The three third generation dragon slayers made it back to the hotel...or should we say a mansion really. They had an hour before the warning hour and so all the participants were gathered in the spacious lobby. They were all sitting on the long velvet colored couches.
Ruka was sitting at the edge, legs crossed, head placed back on the headrest. She was holding a sleeping Juri in her arms. She herself was about to fall asleep.
Sting was next to her. Legs crossed as well, arm spread behind Ruka. He fiddled with his fur coat. Lector was sitting in his lap, yawning and curling into his side.
Rogue was simply sitting like a statue. Arms crossed across his chest and frosch was soundly sleeping on top of his head. They looked quite hilarious.
Rufus was reading a thick book. Somehow entertained with reading such a thick book. His hat tilted a bit forward and he fixed back on.
Orga was sitting by the other edge, elbow placed there. His palm held his chin and staring into nothingness.
They were absolutely bored.
The second ticked by like minutes. The minutes ticked by like hours.
The grandfather clock ticked and made a very long tock indicating it was 12 am.
The black haired girl lifted her head and looked around to search for anything regarding the preliminary round. She gently shook Juri awake and the blue exceed jumped off her lap, landing on the coffee table. The black haired girl got up and stretched her arms, "So, what now—" She was cut off by the shaking of the entire building.
She grabbed the armrest for support, but also felt something holding her by the waist. She blushed as she noticed it was Sting's hand. Sting blushed and let's her go. "Thanks..." she murmured. The team had gone outside to the balcony to check on the sudden shake. They walked over to the balcony to see the entire hotel being lifted into the air. The black haired grabbed onto railing already feeling sick.
Yes, unfortunately, Ruka Galaxia, has motion sickness. Just like any other dragon slayer, she suffered from motion sickness. But she was always, and still envious of the small, Wendy Marvel for not being affected by it.
The motion stopped and she was finally able to breath with ease. The memebers looked around and saw other motels or hotels were being lifted into the air as well. Members from other guilds emerged from the inside to deal with all the comotiom onky to find themselves being lifted of solid ground.
Light emerged from the center of Crocus, the black haired girl squinted her eyes to be able to shape out the thing or person being projected into the air.
And was she not suprised who it was.
"To all the guild here present for the Grand Magic Tournament!!...Good Morning!!"
The balck hair girl scowled at the pumpkin, she had nasty history with it. It had once called her a teenage girl with a 3 year old's spirit in it.
It had an annoying smile, that stretched across it's face. She found it disturbing sometimes. It's had a tall green pointy hat with tiny arms with gloves in it. It wore a collared t-shirt and what seemed like oversized green shoes.
It outstretched it's hand like a hug-like manner. It stood in a plate, and was being projected into the sky.
"In order to reduce the number of participating teams from 113 to 8, we will now a 'Preliminary Event'!"
Due to her heightened senses she heard gasp coming from the Fairy Tail team.
"Preliminary!?"
"No one said anything about this!"
Oh, so they didn't know, she thought. She grabbed onto the railings and leaned forward. "You're going to fall off..." Sting murmured. "I'm not a dumb little child Sting." "I know you're not."
"Preliminary event...did we have last year?" Rogue asked. The black haired girl shrugged her shoulders, not knowing the answer. "I believe not" Rufus stated.
The pumpkin continued with his explanations, "Every year, more and more guilds come~ That's a sign that the games was starting to be taken too lightly."
"This year, we've brought the number of final competing teams down to 8~" The pumpkin started to spin and dance on his plate/stage. "The preliminary rules are simple!"
Something started to form at the top of the balcony and the black haired girl instantly backed up. A wooden path started to form a few feet below the balcony.
"Feel free to use any kind of the magic you like. There are no restrictions."
All Sabertooth member smirked at that idea.
"As long as you're one of the 8 teams to make it."
"But If all 5 of your memebers don't make it there, you still lose."
The Sabertooths stilled smirked knowing none of them would be taken out.
"And...One...More...Thing...We take no responsibility for anyone who loses thier life in the Labryinth."
"A labyrinth...it doesn't sound to hard" the black haired girl said. She was now leaning down onto the railing. Sting watched her awarely, ready to catch her if she fell.
A large sphere appeared in the sky. Four looking ribbons wrapped around it. Metal building and stairs sticked out of the sphere. She was feeling rather excited.
"The Great Magic Tournament's Preliminary Event!! THE SKY LABRYINTH HAS BEGUN!!"
Ruka took a quick glance to her guild members and took some few steps back. She ran towards the balcony and placed her hand onto the railings and twisted her body. "Race you up to the entrance!!"
Adrenaline pumped throughout her veins and she landed on the wooden path, she ran up to the entrance. It looked it was running away from her. She ran faster and looked around her. Other guild were barely stepping onto the paths. She looked back to see her guild members a few feet away from her. She turned her head back to the front and her eyes widened.
There was nothing but empty space inside. She forced herself to stop, but the speed wouldn't let her. She grabbed the sides of the opening and let a sigh of relief. But she also remembered her guild members also running in at full speed.
She faced back with a terrified look. "StopStopStopStopSTOP!!" She shouted. Sting dug his heels into the wood and spread his arms out to stop the other from running into him. "Thank you". She stuck her head into the Labryinth and saw some stairs to her right. She nodded her head towards that direction. She stepped in and ran up the stairs followed by everyone else. They ran some more before coming to a large clearing with tilted stairs and more weird stairs in even weirder positions.
"Hold we should go east as a basis, the event grounds were in the east, meaning the exit should be around there" Ruka stated as she came to hault. "You're the boss" Sting stated. She rolled her eyes playfully. "Anyone got a compass?" She asked. They all shook their heads. "Great...wait a minute, I can do my Star Spell."
Voices rang from all directions and she got into a fighting stance. "We'll take of them, you figure out the way alright?" Sting asked. She nodded her head and took a deep breath in. She closed her eyes and outstretched her arms halfway, as if she was going to pull on something. "Night of the Stars" she said.
The boys who were waiting for her and also keeping a look out, looked at her. Purple fog lie substance emerged from hands and surrounded her waist section. Twinkling dots emerged all over the fog. Constellations were formed and a small sphere appeared in the fog too. She seemed to be sleeping.
Sting leaned in and looked at the fog. "Those must be the stars," he pointed out, "And that must be moon...," he pointed at the sphere, "And the fog must be the entire universe."
"Thank you, Captain Obvious" Rogue said. He glared at him and the black haired girl suddenly opened her eyes. Sting jumped back due to her sudden action. "I know the way...come on."
She ran off to the left and they followed her. She jumped over floating cubes and when they all landed the entire shower starting spinning. She grabbed onto the edge of the stairs and continued to roll until they were upside down. She was hanging in midair, hanging onto the stair railings. Other guilds starting dropping like flies around her. She pulled herself up and threw herself up with a heavy pants. "You okay?" Sting asked.
"Yeah." She got up and looked around. The course was shifted, but luckily she still had the image if they stars in her head. "Does this thing even qualify for a labyrinth in the first place" he asked. "Well if it wasn't we would have been out of here already" she said back.
They ran more, along the way eliminating other guilds. But they did not need to do the dirty work as other guild destroyed each other. And all for some stupid maps. She chuckled as they easily slipped through the crowds.
They arrived in a peaceful clearing. A town was there with a smal, I've flowing through it. It would have been more peaceful if it wasn't upside down.
"Where from here?" Sting asked. She pointed to the city. "Up there." "And just how are we getting up there?" He asked. She gently slapped his cheek in a teasingly manner. "Just wait for it." And soon again they started to spin again. They fell on the path in the city and started running. They ran through a bridge, which was in a middle of an ocean. They ran for what seemed forever. "Just how long is this?" Ruka asked.
And the end they arrived to a door with the pumpkin waiting for them clapping and screaming 'congratulations'. There was even a large colorful sign shouting the same thing. "Ruka Galaxia, Sting Eucliffe, Rogue Cheney, Rufus Lore, and Orga Nanagear, congratulations team Sabertooth. You've cleared the Preliminary Round." There was smirks thrown around.
"But we came in first place right?" Ruka asked wanting to know if her strategies helped her team win. "Of course, why would Sabertooth not get first place." Ruka hung her head in happiness. Sting swung his arm over her shoulder and brought her in for a side hug. He kissed her head and she closed her eyes. Rogue opened the door to reveal the exit.
They went back to the hotel and the black haired girl flopped down on her bed after taking a shower and changing.
Juri was asleep on the smaller bed next to her's. The door opened and Sting walked in. His forehead slightly still wet from the shower.
And he was shirtless.
She would we be lying if she said he didn't look handsome.
She blushed and hid her face in the pillow. She moved over to the side to make room for him. She placed her head on the pillow and closed her eyes. "No goodnight kiss?" He teased. She turned over and pecked his lips. "There." She wrapped her arms around his neck and dragged him into the bed. He gasped from the sudden action and then felt her figure curled into his side.
He hesitated before wrapping his arms around her and buryed his head into the crook of her neck. "I love you..." he murmured into her neck.
And so he thought he girl was asleep but really was she awake and heard him loud and clear.
"I love you too..."
And done. I now know the struggle of trying to update and having school at the same time. Yes, ya girl is actually a scholar and does her work before doing anything else. Maybe watching anime, but that DOESN'T MATTER! I might update about this time during school days because I daily have math homework.....curse my math teacher. Or ya know Im to busy watching anime. But hope you enjoyed the chapter.
-Nati