Author's Note: Hello, here is Chapter 24! This one will take you through Lucy's journey inside the Victory Road as she ventures up the mountain to the Pokémon League!
Also, I remember a few chapters back when Lucy, Levy and Nigel talked about what their Pokémon spirits would be and it made me laugh. If you guys have any thoughts on what you would turn into let me hear them! (Or not, that's cool too...)
Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
Also, I do not own Fairy Tail or Pokémon
Chapter Twenty Four - The Victory Road
Lucy wondered about inside the luxurious two-storied clothing boutique at the center of Lumiose City. She ventured into the exotic shop at the request of Nigel, who managed to hack in some brand new clothing for her to celebrate her last stretch of the game.
Meanwhile, Nigel and his crew back in Magnolia were preparing for Lucy's perilous journey through the treacherous Victory Road and the last battles at the Pokémon League.
Levy flipped through the books and began by asking a question. "So, there are supposed to be 4 super-strong trainers waiting for her at the Pokémon League?"
Nigel nodded. "Yep. They're called the Elite Four, and they're supposed to be the most powerful fighters in the game. Except after she defeats them, she will then have to defeat the previous Pokémon Champion before she can finish up, and they'll be even more powerful."
Cana sat idly by as she started to look worried. "God, I hope she can do it...I'm gonna need a new bottle if she can't get through the first round."
Happy looked up with excitement. "AYE! But there's no need to worry. I know Lucy can do it!"
"Awe, you're soo sweet Happy!"
The group all turned their heads when they heard Lucy's voice as she appeared in front of the computer screen. She had on a very expensive black trench coat with black stockings and brown strappy boots. She also wore a red fedora hat with a matching purse and white sun glasses sat on the rim of her hat. Finally, she had her hair tied back in her signature double small pig tails as she winked at the screen.
"Thanks again, Nigel! I am lookin' good!" She boasted as she did a twirl for her audience.
Nigel laughed. "Ah no problem, Lucy. No let's finish this game up!"
Lucy agreed, and quickly left for the door with great haste.
The blonde Pokémon Trainer arrived back at the familiar Route 22 that linked Santalune City to the eastern side of the continent. As she made it passed the Route and into a large cave, she came across an extremely tall black fenced gate at the center of the t-shaped path way.
There, her path was blocked by a tall boy with purple hair and a black jacket.
"Well, hello there. My name is Robbie and I've been put in charge of guarding this gate. This is the entrance into Victory Road, and it ends with the Pokémon League. If you possess all the Kalos Gym Badges and manage to defeat me in battle then I will let you pass!"
He then stepped back and threw out his first Pokémon. "Go Carbink!"
Then a little grey rock with tiny light blue crystals coming out of its top emerged onto the field.
"Go Juvia!" Lucy took the challenge, and yelled as she tossed out her Lapras. Although the Pokémon contained both Gray and Juvia, Lucy only required the latter for this task at hand.
"Use Surf!" The blonde girl yelled out to her friend, who then sank the entire field in a sea of dense water. As the water receded the tiny Carbink quickly fainted.
"Go Raichu!" Robbie then collected his defeated rock Pokémon as he then summoned the large electric rat as his next contestant.
Lucy smiled and collected Gruvia, and as she did she tossed out her next Pokémon. "Go Gajeel!"
Then her menacing Steelix took the field. As Gajeel entered the battle he laughed and slammed his tail into the ground to cause a massive tremor with his mighty Earthquake attack.
The Raichu never stood a chance against the Steel/Ground Gajeel, and quickly fainted.
Robbie smiled as he then tossed out his final Pokémon. "Go Kingdra!"
He then summoned a magnificent light blue sea horse Pokémon to the field, who also held the types Water and Dragon.
Lucy smiled as she brought Gajeel back in. "GO ERZA!"
Finally, her glorious Gardevoir came to the field and grinned with satisfaction.
As Erza landed she then shot out her powerful Fairy-Type move Dazzling Gleam, and ended the battle for both the Dragon-type Kingdra and the trainers then and there. Lucy then collected her red haired friend from the field, and as she did Robbie stepped aside.
"Well, looks like you've just gained entrance into the Victory Road. Good luck."
She nodded and walked forward into an elaborate hallway made of beautiful stone columns and bricks. There were also eight colorful banners on display (four on either side) and each on showed 1 of the 8 Kalos Gym Badges.
As she smirked with confidence knowing she had obtained all the badges, Lucy then walked to the end of the hallway and stood in front of a large metal door.
As Lucy made it in front of the large gateway, she stood on a small circular pad at the foot of the door. When she stopped she was then surrounded by a large white column of light, and as the light faded she saw several sparkles fly all around her and watched them fade away as well.
Then the Celestial Spirit Mage was greeted by a large rumbling noise as she began to feel the cave shake. She looked around in fear but then noticed the door began to glow with eight different lights that matched the gym badges, and she also noticed a large red and white Poké Ball sat at the top of the door.
As Lucy watched the scene unfold the front panel of the door swung down to the ground and crated a small bridge. Then the large Poké Ball on the remaining door began to spin around in circles. As it stopped it ended on its side and the crack of the door split open and began to make way for her entrance.
As she waited the doorway began to fill with sets of vertical stairs, and once it filled up to the top of the threshold the stairs locked into place and jolted backwards; revealing a large glowing light at the end of the tunnel.
Lucy stood tall with a determined expression and entered the Victory Road.
Inside the tunnel Lucy found herself completing many different puzzles and challenges along the never ending obstacle course. She had to use her Pokémon for both battles and survival as each one helped her make it through the cave.
Her primary fighters were Jellal and Erza, while Natsu and Gajeel helped her make it through the cave by lighting the way and moving boulders and rock walls out of her paths. Gruvia also proved to be very helpful in her journey over rivers and waterfalls, and Wendy lent her a hand both on and off the field with good company and flying assistance.
As Lucy made it to the end, she stood at an old monument on top of one of the mountains. She decided to take a small rest and wait as the sun stood over head.
"Lucy! Wait up!"
Here, Lucy turned around and was then greeted by her old friend and rival Calem, who looked ready to battle.
"I've been thinking ever since that incident in Geosenge. Lysandre chose only Team Flare. You and I chose everyone but Team Flare. But since our positions forced our hands, you can't really say any of us were right. So maybe... If both sides have something to say, it's best to meet halfway... SO I decided that from now on, I don't want to battle just to win but to see how you and your Pokémon think and feel! And that's the kind of Pokémon battle I'm challenging you to now!
"Thank you Calem, let's do this!" Lucy smiled and accepted. Although she was rather tired from her long day in Victory Road, she decided to enjoy this battle while she could. Calem started and set out his Meowstic to begin the battle. Lucy countered it by sending out Wendy.
Both Pokémon met in the middle with a powerful combination of Dragon Pulse and Psybeam, however Wendy was ultimately quicker and recoiled much faster from the fight. As she swirled around, the Altaria then charged Meowstic with a powerful Fly attack that sent the little cat Pokémon to its knees and back inside its Pokémon ball.
Calem laughed and decide to change up his routine. "Okay, here's my new Pokémon, Go Dragonite!"
Then, Calem sent out a large dragon Pokémon that looked slightly similar to Natsu's form, only this one was a brighter shade of yellow and it had a more adorable expression on its face.
However, despite its appearance it was also ready to fight.
"Use Dragon Claw!" Calem shouted and the Dragonite responded. It flew up to meet Wendy at a level playing field and slashed her with a powerful scratch attack that sent her falling to the ground.
Lucy looked disappointed because this was the first Pokémon that had fainted since her journey through Victory Road, but she wasn't going to let it stop her.
"Go Erza!" She yelled as her red haired friend took the field. The mighty Titania then sent a powerful Fairy-Type attack hurling towards the Dragonite which ended its battle and caused it to fall over and faint.
Calem collected the poor dragon and continued. "Go Vaporeon!"
Lucy was then greeted by the water version of that Eevee Pokémon she heard Nigel talking about. Still not sure how to deal with Water-Type Pokémon, Lucy decided on leaving Erza in the fight to use her powerful Psychic attacks before thing got out of hand.
Despite the long skirmish and Erza freezing once from the enemy's Aurora Beam the Gardevoir managed to win the small fight and progress to the final Pokémon.
Calem laughed as he observed their battle. "Well this is it. Go Chesnaught!"
He cried out as his last Pokémon came to the field, and as he finished the mighty Chesnaught stood tall before Erza.
Entertained, Erza began to laugh because she knew the grass starter was also a Fighting-type.
"No worries, I have this fight won…" She went to finish, but not before Natsu emerged from his Poké Ball and sent out a whirling fist of fire towards the enemy Pokémon.
"GYAHH YOU'RE NOT BEATING ME TODAY, ERZA!" He roared with confidence as he defeated the last enemy Pokémon in a whirl of flames.
Erza stood with anger as she yelled at her partner. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU MORON!?"
"MORON!?" Natsu wanted to retaliate, but Lucy grabbed both of their Poké Balls just in time to end their conflict. She then scratched her head in embarrassment as Calem spoke up.
"Haha, wow you're Pokémon are all quit colorful…Listen, from here on out I'm renewing my rivalry with you! Since you're my rival, I hope you get stronger and stronger as a Pokémon Trainer. But my team will keep getting stronger and stronger, too! I can master the power that comes from the bond between me and my Pokémon, just like you did! Power right on through the Pokémon League! I know you can do it!
"Awe, thank you so much Calem! I'll do just that!" Lucy smiled and accepted his regards, but as she went to leave, Calem added one last small phrase to his send off.
"Oh, and try to break out of this video game sooner rather than later, okay…?"
Lucy paused and nearly fell over with confusion. "WHAT!? Have you known all along? Nigel! GUYS!? Did you…!?"
She went to ask her friends if they heard the virtual avatar reference her existence inside the video game, but she stopped as the character continued.
"…after all, Nigel has a really important dinner date tonight with a girl from Hargeon, and he doesn't want to wait around with this silly crap anymore…"
Lucy tilted her head slightly to one side and paused in confusion. "…Ehh…?"
Calem's face changed from a smirk to a great big smile as he continued. "YEA! And I really need you to cook me dinner tonight, too...preferably something with lots of fish!"
Lucy finally got the gist and just about lost it at that point before she heard Nigel and Happy giggling like children over the intercom.
"YOU BASTARDS! THIS ISN'T FUNNY ANYMORE!" Lucy yelled with rage as the virtual Calem walked off from back the way he came.
Meanwhile, Nigel tried addressing the angry Spirit Mage with his sarcastic sympathy.
"Ah cheer up, Lucy! We all know deep down you really are gonna miss this place…" Knowing how much Lucy truly hated the video game world, he then looked to Happy and waited for the little troll to respond with something witty.
Luckily the little blue tease made no hesitation with his next remark. "Yea we all know you have the hots for that Calem guy! *Pfff*"
The little cat had done so very well to keep his snarky comments at a minimum during the entire game. However, with the juvenile influence of Nigel sitting at his side, he began giggling through his hands as he joined in the fun.
Nigel continued as he jabbed Happy with his elbow. "Yea, sounds to me like she loooooooves him!"
Happy wanted to laugh at that remark but stopped himself in order to continue poking fun at Lucy. "Don't worry, we won't tell Natsu!"
Then, Happy and the Nigel both lost their cool and nearly fell over as they busted out laughing, all with Cana and Lily sheepishly grinning in support and Levy and Carla shaking their heads in disagreement.
Meanwhile, Lucy held her head down as she began turning beet red (almost matching her red hat) and started shaking back and forth while her blood began to boil.
"Okay…if you guys know what's good for you then you'll rig this game and pray that I NEVER STEP FOOT BACK IN MAGNOLIA TO STRANGLE YOU BOTH!"
She then stormed off with fury as she made for the last stretches of Victory Road. Nigel and Happy howled with even more laughter as the rage filled Lucy made her embarrassing exit.
Carla rolled her eyes and spoke up after the scene had ended. "Okay…now that you two children have had your little moment; do we even know if Lucy will make it through this?"
Nigel wiped the tears from his eyes and tried to catch his breath as he waved his hand with a care free expression. "Oh yea, I have total faith in her!"
Then Cana walked over and wrapped her arm around Nigel's shoulders and smiled. "Sounds good…anyway how much liquor's left upstairs? I gotta feeling this'll be longer than we think."
Okay, that was kinda a long one, let me recap.
1.) I hope you're enjoying Lucy's outfit changes! I have to be honest when I say I struggle with that sorta thing; so as long as you guys enjoy the designs, and can easily picture them then they will work for me! (FYI if you cannot picture her outfit descriptions for whatever reason I am 100% basing them on existing clothing in the XY game. You can visit Serebii or Bulbapedia to see the full list and try and find which articles of clothing I have used so far in the story!) As for the hair, I've basically just done that with my own taste (I rarely used the barber in the story.)
2.) Another Calem battle! He has more Pokemon, and Lucy still beat him! I guess she is ready for the Elite Four...
3.) That ending scene was one of my favorite moments to write in all my stories. I try my hardest to capture the real Fairy Tail in my writing, and my number one focus is making sure I never lack on the comic relief. I have learned that when it comes to Hiro Mashima's particular style of writing there is no such thing as too much comic relief (honestly he always just piles it on!)
Anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and be on the look out tomorrow for chapter 25; or as I like to call it the first chapter of the Elite 4 (And yes each Elite Four battle will get its own chapter, if not more!)