Fairy Tail: Metal and Threads

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus. 

July 1, x790. 

"Hey, have any of you heard of that guild in seventh place before?' Marin asked while Team Fairy Tail made their way back to the Sixth Sense Hotel. 

In response, Alfonzo, Elicia, and Sun shook their heads, with Alfonzo and Elicia still having contemplative expressions on their faces. 

"I have." Brandish replied while nodding her head. "Unfortunately, I don't know much about them." 

"Anything you do know could be helpful." Alfonzo said, the curiosity in his tone evident for everyone to hear. 

Nodding her head once again, Brandish took a moment to organize her words before she started her explanation. 

"Well, they're a relatively new guild in Fiore." Brandish said. "I don't have much information on their members, but I know they were all picked up and trained by their guild master, Edea Kramer, and her husband, Cid." 

'Of course.' Alfonzo and Elicia thought simultaneously. 

"Do you know anything about the team they sent to the GMG?" Elicia asked curiously. 

"Unfortunately, I don't." Brandish replied while shaking her head. "The only thing I know is their names. But I have no idea what they're capable of." 

"I see." Elicia replied. 

"Then, what was the name of the one who attacked the MPF tonight?" Sun asked curiously with her eyes sparkling. "He was a little cutie. I mean, that little pointy hat, those big yellow eyes... They were adorable." 

"Really?" Marin asked, her interest peaked. "When they took their turn, I must have been watching a different screen. I don't remember seeing anyone like that at all." 

"Yeah, me neither." Elicia added in an excited tone. "I don't remember seeing anyone like that." 

"Yup! He was so cute.' Sun replied with a nod. "He couldn't have even been four feet tall. His face was completely black, which was kind of weird, but still cute. He wore a blue jacket and green pants with red boots and brown shoes. And they all look just a little bit too big for him. Ooh! It was so cute." 

Hearing Sun's description, Alfonzo and Elicia both had a pretty good idea of the wizard's name. Meanwhile, Marin's eyes were sparkling in anticipation of seeing the little cutie. Brandish, on the other hand, finally answered Sun's question, proving Alfonzo and Elicia's hypotheses correct. 

"That would be Vivi Ornitier." Brandish said. "From what I know, he's only twelve. He was only nine when he started his career as a wizard, though. He even has a chance to break Alfonzo's record as the youngest S-Class wizard in Fiore." 

"That actually seems like a lot of information." Marin said in response. "I thought you didn't know much." 

"That's actually public knowledge." Brandish countered. "When I said I didn't know much, I meant that I didn't know what any of their wizards are capable of." 

"Oh, I get it now." Marin replied. 

By now, the group of five had arrived at the hotel's entrance. A moment later, they separated in front of the elevators, with Brandish going to her own floor and the others heading up to the suite on the top floor. 

"Hey, Sun, did you get to see the other members of that Team Final Fantasy?" Elicia asked curiously. 

"Unfortunately, no." Sun replied while shaking her head. "I only happened to glance at the screen for Arena #4 when he went up to attack the MPF. His team mates were never in the frame." 

"Well, we'll find out about them when the main event starts later in the morning." Alfonzo said with a smile. "There's no point thinking about it for now. Instead, we should focus on getting as much rest as we can. We don't wanna be spent for tomorrow's event, right?" 

"Fonzie's right." Elicia added. "We're all strong and experienced enough to adapt to anything. So, don't worry about it." 

"By the way, there was another guild I had never heard of in the top eight." Alfonzo said. "I don't think they'll be much of a challenge, though. I mean, look at their score." 

'Well, it's not like I never heard of them at all.' Alfonzo thought to himself. 'I mean, they were in the canon. But since Fairy Tail never declined after the Tenrou Island Incident, I didn't think I'd ever see them in this life.'

"Oh, you mean that one, Twilight Ogre, right?" Sun asked. "Yeah, I never heard of 'em, either, ya see?" 

"I have." Marin replied. "In fact, they tried to barge into Magnolia and set up shot there a few years ago. But you were off in the Hidden Leaf Village, Fonzie." 

"Seriously?" Alfonzo asked with his eyes wide in surprise. "Didn't they know that we've been there for, like, the last hundred years or so?" 

"Wait, why didn't I know about them either?" Sun asked. "I didn't leave for that long at any time, did I?" 

"Oh, that was when you got tricked to go back to the Merfolk Capital with your parents and that crazy prince tried to brainwash you." Marin replied. 

Hearing that, Sun pouted at the memory of that event. 

"I should have cut his thing off with Kanade in her release state." Sun said, sounding uncharacteristically dark. 

While Elicia and Marin nodded in agreement, Alfonzo, despite the fact that he would have likely done worse if he did not care about starting an all-out war with the Merfolk, could not help shuddering at the thought of that. Especially since that meant that the guys privates would have been cut into, at the very least, three pieces. 

"Anyway, back to twilight Ogre." Alfonzo said, bringing the conversation back on track. "Why the hell would they have tried to set up shop in our town?" 

"Oh, it's because they didn't believe the rumors about our guild's strength." Elicia replied. Even after seeing Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe win the Grand Magic Games. I really don't understand what was going through their minds." 

"Then, how did that mess get settled?" Sun asked with her head tilted to the side. 

"Natsu and Gajeel handled it." Marin replied with a shrug. 

"They worked together?" Sun asked with her eyes widening in surprise. 

"Probably not." Alfonzo replied with a grin. "If I had to guess, they only looked like they were working together. They probably just beat them up at the same time because one of their fights got interrupted, right?" 

Alfonzo turned to look at Elicia and Marin when he asked for confirmation to his assumption. 

"That's right." Elicia replied with a smile. 

"Yeah, and as soon as they were done, Natsu and Gajeel started fighting again like nothing happened." 

"Thought so." Alfonzo said as he reached out for the doorknob of their suite. 

As soon as the four stepped into the suite, they were congratulated by all the others, even the children, who were woken up by the loud buzz that preceded the preliminaries. Then, after a little small talk, the whole group laid down for bed. They would have to wake up early to get to the Domus Flau, after all. 

The next morning, Alfonzo, Elicia, Marin, Sun, and Brandish were gathered in the hotel's lobby and talking to Ur and Mavis. 

"Remember, you have to be observant to make the best of your talents." Mavis said, passing on her wisdom to the younger generation. "And if you ever have any doubts about anything, we're always here to offer our advice." 

Hearing Mavis' kind intensions, Team Fairy Tail could not help but smile while they nodded in understanding. 

"Just do your best." Ur added after Mavis finished. "As long as you do that, with your strength, you should have nothing to worry about. And even if you lose, you'll have no regrets." 

"Your confidence in us is awe-inspiring." Alfonzo said in a dry tone. 

"I just gotta keep your head from getting too big." Ur shot back playfully. 

"Oh, don't worry, Tear does a really good job at that." Alfonzo said while waggling his eyebrows. 

Hearing that, Elicia, Marin, and Sun shook their heads while smiling wryly. Meanwhile, Ur's left eyebrow started to twitch fiercely at hearing an insinuation about her daughter's sex life from her son-in-law. Mavis and Brandish, on the other hand, started to blush. Though, Brandish's blush was quite slight in comparison to Mavis, who was blushing from the base of her neck to the tips of her ears. 

"Anyway, we'll see you guys at the stadium." Elicia said with a wave while grabbing Alfonzo to pull him out of the hotel before Ur lost her temper and tried to flash freeze him. 

Letting himself be pulled away, Alfonzo laughed at Ur's expression before gesturing that he was only messing with her just before he was pulled out of the doors. Then, as soon as he was gone, Ur exhaled an exasperated sigh before smiling fondly. 

 "Well, let's get going, First Master." Ur said as she turned to Mavis. "It's going to be a chore to keep those ruffians in line... just like every year." 

As she finished speaking, Ur saw Mavis' blushing face, and she could not help but giggle. 

'I guess that joke was too much for her.' Ur thought to herself as she placed her hands on Mavis' shoulders and guided her towards the elevators so they could get the wizards of their guild organized. 

If only Ur knew, Mavis was actually embarrassed because she was remembering the time she came to Alfonzo's house while she was still a wandering spirit. Unfortunately, during that trip, she barged in on Alfonzo and Ultear having sex. On top of that, she remembered the face Ultear was making while Alfonzo pounded her from behind and made her apologize for being so demanding. 

In fact, just thinking about that seen was making mavis' lower abdomen warm up. 

'I know she was apologizing the whole time, but she looked so satisfied while she was doing so.' Mavis thought to herself. 'Is sex really that good? Or is it sex with Alfonzo that's that good?' 

Back in the city, it did not take Team Fairy Tail to reach the Domus Flau, a large, circular, stone battle arena that seemed to be inspired by Roman architecture. As they approached the entrance, despite this not being the first time they had entered, they could not help but marvel at how large it was. 

"*Sigh* No matter how many times I see this place, I can't get over how incredible it is." Marin said while looking around like a tourist. 

"Yeah, it's amazing." Sun replied while looking around like Marin. 

"Those statues are the most impressive part of this whole structure, to me." Brandish said, adding her opinion. 

The statues Brandish was referring to stood at the corners of the Domus Flau and faced towards its center, as if they were watching over the competitors. Plus, their armor and large magic staves with circular ends made them look like they were there to keep the integrity of the competitions that would be held in the arena. 

"Those chains always stood out as weird to me, though.' Elicia said while pointing at the large chains that surrounded both the Domus Flau and the four statues surrounding it. 

The chains Elicia mentioned were connected to both the ground and a large circular fixture connected to the arena's outer walls, stretched around the entirety of the Domus Flau. Though, other than aesthetics, no one seemed to know their purpose. 

"We can talk about how amazing the Domus Flau is later." Alfonzo said, hurrying the ladies along. "For now, we need to get to the waiting area before the Games start. And if we're lucky, we might even get to see the other teams before everything begins." 

Hearing that, Elicia, Marin, Sun, and Brandish nodded their heads. Then, they quickly entered the Domus Flau along with Alfonzo before quickly heading to the waiting area to wait to be introduced. On top of that, they hoped they would be able to chat with the other teams a little before the Grand Magic Game started. 

However, when they arrived at the waiting area, they were surprised by what they saw. 

"Failure will not be tolerated again." Minerva said, lecturing the four members of her team. "Remember what my father said, if we are not the champions at the end of this competition, the consequences will be dire." 

"Is she serious?" Marin asked in a whisper after hearing Minerva talking to her teammates. "It's a competition, winning and losing is par for the course." 

"Well, ever since I saw that Jiemma guy last year, I thought he was a little crazy." Elicia replied, not bothering to lower her voice, with a shrug. 

Immediately after Elicia finished speaking, all five members of Sabertooth turned to glare at her. 

"What?" Elicia asked in an innocent tone. "That's just the impression I got." 

"Watch your tongue, wench." Rufus said seriously. "You should know your place. The strong don't take too kindly to insults from the weak." 

With that, the atmosphere in the waiting area froze. At the same time, Jura and Yoruichi lead their teams into the waiting area just in time to hear what Rufus said to Elicia. 

"Well, things aren't gonna end well for that guy." Yoruichi said while shaking her head. "Alfonzo's gonna make him regret those words." 

"Indeed." Jura replied. "I just hope he doesn't do anything that might get him, and his team disqualified." 

In actuality, that was exactly what Rufus was hoping for by insulting Elicia like that in front of Alfonzo. After seeing Alfonzo's performance in the preliminaries, the members of Sabertooth realized that they had little chance of winning with him participating. Yet, they were unable to defy their guild master's, Jiemma's, orders to win. So, the only way they could think of was to find a way to get Team Fairy Tail disqualified. 

In other words, even if Elicia had not spoken without thinking, like she was so prone to do, Rufus and Minerva had planned to anger Alfonzo to the point that he attacked them outside of the competition at some point. As for Sting, Rogue, and Orga, they were not included in this plan. As Dragon Slayers, Sting and Rogue were too proud to do something like that. Orga, on the other hand, was not smart enough to pick the right time to do so. 

To Minerva's and Rufus' surprise, however, Alfonzo was not angered enough to do or say anything. However, the rising pressure in the waiting area made it obvious that he was well and truly angered. But not for the reasons they thought. 

Alfonzo was old and mature enough to not get angry just because someone insulted one of his wives. Instead, he was angered because he saw right through their plan. And he was thoroughly disgusted by it. For a guild who claimed they were the strongest at every opportunity to act like that, was something that his pride in his job as a wizard would not accept. 

"No holding back." Alfonzo said solemnly, giving an order that everyone understood, though there was nothing in the way of context. 

In response, Elicia, Marin, Sun, and Brandish all nodded. 

"Oh, great." Yoruichi said while shaking her head. "Now, the rest of us get to suffer because these newbs got too big for their britches."

"Well, at least he won't kill anyone like God Serena, the former number one among the Wizards saints would have for that insult." 

Yoruichi then grinned challengingly.

"But I gotta say, I'm looking forward to facing them when their going all-out." Yoruichi added.

And that marked the moment when Team Fairy Tail decided to show everyone in Fiore why they were considered the strongest guild in the kingdom for nearly as long as they had been established.