【Re:Freezing】 | Gray Fullbuster x OC

46. Dry Flower

The Grand Magic Games.

Fairy Tail's participation was decided after making the decision to get back their guild's previous ranking. Despite protests from those mostly excluded from the Tenrou Island fiasco, the choice to participate still came to be after a whole Master-title jump (Gildarts was supposed to be the next Master but he just hopped onto the next train and ping ponged the title back to Master Makarov, so yeah).

Karissa was obviously more informed by thanks to her encounter with Sting and Rogue but it was still interesting to hear her guild's explanation and opinions on it.

Also, she originally planned to join Pandora and Van for a rare chance to train together... that is until she found out she was tagging along with Laxus' group when Van meddled a little. Remembering her conversation with Laxus, she was quick to back away from that trip with a split second smirk directed at Laxus. She was pretty sure he gave her an eye roll.

That led to Lucy, Erza and Gray inviting Karissa to the beach for training.

...

...

...

Karissa gave them a suspicious look.

"Training, right?"

"Yeah! It'll be so much fun!" Lucy smiled with fists pumps. Natsu and Happy had already ran home to do some quick packing after they decided on the location. This time, they'd be sure to properly hide their recently earned moola from any thieves. Wendy and Carla were also gone to prepare. And since Karissa wasn't with them when they discussed, they quickly went to ask her before she went off on her own again as she did these days.

Karissa tutted her finger at Lucy. "See, you getting all excited for the beach makes me skeptical about 'training at the beach'."

Gray crossed his arms and leaned his weight on one leg. "Come on, we've got three whole months to prepare. What's the harm of having a little fun while training?"

Erza smiled and put a thoughtful hand on her chin. "Training on sand is good since a change in environment can challenge your body's fundamental strengths."

Karissa deadpanned. No. It was obvious that Erza was clearly looking forward to relaxing at the beach. That would be excused though since Erza was already very tough. Her eyes slid from the scarlet haired mage to the cool faced Gray who just looked a little amused by her unconvinced expression. She knew that he could tell she wasn't sold on the idea. Now, she was waiting for him to give a much more convincing argument.

"Erza's got a point. Doing stuff on sand has an effect on your body."

"Like balance and stuff?"

Gray nodded and held up his arms as if to pretend to block a blow. "Makes it good for combat. You could use it." He stomped his left foot on the floor three times. "The sand will build your leg strength."

"And you know this how?"

He scoffed. "Because I've done it once. It makes a big difference on solid ground." He gave her a look as if to say 'it's worth it'.

Karissa pursed her lips and looked away. Gray would now and then remind her about hand-to-hand combat since he wanted to keep on her toes to avoid her getting rusty. She understood that it was also because he didn't want her getting caught with her pants down if she did get rusty.

Also, she didn't feel like going through the trouble to put 'distance'. It was actually getting annoying despite the good motivation like she told Laxus.