Just as Lucy dragged -- uh, teleported -- her half-awake guildmates into their hotel room, the pumpkin's voice resounded throughout the room. And throughout the city, since so many people were listening to it. And from the lacrimas everywhere, especially the hugest one floating right above Domus Flau.
"Welcome, contestants, to the 12th Quadrennial Grand Magic Games-pabo! I'm Mato, and joining me today is Chapati, and Makarov from Fairy Tail-pabo!"
"How are you doing, Crocus?" The wig-dude, Chapati, asked.
Makarov only gave a short nod, looking down. While some knew the reason, most didn't.
That immediately snapped Levy, Mira, Kagura and Yukino up from their dazed states. Mavis and Lucy giggled, trying to pass off their giggles as coughs, which earned red-faced glares from the four. Their attention was then drawn back to the pumpkin.
Yes, I can't remember his name. Got a problem?
"This year, we have just over 29, 000 contestants, from approximately 3000 different guilds from all over Earthland-pabo!
'Woah,' Lucy's subconscious murmured. 'Lots of petty people to deal with.'
If you haven't noticed already, to anyone other than the Eternalis, Mavis, and their exceeds, Lucy is like a rock, covered with ice, then a thick layer of diamonds. Beautiful on the outside, but empty on the inside. Most would say she's heartless, but she would say that...
"You have a heart, just a very tiny one made of stone, ice, and diamonds. Hard, but unfortunately not impenetrable." A small but confident voice said, and turning around, Lucy came face-to-face with her exceed, Yuci.
"Thanks, Yu." The blonde goddess hugged her exceed, before realizing she had accidentally stopped time again.
"Ahh! Sorry!" The girl resumed time, only to be interrupted by Mato's voice. The pumpkin. I remembered his name. Is it Mato?
"But, sticking to tradition as always, we'll eliminate all but the top eight guilds in the preliminaries-pabo!"
A gasp could be heard, resounding around -- literally -- Crocus. Since so many contestants were all listening, all squished into the city -- it was huge, but think of all the residents + contestants + extra security -- and most to all of them gasped, the sound could be heard everywhere.
"And so," the pumpkin continued, without a care in the world. Or totally nonchalant, whatever you prefer. "This year's preliminary round is called Space Labyrinth-pabo! It-"
Mato was cut off by Chapati, who excitedly yelled out. "It's named after the Sky Labyrinth, if you're wondering!"
Even the stricken Master of Fairy Tail had to crack a smile at this. "Thank you, Captain Obvious." He then sighed, and the camera moved back to Mato.
"So, as I was saying, the Space Labyrinth is like the Sky Labyrinth, but set it an outer-space like environment. The provided oxygen will continue to gradually decrease, and you will float, as if you were in space-pabo. It will be dark, except for..."
The pumpkin trailed off nervously, looking at Makarov, then Fairy Tail, then finally, his eyes wandered nervously until they found the lacrima showing the Fateium, aka Winged Fate. When Natsu Dragneel gave a curt nod, Mato cleared his throat and continued.
"It will be dark, except for holograms of stars, planets, galaxies, nebulas, the occasional supernova or meteor/comet -- you know, the usual in space-pabo. All magic is allowed, Exceeds are allowed, please no maiming and killing-"
As he droned on about more rules, a thought popped into Lucy's mind.
'Isn't that what Chiron from Percy Jackson says before Capture the Flag?'
When she refocused, her brain/ears had already heard/processed the information for her.
'Only up to ten members of each Guild can compete in the games, each guild can have up to two teams, the members of a guilds team can be replaced by reserve members if necessary, Guild Masters cannot participate, anyone without the Guild's insignia cannot participate, each event will remain a secret up until right before they begin, at which point the rules will be explained, all participants must return to the lodgings by 12:00 midnight, and victory is based on who can dominate across several different kinds of competition.'
Okay. Boring, simple. But the round seemed exciting enough. She scanned the lacrimas with her dragon sight.
Fairy Tail, Sabertooth, Lamia Scale, Mermaid Heel, Quatro Puppy. Probably gonna get into top eight.
Eternal Destiny. Winged Fate. She smirked.
Who was gonna get the top spot?