The snowy mountains in north Fiore, otherwise known as the home to Fiore's current number one guild: White Eclipse. Busy as always, this is the reason they were unable to deal with the affairs Fairy Tail had dealt with. While Fairy Tail was off in Joya, White Eclipse was dealing with their own affairs: training new recruits. That's right, many new mages wanted to join the prestigious guild, and they would be dubbed the rookies. With a few exceptions of course. Early morning right outside, there was a lady with short red/orange hair that reached down to her neck, orange eyes, and had a long sleeved coat and pants walked past several of the new rookies, giving a stern glare at all of them. This was Mary Crane, Kuro's teacher and one of the originals of White Eclipse. "It's time for the boot camp. Anyone want to get their complaints out of the way before we begin? You got one minute, rookies." Mary stated, grinning slightly because she could see through the nervousness the rookies tried to hide. Not to mention…the rookies were still in their pajamas, it was very early in the morning.
"I-I didn't think it would be so early…" One of the new recruits, Micaiah spoke. Micaiah was a somewhat short, female with long silver hair that reached down to the small of her back, tied together with a blue ribbon, yellow eyes…and was not as well-endowed as most females in the area; at least she had a rear to compensate. The woman was in her pajamas, rubbing her arms to keep cool in the cold mountain air.
"I-Is it me…o-or did this mountain just get a bit colder…?" The Fusion Make mage, Tyson Bryant spoke while shivering. Tyson was a well-built male with messy black hair and green eyes…unfortunately for him he was in nothing but a t-shirt and shorts, he looked like he literally just got out of bed…because, well, he did.
The next recruit was a tall male, reaching just over 6 feet with spiky red hair and brown eyes. This was Ralo Reiss, though he often preferred to go by Reiss. "I-It's not that cold…!" Reiss protested to Tyson's claim, forcing his frozen lips into a smirk just to get under the skin of the fusion make mage. Even with this claim, this didn't mean Reiss wasn't freezing to the core, especially since he had just as much clothing on as Tyson early in the morning.
"Reiss-kun…Ty-san…" An attractive red-head with red eyes pouted to intervene between what would be a verbal fight between Reiss and Tyson. This was Evelyn Harber, yet another new recruit to the establishment. "It's too early for this…!"
"I agree…" Saraya was the next rookie that spoke; a young woman with long dark blonde hair, a unique shade of beautiful purple eyes and blue lines that painted her skin in various locations. She was standing next to Anais, a female with mint green hair and blue eyes. Both of them were shivering in their slippers.
"Come on guys, it's not so bad out here…!" Perhaps the only one who was somewhat ready for the early morning workout; Jin, the younger brother to Jaxon, a current S class of White Eclipse. Though the resemblance between the two was highly similar, the difference was Jin had red hair, one yellow eye, and one black eye.
"That's enough talk." Mary cut everyone off, forcing all eyes on her. "Here's how we're opening this up, rookies. You're going to run up and down this mountain five times, all before Marlene is finished cooking breakfast. If you make it before she's done, congrats, you get to eat. If you don't, well, you've missed breakfast. Oh and one more thing…you're to do this without magic."
"W-What!?" Micaiah's eyes widened as she stared down the mountain path, remembering the trek she took up just to reach the guild. "T-There's no way I'm going to make that…look at these legs…"
"Don't worry Micaiah," Reiss said while patting the panicking female on the back. "I think you got more a chance than Tyson does."
"You won't last more than a lap with those chicken legs of yours, rich boy!" Tyson immediately shot at Reiss.
"Oh yeah!?" Reiss was about to get all up in Tyson's face. "You won't even last half the mountain, country boy!"
"I don't know why you're sitting here wasting time arguing when the training has already begun. I guess you two really just don't want breakfast." Mary said while tapping her boot into the snow, quirking an intimidating brow at Reiss and Tyson.
"Crap…!" When the two boys turned around, they noticed that everyone else had already began the first trek down the mountain, and they were following right after them in a hurry. Mary just shook her head and went back inside the guild building.
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"Ah, I remember those days…" Luke chuckled quietly to himself while watching the rookies beginning to run up and down the mountain. "Reve's bootcamp…my legs were never the same after the first few times…"
Cygnus nodded in agreement, sipping down some morning coffee to get himself going. "Been up and down this mountain so much we practically know it like the back of our hands. These rookies are gonna learn it, too."
"I think they have some potential!" Aira chimed in. "If Mary doesn't break them first…"
"If they can't handle a few laps up and down the mountain, it's only going to get harder for them." Reve stated. "Besides, Mary's only getting started with them. If they don't even clear this, who knows what else she's going to have in store for them."
"Mary's tough…" Kuro commented while slurping down a bowl of noodles for breakfast. "It's not gonna be easy for them either way…"
"Bets on whose gonna drop first…?" One of the newer recruits, Roxanne Ericks chimed in. Roxanne had long black hair, orange eyes, and a model's body. Really, she had the cover for Sorcerer's Weekly quite often and was a little known for it, but that wasn't what she really known for. She was a new recruit with experience, unlike the rookies outside in the snow, which is why she was exempt from the bootcamp.
"Don't take bets on that! It's not nice…!" Marlene commented from the kitchen, and Roxanne just gave an indifferent shrug.
"Why don't we work out like that?" Another new member asked: Kanade Reia. Kanade had light purple hair she often tied back and gray eyes; also there was a scar visible on her leg. She, like Roxanne, was considered a veteran due to the experience she had as a mage prior to joining White Eclipse. She had just woken up so she was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
"We do." Zalen said while pushing up his glasses.
"We got up a few hours ago," Reve stated. "We would've kept going but Mary needed it for the rookies, so here we are now."
"W-What?!" Kanade flailed her arms around. "Why didn't anyone tell me!?"
"That's on you." Reve said while giving a smirk. "You're a veteran, so it's on you to wake up in time for the early morning workouts."
"Can't believe you're only just NOW waking up…" Waiston spoke with a shake of his head.
"How lazy…" Jaxon added with a minor snicker.
Kanade's eyes were wide at how she just now noticed all of the others were actually up and awake at this hour. She then shook her head, sudden determination flaring in her eyes. "That's it! Next time I'm getting up early to train!"
"That's the spirit." Reve nodded.
"So, follow up question." Cygnus pointed to the new tower sitting right outside the guild; the Kid's Tower. "What are we going to do with those kids? I'm not babysitting anyone."
"We'll leave that to the rookies as well." Reve said while waving a dismissive hand.
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Sometime later, the rookies were making their last lap up the mountain. They were pretty exhausted to say the least and who knows how long it actually took them. Tyson was the first one to finish, pushing the doors open while gasping heavily for air. His legs were quivering and he trudged into the guild hall. "I think I made it…"
Reiss was right behind Tyson, stopping at the door to catch his breath while hunched over. "J….just barely…" Reiss told himself before taking a whiff of the air; thankfully it was still breakfast time. Behind him, Jin, Saraya, Anais, and lastly, Micaiah trudged into the guild.
"A-am I alive…?" Micaiah collapsed to the floor, her spirit comically fading away from her.
"Oh, you just made it in time!" Marlene clasped her hands together. "Breakfast is almost over, so there's not a lot left so please hurry!"
"And once you're finished eating, meet me back outside." Mary commented from the couch. It was just enough for the rookies to groan while they went to go get their food.
"We're gonna die." Was the first thing Saraya had to say.
"You'll be fine." Cygnus laughed, believing the rookies were over exaggerating the pain of Mary's training. "Also, you guys are soon to be responsible for the kids! Just thought you should know."
"T-The kids too..?" Anaïs blinked slowly.
"What's stopping you vets from doing it?" Reiss questioned Cygnus with a quirked brow.
"Would you really want to be watched by this old man?" One of the kids spoke; Shinji Nakata. A young male with black hair and green eyes; he just grabbed a plate with some food while giving Cygnus an indifferent expression.
A tick mark appeared on Cygnus' forehead at Shinji's remark. "Old man!? I'm only in my twenties!"
"Sounds pretty old to me." Shinji responded with a shrug.
"I need you dead as soon as possible." Cygnus glared at Shinji.
To that, the young mage stood behind Micaiah while giving a sly grin. "Micaiah, right…? Help me out here, isn't he a little old?"
"Well…" Micaiah suddenly shifted a bit awkwardly before giving a cough. "20 isn't so old…it's still kinda young."
"You're all no fun." Shinji huffed before making his leave.
"Letting a kid get to you…" Heather made her comment from the corner of the room, shaking her head disapprovingly at Cygnus.
Meanwhile, a few other kids were grabbing the breakfast remains. They were: Sophie, a small girl with purple eyes and matching light purple hair often tied into two pig tails; Yayuya Senjin, another young lady, a brunette with brown eyes, wearing a black headband around her forehead; Yuji Ohira, a male with short red hair and red eyes; and lastly (for the time being) Daichi Akitaka, another young male with blue hair and orange eyes…and breakfast was the last thing on his mind as he was shamelessly staring around at all the women with large breasts in the room.
"This is all of them, right…?" Luke's question was full of hope while staring at all the little kids roaming around. "Because I'm not in the mood to deal with all of them."
"I think we have just a few more…" Draco said while scratching his head. "I dunno their names yet, though…"
"Great…" Roxanne let out a minor huff before looking down at Daichi who was staring up at her…or rather, her chest. "What do you want…?"
"Can I see your breasts?" Daichi asked as bluntly as possible.
"You…" Roxanne's eyes widened in shock and embarrassment. She wanted to yell at him, but what if he started crying…? So from all the embarrassment of the moment, the ravenette just vanished from sight.
"Okay, that's enough outta you." Luke narrowed his eyes at Daichi before lifting the kid up by the back of his shirt and carried him outside.
"Things are certainly getting a little livelier now…" Aira said with a soft laugh.
"More like noisy…" Selene commented while rubbing her temples in annoyance.
"Don't think you kids have it easy either." Mary placed her hands on her hips. "We've had people in the past just come here claiming their want to aspire as mages but turned out to be lazy, so we kicked them out. If you want to stay here, you're going to have to prove you want to. In other words, find a veteran or a rookie and challenge them to a fight, do I make myself clear."
"Y-Yes ma'am!" The kids all responded in unison. Mary already made quite the impression on them with how she was working the rookies…and they did not want to be worked so hard upon just joining.
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Meanwhile, far away from both White Eclipse and Fairy Tail was Tartarus. The guild that lurked in the shadows was plotting heavily, all under the current guidance of Marde Geer. "All things are currently going according to plan. Soon, we will be able to act."
"What is this plan you have, Marde-sama?" Maggie Solfatara, the lava demoness, questioned with a curious brow. "We've been kept waiting for a while, you know."
"I'm not going to spoil anything yet." Marde remarked, giving Maggie a soft chuckle. "But to know you're so eager pleases Marde Geer. There are still a few pieces needed before everything can be set."
"Let's not get that eager." Maggie replied with a roll of her eyes.
"Wonderful…" That voiced belong to none other than Tayakata, once former member of Tartarus, now former member of White Eclipse. The demoness ran a hand through her raven locks while sauntering out of the castle. "Well, tell me if you need me for anything. In the meantime I think I'll go into a town and enjoy a nice spot of tea."
"How wonderful it is to have you back, Taya…" Maggie giggled deviously as the demon left.
"Excellent work on bringing back that slacker…" Sayla complimented Maggie with an indifferent tone. It didn't even sound like a pat on the back with the tone she used. "Perhaps now the story will become even more interesting, especially for those humans whom she used to be acquainted with."
"I'm not sure what's more pathetic…" Jackal had a pompous grin while eying Maggie, already getting under her skin with his tone alone. "The fact she lost, or the fact she had to resort to using a human weapon to bring Taya down." A kinfe was what Maggie had to use to defeat Taya, and the fact he was bringing special attention to it only served to agitate Maggie even further.
"I'm real tired of your attitude. I should kill you." Maggie growled at Jackal, but he just waved a hand and began to walk off. To that, Maggie's body erupted in lava while a tick mark appeared on her forehead. "HEY! DON'T WALK AWAY WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU, YOU BLOOMIN'-"
"Enough." Marde didn't want to hear any more of this. "That is enough for now. I will call you all again when the time has come, understood? Now get out of Marde's presence." To that, the demons quickly nodded and left. Marde leaned his head against his fist and wore a smile the entire time. "Tick tock…time is running out, you disgusting humans."
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Next Time: Daily Lives.