Who Needs a Princess, When You Can Have a Queen?
Celestia193's Author's Note: Alright, for those of you who watch Fairy Tail, you'll notice that Natsu's speech comes directly from episode 161. I really wanted to include it because it's just such an awesome speech. Also, chapter 10 and 11 were originally one chapter, but we just ended up with so many words that I had to split them, otherwise we would have ended up with…like a ten thousand word chapter. Which means, of course, that there's crack, and lots of it. And keep in mind, this is a RACE, so no, Sasuke isn't going to Kirin anyone (yet). Overkill is what we have Fairy Tail for. Also, Itachi makes dirty jokes (Shisui is rubbing off on him).
Silver's Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. We hope that you all enjoy this chapter and Celestia summed it up nicely. Again, we own nothing and make no profit off of this story.
Chapter 10
Shisui shakes his head. "This time we only know the event is called Chariot. I presume that speed is somehow involved." The events could be strange. They'd only get names of them and then you had to give your best guess as to the nature of the event and someone would either step up or be shoved up to the plate.
"I'll go." Sasuke nods. He could handle a contest based on speed easily. "They'll underestimate because I'm new. Ren is too well known." He'd more likely be a target, but the youngest Uchiha could see that his rival was chomping at the bit to compete and for good reason. This was an event that Ren could probably place well in, if not outright win.
Well, Ren wasn't all that happy to be shoved aside by someone eight years his junior, but maybe Sasuke had a point. Besides, he'd fought only yesterday. "Fine, but make sure to place as high as you can." He'd like Blue Pegasus to walk away with at least ten more points today.
As if he was going to do anything else. The only ones Sasuke was really worried about were Sabertooth and Fairy Tail. "I'll place well. It's my first event." He glances at Shisui. "As Shisui always says, first impressions are very important." Sabertooth because they were cutthroat competitors. Fairy Tail because they were out for blood (well points) and after Raven Tail's cheating, Sasuke couldn't blame them.
"That's right." Shisui laughs softly at that. "He's definitely a Pegasus." The eldest Uchiha seems to find great amusement in Sasuke's response as he looks at Itachi with a twinkle in his eye, knowing the other man was bound to say something.
Itachi smirks. "Of course he is, and I expect he'll make a wonderful impression, both on the audience, and Fairies alike." After all, it had been quite some time since they'd seen each other. "Just be sure not to prove just HOW much like a Pegasus you are. I doubt that Sorcerer Weekly is only after information concerning me."
"Itachi, do you want me to smack you?" Kunai jokes?! Really?! "Bob, do you think the judges would hold it against me if I smacked Itachi for being an idiot?" He rolls his eyes. "It's called Chariot. I doubt stripping is involved." And that brought to mind way too many awkward images, most of which involved Gray. That was one event Raven Tail couldn't take from Fairy Tail, he thought as he fought the urge to shiver.
Bob smiles widely, chuckling at the sight of a smug Itachi and embarrassed Sasuke. "Oh boys, boys, be good. I'm sure that you'd do wonderfully Sasuke, but I doubt it will come to THAT." He pats Sasuke on the shoulder encouragingly. "Now use all that energy to go out there and have fun, okay?" He was going to go and sit in the stands. He'd have a better view that way.
Shisui couldn't help, but snort. "Yes, have fun but not too much fun." He chuckles. "Try not to give them THAT kind of show. That's not exactly the kind of publicity we are going for in this competition."
Sasuke rolls his eyes at Shisui and makes a rather rude gesture at his fellow Uchiha 'stallions' with his hands, before nodding at Bob. "Got it. I can do this." It had to be based on speed somehow. He could manage this. If it was actually driving, well he had flown Christina before. He could manage.
"Then I'd get down there." Hibiki grins at the sight of the arena floor, and the three dragon slayers already making their way down. "It looks like it's going to be an interesting contest."
"Interesting indeed…" Itachi has seen dragon slayers at Fairy Tail, but seeing them compete was going to be an entirely different matter. "Perhaps you should use this chance to get the measure of them."
"Oh you're going to talk about something other than measuring kunai today, Itachi?" Sasuke raises an eyebrow incredulously at him. "It's about time." And with that, he quickly joins the other competitors who were heading towards the field.
Eve tilts his head in confusion. "What's a kunai?" He didn't get it. Then again, the Uchiha 'Brothers' (even if Shisui was their cousin, they still acted like brothers) still spoke in funny ways sometimes. It seemed that their native tongues were still deeply ingrained in their psyches, even after all these years.
"A double-edged bladed weapon about the size of an outstretched hand." Hibiki brings up a few pictures of Sasuke wielding kunai with his Archive. "It's not the most dangerous weapon, but it's easy to conceal. Like another kind of dagger."
"Maybe, it can be used to refer to multiple things." Eve tilts head, considering it. "I'm pretty sure that's not what Sasuke meant in this context." Shisui just laughs and shakes his head as Sasuke joins the others to leave for the starting line.
After being transported to the starting line, the competition is announced, and the three dragon slayers all begin looking rather green at the prospect of racing on moving carts. Vehicles, you had to be kidding. It was like some kind of sadistic torture specifically designed to cause them nothing but upchucking.
Sasuke looks at them in confusion. He didn't get it. The premise was rather simple. Don't touch the ground, stay on the vehicles and keep moving till you got to the finish line. This was much easier than Hidden in theory. So why did they all look as though they were about to be sick?
The referee, a tiny man in a striped costume and pumpkin mask toddles towards the competitors, waving a flag. "Are you ready!?"
Natsu resists the urge to puke as he nods. "Yeah. Just peachy!" Like hell. Just imagining them moving was making him sick. Still, as stubborn as he was, he was quick to beat Gajeel and Sting to getting on the not yet moving deathtraps.
"Ready." Sasuke nods. He almost felt bad for Sting, but he definitely felt bad for Fairy Tail's people. Not that that would stop him though. He was going to place high, no matter what happened with the other contestants.
The signal flare goes off, and as the carts being to move, the eight contests take off down the moving platforms at varying speeds, making for the arena again. And leading the race were Kurohebi of Raven Tail and Sasuke. Trailing in the middle were Risley of Mermaid Heel, Yuka of Lamia Scale, and Bacchus of Quatro Cerberus.
This seemed too easy. No one was even using magic yet. Three of the contestants were barely moving at all. Which meant someone was likely about to fire off a spell. "Fireball Jutsu!" So he'd make the first move, flipping back through the air from his current platform to the next, twisting around the launch his attack.
He wasn't trying to hit them, but to make them fall back or have to dodge the flames. Idly he wondered, if the mermaid would be more vulnerable to fire or if that was just the name of their guild and had no reflection on her abilities.
As the fire erupts from the Uchiha's mouth, it flies back behind him as he continues to race along the platforms. Unfortunately, the Raven dodges the attack with a demonstration of incredible flexibility, bending down to almost lie flat on the boards as it races towards the pack, forcing Risley to dodge as it slams against Yuka's anti-magic barrier and disperses.
Yuka smirks as his short legs carry him across another platform. "You'll have to do much better than that." Though he was starting to regret volunteering for this even. He wasn't nearly the fastest person in their guild. In fact, short of Toby, he was pretty sure that he was the slowest on the team.
Damn. The freaky looking one was as flexible as a Hyuga, it seemed. well that was fine, he didn't have to hit him. "Well I don't have to hit them." He just had to slow them down. "Requip! Unending Night!" That magic certainly came in handy. It was much easier than carrying about a bunch of weapons.
Though in this case, it was less of a weapon than a division tactic. "I'll have to thank Shisui for this later." He mutters as he hurls the smoke bomb back at the others. It hits the nearest platform and disperses a large cloud of black smoke, black like the night sky.
Coughing ensues as the cloud of smoke engulfs three whole platforms. One of those platforms holding one extremely hung over wizard. "Ugh, why do you gotta make so much noise? Can't you leave a man to work off last night's drinks in peace?" Loved drinking, hated the hangovers. Well, he had one solution to that.
And concealed completely by the slowly thinning cloud of smoke, Bacchus brings his foot down on his platform, breaking it clean in half and slowing the movement of the train of them considerably as he vertically t-bones them, startling Yuka, Risley, and the Raven alike, before taking off towards the front of the race and the finish line, with only one wizard in his way.
Sasuke was stunned for a second or two, but those were precious seconds. seconds that could determine the race. "You're strong, I'll give you that." This guy had to be some kind of taijutsu specialist. If Sasuke stopped to use a jutsu or any form of magic, he'd lose. This was now down to raw speed and agility.
"Yeah, gotta admit, you're a fast kid." Bacchus grins, keeping pace with Sasuke easily, before cringing again at the throbbing of his head. "That's wild…gets my soul all shaken and stirred!" He chuckles, wild gleam in his eyes. "Come on, you and me kid, one on one. First one to the finish line."
Beating him with speed was going to be a gamble at best. "Glad to hear it, but I'm not a kid." Though if there was one thing, Sasuke understood it was momentum. A jump would be faster than running. So he summons his chakra in his feet much like walking on water or climbing up a tree with it, like Itachi and Shisui had taught him, and takes a flying leap off of one of the broken vehicles, before rolling onto the finish line.
Bacchus blinks as Sasuke rolls across the finish line, following not two seconds behind him, sliding his way to a stop on the other side of the finish line. "Now that's wild!" The two of the arrive to thunderous applause, the emblems of Blue Pegasus and Quatro Cerberus flashing in first and second place. "Is Blue Pegasus tryin' to teach y'all how to fly?"
"Y-Yeah. I guess you could say that." Wild and he was feeling more than a little dizzy. "Hell of a race." Pegasus wasn't, but...well he'd go with it. Building up guild mystique was important according to Hibiki and Eve, so yeah. "Are the others okay?" He glances back to see if Natsu, Sting, and Gajeel finished or not. They had been looking rather sickly earlier.
The viewing lacrimas project scenes of Risley and Yuka plodding steadily along, trying to slow each other down with their magic, as Kurohebi crosses the finish line in third, before turning on the three dragon slayer who are struggling to move from one platform to the next. And all three of them clearly appear to be on the verge of throwing up.
Bacchus stares at the three dragon slayers, before shaking his head. "That is so not wild…"
"Something's seriously wrong with them." He would have suspected food poisoning if he didn't know one very important fact. They were all Dragon Slayers. Sting wasn't exactly shy about broadcasting that fact, after all. "Natsu and Gajeel are likely too stubborn to quit. Not sure about Sting though." From what he had heard, the blond was a arrogant showboat though. So he probably wouldn't.
Not that Sasuke was the most modest person by any means, but Sabertooth took the strutting thing to a completely different level. He and Itachi often joked they should change their name to the Peacock Guild because they really did love to show off like a bunch of peacocks.
As the lacrimas zoom in further, the microphones begin to pick up bits and pieces of their conversation. Well, if it could be called a conversation when all three of them were struggling not to puke.
Sting looks the least green, though, and his suspicious glares falls squarely on Natsu. "I don't get it. Can you explain something to me?" The question garners the attention of both hobbling dragon slayers as Sting stops in his tracks. "Why'd you bother entering the tournament?"
"Seriously. I mean, you're nothing like the Fairy Tail I knew growin' up. You're obsessed with how tough you are, and what the rest of the world thinks of you." One of the lacrimas zooms in on Sting's face as he frowns. "What happened to the Fairy Tail of my childhood? The guild that did whatever the hell it wanted, whenever it wanted? They never cared what anyone else said or thought of them!"
Sasuke found that ironic coming from a Tiger. That guild was obsessive about being first in everything. Though he knew it was a matter of pride for Fairy Tail, he sensed what he called a Natsu Speech coming on. Something about friendship, never giving up. Yada yada. Sasuke wasn't really good at declarations like that, but they were kinda Natsu's thing.
"The reason we're here…" The air goes still for a moment, and then, despite his sickness, Natsu's voice rings out loud and clear. "Is for our friends!" It was as simple as that. "The ones who waited for us…for all the years we were gone. Who fought through the pain, and the heartache!" He crawls another step, not nearly ready to give up. Not now, not ever! "They were humiliated, but even so, they stayed strong, and they kept our guild together!"
Reduced to crawling, Natsu reaches for the next platform as they slowly move back towards the arena. "We're doing this for all of them! And we're gonna make sure everyone here knows…the Fairy Tail guild never gave up! Not even for an instant!" They didn't even know the meaning of the words. Forgot them as soon as they had the mark stamped on them. "So there's no way I'm gonna give up now!"
Sting's face hardens, and he shakes his head disbelievingly as he takes a step back, then another, and another, raising his hand in withdrawal as he jumps off the platforms, finally relieving most of his motion sickness, though still looking rather unsteady as his feet touch solid ground.
Sasuke sighs and nods at Natsu in acknowledgment, though the dragon slayer didn't see it. "I"m beginning to feel a bit guilty about teasing Gray." Even if everything he had said was true, Fairy Tail had been through a lot.
The Natsu Speech seemed to have worked its magic though. "They're lapping that up." He blinks in confusion. The crowd seemed to be in the middle of doing a one-eighty. Apparently, touched by the speech. Not to mention the Terou Team, who were smiling in their galleries and in the stands, along with the rest of Fairy Tail who were bawling loudly.
"Wait. He withdrew." Sasuke blinks again. He almost hadn't noticed Sting withdrawing because of the speech. "Is he going to get kicked out of that guild?" Sabertooth had a habit of kicking out anyone who didn't win matches and Sting had just given up.
"I doubt it." Yuka walks over, having just crossed the finish line with Risley. "He's one of their dragon slayers, their powerhouses, and one of their most popular wizards. I doubt they'd kick someone like him out over something like this. They'd probably lose their other dragon slayer as well." From what Yuka had seen, those two were an inseparable team. "But I do feel bad for them. And it confirms my suspicions perfectly, I used to think that motion sickness was only Natsu's weakness."
"That and he's easily distracted." Mostly by a stripping Gray, but Sasuke digressed. "Damn. That's not good news for Fairy Tail though." He didn't care if someone exploited Sabertooth's Dragon Slayers' Weaknesses, but Natsu and Gareel were another story. "Anyone with half an ounce of logic can figure out what happened to them and why and now their weakness was exposed this early on." And they were still at the bottom of the pack to boot!
Yuka sweatdrops. "Well, it's not like they can really hide it. They just have to avoid vehicles from now on." Though that did beg the question of why they entered a contest that had the name of such a vehicle, but he digressed. "And Natsu isn't quite as easily distracted as you think he is."
A painful smirk quirks Yuka's lips. "The first time I fought Natsu, the idiot was so focused on beating me, and stubborn enough to keep trying, that he shove his whole upper body inside one of my anti-magic barriers, then shot flames out of his elbow to punch me in the face." Now that had really hurt. "He was so focused that he didn't even feel the pain of having his head shoved into a pocket of warped space."
"Natsu is weird." Honestly, Sasuke had no idea what to say to the elbow thing other than it freaked him out. "Fire out of his elbow? Nevermind. I don't want to know." Wendy was definitely still his favorite Dragon Slayer. As far as he knew, she didn't do weird stuff like that.
Having withdrawn from the race, Sting walks into the arena on foot, and not to a very happy crowd as he takes his place among the contestants, Sabertooth's emblem flashing for eighth place. And he was quiet, unusually so. And the frown was a stark contrast to his usually arrogant smirk.
Sting was looking markedly less smug. Sasuke didn't really have much fondness for the man, but that was rotten luck. That hadn't been fair to him. It was a cheap win when three of the contestants had barely been able to move.
The blond dragon slayer catches Sasuke looking at him, sapphire orbs narrowing at the raven. "And what do you want?"
For some reason, the dragon slayers other than Wendy tended to bring out his less than flattering traits. "Nothing. More like what do you want? Do you need a bucket?" Like his cockiness and his need to trashtalk. He had been getting a bit better at it, but whatever. The guy was practically glaring at him just for looking at him, this guy was asking for it. "You looked like you were going to throw up out there."
The dragon slayer twitches. "Lucky for you, otherwise you would'a gotten second, at best." It was just bad luck that him entering the competition part involved moving vehicles. "Besides, Sabertooth is just gonna keep racking up the points from here on out."
"Don't get me wrong, I still would have won. I just would have preferred not to get the handicap." Yeah. He was a cocky son of a bitch. "It's not really as much of a challenge when three people got fucked over by biology and couldn't really compete."
Sting's glare is venomous as he glares at the Pegasus. "You're pretty cocky for a member of the Pretty Boy guild. Were you hoping for some kind of beauty contest?"
"Look, Chariot was obviously rigged against you from the beginning, but do you really want to forfeit something like that automatically?" He rolls his eyes. "Beauty's only skin deep. I get that you might feel a bit self conscious standing next to Rogue all day, but get over it. I can't help it if my guild is better looking than yours."
The pretty boy guild. He hated that nickname. "Oh and our guild doesn't just have men. Jenny would knock you off your block." Mostly because she'd probably distract an idiot like Sting with her impressive cleavage, but Jenny was a lot tougher than she looked.
Sting snorts. "I'd like to see her try." Besides, he had even more fans than Rogue, he was as attractive as any of the guys in Blue Pegasus. And he didn't need to look like a girl in order to pull it off. "Rigged or not, there's no one in your guild who could beat me or Rogue in battle." Of that, he was certain. "Dragon slayers are in a whole other league than normal wizards." And that gets him more than a few dirty looks from the other competitors.
"You're right. dragon slayers are special." He knew that Natsu ate flames and Gajeel ate metal, but honestly they were all so damn arrogant. Save for Wendy. Which reminded him, well this should piss him off. "In a few years when Raven Tail isn't cheating, you should remember that when Wendy knocks you on your ass. In the meantime though, let's see if that pedigree helps you out more later on. Looks like it's liability at the moment to me." Sasuke rolls his eyes as he walks off, figuring Natsu and Gajeel would be finishing soon.
Probably nothing would piss Sting off more than someone turning their back on him in the middle of a conversation. Pft. Dragon Slayers and their strutting. He was an Uchiha. He might not eat elements, but he damn sure could hold his own in a fight and Sting would find that out later!
"Tch, coward…" Sting stalks off toward the hallways, his presence no longer required on the arena floor. After all, the contest would be over in just a couple of minutes. Once those sad excuses for dragon slayers crawled across the finish line. And once again, he was questioning why he'd ever looked up to Natsu in the first place.
Not long after, Natsu and Gajeel drag themselves off of the moving platforms, collapsing over the finish line to supportive applause in sixth and seventh places, bringing both of their teams up to two points each, tied…for last place. But the day was not yet over, and Fairy Tail still had two chances to redeem itself.
Chances that would come in the form of the Strauss siblings.
The list of people that he wanted to hit was growing by the minute, Sasuke thinks to himself in disgust. "I can't believe he actually did that." Next up on the list was Bacchus and Sasuke had thought that he was an good sport at the Chariot Event. Ha! "The idiot actually let all of Fiore know that he needs to blackmail women into sleeping with him." Unbelievable!
Well maybe, blackmail technically wasn't accurate. Though if Elfman lost supposedly the sisters were going to spend the night with him. Sasuke was eighteen. He was more than old enough to know EXACTLY what that meant and so was most of the crowd.
"I imagine that Bob and Makarov are going to give Bacchus quite the important lesson on chivalry." Shisui shakes his head. "I can't believe he did that either.
"Or perhaps Goldmine." After all, the master of Quatro Cerberus was old friends with Makarov. Itachi figured that if Goldmine didn't discipline his wizard, at least someone else would get the chance.
Sasuke didn't know what was more galling. The fact that Bacchus made that bet with a straight face to the Strauss sisters' brother or that Elfman agreed to it. And perhaps most importantly, why Bacchus assumed that the Snowgirls would jump into his bed on Elfman's say so. He was their brother. Not their owner.
"I can't believe the judges aren't saying something about this." Shisui shakes his head. "Though I guess it is legal, if disgusting behavior." That was one way to put it.
Itachi wouldn't argue with that. "Highly uncivilized." And not a bet that he would have allowed to go through, in any case. But now, it was a moot point.
Sasuke half expected that his brother might very well march over to the Taijutsu User and smack him or something, or put him in a genjutsu, if the way he was staring at the man was any indication. Itachi wouldn't even let him look at women in swimsuits without covering his eyes until he was ten! He was going to have something to say about this, Sasuke thinks to himself as he sees Jenny and Mira take to the field.
It was to be a battle of the pin-up models.
