"The competition for Day Three is Pandemonium! One member from each guild will be taking part!"
"From Fairy Tail Team A, Erza Scarlet! From Fairy Tail Team B, Cana Alberona! From Mermaid Heel, Millianna! From Raven Tail, Obra! From Blue Pegasus, Hibiki Lates! From Sabertooth, Orga Nanagear! From Lamia Scale, Jura Neekis! And from Quatro Puppy, Nobarly!"
I frowned. Orga again?
"Oi." Gajeel said. I turned around. "I saw your shoulders went all square. Don't go freakin' out on us again, ya hear me?"
I shook my head.
"I can't promise you that, Gajeel." I said. "I can't help it... I'm sorry."
"Hey, now! Don't be goin' all soft!" he exclaimed in a slightly panicked manner. "makin' you cry won't look too good on me, the lightning boy and Salamander'll have my ass!"
I smiled gently.
"It's okay. I won't cry." I said.
"Yeah... you'd better not. You're tough." Gajeel nodded. "too tough, 'cause bunny girl told me that you and the Salamander went 'n challenged Sabertooth! The hell is wrong with you two?!"
"We could've done some serious damage if that bimbo bitch didn't show up..." I mumbled.
"Bunny girl said that you started crying." Gajeel deadpanned.
"W-what?! That's just because the Sabertooth wench took Kuschel! I'm sure you'd do the same if she tried to hurt Lily!" I said defensively.
"Both of you - the Games." Laxus reminded.
"Sorry." I said, turning to the arena. It was a huge castle-like structure. I noticed that Kuschel was sat on the edge of Fairy Tail's stand area with Happy, Panther Lily and Carla rather than wandering around.
As far as I knew, there were one hundred magically programmed monsters in that castle, ranking from weak to S-Class. The more you take on, the more points you get. Erza was first up.
"I had figured this game would all depend on the number I drew." the redhead said with a small puff of air.
"You mean luck of the draw?" the pumpkin guy, Mato, questioned. "n-no... maybe, but I don't think so. The game is set up to be based on how you pace yourself and how well you sum up the situation."
"No... this game is over." a smile graced Erza's lips as she spoke. "inside this castle wait one hundred monsters. I choose to challenge... all of them."
Gasps and chatters were elicited from the crowd, including the guilds - except ours. Well, most of us. Natsu and Gray were simply laughing. I was cheering.
// Time Skip //
All of Fairy Tail Team A ran down to congratulate her. Despite being in Team B, she was still a guild-mate; I followed suit.
"Erza!" I called, running to her and grabbing her by both of the hands. "that was amazing! How are you so strong?! I'm old enough to fight you properly now, right?!"
"Hey, hey. We still haven't won the Games yet." she said smilingly. We all left the arena together. I gave Natsu an enthusiastic high-five.
"Erza really is incredible, isn't she?" I grinned.
"She sure is!" Natsu laughed. "you are too, y'know?"
I tilted my head.
"What of it?" I asked.
"Well... ya've really improved over the past seven years an' stuff, ya know?" he said. "between you and me, that Unison Raid last night was awesome!"
"Yeah! Flaming Sound Dragon's Exploding Symphony, what a power move!" I agreed.
"Once we've won the Games and we're back home, how about a fight?" the fire mage asked.
My jaw went slack out of pure astonishment.
"Really?! You think I can fight you now?!" I exclaimed. He gave a thumbs-up and a wink.
"Sure ya can!" he said. "Looking forward to it, [Y/N]!"
With that, he ran off in the direction of his team. I returned to my own team.
"Um... to assign points to the rest of the competing teams, we are going to have to come up with a ranking system."
"The Magic Power Finder, MPF!" Mato exclaimed. Hibiki tried to ask out Cana, who denied him after mentioning she could only drink one barrel of alcohol.
"That drunkard!" Gajeel hissed.
"We'll get nothing out of her..." Laxus sighed.
"Cana! The contest isn't over yet!" Juvia called.
Cana burped in response.
Millianna went first: "Kitten Blast!"
Her number went to three hundred and sixty-five.
Then was Nobarly of Quatro Puppy. He reached one hundred and twenty-four.
Next was Hibiki. His number was only ninety-five. He fell on all fours and started whining.
Obra of Raven Tail only got four.
"Wha?!" I gasped.
Orga marched up to the MPF next.
"One-twenty millimetre Black Thunder Cannon!" Orga yelled. I covered my ears and my eyes widened as lightning flickered all over the MPF.
"[Y/N]... [Y/N], get it the hell together!" Laxus said, shaking my shoulders. I snapped out of it - Orga's score was three thousand, eight hundred and twenty-five.
"It's over. You're alright." the blond said. I nodded.
Jura's score was eight thousand, five hundred and forty-four.
"I-I hope Cana can do something good..." I murmured, stepping back and wrapping myself in Laxus's overlarge coat.
"O-oi!" Laxus exclaimed, yet didn't shove me away.
"To me! River of light that guides the Fairies!" Cana yelled. "Shine! Break the evil fangs of those who would threaten us!"
"What is she..." I started.
"Fairy Glitter!"
My face morphed into a happy grin. "Yeah! Go Cana!"
Her score was nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine - she destroyed the MPF.
"Woah! Her power level is over nine thousand!" I gaped.
"Shut up." Gajeel groaned.
"No one can stop us! Why? Because we're Fairy Tail!" Cana yelled.
We now drew points with Mermaid heel, sharing fourth place. Team A placed behind us.
The first match of Day Three was Millianna versus Semmes of Quatro Puppy - Millianna was the winner.
Next was Sabertooth's Rufus against Eve. I was rooting for Eve, personally.
"Come on! Eve!" I shrieked, over my fear of Orga's lightning... for now.
Rufus used some sort of attack with his Memory Make Magic and completely annihilated Eve.
"Stop cheerin' for the other teams!" Gajeel scolded, whacking me over the head.
I realised I hadn't seen Frosch for the entire day and frowned.
'I hope I didn't scare it off last night...' I thought. 'I was really warming up to Frosch...'
I looked around and saw it with the rest of Sabertooth.
"Moving right along, we'll start the third battle..." Mato said. I realised Laxus had disappeared from behind me and my stomach became a pit of nerves.
"Fairy Tail Team B's Laxus Dreyar, versus Raven Tail's Alexei!" the pumpkin announced. Despite my imminent and unavoidable fear of lightning, I cheered for my teammate.
"Go get 'em, Laxus!" I yelled.
"There's nothing to worry about there." Gajeel crossed his arms.
"It is Laxus after all!" Cana agreed with the iron wizard.
"But... Juvia has a bad feeling about this." Juvia said. I turned to look at her and nodded.
"I'm pretty sure we all have a bad feeling about this fight..."
"Let the battle begin!" Chapati called out.
"You're from dad's guild?" Laxus asked. "so who are you?"
He was immediately struck back by Alexei. I made some sort of noise of shock.
"Damnit!" the lightning mage cursed, taking another hit from the Raven Tail wizard.
"You're kidding!" I said.
"Is this a joke?" Gajeel commented.
"He's getting beaten?" Cana added.
"Laxus can't even get in a single hit against Alexei's raging attacks!"
"Something's wrong..." I murmured. "something's really wrong here! Laxus!"
'It's too one-sided...' I thought worriedly. 'and Laxus hasn't even given off a spark yet. He hasn't used his magic at all!'
We all continued to watch Laxus get beaten down by Raven Tail's wizard, yet Alexei never knocked him down for good.
Laxus suddenly vanished, and another one appeared. I gripped the ledge, leaning out as far as possible without falling.
"W-what is this?" Chapati gasped. "what went on here?!"
"The guild master! Alexei was really Master Ivan!" Mato screeched.
"So the Laxus vs. Alexei match we just watched was an illusion, and the one left standing is Laxus! And while we weren't looking, Laxus took on a five-one-one attack... not only that, but an all-out fight against the master himself! No matter how you look at it, this is an egregious breach of the rules!" Chapati Lola announced. "No doubt about it, the victor is Laxus!"
Master Ivan was dragged away cackling, as well as the rest of his guild team. They were disqualified from the Games and banned from participating for another three years.
I waited anxiously to be able to see Laxus in rhe infirmary.
'That poor man... he faced off against Ivan and his team, at the same time...' I stood, pondering. 'no... Laxus wouldn't want my sympathy. He wouldn't want me worried about him. He's strong, he took out Raven Tail by himself - a guild that was made purely to bring destruction to Fairy Tail!
'Laxus... you did well.'