Labyrinth Starting Line!

Shadow and his team arrive back to their hotel as the time is getting close to midnight while the others who aren't participating in the game are heading back to a different hotel. They waited in their room as the clock strikes close to midnight, just one minute away, but there is a bothering question that's been going on in Fairy Tail team's head for quite some time ever since they came back to their hotel.

"Has anyone figured out what is going to happen in midnight yet?" Happy asked a little nervous.

"No, and it's bothering like a headache." Natsu complained.

"Calm down, Natsu, I'm sure everything will be explain by then." Lucy said, though she felt a little scared with only seconds left.

"We'll have to be on guard for whatever this year's Magic Games has in stores for us and the other guild teams." Erza advised.

"But it sure be a little reliver to know exactly is." Gray sighed.

"I'm sure it's nothing too serious since it's going to be the preliminary round, my best guest is that only a handful of teams from other guilds will get to move into the main event." Shadow stated.

"It's going to be you guys!" Happy smiled.

"Hell yeah, it is!" Natsu cheered.

Then the clock strikes midnight making ringing sounds are happening all over the town that's got everyone's attention and wondering what's going to happen now it's midnight.

"Attention, all contestants participating in this year's Grand Magic Games! Gooood Morning!" A loud voice shouted exciting.

Fairy Tail team look outside and are shock to see one kind of giant hologram of a pumpkin man.

"What the heck is that thing?" Natsu asked.

"Is that like a mascot or something?" Shadow asked.

"It's a great big pumpkin!" Happy pointed out.

The giant hologram is a man with a giant pumpkin with large eyes and mouth. He wears a striped shirt with white cuffs, a black shirt underneath, a dark cape with white edges and white underside, a pair of white pants, white boots, white gloves, and a dark witch-like hat. On the backside of his cape the word "MATO" is written.

"To narrow down the 113 guilds in this year's games to a more manageable eight, let's begin the preliminary round!" The giant hologram pumpkin man announced.

"Well, this is news!" Erza shocked.

"Something tells me this is a new routine they just added this year and shorten the number of guilds down in one swoop." Shadow said.

"(It doesn't' make sense. Why would they keep this preliminary round a secret until now? Why all these new procedures? The excessive number of guilds involved, and the mysterious magic power Jellal talked about. What are the organizers up to?)" Erza thought questioned this purpose.

"Although the number of guilds increased and multiply each year. "The games have gotten boring now", is all I ever hear! "Let whittle them down" I say to you! And give just eight a cheer!" Mato said.

"I see, some people didn't like the increasing numbers partaking in the games every year, so they want to make this exciting by decreasing the numbers to ten." Shadow said, understanding why things are different this year.

"The rules for this preliminary round are simple!" Then suddenly, all the hotels of the guild teams are raising up higher.

"Okay, this is starting to freak me out!" Lucy worried as she hugs Natsu for comfort, with his head on her breasts.

"I hope it's not a vehicle." Natsu preyed then the towering inns stop raising.

"Now, you will all be participating in a race! This finish line is at the Domus Flau coliseum! Only the first eight teams to reach it will move on to the Grand Magic Games!" Mato explained.

"Look, that's a path!" Gray pointed at the wooden planks appearing and leading up high as well.

"I suppose we should be following it." Erza said.

"You're free to use magic in any way you see fit! There are no restrictions, but remember, only the first eight teams to reach the finish line will clear this round! However, all the five members must cross the goal for it to count!" Mato informed.

"Good thing we're all together, huh?" Happy sighed of relief.

"Yeah, otherwise I would've stepped in myself." Elfman proclaimed.

Oh yeah, Elfman and Lisanna are here bringing them some drinks and snacks earlier with Wendy and Carla.

"One more thing: we are not responsible for any loss of life that may occur in the labyrinth." Mato mentioned.

"Now that's a little harsh." Shadow muttered.

"Wait, did he say labyrinth?" Natsu asked everyone look up seeing a giant constructive sphere in the air with all the wooden paths are leading to that.

"So, without further ado, let the Grand Magic Games' preliminary round: Sky Labyrinth Begin!" Mato announced exciting and the hologram disappears.

"Well, if it's a race then we better get moving." Gray stated.

"Let's go!" Natsu excited.

"Then run my awesome manly friends, RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" Elfman cheered.

"Don't need to tell us twice!' Shadow smirked and the team starts running up the labyrinth.

"Good luck everyone!" Wendy shouted.

"Make our Guild Number one!' Carla shouted as well.

(Inside the Sky Labyrinth)

"Huh, didn't think this place would be all confusing since a labyrinth is like a maze." Shadow said.

"No kidding, mazes are one of the confusing things no could solve in a day." Gray concurred.

"I really suck at stuff like this!" Natsu winced.

"Don't give up already! We have to finish in the top eight, otherwise, we can kiss the title of number one in Fiore goodbye." Lucy reminded her boyfriend of why they're here.

"You're right, we got to make it through this if we want to kick Sabretooth's butt!" Natsu cheered up.

"Let's make sure we reach the goal before they do." Gray suggested.

"I don't think we have to worry about getting to first place, but we have to make sure we don't get in last place either." Shadow determined.

"When we were on the ground, the coliseum was to the east, I think we should head in that direction." Erza suggested in her Heart Kreuz Armor.

"I got just the thing to help us out." Lucy said and pull out a silver key.

"Open Gate of the Compass: Pyxis" Lucy summoned her Celestial Spirit out as he shouts in excitement.

Pyxis has a great resemblance to that of a red bird. It has small wings and a beak. Pyxis also has beady eyes, a tubby body figure, and small yellow feet. It has triangle-shaped patches located mostly on its torso region. The most distinctive feature it has is the large blackish-gray compass on its head.

"We need your help; can you please show us which way is east?" Lucy asked.

"Huh, Lucy… Erza already brought a regular compass." Shadow deadpanned and Erza shows her compass in her hand.

"…Thanks for coming anyway, Pyxis." Lucy thanked in a depression state and Pyxis is depress too before poof back to the Celestial Spirit world.

"If we ever back through this, I'm going to punch you in the face for hurting their feelings!" Natsu promised in rage.

"I'm sorry, but we should get going now." Shadow said and they all start running to east, or at least they thought they're going is east.

As they continue trying to find their way through the labyrinth, they also notice how Natsu isn't feeling sick like with his motion sickness which Mato appeared in a hologram screen explaining that a magic spell was casted on the Sky Labyrinth to prevent those with that illness or fear of heights making them feel completely fine. But that still isn't helping with them trying to like finding a twirling path and Natsu nearly fell over, but Shadow was able to catch him in time.

"This is getting us nowhere; we won't be able to know which way to go in this rate." Shadow annoyed of how hard this giant floating maze.

"Yeah, even trying to map the place is harder than it seems." Lucy exclaim, holding a paper with the drawings of the path they walk in so far, but it's not going so well.

Then they heard voices of people arguing to each other.

"I guess the other guilds are having trouble with this maze as well." Shadow noticed.

"I almost forgot about them since it's been so quiet until now." Gray said and they kept running until they run into some unfriendly men.

"Man, you gotta be kidding me." One man angered.

"It's the Fairy Tail guild!" Another man growled.

"Oh great, so those clowns." Natsu complained.

"You guys know them?" Shadow asked.

"They're from the Twilight Ogre guild, they used to harassed Fairy Tail for seven years while we were away on Tenrou Island and always bullied our guild until we came back and gave them the punishment they deserve." Erza explained while giving them her scary glare.

"Well, you guys are still a bunch of losers since you always come in last place." Twilight Ogre Wizard 1 mocked.

"Sorry, that's going to change this year and you're in the way!" Shadow teleported behind Twilight Ogre and kicked them off making them fall.

"Thanks Shadow, though you could've save some for us." Gray smiled.

"Just didn't want to waste anymore time, we got to keep moving!' Shadow determined.

"Right!" The Fairy Tail team nodded and they kept running hoping to find the exit.

However, a couple minutes later a strange noise went off alerting the other wizard guilds and suddenly everything in the labyrinth started shaking and the whole labyrinth is moving itself into a different position.

"What the hell is going on?" Gray asked.

"The whole thing is moving!" Shadow shouted.

"You got to be kidding me!" Natsu screamed as he and Lucy are falling, the Dragon Slayer boy quickly grab hold of his girlfriend and unleash fire through his feet to fly onto the nearest platform.

"It's turning on its Z-axis!" Erza warned.

"That means we gotta stay on the side now!" Gray said.

Soon, the labyrinth stops moving meaning it's done reconstructing itself.

"I don't know who came up with this contraption, but they're pretty messed up in the head." Gray mocked whoever made this crazy thing in the first place.

"I'm not surprised by the intricacy of the labyrinth. It's design to narrow over one hundred teams down to eight." Erza pointed out.

"It looks like that last move was enough to get rid of a lot of them." Gray added.

"Still, we need a way to get to the finish line fast or else we will be in last place like all the other years the guild suffered through." Shadow worried as he tries to come up with a plan.

Then he got an idea, what if he could use his Chaos power to lead the team out of this labyrinth so they can move on the Grand Magic Games, but he also has to make sure that he doesn't teleport them out of the labyrinth because they would be cheating.

"Guys, gather around me, I got a plan!" Shadow called out, and they soon gather around him.

"What's up?" Natsu asked.

"I'm gonna use my power to lead us to the exit with an extra boost from the Chaos Emerald." Shadow pulled out a Chaos Emerald from his pocket.

"You sure that'll be okay?" Gray asked.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to teleport us there, but creating a sphere that will lead us out of here." Shadow explained and clap his hands together for a few seconds until a red energy ball appears.

"Whoa, that's cool!" Natsu excited.

"Now for something I like to call, Chaos Bind" Shadow unleashed red glowing rope wrapping it around his friends.

"Hang on right, we're about to go full speed from here." Shadow warned and his energy sphere flies off and Shadow quickly follows it dragging his team along.

"Whoa man, this is like riding a super-fast magic car!" Natsu shouted.

"Shadow, are you sure this is safe!" Lucy asked worry.

"No idea, but it's better than nothing!" Shadow immediately answered which worry Lucy more.

The red energy sphere soon leads them to a new path that seems to be the certain of the labyrinth and the surrounding is now an open space of the outdoors with a town that is completely upside down.

"Whoa, how the hell is there a town up there and there's an ocean too!" Natsu freaked out.

"Calm down, I don't think this is real, the sky is more likely to be printed on." Erza pointed at some parts of the sky have holes revealing gears behind them.

"Wow, this put a lot of thought into this." Gray commented on the effort on making this labyrinth.

Shadow looks up seeing his red energy sphere going up toward the upside-down little town.

"Hang on!" Shadow warned before his rocket shoes burst giving him the extra jumping power to launch himself and his team toward the town and running on the path.

"Seriously, how the hell are we running upside-down!" Gray panicked.

"It must be some kind of magic!" Lucy guessed.

"No, it's my shoes! They've been upgraded with gravity equip magic." Shadow revealed.

"Well done, Shadow, glad you were prepared for this!" Erza complimented Shadow's thinking, then they notice the shaking of the place.

"Oh great, the place is turning itself again." Gray winced.

"Don't worry, we're close to the goal it doesn't matter at this point." Erza said.

"She's right, there it is." Shadow pointed at the door with the sign that says "GOAL" and Mato waiting for them.

Shadow stop himself though got push down by his teammates, but they quickly got back up and dusting themselves clean a little.

"Welcome, welcome, Fairy Tail. Shadow Chaos, Gray Fullbuster, Erza Scarlet, Natsu Dragneel, and Lucy Heartfilia. Congratulations, you've cleared the preliminary round!" Mato smiled.

"We did it!" Natsu cheered.

"Why do you sound so surprised? I knew we were gonna make it." Gray smirked.

"Hope you weren't spooked by my energy sphere?" Shadow asked as he dispel the ball.

"No, and might I say that was very creative, surprising too." Mato complimented.

"I'm dying to know, did we come in first place?" Lucy asked exciting.

"Huh, no. More like sixth place. You guys qualified enough." Mato answered much to the team's shock that they're barely near last place.

"WHAT?!" Team Fairy Tail, except for Shadow, gasped.

"Relax you guys, as long as we still get to move on competing in the Grand Magic Games then we shouldn't worry about this." Shadow pointed out.

"Oh man, I want to go first place!" Natsu screamed in rage.

"No, Shadow is right. Now that we clear the Sky Labyrinth, we only goal now is to face against the other seven guild teams and claim the title of the Number 1 Guild in all of Fiore!" Erza determined.

"Okay, I'm all fire up now!" Natsu smirked pounds his fists into each other.

"It's time to remind everyone how strong Fairy Tail throughout this tournament!" Gray excited.

"Everyone in the guild is counting on us, I won't back down no matter what!" Lucy determined with fire in her eyes.

"Then those fools better be ready because Fairy Tail is going to defeat anyone who gets in our way!" Shadow declared with a hard fist in front of him.

"(Oh my, it looks like this year is going to be very interesting indeed.)" Mato thought excited and wonder how Fairy Tail will raise from the ashes.


KO a new chapter is done and hope you all enjoy it!

Team Fairy Tail have made their way to the end of that crazy Sky Labyrinth and manage to not get in last place, but they were close as they're now in sixth place though I'm sure that's still better than being in eighth place. Next up is the main Grand Magic Games and they'll be in for a surprise as one of the teams will be announce of who's in the game and it's not the other guilds they already know.

KO comment, favorite, and follow through of how this story will go!