Decades Gone By Series: Insanity Takes All - Book 1 (Fairy Tail)

Chapter 9 - Venom

          Juvia was tapping her heel on the ground as the wait dragged on. The guilds stayed inside the arena, waiting impatiently for the judges to be ready for the first challenge. The bluenette stood beside Mest, who had his arms crossed and glared at the announcer. She bit her thumb nail as her eyes scanned the perimeter. She made sure they didn't fall on Lucy and her comrades as she went around.

            "Alright," the announcer said, returning to his mic. "Let's begin with the first challenge. Guilds, pick one member to participate." 

            Juvia turned to her friends but they all watched Premonition carefully, and she followed their gaze as Lucy stepped up, her arms at her sides as she made eye contact with them. Juvia heard Natsu step forward but she quickly blocked his path, making him confused. "You aren't going up," she said in a scolding voice. 

            Natsu held out his hands in confusion, his black eyebrows raising. "Of course I'm going up. Lucy is, so I am." He moved to step past the bluenette but Juvia pushed him backwards, using all her force against his bare stomach. He fell backwards and Mest caught him before he could fall. 

           "You will do something very reckless and upset Lucy. Juvia doesn't want anyone else to get their head smashed off." She shivered at the mention of the bartender. "Juvia herself will go and you," she pointed at him, Natsu flinching at the way her finger went up. "Will silently sit back and try not to interfere."

            Natsu straightened up, making sure he was at least a few paces away from her. "You feel like a mother right now," he mumbled and Juvia glared at him. He fell beside Mest. "Alright, go on." 

           Juvia twirled around and began walking to the middle as the guilds began to depart and make their way to the balcony's. She found herself standing in front of Lucy, the blonde mages arms crossed as her eyebrows raised with interest. "For a minute there, I thought Natsu was going to be the one to compete. Nice push back there, didn't know you had that kind of force," when she smiled, it sent snakes slithering up Juvia's spine.

           She tore her eyes away from Lucy's to check out the other contestants. Mattan Ginger stretched her arms up high over her head, twisting her right foot around in preparation. Toby stood still, glancing around as he slouched. Nobarly from Quatro Cerberus had an expression on his face saying he wanted to punch Toby, for some unknown reason. 

            One of the girls from Tally Raid, Zenith Maryland, was drawing random pictures on her bare arms. Fan Jung from Diamond Rouge was airing herself with a Chinese fan, flowers decorating the wings. Calculus from Siren Mouth cracked his knuckles. 

           "Alright," the announcer boomed. "We've got Calculus from Siren Mouth, Nobarly from Quatro Cerberus, Fan Jung from Diamond Rouge, Toby Horhorta from Lamia Scale, Mattan Ginger from Twilight Orge, Zenith Maryland from Tally Raid, Juvia Lockser from Fairy Tail and Lucy Heartfilia from Premonition." He took a chance to breathe before announcing the challenge. 

           "The challenge today is a quite hard one. These contestants will be transported into the town and when two of them meet, you will have to fight until one of you can't stand. However, there are complications, for five dangerous monsters have been released into the town. Five with incredible abilites and if two of you run into the same monster, you must work together to bring it down. The killing of the creature will earn each guild twenty points. When you defeat someone from another guild, you get ten."

              Out of the corner of her eyes, Juvia saw Lucy's hands tighten themselves into fists as she growled with joy. "Lucy Heartfilia will be transported first, for her guild got the highest ranking. Calculus will be transported last."