S-Class Promotion Exam; Part 4

Earth land, Ishgar, Tenrou Island.

December, x779.

Watching the two people below her, Elicia quietly sneaked through the trees. While she could tell that there was no one nearby, Fried and Evergreen, who she was stalking, were not so lucky. So, she could only smile as the pair took every step with caution. However, the moment she was waiting for did not take too long before it arrived.

"Ahh!" Evergreen screamed in frustration. "We've been walking around for at least an hour. "How is it that we haven't found anyone yet? This place isn't even that big!"

"I don't know, Ever." Fried Replied. "But if you keep screaming like that, they'll find us before we find them."

"Oh, shut up!" Evergreen shouted as she turned away from Fried and started walking away.

"Ever, where are you going?" Fried asked, confused by his teammate's actions.

"To powder my nose." Evergreen replied in annoyance. "Don't follow me. Just wait right there… Oh, and keep watch."

Shaking his head at how unreasonable Evergreen could be when she was annoyed or worse, Fried began setting up some barriers in the three directions that Evergreen did not leave in. However, he was so focused on his task that he did not notice the figure that lowered itself behind him.

With a smile on her face, the figure, Elicia, quickly, yet silently, wrapped an arm around Fried's neck while simultaneously covering his mouth with her other hand. Then, as she began to raise herself back toward the tree branches, her threads were wrapping the rest of Fried's body.

"One down." Elicia muttered as she looked into the bound and gagged Fried's eyes.

After wrapping Fried tight enough that he would not fall out of the tree by accident, Elicia turned her attention back to the forest floor. After a few minutes, she saw Evergreen return from her potty break.

"Alright, Fried. Let's---" Evergreen said as she walked back to where she left Fried. However, the rest of her words were caught in her throat when she saw that Fried was nowhere to be seen.

Looking around in a daze, Evergreen grew more cautious as time went by. Though they were faint, she could see traces of Fried walking around the area.

'If I know him as well as I think I do, he should have been making barriers to protect us.' Evergreen thought to herself as she examined Fried's tracks. 'Yup, that's exactly what he was doing. But it looks like he never got the chance to finish. Otherwise, there wouldn't be any traces of his magic power to detect. His barriers don't leak any when they're completed.'

No matter how much Evergreen thought about it, she could not figure out what could have happened to Fried. Until she remembered one of the participants, that is.

'Wait!' Evergreen exclaimed internally as she came to a complete stop. 'Didn't that one guy have [Teleportation Magic]? He's the only one who could have split us up like this. And so silently.'

*Smack!*

While Evergreen was thinking to herself, she suddenly smacked the back of her left thigh.

"Did a bug get under my dress?" Evergreen asked as she rubbed the place she just smacked.

*Smack!*

Before she could figure out what just happened, she reflexively slapped the outside of her right thigh a moment later.

"Damn bugs!" Evergreen groaned as she felt the sting on her right thigh as well.

A moment later, she was ready to slap the front of her left thigh, as well. However, her hand came to a stop when she saw that her skirt was waving and caressing her thigh in only that location.

"What the hell is this?" Evergreen asked in confusion. A moment later, however, she remembered that one of the participants was able to do something like this with ease. "Elicia, it's you, isn't it!? You're the one who took out Fried too, aren't you!? Why don't you come out and face me face to face?"

Without hesitation, Elicia dropped from above, landing in front of Evergreen with a smile on her face. However, she did not speak, something Evergreen found a bit strange, though she could not put her finger on why.

Deciding to think about it later, Evergreen ejected a large amount of her [Fairy Magic] dust from all over her body. Then, she compressed it, forming it into needles.

"[Fairy Magic: Fairy Machine Gun: Leprechaun]." Evergreen chanted as she raised her left hand toward Elicia.

In response, Elicia sprinted away from the spot where she stood. As Evergreen's focus followed her, Elicia was forced to duck, dodge, jump, roll, and flip to avoid taking damage. All the while, she kept a smile on her face. And that smile infuriated Evergreen, making her feel as if Elicia was looking down on her.

Meanwhile, up in the tree, Elicia watched Evergreen giving it all she had.

"She's way to wound up after Fried disappeared." Elicia whispered to herself. "If she paid attention, she would notice that my [Thread Clone] isn't making any noise when it moves. It's just too light and soft to make the same noises as a normal human does."

Back on the ground, Evergreen's frustration was growing. Eventually, she released even more of her [Fairy Magic] dust. This time, however, instead of compressing it, she directed it with her right hand to surround Elicia, in the form of a cloud.

Using the [Fairy Machine Gun: Leprechaun] in conjunction with the [Fairy Magic] dust, it did not take long for Elicia's clone to find itself surrounded.

"I guess play time is over." Elicia said before silently lowering herself from the tree branch.

Unlike Fried, however, Elicia knew that wrapping Evergreen with her threads to incapacitate her was a useless endeavor. Like the first time they fought, Evergreen could just make her [Fairy Magic] dust slip between the bindings.

'I guess I'll have to do this the good old-fashioned way.' Elicia said as she was suspended right behind Evergreen.

Silently, Elicia began manipulating her threads to spin herself in place.

'Ugh… I think I'm gonna puke after this.' Elicia thought to herself as she spun at high-speed.

At the same time, Evergreen was able to completely surround Elicia's clone with her [Fairy Magic] dust.

"Haha!" Evergreen cackled victoriously. "There's no escape this time. I made the cloud of my Fairy dust even bigger than last time. No matter how fast you charge through it, there will be so much stuck on your clothes that you'll still get blown up!"

Just as Evergreen was about to detonate her [Fairy Magic] dust, however, Elicia's clone surprised her by raising its right hand and pointing behind her.

Feeling like there was no way that Elicia could get away from her, Evergreen took a moment to look over her shoulder. When she did, she was flabbergasted. Behind her, Elicia was spinning like a ballerina. Then, she raised her left leg and let the rotation smash her heel into the side of Evergreen's face.

*Bang!*

*Bang!*

Evergreen's face was snapped in the opposite direction, her glasses flying away, before she was blown away from her position. Flying uncontrollably, Evergreen only stopped when her back smashed into a tree. Then, she slid down the tree before landing on her butt with her head hanging low, a large bruise on the side of her face, and blood dripping from her lips.

Taking a second to regain her bearings, Elicia dry heaved a few items from the nausea caused by all the spinning. Then, after seeing the state she left Evergreen in; Elicia wore an apologetic expression.

"Maybe I went a little too far?" Elicia asked herself why she scratched her cheek. Then, she shrugged and turned away. "Well, she'll be fine. It's only a bruise, it's not like I left a scar on her face."

After muttering those words, Elicia turned back toward Evergreen, walked closer and knelt in front of the unconscious girl. Then, she closely examined Evergreen's face.

"Yup, no scar" Elicia said, wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead. "Thank goodness. If I had left something that would turn into a scar, Ever would hunt me down for the rest of my life."

With that, Elicia allowed her clone to unravel. Then, she shot back into the branches and continued searching for opponents.

On Fairy Tail's ship, Makarov noticed that Fried and Evergreen's guild marks had been stationary for a while after running into the guild mark that represented Elicia.

"It looks like Alfonzo and Elicia brought down Laxus and his friends… again." Makarov said before taking a sip of his ale. "*Sigh* I wonder how long it will take before Laxus realizes that people like those two are good for the guild? Especially since their the only ones in the guild that don't destroy everything they touch on quests."

After muttering those words, Makarov could not help but take another look at the marks that represented Alfonzo and Elicia with fondness. However, that led him to opening his eyes wide with surprise. Though he was surprised that Alfonzo and Elicia were moving toward each other in a straight line, what surprised him even more was the person who they would meet if they kept on the same course.

Back on the island, Gildarts, who had defeated Macao, was walking aimlessly through the forest.

"Macao sure has improved." Gildarts murmured to himself. "I was wrong about what I said earlier, he might be able to give Alfonzo a run for his money if they were to fight all out. I bet Wakaba is at a similar level, too. I hope they keep growing, I'm looking forward to a good fight one of these days."

A few moments later, Gildarts slowly turned his head to the left. When he did, he saw the young man he was talking about walking toward him.

"Is today my birthday?" Gildarts asked himself with a big smile on his face. "To think I'll really get the chance to beat--- *Cough* test your progress during the exam."

Hearing Gildarts correct himself; Alfonzo simply rolled his eyes in response.

"Come on, Gildarts, Cana's not here." Alfonzo said with a slight frown on his face. "We both know that you want to beat me up because Cana is living at my house."

"Oh, that's not the only reason, Kid." Gildarts said with a happy smile on his face, openly admitting that he wanted to beat up Alfonzo. "How dare you steal my Princess' heart when you already have Elicia."

"*Sigh* I feel like this is gonna turn into some kind of stupid cliché if I say this. But…" Alfonzo said in an exasperated tone. "I never made a move on Cana."

"Are you saying my little girl isn't pretty enough for you?" Gildarts asked angrily.

"Yup… And there's the cliché." Alfonzo said while shaking his head, ignoring Gildarts rant about how beautiful and perfect his daughter is.

"Hey, Kid! are you listening!?" Gildarts shouted when he saw the disinterest in Alfonzo's expression.

"Yes, I know Cana is beautiful." Alfonzo said in a tired tone. "To be honest, she's absolutely gorgeous.."

"What was that, Punk?" Gildarts asked, seeming to be even angrier. "You keep your hands off her! But I'll give you some credit for having good taste."

""*Sigh* And the cliché continues." Alfonzo said, clearly done with the whole situation.

Meanwhile, as Gildarts stomped back and forth while gushing over his daughter and letting Alfonzo know exactly why he was not, and never will be, good enough for her, he suddenly took a sharp step to the right. A moment later, a human shaped missile flew past is former location.

Elicia, the human shaped missile, used her magic to soften her landing. Then, she approached Alfonzo with a pout on her face.

"Fonzie, I missed." Elicia said, unhappy with her failed sneak attack.

"We both knew it would never be that easy." Alfonzo said, combing his fingers through Elicia's hair. "Gildarts is the strongest wizard in the guild, after all."

"*Sigh* I know." Elicia said, still pouting.

Though Elicia continued to pout, Alfonzo could tell that she was faking it. The real reason for her pout was simple. She just wanted Alfonzo to spoil her after being stuck in the hot forest for a couple of hours.

"Well, I wasn't expecting to run into both of you at the same time." Gildarts said with a smile. Then, he flared his magic power, putting pressure on the young adults in front of him. "Why don't you show me how good your teamwork has gotten over the years."

Feeling the weight of Gildarts' magic power, Alfonzo and Elicia made eye contact, nodding together after a moment. Then, Elicia spread her arms, shooting her threads all over the area. At the same time, Alfonzo created a pair of Eskrima sticks made out of orichalcum. If one looked closely, they would be able to see that a number of intricate sigils had been inscribed all over the pair of weapons.

Meanwhile, Gildarts stood in place, waiting for them to make their preparations with is arms crossed over his chest and a smile on his face.

"Good." Gildarts said, happy that neither of them backed down due to the pressure from his magic power. "Now, show me what you got!"

"Lici, let's go!" Alfonzo said as he shot forward with his [Spring Dash] spell.