Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)

Chapter 17: Schemes and Assumptions

After the next few weeks had gone by, all of the guilds in Fiore had found out the exciting news about what would be happening this year. They would be able to participate in the Grand Magic Games, the annual tournament that would decide the best guild in Fiore, and it would certainly be carefully watched over by the organization that created it. They didn't want anything like the Eclipse Project taking place this year, and the castle had now been off-limits for any tourists in the capital of Fiore.

Team Sabertooth had arrived in Crocus on the day of the preliminary round that would decide the eight teams that got to participate in the real competition tomorrow, and Lucy had a happy smile on her face. Upon seeing the many flowerbeds and flower shops on a street that the team was walking down on their way to the inn that was located in the Crocus Gardens, she ran over to a flower pot that had red roses growing in the soil. Lucy sniffed them deeply to take in their wonderful aroma, letting out a blissful sigh from the sweet scent.

She had always loved being around flowers, and the ones in Crocus had been handled with care every day. The roses always smelled really nice, and many other flowers were in the parks and meadows of the city. Crocus was a very beautiful place, and it also had some of the finest foods in Fiore. Lucy had remembered how the food tasted so great last year, and it would taste even better when Sabertooth won the tournament. She planned to win for her new guild, and hopefully end up beating Fairy Tail.

After all, Lucy had been wanting to really show Fairy Tail how she was so much stronger than her past self. She had thought back to all the times that Natsu had said she was so weak, and yet she had actually been the one to turn the tables on him. She wanted to make that rude jerk pay for what he had done to her, and Lucy really hated his attitude. She did not even want to talk with him during a fight, since all he would get from her was a fist to his mouth. She was going to show off her strength, and impress Sting.

"All right, guys. Don't have any doubts about entering the tournament, since we'll be the ones who win it! Last year may have been the year that kind of wrecked our rep of being honorable champions, since Minerva was so brutal to Lucy, but my girlfriend's current circumstances with Fairy Tail and our determination will make everyone see that we aren't a bunch of jerks!" Sting explained in a confident manner, smiling proudly while putting his hand into the air to create some kind of team gesture.

Everyone else touched Sting's hand, really ready to win this year, and they all knew that they had to bring their best efforts on to the battlefield. After all, the Grand Magic Games were known for their tricky events and match-ups in battles that almost seemed completely unfair. Sting had even thought of Yukino's battle against Kagura to be an unfair pairing, since Yukino's opponent had a sword that sliced through one of her strongest Celestial Spirits while the sword itself wasn't even unsheathed at the time.

Despite any planning that Team Sabertooth would be doing, they also knew that they had made a little bit of a numerical error on their part. Even though Sting wanted to be in the Grand Magic Games, having made Wendy the temporary guild master for the next five days, his participation caused the team to have six members instead of five. There could only be five members on each team for the final day, and someone also had to act as a reserve member on the four days that would transpire before the last event.

Orga was about to volunteer for that position, knowing how Jura Neekis from Team Lamia Scale knocked him out in one hit last time, but he was a bit shocked to hear Yukino volunteer to be the reserve member instead. She had a soft smile on her face, thinking that she would not really be that useful with only three of the Golden Zodiac Gate Keys, and the hazel-eyed Celestial Spirit Wizard also had secretly feared that she would make the same mistakes that she had made last year in her battle against Kagura.

Lucy had looked a bit disappointed from hearing Yukino say that she did not want to participate for most of the tournament, and the blonde mage had to wonder about her friend's soft smile. If she thought that her skills weren't up to par with everyone else's, then did she have the confidence about everyone else doing well? Rufus had even remembered how Gray Fullbuster beat him in the fight that they had in the library, and that made him look slightly nervous about this. History sure has a way of making people nervous, right?

Sting had even remembered how he lost to Natsu, forfeited in the Chariot event, and how he surrendered on the final day. He had caused Sabertooth to lose last year, breaking their winning streak, and the white dragon slayer knew that Fairy Tail had strong people in their guild. However, he also knew that he wasn't going to be manipulated by Minerva this year. Since she was gone, he could freely make his own decisions. He couldn't let Lucy down, though, since she was counting on him as well.

She had always believed that he could do anything that he put his mind to, and Lucy knew that Sting was really strong. He had also fought evenly with her last week when she was using all eight spells of Fire Magic to get him prepared for the possible chance of facing Natsu again, and Sting had noticed that Lucy's flames were really hot. She had been focusing most of her stamina into the Fire Magic, making its power grow to the absolute peak of perfection, and this growth also worked to balance her other types of magic with it.

Sting had taken notice of Lucy's book still being in an orange color, meaning that no new type of magic had appeared in some way yet, and he wondered why that book had a tendency to act so strange. It had some of the weirdest spells, and the book itself would still have no modern languages. They were all written in olden words of different languages, and Lucy was still somehow able to read them. Sting had wondered what was up with the book changing colors like that, and he decided that this was a perfect moment for him and Lucy to have some quality time together.

With his fast hands, Sting took Lucy's orange spell book and laughed while running off with it. She looked utterly shocked at what he had just done, running after him quickly, and the other members of Team Sabertooth knew that Sting was up to something. Since the preliminary round would begin in a few hours from now, couldn't the duo use this game of chase to do some sightseeing as well? Sting was planning to give it back to her, but only if this chase would end in his favor. Would his strategy work, or would something unexpected interrupt him?

Meanwhile...

The two teams representing the Fairy Tail guild had entered into Crocus, determined to make Fairy Tail win once again. Makarov was confident that his teams could succeed in whatever the Grand Magic Games threw at them, too. Team Fairy Tail A consisted of Natsu, Erza, Gray, Laxus, Gajeel, and Juvia while the others who were known as Team Fairy Tail B consisted of Cana, Elfman, Lisanna, Mirajane, and Jellal. (In this story, Jellal is not a criminal anymore and Ultear admitted to being the one who was responsible for his crimes.)

Natsu seemed a bit unhappy to be on a different team than Lisanna, knowing full well that their chemistry had always been making their teamwork shine bright like the sun on every job that they did as a duo, and the fire dragon slayer hoped that he would not have to fight against his own girlfriend during this tournament. He would be also be cheering on the white-haired mage, wanting his sweet lover to always do her best, and Natsu might probably scream loud enough while making flames go up from his mouth to burn any haters of Fairy Tail that were in the stands.

He had also heard something about Marina being in the competition to help Fairy Tail win, but the pink-haired male did not see her with Team Fairy Tail B. It had only been a rumor that she was chosen, based on her hard work, but the teal-haired girl had also disappeared to an unknown location while not even telling Natsu where she would be going. He had missed the scent of her blackberry perfume, enjoying how she would let her scent enter his nostrils while they would spend some nights in bed together, but Natsu's bad karma would soon be the odor that crept up on him.

He had been hoping that Marina would be in Crocus, even if she would only be shopping and cheering for Fairy Tail to win, and Natsu had wanted to feel good with her. Even if they had to meet in secrecy, kissing and being in bed while the fire dragon slayer would be lying to his white-haired girlfriend, then Natsu would gladly show Marina that he was loving how every kiss from her had felt like a piece of heaven. His relationship with Lisanna did have an anniversary coming up while they were a cute couple, which was true, but Natsu felt that he and Marina were much more than that. They were very hot, and Natsu loved making her body feel warm.

His mind had been wandering into his thoughts about the spy from Aqua Kyogre, not even realizing that she had made Natsu break apart from his friends for the conflicts of Fairy Tail to begin, and the fire dragon slayer was still unable to see that his feelings were only nothing more than tools to his mistress with teal hair. She sure had his heart in hands, letting Natsu fall so deeply in love with her, and he looked determined to win for her. Natsu knew that she would be watching, not expecting any plot twists to shake him up, and he had even forgotten about Lucy for a moment.

"All right, everyone. The Grand Magic Games have come around again, and we are going to win like how we did last year. However, I think we all know that's not our only goal to accomplish while we're here. It's pretty obvious that Sabertooth might try to aim for the top again, and their presence will probably give us the opportunity to give Lucy our best apologies. Even though I wasn't involved in the drama, doing nothing and betraying her are two different things that both made her feel hurt by us. Let's show her that we aren't a bunch of jerks, and that we do want to be her friends." Gray explained to everyone with a stern look on his face, not wanting this conflict to persist any longer.

Natsu shouted with an upset look on his face, letting his mind swap out his feelings of love for feelings of annoyance at the mention of Lucy's name, "Wow, you must be dense in the head! There is no reason that we should be friends with a girl in Sabertooth, you icy stripper, and you must really want to make me mad from having to see Lucy with that smug jerk named Sting! I hate them both so much, and I'll burn them in a blaze! I'm fired up to take down Lucy for getting with that guy, especially since she knew very well that's he's my rival! It's like she blindsided and used me, you know!"

Both boys glared at each other, once again disliking each other for their different views on this situation, but Erza's death glare scared them both into trying to act like friends. They saw the harsh look in her brown eyes, hating the fact that Natsu was indeed the one who had caused Lucy to leave Fairy Tail, and she was curious about what Lisanna thought of this whole mess. The white-haired mage had been really quiet for a while, never really saying much about how the drama in the guild had made her feel, but she looked unhappy while supposedly understanding where Natsu's heart was headed.

To Lisanna, Natsu had always spoken about Lucy like he just could not stand the thought of her being with Sting. She was his ex, however, and there really should have been no strife. However, Lisanna would always be concerned to hear Natsu bragging about how he would beat Sting again in this year's Grand Magic Games. His strange desire to pummel Lucy and her new boyfriend had felt weird to Lisanna, making her suspect that the fire dragon slayer was going to try and get Lucy back, and Lisanna did not want to be cheated on because of her boyfriend's swaying feelings. She had to set him straight, right?

Even though she had to make him see that she was there for him, Lisanna also wanted to give Lucy a good apology for everything that had happened to her. It had been wrong to make the guild members be sneaky behind her back for nearly seven months, not even telling her about the fact that Natsu had been cheating on her, and Lisanna truly did feel sorry for her actions. However, the fact that Natsu still hated Lucy was certainly quite a thorny issue to get around. Lisanna had to get him to see that not everyone from Sabertooth was jerky like he thought they were, but how could she possibly do that?

Unknown to Fairy Tail or Sabertooth, the Grand Magic Games would actually be doing a little bit of collaborating with the Grand Fiore League. They would still be having the various events, but the sponsors also were aware of Raven Tail's cheating ways last year. They definitely wanted this tournament to have some fairness to it, and that's why the battles would have a little twist. Even the preliminary event would be something exciting that was from the Grand Fiore League, but nobody knew what it would be. Would it be something to truly be excited about, for the most part?

Elsewhere, in Crocus...

Sting had stopped running when he had arrived at a grassy park, noticing that there was a concession stand selling dessert on the nearby street, and he prepared to get some cake for him and Lucy to eat. Speaking of his girlfriend, she had finally managed to catch up with him while panting heavily from running so far to get her purple spell book back. Sting noticed that Lucy looked pretty exhausted from all that running, and she tripped over her left foot while looking pretty confident about retrieving the book.

He had caught her before she could fall, letting the blonde-haired girl rest her head against his chest, and she sighed happily from feeling Sting's warmth. She wanted the book back, but Lucy found herself blushing when she looked into the charming blue eyes of Sting. She had no idea that he stole the book to not only be alone with her, but this was his way of luring a girl on a date with him. He loved to see Lucy in a determined mood, knowing she would be ready to take on anything, and taking her book was a great way to get her all psyched up.

Speaking of the book, Lucy and Sting still had no idea that it was wanted by Aqua Kyogre for that guild's interesting plot. They had been planning to use one of its types of magic to achieve a certain goal, but the book was not in their possession at the moment. That's why Shelly took a liking to Lucy, seeing that the blonde girl had the book, and the black-haired woman would simply use her rival's feelings as a way to become her possible ally. After all, wasn't it smart of Shelly to make Lucy now be turned against Cana? She just had to keep using the discord between Lucy and the fairies, as a way for her rival to grow.

Lucy and Sting decided to happily share a box of a dozen glazed donuts, wanting to have some sweet treats before the preliminary round of the Grand Magic Games would begin, and both of the mages took six donuts from the box. While Sting hurriedly ate his donuts, feeling famished from all of the running that he had done, Lucy had taken her time eating the donuts to enjoy the sugary taste. She always loved to eat sweets, since they were so sweetly delicious, and they went well with a sweet girl like Lucy. This was certainly a sweet day for her, right?

She had even ran her fingers through the white dragon slayer's blond hair, loving how he had always been able to manage every single aspect of his hotness, and Lucy gave Sting a soft kiss on the cheek while they sat together on a brown bench in the park. She had definitely wanted to help her new friends win in the Grand Magic Games, not intent on losing out to her enemies from Fairy Tail, and Lucy narrowed her eyes while looking determined to win. As she was about to tell Sting about her fierce drive, however, let's just say that the water from a nearby fountain would certainly dampen her lovely plan.

Shelly had come out of the fountain, wearing her blue midriff top that left her stomach exposed, and she also wore her fashionable blue jeans as well. Her presence was quickly noticed by Lucy and Sting, the latter charging up Holy Nova in his right hand for the possibility of a fight breaking out, but the white dragon slayer had a curious look in his eyes when he could see that Shelly was looking straight at Lucy. The two rivals had met up once again, but what in the world did Shelly want? Why would a member of Aqua Kyogre be here?

"Hello again, Lucy Heartfilia. I see that you're still with Sting, despite the fact that you must've been so furious over the kiss that I gave him, but that's not why I'm here. The guild of Aqua Kyogre is just wanting to wish you good luck today, and you'll probably need luck in this tournament. The fairies are competing as well, but I do hope that you won't show them any mercy. After all, I doubt that you'd last against someone other than me or Natsu. You may not even beat Erza Scarlet, for all we know." Shelly told her rival in a condescending manner, smirking evilly as she was face to face with the blonde girl.

Lucy replied in a determined tone, looking confident as her cocoa brown eyes were locked with Shelly's aqua blue ones, "I'm going to help Sabertooth win this competition, Shelly, and I will not lose to anybody. It's true that I may not have as much experience as you do, but I'm going to show you that I can crush Fairy Tail with only a few attacks! I'll be creative and strategic, too, so you won't be able to say that I'm just clueless or full of assumptions! I plan to show off my fighting spirit, and you'll see my true strength! After I wipe the floor with Natsu, I'll beat you down as well!"

Shelly maintained her smirk while getting to hear her rival's words of confidence, and the black-haired woman could only think of how great it was to see Lucy be turned against her former guild. She was good at entering the mind of the younger girl, helping Lucy increase her desire to make Fairy Tail pay for how they had hurt her so badly by not telling her that she was being played, and Shelly had giggled a bit at the thought of Fairy Tail's mages being crushed by someone who had been ousted from their guild? Lucy would be the perfect one to deliver the payback to them, taking the eyes of the fairies off of Aqua Kyogre.

As the blonde mage was now feeling fired up, ready to help her team win the Grand Magic Games, she could only look a bit curious to see Shelly blow her a kiss while she still smirked evilly. Lucy looked a bit puzzled about what was going on, especially since a purple heart-shaped projectile was now floating in midair between her and Shelly. The heart floated towards Lucy's book, attaching itself to the orange cover, and the heart burst into glitter while making the spell book turn purple as well. Violet beams of light began to shine from the book, signifying that new spells had appeared, but it was only because Shelly let Lucy have a bit of her darkness and poison as a secret invitation to join Aqua Kyogre against Fairy Tail someday.

With that job now done, as well as the temperature in Crocus beginning to make her sweat, Shelly gave Sting a soft kiss to his right cheek before she went back into the fountain to take a hidden passageway back into Aqua Kyogre's hideout. Shelly had loved to make Lucy blush red, clearly knowing that she looked jealous from seeing her sexy rival kiss Sting, and the black-haired woman had actually given Lucy a little lovely taste of how Aqua Kyogre could pour their waters of persuasion into the minds of whoever they saw as admirable. She wanted Lucy to have tons of power, since Water Magic and Darkness Magic worked well together.

Sting had quickly wiped Shelly's lipstick off of his cheek, really hating how that woman was so flirty with him, and the white dragon slayer had still remembered the time that she had almost left him frozen from a kiss. He had never liked women who were so evil and tactical, really making a great comparison while he had thought that Shelly could be a distant relative of Minerva, and Sting was hoping that Shelly would never kiss his lips ever again. The only woman who he wanted a kiss from was Lucy, and her kisses were sweet like a sugary treat.

While Lucy and Sting had been dealing with Shelly, however, the duo did not bother to turn around for the chance to have seen many grunts from Aqua Kyogre knocking out at least one or two members of certain teams with scalding hot water to keep them from competing in the Grand Magic Games. If there weren't enough teams for the preliminary round, then how could it be held? This meant that eight teams might qualify by default, and Lucy had no idea that Shelly had simply been distracting her for those few minutes. The tanned woman was going to make this be in Lucy's favor, now that their goals were becoming similar with the desire for Fairy Tail's downfall.

How was Chapter 17? Did you like it? Sorry for changing the plot a bit, or if it's too short. Anyway, the Grand Magic Games have now begun! Will the teamwork of Lucy and Sting be great enough for a few wins, and will Lisanna start getting more suspicious? Who qualifies for the tournament, making both Lucy and Cana shocked? Standby for the update!