[One week before the Grand Magic Games.]
Wendy and Cynthia were training together, while Carla watched. The two of them were trying to get a hold of the power they briefly tapped into several months ago. They were both attempting to attain Dragon Force once again but fell just shy. Wendy's hair flickered pink, while Cynthia's scales were flickering on an off of her body. Eventually they had to call it quits with such little progress made. They both sighed and slumped onto the ground. "This is hard..." Cynthia said with a heavy sigh. "The power is there, I just don't know how to reach it."
"Me too..." Wendy frowned while looking at her hand. If she could master such power, she'd be stronger and could do more for the guild.
"You two are doing just fine." Carla said while approaching them. "You're making such strides in your training. Don't forget about the little steps you've taken to get where you are."
"I know..." Cynthia did manage a slight smile at Carla's words. "I just wish I could do a little more. I want to be stronger. I want everyone to depend on me..."
"I depend on you." Wendy said while scooting closer to Cynthia, taking her hand within hers. "I know I wouldn't be this strong without you. I want to make use of the power you trusted me with. Maybe I can't reach Dragon Force for now, but...maybe you can help me better use your flames?"
Cynthia stared at Wendy for a bit. But she then smiled and nodded. Even if she couldn't use her own power for good, at least Wendy proved that the possibilty existed. "Okay. I can do that."
.
.
"Welcome to the second day of the Grand Magic Games!" Mato shouted while the crowd roared with excitement, every single person within the crowd wanting to see more. "The first day of the games had a variety of surprises-kabo!" The pumpkin headed host then turned to the score board. "In first place so far, we have the self-proclaimed strongest guild in Fiore, White Eclipse, with a perfect score of 20 points! Following behind White Eclipse in second place is a new guild, Cosmic Star, with 16 points. In third place, we have last year's winners, Fairy Tail!" Upon hearing the first three names, the crowd cheered, despite the event at the end of yesterday with Daryan. "In fourth place is another upcoming guild that shows a lot of progress with thirteen points, Twilight Zone!"
"Fourth place for the first day…right in the middle…" Rylo said while crossing his arms.
"Don't worry, we'll pick it up," Flynn said with a nod.
"In fifth place with five points is Lamia Scale, and following behind them is Mermaid Heel with 4 points-kabo!" Mato continued. "In seventh place, there's Quatro Pupp- I mean Quatro Cerberus!" Mato said, a sweat drop appearing on the side of his pumpkin head from almost screwing up the guild's name.
"…Did he almost say what I think he just said?" Bacchus said while narrowing his eyes towards Mato.
"I think he did, Bacchus-san…" Rocker said with a slight nod.
"A-Anyway! Following in last place with only ONE point this year, a surprising drop from last year, Sabertooth!" Mato exclaimed.
"Tch, last year we had a perfect twenty on the first day…" Rogue explained.
"I remember this clearly…" Rufus said while nodding.
"What's different now than last year…?" Yukino asked while playing with her own hands.
"We don't have what we had last year…or rather, who we had last year, to be precise…" Sting replied, leaning against the railing.
"We can win this without her!" Orga shouted while nodding. "Because in the end, Sabertooth is number one~!"
"We're having somewhat of a slow start this year..." Chelia said while swaying on the top, still as exuberant as she could be.
"Heh, don't worry, we'll pick it up and win this," Lyon replied as an already victorious smirk appeared on his lips. "Fairy Tail managed a comeback from a worse position last year, and this year, that'll be us."
"Kagura, are you sure you're okay?" A recovering Risley asked the Mermaid Heel ace.
"I'm fine; there are no injuries, so I can continue on." Kagura replied while giving a short nod.
"Alright, are you guys ready for another perfect day?" Reve asked with a smirk.
"Ready as I'll ever be," Jaxon said while giving a nod.
"Ready," Taya said while giving a nod.
"Ready!" Luke said with a nod. He then looked over to Aira while giving a slight smile. "Thanks for letting back in, Aira."
"It was no problem, Luke!" Aira said with a nod. "I was glad to help out in the preliminaries, and I think you'll be a better pick than me anyway!"
"It seems as though people have forgotten about the fiasco yesterday…" Alex said as she looked around to the cheering crowd.
"Really? It was quite the ruckus yesterday…" Daryan said while shrugging, giving off a relaxed tone.
"I'm sure it will come back to people's minds soon enough," Magnus said with a nod. "Anyway, who wants to participate in today's event?"
"I will," Gaia said with a nod. "I wonder what it could be…"
"Cynthia, Gajeel, Gray, Erza, and Wendy…Seems like a pretty solid team to me so far." Makarov said while giving a nod of approval.
"Cynthia…she's the one that…" Mavis started, but before she could finish her statement, Makarov nodded in response.
"She is a full-fledged member of Fairy Tail, and she really wants to make up for what happened all that time ago, and what kind of master would I be if I didn't allow her to do so?"
"Hehe…" Mavis gave a childish, yet all-knowing grin at Makarov's words. "I couldn't have said such a thing any better myself."
"How's Natsu?" Lisanna asked while looking over to Lucy.
"He's fine now…after a goodnight's rest...but…" Lucy was leaning away from the now loopy Natsu.
"It looks as though the poison from last night has messed around with his brain a little…" Freed replied. "He's rather…loopy, to put it lightly, at the moment…but he should be fine later…"
"We still have to find the one who took my key anyway…" Lucy sighed.
"Do you know which key it was?" Lisanna asked Lucy.
"I think it was Aries, but for some reason I feel like that wasn't the one she wanted…" Lucy replied.
"There's nothing much we can do about it now…but we'll keep an eye out," Mirajane nodded.
"Useless…" Ruika said as she, and the members of Silent Sanctum, Zancrow, Rustyrose and Tartaros took the same spot they did in the first day, above the arena where no one would even think to look.
"At least you got a key?" Byron said while shrugged.
"I am not in the mood for you right now," Ruika replied. "Aries is useless offensively."
"Quit your whining," Dait replied. "The games are about to begin."
"I can see Salamander is still alive from last night…" Horoki whispered while taking a puff from his cigarette.
"He looks kinda fucked up though…" Tobias replied, opening a sort of notebook. "So, that Freed was able to dispel my runes…I'll have to do something to avoid this in the future…"
"Now, it's time to introduce our judges for the day-kabo!" Mato exclaimed. "From yesterday, we still have Chapati and former Council member Yajima! Yesterday, we had Jenny Realight of Blue Pegasus as our guest, but today we have the writer for Fiore's number one magazine, Jason!"
"This is going to be sooo COOOOOL!" Jason said while shaking (more like wiggling) in his chair from excitement. "I can't wait to see what COOL events happen here today!"
"Speaking of events-kabo!" Mato shouted while gesturing with his hand for eight contestants to come up. "It's time for today's event!" The eight that were competing in today's events were Wendy, Chelia, Takeru, Gaia, Alexander, Kuro from Quatro Cerberus, Yukino, and Milliana. "What a line up we have today-kabo!"
"Good luck, Wendy!" Cynthia shouted rather excitedly from the stands.
"Wendy, I hope you know, I'm not gonna lose this event!" Chelia said with a friendly, yet cocky smile.
"I don't plan on losing either!" Wendy replied with a determined look.
"Ah...the glimmer of youth..." Karma, Makarov, and Calium said while giving a lazy, old smile.
"Looking to join the shining youth brigade or something?" Laxus asked his grandfather while raising a brow, while at the same time Daryan and Reve asked their masters the very same question as well.
"It's admirable," Calium replied with a smile. "You brats are hard to keep up with sometimes anyway."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Cygnus asked while crossing his arms.
"Things are about to start!" Aira said while waving her hand in attempt to shush Cygnus. "Sssh!"
"You got it, Tak!" Selene shouted while waving to Takeru. "...Whatever it is!"
"Alexander you can do it!" Rylo shouted. "Don't let us down!"
"This is only a battle in the war," Alexander replied while taking a deep breath, relaxing any remaining tension in his body. "Even if I don't win this battle, I'll make sure to help win the war for Twilight Zone."
"I won't lose! Not when Sabertooth's glory is on the line!" Yukino said while nodding to herself.
"Isn't that the other girl you want keys from?" Byron asked Ruika.
"Yes; she has the other three zodiac keys I want," Ruika replied.
"Look at that," Diana said while pointing to Chelia. "It appears the little sky slayer is here. I wonder if she's had any improvements since last time..."
"Heh, it wouldn't be wild if I lost," Kuro said while giving a smug grin.
"You got it, Kuro!" Blues shouted to his partner. "Wild!"
"Four!" Kuro returned the shout.
"I'm feelin' spiffy about this!" Milliana said while giving a mixture of a smile and a smirk.
"Will all eight members step into the center-kabo?" Mark asked while taking a few steps back. The contestants complied, stepping into center. A few seconds after, a large bowl like structure appeared beneath the eight members, large enough to give them all plenty of maneuverability, and about 12 feet in height.
"W-Whoa, what is this?!" Chelia asked while looking around.
"This is today's event-kabo!" Mato replied. "Oh, wait a moment!" Mark then snapped his fingers, causing eight balls (all about a third larger than the size of baseballs) patented with each guild mark landing in the hands of the respective guild members. "Now we're ready for today's event! The Keep Away!"
"Keep away?" Chelia raised a brow as she examined the sphere with the Lamia Scale mark in her hands.
"Yes! The rules of this event are simple-kabo!" Mato started. "For this event, you must make sure that the sphere in your hands does NOT exit the bowl. If the sphere hits the ground outside the bowl you are all in, you are automatically out. This will continue until there is only one person with a sphere remaining!"
"Seems simple enough." Gaia said while nodding.
"There's more to this that he's not telling us just yet..." Luke said while crossing his arms.
"Isn't that always the case with this?" Taya replied, to which Luke nodded.
"Now...begin!" Mato shouted.
"Don't drop it, huh? Easy enough!" Milliana said with a grin. The spiffy mage then began to sprint forward, planning her calculated assault already, but as soon as she moved, the bowl started to tilt, causing everyone to almost lose their balance.
"W-Whoa! It moves when we move!" Chelia said with a sort of surprised tone as she held the sphere to her chest, thinking it was the best thing to do so she could win.
"Place your bets, people! Place your bets!" Zancrow shouted while throwing his arms up.
"You need to calm down..." Maggie said while rolling her eyes. "We let you speak, but that can change quickly."
"Humph..." Zancrow crossed his arms, looking away from the S class lava mage.
Seeing how everyone was off guard from the tilting bowl, Wendy used this time to puff her cheeks out, unleash a sky blue tornado upon Milliana, since she was the first one to move, and the most vulnerable. "Sky Dragon's Roar!"
Milliana's eyes widened at the sight of the incoming roar, but even though she was off guard, her cat-like reflexes allowed her to evade the attack by rolling to the side, however since the attack hit the interior of the bowl, it caused the bowl to swivel around, throwing everyone off balance. "Wah!"
"D-Damn, this thing is really unstable...!" Alexander thought to himself as he attempted to regain balance. "Looks like I'll have to be mindful about my attacks and where they hit...along with others..."
"Heh, this will be fun!" Gaia grinned as she stepped on the ground, causing multiple stalagmites to shoot up from the bottom of the bowl, though this didn't do any harm to anyone just yet.
"So, you're all just going to stand around then?" Takeru asked with a smirk as he spread his shadow across the bottom of the bowl, immediately hiding in it after, leaning him out of sight. "Fine with me!"
Chelia was aiming to take out Takeru right off the bat, but since he vanished, she sprinted forward, leaping over a stalagmite as her cheeks puffed out, aiming her face towards Kuro, unleashing a tornado of black wind towards the Water God Slayer. "Sky God's Bellow!"
"Sky god slayer, eh?" Kuro smirked a she held a hand out, a dark blue magic circle forming; the circle then unleashed a powerful beam of black water, matching Chelia's Bellow just long enough for an explosion, which resulted in the bowl shaking violently, causing everyone to stumble around, the stalagmites Gaia created now becoming a hinderance as people started to run into them, almost dropping their spheres.
"G-Gah!" Yukino yelped as she fell to her side, but she kept the sphere close to her. "I'm not just going to sit around!" Yukino shouted while pulling out a golden key. "Gate of the Heavenly Scales, I open thee! Libra!" A magic circle appeared on Yukino's key, which brought forth Libra.
"That's one of the keys I'm after..." Ruika whispered to herself.
"Libra and I have been practicing!" Yukino shouted with a confident grin. "Libra, increase the gravity of the interior of this bowl!" Libra nodded, and immediately increased the gravity on the bowl, causing almost everyone to fall to their knees from the force.
"She can cover an entire area now...?!" Lucy said with surprise in her voice.
"Looks like Yukino is taking charge of the event right now!" Chapati shouted.
"You got it, Yukino!" Sting shouted with a grin.
"G-Gravity..." Alexander said while groaning.
"Gravity, huh?" Kuro said while smirking. "Rain works well in gravity...!" Kuro clapped his hand, a blue magic circle appearing in the sky above the bowl. "Thanks, Blues, for teaching me this! Water God's Heavy Rain!" From the magic circle, black rain poured down onto and into the bowl, starting to fill it up as it damaged the other members.
"Not gonna work on me!"Gaia shouted as she held her free hand up, easily fighting through the gravity Yukino had up, removing the stalagmites from the base of the bowl and caused them to form a protective dome over her person, shielding her from the rain.
"Not to fast!" Alexander waved his free hand, creating a bubble that appeared on the magic circle, and he proceeded to teleport it away.
"Gah...!" Kuro's eyes widened as his circle vanished, and this left him open to the powerful and swift kick Milliana managed to deliver to his sternum, pushing him back slightly, but he lost his sphere as it flew into the air. "No!"
"Heh..." Seeing the opportunity from the shadows, Takeru grinned slyly, jumping from the shadow in the bowl, and unleashed a Shadow Dragon's roar on Milliana. "Shadow Dragon's Roar!"
"Wha?!" Milliana heard the voice behind her, but it was too late for her to react as the roar slammed into her body, sending her out the bowl, and onto the ground, swirls in her eyes as she was counted out for exiting the bowl.
"And Milliana is down and out, Mermaid Heel gets last place!" Mato shouted.
"Tch..." Kagura was upset, but not at Milliana.
"Libra, change the gravity on Kuro's sphere to an arc!" Yukino commanded. Libra nodded, changing the airborne sphere's gravity into an overarching pattern.
"No!" Kuro shouted as he lunged from the bowl, his momentum causing the bowl to shake somewhat as he attempted to reach out for his sphere, but he barely missed as it arced over his hand, and slammed into the ground, along with the water god slayer.
"And Quatro Cerberus gets seventh place!" Mato exclaimed.
"Damn...!" Blues groaned. "You did great though Kuro!"
"Vernir!" Shouted Wendy, boosting her speed to the point where she could hover off the ground to a degree, using that to her advantage as she avoided the shaking of the bowl.
"Not so fast, Wendy!" Chelia shouted with a smirk as she used her speed to appear by Wendy's side, starting to rotate her torso in a clockwise rotation, causing Wendy's eyes to widen. "Sky God's Dance!" After Chelia shouted, a black whirlwind flung Wendy into the sky, but the young girl held onto her sphere as she adjusted her landing back into the bowl, now across from Chelia. "I won't let you rest yet!" Chelia grinned as she attempted to keep the pressure on Wendy, but in doing so she forgot about the others quickly, only to be reminded as Gaia shoulder tackled Chelia into the side of the bowl, causing it to away around almost uncontrollably; in doing so, Gaia caused Chelia to release her sphere, which rolled into the center of the bowl, now up for grabs.
"Chelia, keep moving!" Lyon shouted.
"Sky god's..." Chelia puffed her cheeks out, aiming directly at Gaia. "Bellow!" Chelia opened her mouth, unleashing a raging vortex of black wind towards Gaia, but to Chelia's surprise, Gaia was able to avoid the Bellow by swaying her body to the right. Chelia did manage to hit someone, however. Takeru; who was preparing another sneak attack with his Shadow Dragon's roar on Gaia, but he was unable to as the bellow slammed into him, sending him flying out the bowl, his shadow dispersing as he hit the ground.
"Shit, Tak!" Reve snarled. "That was a lucky shot!"
"A-And it looks like White Eclipse has gotten sixth place!" Mato shouted with evident surprise.
"She missed her intended target...but she took out a threat regardless..." Magnus commented. "Her sphere is still up for grabs if you know what I mean though..."
Wendy turned to face Yukino, feeling as though the celestial mage was a threat with Libra and her gravity. Wendy puffed her cheeks out, unleashing. Sky Dragon's roar upon the mage. "Sky Dragon's Roar!"
"Libra, change the roars direction sideways!" Yukino commanded, and Libra did as she was told, shifting the gravity of Wendy's roar sideways, but she had an intended target; Alexander.
"Tch, I wasn't expecting this, Yukino..." Alexander said as he waved his free hand, creating a sphere of good space that took in the roar and caused it to vanish; a second later, the sphere reappeared above Gaia, and unleashed the roar.
"What?!" Gaia shouted as she jumped back, allowing the roar to strike the space between her and Chelia, the explosion causing the bowl to rock once again, throwing everyone but Wendy off guard.
"Now's my chance!" Wendy thought to herself as she placed her hand on the bottom of the bowl, a blue magic circle appearing under Chelia, Gaia, Yukino, Libra, and Alexander. "Sky Dragon's Howl!" The magic circle then released a quick gust of wind that forced everyone (but Gaia due to her weight) into the air. "I didn't get Gaia...!"
"Too bad, little sky dragon!" Gaia said with a smirk as she seemingly rushed towards Wendy, but she was instead aiming to kick Chelia's sphere out of the bowl; before she could, several blades of black wind struck Gaia, pushing her back as Chelia landed quickly, her cheeks puffed out again.
Yukino and Alexander landed across from each other, their spheres still in hand, both looking towards each other with a smirk. "I didn't think you'd show up again," Yukino said to the former Sabertooth wizard.
"I've found of new place, of course," Alexander replied.
"Sorry, Chelia!" Wendy shouted apologetically as she picked up Chelia's sphere while the sky slayer was preoccupied, and hurled it over the rim of the bowl, causing it to hit the ground, this placing Chelia in fifth, automatically sending her out of the bowl.
"And with that, Lamia Scale gains fifth place!" Mato continued, watching the event intently.
"Only four remain!" Chapati shouted excitedly.
"This is so COOOOL!" Jason shouted with the upmost glee. "I can't wait to see who wins this!"
"You got it, Wendy!" Cynthia and Carla shouted with enthusiasm.
"Only four left? I won't lose this!" Alexander shouted as he jumped back, gaining distance from the other three who stood between him and victory.
"I won't hold back..." Wendy said in a whisper as she placed her hand on the bottom of the bowl, a red magic circle appearing under Alexander, Gaia, and Yukino; Wendy was now readying herself to utilize the Omega Fire Dragon slayer magic she obtained from Cynthia a while back. "Omega Fire Dragon's Hurricane!"
"She's really going for it now...!" Lucy said with widened eyes.
"That's not good..." Rylo said while blinking a few times.
The hurricanes engulfed the three competitors, but, to their surprise, it wasn't damaging, nor did it shake the bowl. To their surprise, the sphere were ripped out of their hands by the harsh winds the cyclone surrounding them created, now putting the three spheres into the air, leaving them completely open. "The child...!" Gaia's eyes widened as she immediately realized what Wendy had done.
"FINISH IT WENDY!" Cynthia nearly screamed out.
Wendy's eyes and hair flashed pink in this moment, mustering all of the power she could. She used the Vernir she casted earlier to her advantage, jumping high into the air as she threw her sphere up, protecting it from harm as she raised her arms, throwing them down harshly as powerful gusts of wind shot out towards the spheres, now knocking them far away from the bowl. "Sky Dragon's Wing Slash!"
"Shit...!" Alexander's eyes widened as all the spheres flew past his sight.
"Libra, change the gravity of the Sabertooth sphere up!" Yukino cried out, but it was too late. Before Libra could change the gravity, her's landed on the ground first, followed by Alexander's, and lastly Gaia's.
"She won!" Lucy grinned.
"Sabertooth takes fourth place, Twlight Zone takes third place, Cosmic Star takes second place, and Wendy Marvell gets first place for Fairy Tail, gaining them 10 points-kabo!" Mato shouted as the crowd went wild, the bowl vanishing after.
"Wendy's last move was absolutely brilliant..." Yajima said while nodding, a pleased smile on his face.
"Wendy-tan managed to take out Chelia-tan, Alexander, Yukino, and even Cosmic Star's strongest mage!" Chapati said while giving an obviously pleased nod.
"That event was so COOOOL!" Jason yelled out.
"With the event over, we move to the match ups of Day 2!" Mato grinned as he pointed to the scoreboard. "Right now, Fairy Tail is now in the lead with 24 points! Anything can happen, though-kabo!"