Back again, really got the urge to write!
Enjoy!
Elise was playing with her feet in the water as the others who passed their test showed up out of the tunnels, but she couldn't care less about that. She was still at full power from not actually getting to fight anyone, which sort of irked her if it wasn't for the slight advantage it gave her.
"Hey, there you are." Elise turned to find Drake standing behind her, smiling. "I see you made it."
"Yeah, safe route." She replied. "I got lucky."
"Hm. I had to fight Simon." The Poison Dragon sat down next to Elise, and she smiled dryly.
"Must have been hard."
"No shit." Drake stretched, yawning. "I managed easily enough, though." Elise nodded and played with the water a bit more. "Nashi here?"
"No, not yet." She replied. "Can you hear her?"
"Too many other people, wouldn't be able to tell. I can't smell her either." Elise knew that, due to the amount of people here, both of their enhanced senses were not working very well. She couldn't really discern anyone specific smell amidst all the sweat, blood, and various other smells.
"Alright, everyone here?" Elise turned to find Laxus walking up to them through the brush, but she had no idea where he'd come from. "Good, I'll start telling you the results." As he began to list off names, Elise noted the people looking rather proud of themselves.
"Still don't see her." Drake said, and Elise nodded, not really listening.
"Drake, for his victory over Simon." Everyone looked over at Drake, and Elise could smell the arrogance leaking from him as they did so. Elise also noted a few girls from other guild branches giggling and winking at him, but he payed them no mind.
"I think you have some more fangirls." She told him, pointing them out. He groaned under his breath.
"Great. The last thing I need are girls I don't know hitting on me."
"I figured you'd like that, as a guy."
"You really don't know me at all, do you? Fangirls don't care who I am as a person, only what I'm capable of."
"Yeah, keep telling yourself that."
"Rocky, for defeating Derek." Elise didn't know who this Derek was, but apparently he'd been no match for the earthen wizard. Rocky, however, seemed rather observant of the faces around him as well. Probably seeing if Nashi made it so he could fight her later on. "Elise Redfox, for taking the safe route."
"Yay me." Elise say nonchalantly, earning a few laughs. "I did so good, look at me." After a few more names, Laxus stopped naming people.
"Asuka, for defeating Ultear." Elise smiled as the gun mage laughed, defeating Ul was no easy task.
"Good for her." Drake said.
"Alright, now that that's..." Just as he began to speak, something kicked rocks in one of the tunnels. Everyone turned back to the rock face to find none other than Nashi walked out of the tunnel, and Laxus choked.
"Hey," She greeted Drake and Elise, ignoring everyone else. "Did I miss something?"
"Except for the looks everyone is giving you, not much." Elise replied, watching as Nashi took notice of the staring, which made her blush and wave awkwardly.
"Uh..." Laxus managed. "And, uh...Nashi Dragneel, for defeating Natsu..." Elise nearly fell over, Drake choked and began to cough. Everyone else started to whisper something fierce, all while Nashi just stood there with a airheaded smile on her face.
"Just how strong is she?"
"She beat her Dad? Mavis..."
"She's kind of cute, you know, for a monstrously powerful wizard..."
"A-Anyways," Laxus said, clearing his throat, "Now that we have everyone here, let me explain the next leg of the exam." Elise watched him do a head count of everyone there, nodding to himself. "Alright, out of the twenty people who could be here, fourteen people made it. That makes seven teams of two.
...
"What?" Elise asked, voicing everyone's confusion. "You said we were doing this without a partner."
"I did." Laxus replied. "I said you didn't pick a partner." Elise didn't like the dirty word play her Master had used, as he had obviously partnered them all off for whatever was next. "The next exam will see how well you work together with another wizard. The test is simple. On the opposite side of the island is a finish line, and only three teams can get past it for the next exam."
"So basically six people." Nashi pointed out, and Laxus nodded. "Why do it in teams then? Just do it with six people."
"To see how well you work with others." Laxus replied. "Just because you can all handle yourselves doesn't mean you can do it with someone else." Now Elise just hoped she'd get paired up with someone she knew, she didn't want to field questions from someone who didn't know her at all. "After all, not everyone is a team player."
"I can see the logic, I guess." Drake drove his elbows into both the girls on either side of him. "Let's just hope we get paired off together."
"Don't get your hopes up Drake." Nashi replied. "Gramps knows we work well together, why would he pair us off?"
"Damn it, good point." Drake swore, sounding upset. Elise chuckled.
"No hard feelings if Nashi and I thrash you." She said, earning a chuckle. Laxus began to pair people off, usually the other branches among themselves.
"Drake and Asuka." Laxus said, and Drake sighed in relief.
"Nice," he commented as the gun mage made her way over."
"Good thing I got stuck with you, huh?" Asuka asked gently, smiling at Drake who nodded.
"Better you than someone I don't know." he agreed, highfiving her.
"Elise and Sammy."
"...Fuck." Elise slammed her head into the tree next to them in frustration at that announcement. She really didn't like Sammy, they're personalities clashed way to badly. Where she liked to rush in and attack, he preferred to hang back and wait. This was going to be a long exam.
"Wait a minute..." Nashi said, her face growing pale. "Uh oh."
"What?" Asuka asked.
"I think I'm stuck with..."
"Rocky and Nashi."
"I hate you."
"No, I hate you." Both of them glared at each other angrily, trying to kill each other with stares. Nashi tried her hardest to seem deadly with her eyes, but Rocky didn't back down. They were currently sitting together on a log, a map of the route to the finish line in Rocky's hand. They were supposed to be thinking of the fastest way there, but neither of them could move past their hatred, not even for a moment.
"I hope you realize," Rocky pointed out. The exams are over for the two of us."
"How so?" Nashi asked.
"Because this exam requires teamwork." he replied. "that is not a trait we both posses in each others presence, sadly. So..."
"I still hate you." This caused another glaring session, both absolutely livid. They'd already spent a good ten minutes trying to convince Laxus it was a bad idea, but he didn't budge. They were stuck with each other.
"Alright everyone, times up." Laxus shouted. "Good luck, you'll need it." With that, he disappeared in a bolt of lightning and the booming of thunder, leaving the fourteen contestants to leave. Nashi stretched and began to walk in the direction she felt like, and Rocky growled.
"Where the hell are you going?" he demanded. "We'e going this way."
"I don't want to." Nashi replied flatly. "I want to go this way."
"It's the wrong way, Dragneel."
"No it isn't."
"Yeah, it is."
"Fuck off Rocky, I don't need you."
"You want to get any farther in these exams, you sort of do." Both glared at each other for a moment as the other contestants wandered off in various directions, obviously looking for the right route. "Plus, this place is kind of dangerous to do alone."
"Aw, are you worried for my safety, Rocky?" Nashi teased, "That's so cute, really." He growled as he walked up to her.
"Listen Dragneel, I know we aren't friends. As a matter of fact, I despise you." Nashi crossed her arms angrily as Rocky insulted her. "Your ugly, your difficult, your insane, your moody, Mavis knows what goes on in that head of yours." He shrugged. "Fact of the matter is, we have to work together. I don't want to, you don't want t, but we don't have a choice."
"It's rare for anything sensible to come out of your mouth, Rocky." Nashi pointed out. "I'm sort of impressed your head isn't filled with what your named after." He didn't reply to her insult, but she shrugged. "Besides, your right. Even if we can't get long, we will have to work this out somehow."
"I'll never thank you again, but thank you." Nashi nodded and continued to walk away. "Did you actually even hear a word said, Dragneel?!"
"I heard you, but we're going this way." Nashi replied, giving him an innocent, yet snarky look. "Problem?" He muttered something, presumably an insult, under his breath and shrugged indifferently, walking a fair distance behind her. For a moment for two it was silent, and almost not that bad.
"It's not the right way." he informed her.
"If it means you lose, all the better."
"I lose, so do you. We're a team right now, remember? Or are you too caught up in being a bitch?" Nashi did her best to prevent the literal explosion she felt on the way, trying to block Rocky's words out. "Because quite honestly, I don't know how your friends can stand you if you're like this all the time."
"Same goes to you, fuckhead." Nashi quipped. "I don't know how anyone stands you."
"I'll have you know that away from you I'm a likable individual. It's just you I enjoy being an asshole to."
"Of course, how could I not have guessed that?" Nashi shrugged. "How could I possibly not see the single rudest, idiotic, retarded looking, moronic person in my life as a good person?"
"Listen up, Dragneel..."
"You can talk all you want, but I'm not listening in the slightest."
Laxus sighed as he and the others watched the broadcast from base camp. The people here consisted of those who were put out to stop others, like Simon, Ultear, and Natsu, and those who had already lost.
"Why did you pair those two together?" Simon demanded, irritation quite apparent. "They can't stand each other whatsoever."
"That's the point." Laxus replied. "The test was all about trusting whoever you got stuck with, which is why I didn't let them pick whoever they wanted. Putting Nashi and Rocky together and seeing them past this round will prove they can work together with anyone."
"But this is beyond petty hatred." Ultear tried. "They genuinely would not care if the other was killed brutally right in front of them. I'd wager Rocky would actually like it too turn out that way."
"Again, all the more reason why pairing them up made sense, don't you think?" Laxus asked. "If they really want to be S-Class, they have to prove they are agreeable, and can get along with those around them even in the worst of situations."
"Coming from you." Natsu said with a snicker, which made Laxus falter. "You were the biggest douchebag on the planet before Gramps threw you out of the guild, remember?"
"Don't remind me." Laxus hissed. He knew it was true that he had been rather unlike what he was looking for in this test, but hell, he'd been a completely different person back then. So had Natsu, believe it or not. "Besides, we all got over our initial distrust of Gajeel, so why can't this be any different, just short term?"
"Fair enough." Natsu replied, leaning back in his chair. "But if that guy does anything to her I don't like, I'm going out there and I'm going to kill him." Laxus chuckled at the overprotective look on Natsu's face. Turning back to the screen showed Laxus a shot of Nashi and Rocky rolling around in the dirt, yelling at and punching each other. He face palmed as others laughed.
Maybe it was a mistake.
So Nashi and Rocky get stuck together, that sucks.
Anyway I though of something. Seeing as the asking questions thing sort of went downhill, how about I ask you guys questions? You can just leave your answer in a review or PM, it doesn't matter which. So, we'll start off easy!
Who's your favorite character in this story?
And I don't mean people like Natsu or Erza, who already existed. I mean the characters I made, like Nashi or Damien.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed, leave a review! Seeing as we've always hit it lately, let's try and get ten!