Behind the scenes

Erza

"Why the hell can't you leave?! Stop copying me!" The pink haired idiot thought I was doing this on purpose?! "Like I know! Yer pissing me off now, dammit! I'm not doin' anything!" I yelled back, crossing my arms so I didn't punch him in his stupid face.

"Two?" The geezer yelled over us. "Don't tell me it's just these two left!!" The blue cat was whining about not being included. The old man was shaking, staring at the floor. "Is this the end?" I heard him mutter. The Salamander growled. "Ahh, fine! I'll just go revive Erza." He stomped toward the stage where the statue girls were, muttering, "just when I thought I had a chance to one-up her."

"Wait a second, how do you mean to?!!" The Master yelled after him. Natsu turned around. "If I burn it, it'll come off, right? The stone or whatever." He and the geezer were yelling back and forth as the Salamander lit his hands on fire and placed them on the Titania's chest. "Havin' fun with yer hands there, Salamander?" I snickered. All of a sudden we heard a crack. "Aaaahh!!! Crap, crap! I cracked her! Happy, get glue, we need glue!" His cat flew away yelling, "Aye, sir!" I rolled my eyes.

"Idiot! Ya think that'd fix it? Obviously we need to use yer fire to melt my iron and we'll weld her back together!" The tiny crack on her forehead grew longer.

"Aaaaaagh! I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry!" The flame-brain was groveling at Erza's feet. Suddenly there was a shattering sound, and the stone disappeared, leaving her sitting unharmed on the stage. "I feel hot... Was that you, Natsu?" She asked in a very dark voice. "What the hell were you playing at?!" She yelled as she leapt to her feet, swinging a punch into his jaw. The momentum of her punch knocked him into me, and we both went flying.

As I shook my head clear from the ringing in my ears, I heard Erza tell the old man that she heard everything while she's been a statue. "Now that I'm back in action, the number of combatants has changed as well. Clever little setup. So, that's three people - Natsu, Gajeel, and myself." I looked to the runes that displayed details of the fights, and watched as it ticked up once again, stopping at 4. "It went up?" Natsu whipped around to glare at the stage. "Who?! Everyone is still stone, so who?!"

The scarlet haired wizard in front of me grinned. "It looks like that man has decided to join in the battle as well. Mystogan." Erza took off out the door. How come she can leave, but I can't?! Not long after, the runes told us she was fighting with the bitch, Evergreen. I kept an eye on the statues, to see if anything changed as the fight went. Within minutes of their fight starting, the runes updated, and the statues on stage simultaneously turning back into the girls. "Huh? What's going on? Where?" Their questions overlapping each other. "LUCY!" The cat cried as he launched himself at the blonde.

I glanced at the two bluenettes on stage, but they both seemed fine. I looked at the runes again, and the number grew to ten. I walked back to the door as the old man explained what was going on. "Who wants to try me?! Huh?!" I turned around to the Salamander blowing flames and trying to pick a fight with the girls. I must have spaced out for a minute, I had no idea what started him going again. "I mean, we haven't even done anything! Bring on the fights!"

He was throwing punches in the air, an excited grin on his face. "Stop that, please. I can't tell if your joking or not." The blondie was whining at him.

"Hell, if ya really want to, I wouldn't mind giving you a round!" The brunette lush snarked at him.

"Cana! Don't encourage him!"

"What's wrong Gajeel-kun?" The rain woman had come up next to me as I watched the morons bickering. "Nothin." She smiled at me, "This guild is a lot of fun, isn't it?" Heh. At least they aren't boring. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. "They're fucking crazy." Just then, the room filled with enchanted boards displaying a skull with a lightning bolt through its eye.

"Can ya hear me, old man? And everyone from the guild, too... It looks like we've lost one of our rules, so I'm instating a new one. So as to keep this battle moving, I've activated the Thunder Palace. You only have an hour and ten minutes. Do you think you can defeat us? Or are ya gonna play nice and retire? Master" You could hear the sneer in the last word as Laxus' voice faded out laughing.

"What are you thinking, Laxus?! Are you trying to drag innocent civilians into this?!" The geezer was screaming at the sky, but stopped suddenly, grasping the coat over his heart. "Hrk!" He grunted as he fell to the ground. "Gramps!"