Code Names: Fire and Winter

Chapter 3: Early Trials

Mira's POV:

Erza, Happy, Natsu, and Gray just left to go on their mission. Master was walking up to his office when he said, "Laxus, Mira, Guidarts. Come with me." We looked at each other with confused expressions on our faces. We followed Master up to his office and he took a seat on top of his desk. Laxus said, "Ok old man, what's going on?" Master said,"I want to do the S-Class trials earlier this year." We looked at him like he was crazy. 'He's the guild master. It's his decision on what happens in the guild.' Gildarts said, "Uh Master... Why didn't you wait till Erza and Mystogen were here to tell us? And why does it seem you are wanting our opinion on it as well." Master Makarov sighed,"I will tell Erza when she gets back. And I don't think Mystogen will be here anytime soon. And I do want your opinion. I have decided that since Natsu and Gray are back, they deserve to have a chance at being S-Class as soon as they can seeing how strong they are and due the fact they have missed the past 3 trials. The only problem is I don't know what to do for the trials." We all stood/sat there thinking. Then I had an idea, "What if we do a tournament!" The guys were quiet for a moment, then agreed to the idea. We went to work planning the trials from there.

Lucy's POV:

'Jeez. I was really hoping I could go on the mission with the others. I wanted to see some of the strongest mages fight. I could just picture Natsu... Oh shit he's hot. And he will be mine!' I was snapped out of my thoughts when Master called up the other S-Class mages that were present.  "Probably telling them to be ready if the others needed back up." I guess I was thinking out loud, because Lisanna was walking towards me and laughed. She said, "I bet he just has something important to discuss with them. Natsu, Gray, Erza, and Happy can handle themselves. Besides, Master Makarov never sends back up for anyone unless they request it." "Then I wonder what they are talking about." "I could ask Mira later." I nodded my head and said, "That's a good idea. I really want to know what they are talking about." "Probably something about Natsu and Gray." I nodded agreeing with her thought. Then I remember something she asked earlier, "Hey, why did you ask them if they met anyone they liked while traveling?" She began to blush darker than Mira's dress. "Well... I-I kinda like Natsu. A-and I wanted to make sure I still had a chance..." I was starting to get mad at the comment, "Ha ha... funny... I uh... I know I just met him and all... but... I kinda like him too... I mean, you've seen him. Who wouldn't go head over heels for the guy!?" Lisanna got a weird glint in her eyes, "Then I guess we will let him decide. May the best woman win." And with that... we turned our lives into a contest for Natsu. At least for a little while.

Erza's POV:

We were on the train heading to a small town near Crocus so we could take down a dark guild called Blood Knight. Natsu wasn't looking like he was about to lose his guts, so I said, "Natsu, don't you have motion sickness?" He looked at me wide-eyed. "I uh... yeah... I got over it while we were training. Just don't tell anyone... I want to mess with the rest of the guild." Gray laughed at that. "Sure. And by 'mess with the guild' you mean act motion sick and then puke all over me!" We all laughed at that. Then Happy said, "Who wants to play a game while we are on the train since Natsu won't puke on us?" We decided to play Paranoia. We took turn whispering questions into each other's ears and they said who would most likely fit the questions. The only thing was the answer couldn't be the person asking the question or the person who has to answer. Then we would flip a coin, if it landed on heads, we had to say what the question was, but if it was tails, we had to leave our comrades guessing what the question was. We played until we had to get off the train. That was when our mission began.

Gray's POV:

We got off the train and started walking through the forest on the outskirts of the town. We were walking for about 17 minutes before Natsu stopped and started smelling the air. He said, "I can smell people close by. Don't let your guard down." We nodded our heads. 'Thanks for the warning Flame-Brain.' 'Oh shuddap! You know the warning wasn't for you.' We kept walking for about 4 minutes before we heard a twig snap. We looked in the direction of the noise. At first we did't see anything, but then we saw an attack coming our way. We dodged it before Erza summoned a sword. She went and attacked the unseen attacker and knocked him out. Then she said, "We must be getting close to their guild hall. All of you, stay alert." We nodded and continued walking. After a few minutes we saw the guild hall. It looked like a very small castle that has been covered in moss. Many of the stones making up the structure were damaged and losing their color. We noticed their were a few people guarding the place and went in some bushes to talk about a plan.