Chapter 2: vs. Growlithe

"...wow, I'm actually here!" Lucy stared in awe at the guildhall before her. "I can't believe I'm actually he-"

"WE'RE BACK!" Natsu kicked down the door, cutting her off. There was a general murmur of greeting. "As for you... You said that there was a legendary at Hargeon! You tricked me! Blast 'im, Happy!" Natsu growled in anger, pointing at a certain member. The Charizard unleashed a Fire Blast, sending the member flying. As the member crashed into other members, many started glaring at Natsu. Natsu grinned as others began to call out their pokemon to fight...

"...wow, I get to see a full on Fairy Tail fight!" Lucy went starry eyed as the destruction began.

"Natsu's back... It's time that I destroy him once and for all!" A man that was only wearing underwear stood with his fist clenched decidedly.

"...Gray, your clothes." The woman with brown hair next to him drank from a keg of alcohol, her Spoink following suit.

"There's no time for them, Cana!" Gray shouted annoyedly. "Natsu! Fight me!" He ran over to the fire type-user with his Weavile in pursuit.

"Put some clothes on first!" Natsu shouted back.

"Real men fight with their fists!" A large man with white hair intruded in the argument.

"Buzz off, Elfman!" Natsu and Gray shouted, their pokemon knocking him and his Machoke away.

"They beat that strong-looking guy by themselves... They're pretty tough here..." Lucy murmured. "But still! I'm in Fairy Tail! Squee!"

"Oh, hey! Are you new here? I haven't seen you around before..." A woman with white hair came up to Lucy, her Blissey following and carrying trays of alcohol.

"Oh my god... It's Mirajane! In the flesh!" Lucy fangirled intensely. Mirajane smiled before an attack hit her, sending her flying away. "WAH! Mirajane!"

The fighting continued, until...

"WOULD YOU BRATS STOP IT?!" A pokeball opened, and a large Dragonite was sent out. It roared as it stomped around the guildhall. All of the fighting trainers instantly quieted down and returned their pokemon, except...

"Whaddaya take me for, a loser! I'll beat you, gramps-!" Natsu shouted.

"Dragontail!" The loud voice commanded. Dragonite swept Natsu and Happy aside with its huge tail, easily downing them both.

"He beat Natsu with one hit...! Is this Fairy Tail's master?" Lucy whispered to herself.

The Dragonite was retrieved into a pokeball, making a small man in orange clothing visible behind it. "I swear, you kids cause so much trouble..." He muttered. "The council's been bothering me a lot... But who the hell cares? You kids keep up the good work, just don't wreck the guildhall!" The guild cheered before returning to their noisy chattering. The man jumped down to Lucy.

"Don't think I've seen you before... I'm Makarov, this guild's guildmaster! Nice ta meetcha!" Makarov saluted. "Glad to have another member!"

...

Before long, Lucy had received her guildmark. "Hey! Natsu! Look, I got my guildmark!"

"yeah, yeah, whatever Luigi." Natsu said with disinterest.

"it's LUCY!" Lucy growled, annoyed. Natsu ignored her, checking some type of board.

"So, Macao finally set up his gym at the new location?" Natsu asked Mira.

"yup!" Mira nodded. "It's at Mount Hakabe!"

"Great! Let's go, Happy! We'll definitely beat Macao!" Natsu and Happy set off, leaving the guild.

"Gym? So there really are gym leaders in the guild?" Lucy wondered.

"UH huh! In fact, seven of the eight gyms are manned by Fairy Tail members!" Mira replied cheerfully.

"SEVEN?!" Lucy exclaimed, shocked. "That's almost all of them!"

"yup!" Mira giggled.

"So Natsu's a trainer that challenges gyms..." Lucy murmured thoughtfully.

"HmhmHM..." Mira giggled. "Did you know that Natsu was raised by a pokemon?"

"what?!" Lucy gasped in shock.

"Not just any pokemon, either... The legendary pokemon, Ho-oh!" Mira explained.

"Natsu was raised... By a legendary?!" Lucy exclaimed in shock.

"UH huh! Ho-oh taught him everything he knows today, even about pokemon battling. He also gave him a special skill..." Mira paused. "They say those that are raised by legendaries gain special abilities. Natsu has the ability to talk to pokemon, and even raise their strength!"

"Wow..." Lucy breathed.

"Strangely enough, Ho-oh disappeared one day... On July 7, 777." Mira sighed. "Natsu soon found his way to Fairy Tail..."

Lucy was silent for a moment. "I've never seen a gym battle before... Maybe I better follow him to watch..." Lucy ran out of the guild.

...

"Remind me why you're coming again?" Natsu grumbled sourly.

"Because I've never seen a gym battle before!" Lucy huffed. She glanced at him. Could he really speak to pokemon...? It seemed impossible... No one really could speak to pokemon...

"Well, we're here!" Natsu snapped her out of her train of thought. "Old man Macao's fire type gym!"

"Eh?! Why's a fire type gym on a frozen mountain?!" Lucy asked in shock. Indeed, the two trainers and Charizard were facing a huge icy mountain. Fresh snow was falling around it. Natsu seemed unperturbed, and walked over to the mountain's base.

"Hey Natsu!" A young boy standing in front of a cave entrance waved at him.

"Hey Romeo! So your dad really moved his gym here?" Natsu grinned.

"uh huh!" Romeo replied. "Are you here to challenge it?"

"Yeah! I'm gonna beat him!" Natsu grinned confidently.

"Good luck! Just go up from this cave!" Romeo said.

"Thanks, Romeo!" Natsu entered the cave, followed by Lucy and Happy.

...

"why's it so coooooooooold!" Lucy whined. She had sent out her Shuckle and was using her key of the clock to lengthen and strengthen its protect attack. Currently, a green barrier was erected around her and her pokemon, protecting the two of them as they walked.

"Should you really be using your pokemon like that? Doesn't your key magic stuff have a negative effect on it?" Natsu pointed out.

"Shut it!" Lucy grumbled. "I'm starting to wish I hadn't come..."

"This gym is boring! We're already at the top, and nothing's happened!" Natsu complained. He stepped into the uppermost room, which had an ice floor. The floor suddenly broke beneath him, and he fell through.

"Natsu!" Lucy gasped in astonishment. He had already fallen from sight.

"another challenger's here, Eh?" A voice sounded from behind her. Macao stepped into the room, throwing and catching a pokeball in his hand.

"Er... Um..." Lucy blinked. "I guess I might as well if I'm here... Gotta pass the time waiting for Natsu to climb up..." She retrieved Shuckle and grabbed a different pokeball from her belt. She and Macao threw their pokeballs down at the same time.

"Go, Miltank!"

"Go, Growlithe!"

The respective pokemon popped out of their pokeballs, squaring off and ready to battle. The battle began as Miltank charged at Growlithe with a tackle. Growlithe countered by dodging and using ember. Miltank was knocked back, but lashed out at Growlithe again. The dog pokemon evaded and hit Miltank again with an ember. Growlithe hit Miltank with ember again and then tackled it across the room.

"Nn... This is troubling." Lucy frowned. "I can pull off a normal battle whenever I want, but if it's against this kind of high level opponent, I can't keep up... Contest battles are much easier." She complained. "Guess I better give Miltank a boost..." She pulled out a key. "I use the key of the golden bull! Miltank, use Rollout!" Miltank rolled into a ball and began slamming around the room at above normal speed.

"whoa!" Macao managed to dodge out of the way as the cow pokemon slammed the wall next to him. Growlithe wasn't as lucky. It was getting slammed from all sides. Miltank had very quickly lowered Growlithe's HP to red, and was about to finish it when Lucy heard Natsu shout.

"Flare Blitz!" Happy suddenly smashed through the floor, knocking out both of the pokemon battling. Lucy was sent flying. Natsu jumped off of Happy, fuming. "That was a dirty trick, Macao! I'll beat you for sure now!"

"Natsu... Can't you go a few seconds without smashing up my gym?" The gym leader sighed. "I'll be happy to beat you, though!" He sent out an Arcanine to face off against the Mega Charizard X.

"Aaaaaaaaand I'm forgotten." Lucy sighed, rubbing her head. "He just goes and destroys the floor like its nothing..." She watched as the battle began...

Happy was still recovering from using the attack, so Arcanine moved first. The dog-like pokemon leaped forward and used its own flare blitz on Happy. Happy was knocked back and roared. His hand glowed purple, and he slammed Arcanine back with a Dragon Claw. Arcanine began blasting powerful flames around the gym, with Happy doing the same. The remains of the floor were slowly melting. Macao sweatdropped.

"Hey, Natsu... Let's end this before my gym's totaled!"

"Yeah! Use dragon rage, Happy!"

"You too, Arcanine!"

The attacks collided in an explosion. When the smoke cleared, Happy was the winner!

"Yes!" Natsu highfived the dragon, while Macao sighed.

"I'm getting too old for this... And I'm gonna have to repair the gym again, too... Here, Natsu!" Macao threw the badge to the young man, who caught it.

"See you around, Macao!" Natsu started walking back through the cave, with Lucy following tiredly.

"Gym battles are tiring..." She sighed. In all the excitement, she had completely forgotten to see if Natsu could really understand pokemon.

"Oh, you're still here, Luigi?"

"Hey! It's Lucy, you know! Forget you! I'm going back to contests!"