"What the hell happened to you all…?" Jack asked as both White Eclipse A and B made their way back inside the hotel.
"We made it," Luke replied with a nod.
"They why does B team look so glum…?" Zalen asked with a confused expression.
"A team made it," Taya replied, crossing her arms with the most irritated look on her face. "We were snuffed out towards the end…"
"What?" Calium raised a brow, turning over to Reve after. "Reve, what is this about? I thought you'd have each other's backs."
"We did for a good portion of it, old man," Reve replied, letting out an annoyed huff after. "But that other guild, Cosmic Star, snuffed out both our B team and Fairy Tail's B team towards the end, and if we wasted any time, we wouldn't have gotten in at all."
"I don't like those guys…" Aira said aloud, getting a few nods of agreement from her fellow members.
"So, what's the plan now?" Nami asked as a pout started to form on her lips. "I was sure we were going to have ten members in…"
"We're just going to have to make due with five," Luke sighed.
"Heh, what are you sighing for, Cloud?" Reve asked as his usual cocky smirk made an appearance on his face. "Ten members, five; what does it matter? We're here this week to prove one thing and one thing only; that White Eclipse is number one. A challenge is now upon us, since things didn't go according to plan, but so what? If we let a little hurtle like this stop us, how the hell can we look at all those guilds we're going up against and say we're better? I'll be damned if that happens."
"He's right," Taya said as a small smile managed its way onto her annoyed expression. "Nice speech, cowboy."
"Well said, Reve," Waiston said with a smirk. "Team B may have been snuffed out, but we can still do this! Wanna know why? Because it's White Eclipse…"
"Or second place!" The guild members shouted in unison.
.
.
"I-I'm sorry…" Cynthia sniffed as Wendy finished healing her. "I should've seen that attack coming…"
"Stop beating yourself up over it…" Lucy said with a comforting smile.
"Tch, those space bastards are really annoying…" Gajeel said with a scowl. "We were close to making it in too…"
"I wasn't expecting the team in the lead to attack the team all the way in fifth…" Mirajane said as she placed a hand on her cheek. "It certainly caught me off guard…"
"At least we managed to get one team in…" Makarov said with a nod. "B team's efforts won't be for nothing…"
"Are we going to keep our team the same, Master?" Erza asked as she crossed her arms.
"Hm…" Makarov closed his eyes and lowered his head. "There are a few minor changes I'd like to have; I hope any of you don't mind…"
.
.
"Top four, how about that…" Rylo let out a sigh, relaxing on the back of the couch.
"Not bad timing Flynn," Evanee said with a nod.
"All in a day's work…" Flynn nodded, smirking slightly.
"Nice job on getting in, guys!" Tsami said with a nod and wide smile.
"Now we're gonna win this thing, right!?" Melanie said with a large smile.
"Of course!" Rylo replied, his relaxing expression turning into a cocky one. "We didn't come this far for nothing, and we sure aren't gonna lose now!"
"We should get rest," Taranis nodded. "It's gonna get intense tomorrow, no doubt."
.
.
"Excellent," Karma said while nodding slowly in approval to Cosmic Star. "First place, wonderful job!"
"All in a day's work, Master," Magnus said with a bow.
"Magnus, I see your talent has sharpened immensely since I was last around, I'm impressed," Karma gave a subtle grin to the know-it-all.
"Oh, it's nothing, master," Magnus said with a sheepish smile.
"We made first place, though! Now, we're going to keep that up for the rest of the games, right!?" Alex asked.
"Ah, yes, and I do hope that none of you get injured during the games…I don't want to have to call on…"him"…"
"H-Him…? Why even bring him up!?" Yakuza asked.
"Wahaha! I'm just pulling your legs!" Karma said with a laugh, which eventually turned into a cough.
"Oi, I know laughter is the best medicine, but it wouldn't be a good thing if you ended up coughing up a lung…"
"Ah, a good joke every once in a while never brought anyone harm!" Karma protested.
"Right…" Gaia merely rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I think it's about time we got some rest, even dragons need their beauty sleep, you know?"
"Yes, yes, get some rest, you five." Karma nodded.
.
.
"Whoa, Layanna, you look tired," Correll said as Layanna returned to the Council outpost in Crocus. "What happened to you?"
"The assassin is here in Crocus…" Layanna replied, shocking the councilmen.
"What!? They have the nerve to show up HERE?!" Odin asked.
"Hm…" Aloy rubbed his chin before looking to Layanna. "Did you see where they came from?"
Layanna shook her head in response, obviously somewhat disappointed in herself. "They were going somewhere, meaning they were just about to start an assassination, but they escaped…however, I did nothing something…"
"And what's that?" Lahar asked while looking towards the vanilla blonde curiously.
"The assassin is a female…" Layanna replied.
"A female, eh…?" Correll said to himself.
"Hey, look Correll, a woman you can finally chase after with no consequences," Odin said with a sly smirk.
"Alright listen here…" Correll started.
"It's late," Aloy interrupted.
"We have the games to supervise as well," Doranbolt continued.
"Yes, of course," Odin nodded.
"I will pass this information to Sierain-sama," Layanna nodded.
.
.
The Grand Magic Games Stadium was in an uproar, the people cheering excitedly for the competition to come. "Hello one and all, to the X792 Grand Magic Games-kabo!" Mato shouted from the center of the arena, a larger protection of the pumpkin-headed host appearing above him to relay his image. "This year proves to be an interesting one-kabo! And now, to introduce the guilds!"
In the commentators section, there was Chapati, joined by the former council member, Yamjima, and as a guest commentator for the day, Jenny Realight of the losing Blue Pegasus team. Blue Pegasus, even though they didn't make it, decided to sit in the stands and watch the Games anyway. "I believe we're going to have an exciting year this time around!" Chapati said with a nod.
"In first place!" Mato started as a thin smoke cloud appeared to introduce the team. "A new, upcoming guild which managed to dominate the preliminaries, Cosmic Star-kabo!" When the smoke cloud cleared, Cosmic Star was seen, waving to everyone as the crowd gave a surprised applause for them.
"Mwah!" Alex blew kisses to the audience waving after. "We're here to win!"
"In second place, we have White Eclipse!" Mato turned; spotting White Eclipse, but the lineup was a little different than he remembered. The lineup this time was Reve, Luke, Takeru, Aira, and Taya.
"White Eclipse claims to be the strongest guild in Fiore," Chapati said, mainly giving out just what he knew about them.
"They have proven their strength, but this is a competition, after all, so I look forward to see if they can put their money where their mouth is in the end," Yajima said with a nod.
"It will be interesting, I agree," Jenny said with a nod.
"In third place, another new guild has risen-kabo! Twilight Zone!" Mato shouted, and from the sidelines came Twilight Zone, all ready to go.
"Oh man, look at all these people…" Flynn said, marveling at the amount of people watching the games.
"Heh and they're all about to enter the Twilight Zone…" Rylo said with a smirk, fixing his precious top hat.
"In fourth place, lower than they had before-kabo…Fairy Tail!" Mato introduced Fairy Tail, who also had a different line up, only slightly, however. Natsu, Gray, Erza, Mirajane, and Wendy.
"We may have gotten fourth place, but we're still gonna come out number one!" Natsu said with a confident smirk, projecting his voice so everyone in the stadium could hear him.
"That's cute, Salamander…" Takeru shouted back as his own smirk started to form.
"Oh, it looks like those two have a little rivalry going on," Jenny commented, unable to help but smile slightly.
"That's just one of the many rivalries with the larger one," Yajima nodded.
"In fifth place, Quatro Ceberus!" Mato exclaimed, introducing the wild guild. "In sixth place, Lamia Scale! And with a surprising drop from last year, in seventh place, Sabertooth!"
The two guilds walked into the arena; Sting and Rouge immediately turned their eyes to Alexander of Twilight Zone. "I knew he looked familiar…" Sting mumbled to himself.
"What's wrong, Sting?" Yukino asked.
"That Alexander guy, he used to be part of Sabertooth. In fact, he trained under…"her""
"Minerva..?" Rouge asked, and then it all came back to him. "Yes…I remember now…he was her disciple…But after we lost last year and most of our members vanished, he must have too…"
"And finally, last but not least, the all-female guild, Mermaid Heel!" Mato exclaimed once again, now having formally introduced the eight guilds that will compete for number one.
"Well, I can't wait to see how much he's learned…" Sting said as a smirk formed on his lips.
On the top of the stadium, an area where no one would really look, Maggie, Kiora, Daityas, Tobias, Sora, Ruika, Horoki, Ur, Byron, Blake, Diana, Veronica, Zancrow, and Rustyrose were watching the teams introduced. "Looks like we got a pretty interesting line up this year, eh?" Maggie said while eating a bag of chips she received from Luke earlier in the day.
"I thought White Eclipse and Fairy Tail had two teams?" Byron tilted his head.
"I heard from the White Eclipse ninny that both White Eclipse B and Fairy Tail B were knocked out near the end," Maggie replied.
"I'm interested to see if Kuro will be participating in these games…" Daityas started. "I'll be quite…upset…if all that training he and I did ends up going to waste…"
"Oh…?" Diana blinked a few times, eying Luke from above, eventually nudging Blake a few times. "Look who we have over there…"
"Hm?" Blake blinked a few times before chuckling. "My, my…look at him, all grown up…"
"What are you two laughing at?" Kiora asked as she used Rustyrose as a seat.
"Oh, just someone competing, that's all, don't mind us," Diana gave a dismissive wave. "Anyway, I think things are about to start now…"
The teams returned to their respective sections after being introduced, and Mato pointed up, the scoreboard appearing; all teams at zero points, of course, but that would change soon enough. "Alright-kabo! It's now time for the beginning of the Grand Magic Games, and we'll start things off with the first event!"
"I wonder what it's gonna be…" Selene asked the others, hoping anyone of them would have an answer.
"No use asking us, Selene," Sidney replied.
"The events aren't revealed until the last second, and the rules aren't explained until later on." Calium nodded.
"Well, whatever it is, I'm sure we'll wipe the floor with the competition," Cygnus said with a cocky tone.
"I'd feel a lot better if we had that B team around…" Romeo said with a slight frown.
"Oh, don't fret!" Mavis said, appearing out of nowhere, which caused the members to jump.
"F-First master?!" Makarov said with a bit of surprise.
"Oh, hello!" Mavis said while giving a sweet smile, making herself comfortable and took a seat on the railing, kicking her feet happily. "This is my favorite time of the year, you know! I wouldn't miss this for the world!"
"She's so cute I just wanna pick her up and squeeze her!" Cynthia placed her hands on her cheeks, internally flailing.
"Kagura, huh?" Magnus eyed the Mermaid Heel ace from afar.
"What do you think about her?" Gaia asked while crossing her arms.
"She could be a threat if not…"dealt" with…" Magnus nodded.
"So, what I'm hearing is we'll want a little handicap in our favor?" Daryan asked as a slow smirk found its way onto his face. Daryan then pointed his finger forward discreetly as a tiny tan magic circle appeared.
"Daryan, no, not yet!" Magnus whispered; but it was too late, Daryan already fired a hairline thin bone at Kagura, but his timing was off. Risley stood in front of Kagura, and the hairline bone went through Risley's side, causing the gravity change mage's eyes to widen as blood started to leak out slowly, but the internal damage was great. Risley let out a shrilling shriek of pain, just as Mato was about to finally announce the event.
"W-What happened!?" Mato asked, completely confused by the sudden scream.
"R-Risley!?" Kagura's eyes widened as Risley fell over.
"Is she okay?!" Milliana's eyes widened as much as they could, while the other guilds were in bewilderment at the current situation.
"What the…?" Evanee turned, looking around at all the guilds, but to her, no one, not even Cosmic Star, seemed suspicious at the time.
"I-It appears Risley Law of Mermaid Heel has been injured…somehow…!" Jenny said with a shocked tone and expression.
"Alright a member down…?" Erza turned to Mermaind Heel, mainly to face Kagura, but Kagura left to put Risley in the infirmary. "We haven't even started yet and something is going on…"
"Is Mermaid Heel out ALREADY?" Kiora said in a disappointed tone. "I guess I couldn't expect much from a group of bimbos…"
"Pssh, weak…" Veronica sighed.
"I-I guess Mermaid Heel can't compete without a replacement…kabo…" Mato said after regaining his composure.
"Who said they didn't have a replacement!?" A voice said form Mermaid Heel's section.
"They have someone else…?" Lucy asked as she looked over.
Just at the moment, Melody hopped out, grinning widely, though her appearance shocked those who knew her. "Melody Silver: Silver Make Mage of Mermaid Heel, at your service!"
Veronica jumped back, looking pale, almost as if she'd see a ghost, unable to even form a coherent sentence. "T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T…."
"Use your words, love," Maggie said while raising a brow to Veronica.
"W-What is SHE doing here!?" Juvia shouted, being held back by Gray.
"I'm pretty sure I shot her in the stomach several months ago…" Reve said while narrowing his eyes at Melody.
"I'll have a talk with Kagura about this later…" Erza nodded slowly.
"W-Well! It appears they do have a replacement! So now we can finally get started!" Mato nodded as the crowd cheered. Eight contestants came down and into the middle of the arena near Mato. Mirajane, Luke, Yakuza, Melody, Rocker, Sting, Toby, and Flynn, were the ones who decided to do the first events. "Everyone's here-kabo? Well, let's begin!" Mato grinned, and took a few steps back; seconds later a large tower shot up from the ground, reaching a good distance into the sky. "This is the first event! The Tower Climb!"
"That…is a very big tower…" Flynn blinked a few times.
"I don't…do heights…" Melody's face comically turned white as she stared up at the tower.
"Here are the rules! Once you step inside the tower, the only way to go is up! The tower will collapse form the bottom up, leaving only the finishing platform standing, so if you fall out and hit the ground, you're automatically out!" Mato explained. "The winner is the first person who reaches the top platform." As the pumpkin headed host explained, the eight contestants walked into the tower, noticing the intricate design of the interior, along with floating platforms, sturdy walls, and only one path; up.
"Why do I feel like he's leaving something out…?" Zalen asked as the lacrima screens popped up, giving the viewers a look inside the tower to watch the competition.
"Are they competitors ready…? Begin!" Mato shouted.
"Let's rock!" Luke immediately used his surprisingly well leg strength up hop from platform to platform, beginning his ascend.
"You're not leaving me in the dust, copy cat!" Sting shouted, running to a wall and using his momentum to run up it for a few seconds, performing a backflip as he landed on a platform in hot pursuit.
"Let's get IT STARTED OOOOON!" Toby shouted, following behind Sting and Luke, only to be in front of Rocker, who just started.
"Ha! You four enjoy the long way!" Flynn smirked, getting in a running position, and used his speed magic to his advantage as he raced up the wall of the interior, gunning for the top without delay.
"He reminds me of Racer, somewhat…" Mirajane thought to herself as a magic circle appeared over her body, and she entered her Satan Soul takeover, immediately bursting off into the air.
"Hey, wait up!" Melody shouted as she placed her fist into her palm as a silver magic circle appeared. "Silver Make: Grapping Hook!" From the silver magic circle, a grappling hook shot out, wrapping around Mirajane's leg just before she was out of reach, pulling up Melody who let out a yelp from Mirajane's speed.
"Idiots…" Yakuza merely stepped on the ground, creating a black glacier that rose up; an idea he got from Waiston. After Yakuza made his move, the bottom of the tower started to crumble.
"Hey, that's my thing!" Waiston shouted, rather infuriated.
"Calm down, Waiston!" Nami said, urging the ice dragon slayer to calm down.
"H-Hey…get off!" Mirajane shouted to Melody who decided to hitch a ride, shaking her leg in attempt to get her off.
"N-Never!" Melody replied, tightening her grip on the grappling hook, which also started to squeeze Mirajane's leg, slowly cutting off the circulation in that leg, but neither party was aware of this at the moment.
"Chow time, Copy Cat!" Sting shouted, making a huge leap upward, landing on a platform higher than anyone else at the moment. Sting cupped his hands together, creating a blinding white sphere of light in the empty space, then threw his hands forward, unleashing multiple rays of light down on the other contestants. "White Dragon's Holy Ray!"
"Gah!" Luke spread his hands out, creating a crystallized ice shield in front of him. "Ice Make: Shield!" The shield held on, as not all of the holy rays were aimed at Luke, so it only received little damage in the end.
"Wild!" Rocker grinned, using his Drill 'N Rock magic to rotate his entire left arm as though it was a drill, and he easily smacked away any holy ray's coming in his direction.
"That's how ya do it, Rocker!" Bacchus shouted from the QC section.
"Tch…" Mirajane didn't want to risk any risky movements, especially with the extra weight on her leg, so she merely covered up, allowing a few holy rays to strike her, but with her durability, she really didn't take much damage, and Melody was unharmed, enjoying the ride so far despite the demon's attempts to throw her off.
"OOON!" Toby shouted, getting into things as he actually evaded the holy rays Sting sent, and surprised the white dragon slayer by extending his paralyzing claws, aiming a slash at Sting, but he managed to dodge, just barely, and Toby rolled onto another platform.
"Ha, slowpokes!" Flynn shouted, evading the Holy Ray's just by being fast, continuing his trek up the wall.
"Don't even look back, Flynn!" Rylo shouted.
"Troublesome…" Yakuza took the holy rays head on, coming out with minimal damage. He was staying behind everyone else, but still ahead of the falling tower, still riding his black glacier to the top. Yakuza clenched his fist, causing a black ice spike to appear just in front of Flynn. "Evade that."
"GAH!" Flynn slid to a halt, a crucial mistake as he lost all of his momentum, and fell from the wall, landing on his back on a platform.
"Wow, this is already starting off pretty intense!" Jenny said with an amazed smile.
"Things have just started and already all eight competitors are giving it their all!"
"Come on, Luke; don't let the blondie beat ya!" Heather shouted.
The eight competitors traveled up the tower with no real difficult, making it about halfway…that's when things really started to pick up. Erza couldn't help but notice the snicker of Mato. "What's he laughing for…?"
"GET OFF ALREADY!" Mirajane shouted in a highly annoyed tone, starting to lose feeling in the leg Melody had her grappling hook around as she flailed said leg around.
"MAKE ME!" Melody replied. Just then, a large tile of the tower moved up, and a moderately sized magic cannon appeared in front of Melody and Mirajane.
"Is that a cannon," Kairi asked with her jaw dropping slightly.
"Mira, watch out!" Lucy shouted.
"OHP! GOTTA GO!" Melody immediately released her old on Mirajane, falling down, but she quickly used her Silver Make to make two Hookshots, using those to regain her momentum.
"Gah…!" Mirajane immediately flew up in a quick burst, the magic cannon firing just as she did so, blasting an entire section of the continually crumbling tower.
"I knew he was hiding something!" Zalen shouted.
"What's that about!?" Beth shouted.
"Well, it wouldn't be fun if the contestants were only fighting each other to the top…so why not have the tower join in no the fun-kabo?" Mato replied. "Don't worry, they aren't strong enough to kill someone-kabo! Injury on the other hand..."
"Oh isn't this just great?!" Flynn shouted as he used his speed to hop from platform, seeing as how the wall was not an option anymore with the multitude of cannons now forming.
"OON!" Toby shouted, now jumping behind Sting, who was behind Luke, who was now behind Rocker. Mirajane and Melody were bringing up the rear, along with Yakuza, who continued to his black glaciers to ascend.
"Toby-dono, watch out!" Jura shouted, but it was too late. A magic cannon took aim at Toby, and fired, landing a direct hit, knocking Toby out without any trouble, and the Lamia Scale mage fell to the ground, meaning Lamia Scale automatically gained no points since Toby was the first to fall off, meaning he attained last place.
"And Lamia Scale gets last place automatically!" Chapati shouted.
"That's one down…" Yakuza said with a grin, his ascend now accelerating as he shot past Mirajane and Melody, who were catching up on the others.
"Now…" Mirajane said to herself as she released her true speed, shooting past Sting, Luke, and Rocker, and Flynn.
"Whoa, she's fast!" Rocker said in amazement as Mirajane shot past them.
"Not faster than me!" Flynn replied as he activated his slowly magic, slowing down the other contestants by about 50%, using this as an advantage to hop above Mirajane, who had no time to react to the powerful axe kick Flynn delivered, sending Mirajane hurtling down.
"Nice one, Fylnn!" Tsami shouted with glee.
"Go, Flynn!" Melanie cheered.
"Not bad…" Caelestis thought to himself.
"Byyyye!" Melody shouted as Mirajane fell past her, shooting her double hook shots to ascend herself.
Another magic cannon took aim, this time at the three mages currently battling for second place; Luke, Sting, and Rocker. "Ah, shit…" Luke exclaimed, immediately using a spell he copied from Tobias long ago. "Magic Guard!" And a blue barrier appeared around Luke, increasing his magical defense.
"That little shit is using my magic!" Tobias shouted.
"Nobody cares, now hush," Kiora replied. "Good thing nobody picked dog boy as their choice."
"I bet the Demon's gonna take it in the end," Horoki replied.
"Nah, it's totally gonna be the Ice guy, bet," Byron nodded.
"That's what we're doing, smart guy…" Ur replied. "Now hush…"
The Magic cannon fired, striking the three mages directly. The impact sent Sting and Rocker anding on two different platforms, while Luke was still on the same platform, the damage cut from the blast so he wasn't knocked out, but he was now balancing himself on the edge of a platform so he wouldn't fall. "G-Gah…"
"Keep your balance!" Aira shouted.
Mirajane, having recovered from Flynn's strike earlier, landed on the platform Luke was trying to stay balanced on, and with a sweet smile on her now demonic face, she tapped Luke's chest with her foot, causing the copy mage to fall over. "Have a nice fall~" Mirajane giggled before bursting off again.
"GAH!" Luke shouted, falling, but his eyes shifted from Melody to Yakuza, who had a rather large glacier going. "Ice Make: Grappling Hook!" Luke shouted, sending a grappling hook to a part of Yakuza's ongoing glacier, using it to support himself as he launched himself up, now ahead of Yakuza. "Ice Make: Kite!" And with that, a kite made of ice appeared on Luke's back, quickly picking up any and all wind currents under him, which sent him soaring into the sky.
"Nice save, Luke!" Skye shouted, though she looked rather tired, despite her exuberance.
Rocker and Sting were now battling for second place; literally. Sting infused his fist with white energy, throwing it towards Rocker, but the wild made dodged it, and spun his entire leg like a drill, landing a devastating kick to Sting's face, sending the White Dragon hurtling from the platform, unable to do anything to recover, Sting landed on the ground, in seventh place.
"Sabertooth is out?!" Mato shouted in surprise.
"WILD ROCKER! KEEP IT UP!" Blues shouted.
"S-Sting!" Yukino gasped as Sting hit the ground.
"Sting-kun!" Lector said with widened eyes.
"HA! The Blonde is down!" Ruika said with a mocking laugh. "Who's the poor sap who bet on him?"
With a groan, Maggie and Blake slowly slid their jewels over. "Stupid…" They both mumbled at the same time.
"I wonder if anyone will actually make it to the top or will it just come down to the last one standing…" Mavis thought aloud.
"If that's the case, Mirajane has this in the bag! She's the strongest one in there!" Levy said with a nod.
"I wonder if she can take a full hit from the magic cannon…" Cynthia thought to herself.
"Only six of them left, and Flynn is in the lead so far…" Taranis said with a nod.
"Let's hope he can stay there…" Evanee mumbled quietly.
"Only six left, and I'm taking that first place!" Flynn shouted, his slowing magic still on, which is why he seemed so fast to everyone else.
"Damn, never gonna catch that guy…!" Melody groaned before she got an idea. "Ah ha! Alright, it's dynamic time…Silver Make: Wings!" Melody held onto her hookshots, but now a pair of beautiful silver wings appeared on her back, which she used to take flight, now catching up to Mirajane.
"So far there's Flynn, me, Rocker, Mirajane, Melody, and Yakuza…in that order…" Luke thought to himself, Rocker hot on his trail as they crossed the three quarter mark, which only resulted in one thing: More Magic Cannons. "AH CRAP."
Luckily for Luke, a magic cannon wasn't aimed at him again, this time a one shot at Yakuza's glacier, destroying it completely as the Ice god fell. "Shit…!" Yakuza clapped his hands together, creating black ice from the air, which happened to be a set of his own platforms, which he used to now hop to the top.
"I got this in the bag!" Flynn said with a grin, catching sight of the finish line.
"Are you sure?" Mirajane asked as she now appeared on Flynn's side, in her Halphas form to negate the effects of Flynn's slowing magic somewhat, her hands cupped as a cosmic like sphere formed in her hands.
"GANOANVAON!" Flynn jumped to an out of the way platform, just barely avoiding Mirajane's attack; but it was thanks to this that Mirajane now snagged the lead, Luke in second, Melody in third, Rocker in fourth close behind, and Yakuza now passed Flynn, taking fifth place.
"Flynn, get up!" Alexander shouted.
"Gah…" Flynn groaned, seeing that not only had everyone gotten ahead of him, but he was about to fall due to the crumbling tower, AND the magic cannons decided to be happy and fire all over the place. "THIS IS WAY MORE COMPLICATED THAN IT NEEDS TO BE."
"Almost…there…" Mirajane mumbled to herself, but she found that another grappling hook wrapped around her legs, slowing her down. "W-What the…!?" Mrajane turned around only to find that both Melody and Luke had used grappling hooks to slow the demon down.
"This is my ride!" Melody shouted.
"I'm borrowing her for just a second!" Luke shouted. "We're almost there, as you can see…and I just need…A LITTLE BOOST!" With a smirk, Luke released Mirajane, allowing his ice kite to pick up even more air which shot him forward, and onto the platform, landing first place.
"THAT'S MY BOY!" Reve shouted.
"Oh wow…" Diana said with some surprise. "Copycat won…"
"NOT SO FAST!" Flynn shouted as a magic circle appeared underneath his feet. "MACH 3!" Once again, the speedster hopped forward, his speed surprising the remaining contestants as Flynn sped his way into second place.
"ATTA BOY FYLNN!" Rylo shouted. With a slight growl, Mirajane attempted another burst forward, but before she could, Yakuza slid his way into third place, surprising Mirajane as she crossed fourth, and since Melody was literally right behind her, she got fifth, while Rocker crossed last, getting sixth for his team, and the tower had crumbled to nothing, and the platform at the top descended onto the ground.
"We have our winner-kabo!" Mato shouted. "In first place, White Eclipse! In second, Twilight Zone, third; Cosmic Star; fourth: Fairy Tail; Fifth: Mermaid Heel; Sixth: Quatro Cerberus; Seventh: Sabertooth, and last but not least, in last place so far, Lamia Scale!"
Mirajane allowed her takeover to vanish as she looked on with a slight frown. "Fourth…?"
"Don't worry, sweet cheeks," Yakuza replied. "It's only the beginning, after all."
"You did great, Mira-nee!" Lisanna shouted.
"A Man acknowledges when his sister did the best of her ability!" Elfman nodded.
"LUKE!" White Eclipse shouted in glee.
"Heh…just in a day's work…" Luke winced, his body now covered in heavy injuries as he and the other guilds returned to their respective areas.
"Not bad," Adam nodded.
"That was a little close…that speed guy almost had it…" Luke replied.
"You did great, Cloud," Reve said while patting Luke on the back.
"You don't look so hot…" Heather replied as she looked Luke over.
"I'm fine," Luke replied with a nod.
"No you're not," Aira interrupted. "That cannon hit pretty hard, didn't it?"
"Well yeah, but…" Luke started, but before he could continue, Heather started to drag him off.
"You're resting, someone fill in for him for the rest of the day," Heather demanded.
"W-Wait! I have to stay and watch the battles! It's a rule!" Luke protested.
"Jaxon, you up for it?" Reve asked.
"Of course!" Jaxon nodded.
"Third place? Not bad, but it could've been better…" Gaia said.
"That cannon tripped me up…" Yakuza replied.
"Don't worry about it; the battle segments are next!" Alex nodded.
"Not a bad start, of course…" Erza nodded to Mirajane, and then looked at the score board. "White Eclipse: 10. Twilight Zone: 8. Cosmic Star: 6. Fairy Tail: 4. Mermaid Heel: 3. Quatro Cerberus: 2. Sabertooth: 1, and Lamia Scale: 0."
"One point…that's a large difference from last year…" Rouge commented.
"Sorry guys…" Sting said with a groan.
"Don't worry, Sting-kun! You'll knock them dead in the next round!" Lector said reassuringly.
"Now it's time for the first battle of the day!" Mato said with an enlarged grin. "First off, we have Twilight Zone's Rylo Yukata vs. Lamia Scale's Jura Neekis!"
"A wizard saint…?" Rylo's eyes widened in a comical fashion.
"Ah, come on, you got it!" Flynn said reassuringly.
"You can do it, Jura!" Chelia shouted out.
"You better win, Jura, or I will spin you!" Ooba shouted, actually spinning Toby for losing the event before.
Rylo and Jura walked into the arena, the crowd cheering. "Rylo, is it?" Jura asked.
"That's right, Jura," Rylo nodded.
"Ah…Well, I'm sure you will give me a fine battle, Rylo-dono," Jura said with a bow of respect, then gave a nonchalant smirk to Rylo, stroking his beard as he started to speak again. "But, I must apologize to you beforehand; I am not going to hold back…"
.
.
The best place to hide was in plain sight. Heartless and Little Queen were among the crowd within the Grand Magic Games, but a little off to the side so nobody would get nosy. "So, this is the Grand Magic Games. Wow..." Little Queen looked at the events and the incoming fights in awe. "Everyone's fighting so hard..."
"Yes. That's exactly what we're here for." Heartless said. "All of these wizards clashing, using their magic." She had the same tubes as before, watching as they steadily filled up. But since there was so much magic in the air, the rate was faster than before. "We lost some ground when he left us, but this event is perfect for what we need."
"Yes." Little Queen nodded slowly. "This is the perfect place to harvest magic."
"For exactly one week, Fiore will be playing right into our hands, without even knowing it." Heartless said calmly. Her eyes then peered over towards Rylo vs Jura. No matter the outcome of the Grand Magic Games, these two were going to come out the winners for whatever scheme they were working for...