Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
July, x773
Just as Alfonzo was leaving the guild hall to prepare for his lesson with Nell Goldstein, the famous magical gunsmith, he heard Evergreen's voice shouting an order.
"Make me a new dress!" Evergreen ordered.
"No, I've made you so many for free." Elicia said without backing down. "Those materials don't' grow on trees, you know. Plus, I have rent to pay, so I'm not making you any more free dresses."
"Maybe I should teach you how to respect your elders." Evergreen said in a threatening tone.
Deciding that Elicia would be fine handling herself, Alfonzo continued walking out of the guild hall and toward the male dormitory to get himself cleaned up.
"Look at that, even your little boyfriend isn't going to help you this time." Evergreen said, looking down at Elicia with a smug grin on her face.
Rolling her eyes, Elicia decided to turn away. She did not want to deal with this self-centered girl right now. In fact, Evergreen had been tweaking her nerves for a while now. Ever since she had learned of Elicia's skill as a seamstress, she had been demanding that Elicia made her dresses quite often.
For the first few times, Elicia did so happily. She loved making clothes, and she liked it when people liked her work. However, after a while, Evergreen began taking it for granted. While Elicia did like making clothes for people, she did not enjoy being ordered to do so. On top of that, she believed that it was right to be compensated for her work.
And since Evergreen had already received more than a few dresses over the last two plus years, Elicia had had enough.
"Good." Evergreen said, seeing Elicia turn away, she assumed that Elicia was scared and had given in to her demands. "Now, make that one dress that you have a picture of hanging in your room."
"No." Elicia said without turning around. "When you have money, I'll make you another dress. But until then, we have nothing to talk about."
Naturally, Evergreen was taken aback. For a few moments, she watched Elicia, Cana, and Laki walk away. While Alzack had already left to do some research on the [Guns Magic] Alfonzo and Elicia had suggested he learn.
After a few moments, Evergreen snapped out of her daze, and she was less than thrilled with Elicia's response.
"How dare you!" Evergreen shouted, rushing toward Elicia. However, before she could get too far, she was stopped by Bickslow.
"Ever, calm down." Bickslow said, scanning the guild hall as he spoke. "You can't force her to do work for you. No wizard would take a job for free, right?"
"You're only taking her side because you have a crush on her!" Evergreen shouted. "Now, let me go. I'm going to teach that girl a lesson."
Knowing Evergreen was right, he let her go. Although, that was not the only reason he relented. He could feel Laxus staring at him with disapproval, as well.
With Bickslow no longer holding her back, Evergreen rushed forward and used her left hand to grab Elicia by her right shoulder. Then, spinning Elicia around, Evergreen pulled her right hand back and...
*Smack!*
Slapped Elicia across the face.
Naturally, Elicia was stunned as she looked at Evergreen with disbelief. After she landed the slap, however, Evergreen regretted her actions immediately.
She knew she was being unreasonable. However, after being around Laxus for so long, she had adopted much of his attitude. For example, expecting those who she perceived as weaker than herself to follow her orders. Unfortunately, she realized too late that if Elicia told Alfonzo, she would be in a world of hurt.
"You know, I tried to be nice to you." Elicia said with tears of anger welling up in her eyes. "I made you some dresses. A lot of dresses. All because you liked the clothes that I made. And I was happy that what I made could make you smile."
At this point, the guild hall had fallen silent. Everyone wanted to see if Elicia would fight back or wait until Alfonzo returned like Evergreen expected her to do.
"But I guess I shouldn't have done that." Elicia said. "Somehow, you thought that because I was being nice, that I was afraid of you, right? Or maybe you thought that you were better than me? Well, I've had enough. I'm not being nice to someone who treats me like that anymore."
*Smack!*
With her words done, Elicia swung her own right hand and smacked Evergreen across the face. Naturally, Evergreen did not take that very well. Since she was not as strong as Laxus, she knew that she could not beat Alfonzo. But Elicia was not strong enough to do what she had just done.
The instant she came out of her stupor, Evergreen began releasing her magic power. She had been completely enraged by that slap.
In response, Elicia had also began releasing her own magic power, in order to combat the pressure Evergreen was giving off.
Then, as they were both ready to start a fight, Makarov cut in.
"If you want to have a fist fight, fine." Makarov said in an authoritative tone. "But if you're going to use magic, take it outside."
With that, the pressure from Makarov's magic power washed over Elicia and Evergreen, causing them both to faulter. Then, as soon as it was pulled back, both girls looked at Makarov with apprehension.
"Yes Gramps/Master." Elicia and Evergreen said simultaneously.
Both girls then glared at each other and began walking toward the backyard at the same time.
Naturally, the members of the guild present in the guild hall followed them. They were all interested in the outcome of the fight between these two young ladies. A few moments later, Elicia and Evergreen were standing opposite each other just like Alfonzo and Laxus had done several times in the past two years or so.
After glaring at each other for a few moments, Evergreen was tne first to make a move. Waving her arms in Elicia's direction a number of glowing needles were shot at Elicia.
"[Fairy Magic: Fairy Machine Gun Leprechaun]." Evergreen said as the needles rushed toward Elicia.
In response, Elicia side flipped away from the incoming needles. However, just by pointing in Elicia's direction, the next volley was hot on her trail.
Running, jumping, flipping, ducking, and diving, Elicia did everything she could to dodge the incoming projectiles. All the while, she was leaving thin threads everywhere she passed.
Noticing that none of the needles were able to even graze Elicia, Evergreen decided to change her strategy. Instead of the needles she had been firing at Elicia, she released a large amount of glowing dust that she willed to follow and surround Elicia. Condensing this dust was also how Evergreen created those needles she was firing before.
Knowing how evergreen's [Fairy Magic] worked, Elicia started moving even faster to avoid the dust.
'That dust was strong enough to take out Elfman in one shot during the Battle of Fairy Tail arc when he was in his [beast Takeover].' Elicia thought as she ran around the training ground. 'I know she's not that strong yet, but I'm not nearly as strong as Elfman was either.'
Eventually, Elicia was finally surrounded by the dust when she was standing under a tree.
"Haha! I finally got you." Evergreen said with slightly labored breathing. "Now, this farce is over. [Fairy Magic: Fairy Bomb: Gremlin]."
AS Evergreen called out the name of her spell, the dust surrounding Elicia began to glow. Knowing she was unable to take this blow, Elicia raised both of her hands and pointed them at the largest branch on the tree she was standing next to.
"[Thread Magic: Catapult Launcher]" Elicia said as threads extended from her finger tips.
An instant later, ten threads shot up and wrapped around the branch Elicia's hands were pointed at. Then, she willed the threads to contract, causing them to shorten at high speed, flinging her toward the branch at high-speed.
Unfortunately, to escape, Elicia had to fly through the cloud of glowing dust. So, after the glow reached its brightest, the dust cloud exploded, causing Elicia to be hit by the small amount that stuck to her clothes and skin.
"Kya~~~!" Elicia screamed in pain.
Although the attack was not enough to incapacitate her, Elicia was still feeling quite a bit of pain. On top of that, there were minor bruises and burns all over her body. On top of that, her clothes had been damaged quite heavily. Luckily, she was still wearing her training clothes. Otherwise, any of her casual clothes might have been completely destroyed.
'Good thing Fonzie and I were able to make these metal training clothes.' Elicia thought to herself as she used her threads to grab onto another tree. 'But still... That really hurt.'
Not giving Evergreen another chance to make another cloud of dust big enough to trap her again, Elicia shot her threads all around the training ground, pulling herself from one place to another at high speed.
"Stop running away!" Evergreen shouted, annoyed that she could not lock onto Elicia with her [Fairy Magic]. "Stand still and fight me!"
Knowing that she did not have the firepower necessary to stand and fight Evergreen as she ordered, Elicia rolled her eyes and continued to zip around the training ground. Meanwhile, she continued spreading her threads all over the training ground, for the next ten minutes.
Eventually, Elicia stopped running. Landing on the ground in the same place where she stood when the fight started, Elicia was visibly exhausted. She was not the only one, however. By now, both girls were running low on magic power. So, those who with experience were expecting the fight to end soon.
Just as that thought crossed their minds, Elicia dropped to one knee with her hands on the ground and breathing heavily.
"*Pant* See? *Pant* You should have known *Pant* that you can't beat me." Evergreen said between ragged breaths. "You should have *Pant* Just made the dress. *Pant*"
"Sorry, but I'm not giving up." Elicia said in a quiet voice. "[Thread Magic: Entangled Prison]."
After that, Elicia yanked her hands backward. With that, all the thread she had been letting cover the training ground began to constrict.
Evergreen, who could hear the threads cutting through the air, looked around in confusion. When she did, she could see numerous threads coming toward her. A moment later, everything below her neck was wrapped up by all the threads Elicia had pulled.
"How? When?" Evergreen asked, not understanding how she could have been caught.
Instead of answering Evergreen's question, Elicia took a couple of deep breaths. Then, she stood up and began walking toward her immobilized foe.
"This fight is over, Ever." Elicia said as she arrived right in front of Evergreen, visibly exhausted from using so much magic power and stamina. "Give up, I don't wanna hurt you."
"Don't call me Ever!" Evergreen shouted. "You must be really stupid, though. "If you won't finish this fight, then I will!"
With that, the dust created by Evergreen's [Fairy Magic] began seeping from between the threads and moving toward Elicia. However, before enough of it could form around her...
*Bang!*
Elicia reeled back her right fist and threw a right hook with everything she had into Evergreen's left jaw, knocking her out cold.
"I said I didn't wanna hurt you." Elicia said, looking down on the unconscious Evergreen. "Not that I wouldn't."
A moment later, Elicia fell on her butt and began shaking her hand.
"Ow... That really hurt." Elicia whined. "Fonzi punches a lot. Why doesn't it look like it hurts him this much?"
After Elicia fell on her butt, Cana and Laki rushed up to her with concern.
"Lici, are you okay?" Cana asked, concern lacing her tone.
"Yeah, do we need to take you inside to get fixed?" Laki asked.
"No, I'm not okay!" Elicia whined. "I'm tired, I'm hungry, and my hand hurts! Where's Fonzie? I want him to cook for me and take care of me!"
"*Sigh* She's fine." Cana and Laki said simultaneously.
Then, the girls picked up Elicia and helped her back to her room at Fairy Hills.
Meanwhile, Laxus, Bickslow, and Fried picked up Evergreen and carried her toward the infirmary.
To everyone they passed it was easy to tell that Laxus was not happy with the outcome of the fight. Most of them felt pity for Evergreen. They could only hope that Laxus would not be too hard on her.
Like everyone thought, Laxus was angry that Evergreen lost. However, unlike what everyone thought, he was not angry at Evergreen. Instead, he was angry that one of his friends got beat up.
"Listen up, you two." Laxus said after laying Evergreen in one of the infirmary beds. Then, with determination burning in his eyes, he continued. "I never want to see any of you get beat up like that, ever again. So, from now on, we're going to train even harder."
"Yeah!" Bickslow and Fried cheered.
"The Thunder God Tribe will be Fairy Tail's strongest team!" Laxus shouted with vigor. "And none of us will ever lose again!"
Standing outside the infirmary's door, Makarov smiled. He was quite happy to see that under that bossy exterior, Laxus cared deeply for his friends.