Chapter 1 - The Guardian, the Cat and the Zodiac
Mauville City was the third largest city in the pokémon world, behind both Nimbasa and Lumiose City in the Unova and Kalos regions respectively. This was thanks to the renovation efforts carried out by the Gym Leader Wattson and with help of several people from Lumiose City, most notably their electric type specialist Clemont. One of the notable changes made was the addition of Mauville Hills, a more upstart place for those who had either the money or the luck and was built to the north west of the main shopping centre.
The apartments built there were mostly for one or two people, though there were also a fair few family apartments as well, all of them designed for five people. Although anyone could live there if they were lucky enough the only way to get access into the place was with a special keycard or someone invited you in, and everyone had to go through the main entrance, a clean lobby with several facilities including videophones.
Currently at one of those phones was Rex Vermend, an 18 year old trainer who was just under five and a half feet tall. He had short messy brown hair that fell down in a number of spikes around his head and had an average build. Rex was currently wearing a brown jacket that was unzipped, with a pair of dark brown stripes on each of the arms and two pockets. It was worn over a red shirt with a red and yellow flame pattern on the front and he also wear a pair of blue jeans and black and red shoes. There was an opal coloured Mega Wristband around his left wrist.
Standing to his right was a mostly green bipedal pokémon with yellows eyes that had a thin red rim around them and a long neck. Down her back were six yellow seeds and two thin lines running down to the tail which was an X that looked like the branch of two palm trees. The chin was red long with a stripe across her stomach. This is his starter pokémon, Sceptile.
"Isn't it like 9 hours ahead or something in the middle of Unova uncle Matt?" He asked, yawning. It wasn't even nine in the morning and had already received a notification about a video call.
On the other side of the line was an older looking person with light brown hair and facial hair in the form of a short beard. "Yeah, it is 9 hours ahead here in Unova but I haven't really talked to you for a while and would like to talk with you for a bit, especially now that you spend most of your time in Hoenn. Anyway I wanted to let you know that my brother is staying over for a few days seeing as he decided to stop by here suddenly."
Rex felt his hands ball into fists and hardened his glare. "You better not let that bastard in my room, why the hell did you have to let him in the house?" Any sleep that was present was gone and he snapped to attention, and Sceptile looked at him in concern.
"Don't be so harsh on Dean, nephew. I have made sure that he doesn't go near your room and had Gallade guard it, but it will only be for a few days because of a bit of work needs to be done to his bedroom and it's best for him to not be in the house." Matthew replied, trying to remain calm by fiddling with his beard.
There was a short hollow laugh that came from Rex. "That's a good one. Last time he stayed over for a few days it ended up being nearly two weeks and he had the audacity to go into my room, thinking I was present for some stupid reason."
"Well it's hardly surprising given that last time it happened was two years ago…" Matthew admitted, doing his best not to meet with the glare on his nephew's face before deciding to change the subject to something a little less sensitive. "Anyway I just heard from Zoe that she got her fifth ribbon in Sinnoh, it was in Alamos Town so now she can enter the Grand Festival."
This worked and Rex broke out of his cold demeanour. "Really? Well I'll probably go attend it this time as I have nothing better to do other than training with my own team. It's taking place in about three months right?"
Matthew nodded with a smile on his face. "I'll be going there to, so it'll be great to see each other in person after a couple of years." There was a noise that wasn't picked up on the videophone and he turned his head to look at it before looking back at Rex again. "It looks like you aunt is pulling up my driveway now so I better stop this conversation now before she rambles on for hours. It's nice to see you looking healthy and ready to go Sceptile, bye now!"
With that last remark the screen then just to black for several seconds before it returned to the main page which had a dark blue Poké Ball in the background and several options listed as to what to do. Rex stood up from his seat, still in a sour mood over his dad apparently being in his own home, particularly after the last time he had visited and ended up in a worse mood for several weeks. His usual relaxed demeanour was replaced by an on edge one and would frequently snap at other people and his team.
"Come on Sceptile, let's just head out to the mall and get something to eat to relax. I heard that they've got a new store that sells malasadas and Robin says they are delicious." Rex stated to Sceptile who nodded in reply and grinned at the prospect of having one of those.
Sceptile was the first pokémon that Rex officially owned as a trainer with her first battle being to stop a wild pokémon from harassing Professor Birch, who had decided to make the brilliant choice of invading the space of a pack of Mightyena and Poochyena who then began chasing him. Although most of the pack opted to simply intimidate the professor one of them followed him and it lead to her and Rex defeating the wild Poochyena before being called away by its pack. She had taken quite a liking to the young trainer during the battle and wanted to stay with him once they got back to Littleroot Town. Since then Sceptile had been a vital member of the team and was the closest in personality to her trainer.
As they walked through the mall several of the people also present began looking at him and exchanging small conversation with anyone near them. Rex shrugged it off and kept walking towards the new store where they could get a malasada, though as they passed one of the smaller corridors that led to another part of the shopping centre there was an unnerving presence.
"Did you just feel that right now? That strange feeling of being watched?" Rex asked, turning to face Sceptile.
"Tile." Her eyes narrowed slightly at the corridor and they both stopped, not sure what to think of it.
"We can get our malasada first and then investigate that feeling, which one do you have in mind?" Rex asked as they entered the Malasada Shop.
Approximately ten minutes later they came out with two malasadas, a Spicy Tamato one for Sceptile and a chocolate and vanilla flavoured one for Rex which they decided to eat outside of the store. Once they exited they attention was drawn back to the strange feeling they had gotten as they passed the corridor and found a plain door that looked like it had appeared overnight and was fitted in perfectly. Moving out to the other end they were on the other side and it looked like it was behind a clothes shop, though he saw that the few people who had even bothered to use it just carried on past it like it wasn't there.
This was making the two of them even more nervous as they stood in front of the door and getting a weird look from someone confirmed their suspicions - for whatever reason they were the only one who could see it. Once no one was looking they opened the door and it shut behind them without making a single sound and then they were in what felt like a cave, as there was a natural opening ahead of them.
"Okay, now I'm a little bit scared." Rex admitted, shaking from the sudden change in scenery.
Although Sceptile was still keeping her composure she was also feeling a little bit spooked by what was going on. She was hoping that this was all some kind of illusion and that they were going to win a prize, but something inside of her was realizing that this was not going to be the case.
They both went forwards after being certain that they were not going to panic and they exited to find that they were high up on a large golden circle, looking around they could see a long way down and then Rex realised where they could be. "Are we high up a mountain, Sceptile because from the looks of it I'd say we jumped all the way from Hoenn to either Sinnoh or Johto. Wait… WHAT?!" He shouted after realising it.
"Sceptile…" Sceptile noted wryly and then began shivering as it felt colder and then spread out her arms in preparation to attack.
Ahead of them two multicoloured spheres began forming the air with a blue light coming from one and a pink light coming from the other and expanding greatly to reveal two different pokémon, though both of them were large and had a very powerful presence to them that brought the two of them to their knees. The first was a quadrupedal blue and silver pokémon with a blue diamond on the chest and the other was a light and dark purple pokémon with a pink pearl on each shoulder.
"Greetings, human. So glad that you could finally make it, have you tried the malasada yet?" The blue one asked wryly.
"Is that the first thing that you have to ask him Dialga? You're scaring him silly." The purple pokemon responded, at least it was considering the state that Rex was in.
"Well he should have arrived ten minutes ago instead of going for a snack Palkia!" Dialga responded with a low growl and then looked over to where they were both standing.
Rex was shaking with fear as the words rang in he head and had understandably forgotten about not being scared and was instead absolutely terrified he began moving up and down repeatedly, bowing in hope of placating the two of them for some unknown crime he must have committed. "Please have mercy on me! I don't know what I did but I promise that I will make up for whatever horrible crime I committed just please don't hurt me! If it was for my use of bad language not so long ago then I'msorryaboutitandIcanassureyou..." All of the words coming out of his mouth were becoming incomprehensible.
Sceptile was somewhat amused at this outbreak at first before she ended up becoming annoyed more then anything and then smacked Rex in the head and made his world spin for a few seconds. "Thank you." He grumbled before jumping behind Sceptile in fear, effectively making her a shield "If you're going to attack then please attack her instead of me! I'm not built to withstand those kind of attacks!" Sceptile was surprised at this and then got annoyed that she was being used as a shield. Even though she knew a dragon move she wouldn't be strong enough to defeat one of them let alone both.
Both of the two large dragons just stared at him for several seconds before breaking out into a roa of laughter and it took them a minute to settle down before they cleared their throats and started talking again. "As amusing as that little outburst was that's not why you are here. The reason you are here, Rex Vermend, is that we need you help." Dialga stated.
"As you know I am Palkia, the ruler of space. My brethren here is Dialga, ruler of time." Palkia picked up.
Dialga growled in annoyance. "I wanted to be called Time Lord but Space Lord apparently didn't flow so well." He muttered under his breath.
"Wait… why do I need to help two legendary pokémon who rule space and time? Isn't this a problem you can just wish away or something?" Rex asked.
There was a sudden roar from Dialga who was surrounded by a light blue aura. "If we could we would have a long time ago, you moron!" Came the powerful bellow.
Palkia sighed and emitted a calming pink aura to counteract the blue one coming from the other dragon and the pressure in the surrounding area equalized. "Ignore Dialga, he's been in a bad mood for the past decade. What he should be saying is that this is a more complicated matter than simply wishing it away by using our powers."
Three more lights blinked in to reveal three similar but different pokémon, each of them had a blue body and a red gem in their head, along with two tails that each also had a red gem. Their differences lay in their heads; the first one had a yellow head with closed eyes, the second one was pink with yellow eyes, and the third one had a darker blue head and yellow eyes as well.
"These three pokémon are Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf and will help us in our part of the task." Palkia introduced and then turned to face Dialga.
Both large dragons moved backwards and then roared and their respective coloured aura began intensifying as the area began shaking slightly, with Rex and Sceptile moving their feet apart to keep themselves upright as a grey cloud that spread over the whole area and the wind picked up. There was a ripple in the air that expanded and ribbons of rainbow coloured energy began streaming out as a large white pokémon came out of it, with several grey spots and a yellow wheel with four red jewels, one in each corner and yellow at the tips of what looked like hooves. Something the two of them did notice was that the pokémon was looking pale and sickly, and faltered for several moments before righting himself and managing to land himself on the floor.
Greetings, chosen human. I am Arceus, the Alpha pokémon and the creator of the universe and all pokémon, the God of them all if you want to refer to me as one. Arceus spoke telepathically to Rex and despite the fact that Arceus was not looking so well it was still an incredibly powerful voice that brought him to his knees.
"Getting onto the reason why you were brought here, it's because Arceus is dying and we need you to use his powers." Palkia stated outright.
Once Rex has processed that information he stood back up and began asking rapid fire questions. "Wait a second, if you created the universe then how can you die? How is this going to work? Do I get a say in this? Where the heck do I go? Why me?"
Dialga was getting more and more irritated by the minute. "ONE AT A TIME!" He roared, silencing Rex.
There was silence for a minute before Rex began asking his questions one by one. "First one is how is this going to work?"
Most of my life comes from the powers of the Plates for each of the types available, except for the Normal type but I'll get to that in a bit. So I will transfer several of them into your body with the help of the lake guardians and then Dialga and Palkia will send you to another world. With each Plate you'll be able to use all of the attacks by that type as well as their weaknesses and resistances, though as there isn't a Plate for the Normal type so it will be your default Forme. In addition you will also be able to use some abilities associated with that type. Arceus explained, keeping his focus on the human and Sceptile.
"So does that I would be able to fly on my own if I use the Plate for the flying type?" Rex asked, thinking about some of the possibilities.
"Genius." Dialga snarked.
Examples of others abilities include being able to breathe underwater with the Splash Plate, withstand more extreme temperatures with the Flame Plate and with the Iron Plate you can even armour up your body and provide a greater resistance to your body. But you can only start with five Plates your body, though it will be six including the base Forme. Arceus explained, ignoring the comment that Dialga had made.
"Why?" Rex asked, confused.
Palkia answered the question. "Arceus was born with that power so he can naturally wield it but a human body is much more fragile and it will take some time for you to get used to it as well. If you tried using them all at once then your body would explode on the spot."
In addition you will have to collect each of the Plates, and the more they are used the more your body can get used to it as well. Furthermore you can also don the appearances of Legendary Pokémon as long as you have the corresponding Plates, but use that power wisely as it burns through it at a much faster rate than normal. Arceus explained further, putting a heavy emphasis on wisely and began coughing.
This was quite a lot to take in and Rex spent several minutes processing what he had been told and was still shaking slightly from all of it. "Next question, how are you of all pokémon dying?"
There was a light chuckle from Arceus before he cleared his throat. Believe it or not I am a very old being, Rex Vermend. I am easily many times older than every living human on the pokémon world put together, as in several billion years old.
Rex paled in horror at this revelation and began stuttering for an answer but ended up with nothing and then moved on to the next. "W-where do I g-go?" He asked shakily.
Not here in the pokémon world, I'm sorry but your powers would stick out like a sore thumb so I had the two of them search for a world where you would fit in best. Arceus replied with a hint of guilt.
Rex and Sceptile exchanged a look of both shock and horror at the prospect of this and realised the implications of it. If they had to go to another world then they would be missing Rex's uncle, aunt and nephews as well as all of their friends and rivals they have made. "Wait a second, is it possible for me to decline this?"
This irritated Dialga but Palkia intervened before he could retort. "You can walk away from this if that is what you want, though to protect the Hall of Origin we will modify your memories slightly." The large purple dragon explained.
This earned him a glare from the blue legendary though he backed down once Arceus also gave him a look. Palkia is correct, you do have the option to walk away from this. I wouldn't dream of forcing this on anyone. We have several others in mind based on multiple factors.
Rex took a few steps back to think this over, realising that this was going to be the most important decision of his life and that there was more than just the world at stake. His biggest worry was his relatives and how they would cope without him, but what would happen if he walked away? Sure he'd be able to see his family and friends but this was also a chance for something different to happen and it would be throwing it away. It took several minutes for him to come to the conclusion that he wanted help them, even if it meant not be able to see his friends and family.
Turning backwards the group of legendary pokémon could see a renewed determination. "Okay, I'll help you. So where am I going to go?"
"In a land far, far away lies the kingdom of Fiore, a small, peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some, however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards. Banded together into magical guilds, they ply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore. But there is a certain guild in a certain town that soars high above the rest, one from which countless legends have been born. A guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. Its name... is Fairy Tail." Palkia narrated.
Both Rex and Sceptile gave him a deadpan look. "Is that supposed to be some sort of opening narration?" He asked.
Arceus smiled as that and nodded to the three lake guardians who each stood several feet away from him and the three gems on each of them began glowing a red colour. Please return your Sceptile now and then declare the five Plates that you start with.
This was something Rex didn't think about and began mulling it over, considering the possible types that he wanted to start with. The first that came to his mind was Water as he expected to find one or two of them underwater and it would also allow him to fight much better underwater and Flying to have an aerial advantage, those two were the only ones Rex was certain about. Fighting was the next one he decided upon as he needed lots of powerful physical attacks and Fire to have a lot of powerful ranged attacks that can be boosted even further.
As for the last one it was a toss up between Electric and Psychic, the former for being able to paralyze opponents which would be extremely helpful in battle and the latter for having a number of good support moves and being able to move things with his mind was equally appealing. After mulling it over for a moment he returned Sceptile to her Poké Ball and spoke up. "The five types are Water, Flying, Fighting, Fire and Electric."
Arceus planted himself firmly on the floor opposite Rex and a yellow circle in a similar pattern to the ring around the body of the Alpha pokémon accompanied by another golden ring outside that began releasing a powerful energy that directed itself towards Rex's body slowly then it came surging in. Keep standing, do not falter otherwise it will reject you! Focus! He ordered in a demanding voice.
Rex had almost fell down on both of his knees and was already on one but managed to stand up, though all of this power was going to his head and already felt the world beginning to spin around him. The outside ring then became a fiery red and his body felt really warm, then the ring glowed a sea blue colour and his body cooled down, then yellow, sky blue and a brick red colour. After what felt like forever the energy stopped flowing into his body.
Good luck, we won't be able to help you unless it's an extreme emergency though so don't do anything reckless, understand? Arceus stated and then nodded to both Dialga and Palkia. The lake guardians scattered and they both began emitting an aura as they began using their powers to send him to Fiore.
"I'll try." Rex replied, and he could see that made Arceus chuckle in amusement. It was better than nothing. The last thing that he saw was an orb of energy encompass him and then everything faded to black.
Fiore, Hargeon Town
When Rex woke up, he found himself in motion and then saw that he was on some sort of train and that there were several other people in the carriages. Something that did catch his attention though was that the train was slowing down and assumed that he was approaching some sort of town, and saw that he bag was still there. There was something else that felt different but he couldn't put his finger on what it was.
Rex stood up and moved to the nearest doors on the train carriage when he caught a person and a cat sitting down, with the person doubling over in pain, was he suffering from motion sickness?
The young male was lean and muscular, with pink spiky hair and black eyes and he was scattered across the whole seat. He was wearing a sleeveless black waistcoat with a gold trim that was left open and untucked, and was the only thing his was wearing on his chest. There was a brown belt that held up white knee length trouse and there was a black armband around his left arm, and around his neck was a white scarf that looked like scales of some kind. He was also wearing a large red overcoat.
Standing across him was a round blue cat with black eyes, a white underbelly and carried a small green bag on his back.
"Is this normal?" Rex wondered out loud, noticing the train had just stopped at Hargeon.
"Aye." To his amazement it was the cat that answered it and he gave said cat a strange look. "This happens all the time."
Seeing the cat act as this was perfectly fine was even more confusing so he decided to lift Natsu up and found that he was stronger than he initially thought and then they got off the train and Rex gently set the young male down on the platform after a few seconds the male then jumped up with a grin on his face.
"Alright I'm off that cursed train!" He declared in an energetic tone, looking completely healthy.
What sort of world is this?! Rex thought and sweatdropped. Whatever doubts he had had about blending in evaporated pretty quickly and realised it was going to be easier than he expected.
"Thank for it man! My name's Natsu and this is Happy." Natsu introduced himself, grateful for being carried off the train.
"Uh, no problem. I'm Rex." Rex replied cautiously, still trying to not freak out slightly over the fact that he could perfectly understand what Happy was saying. He was secretly glad that he couldn't understand what his pokémon were saying and then made a mental note to eat the malasadas that they bought all the way from Mauville City.
To his surprise he saw Natsu's nose twitching. "You don't smell like you come from around here, did you travel a long way?" He asked.
Rex was surprised at this question, as he had feared that Natsu would be suspicious but it was becoming more and more apparent that Natsu wasn't a very bright person. "Yeah, I've been travelling to Fiore for the past month or so. I've come here to look up the list of Guilds and join one of them."
Natsu nodded. "Oh okay, you could end up in the same Guild as me then!" He grinned and then showed off a red mark on his right shoulder that looked like half a heart was on fire but at the same time it looked like it was some sort of creature though he couldn't make out what it was.
"So which Guild is this?" Rex asked slowly.
"Fairy Tail. Happy is also a member." Natsu grinned, with Happy moving the green bag to reveal a similar coloured mark on his back.
That name made Rex remember in Palkia's narration while he was in the Hall of Origin and realised that he would be in the same guild as this person if he joined. It didn't look like a bad thing so far though he wasn't completely certain of it yet and simply nodded. "Sure, I'll consider it but I really need to get going now." He stated nervously and then began heading towards the exit of the train station, quickly leaving the two people he had just met behind.
"What's his problem? It's not like he's in any rush or something." Natsu frowned.
"Aye. So where should we start looking?" Happy asked as they began walking.
Although Rex did intend to join Fairy Tail he would at least look up the other guilds to see which ones were available, as well as a map of Fiore too. Another problem that he realised was that he had a lack of money, or whatever the local currency was for Fiore as they never really told him. Rex rubbed his eyes in slight annoyance as he then began looking for an information area or some sort of shop that he could get some money from and then came across a pawn shop that didn't look all too well lit inside.
Looking inside it was definitely not the most well kept shop either as there was dust gathering on some of the shelves, to the point where he brushed a finger to inspect it and shuddered inside. Hopefully I still have something left inside my bag to sell that's at least worthy. Rex thought and then began sorting through his bag and ended up coming up with a strange blue-black shard that was no bigger than the palm of his hand. Realising that it probably wasn't going to be worth much and instead came out with a similar sized copper coin.
The person who ran the shop came in, and was a burly man who looked at him in a way that dared him to try something. "What do you want, kid?" He asked in a gruff tone.
The fact that he called him a kid got on his nerves, especially considering that the man was smaller than him but decided to swallow his annoyance and presented the copper coin. "I want to sell this."
The man then grunted and pulled out a microscope of sorts and then began inspecting it for several moment, not really giving much away though his silence certainly got Rex's hopes up in something that was at least decent. "This is a strange coin, kid. I don't know much about it so you're going to have to tell me more about it."
Rex noted that the date was X784 and realised that he had to make something up in order to convince him to sell it for a good price. "It's an old copper coin from approximately three hundred years ago that was an old form of currency where I come from. Even back in my home country this is pretty rare."
"You're accent is weird kid, you know that?" The man smiled wryly and then went back to observing the coin. "It has the age and looks authentic, though since I've never seen one of those before this will only be a rough estimate but I'd say about 20,000-40,000 Jewel."
From the way he talked about the price it certainly sounded like a lot but also it sounds like that it wasn't much. "So can you do it for 40,000 then?" Rex inquired.
"...I'll do it for 30,000 Jewel but that's the best I can do." Came the stiff reply.
Realising that arguing was going to get him nowhere Rex accepted the amount and then counted the notes in his hands, spotting 30 lots of 1000 Jewel notes and stuffed all of them back into his bag before leaving the shop, and saw that several girls were running towards someplace with most of them screaming in joy and admiration.
"Quick! It's Salamander!" "The Salamander? I have to get his autograph!" "Well I'm gonna get him to go on a date with me!" They were screaming as fangirls would scream.
Salamander? What the hell is this all about? Rex thought as he jogged towards a small crowd of girls surrounding a man that Rex assumed to be Salamander.
'Salamander' was a tall slim person with short, spiky blue hair with black eyes and an odd purple tattoo above his right eye. His wore a purple long coat with gold trimmings, that had a light blue circle with many arrows pointing away from the centre attached like a ring. Around his wrists were several gold bracelets and a pair of rings around two fingers on his right hand, this purple long coat was worn over a right shirt. Salamander also wore wine coloured pants and black shoes.
He was waving towards the crowd and got a chorus of adoration from all of the surrounding girls, except for a blonde haired one who was blushing. Rex was also not the only male to come to see what was going on as both Natsu and Happy were running eagerly towards them.
"Igneel! Igneel!" Natsu grinned as he pushed his way through to the front and fell forwards. Rex was surprised to see the blonde girl suddenly regain focus, and then looked at Salamander with a suspicious feeling in his gut.
There was a moment of silence when Natsu looked up and then began walking away dejectedly. "You're not Igneel."
Unfortunately for Natsu, the fangirls were being a little bit aggressive and began dogpiling him and beating him up in an amusing fashion. "How rude!" "Yeah, Salamander is like a totally amazing wizard!" They all stated angrily.
Salamander rubbed his forehead with the two fingers that also had the rings around them. "Now, now let's not do anything rash such as beating him up, it was probably an honest mistake." He stated smoothly and then the girls all fawned over him again. The way they all went from happy to angry to happy again definitely confirmed Rex's suspicion that Salamander was using some sort of magic to get them to attract him.
"What about you young man? Have you heard of me?" Salamander then turned to face Rex with a smooth smile on his face.
"I've heard about you just now, but not before." Rex shrugged it off and then got beaten up comically as well by the fangirls. This part of whatever magic Salamander was using was beginning to really get on Rex's nerves and he had half a mind to beat him up, though without using one of the Plates to help him.
A small purple magic seal appeared in the air and then Salamander began writing something in a strange pinkish fire. When he finished it the board had his signature painted in a blue colour and handed it towards Rex, who decided to accept it wordlessly to avoid being beaten up again by the fangirls. That being said he still looked uncertain but put on a fake smile and just accepted it with every intention of burning it when he had a moment to spare.
"How grand." Rex stated with false enthusiasm.
Salamander didn't catch on and just waved over to his whole fangirls who were squealing in admiration at him. "All of you lovely ladies are invited to my party onboard my yacht this evening! My apologies for having to cut our time short but I have to make preparations." This disappointed them all and a red seal appeared underneath him and he was elevated by a ring of purple fire and then began heading in the direction of the docks.
The crowd eventually dispersed which left only the small group of Rex, Natsu, Happy and the blonde girl who had been snapped out of Salamander's magic. This blonde haired girl wore a sleeveless white and blue shirt along with a short blue skirt held up by a belt with a ring that held several gold and silver keys along it. She also wore a black whip on her belt.
"Thanks for helping me out back there! My name is Lucy. I know I may not look like much but I am a wizard too." She introduced herself as Natsu and Happy. "I know how I can make up to you though?"
They were mystified at first but then she lead them all to a restaurant and got them a table. The menu was mostly familiar with Rex and then he made up his mind on a medium cooked steak with gravy and a small assortment of vegetables. Lucy also ate a single dish, but Natsu and Happy were eating quite a lot of different dishes and their plates began piling up and they were also eating rather sloppily. They weren't the only ones to notice their not so good manners as several other patrons had also noticed.
"Can't you calm down a bit? It's not like your food is going to run away." Rex stated, staring at them for a moment in annoyance.
"Mmmmrreee." Natsu mumbled through his food and was currently working through some meat on bone, completely ignoring what Rex had just said. Happy was chowing down on some blue coloured fish as well and the other two members at the table just stared at them for several seconds in amazement.
After taking a bit of steak and eating it carefully he turned to Lucy. "Since you said that you were a wizard, does that mean you're going to join a Guild soon if you're not already one?" Rex asked.
"Yep!" Lucy grinned in reply.
"Oh really? Well Rick here is also going to apply to join a Guild." Natsu grinned as he moved on to a pasta dish.
"Rex." The male in question corrected.
"Really? What Magic do you use?" Lucy asked curiously. Natsu and Happy also looked at him eagerly.
There was a carrot in Rex's throat and he nearly choked on it and took a drink of water. "Uh… describing it is not an easy job so I'll pass until I can think of an accurate description. So what was the deal with that Salamander guy, what was the Magic he used?"
Lucy was impressed with this deduction. "That Salamander guy was using Charm Magic to get the other girls to fall for him, but those were outlawed several years ago by the Magic Council so he had to have pulled quite a few strings to get his hands on one of them. As for the Guild, I'm going to join the most popular one in Fiore and they're always featured in Sorcerer Weekly!" She began explaining, eventually slipping into a fangirl like grin though it was different compared to those wooed by Salamander.
"You talk a lot." Happy observed.
Rex then remembered something from earlier. "Wait, who is this Igneel? When you came across this Salamander fellow you mentioned Igneel several times, so who is he? Some sort of wizard?"
Natsu grinned before replying, "Igneel isn't a wizard, he's a dragon. We came looking for him after hearing rumors that he was in Hargeon Town so we came here to find him."
This made Lucy jump up in shock from that revelation. "Seriously? But dragons haven't been seen for over 400 years! Why would a dragon be flying around a town anyway? Don't give me that look!" Lucy cried out when they both raised a hand (or paw in Happy's case) and they both had their mouths open in shock.
If Fiore hadn't seen a dragon in more than 400 years then I wonder how they would react to the likes of Palkia and Dialga, and then there is also the other dragon pokémon in the pokémon world. Rex thought to himself with a wry grin.
Once they had eaten their meal though she pulled out some money to pay for all of the food that they had eaten, though Rex insisted that he paid for his meal as well. "Well I guess I'll see you around." Lucy stated as she got up to leave but to their amazement both Natsu and Happy were on their knees and bowing to her on the floor.
"Thank you for paying for our meal!" They both stated with some tears coming from their eyes.
"There is no need to do that!" Lucy burst out, and Rex put his hand to his face.
Not long after the two of them left both Lucy and Rex also left the restaurant and they went their separate ways. He was wandering through the streets, wondering why things were feeling different now than earlier when he looked like and then spotted a mirror in the window.
The first thing he noticed was that he gained some height, probably about a couple of inches. Rex now had shoulder length hair which was mainly white, save for a couple of golden locks that came down his forehead. His eyes were now green and wore a small diamond shaped earring on both ears. His white jacket falls down between his waist and knees and has a golden outline around it and is worn over a light green shirt accompanied by a short red tie, with the sleeves of the jacket rolled back. Rex had a black and gold belt which held up his white trousers and had a pair of gold, white and red boots to match.
Looking down at his Mega Wristband it looked much the same but there was a yellow line around the middle with two small red jewels either side of the Key Stone. "You know, I actually kinda like this look." He muttered to himself, turning around so that he could see both of his sides. It was then that he remembered something and took out the two bags with the malasada's in them then he put them back in his bag and set off to find somewhere more remote where revealing Sceptile wouldn't attract as much attention.
Elsewhere Lucy was now in the park and taking out the latest issue of Sorcerer Weekly, a magazine that focused on wizards and Guilds. She was currently reading an article about Fairy Tail and laughing about their exploits. "Whilst the bandits were defeated, Fairy Tail destroyed seven homes in the process! That's even better than destroying the clock in another town!" Lucy read out loud and began laughing again, then sat up properly once she calmed down. "I can't wait to join them."
"I'm sorry but did you say that you wanted to join a Guild?" Salamander asked, popping out from behind the bushes.
Lucy jumped in surprise. "What?" She blurted out.
"Haven't you forgotten about my party? It would be such a shame for a pretty girl like you to come along." Bora stated in a flirtatious tone.
"Don't be ridiculous! I know you're using that Charm to get the girls to come to you, it's weakness is awareness. I'm not going to go out with a creep like you!" Lucy responded, pointing a finger at Salamander.
There was a look of hurt from Salamander upon being called a creep but that was soon replaced with another flirtatious smile. "Not only do you have good looks but you also have brains right? So you want to join Fairy Tail, then have you heard of the famous wizard Salamander?"
Lucy was struggling for a moment as she felt the conflicting emotions in her head. "Y-you mean Salamander of Fairy Tail? Are you that famous Salamander?" It was at this point her face began turning red, thinking that he was also hot on top of being a very famous wizard from a Guild.
"The one and the same. If you come along to my party I might be able to convince the Master of Fairy Tail to let you join the Guild." Salamander tempted her.
Although Lucy was perfectly aware of the fact that he was using Charm magic, the prospect of her finally joining Fairy Tail overrode that sense of awareness and she fell for him, with a stream of hearts coming out of her mouth. "Yes please!" She quickly replied.
"Then I'll see you there tonight at the dock, aboard my yacht." Salamander replied and used the same Spell from earlier to lift himself in the air and carry him away towards the docks. Lucy got infuriated by the fact that she had fallen for his charms but got over it and grinned at the thought of being able to join Fairy Tail, then she began moving to the town.
After finally finding a space in the same park that Lucy had been in and it was approaching evening and the sun was beginning to set, turning the sky a nice orange colour the closer to the sun that one person looked. Since there were fewer people around this made it a much better opportunity to send out his pokémon now and he took out Sceptile's Poké Ball.
If anyone had actually bothered to look in the direction of the brief flash they could see a strange green lizard materialising seemingly out of thin air. "Sorry about that, but I had to make sure that no one was watching. The malasadas are probably cold right now so the spice will not taste as good." Rex explained as he handed the small bag containing the red coloured malasada.
Sceptile nodded for several moments and began eating some of her spicy malasada. "You know this is actually pretty good. Maybe if we get to go back to the pokémon world then Sceptile wants to get another… What's wrong with you?" She answered with a confused look on her face.
Rex was shaking slightly whilst he tried to take a bite of his malasada. "Y-you talked!" There was a pause and then he frowned. "Why do you refer to yourself in the third person?"
"What are you going on about? Sceptile has always been able to speak and has always referred to herself in the third person." Sceptile replied, clearly still not getting it and then choked on her next piece of malasada as she realised that he perfectly understood what she was staying.
"I can understand you, that's what you're thinking right?" Rex grinned as he began eating his malasada, the chocolate and vanilla filling was creamy and in two separate halves and was much better than he expected. When they had finished the sun had mostly set down and the majority of the orange had faded and simply cleared the way to the blue of night.
"So what has happened today?" Sceptile asked and Rex began explaining everything from when he was on the train through his meeting with Salamander and Lucy as well as their discussion about Igneel, and saw that Sceptile had also grinned at that fact. They definitely had the same idea and then looked out over towards the lit up boat in the distance. "So what do you intend to do about this Salamander guy? Sceptile knows that you don't trust him."
"Well I'll follow Salamander but I won't send you out again until later." Rex stated before slinging his bag over his shoulder and taking out the Poké Ball and Sceptile disappeared in a flash of red before heading over towards the yacht, though for some reason he still kept the signature of Salamander in his bag.
Getting closer he saw that the yacht was surprisingly modern and interesting, part of the upper deck was supported by four pillars. The boat had four floors on top of the main deck area along with several lines of rope going up to the open section of the top floor that overlooked the rest of the deck. As Rex got closer he then hid in one of the shadows and then used Camouflage to blend in with his surroundings and began sneaking around then jumped silently on the open upper deck and then began waiting.
All the way back in Hargeon, Natsu and Happy were looking over out towards the bay of Hargeon. "Is that the boat on which Salamander was hosting that stupid party?" Natsu groaned as the thought of being on a boat made him queasy.
"Aye." Happy nodded.
A pair of girls were walking by and were clearly discussing about the fact that Salamander had passed through the town. "Aww, I didn't get to go to Salamander's party and I had the perfect outfit for it too." One of them was complaining about it, that was loud enough for both Natsu and Happy to pick it up and look at them.
"Yeah and that Salamander said he was a wizard of the Fairy Tail Guild right? Not only is he handsome but he's also a famous wizard." The other one of them stated.
Natsu then looked at the girl who had said that last sentence with a strange look on his face, that was distant and he looked down at the ground. "Fairy… Tail…" He muttered under his breath and Happy looked up at him in response to that statement before they both looked out at the boat again with Natsu feeling wheezy again before setting off in pursuit of the yacht.
"Lucy, right? That's a lovely name." Salamander smiled.
Back on the yacht Lucy had changed into a wine coloured dress and blue high heeled shoes and was currently in a room with Bora that was light and rather spacious with light blue walls and there was a small table with a bottle of wine and two glasses. After pouring out a glass for Lucy, Bora used Telekinesis to move orbs of liquid from her glass of wine and towards. "How about a drink to celebrate your beauty and becoming a part of Fairy Tail?" He asked with a smile on his face.
Lucy seemed to agree with this at first but then swatted them away when she figured something. " What do you think you doing? I know what you were up to, you were trying to use Sleep Magic." Bringing his hand to his face revealed a ring with a crescent moon on it.
"Very impressive." Salamander noted wryly.
"Look, I don't want you to get the wrong idea. Yes, I really want to join the Fairy Tail guild but I'm not here to become your boyfriend." From outside an open window, a camouflaged Rex was listening to the whole thing.
Salamander stood up and moved away from the table slightly. "My, you're quite a handful aren't you?" He asked, his attitude was beginning to change and then the light blue curtains came back to reveal that a group of large and burly men were carrying unconscious women. They were grinning and chuckling coldly, looking down at Lucy.
"What's going on here?!" Lucy jumped up and turned to face them.
Salamander's attitude changed from suave to sinister. "Welcome to my ship, you'd be wise to behave yourself until we'd make it Bosco. Don't make me angry."
"WHAT?! But you'd said that you would take me to Fairy Tail!" Lucy scowled at him.
Salamander scoffed and looked away in amusement. "I just said that to lure you onto the ship, once you get to Bosco you're going to be a slave." He replied. The other male members of his crew let out a chuckle of amusement.
Lucy made a move to get one of her keys out but Salamander saw it and then created a red seal and a stream of fire circle around her before smacking it out of her hand and into the hands of Bora. "So you use Celestial Spirit Magic? Only the wizard who has a contract with those spirits can use these so they are useless to me. Oops." He accidentally threw them out of the roof and overboard into the ocean.
Lucy looked down at the ground in frustration, with her Celestial Spirits out of the game there was no way she could defend herself and that her dream to get into Fairy Tail was over already. She along with everyone else on the ship wasn't aware of a faint flash of light and they sound of a single person quietly diving in the water and swimming away from the boat was also lost on them.
"I can't believe that you would use Magic to prey on others." Lucy cried.
Salamander ignored this and the held up a branding iron with a red hot mark on the end of it. "If you stop struggling then your slave brand will be quick and painless." He grinned.
"You guys are the worst!" Lucy shouted in defiance.
There was a loud crashing sound from above and they were all surprised to see that the pink haired man from earlier make his loud entrance through the roof and stared at Salamander for several moments before going down to his knees. Everyone who was conscious (aside from Rex) just looked at him in complete and utter silence. "I'm gonna hurl!" He complained.
"Talk about a lame rescue!" Lucy complained.
Then the second person or rather a green creature that no one had seen before jumped through the hole of the roof and landed without a word. "Your know Sceptile was told about your problem with moving vehicles but this was not expected."
"Hey Lucy, what are you doing here." Happy stated as he flew through the roof.
"This jerk kidnapped me and said that he was going to let me into Fairy Tail. How are you flying?!" Lucy asked in surprised.
Happy flew down and then wrapped his tail around Lucy's body. "Nevermind that, we need to get out of here!"
Salamander snapped out of his stupor and cast a spell. "Prominence Whip!" A red seal appeared and then multiple purple streams of fire then appeared and began trying to attack Happy and Lucy. He was agile enough to dodge them all and the purple streams of fire exploded in the air.
As he crew aimed a bunch of weapons and started firing, Sceptile sprang into action and then the leaves on her arms extended and began glowing green and she then swung them at some of the weapons that fired small magical blasts. Several of the weapons broke into two pieces and the crew aboard the yacht turned to face the speedy creature.
"When did that lizard cut our weapons?" One of the crew asked in surprised.
"Sceptile is not a lizard! She's more of a plant lizard." Sceptile responded, put off slightly.
Then she dashed towards the left when she saw a stream of purple fire being conjured up by Salamander and then chase her. Sceptile used her Leaf Blade again and clashed with one of the swords held up by the crew and she held her ground before overpowering the sword and then forcing him back into another one and then Sceptile's claws began glowing red. Her body was then surrounded by a brief yellow aura and she then dodged another blast of fire from Salamander.
This room is too small, a larger space would be better. Sceptile thought as she hit the wall of the room and then began slicing it behind her, forming a circle. Then she received a blow to the back and crashed through onto the deck. Natsu was still unconscious though and the others weren't paying any attention to him. She retreated to the helm of the ship.
"Forget about them and move on." Salamander stated as he looked out towards Happy and Lucy, then turned his attention to the creature who had identified itself as Sceptile.
Natsu managed to gather the strength to get through the door and then managed to get some words out. "Fairy… Tail…"
From high up, Lucy and Happy were observing the battle. "Shouldn't we go down and pick up Natsu?"
"I can only carry one at a time and there is one more thing. I'm almost out of Magic." Happy added and his wings disappeared. They both fell into the water with a splash and surfaced almost immediately after.
Someone else broke the water near them and they saw that it was Rex who then swam over to them. "What's the idea of taking a bath when you're fully clothed Lucy?" He asked, completely oblivious to what had just happened.
"It's not like I wanted to take a bath!" Lucy protested and then stopped once she saw something in Rex's hand underwater. "Quick, give me those keys!"
Once she received the keys, Lucy then quickly took one out with a gold key that looked like an urn with two blue waves on it and grinned. "Open, Gate of the Water Bearer: Aquarius!" She called out and as she turned the key in the water and then the area around the key began shining and a spiral of water appeared.
Aquarius was a mermaid with long blue hair and a blue tail with several yellow curves on the side of the tail. She wore a gold armlet and bracelet and also had a golden belt around her waist. Aquarius was carrying a pale urn and for some reason had her eyes shut.
"A fish!" Happy cried out with his mouth watering.
"Not for you! Aquarius, take out that boat!" Lucy commanded but Aquarius didn't say anything and in response merely made a tch noise. "Hey, don't you dare give me attitude!"
"I don't think that's the best thing to do Lucy." Rex advised.
"Whatever." Aquarius brushed off as she opened her eyes to reveal that they were dark blue, seemingly without any pupils. "Listen, the next time you even think about dropping my key you're dead, got it?" She asked, glaring at the trio in the water.
"Yes ma'am!" They all stated, even though she was Lucy's Spirit.
Aquarius then began drawing in water to the urn, once that was complete she let out a roar and all the stored water then shot out of the urn and created a powerful wave of water that engulfed everything around her. The ship and the group who were already in the water despite the fact that Lucy stated she wanted Aquarius to aim for the ship.
"What's the big idea of dragging us into this as well?!" Lucy cried out in protest.
The giant wave crashed into the harbour and sent water everywhere, spreading it out through the Town. The leftover water began raining down for several seconds before it subsided and they were all in the sand, though Happy's head was half buried and Rex his the sand face first and skid through it for several metres. "This is gonna leave a mark." Rex groaned as he got up wiped the sand off of his face.
"You didn't have to go and get us caught up in the wave too! It was just the yacht I was hoping to get beached!" Lucy shouted to Aquarius.
"I'm sorry I must have got the yacht but accident." Aquarius replied moodily and then smirked at Lucy's outraged reaction. "By the way don't think about summoning for two weeks as I'm going on a date with my boyfriend." She put emphasis on the last word before disappearing in a flash of golden light.
"You don't need to brag about it!" Lucy shouted and looked around. "Hang on, where did Rex go?"
Back at the harbour the yacht was laying on its side and looking greatly damaged after that powerful wave, including some of the buildings, though none of them collapsed. The side of the yacht that was facing upwards looked like it had half collapsed and everyone was getting up and looking round, disoriented from the giant wave.
"What the heck just happened?" Sceptile groaned as she stood up. She was on the side of the boat and yelped as she realised that Natsu was there too, and saw that Salamander was down there and looking right up at them.
Rex came over and saw the carnage caused by Aquarius' large wave of water. This was not what he expected when he saw Lucy summon that spirit and looked up to see that Natsu was standing up, looking perfectly normal again.
"Natsu are you okay?" Lucy asked as she came over alongside Happy, although the cat stopped her by spreading out his wings.
"You said that you came from Fairy Tail Guild right?" Natsu asked calmly, looking down on Salamander and his crew.
Salamander grinned in amusement. "So what's it to you? Go and get him!"
"Don't worry about him. I should have mentioned this to you earlier but Natsu is a wizard as well." Happy revealed through a fish, shocking Lucy
Several of his crew member ran forwards but Natsu took off his red overcoat and continued to stare at Salamander. "Let me get a closer look at your face." He demanded and then smacked aside the henchman in front of him with enough force to lift him off of the section of the boat that was upright and into the sand next to Rex. "I'm Natsu Dragneel of the Fairy Tail Guild and I haven't seen you before!" He growled as Sceptile jumped down next to Rex.
One of the members of the crew cried out in horror. "Wait a second, that pink hair and the scaly scarf… he's the real deal Bora!" He began pointing frantically at Natsu.
"That's Salamander?!" Lucy was flabbergasted.
"You idiot don't call me that!" Bora replied, annoyed at this person.
"I remember that name now, Bora was once a part of the Titan Nose Guild and got kicked out for his bad behaviour. He was given the nickname Bora of Prominence." Happy recalled, glaring at the blue haired man.
"Stop gawking and get him and the green creature!" Bora scowled in annoyance.
Although Sceptile was irritated by this she decided to leave this to Rex who took a few steps in front of her. Some of the bulkier and larger henchman looked at him for a moment before laughing at the thought of him beating them. "If you really want a demonstration then fine." Rex grinned as he clasped his hands together.
"Multitype: Flame Plate!" His whole body glowed for several seconds before fading. Rex now had a short mane of auburn coloured hair that spiked towards the right. He wore a red jacket with a gold zip and there was a white stripe on the shoulder separate by another gold strip and had two black diamonds on top of each stripe. The jacket was worn over a charcoal grey short sleeved shirt and there was a black belt holding up a dark red pair of trousers and black shoes.
"What sort of Take Over is that?" "I think that's actually a form of Requip!"
Take Over? Requip? Those must be some forms of Magic I haven't seen yet, though I suppose it shouldn't be surprising to see them react in that way. Rex thought. "Natsu! You can take on Bora!"
Bora then laughed and then fired a blast of Fire Magic directly at Natsu and he was completely engulfed in flames. Lucy made to move forwards but Happy stopped him with his wings. "It's okay, fire won't work him." The blue cat reassured him.
"Well you know what they say, the bigger they talk the faster they fall." Bora noted and turned away.
Everyone stopped upon hearing the sound of Natsu's voice through the flames. "Man are you really a fire wizard? These flames are the worst I've tasted. Thank for the meal though, I'm all fired up now!" Natsu grinned. A collective gasp was heard from the people in the area and they all had a look of shock on their faces, aside from Happy.
"Flamethrower!" Rex called out and then launched a stream of red and orange fire towards Bora's men, blasting a hole through most of them. Some of the few who had managed to get close enough attempted to take a swing at Rex who then jumped up and delivered a powerful Blaze Kick to the face and smacking him into several others.
"Flame Burst!" A small orb of fire shot towards the remaining group of henchman and spread out upon exploding hit everyone and did the most damage to the man in the center. Another Flamethrower was used to overpower a magical blast and finish the last person off. All around him were unconscious members of Bora's crew, all of them half covered in burns.
Natsu was grinning at the display of Rex's power. "That Requip was awesome! As for you, I don't care if you're a good guy or a bad guy nobody get away with dirtying the Fairy Tail name!" He turned his attention to Bora and then his fists were engulfed with fire.
Bora looked on in horror for a moment before using his Red Carpet spell to jump high in the air and then a red seal appeared in the air. "Red Shower!" Multiple oval shaped flame projectiles fired towards them as Natsu began running up towards him, with Sceptile frantically dodging all that were coming her way before disappearing in a flash of red light.
Natsu jumped up in the air when he was practically underneath Bora. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" He shouted and then punched Bora, the force of the attack propelling him into the town.
"Hell Prominence!" Bora shouted once he saw Natsu from the air and then formed a purple orb and fired a laser made of purple fire that arced across the whole town, creating an explosion. Natsu stood there in his place looking mostly if at all unaffected by the attack.
"How is it that he was able to eat fire? Is it some kind of Spell?" Lucy asked in surprise.
"He has dragon lungs that allow him to breath fire, dragon scales that dissolve the fire and dragon claws for attacking with fire. Natsu's brand of Fire Magic is one that allows him to take on the qualities of a dragon. It's an ancient Magic that was taught by Igneel." Happy responded.
Bora was looking even more desperate and then let out a cry of anguish, gathering a large ball of purple fire above his head. "Red Skull!" He called out and launched the cartoonish looking skull towards Natsu who simply caught it and ate it up again.
"Oh man that was a mouthful! You're not too shabby." Natsu grinned as his put his fists together. A fiery red Seal appeared in front of him and put his arms together like he was blowing a trumpet. "I'm gonna smoke you like a fish!"
"You'll what?!" Bora cried out in horror.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu shouted and then fired a powerful stream of orange flames at Bora that shot him through the town and several sides of the building and then right into the bell, ringing it loudly throughout the town. He shook for several seconds before falling down to the floor unconscious.
"That was incredible but… he overdid it!" Lucy cried out as she saw the devastation that was caused by a combination of the two males and their fire Spells, or assumed fire Spell in Rex's case. Several of the buildings were completely destroyed though others were burnt badly and a few were destroyed on one side.
The sounds of many people coming and lots of heavy trudging could be heard and a group of people eventually showed up in gear with lances and round shields with a flower like design on it. There was at least several dozen of them and they all were heading straight for the group of magic users.
"Oh crap it's the Royal Army!" Natsu panicked and then began dragging Lucy.
"Wait a second, why are we running away?" Lucy cried out in confusion.
"Lava Plume!" Rex shouted and then several pillars of orange fire erupted in front of the Royal Army which made them stop in their tracks until the pillar subsided and the smoke reveal that he had gone and changed back into his regular forme. He used Quick Attack to catch up with Natsu and Lucy.
"You want to join the Fairy Tail Guild, right?" Natsu asked Lucy and then grinned. "So let's go!" A smile then formed on the face of both Lucy and Rex as they both ran with him and Happy was flying overhead. The Royal Army was too far behind them to do anything and they all just stared at the group as they disappeared into the night for the Fairy Tail Guild.
Next Time - Magnolia Town
Oh yeah! It's finally good to be doing this again, like Natsu says I'm all fired up now! So anyway long story short I was struggling with my mental health but I think that I'm back on track now that I've kind of rekindled my lost love for FT and have been trying to watch all of it again, though I still have to officially catch up on Tartaros and finish that alongside the Zero arc. Anyway I still have a few conflicting thoughts about splitting this up into other stories or one long story.