Lyra got to the lake first. Then Orga, then Rufus who had somehow skipped over Sting. Minutes later Sting and Lector started to emerge into the lakeshore. Rogue and Frosch right behind them.
"Looks like Rogue is last." Lyra said with a smile. "I thought we'd start small." She said. Rogue was breathing heavily and Frosch looked between them fearfully.
"Come here Rogue." She ordered. He looked up at her, eyes wide.
"Come on, I won't bite." She said. Rogue moved slowly towards her.
"Pushups." She said. "100 of them."
Sting stifled a laugh, and Rogue's eyes widened.
"What?" Lyra asked.
"Rogue? Doing a pushup?" Sting laughed.
Rogue glared at him. "I can do one!" He objected. Sting continued to laugh. Rogue got down and started to do one. By his fifth he was already sweating heavily. Lyra shook her head.
"If that's all you can do, I don't think you'll be able to handle my punishment." Lyra said.
"I can handle it!" Rogue insisted. Lyra sighed.
"Ok then. I was going to wait until you did ten, but if you can handle it…" She said. She sat on his back. He grunted in the added weight.
"Only 95 more to go." She said. After one more, Rogue fell onto his arms. Sting went from his giggling to full on howling in laughter.
"You think you can do any better?" Lyra asked. Sting stopped his laughing.
"I could do all 100!" He boasted. Lyra got up from Rogue, and pointed towards the ground.
"Ok. Get down, let's see." She ordered.
Sting started on his first, and Lyra sat on his back, with another grunt he started on his pushups.
When he got to 15 he started to groan. "Having trouble?" Lyra asked.
"Damn it. Why are you so heavy?" Sting moaned. Lyra slapped him.
"Never call a girl heavy, you little shit!" She rebuked him. She balanced herself as she stood, and jumped.
"Huh?" Sting said as he felt the weight leave his back, then he screamed as she came down. His chest met the ground with a heavy thump.
"Ow…" He complained.
Lyra stood and crossed her arms. "Well, if you're so strong do it yourself!" Sting challenged.
Lyra shrugged. She bent down, and got into position. "Get on." She said. Sting got on her back, even though she was smaller than he was, and she started doing the pushups.
"You idiot." Orga said as Lyra continued on her 20's. "Lyra can't use magic, so she's been building up her strength. The first thing she learned to do was this little exercise." Lyra was getting to 40 by now.
"Wow." Rogue said. Sting crossed his arms.
"Hmph. I'm not impressed." He said. Orga rolled his eyes.
"Whatever." Lyra had gotten to 56 and she rolled over, knocking Sting off her.
"Why did you stop?" Sting asked. "You can't do it?"
"I can. But we have more important things to do." Lyra said. She stretched out her arms, and then she started to take off her jacket.
"What are you doing?" Rogue asked.
"Well we didn't come here for the scenery." Lyra said. She started to strip into a bathing suit under her clothes. Rufus frowned.
"Do we really have to get wet?" He asked. I don't want to get my hair wet. He thought.
"Uh, yeah." She said. "We're near a lake. Don't expect my training to be a piece of cake. First thing we'll work on is swimming, and then we'll work on water fighting." She said. She walked into the water. "Coming?" She asked.
They followed, each stripping down to bathing suits. The others knew how to swim so they swam the length of the lake a few times. Then she took them on one at a time. Rufus vs. Lyra was the first match. They showed the others the drill. They both got in a guard stance. Rufus smirked, moving his arms.
Lyra closed her eyes, concentrating.
She chose the water for a reason. When a person is in water, their movements make noise. And while Rufus, (really 'Rufus') moved, there was no sound. No movement in the water, because that wasn't Rufus. That was his Memory-make. She felt the water from behind her move. She turned and he attacked. Lyra blocked and stumbled back a little.
"Memory make-" Lyra cut him off by attacking mid-spell.
"Rule one. Never let your guard down." She punched and he evaded. "Rule two, don't be predictable." She stepped back, and slapped her hand across the water, spraying it in his eyes. "Rule three, use your surroundings to your advantage."
"Memory-"
"And rule four." She said, ducking under the water. She kicked him and sprung back above the surface. "Never stop your spell. Most mages are useless without their magic. Never stop your spell."
"Memory –make: SHRINE OF TURNBULENT FANG!" Rufus shouted.
The small tornados were created. Lyra vaguely applauded him for not attacking her directly. She absorbed direct attacks but his tornados were affecting the water which affected her. Lyra screamed as she was torn from the water as it rose, and thrown into the air. She screamed as she fell through the air, and someone cast a spell so when she landed she didn't get seriously hurt. Lyra went underwater and swam to where she could stand. Then she grinned and she shook out her head like a dog. The water from her head sprayed on the boys, who covered their eyes protectively.
"Good." She said with a laugh. "Very good. Next."
Rogue swam over to her. Frosch was holding onto Lector, who was holding onto Sting so he didn't drown. Rogue moved himself so he could easily defend. Lyra started with a kick to the torso. Because it was slowed in the water, Rogue caught it and yanked on it. Lyra lost her balance and went underwater. Rogue pushed her down, and they were tumbling into the dark water. Lyra glanced up, holding her breath. She saw the outline of Rogue's head, and she saw the sun shining in. His arms were around her shoulders, and he was falling. Because neither of them had realized that they had started touching. Suddenly it wasn't Rogue in control, pushing Lyra down; it was Lyra trying to drag him up. Lyra heard his muffled screams and she tried so hard to drag him up. But her air was running out, and the pressure and the-
No. Think. Stop. THINK! Lyra forced her eyes open.
Lyra forced herself to drag him to the surface. She tried to find her footing, but she couldn't. Her head came up from underwater and she screamed, so did Rogue, except she screamed for help, and he screamed from pain.
Suddenly a cat was flying towards her, and grabbed the weight from her arms. Another person grabbed her, but she didn't feel them. She felt cloth. She and Rogue were dragged to the shore, and the others' worried voices started asking, "What do we do?" "Are they alive?" "What can we do?" "What just happened?" and so on.
Lyra took heavy breaths. She pushed the vest that was wrapped around her off. She loosely remembered that it was Sting's. Her eyes widened, and she held her hands together. She was terrified. She was terrified because Rogue wasn't breathing.
Frosch held onto Rogue's hand, just as scared Lyra was. Rufus bent down and started to push on Rogue's chest.
"I have a memory for this." He muttered to himself. I held my breath as he continued to revive Rogue.
"One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand." With each 'one thousand' he pumped his hands on Rogue's chest. Rufus breathed into Rogue's mouth. He checked for a pulse.
"One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand." Rufus repeated the actions.
"One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand."
"One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand."
"One one thousand! Two one thousand! Three one thousand!" He said, his voice rising. He lowered his head to hear the breathing. Instead Rogue spasmed and vomited water on him.
"Rogue! You're alright!" Frosch shouted happily. Frosch threw himself on Rogue, crying from joy. Sting smirked.
"I knew you'd live." Sting said, rolling his eyes, concealing how afraid he had actually been. Lector nodded.
"Fro think so too!" Frosch blubbered and continued to hug Rogue. Rogue's breathing became easier, and sand stuck to the wet parts of his back and hands and hair. Rogue's attention turned to Lyra. Lyra blushed, and crossed her arms over her chest. Should she apologize? Was he afraid of her? She didn't want that.
"Rogue, Rogue I'm-"
"It's my fault." He said.
"What?"
"It's my fault. I grabbed you. You warned me what would happen. Now I've felt it." Rogue grinned and turned towards Sting. "I don't recommend doing what I did." He said. Sting rolled his eyes.
"Nothing can hurt me! I am the mighty Sting!" He said powerfully. Lyra rolled her eyes and resisted poking him.
"I think we should call that one a draw." Rogue said. He smiled. Lyra took that as her queue that he was forgiven.
"Well I the might-"
"Yeah, we get it your mightiness." Lyra said, irked. "You're next to fight." Sting started to walk into the lake, but Lyra shook her head.
"No. No lake. Not happening after we almost drowned." Lyra warned. Sting shrugged.
"Ok." He said. "WHITE DRAGON HOLY BLAST!"
Lyra brought her arms to in front of her face. Rogue's eyes widened. "Lyra! DUCK!" He shouted. Lyra just ignored him. The blast hit her full on and Sting laughed happily.
Lyra hadn't paid attention to the rush when Rogue had touched her. But now she felt the rush. The rush of a Dragon Slayer. She had never understood why everyone, even Master J, loved them so much. Now she did. That M.E. though. It blew her mind, and she loved it. She wanted more of that, that beautiful white energy, the white light, that holy magic. She wanted so much more.
"Uh, Lyra, you're…" Rogue tried to find the word. He found the correct one. "Glowing."
Lyra grinned and looked down. There definitely was a glowing aura around her. "Cool." She said, eyes wide. "Now, we can fight." She said.
The M.E. glow faded more, and she flew at him. She kicked him, and he tripped backward. Something flashed in his eyes, something very opposite of arrogance, and something more like fear. Lyra liked that. She threw a punch at him and he groaned as she hit. She did it again, and again, and the power she siphoned off from each punch made her fly.
Someone grabbed her. She noticed the cloth between her skin and theirs. She looked down on her little Dragon Slayer, still high on M.E.
Wow she thought in a state of stoned-ness. Sting's kinda hot. Then she lost her balance and closed her eyes.
Orga held the Witch Hunter in his arms. Minerva had warned him about this. When she consumed too much Magic Energy she became baked and a lot of the time just had to sleep it off. She also didn't really understand what she was doing.
Which was why Sting was now bloodied, and bruised, and probably had a few broken things, and almost no time had passed for her, she hadn't noticed how long or badly she was beating him at all. But Dragon Slayers healed fast. Sting was just curled up on the ground now. The pleading he had made had stopped a while ago, and Rogue was holding his cat/frog thing protectively to his chest. Sting's cat/bird thing wandered up to him, and looked like he would cry. He had screamed for Lyra to stop, but in her inebriated state, she hadn't understood what he meant. Rufus just looked away. He didn't seem to want any part in this. Orga understood, he himself had afraid of her the first few times. But he had taken care of her before and he would again.
While Orga wrapped her in a towel he thought to himself. I have God-Slayer magic, and it took her longer than this, when we first fought, to be so stoned. In fact, I don't remember her being this wasted after our fight, she could still take on Rufus! Forget fainting. What is God-Slayer magic compared to Dragon Slayer magic?
"What-" Rogue swallowed horrified. "What was that? That terrifying grin, and he asked her to stop. Why didn't she stop?" He said, almost to himself. He hugged the Exceed /frog tighter.
"Listen boys." Orga said. "Lyra doesn't always understand what she was doing when she's…" He paused. "Drunk on M.E. She really doesn't realize what she's done. She's got the purest human heart in all of Sabertooth, despite her Void side effects. She really didn't mean it. I swear." He said.
Rufus played with his hat, twirling the gigantic feather. "When we first fought, she beat up Orga after taking about seven high energy God Slayer blows, and could still defeat me in her right mind." He turned to the Twins. "Your magic must really be something. Remember not to do that again." He warned.
Sting straightened, holding his very black eye. He coughed some blood, but most his minor cuts seemed to be gone already. "Now I get why she's in Sabertooth." He said after some stunned silence.
Rogue shrugged. "We're all in Sabertooth. What we must look like to the rest of Fiore." He muttered.
"We're going to win this year. We have to." Lector announced proudly. "We're Sabertooth!" The mages cheered.
"Fro think so too!" Frosch said helpfully. The boys chuckled.
Lyra turned over in her sleep, and the boys glanced at her.
"So…" Orga said, trying to get back to what they were supposed to do. "I guess it's me agains- Sting? What are you doing?"
The boy in question had disappeared and was coming back with a cup of water in his hands. Stupid little Dragon Slayer.
"Minerva told you that water wakes anyone up, didn't she?" Rufus said quietly. "I have a memory of her trying that on me."He was referring to what Minerva used to do when they wouldn't wake up night after they joined the guild. To her credit, everyone whose head she had dumped water on woke up.
Orga grinned. "Me too." That's when Sting let the water splash on Lyra. Lyra continued to sleep. The boys frowned confused.
"She didn't wake up? Did Minerva try it on her?"
"I think she introduced it to Minerva." Orga said.
The Twins laughed. "Wouldn't want to be there when that happened." They said. Minerva scared both of them.
"When what happened?" Lyra asked. The others jumped. She was awake.
"Did the water wake you?" Sting asked. She shook her head, but then regretted it as she almost hurled.
"Nope. Just-" she regained her balance. "-a little dizzy." She said, massaging her temple. Orga took that as his opening and attacked her with his boot covered foot. She didn't see it coming, and she took the kick, and was flung backward. She stood back up. She grinned.
"Magic hasn't worn off. Come at me Slayer." Then she turned to Sting with an apologetic smirk. "Sorry if I hurt you. Still flying a little." Lyra winked.
She then punched Orga. Somewhere along the way to her current state of mind, and condition she had put her leather gloves back on. Orga grinned and they fought. It was a simple fight, both of them coming out of it with their body mainly unharmed. Orga had a long scratch from a tree branch but that was about it. However, no matter how powerful Lyra was (or wasn't), Orga still beat her fair and square. After a few years of fighting a Void, you learn all her tricks. Including the small touches she tried: hair, leg, arm, cheek. Long distance was the best way to go (hence the tree branch incident). She was also fighting vertigo the entire time, and took a breather after Orga had beaten her so she could regain her balance, and not vomit.
"Wow." Rogue said impressed. "You beat her."
Rufus grinned, tilting his hat. "If my memory is correct, if anyone knows how to fight Lyra, it's Orga."
"You're not too bad yourself." Orga commented. Rufus blushed. "Now let me sing in victory!" He shouted.
A microphone appeared out of nowhere and he started to sing. Sting and Rogue covered their ears. Rufus smirked. Lyra laughed, but then joined in herself. Sting noticed that the voice she used to sing wasn't any better than his (which is to say, not good at all). Sting frowned on the inside. Why was she holding back? He wondered. After what he heard of Lyra in the guild, she was an amazing singer. Lyra started to sing so ridiculously, that they all ended up in the sand laughing. Rufus and Rogue were the first to recover, followed by Orga. It took a bit longer for Sting and Lyra to calm down.
When they finally did they looked around for a second. Then there was a large growl and everyone turned to Sting.
Lyra snorted. "Hungry?" She asked.
He blushed, and then scowled. He crossed his arms over his stomach protectively. "So? We've been training for a while, and it's hot, and I'm always hungry."
"Hey," Lyra said, raising her hands in surrender, "That's not a bad idea. After all, it's close to lunch time anyway." Lyra stood up, and brushed herself off. She and Rogue had dried by now so that the sand clinging to them had gotten less wet, and were brush-off-able. "Last one back loses the bet!" She warned, turning back to grin at the boys and then taking off.
Rogue sped after her. "There is no way I'm losing again!" He shouted. Sting agreed loudly, and sprinted to catch up. Rufus and Orga exchanged grins then raced after them.
The last one to make it to the camp site was still Rogue. Rogue, again, had to do pushups only this time he had to do 50, which still proved to be a workout for him. Pushups just weren't his strong suit. While he did that, and Lyra, Orga, and Sting motivated (teased) him, Rufus cooked lunch (He was the only one who "had the memory of how to cook"). By the time Rogue finished, Rufus had food ready. The four teammates gratefully accepted the food, and thanked Rufus.
"You're welcome." He replied with a tilt of his hat.
They tore into the meat that Rufus had prepared, and they talked happily about their times in Sabertooth. Sting and Rogue started with their story of how they came to Saber. Then came Orga's turn of how he came. After that Rufus grinned, "I have a memory for the time that I came to Sabertooth-" and he continued on the time he joined. Finally it became Lyra's turn to divulge her story about joining Sabertooth. Something the Twins had never heard, and Orga and Rufus had heard many times. The first time when Lyra walked through that door for the first time, and Jiemma introduced his newest member to the entire guild.
"I joined Sabertooth six years ago, after I left Fairy Tail."
"You were in Fairy Tail?" Sting cried angry.
"Yeah, no, I mean, no, I mean…" She took a moment to organize her thoughts. "Six years ago I asked Master M to let me into Fairy Tail. He said-
'No. No I can't let you in.'
'Why not?'Lyra asked angrily. 'You let people in all the time!'
'They're all wizards.'
'So am I! I use magic too!'
'Yes, but you're not a mage, you're the exact opposite. You're a witch hunter, a Void. Not magical, anti-magical. You're not joining. I'm sorry I can't let you, we are a wizard guild. There is nothing I can do.'
'But-'
'Hey Luce! Come on! We'll be late!' A boy shouted. Pink hair, blue flying cat. He ran past Lyra and bumped into her. 'Sorry, kid. See ya Gramps!' He and a blond left. But Lyra felt a small touch of the magic of the pink haired boy flow through her. 'Hey you ok?' 'I'm fine Luce, come on! I'm all fired up now!' It was unlike any that she had felt. She wanted more. She wanted-needed to be in this guild, a guild of Dragon Slayers.
'That magic-'
'No child.'
'But Master M, please, please let me, you let the Dragon Slayer in.'
'He, they all use magic. You don't. You use the absence. You aren't classified as a wizard. I'm sorry. I'm sorry child, but there isn't any way I can let you in.'
Lyra gave up. She gave up on that idea. That hope. That she could be in a guild, after all if Master M had said no, Master B would have said no, Master G, Master O, they would all say no. Every single one. Lyra walked. She walked until her feet hurt. She walked and walke-
'Hey kid.'
Lyra twirled the blue strand of hair nervously. 'Yes mister?' She asked quietly.
He was tall, and he looked almost as old as Master M. He bent down and slapped Lyra's hand away from her hair. He grunted and she felt the rush of magic. He let go, and cocked his head and caught his breath. Then he grinned.
'What is it?'
'Nothing. Are you a wizard?' He asked.
She shook her head. 'Master M says that I'm a Void, I'm not a wizard. I'm the opposite.'
The man's grin grew until the beard and moustache on his face shifted. 'Master M huh? Makorav?'
'Yeah.'
'Did you ask to join his guild?'
'Yes!' the girl cried. She broke into tears. 'He rejected me! He let that-that Dragon Slayer in and he wouldn't let me!'
'The Salamander huh? Did you know I'm a guild master?'
'You-you are?'
'Yes. I'm Master Jiemma. The master of the guild Sabertooth.' Lyra continued to blubber. 'Cheer up girl. I can't have anyone crying in my guild.'
She sniffed confused. 'In- your guild?'
'Yes girl, in my guild. Sabertooth could use someone with your…abilities. Welcome to Sabertooth girl.' He stood up. They started walking and Master J turned to the girl.
'Right, what's your name?'He asked.
"Wow. That's a hell of a story." Sting said.
"Yeah. And if my memory is correct, the first words out of her mouth when she walked through that door: 'What up wizards? I'm the new girl. And I'll kick all your asses.'" Rufus said.
"And I did." Lyra said proudly.
"You kicked most of our asses, not Minerva's." Orga pointed out.
"That's only because Master J stopped us from going." Lyra replied.
They finished up with their food, and she stood. "Ok, next can we do some stretching, and then play a game."
They did as Lyra ordered, and then Lyra snatched Rufus's feather from his hat. "First person to take it from me wins." She said simply.
Rufus and Sting pounced. Lyra dodged them easily and hugged the feather to her chest. Orga came up behind her and sent a kick to her head. She took it and he made a grab for the feather, instead hitting her in an uncomfortable place for both of them, and she recovered by kicking him about a meter.
"Lyra, you said you had my feather. What do you mean?" Rufus asked. He pointed to a feather in his hat.
Lyra rolled her eyes. "That's your memory-make. So what?"
Rufus grimaced and she laughed. "Nice try Rufus. Better luck- GET AWAY FROM ME YOU FREAKIN CAT!" She shouted as Lector tried to grab for the feather but caught Lyra's bust instead. Lector screamed as Lyra punched the cat into a tree.
Orga and Rufus tried a joint attack. The hat-wielding wizard made a memory of Orga attacking Lyra, when Orga came from the other side and made another grab at the feather. His hand slipped and touched a small spot of Lyra's open skin. He back away and she felt a small refresh of energy. Memory-Orga disappeared.
Sting attacked from the sides, using a Holy-Light spell to blind Lyra. Lyra closed her eyes and didn't open them because when blinded they wouldn't be helpful. She felt a kick from the side, and a snatch for the feather. She tugged on it, and rolled backward, bumping into something hard, like a rock.
Someone else tried for the grab and Lyra kicked out and landed. The person on the other side of the kick squealed. Someone hit her on the head. She groaned and another pull. She tightened her grip again and felt a hand-like object near hers. She pulled it back and bit the hand (or so she hoped). This happened for long enough that Lyra's eyesight came back.
She didn't even feel the feather leave her hand. She did however see Rogue standing by the tree, waving the feather in his face. The others also noticed that she wasn't holding the feather and frowned. They also stopped attacking her. She blinked, looking from her empty hands to Rogue's now feather bearing hands.
"How-how did you-?"
"I used your shadow to give it to me. I am the Shadow Dragon Slayer."
"But-how? My Void-iness should have made that impossible." Lyra said.
"I didn't manipulate you I manipulated your shadow. It's not a Void too or something, right?" Rogue asked. He twirled the feather.
"Can I have my feather back now?" Rufus asked irritably. Rogue gave it back to him.
"So then who lost?" Sting asked.
"The three of you. Rogue won. And this time I'm thinking he can pick the punishment." Lyra said.
Rogue grinned wickedly. "Each of you has to do your best Frosch impression."
Orga, Sting, and Rufus looked at each other and then back at Rogue. "You're kidding right?"
"Nope."
"I have many memories for this. Rufus think so too." Rufus said in a high pitched voice.
"Sting thinks so too." Sting said in the same high pitched voice.
"Don't you guys know any other things that Frosch says?" Lyra asked.
"Like what?" Sting asked.
"Orga think so too." Orga echoed. The others laughed.
"What next?" Sting asked Lyra. She cocked her head to the side, and twirled her blue lock of hair.
"How about we wash up, and rest up? I think that's enough for today." The boys nodded.
"You guys wash up in the lake first." Lyra said, waving her hand. "I'll go after you." The boys nodded and dashed off to the lake. Lyra sat and looked up at the sky. After a minute or two she sighed.
"I'm bored." She complained.
Sting grinned and continued to splash Rogue. Rogue splashed him back. Orga and Rufus decided to actually wash themselves, and the Exceeds washed themselves as well. 20 minutes later and the boys still were in the lake. Lyra decided that they were taking too long so she walked over and find out what was taking them. She walked to the edge of the forest and the shore of the lake. When she got there she squealed, shut her eyes, and sat on the ground. She had just seen all four of the boys completely naked, and she kind of wanted to erase that.
"Hey, so do you think we're taking too long?" Rogue asked.
"Nah! We can take our time, besides the Void is probably asleep." Sting said with a shrug. Rogue frowned. I'm not so sure. After all, she probably wants to bathe too. However while Rogue was thinking that, Sting was wondering why Rogue was being so stuck up.
Rufus and Orga were just soaking. Lector and Frosch walked out and shook out their fur.
"Lector," Frosch said, "Lyra's pretty, isn't she?"
"Meh. I mean, maybe…" Lector shrugged. "Whatever, Sting hasn't said she is, so I dunno."
"Fro think so too."
"You just agreed with me, and said that she was pretty." Lector said.
"Fro think so too." Frosch repeated happily.
Lector shrugged. "Whatever."
"Sting, Rogue, are you guys done yet?" Orga called.
"Fine! We'll finish up." Sting called. Lyra continued to screw her eyes shut and hugged her legs to her chest, uncomfortable.
"Wait." Rogue said.
"What is it?" Sting asked.
"I smell someone. Sting, do you-?"
"Uh, Lyra?" Orga asked. The pink and blue haired girl looked up. The large green haired man bore down on her and she squealed. She scrambled away from them.
"What are you doing?" Rufus asked.
"I was- you were. Taking too long. Went to check on you. Saw not good stuff." She got out of her mouth. She closed her eyes again, trying to ward off the memory.
"Do we really look that bad?" Sting asked, looking down at his body.
"No. I mean, yes! I mean," Lyra collected her thoughts, "I mean it wasn't something I needed to see." She said. "Just please, leave so I can go bathe, and we can ignore what just happened."The boys looked between themselves and shrugged.
"Ok. See you back at camp." They said.
They left, and Lyra made her way to the lake, but was hesitant to slip naked into the lake in which all four of the boys (and their Exceeds) had recently been naked as well. But she ignored her stinginess and her paranoia and slipped out of her clothes and into the lake. She washed quickly and dried off as well, and put her clothes back on.
Afterward she walked back to the camp, leather jacket slung over her shoulder, her hair drying on her back and creating a damp spot. Rufus had cooked again. It was dark, and the others had created a fire and the smoke smiled upward. Lyra joined them on the fallen tree logs that they had set up around the fire, and pulled on her jacket as a breeze floated past.
"I'm cold." Frosch said quietly. He climbed into Lyra's clothed lap, and curled up to sleep. Lyra smiled softly, and put her gloved hands on his pink frog suit, rubbing it, trying to make him warmer.
"So what exactly is the Grand Magic Games?" Lyra asked. "I mean I've heard of it and what it does, but I've never seen it."
"Wait." Sting said confused. "You don't know what the GmG are?" He asked.
"I mean, they're races right? We've never won before. That's all I know." Lyra said.
"No one knows what the themes of the Games are until they start." Sting said.
"In my memory, the themes have been a race, a sharpshooting contest, and a dance battle, there have been others but I had not cared to track them." Rufus said.
"So we have no clue what we're training for?" Lyra asked.
"Not really. Though we do know that there are certain guilds joining." Orga said.
"Like?"
"Mermaid Heel for one, Fairy Tail of course," Rogue said. Lyra grimaced, how the guild had shrunk. How the guild had lowered themselves. Too bad you didn't have a powerful not-wizard to take care of Fairy Tail, huh Master M. "I think Lamia Scale is as well, and possibly Blue Pegasus."
"Hmph." Lyra said, with a grin. "They're no match for us." She pet Frosch. "Isn't that right Frosch, sweetie?" She cooed. Frosch was fast asleep, and oblivious to the world around him.
"Of course we're going to win! We have the mighty Sting on our team, as well as Rogue, and, well," Lector thought for a minute, "the rest of you."
"Lector, I'm so glad you think so highly of us." Lyra retorted.
"Of course I do! You're on the great Sting's te-" Lector was interrupted.
"Oh Lector, for your sake, please shut up." Lyra advised, the others chuckled happily.
The night was cold enough for the five of them to sleep in sleeping bags without sweating, but without being cold. They slipped into clothes to sleep in, or out of clothes so they would sleep. Lyra dressed in shorts and a tank top (carefully not touching anyone on her way into the sleeping bag). Sting donned shorts and no shirt. Rogue in a black tank top, and black shorts. Orga into shorts, and stayed with no shirt. Rufus changed into a flowing nightgown, and braided his long blond hair for sleeping.
They crawled into bed, and slept.
Sting glanced at Weisslogia. The large white dragon lowered his head, and Sting hugged his muzzle.
"Sting, child, what is wrong?"
"I don't feel good." The small Dragon Slayer said.
"Does your tummy hurt?" Weisslogia asked. Little Sting nodded. Weisslogia beckoned Sting to come closer to him, near his belly.
"It's alright, child. Come and sleep, when you wake up you will feel better." Weisslogia said. Little Sting slowly fell asleep.
"Sting?" Sting pet Lector. Lector rolled over and held up one of his paws to Sting's hand. "Do you miss Weisslogia?"
"Yeah." Sting said sadly. "But," he brightened, "I'll move on. I'll be fine." He announced. "I'll become the greatest Dragon Slayer ever! Just you watch!" Suddenly Sting became tired. Sting's breathing hurt. Sting felt like he was drowning. His eyes widened. A hand lay on his chest. Lyra had turned over in her sleep, and Sting couldn't breathe. How long had her hand been eating his magic energy? He wondered. He shook and then he barked out in fear. The other boys woke up fast. Lyra was still fast asleep. They collectively freaked out a bit and got Lyra's hand off of Sting, and back into Lyra's sleeping bag. Lyra still hadn't woken up.
"I don't think you should sleep next to her again." Rogue offered quietly.
"No kidding." Sting whispered.
"I nominate Rufus on the grounds he's sleeping in a nightie." Orga said. The others grinned and chuckled quietly.
"Fine." Rufus griped (he wasn't happy about being woken up) as he switched sleeping bags. As he turned over to get comfortable, "Chickens," he claimed grumpily. The Sabertooth Grand Magic Games team went back to sleep, ready for their second day.