Round Robin
Ch. 4
"It's certainly been exciting here at the inaugural Round Robin, and we're now nearing the end of today's matches. Yajima-san, what are your thoughts?"
"Hmm...The matches we've seen so far have all been interesting and exciting in different ways. And of the remaining matches for today...I have to say Lyon vs Kagura peaks my interest the most."
"I can't help but agree, Yajima-san! But lets not overlook the other matches. Tsuki Mizuki will be looking to get a win for her guild to avenge Minoru's close loss, while Gajeel will certainly have the crowd on his side as he tries to get Fairy Tail on the scoreboard! And Erza vs Ichiya will be a battle between two S-Class mages, and even though we've seen both mages several times before, I still don't think anyone knows what to expect from this one. Well, without further delay, lets continue the matches!"
Mato ran out to the center of the arena before shouting into his microphone.
"Fairy Tail's Gajeel Redfox and Tsuki Mizuki of Radioactive Decay, please make your way out now!"
"Giheh. Looks like I'm up." Gajeel said with a grin and the crowd roared with cheers for the Iron Dragon Slayer as he walked out. Tsuki silently walked out and stood a few feet in front of him, her face practically emotionless.
"Are both mages ready, kabo?" Mato asked, looking back and forth at both of them.
Gajeel nodded and started to crouch into a fighting stance, but Tsuki held a hand up.
"Wait. I want to use my tag partner now."
The crowd immediately began buzzing once again as the announcers chimed in to comment.
"Oh?! It looks like we're about to have our first tag battle of the tournament! But I wonder if this is smart on Tsuki's part. After this point she won't be able to call on a partner again unless her opponent decides to first, correct?"
"Indeed." Yajima responded. "Since Gajeel wasn't the one who called for his partner first, he will still be able to do so later if he wants. But Tsuki will most likely have to fend for herself for all of her fights after this. So for her sake I hope she makes this count."
Back in the arena, Mato spoke into the microphone again.
"Tsuki Mizuki has elected to turn this fight into a tag battle, kabo! Tsuki, who do you select as your partner?"
The black-haired girl looked back at her guild members before answering.
"Iris Hale."
With Iris being just as unfamiliar with the crowd as the rest of her guildmates, the blue-haired girl quietly walked out and stood next to Tsuki, not saying a word, and her face just as expressionless as Tsuki's.
"Alright! Gajeel, who will your partner be?"
"Tch. Wasn't expecting this. Well then..."
He looked back at the other Fairy Tail mages and scanned over them. Natsu was trying to climb over the wall while several of his guildmates held him back.
"Oi! Gajeel! You better pick me or I'll kick your ass!"
"Natsu, calm down and just let him pick." Erza said, and Natsu reluctantly complied.
After thinking it over for a minute, Gajeel grinned and pointed toward the Fairy Tail mages.
"I choose...Juvia Lockser!"
The crowd was clearly surprised by the choice, but let out loud cheers as she went made her way out.
"An interesting choice by Gajeel, and now it seems this tag battle will feature a reunion of former Phantom Lord teammates!" Chapati said as Juvia stood next to Gajeel.
"Juvia is happy to team with Gajeel-san again." she said to her partner. Then before he could say anything in response, she turned and waved frantically back toward Fairy Tail's members. "Gray-sama! Juvia dedicates this fight to you! Please cheer for Juvia!"
Gray didn't respond, except for an awkward expression that came over his face.
Mato once again looked at both sides.
"Are both teams ready, kabo?"
All four mages nodded, and the gong sounded as Mato raised his hand.
"Begin!"
The second the gong sounded, Iris morphed into a lightning bolt and rushed straight toward Gajeel and Juvia, quickly zig-zagging back and forth as she went to confuse them as to who she was going after. As she got near, both jumped to the side in opposite directions, simply letting her pass between them. But as Gajeel stood, he was surprised to see Tsuki right in front of him, swinging a mace made of blood right at him, which struck him in his cheek and knocked him back.
"Damn. Looks like these two make a pretty good team." Gajeel said as he rubbed his cheek with his hand. "Blood Magic and Lightning Magic, huh? This'll be interesting."
Off to the side, Juvia stood several feet from Iris, and held her hand up, with her palm facing the Lightning Mage.
"Water Lock!"
A large sphere of water formed around Iris, lifting her slightly into the air and attempting to cut off her oxygen. But she suddenly gathered lightning around her body before sending it in all directions, dispersing the water. And as she landed, Iris channeled her magic into her right foot, sending a wave electricity which quickly traveled through the puddles of water on the ground, causing Juvia to scream in pain as it electrocuted her.
Hearing his partner's scream, Gajeel rushed over to Juvia, knowing this wouldn't end well if things kept up this way.
"Lets switch, Juvia! I'll take this one, you get the Blood Mage!"
"You think that'll change anything?!" Tsuki shouted as she charged at Juvia, her mace having transformed into a sword now. But as she swung the sword, her eyes widened in surprise when it passed right through the Water Mage.
"Physical attacks won't work against Juvia. Water Force!"
Juvia thrust her palm forward, gathering a large amount of water in front of Tsuki before slamming it into her, sending her flying back.
"Giheh! Now we're getting the hang of this!" Gajeel said with a grin as his iron scales formed over his body.
Iris again morphed into a lightning bolt and began flying all around Gajeel, trying to confuse him before coming down at him from above.
"Not so fast. Iron Dragon's Club!"
Pointing his fist up, Gajee's arm then turned into an iron club which shot up and slammed into Iris' face, launching her through the air, and the Lightning Mage dropped to the ground a moment later.
As Tsuki stood up, she grunted and created a bow and arrow made of blood. She fired the arrow, only for it to pass through Juvia as the sword had.
"It doesn't matter if you use short or long ranged attacks. Your magic can't hurt Juvia. This next attack is for Gray-sama! Wings of Love!"
Juvia swung her arms, sending a large whirlpool which once again knocked Tsuki back several feet. She then turned to look at her guildmates, her eyes now looking like big pink hearts.
"Gray-sama! Were you watching?"
Gray had been watching, but didn't reply, and had an awkward look on his face.
Standing in front of an injured Iris Hale, Gajeel grinned as he held his arm out to the side.
"Iron Dragon's Sword."
The arm then turned into a large, jagged blade. But Iris wasn't intimidated. She held her arms up, gathering lightning in her hands, then threw them forward.
"Homing Bolt!"
The bolt of lightning went forward with incredible speed, though having watched her prepare the attack, Gajeel was able to sidestep it with ease. However, Gajeel then realized that the bolt was headed right for Juvia, who was staring up at the stands.
"Juvia! Look out!"
But it was far too late. Before his words even registered with her, the bolt of lightning hit it's mark with full force, electrocuting Juvia again as well as launching her sideways into the wall of the arena, and she collapsed to the ground in a dazed state.
"Juvia!" Gajeel shouted out, then ran over to try to help his partner. But Tsuki moved in front of him, still holding the sword, as well as a newly formed axe.
"Outta the way!" he shouted, swinging his Iron Dragon's sword down at Tsuki, who parried by bringing both her weapons up over her head, the two now in a deadlock. Seeing her chance, Iris held her hands together as if she were praying, and an electric charge surged around them. As she pulled her hands apart, a ball of lightning formed in the space between her hands. The lightning mage looked at Tsuki, who smirked and gave a nod, signaling her partner to attack. Iris nodded back and thrust her hands forward, and the ball of lightning shot forward in the form of a powerful bolt. Right at the last second, Tsuki lowered her weapons and dove out of the way. Iris' attack then hit right in the center of Gajeel's back launching him right into Juvia, who had only just now made it back to her feet, and both crashed into the wall before falling unconscious on the ground.
Mato ran over to check on them before raising a hand.
"Juvia and Gajeel are down! Tsuki and Iris win the battle!"
As the crowd cheered, neither Tsuki or Iris said a word, but simply grinned and nodded to each other before heading back to Radioactive Decay's section in the stands.
When the Fairy Tail mages regained consciousness, Gajeel grimaced as he walked back, and Juvia frowned and hung her head as she followed close behind. When they made it back to their guild's section, Gray smiled and put a hand on Juvia's shoulder.
"It's alright, Juvia. You did your best."
"G-Gray-sama...!" she responded as she looked at him, her eyes again turning to pink hearts.
"Gajeel! Why didn't you pick me?! We would've won that easy!" Natsu shouted at Gajeel.
"Shut it, Natsu! You couldn't have done any better and you know it!"
"Huh?! You wanna go?!" Natsu shouted back, and the members of Fairy Tail now frantically fought to keep Natsu and Gajeel from killing each other.
Once all four mages had left, Mato again took the microphone.
"It's time for our next fight! Erza Scarlet from Fairy Tail, and Ichiya Kotobuki of Blue Pegasus, please step forward, kabo!"
The short, orange-haired S-Class mage of Blue Pegasus casually walked out into the arena. Erza, on the other hand, was shaking in her armor, and took a great deal of mental effort just to move forward as she walked out, stopping several feet away form Ichiya.
"Erza-chan! Your perfume is as stunning as always! Men.~" Ichiya said, striking a weird pose as sparkles appeared all around him. Erza's only response was to hide behind Mato.
"M-make it go away!" she said, and the crowd laughed in response, thinking she was just joking.
Mato stepped away from Erza and looked at both mages.
"Are you ready, kabo?"
Ichiya nodded, but Erza's eye just twitched as she looked at him with a weird expression. But the gong sounded nonetheless.
"Begin the match!"
Immediately, Ichiya leapt "gracefully" through the air toward the scarlet-haired mage.
"Erza-chan, you-" his voice cut off as an armor-clad fist slammed into the center of his face and drove him straight to the ground, the impact leaving a crater under Ichiya's body. Erza didn't give him even a second to recover, and began practically screaming as she rapidly rained punches down on the Blue Pegasus mage's face. After nearly a minute of this, Erza stepped back, panting slightly as she glared at Mato.
"End the fight, now!"
He flinched at the frightening tone in her voice, and was about to go check on Ichiya, but the Perfume Mage shakily stood to his feet, his face severely battered and bruised from the beating he just endured.
"Indeed, the perfume of your beauty and strength make a wonderful combination. But for the sake of Blue Pegasus, I must not give up, even against you, my honey."
Ichiya then took the vile for his Power Perfume from his jacket and removed the cork, and as he inhaled the perfume, the size of his muscles drastically increased. When the transformation was finished, the short mage of Blue Pegasus was now much larger than Erza. As Ichiya walked toward her, Erza's body began to glow with the activation of her well-known Requip magic. When the light died down, Erza was now in her Black Wing Armor, and flew up into the air. At first it seemed as though she was going to try beating him with an aerial offense. However, after it then became clear that she had no idea of going anywhere near Ichiya, and was trying to fly away from the arena.
"I cannot allow your perfume to elude me this time, MEN!~" Ichiya shouted, then jumped, amazing all who watched as he caught up to her, and managed to grab one of her legs with his hand before falling back to the arena floor with her. As soon as he landed, he pulled Erza toward him, and wrapped his massive arms around her in a tight hug.
"Let go of me!" Erza shouted as she flailed and tried desperately to get away from him, but with her arms being stuck by her sides, she couldn't budge him.
"My honey, it's unfortunate that fate has forced us to be opponents on the battlefield, but..." his voice trailed off, before stopping altogether as he suddenly realized that Erza had stopped moving. Her head hung to the side, her eyes had shut, and her limbs were motionless. Ichiya hugging her had sent Erza into such an intense state of panic that she had literally passed out in his arms. A mixture of confusion and shock was in the face of Ichiya, as well as all who watched from the stands. Mato ran over to them, and with Erza still in Ichiya's grasp, he lifted one of her arms, only for it to fall limply back by her side when he let go.
"E-Erza is down! Ichiya wins!"
The arena wen silent as no one knew how to react at first. Even Ichiya couldn't believe what had happened.
"M-Men...?"
Slowly, the crowd started to applaud, though still no one could get over how bizarre the match had been.
Unsure of what else he should do, Ichiya carried Erza to her guild mates before heading back to Blue Pegasus' section, where Eve, Ren, and Hibiki were already smiling and posing.
"Excellent job, Ichiya-sensei! We knew you could do it!" they said in unison. Hearing their praise, Ichiya's expression returned to normal.
"No enemy can stop the perfume of Blue Pegasus from winning this tournament! Men~" he said, striking a pose with them.
In Fairy Tail's section, Erza quickly sat up as she regained consciousness.
"Wh-what happened?!"
"It's ok, Erza. The fight's over." Lucy replied, gently putting a hand on her shoulder. Hearing her words, and considering she was just now becoming conscious again, she realized she had lost.
"I...I see..." she sighed to herself. "Well, at least I won't have to deal with him anymore."
Back in the arena, Mato stood before the crowd once again.
"It's now time for the final fight in the first day of the inaugural Round Robin, kabo! Mermaid Heel's Kagura Mikazuchi, and Lamia Scale's Lyon Vastia, please come forward!"
Both mages quietly walked out into the arena, stopping several feet from each other, neither saying a word to the other.
"We're about to start our final bout for the day, Lyon vs Kagura in a rematch from the Grand Magic Games! It's the fight we've been waiting all day to see, and now it's finally time to see what happens when these two mages clash again!" Chipati said from the announcers' booth.
"Are both mages ready, kabo?" Mato asked, and both mages responded with a simple nod.
"Very well! Begin!"
The gong sounded, and Lyon immediately extended his right arm, pointing his hand at Kagura.
"Ice-Make: Eagle!"
As he said this, a magic circle opened in front of his hand, releasing several ice eagles, which curved around and flew at Kagura from various directions. But this was nothing she couldn't handle. Gripping her sheathed sword in her left hand while putting her right over the handle, she quickly slashed every eagle, destroying them all before any could hit her. Deciding not to give Lyon enough time to try attacking again, she then immediately dashed at him, swinging her sword horizontally toward his chest. Lyon, however, had expected the attack, and was able to jump backward to avoid it, stretching his arm out again.
"Ice-Make: Snow Tiger!"
Again the magic circle opened in front of his hand, this time releasing a large ice tiger which charged right at the Mermaid Heel mage. Kagura was unfazed by the sight of the large ice creature, and pointed the tip of her Archenemy at it before lunging forward, driving it into the head of the tiger. Upon impact, the tiger shattered into small pieces of ice, and Kagura rushed right through, reaching Lyon and delivering a roundhouse kick to the side of his head before he could react. The kick sent him rolling several feet, but he managed to quickly stand back up, with a slight smirk on his face.
"The ace of Mermaid Heel never fails to impress."
"Quick to praise, yet slow to impress. Are you holding back, Lyon? Or have you simply become weaker since our last encounter?" Kagura asked, unamused by his words, causing Lyon's smirk to be replaced by a more annoyed expression.
"Weak? I'll show you I'm far from it, Kagura. Ice Make: Diamond Cage!" holding his hand out once again, what appeared at first to be little more than a cold mist flew from his hand toward Kagura. She cautiously observed it, trying to find out what it was doing, but her eyes then widened in surprise as ice began to form all over her body, eventually becoming a sphere that encompassed her torso, as well as part of her arms and legs, greatly restricting her movement.
"D-Dammit..." she muttered to herself as she tried in vain to free herself.
"It's over, Kagura! Ice-Make: Snow Dragon!"
Out of his hand, the dragon made of ice came rushing forward, crashing into the now defenseless mage, the impact breaking the sphere of ice around her and launching her backward. Lyon smirked, certain he had won as Mato went to check on Kagura. But before he even reached her, she stood and dusted herself off. Her face had several scratches, and her clothes had been in torn in several places, many of the tears also revealing small lines of blood.
"I commend you for managing to land a hit. But that's as far as you'll go."
"We'll see about that! Ice-" before he could use his magic again, a sudden strong increase in gravity jerked him down onto his hands and knees.
"Tch. I was so focused on fighting against her sword I almost forgot about the gravity magic..."
He looked back up, but Kagura was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly realizing what had happened, he lifted his head and saw she was now high in the air over him, and rapidly began to descend with the tip of her Archenemy pointed right at him with her Strong Form, using the increased gravity to boost her speed. Reacting as quickly as he could, he struggled to lift his hand over his head.
"Ice-Make: Shield!"
As he said this, the shield of ice formed from the palm of his hand, and Kagura's sword came smashing into it just as it finished forming, the crash causing a massive cloud of dust to form, making it difficult for the crowd to see what had happened. When the dust finally settled, Kagura was seen standing over an unconscious Lyon as Mato ran over to look at the situation before facing the crowd again.
"Lyon is down! Kagura wins the battle!"
As the crowd cheered, Kagura let out a small sigh before walking back to Mermaid Heel's section, where her guildmates all happily congratulated her.
"Thanks you." Kagura replied shortly to them, before turning to look at Milliana. "Remember what I told you, Milliana. Since today is your bye, use it to observe your future opponents and learn what you can about them. You'll have to fight every day from now on, which means you have to be smart about how you approach each of your matches. Understood?"
"Yes ma'am! I'll do my best, Kagura-chan!" Milliana replied with a bright smile.
"Good." she said with a slight nod.
Lyon sat up and groaned slightly as he rubbed his head.
"Looks like I wasn't good enough this time..."
Lyon then felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Jura smiling at him.
"You put up a good fight, Lyon-dono. And you still have plenty of time to make up for your loss. Try not to be too discouraged."
"You're right, Jura. I'll still do everything I can to win this for Lamia Scale."
He then stood up and walked back with Jura as the announcers discussed the results of the fights.
"Now that we've reached the conclusion of Day 1, lets take a look at the scoreboard! After some surprise victories, Block A has a four-way tie for first place as Chelia Blendy, Orga Nanagear, Emerita Megido, and Ichiya Kotobuki each have 2 points. Block B also has four people tied for the lead, Rogue Cheney, Mathias Cronqvist, Tsuki Mizuki, and Kagura Mikazuchi. We've had some excellent fights today, and are sure to see plenty more as the tournament progresses. But there's several important things to take into consideration beyond "who won or lost" their fights. Isn't that right, Yajima-san?"
"Hm, indeed. For example, now that Tsuki Mizuki has used a tag partner, she won't be able to do so again unless her opponent does so first. And with most people likely saving those for their S-Class opponents, it's likely she won't be able to get any more help from her guild for the rest of the tournament."
"Very good point. She got the points today, but may really end up wishing she'd saved it for later. Also, lets not forget that Milliana from Mermaid Heel, as well as Aira Aeolus from White Eclipse had their byes today. What does that mean for them as they enter the tournament starting tomorrow?"
"Well, they will certainly have an advantage tomorrow, considering they haven't had to fight yet, while their opponents are still feeling the effects from their fights from today. But at the same time, they'll have to fight every day from here on out, so that could prove to be a difficult task to manage."
"That certainly makes sense. Before we go, we'll announce tomorrow's matches. Everyone, please turn your attention to the screen at this time."
Up on the screen, everyone watched as the next series of matches were announced:
Erza Scarlet vs Chelia Blendy
Kagura Mikazuchi vs Eve Tearm
Milliana vs Minoru Kanemoto
Blues vs Mathias Cronqvist
Emerita Megido vs Bacchus
Aira Aeoulus vs Gajeel Redfox
Tsuki Mizuki vs Rogue Cheney
Orga Nanagear vs Reve Volver
(Bye: Ichiya Kotobuki and Lyon Vastia)
"There you have it, folks! So have a safe trip home, and we'll see you all back here tomorrow for Day 2 of the inaugural Round Robin! Goodnight, and thank you for coming!"
