Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus.
July 3, x790.
{"Well, well, well..."} Roy said while leaning back in his chair in the broadcasting booth. {"I think I'm looking forward to this event more than any other event in Grand Magic Games history."}
{"And why is that?"} Loli asked, trying to minimize any dead air while the contestants were changing clothes.
{"I think that's obvious."} Yajima said while wearing a knowing smile.
{"Is it?"} Loli asked in a tone filled with genuine confusion.
{"*Sigh* Sometimes I wonder about you, man."} Roy said, shaking his head in exasperation while he did so. {"The swimsuits, man! It's the swimsuits!"}
*Cheer~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!*
*Smack!*
With Roy's exclamation, the men in the crowd, as well as a few women, cheered loudly. At the same time, the faint sound of a face palm could also be heard from the booth, causing Roy to smile in amusement.
{"Although this is not the first water based event in the Grand Magic Games, it is the first one where one of the three most popular female models will be participating."} Roy continued, explaining the situation to Loli to enlighten him. {"On top of that, from what I know, many of the participants are, if not friends with, acquainted with the Magic Seamstress. In other words, their swimsuits will probably be quite the sight to see, as well."}
Hearing that, Loli finally understood why Roy and Yajima seemed to be so excited. However, since none of the women participating in the event were his type, his excitement never reached the same level as theirs. Now, if someone like Wendy Marvell of Fairy Tail or Sherria Blendy of Lamia Scale were competing, he would have a completely different reaction.
{"Oh, it looks like the first participant to finish changing is coming out."} Yajima said excitedly when he saw a shadow appear in the doors leading to the arena's waiting area. However, when the person's identity became clear, he audibly deflated. {"And it's the guy from Twilight Ogre. Well, I guess we'll keep waiting."}
The wizard from Twilight Ogre, insulted by Yajima's lack of interest and inability to remember his name raged indignantly. However, no one in the audience was paying attention.
The next to emerge was Lyon wearing a pair of ice blue swimming trunks. Following him was Genma wearing a pair of black trunks.
{"Alright, all of the men have come out."} Roy said, sounding much more excited than anyone expected. However, his next words made everyone understand why. {"Now, we can look forward to the ladies entrances."}
*Cheer~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!*
And it was clear that the men were on board with Roy's thought process.
Not long after that, the first of the ladies made their way back into the arena.
{"Anko Mitarashi is the first of the ladies to re-emerge."} Yajima said excitedly.
And Yajima's excitement was not misplaced. Walking into the arena, Anko smiled confidently while wearing a predominantly orange one-piece swimsuit with purple accents and carrying her Battle Board under her arm.
After Anko, Minerva, wearing a green, qipao-inspired swimsuit with red accents was the next to make her appearance. And the disdainful sneer on her lips let everyone know what she thought of her competition for the event.
Tifa came out shortly after Minerva. With her hair tied in a ponytail and her buxom figure clad in a sporty, white bikini with a fluttery little skirt wrapped around her waist, and leather straps on her tights, Tifa mesmerized the crowd
Next was Marin. With a cheerful grin on her lips and confident steps, she took the crowds breath away when they saw her black bikini with dark pink floral patterns.
{"Jenny Realight is the only one left now!"} Roy shouted excitedly. {"And I know we won't be disappointed."}
In actuality, Roy wanted to say something along the lines of saving the best for last. However, he was savvy enough to know that if he said something like that, he would have four pissed off, at least A-Class female wizards looking for him to have a little conversation after the day's events ended were he to do so.
*Cheer~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~! *
The crowd seemed to be just as excited as Roy. And not only the men, as Jenny was universally well-liked by all the people of Fiore.
When Jenny entered the arena, the crowd fell silent. Though her swimsuit, a lavender bikini top with a sky-blue skirt was not overly revealing, the way she commanded the attention of the crowd was on another level from the rest.
"Tch!" Mirajane clicked her tongue from the Fairy Tail view area. "Look how confident she looks."
Everyone who heard Mirajane's comment only rolled their eyes.
{"Alright, everyone is here!"} Mato's voice sounded over the Domus Flau. {"Now, let's get the Battle Board event started."}
With that, the entire arena area was engulfed in light. When the light faded, the flat arena was changed completely. Now, there was a winding waterway with trees and rock formations present for everyone to see. Meanwhile, the eight contestants were standing about three quarters of the way down the course's longest straight path where there was a gate signifying the starting line.
{"Racers, take your positions!"} Mato shouted enthusiastically.
As Mato's words ended, the eight contestants approached the waterway. Then, they all put their Battle Boards in the water and carefully stepped onto them. Once they were all stable, they each inserted their magic power into the board and directed them to the starting line.
{"Now, you all know the rules."} Mato said. {"so, we won't waste any time. On your marks! Get set!"}
When Mato reached that point, everyone bent their knees and lowered their centers of gravity.
{"Go~~~~~~~~!"} Mato shouted, starting the event.
"[Ice-Make: Floor]." Lyon chanted as soon as the race started.
In the next instant, the water under all eight contestants froze over, stopping all the others from even getting started. At the same time, using his mastery over ice, Lyon pushed himself across the surface of the ice, taking the early lead.
"I don't think so!" Tifa shouted as she threw an uppercut at the empty air. "[Dolphin Blow]."
*Crash!*
In the next instant, Tifa was engulfed by water-blue magic power. Then, to everyone in the audience's surprise, a dolphin-type magical beast broke through the ice in front of Tifa. However, it not only broke the ice in front of her but cracked all the ice Lyon's spell made at the same time. Tifa then pushed her magic power into the Battle Board under her feet and shot forward before anyone else regained their senses.
*Splash!*
Unfortunately, having not expected what happened, the wizard from Twilight Ogre lost his balance and fell into the water.
{"*Sigh* And it looks like Twilight Ogre will be receiving 0 points for this event, as well."} Loli commented in an exasperated tone.
Despite Twilight Ogre's disqualification, the contestants all shot forward following Tifa. And they all used their magic to speed up. Unfortunately, with no direct spells that would aid him, Genma quickly fell into last place. However, the others raced around the course at high-speed using their magic to continuously increase their speed.
While Lyon, who was still in first place, froze the water in front of him and used it to propel himself forward, Tifa used another of her spells, [Waterkick] to constantly throw kicks behind her that expelled water, the force of her kicks keeping her firmly in second place.
Meanwhile, using her [Transformation Magic], Marin transformed her kodachi, Nova, into a pair of speed boat propellers and dashed through the water after lowering Nova to the water's surface. Jenny did something similar, using her [Machina Soul] to turn her arms into Blue Pegasus' airship's thrusters. However, with such high speed, she was finding it difficult to control herself. As a result, she was only one place in front of Genma. Though, she was able to catch up significantly on any straight stretches of water.
Anko, on the other hand, used [Summoning Magic] to summon snakes which would lunge forward and bite onto objects such as trees or rocks on the side of the course. Then, she would pull herself forward while dispelling the summoning, before repeating the process.
Yet, it was Minerva, who was currently in fifth place, who seemed to be the most at ease. Her magic, [Territory], a type of [Spatial Magic], allowed her to control the space in her line of sight. Meaning, instead of propelling herself forward, she was simply teleporting from place to place.
Seeing all the spells on display, the crowd was clearly excited while the three in the broadcasting booth continuously commented on the techniques the wizards were using. However, it was the wizards in the audience who were the least excited out of everyone watching the event.
"It looks like Marin is going to lose this one." Alfonzo said in a downcast tone. "Honestly, I didn't expect Minerva to come out for this event."
"Yeah, with her [Territory Magic], she's the only one who doesn't have to propel herself forward." Elicia added. "In fact, as long as she stays close, there's no way she could lose this event."
"Because she can just teleport to the finish line?" Sun asked.
"That's right." Elicia replied. "Unless she gets disqualified, there's no way she should lose."
"That's not fair." Sun complained with a pout. "Everyone is working so hard."
"that's just the way it is." Alfonzo said.
'♪Things will never be the same~.♪' Alfonzo and Elica thought simultaneously.
"Anyway, don't count Marin out just yet." Elicia said. "She's still got a few tricks."
As Elicia said that, Lyon and Tifa were ending the first lap. However, just at that moment, Marin, who had surpassed Anko on the straight, flared her magic power. Then, using he [Transformation Magic], she raised the density of the water, temporarily giving it the consistancy of syrup, making Tifa's [Waterkicks] less effective in propelling herself forward. As a result, she was able to pass her just before the first turn.
Minerva then teleported past Tifa, as well, while Jenny managed to also shoot past Anko on the straight. However, she almost slammed into the side of the course at the turn, being quickly over taken shortly after she frantically came to a stop.
By the time the second lap ended, the positions were more or less the same, the only difference was that Jenny had gotten control of her immense speed and overtaken Anko for good. However, this was when Marin made her move.
"I probably wouldn't have been able to do this back when I fought Lust." Marin mumbled to herself as she approached the ice path Lyon had been traveling on for the whole race. "Or I would have been able to do it, but I would have been completely spent after I finished... If I didn't release Nova, that is."
The ice path referred to a moment ago was the way Lyon had been traveling ever since the race started. And thanks to his exquisite control of his magic, which convinced Ur that she could reduce the intensity, not cancel, the training she had planned for him, was still present, making all the other contestants slow down to avoid it.
But that was how Marin intended to cause Lyon to lose.
Pulling Nova from the water's surface and reverting the two kodachi to their original forms, Marin then stabbed them into the ice. And with her magic power coating them, they cut right into the ice with no issue. Marin then used her [Transformation Magic].
In the next instant, all the ice, including the ice under Lyon's Battle Board changed into stone. As a result, Lyon's Battle Board came to a sudden halt, almost throwing him off the board and into the water. Luckily, Lyon was able to create an ice block in front of him, stopping him from splashing into the water, and being disqualified.
When Lyon finally got his senses back, he was just in time to see Marin sail past him while holding up her right hand in a peace sign.
"See you at the finish line." Marin said cheerfully, causing Lyon to scowl as he pushed himself off the rocks to try and catch up.
Unfortunately, with all the stone paths in the waterway, Lyon was unable to gain enough speed to catch up with Marin. Even worse, he was even passed by Tifa and Minerva a few moments later. However, he was still able to hold the fourth position.
yet, Lyon, who fell all the way to fourth place was not the most affected by Marin's move. Instead, that was Jenny, who had been using the ice to jump over certain parts of the track, as the speed she was traveling at allowed her to partially destroy some of the ice, turning it into a ramp.
"Kya~~~~~~~~~~~!" Jenny screamed while flying through the air and flailing her arms wildly, the thrusters she manifested with her magic making her flight even more erratic.
*Splash!*
But when the ice turned into stone, she slammed straight into one of the stone paths and was flung off her Battle Board before crashing into the water, causing her to be disqualified and end up taking seventh place.
"Hahahahahaha!" Mirajane laughed uproariously after seeing Jenny's outcome.
"Hahaha!" Bianca, sitting in her mother's lap, also laughed with her mother while clapping her hands happily, despite not knowing why Mirajane was laughing.
Meanwhile, the event continued, and it was reaching the very end with Marin coming down the final stretch in first place with Tifa not far behind her. Next was Minerva, who still looked as leisurely as she had since the race started. Following Minerva was Lyon, who was still trying his best to catch up to the front runners. A little way behind Lyon was Anko, who had taken back fifth place thanks to Jenny's accident. And bringing up the rear was Genma, who, despite never coming out of last place, would be guaranteed sixth place, no matter what happened next.
And at that moment, Minerva finally made her move. With the finish line in her sights, she activated her [Territory Magic]. Then, she vanished from her third place position before reappearing in front of Marin... Just in front of the finish line.
"Are you serious?" Marin exclaimed in confusion and disbelief as Minerva crossed the finish line only seconds in front of her.
{"Incredible!"} Loli shouted into his microphone. {"IN a stunning turn of events, Contestant Minerva overtook Contestant Marin to claim first place. And for the first time in this year's Grand Magic Games, Fairy Tail has not received a 10 point score!"}
Not only Marin and Loli, but everyone else, other than the members of Sabertooth and Team Fairy Tail were completely dumbfounded by the outcome of the event.
Meanwhile, Minerva, after securing first place, glanced at Alfonzo challengingly. However, Alfonzo only smiled brightly and waved at her, causing her to frown. She then looked away with a huff. Though, no one knew exactly what she was thinking other than her.
Following Minerva and Marin, Tifa, Lyon, Anko, and Genma finished in that order, bringing the Battle Board event to an end.
{"That certainly was incredible."} Roy said in his usual tone. {"But it's not completely unexpected."}
{"The Colonel is right."} Yajima added. {"With a magic like [Territory], Minerva could be where ever she wanted. And there was really nothing Marin could do about it."}
{"Right."} Roy continued. {"If she had some kind of area of effect spell, she probably could have stopped Minerva. But unfortunately, from what I know, Marin is more suited to infiltration, unlike the rest of her guild mates, who specialize in wide-range destruction."}
{"Either way, the Battle Board event is over."} Loli said, still excited by the unexpected conclusion to the event. {"So, why don't we take a look at the scores so far?"}
{Overall Scoreboard
Rank Team Score
1. Fairy Tail 48 Pts.
2. Mermaid Heel 37 Pts.
3 Final Fantasy 28 Pts.
4.. Sabertooth 26 Pts.
5. Blue Pegasus 24 Pts.
6. Quatro Cerberus 12 Pts.
7. Lamia Scale 7 Pts.
8. Twilight Ogre 0 Pts.}
{"It looks like some of the middle placements have changed drastically."} Loli said after reading out the overall scores. {"and with today's Battles, things could change even more significantly. I'm really looking forward to this. Now, I just received the envelope. So, let's see who will be up first for today's Battle Round!"}