On the second day of the games, Natsu took part in the Chariot races it wasn't the most pleasant of sites to see both him Gajeel and the Sabertooth blonde look sick to their stomachs.
"I regret not putting myself up to compete." Ara deadpanned, grimacing as Natsu and Gajeel tried to claw their dead-weight bodies up the moving vehicles. "This is hard to watch."
"I guess maybe he thought he would be fighting a Chariot?" Lucy tried and failed to come to his logic.
"What an idiot." Gray covered his face.
Ara sighed. "Well, I'm gonna go see Zip, I think he's about recovered now."
They told her to say hi to him and she nodded. Waiting in the infirmary was the now awake Carla and Zip.
"Ara!" Zip shouted.
She smiled coming over to his bedside. "Feeling better?" she patted his head with care.
He made a fist. "Yup, I think I can go out and watch today." he smiled. "I'll get to see you in action."
"If I get to participate. It's the second day and I don't feel as though I have done anything to help." She bowed her head a bit.
"That's not true, just being willing to take Wendy's place was a huge help, If not we wouldn't have even made it through the preliminaries." Carla protested taking a drink of her tea.
"Right," Ara smiled at her. "Thanks, Carla." Ara hugged Zip. "I should probably get back, if you want to watch you can come with me and I'll show you where the others are sitting." Zip nodded happily.
He hopped from the bed, pulling on his orange boots and helmet.
"We'll see you guys later." Zip waved at Carla and Miss Porlyusica. "Thanks for the help! Come on Ara!" He pulled at her hand.
...
It was easy to show Zip where to go, he hopped along and from where Team A was Ara could see he now stood up on the edge with Lily and Happy cheering.
"It's good to see that Zip is alright now, hopefully, that means Wendy and Carla will be up and healthy in a day," Lucy said.
"Well, it seems Carla is fine now too, though Wendy is still in need of more rest."
They watched as Natsu and Gajeel made it across the line, earning 2 and 1 points for Fairy Tail Team A and Team B. Natsu afterward was taken to the infirmary for some treatment, though it was only motion sickness so he would recover in no time.
After the Chariot races were the matches. The first match of the day was Lamia Scale Toby and Raven Tail Black Snake.
It was a fairly fast match with a bet involved. However, it ended with a shock when Black Snake one, learned Toby's secret, and then ripped up his lost sock that was the secret. Ara found it dramatic and somewhat harsh. But with Raven Tails' current actions, none of this was surprising. What she would love to do if she could battle it out with them. Hurting Zip, Wendy, and Carla was unforgivable.
"Let's move on to round two in today's head-to-head battles. First from Quatro Cerberus, it's the god of wine, Bacchus!"
Ara leaned forward. She hadn't seen him before in the games. But it seemed he was drinking or drunk already.
"Fighting a member of Team Fairy Tail A!"
"So it's one of us." Erza had arms folded across her armor.
"Is he strong?" Ara asked.
"Well, Erza said the other night that even between her and him they haven't had a true winner," Lucy stressed, her brown eyes looking concerned.
Ara swallowed. If Erza had trouble with him it would be one hell of a fight.
"What if they call out Natsu's name?" Lucy asked.
Gray stared forward with concentration. "Then we wake him up."
Then their attention was brought over to Team B as Cana was screaming for revenge, did he do something to her? Ara wondered this as she looked back into the middle of the arena.
"He will be fighting Ara Iris! The Flying Jewel of Fairy Tail! And a cutie if I do say so myself!"
Ara would have grimaced at the comment had she recovered from her shock.
"What the hell, she's like half his size!" Gray protested.
Erza touched her shoulder. "It'll be fine, you can do this."
Ara nodded numbly. This was her time to help the guild so she would give it all she could.
With a breath, she made her way onto the arena.
...
The Bacchus man was lying on the ground with a drink in hand. He looked surprised Ara was his opponent but pleased nonetheless, in a perverted sort of way.
"What a cutie they gave me. We should meet after this, I'd love to have a different kind of fight." He smirked, his words somewhat slurred.
"I think I'll pass on that."
He laughed. "Why don't we make our own little bet like that last group did." Ara wasn't sure that would be a good idea in her favor.
"What?" she asked, not sure if she wanted to hear his answer.
"Your very cute, a precious specimen in fact, and so is Miss Blondie over there from your guild."
Ara gritted her teeth. "And?"
Bacchus's grin grew. "If I win the match you and blondie keep me company tonight. Both at the same time."
"I'd never let that happen."
"Now it's your turn, if you win -"
"I will. I don't let those who disrespect myself and my friends get away with doing so." She clenched her fist, her nails digging into her palm. "Fine. If I win then your guild's new name will be Quatro Puppy." She smirked. "How does that sound?"
He hopped to his feet, leaving his drink in the dirt. "God, that look in your eye is really getting me going. I promise not to hurt you too much, gotta make sure you're in good shape for later."
"It seems a wager has been made between these two as well, so let's let the match commence."
From those words, Bacchus was quick to start his attack. Ara assessed his abilities, dodging the attacks with a bit of gravity magic, it seemed his magic was based on martial arts. This put Ara at a bit of a disadvantage in terms of using her black holes to their full potential.
Ara flipped from his next few chopping moves, using gravity magic and trying to land a hit on the back of his neck. She was caught off guard when he grabbed her ankle spinning her around and throwing her. Ara sucked in a breath tucking her legs and flipping until she landed on her feet.
His magic seemed to all be centered in his hands. Both the weak point and the strongest point.
Ara ran at him again, he went to use his move again and landed a hit but with a price, with his hands occupied, she used gravity magic to throw his back out. He fell onto his knees in surprise.
They went back and forth with attacks. It was taking too long. Sure, Ara hadn't been hit very much, but there was no point drawing it out.
"You're making me have to hydrate young lady." He picked up his drink gulping it down with large sips. This couldn't be good.
He was bringing out his best moves so she would have to do the same.
Suddenly he came at Ara faster giving multiple hits in a row. At this same point, Ara decided it was time to pull out one of her more powerful combat uniforms. The requip boosted her ability to form black holes and doubled their mass and gravitational pull. In an instance she requipped into this form preparing for the blows.
He didn't know but she was very aware, that any small hit at these black holes would cause immense damage due to the pressure they pulled in.
This onslaught went on until both parties were staggering.
Then it happened. Bacchus smiled then fell back.
Cheering erupted and Ara stood panting. She did it. Did she? How. That didn't matter, just that she was able to win.
...
Ara actually didn't have many wounds and was fine after minor healing from Miss Porlyusica. Ara found that Wendy was healed and ready to get back into the games so Ara passed the torch to her.
She would need some time to rest to restore her magic power.
Ara also learned that someone had attempted to kidnap Wendy, Carla, and Porlyusica. Though the kidnappers were actually after Lucy. They said they were sent from Raven Tail, but something in that wasn't all that believable to both Carla or Ara. Raven Tail had a member that could knock out wizards, why hire someone to do it?
After this the group went back and Ara chose to sit with the rest of the guild.
"Carla your back!" Happy called.
Zip, who was standing by Lily looked at Ara, "Who she is not gonna like this." He laughed.
Ara raised a brow in question, looking out to the Arena that he was looking at.
"I am here to cheer on my guild, of course." Carla humphed, turning to start doing so. "Go Mira - Oh my!" She covered her face with her paws. "What is this indecency!"
Ara was blushing too at the sight. A binki off?
