Vergil rested on the rooftop of the guildhall as the master was announcing the first team that will represent Fairy Tail. He could hear the master announce the names of Natsu, Gray, Erza, Lucy and Wendy for the first team. Vergil looked up into the blue sky as he enjoyed the nice breeze on his face. He could hear confusion from the other guild members as to why Neos or Mana wasn't there, and the master would simply reply that Neos, Mana, Laxus, and Gajeel hadn't come back yet, making it sound like some of the chosen ones for the first team was because he couldn't choose to find the ones who were stronger.
As everyone went outside to celebrate the ones representing the first team for Fairy Tail in the Grand Magic Games. Makarov then went to speak with certain individuals during the celebration, those individuals would be on the second team.
As some time passed, most of the Fairy Tail guild members besides the ones who were chosen for the second team, left the guildhall. Vergil then jumped down from the rooftop and landed right next to the master. "So, who have you chosen for the second team?" Vergil looked down at the dwarf master.
"Oh, those two." Makarov pointed over to Mirajane and Mana, Mira looked at Vergil with a warm smile while waving, while Mana smiled seeing her older brother lightning element version, Ace sitting on Mana's shoulder. "And these two." Makarov said as down came someone crashing from the sky, and a bolt of lightning struck the ground in front of them. Once the dust cleared it revealed Laxus and Gajeel who had Pantherlily on his back. "You lot will be known as Fairy Tail Team B." Makarov said and Gajeel and Laxus didn't take it kindly to be called Team B as if they were worth less than Team A.
"I ain't gonna be a part of that freak show!" Gajeel declared.
"I don't mind entering, although being a part of Team B sounds insulting." Laxus said.
"Then how about this. The winning team gets to do whatever they want to the other team for a day." Makarov said and instantly everyone besides Vergil and Mana got excited and they all had a different look in their eyes, some sadistic, amused. "Now, Neos here is the information and the official rulebook for the games, take them and head over to Crocus, everything has been arranged for your travels." Makarov said and then went off to go with Team A.
"Tch, why do we have to go alone?" Gajeel questioned looking a little annoyed and was still unhappy about being called Team B.
"The Master wants us to be a surprise for the others, it is childish. Make haste you four." Vergil said as they all left together.
Laxus and Gajeel don't know why Neos decided to use his lightning elemental while, Mira looks in awe, finally getting to see his third-stage elemental version for the first time. Only Mana knows the real reason for Vergil being here, Neos wants to spend time with Usagi, so he is separated, Core is being by Usagi's side while Vergil goes with them.
After some travel, and having to deal with Gajeel having motion sickness, and Laxus although he hid that he had it. They arrived at Crocus, the capital of the kingdom of Fiore, and the place where the Grand Magic Games are held once a year. They all stood in the big city of the capital, which was way bigger than Magnolia and any other city they had been in.
"Hey look, that emblem those five are from Fairy Tail." Someone said in a mocking tone as various people started to look over at them and started laughing.
"Seriously? The guild that comes in last every time? Just go home, Sabertooth is going to win this year like always!" A man said and everyone laughed with his mocking words.
Laxus, Gajeel, and Mira looked a little annoyed and were about to act when Vergil just continued to walk not even bothered by them. "If they want to laugh, let them laugh. They are nothing but cowards anyway." Vergil said and kept walking when suddenly in front of them stood a tall muscular man with long green spiky hair, however unlike his upper body his legs looked quite normal, he held his massive hair in place with a black headband over his forehead, his face was adorned in black stripes that looked like war paint, he had four vertical black stripes on his chin, and his massive shoulders and biceps are covered in dark tattoos. He wore simple pants with a large fur-rimmed tiger pattern around his waist.
"Hey, that's Orga Nanagear from Sabertooth." One civilian spoke and they all looked at this giant man in awe who looked down on Neos.
"You weaklings are from Fairy Tail? Heh, better just go home." Orga smirked overconfidently.
"You are not worthy as my opponent." Vergil said calmly as he wasn't threatened or impressed with Orga.
"Why you..." Orga glared at Vergil with dark lightning flickering around him.
"Move you punching bag." Vergil said calmly while Orga really wanted to punch him in the face.
"What did you call me!?" Orga leaned down to Vergil's eye level and glared at him.
"I said move." Vergil said making Orga growl at him.
"Callin' me weak huh?! Well, I will show you!" Orga cracked his knuckles as black lightning flickered around him.
Vergil looked at him with an annoyed look. "Last warning move." Vergil gave one last final warning.
"Oh, that's it!" Orga raised his fist, and in an instance, Vergil projected Yamato still in it sheath and with a single hit, Orga was sent flying to the side of a building.
Leaving everyone in shock except the four Fairy Tail Mages who already know how powerful he is so seeing this isn't much of a shock to them.
"Pathetic. A lightning user that slow? What a waste of my time." Vergil said with a disgusted look, before going back to walk toward the inn with the other four following him, as everybody else all back up not wanting to get in their way. Orga began getting up holding his jaw as he felt the pain from that single hit, before turning back to glare at the back of Vergil's head.
"W-Was that guy really from Fairy Tail...?" A young man questioned still shaking and had a look of awe.
"Th-There is no way that loser guild has someone like him..." Another man uttered.
"W-Wait, I recognized him!" A man said which grabbed Orga and the others' attention. "Yeah! That was Fairy Tail Counter Guardian, Faker! Neos Zero! I heard he was the strongest member of the guild, although he vanished seven years ago."
"N-No way..."
"Y-Yeah, I remember him now to... So, the group that vanished seven years ago is back?"
Orga growled still glaring at Vergil with a hateful glare. "I'll remember this..." Orga growled and walked away probably heading towards his own inn.
Time skipped as the Grand Magic Games began.
"Let's go!" Vergil shouted and they all rushed towards the sphere at full speed. Vergil disappeared in a flash of black lightning, Laxus using his lightning to increase his speed, Mirajane flying at full speed in her Satan Soul form, Mana began flying there with her silver wings and Gajeel extending his legs, by turning them into iron, from the balcony to fly there faster. They were without a doubt the first team to get inside the massive sphere known as the Sky Labyrinth.
Once they were inside, it was hard to describe what they saw. Everything was both upside-down while at the same time not, it was a three-dimensional space.
"Mana," Vergil called, and the young dragon slayer jumped up. "trace this place." He ordered as she nodded before looking forward at this place.
Trace On
She traced the place taking in the information of the labyrinth, before saying. "I know the way."
Mana said and began leading them toward it, they had managed to reach the goal, and came in 1st place nonetheless.
Later at the inn
Fairy Tail Team B was celebrating that they passed the preliminaries, when suddenly someone knocked on their door and entered Master Makarov, who looked rather grim. Which made the celebration stop. "What's wrong, Master?" Mira was the one to ask the question.
"What, did Salamander's team not make it?" Gajeel questioned with a raised brow.
"No, Natsu and his team managed to pass, barely, they came in 8th place. Although, Elfman has taken Wendy's place." Makarov said which made everyone look confused.
"What?" Vergil said with a cold glare looking like he was about to kill someone.
"She was attacked, her magic had been sucked out from her same with Carla." Makarov said and everyone looked shocked and some were angry.
"The hell you say?" Gajeel questioned with a look of anger as he clenched his fists.
"Porlyusica is taking care of her, but she won't be able to participate for the first days of the games. And we have no idea who is responsible either... I just wanted to let you all know, good luck tomorrow." Makarov said as he walked out.
"..."
"..."
"You all heard gramps, get some rest for the games tomorrow." Laxus said not showing his anger, although he was angry just like everyone in the room, taking a deep breath Vergil calmed himself down, he knew there is nothing he could do now.
"Let's all get focused, for the next seven days of the games, we will make Fairy Tail rise to the top." Vergil said with a serious look and everyone else nodded. 'Where is Core when I need him?' Vergil thought, he actually doing a good job holding in his anger, usually when his anger got to him, he would go back to Core becoming one, letting him take control of the main body while he dealt with his anger issue.
Next Day: The Stadium
Fairy Tail Team B, were waiting for when their team would be called up. As they were waiting they could hear the crowd cheering in excitement for the Games, the sounds of rockets were also heard. "This is it, the first day of the Grand Magic Games." Neos said as he and everyone on his team had one thing on their mind, to become the number 1 guild again. The elemental mage had become one again.
"Now to introduce the competitors!" They could hear the announcer's voice as clear as day. "First up, in 8th place! Can this rowdy bunch with an uncharacteristic name reclaim their former glory?! It's Fairy Tail!" The announcer declared and the audience started to boo.
"Well, that was to be expected." Neos said with a stoic expression at the reaction Natsu's team got, although the rest of his team looked slightly annoyed that their guild was this low on the popularity bar. "Don't worry, sooner or later we will make the booing stop." Neos smirked which made the rest of them smirk as well.
"Ah, we will show 'em, what Fairy Tail is capable of." Laxus grinned.
"Despite coming in last every year before, Fairy Tail has already managed to clear the preliminaries and secure its spot as one of the 8 top guilds! Will the Tenrou Team's sensational return help them become Fiore's greatest guild?!"
Then the sound of Makarov and the rest of Fairy Tail cheer for them. The announcer then went on to declare the rest of the guilds, 7th place Quatro Cerberus, 6th place Mermaid Heel, 5th place Blue Pegasus, 4th place Lamia Scale. And the difference was that they were all met with cheer. However, the next name would surprise all of them, 3th place Raven Tail.
"Raven Tail?" Laxus questioned with a raised brow, as he recognized that guild, so would every member of Fairy Tail, the guild that was created by Laxus' very own father and Makarov's son, Ivan Dreyar.
"But how? Raven Tail is a dark guild..." Mirajane pointed out that dark guilds weren't allowed to participate.
The announcer then continued and 2th place went to Sabertooth, which came as a shocker to the entire audience at the fact that Sabertooth didn't come in first. It came as a shocker to the rest of them as well. Neos looked out from the corner of their tunnel and saw, although Sabertooth was met with cheer, they didn't look happy about having come in second place. "V-Very well, 1st place, oh, this is a surprise! Fairy Tail Team B!"
They walked out and everyone gasped in shock that Fairy Tail had two teams. "N-Nee-chan?!" Elfman questioned in shock as he saw Mirajane.
"Gajeel?!" Natsu questioned looking just as shocked.
"Mana?!" Gray questioned, surprised to see her participating.
"Even Laxus and Neos?! This is against the rules!" Lucy said in shock as they all thought there was supposed to be only one team for each guild.
"Neos..." Erza uttered and Neos gave her a smile.
"Oh, it seems the latest rule changes have left many people perplexed Mr. Yajima!" The announcer spoke to his co-announcer, former council member and long-time friend of Makarov, Yajima.
"Mm. Each guild was permitted to enter two teams into this tournament." Yajima announced.
Makarov then let out a laugh enjoying seeing all those reactions. "How do you like that?! This is Fairy Tail!" Makarov declared. And next to him, to Neos's surprise was first master Mavis' ghost. The tiny master noticed Neos looking at her and gave him a warm smile and a friendly wave. He turns away to avoid making eye contact with the other spirit.
"The competition will be between teams, though, can fellow guild members really be allowed to compete with each other?"
"Hmm. It'll be all right, I would think." Yajima said.
"But isn't that a little unfair?" The third announcer, the current miss Fiore, a member of Blue Pegasus, a woman with long blond hair tied up into a ponytail, with blue eyes, and a figure that rivaled Mirajane's, dressed in a pink dress, Jenny Realight. "For example, in an event where each team chooses one person to compete, the two Fairy Tail members could team up against the rest."
"I guess that is the advantage Fairy Tail gains by having two teams out of a hundred to reach the tournament!"
"Oh-ho-ho! You certainly have the upper hand now, Macky!" Yajima chuckled.
"This is a bunch of crap!" Natsu shouted which gained everyone's attention. "Even if we are in the same guild, I'm gonna fight with everything I got! I ain't gonna hold back! Being in this tournament makes you my enemy! I ain't gonna lose to you!" Natsu shouted while glaring at Team B.
Gajeel walked up to Natsu and they had a stare down." Bring it on, Mr. Barely-Came-in-8th-place." Gajeel mocked the pink haired dragon slayer, and Natsu couldn't find any comeback to that.
"Let's do our best, Elfman." Mirajane looked up at her little brother with a warm friendly smile, yet Elfman was not fooled as he knew how dangerous she was and started to sweat nervously.
"Nee-chan..." Elfman managed to utter with a nervous grin.
"Neos, I should have suspected something was off when the Master didn't announce you for our team." Erza smirked as she and Neos stood face to face.
"Hn, he wanted it to be a surprise." Neos gave her a relaxed calm smile.
"Have you managed to notice something about what Jellal was talking about? So far I only suspect Raven Tail." Erza mentioned the second goal they both had for being here in the game.
"I haven't, but when I find whoever is responsible for Wendy and Carla, I'm gonna tear them to pieces." Neos said as he noticed something strange about one of the Raven Tail members, the one in golden armor and a black cloak, he could feel the man glare at him.
"Neos Zero..." The masked armored man growled.
"Anyway, if we ever go up against each other, Neos, I expect you to not go easy on me." Erza said with a smirk as now she was looking forward to competing against Neos.
"I'll keep that in mind, Erza." Neos smiled as they both let out a chuckle.
Neos could feel Sabertooth glaring at them also, one was a young man with spiky yellow hair and blue eyes, he had a scar going over his right eyebrow and next to his right eye, this was Sting, one of the Dragon Slayers from Sabertooth. Next to him was another young man with dark hair and with bangs going over his right eye, he was dressed in a cloak, this was Rogue the second Dragon Slayer. Orga was also there sending more intense glares of rage at Neos. There was also a young man with long blond hair dressed up in a red west with a white shirt underneath, he also had a red hat and a mask over his eyes. Then there was a young woman with short silver hair and brown eyes dressed in a cloak, who was the only one among Sabertooth not glaring at him and the rest of Team B. "How did they beat us in the preliminary?" Sting questioned with a shocked look while glaring at Fairy Tail Team B.
"Tch! We must have gone too easy on them." Orga growled.
"My memory serves that we did underestimate everyone." Rufus said looking rather calm.
"It doesn't matter, the real games start now." Rogue said as he looked at Gajeel from the corner of his eye.
"That's right, they only got in first because you guys went too easy on them." A little brown furred cat in a blue west named Lector, Stings' partner said having full confidence in his partner.
"Froo thinks so to!" A little green cat in a pink frog costume, named Frosch said.
'So, that is the current most powerful guild, Sabertooth...' Neos thought with his eyes narrowed at them. That wasn't the only look Neos were sent, as various young girls in the stadium looked at him with hearts in their eyes.
"That one Fairy Tail guy looks so cool!" A girl squealed looking at Neos.
"How come someone like him is in Fairy Tail?" Another girl said looking at Neos. This however caused Neos to get some even more dangerous glares, not from the boys of the stadium, but from Ultear had her eyes closed and smiled while glaring at Neos. As he felt a chill down his spine, although she isn't there the elemental mage knows too well the feeling of danger.
"That is all the competing teams! What are your thoughts upon seeing this lineup. Yajima-san?!"
"Hmm. I wish I was young!" Yajima replied as he was eyeing some of the female competitors.
"Uhh, that's not quite what I meant... Now, then! It's time to unveil the event schedule for the Grand Magic Games!"
The next moment a massive stone pillar emerged from the ground, with various days marked on them and most of them filled with question marks, or "+battle" and with the event of the first day being called "hidden".
"A battle almost every day, huh?" Itachi said as he looked at the stone pillar board.
"This will be fun." Gajeel grinned.
"First, the contest have rankings from 1st to 8th. How a team ranks in a contest determines how many points they will earn. Additionally, a team can choose any member to participate in the contest parts. Next are the battle parts! The event organizers have chosen these matchups based on fan surveys! The battle rules are simple! Each team will square off as shown here. The winning teams will earn 10 points, while the losing teams will earn 0. In the case of a draw, both teams will be awarded 5 points. All right! It's now time for the Grand Magic Games opening game, Hidden to begin!"
"Hidden?" Mirajane questioned trying to find the purpose of the contest by its name. "Is it like hide and seek?"
"Maybe, just with a little twist." Mana replied.
"Each team will choose one to participate! The game's rules will be explained once all the competitors are ready!"
From the looks of it, Quatro Cerberus picked a big muscle guy with tanned skin and long silver hair tied into a ponytail, wearing headphones, his name is Yeager. Mermaid Heel picked a young girl with brown hair tied into pigtails with small freckles on her cheek and nose, she was dressed black shirt underneath of calf length blue overalls held up by shoulder straps, her name is Beth Vanderwood.
Raven Tail picked a short purple guy with yellow slicked back hair, that kept smirking viscously, he wore a white coat over his body, this was Nullpudding. Blue Pegasus picked out Eve. While Sabertooth picked the fancy looking guy with long blond hair dressed in red, this was Rufus Lore. While Lamia Scale picked out Lyon, so Fairy Tail Team A picked Gray, while Mana going for Fairy Tail Team B.
"All eight teams have chosen their competitors! Now for the rules of the opening game, Hidden!"