googly eyes.
"Master Mavis! What on earth are you doing here?!"
"I'm coming to watch the Games of course! This is exciting!"
"But, but…but you're a ghost!"
"Oh don't worry, only members of Fairy Tail can see me."
There was an eruption of murmuring as everyone commented – to themselves or their nearby friends – what they thought about having a specter in their midst, but after a few moments everyone got back to what they were doing prior to her appearance. Naturally, as her presence was accepted by the rest of Fairy Tail, the noise and cheer resumed in full.
When they finally arrived in Crocus several hours later, they all spilled out of the car in one large mass and probably scared the next group of passengers silly as they basically plowed them all over.
Their first stop after disembarking was the Grand Magic Games arena – the Domus Flau… a huge circular stadium located in the mountains west of Crocus. So, they all bulldozed straight through the capitol and made a beeline for it – mainly because they were required to sign in by a certain time today, or they would be disqualified from the Games. When they got there, Makarov, Team A, and Team B went into the registrar's office to check in, while the rest of their guildmates waited for them outside. Normally they would have all split off into Crocus in search of entertainment, food, and drink, but since they all planned to stay in the same hotel – and everyone was still lugging around whatever baggage they had brought – it made more sense to stick together for the time being.
That turned out to be a good thing, because after signing in, they were given a list of registered hotels that were participating in the Games. So, they all promptly headed back into town and booked rooms at the first inn they came to that was on the list. All the participants in the Games got free rooms, so they were able to stretch that by packing everyone into a few rooms booked under the names of the participants. They were allowed three rooms per team, so all the girls piled into rooms under Erza, Juvia, and Mira's names. Meanwhile, all the guys crammed into Natsu, Gajeel, and Laxus's rooms.
After dropping off their belongings, they all dispersed to check out the various booths already set up for the Games. Naturally, they quickly split up into smaller groups as different foods and attractions lured them in different directions.
Natsu, Lucy, Happy, Gray, and Juvia ended up together at a seafood booth that was selling some truly mouthwatering fish and chips, octopus dumplings, sushi, and grilled red snapper. Next door was a shaved ice stand that Gray made a beeline for, and he ran into Erza who was just coming from a pastry stall down the way. They stopped to chat, and Juvia quickly headed over to join her beloved.
Lucy had just gotten a plate with smoked salmon nigiri and a selection of brightly colored sushi rolls, when her attention was dragged away from her treat by Natsu suddenly exclaiming, "Rogue! Hey, what're you doing here?"
She turned to see her partner enthusiastically greeting a somewhat stoic looking guy with shoulder length black hair, red eyes, and a scar across his nose. He wore a half-robe, exposing the black sleeveless shirt underneath, and his other arm was bare aside from a black forearm guard. The half-robe was long, reaching his knees, and cinched around his waist with a long black belt that wrapped around him many times. Under that he wore black pants and boots.
He turned and blinked at Natsu before breaking out into a calm but obviously happy smile.
"Natsu…it's good to see you."
"Yeah, you too. Any news?"
The other's expression darkened slightly. "Actually…yes. According to what I've heard, Tartarus is busy with yet another ploy here in the human realm…like what they did with Grimoire Hearts. So we should all be on guard."
That, at least, answered some of her questions. This must be the other celestial dragon that Natsu was working with on the Tartarus case, and apparently he also had a wizard here in Earthland too.
At that moment, a blond spiky-haired man came up next to him, wearing a similarly fancy outfit. He wore a red and white vest, trimmed in fur at the top and left open in the front to show off his bare chest, and his arms were sleeved in red gloves that reached his biceps. His brown pants had a militaristic look to their cut, which was only emphasized by tucking them into tall boots. Like Rogue, he also had a scar marring his face, though it split his right eyebrow instead of his nose.
"Yo… Rogue, who're you… talking to?"
"Sting, this is Natsu, a friend from the celestial realm. And Natsu, this is my summoner, Sting."
Since they were doing introductions, Lucy also joined them and was a little surprised with what she sensed as she got closer to Rogue's mage. "Um…hi! I'm Lucy, Natsu's mage."
Happy also joined her and raised a paw in greeting. "I'm Happy."
"Hey Luce! Happy! This is Rogue! He's the guy that's been helping me out with the Tartarus thing."
"And I'm Sting, his summoner and teammate." The other blond offered her a friendly wave. A red colored Exceed wearing a blue vest trotted up next to him. "And I'm Lector!"
"Hi! It's nice to meet you three. And thank you for all your help." She addressed Rogue for the last part, referencing his assistance in trying to hunt down Tartarus.
"No problem. To be honest, we also have a celestial mage on our team. So we're worried too." the black-haired dragon answered.
"No kidding?! That's awesome! Oh, wait though…um…no offense but, you're not a celestial mage too are you?" she asked Sting, and he snorted and shook his head.
"Nope. I'm a dragon slayer."
"Really? That's awesome!" Natsu enthused.
"Yeah, but…how did you summon Rogue if you're not a celestial mage? If it's not too rude of me to ask…"
"Oh that! Funny story actually…. you see, I'm not technically Rogue's mage – not like you are to Natsu. That would be my girlfriend, Yukino. She's the celestial mage on our team. But, as I'm sure you know, dragons come and go under their own magic, and after being a team for so long, we got real close ya know? So eventually he sorta gave me a 'key' too, and now I can summon him as well."
There were a lot of holes in that story. There was no such thing as having two keys for one spirit… but the way he had said it made her think that his 'key' might be something else entirely. The only thing she could think of that was like a key though, would be the mate mark between her and Natsu. But that would mean he and Rogue were a mated pair…which contradicted him calling Yukino his girlfriend.
Deciding that she probably shouldn't ask him any of those questions, she just smiled and accepted the story for the time being.
They visited a little longer, and soon another wizard came up to join them…one who bore a striking resemblance to Angel of Oracion Seis.
Lucy's major flinch and recoil must have startled her, because she stuttered to a stop and looked back and forth between them all. "Um…I'm sorry for startling you…"
"What's with that reaction?! This is Yukino, our teammate!" Sting growled, seeming to get offended at Lucy's obviously perturbed reaction. He suddenly reminded her of Natsu, what with his lack of a filter and that passionate response.
"Oh, I'm sorry. You just look so much like a mage I fought once that it took me back."
"…by any chance was her name Sorano?"
"Sorano…you know, I think that was Angel's real name. She was a member of the Oracion Seis."
"Yes! That's my sister."
"Seriously?! Wow, well this is kind of awkward…um, I'm the one who sent her to jail…so, I'm sorry…." Lucy cringed, feeling amazingly uncomfortable all of a sudden.
"It's okay, she had gotten involved with some really bad stuff…and paid the consequences. I was hoping that maybe being in prison would make her see the error of her ways and she would eventually get out on parole or something…but now that she's been taken…."
The white-haired girl started tearing up a little, and Lucy hurried to reach out and pat her on the shoulder. "I'm sure we'll find her. We're in the process of investigating the people we think took her. The same group attacked our guild as well."
"Tartarus? You mean you're from Fairy Tail? Rogue told us he was working with someone from your guild to try and bring them down!"
"Yep, that's us!"
"Wow! Well I'm so happy to meet you all."
After that, introductions were made, and they continued to talk and walk for a while.
"So…by any chance is the rest of your guild involved in the hunt for Tartarus?"
"No. Sabertooth is…. we pretty much keep our business to ourselves. Any personal projects you take on aren't the responsibility of the guild as a whole."
"Even if it's a threat against one of its guildmembers?!"
"Strength is everything in Sabertooth. If you aren't strong enough to take care of yourself, you get kicked out." Sting answered with something like pride.
"That sounds kind of…um…barbaric. I mean, no offense, but…"
Sting protested, seeming to get mad, but both Yukino and Rogue looked hesitant and glanced down, as if they already thought something along those lines but hadn't wanted to say it. Even with Sting's protests, it sounded a lot like blustering to try and cover up doubts, and she decided to let it slide for now and not antagonize them.
They visited a while longer – in the process, finding out that the other three were also going to be participating in the games – but eventually they separated to find their respective guilds as the evening started falling upon them.
…
Later that night, Lucy headed to her shared room with Erza, Cana, and Levy, while Natsu made for his shared room with Gray, Elfman, Jet, and Droy. The guys had it a little harder than the girls, since there were simply more guys in the guild than girls. Some, like Macao, Wakaba, and Romeo, had gotten a room for themselves out of their own pay, just so they had a little more breathing room. A few couples had also decided to splurge on a room for themselves, like Bisca and Alzack to everyone's catcalls and wolf whistles…making the new couple blush vividly.
Natsu and Lucy also unintentionally received their own set of catcalls, thanks to Natsu's uninhibited personality. She'd simply been bidding him goodnight with a kiss, but he just had to get all fired up and returned her kiss a little too enthusiastically for public. As soon as her lips met his, he turned fully, and his hand clamped onto the back of her head, preventing a quick retreat like she had planned. It spiraled a little out of control as he deepened it, and she followed suit out of habit and instinct. When fire spilled down her throat and drew out a very quiet groan from her, she started turning to putty and swayed into his grip, relaxing fully into the kiss.
Of course it was then that a very loud wolf-whistle speared her ears, and Cana shouted, "As hot as that is, how 'bout you two get a room? There're kids here!" That announcement was followed by more catcalls from the rest of the guild of course.
She instantly flushed from head to toe as she abruptly realized that this was edging into the realm of inappropriate and pulled back, having to push on his chest to get him to release her head. The kiss cut off very sharply as she shoved him back, and a lick of fire spilled from their lips as they parted, stretching between them for a moment like a string of saliva, and then dispersing with a puff.
She heard a few awkward murmurs.
"U-um…yeah, so goodnight." she chuckled embarrassedly, and Natsu just gave her a fangy, happy grin. The look in his eyes said that he wanted to kiss her again, though he wasn't mad about stopping.
She could feel that burning gaze on her all the way to the stairs. It took a lot of willpower to not look back, and when she glanced towards Happy, she made sure to keep her eyes clear of Natsu's – knowing that any eye contact would probably prompt him to follow her and try to sneak into her room somehow.
"You coming Happy?" she called across the room.
"I'll be along in a bit!" he responded with a wave, and she waved back, smiling when she noted how he was apparently entrenched in a very interesting discussion of some sort with his girlfriend. So she turned and went up to her room by herself.
By the time Lucy had changed into her pajamas and was climbing into bed, Cana, Erza, and Levy had come up to join her as well, though only Levy looked like she was actually in the mood for sleep. The other two had curious, slightly evil expressions that said they wanted to have 'girl talk'…probably about the kiss they had just witnessed. Cana had brought her keg o' wine with her and was already dishing out glasses to Erza and Levy.
"So…" Erza started, as she reequipped into her pajamas. "Since we're all sharing a room, let us indulge in some sleepover rituals."
"Like…?" Levy asked, seeming suspicious.
"Drinking obviously." Cana supplied, grinning and toasting them all with her huge flask.
"And gossiping." Erza added with a tone that brooked no complaints.
"Oh boy…" Lucy muttered weakly as she accepted her own glass of wine and took a gulp, feeling like she was probably going to need it soon.
"Alright…so who wants to start?" Levy asked, sounding a little nervous but overall on board. "How about you Cana? Any good gossip?"
"Oh yeah…" She grinned wickedly. "You know how Bisca and Alzack are staying in a private room together? And they retired early when everyone else went to get food? I happened to pass by their room and heard some…very interesting sounds."
All the girls present flushed, aside from Cana of course, and surprisingly Erza and Levy both blushed harder than Lucy.
"So they were…." Levy gasped, sounding all sorts of flustered.
"Yep. Totally fucking. And it sounded like they were both having a great time."
"Really? I guess they've gotten over their shyness now, huh? Their first time was probably pretty hysterical though…" Lucy pondered.
Erza and Levy both gaped at her in surprise, but Cana just grinned and laughed.
"Oh yeah, I bet it was a stuttering mess!" she agreed.
After a brief pause, in which Erza and Levy both drank deeply, Erza asked Cana, "And how about you? Have you found a new boyfriend yet?"
"Well…I have a couple of guys I'm casually dating right now, but I haven't decided if I want to go steady with any of them yet. And how about you Erza? It's obvious you and Jellal have something going on."
The redhead flushed to match her hair and looked down into her cup. "Well…we have expressed certain…feelings to each other. But, things are still very awkward between us. We have so much history that it's hard to know where to go from here."
"Yeah that's obvious." Cana snorted, amused, and took another gulp of her wine. "So have you guys at least kissed yet?"
The reequip mage blushed dark red and cleared her throat, then simply said, "Yes."
Lucy and Cana both whooped while Levy offered softer congratulations. Erza grinned, but her look soured considerable when Cana continued her line of questioning and asked if that was as far as they'd gotten.
"Not exactly."
"That's what I thought! So have clothes come off? Have you gone all the way yet? Come on, dish already! At least tell us if he's a good kisser or not." Cana pushed.
Erza's embarrassed flush was dying down some, to be replaced with a slightly tipsy flush as she chugged her wine, and that meant she suddenly grew much bolder. "He's an excellent lover, though we've only been together once. It happened when I went to bring him to the guild, but we left things strained and up in the air. And shortly after returning, we left to train for the Games. So we haven't talked about what happened. I'm not sure if our relationship will progress or go back to the way it was."
Since Erza actually looked kind of sad now, they all just offered their sympathies instead of teasing her any further, and then Cana shifted her sights onto Lucy.
"Sooooo, how about you Lucy? I bet you've got all sorts of juicy gossip about our favorite fire dragon."
The blond cringed, blushing. "Um…like what?"
"For starters…what was with that kiss?" Levy suddenly asked, getting into it now that she was a little tipsy.
"Um…it was just a goodnight kiss…"
"That was one hell of a goodnight kiss. Does he always grab you like that?"
"Uh…sometimes. I think his excitement about the Games tomorrow might have had something to do with it."
Erza almost cut her off with, "And why was there fire? Do you enjoy having your tongue burnt?"
"No! I'm immune to his fire!" Lucy protested, a little embarrassed and irritated at the insinuation.
"Immune? You mean he can't hurt you with it?" Cana asked, obviously curious as she leaned forwards on her bed.
"No…his fire doesn't hurt me."
"Then what does it feel like?" Levy asked.
"Um…it's really…well, hot."
Cana laughed. "Hot like temperature, or hot like sexy?"
Lucy flushed and fidgeted. "…both."
At that, everyone seemed surprised and intrigued. "You mean his fire feels good?!" Levy asked incredulously.
"Y-yeah…"
"How exactly?" Erza asked, also obviously curious.
"Um…it's kind of hard to explain. It's like…the burn of whisky – if you like that. Or a really hot bath…or…uh…just heat in general." The wine might be helping her comfort level, but it was not helping her ability to try and put difficult sensations into words.
"Huh…I guess I could see what you mean. I've used a heating spell on some of my toys before when I was having 'personal time.'" Cana said, looking thoughtful, and then smirked when everyone sent her shocked looks. "Oh come on, you can't tell me none of you rub off from time to time. But yeah, you should really try it sometime, heating spells can be pretty awesome."
"Heat, huh?" Erza mumbled, looking like she was actually considering the suggestion. Poor Levy though looked like she had gone into a shy coma, with a bright red face covered by her hands.
Of course that wasn't the end of it, because now Cana had just thought of something even dirtier and had turned a hundred-watt smirk back onto Lucy. "Ooooh….so, if his fire feels good…I guess he can give you one hell of a blow job, huh?"
Lucy stiffened and her somewhat fading blush came back hotter than ever, but thankfully her wine had relaxed her enough that she could grin and laugh a little about it. "Yeah…I guess you could say that."
Cana chuckled, leaning back some. "So…how's his score? If you had to rate him from one to ten."
Lucy rolled her eyes. "Uhhhhh…I guess a nine point five? It would be perfect but he sometimes does really crazy shit."
"Oh really? Like what?" Erza prompted. "Does it have anything to do with that time we all woke up to find your clothes scattered all over the island?"
"Wait what? Did that happen while you were training last month?" Levy added.
Erza nodded at both Cana and Levy's curious looks.
"Um…he wanted to try having sex while we were flying…"
All three girls gasped, wide eyed. "That sounds really dangerous Lu!" Levy protested.
"Yeah, I thought so too…but…I guess it wasn't. We did kind of fall a couple of times but…we were so high up that we had plenty of room to catch ourselves. Anyways…"
And so it continued late into the night, up until Happy sleepily stumbled into the room, and then they all headed to bed.
As for Lucy, she didn't mind sharing the room with her friends, but … she did discover an interesting problem later on in the night as she attempted to sleep. She couldn't help but feel strange sleeping in the small twin bed by herself. It was amazingly cold and lonely without her personal space heater, and so it took a shockingly long time to fidget herself into a very fitful sleep. Happy - on the other hand - was out as soon as his furry blue ears hit her pillow, and his snoring right by her head didn't exactly lull her to sleep either.
It seemed like mere seconds after she'd drifted off that a loud horn was being blown, and somebody started shouting through some exceptionally loud speakers. There was no way in hell that anybody could sleep through that racket, and it was so startling that she heard more than one violently surprised reaction from her roommates.
Levy fell off the bed with a yelp and pinwheeled her arms aggressively to try and correct herself… which launched the lamp sitting on her nightstand into the air. Erza summoned a weapon in her half-asleep state and whacked the lamp out of midair as it headed towards her head, only to get a look at her broken fishing pole and groan. Cana snorted and tipped over her wine … which poured down her front. That roused her with a yell and then vibrant cusses as she realized that she would have to deal with stains and also an empty bottle. As for Lucy, she had sat upright so fast that she brought Happy with her, and he yowled as he was yanked through the air by one paw – which was tangled in her hair. She yowled too as her hair got yanked, and they both very quickly fixed the problem.
Sounds of crashing, yelling, cussing, and general chaos came from the rooms around them as everyone else woke with a bang too.
Naturally, once everyone was awake, the next thing to do was to go out onto their respective balconies and investigate the obnoxiously loud voice.
It quickly turned out to be the mascot for the Grand Magic Games, a strange little man in a funny costume with the head of a pumpkin. After waking everyone up, he bellowed into his lacrima speaker, "We're starting off the Grand Magic Games a wee bit early this year for a big surprise! If you'll look up, you can see the very first challenge!"
Everyone gaped at the huge floating ball high above the city. It looked like a rat's nest of roads and stairs and platforms and basically nonsense. Essentially, it was a twisted-up maze. Suddenly, every hotel that housed contestants got cranked up high into the air on tall pillars of gears – probably run by magic. Long bridges sprung from the maze ball and landed on every balcony and window that belonged to a registered participant of the Grand Magic Games.
"Teams! Please make your way into the grand maze! The goal is to find the exit, which will magically teleport you to the Domus Flau. Everyone who passes through the exit by dawn will go on to compete in the Grand Magic Games! Your entire team must participate and get through the exit to win!"
For a long moment, everyone stared at the bridges, the maze, and the pumpkin head in shock… and then it seemed like everyone snapped back to their senses at the same time, and – with various yells, war cries, and groans of displeasure – all the competitors ran up their respective bridges.
"Woah this is crazy!" Gray announced as he joined them from two bridges over with Natsu hot on his heels.
"Yeah, not really a big fan to tell you the truth." Lucy grouched, not pleased about being woken up in the middle of the night for this.
"Ha! Don't be such a spoil-sport Luce! This is tons of fun!" Natsu enthused, and she just scowled at him and stuck her tongue out in a petulant act of defiance.
"Juvia is also disturbed… she was woken from a most pleasant dream of her and Gray." the water mage agreed with Lucy as she flowed over from a bridge on their other side.
Of course nobody risked commenting on that, for fear that they would get an explicit description of said dream.
Soon, they reached the platform their bridge connected to, and then they took a moment to just absorb the spectacle that completely surrounded them on all sides. It looked like something out of a madman's fever dream. There was really no telling up from down, because there were some paths and stairs that even went sideways or upside down for some odd reason.
"This should be easy enough I hope…we just have to find the exit, right?" Juvia asked, looking around her with a bit lip.
"Yeah…but where in the heck could the exit be?"
"Not a clue." Gray said flatly, also looking around and obviously unamused.
It might have seemed like a simple task in theory, but considering just how vast and chaotic this place was, it seemed like more and more of an impossibility the longer they looked around.
"Well, we've gotta start somewhere. Let's just get going!" Natsu finally spat as his patience fizzled out.
For once nobody could think of a better solution, and so they all set out, picking pathways randomly.
Soon enough, it became apparent why the maze was so crazy, because about thirty minutes later, the entire structure shifted to the side. With a cacophony of screams, people began to fall off their pathways. Some were lucky enough to smack into another one on the way down, but most seemed to just fall right out of the maze altogether. Thankfully, with Gray's ice make magic, Erza's pick of armor wings, and Natsu's real wings, they were all able to make it to another pathway safely.
Lucy hadn't even panicked when she fell… not like she would have a month ago. With all her training, she was able to keep somewhat calm and reached out for Natsu, angling her fall so she could get closer. Still, by the time they landed on the next path over, she realized that her heart was pounding as adrenaline rushed through her at the sudden unexpected toss into midair.
"Well…that explains a lot." Erza said dryly as they all landed on the platform.
"Yeah. Now we know why the paths are all weird." Gray seconded, not looking particularly pleased with the discovery.
The largest problem with the preliminary round, was that it was seemingly based on pure luck…since there was no real way to find the exit aside from just stumbling across it.
"There has to be some way to do this in a logical manner. It can't just be a bunch of running around aimlessly." Lucy whined after a while, beginning to feel a disenchanted with the whole thing. Not that she'd been happy about it to begin with.
"When we started this contest, we were facing east. I suggest that we aim in that direction so we can go straight through the center to the other side. Hopefully that will have us travel the majority of the maze." Erza offered.
"Definitely sounds better than just wandering around. Let's do it!" Lucy said with a determined strike of her fist to her other palm – an action she had picked up from Natsu.
And so, Erza pulled out a compass and they all aimed eastward as they continued to make their way through the maze. They all kept their eyes peeled for any sign of an exit as they methodically walked the paths they had picked out.
There was a flash from somewhere deeper within in the maze, and the announcer said, "We have our first contestant to make it through the maze! It's Sabertooth!"
Natsu's ears perked up. "Hey, that's Rogue, Sting, and Yukino's guild right?"
"Yeah…why?"
With a broad grin, he lifted his nose and inhaled deeply. "Now I'm fired up! All I've gotta do is catch a whiff of them and we're set!"
"All right! Way to go Natsu!"
With that, they all sped up – still going eastwards, which the flash of light from before had confirmed was the right direction – while Natsu sniffed the air searching for a trace of Sabertooth. After another hour of searching, two more teams had made it through – Mermaid Heel and Blue Pegasus. They all perked up at the sound of Blue Pegasus, because it was another group of scents that Natsu was familiar with. The following announcement of 'Lamia Scale' also sparked excitement. On the other hand, Raven Tail and Quatro Cerberus didn't do anything for them, so they ignored those.
By the time Natsu finally ran across a scent he recognized, amongst the hundreds of smells he didn't, the night had almost completely passed, they'd been turned around more times than they could count, and they were all starting to panic.
So, when he froze and then yelled, "There! I've got them!" they all shouted in excitement.
"Quick! We've got to follow them while the trail is still warm!"
They hurried forwards after Natsu and followed him as he confidently wound through the paths – even finding a way back to the correct path after the maze tilted again.
Finally, there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and their hectic pace increased even further. In fact, they were running so fast, that they very nearly plowed over Team B as the two Fairy Tail groups converged right at the finish line. Thankfully, nobody fell out of the maze, and both teams barreled through a glowing doorway and out into a huge arena right before the horn sounded to end the challenge. As such, they were the last guild to make it, and they had eked through by the skin of their teeth – which didn't do all that much for their reputation.
One would think that getting both of their teams through would count for something at least…. but naturally the crowd didn't see it that way. Based off all the loud jeering and cries of, "Cheaters!" most people seemed to disapprove, despite the fact that it was perfectly legal to enter two teams into the Games. Although, since they were the only guild to get both through the preliminaries, it did give them a somewhat unfair advantage.
After finishing – and dealing with all the unpleasant booing of the crowds – Fairy Tail Teams A and B headed back to their hotel as a long recess was called before the true Games begun. As for Lucy, she was looking forward to crawling back into bed, even if she couldn't have her space heater with her. However, as soon as they stepped foot inside the hotel – which had been lowered back to the ground of course – the rest of their guild pounced on them. Suddenly there was food and drink and random fights, as per usual, as everyone in the guild celebrated their victory.
Lucy participated for a while, drinking maybe one glass of wine too many, and then staggered off to bed…for a few hours filled with bad half-dreams and not nearly enough sleep. The rest of her roommates eventually joined her to try and grab a few more hours of shut eye as well.
Sneak Peek
No sooner had she set off in search of a minkrat though, than something snagged her. Of course she'd been oblivious to the warnings shouted by her friends as they watched a certain redheaded aggressor heading right towards her. In fact it looked like the Raven Tail member had actually hunted her down, because she had passed up several other contestants on her way to Lucy. This had not gone unnoticed by Fairy Tail's resident redhead, but most other members of the audience had missed this little detail.
As for Lucy, all she knew was intense pain as something wrapped around her ankle and then squeezed tight. She had faster reflexes than Yukino though, and a key was in her hand before the tendril of hair could snake around her whole leg.