I would like to thank lordoftheRoses again for assisting me with this chapter. I hope you all enjoy!
July 2, X791
"You runnin' away?" Natsu asked Jiemma, who had sent Kyo to fight him.
"Regular guild troops are far beneath MY notice." Jiemma answered. "If you plan to fight the strongest members of a guild, be prepared to show your commitment. Besides, Kyo has something he needs to prove as well."
"Yes, Master…" Kyo hesitantly responded.
"My fight is with Sabertooth's boss!" Natsu shouted as he charged with a flaming fist.
Kyo, wrapped in his Steelbody, charged at Natsu with his fist and the two clashed.
"You'll need to break through a wall of steel first!" Kyo said.
Kyo swung his fist at Natsu and he ducked.
"OUT OF MY WAY!" Natsu screamed and punched Kyo right in the face with his burning fist. "I GOT NO BUSINESS WITH YOU!"
The punch knocked Kyo back and he skidded across the floor on his feet.
*It's hot!* Kyo thought. *My Ether should be nulling the flames' heat! What the hell?!*
Kyo grabbed Natsu's arm and tried to pull off a back throw, but Natsu landed on his feet and his entire body became engulfed in flames.
"Fire Dragon Sword Horn!"
Natsu rammed into Kyo right in the chest and the force pushed him into the wall, but he was still standing. The sound of clanking metal falling from his chest caught everyone's attention. Natsu's attack had completely shattered the steel around Kyo's torso and stomach and left a searing burn on his body.
*NO WAY!* Kyo shouted in his head. *The steel protects me from physical attacks and the Ether protects me from elemental attacks! There's no way he should've broken that so easily!*
He looked up at Natsu, who looked like he was already sick of this fight and he heard the surprised gasps of everyone else in the guild.
"You're kidding!"
"That was Kyo!"
"He's one of the Top 10 wizards in our guild!"
Sting walked up to Jiemma. "Master, if you don't mind, I'll…"
"Stay out of this." Jiemma held his arm out to stop Sting. "We don't have anyone like you, brat. Interesting."
Natsu tried to punch Jiemma with a fiery fist, but Jiemma held up his arm and blocked the attack without even flinching.
"Was that…" Jiemma sent out a powerful shockwave that knocked Natsu back a bit. "ALL?!"
Natsu endured the blow and dealt a powerful uppercut to Jiemma's stomach that made him grunt in pain. Natsu followed up with a punch to the face, then shot out flames from his elbow and unleashed a flurry of punches, finishing off with a punch engulfed in fire and electricity.
"Lightning-Fire Dragon Firing Hammer!"
A massive explosion occurred, making smoke and dust completely obscure everyone's vision. When it cleared, they saw a woman with a strong, authoritative presence standing between Jiemma and Natsu.
"Minerva?!" Jiemma gasped.
"Princess?!" Sting was surprised.
Kyo, who was still standing where he was, simply gulped at the sight of Minerva.
"Shall we end the evening's festivities?" Minerva calmly suggested.
"Minerva, you dare to interfere?" Jiemma asked.
"If this were to continue, you would be the winner of course, Father." Minerva replied. "However, appearances are important in our world. Even though HE was the one who attacked US, were our Master to destroy a member of an opposing team in the Grand Magic Games, it would tarnish our guild's reputation. I saw that you, Father, as well as the guild members had become slightly too passionate to pull back easily."
Minerva turned to Natsu and out of thin air, Happy was cradled in her arms, crying and tied up.
"Happy!" Natsu shouted.
"Were you to agree to leave peacefully, I believe your cat could be returned to you unharmed." Minerva said.
"Dammit!" Natsu growled.
"You have injured a number of our members." Minerva continued. "However, we agree to keep silent about this matter. I hope you respond like an adult."
Natsu reluctantly agreed to the terms and carried Happy away as Jiemma and Minerva watched him leave.
"The brat has guts." Jiemma said.
"Let us finish this at the Grand Magic Games… in spectacular fashion." Minerva said.
After muttering to Happy, Natsu then turned to all of Sabertooth.
"If you're a guild, treat your comrades right!" Natsu said. "That's all I wanted to say!"
Natsu's words echoed through Kyo's head.
*'Treat your comrades right'…* Kyo thought. *Maybe he's got a point…*
"KYO!"
Kyo looked up and at Jiemma, who was glaring at him.
"Pitiful!" Jiemma simply said and walked away.
*That went so much better than I thought it would.* He thought and then looked at Minerva, who wasn't paying him any mind. *Right now, I'm more scared of her than him.*
In the Greedy Mimic inn, Jayden was lying on his bed, which was a foot or two away from Spiral's.
"So, when are you going to collect on your bet?" Spiral asked.
"I don't know." Jayden answered.
"Jayden, what exactly did you bet if you lost?" Wilbur asked as he sat next to Jayden in bed.
"Don't worry about it, Wilbur." Jayden replied.
"He was going to let Kagura pet you without hearing any complaints." Spiral bluntly stated.
"Thanks a lot, Spiral…" Jayden grumbled.
At the inn where Mermaid Heel was staying, Kagura was taking a sip of tea while her guildmates, minus Millianna who was out at the time, were talking with her.
"Come on, Kagura!" Beth begged. "Tell us what your bet was."
"We're your friends, you can tell us." Lisley said.
"I'd rather not talk about it." Kagura said.
"Did I just catch a hint of a blush on your cheek?" Araña asked.
Kagura flustered a bit and checked her face in the mirror, but she could barely make anything out at first and saw a pink flush gradually enveloped her cheeks.
"Ooooh, what did he ask?" Lisley asked.
"Was it something scandalous?" Araña asked.
"No, nothing of the sort." Kagura answered. "But… It IS embarrassing."
For the better part of an hour, her guildmates continued to ask what she has to do because of the bet, such as if she had to wear a cute outfit or anything along those lines. Once Kagura was finally left alone, she lied down on her bed, ready to go to sleep, and stared at the ceiling.
*I lost our bet, so I have to honor it.* She thought to herself. *I might have gotten over Jason, but… am I ready?*
After her excommunication from Sabertooth, Yukino was staying at another inn for the night, trying to get some sleep. At some point, she got up and walked over to the window to look in the direction of the inn White Valkyrie was staying at.
(Flashback)
"… Whatever happens afterward, know that Sylvia and I more than welcome you into our guild." Kara then left the arena.
(End Flashback)
Yukino continued to think about Kara's offer to join the guild, but she still wasn't sure so she decided to sleep over it.
July 3, X791
With the third day of the Grand Magic Games about to start, Domus Flau was packed with an excited audience. In the commentator booth, Chapati was now wearing a black bob-cut wig alongside Yajima and the Magic Council's Head of Custody, Lahar.
"We have entered the third day of the competitive marathon of the Grand Magic Games!" Chapati said.
"I wonder what new dramash the gamesh will show ush today." Yajima said.
"Our guest commentator today is from the Magic Council, Lahar!" Chapati announced.
"It'sh been a while." Yajima said.
"I'm pleased to be here." Lahar said.
As they talked over the microphones, Sakura was getting bored.
"Blah, blah, just get to the action already!" Sakura complained.
"The event for the third day is Pandemonium!" Chapati announced. "Each guild, please select your rep!"
"Thank you!" Sakura shouted.
"I want to take this one." Jayden said.
"No fair!" Sakura argued. "You got to show how awesome you were while I got stuck looking like a sick, flat-chested monkey!" She then turned to her allies. "Guys, help me out!"
"I think it should be Jayden." Spiral expressed.
"I agree." Hikari nodded.
"He's the obvious choice if we want to win." Aqua crossed her arms.
"Not to be impolite, but Jayden would be better." Azusa chimed in.
"Traitors!" Sakura murmured under her breath.
"Wish me luck, guys!" Jayden waved to his guildmates as he started to make his way to the arena.
Over in the stands where White Valkrie was watching the games, Kara examined over each of the teams that were selecting their members and noticed Jayden was heading to the arena.
"I'm really riled up!" Bryant exclaimed. "I wanna go!"
"No, Bryant." Kara said. "I will go."
"Aw, come on, Kara!" Bryant whined. "I really want to fight!"
"Your competition is quite stiff, though." Kara said. "I've already caught glimpses of Jayden Oceari, Erza Scarlet and Jura Neekis heading down there. If we want to come close to winning this, I should go."
"Oh, all right…" Bryant sat down and pouted.
"You're such a child, Bryant…" Leah muttered.
"Hey, you've all got a chance to fight except me!" Bryant rebutted and sobbed hysterically. "When will it be my turn?!"
Back where Phoenix Dawn Team B was, Static was about to leave the group.
"I'm going to represent our team this time." Static said. "I haven't gotten a chance to go out there yet."
"Good luck, Static." Xanders politely bowed to him.
"We hope you do well." Melody said.
All ten teams have chosen their contestants: Jayden Oceari from Phoenix Dawn Team A, Static from Phoenix Dawn Team B, Erza Scarlet from Fairy Tail Team A, Cana Alberona from Fairy Tail Team B, Olga Nanagear from Sabertooth, Kara from White Valkyrie, Jura Neekis from Lamia Scale, Millianna from Mermaid Heel, Hibiki Lates from Blue Pegasus and Obra from Raven Tail. Each one was down in the arena with Mato standing in front of them.
"Sorry about my absence from yesterday's games!" Mato said. "Now let me explain the rules for Pandemonium!"
Suddenly, dark purple clouds swirled in the center of the stadium and something started to form within it.
"What is this…" Erza wondered.
"Wow…" Millianna gasped.
"Beginning analysis." Hibiki began studying the object with his Archive Magic.
"That doesn't look pleasant…" Jayden mumbled.
"Heheh…" Static chuckled. "I'm liking the looks of this."
When the structure finished forming, it was revealed as a giant, black, foreboding fortress with demonic growls coming from its halls.
"It's the Palace of Evil Monsters, Pandemonium!" Mato announced.
"IT'S HUGE!" Cana shouted in shock.
"A palace of monsters, you say?" Jura inquired.
"That is the setup. Punkin!" Mato responded. "Just that. There are a hundred monsters within its walls! Well, really they're magical incarnations we conjured. They should pose no risk to the audience. The monsters are sectioned off into five levels, D, C, B, A and S, according to their battle strength. And this is how they're spread out."
Mato then showed a chart showing there are fifty D-Class monsters, thirty C-Class monsters, fifteen B-Class monsters, four A-Class monsters and one S-Class monster.
"By the way, if you want to know how tough the D-Class is…" Mato said before revealing a lacrima vision monitor.
On the monitor was a four-legged, tailed, silver beast lunging at a statue and crumbled it into pieces.
"There are these and others that are even stronger!" Mato stated. "A hundred of them are scattered around within the palace! Each class of monster should be twice as strong as the class below it! And the S-Class monster is so strong, there's no guarantee even a Wizard Saint could take it down! Punkin!"
"Hm…" Jura examined the palace intently.
"You each will enter in order and decide how many monsters you will each fight." Mato continued. "That will be your challenge. For example, if you choose to fight three monsters, you will find three monsters emerging from the gates. If you manage to beat all three, that contestant will get three points! Then the next contestant will choose a number out of the remaining ninety-seven monsters to fight! This will continue until either there are no monsters left or all contestants run out of magic energy. Then the contest will end."
"It's like one of those numbers games!" Millianna said.
"Exactly!" Mato replied. "Once you've made a complete round, it's very important to strategize based on how everyone fared. But as I mentioned, each monster has a rank. Once you've submitted your number of monsters, it doesn't matter what rank they are. You only get one point for each monster and they all appear at random. And once you've entered the palace you won't be allowed to leave until you vanquished the monsters you chose!"
"So the element of randomness should also be considered." Kara said.
"What happens if you go down within the palace?" Cana asked.
"Then you keep the number of points you've already earned, but you'll retire and not get another turn." Mato answered before holding out a box with ten sticks sticking out of it. "Now we'll draw sticks to determine the order. Pulling out "1" means you go first and "10" is last. The rest should be self-explanatory."
Each of the contestants took out and the order from first to tenth ended up being Erza, Millianna, Hibiki, Static, Obra, Olga, Jura, Kara, Jayden and Cana.
"I had figured this game would all depend on the number I drew." Erza said as she walked up toward the palace gates.
"You mean luck of the draw?" Mato asked. "N-no… Maybe, but I don't think so. The game is set up to be based on how you pace yourself and how well you sum up the situation."
"No." Erza smirked. "This game is over. I will take on all one hundred monsters!"
The entire stadium was filled with gasps of surprise from Erza's bold request, even those in the arena with her.
A/N: This chapter's gone on long enough, so I'll end it there. By the way, I'm taking summer classes over the next few weeks and I'm not going to be able to write as frequently as you may want me to. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed! Stay tuned for next time!