Chapter 20 – Rivals
AN: Happy New Year everybody!
For anyone interested, the multipairing vs 1v1 poll is currently at 18-7 in favor of multipairing. I think I can probably guess how that poll is going to end because an 11 vote lead is going to be rather difficult to catch up, but I'll leave it open like I said I would in case a dozen more people want a 1v1 ending.
And now, Reviewer Replies! :D
AnimeMyWorld: As always, glad you're still enjoying. How will Jerry fare in a straight up fist fight? Read on and find out! :D
DarkDrawerJ: Yep, there's a pretty stout case (11 votes worth of case) to be made for the likelihood of a harem ending. Oh, you were talking about who'd be IN the harem? Well it's worth mentioning that due to the fantastic art and comics of one RuskyBoz, I am quite firmly in the Gajevy camp, so don't expect to see JerryxLevy. Not happenin'.
Raidentensho: Flame Alchemy gloves would be doable, but a moot point for a caster type wizard. A holder type wizard would undoubtedly wet themselves at the prospect though. Yes alchemy would be feasible but if it shows up it will be quite a ways off yet and most likely fall under the same category of magic as all the other magic since it's basically just magic with a bit of scientific know how.
And now, on with the show!
Chapter 20 – Rivals
…
…
Two days later my head was still wrapped in bandages. I was honestly surprised getting punched through a brick wall had only scraped me up. Sure, I knew at some level that my magic being at full strength had made me a lot tougher, but I didn't think it was that much.
Erza had been very embarrassed and asked me to strike her so she could atone. I gave her a very flat look, scratched at a fresh bandage on the side of my head, and then grinned, "I think I bit my tongue when you hit me. If you want to atone, then you should kiss it and make it better."
It was meant as light teasing, a smidge of payback for grabbing my ass on the train (I considered the nearly giving me a heart attack thing even after the burst of Pleasure magic). I had expected blushing, confusion and embarrassment. I considered the possibility that she might smack me again. When she reached out, curled her gauntlet in my lapel and yanked me to her, I was pretty sure I was about to catch an even heavier punch than the one that had knocked me through the wall.
What I got was a scorcher of a kiss that even Mira would've been proud of. Turned out Erza was fierce about everything, kissing included. When Erza came up for air, all I could do was stare into her half lidded eyes and try to catch my breath as the taste of strawberries continued to permeate my mouth. "Better?" she panted huskily and good god there was no way she was not doing that on purpose…
It took my poor deep fried brain a minute to churn up even a single word of response, "Yeah…"
Erza stayed close for a moment and then with a sly little smile, "So, who's a better kisser? Me or Mira?"
It took me a second to process that, "Too close to decide, I'd have to kiss you both repeatedly in rapid succession to pick a winner."
Erza thought about it for a minute, then she smirked deviously, "I bet I can arrange that…"
My brain processed that and then I wound up flat on my back looking up at the ceiling with Leo on his knees next to me begging me to teach him my secret. All I could do was clap him on the shoulder, "Leo my brother, even I'm not sure what the hell just happened."
"That's Erza for ya!" Happy declared dismissively as I noticed that Erza had already gone with Lucy to pay for their purchases with Natsu and Gajeel.
Then Levy cleared her throat, "I think I get it." Leo and I looked at her immediately and asked her to explain. "Well you see," Levy told me, "Even though Erza and Mirajane don't compete with their magic and fighting prowess anymore, they are still very much each others' rivals, although over the last few years, they've settled down a lot because the fields they're good at are kind of mutually exclusive ever since Mira lost her magic. Mira's great at cooking, housekeeping and basically everything feminine, and Erza's…kind of useless at all of that, but on the other hand Erza is still one of our strongest wizards, something that Mira can't compete with her over anymore, so they've kind of settled into a peaceful…I guess armistice is the word given what a complete warzone they made of anywhere they got competitive."
"Whenever they do find something they still don't know who's better at though," Levy continued with a grimace, "It's right back to how they used to be. If they play cards, it's life and death serious between them. Heck by Master's orders they're actually not allowed to play cards anymore after what happened last time. Now it looks like you've gone and gotten into Erza's head to compete with Mirajane over which of them is a better kisser, and that's going to lead into who's better looking, who's better in bed, who's a better girlfriend over all… I see what's going through your head Jerry, but you're probably going to regret this no matter how much fun it sounds, because they're going to hound you relentlessly, and if Mira accepts this as a new part of their rivalry then any relationship you have with her will probably get an instant backseat to proving she can be a better girlfriend than Erza, which if it's anything like their usual attempts to one up each other, is probably going to end up turning into an all out battlefield on top of your trampled and forgotten body. The best parallel I can think of would be if Natsu and Gray were suddenly interested in the same girl, only at least ten times worse."
I…think I may have actually gone a little pale over that. I must have because Levy nodded, "Mmhmm, I don't know if you did it on purpose, but if you did then it may very well have been the worst mistake you've ever made. Personally," she mused, "I hope it turns out alright. You and Mira are adorable together even if you're just 'friends with benefits'."
"Yeah, you and me both," I replied worriedly as I threw my brain into gear trying to figure out how to keep the awful scenario Levy had described from becoming reality. Losing Mira over something like that was so many different levels of unacceptable that even with Archive I'd be hard pressed to count them all.
Then Happy giggled that I was gonna die with just a little too much glee and I shot him a flat glare, "Hey Leo, you don't have anything against punting cats with too much attitude do you?"
"Nope!" Leo grinned and before Happy could process what I'd said Leo's foot connected to him and off went the blue fluffball. He caught himself midair by snapping his wings into existence.
"Am I gonna catch crap from Natsu over that?" I asked idly.
"Nah, he'll be fine. Everybody's punted that cat at least once," Levy replied nonchalantly, "Even Erza's kicks don't hurt him, so even though Happy'll whine and cry about it, Natsu doesn't much care because he knows Happy's okay. Come to think of it," she mused, "I'm not sure I've ever seen anything actually legitimately hurt Happy. Even getting caught in Natsu's fireballs just singes his fur a little."
I thought about that for a moment and then, "How fast can Happy fly? And does he actually have claws? He's so different from normal cats that it's hard to guess."
Levy thought about it, "Well on his speed I think Natsu's claimed that he's broken the sound barrier while carrying him, but I'm not sure that that's not just Natsu bragging, and yes he does have claws. Why?"
"Think about what you just said and apply those three attributes to anything other than Happy in a combat situation," I replied crisply.
Levy and Leo both did and their eyes went wide after about fifteen seconds, "You don't mean…"
"Yeah," I mused, "if he actually puts some effort into it, then that puffball might just be useful for more than comic relief and getting Natsu places in a hurry…"
"Why on Earthland are you trying to make Happy tough?!" Levy exclaimed in a mild panic.
I gave her a flat look, "He's a member of my team. Being completely harmless is not an option. Besides, with the mission we're going on? I have a feeling every little shred of extra firepower we can get is going to be not only wanted but actively needed. If a city of gold exists and it hasn't been found and plundered yet, especially with so many expeditions having been confirmed to have gone after it and not a single one returning?"
"You think there's something out there that's been eliminating them?" Levy asked as she realized where I was going with a small amount of dread in her voice.
I nodded, "I'd about bet money on it."
…
…
Now, two days later, we were all sitting in the same restaurant in Hargeon that Lucy, Natsu, Happy and I had eaten at the day we met. "I'm glad to see they've been able to rebuild most of what Natsu burned down," Lucy mused as we waited for our food to arrive.
"Now now, it wasn't Natsu that burned the town down," I declared with a small crooked grimace, "He just happened to have been fighting the guy that did when it happened."
Then the waitress recognized us, "Oh my god! You're those wizards from a month ago!" Cue half the restaurant freezing and whirling to look at us. On that note, cue me, Lucy, Happy and Natsu freezing as we realized there was a very good chance we were about to be chased out of town.
Then the waitress bowed, "Thank you so much! That slaver creep almost got me with that charm magic! If you hadn't beaten him and his gang, I might be in Bosco right now!"
Lucy and I were utterly stunned, but Natsu just grinned easily, "No problem! He was trying to drag Fairy Tail's name through the mud, I would've kicked his ass for that anyway!"
"Don't forget that he was trying to impersonate you when he did it," I added, "But seriously, don't worry about it! It's just what any decent passerby would've done."
The waitress's eyes went wide, "You're Salamander?! Like, the real one?!"
"Yeah, that's him," the rest of us chorused.
"Oh my god you are so much hotter than that creep was…" the waitress murmured reverentially before blushing and covering her mouth with her little notepad.
"Well yeah!" Natsu grinned, "That guy's fire magic was nothing on mine!"
The rest of us grimaced as we realized that he thought she was talking about the temperature of their flames, but the waitress brushed it off to ask excitedly, "So, you guys are real Fairy Tail wizards?!"
We nodded and Natsu replied, "That's right. I'm Natsu Dragneel, and this is Happy." We then went around the table introducing ourselves and found ourselves signing autographs and getting our picture taken in less than five minutes. Our food wound up being on the house and everyone wanted to shake our hands.
It might not have been significant, Natsu, Erza, Happy, Levy and even Gajeel took it all in stride. I guess it had happened to them before, but I think it was the first time I got to see the effects of our shenanigans as Fairy Tail wizards, and I still keep it as a fond memory. Sometimes it's not easy being a wizard, and it's not always easy to do the right thing, but even if there were no other benefits, at least for me, little moments like that would make it worth it.
…
…
"So what kinda magic do you guys use?" Gajeel asked as we waited on deck for our ship to depart.
I flipped my deck of cards out of my sleeve and shot them from one hand to the other with a grin while I waited for somebody else to answer first. Erza spoke up pretty quick, "I use Requip magic. I have various armors and weapons which enhance my fighting capabilities and which I can switch out as needed to suit the situation."
Lucy held up her keys, "I use Celestial Spirit Magic, these keys let me summon Celestial Spirits who can help me out with all sorts of things."
Gajeel turned his gaze to Levy, "How 'bout you Shrimp?"
"Shrimp?" Levy asked icily.
"Don't encourage him if you don't like it," I warned her quickly, "Everyone he considers worth paying attention to gets a nickname. Complain about your nickname and you're guaranteed it'll stick."
Gajeel frowned at me, "Lemme guess, your friend back home did the same thing?"
I grinned, "It's a long story. Levy did you want to tell him what kind of magic you use before I start rambling?"
"Solid Script Magic," Levy told Gajeel flatly, "I make words, my words have effects. I also learned Archive recently, so I'll never forget anything again unless I want to and I can communicate with people telepathically."
Gajeel thought about that, "So you can make anything as long as you've got a word that corresponds to it?" Levy nodded and Gajeel's next question came as no surprise, "So can you make iron?"
Levy promptly did so, nonchalantly generating a chunk of iron the size of the suitcase she was sitting on. Gajeel looked at it hungrily, "Do you mind if I eat that?"
"Eat tha… You had better not be looking at me as some kind of battery!" Levy snapped.
Gajeel looked mildly offended as he picked up the iron and took a fist sized bite of it. He paused, blinked and then looked at her, "Nah, I was thinkin' ye're one hell of a cook! This is great!" He proceeded to chow down on it like it might disappear if he didn't eat it quick enough.
Levy watched with a slightly stunned expression, "But…I'm a terrible cook…"
"Says who?" Gajeel asked indignantly, "Point me at 'em so I can teach 'em some manners!"
"Making iron with my magic doesn't count!"
"Does fer me."
Levy didn't have a response for that and instead she just blushed a little before looking away with a slight pout, "Well, maybe I'll cook something some time and you can try it, but I'm not kidding when I say it's bad."
Erza laughed lightly as Gajeel grinned, "Oho, you must be quite special Gajeel, she hasn't offered to cook anybody anything since the time she nearly gave Jet and Droy food poisoning." Levy squawked indignantly at having it brought up but Erza just gave her a mischievous little smile.
"I like Levy's foo- hurp!" Natsu tried to say before his sea-sickness got the better of him and he had to lean back over the rail.
Gajeel blinked at him and then turned back to Levy, "Well, even if ye're not good with normal food, yer iron's delicious, and I'm a good cook, so it's no big deal." Levy smiled at him and then he turned to me, "So Bandages, what's yer magic? I know ya've got that screen thing ya used to call Juvia, but ya pulled out those cards the instant I asked about yer magic. Guessin' yer some kinda card wizard?"
I grinned, "Ohhh…I can do a bit more than that, but yes, the first magic I learned was these little beauties right here. Good for offense, defense, transport…I'm working on learning Card Dimension which'll let me store stuff in them as well. Beyond that I also know Light magic, Teleportation, Telekinesis and the screen thing you saw which is called Archive, which also grants me a ridiculously good memory and telepathy. I also use Celestial Spirit Magic like Lucy."
"So can ya actually fight or are ya just one o' them squishy wizards who's totally useless if they can't use their magic?"
I considered my response for a moment, looked at my hand that I'd so recently gotten back and flexed the fingers, "Well. Now that I've finally got my hand back in working order, how about we find out? It's been a while since I had a fight without magic."
Everyone looked at me and Gajeel asked, "Are you seriously challengin' me to a fight?"
"A friendly spar," I clarified, "you're so much like my friend back home, I'm very interested to see if you have similar fighting styles."
Gajeel grinned and rose to his feet. I grinned and rose as well, "Everyone else might want to back up."
Before the girls could even move, Gajeel had closed the distance, hauled back to clock me. Sure enough, there it was. Sway right, right jab to left temple, follow with left hook to stomach, shift and right hook to left ribs, jump spin for round house and instead chamber side kick, snap sidekick to nose and drop low, lunging uppercut with right and block right hook, dodge left hook, block right knee and use as propulsion for backwards roll out of reach…Roll, plant feet, come up BOOT!
I narrowly managed to cross my arms in time and as a result did not get my nose broken. I still got punted across the deck, but thankfully I was able to use it to power an extra long backwards spring. I would've landed perfectly too if I hadn't tripped backwards over a suitcase. I rolled out of the way and narrowly dodged Gajeel's flying piledriver which left a lovely crater in the deck where my head had been. I jumped and put another snap side kick into his ribs. All that did was scoot him a few inches and tick him off.
He lunged at me and the instant his arm extended I caught it, drop low, spin, over shoulder and flip HOLY FUCK THIS GUY'S HEAVY!
It would've been a perfect shoulder flip if Gajeel hadn't been quick enough to turn it into a tackle and basically he just fell on top of me…all three hundred plus pounds of him. "Gihihi, I win." Gajeel chuckled as he wrapped me in a choke hold.
Normally I'd have let it go and conceded, but that laugh kinda ticked me off.
"Hey what're you…What the hell?! ACK!"
Next thing Gajeel knew, his grip was broken, his nose was well acquainted with the back of my head, his cheek was acquainted with my elbow, he'd caught another two punches in the face, and he had both my boots planted in his gut. I sprang to my feet, jumped, and the ensuing piledriver as I came down actually knocked Gajeel reeling. Would've been very satisfying if he hadn't had an equally stout left jab crashing into my momentarily exposed ribs.
We both staggered back clutching the points of impact. Then Erza stepped between us, "Alright, that's enough. If you're going to continue, then you will have to wait until we arrive at our destination. The crew is starting to get anxious and the other passengers are boarding."
I nodded and as I felt my pulse start to slow down, I shot a grin across at Gajeel, "I was right! You do fight just like him! Thanks! Best fight I've had in a while!"
Gajeel was quiet for a second then a grin spread across his face, "Yeah, you're alright. You know we're gonna have to have a rematch sometime though right?"
"Wouldn't have it any other way," I replied with a grin.
We went and sat back down in our circle by the rail Natsu was leaning over and Lucy asked me, "So, why do you always strain your magic to the point of nearly blacking out if you can fight like that without it?"
"For starters there's the whole 'was actually at one measly friggin' percent the whole time you've known me' thing," I replied, prompting Gajeel to whip his head around to stare at me, "and for the other, don't forget that when I do use magic on that scale, it's to save somebody's bacon because no amount of physical movement is going to be enough, and it usually ends with the entirety of whatever enemy force we're facing being taken out wholesale pretty much instantly." I smirked, "I'm actually really curious to see what I can do now that I'm up to a whopping ten percent."
"Ten percent?!" Gajeel demanded angrily, "You're tellin' me you're at only TEN FREAKING PERCENT and you fought evenly with me?! Is that supposed to be some kind of joke?!"
I got up and started rifling through my bag, "I'm not joking Gajeel. Part of that long story I mentioned is the fact that my natural ethernano absorption rate is a fucking joke." Finding what I was looking for, I turned and held it up to Gajeel, "This is a magic capacity meter. It reads the percentage of magic a person or lacrima has in proportion to how much they naturally can have. How much power would you say you have right now in comparison to your full tank?"
"I have a full tank!" Gajeel declared.
I poked him with the meter and it popped up a glowing holographic number reading sixty-five percent, "Actually you're at a little over two thirds of your full power. Don't worry, that includes what you can do when you eat steel or something. I thought the one percent that was all I'd ever had was my full tank until Master Precht told me otherwise. If you still don't believe me…" I pressed it to my own forearm and a holographic 3 popped up. I grimaced, "Ah shit, I thought it was higher."
"That can't be right!" Gajeel declared agitatedly, "There's no way in hell you're on the level with me in a fight at only three goddamned percent of your power!"
"Um, you do realize he took out an entire dark guild in one shot right?" Lucy asked tentatively.
"Of course I realize he's that strong!" Gajeel snapped, "He fought evenly with me didn't he?! I was Phantom Lord's second strongest wizard behind Master Jose! What I'm sayin' is that there's no way in hell he's strong enough to go toe to toe with me at less than a twentieth of his full power!"
I cleared my throat, "Actually Gajeel, something you may wish to consider. Did any of my punches actually hurt?"
"What? No, we were just playin' around right?" Gajeel asked in confusion.
I grimaced, "Ah…no, I actually was slugging you about as hard as I could since I know you're made of iron, and every one of your hits felt like getting hit with a steel bat."
Gajeel stared at me, "…Are you serious?" I nodded and he suddenly exploded, "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU WALKIN' AROUND ON THE VERGE OF MAGIC DEFICIENCY SYNDROME?! HOW ARE YOU EVEN STILL ALIVE?! YOU CAN'T BE TAKIN' DANGEROUS JOBS WHEN YOU'VE BARELY GOT ENOUGH ENERGY TO STAND UP!"
I dug a finger in my ear at his volume with a grimace, "Yeah, that's the other part of the long story. I'm from a parallel dimension where there is no magic. I grew up thinking magic was just a myth, then I woke up in Hargeon one morning with no clue where I was and a note from who or whatever yanked me here telling me to find Lucy, Natsu and Happy and go join Fairy Tail."
Gajeel gave me a flat look and then, "Dude, seriously, if yer gonna make somethin' up, come up with somethin' better than that."
"I ain't makin it up!" I snapped, "Seriously! About two months ago I was just an ordinary college goin' shmuck and then one morning I woke up in Hargeon without a damn clue where I was!"
Gajeel still clearly didn't believe me so I sighed and thought for a moment, "Will ya believe me if I can prove that I really am at only three percent?"
Gajeel laughed, "Yeah right! But sure, if you really are at less than five percent of your magic power and still have that much spring in your step, then I'll believe you might've grown up without magic."
I sighed with a small smile, "Aaalriiight… Hey Erza? Would you mind catching me if I start to go a little cuckoo like last time?"
Erza immediately got up and set a hand on my shoulder, "I won't let go." I nodded and raised my hands, mentally reaching out to grab all of the light within about a mile in front of me, closed my eyes and then…CHOMPCHOMPCHOMPCHOMPCHOMPCHOMP!
I heard Gajeel and a lot of passengers squawking in surprise over the sound of my munching, but I wasn't going to stop until I was full dang it! A few moments later I heard the power meter blare it's little overload warning and I stopped, letting what was left of the light I had seized to devour go.
It left me in a bit of a daze, but I wasn't as out of it as I had been last time, so I was able to hear Gajeel ask Natsu in a stunned voice how much power he thought I'd just eaten. Levy asked me curiously if my conversion rate for eating was the same as Blackout Mode and I confirmed it was. A few lightning fast scratches of pencil on paper later, Levy declared that I had just taken in five hundred twenty four thousand Edeas. Then she poked me with the magic capacity sensor and declared that I was at a hundred percent.
That wasn't surprising given that my mind was racing with so much nothing that I could barely hear her. I only know what happened because the others told me. I could hear, but at the same time I couldn't. Everything had just…faded away into background noise. My vision started to blur slightly and my eyes itched madly. I reached up and covered them with a growl of displeasure as my head started to hurt. I forced my eyes open just long enough to snatch my contacts out and throw them away. Lack of replacements that had made me keep them in this long be damned, that hurt. Then the ground lurched. I jerked in surprise and almost fell. It was only Erza's hand on my shoulder that kept me from face planting.
The lurching didn't stop. I felt like I was on some kind of giant demonic teeter totter as I started flapping and shifting my weight in counterpoint trying to keep my balance. My face hurt and my sinuses burned, my teeth felt like they were about to rip themselves out and my whole body was racked with chills. I couldn't even begin to think through the panic and the pain… Then my head started itching. The itch started small but all over my scalp and face, but within seconds I had given up flapping to keep my balance to start clawing at everything I could get at above the shoulders with every scrap of speed I could muster as I started to very loudly complain. Then something which I later learned to be Erza's fist clocked me and I was out like a light.
…
…
It was the sensation of movement that woke me… not little movement either. It felt like whatever I was laying on was actively trying to buck me off like a rodeo bull. I forced my telekinesis out to figure out where the hell I was and what was going on. I was acutely puzzled by the fact that there was no actual bucking going on, and that powerful smell of metal was Gajeel. Which really begged the question of how the hell I could smell him that clearly. There was a mild babble in the air, muffled, but it was definitely there…
I forced myself to levitate, and as soon as I wasn't afraid I was going to get chunked across the room at any second, I was able to calm down and think. It took me several seconds and then I asked, "Gajeel…how are Dragon Slayers made?"
Gajeel jerked awake, "What the hell? Why are you floating?"
"Motion sickness," I replied, "Just like Natsu. It's never happened before, and believe me, if it were going to happen before, it would have back in my world where vehicles were absurdly common place. This is something very new to me, but it seems that separating myself from the boat's motion is all it takes to negate it. More pressing though is the fact that at least two of my senses have been sharpened. I've never been able to smell before, but now I can smell everything. I can hear everything going on outside even though I know there's no way I'd have been able to before."
I opened my eyes and immediately scrunched them back shut, "And my sight is sharper too. I know there's not a single light on in here, but it's so bright that it might as well be high noon in a desert."
Gajeel nodded, "Yeah, given that you were on the verge of Magic Deficiency Syndrome it's not surprising that you feel like that. One of the symptoms of Magic Deficiency Syndrome is all yer senses getting super dulled. Yer body's natural healin' slows way down and ya become vulnerable ta all kinds o' diseases that would normally never bother anybody. Ya get super slow and super weak, yer bones get fragile and your flesh bruises and cuts easily. I've never seen it happen, but everyone knows the symptoms."
"I don't think yer a dragon slayer," Gajeel mused, "Levy explained yer magic to me. My first thought was that ya were a Dragon Slayer, but there's two pretty simple explanations fer why there's no way in hell ya are."
"And those are?"
"Ya haven't got an element, and Dragon Slayers ain't born, they're made," Gajeel declared, "Levy says ya met and claim ta have beaten a dragon, but she also claims ya were nine tenths outta yer mind when ya said it. So while that means ya coulda been made inta a Dragon Slayer, there's a very important element missin', namely the fact that ya haven't got one."
"I'm guessing I would if I were a Dragon Slayer?" I reasoned.
Gajeel nodded, "If ya were a Dragon Slayer, then ya'd only be able ta eat one element. Like how I can eat iron and Natsu can eat fire. Tryin' ta eat anything else would make ya horribly sick, but Levy says ya were able ta eat dozens o' different types o' magic that the Guild's old Master chucked at ya. That ain't Dragon Slayer magic that's lettin' ya eat like that. I dunno what kinda magic lets ya do that, but it definitely ain't any Dragon Slayer magic I've ever heard of. As fer yer motion sickness, it's probably jest cause yer senses have been kicked up so high by havin' yer magic at full power fer what's apparently the second time in your life."
I smiled thinly, "Ah. That makes sense. So I suppose you believe me now?"
"Yeah, I believe ya, ain't no way you were at full power if ya could eat that much. Ya blacked out the whole dang harbor!" I flinched and Gajeel sniggered, "Yer actin' like ya weren't expectin' that, but Shrimp says ya blacked out half yer town the first time ya did it." He cleared his throat, "Anyway, there's no way in hell ya'd have been able ta fight like that if ya hadn't lived that way yer whole life. Magic Deficiency Syndrome would've put any ordinary wizard on the ground an' writhin' in agony if they were that low on power."
He sighed and got to his feet, "I'll go let the others know yer awake. They seemed pretty worried about ya. Try ta get yer feet back on the ground if ya can. Ya'll never get over somethin' like motion sickness if ya don't try, an' acclimatin's 'bout the only way ta do that."
I nodded, "I'll try, and Gajeel…" I cracked an eye and looked over at him as he opened the door, "Thanks."
Gajeel looked over his shoulder and grinned, "Try ta keep yer magic levels high, that'll help ya acclimate faster."
I immediately activated Blackout Mode, shocking even myself with how fast it came on. When I pulled it back from my eyes, I saw Gajeel staring at me. "Blackout Mode," I clarified, "I went beyond just eating and developed a way to passively absorb any light that touches me. It's the same as eating a steady stream."
Gajeel stared for a moment more and then grinned, "When we get there, I want a rematch."
I smiled behind the shadows of Blackout Mode, "You're on."
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NEXT TIME on Mad Little Slice of Heaven...
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"Well, it would appear that you have made a friend, Lady Serena," He smiled as he drew a card from the deck and precisely placed one back, "Please keep in mind your father's wishes regarding your safety. I would so hate to have to intervene."
"What Daddy doesn't know won't get me grounded," Serena, because that was apparently her name (it was slightly embarrassing that I hadn't learned it yet), replied smugly, "And if you want to remain employed, you'll keep it that way, right Elric?"