The Bane of the Mightiest

November 20th X784

Meliodas entered the guild hall at around ten in the morning, which was livelier than normal. In front of him, he saw the tables were arranged differently. The tables were all lined up and connected together, with several guild members wiping down the tops of the tables and laying out a fancy red tablecloth. Behind them on the guild stage was a large purple banner that read "Fairy Tail Annual Cooking Competition" in bold white letters.

"Meliodas there you are!" Makarov said as he approached him. "You haven't been here for very long so you haven't experienced this, but we have an annual cooking competition between the guild members. You can either use the guild kitchen or cook from home. By noon, make sure your dish is on the table, as me and an old friend of mine will be judging them. The theme of this year is dessert, and the winner will receive a hundred thousand jewels."

"Hmm...That sounds fun. I'll participate!" Meliodas replied cheerfully. He bid Makarov goodbye as he walked over to the guild kitchen. The kitchen, despite being massive, was already filled to the brim with guild members preparing their dishes. At one corner of the kitchen, he noticed a large pillar of flames.

"Natsu you're going to burn the whole kitchen down!" Lucy screamed.

"Calm down flame brain!" Gray shouted.

"I will make this the hottest desert ever!" Natsu yelled.

"Aye sir!" Happy chimed in.

Meliodas looked around the rest of the kitchen and saw Mirajane working hard on a dish he's never seen before with Erza next to her who appeared to be using ingredients to make a cake. 'Hmm...I should do this at home. Seems a bit crowded here.' Meliodas thought to himself before walking out.

Meliodas walked out of the guild hall and back to his house. On his way home, he pondered about what he could make. He recalled Ban teaching him how to make an apple pie. On his way home, Meliodas rushed to a local market, buying a large amount of apples and various baking goods before returning.

---

Two hours passed by and Meliodas was back in the guild hall. He stood at the long row of tables with his dish in front of him, covered up by a silver food cover. He looked down the row of tables and saw all of the other participants with their food covered as well.

The guild suddenly grew dark and a spotlight shined towards the stage. Meliodas turned around and saw Makarov standing on the stage. Next to him was a short old man with thick eyebrows and a small mustache. He wore a white chef's outfit.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail's Annual Cooking Competition!" Makarov yelled out enthusiastically. "The theme for this year was simple, make the best desert you can! And this year, I have my dear friend Yajima as a guest judge!" Makarov said as he gestured to Yajima. Yajima waved silently to the rest of the guild that was looking at him.

Makarov scanned the contestants lined up at the table. The rest of the lights in the guild turned back on as Makarov and Yajima walked over to Natsu.

"We will start here." Makarov said. The rest of the guild who were not participating but watching from the sidelines looked at each other as they made comments.

"I can't believe Natsu decided to join this."

"Can he even cook?"

Natsu had an annoyed look on his face as he heard some comments from the guild members chatting on the side.

"Shut up I can cook!" Natsu yelled. "This cooking competition is like a fight and I'm all fired up!"

"Aye Sir!" Happy chimed as he floated next to Natsu. Natsu put his hand dramatically on the lid of the dish before lifting it up.

"Check this out Gramps! The hottest dish in all of Fairy Tail!" Natsu exclaimed as he pulled the lid up. Makarov's eyes widened as looked at the dish Natsu had made. The restless guild grew silent as they saw what Natsu had made.

Sitting on the plate in front of them was a small, round, dark brown colored cake. On top of the cake was a light dusting of bright red colored powdered sugar.

"This isn't what I think it is...is it?" Makarov asked as he looked up at Natsu. Natsu remained silent as he had a smug grin on his face. Makarov grabbed a fork and sunk it into the cake. A thick, steamy hot goo of chocolate oozed out as he cut through the cake.

"Y-you made this?!" Makarov asked in disbelief.

"This is a hard dessert to pull off correctly." Yajima commented.

"I call it my Fire Dragon's Molten Lava Cake!" Natsu shouted confidently. Makarov sunk his fork into the cake, splitting it apart. The cake oozed out a gooey flow of steaming chocolate. Makarov and Yajima's eyes opened wide at the viscous sweetness pouring out. Makarov put a piece of the cake in his mouth as Yajima also grabbed a fork and also ate a piece of the cake. The two remained silent for a brief moment.

The rich chocolate taste and the sweetness of the chocolate liquid melded together, creating an intricate combination of texture and flavor. To their surprise, there was a small kick of spiciness in the chocolate, yet the spiciness did not take away from the sweetness, but instead, added to the experience.

"This is...certainly unexpected." Makarov said, completely in shock at what he tasted.

"Yes, this is quite a good cake." Yajima added on. A large grin formed on Natsu's face. The spectators remained silent as they were struck with disbelief.

"Natsu could cook?!" Lucy commented. "I mean I've seen him compete with Happy in grilling fish but...this is something else…"

"This is new to me as well." Gray added in.

Yajima and Makarov walked down the table to the next contestant, Cana. Makarov raised an eyebrow as he glanced at Cana. Her face was red as if she had been heavily drinking right before the contest began and she struggled standing up, losing her balance as she barely helped herself upright against the table.

"T-This is my rum cake!" Canna stuttered. She lifted the lid off of her dish. Underneath was a plain brown cake, shaped with a hollow center and many evenly spaced ridges along the cake. As Makarov sliced a piece of the cake for himself and Makarov, he noticed the texture of the cake. It had just the right amount of moisture, being neither too wet or too dry and in turn, creating a consistent fluffiness. Both Makarov and Yajima took a bite of the cake. Their eyes opened wide with shock. The texture was spot on, yet they could barely taste an ounce of sweetness. Instead, an overwhelming bitterness took over their taste buds.

"This cake…" Yajima murmured.

"It tastes completely like alcohol! Pure alcohol! I don't even taste the cake!" Makarov exclaimed.

"I know right! Isn't it great!" Cana responded with a large grin on her flushed red face.

Makarov shook his head and went down the table to the next person, Juvia. Juvia lifted the lid off of her dish. Makarov and Yajima's eyes opened up wide.

"Juvia devotes this cake...to my beloved Gray!" Juvia yelled wholeheartedly. Gray's eyes also widened as he looked at the cake. The cake was a vanilla ice cream cake with light blue frosting. On top of it, was an accurately and finely detailed frosting picture of Gray completely naked.

"I-I don't know if I can eat that." Makarov said quietly. Yajima remained silent.

"Please don't…" Gray commented quietly. Makarov reached for a knife and sunk it into the cake. Gray's face turned to horror as he watched his naked self get cut in half. Makarov handed a slice to Yajima and they both took a bite of it. The coolness of the cake and the sweetness from the vanilla flavor melded together well, with the texture of the ice cream and the fluffiness of the cake adding depth to its texture.

"This cake is very good." Yajima commented.

"Yes this is a delicious cake if it wasn't for…" Makarov looked at the picture of Gray on the cake one more time and shook his head before moving onto the next person.

The next in line was Freed. He raised his dish cover up and underneath, was a lemon meringue pie. On top of it was a yellow lightning mark made up of a whipped lemon frosting.

'Huh...what a familiar marking.' Meliodas thought as he looked at the cake.

"This looks good." Makarov commented. He handed Yajima a slice of the cake and the two took a bite. The meringue melted in their mouths and the taste of lemons was not overbearing, with the sourness and sweetness melding together in perfect harmony.

"A truly delicious cake." Makarov commented. Yajima nodded in approval as he took another bite.

"If I could not do that much, I would be no member of the Thunder God Tribe." Freed replied smugly.

Makarov moved next in line over to Mirajane. He was particularly excited to try her desert as he was well aware of her cooking skills. Mirajane revealed her dish to Makarov.

"I made Kuzumochi today Master." Mirajane said with a smile.

"Ah yes! I haven't had this in a while." Makarov said. He looked down at the dish in front of him. They were white mochi cakes cut into perfect cubes. Glazed over them was a dark brown syrup. Sprinkled on top was a finely ground light brown powder of roasted soybeans.

Makarov and Yajima both picked up a cube of the kuzumochi. The cubes had a wobbly feel but were not too sticky and were cold to the touch. The two judges put a cube in their mouth. It had a mild sweetness to it that complemented its coolness. By itself, it was made perfectly, but was no extraordinary dish. However, the black syrup coating that was drizzled on top added an extra layer of complexity to the sweetness with the roasted soybean powder, creating a harmony of different textures.

"This dessert is truly remarkable." Makarov commented as he let the flavor sit in his mouth a while longer.

"I concur." Yajima added as he also enjoyed the flavor for another moment.

Makarov and Yajima moved onto the next person. Makarov saw it was Meliodas. 'I'm curious as to what he would cook.' Makarov thought to himself. Meliodas gave the two judges a grin and lifted up the lid over his dish.

Underneath was an apple pie. The crust was a crispy golden brown with a criss cross pattern going over the top. In between the gaps, he could see the perfectly caramelized apple bits.

"This looks...fantastic...I didn't know you could cook." Makarov stated as he sliced into the pie.

"I have a lot of experience with making food." Meliodas said.

"Oh right, you did run a bar by yourself after all!" Mirajane added in.

Both Makarov and Yajima took a bite of the apple pie at the same time. They both immediately froze in place a moment later. The guild looked at the two judges anxiously.

"Did Meliodas just make a dish so good the judges are completely speechless?" Lucy questioned.

"Or maybe...it's really bad?" Gray responded.

"No...that apple pie looked perfect...completely flawless." Freed added. "The taste they must be experiencing must be out of this world."

Makarov and Yajima remained completely silent as they stood in place, with wide eyed, non blinking expressions.

"Master are you okay?" Mirajane asked, a bit worried about their current state. Suddenly, both of them dropped their portions of apple pie. Their plates fell to the ground, shattering into many pieces as the pie hit the ground, creating a sloppy mess on the floor.

Immediately afterwards, Yajima fell backwards on the ground, his body stiff as a board and eyes still wide open. Makarov remained standing in place, his face frozen with empty eyes and his mouth open.

"Woah Meliodas, that must have been a really good pie!" Natsu exclaimed.

"AAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Makarov shouted loudly as his magical power began to flare up drastically. His eyes began glowing and his mouth was gaped open wide. Beams of light shout out from both his mouth and eyes as his body began to grow in size from his gigantification magic.

"Master what's going on?!" Mirajane exclaimed.

"Huh...he's handling it better than I thought." Meliodas commented.

"What the hell did you put in that pie?!" Gray questioned.

"Just apples really." Meliodas replied.

"AAARRRRRRGGGHHHHHHH!!!!" Makarov continued yelling as the light emanating from his body became more intense.

"Everyone get down!" Erza yelled.