Hello once again viewers, sorry about no updates for a while (School is torture). Anyway here's chapter 6, and I hope you do enjoy. Fun Fact of the week: I prefer to sit in a tree while I read rather than anywhere else.
As we reached the clearing of the path, we started to see the figures of a few of our guild mates. Gray, Jet, Loke, Alzack, Bickslow, Freed, and Makarov, who all looked like they had seen a ghost when we came out of our path. They then all yelled "YOU GUYS ACTUALLY MANAGED TO BEAT ERZA?" "Yeah," Natsu said, "But Nicholai ended up making me step out hardly after starting, so it was mainly him." "OH COME ON, YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING!" Everyone exclaimed. "Hey, I would stop doubting Nicholai if I were you guys. He's even stronger than me if you look at who we have and haven't beaten." "Stop it Natsu, I nearly ended that fight the same as the last one. We just got lucky, so who ended up fighting who?" "Well," Makarov said, "Macao's team ended up fighting me, you should have seen the looks on their faces when they saw me. Then Cana's team fought Laxus, Bixlow's team and Levy's team faced off, Gray's team fought Mirajane, but Gray had to freeze her for as long as he could and then him and Jet ran down the path and made it here. Elfman's team faced Gildarts, and Loke's team ran into Mystogan, but they won't tell us what actually happened. Either way, now that everyone is here, we can begin the second part of the trial. Now, I hope you all aren't too tired from your fights, because we are going to have a race to the top of the Tenrou tree. The first two teams to the top will win and move on to the final round. Once you are all ready, we can head to the base of the tree." "Alright!" Natsu said, "You ready Nicholai?" "Huh? Uh, yeah, sure Natsu." Nicholai's mind had drifted off thinking about how Erza had been acting around him. For whatever reason, he found her change in attitude towards him utterly baffling. She must've truly believed that he was capable of winning to talk to him with such kindness contrary to how she acted before, and Nicholai sure wasn't going to let her down. "Alright," I said, determined, "I'm ready, lets go."
*TIMESKIP TO 1 HOUR LATER*
The four teams lined up at the base of the tree as master began to go over the rest of this challenges rules. "Alright, as I said before, the first two teams to the top win and will move on to the next round. You have thirty minutes to get your team to the top, and all forms of magic will be allowed. Other than that, good luck, and although you can fight, try to focus on the race instead of beating each others asses." "No promises." Natsu said under his breath, grinning. "Alright! On your mark, get set, GO!" Most of the teams practically trampled each other trying to get to the front, while Bickslow and Freed started to fly up to the top, and Jet completely blew through the stampede of mages. After the teams had spread out, their positions in the race shifted quite a lot throughout the majority of the challenge. Nicholai and Natsu were in third place when they were about two thirds of the way up the tree, (With Bickslow, Freed, and Jet already at the top, and Gray only a short distance above them) and with only about five or six minutes left. "Nicholai," Natsu said as he was climbing, "You have any ideas? Because if we don't do something now, we're out of the s-class trials." "Gimme a second to think Natsu!" I can hardly even think like this, this would be a lot easier if we could just fly up like Freed and Bickslow. "Wait, that's it!" "What's it Nicholai?" Natsu asked as I stopped climbing. I didn't need to answer him, so long as Natsu could follow my example. I jumped out of the tree, and shot massive amounts of fire out from behind me, propelling myself up the tree at an exponential speed. Natsu quickly caught wind and followed suit, and in almost no time at all, we managed to pass by Gray and arrive at the top of the tree in second place. "DAMMIT!" Jet exclaimed, "I CAN'T BELIVE I ACTUALLY LOST A RACE!" He then started to stray away from the group mumbling about how he wasn't the "fastest" anymore. "Well," Makarov said trying to ignore Jet, "It would appear that we have our two teams. Now, once everyone else is here, we can head to where we will be having the final round"
*TIMESKIP TO 1 HOUR AND 30 MINUTES LATER*
Makarov and the two remaining teams stood on a long stretch of beach while master explained what the final round would be. "This challenge will just consist of a two on two fight, and whichever team is left standing wins." Sounds easy enough," I said in slight confusion. "Here's the tricky part, If even one of your teammates goes down, you will automatically be put of the running for the honorable title of s-class. This will test your ability not only to fight but to protect your comrades." Will master ever cut us some slack, Nicholai thought? "What," said Freed, "Giving up already?" Noticing his own worried expression, Nicholai snapped out of it and showed as much confidence as he could muster. "Don't count on it Freed, me and Natsu have come too far to give up. Natsu, take Bickslow, I've got Freed." "Confidence," Freed snickered, "I like that!" "Let's go baby!" Bickslow yelled in excitement. "Ready. Set. GO!" Fists blazing and eyes determined, Natsu and Nicholai Charged at their opponents. "I've said it once and I'll say it again. Don't… Ever…. UNDERESTIMATE ME!"
Cliffhanger ;) Anyway, thank you for reading, again I am very sorry about my absence due to school. I will post as much as my schedule allows. I would also like to mention that this took place after Lissana died, and the reason that Happy hasn't appeared is that he wasn't ever open to the idea of Nicholai being partnered with Natsu, which we will see soon. Anyway, I'm talking too much so I will see you in the next chapter, bye!.