Disclaimer: I don't own anyone or anything besides a few OCs.
Warnings: same as in previous chapters.
Enjoy!
"It's only day one of the Games and the second battle round has us on the edge of our seats!" the judge announced. "It's Blue Pegasus' Ren Akatsuki versus Mermaid Heel's Araña Webb! Will the playboy get tangled up?"
"You're stronger than last year, but you're still not going to beat me." Ren said with a cocky smirk.
The green-haired woman narrowed her eyes at him before chuckling. "I thought a Blue Pegasus man would object to attacking a lady. I guess I was wrong."
"These two are tough!" the judge said. "Just look at that determination!"
Yajima hummed, nodding in agreement. "This should be a great match."
"Go Ren! Win this one for Blue Pegasus!" Jenny Realight cheered enthusiastically from her position at the judge's table as the guest judge for day one. "Sherry's in the stands and she's rooting for you!"
From her place standing with Lamia Scale, the pinkette in question blushed slightly.
"Eh?" Natsu asked, tilting his head in confusion.
"They're engaged." Meredy explained with a laugh.
Ren quickly got annoyed at the cat-calling and the fact that the cheering got louder at Jenny's words, and turned towards her. "HEY!"
At that moment, the green-haired Mermaid Heel mage shot what looked to be spider webs at him, and said with a thick accent, "You left yourself wide open!"
"You're got to pay attention Ren!" Sherry cried, standing up. "Now go out there and kick her butt!"
"What do you think you're doing?!" the Lamia Scale guild master, a short old woman, scolded her, waving her index finger around in a twirling motion. "The last thing we need is one of our own rooting for the enemy!"
"Geez old hag, give the kid a break!" another Lamia Scale mage said from the old woman's other side. "They are engaged, after all!"
"Shut your trap!" she snapped, turning to him and waving her finger more. "Want me to spin ya?!"
"You already are!" the man said dizzily as his body spun like a top.
With a short grunt, Ren broke free of Arañna's webbing before turning to face the Lamia Scale area of the stands.
"What are you talking about, we are NOT engaged!" he shouted at them, fist clenched. "I just can't get rid of her; get it straight!"
"You're so mean!" Sherry cried, but Ren's reply was cut off as his opponent launched another attack.
He dodged in time, flipping gracefully over the silvery white webs.
"Always stuck to my side." He muttered as he easily dodged the next few blows. "Gah! It's annoying!"
Then he paused, turning back towards Sherry with a barely noticeable blush. "That said, whenever you're not around I just don't feel like myself."
Sherry put her hands to her cheeks, blushing slightly with a soft smile on her face.
From behind her Lyon, Toby, and Yuka glanced at her with their own smiles, glad that she'd finally found someone to love that could return it, unlike when she'd been crushing on Lyon.
She was far happier now than she was when they met her.
The man from before was still spinning.
"That's so sweet of you." She whispered.
Yuka smiled. "Why do chicks always seem to fall for the bad boy jerk types?"
"I dunno." Toby crooned.
"Oh, don't be jealous!" a younger pinkette who looked a bit like Sherry said from her place beside them, smiling happily as she glanced between Sherry and Ren.
"As long as she's watching I can't go making a fool of myself." Ren murmured seriously, finally entering a battle stance. "I refuse!"
Araña launched an attack, and Ren responded in kind.
"Aerial Phose!" he shouted, and a relatively large sphere of air appeared, hitting his opponent.
The Mermaid Heel mage cried out in pain, before falling to the ground as the sphere disappeared.
She didn't get back up.
"Way to go baby!" Sherry cheered.
"And the winner is Ren Akatsuki of Blue Pegasus! Their guild has pulled an impressive 17 points on day one, and Mermaid Heel only has 2 points!"
Araña sat up shakily, leaning on her elbows as she glanced down sadly. "I guess I shouldn't have let my guard down."
And to think, she'd thought that she could win because it had seemed like Ren had had his guard down.
She couldn't feel too bad about her loss, though. There was a reason Master Bob had chosen him to compete, after all.
"Yay!" Jenny cheered happily. "I knew you could do it, Ren!"
From the stands, Erza commented. "Wow. He's gotten stronger over the years."
"You don't think that guy's stronger than Ichiya, do you?" Natsu wondered, glancing at her.
"Natsu, don't be ridiculous." Erza said with a slight scoff in her voice. "Ichiya is an extraordinary man. He might be a little strange, but he is, without a doubt, the most powerful wizard in Blue Pegasus."
"Woah…" Natsu said with a nervous grin. "I really had no idea. Ichiya is that strong?"
He grinned brighter, more genuine this time. 'Now all I can think about is squaring off with him!'
"I can't help but be suspicious of whoever is hiding in that rabbit suit." Erza murmured, glancing at the figure in a blue bunny costume next to Ichiya.
"You too, huh?" Gajeel asked with a slight smirk. "I didn't want to be rude, but ever since I saw him I've been cracking up."
"No weirder than some of the stuff Erza wears." Natsu said with a dismissive shrug.
The rest of Team B stared at the idiot boy, backing away a few steps as Erza glared at him darkly.
"What was that, Natsu?" she asked dangerously.
Natsu whimpered. "Nothing, Erza! Just saying whoever that guy is should ask you for fashion advice!"
Erza raised an eyebrow, but decided to let it go.
After all, for all she knew Natsu would be called up to fight in one of the coming rounds, and he couldn't do that if she knocked him out.
"I wouldn't talk if I were you, Natsu." Lucy said from her place. Team A were standing a few meters away from Team B, but they could still converse easily. "Weren't you the one who gave her that swan dress?"
She remembered the creepy-looking thing from when she visited the Fairy Hills dormitory and Erza showed her that she'd rented out five rooms solely for the outfits and armors that didn't fit in her requip space.
Including the dress in question, which Erza had never worn, but didn't want to throw out because it was given to her by a dear friend.
Natsu chuckled. "Yeah, good point."
He'd had a lot of fun over the years giving her crazy-looking stuff to add to her wardrobe.
A man wearing an odd dog-like costume stepped out onto the arena.
"It's time for the third match of day one!" the judge shouted. "Quatro Cerberus' Warcry vs. Sabertooth's Orga Nanagear!"
A large, muscular man with black tattoos on his arms and face, green-blue hair, and a black sweatband frowned, bored as he stared at his opponent.
"You're ready for this, I know you can do it Warcry!" Rocker shouted his encouragement from the stands. "Show this dude what it means to be one of the wild ones!"
Warcry roared his approval.
"Check it out, it's Warcry." Sting chuckled. "This'll be good. Have you seen his magic before? It's pretty entertaining."
"Yes, I find it fascinating." Rufus answered. "In fact, I memorized it."
"I couldn't care less." Rogue said smoothly, getting up from his seat before walking away.
Sting shrugged.
'The only mage who interests me is you, Gajeel.' Rogue thought as he walked down a hallway. 'Since…'
His mind flashed to Raven's face, remembering their 'date' a few weeks prior. 'She isn't really a mage, is she?'
"I'm curious to see how Sabertooth does in a one on one battle." Pantherlily muttered.
"Well if that guy is as strong as he looks, this fight is gonna be over super quick." Happy said.
"So who do you think is gonna win?" Frosch, Rogue's adorable green Exceed who wore a pink frog suit, asked Lector.
"I think we both know the answer to that! Orga's got it in the bag." Lector said, a bit annoyed.
"Oh! He must have rigged the fight, huh?" Frosch asked.
"Look, Sting is the best mage we've got, but all of our members are really strong. Geez, Frosch, if you didn't even know that much you must be dumber than thought."
"I might be dumb, but I'm cute!" Frosch said.
Sting smiled at Frosch's words, but winced as he heard his partner's insults.
If Rogue ever caught Lector saying something like that to Frosch…well, Sting would probably never see him again.
He should probably have a talk with him about that. Making fun of non-Sabertooth mages was one thing, but…
"Match three begins…now!"
The gong was struck.
Warcry growled at Orga, eyes tearing up before he began to cry.
"That's it!" the judge announced. "Warcry's signature Tear Magic!"
"Can't say I've ever heard of it, but the name sure is fitting." Yajima mused.
"He's bawling!" Natsu laughed.
"Yes, he certainly is." Erza said, watching curiously.
"That is so not manly." Elfman groaned.
Warcry began to say something, but no one could understand him through his bawling.
Orga was getting bored, and within a few seconds he had unleased an attack of black energy, creating a sphere of black and yellowish/green that hit Warcry.
Fairy Tail Team B and the Quatro Cerberus team gaped in shock as Warcry fell to the ground, completely out.
Sting smirked, unsurprised.
"Lightning, huh?" Laxus grunted, narrowing his eyes.
"Yeah!" Frosch and Lector cheered.
Pantherlily whimpered, covering his ears with his paws. "He used lightning?!"
"It took…one blow." Happy's body was shaking too, but out of fear for Orga, not the lightning itself like with Lily.
"And the third match is over in a literal flash!" the judge announced. "Orga's black lightning scorched Warcry's tears for the win!"
"No way, it's already over?" Orga heard a man from the stands complain.
"And with that one hit, the winner is Sabertooth's Orga Nanagear! Sabertooth now has a total of 19 points! Quatro Cerberus on the other hand only has 3! What a crying shame!"
"What's the rush, Orga?" Sting called down to his teammate as the shirtless man began his trek back up to the stands. "Couldn't you have made it a little more entertaining?"
Orga stared at him or a moment before turning right back around. "Alright fine, I'll go sing a song."
Sting slumped over the railing. "That ain't what I meant, you big meathead."
"Gimme the mic!" he demanded.
Mato complied.
"I don't know what Orga's about to do, but it looks like he's about to give a speech!" the judge shouted.
Orga tapped the mic, before…
Gajeel cringed at the man's singing.
"Geez, shut your trap." The Iron Dragon Slayer muttered with a grimace. "You can't sing at all."
His teammates (and, indeed, all of his guildmates) glanced at each other incredulously.
Hypocrite, much?
Please review! I'll love you lots and lots! xD
We'll get to see some of the foreigners' reactions at the end of next chapter.
