Author's Note 1: The Fairy Mythos Series is a non-profit fanfiction series.

Fairy Tail and Fairy Tail Series II are all owned by A-1 Pictures, Satelight, Bridge Madman Entertainment, Funimation TXN, Kodansha, and Hiro Mashima.

Any original characters and concepts are owned by Navek or xpegasus.

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Chapter 8: Take a Chance

"Oh, Tatiana! You have filled the hole in my heart! Where there was once anger is now full of

lo-"

'NONONONONO! That'ssappy as fuck!' Crystal mentally shouted as she ripped up and crumbled yet another page of her manuscript. Currently, she was sitting on a bench during a free period. She had attempted to get some writing done, but like before, her attempts at writing the romantic parts of her book were still awkward and clumsy.

And much to Crystal's frustration, she knew why that was. After all, how could she accurately write about romance when he had never even had a boyfriend? Now she could solve by simply getting a boyfriend, but she didn't really know exactly who to ask.

Of the boys she knew, Otani had enough problems with his would-be harem, Desmond wasn't really her type, and Dan was...Dan.

Figuring she wasn't going to get any work done at her current spot, Crystal decided to go for a walk through the Academy Courtyard. But as she walked across the grass, the black-haired girl spotted Lester, sitting crisscrossed with a brick in front of him. The bespectacled teen closed his eyes and began to channel his magic.

"Here we go. Alter Field: Expand." In an instant, an invisible field of mana expanded out to a five-meter radius. 'Alright. I can feel the expanded field. Now to shrink it back and focus it on the brick.'

And indeed, Lester willed his Alter Field to shrink back and focus on the small area in front of him. "Got it! Property Alter: Brittle!"After a quick flash of mana, the bespectacled teen chopped at the brick…and nothing happened except him banging his hand against the brick, a faint breaking sound being heard.

"…AAAAAGGGHHHFUCKSHITTITTYBITCHFUCKASS!" Lester shouted as he fell backward, holding onto his injured hand. However, he then heard the sound of something crumbling. Looking back, he saw what he had done wrong; instead of wrapping his Alter Field around the brick, he instead cast Property Alter on the grass & dirt under the brick. As such, the ground below the brick collapsed into a small hole.

"Well, that was quite the show." Crystal said as she approached the brown-haired teen.

"Oh, hey Crystal," Lester said before flinching from the pain in his hand.

And then…

"I got the expanding part down, but focusing it on one object is really giving me problems," Lester explained to Crystal. After getting his hand patched up, the two classmates decided to sit and chat.

"Well, at least you're getting better." The squinty-eyed girl replied. Crystal then went to thinking about her romance dilemma. And looking at Lester's goofy expression from her light praise, she decided to take the plunge.

"Hey, Lester?" She asked, leaning in slightly with a blush on her face.

"Ya?" The bespectacled teen responded, noticing that Crystal was closer to him.

"Do…do you…" Crystal began to say before swallowing. "…want to be my boyfriend?"

"…huh?"

"Oh my god, that came out wrong!" Crystal said with a blush. "Hear me out. I'm trying to write my novel. I got most of the plot down, I got the characters and their dynamics with each other figured out…" The black-haired girl explained before sighing. "...but I can't write the romance for crap. I think if I get some actual experience, then I'll be able to make their romance believable and engaging."

"So, you want to try dating me, so you can figure out how to make your characters date?" Lester asked, still befuddled by Crystal's proposition.

"Exactly!" Crystal exclaimed. "So, will you do it?"

"Uh, sure," Lester said. "Anything for a friend."

And then…

"So you and Crystal are datin' now?" Desmond asked as he, Lester, and Otani were changing into their swimsuits with the rest of their joint gym class.

"I mean, sort of but not really," Lester replied with a shrug. "She's just trying to figure out how to write romance. I guess it's like practice or training." The amethyst-eyed student had explained how Crystal's strange and spontaneous proposal. "It's not like I'm against the idea of dating Crystal; she's funny, creative, cute, great to hang out with." As he spoke, Lester didn't notice a small blush on his cheeks. "But that would just be too weird, right? We're just friends."

"Ya, sure," Desmond said as he placed his hat in a locker. As he took off his shirt, Otani stared with a blush on his face for a brief second before looking away, something that Lester noticed but chose not to comment on.

Meanwhile, in the girl's locker room, as Wendy was getting dressed in her swimsuit, she was looking around…and started to feel depressed.

'B-Cup. C-Cup. C-Cup. D-Cup, B-Cup.' She then looked down at her own chest and sighed. 'A-Cup.'

"So, hopefully going on these practice dates will help me write better," Crystal said, not realizing that her diminutive friend had stopped listening to her explaining about how she and Lester were now fake dating. "I swear, the things we writers do for our craft."

Soon enough, the boys and girls gathered around the school's pool, which had several circular floating platforms within it. Both types of skin-tight swimsuits the students wore were dark purple, covering all the way down to their knees. The main difference was that the boy's suits had sleeves that stopped just above their elbows while the girl's suits were sleeveless and held up with shoulder straps.

Suffice to say, there was perverted leering on both sides.

"Hey, guys!" Lester, Desmond, and Otani turned and saw Crystal and Wendy walking towards them. And for the second time that day, Lester's face turned red thanks to the black-haired crystal spinner.

"H-H-Hi," Lester replied as he struggled not to ogle her body.

'God damn it, pull yourself together,' Lester thought. 'Don't look at her boobs. Or her legs. Or her stomach-DAMN IT! WAS SHE ALWAYS THIS SEXY?!'

Then again, Crystal wasn't faring that much better, as the nature of the school swimsuit showed that underneath his school uniform, Lester had a pretty cut figure. And the only one faring worse than anyone was Wendy, who upon seeing several athletic boys in swimsuits...suffered from explosive nosebleed, freaking Otani out.

"Are you okay!?" The redhead asked.

"I-I'm fine," Wendy replied, quickly wiping the blood from her nose. "It's just...pecs...lots of them."

"Ya, I know what you mean," Otani whispered under his breath. But suddenly, he was tackled from behind.

"Otani!" The redhead turned and saw that it was Chiyo hugging him from behind. The black-haired girl then let go of her crush and twirled to show herself off. "Well? Don't I look super cute in this?"

"Huh, you actually do," Otani said with a smile, which caused Chiyo to pout. She was hoping to he'd blush or get a nosebleed. Still, a compliment was a compliment.

"Dammit, Chiyo!" Aime shouted, catching her breath after running after the black-haired girl. "What did I tell about jumping Otani?"

"Don't know. I don't pay attention to jealous Jennys," The petite black-haired girl replied.

"I'm not jealous!" The pink-haired girl shouted back.

"Riiiiiight," Chiyo replied. But before Lester and the gang were treated to another round of Chiyo and Aime arguing, a loud whistle rang out. Everyone turned and saw Coach Suburashi approaching the class, wearing the same male swimsuit. However, many could see numerous scars covering his arms and legs, no doubt adding fuel to the 'former soldier' theory many students had about him.

"Alright ya, little cretins; lessons about to start, so save the oglin' and pervin' for after class! I'm looking at you, Scott!"

"Aw," a female student groaned, tearing her eyes away from her male classmate's butts.

"Today, you are going to be learning how to handle one of the most dangerous combat situations a wizard can encounter…" The brunette teacher began to say before leaping high into the air, backflipping until he landed on one of the floating platforms. "...unstable terrain."

Lester then raised his hand. "Um, Coach, are there a lot of floating water circles out the world?"

While a few classmates (including Crystal) chuckled at this, Subarashi just smirked. "Well, thank you for volunteering to go first, Mayfield."

"What?! But I didn't-"

"Alright, here's how it's gonna go down, maggots!" The goateed man exclaimed. "You're all gonna take me on for this class. You can either fight me mano-e-mano or in teams of up to 4. If ya fall in the water, you're done for today. But if any of ya manage to knock me into the water, ya get an automatic 'A' for this semester. Same goes if you take me on as a team."

Now, this got everyone talking. Coach Subarashi was notorious for pushing his students past their breaking point, so not having to deal with that for a whole semester was quite the motivation. Especially to a certain petite dragon-slayer.

"Let's do this, guys!" Wendy exclaimed, causing her pals to do a second take.

"Um...okay, Wendy," Crystal said before looking back at Lester. She had seen him fight a few times, so the idea of fighting alongside him was surprisingly exciting.

Speaking of Lester, while a part of him did realize he could show off and wanted to get out Subarashi's hellish gym class, he also saw this as a way to test what he learned about his Property Alter Magic.

Desmond…just wanted to help his buddies out.

And so the four students each stepped onto one platform each, Subarashi standing on the fifth center platform.

"Alright, maggots; bring it on!" The brunette coach exclaimed. As soon as the coach gave the okay, Desmond was the first to act, pulling out Tango and Waltz and aiming at Suburashi.

"Guns Magic: Fire & Frost Bullet Medley!"

As the magically-charged bullets flew towards him, Suburashi merely smirked as his fist was covered in cyan mana. With a grunt, the brunette instructor threw his fist toward, creating a wall of cyan magic that blocked the elemental explosions.

"You're gonna have to better than an obvious full-frontal attack, Trotter." The coach explained before creating a small shield to block a side attack from Amethyst Knight. "You get points for tryin', Mayfield."

"Really?"

"No," Suburashi said, decking the Fighting Spirit in the face, which Lester felt from the backlash.

As the boys continued their attack, Crystal began to formulate a plan. 'Alright, what character can use for an aquatic battle?' She thought before snapping her fingers. 'I got it!' The black-haired girl tapped her forehead with her right pointer and middle finger before facing them outward, an orange magic circle appearing in front of her.

"Crystal-Make: Pontus, the Valiant Merknight!" From the magic circle came a crystal construct. Said construct was of a handsome-looking merman with long hair, armor, a shield, and a spear.

"Huh? That sounds familiar," Chiyo muttered as she, Otani, and Aime watched from the sidelines alongside the rest of the class.

"Show him your valor, Pontus!" Crystal ordered, the construct nodding before diving into the pool. In an instant, the crystal merknight swam until it was behind Coach Suburashi. But as soon as the construct leaped out from the water, the coach created a small, spinning shield in between his fingers before tossing it at the construct and beheading it, much to Crystal's shock.

"Okay, an attack from below didn't work. So let's try an attack from above." The black-haired girl muttered to herself before raising her hand into the air. "Crystal-Make: Orion, Maximus, and Pyrus!"

A trio of crystalline angels appeared over their caster, two females and one male. Each of them held a hammer in their hands. And just like the merknight construct, the details on them were second to none.

"Oh, those are the Angel Trio from the International Hero Collection!" Chiyo shouted in excitement, much to Otani and Aime's confusion.

"What?" The redhead asked.

"It's a collection of novellas that showcases tales of legendary heroes from all over the world. And Crystal's been Crystal-Making them with amazing detail! This is so cool!"

"…I never pegged you to actually read a book," Aime replied.

"Because those books are exciting, not full of boring stuff like math," Chiyo said. Aime gave the girl a look of disappointment and frustration.

"Crystal, let's attack together," Wendy chimed in.

"Got it." Crystal said as she watched Suburashi create another barrier to block a round of bullet from Desmond. For a moment, the black-haired girl believed that she had figured out the coach's magic. "Desmond, keep shooting at him!"

"That's about all I can do!" The dirty blond replied. In the meanwhile, Lester was trying to think of another plan of attack. And soon enough, an idea came to the purple-eyed boy.

"Amethyst Knight, time to show off," Lester ordered, his Fighting Spirit sticking its rapier into the pool. The spirit then began to spin the rapier at inhuman speeds, lifting the water out of the pool itself. Lester then channeled his magic into his left hand and tapped the water.

"Property Alter: Steel!" In an instant, the water solidified into a conical shape, ever spinning around the Fighting Spirit's rapier.

"I think I'll call this move…" Lester said before snapping his fingers. "Amethyst Knight: Steel Drill Thrust!"

"Take him down, Angels!" Crystal ordered her constructs to attack as Wendy slammed his fists together and sucked in some air.

"Sky Dragon's Roar!"

And thus, while still defending from Desmond's bullets from one side, Coach Suburashi was besieged by all sides. A Fighting Spirit with a water drill, three crystalline angels with crystal hammers, and a massive blast of wind. But while the students were in awe by the magic display in front of them, Suburashi smirk remained unchanged.

"Barrier Magic: Multi-Barrier!"

In an instant, several barriers appeared around Suburashi, blocking every single attack from every angle.

"Dammit!" Lester shouted.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Crystal exclaimed. "I thought you could only use one barrier at a time!"

"Take this to heart, maggots," Suburashi stated as the barriers started to glow. "Never assume you know your opponent after just a few spells. Especially when they're deliberately holding back." Looks of shock and horror spread across the student's faces at the coach's statement. "Origin Union: Detonation Barrier!"

Lester was the quickest to hear this, dispelling Amethyst Knight in an instant before the barriers exploded, destroying the crystal angels and creating a massive backdraft.

"Dammit, I'm not done yet!" Crystal shouted, channeling even more magic into her hands. "Crystal-Make: Davalian Kraken!" Another crystal construct emerged from the water, this one of a giant Kraken. However, this construct was noticeably less detailed than the others, save for a scar over its left eye.

'Woah! That is awesome!' Lester thought with a smile before resummoning Amethyst Knight and beginning another attack, retreating whenever one of Suburashi's barriers exploded.

As her friends continued their attack, Wendy was shaking. While her training has somewhat helped in expanding her inner mana pool, it was still rather small. She had hoped that Roar spell would've been enough to help her friends win the fight. But Suburashi seemed way too strong for any of them to beat, and she was already tired.

But then she saw the determined looks on her friend's faces. Despite how clearly outmatched they were, her friends continued to fight on. And so, when Coach Suburashi made another backdraft with an explosion, Wendy sucked in the resulting wind. And while it did taste a bit nasty, the young Dragon-Slayer could feel her mana being replenished.

"Looks like I'm getting my second wind." Wendy proclaimed as her three teammates still had Suburashi's attention. And so, mustering up all of her courage, the blue-haired girl leaped into the air and clenched her fist, wind beginning to swirl around her fist.

"SKY DRAGON'S TORNADO FIST!"

And before Suburashi could react, Wendy came down and decked him in the face, a massive wind funnel engulfing him upon impact.

But when the wind cleared, much to Wendy's dismay, Suburashi was still standing on the platform. He'd created a barrier to keep him from falling off the platform and into the water. However, the spiky-haired coach did look surprised as he stared at the blue-haired girl with blood trickling down his face.

"Huh," He said, wiping the blood from his mouth."Well, it looks like I don't have to hold back quite as much as I thought." He smirked before launching Wendy into the water.

'HE WAS STILL HOLDING BACK?!' Lester, Desmond, and Crystal all thought. And that was the truth, as Suburashi quickly leaped onto Lester's platform and pushed him into the water. He then proceeded to do the same to Desmond and Crystal, ending the battle.

"Okay, who's next?" Suburashi asked. A few of the students were excited about a good fight, while others were scared to take on the coach.

As the next group of students was getting ready to fight the coach, Lester and the gang were getting out of the water, Lester helped Crystal out while Desmond and Wendy crawled out.

"Well, that sucked," the black-haired girl stated as she squeezed some water from her hair.

"Ditto," Lester replied before smiling. "But you were pretty awesome out there!"

"You think so?"

"Hell yeah! Your constructs were so cool."

"Thanks," Crystal replied with a blush. "You pretty cool with that water drill thing too."

"Heh, heh, thank you," Lester said with his own blush.

"Not really datin' my ass," Desmond said under his breath before turning to Wendy. "You were pretty slick out there, Wendy."

"B-But…I only used two spells."

"And one of them managed to actually hit the coach," The dirty blond gunslinger replied before thinking about how, throughout the fight, all he did was shoot at Suburashi. He also thought back to his fight with Asher the other night, and how desperate he was. It was at that moment that Desmond realized that he needed to learn how to fight without his guns.

"Desmond's right; you were pretty cool out there," Lester stated.

"Yup, like a cute little badass." Crystal said she ruffled Wendy's hair, causing the smaller girl to giggle.

While the four didn't win the fight, they look back upon this day and realize that this was the first step to the four of them becoming a real team.

And then…

"You actually punched the coach?" Jacob asked with a look of shock on his face.

"Yup!" Wendy said as she told her tutor about the pool battle. After the class, Desmond said that he was going to the library to study while Lester and Crystal went off on their first 'practice date.' "I mean, I was kind of nervous, but it was also kind of exciting."

"Hmph. I don't know if you should feel good about hurting someone," Carla stated as she watched the two train.

"Let her have this one, cat." The purple-haired teen responded as he blocked some strikes from Wendy.

"It's Carla, not 'cat'!"

"Whatever," Jacob said as they continued to spar with Wendy. But as they continued to spar, Jacob felt the phantom stomach pains he had been feeling for the past few weeks resurge. And that only got worse when Wendy accidentally kicked him in the stomach.

"Oh no! I'm so sorry, Jacob!" Wendy exclaimed as Jacob fell down and clutched his stomach. And he continued to so, even screaming slightly. "J-Jacob?"

This got Carla's attention. "Something's wrong." The white cat quickly approached Jacob and lifted his shirt. And what Wendy and Carla saw shocked and baffled them.

Part of Jacob's stomach had turned into dark stone.

To be continued…

Author's Note 2: HO HO HOLY CRAP! It's been a while since I've updated this story! But what can I say besides that finals are a bitch?

So Lester and Crystal are getting closer, even if they don't realize it, Wendy got her own version of Natsu's 'I got a fire in my belly!' motto, and the Jacob and Otani plotline is about to kick in.

Also, be sure to keep up with 'Fairy Tail: The Tower of Heaven'!

Next time: The Curse Revealed!

Please remember to read, favorite, review, and help this series by editing the TV Tropes Page!

See ya next time!