Helllooo there people~
Ahem, yeah been a while since I updated this one. Plenty of excuses, mainly involving starting uni in September. The work load is ridiculously high but even so I managed to find time for my bleach fic... I kinda but this one aside. But thanks to you awesome reviewers I've found inspiration and motivation!
Keep the reviews and requests/suggestions going! They are all looked at and added to my idea list and are always muchly appreciated so thank you very muchly :3 Its nice to know the story has fans~ (I don't always have an email notification though so sorry if I don't reply :( )
Anyway, on with the show!
I don't own fairy tail or Pokemon... But imagine if they were real... -drools-
Chapter 7 - The belly of Lunae
They were woken by their feathery new alarm clock after just a few hours of sleep. One moment there was nothing but blissful silence and the occasional faint breathing of her fellow female fairies, all curled up on the floor around her in futons provide by the Fumio, thank god they could have a night away from those horrid sleeping bags, and the next they were under attack, an air raid alarm ringing deafeningly around their heads. When the the source of the alarm began to peck at any pieces of exposed skin on the girls, they realised what was happening.
"Hoothoot! Stop! HOOTHOOT! Wendy help" Lucy squealed flapping her arms madly to beat off the tiny brown bird.
"Hoothoot, come!" She said holding out a tiny pink block in the palm of her hand and immediately it ceased it's attacks an fluttered down to eat the block.
"Do I look like Natsu to you!? Do I? Why I oughta-'" she mumbled angrily climbing out of her sleeping bag as Erza rose like a zombie with a red Afro; but instead of resuming its attacks it completly ignored her, turning it's tail in her face. Wendy offered one to Swablu too, who was perched on her shoulder looking hopeful.
"What are those things?" She asked curiously.
"Pokeblocks, they're treats for Pokemon. There are other types too but these were the cheapest and smallest to fit in my bag... They have them in the shape of cakes and berries too- I'm going to give one to Hoothoot everytime he does well- and you too Swablu" she said nuzzling Swablu's cotton wings.
"More like to bribe it to shut the hell up" Lucy muttered under her breath.
"Hoothoot you can't go back to sleep you need to go and wake the boys" Wendy told the bird in a quiet, gentle voice when it finished the pokeblock and tried to curl up in her arms. It suddenly opened it's eyes looking fully alert, gave a happy hoot as if pleased that it got to imitate an air raid alarm again and flapped out of the door making enough noise to woke up the whole inn... at that thought anxiety hit Lucy like a brick wall.
They were the only ones in this inn, and that was the reason they were waking so early... To enter that dark and dangerous cave and investigate the strange happenings below.
Her stomach lurched with nerves. She wasn't fond of the dark, and even less so when they knew for certain that something dangerous was lurking in there but had no idea what it was.
"Lucy come now we must hurry, there's no time to waste" Juvia said pulling her thermal sweater over her somehow still perfectly neat curls.
She realised she had been sitting there gazing into space while the others dressed and rolled away their futons into a corner.
She jumped up, scooping Budew from beside her as it had been trying to climb onto her lap. "Oh sorry... Still tired, dozed off abit, you go wait in the lobby without me I'll be right down"
They nodded and left, Swablu perched on Wendy's head like a hat as usual, Marill bouncing behind them on its springy new tail and Mienfoo taking the back of the group, looking as sullen and silent as ever.
There was a bang and a call of "SHUT UP!" From down the corridor. Wendy giggled and called back: "They're up Hoothoot you can stop now!" And the alarm ceased once again.
When the other girls turned the corner out of sight she gave a great sigh and flopped back onto her futon, holding Budew aloft above her.
"We'll be ok, won't we? Nothing will happen, will it?"
Budew just sighed it's own name looking sad. "That's right.. You probably can't understand me..." But Budew scrunched up its face and wriggled angrily out of her grip, dropping onto her chest. It rushed to her face and rubbed its own against hers with a huge smile.
Lucy blinked. "You can understand me?"
"Budew budew buuud!" It called cheerfully jumping on the spot. She felt as though she could understand it. It was telling her that it could understand, to cheer up and that everything would be ok.
"Yeah... What is there to be nervous about? We have 7 fairies, 3 of which are dragon slayers, 1 is an S class Mage" she counted off on her fingers "9 Pokemon between is and the 2 innkeepers and their Pokemon and 3 Exceed... We can fight off anything that comes at us!"
Budew nodded happily with encouragement and jumped off the futon towards her folded up clothes, as if to say "Now hurry up!"
"Ok ok I'm coming- so bossy" she added under her breath.
The others were already waiting for her in the lobby looking slightly stressy. Natsu still looked half asleep, his hair sticking up in every direction, Gajeel had bags under his eyes that matched the colour of his hair perfectly and it looked like Erza had managed to tame her Afro bed hair somehow.
"Where have you been? We don't have time to sit around and go back to sleep you know" Gray snapped at her.
"For your information I didn't go back to sleep-"
"Enough." Erza snapped sternly standing up. Lucy blinked, she sounded annoyed about something. "The last thing we need now is arguments amoung the group. It's time to leave. I suggest we send our Pokemon back to their keys, less chance of being discovered that way."
They all nodded, retrieved their keys and the Pokemon were pulled in by beams of light. Lucy saw the look on Budew's face as it was absorbed. It looked confused and frightened. It had never been in side its key before... Or where they were sent to. She would have to make it up to her later... If there is a later. Who knows what will happen down there.. she couldn't help but wonder what fate awaited them.
"Lets go. Have your wits about you" and she led them to the door.
"What's wrong with her?" She whispered in Wendy's ear at the back of the group.
She stifled a giggle. "Natsu threw a chair at Hoothoot, missed and put a whole through the wall of their room, she angry because we will have to pay for the damage"
Lucy stared at the back of his head in disbelief. "Only he would do that..."
"We shouldn't laugh really but his and Hoothoot's hatred for each other is hilarious- Quick they're leaving us behind!"
It was pitch black now and all she could make out was her teammate's outlines, but in the matter of moments her eyes adjusted to the billions of stars in the sky. Planets and sheets of milky white galaxies were visible, plain as day above them and in astonished close proximity compared to earthland.
Back at home should would have barely been able to make out the closest and brightest of starts thanks to all of the light pollution from the cities.
She could have just sat there and drew out the constellations with her finger like she had done the previous night but there wasn't time for that. It was far darker and less beautiful where they were headed.
As they got closer to the cave but further from the inn Lucy felt Budew's cheerful encouragement leaving her and felt the increasing urge to turn back and hide in the inn alone.
No, you coward! You can't let down Fumio and Callor... Or your friends, they're counting on you! A little voice in the back of her head scorned.
It didn't help that her arms felt so empty without the cheeky little flower bud resting in them. They swung at her side awkwardly, and then to her pockets, and out again.
They made a little run into shadow of the cave mouth and crouched. Erza leaned around the wall and peered inside for a few moments before pulling back. "There's no sign of life" Erza said in a carrying whisper.
Lucy had the funny image of them dressed as secret agents in black suits and shades, even the pokemon and exceed and gave an involuntary snort of laughter. Everyone turned to "Ssssshhh" her and turned back to Erza.
"There is- I can smell it" Natsu disagreed. "Not sure if it's human or Pokemon though... It's faint, like it's been a while since it left"
There was a nervous silence.
"...You can... smell them?" Fumio asked uncertainly.
"Uhh long story, we'll explain later if we have chance" Lucy assured her still smiling as she mentally swatted the images of Budew in a tuxedo out of her imagination.
Natsu's senses were sharper than anyone else's, even compared to Wendy and Gajeel who were also Dragon Slayers... He can't be wrong... so who or what would be coming here so early in the morning.. And why? She wondered.
It really was like something out of a detective drama.
"Gajeel- Lily-" Erza instructed.
"Right" they both muttered. Lucy saw the glint of light from the stars on the granite-black key that Gajeel had just detached from his jacket zip.
"Gate of the Darkness Pokemon, I summon thee, Sableye" he muttered.
Usually when a Pokemon appeared, it would come accompanied by a poof of smoke, a ray of light or something along those lines... But Sableye appeared in the opposite of light, a dense ball of black darkness. Shivers ran down Lucy's spine as Sableye took form from the ball, it's limbs unfolding silently and shining gemstone eyes glinting into existence by the light from the stars. It felt like she was witnessing the birth of some demon monstrosity.
Sableye began muttering its name, it's voice thick with annoyance and Lily translated.
"He asks why you have summoned him, he thought you agreed on an emergency contract"
"This is an emergency, I've got a job for you Sableye, one only you can do."
It cocked it's head to the side in mild interest.
"Is that so?" Lily translated.
Gajeel nodded though no one could see the gesture, except maybe Sableye, living in dark caves it probably would give it naturally good eye sight in the dark. "You see this cave? Someone or something is causing a ton of trouble down there and whenever someone enters to investigate they are possessed and can't remember anything. We need you to find out what's going on down there... without being seen" he emphasised the last three words.
Sableye listened silently and then grinned, it's horrid pointed teeth bared. "Interesting~" Lily said after it hissed its name.
"So you'll help? We just needed you to go down there, see what's going on and tell us if you coast is clear to enter"
Sableye nodded and without any further discussion, melted into the floor and vanished.
"That Pokemon gives me the creeps" Natsu complained shivering.
"Yeah he's not exactly pleasant is he..." Lucy agreed. "So now what?"
Erza knelt down and rested against the wall. "We wait."
They all sighed. Not this waiting game again!
But surprisingly Sableye was gone for no longer than 15 minutes. It startled them when it grew out of the floor like some ominous demon creature unannounced.
Lily jumped up to translate. "I took care of the guards at the entrance, it's a long way down" it said with another mischievous grin.
They looked at each other puzzled but Callor gasped.
"Callor, what's wrong?" Fumio asked gripping his arm.
"Entrance? Guards? You can't mean the entrance to the volcano?"
Sableye grinned and nodded again. Callor stood quickly and entered the mouth of the cave without an explanation, leaving the rest to lagg behind in confusion.
"Callor wait, we must stick together" Fumio called after him following, then Erza, Natsu and Gajeel followed, Juvia clutched Gray's arm dramaticly much to his annoyance and then there was just Lucy and Wendy.
"I guess we have no choice..." Wendy said jogging to catch up. Lucy sighed and ran after her.
"Callor what's wrong?" Erza was asking as she caught up, feeling uncomfortable in the dark and glancing over her shoulder. She didn't like being at he back of the group... What if something snook up on her from behind.
"I think I might know what is going in down there but I hope I'm wrong..."
"What!? Explain!" Natsu said, sounding more excited than worried.
"At first when Fumi told me about the theft of the Moonstone I thought that whoever was in the cave might be mining for Firestone's or some other precious stones... But now I'm not so sure... There are far more precious things in that volcano"
"Like what?"
"Legend says that the volcano is home to rare Pokemon who is its guardian... It is said that it lives in tunnels it has made through the rock... Iv only been down their a couple of times in my life and i think the legends are true, there are tunnels in the walls and ceilings for as far as the eye can see"
"That sounds so cool, I wanna see the Pokemon!"
"Why does this worry you Callor?" Erza pressed on. They were delving further into the cave now, Lucy could feel heat rising, and the cave walls were becoming warmer to her touch.
"As the guardian, the Pokemon is supposed to keep the volcano calm and ensure the safety of its inhabitants... Judging by the increased volcanic activity I'm worried that something has happened to the guardian..."
"If such legends are true that would explain the lava leaking out of the rocks at the inn" Gajeel agreed.
Callor nodded. "The volcano is like a haven for fire Pokemon... If anything has happened to them or the guardian..."
"Then let's hurry down there and find out what the hell is going on!" Natsu cheered, apparently spurred on by the thought of a fire Pokemon haven.
"Will you shut up! Do you want us to be discovered?" Lucy said jabbing him lightly in the back.
"Oh, yeah sorry" he whispered. Lucy saw his raised hand shift to grip the flaming orange key that belonged to Charmander, now clipped to his belt. The little lizard had needed yet more rest but Natsu had been worried to leave him at the inn alone without supervision, so he had returned him to his key.
Oh, what she wouldn't give to have Charmander there at that moment. The lizards tail had been their life light in the forest and as it did then, she was starting to feel a mounting sense of panic as it grew darker and more chlostrophobic. But then again... if they did use a light it would give away their position and disturb whatever was sleeping above their heads and cause the occasion flutter of wind.. They're only bats.. I hope.
She clinged on to the sleeve of whoever was infront of her, though she didn't know who it was and relied on Callor to lead the way up front.
A little further along Callor stopped and indicted a gap in the wall that they could just about make out. "This is where Torkoal and I come to collect coal, That is where I thought they may be. I have come across things other than coal in my time so I assumed that is what they're after but apparently not... let's keep going, the volcano is only another 15 minutes away at best- the slope downwards gets steeper from here on in so watch your step-"
Sure enough path became more difficult to maneuver the deeper their ventured, so much so that they envied Sableye's use of shadows. Gliding thought the darkness like a ghost without having to worry about terrain.
The walls became too hot to touch for everyone except Natsu so they struggled to stabilized themselves. They were forced to call out Swablu and Hoothoot to help them down the step ledges, as well as Charle, Lily and Happy.
All of a sudden Natsu grinded to a halt, he foot skidding along the rocky dirt and dislodging rubble. He had heard something long before the others.
"DUCK!"
"What? AH!" Lucy squealed as a flock of screeching bats washed over them. Escaping from the lower depths. She coward behind whoever was infront of her whimpering miserably and batting them off.
"I wanna go back! I don't like this at all!"
"Lucy shush!"
"Can you hear that?" Natsu asked again now that the screeching was long past them.
They listened silently. Lucy couldn't hear anything but she could feel an odd shaking underfoot. Her imidiate thought was that the volcano was erupting and she felt rising panic again.
"Yeah I can hear it but barely... " Gajeel said listening intently. "It sounds like..."
"...A drill?" Wendy asked. "Is that what disturbed them?"
Callor gasped again. "Most likely, We must hurry!" and they practically ran down the steep slope, sliding on their backsides when a ledge or drop appeared occasionally.
After what felt like ages running and jumping down ledges, listening as the hum became louder and eventually became so strong that it rattled the ground, they landed in full view of an opening, bright orange light spilling onto them and their unadjusted eyes. Erza pushed them into the shadows before they could be seen.
Two motionless bodies lay on the floor next to the exit.
"Sableye... Are they..." Gray asked the creature in horror.
"Just unconscious." Lily translated and they gave a sigh of relief.
They may be the enemy but killing was a no-no.
"Ok, Sableye you can return for now, I'll call upon you again if we need you" Gajeel said, pointing the key and absorbing Sableye into it before it could argue.
"So this is it, through there is the main body of the volcano and I think you are right, that does sound like a drill" Callor said craning his neck around the corner to get a better look.
"It doesn't seem like anyone else is guarding, lets go sneak a peak at what's going on in there-" Erza said, sneaking flat against the wall, Natsu following and the rest one by one.
Natsu darted to the other side of the cave mouth stepping over a body and Lucy saw his eyes widen in horror. "What the hell is this..."
"What?" Lucy asked darting to his side and looking in. She too gasped and suddenly felt physically sick.
The volcano, which was a wide and tall cavern not unlike the home of the clefairy's, had been turned into a work site. In the center of the cavern was a huge, deep pit of bubbling lava that took up most of the space but allowed for a path a few meters wide around its edges... Enough space to fit a monsterous drill, working away at the rock. Everywhere they could see, Pokemon of countless difference species were held captive by harnesses and manacles. Pokemon that looks like Ant eaters, lizards and hedgehogs were lifting the fallen debree and hurling it into the lava, where flaming Pokemon stood melting anything that was thrown in.
"That drill is probably the source of the lava leaks at the inn. It has cracked the rock and allowed the lava to seep through" she heard Callor as she watched one of the Pokemon, flaming bright red and yellow with a duckbill for a mouth, being zapped by a floating magnet for missing one of the rocks that was thrown down to it. It gave a scream of pain and fell to its knees but stayed on the lava's surface.
Suddenly near their right a Pokemon that looked like a mole with a drill attached to its head and claws collapsed. A huge rock came whirling down and hit it square in the face sending it flying.
Lucy looked in the direction it came from at the far side of the cavern and saw two men sitting on a manmade ledge high above them observing the scene below.
She saw Natsu's fist clenched and shaking. His eyes were full of hatred as he glared up at the men who were now laughing at a fallen Pokemon. He made a movement as if it step forward into the open but Gray pulled him back.
"You can't just run out there"
"Why not? We outnumber them 5 to 1... We can take them out and free the Pokemon!"
"Lets atleast find out what they're doing first, get some intell on their plans" Lucy said, feeling more and more like some sort of secret agent.
"Wendy, Gajeel, can you listen in on their conversation? I don't think Natsu is capable right now" Erza said noticing his still shaking fists that were glowing a pale red with Fire Dragon magic. He was fuming more than the volcano itself.
Wendy tapped her fist in her palm. "Idea! I can get a better look and then listen in!" She cleared her throat. "Vernier: Eyes!" Her eyes suddenly glowed a bright green as she cast the self-buff and suddenly her vision was magnified as though looking through a telescope.
"Since when could you..." Lucy said confused.
"Before we were bought here I was training..." she said blushing and leaned out of the shadows and peered over in their direction.
The first man was tall with short green hair and brown eyes and the second was shorter and quite handsome with shoulder length periwinkle-blue hair and green eyes. Both men were wearing thick navy blue uniforms with the sleeves rolled up but legs tucked into thick black boots, a golden N emblazoned on the fronts and backs of their jumpers.
"I knew it! It's the same group that stole the moonstone, we were right!" She said pulling back to the shadows.
"Damit, what do they think they're doing?" Gray hissed. Lucy turned to him and noticed that he was missing most of his clothes again, but no one was paying him the slightest bit of attention. She rolled her eyes and looked back.
"We can all listen, but I haven't practised this one much so I hope it works..." She closed her eyes this time, focusing more "Vernier: Ears!" This time a green light igniting on her hands. She quickly went around everyone and touched their ears, transferring the buff to them.
Lucy's hearing was suddenly magnified. She could hear every bubble of lava, every crack of the rock... But the drill was painfully loud. She covered her ears and so did the others.
"I'm sorry! It still needs work! You should be able to focus on one source of sound and block out the others though..." Wendy said sounded disappointed.
Fumio and Callor looked startled by the change in their senses, obviously having not been used to their form of magic.
Lucy did as she said and focused on the sounds around her, eventually coming to the men's voices. It was kind of like tuning a radio and choosing the correct station. At first she could hear event the slightest pop of a lava bubble below, then the drills became deafening... But finally the men became clear as though she was standing beside them and the other sounds were canceled out.
"Wow Wendy, this is awesome! You've been training hard huh?"
She blushed again. "Let's find out what they've got to say for themselves"
The first man gave a sigh. "I'm bored of this. We've been here over two weeks and found nothing... And it's even worse that I'm stuck here with you. Why did we get paired? Why couldn't I be with Cassidy?"
The second shrugged. "It was the bosses decision and you know what happens when he is defied. We must be patient, we cannot go back empty handed. Imagine his reaction if we waltzed in with no Heatran. Cassidy will still be there when you return" he said with a sly smirk.
The fairies glanced at each other and Callor gave another gasp. "Heatran?"
"The volcano guardian!"
"I just don't get how such a huge Pokemon can evade us... How can we miss it?" The green haired man said dropping down onto a rock looking fed up.
"I don't know, but it is still near by else the volcano would have gone out of control. The fact that it is reasonably calm means it is still close by. It's only a matter of time then we can do back and get our rewards... And hopefully I'll never have to work alongside you again" he added.
"Likewise, James. Hey!" The man suddenly called and they jumped back into the shadows. "No slacking off! Find that god damn Heatran already!" They heard a zap of electricity, a cry of pain from a Pokemon then silence again.
"Those bastards..." Natsu hissed. "They want to take Heatran to their boss and when they do the volcano will erupt"
"Killing all of these Pokemon and destroying the inn..." Lucy added.
"Not just the inn... Their are numerous towns and cities in the blast range of the volcano..." Fumio said, her eyes filling with tears. "Please we must stop them!"
Before anything else could be said Natsu jumped out of the shadows and into full view of the N members.
"As if we would let you take Heatran!" He shouted up to them.
The James and his partner jumped and looked around, finally spotting Natsu directly opposite theme like an ant.
"Oh way to go Natsu..." Gray sighed but moved out to stand with him. The others followed.
"Ooohh, would you look what we have here Butch, evesdroppers"
"Seems so, yeah. How did you brats get past the guards, this place was heavily guarded" Butch demanded standing up.
"Never you mind, We won't let you take Heatran or get away with hurting these Pokemon!" Lucy shouted in a sudden fit of courage.
Butch grinned. "As if are few brats like you could stop us"
"Watch us!" And Natsu sprinted off alone towards them, happy zooming after him his wings spreading like an eagle's. "I'll take care of them, you guys free the Pokemon from those harnesses!"
"Got it!" Lucy called back running over to the nearest Pokemon, a small blue elephant with long tusk and metal plates running along its spine. The look it gave her screamed for help. It looks weak and tired, the metal on its forehead scratched and damaged where it had been forced to hit the rock. "It's ok little guy well get you out of here! Crap crap crap..." she muttered tugging on the harness but it was strong and sturdy. "We need a key!" She called to anyone who was listening.
"Oh you mean this?" Butch called, dangling a set of black keys in the air. "Come and get them then" he said playfully.
Natsu crouched and jumped up into the air with a burst of fire at his feet, drawing back his fist but James flicked his wrist to another key.
"Gate of the Poison Gas Pokemon, I summon thee, Koffing" he chanted calmy as though he was relishing the moment. Purple smoke appeared and out it came what looked like a living mine with a poison warning sign above it's eyes. It came hurling towards Natsu and crashed with him in mid air when it was too late to dodge. He went flying into one of the wholes in the wall and vanished out of sight.
"No Natsu!" The fairies called. James and Butch fell into hysterical laughter.
"Who's next?" James taunted still laughing.
Lucy quickly pulled out dexter.
"Koffing the Poison Gas Pokemon. It's body is filled with numerous toxic gases which keep it afloat at all times. These gas can become volatile in hot conditions, causing Koffing to explode without warning at any moment."
Hot places? A volcano is as hot as it can get! "Don't go near that Koffing!"
"Yeah we heard, Blonde" Gajeel said assume a battle stance. Lily took his tiny little tiny from the sheath at his back.
lucy gritted her teeth, thinking. They had the height and flight advantages over them as all of their Pokemon except Hoothoot and Swablu were grounded and the exceed couldn't do much except for Lily but his transformation had a short duration... Perhaps this would call for a Magic battle not a Pokemon battle.
Just as she had the thought Erza stepped forward, unsheathing her most basic sword from it's scabbard. In the beginning they had all agreed not to use their own magic on Pokemon... But it seemed they had no other choice.
Erza took the same approach as Natsu but whacked away the Koffing with the flat of her sword. It exploded upon contact with the cave wall, filling the imidiate area with gas.
She came down on James from the air, her sword raised high, he dipped a hand down the front of his jumper and pulled out a necklace. A thin gold chain with an eye shaped pendant. Though what was it? A purple gemstone or a glass vial containing some substance? Whatever was inside of it was swirling like gas.
Erza took one look at it and knew what it was immediately. A feeling of dread, fear and despair washed over her out of nowhere. She dread froze her and she dropped out of the air like an anvil.
"No! Erza too? How are we supposed to defeat these guys?!" Gray snarled. Juvia rushed over to Erza's side and leaned her up.
Juvia herself was terrfied by how much the tiny gem had effected the strongest member of their team. Erza had become a nervous wreck, shaking uncontrollably. "Don't look at it, don't- don't- don't look- so dark- so cold" she whimpered quickly.
"Erza! Pull yourself together!" she said splashing cold water onto her face but it made no difference whatsoever. "Ugh... Come, Juvia will help you move!" She encouraged her helping her stand.
"You see, kids, even with double the people you will never defeat us" he said, waving he tiny necklace.
"Don't look into it!" Juvia screamed at the others. "It's what they use to control people!" and thankfully everyone averted their eyes without question.
"Very clever~" James sang in his slow, drawling, patronizing voice, "But not only People-" he raised the necklace higher and it began emitting pulses of black light.
The pokemon froze. Even Marill, who Juvia had summoned for its advantage over fire, had stopped dead like a statue. Their eyes suddenly turned the same smokey purple as the Gyarados' and Torkoal and Panpour from the previous night.
"Zuzu? Whats wrong?" Juvia asked uncertainly. Marill turned to her slowly and glared at her looking furious.
It shot a sharp blast of water at her but Juvia dodged. Not that it would have hurt her anyway. "Zuzu, why? It's Juvia!" she said holding a water-transformed hand up and absorbing its next shot.
"It's under the influence of that necklace!" Gray called. "We have to break the spell" but out of nowhere a bouler came flying at him and sent him into the back wall.
"Gray!" Lucy called pushing Fumio and Callor behind her.
The Pokemon of the volcano were turning on them aswell now.
"What are we supposed to do? We can't fight them without our own Pokemon else they'll fall to the spell" Fumio said, backing to the wall as a shining metal ant approached them.
Lucy bit her lip. In the beginning they had agreed not to use their magic on the Pokemon... Humans yes if they were in real trouble... but Pokemon no; But now desperate times called for desperate measures. They had no other choice. Lucy retrieved the Fleuve d'étoiles, her extending whip, from it's hold on her belt. A gift from Virgo to make sure she always had some protection... It was Now her only protection. She could no longer rely on anyone else.
She took a deep breath and built up some courage before cracking the whip down on the ground in front of the metal ant Pokemon. "Don't worry I won't let them near you!"
She watched as Gray staggered to his feet from behind the boulder and raised an ice wall as a huge rock Pokemon with arms swung for him. The ice shattered easily. "My Ice make is useless in here... It's too hot" he said back up to Juvia as she sent waves of water in all direction. Erza was still leaning against the cave wall muttering to herself, Gajeel forming iron walls between him and the encroach Pokemon and Wendy blowing them away with half-hearted gusts.
"What are we supposed to do..." she called to anyone in particular.
Lucy cracked her whip again. "Just hold them off and look for a way to stop that spell!"
"There is no stopping the spell" Jame laughed down to her with a laugh. But as he continued talking to himself, everyone was concentrated on more important things like staying alive, Lucy saw something high above him and gave a tiny, barely noticeable laugh.
High above Jame's and Butch's safe platform, Natsu was emerging from one of the man size tunnels looking sooty and disheveled. The sight of him gave her hope though no one else had noticed him and if she pointed him out if would ruin their chances of winning.
Natsu carefully leap downwards from tunnel to tunnel until he was a few feet above their enemies.
He raised his fit and released his grip, dropped down ontop of them.
Butch whirled around the moment Natsu jumped as if knowing he was there. "Magby, Use Lava plume!" he called and a tiny red pokemon that looked like a baby version of the onesstanding in the lava below jumped from behind a rock, its eyes glowing purple and shot a stream of molten lava at Natsu. It came at him fast parting and giving the illusion of wings spreading like a Scarlet Phoenix.
Natsu plowed straight through the conflagration completely unscathed, not even the tiniest singe to his skin... though the same couldn't be said for his clothes. He passed through and landed a spectacular punch in James' cheek, knocking him down. The tiny golden necklace slipped out of his hand and fell into the lava with a plop.
It was like a slow motion scene. James and Butch both screamed in anger while the fairies cheered and the darkness evaporated from the Pokemon's eyes like rising smoke.
The two leaned over the edge of their platform staring at the spot the necklace and sank with their mouth open in horror, their arms still outstretched to grab it.
Natsu grins and puts his fists on is hips triumphantly. "You were saying we couldn't beat you?"
Butch's lip quivered, not knowing what to say. Then desperately the reached for the keys to the Pokemon's harnessed and threw them to the lava too.
Happy spread his wings once again and caught the keys effortlessly before they even cleared the edge of the pit. "Nice try nasty man" he giggle cutely, swooping down and handing the keys to Wendy, the closest person to him.
The two stared down as Wendy quickly untied the biggest Pokemon, a human-like blue... thing with 4 arms.
One by one the Pokemon stretched, thankful for the freedom and slowly approached James and Butch looking up at him angrily.
They looked totally lost and defeated now but suddenly James leap to his feet, a glint of final crazed deperation in his eyes. "How dare a group of insolent, no name kids medel in our plans! You will not win that easily! I won't let you!" and he pulled another Key from his pocket with a flourish.
"Gate of the Hellhound, I summon thee, Houndoom!" he roared, pointing it to the sky. There was a burst of huge flames and a Pokemon that looked like the Devil's own pet straight from the pits of hell appeared. A monstrous black dog with red markings, ram's horns, an arrow point tail and bones along its spine and rib cage snarled down at them, steaming saliva dripping from its mouth fangs bared. It walked to the edge and glared down at them.
This time Wendy pulled her Pokedex out.
"Houndoom, the Hellhound Pokemon. It's body contains fire tainted by toxic gases. Long ago this Pokemon's howls were thought to be the call of the grim reaper and signified imminent death."
The fairies eyes widened in horror and they stood ready for an attack, Natsu as the only one who didn't hear.
"Houndoom, get that little brat!" He screamed and unexpectedly the dog turned with incredible power and speed and leapt at Natsu, still standing behind James.
Even Natsu looked terrified now. The monster was far bigger and more intimidating than anything they had seen in this well yet, with maybe the exception of the Gyarados. He froze in fear as the dog leapt on top of him, wrestling him down to the floor.
He smashed a Fire dragon's Claw into the side of its face but it barely budged. It's fangs were bared above his face and he could smell its putrid steaming breath. He wrapped his legs around the hound and, mustering ever last bit fo strength he had, rolled sideways and threw it off him.
He hadn't notice realise how close he was to the edge however. With that horrible lurching feeling in his stomach when you feel yourself falling, he slipped off the edge but somehow managed to catch a grip on a rock with only 4 fingers of his right hand.
He barely registered the others screaming his name below them. He heard the whoosh of wings and saw Houndooms flames blast over head. The others shouted Happy's, Charle's and Lily's names now as well as his own.
Rage pulsed through him and he found strength in his arms again.
Butch slowly walked to the precipice, looking over hm with a smug smirk on his face. "Any last words, brat?"
Natsu snarled at him. "You'll pay... for hurting.. my friends"
Butch laughed "Why should you care about your friends when it's you who is about to die? Should have looked after number 1 kid" and he stamped on Natsu's hand. Natsu screamed feeling pain shoot through his hand and arm and felt the rock he had been clinging to for dear life break. He closed his eyes and felt himself falling, waiting any moment to hit the lava.
He's wrong... I spent my life protecting my friends... Right up until the last moment... And I loved every second of it. He smiled and spread his arms wide, almost as if embarrassing the hell below him. He may be imune to fire but he had never been near real lava before. It was a different type of fire so would actually burn him? Or would he just drown. He wondered what it tasted like... He closed his eyes.
Above he heard a rattling bang and seconds later felt himself being swept out of the air. He felt a comfortable heats from whatever had caught him and opened his eyes. He was still looking up at the volcano mouth far above them but was no longer falling. He was riding on the back of something huge.
He felt it land on solid ground with a thud. It crouched and rolled him off its back before turning to face the almost murders.
He stared at the huge creature in confusion as he left his team mates arms wrapping around him. He was in shock... He didn't know what was going on, one moment he was embracing death and the next... he was staring at the huge molten form of Heatran, The guardian of the volcano. As tall and wide as a well-built man but with only thick metal plates to define its legs and head from the rest of its molten body.
It gave a cave rattling roar up at James and Butch, but only Butch quelled in fear.
James stepped forward, he arms spread wide as if to embrace Heatran. "Heatran... I knew you would return to us! Come now, the boss his waiting-" but Butch hit him around the head.
"You idiot- look" and James snapped out of it. Heatran had no been joined by the other Pokemon forming a solid wall of intimidating power between them and the fairies, all free from their harnesses, standing at its side, united as one deadly force of fire.
"Were out numbered completely, we dont stand a chance! It's time to retreat"
Reluctantly, James wrenched his longing eye contact from heatran and retrieved another key from his pocket. This time he and Butch summoned two of the same Pokemon. Large Kestrel-like bird with brilliant black and red patterned feathers.
As they took flight the two leapt on their backs and soared out of the mouth of the volcano high above them without another word.
They all cheered and jumped around like idiots, still hugging Natsu but he was still in too much shock to understand what had just happened.
Heatran turned to them along with the other Pokemon and began to speak. This time Charle translated.
"Thankyou, Humans, for saving my family and protecting them. We owe you our lives"
Lucy shook her head. "No, Thank you! You saved Natsu's life..." but she couldnt speak anymore. The vison of him falling kept repeating itself in her head and she felt close to tears.
Natsu finally spoke with a stutter. "I... Almost died..." he said more to himself than anyone else.
"We have done great favours for each other, we are even" Heatran said simply and they nodded.
"Heatran.. Why did you leave the volcano?" Callor asked as he had been dieing to ask this question.
"I could not allow them to capture me. The volcano would have erupted and destroyed my home-"
The looked at each other. "So the legends are true then"
"Not just your home Heatran, the rest of this land would have been destroyed too, the towns and city's at the base if this mountain would have also burnt to a crisp. You've saved us all... I cannot tell you how happy I am" Callor looked over whelmed. His home, his village, his business.. they had all been saved from certain destruction.
"As am I" it nodded.
"Why did they even want to capture you in the first place?" Wendy asked. She had her arm around Erza's shoulder, cradling her like a baby. She looked a little less scared and wide-eyed than before but still looked very pale.
"And what if they come back..." Lucy added.
"I do not know. They just appeared one day and captured everyone. They tried to capture me too but I managed to escape through the labrynth of tunnels. I am the only one who truly knows this volcano well. I managed to lose them when they got lost in the tunnels and I had hoped they would leave... but they made themselves at home. If they do return we will be ready"
Lucy looked up at the thousands of holes in the walls. They were infact a labyrinth and the way Natsu had managed to climb above Butch and James, the reason he had vanished and not climbed out after Koffing knocked him in there. They themselves were a blessed protection.
"And you will not be alone" Fumio said stepping forward. "This volcano is as much our home as yours, Heatran. We have lived in the side if this volcano all our lives. I cannot imagine life without it, I can never let it come to harm! I hope you will allow us to help protect it with you"
"The more the merrier" it said. And the other Pokemon jumped around happily. Fumio and Callor grin happily.
Another shake from the ceiling above them and rocks breaking free broke their conversation. "Go quickly humans, the ceiling has become unstable from all of the damage done by those machines, flee now!" Heatran roared as the other Pokemon scurried into tunnels near the ground.
"Right, lets go!" Lucy called. She and Gray helped heave Natsu to his feet while Juvia and Gajeel suported an unsteady Erza.
Natsu stood aside to allow everyone to enter the cave to the surface before him, stepping over the bodies as they went. "Leave them we don't have time to bring them back, besides they are the enemy" Gajeel said, ushering the girls forward.
Natsu took one look back at Heatran. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something wriggling on the ground and glanced over.
A tiny pokemon was still wrapped up in a harness. Panicking and rolling around on its back unable to get up and run. Gray leaned around the corner and called for him.
"Natsu c'mon, or do you want to be flattened!?"
"Wait, I'll be with you in a sec, just get everyone else out!" and without waiting for him to argue he darted forward and scooped up the tiny pokemon. He legged it back to the cave at stop speed just as a huge chunk of rock fell from the ceiling directly into the lava pit.
"Thank you.. Heatran." he muttered and scrambled up the slope to the exist where Callor was waiting to pull him up.
Most of the damage seemed to have been done to the volcano itself, only small rocks were dislodging in the tunnels due to the rattling belo disturbing them.
They finally made it to the surface, the light at the end of the tunnel growing with every step forward and the crashes, rattled and bangs growing fainter and fainter.
They broke the threshhold of the cave, noticing the it was dawn now and the sun was rising. They and collapsed on the floor completely out of breath. They gulped fresh air, not realising how suffocatingly humid it had been until now.
"I think... we're safe" Juvia panted.
"We can only hope... that the volcano... doesn't erupt... or cave in..."Callor panted putting an arm around Fumio.
"I'm just worried... about Heatran and the other pokemon"
"Heatran will be fine, It's strong and fully capable of protecting them, but never the less we will go down there and check on it when it seems safe" and Fumio nodded.
"Wendy, you still have the key to the harnesses right?" Natsu asked, scooping the tiny Pokemon from under his singed jacket.
"Yes- What is that?" she said blinking in surprise. No one had noticed their extra member until now. Wendy gasped. "We missed one out? Oh no!" but she threw him the key.
Natsu picked at the lock until the heavy metal harness unclipped and dropped to the floor with a loud clang. They Pokemon uncurled in his arms and gave a great big stretch.
It was definitely only a baby. A tiny mouse or hedgehog-like pokemon with short teal black-blue fur on its back, 4 red spots and a yellow belly.
Natsu held it out infront of him. "Is that better little guy? It's a good job I spotted you huh?" the pokemon waved its arms happily and he put it on the floor.
It looked back up at him in confusion.
"You've got to go back home now, go on its ok"
The pokemon looked horrified and curled up into a ball again.
Natsu raised an eyebrow.
"I think its scared of going alone..." Lucy said. "Callor could you take it down with you when you next go-"
"Natsu..." Callor said as the Pokemon quickly scurried to hide behind his ankle. "I think it wants to stay with you... You did save it after all... It probably feels comfortable with you"
Natsu blinked and looked down. The Pokemon looked up and his, said its name one and hugged his ankle tightly
"You want to come with me and my friends?" And the Pokemon squeezed at him again. He pulled one of the blank keys out of his pokect and crouched down.
It jumped at the movement and covered it's face as if to protect itself "Hey hey it's ok I wouldn't hurt you. Theres no need to be nervous"
"I think you'd be nervous too if you'd been through what it just has" Gajeel muttered but Natsu ignored him.
He held out the key to it and allowed it to sniff it curiously. "I'll look after you, I promise"
It seemed to understand that Natsu was aGood person and with hesitation it put it's tiny paw on the hilt. A an orange light enveloped the Pokemon and the key rose into the air. With a burst if yellow flames the key changed form to one similar to Charmanders and settled back into Natsu's hand.
"Gate of the, Fire mouse, I summon thee, Cyndaquil!" The Pokemon poofed back into existacne. He scooped it up from the floor and held it high above him. "Welcome to the team buddie!"
"Congratulation you two!" But when realising that other people were still there, Cyndaquil curled up in fright again. "Ops..."
"It's just nervous, it'll get over it eventually" Natsu said hugging it close to his chest.
"We'll, let's head back to the inn and see if tis in a better state, then Fumio can cook you all a huge breakfast"
"Wooo!"
"Yeah!"
"Sounds like a plan"
"Man I'm starving.." They all cheered, wondering back up the steps and back to the inn, desperate for some rest and relaxation.
AN: There we go~
I've had a few requests for appearances of existing Pokemon characters and the answers is... Yes! You will be seeing some familiar names. I didn't want to keep using faceless bad guys so I decides to use our dearest Team Rocket members, but more evily refined and heartless than as we know them :D We'll probably be seeing a lot more of them but not as frequently as Jessie, James and Meowth in the anime, they get on my nerves x.x
Hope this was a good decision.
Couple more things:
-Houndoom's gate should be called the Darkness gate but that's soooo commonly used so thought I would change it to something more suitable and menacing :P
-I know I've agreed not to use too many obvious match ups... but C'MON! Natsu and Cyndaquil err made for each other, they even have the same colour scheme! I could have chose Cyndaquil as his starter but seeing as Charmander is/will be partly dragon/flying type in future it seemed a more suitable match
Hope you enjoyed and wasn't too long winded, and as always sorry for any stupid spelling/grammar mistakes that have evaded me.
More coming soon including another evolution and the appearance of a muchly requested Normal type Pokemon, stay tuned~ (Always wanted to say that ._.)
