Fairy Tail: Metal and Threads

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.

October 10, x789.

"*Sigh* I can't believe I lost." Brandish said while resting her head in her hands at one of the guild hall's tables. "And so easily at that."

Currently, Brandish was sitting at a table with Elicia and Marin. And after hearing Brandish repeat the same thing for the fifth time, Elicia, who was sitting next to her, patted her on the shoulder.

"Well, Fonzie is called the second strongest member of the guild for a reason, you know?" Elicia said while smiling wryly.

"Ugh!" Brandish groaned in annoyance. "But I was a member of the Spriggan 12. The strongest wizards in Alvarez." Brandish replied.

"Well, I kinda beat Jacob in a one-on-one, you know." Elicia said. "And according to you and Irene, he was stronger than you, right? And Fonzie is stronger than me.'

"Yeah, and the proof of that is that he's still locked up in the guild's prison." Marin added.

"The only reason I couldn't beat him is because I couldn't see him when he used his [Stealth Magic]." Brandish countered. "But now that I know [Magic Power Detection], I'm sure I could take him easily."

"Well, you're probably not wrong." Alfonzo, carrying a plate of peach cobbler said as he approached the table where the three girls were sitting. "And if your magic worked on me, that fight would have gone differently. I still don't' think I would have lost, though. But I would have had to work harder for it."

Hearing Alfonzo's voice, Brandish raised her head just in time to see Alfonzo put the plate of peach cobbler in front of her.

"And just how the hell is your magic power so dense?" Brandish asked while looking up at Alfonzo who was walking around the table to sit next to Marin.

"Lots of hard work and training." Alfonzo replied while taking a seat next to Marin.

Brandish could only grumble at that response. It was not like she did not train hard, too. Though, she knew that thanks to her apathetic nature, she did not train as hard as she could. Plus, she had seen Alfonzo's training regimen before. And there was no way she would train like he did. Hell, she was sure that not even Zeref trained that hard when he was Alfonzo's age.

"Anyway, now that our team is complete, we should talk about our strategy in the tournament." Alfonzo said after he saw Brandish pick up her fork to start eating. "Lici, Sun, Marin, and I haven't participated in the tournament since it was four-on-four. And Brandish has never participated at all."

"Mmm~~~~~~!" Brandish moaned in food-gasmic bliss after taking her first bite of the peach cobbler.

Having grown used to such a sight over the years, no one reacted to Brandish's faux pas, deciding to carry on the conversation as if it never happened.

"That's true." Marin said with a nod. "But shouldn't we wait to have this conversation with Sun? She's still at the hospital visiting Shizuka with her mom, right?"

"I don't think we need to worry about that." Elicia replied. "We can just tell her about what we came up with later."

"Yeah, she's pretty good at following the majority." Alfonzo added.

With that, the group of four started talking about their team set up in certain situations and against particular teams. And that continued for a while after Brandish finished eating. Then, they all left to do their own things. Though, Alfonzo and Elicia did make a trip to the hospital to see Shizuka and Calvin before heading home.

October 15, x789.

Time passed quickly after that. And before anyone knew it, it was the day of the Harvest Festival. And things went like they always did on that day. Or rather, like they have for the last five years.

The streets of Magnolia were decorated with festival decorations. The people were happy, looking forward to the festivities sponsored by Fairy Tail. Especially the Battle of Fairy Tail Tournament and the Fantasia Parade. Though, a lot of the men in the town were wishing that the guild would open the Miss Fairy Tail Pageant to the public. Unfortunately, all they could do was wish, as the pageant was an internal event.

Yet, all the free members of the guild were gathered in the guild hall's first floor. And like always, the stage used during important announcements had been lowered.

"Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready?" Warren asked from the top of the stage while wearing a midnight blue suit with a white dress shirt and no tie. "Then, allow me to welcome you to the fifth annual Miss Fairy Tail Pageant. Now, without further ado, let's kick things off with the Evening Gown portion of our proceedings. Please help me in welcoming our first contestant, Saeko Busujima."

With that, the Miss Fairy Tail Pageant began. And just like every year, there were three stages, the evening gown stage, the talent show stage, and the swimsuit stage. And by the end, after all the votes were collected, a winner had been decided.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's been another great pageant, hasn't it?" Warren, standing on the stage with all the contestants standing in a line behind him, asked the audience. "And all the girls were amazing, weren't they? Unfortunately, there can be only one winner. And I'm sure you're all looking forward to finding out who that is, right? Then, I won't keep you waiting any longer."

With that, the lights in the guild hall went out. Then, spot lights fell onto all the contestants, highlighting their appearances in their swimsuits. A moment later, the spot lights began to flicker between all the contestants as Warren continued.

"And the winner is…" Warren said, doing his best to build suspense. "Brandish µ~~~~~!"

With that, the spot lights stop cycling, lighting up Brandish's figure. And just like always, she wore that bored expression on her face.

"You can't be serious!" Evergreen shouted. "How? Every year? How can the perfect example of beauty that is me not win this contest?"

"Maybe if you fixed your attitude, things would change." Ur said from her seat in the audience. "You act like this every year. Hell, I still remember the time I had to drag you back stage and teach you how a proper lady should act after you did this the first time."

"I really don't think you have the right to teach anyone how a proper lady should act, Miss Guild Master Wino." Alfonzo said with a cheeky grin on his face.

"What was that?" Ur asked as she snapped her head in Alfonzo's direction.

And just like that, in classic Fairy Tail fashion, the guild hall devolved into a brawl. However, this one did not last as long or get as intense as the usual Fairy Tail guild brawls. And the reason for that was simple, the Battle of Fairy Tail Tournament would start soon. So, after the brawl ended, everyone made their way to the town's outskirts where the usual arena was set up.

Once all the wizards and spectators had arrived, things proceeded like they usually do. The teams drew their lots, and the order of battle was decided. After that, it was time for some of the good old fashioned, controlled violence that everyone has come to expect from this tournament.

It should be noted that ever since the format of the tournament changed from four-on-four to five-on-five, the rules of the tournament had changed slightly.

It was still a single elimination tournament with the winner of each match moving on to the next round while the losers were eliminated. However, the way teams won points had changed. On top of that, the flow of each match had changed as well.

Now, instead of a one-on-one, a two-on-two, and a one-on-one match as a tie breaker, there were two one-on-one matches before the two-on-two match, which would be followed by the last one-on-one match. 

And because the number of matches would be even, a point rule was introduced. Meaning, each one-on-one match won would net the winning team one point. While the winner of the two-on-two match would receive two points.

Then, after about six and a half hours, with breaks between rounds, it was time for the finals. And to no one's surprise, the two teams competing for the title of the strongest team in Fairy Tail, as well as the chance to compete in the Grand Magic Games, were the Thunder god Tribe, consisting of Laxus, Bickslow, Fried, Evergreen, and Saya, and Team Steel Threads, consisting of Alfonzo, Elicia, Marin, Sun, and Brandish.

And just as unsurprisingly, the match went to the final round, Alfonzo versus. Laxus, a rematch from the very first Battle of Fairy Tail tournament. The other matches were quite similar, as well.

In the first round of the match, Elicia and Evergreen had a rematch, as well. And just like in the first iteration of this match, Elicia won. Though, it was not quite as close as the first time. Even though both fighters had grown since their match five years ago, Elicia had outpaced Evergreen since then in terms of training, despite having to take time away because of pregnancy, parenthood, and her business.

After that round, Brandish faced off against Saya. And unfortunately for Saya, she was just lacking too much in terms of power and experience to put up a fight against Brandish, resulting in an easy victory for Brandish.

The third round was another rematch from the first tournament, Marin and Sun versus Fried and Bickslow. And although it was much closer than the first time, Fried and Bickslow were able to just barely take the win.

The last match, Alfonzo versus Laxus, was not as anticipated as expected, however. It was common knowledge by now that Laxus, ever since the first time they fought a little more than seventeen years ago, had never beaten Alfonzo. And although they both used the [Partial Release States] of their [Soul Armaments], Elexion only had the effect of amplifying Laxus' [Lightning Dragon Slayer Magic]. And Alfonzo had already proven that he was able to handle that for years.

So, in the end, Team Steel Threads won the tournament and regained their title as the strongest team in Fairy Tail. On top of that, they would be representing Fairy Tail in next year's Grand Magic Games in a bid to reestablish Fairy Tail as Fiore's strongest guild.

After that, the wizards of Fairy Tail had just enough time to return to the guild hall and change into their parade costumes before starting the Fantasia Parade, the highlight of the Harvest Festival. But for some reason, there were quite a few guests from out of town this year. And Alfonzo and Elicia happened to know most of them.

For example, from Tatsumi Port Island, Takeharu and Mitsuru Kirijo, Akihiko Sanada, and Yukari Takeba were in attendance. There were a few more people accompanying them, as well They even brought a dog.

Then, there were quite a few shinobi from the Village Hidden in the Leaves, Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye from Fiore's Knight Order, Pinako Rockbell and Din from the town of Resenbool, as well as Moka and Bobo from Galuna Island. There were others, as well. However, those few were the most notable of the visitors from out of town.

And just like that, the Fantasia Parade went off without a hitch. And before everyone knew it, the time flew by, and it was almost time for the S-Class Promotion Exam to begin again. However, Team Steel Threads were not too concerned with that. Instead, they focused on training hard. And when they were not training, they all did the things they enjoyed. 

Meaning, Alfonzo either cooked or tinkered with new inventions. Elicia made clothes. Sun went to Akane Beach to swim as often as she could. And Marin and Brandish spent, what most would say was, an unhealthy amount of time reading erotic novels with Erza and discussing their contents.

December 13, x789.

And some time just before the S-Class Promotion Exam was set to take place, while the S-Class wizards were on Tenrou Island getting the exam ready, Ao, from the Village Hidden in the Mist showed up with a message from Mei Terumi addressed to Ur. He then left to return to the Mist Village shortly after handing it over.

"So, she's finally got enough free time to make the trip, huh?" Ur said while reading the message from Ao. "Well, I'm sure Alfonzo, Laxus, and Marin will be willing to entertain her when she shows up after the exam."