{LEXI'S POV}
"You're such a slowpoke, Lexi. I went and beat up a bunch of bandits in the same time frame it took you to find a missing dog." Reiki announces loudly as we enter the guild hall together. Cha cha, real smooth.

I shake my head and grin. Reiki shrugs and grins back. We snicker together quietly.

Because I'm technically forbidden from going on quests involving magic use, like fighting bandits, we have to excuse why I was gone for so long. The fact that no one in our guild has caught on to our lousy acting is a testament to how obtuse they all are.

"So you each completed your separate jobs?" Mom asks, walking up to us with a big smile.

"We're basically not a team at this point." I grumble, feeling a stab of guilt for lying to Mom. "We just accept jobs at the same time."

Reiki elbows me playfully. "Don't say that. We race to see who completes their job first too."

I snort, because we always tie.

"Hey, Reiki, Lexi!" Nashi skips up to us, waving a flyer in our faces. "Look at this!"

Avery sneaks up behind her and grabs the page from Nashi's extended hand. She reads it aloud:

"Three months after the wildly popular Grand Magic Games, the kingdom of Fiore presents the Storybook Games!" She braces an arm against Nashi's face to prevent the pink-haired girl from grabbing her flyer back. Nashi claws for the paper, but Avery holds it at arm's length so Nashi can't reach. "Created to determine which guild has the most promising youth through several days of magic competition. Each guild will compete with teams of five, and all participants must be twenty years old or younger."

Reiki scratches the side of his head. "Oh, I get it! Since our parent's generation is ridiculously strong, our age group doesn't get much representation in the Grand Magic Games anymore. To rectify this and give us a chance to compete, the Fiore kingdom is creating a whole new magic competition."

"Ding, ding, ding!" Avery sings. "That's right. I'm so stoked for this!"

I recall Uncle Natsu dominating the arena, blowing fire everywhere and torching the stands. I couldn't bare to watch five minutes before fleeing, but Fairy Tail won first place by a landslide.

"I wanted to tell them!" Nashi pouts, snatching back her pamphlet before stomping on Avery's foot. Hard.

Avery winces. "Don't be a sore loser, Pinky."

"My hair color is salmon! Not that a lousy metalhead would be able to perceive such a fine difference in cues." Nashi huffs. They get up in each other's faces, eyes narrowed in an impromptu staring contest.

"Hues." Avery corrects, rolling her eyes. "Excuse me for not being an ash-for-brains color connoisseur."

"It's to be expected." Nashi sighs, faking moroseness. "We are talking about you after all."

Avery gapes. "Are you insinuating that I'm the dumb one? You? Is that even legal?"

"You're the one who's instinugating a fight by stealing my flyer." Nashi shrugs.

A vein pops on Avery's forehead. "The right word is instigating, you cretin! I'm instigating!"

"Aha! So you admit it!"

"That was an explanation not a confession, and you know it, you damn arsonist!"

"How was I supposed to know, huh? According to you, I'm just a dumb crouton." Nashi shrugs, pursing her lips to stop a smile.

Proverbial smoke is exiting Avery's ears. "Cretin! Not crouton! You're doing it on purpose now!"

"Who's instigating who, eh?!" Nashi yells.

The two daughters of dragon slayers are forehead to forehead, getting all up in each other's faces while trying to one up the other verbally.

"Fairy Tail won't be participating." Dad interrupts from across the guild hall.

I blink in surprise. Everyone, including Nashi and Avery, falls silent to stare at him incredulously. Then Nashi and Avery explode simultaneously in protest.

"Are you serious?!"

"But why, Master?!"

Dad sighs. "Think about it. You'd need a team of five. Emma, Nashi, and Reiki only make three. Even if Storm gets back from his job up north in time, you're still down one person. Unless Ro—"

He pauses and coughs.

Aunt Erza freezes in her seat. She pushes away her plate of strawberry cake, her face twisting in pain as memories resurface.

Dad quickly tries to cover up his tongue slip. "Unless you plan on making Angelica fight?"

He raises an eyebrow, gesturing to my four-year-old cousin, currently playing in Aunt Evergreen's lap.

"Damn it. Master's right." Avery mutters.

Nashi looks down angrily, balling her fists in frustration like she wants to fight the floor. Fairy Tail... not participating? I can't let that happen.

"I'll do it." I blurt out softly, surprising even myself. Several wide eyes turn to stare at me.

"You will?!" Nashi asks, eyes lighting up.

Reiki positively beams with pride. That's all the encouragement I need. I swallow hard, steeling my resolve. "I-I'll be the fifth member."

"Lexi, think carefully about this." Mom warns.

"I know. It's a magic competition, obviously there'll be magic. But I'm tired of everyone babying me all the time. I know I'm the weak link, but I'll do my best. So please." I bow my head to my guildmates.

Nashi and Avery look at each other. For once, they're in complete consensus.

"You aren't a weak link." Nashi grins.

"You're our precious family member, and now our irreplaceable fifth teammate." Avery agrees.

"Raise your head!" Uncle Natsu shouts.

I oblige, finding my guildmates all watching me with eyes full of delight. They've always accepted me and they always will. Tears trek down my cheeks.

"Thank you!" I cry, bowing again.

"Let's celebrate! We'll win the Storybook Games too!" Aunt Cana cheers and raises a barrel of beer, despite the fact that her son will likely compete against us, alongside his father's guild.

"Who's number one?" Dad shouts.

"Fairy Tail!" We all scream raucously, raising the Fairy Tail symbol that Dad came up with so long ago; index finger and thumb pointing to the sky.

"Aye sir!" Happy agrees cheerfully, flying in the air above us with Carla and Lily.

The Storybook Games start in one month. Reiki and I really crack down on my magic rehabilitation so I won't faint from fear during the qualifier.

I've toned down my fear response a lot. I hope I can control my knee-jerk reaction to run away.

All we really know about the qualifier is that it's designed to par down the competition. It'll obviously be something magic-related. With no time to spare, I'm as prepared as I'll ever be.

Our team of five travels to Crocus, along with our entire guild as chaperones and moral support.

We find our hotel easily enough. The five of us sit in a circle on the carpeted floor in Reiki's room, speculating what the qualifier will be. A knock on the glass makes us jump since this is the third floor. A large-beaked bird delivers us a letter calling all teams to gather in front of Mercurius Palace.

Upon our arrival, I see tons of new faces. All this stimulation is quite overwhelming. Reiki reaches over and squeezes my hand. I relax.

The king... ahem, announcer Mato-kun meets us in front of the palace gates. "Your task in the qualifier is simply to find your missing shoes-kabo. Only six teams can qualify-kabo."

"HUH?!" We were expecting something crazier like the sky maze, although I'm not sure I could've handled that. Everybody looks down.

Somehow or another, one member of every team is magically barefoot. For our team, it's Nashi.

"Cold!" She yelps, hopping up and down then nearly slipping on the smooth, pale blue ground.

"Are you a fire wizard or not?" Avery snaps.

"Oh, right." Nashi lights her feet on fire and melts a layer of ice. She sighs in relief. "Much better."

I'm not so sure about that. I never wanted to learn what Nashi's burning socks smell like.

"Ohmigosh! My bad. I'm so sorry!" Lionel, who's team stands next to ours, gasps. He must've got so nervous that he froze the stones under Nashi's feet.

Storm shoots Lionel a glare. Before he can say anything to his ice rival, Reiki elbows him and shakes his head. "Uh-uh. Don't pick a fight here."

Storm sighs and listens to Mato-kun with the rest of us, who explains the assignment without pause.

"—you have until the clock chimes midnight-kabo. Good luck-kabo." Mato-kun dances around, gleefully sending us out on a wild goose chase.

"Let's go!" Nashi exclaims angrily, barreling down one of the many streets branching off from the castle like the spokes of a wheel.

The rest of our team has no choice but to make chase. The other teams join the race, using magic galore to light the streets in search of shoes. I'm proud of myself for not flinching, at least until an explosion warms the night; Nashi's livid.

"Aaaaaagh!" She screams in frustration, her body flickering with brilliant red flames.

"Which shoes were you wearing anyway?" I ask her, making sure to stand far back.

"My red hi-tops. They were new, damn it!" Nashi exclaims, cursing up at the sky.

We check in back at the hotel room and all around Crocus, occasionally running into other teams who're equally stumped. Nashi's shoes are nowhere to be found and midnight is less than an hour away.

"Let's regroup, go back to the palace." I suggest, a stupid idea forming in my head.

"Yeah, alright." Nashi sighs. "Damn it. I really liked those shoes!"

"We have to find them. We have to qualify." Avery clenches her fists.

We trod back to the palace, feeling utterly defeated. There, on the bottom step, are Nashi's red hi-tops, along with a hundred other pairs of assorted shoes.

I blink in shock. Could it really be that easy?

"No way. This is rigged." Storm says. He carefully approaches and grabs Nashi's shoes, flinching like he expects them to spring a booby-trap. He walks backwards down the steps and we regroup.

Nashi pulls on her red hi-tops and hugs Storm in glee. Then she torches the rest of the poor shoes. The putrid scent of burning rubber and foot fills the air.

"What are you doing, you absolute dingus?!" Avery snaps, keeling over and hacking. My eyes water as warm foot jam odor fills the air.

"Making sure nobody else qualifies." Nashi smirks darkly, hands linked behind her head.

"You're the sixth group anyway-kabo." Mato-kun startles us, appearing out of nowhere. He coughs once. "The qualifiers are now over-kabo. So put out this awful fire-kabo!"
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Any guesses as to which six teams made it? Who Lionel is? All will be revealed in the next chapter—I'll introduce the entire next gen!