Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)
Chapter 18: The Lucy, The Shelly, and the Natsu
The following day, Lucy and Sting were at a coffee shop in Crocus to discuss the events that had transpired yesterday. This was also the first day of the Grand Magic Games, and Sabertooth had been informed that they were one of the eight teams left standing in the competition. They were lucky to have not been true enemies with Shelly's crew from Aqua Kyogre, since they were the ones who had purposely wounded many competitors with scalding hot water, and Lucy wasn't even looking all that proud to have technically passed the preliminary round. After all, who would be happy to have a rival who played dirty?
The book's new purple color had looked a bit strange to Lucy, and she could only look curious while wondering about why Shelly had blown a kiss to it. Had she added some new type of magic to the book, hoping for her brown-haired rival to get stronger, and why did Lucy get such an eerie vibe from the new spells that she had seen? They all felt so powerful, yet had such ghostly sides to them. These spells seemed to be darker in nature, much like how Shelly was evil while Lucy was good, and the blonde mage was still going to try and beat Shelly down with them.
In fact, she looked fired up to take down her rival for giving Sting another kiss as well. She had hated the fact that Shelly kissed Sting's lips back in Mintochoko Town, as punishment for Lucy's bad judgement, and seeing the tanned woman kiss his cheek was like a sign that Shelly was really taking a liking to how she could push Lucy's buttons. The sponsors had seen the massively large floods of scalding hot water, not knowing that the dark guild known as Aqua Kyogre had been the main cause of it, but they couldn't just cancel the Grand Magic Games before they had even started. After all, the organization holding this event would know that many of the spectators would be mad to find out that their tickets would not come with any refunds of jewels if the tournament had to be cancelled.
However, Lucy also knew that the sponsors would not disappoint the remaining guilds that were seeking to be the best in Fiore. This tournament had to go on from its normal format, regardless of any interruptions or drama that might be caused, and Lucy hoped that she would be okay. After all, last year had been pretty scary for her. She was nearly killed by Minerva Orlando in the Naval Battle, arrested because of everything surrounding the Eclipse Project, and the aftermath of everything had left her pretty shaken up. She had wondered where Minerva went, since she did not see her at all in the guild of Sabertooth.
She did not want to be scared of this new type of magic that she was now wielding, despite sensing something strange about it, and Lucy had set the purple book down on the table while she drank some of her white mocha frappuccino. The sweet taste and hot temperature of her coffee were strong enough to snap Lucy out of her thoughts, bringing her back to reality, and she blinked her cocoa brown eyes a few times while Sting had been snapping his fingers in front of her face to see if she would still be in a daze. He was always good at getting her attention, wasn't he?
"Lucy, quit staring out into space like that! I was telling you that there's nothing to worry about, and you probably won't even see Shelly in the stands at this year's tournament. Maybe she just gave you that new type of magic to help you have some kind of an edge over the other competitors, but don't see it as Shelly's magic. It belongs to you now, and the Molding Magic in the book can help you make those spells into your own creations. Shelly may have given you darkness, Lucy, but you can change it into your light." Sting told her in a calm tone while smiling a bit, touching her left hand with his left hand, and he also drank some hot chocolate with whip cream in it to get himself hyped up for the tournament.
He also let Lucy know that she was not alone in this, and that they would be taking on this tournament together. He did not want her to be so fearful about this new type of magic, even though she still did not know what would fully come from using it, and Sting let Lucy know that her new magic from the purple book was now a sign that she could get creative with at least four spells. After all, he had noticed that the book seemed to give Lucy spells that really fitted her perfectly. It never gave her something that she did not think would be effective, and that was Lucy's strength.
Her spells were different from ordinary ones, being shaped differently to work in unorthodox ways at certain times, and they also had very interesting effects. Her abilities were similar to that of Molding Magic, meaning that Lucy could create anything that she wanted to make, and Sting let her know that she did not have to wait for the nature of one type of magic to come into play. The Molding Magic was certainly in the book, but the abilities of the spells coincided with the thoughts from Lucy's heart and mind. She just had to think with some smarts, and everything would be all right.
Sting assured her that everything would end up being okay, and Lucy knew that she could trust him. There were never any doubts about anything, especially when it came to Sting's speeches of confidence being able to really get Lucy happy, and she smiled happily while knowing his words were definitely encouraging. If the spells were created by her thoughts, then maybe the Darkness Magic simply had to work in unpredictable ways. Besides, even if this type of magic had powers that were eerie and dark, Lucy would definitely not be afraid of having a spell that summoned ghosts to help her in battles.
The first day of the Grand Magic Games would be starting at 8:30 in the morning, and the current time was 8:10 in the morning. Lucy thanked Sting for his inspiring speech by giving him a soft kiss on the lips, and she ran out of the coffee shop with her white mocha frappuccino in her left hand. Sting also ran after her with the cup of hot chocolate in his hand, happy to have gotten that sweet kiss from his hot girlfriend, and Sting was definitely going to return the favor to her. He had also wanted to see Lucy fight, showing everyone the results of her training with him, and Sting knew that Lucy would not let him down.
15 minutes later...
Sting watched his girlfriend quickly check her appearance in the reflection of a glass window nearby, and he smiled while his blue eyes scanned her from head to toe. She wore a light pink shirt with a red miniskirt to match, and her strawberry pink high heels made her look even more appealing. Lucy also had a pink bow in her hair, and she giggled when she turned to face Sting. Her beautiful blonde hair was also tied into a ponytail on the right side of her head, and Lucy knew that she had to look her best while being determined to do her best as well.
"You always look great, no matter what. If you get chosen to battle today, Lector and I will cheer for you like crazy! I can already tell that you're going to win, no matter who your opponent is or what the event is. Just give it everything that you've got, and deliver a grand slam of moves down on the other teams! Keep your attitude high, and there's no way that you'll go down!" The white dragon slayer told her with a smile on his face, before grinning confidently and giving his girlfriend a thumbs-up while winking with his right eye.
"Thank you, Sting! I'm going to compete today for Sabertooth, and I'm going to win for both of us! Sorry if I seemed totally depressed earlier, but now I really want to beat Fairy Tail because it'll make me feel like I'm stronger than my past self! I want to do good for you, Sting, and I won't lose! With you cheering me on, I know that my courage will be there. You're my inspiration, Sting." She responded with strong emotions in her voice while still looking fierce and feeling confidence rising up from inside her.
Sting understood her reasons for wanting to participate today, and he really did like that fierce look of passion and excitement in her violet eyes. He gave her a soft kiss on the lips for good luck, and she blushed a light shade of pink before returning the kiss and feeling Sting lightly wrap his arms around her waist. They certainly were a pretty cute couple, and Lucy always loved how Sting cared about her. He didn't want her to be depressed on the first day of a big competition like this, and she was not going to let her worries get in the way of her determination to make Sabertooth be the best.
Lucy's belief that she could win, combined with her determination to take Sting's advice about making new spells, caused her purple book to emit violet beams of light while it began to glow. She widened her eyes in shock at the sight of this happening, especially since it got the attention of some people who were passing by, and Lucy opened up the book while she ran to the Domus Flau with Sting. She turned to the sixth section of the book where the Darkness Magic was located, seeing the characters of the sixth language, and three new spells had appeared.
She couldn't exactly read everything perfectly while running at a fast pace, just seeing the violet text on the first three pages of Darkness Magic continue to glow, and Lucy wondered what these spells would be like. She could still hear Sting's advice resonating in her mind, letting her know that the book did not control her spells. If she was the book's master, then she controlled it. She smiled a bit, having confidence in her cocoa brown eyes while knowing that she could freely decide what the spells would be, and the blonde girl would not let these three spells go to waste.
However, Lucy did not know that her Darkness Magic was part of a little partnership that made it be on two sides. Shelly could also give Lucy some spells whenever she really needed them, and the black-haired woman did play an important role here. While Lucy could clearly think up the looks for the spells, she somewhat lacked the power to back them up. Shelly's dark nature could supply her spells with that strong power, and this type of magic had a few nice non-spell abilities. Lucy or Shelly could teleport through moonlight, and both girls were also capable of eating moonlight. They could also absorb gravity while using this dark magic, too.
They had managed to catch up with the other members of Team Sabertooth, looking totally ready to win today, and Lucy did not plan to lose. She knew that people could volunteer to participate in the events, but the sponsors would choose the pairings for the battles. Would Lucy be chosen to battle today, and what would the event end up being like? She was getting really psyched up for this, ready to do well for Sting, and Lucy would let her feelings shine through to him with her magic. However, would that shine be bright or dark?
As Team Sabertooth kept running towards the arena, Lucy and Sting had unknowingly passed by Lisanna. She looked a bit startled to see them all run past her at such high speeds, but then the blue-eyed girl managed to regain her composure. Both of the Fairy Tail teams were still on their way to the Domus Flau, making the white-haired mage be the first one to arrive, and she smirked a bit while hoping that her plan would go into action. It did involve Natsu, too, and she had thought that working together with the other team of fairies would definitely help their relationship. It would probably also help her find out about the secrets that Natsu had been hiding, too.
Even though both mages were in the same guild, Lisanna knew that her boyfriend would be on one of the opposing teams facing off against Team Fairy Tail B. She didn't plan to show him any mercy if they had to face off against each other, and his actions as a jerk had certainly caused Natsu to make quite the list of enemies in his own guild. He wanted to fix things with everyone, but he had to first prove some good social skills to Lisanna for the others to possibly see that he was not a total jerk. Of course, Lisanna also knew that not everyone would be so quick to forgive Natsu. He had only been thinking of his new happiness while he had cheated on Lucy, so getting on good terms with her would possibly make everyone else see him a a good guy. Could this plan of being drama-free even work, though? Lisanna was smart, but was she smart enough to set it in motion?
40 minutes later…
The time had finally arrived for the inauguration of the Grand Magic Games in the year X792, and there were balloons of many colors being released into the air. Spectators filled the many rows of seats in the Domus Flau, and the guild masters were in the stadium's booths along with non-competing members of their respective guilds. The announcer and judges were in a booth near the king's booth, and Chapati Lola looked excited about the Grand Magic Games while he turned on his microphone and tested it to make sure that it was working.
"Welcome to the Grand Magic Games of X792, everyone! Once again, we're all here to decide the best guild in Fiore! Fairy Tail's win last year was exciting to see, but can they win again and keep their success going? Will someone else rise to the top? Let's get ready to see the eight competing teams!" Chapati announced excitedly, causing the spectators in the arena to cheer and roar. Even he looked thrilled for this annual tournament to be transpiring once again, since last year was really dramatic, and he wondered if this year was going to be filled with surprises.
"I hope that everyone competes fairly this year. We don't want to have to disqualify anyone and ban them for three years like we had to do with Team Raven Tail last year." Yajima commented sternly, hoping no one would be foolish enough to cheat. In fact, this year, the Domus Flau had cameras on all of its statues to monitor and zoom in on every move of the competitors and their teammates. There was no way that anybody would be canceling out someone else's magic to help another team win, since the security was also composed of mages who could pinpoint the location of magic as soon as it was activated in any way.
"I certainly hope Blue Pegasus will be competing again. After all, Eve's Snow Magic managed to save many people from meeting a death that would've been caused by scalding hot water. The coldness of his snow had cooled down the water, especially after the snow had melted into the water, so I'd hate to see our efforts go to waste. Although, I still do wonder about the people who caused that flood. They must be wanting attention, or a spot in the news section of the next issue of Sorcerer Magazine." Jenny Realight said with a happy smile on her face, as she waved to the crowd.
Then, the teams were getting ready to be announced. They would be announced in ascending order from the last full team that reached the Domus Flau to the first complete team who managed to get here. Since there were no preliminaries, due to Shelly's crew using their large amounts of scalding hot water to leave eight certain teams in the competition for it to be rigged into their favor, and the people who had managed to survive those large floods would be able to participate in the tournament. Some people even thought that yesterday's flooding of Crocus with boiling water actually was the preliminary round, too.
The first group to be announced was Team Quatro Cerberus, who had gotten 8th place this time around. Their team consisted of Bacchus, Rocker, Nobarly, Yaeger, and Semmes. Hopefully, for their sake, they wouldn't have to be renamed Team Quatro Puppy like last year.
Next, was Team Mermaid Heel. They came in 7th place, and the mages on the team were Kagura, Milliana, Beth, Risley, and Arania. Could they achieve fourth place at the end like they did last year?
After them, a new team came out of the dark hallway and the members of this team would be surprising to see. Their presence had shocked the crowd in a big way, even making the judges give off looks of total disbelief, and it was Shelly's group from the guild known as Aqua Kyogre. This team consisted of Shelly and four other girls, mostly since the boss of Aqua Kyogre had used a Water Clone of a guild inspector to approve Aqua Kyogre as a light guild for the tournament, and let's just say that this guild had some pretty dark motives. (The other four members of Team Aqua Kyogre shall be introduced later on in the competition, just so you know.)
Following them, was Team Blue Pegasus. Jenny immediately stood up to applaud her teammates for getting 5th place, and she smiled at Hibiki, Ren, Eve, Ichiya, and Nichiya. Many people were also cheering for Team Blue Pegasus because of the fact that Eve had used his Snow Magic to cool down the hot water, not knowing that Lucy had later used her Water Magic to simply absorb the cooled water into her hands, and even some kids were cheering for Blue Pegasus. Could Hibiki's calculations be able to work this year, or would his data need to be updated?
Afterwards, Team Lamia Scale came out on to the battlefield of the Domus Flau. Ooba Babasaama scolded them for getting 4th place again, but then she saw the reason why when Chelia Blendy kept on clumsily tripping over her own feet.
Then, Team Fairy Tail A arrived in the Domus Flau. Erza, Natsu, Laxus, Gajeel, Gray, and Juvia heard the tremendous roars of the crowd since Fairy Tail had won last year. They had confident smiles on their faces that told everyone that they planned to win again this year, and Natsu posed triumphantly for the crowd. He roared up at the crowd that Fairy Tail could beat the pants off of anyone, causing them to positively cheer his name as a response, and the fire dragon slayer was secretly hoping that Lisanna's team was running late.
However, he just had to tempt fate for his high hopes to come crashing down. Surprisingly, the next team to arrive was Team Fairy Tail B. It consisted of Lisanna, Mirajane, Elfman, Cana, and Jellal. The crowd cheered for them as well, since they also represented Fairy Tail. Natsu immediately gulped with embarrassment, as this now put his team in third place, but he was still glad to know that Lisanna was here. He had now been thinking about her, not even wondering where Marina was, and the fire dragon slayer also had a smug look on his face while thinking that Lucy and Sting drowned in the flood yesterday.
With the 2nd place team announced, only one team remained unknown. Natsu laughed while having an arrogant look on his face, thinking that Lucy had been the one who slowed Sabertooth down, and he thought that they definitely would not be in the tournament. He also wanted to laugh at the assumption of Sting, his greatest rival, having to watch the Grand Magic Games from the spectator seats. Natsu literally began to laugh about the fact that Sabertooth had practically forfeited to Fairy Tail last year, but he had tempted fate once again.
Finally, it was Team Sabertooth's time to step out on to the field. The six members were walking down the dark hallway towards the bright light that led to the battlefield where everyone else was waiting to see the team that had been the first to arrive at the Domus Flau. Yukino was still going to walk out there with her teammates, despite being a reserve member for the team, and she also calmly smiled while looking at Lucy's purple spell book. That was the color of royalty, victory, and that is what Sabertooth would possibly be able to achieve.
Sting and Lucy were holding hands and smiling, as they arrived on the field with their teammates to see all the other teams they were competing against during the Grand Magic Games. The crowd cheered for Team Sabertooth, and some of the spectators even recognized Lucy from seeing her name in the newspaper because of all the jobs that she had been completing in Fiore and in faraway lands. Even Runo Sabaku from the Desert Resort was in the stands of the Domus Flau, and she simply smirked at the sight of the blonde girl who had taken down an elite Earth Dragon Slayer such as herself.
Lucy blushed a light shade of pink and seemed a little bit nervous from all of her opponents staring at her, especially since people like Kagura Mikazuchi and Lyon Vastia looked eager to fight her since they had obviously heard the stories of her enormous power. Her presence also made Shelly have a confident smirk on her face, happy to see that her plan to help Sabertooth be in the main tournament had worked, and the sight of the tanned woman had made Lucy now have a serious facial expression. She could not believe that Shelly managed to get into the Grand Magic Games, since the dark guilds were supposedly not allowed to compete, and now the ferocity was truly on.
Natsu asked Lucy with an annoyed facial expression, pointing his left index finger straight at her while he pointed his right index finger at Shelly, "Why in the world are you trying to stare at that chick, yet you ignore me like the fights in Fairy Tail and Sabertooth had never happened!? Why does that girl get your intense glare, Lucy, yet you treat me like I'm nothing to you right now? Also, who in the world is she? I could hear the crowd being shocked about something, but is she some famous person? Also, why is this tension seeming like you two have a history with each other?!"
Sting quickly shielded Lucy in an attempt to threaten Natsu to not mess with her, but she motioned for him to step aside before folding her arms and closing her eyes while countering Natsu's statement with a sharp tongue and a harsh look, "You're so interested in this new conflict, yet it has nothing to do with you. My business is not for you to be poking your nose into, especially since you can't beat me and Shelly can probably take you out with at least one hit as well, so don't even try to know anything about me. When you cheated on me with Lisanna, that showed me that you wanted to do with me. Sting is my boyfriend, and you're just the trashy ex that I really can't stand."
At that moment, most of the other mages let out a big "Ooooh!" in unison at her words towards Natsu. Even the crowd and the judges were impressed by such an image-shattering comeback like that, and Lucy looked pretty happy to receive high-fives from Yukino and Shelly for her remarks. Orga, Rufus, and Sting also high-fived her for what she had said. Natsu looked totally shocked by this, dropping his jaw at the fact that Lucy told him off with ease, and the fire dragon slayer gulped anxiously when Shelly deviously smirked at him to let him know that he was definitely wrong to throw out Lucy like a total fool.
Gajeel, Laxus, and even Gray continued to laugh. Of course, Gray had always enjoyed seeing Natsu get told by anybody. The ice mage was also proud of Lucy for being able to stand up for herself like that, and Gray was personally rooting for her to win if she ever got matched up against Natsu in this five-day tournament. He knew that she was really strong with the power of that mysterious book, and Gray did not know that the book was also benefiting the power of Lucy's Celestial Spirits as well. After all, let's just say that Aries would not be sorry when a certain type of magic would be used with her golden key.
5 minutes later...
After all the laughter ceased, a stone tablet rose up from the ground and it had the program for the five days of the Grand Magic Games on it. The events would happen before the battles on each day, except the fifth day where the event was the survival tournament that involved battles. Everyone wondered what the first event would end up being like, since they would never know what the event was until the judges had announced it, and some of the events could actually end up being pretty illogical or have insane twists.
To remind all the competitors that the Grand Magic Games were not just an assortment of mental and physical challenges, the first event was known as "Appealing Ace." For events, the teams could select a member to participate instead of the sponsors deciding. Everybody wanted to have those ten points right off the bat, most likely to have a sense of security for when the battles would come around, but they didn't even know what the event was about. Could this event be good or bad for Team Sabertooth, and how difficult would it be?
Team Quatro Cerebus had selected Yaeger, Beth had volunteered for Mermaid Heel, Eve Team stepped forward for Blue Pegasus, Lyon decided to do this for Lamia Scale, prompting Gray Fullbuster from Team Fairy Tail A to also step forward. A girl named Mizu Burū was told by Shelly to volunteer for Team Aqua Kyogre, and she had long brown hair that reached down to her waist. Her eyes were green, and she wore a simple pink T-shirt with some green shorts. While Lucy volunteered for Team Sabertooth, wanting to impress Sting, she was happy to see her boyfriend give her a friendly smile while he knew that she would do her best.
While Lucy had walked out on to the sandy battlefield, Shelly could only look down at her rival to see if she would be showing off her best skills. Shelly wanted to see Lucy at her very best, hoping that her blonde rival would be worthy enough to put on a very good performance, and the tanned woman had a calm look in her blue eyes while focusing her attention down on the brown-eyed girl. Even though it was only the first day of the Grand Magic Games, let's just say that Shelly would be quite sneaky while she still looked sexy in her Aqua Kyogre uniform.
As Shelly had even thought about asking Lucy to join Aqua Kyogre, the blonde mage looked pretty psyched up about winning this event for Team Sabertooth. It was true that she hadn't tested out the Darkness Magic at all, making it have to be used for the first time in a critical matter like this, but the unknown had pulled through for her in nearly every situation. This event may have had twists to it, but her magic also had twists to it as well. Lucy was able to work with her magic every time, and adapting to the event would not be as difficult as it seemed to be.
In an instant, Mato commanded the field to magically open up and a large stage appeared in the middle of the sandy battlefield. The stage had beautiful red curtains that rose up to reveal that there was absolutely nothing or no one on it, and the spotlights turned on to shine on the center of the wooden floor. Gray hoped that they wouldn't have to perform in a dance-off or something like that, since dancing was not exactly his best skill. There were mic stands or microphones, so singing also would not be a part of this event.
"For those of you who don't know how to play this game, I'll explain the rules! Myself, Yajima-san, and the beautiful Jenny Realight from Team Blue Pegasus will be the judges in this event! Each competitor must go up on that stage and make their magic look appealing to the audience, but only three moves per mage are allowed. You will get a score for your performance, and the person who gets a perfect 10 gets ten points! Last place gets zero points, by the way. Now, let the event commence!" Chapati announced while looking thrilled for what was to come.
Looking pretty confident about this while knowing that Shelly had guaranteed that the scheme was sure to work, Mizu Burū went up on the stage first. She smiled happily while making two spiraling beams of water emerge from her hands, and they both went upward into the air while curving in opposite directions to go away from each other. The beams of water proceeded to now go towards each other, though, being manipulated by the movements of Mizu's hands, and the water formed the shape of a heart. The judges found her routine to be interesting, so they gave her an 8 out of 10 for creativity and precision with her magic.
The next person to go up on the stage was Lyon Vastia from Team Lamia Scale. He used his Ice-Make Magic to create three falcons out of ice, and they flew through the air for a few moments. When they descended into the ground, the ice falcons cracked into pieces. The judges gave Lyon a 6 out of 10, giving his team six points, and they got third place in the event. Gray grinned with confidence, knowing that he could do much better, and he narrowed his dark blue eyes while making various weapons out of ice. He threw them all into the air, watching them hit each other, but a certain black-haired woman from Aqua Kyogre was quite good at making it rain. She had thrown a bubble of water into the air, making it briefly rain down on the stage where Gray stood, but the rain's properties made it be like metal that broke all of his weapons into pieces. One piece of ice even landed on his left foot, causing him pain while the judges cringed at the sight of this, and they gave him a zero out of ten.
Having a creative yet simple idea, Eve Tearm from Team Blue Pegasus used his Snow Magic to easily create a snowman. While Jenny found it to be delightful, Chapati wasn't all that thrilled by something that he could see when Christmas came around. Eve received a 4 out of 10, earning four points for Blue Pegasus, and they were currently in fourth place. Beth Vanderwood from Team Mermaid Heel used her Carrot Magic to obviously produce carrots, and simply eating one of them caused Chapati to look disinterested. He only gave her a three out of ten, giving Mermaid Heel three points.
Yaeger from Team Quatro Cerberus used his Plant Magic to summon a flytrap out of the ground, only to have it eat a fly that passed by for a moment, and Chapati looked utterly bored by something that he could see when he visited a botanical garden. The judges gave two points to Yaeger, putting Team Quatro Cerberus in sixth place, and that left only two competitors remaining. There was also a high score and low score still available, but only one person would emerge with victory while the other would be forced to go down in defeat. The pressure was certainly on, was it not?
Cana from Team Fairy Tail B threw her Whirlpool Card down on the floor when she had gone on stage, making a large whirlpool of water appear beneath her feet, and she quickly used a Surfboard Card to clearly make an orange surfboard be beneath her feet. She began to do some surfboarding tricks while circling around in the whirlpool, but Shelly had used her own Water Magic to make Cana's whirlpool start bubbling while its temperature had risen. The water became hotter, ultimately bursting in a large blast, and Cana was sent flying out of the stadium. Due to that "screw up", Cana only got a 1 out of 10.
After Cana had dispelled the effects of her cards and left the stage, Lucy had motivation in her cocoa brown eyes from realizing that she was the only competitor left. Luckily for her, ten was the only remaining score for whatever she did. It would easy to do something simple, still getting the highest amount of points, but that's not what Lucy was going to do. She wanted to impress Sting, show him how powerful she could be with her new spells, and Lucy was going to show Natsu that she was far from a weakling. She was also going to show Shelly that she was powerful enough to use this given magic in her own way.
She shouted with strong emotions after running up on to the stage with a fierce look on her face, opening her purple spell book once again while pulling out the key of Aries, "Gate of the Ram, I open thee! Aries! I call upon thee as well, the first spell of Darkness Magic in the purple book, Dark Conversion!"
This spell caused the clear blue sky to turn black like the nighttime, having the white moon replace the yellow sun, and a violet aura surrounded Lucy's body. She also lost consciousness for a few moments, not knowing that her eyes had turned amethyst purple to represent the appearance of the magic taking over her mind while this spell was being used, and Lucy smirked deviously while a purple sphere of Darkness Magic formed in her right hand. She surprisingly shoved it in her mouth, swallowing it whole, and then Lucy began to levitate from the effects of Dark Conversion.
The blonde mage had also made use of Aries, nicely telling the pink-haired ram to create three large walls of pink wool, and Aries gave Lucy an apology for her wool possibly being too fluffy. As a side effect of this spell, she was able to make some gravity come down upon the wool walls and cause massive purple blasts of energy to occur. She had great control over the gravity, manipulating it to strike certain areas, and that led right into her appeal. The purple blasts were definitely an amazing sight to see, but the crowd was even more pleased to see that Lucy's spell made all of the wool created by Aries turn into beautiful pink glitter.
Lucy's second spell was known as Dark Crescent, and this spell made Lucy have three purple crescent-moon shaped projectiles in each hand. She threw them all up into the air while Aries fired balls of wool from her hands at Lucy's projectiles, and the soft wool had now encased the blades. Many people curiously wondered about what would happen, and they all looked shocked to suddenly see the crescent moon blades explode into more violet blasts of energy! The first side effect of this spell caused Lucy to send down gravity to the ground with a single exhale of air, and the second side effect made the many balls of damaged wool float in beautiful circles that were up in the sky.
The other competitors could feel the effects of the spell weighing down on them, making them lie flat on the ground with enormous amounts of pressure on them, but that was nothing compared to what Lucy's third spell was able to do. It was known as Dark Fireworks, and this move caused the violet aura surrounding Lucy's body to shoot up into the air. It came down upon the sandy battlefield in the form of falling violet torpedoes, creating a copious amount of violet explosions that made some purple smoke appear, but it wasn't going to have any toxic side effects.
Since her three moves were done, Lucy closed the purple spell book to cancel the Dark Fireworks attack. The sky turned back to being a beautiful shade of blue with the sun shining high in the air, and the blonde mage's amethyst purple eyes returned to their cocoa brown color while gravity made her float down on to the sandy battlefield. Everyone looked pretty impressed by what Lucy had just done, even though she curiously looked around to see what she had really done, and she gasped in shock at the sight of her other competitors being hurt pretty badly. The Dark Fireworks spell had struck them, since that was from Shelly's brawn and not Lucy's brain, you know.
"Wow, that was really amazing! Sabertooth is pretty strong, now that Lucy Heartfilia is with them! Her team receives 10 points, and that power definitely gives her a perfect score of 10! Could the immense gravity portend Sabertooth's comeback from last year? Let's see, folks!" Chapati announced with an excited facial expression, shocked to see that Lucy had so much power.
The blonde mage was very surprised to find out that those three spells had been used in such powerful ways with dexterity and grace that had pleased the crowd, prompting Lucy to wonder why she could not see the mental images of those moves, but she had never imagined that using this new magic for the first time would help her group have the first win in the Grand Magic Games. Lucy jumped up into Sabertooth's booth where all of her friends were waiting for her, and Sting happily hugged her for helping the Sabertooth guild earn their first victory. She was glad to have helped her team win, but all of that power in her moves just felt so different to her.
10 minutes later…
When the competitors from the event went up to the booths where their teams were waiting, everyone could only talk about Lucy's fierce determination to win since she had nearly destroyed the other competitors and obliterated the stage with her spells of Darkness Magic. Who would be against her in the battle part, if she were chosen to battle today? The battles had time limits of 30 minutes, and the winner would get 10 points while the loser would receive zero. A draw would result in five points for both teams, to keep things fair, but would everyone be playing fair?
Speaking of battles, the battle part had begun with Gajeel Redfox from Team Fairy Tail A facing off against Nobarly from Team Quatro Cerberus. Gajeel had slammed him into the wall with a simple Iron Dragon's Roar, knocking him out and quickly ending the match. Team Fairy Tail A received 10 points for winning while now being tied with Team Sabertooth for first place, but Team Quatro Cerberus was still down in sixth place with two points. They certainly were a pathetic team to have one of their members taken out by one attack, right?
The second battle pitted Rufus Lohr from Team Sabertooth against Beth Vanderwood from Team Mermaid Heel. The young country girl tried attacking him with her Carrot Missiles, but Rufus used his Memory-Make Magic to make a clone of himself for Beth to attack. He then smirked a bit while proceeding to end the match with a combination of Lucy's skills with his abilities. He used a new move called Ignited Sparks, and it made several red fireballs come down from the sky to attack Beth while a red aura surrounded the body of her opponent. She took massive damage, and was knocked out. Rufus won the match, thus making his guild now have twenty points while Beth's guild still only had three. Team Mermaid Heel was now down in sixth place, sadly.
The next match had Jura Neekis from Lamia Scale up against Eve Tearm from Team Blue Pegasus. The blond young man attempted to use White Fang to strike Jura, only to have the Wizard Saint easily defeat him by using Iron Rock Fist to slam him against a wall with tremendous force. Eve fell to the ground, and Jura was declared the winner of the match. Team Lamia Scale now had sixteen points to now be in second place, but Team Blue Pegasus got nothing from the match while they were in fourth place. Jenny was noticeably upset, but Jura was quite a strong opponent.
The final match of the day put Mirajane Strauss from Team Fairy Tail B up against Mizu Burū from Team Aqua Kyogre. Mirajane had transformed into her normal Satan Soul form to start things off, and she then proceeded to use Soul Extinction to end this in one shot. However, as Mira fired the tremendous attack down at her opponent, she could only look shocked to see Mizu use her Water Body ability to stretch upward while using her Water Magic to freeze her own left hand. She detached it from herself, throwing it at Mira, and the white-haired woman was immediately frozen like an ice sculpture when her large tail had tried to deflect Mizu's frozen hand. Mira was sent crashing down to the ground, unable to battle, and Mizu won the match to gain ten more points for Aqua Kyogre.
Shelly smirked evilly while looking over at the Fairy Tail teams, satisfied that her plan to throw off Fairy Tail's game had started to work, and the blue-eyed woman had heard all about how Marina had been using Natsu while making him cheat on Lisanna as well. Shelly was greatly impressed by how low Marina could go, knowing full well that Mizu had also made the fairies be on ice, and the people in Fairy Tail would possibly start blaming losses on each other as the days would progress. This would let Shelly have Lucy all to herself for a while, helping her rival get stronger, and she saw it as a good idea to keep using Sting as Lucy's motivation. Really, was she not a good villain?
With the first day complete, Team Sabertooth decided to go to a restaurant and celebrate. Sting had already ran off before Lucy could catch up with him, and she still did not know what had happened with her Darkness Magic. It seemed like she had been taken over by a different presence, the air feeling much colder around her while she was casting the spells, and Lucy looked a little bit scared when she had remembered how the other competitors were wounded by her spells. She hadn't intended to do something like that, but why had she done it?
She was pretty lucky to have not used the fourth spell for the appealing event, as it was named Gravitational Slingshot, and this spell would have made Lucy have a purple slingshot in her hands while a ball of gravity would be in the slingshot. Lucy could fire the gravity ball anywhere, but the target would also be affected by it. If she fired it upward, for example, the target would be levitated high up to receive the gravity ball's ferocious attack that would result in a purple explosion transpiring. Killing the other competitors was not allowed, and doing it on the first day would have made Team Sabertooth get disqualified.
Lucy quickly looked inside the purple book to find that the other four spells had been written, most likely resulting from Darcy's darkness, and she could see the effects of every spell in her mind. The fifth spell of Darkness Magic could be used to alter a target's gravity, making it lighter for the ability to float up high in the air, but then they would come down and cause a violet blast of energy to transpire. This spell was known as Darkness Scale, by the way. It sure seemed like a heavy ability to have around, right?
The sixth spell could give Lucy the ability to use moonlight to restore her magical power, and it could also restore her physical strength. A violet aura would surround her body, increasing her powers to new heights, but the aura only lasted for thirty seconds. The drawback of this spell known as Nightly Heal was that she couldn't use any other ones while it was in effect. It did give her some durability, though, meaning it was more to be used as a defensive move. Quite interesting of Darcy to have that, right?
The seventh spell could give Lucy or Darcy the ability to make a purple drill of Darkness Magic surround their left hand, and it was a simple close-range move that could drill through an opponent's body. The side effect of this spell, however, would cause opponents to feel tired and want to sleep. That played nicely into the final spell that was simply known as Nightmare Eater, and it could be used only on sleeping foes to cause massive damage to them while Darcy or Lucy could refill their magical power by absorbing dreams. The side effect of this spell would make the opponent awake, however.
Suddenly, Lucy had her blonde hair covering her cocoa brown eyes. The violet text of these final four spells began to glow from within her purple book, and a sinister grin formed on her face. She began to let out a sweet little giggle about something, blushing a light shade of pink at the thought of it, and she could feel the gravity in her hands. It was so immense like the power she was wielding, and purple was such a cute color. When Lucy saw the name of the eighth spell, also seeing its tremendous and ghastly effect, she knew that using a sinister spell like this one against Natsu would make her feel so good.
Shelly asked the blonde female in a calm tone while catching up with her, as everyone else had been walking down the long path to reach the city of Crocus, " "Hello, Lucy. Are you enjoying the Darkness Magic that I gave you? Do you feel the badness flowing through you yet, and isn't your new power just enjoyable to have?"
Lucy replied in a dark tone, her eyes turning amethyst purple while she began to smirk in a vicious manner, "This magic definitely came from you, Shelly, and it is such a destructive tool to be using. The darkness should be bad to me, yet it felt so good to be using it in that event. We're both rivals, since you kissed my boyfriend to make me jealous, but we should team up sometime. In the survival tournament, we can take down Natsu together and make him pay for what he did to me. I finally have my chance at true revenge, and I'll enjoy the moment when I can get it."
As Shelly kept walking with Lucy, happy that the Darkness Magic was capable of bringing out her rival's bad side, the black-haired woman smiled at the fact that Aqua Kyogre would get all of its power from a guild like Sabertooth. They were the perfect allies to have, even acting friendly to unknown spies that were in their prestigious guild, and Shelly also knew that an important rule had now come into play. The enemy of her enemy was her friend, and that simply meant that Shelly would make sure that Lucy helped her give Fairy Tail quite a thrashing.
How was the 18th chapter? Did you like it? The Grand Magic Games have finally begun, and Sabertooth is off to a good start. Sorry about not giving much StiCy and NaLi into this chapter, but let's just say that the next chapter is where one love is bright while the other is met with a complication that puts it to the test. Will Sting's conflict with Natsu heat up? When Natsu has to face a certain girl in a battle, will Lisanna finally see that something is going on between them? Standby for the update!