It seems you guys couldn't decide if Apocalypse or Katsuchi and Tetsu would win, the votes were pretty even. Personally, I'd have to go with Apocalypse. Not because I don't like Kat and Tetsu or anything, but because Apocalypse just has a huge advantage with rapture.
Enjoy!
Nashi was surprised they were the first ones there, honestly. She could see the finish line right in front of them, and no one else was there yet.
"Well, great job Dragneel." Rocky commented, throwing himself in the sand. "We're first."
"You're welcome." Nashi replied, ignoring the rude tone he used. "And, thanks again for saving me from falling off the cliff."
"Well, it wouldn't look good if my partner for the exam ended up dead, you know what I mean?" Nashi rolled her eyes and muttered a string of insults under her breath, not caring whether or not he heard her or not. At this point, she didn't care if Rocky came after her. Maybe it'd let her get rid of some of her pent up frustration. Literally anyone else would have been a better pair for her, but Laxus puts with him. She'd have to have a talk with her master at some point about that. Even if it was for the sake of the exam, she hated it.
"Hey, can I ask you something?" Nashi asked suddenly.
"No."
"I'm going to anyway." They met each others gaze for a moment, before Rocky sighed in defeat.
"Fine, but don't expect an honest answer."
"Why do you hate me again?" Rocky choked and sat bolt right up, glaring at her.
"What?" He asked in a low tone. Nashi didn't back down.
"I said why do you hate me so much." she repeated, meeting his intense glare with her own. After a few moments of dead silence, Rocky grumbled and laid back down.
"None of your business." He said, making Nashi even more irritated than before.
"It is, you hate me. I want to know why."
"No real reason." Rocky replied indifferently, his eyes closed. "Your face, voice, attitude, it's a whole collection of things."
"Then I suppose we do have some things on common." Nashi said, making Rocky open an eye to look at her.
"Oh yeah? Like what?" He demanded.
"We hate the same things about each other." Rocky began to get up and walk towards her, but Nashi held her ground.
"You want to have a go, Dragneel?" He demanded. Fire licked around Nashi's temples.
"Why not? We do have some time to kill." She stood and they got within a few inches of each other, fire and earth creating an incredible tensity.
"I've wanted to crush that face of yours since the first time I saw it." He hissed, seething with anger.
"I've wanted to burn your face so bad since I saw it that it'd look like charcoal." Nashi hissed back, the magical intensity increasing. Rocky chuckled darkly.
"I don't care if this disqualifies us." he told her. "I'm going to kill you."
"Same." Both were about to rear back and attack, before Nashi's hearing picked up voices. She turned to look down the beach, and paled. Rocky did the same, and a surprised sound came from his throat. Right down there beach were the remainder of the candidates, running at top speed towards the finish line. They were all bunched up and yelling insults at each other. After a moment or two, Nashi saw an explosion of poison and iron from somewhere in the middle. After everyone else had been blown out of the way, Elise, Sammy, Drake and Asuka emerged. Elise was pulling Sammy by the arm and the rest of his body flailed behind them uselessly.
"Suck it, Cyanide Breath!" She heard Elise shout, getting angry at Drake.
"Up yours, Iron Face!" Drake replied, his fist becoming poisonous and taking a swipe at Elise, who used Sammy as a meat shield.
"Ow!" Sammy shouted, rubbing the area Drake had made contact with. "That hurt, Drake!"
"Don't be such a wimp, Sammy!" Elise shouted angrily. "He doesn't hit that hard!"
"Want to bet, Elise?!" Both slayers stopped and growled at each other, Sammy and Asuka trying to calm them down.
"Drake, she's not worth it." Asuka tried.
"He's trying to make you angry, Elise." Sammy said quietly. Just as the other candidates got close to the debate, Elise and Drake roared at them, sending them flying backwards again.
"We'll settle this later." Elise told him.
"I'll be waiting at the end." Drake replied, grabbing Asuka's wrist and pulling her ahead, coming in second with Elise and Sammy not to far behind.
"You guys get way to competitive." Nashi informed her friends, who were still shooting dagger at each other. She gave them both a weird look as they stared at her in bewilderment. "What?"
"How the hell did you beat us here?" They asked at the same time.
"Uh..." Nashi tried. "Shortcut?"
"So you cheated." Drake replied, crossing his arms. "Okay, seems legit."
"Oh shut it." Elise replied. "You're just mad you lost to her and Rocky."
"Maybe so, but at least I didn't get paired with Sammy." Elise backed up a bit from the insult.
"Drake!" She shouted, and Nashi found in surprising she was going to defend Sammy. "That was a low blow! Not all of us can get useful teammates!"
Never mind.
Nashi watched uselessly as the two bickered, the other teams who wouldn't get to keep going finally crossing the finish line, muttering about 'main branch favoritism' or something along those lines. Nashi did find it kind of funny only people from the main branch of the guild were going on, but she had to admit her branch was no joke.
"And with that, we have our six finalists." Everyone stopped arguing and turned to find Laxus approaching them, arms crossed.
"That's great Master." Rocky said. "Please tell me we aren't in teams for this next exam."
"And why not?" Laxus asked, a smug grin on his face. "You and Nashi got here first, why would you not want to be her partner again?" Rocky kept his mouth shut to prevent saying something he'd regret, which Nashi had to admit was the smartest thing he'd done all day. "Besides, you are in the same teams for this next one anyway."
"Damn it." Nashi muttered under her breath. Laxus cleared his throat.
"Now then, the next event is a test of wits." he informed them. "Scattered across the island are pieces of a puzzle you can only attain through answering riddles. One you have another piece, it will lead you to the next one, five in total. Once you have those five, it will lead you to the final destination for this event."
"Okay, easy enough." Elise said. "What's the catch?"
"Only three of you can pass this test." the nine looked among themselves, trying to decipher who would be the ones to make it. "Question is, who will lay down their place in the finalists for their partner? Will a team make it? Only you can find out."
"Alright, what the hell is our first clue?" Drake asked. Laxus threw three pieces of paper, one for each team, out to them. Nashi caught theirs and looked down at it.
"The first piece is at which where it all began." Nashi raised an eyebrow at the paper. "What the hell does this mean?"
"Figure it out." Laxus replied. "Oh, and by the way, a thunderstorm is on it's way. Thought I'd mention that." And with this, he disappeared in another thunder clap, leaving the teams to figure it out.
"I told you already, I don't know!" Nashi ignored Rocky's complaints as she sat on the beach, trying to decipher the riddle. No one else had left yet either, walking around and trying to come up with something.
"Alright, Alright, let's start at the beginning." Nashi said slowly. "Tenrou is our guilds holy land, correct?"
"Correct." Nashi ignored Elise and Sammy running away. She wanted to figure this out on her own.
"And Mavis lived here, correct?"
"Correctimundo." Nashi nodded as she thought, Drake and Asuka running away as well.
"And she founded the guild..." Nashi rubbed her temples as she thought, trying to come up with something.
"Look Dragneel, let's just follow everyone else. They know where it..."
"That's it!" Nashi shouted, jumping to her feet. "I got it!"
"...What?" Nashi ignored him and dragged him by the arm into the forest before he kept pace with her running. "Oi, Dragneel! Explain to me what the hell is happening!"
"Mavis lived on this island!" She shouted, dodging a tree in their path. "That means that the guild started here!"
"And?!"
"The old village!" Nashi shouted earning an eye roll from Rocky. "You know, the one where Mavis' old guild was?"
"I don't know the story, Dragneel." Stopping momentarily to wonder where to go, Nashi took off again.
"Mavis used to belong to an old guild here, called Red Lizard! When it was attacked, Mavis stayed here! The village the guild was at it where it all began! Understand now?"
"...I got to hand it to you Dragneel." Nashi looked over at Rocky to find his face actually looking soft and almost grateful. "I never would have figured that out. Good job." Nashi wished that his praise didn't feel so good, she ignored it.
"Never mind that, pick up the pace! We can't let the others beat us!"
"Slow the hell down then!"
Elise would've been a lost dog without Sammy for this. She was terrible with riddles, but Sammy had figured out the location of the first piece easily enough. Blah blah blah, Mavis, blah blah, Red Lizard, blah blah village. Afterwards, with Elise's superior sense, they found their way there, at the top of a million and a half steps.
"Come on, man!" Elise shouted to Sammy, who'd collapsed near the middle of the stairs. "Get up here! the others are on their way!"
"I..." he managed. "I-I can't...I'm not...as athletic...as you..." Elise groaned and jogged back down, grabbed him by the arm, and dragged him up with her.
"Come in, idiot!" She shouted, showing him the village. "Where's our clue?"
"Uh..." Sammy took a few deep breaths and pointed in the general direction of a huge building. "I think the restored guild hall is that way."
"Good!" Elise took off towards said building, taking as many twists and turns as she could count. After a moment, and waiting for Sammy to find her, they stood in front of the old Red Lizard guild hall. It had obviously been restored, the story had it being destroyed.
"Look!" Right there, on the steps of the hall, where three slips of paper. Elise ran and picked one up, staring at it.
"Your next clue resides where the Dragons defeated the Gods." Elise stared at the paper in confusion. "What?"
"Dragons and Gods?" Sammy demanded. "What the hell?" Elise was about to ask a question when her sense told her to duck.
"Sammy! Negation Wall!" Sammy reacted as he was told and shot one up, just in time to negate a poison ball and gun shots.
"Damn it!" Drake voice came as he and Asuka appeared. "I was sure I had you guys!"
"Too late, I guess." Asuka agreed, grabbing another of the clues and reading it. Elise was happy to see a lack of reaction on the girls face. "Dragons? Gods? I have no idea."
"Damn." Drake said, grabbing the clue from her. "Let me see."
"Damn it Dragneel! We're last here!"
"Shut up, Rocky! You wouldn't be here without my help!" Elise saw both the last contestants reach them, and pick up their clue.
"Good luck." She told Nashi. "We have no idea."
"Dragons...Gods..." Nashi whispered to herself, her eyes widening as she snapped her fingers. She whispered something to Rocky, and his eyes went wide as well. With that, the least likely duo to win took off, leaving everyone else in the dust. Elise saw Drake's ears twitch, and he face palmed.
"Of course!" he shouted, grabbing Asuka and taking off. "It makes so much sense!"
"Damn it Sammy, let's go!" Elise growled, grabbing Sammy and pulling him off his ass. "Let's follow them!"
"But..."
"Shut up and run, you pansy!"
So where does the second clue reside? Do you guys know? Anyways, today your question is:
Which villain did you despise thoroughly?
Just so we're clear, I mean in my story and ones I thought up, not actual ones.
I hope you enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get ten!