[center][color=C2B280][h3]Fleo Plector - Phoenix Wing Hall[/h3][/color][/center]

After nodding to Ariel, Fleo dug in to listen to Jamie.  Though her speech did excite Fleo some, she honestly would have preferred the guild master to say something like 'because we have a secret weapon' or 'because I'm giving you all awesome power boosts', but she supposed 'because we're Phoenix WIng' would do.  In the previous few months, she'd seen enough of her fellow guildmates to know that their guild stood a very good chance of reigning victorious.  The members participating in the Games were nothing to shake sticks at; they were the real deal.  It almost made her sad that she'd given up her position among them to Karn, but a wave of justifications assuaged her misgivings.  She'd made the right choice.  All that remained now was to send her friends her best wishes, and watch the magic unfold.

[center][h3]The Frenzy Fort[/h3][/center]

It was an important morning.  This wasn't just a fact drilled into every soldier in Frenzy Plant.  It could be felt in the very air.  Very few occassions called for the unification of the entire soldier guild.  Warring nations, a city on the brink of disaster, a looming battle, a rampaging demon.  And the Games.

For this guild, the Grand Magic Games were games only in principle.  Frenzy Plant took it seriously.  A few weeks ago, they'd stopped allowing A-rank wizards and above to go on jobs, and instead began the final phase of their training.  Those participating in the games were obliged to battle their allied soldiers, sometimes up to five against one at a time, rehearsing versatility and sharpening wits as well as talents.  They even brought in outside help, mages from lesser guilds and mercenary groups, and physical fighters as well, to test the ace team's prowess.  Over the course of a few weeks, the entire guild had worked itself into a Frenzy, fighting and drilling until its soldiers could stand no more, sleeping, and then beginning again.  Though only five of them would be participating, everyone was called upon to improve his or her self, and on the eve of the Games the entire guild took a day-long party, feasting and singing and dancing, wrestling and sparring and storytelling.  Today, however, all stood still.

The soldiers stood at attention in the huge training hall.  Its floor was still scarred by indentations and burns from the last mock battles, but those who stood atop it were immaculate.  Everyone had put aside or modified their typical clothes and garbed themselves in sleek, official green.  In ranks they stood, and in front of them paced Zander, splendid in a uniform of verdant hue beneath ruby armor that shined glamorously.  [color=E0115F]"Today is the day we march, not to war, but to a challenge even more dire.  The other guilds have convinced themselves that the warrior guild in the north is no threat...a mere weed on the path to victory.  We will prove that discipline and talent are the glue that holds an army together, and the oil that shines a triumphant crown.  When we take the field, we will fight not as men and women, or boys and girls...but soldiers.  War is what we are bred for.  And from this moment on, we are at war."[/color]  Zander raised his gleaming sword into the air to a chorus of applause and cheering, and the Frenzy Plant members broke ranks to rush upstairs to the cannon room.  All the cannons today had been pointed in one direction: Crocus, and victory.

[center][h3][color=D8BFD8]Nero - With Dragon Fang[/color][/h3][/center]

Nero treated the girl on his arm to his own silly grin, doing his best to match hers.  [color=D8BFD8]"Hey, Eve!  Gosh, what an exciting day.  I can't believe everyone's so hyped up about me being a guest announcer!"[/color]  He chuckled, and squeezed her forearm.  [color=D8BFD8]"Heh, kidding, of course.  It's going to be a fascinating day.  After my reconnaissance of every team participating in the games, I think Phoenix Wing's got a clear advantage.  They're fielding two teams, not one.  Almost cheating if ya ask me, but who'm I to judge?  I expect Frenzy Plant and Dragon Fang to put up a fight, though.  The soldiers are hardasses, but they sure can fight.  And these guys,"[/color] he gestured to the various Dragon Fang members around, [color=D8BFD8]"Aren't exactly pushovers.  If they come out swinging, the Phoenixes will have to Wing it."[/color]  He snickered at his own joke, wondering what Eve's take on all this was.

At that moment, however, an uninvited guest appeared.   Did the Time Lord make it his business to put his nose in Nero's at every turn?  Still, the genie grudgingly admitted to himself, for better or worse this clock-obsessed individual was responsible for Eve's admittance to Dragon Fang in place of a sanitarium.  And if that hadn't happened, Nero would very well have been rotting in the ground.  In a weird, round-about way, the Time Lord had saved the dark mage's life.  So instead of gushing forth a stream of invective, Nero simply said, [color=D8BFD8]"Hi, Grime Lord.  Wouldn't be a party withoutcha."[/color]