109

Lucy stood in front of a giant water sphere along with Jenny, Rocker, Minerva, and a few others from the remaining guilds. She could already understand what it was that they had to do, but the question was...How were they going to breathe?

"Alright! The first game of the day is an underwater battle royale! All you have to do is go into this sphere behind me - don't worry, you'll be able to breathe just fine - and while you're in there all of you will have to knock the other out of the water. Whoever is the last one in the sphere wins the match. Now, is everyone ready?" said the announcer. Lucy and the others nodded their heads. "Alright, let the match and game begin!" Lucy jumped up and entered the water sphere and waited for the others to enter. Once they were in, the game really started.

"Open, Gate of the Water Bearer: Aquarius!" Lucy called out, summoning the most vicious spirit she had under contract. Aquarius appeared in a flash of golden light with an expression of pure rage, making Lucy feel nervous. 'Oh boy...'

"You dare summon me while I was on my date?!" the water bearer shouted and twisted the water all around them, knocking out quite a few of Lucy's opponents from the water sphere and almost Lucy herself. Luckily she was able to hold on, but as she looked up to the mermaid spirit she felt extra cold. "If you ever call me while I'm on a date again...you won't live to regret it!" Aquarius said calmly, but with a deadly edge to her tone.

Lucy gulped, "I'll make sure to ask next time." The water bearer left after that, leaving only Lucy, Sheeria, and Minerva.

Lucy grabbed another of her golden keys, but before she could summon the spirit to kick the rest out, Minerva kicked Sherria in the gut, harder than Lucy thought possible underwater, and the poor girl's face twisted in pain and gasped for breath. With the power behind the kick, Sherria was propelled out of the sphere. Now it was just Lucy and Minerva of Sabertooth.

Lucy narrowed her eyes, remembering what Natsu and Harry told her about this one being the one to capture and scare Happy. She held up the gold key in her hand and was about to summon the spirit, but five, dark, multi-colored orbs appeared around her. She paused in confusion, not knowing when they got there or how they got there without her notice. She saw them moving closer, so she quickly reached out for her whip, but just as her fingers brushed the handle, the orbs exploded.

Pain was all she felt. Lucy could feel her bones cracking under the pressure from both the explosion and water moving in and out - like hand kneading dough. She tried to get away and dodge Minerva's next attack, but she couldn't. The Sabertooth mage punched her in the gut, causing her to gasp for breath.

Minerva was relentless in her attacks, not giving Lucy any time to breathe. Lucy knew she was just going to have to wait it out until Minerva got tired of playing with her.

After a minute of endless pain, Minerva finally grabbed her by the head. Lucy knew she couldn't use any of her keys, but she thought about what to do, and she believed it was time. Lucy inhaled and a magic circle appeared in front of her.

"Winter Dragon's Roar!" Lucy's mouth opened wide, sending thick, sharp shards of ice - thousands of them - at Minerva. As the Sabertooth mage was pushed back and sliced, Lucy folded her arms in front of her, freezing the water sphere at the same time. Lucy willed the sphere to split down the middle but saved a small portion of it around her. Once the cracks met, she spread them open like wings, making sure she stayed in a smaller sphere, but Minerva was dropped out.

She watched as Minerva fell out of the frozen sphere and onto the dirt ground of the arena.

"Lucy Heartfilia is the winner!"

The crowd cheered all around Harry, and he joined them in the celebration.

"Why aren't you shocked?!" asked quite a few members of his guild. Harry stopped cheering and turned to them with a smile.

"I knew Lucy was a dragon slayer, but I promised not to tell anyone. If you wish to know more, ask her yourself, because I don't know," said Harry with a smile.

"You knew?! How? When?" asked Makarov.

"I knew about it back when we were fighting Phantom Lord."

"Well," began Hermione, "it appears that Natsu and the rest of our team are planning on interrogating her." Harry looked up and saw she was right. Natsu looked shocked and brimming with questions. It looked painful with how tightly the dragon slayer was gripping the rail to stop himself from jumping down into the arena and demanding answers. The others, mostly Gray, were not far behind.

"I'm sure she'll tell everyone tonight," Harry said reassuringly to his guildmates.

"You're right, Harry," said Mira with a confident smile.

Harry looked down when he noticed that the first match was about to start. They were doing tag team matches, which was interesting. He wondered how well Natsu would last if he teamed up with Gajeel, Laxus, or Gray. He was sure Natsu would be fine teaming up with Erza or Lucy, but with the kind of beating Lucy got, Harry was sure she wasn't going to enter any more fights today. Harry didn't have much hope with the others. Natsu would eventually kick them out and fight by himself.

'The question is when he'll do that? But he's not fighting right now,' Harry thought.

{What in the world is that?} Harry heard Fawkes say and looked down to see Ichiya from Blue Pegasus and a...bunny?

{Why is that guy wearing a bunny costume?} asked Harry.

{I don't know, but what makes this even more freaky is that he is in perfect in sync with Ichiya,} said Fawkes with a shudder.

Harry felt his own body shiver at the thought. {You're right. What is under that mask? Is it Ichiya's twin or something?}

{I HOPE NOT!} cried Fawkes in terror.

A little while into the fight, Harry and Fawkes got their answer. {OH NOOOOO! THEY MET!} They shouted in panic and dismay. Harry was even sure he heard his thoughts being spoken out loud by someone else, but he wasn't sure. The face under the bunny mask was Ichiya's exceed clone from Edo. Both Harry and Fawkes had prayed that those two would never meet, but Harry should have known that his luck wouldn't have allowed him that luxury.

To make this situation more horrifying, Harry watched was Nichiya the exceed bulk up with Ichiya's perfume and defeat both the Quatro Puppy's in one hit.

"Why are they so creepy?" asked Harry softly.

{I don't know...} replied Fawkes.

Harry watched as another fight came and went, and the third and final match was with, and Harry made a face here, Natsu and Gajeel VS Sting and Rouge.

{You don't have a lot of hope of Natsu not kicking Gajeel out of this fight, do you?} asked Fawkes.

{Do you?}

{No...I see your point. Natsu would find a way to get rid of Gajeel and take both of them on. It's only a matter of when it will happen.}

{Exactly...}

TBC

I was going to place part of Natsu and Gajeel's fight in this chapter, but since I'm going to stop updating after this month until Easter, I'm not. That fight is far too long, and I don't have the time. What am I doing? I'm making an animation for a story coloring book I made last year for Easter. It's going to take me a while to finish it - again, I don't have an animation team. :( So I'm going to have to focus on that if I want to get it done on time.

Harry: What's a story coloring book?

Enj/Dark: It's like a normal storybook, but the pictures don't have any color, so those reading it will have fun doing that. They can make the characters any color they want.

Natsu: Oh, that sounds cool. That would be perfect for little kids. They get to interact with the story they're reading in a way.

Enj/Dark: Exactly! It will encourage them to read. My niece is proof of that.

Zeref: Whose turn is it?

Voldy: Hopefully not mine.

Enj/Dark: I don't remember. Natsu, you go.

Natsu: Please review!