June 29th X787
Meliodas walked into the guild hall, the entire main hall bustling with energy. There was a large, rowdy gaggle of guild members standing in front of the main stage as the curtains were closed. Not nearly as much as the S Class trials, but still a good amount.
"Meliodas, you're back!" Max said with a wide grin as he waved at Meliodas. Standing next to him were Nab and Warren.
"Good thing you're here. Macao is about to announce the people who will be participating in the Grand Magic Games." Warren added.
"Well he did personally request that I be here. I wonder who else will be on the team." Meliodas remarked.
The curtains began to open from the main stage as the lights in the main hall began to dim. The spotlight shone on the center of the stage revealing Macao's figure. The crowd of people went silent as Macao began speaking.
"As you all know, the very first Grand Magic Games are approaching. This is a huge event that will certainly raise our guild back to number one as we were previously! We've fallen a bit in ranking over the past couple of years, but we've still managed to cement a spot in the top ten guilds! However, this is our chance to prove to all of Fiore just how great Fairy Tail is! So I will get to announcing the members of the guild who will be participating!"
The crowd began cheering and Macao paused to give them some time to calm down.
"Yeah! Rank one!"
"I hope I'm chosen!"
"We got Fairy Tail's one and only Blond Demon so there's no way we won't win!"
"Ahem!" Macao cleared his throat loudly, prompting the crowd to calm down before he continued with the announcement.
"So after careful consideration, the members of the guild who will be participating will be Meliodas, Jet, Alzack, Max, and Laki!" Macao finished. Meliodas looked around for his new teammates as the crowd began cheering. He saw Alzack sitting at a table with his wife Bisca and his newborn daughter Asuka. Meliodas vaguely remembered stopping by their wedding back in X785.
"Looks like we're teamed up finally!" Jet said as he approached Meliodas. "Never got a chance to go on a mission with ya!"
Meliodas thought about Jet's statement. He remembered getting an offer from Levy to join her and team Shadowgear on a mission but he never got around to it as he was busy with research at the time.
"Let's go find the rest of our team." Jet suggested.
"Well I saw Alzack sitting over there with his family. I could have sworn Max was here a moment ago...and I haven't seen Laki." Meliodas commented.
As the large crowd of guild members began to settle down and clear up, Meliodas and Jet went around gathering the members of their group together.
"So this is the dream team." Wakaba said as he and Macao approached Meliodas, Jet, Alzack, Laki, and Max who were all sitting together at a table.
"No matter what event they throw at us, I think we have enough variation in our abilities." Max said confidently. Macao looked at each member of the team briefly upon hearing the statement.
"Wood make, Sandstorm, Guns, High Speed, and Full Counter…" Macao commented. 'That should be enough variance to cover whatever event they have...although Meliodas might just be able to raw power his way through most things…'
"Well if things get out of hand, we got Meliodas here right? I mean...as long as it's not a cooking competition." Jet said with a shudder, remembering the mess Meliodas' food caused to both Makarov and Erza.
"Don't sell yourselves short. You guys will do fine." Meliodas said reassuringly.
"Yeah! And I have to show my daughter that her father is the greatest sharpshooter in all of Fiore!" Alzack declared.
---
July 1st X787
Meliodas, Max, Alzack, Laki, and Jet stood within the ring of the Domus Flau arena just outside of the capital near the west mountains. The arena was a large circle shape with no cover above it along with numerous arches in its walls and a large entrance. On four parts of the arena were four large statues that towered above, each of a stone warrior holding massive staffs that looked down upon the arena. Coming from behind the statues were giant chains that connected from the statues to the surrounding ground of the arena below.
"T-this is incredible!" Jet said in awe as he looked around. Every seat in the arena was filled and the crowd was cheering loudly. Meliodas looked around and saw over a dozen other guilds in the arena with them.
"There's a lot of guilds participating it seems." Laki commented.
"There's got to be more than twenty other guilds participating. This tournament is gonna be huge!" Jet added.
"I wonder where the rest of Fairy Tail is sitting." Alzack said as he looked around at the audience. Meliodas joined him in looking around and quickly spotted their entire guild at their own spot on the other side of the stadium.
"Right there!" Meliodas said as he pointed towards a spot in the crowd. Alzack looked towards the spot and immediately saw Bisca and Asuka waving at them. A wide smile formed on Alzacks face as he waved right back at them.
Meliodas looked around at the other guilds in the arena again. There were many unfamiliar faces and guilds that were standing there.
"So you've made it here after all. I figured you would be here so I decided to participate as well." A familiar voice said from Meliodas' right side. Meliodas turned his head and saw Lyon walking towards him.
"Yo Lyon!" Meliodas greeted with a small wave.
"It's been a while since we've last met. You've established quite a reputation for yourself in Fiore, maybe even one that surpasses Jura's." Lyon commented.
"Speaking of Jura, is he here participating?" Meliodas asked as he looked towards where Lamia Scale was standing. He recognized Yuka and Sherry but didn't know who the other two people were.
"No. He's been busy with council work lately. But know this. Jura may not be here, but I can certainly fill the part." Lyon said with a confident grin.
"WELCOME CITIZENS OF FIORE!" A voice echoed throughout the arena. Lyon bid a temporary farewell to Meliodas and walked back to his guild as the announcer continued.
"IT'S TIME FOR THE MAGIC FESTIVAL THAT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING SO ANXIOUSLY TO SEE. IT'S FIORE'S FIRST EVER GRAND MAGIC GAMES!"
The crowd began cheering even louder, their deafening cries of joy echoing throughout the massive arena.
"I'LL BE YOUR COMMENTATOR, CHAPATI LOLA. AND WITH ME TODAY IS OUR ANALYST AND FORMER MEMBER OF THE MAGIC COUNCIL, MR YAJIMA!"
Meliodas looked across the arena at the announcer's booth. He could see two people sitting inside, one of them being Yajima who he remembered showing up to Fairy Tail's cooking competition. The other, Chapati, was a middle aged short man with a smooth and unusually shaped square head. His facial features in comparison were tiny compared to the rest of his head. He had neatly combed black hair and wore a black suit with a blue tie.
"WE HAVE A LOT OF GUILD PARTICIPATING FOR THE VERY FIRST GRAND MAGIC GAMES. I COUNT OVER TWENTY OF THEM SO LET ME QUICKLY INTRODUCE THEM ALL TO YOU!" Chapati continued. An interface appeared in the center of the arena where Meliodas saw himself along with his group's faces appearing. Next to their faces were what appeared to be stats. Meliodas looked at his stats that were listed as the following:
Attack Power: 6/5
Defense Power: 6/5
Speed: 6/5
Intelligence: 3/5
Eyesight: 5/5
"Meliodas, your stats are insane!" Max shouted as he looked up at the interface, comparing Meliodas' numbers to his own.
"I believe there was an article about this in last week's Sorcerer Weekly where Jason would use his knowledge of every guild to make a stat sheet for every participant based on his interviews." Laki commented.
"What's up with the last stat? Eyesight?" Alzack questioned. Meliodas shrugged his shoulders although he knew why "Eyesight" was listed as the final stat.
"STARTING THINGS OFF WE HAVE THE FAIRY TAIL GUILD! EVEN WITH THE LOSS OF THEIR STRONGEST MEMBERS YEARS AGO, THEIR GUILD STILL THRIVES AS ONE OF FIORE'S MOST FORMIDABLE!"
The Fairy Tail group looked around as the crowd cheered for them. However, many of the cheers seemed to have only been directed towards Meliodas.
"Good luck Fairy Tail!"
"Go Meliodas!"
"Yeah! The Blond Demon!"
"NEXT UP, IS THE GUILD COMPRISED OF ALL FEMALE MEMBERS. THE DAZZLING DANCERS OF THE DEEP, MERMAID HEEL!"
Meliodas and the group looked up at the interface at Mermaid Heel then looked around the arena to see where they were. To his surprise, the young woman listed as "Kagura" was staring right back at him with a serious expression.
"Woah, looks like you got Kagura's attention." Max remarked. "She's become quite the reputable swordswoman in Fiore, especially with Erza gone."
"She probably sees you as a rival since your sword skill is also very renowned throughout the country." Laki added. Meliodas looked back up at the interface as the next guild was announced. 'Speaking of swords...I wonder if Musica is here watching this...also where are Jellal, Ultear, and Meredy watching from?'
"THE NEXT GUILD IS ONE THAT HAS BEEN RISING THROUGH THE RANKS AT AN EXTREMELY FAST RATE OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS, IT'S SABERTOOTH! WITH THE AMOUNT OF MISSIONS THEIR GUILD HAS COMPLETED, SOME EVEN CALL THEM FIORE'S NUMBER ONE GUILD!"
Meliodas remained silent as Chapati continued introducing the guilds for the next few minutes. Meliodas continued to read the interface at all the new guilds that were popping up. He was already familiar with Blue Pegasus and Lamia Scale and he had heard of Sabertooth and Quatro Ceberus before. However there were a plethora of other guilds he had never heard of up until this day.
As Chapati finished calling out the last guild, the interface changed once again, listing off all of the guilds with a points tally next to them.
"NOW IT'S TIME TO ANNOUNCE HOW THIS YEAR'S GAMES WILL WORK! EACH DAY THERE WILL BE A CONTEST. ONLY THOSE WHO PLACE IN THE TOP FIVE WILL EARN POINTS. FIRST PLACE WILL GAIN 10 POINTS, 2ND 8, 3RD 6, 4TH 4, AND 5TH 2. EACH TEAM WILL CHOOSE ONE MEMBER TO PARTICIPATE. WE WILL EXPLAIN THE RULES ONCE THE PARTICIPATING PLAYER COMES FORWARD AND THE REST RETURN TO THE WAITING AREA."
Meliodas looked at the rest of his team as they were looking back at each other. Max looked at Meliodas with a grin on his face.
"Leave it to me. I'll test the waters with what these events are about." Max commented.
"Sure, go for it! Anyone else object?" Meliodas responded as he looked around at the group. They all shook their heads.
"Good luck Max!" Laki said.
"Don't embarrass Fairy Tail!" Jet said.
"Let's show them that we're still the best!" Alzack said.
"I'll show you guys that I haven't been sitting around on my ass all day these past few years. Meliodas isn't the only one who has gotten stronger!" Max responded with a confident grin.