Chapter 2: Ten-Man Band

Summary: Our foolish hero meets the rest of the colorful cast of weirdos.

"Okay then- Trace, was it?"

Trace nodded, excitably, as the guildmaster finally prepared the stamp tool. Registering took much longer than he thought- but it was necessary! To preserve the law, and whatnot, the council knew what they were doing. Though, the Guildmaster was right- it was indeed tedious. They had the stamp prepared with his color of choice- a vibrant blue.

"Do you solemnly swear to use your powers for the good of others, not for your own selfish gain?"

They had uttered that so fast- Trace hadn't been able to catch it. He simply nodded.

"Then by the power invested in me as the Guildmaster, I welcome you to Wyvern's Flight!"

They quickly pressed the stamp against his left shoulder- it honestly burned a little. Not only that, but his arm was starting to feel sore. The guildmaster had slouched into their chair with a huff.

"Man… That took awhile… Congrats, kid, you're legal."

A bright smile formed on Trace's face. Part one of his goal had been achieved- and only in a day! He rubbed against the new guild mark on his arm- it was still sore, and hurt to touch… But, that was normal! Should wear off soon enough!

The guildmaster nudged at Tora with a gloved hand- softly waking up the beast. It acted much more like a cat than anything.

"Show the newbie around for me, will ya?" they asked, shoving something into its armor. Tora nodded- getting back up again, and walking towards the door. Trace had gotten up as well- stretching out dormant muscles.

Though, before he could leave, the Guildmaster cleared out their throat.

"Good luck out there." they simply said. They sounded rather pleased with him.

"I won't let you down, sir!"

As Trace opened the backdoor again, he quickly noted how it was already sundown. It was only the afternoon by time he walked in- how long did he spend in there?

It didn't matter- the guild was just below his feet! He quickly caught up to Tora, his mind filled with questions.

"What are the guild members like..?" he mumbled, absentmindedly.

"...Diverse."

"Wait, you can talk?!"

He did not expect his question to be vaguely answered by a giant talking tiger. He did not expect to meet a giant talking tiger within his lifetime, nonetheless have one as his guildmate.

Tora simply nodded, not losing much stride. It seems it was used to such astonishment.

"That's so cool- I hadn't met any sort of magic animal before! Were you born being able to talk, or did you learn English?"

The tiger just shrugged.

Did this guild had some sort of penchant for being vague and unspecific?

"Right… A-anyways. The guild, right? What're they like?"

"They're an interesting group. You'll grow used to them."

Assertive enough, but not giving much away. Saving the surprise, he supposed.

"And what about that… Tourney, or whatever, that the Guildmaster mentioned?"

"You'll see. They should be getting ready for it now."

As the two approached the doors to the Guild Hall, Trace felt those nervous jitters again. He was an official member, one of them- and had a dull arm to prove it! But still. These were likely serious, powerful mages, right? They've been legal for much longer than himself!

"Kid?"

"R-right!"

No use thinking it over now. He put his hand on the door handle, and pushed.

...And pushed… And pushed. No, it was probably a pull door, Trace was not falling for this again! Upstairs door is push, downstairs is pull!

...And pull… He tried again, once, twice, thrice- eh? He pulled and pushed rapidly on the door- to little avail. It had to be locked, there was no way-

"The right door's broken."

"Oh. Of course…"

This time, he went for the massive door on the right- and pushed. The light from within the hall shined on him, brighter than the darkening outdoors, and noises of idle conversations filling in the silence of nature. Tora had taken the front- much quicker than Trace would've preffered.

"Hey- close the door!" an unfamiliar voice yelled at him. He looked up- there was a purple-haired girl atop a ladder, holding some sort of unhanged banner. Another man in a red longcoat was supporting said ladder.

Trace jolted- pushing the door closed as quickly as he could- the other side of the banner was already pinned up on the wall- and opening the door any further would've not only pulled her down, but tear straight through the banner.

"Sorry, sorry…"

The banner had words written in an unfamiliar language- "ふぁいとくらぶ!". Tora seemed somewhat disgusted looking at it.

"That's not what we agreed on."

A girl atop a ladder- the one that yelled at him, gave Tora a dumbfounded look, annoyed.

"This is twice as good! Kou, agree with me."

The white-haired man holding the ladder just shrugged.

"I guess it's okay."

"You're a damn buzzkill." the girl uttered. She turned back to her previous task, with a smirk on her face. "It's still going up, Tusk!"

The tiger only rolled his eyes, and turned back to Trace. "I'm heading to the baths. You'll be okay on your own for a bit?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine… Thank you, sir."

Tora nodded, and carefully opened the door, walking back out the way they came in.

"So, Fresh meat."

The girl was looking at him again- her smug glance made him feel like something bad was about to happen. Though, she released something of a happy snicker.

"It's been awhile since we had anyone new come in! Nice seeing ya."

The man holding the ladder nodded- though, Trace couldn't make out an expression- as he was turned away.

"Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you two!" Again, his voice had raised louder than a normal inside voice. "My name is Trace Splinte!"

"So formal…" said the man, with a sigh.

"Better than nothing. Call me Erin. Down here's Kou."

"Kou" sighed- somewhat annoyed by his comrade's antics. "Don't listen to her, she's delusional. It's Kouga."

"Don't scare the kid off on his first day! And also- Fresh Meat! Go help out!"

Trace began to nod- but stopped. He still didn't know what sort of event was going on, how could he help with it?

"Help with… What, exactly, miss?"

"Preparations."

He sighed- deeply. That didn't help, but he expected it at this rate. Erin turned her head back to his own dumbfounded expression- and snorted at the sight.

"Preparations for Fight Club!.. Or, y'know, "Wyvern's Flight's Mage Tournament", but that just sounds lame. We spiffy up the place and beat each other up in an organized fashion every year."

"Why, might I ask..?"

"I dunno. Guildsy wants us to."

As she pinned up the banner properly, Trace could clearly see the words on the banner- beneath the unfamiliar language, it was translated to the vernacular.

Somehow, he wasn't surprised that it just said "Fight Club".

"Thanks for the help, rookie!"

The red-headed girl patted Trace on the shoulder- his left shoulder. His grip faltered as he attempted to lift his side of the massive table.

"Y-yeah, no problem..!"

Trace had gone to the barside first- surely, the ones in the kitchen would have some sort of difficulty, right? He wasn't too good a cook, but he could watch an oven, stir a pot- or something simple like that.

Though lifting things was a tad bit more up his alley, he would prefer to do that when he could completely feel both of his arms.

The red-haired girl (Freya was her name, he remembered) went over to the other side and effortlessly lifted the thing.

"Alright, start moving!"

Trace nodded- it seemed like Freya wasn't having a hard time on her end. Did she even really need his here? Her build was defined enough- she had quite some muscle on her, more so than what he'd seen on the other members so far.

His thoughts were only amplified as Trace saw her switch to only one hand.

"Right here's good."

While Freya had lowered her end with grace, Trace had dropped his own with a terribly loud thud.

"Perfect. Thanks, rookie!"

Trace nodded- and slumped into a nearby stool. First real activity as a Legal Mage is just moving a table, and he was already winded.

"Oh yeah, rookie!"

He paled a bit, but remained vigilant, looking Freya straight in the eyes, prepared for whatever challenge she could throw at him. He could do it! No matter how many heavy objects he had to lift, no matter how hard he had to work this sore arm, he could- and would do it!

"Mind going into the kitchen and watching the oven? I gotta take care of something."

Or he could do that.

"Of course!"

"Is it supposed to be smoking like that..?"

Trace turned- skeptically, to the small blue-haired child(?) who was watching the stove, reluctantly reaching a hand to the boiling pot of… Stew? The steam was scalding to the touch, and it was turning a dark purple color.

Was stew even supposed to boil?

"Of course it is." said the (rather deep voiced) child, with provado that seemed faked.

"...It's not."

The girl with the yellow goggles spoke up at last, blue eyes briefly turning to the small child- away from the oven she was watching.

"Says you!"

The child huffed, throwing his arms in the air.

"Freya leaves for one second, and suddenly no one knows how to cook!"

"...I don't know how to cook, Onyx."

"Neither do I!" Onyx yelled back. "Amateur!"

"Y-yes?" Trace responded, quickly turning back to him.

"Where did Freya go? We need her cooking magic or whatever right now..."

"She went to check outside-"

"Of course she did…" Onyx sighed. "Y'know what, Gisa?"

The other girl only looked up in response. She seemed nervous.

"We can do this by ourselves! It's just like fighting!"

"...It's nothing like fighting-"

Gisa was cut off before she could continue.

"Amateur, move on! We got this under control!"

Trace sighed, and nodded. They most certainly did not have that under control. But Trace couldn't do anything to help.

...Wasn't stew supposed to simmer?

"Why aren't you helping?"

"I've already done my part. And you spent almost the whole day in your room instead of cleaning."

The girl in the hoodie sighed, dragging the mop across the floor.

"Speaking of, where's Tora?" asked the hooded girl's accomplice, strumming on a lyre. She played a gentle and relaxing melody, never missing a beat. "I haven't seen him all day…"

The other girl huffed, and continued her job.

Trace would've just kept walking, had they not noticed him power walking past.

"Hey, new kid."

The hooded girl's monotone call stopped him in his tracks. Nervously, Trace turned towards her.

"Yes..?"

"Clean the floors for me, you've got nothing to do."

"...Right…"

Somehow, he wasn't surprised. The hooded girl tossed the mop into his hands, and jetted off, heading quickly upstairs.

"Wait- Lyra!" the guitar playing girl tried to call after her hooded friend, but to no avail. She sighed, and turned back to Trace.

"I'm so sorry, novice!" she said, apologetically. "Lyra's just… a bit reclusive, is all!"

"It's fine." Trace said- in a poor attempt to seem nonchalant. "I could do this all day!"

Though, he was hoping for something a bit easier. No, hoping wasn't right- more of begging.

But it was fine! He was fine- perfectly so!

He was not fine. Definitely not- not after mopping an entire floor.

It didn't help that this was the floor everyone was on.

The girl with the guitar (Avalon, wasn't it?) kept apologizing, attempting to nicely guide him into it. She even offered to help- but he denied! He could do it!

If he knew that Gisa would spill an entire pot of overcooked curry on the ground, and that Erin would "accidentally" glue Kouga onto the floor, maybe he would've accepted such help.

But, he was done! At last! Exhausted, he dropped the mop in the bucket, leaning against the wall, sitting on the floor. His arm was unbelievably sore. He felt like he could collapse at any second.

"Working hard, are you?"

The gruff voice that hit his ears was unmistakably Tora. He wouldn't forget what a massive, talking tiger sounded like. Trace opened a single eye, and smirked.

"Y-yeah… That's one way to put it…"

"Good, good. I'm glad you're helping out."

Tora said this with almost an annoyance, but it quickly faded.

"I have your room key, if you're ready to hit the hay."

His eyes practically gleamed as he leapt upwards from the floor.

"Yes, of course!"

Tora reached into its armor with a paw, and pulled out a small key. Attached to it were two keychains- one of the guild's mark, and the other a rectangle with a number on it.

"Rooms are upstairs. Good luck tomorrow."

"Yeah, you too! Thank you!"

As the tiger walked away, Trace briefly remembered what was tommorow… Wyvern's Fight Zone, or whatever it was called.

...Oh. Of course, he'd be automatically enlisted. He sighed- he wasn't exactly prepared, but he could at least predict what was coming!

"034… 036… 038… Here!"

For such a small guild, there were more rooms than he thought. Granted, they'd probably just be small, dorm-sized ones.

But, 040 was rather far off from the others. Perhaps, this one was bigger.

"Out of the way, Boot."

Trace jolted, and lept backwards into the wall. The voice was unfamiliar, and so was that nickname. Piercing blue eyes met his own- almost freezing him in place.

Such a glare… He would be lying if he said he wasn't intimidated.

And it was certainly this guy's purpose- leering him down like a stalking predator.

And just like a predator- he struck quick, kicking his foot just next to his head- hard.

Trace yelped.

"Listen, boot." the man hissed. "If you think I'd let you in my room just because the hooded bum in the attic says so, you'd be sorely mistaken."

"But the key says-"

"Shut it, boot!"

Trace sighed. It seemed he had to listen.

"If you joined just so you could end my winning streak, you'd be mistaken as well!" the young man shouted. "The Arcane Knight never loses."

"I wasn't going to-"

"Never!"

Trace sighed, again, this time shoving his hands into his pockets.

"And if you think I'd let some bright-eyed boot get in my way, you'd be mistaken."

At last, the young man lowered his leg from the wall. Trace sighed in relief as he opened the door, walked in, and slammed it shut.

After half a minute, Trace casually opened the door- the man hadn't even locked it.

As soon as he took a step in, he was pinned again, black soles just barely missing his head.

"You." he hissed.

"Me..?"

"..."

The young man was silent, leering down at him from under that massive collar. Maybe it was something Trace had to get used to.

"...I just wanna go to bed, man…"

"Cry me a river, boot." he hissed, lifting his leg off the wall and skulking to one of the beds.

Who even is this guy?!

…

It took thirty seconds under that glare to realize Trace said that aloud. He panicked.

"I-I mean, I don't know who you are, and all!"

He scoffed, and hopped on his bed.

"Glave. Get it through your head, boot."

"It's nice to meet you-"

"Don't even speak to me." Glave quickly uttered.

Trace simply nodded, with a sigh, and made his way to the opposing bed.

'What's his deal..?'

He made sure to think that, this time.

-Chapter 2 END-

A/N: ...This was meant to be out much sooner.

The day after Chapter 1 soon, to be precise.

...So, well over a month ago?

I'd like to apologize for that. I was struggling bad with this one. Hopefully, my update schedule will be much less inconsistent from here on out. Daily chapters was probably a stretch from the start, since I'm gonna be starting high school again soon. But, I'll aim for at least monthly. My goal is bi-weekly updates, but we'll see.

Anyways, the chapter!

As I mentioned, this was a struggle. Introductions are not really my forte. [In fact, I'm about 90% sure there were only two memorable intros this chapter.] But, I wanted to at least try.

Glave kabe-donned Trace with his leg. That takes flexibility, y'know. His leggy was up real high.

Wyvern's Flight split themselves into three teams of three to prepare as efficiently as possible. One team did the cooking, one team did the cleaning, and the rest were stuck with decorating because they either couldn't be trusted with sharp objects/chemicals/fire and/or because they're just insufferable.

This first arc is mainly introductory. I wanna show off the guild's magic and interactions before I build up the world. Character comes first, in my opinion.

Now, as for the Question of the Chapter: who was your favorite character, so far? Maybe a rating of the characters, or maybe a favorite boy and girl…

I'm asking this rather early, but we'll see how long that favoritism lasts.

Man. The character synopsis is going to be over a page this time… But, it'll be the last ones for a couple chapters!

Maybe then I'll get better at description and won't need one..!

Do all of that good stuff like you did last time. Follow, favorite, review, flame the hell out of the story… Those good things keep me writing.

In Response…

Firefly OwO (what's this?)

I'm glad my humble little fic piqued your interests! I get your dilemma with OC-Centric fics. Really, my goal is to be as different from the Fairy Tail guild/show as much as I can. But, I know little about the show itself. I'm not very caught up… So a coincidence is a coincidence.

Thank you for the follow!

Inkwell Princess

I'm glad the characterization stuck out to you! That was really my main goal, see. A tournament arc, you say..? You'll love the next few chapters. You'll just have to wait and see!

Thank you very much for the favorite!

Synopsis… [In order of appearance.]

Erin Aardentum. A fifteen-year-old girl- the youngest member of Wyvern's Flight. An excitable and somewhat vulgar individual, who is mischievous in good nature.
She wields the Arcane Shooter Magic, a holder-based magic.
Erin is a 5'6" young girl with short lilac-colored hair and stormy gray eyes. She is dressed in a yellow tanktop under a brown pilot's jacket [with one of the sleeves golden in color] with white shorts, knee-high brown boots, and fingerless gloves.

Kouga Zephyrn. An eighteen-year-old boy of mysterious origin. A lazy and snarky individual, who comes off as an aloof jokester.
He has access to Arcane Soul Magic, a diverse ability based on the user's mind.
Kouga is a 6'0", lanky young man with sloppy white hair and red eyes. He wears an opened red long coat with golden epaulettes on his shoulders- almost like some sort of
uniform. Underneath he wears a black tank-top with black pants and white boots, with red and black gloves.

Freya Leonard. A twenty-three-year-old young woman, and one of the first members of Wyvern's Flight. A hot-blooded and hard-working individual, whose fiery attitude boosts morale.
She uses Fireworks Magic, a fast and flashy flame-based magic.
Freya is a 5'8" young woman with a muscular build, long red hair, tied in a short ponytail, and reddish-orange eyes. She wears a sleeveless red tunic with navy blue shorts, and brown boots. Her shoulders, forearms, and lower legs are covered in light and silver armor platings.

Onyx Oxdartt. A twenty-eight year old man, despite the fact that his height and face says otherwise. A short-fused individual with a joy for engaging in combat.
He has access to Nuclear Magic, a powerful and wild magic based on explosions.
Onyx is a 4'2" man with long navy blue hair- most of it tied in a long ponytail, and golden eyes. He is dressed in a baggy black jumpsuit with grey boots meeting before his knees, gray fingerless gloves, and a silver headband.

Gisa Azurite. A nineteen-year-old member of Wyvern's Flight. A shy and quiet individual who hides this behind a stoic personality.
Instead of a magic, she uses Alchemy, the practice of using potions and transmutations to varied effect.
Gisa reaches 5'7", with long and messy blue hair, and blue eyes. She is dressed in Wears a short, opened gray vest with a white t-shirt underneath, red sweatpants, gray gloves and brown boots. Two utility belts are strapped to her waist, and a pair of yellow-tinted goggles rest atop her head.

Lyra Ourohart. A twenty-year-old young lady, and member of Wyvern's Flight. A cold and reclusive personality, who seems to be what grounds this strange group to reality.
She uses Electric Magic, a unique variation of lightning-based magics.
Lyra is 5'5" in height, with long forest green hair and brown eyes. She wears an oversized white and pink hoodie with the hood shoved over her head, gray sweatpants and white sneakers.

Avalon Cadenza. A seventeen-year-old member of Wyvern's Flight. She has a kind and open personality- but sometimes has her head in the clouds.
She uses Mystic Song Magic, a magic channeled through the power of music.
Avalon is a 5'6" young lady, and has short and curly blonde hair and blue eyes. She is dressed in a short brown vest with a white dress shirt underneath, a gray skirt, and brown boots. She hauls a massive backpack around, which contains several other instruments.

Glave Bravewing. An eighteen-year-old member of Wyvern's Flight. He has a prideful and rude personality, and doesn't tolerate others in his path.
He wields the Arcane Quest Magic, a holder-type magic.
Glave is 5'10", with a muscular physique, red hair and blue eyes. He wears a black tanktop with red and white vein-like markings running through it, with an oversized white collar. With it, he wears white jeans, black dress shoes, and long black gloves that reach before his shoulders.

Next Chapter: A bit of shenanigans occur the night before the fight.