The Fantasia Parade was finally underway in Magnolia. But Ben found himself unable to attend as he went on a job with his sisters. He accepted it before he knew about the Fantasia Parade, so he can't cancel it.
This is actually Wendy's job and Ben was just there to supervise it. Her job involved finding some herbs in a dangerous forest located near the northern mountain range. It was where Ben met Morgbitt for the first time.
Not only is that place dangerous, but the herbs were also hard to find, so it will take them some time to finish the job. That's why Ben can't attend the Fantasia Parade in Magnolia. He could help Wendy finish the job a lot faster, but that won't give her the experience she needs.
They had been searching for the last 3 days and only found half of the herbs they required. Some magical creatures attacked them but Wendy and Carla defeated most of them. There were a few strong magical creatures they couldn't defeat, so Ben did it for them.
"The parade in Magnolia must have started now. I want to see it. That must be very fun." Wendy sighed while walking.
"Right?" Bella asked out loud.
"We can attend it next year or we can attend other festivals in other towns. We have accepted the job, so we need to be professional and finish." Carla pointed out.
"I know Carla, I won't quit this job just because of that. But it would be fun if we also had a festival in the village." Wendy said.
"What kind of festival can we hold in our small village?" Carla asked.
"Milk festival!" Bella exclaimed while gulping her saliva.
"You just want to get a lot of milk." Carla said while sweat dropping.
They all laugh.
"If we finish the job before this afternoon, then maybe we can go see it." Ben said.
"But we've just found about half so far." Wendy reminded him while looking down sadly.
"Nothing is impossible if you are serious. Who knows? Maybe you'll find them gathered in one spot." Ben replied, reassuringly.
"That's too good to be true, but it can happen." Carla remarked.
"Alright, let's work harder, Carla." Wendy said with raised spirits.
"Go!" Bella yelled to cheer them up.
They became more serious and searched more seriously. Wendy asked Carla to take her high in the sky and look from a higher elevation. She has sharp eyes, so she cover more areas this way.
But her strategy didn't work that well because a lot of trees block their view. Ben anticipated this, but he let them do it so they could learn from their mistakes. Finally Carla was the only one who flew while Wendy remained on the ground. They keep working to finish their job as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, the festival finally started in Magnolia. The first event is a beauty contest known as Miss Fairy Tail. Some of the guild's female members participated in the contest. They are Mira, Erza, Lucy, Bisca, Cana, Levy and surprisingly Juvia, a ex-member of Phantom Lord.
Juvia had joined Fairy Tail alongside Gajeel a few days ago. Makarov accepted them because he thought they were just following Jose's orders. Not everyone could accept it though, it all took time.
Anyway, the contest has started, but then there was trouble. Evergreen, one of the guild's other female members suddenly appeared and announced herself as the winner even though she wasn't officially participating in the contest. She had turned the other female members to stone with her Stone Eyes.
Then Laxus, a S-Class mage of Fairy Tail who is Makarov's grandson suddenly appeared along with 2 other mages, Freed and Bickslow. Everyone questioned their motives for doing this as it ruined the festival.
But then Laxus said that they will play a game to decide the strongest Fairy Tail mages. The petrified women will be held hostage to make sure that no one breaks the rules. Makarov doesn't approve, but Laxus ignored his grandfather and carried on with his plan.
Natsu was excited by this game and immediately charged at Laxus. But he was struck by lightning and instantly knocked out. Evergreen then explained that they needed to find and defeat Laxus in 3 hours or the hostages would meet their end.
Laxus and his group then leave the guild, starting the game. Everyone rushed out of the building to search for Laxus. Makarov also tried to leave, but something stopped him in his tracks. Freed had surrounded the building in his enchantments to prevent those who were over 80 years old or stone statues to leave.
With no other choice, Makarov ordered Reedus, who was still in the guild hall, to find Porlyusica who might have a cure for the petrified women. Then sometime later, Natsu woke up and tried to leave, but was unable to do so. It confused everyone because Natsu isn't 80 years old or a stone statue.
Natsu kept trying to leave, but he was unsuccessful. While this happened, fights among comrades commenced all over the city because of Freed's enchantment traps that forced them to do it. Reedus finally leaves to call for Porlyusica, but sometime later, he was defeated by Freed.
Meanwhile, Elfman searched for Laxus' bodyguards, the Thunder Legion. He needed to free his sister and he had a very frightened expression on his face. It wasn't Laxus and the Thunder Legion that had him scared, it was someone else, Ben.
"He'll kill me, he'll kill me, he'll kill me. I need to save my sister or he will really kill me." Elfman said as he ran in a panic.
Sometime later, Elfman encountered Evergreen and ran towards her. She was the ticket to her sister's freedom, so he needs to defeat her. He will usually say man this and man that, but he is too panicked to say that now.
Elfman immediately transformed into his Beast Soul and attacked Evergreen. Ben trained him a few times and now he can move as fast as a real beast. But he can't surprise Evergreen who already knew what was coming.
Evergreen dodged his attack and then they start their battle. Elfman closed his eyes to avoid being petrified and he also closed his mouth, something he didn't normally do. But it's because he remembered Ben's rage which frightened him.
He fought Ben once in a training session and was beaten up very badly. That experience was so painful he didn't want to repeat it.
Elfman fought well against Evergreen even though his eyes were closed. Ben and Mira taught him to use his beast senses and not just rely on his eyes.
Evergreen attacked him repeatedly, but Elfman didn't budge. Being beaten up by Ben and his sister during their training sessions had made him a lot tougher. Evergreen's attacks are nothing compared to that. In the end, he defeated Evergreen despite being injured.
This sudden turn of events surprised Laxus and the rest of the Thunder Legion. They didn't know when Elfman became this strong. This also turned the tide of the conflict, as Evergreen's defeat returned the female contestants to normal.
Freed said that the game was over after their hostages were freed. But it just made Laxus angry because he didn't want to stop the game. Then he announces something through Freed's enchantments that he will activate the Thunder Palace in a hour to prevent the game from ending.
"If you stop now, Magnolia will be destroyed." Laxus declared before ending the announcement.