"AAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH!" I gulped seeing the pain Natsu was in. There were red markings on his body and you could tell he was in agony.
"As much as I want a power boost, I'm not looking forward to the pain." I muttered.
"Same here." Lucy added.
"It's not easy to bring out someone's true potential." Ultear informed.
"Are you sure he's okay?" Lucy asked concerned.
"Exactly, how painful is it?" Gray asked nervous.
"Do you wanna try a sense link?" Meredy asked.
"Hell no!" Gray and I yelled.
"Do we have to go through that too?" Levy asked nervously.
"I'm gonna cry." Wendy said and was already crying.
My heart broke seeing my brother in that much pain and I was completely helpless. I did not like this feeling whatsoever.
"Speaking of which, has anyone seen Erza?" Carla asked.
"She left with Jellal." Happy informed.
I broke out of my thought and smirked thinking of those two.
"They're gonna be a while." I stated, my smirk turning into a sly one.
"Uh oh, she's thinking of something." Tyrus muttered, seeing the look on my face.
I stood outside rapidly blinking and checking myself. The sounds of crying and screams were coming from behind us in the shed.
"Ultear, you sure you did that right? I'm not feeling anything and neither is Erza." I asked checking both of us over.
"I...don't know myself. My best guess would be you two have already unlocked your Second Origin and my magic just allowed you tap into it fully now." Ultear guessed.
"That would make sense, we are S-Class Wizards." I pointed out.
"Well thanks to you guys, no one is going to be moving for sometime." Erza informed,changing the subject.
"We can't stay in one place for too long due to the nature of our guild. We'll be leaving now." Jellal informed and all of them put their hoods back up.
"If you guys get any information about the mysterious magic during the games, let me know by carrier." Meredy informed.
"No problem." Erza assured.
"We'll be rooting for Fairy Tail during the games." Ultear added.
"I hope to see you again Erza, and you too Vespera." Jellal stated.
I sweatdropped, "You can call me Vez, Jellal. It's weird hearing my full name."
"Bye!" Meredy yelled, waving.
"Say hi to everyone for me. Take care of Gray, please." Ultear asked.
I grinned at that, "Don't worry about Gray, Ultear. We can handle him." Ultear smiled and nodded before they both disappeared into the forest.
Once Jellal and the others were gone, I got a sly grin on my face. I looked over at Erza.
"What?" Erza asked, seeing the look.
"You and Jellal, huh? I can see it." Erza immediately blushed.
"I-It's nothing like that!" Erza yelled.
I crossed my arms and my grin grew, "Sure it is…" I drawled out.
"Hey Erza." We turned around seeing Happy drawing something in the dirt.
He snickered as he drew a heart with a crack in it.
Bam!
I sweatdropped seeing Happy go flying through the air by Erza's kick. He so had that coming…
"Oh yeah...you like him." I stated bluntly, still watching Happy flying through the air.
"Hm, you know he told me a ridiculous lie." Oh so she didn't deny me this time. I knew it! She likes him!
I rose an eyebrow, "Oh really? What was that?" I asked amused.
"That he had a fiancé." I let out a chuckle.
"That is pretty bad...Hey Erza?"
"What is it?"
"Not many people in the guild knows this yet, but I think I should tell you. You think you can keep it a secret?" I asked.
Erza grew a concern look on her face, "Of course. Is something wrong?"
I shook my head, "No nothings wrong, far from it actually. It's about Laxus." Erza grew a serious face hearing his name.
"What about him?"
I scratched the back of my head and glanced my eyes to the right, "We're huh...kind of...dating now…" A few seconds passed with Erza just standing there with a blank look.
Then…
"What?!" Erza yelled and rushed over to me.
I put my hands up and leaned back from her, "When did this happen?!" She demanded.
"It happened back on Tenrou Island, before Acnologia attacked." I answered quickly.
Erza's mood suddenly changed to joy, "I'm so happy for you two!" I gagged as Erza grabbed me into an air tight hug.
"Erza...can't...breathe…!" I gasped out as I struggled against her hug.
"Right, sorry. I got carried away there." I let out a gasp as she released me
I stood in the center of the town looking at the rest of our team just collapsed on the floor.
"You guys are still out of it from unlocking Second Origin?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Why do you two look fine?" Lucy asked Erza and I.
"Maybe they already had theirs unlocked?" Gray guessed.
"That makes sense." Lucy pointed out.
"Well you guys can wallow here if you want. Tyrus and I were gonna see some of the sights." I informed.
"Alright, but don't stay out too late. The games are tomorrow." Erza advised.
I put my hand up as a backwards wave, "I know. We'll be at the hotel by ten."
"Aye!" Tyrus added as he floated next to me.
We walked through the shopping district and Tyrus was pointing out everything we walked by.
"I never knew Crocus had so many things." Tyrus said in amazement.
"Well it is Fiore's Capital, and it's name literally means flower blooming." I informed with a light smile on my face.
"Hey, I see a Fire Dragon!" I stopped hearing a familiar voice.
"It's Laxus and the Thunder Legion!" Tyrus pointed out beside us.
I grinned, "Hey guys, what are you doing here?" I asked as they stopped in front of us.
"We're going to be watching the games of course." Evergreen informed.
"Yeah, everyone in Fairy Tail is here." Bickslow added.
My eyes widen, "Everyone, seriously?" I said dumbfounded.
"Look at it this way Vez, everyone in Fairy Tail will be cheering for you and Team Fairy Tail!" Tyrus informed.
I grinned, "Sounds like it!"
"Hm." I turned to Laxus who had this smirk on his face.
"What's that look for?" I asked narrowing my eyes at him.
"Nothin'. You'll have to wait and see." Okay now I was confused. What did he mean by that?
"O...kay…" I said unsure.
"Vez, would you like to join us for a tour around the city? We've been taking in the cites since we arrived." Freed asked politely.
"It's not everyday we get to see the country's capital." Evergreen added.
I smiled and nodded, "Sure, Tyrus and I were just looking around too."
"Good, let's get going then." Evergreen announced and walked ahead of us.
I was about to followed them when the scent of two dragon's hit my nose. I froze in place and my eyes widen. They were coming from behind me!
I turned around and fifteen feet away from me were two male Wizards. One had spiky light blonde hair, blue eyes, one pierced ear, and the other had long black hair covering one eye and red eyes. Both had the crest of what looked like a sabertooth tiger, meaning they were part of the Sabertooth guild I've heard of.
Both of them had smelled like a dragon so that meant one thing: Dragon Slayers. I noticed they were looking in my direction as well. When the blonde saw I was looking at them, he let out a smirk.
Although I couldn't tell exactly, but something about those two seemed different. They were Dragon Slayers but I could feel something was different about them.
"Hey Vez, quit standing there and come on!" I heard Bickslow yell from behind me.
I turned my head to look to see the Thunder Legion waiting for me. I turned back to the Dragon Slayers, the one in black was walking away and the blonde one followed suit after lifting his hand in a wave.
Who the hell where those guys?
"Vez, are you okay?" I was snapped out of my thoughts hearing Tyrus.
"Huh, oh yeah. I just saw something, that's all." I reassured and turned around, walking towards the Thunder Legion.
So Sabertooth has Dragon Slayers of their own, huh? These games were about to get interesting.
"Where have all of you been?" Erza demanded.
Natsu, Lucy, Gray, and I were sitting on the floor while we were being scolded by Erza. For some reason though, Natsu was extremely mad. I wonder what happened?
"Just another boring dinner." Gray replied.
"Well it's...complicated…" Lucy trailed off.
"Looking at sites took a bit longer than I thought it would." I informed.
Suddenly Natsu and Happy exploded out of anger, "I'm gonna get those guys back no matter what!" I sweatdropped, what were they talking about?
"Anyway, where's Wendy?" My eyes widen and looked around the room. The young Sky Dragon was nowhere in sight.
"That's right." Lucy said looking around.
"She's late." Gray informed.
"That's not like her to be late, especially if she has Carla with her." I added.
"They can't be lost, Carla's with her." Happy added as well.
"Even so, it's almost twelve." Gray stated. I was lucky I got here when I did, I didn't know about the curfew for participants until I got here. Apparently Gramps visited them after I left and told them some of the rules of the games.
"She's out there all alone…" Lucy trailed off and I could see in her eyes that her imagination was getting to her.
"Lucy, she's a Dragon Slayer. I'm pretty sure she can handle herself." I informed sweatdropping.
The door then opened with Elfman and Lisanna bringing drinks and snacks.
"Hey, we brought snacks." Elfman informed.
"You guys excited for tomorrow?" Lisanna asked smiling.
"Lisanna, Elfman did you guys come across Wendy and Carla on the way here?" I asked concerned.
They both frowned, "No, we haven't seen them since the day you guys left for training." Lisanna answered.
"She's not back yet?" Elfman asked confused.
I shook my head, "No, and that's not like her."
"We were all told to be at our hotels by twelve, but she hasn't shown up." Gray informed.
"Why twelve?" Lisanna asked curiously.
"We don't know, one of the rules said to be here by twelve." Lucy answered.
The clock in our room let out a chime as it hit midnight, "Speaking of twelve." Erza pointed out.
"What's gonna happen?" Natsu asked blinking.
That's when we heard a booming voice, "To all the guilds here for the Grand Magic Games, good morning!" We rushed outside to the balcony from where the voice was coming from.
We stopped seeing a huge projection of a guy in a pumpkin suit, "In order to reduce the participating teams from 113 to eight, we will now begin the preliminary event!" What?!
"Preliminary?!" Gray exclaimed in shock.
"No said anything about that!" Erza announced.
"It's huge!" Natsu yelled.
"A 3D projection?" Lucy commented.
"A pumpkin~!" Happy and Tyrus yelled happily.
"So that's why they wanted all the teams back before twelve." I stated.
But before the pumpkin guy said 113 guilds were participating. There's no way there's that many guilds in Fiore, something else is going on here…
"Every year more and more guilds come. That's a sign this event was starting to be taken too lightly. This year, we've brought the number of final competing teams down to eight. The Preliminary rules are simple!" The ground under us started to shake and the hotel was being raised into the sky!
"You will all now compete with each other. The goal is the event grounds, Domus Flau."
"The whole place is transforming!" Gray yelled.
"So are the others!" Lucy added.
"Transformations are what being a man is all about!" Elfman shouted.
"The first eight teams to make it will participate in the event. Your hotels will be the starting line for the preliminary event." A path of stairs was suddenly being formed, leading up to the air.
"A path!" Gray announced.
"I take it we follow it then." I informed.
"Feel free to use any magic you like. There are no restrictions as long as you're one of the first eight teams to make it. But if all five of your members don't make it there, you still lose." Wait five? Gramps said we were a team of six? He told us Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Erza, Wendy, and me made up Fairy Tail's team.
"And one more thing, we take no responsibility for anyone who loses their life in the labyrinth."
"Labyrinth?!" Natsu exclaimed.
My eyes widen seeing some type of sphere up in the sky, "The Grand Magic Games Preliminary event! Sky Labyrinth has begun!" Already?!
"What is that thing?!" Natsu yelled in shock.
"So we're trying to make it up there to the goal." Lucy announced.
"If this is a competition then we'd better hurry!" Gray urged.
"Wait. The rules state five members need to be at the goal but Master said ours was a team of six. Don't you find that odd?" Erza asked.
"Maybe you can have a team up to six if you request it? If that's the case then we're still missing Wendy." I guessed.
"If Wendy's not here...you've got a man!" I heard Elfman say.
I suddenly felt myself get picked up, "Let's switch members!" Elfman yelled as he carried the five of us up the stairs.
"We don't have a choice. There's no time to wait for Wendy." Gray informed.
"Thanks Elfman!" Natsu and I thanked.
"Leave it to me!" Elfman yelled.
"Lisanna, Happy, Tyrus! Go look for Wendy and Carla!" Erza ordered.
"Okay! We'll go see who all the guild members are here!" I heard Lisanna yelled back.
"Good luck, everybody!" I heard Happy yell.
"Show them what Fairy Tail can do!" I heard Tyrus add.
Elfman let us go once we got half way up the stairs. As we ran we could see the entrance come into view.
"There's the entrance!" I announced.
"No, that's the entrance to being the top guild of Fiore!" Natsu corrected.
I smirked, Natsu was right about that, "Team Fairy Tail, let's go!" We all yelled as we charged in.
"Tch, it's nearly impossible to navigate through this maze. It goes in directions that don't even make sense." I said looking at all the paths and staircases around us.
"No kidding, and a 3D maze makes it worse." Gray agreed.
"Gah, my heads spinning just looking at it!" Natsu said holding his head with swirls in his eyes.
"We should try and head east as a basis. The event grounds were in the east." Erza advised.
"That's a good idea and all, but we have no idea which way is east in this mess." I informed.
"No problem, leave that to me! Open! Gate of the Compass Constellation: Pyxis!" A bright light shown as a red bird with a compass on it's head appeared.
The compass started then it finally stopped with the red arrow pointing towards east.
"East is that way!" Lucy exclaimed, pointing with Pyxis.
"Thanks Luce, but huh...Erza brought a compass." I informed, sweatdropping and pointed at the compass in Erza's hand.
In a mere second both Lucy and Pyxis where sulking against the wall. Erza just had to ruin Lucy's fun, didn't she?
After Lucy got it back together we began heading east. It's a good thing Erza does have a compass. The maze got even more confusing as we went.
"Hey Erza, I think it'd be a good idea if we made a map as we went." I suggested as I jumped over to another floating platform.
"That's a good idea Vez." Erza agreed as we walked down a hallway.
That's when Erza stopped and we all did too once we saw figures heading towards us.
"Looks like other guilds are in the labyrinth too." Elfman stated.
"It wouldn't be a competition if there wasn't." I informed.
"Wait, guys that's...Twilight Ogre!" Lucy exclaimed.
I rose an eyebrow and on closer inspection it was in fact the five guys that terrorized our guild earlier.
I smirked as they noticed us and charged at us, "We've got a score to settle with you fairies!" I punched the palm of my hand and cracked my knuckles as fire surrounded my fists.
"I've been wanting to beat the crap out of these guys!" Me, Natsu, Gray, and Elfman charged at them and we all sent them flying with one punch.
"Get lost!" We all yelled.
That's when I felt the ground move and we all started to slide on the floor.
"The hell?!" I yelled as I tried to stop myself from sliding.
"You gotta be kidding me! The entire labyrinth is spinning!" Lucy yelled out of panic.
"It's spinning vertically! Everyone head for the other side!" Erza ordered.
I quickly jumped over to the other side but Natsu and Lucy didn't make it.
"Natsu, Lucy!" Elfman yelled as he quickly caught their arms.
"Nice catch, Elfman!" I said grinning and gave him a thumbs up.
The floor finally stopped moving, "Why do I have feeling that's not the last time we'll see that." I pondered out loud.
"I got the same feeling." Gray agreed.
I heard a thud from behind me. I turned my head and saw one of the Twilight Ogre guys from earlier, but this one had a map in his hands.
"Huh, looks like Twilight Ogre was keeping a map too. If we put this together with the map we made, we should a much clearer picture of this place." Gray informed.
Erza and I exchanged a glance and we both got a glint in our eyes and smirked. Natsu, Elfman, and Gray soon followed after that.
"I think we just figured another way to deal with this preliminary event." Erza informed.
"In other words, beat everyone we run across and steal their maps." I added.
"Now that's a plan!" Natsu yelled.
"You guys are seriously creeping me out right now." Lucy muttered.
One by one we encountered other guilds and we beat every single one and stole their maps. Eventually we got an entire map of the place and now we were face to face with the finish line.
We all had proud smiles on our faces for finally making it to the end. We also had the pumpkin guy from earlier greeting us at the finish line.
"Congratulations on completing the preliminary event." He congratulated.
"All right!" We cheered, that meant we made it in!
"So, did we get first place?" Lucy asked hopefully.
"Nope. You just barely made 8th place." Wait...what now…?
"Eh?!" We all questioned with stun looks. There goes our pride…
O.o Man that was a long chapter. I wanted to fit the entire Sky Labyrinth in it just to get past it. Now we can start getting into the main events of the games! I honestly can't wait! Thanks for reading everyone! Stay tune for the next chapter, until then. See ya! :D