Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)
Chapter 21: Whether Wanting To Make Amends Or Get Revenge, Shelly and Marina Interfere
Sting had awoken to the sounds of birds chirping on the ledges of his room's balcony, along with light shining through the windows while the sun was rising into the sky. That signaled the end of the third night and the beginning of the fourth day of the Grand Magic Games. Sting knew the sponsors had never changed how the battle format went, even though they changed the events, and this was the day for the tag-team battles to occur. Instead of battling alone, people had to battle in teams of two. That would certainly call for twice the amount of fun, would it not?
He still remembered how he and Rogue lost to Natsu and Gajeel last year, causing Jiemma to be extremely angry with them. Sting wanted to win against them as payback for Fairy Tail having Mavis to give them an easy strategy for victory. Cana had accidentally blurted that out at last year's banquet, and Sting felt like Fairy Tail's outside help had really cheated Sabertooth out of a fair win. That was certainly an unfair advantage, was it not? He didn't want to just win for his sake, but he wanted to be partnered with Lucy because she had her reasons for wanting to get back at her brash ex-boyfriend. Natsu was so incredibly harsh to her, and Lucy thought that by beating Fairy Tail that she would be stronger than how she was in the past.
Also, Sting had the intent of winning in his blue eyes from witnessing Natsu's brash and dense attitude firsthand during the Pillar Battle event. The fire dragon slayer referred to Lucy as useless, which definitely prompted him to get first place. Not only did Sting detest Natsu's attitude towards Lucy, but the fact that he had been bullying her around like she was weaker than him and showed no remorse whatsoever about the whole situation only fueled Sting's drive to win today. He was going to make his girlfriend proud, especially if they were partnered up today.
Drifting his negative thoughts and passionate drive aside for a moment, Sting smiled a little when he saw his girlfriend sleeping and snoring softly while having her head on his chest while her hands were on the white dragon slayer's rock-hard abdominals. Lucy was smiling and blushing happily while she was still getting her energy back from the lovely night that she had with Sting, and she let out a blissful sigh while she appeared to be having a wonderful dream. When she unconsciously planted a kiss on Sting's chest, he chuckled a little bit and ran his fingers through her long blonde hair.
The soft and warm feeling caused Lucy to slowly open her cocoa brown eyes, and she blushed a deep shade of red while gasping a little when she looked up at Sting to see him chuckling happily from her lips giving soft kisses to his skin. She released her lips from his skin, and smiled when Sting put his arms around her waist. The duo laid under the white bed sheets together, realizing they were both nude, but they had trusted each other immensely to know that moves wouldn't be made in any way unless they wanted to reach that point in their relationship.
"Good morning, Sting. It's a beautiful morning for the fourth day, and that sunrise feels so renewing. Fate might truly shine on us today, and it will probably be bright like the lovely white light that you create from your magic." Lucy told him while smiling and speaking in her beautifully calm voice, before looking into her boyfriend's enchanting blue eyes and happily giggling.
"The sunrise isn't beautiful like you, though. Anyway, I hope you know that today is going to be where people battle in pairs for the tag-team battles. It's been like that ever since the Grand Magic Games first began. I just know it'll be some far from random matchup, since Sabertooth fought against Fairy Tail last year, and I hope that we can be in it together. Good morning to you, too, by the way." Sting replied with his usual cocky grin, as he looked into her brown eyes that were filled with determination and caressed her back softly.
Lucy had remembered last year's tag battle between Fairy Tail and Sabertooth, and she had been cheering for Natsu. This year, as a member of Sabertooth, she was no longer weak like how she had been back then. If she were to compete alongside Sting, with Natsu and whoever else as her opponents, if would definitely be a test to herself to see if her future could officially overcome her past. It would also be pretty lucky, if the matchup perfectly ended up in her favor. Wouldn't that certainly be a joyous gift from fate? After all, if the odds ended up in her favor, Lucy would probably cherish the upcoming victory for the rest of her life.
Now that it was the fourth day, she also wondered what the event would be like. She knew from personal experience how Minerva had almost killed her in the Naval Battle last year, but Lucy also knew that was ancient history. Minerva had not been seen since last year's Grand Magic Games, making some people wonder what had happened to her, and not a trace of her had been found anywhere. Lucy had even thought that Shelly could be a relative of Minerva, but that was highly unlikely. What would the event for the fourth day be like, with the past three events being different for the competition this year?
"Well, no matter who it is from Fairy Tail, we're going to win this thing! I might not be as strong as Erza or Laxus right now, but that will not stop me from trying my best to wipe that arrogant grin off of my jerky ex-boyfriend's face! He may think that it's funny to refer to me as weak, but I can tell you right now that I will definitely show Natsu how much of a threat I can be to him in a battle! Besides, it'll be good to show Shelly that I always bring pain to my enemies!" Lucy responded to Sting with confidence in her voice and strong sense of ambition in her cocoa brown eyes.
Sting could only smile at how much more emotionally strong Lucy had become, ever since the day where Lucy lost to Shelly in the Oceanic Museum, and her confidence and strength in herself had really been improving. In fact, when she had been sparring with Sting after the games were held on the first two days, their battles ended in a draw both times. Lucy had been getting physically stronger as well, most likely because of the power of her spell book, and all of her new strength was also improving the power of her Celestial Spirits as well.
Lucy got off of Sting, and she got out of the bed to stand up and stretch her body out. She felt her muscles pop and relax, before proceeding to walk over to the brown bureau in the room to get her pink spell book and pick out some cute clothes. She had now swapped rooms with Rogue, since Lucy had wanted to be closer to Sting, and she was very happy that Rogue agreed to the swap without any debate. Calm people like him and Yukino certainly got along fine, so there was nothing to worry about. Lucy's team had definitely been cruising through the tournament with peace and ease, thus making things less tense like they had been last year for Sabertooth.
She had now put on a red T-shirt with a pink miniskirt to match, and Lucy also put on some black flat shoes as well. She always had a tendency to look her best in almost any outfit, but stylish clothes were not complete without a sweet smell to greatly go with them. Lucy pulled out a bottle of cherry perfume from the right pocket of her miniskirt, spraying its sweet scent on to her body, and she smiled happily at how the bottle was pink like the magic that she'd be testing out today. Even though it was wrong to do a bunch of practice tests during a real fight, wouldn't Lucy still be getting information about the new spells?
Sting had now gotten his usual clothes on, and he narrowed his eyes while looking at the alarm clock in the room that he now shared with Lucy. The Grand Magic Games started at 9:40 in the morning today, and it was now 8:50 in the morning. He smirked at the amount of time that him and Lucy had, prompting him to challenge her to another race to the Domus Flau. He kissed her lips softly, kissing them with passionate ease to get her psyched up, and Sting ran out of the room with a smile on his face. Lucy ran after him, not caring about the race, but to return that nice kiss.
15 minutes later...
After getting some bags of chocolate donut holes and mochaccinos to drink for breakfast, Sting and Lucy were on their way to the entrance of the Domus Flau. Feeling the warmth from the shining sun, the blonde girl had a poised smirk on her face. Even as she walking towards the day that could take any kind of turn, Lucy still had the belief that a sunrise foreshadowed great things to come her way. Would she be correct about this belief, and would Sting's prediction about the match-up also be correct? What was going to happen on the fourth day of the Grand Magic Games?
As they made their way towards the entrance, however, Lucy narrowed her cocoa brown eyes when she saw Shelly walking towards her and Sting with a confident look on her face. Lucy had never liked Shelly, since this conflict began from the moment that the two girls met, and the blonde girl was still mad at the black-haired woman for kissing Sting. Lucy did not even want to talk with Shelly, not even knowing that she was the one who made Wendy give the lipstick to Lucy, and this moment could probably be a casual talk or it would result in a battle that would happen outside the arena.
When the two girls were now face to face, Sting gulped a bit while hoping that they would not start delivering blows to each other. He knew that any mages who were caught fighting outside of the events and battles would be disqualified, along with their teammates getting kicked out of the Grand Magic Games as well, and that would certainly not be good. He did not want Team Sabertooth to get banned for three years because of the conflict that Lucy had with Shelly, and the white dragon slayer looked a bit nervous while he hoped that nothing would erupt from the two girls crossing paths like this.
Shelly could see the fierce look in her rival's eyes, really taking a liking to the fiery determination that Lucy always seemed to have, and the woman with beautiful aqua blue eyes knew that Lucy would eventually be here. Shelly was not here for a fight, but she simply wanted to try and let Lucy know that this tournament was not actually an easy ride. Shelly knew very well that Fairy Tail would be trying really hard to make up for all of the points that they lost, meaning that they would be fierce in the tag-team battle like last year, so she started off the conversation by calmly telling Lucy to not get lazy.
Just because Team Sabertooth had 60 points right now, that still didn't mean that they could let their guard down at any moment or have a false sense of security. The tanned woman wrapped her arms around Lucy's waist, bringing the Celestial Spirit Wizard closer to her while giving her a gentle hug, and Shelly let out a soft breath of air while she let Lucy smell the aroma of sweet honey from the shampoo that she had used to wash her body. Lucy sighed a bit while resting her head on Shelly's chest, mainly because of the sweet honey making her feel more relaxed, and Shelly smirked a bit while taking Wendy's words from yesterday into consideration.
"I truly hope that you've been noticing the situation, Lucy. Team Sabertooth and Team Aqua Kyogre are holding first place and second place, so I think that our motives would go well together. You want to get revenge on Fairy Tail for keeping you in the dark about your ex-boyfriend's affair that he had with Lisanna, as well as for the time that Natsu barged into the Sabertooth guild to hurt you, and I don't like Fairy Tail because of how rude they are. After all, let's not forget how Cana had attacked me when I was simply on my way to do some shopping while I simply put some insight into the thoughts that she spoke aloud." Shelly told Lucy in a calm manner, smirking evilly as she gently rubbed her rival's back with her warm hands in an attempt to coax her into forming an alliance.
Lucy replied nicely while smiling a bit, being happy at the fantasy of getting back at her old friends for siding with a cheating jerk like Natsu, "After that day, Shelly, I came to realize that you were right. I never should've assumed that Cana was the one being hurt by you, and I'm sorry for attacking you. Even though you kissed Sting, which still makes me jealous when I think about it, I still kinda laugh at how you unleashed those large farts on Cana. She really reeked with a nasty stench, and it looks like the enemies of my enemies are my friends. I do want to beat down Natsu today, and then you and I will someday have our fated final battle."
Shelly was glad to hear Lucy refer to her as a friend now, meaning that the black-haired woman was closer to having the blonde mage join Aqua Kyogre, and she smirked deviously at the fact that one of her male grunts had the job of tampering with the match-ups for the fourth day. Shelly was going to make sure that Sabertooth would fight against one of the Fairy Tail teams while Aqua Kyogre would fight Fairy Tail as well, hoping for the book's new level of power to be unleashed, and Shelly whispered in Lucy's ear that she wanted to see her fight with full force while using great tactics.
Lucy was about to confidently tell Shelly that she would do her best, until the tanned woman walked past the blonde mage while her aqua blue eyes could see that Sting had let out a sigh of relief. He had truly thought that the girls were going to end up fighting in the middle of the walkway to the arena, thinking that their feud would be the end of the line for Team Sabertooth, and Sting gulped a bit while Shelly walked towards him. He could see the cherry red lipstick on her lips while she smiled in a sultry way, possibly planning to freeze him with a kiss, and Sting simply kept his guard up.
Much to his surprise, however, Shelly gave him a soft kiss on the lips to efface his fear of being eliminated from the Grand Magic Games. Shelly's kiss was full of warmth, since she was a good kisser like Lucy, and the blonde mage stepped back to get some distance before she ran towards Shelly from behind. Lucy had noticed that her rival was in her lacy white bra and lacy white panties, since no people were heading to the stadium right now, but Lucy was stopped in her tracks when she heard Shelly giggle while she took off her bra and panties. She threw them at Lucy, before simply turning into a puddle of water that slithered all the way to the arena.
Lucy blushed pink while holding Shelly's clothes in her hands, but she was also furious with her rival for seducing Sting into this little alliance as well. She had practically shown him how beautiful she could be in the nude, letting that kiss be her way of getting him to feel good about this, and Lucy angrily told him that they had to get inside the Domus Flau. As Sting made the red blush leave his face, hoping that Lector would bring him a cheeseburger to replace the taste of Shelly's lips, he sighed in an annoyed manner while knowing that a battle between Lucy and Shelly would probably result in Sabertooth paying for damages to the entire city of Crocus.
20 minutes later…
Sting and Lucy made it to Sabertooth's booth where their teammates had been waiting for them, and they also looked over at the booths where the other teams were located. While Team Quatro Cerberus looked saddened about their losing streak happening once again, Team Aqua Kyogre looked pretty content about the fact that they had been keeping second place for a while now. Shelly did not even seem to care about winning the trophy, by the way she was so fixated on Lucy unleashing her skills, but seeing that new power would be like the victory of having a plan come to fruition. Shelly was also now wearing her blue midriff top and blue jeans, by the way.
The female grunts working under her were actually not there to just take up filler battles, but they would eventually find out what Shelly needed to know about her fierce blonde rival. Lucy still had unreadable spells in each type of magic, so she was not exactly someone to be crazily excited over. Her level of power had been increasing to higher levels, reaching a bit farther each time, and Shelly smiled with confidence in her aqua blue eyes while she knew that the grunts who had been watching Lucy in secrecy had told her about the many possible moves that Lucy could create.
Shelly was really glad about the truce that she had now made with Lucy, even though she had kissed Sting in a smart attempt to get the brown-eyed girl focused on beating down her rivals, and the black-haired woman smirked while she remembered how Marina had told her last night that she could hear Lisanna's gasp of shock when the white-haired mage stood outside the door to Natsu's suite. She had definitely heard the conversation that Natsu and Marina had while they were getting it on in the afternoon, and Shelly was glad that Fairy Tail would implode with a huge conflict. Well, let's just say that one conflict would not be enough to help Shelly with Fairy Tail's destruction.
Lucy shifted her attention from Team Sweet Melancholy to the booths where both of the Fairy Tail teams were located, seeing her main rivals for the day, and Natsu continued to look pretty scared of Erza. She had threatened him to not get distracted by any of the beautiful girls from Team Aqua Kyogre in the Grand Magic Games, or else he would receive a pretty severe punishment. Natsu had truly wanted to do his best this year, even if Marina had been using love to play with his feelings, and the fire dragon slayer could only keep his attention focused on her beauty while she playfully blew a kiss to him.
He had not even noticed that Lisanna clenched her fists tightly while she had clearly seen playful flirting from the booth where Team Fairy Tail B was located, really seeing that what she heard was the truth, and the blue-eyed girl could not believe that the pink-haired male was dense enough to cheat on her after he had cheated on Lucy to get with her. It was definitely a romantic matrix, since an affair was within an affair, but that was still not allowed. Lisanna had truly loved Natsu, and she just could not understand what he saw in Marina. It actually had more to do with her scent, than her good looks.
Lisanna really had to wonder when this little affair between Natsu and Marina had began, since he had not shown any interest in her when she first entered the Fairy Tail guild, and the blue-eyed girl promised herself that she would find out everything about what her deceitful boyfriend had been doing behind her back. Lisanna had not ruled out the theory that Marina was playing Natsu, however, and the side of Lisanna that saw the good points about the fire dragon slayer had to wonder if her boyfriend was just being used by an evil girl from Aqua Kyogre. However, what vital info could Marina get by talking to someone idiotic and dense like Natsu?
Lucy had looked in her pink spell book to see that the first four spells of Heavenly Body Magic had been fully written, meaning that they were officially ready to be used, and she smiled at the thought of getting to try them out in the upcoming tag-team battle. Of course, she first had to see if she would even get to be in it. Lucy had really wanted to show off her teamwork with Sting in the tag-team battle, knowing that she could do a good job with him at her side, and they would definitely win that battle. Even though it was never good to experiment in a battle that wasn't a practice session, would things turn out okay for Lucy?
However, before the battles could even transpire, everyone would have to get through the event first. What kind of event would be, and how exactly would it go down? Lucy remembered yesterday how she had almost gotten eighth place in the card game event that required pure luck, and Shelly's cheating ways were the only thing that kept her from losing. She had not even properly thanked her neutral ally for what she had done, making a risky move like that to help Lucy, and the blonde girl saw the subject of Shelly being her friend as a subject that was up for debate.
Lucy gasped a bit while she still held the undergarments of her rival in her left hand, feeling them to be really soft, and the blonde mage checked the tag on the white lacy panties to see that Shelly wore the same brand as her. It was only in a larger size, however, and Lucy also found it weird that a member of Aqua Kyogre would be bold enough to show her face in a department store. Well, it wasn't really weird to see villains enter public stores. They had to buy things and purchase items for various reasons as well, right? Even though Shelly and Lucy were complete opposites, they both shared the goal of taking down Fairy Tail.
She did not want to really admit it, mostly because she thought that liking anything about Shelly would make her think that she could steal Sting, but Lucy had actually wanted to see Shelly beat down Cana today for some sweet revenge. Even though Lucy had been the one to bruise up Shelly with her Earth Magic, the blonde mage could tell that Shelly would try to mangle her if they ever had to fight again. Even though the next day was a break day in the Grand Magic Games, Lucy could guess that the battle would be explosive if she ran into Shelly during the survival tournament.
"Welcome to day four of the Grand Magic Games, ladies, gentlemen, boys, and girls! So far, Sabertooth is keeping the lead, but the Fairy Tail teams are right behind them with Sweet Melancholy following them! Can anyone rattle the standings in the tag-team battles and the event today? Will Sabertooth keep this consistent streak of good fortune? Let's see what happens!" Chapati shouted while having a smile on his face, knowing one of today's battles would be the best in the history of the Grand Magic Games.
Everyone looked curious as to what the event would be, since the last three had been pretty thrilling. What was going to happen? Would it be like the Naval Battle, or would something else transpire and be just as exciting to watch? Either way, the event would probably test the physical and mental abilities of the participants. Sting wanted to handle this event, thinking that it would make for yesterday's disappointment of him not getting the chance to battle, but he received a kiss on the cheek from Lucy while kindly telling him that he just needed to have some patience.
Chapati immediately stated that the event for the fourth day would be known as "Treasure Master", The game, as weird as it sounded, would be mentally and physically challenging. The game involved turning the sandy battlefield of the Domus Flau into a place of treasure, filling it with many treasure chests, and only eight of them had a lot of golden jewels inside of them. Each participant would be given one key to help them, but they could only use it on one treasure chest. If they guessed wrong, they'd get eliminated from the event.
The competitors could also eliminate each other by using any kind of magic to attack each other, since spells could also be used to open chests without any drawbacks. However, someone would be eliminated from the event after being attacked three times. This event was basically a mental, physical, and luck-based challenge all put into one bigger challenge. Someone could also get eliminated if they happened to run out of magical power, too, which really set the difficulty of this event to a pretty high level. Who would step forward to compete in an event that had such strict rules?
"I can totally rock at this event, guys! Leave it to me, and I'll get all the bags of gold before anyone else gets to them! Things like gold, silver, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, diamonds, and pearls are pretty shiny like light. Since that works with my magic, I'm going to get them all. I'll make Sabertooth totally rich." Sting told everyone in Sabertooth's booth in a confident manner, totally ready to do his best in this event, and he had blinked his charming blue eyes at Lucy in an attempt to get her to go along with his idea.
Much to his surprise, however, Orga spoke up about competing in this event. He was grinning with a pretty positive attitude about this, stating how he would turn the other competitors into piles of black lightning chili, and the Lightning God Slayer was also confident that his type of magic could easily beat anyone else's in a contest like this. After all, did he really need to use a key when his Lightning God's Charged Particle Cannon could easily destroy every single treasure chest on the battlefield in a swift manner? Also, would he be lucky enough to select the right treasure chest?
Orga assured his team that everything would be fine, and he jumped down on to the battlefield while volunteering for Team Sabertooth. The fact that he was competing made Laxus Dreyar from Team Fairy Tail A volunteer to do something like this, knowing full well that he could easily take out the other competitors and take advantage of any electrically-charged treasure chests, but Erza had decided to do it in his place because she wanted him to keep a close eye on Natsu. She knew that something was up, but she could not get him to spit it out. Plus, with her many swords, Erza could easily win.
Lisanna volunteered once again for Team Fairy Tail B, knowing fully well how she had done such a good job yesterday, and Mira saw no problem with it. As the younger Strauss sister went down to the sandy battlefield, she glared at Natsu once again for what he had done. She would get back at him for sleeping with Marina, especially since he let another woman sleep with him in his luxury suite. Really, what kind of guy would not even ask his own girlfriend to sleep in bed with him? Natsu was definitely a dense jerk, and Lisanna planned to break up with him pretty soon. Even though she didn't know that Aqua Kyogre was behind Fairy Tail's first few losses, Lisanna still vowed to beat them down.
Shelly had made a purple-haired girl named Midna do this event for Team Aqua Kyogre, having a deceptive smirk on her face while knowing that cheating would be involved once again, and the strange woman knew that no one really paid much attention to people who seemed to be playing by the rules. Midna had shoulder-length purple hair, cerulean blue eyes, and she also wore a light blue T-shirt while matching it with a pair of Daisy Dukes. She also wore some amethyst purple flat shoes as well, and they went well with the rest of her outfit.
Team Lamia Scale had chosen Yuka Suzuki to participate for them, since he could easily open each treasure chest by sealing away the magic that was on each one of them, and he grinned with overconfidence while going out on to the battlefield. Jenny Realight from Team Blue Pegasus knew that she could transform numerous duplicates of the same key into her hands by using her Transformation Magic, and sneaky tricks like that would surprisingly be permitted in this event that involved probability. How far would she get in the event, though?
Kagura strangely stepped forward for Team Mermaid Heel, really feeling like she had to do this for her team to get some points, and the other girls allowed her to try and win for them. She also wanted to see how powerful Erza would be in their rematch, even if it could not wait until the final day of the Grand Magic Games. Team Quatro Cerberus selected Rocker to try and get them a win that they desperately needed, and his drilling skills could prove to be useful on any treasure chests that weren't infused with magic of any kind.
When all of the competitors were out on the field, Mato had a happy smile on his face while he commanded the field to open once again. The sandy ground changed into a tiled white floor while small black chests began to be magically created, each chest being only a few inches apart from another, and everyone looked surprised to find golden keys appearing in their hands. The keys were only good for one try, so getting careless in a situation like this would be a pretty bad idea. Who would find the treasure first, and who would leave empty-handed?
As a gong was struck for the event to begin, Midna smirked a bit while exhaling some purple gas from her mouth. This gas seemed to be an ordinary smokescreen, since Lisanna's Animal Soul: Wings spell proved to effective in blowing the smoke away, but the white-haired mage looked shocked to soon see purple blasts of energy transpiring in front of her. Some of them had decimated a few treasure chests, even though they were revealed to have no gold bars inside of them, and one of the blasts had struck Rocker from Team Quatro Cerberus. He was sent flying back into his team's booth, earning zero points for them, and they had received last place in this event.
Midna had used the same technique on Kagura, who tried to kick Erza in her left side while she tried to open a treasure chest, but the purple smoke clouds had turned into blobs of sludge that stuck themselves to Kagura's body. She ended up falling down to the ground, looking shocked to know that Midna's purple sludge glued her to the ground like she was trapped in paste, and Midna also let the smoke go underneath Kagura to fully glue her to the floor. The property-changing abilities used by the members of Aqua Kyogre were really a force to be reckoned with, and Kagura was warped back to her team's booth because she had been deemed unable to continue. Team Mermaid Heel received only one point in this event, and it was clear that Team Aqua Kyogre expanded their variety of people to sabotage.
With Kagura now out of the event, Erza had quickly used this chance to oust Jenny Realight from the game by simply giving her three soft hits on the head. Anyone who was hit three times would be eliminated from the event, and Jenny got sixth place. Team Blue Pegasus got only two points once again, much to their frustration, but Hibiki comically hugged Jenny while being glad that she had not been targeted by Midna's purple smoke that could explode with a blast or be nasty like sludge while gluing the person down to the ground as well.
Yuka had been using his Wave Magic on every treasure chest on the battlefield, sealing away all the different kinds of magic that would serve as booby traps, but he had not managed to find any of the chests that were filled with the golden jewels. Taking a risk, he looked stern while using his golden key on the treasure chest in front of him. The key fit perfectly into the keyhole, opening the treasure chest, but Yuka did not find gold. Instead, he received a harsh punch to the face by a springy boxing glove. He was sent all the way back to his team's booth, earning only three points for Team Lamia Scale, and Ooba spun around in frustration.
Wanting some payback on Natsu for sleeping with Marina, as she could guess that they had even made things hot in the private suite, Lisanna went into her Animal Soul: Tigress Take-Over while maintaining the fierce look on her face. She charged towards Midna, intent on bringing the pain to Aqua Kyogre, but the purple-haired girl simply exhaled a large cloud of smoke that only made it hard for Lisanna to see. Midna decided to let the white-haired mage use her Animal Soul: Wings spell to blow the smoke away, and Lisanna had used her golden key to open the treasure chest in front of her. She looked a bit content with the fact that she found a can of Coca-Cola and a bag of potato chips inside of it, seeing that as a good reward, and Lisanna gained four points for Team Fairy Tail B while she was warped back to her team's booth.
Erza narrowed her brown eyes at the sight of how Midna was quickly taking out people, not seeming to really have the desire to guess which treasure chest had some gold bars inside of it, and the scarlet-haired mage looked shocked to see Midna exhaling the smoke at the key that she held in her hands. The smoke had caused Erza's golden key to crack into pieces, mainly because of Midna unleashing smoke that could make anything disintegrate into dust, and a ruined key meant that Erza was eliminated from this event. She received six points for team, before being sent back to the booth of Team Fairy Tail A.
Orga and Midna were now the only ones left in the game, and the Lightning God Slayer looked very puzzled while he could not even decide on which treasure chest to choose first. He was at the third row out of five, each row having eight treasure chests in it, and only one had not been opened by a golden key or by magic. He looked a bit nervous while thinking about whether or not to open it, and Orga looked up at the other members of Team Sabertooth. Lucy and Sting were cheering alongside Lector, Frosch, Happy, Carla, and Wendy. All of them wanted him to open it, so he gulped nervously and went for it.
As the green-haired male turned his key in the keyhole to open up the treasure chest, he gasped in shock at the sight of Midna happily laughing while she had opened up another treasure chest. She was oddly enough being shocked by electrical eels that had been in a treasure chest that was filled with water, giving her second place in this event, and Orga opened up his treasure chest to find the golden jewels. He looked triumphant while beginning to sing about the many golden dollar bills, and he would spend them on many things. Team Sabertooth received ten points, and Team Aqua Kyogre earned eight points in the event.
Since the event was now over, the tiled floor and the treasure chests vanished while the battlefield turned back to being sandy with the ground having a brown color. While the crowd was cheering for Orga, even though he had won by doing almost nothing and not getting involved with the quarrels of the others, Rogue and the other mages in Sabertooth's booth were waiting for the tag-team battles to begin. Lucy and Sting both looked eager to find out if fate would smile on them today, giving them what they wanted. Would the duo be matched up against their destined foes, or would Shelly be two-faced enough to betray them?
15 minutes later…
The tag-team battles of day four had finally come around, with Bacchus & Nobarly from Quatro Cerberus going up against Kagura & Arania from Mermaid Heel. Kagura defeated both of the males with one slash of her unsheathed sword, possibly causing an airwave to strike them. Mermaid Heel won the match, and now had 24 points while Quatro Cerberus had zero points. Even though Mermaid Heel now had their second victory in the Grand Magic Games, it still was not enough to really reach up to Kagura's high expectations of her team.
The second battle had pitted Eve Tearm and Ren Akatsuki from Team Blue Pegasus up against Lyon Vastia and Chelia Blendy from Team Lamia Scale The match had started off with Ren trying to use Aerial Phose to send Lyon into the air for wind to attack him, but Chelia had just inhaled Ren's attack because she was a Sky God Slayer. Chelia managed to overpower Ren with Sky God's Boreas, effectively knocking him out with the black winds, and Lyon had struck Eve head-on with some of his ice eagles. Team Lamia Scale won the match, earning ten more points.
The third battle put Marina and Shelly from Team Aqua Kyogre up against Mirajane Strauss and Cana Alberona from Team Fairy Tail B. Cana had wanted to get back at Shelly for being a contributing factor in ruining her bond with Lucy, making the blonde mage no longer see her as a friend, and Cana had not forgotten how Shelly farted on her to show that Fairy Tail really did stink with the stench of betrayal. While the brown-haired girl narrowed her violet eyes at Shelly, ready to take her down, Mirajane kept staring sternly at a smirking Marina while wondering why the teal-haired girl had joined up with Aqua Kyogre.
Mira was not sour at the girls on Team Aqua Kyogre, even though Mizu beat her in their match on the first day of the Grand Magic Games, but Cana was angry at Shelly for acting like she was a saint that was on Lucy's side. Even though Cana wanted to send a few insults towards her black-haired opponent, she truly knew that the facts of reality still stood in place. How could she openly blame Shelly for wrecking her friendship with Lucy, especially since Cana knew that she could've prevented Lucy's heartbreak from occurring by telling Natsu to not have an affair with Lisanna?
When the gong was struck for the battle to really begin, Cana was quickly attacked by Shelly! The top female of Aqua Kyogre had made an icy white aura surround her left fist, as she delivered a harsh hit to Cana's abdomen, and the iciness from her hand made a large chunk of ice surround Cana's legs while it reached up to her abdomen. She quickly played a card of Fire Magic to try and unfreeze the ice, not knowing that the abnormal ice would react violently when fire made contact with it, and a light blue blast of ice energy transpired around Cana! The power of the blast was focused into one point, making the card mage become heavily damaged, and Mira could only look shocked to see her friend fall to the ground while she groaned in pain.
The white-haired mage was caught off guard by the sight of Cana being injured, not even paying attention to the fact that Marina unleashed a large vortex of scalding hot water from her mouth, and Mirajane was pushed backwards while she screamed in pain from the boiling hot water burning her body. She could not even have time to transform, since Shelly dashed at her from behind to kick her up into the air, and Shelly simply aimed water at the ground to propel herself high into the skies. She had gotten a few feet above Mira, smirking evilly while kicking her harshly in the back, and the oldest Strauss sibling was sent crashing into the ground with a hard slam.
As large clouds of dust filled the Domus Flau, making some people get sand in their eyes, Lucy could only put her arms in front of her body while finding the amount of power in Shelly's lone kick to be extreme. She was even scarier than Minerva, despite the fact that some of the male grunts in Aqua Kyogre wanted to date her, and Lucy knew that she had to get her own physical and magical strength up to those higher levels if Shelly and Marina had defeated people like Cana and Mira with ease. After all, one powerful kick from Shelly might have sent Lucy to the hospital while the tanned woman would help Sting cope with his girlfriend's death by giving him pleasure. (I know that romantic comedy seems to be up my alley, and many of you readers have liked the suggestive pairing of Sting x Shelly.)
When the dust had finally settled, the audience got to see Shelly and Marina standing over the bodies of their opponents from the guild of Fairy Tail. The ground had actually been full of cracks, meaning that it would break apart soon because of Mira crashing into the ground from being struck by Shelly's kick, and Mato quickly placed his hands on the ground to restore the battlefield to its natural state for the fourth match. Team Aqua Kyogre gained ten more points, making most of the crowd cheer in response, and Elfman went on to the field to take his teammates back to Team Fairy Tail B's booth.
Chapati announced with a thrilled expression while he looked at the names for the final match of the day, "This last match is sure to get all the couples in the stadium excited! You think Lacrima Vision screens are only in the arena, but they aren't! We've seen one of these duos making out around town while the other duo is pretty dysfunctional, and this is sure to be a good match! Just like last year, it's Fairy Tail versus Sabertooth! The best guild in Fiore once again, versus the guild who was the greatest last year! The match is Natsu and Erza versus Sting and Lucy!"
Upon hearing their names be announced, along with the names of their opponents, Lucy and Sting happily smiled at each other while also looking determined to win. Lucy had been reading the new spells of Heavenly Body Magic, so she easily memorized them all well enough to test them out in this battle and she took her spell book with her. After all, if one type of magic ran out, another type could end up being pretty useful against someone who was as powerful as the mighty knight known as Erza Scarlet.
This battle meant everything to Lucy, and the time had finally arrived. Would she able to gain a victory for her guild of the present and future, and defeat the dense idiot from her past? Could she also manage to defeat his scarlet-haired companion, the same person who could rival Kagura in terms of swordsmanship? Had she finally become a stronger person, the exact opposite of her past self? She walked down the dark hallway with Sting while holding his right hand in her left hand, and the light leading into the battlefield came closer into view.
"All right, this is it! This is finally the moment where Sting and I show off our chemistry, our bond, the results of all our training, and we'll teach Natsu and Lisanna a lesson or two while we're at it!" She thought while fierceness found its way into her cocoa brown eyes and light began to shine on her beautiful blonde hair. When everyone saw the four mages come out on to the battlefield, roars and cheers shook the stadium. Lisanna and Cana were cheering for Sabertooth, being Lucy's friends and disliking Natsu, despite the fact that they were in Fairy Tail.
Sting and Lucy could only harshly glare at Natsu and Erza, obviously having their motives for wanting to win this match. They made eye contact with each other for a few seconds, having the loving bond to communicate fast and effectively form a beginning strategy. The wind blew through the stadium, as everyone could feel the sudden tension in the air. Clearly, these two teams had some conflicts that needed to be resolved in some way. Lucy and Erza were definitely friends, but that did not mean that they would go easy on each other.
"You're about to lose again, Sting." Natsu said coldly, as he glared back at the white dragon slayer.
"It looks like you now wield a pink book of spells, Lucy. I don't know what kind of techniques you have now, but come at me seriously with everything you have." Erza told her friend in a calm manner, smiling confidently while wanting to see Lucy give it her all in a fight like this.
When Mato allowed the match to begin, the Fairy Tail mages were astounded to see that the Sabertooth duo had suddenly vanished from the spots where they had been standing. Natsu and Erza both widened their eyes in shock, as Sting and Lucy immediately appeared in front of them and both started off the match with punches to their opponents' faces. Natsu and Erza were sent sliding backwards, the latter quickly requipping into her Black Wing Armor with a sword in each hand, and the scarlet-haired mage decided to really get this battle started.
She flew down towards Lucy, attempting to strike her with powerful attacks and confound the blonde mage with her impressive speed, but Lucy smiled at the sight of this. She quickly used her non-spell ability of Earth Magic, getting some sand in her right hand before turning it into a solid rock, and then she followed up with her non-spell ability of Heavenly Body Magic. She threw the rock high into the air where it became surrounded by a pink aura, and the rock quickly came down in the form of a meteorite! It struck the spot where Erza had once stood, creating a pink blast of Heavenly Body Magic, and the crowd looked surprised.
Erza wondered what had happened, realizing that Lucy's meteorite missed its intended target by about two-hundred feet, and she could see that the aftermath of that blast had simply made a crater appear in the sand. While Erza was caught off guard in that one second, Lucy unleashed her first spell of Heavenly Body Magic. It was known as Heavenly Sphere, and it simply made a pink sphere appear in the palm of her right hand. Lucy threw it towards Erza, missing her by a few inches, but that was actually Lucy's intention. What kind of trick did she have up her sleeve?
Another pink blast of Heavenly Body Magic transpired, this time in midair, and Erza screamed in pain while she was taking damage from the spell destroying the space around it. She was in its radius, taking damage from the attack, and Erza flew down to the ground while requipping into her Heaven's Wheel Armor. She looked at her two swords, seeing that Lucy's spell of distorting space had twisted up her swords so much, and the scarlet-haired mage requipped those out for two new ones that looked much heavier with the power to slash through iron.
She charged at Lucy, seeing that distance attacks were possibly not her specialty at all, but Natsu and Sting got in the way while delivering punches of fire and light to each other's faces. Erza couldn't stop in time, and she had almost stabbed Sting with one of her swords. Not seeing that as a total accident, Lucy narrowed her cocoa brown eyes at her scarlet-haired friend while she called upon the second spell. It was known as Heavenly Wave, and this spell caused Lucy to shoot out a pink heart-shaped beam of energy from her mouth. It grew larger with distance, since she had leaped away from the situation, and Sting had gotten out of the way of Lucy's attack while he pulled Natsu into its path. The fire dragon slayer was struck directly, being slammed into Erza, and they were both slammed against the wall while a large pink blast of energy occurred once again.
However, Lucy and Sting both looked serious while knowing that their opponents were durable. Natsu only had a few minor bruises, and Erza had requipped into her Purgatory Armor to defend against Lucy's strong attack. Natsu and Erza both looked at each other while nodding, quickly moving to take their opponents on alone, and Natsu decided to attack Lucy this time. He fiercely glared at her while swinging punches at her with flames engulfing his fists, and Natsu looked even more pissed off by the fact that Lucy was dodging each of his moves with ease. She could easily read his movements, knowing that his style of attack was far too direct, and Lucy delivered a kick to his face while sneakily picking up some sand in her right hand.
She slammed it all into Natsu's eyes and poked them a few times, making him scream in pain while the audience laughed at such a comical trick, and Lucy read the third spell in the pink book. It was known as Cosmic Shield, and this spell was perfect. Natsu angrily growled in frustration, seeing that close-range attacks would not work on the blonde mage, and he leaped back before jumping high into the skies above the Domus Flau. He unleashed Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame. He created a large fireball in his hands, making it grow large enough before throwing it down at Lucy, but she smiled at the sight of her large star-shaped shield floating into the air to absorb the impact of the fireball while Natsu came back down to the ground.
The fireball was reflected back into outer space in the form of a large pink beam of Heavenly Body Magic, and it quickly exploded while its side effect was coming down on the battlefield in the form of many meteors. Cosmic Shield could reflect projectiles back at anything, and the side effect of this spell turned the projectiles into pink meteor-shaped projectiles of Heavenly Body Magic. They came down on the battlefield, making numerous pink explosions occur, and one meteor even sent Erza and Sting flying away from each other while they had been locked in hand-to-hand combat. The crowd gasped in awe, seeing this as a pretty real battle going on here.
"Well, look what we have here. It looks like the shitty little weak-ass loser can actually do something. Those spells of yours sure know how to think outside the box, Lucy, but all of that smart creativity won't help you now!" Natsu shouted at her while looking furious, the smoke clearing up quickly to reveal that he had very bruised up by that powerful barrage of meteors, but he kept putting his pride and arrogant attitude over the fact that her creativity with those spells was what had helped her become stronger. After all, Natsu still did not know that a powerful person like Shelly had replaced him as Lucy's main rival.
Natsu looked over at Sting to see that Erza kept him occupied while requipping into her Black Wing Armor again while he unleashed his White Dragon's Roar into the air to strike her down while she was flying around, and the fire dragon slayer saw this as the perfect chance to try and strike Lucy with his Fire Dragon's Roar. He unleashed a large vortex of fire from his mouth, attempting to burn Lucy to a crisp, but she used her non-spell ability of Fire Magic to inhale all of his flames to replenish most of her magical power. Wow, now wasn't that a real slap in the face to him once again?
Lucy responded sternly, really hating the fact that Natsu was underestimating her once again, "It seems that you and your stupid brain just can't realize that I'm not the same girl that can be pushed around, Natsu. I am much stronger than I was in Fairy Tail, and you're about to go down! Prepare to see another one of my new moves, since it will shut you up! I call upon thee, the fourth spell of Heavenly Body Magic, Spacial Wrath!"
This spell caused the seven clouds in the blue sky to become pink, and they unleashed eight pink beams that came down in a curved trajectory to strike their target. The beams were spiraling at high speeds while moving fast to strike their target, and this spell gave Lucy an interesting ability. In a very surprising twist, this move made her brown eyes become light pink while they glowed with power. She could now distort or change the space around her with a single blink of her eyes, and something had told her to not end this with Natsu so soon. She blinked her pink eyes once, making Erza switch places with him, and she gasped in shock while the pink beams of Heavenly Body Magic struck her directly.
A massive pink blast of spacial energy filled the Domus Flau, its power only concentrated on the center where Erza was located, and Sting used this moment to eat the light from Lucy's blast. He simply opened his mouth to consume it, smiling about how it tasted so good, and the light quickly faded away to show everyone in the Domus Flau that Erza had managed to survive by requipping into her Adamantine Armor at the last second. She stood in an extremely large crater, wincing in pain from the spacial distortion breaking her armor apart, and the scarlet-haired mage only had enough power left to requip back into her Heart Kreuz Armor.
From here on out, Natsu would have to fight by himself. Erza knew that none of her other armors or swords could stand up to the power of that eighth spell, and she wondered if Lucy really had been on a whole new level. While the blonde mage panted heavily, seeming exhausted from using her four spells of Heavenly Body Magic, her pink spell book began to pulsate with a bright glow to signify that some more spells had been written. Lucy used the non-spell ability of Wind Magic to inhale some air, giving herself more breath, and she had regained a large amount of magical power.
During this little break that she was taking, however, Natsu had decided to make flames engulf his fists while he ran towards Lucy. The fire dragon slayer was planning to end this battle right now, not wanting to lose against a girl who he had seen as weak, and Natsu was about to brutally punch his ex in the face! However, Lucy had quickly activated the fifth spell of Heavenly Body Magic to stop Natsu in his tracks. This spell was known as Heavenly Slice, and it caused the fingernails on Lucy's hands to grow long and pink. They had grown in length to be reaching about at least five inches while being sharp, and something interested happened. When she slashed at Natsu, even though she struck to early for her nails to make direct contact, a pink blast of energy transpired in front of her like she had sliced the space between herself and Natsu. Her nails turned back to normal, however, since this spell had a time limit of thirty seconds.
The blast had pushed Natsu backwards, making him roll across the ground, and he looked pretty miffed while unleashing many small fireballs from her mouth. He had hoped that they would set Lucy and the book on fire, reducing them both to a pile of ash, but the blonde girl looked confident while using the sixth spell in the pink spell book. It was known as Heavenly Barrier, and this spell caused Lucy to spin around at an extremely fast pace. Many pink star-shaped projectiles floated around Lucy in a circle, spreading out to widen their defensive radius upon her command, and the pink stars would all explode in miniature pink blasts when even one was hit. The wider the radius, the larger the blasts. It was quite useful on distant foes, since the blast could even be warped to hit a faraway foe. Some of them had even struck Natsu, making him scream in pain while the immense amount of damage began to show on his bruised body.
Her seventh spell was known as Spacial Saint, and it caused a pink beam of Heavenly Body Magic to come down from the heavens and hit Lucy. This beam had not hurt her at all, but it made her become extremely durable while healing her completely and boosting the power of her attacks with every blast that she would create afterwards. It was quite useful in conjunction with the first two spells, since its side effect enhanced everything. She was able to move much faster, as she was able to punch Natsu in the face at fast speeds, and Lucy had even planned out her finishing move while she kicked Natsu up into the air.
For her finishing move, Lucy's final spell of Heavenly Body Magic was known as Spacial Shooting Stars. It caused Lucy to be able to move at high speeds, and she could also jump high into the air like Jellal Fernandes when he used the Meteor spell. The pink spell book had let her know that this spell interestingly required Magic Circles to be drawn, similar to when Jellal used Grand Chariot, and Lucy had drawn the shape of a star while putting Magic Circles on the five points of the pink star. Many small pink meteors rained down from the sky, making many pink explosions when they all honed in on Natsu, and every explosion was larger than the last one. The final explosion had made a large pink light blind everyone's eyes while a large gale blew through the arena, as the ground cracked apart, and the outcome was clear.
When the large amount of light faded away, as the smoke began to clear up, Sting could only look utterly awestruck by the power of that last spell. He had never thought that Lucy could use a spell that was about to break the arena into pieces, even though Mato used his magic to quickly repair the damaged battlefield, and Sting ran towards the center of the Domus Flau to catch his girlfriend while she was falling from the sky. Lucy had really gone all-out against Natsu, wanting to show him that she was not weaker than him, and the fire dragon slayer was unconscious while he laid on the ground. He was battered and bloodied, especially since that cosmic move was catastrophic because of the Spacial Saint spell enhancing it to very dangerous levels of power.
"Well, it looks like this match has a clear winner. Through such fierce determination, willpower, magic, and clever tactics, Lucy Heartfilia has won this battle for Team Sabertooth. She helped you defeat Natsu and Erza, Sting, and my blonde rival did exactly what I hoped for her to do. Lucy has become stronger, I must admit, and she still has the potential to become a malicious elite member of Aqua Kyogre." Shelly told Sting in a rather stern manner, as she had felt unimpressed by Lucy not wanting to kill Natsu in front of everyone.
Sting replied in a calm manner while he looked up at the stern woman who made a black bubble of dark magic surround Lucy's book for a few moments, "Don't worry about the fact that Lucy isn't a member of your guild, Shelly. If I were you, I'd take this little piece of advice. You seem to be knowing a lot about Lucy's book, especially since you said that she's done what you want her to do. I have no idea about what your plan is, but at least Sabertooth got 10 more points. Lucy and I will challenge you one day, so be ready.
As the white dragon slayer walked off the battlefield with his sweet lover in his arms, only wanting her to regain her strength while the confetti down and the crowd cheered wildly, Shelly snapped two fingers on her left hand to pop to black bubble that she shot from her left hand. Now that she had given Lucy the magic that represented her nature, Shelly giggled evilly while knowing that her badness would definitely make Lucy join Aqua Kyogre. After all, that guild needed the book on their side. Plus, the implosion of Fairy Tail was something that Shelly could party about when Marina would make Natsu's rep go so low because of his sexual desire being so high.
How was the 21st chapter? Did you like it? Sorry for the changing the plot a bit, but some things will happen later than others. I also hope that you're enjoying the StiCy chemistry that's going on, too. Natsu and Lisanna's party will finally occur in the next chapter, too! Anyway, what will happen on the break day in the Grand Magic Games? Who will be exploding with fun while others implode with glum? Will Natsu and Lisanna's video of love take a horrible turn? What crucial info does Erza find out? Will Lucy and Shelly finally get to bond over something? Standby for the update!