Chapter Text
As new dawn approached, the group traveled onwards, and this time with their destination set to search for Diane's Sacred Treasure, Gideon. It was brought to everyone’s attention whilst in a drunken stupor that Ban, Meliodas, and Diane had either lost, sold, or had their sacred treasure stolen in the ten years they were all apart. Much to King’s dismay and Irene's amusement.
“You know, this town’s looking to be mighty promising.” Meliodas chimed in as they arrived on the outskirts of a town known as Vaizel. Word got around that the prize for the annual fighting festival was a gigantic hammer that nobody can use. It was safe to say that they dropped any other plans that they might have had to come running.
“Why do I have to stay behind, Captain?” cried their giantess, who stomped her foot with a pout.
“You have to understand Diane, ever since a giant went haywire a few years back, Giants were forever banned from entering the town.”
Meliodas tried to soothe the girl with a calm tone of voice. Internally it was tearing him up just by the pitiful look she was giving him.
“I suppose I can stay behind with Lady Diane.” The group whipped their heads towards Elizabeth, who with a small ‘eep’, clarified with a stutter. “S-so that she’s not lonely!”
“You know, that’s not a bad idea. Nice thinking Elizabeth.”
“Alright, girl time!” cheered Diane, who gently picked Elizabeth up to set her onto her shoulder, only to realize something. “Hey Irene, don't you want to stay behind with us as well?” Irene glanced upwards to see the puppy dog eyes of Diane, and Elizabeth perched upon her shoulder waiting in earnest, before looking back at her brother. With a minute of thought, Meliodas nodded his permission. “Yes, let’s roll!!!”
“Thank you Sir Meliodas!!!”
“You girls take care of my sister will ya?!” echoed from the blonde boy as he, ban, and king began to crest the hill towards Vaizel.
“Will do Captain!”
“Good luck Sir Meliodas, Sir King, and Sir Ban!”
A few hours passed since the boys decided to head into town, and the girls were currently within the surrounding forests looking for fruits to possibly use for dinner that night, as with herbs with medicinal properties in case a team member was injured and they were unable to find a doctor. Elizabeth was crouched down within a patch of flowers surrounding a small berry bush, Diane was looking up above in case there were apples hidden within the branches, and Irene was plucking cocoa-nuts off of a nearby tree.
“I’ve almost cleared this section of trees, how about you girls?” spoke the giantess to her companions below. She had managed to gently pluck nine apples that she found edible and had dropped them within the small basket Elizabeth brought to carry their findings.
“Plucked all the Cocoa berries from this branch and not seeing any other cacao trees. What about you Elizabeth?” Irene asked before she turned around after being unable to hear the princess’s voice. “Elizabeth?!”
Diane and Irene looked around for the missing princess, beginning to get worried after a few minutes passed and still unable to find her. They were just about to chance heading into town to alert the others when they heard a scream. Elizabeth’s scream. As soon as they heard, they ran to investigate. Yet what they found was almost amusing.
“Elizabeth what’s wrong?!” cried Diane as the two came around a bend to see none other than Elizabeth on the ground, frightfully staring at a gigantic purple mushroom with an indigo-color top hovering over a bundle of tiny brown mushrooms.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Irene quietly muttered to herself, before Diane cheerfully bent down with a raised fist.
“Ingredients found, and captured!” The giant whacked the poor sentient mushroom on its head, which pissed it off because, after the initial yell of pain, a cloud of purple smoke flew out of its mouth and doused the two girls closest to it: Diane and Elizabeth. Irene had a split second warning- courtesy of Diane and Elizabeth’s screams- before diving for cover. Which was the tree she was leaning against.
As the cloud of smoke cleared, Irene chanced looking out from behind the tree. The sight in front of her had her in a mix of hilarity and confusion: Diane was no longer a 30 ft giant, but a 5’5 naked female and Elizabeth were now at a size where she could easily fit in the palm of another’s hand. The two were naked since their clothes failed to shrink with them.
“Oh, this is giving me so many mixed emotions right now.” Irene chuckled, bemused. She caught the attention of her two shrunken companions.
“Lady Irene?!”
“How come you didn’t shrink too?!” cried Diane insulted. Irene silently pointed to the tree- whose front was bathed in purple residue- behind her in answer with a smirk on her face. She barely managed to dodge a flying shoe that belonged to Elizabeth that Diane had thrown.”ArE yOU KiddINg mE?????!!!!”
—
After Irene and the now shrunken Diane finished playing cat and mouse; Diane chasing Irene around the clearing, the trio of girls decided that it was no harm if they headed down into Vaizel to surprise the boys, and help them win Diane's supposed sacred treasure, Gideon. Since Diane's clothes were way too big, she decided to wear Elizabeths instead, on the pretext that she didn’t want them to get lost, and Elizabeth was placed between her bosoms due to no clothes fitting her tiny size.
“I can’t wait to see their faces when we reveal ourselves to them.” Diane happily cried with a skip in her step. “Wait, we should probably wear a hat and cloak at first.”
“I’m sure Sir Meliodas, Sir Ban, and Sir King will be surprised in the end.”
“Don’t we know it, Elizabeth.” Irene agreed as they began to make their way down the vacant stalls towards the massive stone hill in front of them. Diane had managed to swipe a dark blue hat with a matching cloak from a stall, quickly donning both. Meanwhile, Irene decided to wear her usual white hooded cloak with red trim and golden-yellow embroidery. As they got closer they were able to see, let alone hear, the ruckus going on. One voice, in particular, sounded way too high to be human, and Diane had quickly signed herself up under the name of Matrona.
“Alright, folks, those signed up please Step on into the ring for the Elimination round!”
Diane quickly turned to Irene “Hey Irene, mind holding onto Elizabeth for me?” she asked. “ I don’t want her to get jostled around and end up injuring herself.”
“Yeah sure.” Irene held out her hands and gently gathered Elizabeth, who was covered in the fabric from the uniforms tie, within her palms.
“Thanks!!”
“Do your best, lady Matrona!” Elizabeth cries, wavering goodbye to the hooded figure who climbed into the ring. Irene and Elizabeth watched at the round progressed above, wincing as a few unlucky participants who got in Matronas way were violently thrown out of the ring to land harshly on the cobblestone ground below.
“That’s gotta hurt,” Irene said, and Elizabeth nodded in her agreement. It was five minutes later that the round came to an end, due to there only being eight participants remaining within the ring.
“That’s it for the Elimination round folks,” spoke the munchkin ref covered in a red cloak and metal helmet. “Now we’re going to go on a quick break. Contestants take this time to get refreshed and be back here in ten!”
As the ref dismissed everyone from the ring, Matrona hopped down to come to stand in front of Irene and Elizabeth, the former offering a glass of refreshing water to the cloaked girl who took it gladly.
“You know, even with the use of weapons being strictly prohibited, everyone’s still brutal,” chimed Elizabeth from where she was sitting in Irene’s right hand.
“Yeah, I kind of feel bad for all the boys that I shoved out of the ring. I know this is all fun and games, but I don’t really like it.”
“That’s the price of a fighting festival.” Irene soothed the two girls in front of her. As she was talking she couldn’t help but overhear three voices chatting behind her and to the left.
“I wonder who Matrona is, she packs one mean punch.”
“Same here, but what’s really caught my attention is the other cloaked person next to her.”
“Captain, you don’t think….”
Irene smirked under her hood at what she was hearing, and she saw Matrona share the same. Elizabeth was just about to ask the two girls what they were thinking when that same shrill voice appeared above.
“Alright, I presume you’ve all had sufficient time to restore your energy! That being said, I’d like all eight contenders to follow me into the waiting area so that we can move on to the official first round!”
“That’s my cue, bye girls.”
“Knock whoever you fight against dead Matrona” Elizabeth cheered, her high voice causing a few men around her to side-eye, dumbfounded. She noticed people were staring and quickly ran to hide within Irene's cloak. The latter gave the gawking men a fiery stare, scaring them off.
—
Inside the Building, stood all eight contenders. As ordered by the shrimp, they gathered in a single-field line, awaiting their orders.
“Alright, come on up and draw your lots! The first round contenders will be the ones who each draw the same letter. First up, Matrona” Mattona stepped forward, drawing a straw from within the tin can. Ban, Meliodas, and King were at the back of the time so they had to wait a while. Ban, of course, took it upon himself to start up a conversation.
“This sucks,” he drawled on. “ I wish they would at least hurry it up so that we can get to the finals already.”
“Don’t talk like that and end up getting knocked out before the end, okay Ban?” Meliodas refuted, moving forwards since it was his turn to draw one of the remaining straws within the cup. Ban was quick to deny everything Meliodas said, before moving forwards, his hands within his pant pockets. King, however, was leaning against chastiefol, complaining about his stomach and how the stress of waiting is killing him. After everyone finished drawing straws, they dispersed into various corners of the circular room to chat amongst themselves. They didn't get far since the shrimp silenced them all with a few words.
“Okay folks, I’m about to announce the fight cards: “ everyone turned, waiting anxiously. “ The first fight will be Griamore vs. Matrona!” the two shared a look, silently sizing each other up. “ The second match is Howzer vs. Taizoo!”
“I know him..” King muttered in amazement, before gasping. “ Now I remember, he’s a Holy Knight! I saw him with Gilthunder loads of times.”
“Well, then what's he doing at a festival like this? It would really suck if we get recognized.” Meliodas concluded before he and King whirled to face Ban, worried. “Wait, you’re the one who signed us up, right?” King whispered, anxious. “I hope you did not sign us up under our actual names by any chance did you?!”
“Don’t get your panties in a wad, I totally got your backs on this.” Ban sung, patting King on the top of his head to calm him down like a little kid.
“And here's the third match-up: King vs. Old Fart!” King couldn’t help himself, so he let off an amused chuckle, and asked who’s that and how would they use a name like that. Ban was quick to tell King he had three guesses, while a fanged, closed eye smirk made itself home on his face. Suffice to say King was flabbergasted. While the two bantered back and forth, Meliodas struck up a conversation with the old man King was set to fight.
“Hey, you made it to the finals too?”
“Thanks to liquid courage!” the old man chuckled, obviously intoxicated if the red blush and half-empty bottle of ale was anything to go by. Meanwhile, Ban was holding back a fat, transformed Harlequin. Noticing that his and Meliodas’ names have not been called yet, the duo widened their eyes. “You don’t think..”
“And finally, the fourth match-up is Meliodaf vs. Baan!” Meliodas and King badgered Ban about how he put in their names, to which Ban tried to answer for himself by claiming that he can’t work well when he’s under pressure. The situation got even tenser when Howzer came over to them.
“Hey, that’s one mighty big scar you’ve got there, and it’s exactly like that wanted poster.” Ban tensed, almost sweating. ‘And Gilthunder said that the captain of the Seven Deadly Sins is a little kid.’ Meliodas clenched his hands, read to grab onto his dragon handle, and King held onto chastiefol even tighter. “Nah you can’t be, you’ve got different names! Sorry for the confusion.”
Howzer firmly apologized for his assumption, rubbing the back of his head with his left hand sheepishly before walking away.
“I think we fooled him..?”
—
“ The Finals of the Fighting Festival are about to begin everyone!” the munchkin proclaimed from the middle of the circular ring. The gathered hundreds of spectators roared with glee, some already beginning to place bets whilst others bought a mug of Ale courtesy of Hawk, who had a gigantic barrel strapped to his backside. “The rules are simple:
1) Matches are won by either submission or K.O!
2) Fall out of the ring and you lose, then and there with no ifs or buts.
Now, let’s get to the first match: Matrona vs. Griamore!” The two contenders climbed their way into the ring, standing on opposite sides of each other. In the background, Hawk could be heard loudly advertising to the potential customers around. As Griamore was stepping into the ring, he was stopped by Howzer.
“Griamore, I’m a little surprised to see you out here. Whatever happened to your job as Veronica’s protector?”
“That's Princess Veronica to you, so you’d do well to respect her title.”
“Standing at 7 ft. tall and weighing 400 pounds. Griamore!” announced the ref, whose arms were in the air. The audience went wild, antsy for the fighting to begin and others were talking about all the muscles that were on Griamore’s body. “Standing 5 ft 5 inches and weighing an undisclosed amount: Matrona!” A few guys gave catcall whistles and asked for her measurements.
“They’re 36, 23, 35.. “ concluded Meliodas, chin resting upon his left palm with his pointer positioned under his bottom lip. King was scandalized when he asked Meliodas how he came up with that, and Meliodas’ answer was that he just knew.
“Hold on there miss,” the ref interrupted. “The hat’s fine but you’ll need to take off the cloak. Gotta make sure you aren’t hiding any weapons, just to be safe!” Matrona, in one fluid motion of unbuttoning the clasp, threw her cloak into the air to show everyone her attire: Elizabeth’s Waitress Uniform. King and Meliodas were shocked.
“Captain, that outfit! Isn’t it?”
“Yeah, no doubt about it, that’s my tavern’s uniform!”
“What the! It can’t be Elizabeth can it?” cried Hawk as he came up beside the two.
“Do you really think she’s that strong?”
“Hmm, if that’s Elizabeth, then there’s something weird going on here.”
“Something weird? What do you mean by that?”
“Her top looks a little smaller than usual, and her butt looks a little bigger.” King violently blushed at Meliodas’ conclusion, before they each turned their attention back to the ring where the Ref was about to call the match to start.
“Okay, my eagle eyes will be glued to this first match folks. Here we go. Let the party begin!!!” As the match began, Matrona darted forwards before Griamore could land in a hit, and began to rapidly punch his muscled abdomen. “Matrona is too fast for Griamore, for she rushes in and lets loose with a mirage of punches!” She continued with her assault before she had to jump backward, due to a purple, translucent orb that began to expand outwards, pushing her slowly towards the edge of the ring.
“I can’t allow myself to be defeated, it isn’t anything personal.” Griamore calmly answered, his voice becoming muffled due to the orb encompassing all of him, his arms held out to the sides with fists clenched. “This is my magical ability: ‘Wall!’”
“Hey, judging by that guy’s magic power-” Ban mused, his red eyes narrowed at the sight.
“He’s another holy knight?”
“You’re too late, sweetheart, “ Howzer spoke to himself. “ Half-assed magical abilities and physical attacks won’t work on him at all. When he’s like that all you can do is either wait for him to stop it or that he runs out of mana at some point down the line.” He let off a sigh, while the others around him began to cheer, pumping their fists in the air. ”You should've true to end this before the orb completely covered him.”
Matrona was slowly being pushed towards the edge, trying to resist with her arms crossed in front of her with an outcry of rage. From within the orb, Griamore was unamused, his storm grey irises and brows narrowed in concentration. “My wall is a symbol…of my resolve to protect Princess Veronica, and as such I insist you leave the ring!” Just before she were to fall out of the ring, she slid her right leg back and bent her left while her arms pushed out in front of her to slow her momentum.
“Whoa, thanks to Griamore’s mysterious power, Matrona’s in big trouble!”
“I’ll be advancing into the final round. If Princess Veronica were to command it, I would bring anyone to their knees, even the Seven Deadly Sins!!” From within the crowd, Meliodas, Ban, and King shared a look, silently conveying a conversation in hushed whispers.
‘He doesn’t know that there’s actually Eight? ♪ ’
‘Apparently not, what do you think Captain?’
‘Well, I guess we still have the element of surprise. Hopefully we can keep it for a little while longer.’
“EVEN MELIODAS HIMSELF!” screamed griamore. Matrona gritted her teeth and growled, raising her right hand back and forming it into a fist, new motivation courses through her body. With a battle cry, she swung. “Oh yeah? Well that’s not going to happen!” As her first made contact with the sphere, it cracked before shattering into millions of pieces, with the crowd gasping with renewed vigor and Griamore stunned. As an opening appeared from where she shattered through, Matrona ran forwards and uppercutting Griamore, sending him flying out of the ring to hand in the valley below.
Matronas hat had flew off her head, and as she landed upon the arena floor, it fluttered to land next to her, giving a clear view of who was underneath the hat, Diane. Having won, Diane thrusted her left hand into the air, pointer finger extended. The crowd went wild, and the ref announced “Matrona” as the winner.
“She broke his wall with her bare hands? spoke Howzer, astounded. “But how…” out of the corner of his eye, he saw a young girl of purple cut hair, wearing a pink cloak with brown fur and a lance with purple sheathe, yellow gem casing and light purple hilt with a star handle and blue opal attached, slowly walk away and through the crowd.
“This young lady just took out that hulk of a man with a singular punch. This year’s fighting festival is one to remember folks!” spoke the Ref, practically jumping up and down. “Matrona” twirled a strand of her hair between a finger as she looked over into the crowd with a smile.
“There’s no way it’s her” mused Ban. King was rubbing his eyes with a free fist, due to him holding chastiefol with the other.
“Captain, please tell me I’m dreaming.”
“Oh well.” giggled Matrona as she skipped her way to the rings edge, leaping to the ground in front of Meliodas and crew. “ And here I was hoping I could have stayed hidden a little while longer. Yep, It’s me!”
Meliodas, blank faced and clueless, asked her if he knew her. In reply she swung her fist into Meliodas’ chest, winding him and stomping off in anger. The crowd parted down the line to let the fuming girl pass with wide, unexpected eyes. The white cloaked being followed on silent footing. Meliodas got back to his feet once he regained his breath.
“And what did I do?”
“Captain,” said King, “you're really an idiot aren’t you.” before running to catch up to Diane and the cloaked figure, telling them to wait up. They were just about to enter the waiting area when King called out Diane’s name. Surprised, Diane turned around.
“Is it really you?”
“Yeah King.”
“What in the world happened to you, and where’s Irene and Elizabeth? Weren’t they both with you?”
“I’m here!” Spoke the tiny, high pitched voice of Elizabeth, who was hiding within the figures cloak. King leaned in towards where her voice came from, and the figure showed their cupped hands with Elizabeth clutching the necktie fabric to her body for coverage, and was hit with a nosebleed while falling backwards.
“No way, is that really you Princess ?” After regaining his footing,he reached forwards as if to touch the princess to make sure she was real, but Diane stepped forwards to block him.
“Pervert” she scolded. King was adamant on trying to tell her that he didn’t mean to, and to change the tension that was the atmosphere, he informed them that they should tell the captain as to what happened. Soon, they all found themselves within the empty waiting area while Diane was quick to inform the boys what happened.
“A giant mushroom?” he asked, and Diane nodded. “So you and Elizabeth were both hit with a shrinking toxin, while my sister took refuge behind a tree and you doned Elizabeth’s waitress uniform because you didn’t have any other clothes.”
“Yep.”