Author's note: Hey everyone! Procrastinator9000 here! Thanks for reading, this is definitely not my first story but it is my first time writing on a schedule! Mistakes will probably be made and I will do my best to proof-read before I post. If anyone would like to leave a review/constructive criticism, I would not mind at all!
I also want to take this time to remind readers that this is rated M for mature themes! If you don't like that, you don't have to read it. This chapter is pretty mild but I can't promise anything in the next few ;)
Without further ado, here's chapter 8!
As it turns out, Elfmen snores worse than both Gray and Natsu. Blue wasn't really bothered by it much, when she was asleep it was difficult for anything to get her up; her comrades on the other hand…
"Geez, you really need to get that checked out." Jet told Elfmen the next morning.
One by one the Fairy Tail wizards emerged from their shelters and grabbed plates of breakfast.
"Wow, Blue. This looks so good!" Droy exclaimed. "Your cooking just gets better and better!"
"Thanks!" She replied, "I made the hash from the leftovers from last night. And nothing greases a pan better for eggs than hash."
Everyone collected their fried meat and potato with a side of fried eggs.
"I've got toast going now." She put the bread on the griddle.
Finally everyone had got up and ate their breakfast. Levy was helping Blue clean up while the others chatted.
"How'd you sleep with Mr. Chainsaw snorer over here?" Natsu asked Bisca and Alzack.
"No good gunslinger goes around without a couple pair of these." Alzack held out his ear plugs. "We have extra for you guys too."
"Thank goodness, I didn't think I could go through another night like last night." Gray grumbled.
Elfmen muttered, "Oh, man up!"
Lucy assisted with the remainder of clean up and asked Blue, "So what are we gunna do today?"
"Well I was thinking some good old fashion kickball to get things started." The light haired girl replied. She went into her shelter and took out the bases and a ball.
Lucy furrowed her brows and said, "Kickball? Really? Isn't that a little…I dunno childish?"
Blue's smile dropped slightly and admitted, "I suppose we were a lot younger last time we played, but it's still fun."
Lucy shrugged and said, "I can't argue with that."
"Now to pick teams." Erza crossed her arms. Jet and Droy had just finished setting out the bases. "We should split everyone up according to strength to make the teams as even as possible."
"Why don't we keep it simple and just do boys versus girls?" Lucy suggested.
Gray smirked, "If you want your team to lose, I suppose it's a good idea."
Cana put her hands on her hips, "What do you mean by that? You better not underestimate us."
"While Fairy Tail's girls are definitely stronger than others, the guys totally outrank the girls…even with having one less player." Jet smiled.
"Don't get cocky boys." Bisca crossed her arms, "Why don't y'all put your money where your mouth is?"
"You wanna bet that you'll beat us?" Alzack clarified, "I don't know if that's a good idea."
Bisca smirked at her partner, "It is, winning team get's to use ear plugs tonight. Losing team suffers with Elfmen's snoring."
"Hey!"
The boys looked amongst themselves and nodded. Alzack shrugged and held out his hand, "It's a bet."
Bisca took his hand and shook it, "Hell yeah, it's a bet!"
With a flip of a coin it was decided that the guys kick first. In the field Lucy became the pitcher, Erza took care of first with Laki as her right outfield. Because of her speed Blue took second and doubled as right-center, Bisca was left-center, Levy was shortstop and Cana took third.
"C'mon before I get old!" Natsu yawned at home plate.
Lucy smiled sweetly and threw her first ball as hard as she could. She hadn't expected Natsu to kick it, but kick it he had. The ball went right back towards Lucy. The blonde screamed and ducked, the rubber ball barely missing her head and zooming straight passed Blue.
"Haha, you girls are gunna regret this!" Natsu boasted as he stepped on first.
Erza towered over him with an evil glare, "You think?"
The ball was in her hand and it seemed she had just missed getting him out. Natsu shut his mouth and turned back to Gray at home plate. "Kick it over there Gray!" He pointed towards third base.
Gray kicked the ball towards third and said, "I was already planning on it Pyro!"
The ball went over short stop and into the field. Blue watched Cana run for the ball and went back to second base. Cana caught the ball and threw it to Blue. With Gray out and Blue touching second with the kickball in hand, Natsu high tailed it back to first base. Blue threw the ball at Erza who caught it slightly after Natsu touched the base.
Natsu sighed in relief but cowered under the red head's stern gaze. Lowly, Erza said, "You're next."
"Alright, one out!" Lucy called, "Who's on deck!?"
The guys left waiting to kick stared wide eyed at their guilds females.
"What're y'all waiting for?" Bisca smiled. "We gotta game to win!"
Natsu made it home, scoring their first run, followed by Jet and Alzack. But when Natsu came up to kick again he got the third out and they switched sides.
The girls took huddle and discussed game plan.
Cana said, "We're not dumb like them so if we can manage, keep the ball on the ground. If we're not careful they can catch whatever we kick at them."
"Hm, it's a good strategy but I doubt they can catch mine." Erza grinned.
Laki shrugged, "I suppose if we can keep it on the ground it's a good plan but Jet can still get to anything faster than most of us can get to the base."
Levy grinned and said, "Don't worry about him. We'll play smarter, not harder."
Droy took the pitcher's mound and Jet took second base, being the fastest out of all of fairy tail he was covering his base and most of center field. Gray took first, and Alzack took right field. Natsu was going to cover both left field and short stop, then finally Elfmen was covering third.
Lucy stood on home base and got ready to kick, Droy rolled the ball to her and she kicked her foot out as hard as she could…and missed.
"What the heck was that Lucy?!" Happy exclaimed. He was unofficial empire and score keeper but still had time to tease the blonde.
"Shut up, you dumb cat! I'm nervous!"
Droy rolled her another and she kicked it straight at Elfmen, luckily the ball stayed grounded and Lucy managed to get to first base before Elfmen got it there.
"This may be harder than I originally thought." Lucy thought.
Bisca was up next and kicked it far past all the players. Lucy didn't bother to watch the ball though, she high tailed it to second but found Jet there first with his foot on the base and the red rubber ball in his hand.
"One out!" Droy called then pitched the ball to Blue. Blue kicked it low and fast right between Gray and Alzack. Bisca made it to second just as easy as Blue made it to first.
Erza turned to Levy, "You sure this'll work?"
"Nope, but I think it's our best shot of getting me on base." Levy replied. The blue haired girl was most definitely not the fastest or strongest, but she had something else on her side.
"If this works, the odds will be in our favor." Erza nodded, "Goodluck."
Levy took base and her two teammates smiled goofily as she waved sweetly at them.
"Get your head in the game Droy!" Gray exclaimed.
Droy pitched her ball and Levy kicked it up in the air straight at Jet. Without looking to see if her plan would work, Levy bolted to first. Jet watched the ball come straight at him and he stepped to the side, allowing the ball to fall on the ground right beside him.
Levy touched first and grinned, Blue made it to second easily and Bisca touched third.
Natsu exclaimed, "What the hell Jet?!"
Jet shrugged, "I'm not gunna get Levy out!"
His team yelled at him and groaned collectively as the girls eyed each other victoriously.
Six innings later the girls were up to bat for the last time.
Happy narrated the score, "With two outs the score is now 35 boys and 34 girls. The girls started strong but the boys caught up and passed them towards the end; if the girls hope to win they need to get both Cana on second and Laki on first home without a single out. Next up to kick is or very own clumsy Lucy, the boys might as well take it easy on this one, it won't take long."
"Stupid Cat!"
Lucy was ready, all she had to do was get to the base without getting out or anyone else out. "Piece of cake! Not…I'm gunna be the reason the girls lose! Stay focused Lucy- here comes the ball!"
As the ball connected with her foot she realized her mistake, running anyway she thought, "That's going right in Jet's path! I've lost the game for us!"
But the unthinkable happened, though, probably not too unthinkable.
Natsu and Jet collided trying to catch the ball, letting it drop in front of both of them.
"What the hell man, it was coming right at me!" Jet exclaimed at the bases became loaded and Bisca was up to kick.
Natsu cried, "Well I couldn't leave it up to you to just let the ball go by again! And again and again! It was my turn!"
"You dumb flame brained-." Jet growled.
"Pull yourselves together guys!" Alzack exclaimed, "Bisca's up, this is our last chance!"
Bisca took a deep breath and kicked it as hard as she could right at her partner.
"Oh shit!" She exclaimed and took off running for first. "C'mon don't catch it!"
Alzack was still trying to separate the other two and almost had his head taken off by the ball, luckily for them Jet managed to get the ball into the diamond before Laki could get past third.
"That ties us up at 35, 35, next up… Blue Fullbuster!" Happy exclaimed.
Blue stared down Droy on the pitcher's mound she was ready to be the reason the girls won this thing. Pumping herself up, she bounced from foot to foot then kicked the ball with all her might.
Crack!
A bolt of lightning from her body zapped the ball making it explode midair over second base. Pieces of melted charred rubber scattered the field.
Both teams stayed silent as they realized what had happened.
"And it's a tie!" Happy cried.
"Oops." Blue grinned sheepishly.
In the end, everyone got ear plugs that night and the fairy tail girls versus boys kickball game became a story that they ended up telling for years. It all went to show, never underestimate anyone in fairy tail!
"I'm hungryyyy." Natsu whined.
"The turkey can only cook so fast, why don't you snack on some crackers. There's a spread of cheese, crackers and grapes on the table." Blue replied, "Turkey's got another hour."
"But I want turkeyyyy." He continued to whine.
"And, I want a cooking environment free of whiners." Blue said evenly. Her eyes were on the boiling pot of water and she snapped her fingers, sending a lightning bolt at Natsu's feet.
"Hey watch it! You tryna start something!" Natsu yelled.
Blue caught the dragon slayers eyes and smiled. "Sure, but it would delay dinner another hour."
Natsu froze and pouted, stomping away to the snack table. Every 5 minutes or so Blue could feel his longing gaze at her and the turkey. "Silly Natsu." Blue chuckled.
Natsu eventually cheered up, he was joined at the table by Jet, Droy and Elfmen. In an open space Bisca and Alzack were playing can-jam against Laki and Lucy. Everyone else had gone for a walk down a nearby creek.
Finally, the entire meal was just about done.
Happy floated over the table, "Ooh turkey!"
The others returned and gathered around the large table.
"Woah!"
"Blue this is amazing!"
"You really outdid yourself this time!"
The table had platters of turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, and corn on the cob, cranberry sauce and glazed carrots.
Blue smiled thankfully then said, "I didn't do it alone, Jet and Droy helped peel the potatos, Laki did the glazed carrots and Elfmen made the sweet potato casserole."
They looked at Elfmen who glared back at them, "A real man can cook!"
"Then the rest of you brought the supplies, we couldn't have had this meal without teamwork." Blue thanked them.
Smiling fondly at each other the guild sat down and admired the banquet before them.
"What're we all waiting for, let's dig in!" Natsu exclaimed. Happy agreed, "Aye!"
"Hold up!"
Everyone looked towards the man's voice to see Macao, Wakabah, Reedus and Nab coming through the trees, each with something in their hands.
Macao said, "Looks like we're just in time for dinner."
"Yeah, take a seat guys." Blue nodded. "Glad you could make it!"
"I would never miss your garbage can turkey." Wakabah exclaimed.
Nab held up a tub of ice cream, "We brought dessert! Vanilla ice cream, apple pie and pumpkin pie!"
Cana groaned, "It's almost like you want me to get fat!"
"C'mon guys, make a plate! Before Natsu eats it all!" Alzack invited them down and everyone began to eat and chat.
Soon enough the sun began to set again. Natsu and Gray got elected for clean up duty because they almost destroyed the dinner table in one of their little spats. So while they finished that up the girls sat around the fire.
"Ooh its hot still." Cana groaned, "I'm so gross and sweaty."
"I got an idea!" Levy exclaimed, "Let's go swimming!"
Erza smirked and said, "Great idea Levy, there's a section of the fresh water stream that's deeper." She stood from her chair and exclaimed, "Requip!" Her body glowed and her armor disappeared, leaving her in a bikini.
Macao and Wakabah almost fainted from the sidelines.
Nab picked up the men and said, "We're gunna head back now. I think I'm gunna leave on a mission tonight."
"Yeah right." Natsu snorted.
Blue and Gray held Natsu back from fighting with Nab. The guests said their goodbyes while the rest of the young adults got dressed in their suits.
Finally at the gorge they looked down at the water.
Lucy said quietly, "Suddenly I'm not so hot anymore."
"Speak for yourself!" Natsu exclaimed, pushing past everyone, "Cannon ball!"
He splashed Lucy, Gray and Erza in the front. Gray exclaimed, "Why you!"
Then everyone joined in, running into the stream and playing around. They played games of chicken and marco polo. Jet, Droy and Natsu were doing relay races and Lucy joined Laki and Elfmen for rock skipping.
Suddenly Loke appeared.
"Loke- I mean Leo what're you doing here?" Lucy asked.
He stretched out and took off his shirt, "Thought I'd join you a guy for a swim, if that's alright."
"Sure, it's nice to see you again!" Levy exclaimed.
Cana nodded, "Yeah, but what are we supposed to call you now? Leo?"
Loke shrugged, "Sure, or Loke. Doesn't matter to me."
"Heads up Loke!" Blue exclaimed and shot water in his face.
Natsu's eyes went wide, "Water guns? Where'd you get that?!"
Blue pointed at Erza who had requipped them and was handing them out to all the girls.
Erza smirked, "Ladies, we have a war to win!"
"Wait, wait! Don't we get some water guns?!" Gray exclaimed.
"Fire!" Erza exclaimed.
"I guess not." Elfmen said. They ran in the water avoiding the girls. The war went on until the sun had disappeared completely and the result was yet another draw. Completely exhausted and still stuffed, the mages went off to bed.
Even Blue who usually had difficult falling asleep, collapsed on her sleeping bag and fell into a deep nightmare-less sleep.