Here's the next chapter! Sorry it took so long, but I was just busy with a lot of things. I hope you all enjoy!

July 3, X791

Out in the arena were Tristan and Eve, representing Phoenix Dawn Team B and Blue Pegasus, respectively.

"Let's have a good fight." Tristan held out his hand to Eve.

Eve shook Tristan's hand. "Indeed."

"Go get him, Eve!" Heart cheered from Phoenix Dawn's section of the stands.

"Heart, you're supposed to be cheering for your guildmate, not his opponent!" Tristan shouted at her.

The gong was struck and Tristan's attention was quickly brought back to Eve.

"White Fang!" Eve summoned a gust of ice cold snow at Tristan.

Without any time to react, Tristan took the brunt of the attack and pulled out his large gun.

"Blaze Bullet!"

Tristan tried to shoot out flames from his gun like a flamethrower, but the gusts of wind were blowing out the fires.

*Damn!* Tristan thought before trying to aim his gun at Eve. "Rock Bullet!"

A rock the size of a fist was shot from the barrel of Tristan's gun and the wind slightly affected its trajectory. It passed by so close to Eve's face, that he lost his concentration for a moment and Tristan took advantage of the weakened icy wind by rolling forward and aiming down the sights again.

"Rapid Bullet!"

A series of magical blasts sporadically shot out of the gun and repeatedly struck Eve in the chest.

"Buck Bullet!"

With a widespread, close range shot, Eve was knocked to the ground.

Jayden and Wilbur were walking through the colosseum after getting snacks for him and his teammates when someone stood in front of them.

"Hey, Kagura." Jayden casually greeted the person.

"I saw what you did to the Magic Power Finder." Kagura said. "You were holding back during our entire match, weren't you?"

"Heh, well, guilty as charged." Jayden laughed.

"Do you think I'm not worth facing with your full power?" Kagura asked with an intense, enraged glare.

"That's not it."

"Liar."

"I just wanted us to have a fun fight. And the most enjoyable fights are the ones in which everyone is evenly matched. I think you're incredibly strong-Hell, the strongest woman I know. I didn't think I was disrespecting you by holding back. I'm sorry for that, but the fight was really fun, wasn't it?"

Kagura just examined Jayden's face for a few, uncomfortable seconds. "… It was. Honestly, whenever I fight with you, be it sparring or a game, I feel somewhat relaxed."

"Besides, in the games, we have to hold back to surprise our opponents." Wilbur said. "Too bad Jayden couldn't do that earlier."

"Hey, we were up against Iron Rock Jura AND that White Valkyrie lady!" Jayden rebutted. "You saw those spells they used!"

"We had better return to our guild mates." Kagura said before turning around to walk away.

"Actually, speaking of our fight…" Jayden spoke up. "I heard there's a water park here in Crocus."

Kagura started to feel somewhat nervous.

"And you owe me a date, so…" Jayden continued. "We'll meet there later tonight. Does that sound good to you?"

Kagura sighed quietly in exasperation. "I suppose you want me to wear a skimpy bikini?"

"Wear whatever you want." Jayden answered. "As long as it's a swimsuit. We ARE going to a water park, after all."

After several minutes, Eve finally fell backwards with Tristan still standing even though he was out of breath, down on one knee, holding his gun at Eve and his jacket and pants covered in ice and snow.

"Tristan Mercer finally catches a break and nabs Phoenix Dawn Team B 10 points!" Chapati shouted into the microphone. "It seems like the newbie guilds are really taking the Grand Magic Games by storm! Our next match will be Sabertooth's Rufus… against Phoenix Dawn Team A's Hikari Suta!"

In the stands where Phoenix Dawn Team A were watching the games, Hikari's eyes widened in shock.

"Me?! She exclaimed.

"Don't lose, Hikari!" Aqua said.

"Will you knock that off?" Spiral scolded Aqua.

"This is a competition!" Aqua snapped back. "Don't coddle her just because she's your girlfriend!"

"Yes, it's a competition, but we have nothing to lose!" Spiral argued.

"Spiral's right!" Sakura interjected. "I've already called you a 'bitch', so I'll have to call you a c… Azusa, cover your ears!"

"No need to use that kind of language, Sakura." Spiral said. "Where'd you hear that word anyway?"

"Will you stay focused?!" Aqua yelled.

"Um, guys?" Azusa spoke up.

Spiral, Sakura and Aqua looked toward Azusa.

"Hikari left." Azusa said.

*I hope she comes out okay…* Spiral thought.

Hikari and Rufus were both in the arena, waiting for the fight to begin.

*I don't know if I can beat this guy, especially considering how he won the Hidden game the other day.* Hikari thought. *But I should at least fight to the best of my ability. Hopefully, I can last long enough so that it ends in a tie.*

Rufus didn't say anything and simply smiled confidently. Hikari gulped at his nonchalant demeanor. The gong was struck and in Hikari's hands appeared two blades of pure light and she ran toward Rufus. He didn't even move and when Hikari got in close, she swung one of her light swords at Rufus only for him to vanish into thin air. Rufus was now behind Hikari and placed his fingers against his temple.

"What you just attacked was your memory of my being there." Rufus explained. "I've committed your magic to memory. Memory Make Magic: Photon Array!"

Appearing around Rufus were swords of light, much like the ones Hikari just created, and pointed all of them at her. In a flash, the blades all converged on Hikari's position and she tried to jump out of the way, but one of the blades managed to graze her leg and she winced in pain. As she landed, her feet skid across the ground and checked the shining cut from Rufus's attack.

"How did you just do that?" Hikari asked.

"I simply recreated my memory of your spell multiple times." Rufus answered. "That's the power of my Maker Magic."

Spiral and his teammates, now joined by Jayden and Wilbur, looked on at the fight.

"So basically, any spell that guy sees, he can just copy it?" Sakura asked.

"I don't think it's copying, but that would be the easiest way to explain it." Jayden responded.

"Are you saying I'm dumb?!" Sakura glared at Jayden.

"Yes." Aqua bluntly and coldly replied.

Sakura turned around and punched Aqua right in the face, knocking her to the ground. Aqua got up and turned her face to show that the punch gave her a black eye.

"I don't know what your problem is, but stop it right now or I'll give you another black eye!" Sakura shouted.

Aqua didn't say anything as she stood up, not even a change in her expression, and walked to the infirmary to have her eye treated. Azusa stroked her chin and pondered what was making Aqua act like she had been for the past few days.

Hikari continued to struggle in her fight against Rufus. She had yet to land a single hit on him and he countered everything she tried to throw at him.

*I knew I didn't stand a chance against him!* She thought. *It looks like my only option is to stall for a draw.*

"You've done well to last this long against me." Rufus said before placing his fingers on his temple again. "However, I should really finish this or the Master will be furious. Karma of the Burning Earth!"

Flames erupted from the ground and trailed toward Hikari, completely engulfing her in the inferno.

"HIKARI!" Spiral screamed.

The flames died down and Hikari, completely burned from the attack, fell to the ground.

"And Sabertooth comes back after the disaster that was the second day!" Chapati shouted into the microphone. "He nets Sabertooth ten points!"

Spiral ran out to the arena and held Hikari's scorched body.

"Hikari?!" Spiral panicked. "Are you okay?! Please!"

Hikari was feeling so weak that she could barely retain consciousness. Spiral picked her up and began running out of the arena.

"Don't worry, Hikari!" Spiral said. "I'll get you to the infirmary as fast as I can!"

"That guy went way too far!" Sakura growled.

"Can't argue with that." Jayden nodded.

His attention was drawn to where Sabertooth's members were watching the games. Within the crowd and sitting next to Kyo, he saw Kyrin and noticed the resemblance between him and Aqua.

Blaise was about to leave to check up on Hikari in the infirmary when Azusa stood in front of her.

"Master Blaise, may I speak with you?" Azusa asked.

"Can it wait, Azusa?" Blaise asked. "Hikari needs support right now."

"Let me follow you then." Azusa said.

Blaise and Azusa began to make their way to the infirmary.

"What do you want to ask?" Blaise inquired. "Based on your urgency, it must be important."

"Aqua's been acting really strange the last few days." Azusa answered. "She's super competitive and belittling us for losing. None of us have ever seen her like this before."

"I know." Blaise said. "Jayden told me yesterday. If Sabertooth's here, her brother must really be getting to her head."

"What do you mean?"

"It all started around the same time you joined the guild…"

(Flashback)

In Blaise's office, Aqua was sitting in a chair in front of Blaise, who was at her desk.

"Why exactly do you want to join Phoenix Dawn?" Blaise asked.

"It's led by a Wizard Saint, that's why." Aqua answered. "You must accept some really strong members."

"Normally, that would discourage people from joining. You must be pretty confident in your skills."

"Y-yeah, sure."

"Skill level doesn't matter here. What matters is that you live out your life the way you want."

"So, I'm in?"

"Just one more question: What do you think of yourself?"

"Where did this come from?"

"You stuttered earlier when I said you were confident. You must not think yourself that strong."

Aqua bit her lip and looked away.

"You can tell me. I promise not to tell anyone. I'm more than willing to listen."

"You promise?"

Blaise nodded and Aqua started to tear up.

"I… I… I'm pathetic!" Aqua began crying. "All my life, my parents and my brother constantly put me down! They call me an 'accident'! That I shouldn't have been born! I need to become strong! It's the only way they'll respect me!"

(End Flashback)

"I can't imagine what kind of hell that girl has been through." Blaise said.

"So her family is why she's got this attitude?" Azusa asked.

"Anyone who treats their family worse than dirt doesn't deserve to be called a 'family'." Blaise replied. "We have to be her family. The family she deserves."

They arrived at the infirmary to see Aqua getting her black eye treated and Blaise just stared.

"… I should've mentioned that Sakura socked her in the eye." Azusa said.

The last two fights were particularly interesting ones. First was Fairy Tail Team B's Laxus against Raven Tail's Alexei, which opened with Laxus getting knocked around by Alexei. However, it was eventually revealed that the whole time the audience was watching an illusion when there was actually a fight between Laxus and all five members of Raven Tail and Alexei turned out to be the Guild Master, Ivan Dreyar. This discovery caused Raven Tail to be disqualified and banned from the Grand Magic Games for the next three years. After that was a fight between Fairy Tail Team A's Wendy and Lamia Scale's Chelia, which ended in a draw since it practically became a war of attrition with their healing capabilities.

"Let's take a look at the current rankings!"

White Valkyrie 46P

Fairy Tail A 41P

Sabertooth 36P

Fairy Tail B 35P

Phoenix Dawn A 34P

Phoenix Dawn B 34P

Lamia Scale 34P

Mermaid Heel 14P

Blue Pegasus 12P

Raven Tail (Disqualified)

"That ends today's events!" Chapati said. "Please come back tomorrow for more exciting action, including the much anticipated tag battles!"

A/N: Boy, was this a little weird to write! Not only am I finishing up summer classes, but I got back into Xenoblade Chronicles after having not played it for three years. I was also at a con at the beginning of June, so that really affected my writing schedule. Anyway, I hope this was at least worth the wait. Next time is Ryuzetsu Land!"