Start of the Games
Meliodas, Erza, Natsu, Lucy, and Gray waited inside their designated waiting room. Just outside, they could hear the roar of the crowd. Sitting on one of the chairs was Natsu, getting a haircut from Lucy's Celestial Spirit, Cancer.
"Thanks for the haircut!" Natsu said, his originally longer hair he grew over three months now cut back to its original shape and styled correctly.
"Anytime -ebi!" Cancer said before disappearing.
"Alright, I'm all good to go! But why did we have to wear this outfit?" Natsu asked as he looked down at his new suit. He now wore a high collared zipped up purple overcoat with a white fairy tail marking on the left side of his chest.
"Master wanted us to wear team colors so he got us these." Lucy responded.
"I think I was given the wrong outfit..." Meliodas said. The group looked towards Meliodas with shocked expressions on their faces. Natsu and Gray immediately started snickering as Lucy looked away.
"Meliodas, I don't know if I should be disgusted you actually put that on, or impressed that it fits you…" Lucy commented.
"Well at least he has the team colors." Erza said.
"Meliodas!" Elfman shouted as he barged into the waiting room. "I got a package from Master! It's your clothes for the-" Elfman immediately paused and stared wide eyed at Meliodas wearing Wendy's clothing.
"Lookin...manly...Meliodas?" Elfman commented, unable to hide the look of shock on his face. Meliodas returned two thumbs up to Elfman as Elfman placed the package in front of Meliodas.
Meliodas opened the box and saw his new outfit. It consisted of a high collared purple sleeveless shirt with the Fairy Tail insignia on the chest, slim fitting light gray pants, and black boots. Meliodas' clothes began to glow as he touched the clothes in the package, also causing them to glow.
"Now, then. Let's get going." Meliodas said, now wearing his proper clothing.
"Yeah. And I'll bet we'll find whoever did that to Wendy in these games." Natsu said with an agitated tone as he followed behind Meliodas.
---
The group stood at the foot of the arena, sticking around in the shadow of the tunnel as they waited for their turn to be called out.
"IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN!! THE MAGIC FESTIVAL YOU'VE ALL WAITED TO SEE! THE GRAND MAGIC GAMES! I'LL BE YOUR COMMENTATOR, CHAPATI LOLA! AND WITH ME TODAY IS NONE OTHER THAN OUR ANALYST AND FORMER MAGIC COUNCIL MEMBER, MR YAJIMA! THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE WITH US MR YAJIMA!" Chapati announced.
"Nice to see you all again." Yajima responded.
"AND FOR TODAY'S GUEST COMMENTATOR, WE'VE INVITED THE STAR OF THE MISS FIORE PAGEANT, BLUE PEGASUS' JENNY REALIGHT!" Chapati continued as he gestured towards Jenny, a slim young woman with blue eyes, wavy blonde hair tied into a ponytail and two bangs that framed the side of her face. She had a model physique with an ample bust and hips and wore a light pink strapless sequin dress along with various other jewelry on her wrists and around her neck.
"Blue Pegasus is going to win this year!" Jenny announced.
"AND NOW TO MEET OUR COMPETITORS! FROM EIGHTH PLACE WE HAVE THE PACK OF HELLHOUNDS, QUATRO CERBERUS!" Chapati announced.
Meliodas looked at the group walking out and immediately recognized Rocker and Jager from the X787 Grand Magic Games. 'Hmm...guess that bald guy who drove really well isn't participating. He seemed interesting.'
"IN SEVENTH PLACE, WE HAVE AN ALL FEMALE GUILD. THE DAZZLING DANCERS OF THE DEEP, MERMAID HEEL!"
As five women walked out, Meliodas immediately recognized Kagura, Risley, and Arana. The other two he wasn't as familiar with.
"IN SIXTH PLACE, THE SAPPHIRE WINGS THAT SPARKLE IN THE BLACK OF NIGHT, BLUE PEGASUS!" Chapati announced.
"You can do it guys!" Jenny added.
'"IN FIFTH PLACE REPRESENTING THE GODDESS OF LOVE AND WAR, THE HOLY DESTROYERS LAMIA SCALE!"
"Oh neat. Jura is participating this time." Meliodas commented as he watched Lyon, Jura, Toby, Yuka, and a young girl who resembled Sherry walk out.
"IN FOURTH PLACE, THE MIDNIGHT MARAUDERS, RAVENTAIL!" Chapati continued.
Meliodas immediately felt tension in the air as his guildmates glared at the Raven Tail members.
"No way! Raventail is here?!" Natsu questioned.
"Raven Tail...I briefly remember them being on a list of dark guilds Ultear had but they had no direct affiliation to the Balam Alliance so they were low priority." Meliodas said. Around the arena, he could hear the audience questioning the validity of Raven Tail.
"RAVEN TAIL HAS BEEN AROUND FOR MORE THAN SEVEN YEARS, BUT IT WAS RECENTLY THEY WERE APPROVED AS A LEGAL GUILD!"
"If they've been recognized, then they're not a dark guild." Yajima said.
"Guys get ready, we're coming up next." Gray said.
"AND NOW WE'RE DOWN TO THE TOP THREE. TAKING THIRD PLACE, IS THE GUILD THAT ONCE REIGNED AT THE TOP SEVEN YEARS AGO, FAIRY TAIL!" Chapati announced.
Meliodas, Natsu, Gray, Erza, and Lucy all walked out, walking side by side to the center of the arena. Around them they could hear the cheers of people in the audience.
"So those are the members of Fairy Tail who disappeared?"
"Hey, isn't one of those guys Meliodas?!"
"It is Meliodas! He's back!"
"You really have quite the fanbase huh?" Gray commented as he looked over at Meliodas.
"I thought they would have calmed down since I was gone for almost three years." Meliodas said as he shrugged his shoulders.
"So if we assume Sabertooth took one of the top two spots, who is in the other one?" Lucy asked.
"AND COMING IN SECOND PLACE...WHAT'S THIS?" Chapati paused as he looked at the paper. Natsu, Gray, Erza, and Lucy looked in shock at the next group walking out into the arena.
"I DON'T BELIEVE IT! IT'S FAIRY TAIL TEAM B!" Chapati continued.
"Mystogan?! What's he doing here?" Natsu questioned.
"That can't be...Jellal…" Erza said to herself. Jellal gestured a silent sign for Erza and glanced over at Meliodas. Meliodas nodded at Jellal and Jellal did the same.
"Did you know about this?" Erza asked as she turned to Meliodas.
"I knew about Team B. Master was going to put me with Team B if you guys didn't need a slot filled." Meliodas answered. "But I didn't know who would be on it. This is a surprise to me as well."
"Fairy Tail gets two teams?!" One of the commentators shouted out.
"That can't be fair right?!" Another one shouted out.
"I SEE THAT MANY IN THE CROWD ARE CONFUSED ABOUT THE NEW RULES. MR YAJIMA, CARE TO EXPLAIN?" Chapati interjected.
"This year, each guild is allowed to enter one or two teams in the tournament." Yajima said.
"THE TWO TEAMS WILL BE PITTED AGAINST EACH OTHER IN THE FINALS. WILL FAIRY TAIL BE ABLE TO FIGHT THE MEMBERS OF THEIR OWN GUILD?" Chapati continued.
"We shouldn't have to worry about them." Yajima commented.
"But isn't that cheating?" Jenny asked. "If each team sends out members, then they can help each other out right?"
"WELL, THAT IS THE ADVANTAGE YOU GET WHEN TWO TEAMS ENTER THE FINALS!" Chapati announced.
"Je- Mystogan...you…" Erza said as she and Mystogan walked towards each other.
"The Master is very reasonable. I explained my situation to him and he was willing to help." Jellal said.
"Well, well, well." Meliodas said as he approached Erza and Jellal. "If you're going to be here, Mystogan, I look forward to competing against you." Meliodas said with a grin.
"As do I, Meliodas." Jellal responded. Meliodas glanced over to Mystogan's left as Laxus walked up to them and wrapped his arm around Jellal's shoulder.
"Meliodas. I hope you remember our rematch." Laxus smirked.
"Of course I do." Meliodas responded with a cheeky smile.
"Also, Mystogan doesn't talk nearly that much. Keep that in mind." Laxus said quietly into Jellal's ear before letting go of him.
"NOW FOR THE FINAL TEAM! THE FIRST TO MAKE IT THROUGH THE PRELIMINARIES! THE POWERFUL, THE UNEQUALED, THE UNDEFEATED CHAMPIONS! SABERTOOTH!!" Chapati announced.
Meliodas watched as the Sabertooth members walked out. As they walked out, Sting waved mockingly at Natsu. Suddenly, both Sting and Rogue stopped as they stared at Meliodas. Sting's eyes widened and he clenched his fists.
"Rogue…" Sting said as he glared at Meliodas.
"Yeah I recognize it. The one we ran into...it was him…" Rogue said.
"Those two have beef with you or something?" Gray asked as he noticed their glares in Meliodas' direction.
"No clue." Meliodas responded nonchalantly. 'They must recognize me from that time against Masquerade. I overlooked a Dragon Slayer's sense of smell.'
"AND NOW FOR THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! IT'S TIME TO EXPLAIN HOW THIS YEAR'S GRAND MAGIC GAMES WORKS!" Chapati announced. From the middle of the stadium, a massive board rose out of the ground. On the top of the board was written "Grand Magic Games" with a list of five events that had "??? + Battle" filled in next to them. The first event text suddenly changed, revealing Hidden + Battle.
"Each day has a contest followed by battles huh?" Gray commented. Natsu's eyes immediately lit up.
"Battles? That's new." Meliodas commented.
"FIRST I'LL EXPLAIN THE CONTESTS. TEAMS WILL BE RANKED FROM 1ST TO 8TH PLACE BASED ON THEIR PERFORMANCE. POINTS WILL BE GIVEN TO EACH TEAM BASED ON THEIR RANK. THE TEAMS WILL BE ALLOWED TO CHOOSE ONE MEMBER TO PARTICIPATE. NOW! LET ME EXPLAIN THE BATTLES! THE SPONSORS WILL PIT COMPETITORS AGAINST EACH OTHER BASED ON FACTORS SUCH AS AUDIENCE VOTE. WHEN TWO TEAMS BATTLE, THE WINNING TEAM GETS TEN POINTS AND THE LOSING GETS ZERO. DRAWS RESULTS IN EACH TEAM GETTING FIVE POINTS." Chapati continued.
"AND NOW FOR THE OPENING CONTEST! PREPARE FOR THE EVENT "HIDDEN!" EACH TEAM PLEASE CHOOSE ONE MEMBER TO PARTICIPATE! THE RULES WILL BE EXPLAINED ONCE ALL PARTICIPANTS COME FORWARD."
"So the event is called "Hidden." Stealth may be crucial in this." Erza commented.
"So then Meliodas would work well here right? He's small." Lucy said as she glanced over at Meliodas who was staring off somewhere else.
"Hold on. I'll take this one." Gray said as he stared across the arena at Lyon.
---
Standing at the very back of the audience, a lone man stood in the shadow of an overhang. The figure looked on at the groups of mages standing in the arena. He paid close attention to the Fairy Tail Team A group, Meliodas specifically.
'Something's not right. Fairy Tail's Team A should have gotten 8th place, but there they are sitting in 3rd place. Not only that, but...who is that person named Meliodas?'