𝙉𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏 𝙎𝙃𝙄𝙁𝙏 // 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙭 𝙤𝙘

ＥＩＧＨＴＥＥＮ．

Fuyumi went to bed happily that night, silently treading into the shared room with Erza, Lucy, Gray and Natsu.

She couldn't help but regret not kissing Sting again that night, though perhaps it was for the better.

She was pretty certain of her feelings towards him, and was most definitely certain of how he felt towards her, there were only a few difficulties in their way.

One being Sting's unconscious attitude to Fairy Tail — she knew that he probably didn't mean the passive aggressive things he could let slip, about how Sabertooth was the most powerful and would come out on top, or how he would beat Natsu to a pulp on site if they were pitted against each other in the arena.

Although Fuyumi figured that, in time, that would change, which brought her to her next obstacle.

Master Jiemma of Sabertooth was a massive risk. If he was to catch wind of Sting sneaking to see her, bad things would most definitely happen to him. Even Master Makarov could pose a slight threat, as the tension between Fairy Tail and Sabertooth was thicker now thanks to the actions of Natsu - Sting and Fuyumi's unsteady relationship was just collateral damage in his explosions.

Natsu was also a big problem. Even if there was a slim chance that Sabertooth and Fairy Tail could become amicable, Fuyumi knew that without good reason, Natsu was not one to forgive easily, especially to those who had hurt his family.

If they went toe-to-toe in the battle section of the Games, perhaps they could both let off their pent up steam — Natsu's being his anger and rage towards not just Sabertooth, but Sting personally, and Sting's being his borderline obsessive desire to defeat Natsu.

When the next day came, the contest section of the day was called Pandemonium — a game of luck in which the eight wizards selected from each team were to draw a number, one through eight, and battle against various monsters inside of a dungeon. One hundred monsters filled that dungeon.

Almost thankfully, Erza had chosen the number one, meaning she would go first.

There were one hundred monsters in that dungeon.

And in that dungeon, Erza had chosen to battle all one hundred of them. And she had come out the victor.

Each wizard was supposed to gain point for the amount of monsters they chose to battle, the typical number having been less than four, probably.

Though it would have been massively unfair to award Fairy Tail A one hundred points, so Erza was awarded ten and the event was automatically finished with.

To judge the other seven wizards, a little machine was brought out — the Magic Power Finder, MPF.

When the machine was hit with magic power, it would assign a point value to it and display it to the audience. This would determine the strength of each wizard, and therefore the winner.

Milliana of Mermaid Heel had gone first, hitting the MPF. Her score had been 365 — without any other score to compare it to, it was hard to discern whether it was high or not.

Nobarly of Quatro Puppy had scored 124, but that was a lot compared to Blue Pegasus' Hibiki's mere 95.

And that was a lot, compared against Obra's (a Raven Tail wizard) score of 4.

Then, Orga Nanagear stepped up. Sabertooth's God Slayer, with the power of lightning at his side.

Fuyumi clenched her jaw, watching. She figured Sabertooth would take the win this time, considering Fairy Tail B's contestant was nobody but Cana Alberona.

As expected, his magic scored him a whopping 3825.

The Ice Dragon Slayer heard Natsu and Gray squawk beside her. Although the guilds had been pitted against each other, she couldn't help but chuckle and give that to Sabertooth — their guild was definitely a force to be reckoned with.

And then Jura stepped up. Fuyumi had barely recognised him, although she knew then that Lamia Scale would come out victorious. Just as she thought, his score had beaten Orga's — 8544. She feared he would break the machine.

It was made known that that was a new record for the highest score achieved on the MPF.

Cana hiccuped and rocked forwards, towards the Magic Power Finder. She shrugged off her sheer top, leaving her in her little bandeau. A tattoo resembling the Fairy Tail guild mark was on her forearm.

"To me! River of light that guides the fairies!" she threw her arm up, "shine! Break the evil fangs of those who should threaten us! Fairy Glitter!"

A bright light erupted in the stadium and Fuyumi shielded her eyes. Cana was thrown back by the force of her own spell.

The MPF was destroyed, a single number floating on the air.

9999.

"Wh-what just happened? She destroyed the MPF... and maxed out the score! What is this guild made of?! With a one-two finish in the competition section... it's Fairy Tail! Can anyone stop them now?!"

"No-one can stop us!" Cana yelled, throwing her arms wide, "because we're Fairy Tail!"

Fuyumi glanced over to where Sabertooth was situated — Sting looked sick to his stomach at what he had just witnessed.

When the battle section came around, it went as quick as it passed. Milliana had battled Semmes of Quatro Puppy and won easily.

Eve Tearm of Blue Pegasus had battled Rufus and lost massively against Rufus' ancient spells.

From Fairy Tail B came Laxus, pitted against someone from his own father's guild - Alexei.

The match went on and on, Laxus being beaten but never totally falling.

Fuyumi glanced at Natsu, who could only watch in horror as his idol from childhood was beaten mercilessly.
"No, something's wrong," Fuyumi shook her head, gripping her brother's arm, "Laxus, he... is most definitely pulling his punches here. Why can't he get in a single hit?"

Natsu's dragon-like teeth gritted, "somethin' smells funny, too."

The two siblings could only watch on as Laxus was beaten down and down again, yet never forfeiting the match or falling unconscious. Peculiar.

And all of a sudden, the battle warped and vanished to show another Laxus, standing tall and proud, with the unconscious bodies of the Raven Tail members littered around his feet. Their entire competing team.

"Wh-what is this?!"

"Laxus!" Natsu yelled.

"So the battle between Laxus and Alexei we were watching was just an illusion?! And the one left standing is Laxus! And while we weren't looking, Laxus took a five-on-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! The one thing that isn't in doubt is that the winner... is Laxus!"

"It looks like he got to take revenge on our enemies for us..." Gray grinned.
"I hope they don't punish that Flare girl so harshly..." Lucy sighed.
"You are far too nice," Fuyumi chuckled.

After some discussion, Raven Tail was disqualified from the Games and banned from competing for three whole years. That brought everyone to the fourth and final battle.

As the names were called, Fuyumi smiled to herself.

Wendy could only shriek as her name was called.
"Fuyumi?" she ran to the Dragon Slayer, "I-I thought... you... you were competing in my place!"

"I couldn't take all of the glory, Wendy," she said reassuringly, "I spoke to the men behind the scenes, you know, during Pandemonium. I told them that I was just taking your place, and they allowed a switch. I was just a reservist. I want you to bring us to victory, too."

Wendy's eyes welled up a bit and she threw her arms around Fuyumi.
"Ohh... Fuyumi," she snivelled, "I-I promise, I'll do my very best!"