^Ah, did not know that. Thank you. With that in mind, my point might still be valid. It's not like Happy is one of the strongest mages.
It could also be as simple as them being partners for so long Natsu never really thought about choosing anyone else.
Natsu's one of the few people who routinely considers Happy a person. Happy's basically his Heterosexual Life-Partner.
I totally missed It. Loke/Loki has his old haircut again, even though he's still sporting the suit. it must be because He's coasting on his own power like before.
One Strip! One Strip!@Jack Inqu: I thought it was pretty obvious from the scene itself and how Gajeel felt about it in the previous chapter that he's mostly just doing it out of pride, since even if he can't qualify as an S-rank mage he can show he's strong enough to be one and probably qualify next year.
edited 28th Sep '10 9:21:26 PM by thatother1dude
So I guess it's going to be at least partially a tournament arc, although of course this is just the first test. I wonder if they're going to stay in swimsuits the entire arc. And seriously, put on some clothes Gray. Funny how everyone seemed to get used to it though.
Ouch. Talk about really poor luck for Cana and Lucy right off the bat. Lucy is lucky though. Despite always getting the short end of the stick, she's managed to pull through each time. So she has both bad and good luck, often one after the other, and usually in that exact order too.
Looks like their keeping Mest's magic under lock and key for now. I wonder what he does exactly. Plus, I I notice there was a question mark next to Mirajane. Is her status still up in the air?
Interesting.
edited 2nd Oct '10 11:56:15 AM by HandsomeRob
One Strip! One Strip!I predict that whoever got the 'quiet' path will run into the new mysterious guy. And whoever ends up facing Gildartz is kind of screwed.
Also, whatever Mest and Wendy used to get off the ship allowed them get there before Natsu, judging from the number of routes that were sealed off... possibly, they got through Fried's barrier somehow?
Big surprise, Fried isn't going to make it. I'm also assuming that Elfman won't be making it too far.
Also, I wouldn't say whoever goes up against the current S rank mages is screwed necessarily. They'll hold back a little.
Anyone else think Natsu got the quiet route? After all, he wants to fight.
edited 2nd Oct '10 12:08:05 PM by Arha
Natsu picked the "E" route, which sounds like it would be the fifth (quiet) route from the left, but is actually the fourth (Erza)
.
Cana took the third route and ended up against Fried who therefore must have taken the second.
Of the three (Levy, Elfman and Mest) besides Fried who arrived before Natsu, one took the first route (Gildartz), one took the sixth route (battle), and one the eight (Mirajane). And of the two (Gray and Juvia) who arrived between Natsu and Cana, one took the fifth (quiet) and one the seventh (battle) route.
Of course, if the entrances depicted here
do not match up with the routes depicted on the map
, all of this information may be meaningless. >__>
And of course, with the exception of Natsu, they do outnumber the S-rank mages two-to-one. That should help some.
Also, I'm thinking Mest's magic is some form of teleportation right now.
edited 2nd Oct '10 12:39:23 PM by Everzwijn
"No copyright law in the universe is going to stop me!" ~ Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic Colours6 posts. Spoiler Break!
I'm pretty sure the lettering is meaningless, since luck is supposed to be a factor here and not who chooses first. If the lettering wasn't random then a lot of things Makarov said about the test make no sense. Natsu chose E for Erza, but he's just stupid. It's quite likely that he'll get the quiet route simply because he's itching for a fight, but it's also pretty likely that Mest will get it to preserve his mystery for longer. Or someone else, who knows?
edited 2nd Oct '10 12:50:17 PM by Clarste
Yeah, it would make no sense for them to know where the routes lead in advance.
That said, Natsu is going to be very disappointed at ending in the "quiet" zone, so I'm going to trust the Rule of Funny and expect him to end up there.
It's also pretty likely that Lisanna will fight one of her siblings. Probably Mirajane.
Something I didn't really pay attention to before: Levy dispelling Fried's rune in less than a minute (and selectively at that) shows that she does indeed have great potential as a mage. I'm beginning to see why she made it into the exam.
Now I actually want to see her fight against Fried. With her magic, she would have a significant advantage against him. Though now that Fried's fighting Cana, I doubt we'll see that happen (unless Fried decides to cheat and keep going even after he's lost the exam).
"No copyright law in the universe is going to stop me!" ~ Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic ColoursAnd Lucy doesn't have Leo with her. Though on the plus side, she does have the spirits that she got from Angel which she didn't have last time she fought Bixlow. That does count for something, at least. Gemini in particular seems like it would be useful here, since it could mess with Bixlow's control over his puppets, or mess up Fried's runes.
edited 2nd Oct '10 3:10:43 PM by Everzwijn
"No copyright law in the universe is going to stop me!" ~ Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic ColoursHuh. while we (well, okay just me
) were joking about Mest getting Killed Off for Real, we were missing the signs that he might be ridonkulously powerful.
- Being in this test in the first place.
- Being Mystogan's disciple. We all know he wasn't weak.
- And now the fact that his magic is being deliberately kept under wraps.
We may have to watch out for this guy.
One Strip! One Strip!Yeah, and there's also the question of why exactly he chose Wendy as his partner.
My theory is that
Mest uses magic that is extremely powerful, but comes with the drawback of being Cast From HP. He wanted Wendy as his partner for her healing magic, so he could cast more spells.

I have to say, it was kind of nice of Gajeel to volunteer to be Levy's partner. Of course, it may turn out that he has an exterior motive for doing so, but for now it's a nice gesture. Maybe he's trying to atone for roughing her up back when.
I may be giving Nasu too much credit, but I wonder if he didn't choose Happy to be his partner to prove that he can achieve S-Rank without the help of another mage.