A train rattled along its tracks as it raced through the countryside, bound for Crocus. On-board were the members of Fairy Tail, housed within a private train car that Natsu had organised. They were occupying the rear-most carriage so they wouldn't be disturbed or cause a disturbance for any of the other passengers.
'This train is taking forever!'
'Yeah, I know END, but there is nothing we can do about it. Their infrastructure isn't as advanced as ours.'
Natsu stood at a food cart, paying for a cup of tea that he desperately needed. He had realised how immature the guild was all those years ago and it was grating on his nerves slowly but surely. "Thank you, Miss."
The young, raven-haired woman pushing the trolley smiled brightly at the man, getting lost in the man's dark, dark green eyes.
"Miss." The man smiled, sincerely. "I'm sure I'm not the only person that has need of your services."
"Eeep!" The woman couldn't help but find a hidden meaning in the man's innocent words, causing her cheeks to catch aflame.
A kind grin spread across Natsu's face as he took a step back from the cart. "I'll be seeing you around, Miss."
"Until the next time I can be of service." The woman curtsied and bustled out of the carriage, leaving the man to his thoughts.
'How much longer will we be stuck on this train?' Bemoaned END, ticking off Natsu and forcing him to take a calming sip of tea. 'Well, at least that woman was cute.'
'I don't know. Like I said just moments ago, this train is slower than the ones at home.'
END continued to grumble to himself but Natsu paid no heed to it. The man ran a hand through his hair, he had changed it to black and much less spikey to hide his identity. He had also donned a black cloak even though END had warned him that it could make him look even more suspicious.
'We better get back to the others, who knows what antics they are up to…'
BEEP BEEP
"Oh?" The black-haired man brought his left arm up. His P-IVD had an Incoming Message light flashing. Natsu tapped at the device, bringing up a holographic display as he slowly walked through the cabin. "A pre-recorded message…"
"Hey man, it's Dragneel." The battle-worn face of one of his allies flashed up onto the holographic display. "Sam told me about the training she was doing with you and these games you'll be at. It got me thinking, we could use a little R&R, and so I had a chat with some of the girls and they are eager to come and check it out. Shoot me a message when you get the chance."
"Hmm…" The man stared at the image of his counterpart from 137-C. 'I kinda owe Sam for helping us out… I guess it can't hurt having them watch a day or two.'
Natsu quickly typed up a reply as he walked, making sure not to bump into anyone on his way back to the cabin he had claimed.
"Natsu! There you are!" A girl shouted as she stuck her head out of the door.
"Huh?" The man looked up at who called out his name. It was Natsumi, she was leaning out of the doorway and waving at him eagerly, a grin adorning her beautiful face.
"Sorry Spitfire, I had to step out for a moment, I was getting a headache from everything."
Natsumi's grin turned into a playful smirk as she pressed herself up against the doorway. "I bet you stepped out to chat up that hot train stewardess."
"I did chat with the stewardess, but only because I was thirsty."
"Oh I bet you were~." The princess purred at him, her smouldering eyes boring into his being. "Anyway, things have quietened down now so it's safe to come back."
Natsu stepped around the pinkette, tea in hand, as he entered the cabin. He could hear a ruckus a little bit further down the carriage. "I hope they aren't destroying things… I did pay to have this carriage all to ourselves…"
The man groaned internally, finally seeing it from Makarov's side when he used to be a destructive brat. 'Kami help me…'
"You paid for the carriage?" Lucy's eyes snapped to the disguised man, growing as wide as dinner plates. "How?"
"Heh, err…" Natsu rubbed the back of his head, meekly, a cautious smile coming to his face. "I kinda carry around a decent sum of money in my pocket dimension, for emergencies."
All the female faces in the carriage suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree, sending alarm bells ringing in Natsu's head. 'Ah fuck…'
Natsu's Mind
Alarms blared as red lights flashed around the room.
"WARNING. WARNING. IMMENSE SHOPPING SPREE DESIRE DETECTED. WARNING. WARNING."
"Fuck!" END leapt to his feet quickly, his head snapping around the room to the various 'Natsu Subroutines'. "Alpha-Nineteen! Activate Protocol Sixty Seven Dash Three! NOW!"
"Yes, Sir!" Alpha-Nineteen raced across the room and hammered away at a control panel.
"Delta-Seven!" END spun around and pointed at them. "Initiate Fight or Flight Response! Prime It For Maximum GTFO!"
"WARNING. WARNING. IMMENSE SHOPPING SPREE DESIRE DETECTED. WARNING. WARNING."
"AND SOMEONE PLEASE SHUT OFF THAT FUCKING ALARM!"
"Yes, Sir!"
"WARNING. WARNING…"
"Fucking Finally! Some peace and fucking quiet. Delta-Seven, how is the FFR coming along?"
"Primed and ready, Sir!"
"Good, keep it that way until I say otherwise."
"Nope, not going to happen. I'm not taking you all out on a shopping trip. I know those looks." Natsu crossed his arms in defiance, staring the women down as they all eyed him, greedily.
"Come on, Natsu~" Mira cooed, about a million different outfits running through her head, her eyes practically shining like joy-filled stars.
The black-haired man stared at her, flatly, he clearly wasn't amused. "No."
The white-haired beauty pouted at the man cutely as she crossed her arms under her bust. "Meany."
Natsu took the free seat and slumped down in it, relaxing as much as he can before the inevitable chaos begins.
'Get rid of the cloak already, you look so damn stupid.'
Natsu let out a long and tired sigh, his relaxation was ruined instantly by his unescapable companion, END. 'What is wrong with it?'
'Aside from sticking out like a dick in a brothel?'
The pinkette rolled his eyes and grumbled to himself. 'What makes me stand out? I could just be a member of the guild who carries a long as fuck sword on his back and has a penchant for wearing cloaks?'
'Just switch it out for a coat or that black leather jacket you bought not that long ago. Anything to stop us looking so douchey and out of place.'
"Gahh, fine! You annoying bastard!" Natsu slapped a hand to his face in frustration, drawing everyone's attention at his outburst. "I'll get rid of the damn cloak."
He rose to his feet sharply as flames raced over the cloak. He was sick and tired of END's complaining so he had decided to just burn the damn thing.
In less than a second, the cloak had been completely turned to cinders. "Happy now? Fucking ass."
'That's better. At least I don't feel extremely suspicious now.'
Light engulfed Natsu's torso, it faded quickly to reveal a black mid-length coat. It was open at the front, revealing a red button-up shirt that had the top few buttons undone, it was a gift from Mira that she had given him when she had visited during the three months he was training Natsumi's guild.
She had told him that it had made her want to rip it right off him when he had first put it on.
Mira rose from her seat in the cabin and moved in front of the man, she couldn't help but bite her lip in lust as she admired him. "This looks good on you."
"Thanks." Natsu placed his unusually long sword onto his back, causing the runes to activate and make the sword hover an inch from his back. "Not to be a buzzkill, but I need some time to plan out what to do when we get to Crocus. I'll be at the back of the train if anyone needs me."
As Natsu left the cabin, he removed the Boltok from its holster on his left thigh and used his Requip magic to switch the holsters from his thigh to one attached to the back of his belt. He wanted to make it less obvious that he was packing a very deadly projectile weapon.
"Natsu~." Mira held the doorframe as she leaned out after him.
"Hmm?" The man turned to look back at the white-haired woman. "What's up?"
"I think white would suit you better." The woman gently tugs at one of her own locks of hair, a dazzling smile adorning her face.
A smile slowly tugged at the corners of his mouth as Natsu turned away from the woman and started walking away.
Mira's smile fell a little as she watched the man's black hair but it perked back up again as she saw the roots start to change as white raced down his hair to the tips, the hair raising up into spikes once more.
'I get the hair colour, but is it really necessary?'
Natsu scowled at the voice in his head, he was getting sick of the complaining. 'What makes you say that?'
'Think about it. Even just with our normal hair, there are lots of other people with the same colour, it wouldn't be unusual for a man to be walking around with salmon spikes. And our guild mark is hidden by the coat, no one will know who we are anyway let alone draw any form of lines to Natsumi.'
"Huh…" He paused in the middle of the corridor as he thought about END's words. The man ran a hand through his hair and pulled on a white lock, bringing it down in front of his eyes. 'You know… maybe I have been overthinking it… In this universe, only Fairy Tail and Crime Sorcière know exactly who and what I am.'
Natsu placed his hands into his coat pockets and looked at his reflection in one of the nearby windows.
'I think you're right… I'm putting too much thought into it. They wouldn't figure out that I was basically just a male Natsumi. But what about the other dragon slayers?'
'Worst case is they figure it out and confront you, but at this point, I think they'd be so far up their own arses that they wouldn't give you a second look, or sniff.'
'Heh, that sounds about fucking right.' Natsu let out a quiet chuckle as he continued to the back of the carriage, releasing the Transformation spell along the way and causing his hair to go back to its natural salmon/pink colour.
'Well, I'm pretty sure that sword of yours would throw them off anyway. Who else carries a sword that's blade reaches from their shoulders to their knees. They'd be curious about you but since Natsumi fights hand-to-hand, they shouldn't draw that parallel very quickly.'
'Hey! What's wrong with my sword?'
'Aside from being very unusual. Being that it's a black, straight bladed, katana-like longsword. People would look at both how you used to be and how Natsumi currently is, and they'd think that due to your brutish approach to combat that you two would more likely use something like a claymore or something similar.'
'I mean, it's not like I can't make weapons from my fire, I did absorb that power from what's-his-face all those years ago.'
'Hey, Natsu. On a different note, I don't suppose you know this but your birthday is coming up… your real one.'
'Oh, how far away is it?' Natsu opened the door to the back of the carriage and closed it behind him, the scenery rushing past the end of the train.
'Just under a month, about twenty-eight days from now.'
The pinkette rested his arms on the railing as he watched trees rush off into the distance. 'How old would I be… physically, I never really knew my true age, we only could go off of Porlyusica's best estimates.'
'Well, by those estimates, you would be twenty-one turning twenty-two, but in truth, you are twenty-two turning twenty-three. Did I never tell you?'
'No, actually… huh, I'm the same age as Erza… no wait, I'm slightly older, her birthday would be after mine then. How did you know my age?'
'Genetic Dating.'
'Okay…?'
'Yep.'
Natsu scratched his head, trying to figure out what END meant by that. 'You going to explain it?'
'Nope.'
'…Arsehole.'
Crocus
The pinkette stood on the outside of the train station, he didn't have any luggage as it was all in his pocket dimension.
Natsu scratched his stubble, he hadn't had a chance to shave recently at it was showing. He hoped he didn't look too scruffy.
"What will you be doing?"
"Hmm?" Natsu snapped his head around to the source of the voice, Natsumi, she was with her team. "Oh, I think I'll wander around for a bit and see who I bump into. Might find a barbershop and get a shave."
"I could call up Cancer if you like, he could give you one so you don't have to pay?" Lucy took out the golden key from her pouch and held it up to the man.
The pink-haired man smiled, he should've been used to it by now, but Lucy's kindness always seems to touch a soft spot. "Thanks, I'll take you up on that when we get to the Inn."
"You know which one it is?" Erza asked, curiously, she herself had forgotten.
"Yeah, it's the Honey Bone Inn. Lucy should know the way." Natsu smiled at the redhead and scratched the back of his head. "She was the one who knew last time."
"He is right, I do know where it is. We'll meet you there later then, it might be around dinner or something as we plan on doing some sightseeing ourselves." The young blonde woman smiled and started leading the way without a glance back.
The pinkette chuckled to himself and nodded after her. "You guys should probably catch up to her, wouldn't want you all to get lost."
"Shit, he's right." Natsumi shouted as she sprinted after her best friend, followed closely by the rest of team Natsumi with the Exceeds flying above their heads.
Natsu sniffed the air as the rustling of a cloak was picked up by his ears. "And here END was giving Me shit for being conspicuous…"
"To be fair." Jellal, disguised as Mystogan, walked to his side. "He was known for wearing this type of clothing."
"How comfortable are you with using those staves?"
"That depends on who I end up facing." Jellal kept his voice neutral as he adjusted a magical staff on his back. "I might not be able to keep the charade up for long against a tough opponent."
"Well, I'm hoping that, at the very least, the matchings will be different. It would be very boring if it wasn't." Natsu sighed and crossed his arms as he looked up at the clouds.
"Who did I fight in your one?"
The pinkette slowly turned his head over to look at the man out of the corner of his eye. "Jura."
"The Wizard Saint?"
"Is there any other Jura?"
"Ah, shit… I might end up breaking the disguise against someone like him."
"Well." Natsu fully turned to face the man. "With any luck, you'll be facing someone else, and if we are really lucky then it would be that dog dude from Quattro Cerberus, Toby I think his name was."
"That… would be very one-sided."
"As long as you don't get hit by his claws, you'll be fine, he'll paralyse you if you get struck by them."
Fairy Tail Team B lined up beside Jellal, facing the pinkette. Natsu ran his eyes along the line of combatants.
He slipped his hands into his coat pockets and stood in front of the group of five mages, a serious look on his face. "We know what our goal is, what the point of this group is. With any luck, both groups will make it in."
"Wouldn't you know if both teams make it?" Laxus asked, viewing the pinkette as an equal even though he hadn't seen his strength.
"Both got in with mine, but things could be different here. Move fast and do not hesitate when it comes to attacking. Evaluate your targets and the time it would take to eliminate them." His eyes moved between Laxus and Jellal. "Utilise your magic to give you the edge in speed, make it to the finish as quick as possible. There is a teleporter at the end so search for a magical signal that matches it."
Gajeel nibbled on a silver spoon that he had snuck out of the train. "Anything else we should know?"
"Nothing at the moment, I'll be keeping an eye on everything as the night rolls on, if we are lucky then things will go smoothly."
"And if we aren't?" Mira asked, curious at his choice of words, she could feel the animosity in the air.
"We'll be attacked, but I'll personally handle any foul play. Don't you worry about it." Natsu's eyes flashed a deep crimson as he growled quietly. A few embers leaking from his fingers before he reined himself in. "Anyway, I won't stop your sightseeing, I'll see you at the Inn later."
The man flashed them a smile he turned and walked away from the group, heading in a different direction than Team Natsumi had.
'There are a lot of flowers here…'
'It is called the Flower Blooming Capital for a reason, END. Everywhere we'll go there will be flowers, you'll have to get used to it.'
Night had fallen over Crocus, lights were twinkling around the city and out of the castle as Natsu sat up high, relaxing on the top of a tower near the Castle Gardens.
He had been waiting for everyone to arrive at the Inn and all but Wendy and Carla were accounted for so he headed out in search of them.
With his Demonic Dragon eyes, he searched the streets below him. Crimson slits sweeping both shingled roofs and stone brick roads, looking for a hint of blue.
Natsu spotted the young dragon slayer and her exceed friend in the Castle Gardens, they looked to be wandering around and smelling the various flowers.
"Alright so they are there, where is this bastard…"
His eyes locked onto movement along a rooftop, it was a small and odd being. It was moving quickly toward the Gardens.
"Obra."
Natsu launched off of the tower and dived through the air.
The draconic eyes stayed glued to the creature as the pinkette plummeted at high speeds.
Obra leapt onto one of the light posts that were dotted around the Gardens and used its magic cancelling ability on Wendy and Carla.
"Grah fuck. I was too late."
Natsu snatched the creature out of the air as it tried to jump back to the building. He landed feet first on the ground with an impact so heavy that it kicked up dust and rattled the nearby windows. "I know what you did, pathetic insect.
The creature stared into the red slits of the man who caught it, starting to panic and struggle in his iron grip.
"I know what Ivan Dreyar has planned for the games. Taking you out of the equation will seriously damage their efforts." Natsu's eyes narrowed dangerously as his mouth split into a wide, fanged grin laced with malice. "And I have no intention of making it "Quick and Painless", not one bit at all."
Obra's body became covered in red and yellow markings as Natsu's curse power surged through his hand.
An oppressive aura surrounded the pinkette. "Be Silent and Still."
The man started tossing the creature up and down like a ball as he watched it with a murderous gaze, hate boiling up inside him for all the pain and suffering this one little creature had caused Lucy.
"Burn."
The red markings on Obra started to glow bright then they vanished as the familiar instantly ignited in a vicious dark crimson fire.
Natsu grinned demonically as he watched the creature suffer for its sins. He kept tossing it up and catching it as it slowly burned.
"I would say "It's not personal" but I would be lying, this is very, very personal."
There was nothing Obra could do, it had already tried to drain this devil of its magic but nothing happened, the fire continued to burn away at its body.
Natsu watched the life start to fade from the creature's eyes. "Oh, I'm not done yet."
The man looked at the sky and wound up his arm, ready to throw the creature as hard as he can.
Next thing Obra knew was that it was flying throw their air, faster than it had ever gone before, flying like a shooting star.
"Boom."
The pinkette bared his fangs in a grin as he watched Obra explode high in the sky, like a firework.
'I thought you wanted to be inconspicuous?'
Natsu sighed and shook his head clear as walked to Wendy's side. 'I need to get these two to safety, and taking out that bastard will benefit us greatly.'
He scooped up the young girl and exceed in his arms and sprinted back to the guild. Natsu released his demonic and draconic eyes on the way back to the Inn, causing them to fade back to green.
Natsu shoulder charged the door open, crashing into the Inn where Fairy Tail was staying for the games. "I need a hand! Wendy got attacked."
"What happened Natsu!?" Erza marched over to the man, panic well-hidden on her stoic face. "Who did this?"
"Raven Tail. They'll be trying out for the games. It was this creature called Obra that attacked her."
"What happened, exactly, my boy?" Makarov's attention was gained the instant he had mention the guild of Ivan's.
Natsu handed off Wendy and Carla to Natsumi and turned to the old man. "She was attacked by Obra, some kind of familiar who can drain magic from people."
"Raven Tail has someone like that?!" Lucy shouted in shock. "And they planned on using it on us, didn't they?"
"They had someone like that, I've dealt with it."
"What do you mean "dealt with it"?" Natsumi asked, curiously, her mind wondered about the possibilities before it finally clicked. "Wait, that wasn't some random firework, was it?"
"No, that was Obra flying through the air while on fire." Natsu replied, idly, as he walked over to the bar and paid for a glass of whiskey. "And then exploding."
"WHAT?!"
Natsu plugged his ringing ears as he turned around to the other mages. "I killed him so Raven Tail loses an asset that they would have been using to cheat and disadvantage us by nullifying our magic power."
"AND WHAT IF THAT IS TRACED BACK TO US?" Makarov shouted, his head growing ten times in size.
"Will All Of You Stop Fucking Shouting! Kami, my head fucking hurts from it all…" The pinkette squeezed his eyes shut, tightly, and rubbed his temples in an effort to soothe his headache. "One: I was keeping an eye on everything from above; no one else was there. Two: Ever since we finished up training, I have been suppressing my magical signal. Three: I used my curses to do it, not my magic. In other words, it won't be traced back."
The man opened his eyes slowly to reveal his crimson demonic eyes as he stared Makarov down. "Anyway, you should be more worried about Wendy, considering she was just attacked and if it wasn't for me, she'd have been at the Gardens for who knows how long. Something worse than drained magic could have happened to her!"
Makarov sighed, his head shrinking as he exhaled, it was like a balloon deflating. "You're right, and though while I don't agree with your methods, you have saved us a major headache in the near future."
"What are we going to do about Team Fairy Tail?" Erza walked to the old man, urgency accompanying her question. "We are down a person…"
"Hmm… that is troubling…" Makarov looked around the Inn at his children one-by-one as he worked out who would give them the best chances, he watched Natsumi disappear upstairs to the makeshift infirmary that he had organised when they arrived.
Natsu turned back to the bar and knocked back the glass of whiskey in a single, loud gulp. "Whoever you pick, they better be able to ensure a win. Another one, please."
The old man slowly turned his head to look at the pinkette, he was sizing up the man and wondered how he well they would do with him on the team.
Mira refilled the man's glass, she had taken up the bar for their stay at the Inn and had told the staff to just relax and enjoy a healthy break …it was probably for the best due to Natsu's bluntness, even if what he killed was just a familiar.
"Thanks Mira." Natsu took the glass and sipped the contents, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Makarov was staring at him so he turned to look at the Guild Master. "Yes, Gramps?"
"Hmm…"
'Kiddo, I think he is sizing you up to be in the team.'
The pinkette sighed and started to weigh up all the possibilities, trying to find the best solution that could guarantee them the win but all the best solutions involved him taking part in the team. "There are other solutions, aside from me taking part."
The mages of Fairy Tail quietened down and turned to the demonic man. A murmur spread around, chattering about how if Natsu joined in, they would surely win.
"But, my boy, our best chances lie with you. A man who has fought in this very tournament, in this exact year."
"Makarov… My power level a few years ago, about a year or so from this point in time. I could melt the stadium with my magic aura alone…"
"WOAH!" Natsumi's eyes shone like stars as sat back down with her closest friends. "I become that powerful in that short amount of time?"
Natsu smiled and turned to his counterpart. "As long as you train hard, then yes, you would get that powerful."
The pink-haired man turned his attention back to the old guild master. He pinched the bridge of his nose at Makarov's determined visage. "If I were to take part in the games, I would limit myself to use little to no magic. This way it would be fair for the other teams and it would keep my identity under wraps."
"So is it a deal? Will you participate and aid us?"
"I won't lie." A grin spread across Natsu's face, bearing his draconic fangs as his eyes glinted. "The idea of challenging myself by doing a magic tournament and using as little magic as possible has got me pumped up."
"The irony is killing me." Ikaruga muttered idly as she sipped some jasmine tea, she was sat at a table in the corner with Seilah.
Seilah paused and looked up from a new book she had bought in her travels that day. "So you'll join in on the games, Master?"
"Yeah, but there is one problem. My name."
"It's not unusual for people to have similar names." Erza spoke up, she nibbled on a slice of strawberry cheesecake as she looked between the fire dragon slayers. "Your parents would have just named you Natsu, meaning Summer, because you were born in Summer for instance. We just won't provide them with your last name."
"I… guess that works…?" Natsu scratched the back of his head as he looked around the room. "Nothing can go wrong with this…"
"You can come and bunk with us in the team's room." Natsumi cheered happily. "We are meant to all be in there by midnight tonight."
"Alright. Hey, Gramps, sign me up I guess. But as Erza said, just leave the name as Natsu."
11:55 pm
"Natsu, what can we expect for the preliminaries?"
The pinkette looked up from his sword that he was in the middle of polishing, his eyes coming to a stop on the redhead knight. "Hopefully it's a giant maze in the shape of an orb."
"What kind of test is that?!" Natsumi shouted as she threw her arms up in the air and fell back onto her bed. "That sounds boring!"
"Heh." The Fire King smiled at the young princess. "I thought so too, but it's fairly interesting when you think about it. To prevent outside interference it's in a dimensional bubble, and inside it, there is a massive 3D maze of stairs and pathways and different types of rooms. On top of that, it shifts around periodically."
"How often does it reconfigure?" Lucy walked to the balcony and gazed up at the sky, she was joined shortly after by the rest of her team.
Natsu watched the group from the bed as he finished up polishing his longsword. "Honestly, I was more focused on trying to get through it than to keep track of the movement of the maze."
The pinkette slid the straight, black blade back into the sheath with a firm click, rising to his feet and moving the sword to his back where the runes on the sheath itself engaged and held the sword in mid-air, an inch from his back. "Any second now, a large hologram will appear over the city. It will be the pumpkin-headed mascot, Mato."
True to his words, the hologram did appear as Natsu joined the mages on the balcony. The pinkette yawned into his hand as the building shook under their feet. "Relax, we are in the pocket dimension."
"Is that the maze?" Gray pointed up at the massive orb that descended down from the sky as the hologram informed them of the rules.
"Looks like it, and we'll be up against over one hundred other teams." Erza replied, resting her hand on the pommel of the sword at her hip. "What will we do once we are inside?"
"Lucy." Natsu turned his head to the blonde. "I want you to call out Pyxis, I need you to confirm the direction for me."
Lucy tore her eyes away from the gigantic hologram and turned to the tall pinkette, his arms were crossed and he seemed focused in both mind and body as he turned back to the maze. "What way should it be?"
"East to start off with, but the maze will shift around and well… it's hard to figure out which way is up and which is down as reality is very warped in there."
"Huh…?" Natsumi glanced over, curiosity written all over her face. "What do you mean?"
"The pathways spiral about, go up vertically, and also go upside down, they break what we expect to happen."
"Fascinating… and very unusual, Levy would have a field day learning about that thing." Lucy muttered to herself, she placed a hand on her pouch full of keys to reassure herself.
"Here we go, people, get ready to run." Natsu pointed at the maze as a path unfolded before their eyes. It was rapidly coming closer and closer to the building before it came to a stop with a soft tap on the railing.
Erza took the lead and leapt up onto the magical pathway, she broke out into a sprint right from the get-go. "Let's Move!"
"Woo Hoo!" Natsumi cheered as she raced after her childhood friend. "Let's win this shit!"
Gray and Lucy hurried after their teammates, leaving Natsu in the dust back at the balcony. He was smiling at the light. 'Sometimes I miss these simple times, not a care in the world.'
'Better hurry up, kiddo, don't forget that the whole team has to pass the finish to qualify.'
'Alright, alright. I'm going.' The pinkette leapt onto the path and hurried after the rest of the team.
As FT-A ran through up the path, Natsu glanced around at the other pathways, trying to spot FT-B. He moved to the edge of the walkway and looked down over the edge. 'Ah, there they are.'
Mira felt a pair of eyes on her, causing her to look up and spot the pinkette looking at their group, she waved up at him and was about to call out to him when she was silenced by Juvia's hand on her mouth. They had been ordered to keep quiet about the two teams during the preliminaries.
The two teams ran through the wall of the maze, both becoming momentarily blinded by bright light as they were teleported to random locations in the maze.
"Alright, time to put the plan into action." Erza she quickly checked her compass but found that it wasn't working so she turned to the group, only to find that Natsu was the only one focused on their task, the rest of them were looking around at the physics-defying maze in complete shock. "Come On, Focus!"
Natsu sighed and shook his head, he couldn't help the smile that tugged on the corners of his mouth. "Guys, we need to win this, remember. Lucy, please check Pyxis."
"Oh!" The busty Blonde deftly rummaged in her key pouch, pulling out the silver key belonging to Pyxis. "Open, Gate of the Compass. Pyxis."
The Fire King walked past Lucy as she consulted the spirit, he placed his hands into his coat pocket and focused on finding the teleportation spell's signal. It was hard work as people were still being teleported into the maze.
"Got anything, Natsu?" Natsumi asked as she stood beside him, gazing out at the spaghetti-like mess of stairways.
"Too much interference. We'll follow Pyxis' directions to start out, then after maybe a minute or two I'll check again and see if I can pick it up."
"Guys, Pyxis is saying to go west."
"West?" Natsu spun around to look at Lucy and her spirit, he was slightly shocked out the outcome but it didn't really surprise him all that much.
True to Lucy's words, Pyxis was pointing both of its wings to the west.
"Alright. Let's Go!" Erza took the lead and leapt off the edge of the pathway they were on, heading directly west.
"Are you insane?" Lucy shouted as she ran to the edge and looked over.
"No time to lose!" Natsumi ran after the redhead, giggling like crazy as she jumped after the knight.
Gray was the next to leap, trusting in Erza's judgement. "You heard the woman!"
Lucy spun around and stared at Natsu, her eyes as wide as saucers. "They are nuts!"
Natsu was doubled over with laughter, holding his stomach as his sides started to ache. "Yeah. We are all an insane bunch. But that's how we get along so well!"
A squeal escaped Lucy's lips as Natsu ran forward and grabbed her hand. Pulling her into the unknown with a fire in his eyes.
"WOOHOO!"
The man's voice boomed around them as the wind raced through their hair and wiped their clothes about.
It felt great to just let loose and go a little insane.
Natsu spun around and brought Lucy into his arms as they neared a pathway that was about ten or so meters under the one they were on.
BOOM
Natsu landed on the platform, hard. Soaking up the landing with his legs as they fought against the force of the impact.
There was a slide of ice next to him and burn marks in front of him. The rest of the team stood not far away with Erza in her Heaven's Wheel Armour.
Large cracks had spread out from the impact site like spider webs as the man put the celestial mage down on her shaky feet.
"You're Worse Than Natsumi!" Lucy started belting her fists against Natsu's chest as she cried comically.
Natsu started laughing again as he walked over to the rest of the team, happy tears leaking out of the corner of his eyes. "So? That was so fucking fun hahaha."
"This path leads directly west." A glow surrounded Erza as she talked, she was switching back to her normal Heart Kreuz Armour. "We should follow this for now."
"We better move fast then." Natsumi turned and raced off down the pathway, the rest of the team following hot on her heels.
"Natsu." The knight slowed down until she was level with the man. "Do you have anything up your sleeves that could help?"
The pinkette ran through his options silently as he ran, acknowledging the woman with a glance.
Suddenly, the image of a suit-wearing blonde man popped into his head, causing him to cringe a little but the idea itself was sound.
"I have one idea, I bet it's the same idea that Hibiki from Blue Pegasus would have had." He brought his arm up as it glowed yellow, holographic bands wrapped around his arm and a screen was projected above his forearm. "I'll see if I can track it this way."
"Good idea, Natsu. Make it quick."
"I'm working on it." Natsu pushed forward until he was leading the pack of Fairies, he sent out a magical ping from his archive magic to see if he could track the exit and map the maze.
A faintly flashing dot appeared on the screen, barely visible so the pinkette pumped more power into the next pulse.
"How's it going, Natsu?" Erza checked in, the path had gotten windy now and there was a complex fork coming up.
"Working on it."
The ping returned, detailing even more of the map than last time.
"GET THEM!"
"REQUIP: HEAVEN'S WHEEL." Erza leapt into the air as she became enshrouded in light, turning in mid-air to face the shout coming from behind her. "BLUMENBLATT!"
Swords raced from the armoured, flying Fairy Queen, her metal wings shining from the spell as light trailed after the swords.
Natsu glanced behind him as a dozen swords bared down upon a guild he didn't recognise, the mages only now finding out just who they were picking a fight with. "Gray, block the path behind us."
The raven-haired mage slammed his fist into his palm as he spun around on the ball of his foot. "ICE MAKE: WALL!" Gray slammed his hands down on the ground.
Ice raced from his hands and shot up a metre from him, creating a large glacial wall and blocking the pathway.
"Good Work Everyone." Erza hit the ground running, her and Gray now at the back of the pack as Erza's armour switched back to Heart Kreuz. "Natsu. Progress Report."
"We are going down the far-right path." The pinkette didn't miss a beat as he veered off down the prong of the fork. "I've managed to get a solid lock on the exit and have plotted the shortest route to it."
"I'm sensing a 'but' at the end of that sentence." Erza moved up through the group to get a better look at the map.
Natsu glanced at her then back at the group. "We'll have to make a few jumps, or have Gray bridge the gaps then have the bridges destroyed after we cross."
"Sounds easy enough to me." Natsumi said as she took a look at the map. "A lot of these should be able to be jumped across if we put enough effort into it."
Lucy looked between the two pinkettes, she was uncertain about herself being able to make the jumps. "Um… how far are these jumps?"
Erza turned to the tentative blonde, a faint smile spreading across her stoic face. "Lucy, pair up with Natsumi, she'll get you across."
"Yes, Ma'am."
"First Jump, Coming Up!" Natsu announced as he sped up.
The gap was about ten metres of void, none of the mages wanted to plummet into the unknown. Obviously they would be saved but it would cost their guild the win.
An idea sprung into Natsu's head spontaneously, he hit the edge and spun on the ball of his foot and was holding his hands out and low.
The rest of the team understood the idea instantly with Erza and Gray closing in on the man.
The two mages leapt at his hands and were flung across the gap by Natsu. "Next!"
"Come on, Lucy!" Natsumi cheered as she ran toward her counterpart, she held the blonde's hand and pulled her along with her. "No time to lose!"
There was a smirk on Natsu's face that Lucy had a really bad feeling about, it reminded her way too much of that weird look that Mira got sometimes.
True to her women's intuition, the man launched both of the girls high up in the air. "NATSU!"
Both dragon slayers were laughing maniacally at the terrorised blonde, both sharing in the glee of messing with Lucy.
Natsu backed up far enough to give the gap a running jump as Natsumi landed with Lucy in her arms.
He ran forward and kicked off the edge of the path, hard. His momentum carried him across the gap and to the other path. "Alright, two more jumps and we should have a straight shot to the finish."
"Where do we go from here, man?" Gray looked both ways on the path, wondering which one was correct.
"Up the stairs." The pink-haired man took off once more. "Should be two more jumps, that's all."
The team of mages followed Natsu, trusting him to lead them correctly.
The hair started to stand up on the back of both of the dragon slayers' necks. Natsu glanced back at Natsumi. "Do you sense that?"
"Yeah, there is a team coming up behind us. I looked back but I couldn't see them."
"Get in front of me, everyone." The man slowed his pace a little so the rest of his team could move ahead of him.
He reached up and grabbed the handle of his sword as he slowed to a walk, his eyebrows narrowing as his head turned slightly. He was looking right through the group behind them, as if he could see through the illusionary spell.
Natsu could tell that the group had come to a dead stop, waiting for him to make the first move. His eyes narrowed as he saw the shimmering figures, it was an amateur who cast the spell by the looks of it.
In one fluid movement, the pinkette drew his sword and slashed right through the pathway, his sword glowing with ominous red energy. "Find another path. This one is out of order."
The walkway groaned and shuttered under his feet as Natsu turned around and walked after his group, the glowing sword resting on his shoulders menacingly.
He felt the path move under him slightly, the team didn't heed his warning…
Natsu launched forward, breaking out in a sprint to put as much distance between him and the group.
Once he was satisfied, he turned on the spot and sliced through the path like butter, causing it to plummet with the mages on it. "That's them dealt with."
The demonic man watched the illusion spell flicker then unravel as an unknown guild's team fell out of the maze and were teleported away.
"NATSU! Let's Move!"
Natsu snapped around at the sound of Erza's commanding tone, he slid the sword back into its sheath and ran to the group. "We shouldn't have to worry about any more people trying to follow us."
"Where's the next jump? I want to take as little time as possible in this maze."
"It's not far from here, but it'll be a bit of a drop."
"How much is a bit?"
The pinkette led the way for about a hundred metres before pointing over the right edge. "Looks about sixty metres, so suffice to say… Gray, we'll need you to make a slide for this one."
"Hopefully we doing get frostbite on our arses then." Natsumi stretched and bent over the edge to get a better look at the way down.
Natsu couldn't help but notice how tight Natsumi's ass was and how well her short shorts hugged her body. He shook his head to clear the currently unnecessary thoughts and focused on the matter at hand. "Erza and Lucy might get cold arses going down it, but we shouldn't let that hold us back. This is the fastest path from where we started."
'She looks like she could use a good, hard fuck. I bet she'd be very resilient too.'
'Now is not the time to be focusing on hot women, END, we'll save that for once we hit the finish.'
'Sounds like a plan.'
"Ice Make: Slide."
"Are you coming, Hotshot?" Natsumi tugged at Natsu's arm, bringing him out of his thoughts to see the slide made and only the two pinkettes standing on the upper path. "Talking to yourself again?"
"Yeah, END was just being END again."
"Let me guess~ It was about either my ass or tits, I caught you staring at both absentmindedly~."
Natsu chuckled lightly as he smiled at the younger pinkette. "Looks like I was caught red-handed."
"Careful now~ someone might just take you for some kind of pervert~."
Natsu burst out into laughter at the woman's tease, he held his stomach and patted her head softly as he walked to the ice slide. "After being exposed to END for so long and coming to terms with how hot my friends are… I fear that I have already transformed into some kind of pervert."
"WILL YOU TWO HURRY UP, WE DON'T HAVE ALL NIGHT!"
"Whelp, Erza is right, we better hurry or else we won't qualify." The man reached back and grabbed Natsumi's arm, pulling her down the slide with him.
"Finally." The redhead had her arms crossed over her breastplate as she looked down at the two pinkettes at her feet. "What took you so long?"
"Oh, nothing. Just talking about having sex." Natsumi smirked as Erza's face blew up into a vibrant blush and causing the woman to stutter.
"You mind not breaking Erza, we kinda need her right now…" Natsu looked over his shoulder at the woman, he shook his head at the big dumb grin she had and stood up. "Anyway, it is just a straight shot from here to the exit. Let's push hard on this final stretch."
Natsumi backhanded Erza to slap some sense into the woman, successfully bringing her back from whatever perverted hole that her mind had wandered off to. "Come on, we need to move."
"Huh… Oh, right, thanks Natsumi." Erza started to take off at a sprint but her arm was instantly grabbed and she came to a stop. "What?"
Natsu effortlessly picked up the armoured knight and turned her to face the other direction before placing her back on her feet. "You tried running off in the wrong direction, the finish line is this way."
"Oh, sorry." The redhead took off once more, this time she was actually going in the correct direction. "Follow Me!"
The women all took off, leaving just Gray and Natsu standing in their dust. The raven-haired man turned to the man next to him. "You're the one with the map, right? Shouldn't you be taking the lead?"
"Yeah. But sometimes you just have to let the women enjoy themselves and go nuts, plus Erza is fairly dominant so you just learn to let her do her thing."
"Ain't that the truth… Alright man, we better catch up to them and cross the line."
"Sounds like a plan." Natsu yawned into his hand as he took chase after the women. "I wonder what time it is, could use some sleep after this."
"Well, we started at midnight. So pretty late, who knows how long we have been in here."
The two mages quickly caught up with the rest of the team as they made a break for the exit.
"I see the end!" Natsumi cheered loudly, she picked up the pace and sprinted for the goal.
They ran up the final set of stairs and arrived at a platform with a closed door. Mato was standing in front of it, waiting to greet the teams.
"Congratulations, pumpkins! You have successfully qualified for the Grand Magic Games!"
"SWEET!" Natsumi leapt high into the air, she was celebrating loudly as Lucy walked up to the mascot.
"Sir, what place did we come?"
"Your team placed third overall, great work! This door behind me will send you back to your lodging."
Natsu walked to the door, he let out another yawn as he reached out for it. "Thanks, I could use some sleep right about now."
"Alright pumpkins, I'll see your team at Domus Flau tomorrow morning, have a good night!"
"We better check on Wendy before we go to sleep." Erza stretched and yawned, her fatigue catching up to her all of a sudden. "Hopefully she has healed up."
Mato tilted his head at the team as they made their way to the door. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't help overhearing, pumpkin. What happened to your friend?"
Natsu tilted his head up slightly, there was an opportunity to instil a little doubt in the disguised king. He let go of the door and turned to the mascot. "I'm actually filling in for Wendy, we found her in the Castle Gardens not long before we were due to start. She had been attacked and was drained of her magic reserves."
"Who could have done this?" The king almost broke character, his voice was serious and barely held the quirkiness of the mascot Mato. "…Pumpkin?"
"We have some theories." Erza turned to the pumpkin-headed mascot, she had caught onto Natsu's idea and decided to create a little backstory for this unknown mage. "Natsu here is one of our lesser-known members, he didn't get frozen in time like most of our key members and he was still on a mission given to him by our Master. I'm sorry but I can't tell you about the nature of that mission."
Without skipping a beat, Natsu followed her narrative. "In essence, my mission was to keep an eye on people who would seek to harm my guild. One such group of people was a guild ran by an exiled, former member of Fairy Tail, Makarov's son, Ivan Dreyar. It's this man's group who I believe responsible for the attack on our guild member, though at the moment I can only give my word until evidence comes to light."
"Why are you telling me this, pumpkin?" King Toma could swear that this man could see through his disguise or knew that he had always played the part of the Game's Mascot.
"I'm telling you this because I believe that you could bring these suspicions to the right people, people who can keep an eye on a certain group. A certain group that would be trying out in this year's games because the rest of my guild has come back from the unknown."
The mascot watched the pinkette carefully, weighing up his words. A few moments passed before he spoke up once more. "Alright, I'll pass on your words to the highest authority that I can, Pumpkin, you have my word. Might you tell me your name, Natsu?"
Natsu smiled brightly, he ran his hand through his salmon pink hair. "I don't really have a last name, my parents died before I could remember and I had been wandering around until I bumped into Master Makarov. So I guess just call me Natsu."
Mato nodded at the pinkette before turning back to the stairs that led to the finish. "Well Natsu, you have my word that I'll let the best people I know hear about this. You Pumpkins go check on your little friend, I hope she has a speedy recovery."
"Thank you, Mato, we'll see you tomorrow morning." The pinkette nodded at the door, silently telling the group that it was time to leave.
The team left the mascot to do his job as they filtered through the door and found themselves back in their shared room.
"I think I'm going to have a bath then head to bed, let me know how Wendy is coming along if you are all back before me." Natsumi groaned as she stretched stretches her arms above her head then bent to touch her toes. "Yup, a nice hot bath sounds great right now."
"I have to message a few people, someone wanted to come and watch the games but I think it will cause way too much commotion if there were two of me running around. So I'm going to get my Levy to do me a favour." Natsu did his best to keep his eyes off the pinkette's ass, she had purposely bent over in perfect view of him and he was certain that he could see a camel toe out of the corner of his eye. "You guys don't mind me staying here, or should I find my own room?"
"I'm cool with it." Gray said over his shoulder as he walked to the door. "Who wanted to watch?"
"That soldier version of me that you saw in my memories, the one that Sam is with."
Erza chuckled softly as she smiled kindly at the man. "I can see why that would cause a scene. Lucy, let's check on Wendy."
"Alright, goodnight you two."
"Goodnight." Natsu flashed a fanged grin at the two women as he watched them follow Gray out of the room.
"So." Natsumi turned to the man. "Wanna take a bath with me?"
"I guess no one would care if I made these calls from a bath, sure, lead the way."
"Alright, come with me." Natsumi grabbed the man by the hand and pulled him out of the room, she took off down the hall with Natsu in tow.
"Where exactly is this bath?"
"It's less of a bath and more of a hot spring powered by fire lacrima that is built in the building, since it is well after midnight I think there should be no one in there."
"Sounds good." Natsu started tapping on the P-IVD with his free hand, dialling up Levy.
Natsumi pulled him into the bathhouse-like bathroom as the holographic call window opened up, revealing Levy from Natsu's universe. "Hey Natsu, I haven't heard from you in a while, how are you?"
"Tired. We just completed the prelims. What have you been up to?"
"We might have accidentally blown up your house…"
Natsu paused, halfway through removing his clothes as his attention snapped to the blunette. He blinked at her, uncertain that he had heard her right. "You did what?"
"We got drunk and kinda had a massive fight… We're all fine, but the house got destroyed."
"FUCKING HELL!"
The woman fiddled with a drill she was holding, it was clear that she was in her workshop under the guild. She held up her hands in defence. "Woah, woah. It wasn't my fault. Mira and Erza had a spat, thankfully Crime Sorcière was visiting so we had Ultear fix it."
Natsu groaned and ran a tired hand through his head. "Why is it that every time I go away, you girls end up destroying my home? I swear Kami is trying to tell me something…"
"Anyway, what do you need?" Levy asked as she got back to working on her little project.
"I need you to sneak into the transmission centre in the Domus Flau in this universe and splice a little tech into it. Dragneel wanted to come and watch but I think having two Natsus here would draw unwanted attention right now."
"So you want me to tweak it to send an inter-universal transmission directly to him while they are also sending out the live broadcasts?"
"Yes, it's best to do it now as it is the middle of the night. You should be able to sneak in and out without anyone noticing."
"Alright." The blunette put her tools down and grabbed a nearby duffle bag. "I'll pack some gear and head over. Shouldn't take me that long to splice the feeds."
Natsu nodded his head, happy that the woman had accepted his proposal. He slipped out of the last of his clothes and slid down into the waiting hot water. "Just be careful, we don't know what kind of surveillance that arena has, so be subtle."
"What is this "subtle" that you are talking about?" Levy grinned with a twinkle in her eyes as she picked up a pistol.
"No killing people, we don't need that to come back to us…"
"Psshh." The woman waved her hand at the window then pointed to the gun in her hand. "It's just a tranquiliser pistol, using compressed air to fire the tranq darts. No one will die."
"Where did you get that?" Natsu leant forward and inspected the weapon in her hand with deep curiosity, it looked very efficiently designed.
"So I was flicking through my catalogue of universes and I remembered that one universe where Natsu and Lisanna were captured. I checked on them again and did some digging, it turns out that their world is very advanced, well beyond what we have." Levy started flicking through her notes. "It reminded me of that wasteland of a universe except more refined, efficient, and I guess more advanced but in a different way."
"You're getting off track…" Natsumi sidled up to Natsu's side and put his arm over her shoulders. "What is this other place like?"
"Well, for one, the guild there seems to be some sort of spy agency, with what seemed like super soldiers for mages… I managed to get into one of the armouries with little hassle and I snuck some equipment out. This tranq pistol is one of them."
Natsu moved the pink-haired woman to his lap and started washing her hair. "Alright, so when will you be arriving?"
Levy took a quick look around her workshop, mumbling a list of things to herself before turning to the man once more. "About half an hour. I've got some gear that I… umm… borrowed, I need to test it out, and I can't use my favourite test subject because it won't fit him."
Natsu turned his attention from the pinkette who had started to get a little adventurous with her hands to the blunette who was giving him the stink-eye. "How is that my fault, if it won't fit me then I can't test it out. Plus I'm kinda busy with the games with Little Miss Touchy-Feely here."
"Your Dragon is rearing its head~."
Levy grumbled and glared at the princess as she crossed her arms over her bust. "Jerk the bastard off later, Natsumi, I'm trying to fucking talk to him."
"So what exactly is this device?" Natsu dunked the woman under the water both to rinse her hair out and also to stop her from trying to break his concentration.
"It's some kind of light manipulation device constructed within a belt. It projects a field around the user which makes them practically invisible. Though in my testing, I have noticed that it isn't perfect invisibility, there is a very slight shimmer-like quality to the manipulated light… unless someone was specifically looking for it, the wearer would remain undetected. Furthermore, this effect only occurs when the subject is in motion and going at a jog or higher."
"Levy, you're being too technical way too late in the night." Natsu muttered and covered his mouth as a yawn escaped his lips. "Fill me in when I get back, if we remember."
"Alright, I'll leave you two to fuck each other's brains out. I'll get packed and open a portal directly to Domus Flau."
Natsumi quickly rose out of the water, drawing Natsu's attention as it cascaded down the curves and valleys of her toned, tanned body. She giggled at the man's loss of words and turned her head to the blunette. "See ya Levy, we just have one more call to make before we can enjoy this bath in peace."
Levy reached toward the screen and shut down the call from her end, causing the screen to flicker then collapse down to the P-IVD on the edge of the bath.
The princess grabbed Natsu and lifted him up onto the edge of the bath, her smaller, slender frame masking the woman's raw physical strength very well. "Now, don't mind me, go ahead and make your call."
"Fine by me." Natsu grabbed the device and ran through his list of contacts, he quickly found who he was after and hit call.
The display grew again, revealing the ID "Dragneel". It took a few moments for it to actually connect.
"Natsu?" The face displayed wasn't the scarred, battle-hardened Dragneel, but it was Sam again.
"Sam? Where is Dragneel?" Natsu could see that Sam was standing inside some kind of garage/workshop, it must have been at Dragneel's home.
"He is working on that vehicle behind me, just doing some routine maintenance."
"Oi Sam, is that the Natsu from 129-G?"
Sam turned to look at the front of the vehicle. "Yeah, it's him."
"Alright, let me put this back together and I'll be right there."
Natsu held in a groan as the princess between his legs had wrapped her hands around his cock and started to jerk it slowly, and run her tongue over the head of it.
He saw Sam smile off at Dragneel and turn back to the screen. "He'll be a moment, he is elbow-deep in an engine right now. Though I am sure he can hear you perfectly fine, so what's up?"
"We just finished the preliminaries for our Games, we placed third out of eight."
"Sweet, good work. All that training paid off hey?"
"Yeah. Anyway, Dragneel said you all wanted to come to watch. Normally I'd say yeah, come and hang out, but this is kind of a turbulent time. It may not be a war but one wrong move could see Natsumi's guild remain in shambles." Natsu sighed and rubbed his face, his eyes had shadows under them and he looked ready to fall asleep. "So I came up with a plan."
"Alright, let's hear it." Dragneel said as he came into frame, he was cleaning his oily hands on a rag and had flecks of grease and grim on his face.
"I've tasked my Levy to sneak into Domus Flau, it's the arena that the Games are held at, and find the transmission room where they send out the live feed across Fiore." The pinkette seemed more awake now that he was explaining his plan, though he was still doing his best to ignore the woman sucking on his cock. "She is going to jury rig the transmitter to send a feed through a micro-portal and to your IVD allowing you to watch it live. Basically, it's going to send you an automated message about ten minutes before each day begins."
"Sounds good, I get to sit back and relax, have a few drinks with my women, and watch the Games from the relaxing comfort of my home. Won't say no to a good couch, or time with my women."
"Alright. Well you should get pinged in about six or seven, maybe eight, hours from now. It's the opening day where the teams that made it through the preliminaries get revealed to the nation." Natsu yawned once again, covering his mouth with his hand as he closed his tired eyes. "Sorry to cut this call short, but I really need some fucking sleep… Enjoy the show you guys."
"Thanks, good luck with the games." Both Dragneel and Sam replied, the call shutting down not long after.
The pinkette groaned and fell back against the floor, wrenching his sleepy eyes open as he muttered to the princess who was still working away diligently at his cock. "Natsumi, as much as I'm loving the feeling, let's go to sleep."
The woman slowly slid the man's dick out of her mouth as she sucked hard on it, releasing it with a resounding pop. "Alright, but I'm just going to be wearing one of the shirts I nicked from your wardrobe, nothing else. And you better be naked, I want to feel your cock against my pussy while you spoon me, my King~."
"Alright, fine. It sounds perfect to me." The man sat up and gave the woman a smile, he had come to love her quirkiness and boldness. Natsu slid back into the water and quickly washed his hair and body before getting back out of the bath. "Let's head back."
"Nudie run~!" The pink-haired dragon princess giggled playfully as she gathered up both of their clothes and sprinted from the room, leaving Natsu butt naked and harder than Erza's Adamantium Armour.
The man laughed heartily as he flared his magic slightly to dry himself before giving chase to the woman. He let the giggling princess stay just out of arms reach as he kept trying to playfully grab her. "Get back here."
"You can't catch me~."
Natsumi kept leaping forwards by an inch every time Natsu took a swipe at her, her breasts and tight ass bouncing as she ran.
The two pinkettes slowed down when they got close to the room, quietly opening the door and peeking inside to see if anyone was awake.
Thankfully, everyone had already fallen asleep it seemed, so the two dragon slayers made their way to Natsu's bed. Natsumi placed the clothes on it and sorted them, she whispered under her breath so only her king could hear her. "Requip yours away and hop in, I'll put mine away and join you."
Natsu's clothes vanished in a dull glow as the princess gathered up her clothes and walked to her bag. She placed them inside and took out a maroon shirt, something she borrowed from Natsu just so she could fall asleep to his scent. "Ok, I'm set."
The pink-haired man was already in the bed, he patted the spot in front of him as he laid on his side and watched her. "You're very beautiful, you know."
Natsumi's cheeks flushed pink at the compliment, turning the usually boisterous woman into a shy mess as she walked back to the bed. "Thank you, my King. Ready for bed?"
Natsu held the sheets open for the pinkette as he smiled at her, waiting and watching as she slipped in and pressed her back up against his chest. "Now I am."
The dragon princess wrapped one of his arms around her and hugged it between her breasts, they weren't as big or as soft as Lucy's but they suited her perfectly.
She curled her legs up near her chest and felt Natsu's legs follow as he curled around her, making her feel safer and warmer than she had ever felt before. "Goodnight, my King."
"Goodnight, my princess."
That's another chapter wrapped up, hope you all liked it. I don't want to cheap out and make the Games exactly like the ones in the show, so there will be some changes, mainly to who gets selected for what event/battle, and probably the difficulty of these events. Though there are some iconic ones that I will keep in, Mira vs Jenny for one example.
Again, I hope you all liked it, please leave a review with what you thought or any feedback you would like to share. Don't forget to follow/fav, and maybe check out my other story called The Agency: Tales of Agent Salamander.
With that all said and done, stay safe, stay well, and have a good day/night. See you all next time.
