"Good morning FIORE!" The announcer shouted. The teams looked at the large crowd around them that roared excitedly.
"They saw us last night, why are they so excited?" Orga muttered.
"Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." Lyra said with a grin.
Orga just gave her a look. The announcer continued talking and Lyra only began paying attention when he called her guild.
"- Annnnnd teeeeeam Sabertooth!" The announcer shouted. The team waved to their adoring public.
"Now that we've met all of the teams we would like to explain how the pairs will work. Teams will be matched up bracket style which means that two of the teams will have a bye, an automatic guarantee into the next round! The brackets will be at the bottom of your lacrima screens and will update as the Games progress!" The brackets were shown with eight spaces for team. Each team was represented by their insignia. The spacing went Team 1 versus Team 8, Team 2 and Team 7, and so on. Considering there were only six teams however Team 1 (Sabertooth) and Team 2 (Mermaid Heel) had byes. "The teams that will be competing today are…" There was a dramatic pause. "Lamia Scale versus Fairy Tail!"
"In case you couldn't see a lacrima." Rufus muttered cynically.
The two teams stepped forward and the others were ushered onto dedicated balconies, one for each team. There balconies would be the places for the teams when they were beaten out of the Games or when they weren't in the center of the arena. Lyra sat on the edge of the balcony, her feet dangling off the end. Rogue watched the Games but was seemingly uninterested in what was going on. Orga and Rufus half-heartedly watched, and Sting sat on the given seats and while looking at the Games intensely. Lector and Frosch waddled over to Lyra and Lyra grinned.
"Here kitty, kitty," Lyra cooed as she waved her fingers. Frosch's eyes went wide and he pounced on Lyra's waving, glove-covered fingers. Lyra laughed and Frosch looked up at her with a cute, innocent look.
"What's so funny Lyra?" He asked.
"Did you know you're adorable Frosch?"
"Fro think so too!" The exceed proclaimed.
Lector crawled past Frosch and gave Lyra his version of a cute face. "Am I adorable, Lyra?"
"No. Only Frosch is." Lyra responded deadpan.
Lector rolled his eyes. "Well you think you're cute, so you're obviously not a good judge." He stated dryly.
"Are you sure? I think Sting's cute."
"You do?" Lector and Sting cried at the same time. Lector slipped and fell off the balcony but came back up flying.
Lyra laughed. "You wish." She returned her attention to the game below. Part of the arena had been turned into a seven by seven checker board. Each team member wore a large picture of their chess piece. King stood in the middle; the king on the Fairy Tail side was Bisca, and the king on the Lamia Scale side was Toby. On the E column were the queens; from Fairy Tail Max, and from Lamia Scale Yuka. On the other side of the queens were the knights; Laki and Vance. Rooks sat on the other side of the king and from the Lamia Scale side Sherry, and Warren from Fairy Tail. Last there were the bishops; Ronya from Lamia Scale and Reedus from Fairy Tail.
Ronya had been moved to space E6 and the Lamia Scale sent Sherry up to attack Warren, the other rook in the Game.
"Congratulations!" The announcer shouted. "This is the first challenge! Warren and Sherry, your challenge is too…" There was a dramatic pause and as the challenge was announced with groans of annoyance from everyone. "HAVE AN EATING CONTEST!"
Lyra kicked her legs over the other side of the balcony and sighed. "Speaking of which, I'm skipping this and going to get food. Anyone want anything?"
"Nah." The answers came. Lyra shrugged and left the balcony, wandering around the shopping area in the arena.
Back on the balcony, Sting laughed while he watched Sherry badly try and stuff her mouth to catch up with Warren. Fairy Tail might have pathetic wizards but the could win an eating contest.
"Warren wins! Sherry is out of the game!" The man who had just eaten more than a hundred hot dogs without throwing up stood and raised his hand while people cheered. Sting burst out laughing and the other, more mature, boys in the balcony just rolled their eyes and gave him pitying looks.
"What?" Sting asked innocently, "It's funny!"
Lamia Scale's Ronya went up against Reedus in a challenge and the drawing contest was won by Reedus flatteringly painting Jenny of Blue Pegasus. "Come on Lamia Scale! Fairy Tail sucks, beat them already!" Sting shouted. He was the only one on his team who actually seemed to care about what was going on in the Games.
"Yeah Lamia Scale!" Lector added, so that his friend didn't sound as alone as he was in his care of what was going on. Yuka moved in front of Toby, checking the Fairy Tail king: Bisca. Bisca moved in front of Warren and Vance moved to G5. Warren moved to where Bisca had started. Yuka moved diagonally to E4 putting Bisca in check again. Max moved forward to attack Yuka.
Yuka and Max were challenged block point blank magic shots by a random wizard from another team, if they missed one block then they would lose. Arana from Mermaid Heel was called and she attacked each of them with Arana. Max tried but lost only after three Web Shot attacks.
Yuka moved to do a challenge with Bisca. "Now here is where we will introduce another rule. When the king is attacked then the challenge will be a simple one on one battle!"
"Yuka's gonna win." Orga said. "I'm going to find Lyra and get her back here." He stood and left. The time was a little after noon and the Sabertooth team was surprised that the game took such a short amount of time. The announcers had made it seem like it would take longer.
Yuka and Bisca squared off. "Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Goooooooo!" Bisca shot, and Yuka held out his hands, the Wave magic pulsed and grew into a shield as the bullet hit it. The bullet fell to the ground and Bisca's eyes widened.
"Hey," Sting said suddenly. "Isn't that like Lyra's magic?"
"Lyra doesn't have magic, Sting." Rogue dismissed without looking at the center of the arena.
"Well it's like whatever she uses! Look!" Sting said pointing to the arena. Rogue and Rufus leaned over the balcony as they watched the battle.
Yuka shouted his spell and Wave particles shot at Bisca. Bisca took the opportunity to shoot at Yuka and the collision of the bullet and the Wave made a huge boom as it neutralized the magic shot. The force from the explosive collision shot both mages backwards and Bisca hit her head against the ground hard.
"Oooooo! That looked painful. But can either of them get up?" The announcer voiced.
Yuka pulled himself to his feet and Bisca tried to rise. Bisca struggled and the crowd roared both encouragement and slanders. Yuka saw his chance to win and took it. Using his magic Wave Boost he propelled himself forward and brought his fist down in an explosive punch, using his Wave to power to punch.
Bisca didn't get back up.
"YUKA OF LAMIA SCALE! LAMIA SCALE IS THE FIRST OF THE TEAMS TO FIGHT TO MOVE ON TO THE NEXT ROUND IN THE TOURNEMENT!" The Lamia Scale guildmark showed up in its place in the brackets. "CONGRADULATIONS LAMIA SCALE! Fairy Tail is out of the tournament, coming in last place! That's all for today folks! See everyone tomorrow, when we have Blue Pegasus and Twilight Ogre battle for the place opposite Lamia Scale!"
"That's it?" Sting asked as he realized that everyone was leaving the arena.
"That was boring." Rogue muttered.
"I can't believe we have to do something so demeaning." Rufus sighed, shaking his head.
"Hey guys!" Lyra called as she and Orga walked back onto the balcony. "Is it over?" She asked. She was greeted with nods so she stretched her arms into the air as she sighed deeply. She put her hands in a resting position behind her head. "So what're we doing now?"
"I want to learn more about that mage's magic." Rufus said.
"Huh?" Lyra asked.
"It's the Lamia Scale mage Yuka. He's got this Wave magic that's like your not-magic, Lyra." Sting explained.
"A mage with magic like me?" Lyra asked. She grinned. "I'd love to take him on in a fight."
"You'd probably win." Sting said with a shrug.
"Aww! Thanks for all of the confidence, Dragon Slayer!" Lyra giggled, bumping her covered shoulder with his.
Sting raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't commenting on your fighting. I was commenting on the fact that he wouldn't be able to touch you."
"And the fact that you're from Sabertooth." Lector proclaimed proudly. Everyone looked at him confused. "Well you're from Sabertooth so you have to win." Lector explained.
"That's… not how it works, Lector." Lyra argued.
"Would you rather win even though Yuka beats you to a pulp or have Master be mad at you?" Lector asked. No one answered. Lector stuck his nose in the air. "That's what I thought."
"On that note," Lyra said turning to the mages. "Who wants to go site-seeing?"
The rest of the day was filled with flowers and the unbearably happy look on Lyra's face every time she reminded herself of that one time, early on in the afternoon, where Sting ended up face-planting into a fertilizer bin. All of Sting's teammates had laughed at him but the thought of it kept Lyra cheerful until she went to sleep.
I know, I know. This chapter's late. I should be better at updating all that shtick. But I'm surprised I got this one up at all this week. So I give kudos to myself. I've realized you guys don't comment/review a lot. I'd love to hear your thoughts... It's 1 am here, so I should proabably be sleeping. BUT SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK!
Anyways, nighty night (anyone who's going to sleep after reading this.)
~ Diana