And so, the GMG arc begins! I'm really excited to get this arc out there to you guys, so let's get right down to it!
Enjoy!
When Nashi made it within the walls of Fiore's capital city, it finally dawned on her this was real. She could see the stadium in the distance against the skyline, which only excited her even more. She ran ahead and looked around at the insane amount of people. So many people had gathered for the event, it was sort of overwhelming.
"Slow down Nashi, it's not even time for the qualifier yet." Nashi looked over her shoulder to find her father and seven moth pregnant mother walking up behind her.
"I'm just excited!" She replied, gesturing around. "Look at all these people! All here for this festival!"
"We know, but don't run off somewhere," her mother replied. "You still have to go and actually sign up, not to mention find the others."
"I know, I know..." Nashi's Dragon Slayer senses were overwhelmed by the new smells. She'd been to Crocus before, but this was so much different.
"We're going to go search for the others," Nashi's heard her father say. "You go and look too. Meet us at the Domus Flau when you do."
"Roger that!" Nashi replied, laughing as she ran off through the crowd.
"Be careful Nashi, jeez!" Nashi ignored her mother's scolding tone and continued to dart in between people rapidly. She inhaled deeply, but couldn't come up with anyone's sent. Darting around a corner, Nashi thought she saw a white head of hair through the crowd quite clearly.
"Damien!" Nashi called. She saw the head react, but she lost it in the crowd. Nashi tried to make her way through, but she connected with someone else. "Shit..." Nashi stumbled and fell over, rubbing her head in pain. "Sorry."
"It's alright, I wasn't really paying any attention either." The man she'd connected with said. Nashi looked up to find a boy about her age with spiky blonde hair offering her a hand. She took it thankfully and brushed herself off. "You were going quite fast too. Looking for someone?"
"Yeah, a friend of mine." She said. She got a very friendly vibe from this guy, he seemed nice. "What about you?"
"Just looking around," he replied. "Festival is sort of throwing me for a loop."
"You too?"
"Yeah." The boy smiled over at her, which she returned. "Oh man, where are my manners?" he asked. Before Nashi could ask what he meant, he once again extended his hand. "Micheal." She smiled back and took it.
"Nashi." She shook his hand, and he laughed.
"Nashi huh? That's a pretty unique name." Nashi shrugged.
"I suppose, never really thought about it." Looking around, Nashi noticed that she had now lost who she assumed was Damien in the crowd. He'd probably just shrugged off her call. "It's nice to meet you Micheal, but I really should go and find my friends."
"Of course, I understand. Don't worry." Nashi looked back at him, and he once again flashed a brilliant smile. "Mind if I accompany you?" Nashi thought about this for a moment. he didn't seem like that bad of a guy.
"Sure." She replied. She turned and pointed in the direction Damien had gone in. "I think he went that way."
"After you." Nashi walked off in the direction Damien had gone, Micheal at her side. They made small talk, just about their surroundings and such. Nashi liked Micheal. He was easy to talk to, and seemed rather nice overall. Pretty soon they had come to the outside of the arena, where the majority of people seemed to be. They walked into the lobby of the arena, where the people had thinned out considerably.
"See them?" Micheal asked. Nashi arced her head and looked around, eventually spotting several familiar heads in the distance.
"Yep!" She replied, turning back to him. "I should probably go and see them, they're probably waiting for me."
"Right, of course." Micheal then looked over to his left, and nodded. Looking over, Nashi saw a girl with raven black hair looking at Micheal. "Friend of yours?"
"Yeah, they're probably waiting for me, too." He looked back over at Nashi with a smile. "Guess I'll see you later, huh?"
"Guess we'll see, huh?" Micheal once again flashed a brilliant smile before we walked off towards the girl, and Nashi darted towards her friends. She collided with Drake and Elise with a laugh. "I'm here, not to worry!" She announced.
"Gah!" Drake shouted as the sudden appearance of Nashi's weight threw him off balance. "Nice to see you, too." Nashi laughed at his irritated reaction.
"So, what're we doing?" She asked, Simon gestured over to the center of the lobby, where people were writing stuff down.
"We have to sign up for the qualifier." He told her. Damien shuffled fro foot to foot.
"There's a line, damn it." He said. Nashi looked back and noticed that Damien was right. There was a rather hefty line of people waiting to sign up.
"Should we go do something else in the meantime?" Ultear asked. "We've got until the end of the day, anyway."
"Sounds like a plan to me." Elise said, turning on her heel and leaving. The rest of the group followed suit after her, and they made their way towards the exit. On the way there, Nashi looked around and spotted Micheal talking with the girl who'd called out to him. He met her gaze, held for a moment, and winked. She smiled at this before she realized she was lagging behind and ran to catch up.
She'd just found her friends, losing them again would be kind of pointless.
"God damn it, where the hell did everyone go?" Drake asked as he looked around. He'd been out exploring the multitude of festival stands and such for the Grand Magic Games, but he'd lost his friends as he'd followed a rather amazing smell a little to loyally. He only realized he'd lost the others when he'd finished his slice of pie. "Ugh, this always happens..."
Walking towards the main street surrounding the stalls, he looked around for any sign of the others, not finding one. He wasn't about to give up though, and even if it came right down to it he could just meet back up with them at the Domus Flau, so he was good. he stopped in the middle of the street and sighed.
"I mean really, where did everyone go?" he asked. he was abot to turn around and keep going when a hand tapped his shoulder lightly.
"Drake-sama?" Drake turned at this voice, confused and curious.
Azzie stood there with her hand outstretched, a curious look on her face.
"Azzie?" Drake asked. Azzie's cheeks went pink.
"H-Hi." She said. Drake stared at her for a moment before he broke into a grin.
"It's so good to see you!" he said with a laugh. "How've you been?" Azzie looked down, clasping her hands together tightly.
"A-Alright." She said. "A-And you?" Drake made a face.
"I'm great!" he said. "Seriously though, it's really good to see you."
"Y-You as well." Drake frowned.
"Azzie, are you okay?" He asked. The girl looked up in confusion, but Drake saw it clearly. She was conflicted about something. "It seems like something's bothering you." Azzie paled, and shook it off quickly.
"J-Just the crowd." She replied quietly. "I'm not used to being around so many people." Oh. Now that Drake thought about it, that made sense. She had been in a rather secretive guild prior, she'd probably only be used to a few people at a time.
"Oh, if you say so. Say, where are Katsuchi and Tetsu?" Azzie pointed towards the Domus Flau.
"They went to go get our tickets for the Games." She replied. "They were really excited and wanted to go, so we came. What about you? Are you here to watch the Game?" Drake smiled.
"I'm competing." He answered. Azzie's eyes went wide.
"Really?!" She asked. Drake nodded.
"The others and I decided we would. We're signing up later." Azzie smiled.
"Would it be alright to cheer for you?" She asked tentatively. Drake smiled quizzically as he wrapped her in a one armed hug.
"I'll be completely honest with you Azzie, if you cheer for anyone else other than us, I will take it as a personal insult." She chuckled.
"I suppose I better get some Fairy Tail flags to wave around, then." She replied. Drake nodded.
"You damn well better. Come with me, let's go find the others."
"If you say so." Drake took charge with Azzie behind him, looking for the others. Drake pointed out many of the festival stalls to Azzie, and she talked with him briefly about anyone she seemed interested in. Drake was honest though, he really was happy to see her doing so well, even while being off put by the crowd.
"I think I see Nashi-sama over there." Drake looked over, following Azzie's index finger towards a head of pink hair standing near a stall selling Guild merchandise. Drake nodded and walked towards her, tapping her on the shoulder.
"What?" She asked, turning around to face him.
"Where's everyone else?" He asked. Nashi shrugged.
"I think Simon and Ul go over that way." She replied. "I lost Damien a while ago." Drake nodded, and Nashi took notice of Azzie standing a bit farther away. "Azzie?" Azzie smiled and waved quietly. "It's so good to see you!" Nashi laughed as she rushed to hug the purple haired girl, who seemed rather surprised at the notion. Soon enough though, she returned the hug Nashi was giving her, albeit in confusion.
"Y-You as well, Nashi-sama." She said quietly. Drake wasn't wholly convinced it was the crowd bothering Azzie, but he let it be. She didn't seem intent on sharing.
"I think maybe we should go and sign up now." Drake said, looking overhead at the sun as it prepared to set. "We might miss out on it soon enough."
"Yeah, the others should have enough sense to head back too." Nashi then looked over at Azzie. "You coming?" Azzie shrugged.
"As far as the arena, I guess." She said. "Until I find Katsuchi-sama and Tetsu-sama." Finally having agreed on their destination, the trio made their way back to the Domus Flau. Soon enough, they found Damien, Simon and Ultear, who all had a brief happy exchange with Azzie before they made their way to the arena. Once they got inside, they spotted the registration completely devoid of anyone signing up. Azzie excused herself to go find Katsuchi and Tetsu, and left them to their registration. As they walked up, the blonde attendant smiled.
"Welcome to the Grand Magic Games registration! How can I help you today?" Simon stepped up, leaning on the counter.
"We'd like to register to complete." he told her. She nodded and opened a small notebook in front of her.
"What is the name of your guild?" She asked.
"Fairy Tail." the blonde wrote this down.
"Fairy Tail is here...Alright, can I have all competitors step in front of the lacrima please?" One by one Drake and the others stepped in front of the lacrima floating nearby, which was accompanied by a flash of light. A picture. "Now I just need you all to sign how you are here...Alright! We're done!" The blonde reached below the counter, pulled out a key, and handed it to Simon. "That is the key to your lodging!"
"Lodging?" Ultear asked, and the attendant nodded.
"Every competing Guild has been issued a hotel to stay in during the duration of the Games." She told them. "This key will unlock your room. It's the Lunar Peaks, just to the south of here!"
"Thanks, then." Elise said as she finished writing down her name. The blonde attendant nodded happily.
"No problem! Please enjoy your stay and I wish you the best of luck in the qualifier!"
"Wow this place is nice." Nashi nodded in agreement to Damien's words as they entered the lobby of the Lunar Peaks hotel. The area was very grand and extravagant, but she couldn't fathom why they'd been given such a nice hotel.
"Oh, there you guys are." The six looked over to find Erza and Levy standing to their left, smiling. "It's a nice hotel, huh?"
"Yeah..." Ultear said, tracing her finger down a marble statue next to her. "Why id we get such a nice one?"
"Laxus told the committee we were competing before you guys went to train." Levy explained. "All they had to do was hear our guild name and they gave us one of the nicest hotels in the city."
"I guess that makes sense." Nashi said. "But why give us a specific room key?" Erza smiled.
"You'll find out soon enough." Nashi wasn't sure what that meant, but it sounded pretty exciting. Nashi was absolutely ready to have an adventure that didn't threaten her life.
She just wanted to have some fun.
She followed her friends up the stairs towards their room, which was marked with a tag saying 'Fairy Tail competitors.' Upon unlocking the door, the six found a gigantic room with six beds spread out within. The room was just as nice as the rest of the hotel, which was saying a whole lot indeed.
"Well I'm not sure about you guys, but I am ready to take a nap." Elise said, flinging herself into the bed nearest the door.
"The qualifiers starts tomorrow at midnight, right?" Ultear asked Simon, who had the info pamphlet.
"Sure does." he replied. "At the very second the clock hits midnight apparently."
"Oddly specific." Drake said, sitting down on the edge of a bed and his eyes widened. "Holy shit this bed if the comfiest damn thing I think has ever graced my ass." Although the analogy could've been a whole lot better, Nashi knew that must've meant it was extremely comfy. Throwing herself into one herself, Nashi had to agree. The bed was extremely comfy.
"Well, get some decent rest everyone." Damien said. "I'm pretty sure tomorrow is going to be quite the day."
Quite the day indeed.
And the Games have begun! I'm so stoked for this! Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed, leave a review! let's try and get ten for the Games!