Fairy Tail: Metal and Threads

{A/N: If anyone has any ideas for events in the GMG, feel free to let me know in the comments. I mean, I have ideas for all the four days of events. But if yours sound more interesting than mine, I don't mind scrapping my ideas and using them for something else.}

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus. 

June 30, x790. 

"It's almost time." Marin said while standing in the suite she, Alfonzo, and the rest of Alfonzo's harem stay in when they are in Crocus. "I wonder what the preliminary round will be like this year?" 

Not only Alfonzo and his harem were in the room, however. The three children are also there. But that was to be expected. On top of that, Brandish, the last member of Team Steel Threads was in the room as well. 

"Does it matter?" Brandish asked in her usual, almost bored, tone. "All we have to do is win. Then, we'll be in the main event." 

"Well, Brandish isn't wrong." Alfonzo said with a smile while holding the sleeping Bianca. "But depending on the event, it may be harder than we expected." 

"Even so, I know we're gonna make it, ya see?" Sun said in a bubbly tone. 

"Sun's right." Elicia replied with a smile. "We've been waiting too long for this. There's no way we're going home before the Grand Magic Games officially start." 

"*Sigh* And there goes Lici raising flags again." Ultear said while holding Amar'e, who like his sisters, was also asleep. 

"No, this time she didn't raise a flag." Cana said with a smile. "If they can't make it to the real games, then this thing is rigged." 

"Besides, if they don't make it, they'll have to deal with my punishment." Irene said with a sadistic smile on her face. 

Immediately, all five members of Team Steel Threads began to shudder in fear of what Irene could possibly cook up as a punishment. 

July 1, x790. 

*Buzz~~~~~~~~~!* 

At that moment, a loud alarm sounded over the city of Crocus. Shortly afterwards, a light shined into the sky from the city's central plaza. 

{"Hello! Hello! Can everyone hear me?"} Mato's high-pitched voice said while being projected over the city. {"You all know what time it is, right? It's time to pick the eight guilds who will compete for the title of Fiore's strongest. So, I ask that all teams report to the central plaza where I will explain the rules of this year's preliminary game."} 

Moments later, guild wizards from all over the city could be seen rushing from their hotels to the central plaza outside the Flower Light Palace, Mercurius, hoping to be the first to arrive and maybe gain an advantage in the upcoming preliminary event. 

"Well, I guess that's our cue." Alfonzo said as he handed Bianca to Mirajane. "This should be fun." 

"Good luck." Mirajane replied while receiving her daughter from Alfonzo before pecking him on the cheek. "Break a leg." 

"Just make sure it's the opponents leg, okay?" Ultear said in a somewhat sadistic tone. 

"Be sure to fight with honor." Erza said as she looked over the members of Team Steel Threads. 

"Of course!" Sun cheered excitedly. 

"We'll be watching." Lucy said with a smile. 

"Yeah, shoot 'em dead." Rika added. 

"We'll await your return." Saeko said. 

In response, Alfonzo, Elicia, Marin, and Sun smiled before nodding their heads. Meanwhile, Brandish also nodded. Though, there was no smile to be seen on her face. 

After that, the group of five made their way out of the room at a brisk pace. Then, they headed down stairs to leave the hotel. However, when they stepped out of the elevator, they ran into the rest of the Fairy Tail wizards, who were gathered to send them off. Even Makarov was present. 

"Make us proud, kids." Ur said with a smile as she raised her right hand with her thumb extended and pointing her index finger to the sky. 

A moment later, all the other Fairy Tail wizards made the same gesture. 

*Bang!* 

Unfortunately, the moment was ruined when Alfonzo launched a chunk of metal at Natsu's forehead when he breathed a jet of fire into the air. However, when Gajeel leapt to eat the chunk of metal, everyone started laughing at the usual act. 

Yet, Team Steel Threads did not stay to laugh and be rowdy with the rest of their guild, instead, they walked through the hotel's lobby and made their way outside. 

Once they were outside, the five wizards picked up the pace. And despite leaving the hotel so slowly, they were still one of the first ten team s to reach the central plaza. Still, when they arrived, they had a lot of time to observe the other teams. 

"Oh, Mermaid Heel beat us here." Marin said while frowning a Yoruichi and Sui-Feng. "Of course they did, those two are basically speed demons." 

At the end of Marin's line of sight, Yoruichi, Kagura, Sui-Feng, Anko, and Rangiku stood. And they were watching Team Steel Threads, as well, while chatting amongst themselves. 

"Blue Pegasus is here, too." Sun said, pointing at the wizards of Blue Pegasus. "Oh, Kai is with them, too." 

Where Sun pointed, the other members of Team Steel Threads could see Sorano, Karen, Jenny, and Kai surrounding Ichiya, who was smiling as he usually did. Meanwhile, Karen was staring at Elicia with desire while Kai stared at Sun with a mixture of longing and acceptance. Jenny, on the other hand, stared at Alfonzo with a determined, lovestruck look in her eyes. Lastly, Sorano looked at the group with an apologetic expression, feeling a bit of second-hand embarrassment from her team mates. 

"I know she's been on Blue Pegasus' team ever since the first Grand Magic Games, but I was hoping that she would sit this one out." Elicia said after turning away from Karen's fervent gaze, which made Karen blush at the perceived neglect play. 

"You didn't really think that was possible, did you?" Marin asked with a grin. "She's so into you that it's not funny. She even tried to make you change your mind on your wedding day, remember?" 

"Ugh! Don't remind me." Elicia groaned to Marin's amusement. 

"But how did they beat us here?' Brandish asked in an almost lazy tone. 

"Because their hotel is right there." Alfonzo replied while pointing at a hotel that was only a few buildings away from the plaza. 

Seeing where Alfonzo was pointing, Brandish nodded her head in understanding. 

"Besides, I'm more interested in that team over there." Alfonzo said, pointing at another team of five wizards. 

Where Alfonzo pointed, there was a group of five wizards standing, four young men and a young woman. 

The first of the five is a slim, yet muscular young man of average height with spiky blond hair that juts out in all directions with a prominent bang hanging in front of his forehead and slanted blue eyes with slit pupils. He wore an earring in his left ear with a metallic pendant hanging from it, a blue vest with gold accents and grey fur lining, a cream-colored top under the vest that showed off his abdomen, a pair of dark blue gloves that reach the middle of his biceps, showing off his white guild emblem on his left shoulder, a pair of cream-colored loose-fitting pants that resembled Natsu's and were held up by suspenders, as well as a pair of dark blue galoshes that reach to the middle of his thighs and attach to the top of his pants on the outside. 

Next was another young man of average height with messy, shoulder-length black hair and red eyes with slit pupils. He donned a grey long sleeve shirt with brown cuffs, a pale blue sash tied around his waist with a waist guard made of four cloth pieces hanging from it. On each cloth piece, a stylized cross with fan-shaped arms is embroidered. For footwear, he wore a pair of armored boots that reached his knees. And on top of all of that, he wore a black cape that trailed down to his feet with golden accents, a grey collar, and a white ribbon tying it together. Also, there was a guild emblem sewn over the left shoulder. 

Third was another slim young man of average height with long, straight blond hair and deep, green eyes. He wore a crimson red mask with gold edges that covered his nose, eyebrows, and cheek bones, leaving only his forehead and the lower half of his face visible. His attire consisted of a long, red vest with gold accents that reached his knees that was closed at the waist with a few buttons, a cream-colored long sleeved shirt with cuffs that flared out, and a pair of tan pants and knee-high black boots. He also wore a three-layered jabot around his neck and a large brimmed, crimson red hat to match his vest and mask with large pink plumage on the left side. 

The fourth member of the team that caught Alfonzo's interest was a massive, muscular man with a spiky, shoulder-length light green hair and light grey eyes. He wore a simple black headband over his forehead to keep his hair from getting in the way. As for his attire, he only wore a pair of white, pin-stripe pants, black shoes, a yellow cloth wrapped around his waist and secured with a brown band, and brown arm bands that covered his forearms. He also had a number of tattoos on his shoulders and biceps with the rest of his upper body left bear. 

The last member of the team was the young woman. She was of average height with a considerably curvaceous figure with facial features that made her look eastern, black eyes, and lower back-length dark purple, almost black, hair left to mostly hang freely down her back. However, she also had a pair of dango loops on either side of her head with small braids hanging from each, and bangs that framed her face and hung down over her breasts. She wore a strapless dress, reminiscent of a cheongsam with a slit on the left side that exposed her thigh, that was two-toned in color, blue in the front and black in the back. She completed her outfit with a pair of black, mid-calf height boots and a pair of two-toned shoulder-length gloves that matched the color of her dress. 

"Hmm? Who are they?" Marin asked curiously. "I don't recognize their guild emblem. But those two give me a feeling similar to Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy." 

The two Marin was talking about were the black-haired young man and the spiky, blond young man. 

"Well, that doesn't surprise me." Alfonzo said with a smile. "They're Dragon Slayers, after all." 

"And the guild they're a part of is called Sabertooth." Elicia added. "They're a fairly new guild. But they've gained a lot of fame due to their twin Dragon Slayers, Sting Eucliffe and Rogue Cheney." 

Hearing that, Marin and Sun opened their eyes wide. Brandish, on the other hand, was not surprised by the news, as she had already been keeping up to date on the more famous guilds in the kingdom. 

At that moment, having noticed Team Steel Threads gazes, the five members of Sabertooth all turned to look in their direction. And when they did, the Fairy Tail wizards all noticed expressions filled with superiority on the Sabertooth wizards' faces. They even saw a hint of distain coming from the twin Dragon Slayers. 

"You know, I don't like the way their looking at us." Sun said, her bubbly tone nowhere to be seen. 

"Yeah, I think we're gonna have to show them why Fairy Tail is the strongest." Marin said, her competitive spirit coming to the forefront. 

"I agree." Brandish added concisely. 

'Well, it doesn't surprise me that they look at us like that.' Elicia thought to herself while listening to her team mates with a smile on her face. She then continued her thoughts after waving at the members of Sabertooth in a friendly manner which made the five wizards either snort or scoff at her show of friendliness. 'I mean, Jiemma has been brainwashing them into thinking they are the strongest for years without any notable feats to back it up.' 

'That distain in Sting and Rogue's eyes isn't even meant for us.' Alfonzo thought to himself at the same time. 'It's more than likely because they always wanted to fight Natsu and Gajeel. But every year they've seen the Grand Magic Games, neither of those two has been on the team. They probably think they are weak, too. Man, I wonder what they would think if they actually fought them. Without a seven year gap in their training plus all the extra training they've been doing with the gravity chambers, those two don't stan a yellow snowball's chance in hell of ever beating them.' 

Meanwhile, the rest of the teams who planned on participating had all reached the plaza. That included Lamia Scale and Quatro Cerberus. And as soon as the last team arrived, Mato spoke again. 

{"Alright, it looks like everyone is here."} Mato said in his energetic tone. {"But this time, we're gonna do something a little different. Instead of testing your teams speed, agility, brains, or even luck like we have in the last few years, we'll be testing just one thing. We wanna know who can hit the hardest. So, for this year's preliminary round, each team will send one member up to hit the Magic Power Finder with their strongest attack. And the eight teams with the highest scores will get to move on to the real show starting later today."}