So...Given what happened in the last manga chapter I feel the need to remind you guys of something. Just as a reminder.
This story, at least the meat of it, was finalized with post-Tartarus pre-Alvarez in mind. If anything happens in the manga that hugely contradicts something I've already done, it's a tad too late. I'll do my absolute best to work around it for what I haven't posted, but even that might not be possible.
And luckily for you guys, today's event won't last that long.
With that being said, enjoy!
"And with that, let the Cross-Crocus Footrace begin! GO!" the very second these words left Ross' mouth, Jackson disappear in a blur. Elise held her hair out of her face as she and the other contestants watched him dart away at the speed of sound. "And would you look at that! Jackson making excellent use of his speed based magic here! Lamia Scale made an excellent choice for this event!"
"Shit..." Elise murmured. "That's probably not good..." She and the others slowly came out of their daze, and realized they'd better get a move on. Elise returned to her senses just in time to see Keita melt into the ground, and a dark shadow then bolting down the street in Jackson's direction. She saw Megan and Akihiro both soar past her, so she broke into a full on sprint after them, leaving Nikki in the dust. She soon got to be on par with Megan and Akihiro, who were both too focused on sprinting to notice her catch up. She kept her breathing as stable as she could as she rounded a corner, and was greeted with the first obstacle.
It was a gigantic wooden contraption, with swinging arms barbed with steel and swinging blades below that. Jackson and Keita must've easily bypassed it, because neither were seen anywhere near it. Elise grinned as she saw Megan and Akihiro fall back to survey the situation. She was planning on no such thing, her route was chartered.
Elise noted as she approached that when the arms swung full force in random directions that there was a small space between the blades below and the swinging arms.
One conveniently small enough for a short person to fit through.
Leaping into the air and curling u her body, Elise soared right through this open gap in the machine and landed gracefully on the other side with a smile.
"What a tactic!" Ross shouted overhead as she broke out running again. "Elise uses her small stature to make it through the tiny gaps in the trap!" Elise made a face as she heard the crowd cheer. She didn't like hearing about her stature, even less so when someone somehow praised her for it. But she didnt need to worry about that right now, she had a race to win.
Megan made a face as she surveyed the object in front of her. She didn't know what to make of it, but she was sure it would take some thinking to get past. Akihiro was also stuck with her, with that Nikki girl now coming up behind them.
"See ya, suckers!" She said with a grin over her shoulder as she ran right for the trap. Megan watched in astonishment as Nikki phased right through the trap in it's entirety, continuing to run through the other side.
"Ah come on!" Akihiro complained. "How're we going to do this?!"
"Beats me." Megan grumbled, but soon Akihiro smiled.
"I got an idea." He planted his hands on the ground. "Shockwave Burst!" Megan nearly lost her footing as a shockwave left Akihiro's hands, making the machine shutter violently. Akihiro sprinted past her and got past it right as it started to whirl up once more, leaving her in dead last.
"Seriously?! Come on!"
Elise just barely avoided having her head taken off by a tripwire throwing swords at her by sliding on her knees under them.
"Holy hell they don't play around!" She shouted in somewhat irritation as she got to her feet and continued to run. The arena was still some ways away, but judging from the lack of her sight on Jackson or Keita, she wasn't pleased knowing that. The speed mage had most likely almost gotten there, and Keita was probably just running right through all of the obstacles in his way as a shadow. Turning the next corner, she was greeted by a group of Vulcans, who turned at her presence. She grimaced as they started to run at her full speed.
"Stupid monkeys." She hissed, turning her arms into clubs. She slammed a few of them into the ground before grabbing another by the arm and swinging him into the others, causing them to fall in a heap. Shaking her head at the choice of 'monsters' for this event, she continued on her merry way.
Keita was fairly certain he had this easy. He'd lost sight of that Jackson guy completely, but he was just effortlessly flying past every single on of his challenges as a shadow. Even if the other guy was a speed based mage, he had to make his way through all the obstacles legit, and not just soaring past everything like he doesn't care whatsoever.
As Keita rounded the corner, he could see his opponent actually standing still, observing the challenge in front of him. Grinning as he came up next to him and re-materialized, he tapped his shoulder, which caused Jackson to jump in surprise.
"Don't do that, man!" He hissed. Keita shrugged. "How do you think we're going to get passed this bad boy?" Keita looked back at the trap and surveyed it. the buildings had been outfitted with swinging blades, and the ground was covered in a goo like substance, presumably to slow the contestant down so that they get nailed. Keita shrugged.
"I don't know about you, but I'm going to finish this up about now." He once again melted into the ground and went right through the trap without worrying about a thing. he heard Jackson run away, so he turned back to find his opponent running over the top of the buildings ahead of him. It was a clever way to get through the trap alright.
Until of course a Vulcan nailed him with a fist, sending him sailing off the buildings and off to the other side. Keita returned his eyes to the route ahead, where he could see the Domus Flau quite clearly.
I've got this in the bag.
The six different lacrima visions were following all of the contestants, and Azzie knew Tetsu was keeping his eyes on the top three. Seeing as Elise had told him flat out that she was going to win, he had said he was going to tease her endlessly if she didn't.
"Third wouldn't be bad." Katsuchi offered as the crowd cheered.
"Yeah." Azzie agreed. "She is up against a speed wizard and a guy who can avoid every single one of the obstacles."
"But she said she'd win." Tetsu said with a grin. "So if she doesn't, She's never going to live it down." Azzie shook her head as she raised it back to look at the lacrima vision. The only person who seemed to be struggling hard was the blonde girl was Mermaid Heel, Megan, who was in dead last. The others were barely having a difficult time with any of the obstacles, or monsters.
Elise couldn't gauge where anyone else was, but she knew she was coming up on the arena soon. She could tell partially due to how much larger it had become in her peripheral vision, but also because the sound of the roaring crowd intensified the closer she got. Turning a corner, she saw a strange blob of green goo with waving arms. Elise made a face as it seemed to turn towards her.
"Ew...What the hell are you?" She demanded. She was about to start attacking it before a blur ran right into the beast, blowing a hole the size of a man into it. Whoever it was was gone, the monster slowly turning into nothing more but a puddle, and Elise stepped in it as she passed by it. "Disgusting." Elise was about to continue, but she paused. She recognized that smell. Turning, she turned her arm into a club and drove it into the wall, but the shadow just kept darting away from her. "Don't run from me!" Elise shouted after it, chasing him down. the shadow seemed intent on losing her, but Elise's nose had locked onto Keita now. They were both headed in the same direction anyway. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the shadow returned to a human state and flew into the air.
"Shadow Dragon's Roar!" The pitch black breath attack soared towards Elise, who was forced to roll sideways, lose her momentum, and tumble. Just as she recovered, Keita was already turning around to lose her. Elise wasted no time in attempting to use her club on him, but she could do nothing but watch as it fazed through his stomach without effect. Damn, it's like Ul's water magic...
"Stop wasting time attacking me, Redfox." She heard Keita say as he melted into the ground again. "There is no bonus for taking me out."
"But I do have a better chance of winning if I do." She grumbled as she stood, the shadow already long gone.
"I need to get moving." She grumbled. "Before someone finishes..." Deciding she'd better get a move on before anyone else finished, she full on sprinted for the stadium, taking out the variety of monsters that got in her way, ranging from more Vulcans to Cyclops and traps trying to turn her into mincemeat.
Finally, after what seemed like a millennium, the entrance to the stadium was right ahead.
And a man darted into the entrance. Just as Elise reached the entrance, the crowd roared.
"Keita Cheney has finished first!"
Narrowing her eyes, Elise pumped more energy into her legs and full on sprinted after it, determined to at least get second. Once she got inside, she turned and saw Jackson running up a flight of stairs. Chasing him, she could tell given his running he knew how close she was. She rounded a corner the stairwell, and he was at the top. His body blurred, and he slammed into the wall, which cascaded debris towards her.
Elise didn't have time for this. Activating her Dragon Scales, she ran right through it as it barreled past her. She did her absolute best to catch him, finally getting just close enough to be able to see him clearly.
Come on...!
"What an explosive event ladies and gentlemen! So, in the Cross-Crocus Footrace, Keita Cheney from Sabertooth has placed first, Jackson from Lamia Scale has placed second, Elise Redfox from Fairy Tail in third, Nikki from Blue Pegasus in fourth, Akihiro from Quatro in fifth, and Megan from Mermaid Heel in sixth!"
Nashi could tell, even from up in their stand, that Elise was absolutely fuming. She'd only come back into the arena a mere second after Jackson, but not close enough for them to try and judge who made it first. Truthfully Nashi felt the girl should be proud she was so close behind a speed wizard of all things.
"Tetsu's going to poke so much fun at her." Damien said with a grin on his face. Ultear giggled and nodded.
"He sure is." She agreed. As the competitors made their way back to their stands, Someone else spoke up.
"You did awesome, Keita-chan!" It was Nami again. Keita was visibly pissed in the arena, but Nami didn't stop. "Look at you getting first!"
"Don't make me come up there!" Keita shouted back, just making Nami laugh.
"Wonder what's up with them." Drake said. "She seems to have a liking for him."
"Don't see how." it was the returning Iron Dragon Slayer who said this. "He's such a pretentious moron."
"Oh the irony." Drake said, making Elise punch him in the shoulder. "Who shoved a stick up your ass?" he demanded, rubbing the area she'd punched. "You did great."
"I didn't win." She replied irritably. "And now that I talked so much shit to Tetsu and didn't follow through he's never going to let me hear the end of this." Rolling her eyes at this, Nashi returned her eyes to the field as Ross cleared his throat.
And now onto the battles for today! And to start things off, we have Blake from Sabertooth against Grace from Lamia Scale!
It's a bit shorter, but you guys would not believe the difficult I had getting through his chapter. I've been trying to get it down all week and I just couldn't.. hopefully that doesn't reflect too bad in it's quality.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get five!