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Wendy felt bad for Natsu as they got out of the car. Her Troia spell hadn't worked again so he'd had to put up with feeling motion sick the entire journey. At least now they had made it to Arena Essex and Natsu appeared to be feeling better.
They were all mages from the guild Fairy Tail and all shared in supporting their local Speedway team the Lakeside Hammers. Tonight the Hammers were facing off against the reigning elite league champions the Poole Pirates who were Sabertooth's local Speedway team and some of the Sabertooth guild had already arrived at the stadium to cheer on their side.
As they walked up to the entrance Erza went ahead to pay for their tickets and programmes. There were five mages and two exceeds who had travelled from Magnolia for tonight's meeting - Erza Scarlett, Natsu Dragneel, Wendy Marvell, Gray Fullbuster, Lucy Heartfilia and the two exceeds Happy and Carla. This was the first meeting that Master Makarov had allowed the group to go to alone for fear of them destroying the entire stadium.
Entering the stadium the group quickly found an empty space along the 1st corner by the safety fence and Gray and Erza took the responsibility to get them all drinks. Returning with three beers, two cokes and two J2O's the group are still half an hour early so the junior riders are only now coming out.
Standing by the 2nd corner are a group of mages from the Sabertooth guild who have already made themselves comfortable with Orga already waving a Poole Pirates banner around. "Can't you at least wait until the racing actually starts?" Rogue calls back towards Orga.
"We're the away team Rogue, we need to give them all the support we can! I could be using my microphone already you know!" Orga replies. Rogue just shakes his head at the larger mage and takes a drink from his beer as the junior riders are wheeled out for their first race. Five mages and two exceeds have also travelled to Arena Essex from the Sabertooth guild: Rufus Lore; Orga Nanagear; Yukino Agria; Rogue Cheney and the guild master himself Sting Eucliffe along with Frosch and Lector the exceeds.
The junior race wins were shared between Jason Edwards and Tom Brennan, everyone knows they'll be on the elite league scene soon enough! As the main riders are introduced in the parade the familiar cheers of "Richard, THE AWESOME, Lawson!" and "Mike the Bike!" ring around the stadium, leaving the Sabertooth guild members very confused. The coin toss between the two captains, Andreas Jonsson and Chris Holder, is won by Chris Holder - Poole's team captain. The Sabertooth members roar with excitement - Orga's cheers amplified by his microphone. They were off to a winning start, they thought this would be a great night. How wrong they were.
Natsu and co eagerly watch as the first race begins, "Go on Kim! GO ON KIM! YEAH!!!!!!!!" Natsu's cheers deafen his friends as Kim Nilsson holds off the challenge of Chris Holder to win the first heat, Andreas Jonsson got third place after Davey Watt had mechanical problems in the first bend failing to finish the race. "We're winning! We're beating the Pirates!" Natsu exclaims as he turns to his friends.
"Calm down Natsu, it's only been the one race, there's still a long way to go." Lucy reminds him; Natsu turns back to the track, leaning on the fence while waiting for the next race to begin.
Over on the 2nd corner, the slightly less enthusiastic group of Sabertooth mages watched in disbelief as their number one was beaten. "I can't believe Kim Nilsson beat Holder! Man, why'd Davey have to have bike problems?" Orga fails at keeping his composure.
"Calm down Orga, it's only the first heat, we've got plenty of time to turn this around!" Yukino is quick to try and calm her friend.
"Yes, it's now the first reserve race and according to my memory we would be the favourites for this race!" Rufus attempts to cheer up his comrade.
The second heat sees the Poole Pirates on their way to maximum points when Paul Starke takes a tumble on the last bend, gifting second and third to the Hammers. "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" Orga shouts out in frustration, this was just not their day.
The majority of the meeting continues in the same fashion, the Pirates looking on form to take the lead when some mistake or bike problem gifts the Hammers with points; despite the bad luck the Pirates had been given, the scores were still close before the start of heat 10 - standing at 30 points to the Hammers and 24 points to the Pirates.
Rogue and Sting found their drinks empty so head off to get more beer, Frosch and Lector follow their wizards to the bar. Buying their drinks the Twin Dragons turn back to the track in time to see their guest Darcy Ward winning over Andreas Jonsson and Kim Nilsson for another shared heat. Spotting a pink head in front of them in the crowd Sting turns to his friend, "Hey Rogue, is that Natsu over there?"
Looking in the direction of the pink hair Rogue sees the fire dragon slayer, "yeah, I don't know anyone else with pink hair like his."
"We should go over and say hi!" Without even giving his friend a chance to reply Sting already starts walking towards Natsu. Rogue looks over to their guild mates but seeing - and hearing - that Orga has started to sing his cheers out through his microphone quickly follows his friend.
It's Wendy who first notices the two figures approaching, "Oh, Sabertooth members." She says as Rogue and Sting draw nearer.
Hearing what Wendy said, Gray turns in the direction of the dragon slayers, "Oh hey, it's Sting and Rogue! What are you guys doing here?" He enquires friendly.
"We're here to support our Pirates!" Sting replies in a proud manner, Rogue adds that their hiding from Orga's over-zealous cheering as well.
By the time heat 12 - the second reserve race - came around the other Sabertooth members had spotted where the Twin Dragons had disappeared of to and had walked over to join them. Having had a very unlucky meeting the Sabertooth members - especially Orga - were delighted when Paul Starke and Kyle Newman brought back 5 points for the Pirates, beating Adam Ellis and Ashley Birks - the Hammers reserves. "It's not too late to turn this around! We've got the Turbo Twins in the next race! We'll be in the lead in no time!" Orga cheers out in delight.
Natsu starts to reply to Orga's delighted cheer at their line-up with his own "Well, you may have your Turbo Twins but we've got..."
"Richard, THE AWESOME, Lawson!" Gray, Erza, Lucy and Wendy all join in to cheer the nickname of one of their riders.
The Sabertooth members look in disbelief at the Fairy Tail members. "You actually say that?" Sting is the one who finally gives in and asks. The Fairy Tail mages just nod in reply with big grins on their faces.
Heat 13 ends in another shared heat, it had looked like the Pirates would take a 4-2 from the race with Darcy Ward winning it, Richard Lawson holding Chris Holder off for second when more mechanical problems mean that Andreas Jonsson was gifted with the third. Orga fails to control his disappointment as he starts shouting out in rage with Yukino, Lucy and Erza all trying to calm him down.
At the start of the final, nominated heat - heat 15 - the meeting is as close as it can be with the scores even at 42 points apiece. The nominated race sees the famous Turbo Twins against Lakeside's Eddie Kennett and Kim Nilsson. "With the Turbo Twins out we're bound for a win!" Orga cheers out delighted.
"You said that at heat 13 but that didn't work out!" Erza is quick to reply.
"Super-Ted is just as good as either of the Turbo Twins!" Wendy voices her opinion as she eagerly waits for the riders. The Sabertooth members are left confused as to who Super-Ted is before Natsu explains.
"Wendy supported Eastbourne before joining Fairy Tail, Super-Ted is the nickname that Eastbourne fans gave Eddie Kennett when he rode for them" Natsu's insight cleared up the situation for the Sabertooth members.
The final heat sees Poole's luck continuing the way it had for the whole meeting, Darcy Ward looks like he'll win the race comfortably but after gaining some unexpected grip on the last bend he gets out of control and goes down into the air fence, gifting the Hammers a 4-2 in the final race with Eddie Kennett winning, Chris Holder second and Kim Nilsson third leaving the scores as a narrow 46 to 44 point lead in the Hammers favour.
The Fairy Tail mages go home delighted at their team winning a great meeting and despite losing the Sabertooth members don't go home too upset after today's result, they get an away point and saw a brilliant meeting. Everyone's happy, including Master Makarov as Arena Essex is still in one piece.