Chapter 436. That's all I have to say.
How could Nashi have forgotten? The years annual S-class Advancement was happening. That was why so many people from other guild branches were here, they were here to see who would be advancing. Thanks to everything that had happened recently it had completely slipped her mind. She followed Asuka through the crowd and eventually made it to the front, watching Laxus, Nashi's father, and Gajeel stand above everyone. As everyone took their sweet time quieting down, Nashi watched Laxus clear his throat.
"As I'm sure you all know, this is when we announce our contestants for this year." He said, "Are you ready?" A collective agreement came from the guild, and Gajeel handed Laxus a piece of paper, presumably with the names of the contestants. He raised the sheet up a little bit, beginning to list off the names of the contestants. Nashi knew that due to the immense numbers they had there would be a lot of nominations, but were a lot of these people really that good?
"Asuka!" Laxus called out, resulting in the gun mage squealing happily.
"I got it!" She said happily, grabbing Nashi by the shoulders, who laughed in response.
"I know, I hear him!" Nashi replied. After a few more names, Laxus looked up again.
"Drake!" he shouted, and Nashi heard a cheer from somewhere off to her left. She smiled at the sound. It was good to see Drake nominated, he earned it. "Elise Redfox!"
"Got it!" Elise shouted somewhere, sounding incredibly determined. After a few more names, Laxus looked up again.
"Rocky!" Nashi flinched at the sound of his name and heard said person chuckling to himself off to the side, "Sammy!" Nashi smiled as she heard Rocky's best friend get called. No partnering up for them.
"They have to almost be done." Nashi said quietly as a few more names were called. "There's been like thirty people."
"Yeah, he's almost done." Asuka reassured.
"Na..." Laxus stared at the sheet curiously for a moment, before he cast a look at Nashi's father. He got a nod, and Laxus nodded curtly. "Uh...Nashi Dragneel!"
"...Eh?" Nashi asked weakly as her name resounded throughout the guild hall. Had she really been nominated among all those other people? It seemed unlikely, yet everyone was staring at her. "Did I just get..."
"Congrats, Nashi!" Asuka said, smiling at the shocked pinkette. "You got in!"
"How?" Nashi asked, finding her voice after a while. "Why?"
"Who cares?!"
Nashi did, as a matter of fact.
"Um, Master?" Nashi asked, knocking on the door. "Can I talk to you?"
"Come on in, Nashi." Nashi took a deep breath and entered Laxus' office, finding the man smiling at her. "How can I help you?"
"I just, uh, wanted to ask you something."
"Shoot."
"Um..." Nashi stood in front of the desk and fiddled her thumbs, wondering what to say. "I just want to know who vouched for me to be a candidate this year." Nashi seemed to have worded it correctly, as Master Laxus nodded in understanding.
"Alright, I suppose I should start from the first person." Before Nashi could ask what he meant by that, he raised one finger. "Ultear was the first, saying you miraculously defeated a man named Zindo. Ring a bell?"
"Yes, but..."
"Drake, for the incredible courage you showed while being locked up by Phantom Dove." He said. "Elise nominated you for your victory against the Dorma Anim."
"I..."
"Damien nominated you for strength you showed during the Ancient Trials. Simon, for your work against Devil Advocate." Nashi was stunned into silence, learning that all of her friends had told Gramps to nominate her. Did they think that highly of her magical power? "Oh, one more."
"Y-Yes?" Nashi asked, out of words.
"A man named Natsu Dragneel." He said with a grin as Nashi paled. "I'm sure you know him, he's said so because you'r untapped magical potential makes you a deadly opponent. That, and he has the utmost of faith in you."
"But why me?" Nashi asked, staring out the window. "There are s many people who've trained longer, worked harder, and are better suited for the S-class ranking."
"Maybe so." Gramps replied. "But there isn't s soul in this guild hall who can match your spirit."
"Hah?" Nashi asked, turning around in confusion.
"All the stories your friends told me ended the same way." Laxus explained. "You saved everyone by putting them ahead of yourself. In a guild like this, family comes first and in that regard, you have certainly excelled. Sure, other people have trained harder and worked towards it longer, but you've managed to pass them with ease and on top of that, you're on the best known faces in the guild." Laxus laughed. "Honestly, I can't think of anyone more deserving than you."
Nashi didn't know what to say, so she just blushed and nodded. How was she supposed to reply to that? Of course looking at it like that only told Nashi he was right. In the span of a few months since her father had come home she'd become incredibly powerful, almost as if it was nothing. She was more than certain she could beat most members her age with ease, minus her friends.
"Well, at last you understand." Laxus said, leaning back in his chair. "Now, you only have a week until we leave for Tenrou Island, so you'd best prepare. I can guarantee all of your opponents are doing the same." Nashi nodded and turned to leave, before an idea struck her.
"Say," She said turning around. "Aren't I supposed to pick a partner?"
"No need." He replied absentmindedly. "I have something different planned this year."
"...Alright."
"So how'd it go?" Nashi sat down at looked over at Ul, who had asked the question.
"Well I learned my amazing friends got me nominated." Nashi replied sarcastically, causing everyone to flinch at the rising temperature.
"Don't be mad!" Simon shouted. "We thought you'd be happy!"
"You at least could've cleared it with me first!" Nashi replied. "I really wasn't interested in this anyway!"
"Well, to late now." Drake commented, downing his drink. "You think you'll win?" Nashi scoffed.
"With you, Elise and Rocky in the running?" She asked, grabbing one of the cups from Mira as she passed. "I doubt it. Not to mention Asuka."
"Oh shit, she is." Damien confirmed, snapping his fingers. "I totally forgot about Asuka."
"She's gotten to be quite a good shot, I've heard." Elise said. "She'll be no easy opponent, to be sure. Can't wait to beat her ass!" Everyone else at the table sweat dropped as Elise fantasized, but Nashi was more curious as to why Laxus wasn't using the partners system this year. Was it due to the amount of participants? Probably.
"Anyways." Drake said, hitting Elise on the top of the head a few times to bring her back to reality. "I think I'll be spending the whole week until we leave training. Can't lose to either of you!" With that, Drake sprinted from the guild. Elise paled.
"Dad!" She shouted, running to find Gajeel. "We gotta go, now! Drake's gonna beat me!" Nashi realized this was a good time for her to go parent hunting, and went off to do so. She soon found her pregnant mother near the entrance, and she smiled as Nashi approached.
"Hey sweetie." She greeted. "Need something?"
"Where's Dad?" Nashi asked. "I need him, like, now."
"Training?" Sh asked, and Nashi nodded. "I don't know, but I have an idea."
"Which is?" Nashi asked, now getting dragged along by her mother.
"Shhh, just come on."
Nashi didn't appreciate the means of transport to Tenrou, mainly because she hated moving vehicles, which boats qualified as. That was until her mother told her about the stabilizers made of lacrima under the vessel, which had proven to prevent Dragon Slayers getting motion sick. That made it alright, and she and her friends insisted a test run beforehand. They'd seen said stabilizers work before, like Crime Sociere's airship. Once they were all certain they'd be fine, all fifty of the contestants waited eagerly for Laxus, who seemed to be running late.
"Where is he?" Drake asked. "He's like half an hour late."
"Probably still setting up the lacrima vision back at the guild." Elise replied with a chuckle. "You know how hopeless Mira is with that kind of thing." Nashi knew it to be true. Ever since they were little, the S-class Advancement had been broadcast from the island back to the guild hall and the other branches. Solely for entertainment purposes, obviously. If anything was holding Laxus up, it was certainly non lacrima savvy Mira. "Anyway, where'd your Dad go, Nashi?"
"No idea." She replied. "I haven't seen him since I got nominated."
"Think he disappeared again?" Nashi flinched and Drake elbowed Elise. "What? Totally possible and you know it."
"Why would he?" Drake demanded.
"Lucy is pregnant again."
"Elise, there's this line, right? You've gone over it, just like usual." Elise shrugged.
"Love me as I am or don't judge me." She replied, causing both her friends to snicker.
"Ah, so Dragneel did show up." Nashi's smile faded as the voice resounded in her head. She turned her head to find Rocky standing there, a smug look on his tan face.
"I decided to, yeah." Nashi replied. "I thought maybe I'd scare you off with my mere presence after our last fight, so I wasn't sure."
"You got lucky last time." Rocky snarled, getting it Nashi's face as she crossed her arms and glared at him. "I can guarantee if we meet on Tenrou, you're going down."
"See you there, asshole." Both growled at each other, practically nose to nose, until Rocky backed off a bit, still growling. They did so until Drake pulled nashi away a little bit, and Sammy decided to do the same with Rocky.
"Calm down Nashi." The maroon haired slayer warned. "He's not worth your energy."
"it's the fact that he thinks he is that irks me." Nashi growled. "He's just an asshole."
"I'm sure Edolas you would disagree." Elise said with a snicker.
"That's different, Edo-Rocky isn't that bad." Nashi replied, earning an eye roll. "And where the fuck is Laxus?!"
"Sorry I'm late." As if on cue, Master Laxus pushed his way through the crowd and towards the boat to address everyone. "Sometimes Mira's incapability is too much..." Everyone shared a hearty laugh and boarded the boat, only three people in the crowd dreading the experience should certain stabilizers not work.
"Oh my Mavis, does it always feel this nice?" And all three people in question were on the bow of the boat, enjoying the salty sea breeze as the boat approached the island in the distance. Nashi had almost never ridden anything without getting sick, and never enjoying it while doing so. Another warm breeze rippled through her hair, and she sighed in contentment.
"We're almost there." Drake reported, causing Nashi to frown. Even though she couldn't tell how close they were due to having her eyes closed, she didn't want to leave the boat. Soon enough she felt the boat come to a stop, though. She turned as the other people began to funnel out of the boat, towards Laxus who was standing near the edge.
"As you can see, we're here." he said. "And now I'm going to tell you the immediate stipulation. There are fifty of you here, but only twenty tunnels on the beach over there." Nashi followed Laxus' finger and could vaguely see said tunnels. "This means thirty of you will won't get to do anything, and lose immediately. Question is, who?"
It took all of three seconds for people to realize what Master Laxus was saying, and people made mad dashes for the edge of the boat, Nashi included. Even if she hadn't wanted to do this, she wasn't going to give Rocky the benefit of the doubt and quit after shit talking.
And once she began to swim towards the beach propelled by fire, the S-Class Advancement Trials had begun.
Sorry for taking so long with chapters, but my hands are really starting to hurt. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get five!