43 Chapter Forty Three - The First Round of the S-Class Trials

Elfman panted, every muscle in his body aching with the exertion of the fight. Makarov was strong! The ordinarily small Guild leader was a real man, currently towering over him with a muscular build thanks to his distinctive magic. Elfman was pinned in place by one hand and the gigantic weight pushed down against him. "If you continue like this, Elfman," he said, his voice serious but still having that warm inflection to it, "then you most certainly won't become an S-Class Wizard! Hit me with everything you've got!"

Elfman knew why he was talking that way - he wanted Elfman to push past the psychological blocks that had driven him to not use the Full Body Take Over any longer. He'd thought Lisanna dead from his loss of control, but even knowing she was alive, there was still that obstacle. "A real man accepts defeat, if it means not hurting the people he cares about," Elfman said, though he kept struggling fruitlessly against Makarov's pin, bestial arms clawing at the rippling flesh.

"I refuse to accept that," Makarov said, pushing down harder against Elfman. "If there is ever going to be a time to use your Beast Soul safely, it is now! Attack me, Elfman!"

Elfman hesitated even then, and felt the pressure on his chest intensify, his breath leaving his lungs in a hot gasp. He reached for Beast Soul, and his whole body transformed, a roar escaping his throat. He tamped back on the alien will that struggled against his own, even as Makarov took a step back, hands at the ready to fight Elfman. "There you go," Makarov said. "Now it'll be a proper fight!" He adopted a boxer's fighting pose, as did Elfman.

They clashed, fists ramming against one another, one monstrous body fighting against the Guild Master's monstrously large body. Elfman was hurled into one cavern wall, leaving him gasping, forcing him out of the Beast Soul form and leaving him on his knees. Damn. Even with his Beast Soul, he wasn't strong enough... not strong enough of a man...

"You gave it a good try, Elfman, but-" Makarov was distracted by something slapping against his face. It was a pair of women's panties. "Eh?" His eyes widened, his cheeks flushing, and he turned his gaze in the direction they'd come from - only to immediately turn to stone.

"Evergreen..." Elfman said, in awe at what she'd done for his sake.

"Don't get the wrong idea. I'm not interested in missing out on the entire trial just because you couldn't stack up against Makarov," Evergreen said, stepping forwards towards the frozen form of Makarov. She stuck her tongue out at him and lowered one eyelid. "Nyah. Not so tough now, are you, Makarov? This is the Thunder God Tribe's power."

"But... your panties," Elfman said.

"Oh," Evergreen looked at where the man held her panties pinched in his hand. "Those aren't mine. Or, I haven't worn them," she explained, clearing her throat. Elfman just frowned. "Look at me, you idiot - I'm still in a bikini! They're spare panties for if Lee steals my undergarments! Obviously!" She tried to take the panties back, frowning. "W-well, they haven't been worn, so it's no different than if he'd bought them at the-" she was unable to keep up that thin lie, beginning to furiously fight with the stone statue to recover her panties. "Give them back you perverted old man!!!"

* * *

Erza couldn't help but grin as she saw Fried and Biswick enter the cavern with her. They, of course, were rather less inclined to smile, but she was ready to test herself against them again - only, this time, she would be the one with the advantage of the initiative. "I hope you have brought your best."

* * *

"Oh crap, oh crap," Gray said, desperately running as Gildarts just lazily followed after him. He was throwing ice left and right, but the old man was just trivially countering everything he had.

"You can't win if you don't fight!" Loke told him.

"You're running too!"

* * *

Mirajane had adopted her full on demonic visage, complete with claws, horns, and bat wings, looking terrifying in the small confines of the cavern. "Don't think I'm going to take it easy on you just because you're both with Lee," she told Cana and Lucy.

"I definitely wasn't thinking that!" Lucy said. "Crap, crap, um, Virgo!" The pink haired maid appeared between her and Mirajane. "Keep her off us while Cana does something smart!"

"Yes, Princess," Virgo declared, rushing forward to be immediately struck aside. "I'm sorry, Princess!" She rose to her feet despite that. "Let me try that again!" She rushed forward and got smacked aside again.

Well. It was a delaying tactic, at least.

* * *

"Oh, hey, guys," Natsu said as he saw Juvia and Lisanna arrive. Thank goodness they were here. "Me and Happy were trying to figure out our way past this door," he explained, poking at the gate in front of him. "I tried breathing fire on it, but it didn't do anything.

"Natsu..." Lisanna started.

"Ah! This will be easy," Juvia said, making a small, affected curtsy, then transformed into water and surged forward. She slammed into the space in between the gate's bars, and sliced off against some invisible surface like water from a hose hitting glass, landing on the ground. "Oof. It didn't work," she said.

"Do you guys really not get it?!" Lisanna asked, looking at Natsu, and Happy, and Juvia.

"Get what?" Natsu asked.

"Yeah, what are we not getting?" Happy asked.

"It's probably a puzzle that Lisanna's already figured out!" Natsu decided.

"Yeah! Tell us the solution, Lisanna!"

Lisanna just let out a small laugh. "Let me talk to my teammate for a second," she said, gesturing to Juvia, who followed her. The pair bent over, speaking in conspiratorial whispers.

"Hey, Happy, I'm starting to think something's up," Natsu said.

"Yeah. They're probably talking about the solution to the puzzle, so they can get ahead and abandon us."

"Oh! Of course!" Juvia declared, turning into water - and then immediately slamming into Natsu, ramming him into the wall. He coughed in shock at the sudden betrayal. "This is a battle room!" She declared, having drenched Natsu completely - there was water in his mouth, too, which he had to hurriedly spit out to try to start breathing fire - Juvia threw another ball of water right at his face.

"What the - kuf kuf - heck?" Natsu looked to Happy, but Lisanna already had his friend in a chokehold. "This is - kuf kuf - unfair!"

"Sorry, Natsu," Lisanna said. "We've got to win, you know?"

"Yes! I must become an S-Class Wizard so that my beloved Lee will marry me!" Her brief monologue gave Natsu the chance to catch his breath and get the water out of his mouth, so he promptly breathed fire at Juvia. "Ahh! Brute!" She yelled, turning back to water.

"The fight's on, now!"

* * *

Levy stood across from Lee, her chest rising and falling. She'd taken a gamble, bringing Gajeel along with her. Now, it seemed, it'd likely pay off. If anybody was capable of taking down Lee, it would be Gajeel. "Do whatever it takes," she said.

"Hey, I'm not some kinda robot," Gajeel said, crossing his arms at her. She winced at that. "Just say please, alright? I am sorry about... what I did earlier. It was wrong."

"Shouldn't we be attacking now, Mr. Lee?" Came Wendy's quiet voice.

"No, no," Lee said. "It's important that every member of Fairy Tail get along!" Levy felt a smile appear on her lips at that. He was a sweet guy, despite his boisterous behavior. "Plus, I can easily triumph over Gajeel."

"What?! Oh, that's it!" Gajeel said, roaring with anger, hurling an iron rod directly at Lee, who was slammed against the wall. He then used his time magic to make it disappear. This'd be a hard fight, but Levy had been thinking of how she'd fight each of the opposing teams, and she had some ideas here, too.

"Hit him with another rod, Gajeel!"

"I was gonna do that anyway!" Gajeel hurled another iron rod at Lee, managing to slam him against the wall again, and Levy raised her hands, quickly making a gesture for the word LIGHTNING - it coursed through the rod as it impacted, carrying an electric jolt to Lee and making him crumple against the wall, unconscious, the rod falling away.

"Oh no!" Wendy said. "Um, um..." she hurriedly rushed up to Lee's side, pressing her hands against him and focusing. His eyes snapped open, and a moment later he was on his feet again, grinning.

"I hope you don't think I'm going to go easy on you, just because I love you, Levy!"

"The thought literally did not even occur to me!" If it had, she probably would have gone easy on him herself. Gajeel hurled another iron rod at Lee at that point, but because it wasn't coordinated, she didn't manage to fire off a LIGHTNING before Lee had sent the rod back to its sender (or to nonexistence? She wondered...).

* * *

"Huh," Mest said, as they emerged out of the tunnel into the light. "I guess we got the peace and quiet route, Konata. Lucky us."

"Yeah... lucky," Konata responded, eyeing Mest up. Luck? Or skill? Skill. Her skill. Her ultimate, undefeated anime watching skill. She remembered which of the paths Levy and Gajeel had taken, and as it turned out, that was also the peace and quiet route in this universe. That was how incredible her skill was at remembering all the finest details of the anime she had watched instead of doing homework. Her dumb parents, thinking math and stuff were more important than anime... if only they could see her now.

There was just one problem, of course.

She didn't remember anything about Mest after this point in the story, and she didn't remember him dying either. In other words, there was something very, very off about him. She'd figure out just what it was as they waited, plopping her butt down on a rock and just lounging back. "At least I got the boring route so we didn't have to do anything."

"I probably would have just lost anyway," Mest said.

"Haha, yeah, you are kinda a loser," Konata agreed readily, making him look at her in annoyance. "What? If you don't want it said, don't say it."

Juvia was in tears, wiping at her face, blubbering pitifully, while Lisanna patted her softly on the back and offered all sorts of cooing words, as the pair made their way slowly out of the tunnels. "I'm never going to be good enough for Lee! He's going to see that and leave me, Lisanna!"

"There, there," Lisanna said, softly. "I'm sure Lee will love you regardless of if you pass this test." She didn't know Lee that well, but people seemed to like him pretty well, and that was a crazy jerk move. Juvia just seemed like the sort of girl who freaked out about any sign that Lee might possibly leave her.

"Why did I have to talk about Lee?! If I had been quiet then I would have been focused on keeping Natsu's fire dragon slayer magic from working, and I would have won! My love for Lee is going to cost me Lee!" She bawled louder and louder at that point.

"Lee isn't going to leave you just over that, come on," Lisanna said. "Look, we're almost to the exit, Lee will probably be there."

"I can't face him! He'll know my failure!"

"I'm sure he won't care." Lisanna also did mentally note that the guy seemed pretty... ah... visual, and Juvia had not changed out of her skimpy bikini.

Indeed, the moment that the pair emerged from the tunnels, there was Lee, wrapping Juvia in a tight hug. "I'm sorry to hear that you won't be able to be an S-Class Wizard this year," he said, pulling her directly into his chest, probably partly so she couldn't keep blubbering on and on. "But I'm sure that next year, you will! You're an incredibly fierce and ferocious warrior, Juvia, and I can only admire your skill in battle."

"R-really?" Juvia said, sniffling. "You don't hate me for failing and not becoming an S-Class wizard?"

"Of course not, Juvia! Nothing could make me hate you," he said, reaching for her cheek, wiping away her tears with his thumb softly, making Juvia smile. It did make Lisanna smile a bit too - they were a pretty cute couple. If he could handle a high maintenance girl like Juvia so easily, she could understand how he was so popular with the ladies. "I will love you until the day I die, Juvia."

"Oh, Lee! Marry me!" She pleaded, glomming onto him all the tighter.

"Ah..." Lee hesitated just a moment, then spoke. "When we come back from Tenrou Island," he decided.

"Yes! Yes!" Juvia jumped around in joy, rushing over to Lisanna. "Lisanna! My beloved Lee said he'd marry me!" She grabbed Lisanna's hands, jumping for joy.

"I heard," Lisanna said, smiling at just how happy Juvia was.

"Oh I can't wait for the wedding," she said, spinning in place, hands on her cheeks.

"Yeah, me neither," Konata said, making Juvia instantly snap around, her mood souring as she glared daggers at the other blue-haired girl.

"Who won, anyway? Are there any battles we're still waiting on?" Lisanna asked Lee.

"Oh, no, you're the last out. Elfman and Evergreen beat Makarov," he said, starting to count out on his fingers. "Fried beat Erza, Gray lost to Gildarts, Cana beat Mirajane, Mest and Konata got the peaceful route, and as for myself..." He lowered his head. Oh, he'd lost. "I was forced to steal Levy's chance at becoming an S-Class Wizard away from her!"

"Oh, it's alright," came Levy's voice, a smile audible in it. "There's always next year! I appreciate that you didn't take it easy on me," she said, wrapping her fingers together with Lee's, then kissing him on the cheek. "Plus, it means this is basically just a vacation for me."

Gajeel was grumbling elsewhere, clearly displeased with his defeat. "I knocked him out like fifteen times! Levy didn't let me hit the kid who kept reviving him!"

Wendy - the kid, presumably - was hiding behind a rock, and looking very pouty in Gajeel's direction.

"If you thought for even a single second, Gajeel," Levy started, "you would realize that he could just bring Wendy back to full health too! I was trying to get him away from Wendy, but you kept hitting him with the iron rod rather than using any sort of strategy whatsoever!"

"Well, normally that works!" Gajeel said.

Levy just huffed, shaking her head.

"Anyway, where is Makarov? Everybody finished the trials but he hasn't showed up," Gajeel said, sounding annoyed. "Even if we can't participate in the next round, I want to see what happens next."

"Hm. I do not know," Lee said, turning around. "Elfman? Evergreen? Have you seen him since your battle?"

"A real man wouldn't reveal the circumstances we left him in!" Elfman said, making Lee's eyes turn to Evergreen.

"Beautiful, lovely, Evergreen," he said, stepping towards her, moving fluidly and taking her hand in his, kissing the back of it. "I may have to... do things to you, if you don't tell me."

Evergreen flushed with color. "I- well, I froze him in stone," she explained, with a huff. "And I haven't unfrozen him yet."

"Wait, what?!" Natsu demanded. "But if Makarov's stone, we can't move on to the next round! I beat Juvia for nothing!"

"Oh, it wasn't for nothing," Juvia said, dancing in place. "Lee and I are getting married!"

"He just said, after the trials finish!" Natsu declared. That wasn't quite what he'd said.

"Oh no!" Juvia's eyes widened with realization. "Evergreen! Please, please, you must release Master Makarov, or everything will have been for nothing!"

"Fine! Fine!" Evergreen stomped her foot on the ground. "Argh... fine." She let out a sigh. "He's released, happy?"

"Always, when I'm with you," Lee said, kissing the back of Evergreen's hand. She blushed and smiled at that.

* * *

Makarov did not see the vision of Evergreen that he had expected to see - her, wearing her dress, no panties on! His cheeks were still flush as he imagined it... but of course, there was no Evergreen in the cave. He'd foolishly met her eyes, and now her and Elfman had moved on to the next round. He let out a sigh. He should have known that it was a trick. She had just waited for him to be distracted and exhausted from fighting Elfman, then...

It was still in his hand.

He looked down to confirm the sensations, then pulled up the hand, currently holding the panties of the one, the only, Evergreen of the Thunder God Tribe. He couldn't help but grin. She had thrown them at him! She had left them with him! It was definitely an attempt to offer him this golden opportunity! He pulled them up to his nose!

Wait. These just smelled like store bought panties. Gah! Distraction panties! No wonder she'd been so willing to leave them with him! He let out a long sigh. He supposed he should probably get back and check on the kids. He wondered who had won the first round of the trial, anyway.