Hot and Cold

Power-Up

~*****~

I would've loved to relax on the beach. The sun was so warm, and I absolutely loved the sand between my toes. "Listen, we're not here to play, we're here to train!" Carla explains with her cute little scuba get up on.

"Let's get to it!" Happy agrees.

"It's hard to take you seriously when you're dressed like that," Droy mentioned.

"There's plenty of time for training," Erza mentioned "But it's important to balance your work and pleasure. We'll play hard. Eat hard! Sleep hard!" Erza explained.

"Hey, wait just a minute, what about train hard?" Jet asks.

"Yeah, that's why you're here!" Droy adds. "By the time we're done with you--"

"You might stand a chance of beatin' us!" Jet adds. "Cause there ain't no way you could right now!"

I turn my gaze up to the sky and inhale. "I'd move if I were you--" I mention, and just as I say it, they both go flying.

"THE OCEAN!" Natsu shouts as he barrels towards the water.

"Last one there's a rotten egg!" Gray shouted.

"Swimming contest! Sandcastle contest! Eating contest! Suntan contest!" They both cheer in tandem, completing each event they'd made together rapidly. I peer at Natsu's tanned body in appreciation.

"That was fun." Natsu sighed. "I'm ready for a nap." I give a sharp squeal as Natsu loops his arm around my waist and hoists me over his shoulder as he trails towards the towels.

Training began the first day at the beach. Everyone splits apart to train hard. I went to the highest point on the island, where it was the hottest and began focusing my magic energy to build up, even without the use of any ice or frost before releasing it around me, creating a large blizzard with just my body temperature. I can vaguely hear Ballad's cheering through her chattering teeth, but I keep going and going until I'm completely submerged in fresh powder and frost. With a deep inhale, I suck in the entire blizzard and launch it into the sky. I repeat the process many times as the day finally ends.

"Look! The stars are so pretty!" Lucy chirps as I trail behind her in Akane Inn.

"Yeah, they are," Levy nods. "Hey, I wonder how training is going for the others."

"D'you think they might be out there looking up at the same stars that we are right now?" Wendy asks eagerly.

"Betcha Gajeel's snorin' up a storm," I comment impishly. "What d'you think, buddy?"

"I bet he's watching the stars!" Ballad retorts immediately as she settles into my arms, sighing dreamily.

~*****~

The next morning was a hard morning. I certainly felt stronger, but my body temperature did not want to rise at all with the morning sun. "Aw man, I already feel stronger!" Natsu exclaims.

"Me too, but we can't get lazy." Gray adds. "We've gotta keep training."

"I can't believe that our magic power's increased so much and it's only the second day!" Wendy chirped.

"If we keep training this hard for the next three months, I have no doubt that we'll be able to catch up with everyone else." Erza comments.

Levy nods happily. I start knocking on my shoulder. "Y'know, at first, I thought that three months might not be enough," I mention. "But now that we're actually training and training hard, I kinda feel like maybe we only needed a month. Two at the most."