Chapter 269

Fade into the Silence is the 269th chapter of Hiro Mashima's Fairy Tail.
The first game of the Grand Magic Games, Hidden, finally begins with the eight participating Mages sent into a town full of clones, tasked to gain points by attacking their competitors while avoiding the clones. Although with two participating teams, Fairy Tail doesn't seem to have the advantage as Juvia fails to control herself around the Gray clones while Gray is being targeted by Raven Tail Member Nullpudding.
==Summary==
As the Grand Magic Games finally begin, Meredy and Ultear are looking down on the arena from above. Meredy knows that even though they warned Fairy Tail about the mysterious Magic, Jellal went to the games anyway, making their meeting with Fairy Tail useless. Ultear disagrees, saying that, for Erza and Jellal, it was anything but.
Mavis decides to explain the rules stating that each guild (team) must send out five members to compete, but that based on what Porlyusica said, there is the possibility of substitutions. Of the eight teams that went to the finals, two are from Fairy Tail. With this, she ends the discussion, to the surprise of other guild members. Though, she later explains the points system and explains that since the tournament goes for five days, the team with the highest end total wins.
Gray steps up as the eight representatives are called out, with his teammates telling him not to lose to Sabertooth, Raven Tail or the Fairy Tail "B" team. When asked, Yajima states that his favorite for the game is Rufus of Sabertooth, but that he also likes Gray. Jenny states that she supports her guild member, Eve. Juvia tells Gray that she does not plan to lose to him with Gray returning the statement. Lyon states that he will do anything, as long as it is for Juvia. Nullpudding of Raven Tail states that with two members, the Fairy Tail Guild has an advantage, to which Mato says that it is a rarity for such a thing to happen. Rufus states that such a thing could even prove disadvantageous and that he is not worried, with Quatro Cerberus and Mermaid Heels agreeing. 
Soon, the field opens and separates all the contestants in a large field resembling a large city. The rules are that each member must find their opponents and hit them but nobody knows where the others are. Whoever launches an attack first gains one point and the one who is hit loses one point, thus the game becomes "hide and seek." To make matters harder, numerous clones of each contestant will walk around the city to confuse everyone. Attacking a clone will result in a one point deduction. The game starts immediately after.
Juvia quickly loses one point due to her actions against a clone of Gray being seen as an "attack," angering her teammates who realize she is likely disadvantaged at the game. As Gray walks down the street, he hears a sound and turns to see Nullpudding of Raven Tail, who he immediately attacks. Unfortunately another Nullpudding shows up and states that it was a clone and Gray loses one point. Gray realizes that Nullpudding used his clone to confuse Gray and realizes a use for them as decoys.
Later as he walks down the road, his name is called out, distracting him and leaving him open to be attacked by the real Nullpudding, giving Fairy Tail's "A" team a score of -2 and Raven Tail a score of +1.
==Characters in Order of Appearance==
==Battles & Events==
*Hidden (started)
==Magic, Spells & Abilities used==
===Magic used===
*
**
*Needle Magic
*
===Spells used===
*
===Abilities used===
*Hand-to-Hand Combat
==Navigation==