Everyone was gathered in silence. No one said anything for a while as they were huddled within a small conference area. Within there, the Fairy Tail group was supplied a small portion of food, to which they had long since ate. Joey was in the corner, using a Revive to restore Chespin back to full health, much to his relief.

The doors suddenly opened, revealing Isaac along with two guards that followed him inside.

"So what did he say? Was he willing to give the information?" Erza asked.

Isaac stopped before them, a stern look present. "I'm afraid he's as stubborn as his father with his negotiations. Pessimistic at best."

"So no luck on figuring out what this Anthemusa thing is, huh?" Gray asked. He was off to the side, arms crossed as Juvia sat in a chair beside him. She looked worried at best.

"No, afraid not."

Natsu rammed his fist into his palm. "In that case, if he isn't willing to talk, then I say we make him. Can't keep his mouth shut forever."

"For once, I gotta agree with ole Salamander on this one." Gajeel said. "I was with the Custody Enforcement Unit for a year, I know how to make people talk." He viciously smirked. "Just give me 5 minutes and I'll have him squawking."

"Something tells me that isn't the best idea either guys." Lucy groaned behind.

"Barbarians will be barbarians I suppose." Carla chimed, her tail whipping with her chastising.

Levy was in the background behind Pantherlily, scrolling through the textbooks she loaned from the library last night. Pantherlily looked back to see her hard at work. "Levy, how's the research coming? Anything on the Moon Drip or something we're missing?"

Levy's face was scrunched up. Lord knows how long she had the same face for, possibly hours. "I'm trying, but everything is vague about Moon Drip. I haven't seen anything slimmer than the reports of a few thieving cases and comparing them to the texts, but beyond that, nothing about Anthemusa." She turned towards Isaac. "And you're certain this is all you guys have?"

"I'm afraid so." He answered. "We've sent centuries keeping Moon Drip pure and out of the reach of the world for a while. Knowledge like this we believed was best left untouched."

"Well that's a big load of help." Cana sarcastically said. She was barely aware of a small figure peering from outside the window at her. When she looked back, the figure dropped. She scrunched her face as she looked back, only for the figment to peek again at her.

"So now what, what are we gonna do guys?" Dereece asked. Suddenly a bright glow enveloped the room, causing nearly everyone to go blind. "What the-?!"

"Sorry for the wait." A voice said. "I got what we need…or at least, a small part of it."

Everyone turned towards the corner of a pillar. Leaning beside it, Nic finally teleported in his Mind Form with a quelled look. He walked up to meet with the others.

"Nic?" Lucy gasped. "Good grief, you scared me."

"Yeah, no kidding. I almost didn't see you there." Happy chimed.

Nic approached everyone, leaving Erza to face her husband. "What were you able to find on their docked ship, Nic?"

Nic's expression turned serious. "It's just as I thought from last night. They're not here to take no for an answer." He began recounting his end of the investigation. While Levy and the gang dealt with dealing with information, Nic opted – by his own discretion – to teleport and sneak around the haul of Victor's ship. "I dug into their ship, and I found weapons and sonar technology beneath the deck. A lot of standard equipment was down there, but from what I could tell, the ship wasn't holding anything."

"So they weren't holding this Anthemusa either?" Levy questioned.

Nic shook his head. "No. I even went and dwelled into the memories and minds of the crew to see what they knew about this Anthemusa, but the only one who really knew about it was Victor…and it isn't very pretty."

"What did you find out?" Sophie asked.

"Well…it's not much either. Apparently Victor wasn't given too much inclusion on the Anthemusa project from what I saw in his mind. But I learned that it was a formula his dad and his ancestors have been preserving and perfection for ages to counteract Moon Drip."

Isaac's eyes widened. "What?!"

"Say what? Magic that kills Moon Drip, you serious?" Natsu questioned, disbelief in the tone.

"Counteract Moon Drip? Is that true?" Cana leered. "Because I thought Moon Drip wasn't supposed to affected by any kind of magic?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure myself." Nic said. "For all I know, Emmanuel could've been lying to his son the whole time, so maybe Anthemusa could be entirely something else. But, I'm not willing to take that chance. If the idea of a Moon Drip-killing device really is what they've accomplished, then we've got a problem."

A fist banged on the table. Isaac's teeth gritted in frustration. "Damnit! This is all my fault!" he despaired, earning gazes from everyone. "If only I've known about this sooner. If I had just agreed in the first place than just postpone, then we'd wouldn't…Camilla wouldn't be…"

"Quite it with your whining. What happened, happened." Duncan scoffed to the side. He was still holding a metal pole, one he used as his weapon for the time being. "If you're not going to do anything about it now, then quit blubbering. Otherwise, think of a way to stop it."

"As crude as his tone is, for once, I'll have to agree with Duncan." Erza pointed out, taking steps to the front. "Listen, you've done everything you've could in order to preserve your people's safety, your Moon Drip, and your daughter. There's no shame in trying to prevent something on your own. But now, we humbly ask that this time, you let us lend you that strength."

Vanessa humbly nodded. "I'm sure we'll be needed soon. I'm sensing some worry amongst everyone. It's our job to make sure you're comfortable with living peacefully with Pokémon."

"Yeah, listen to Vanessa-senpai!" Joey perked up, with Chespin hopping off his lap. "You know what we're saying, right? C'mon. So maybe you are threatened, that doesn't mean you can hide forever. Sometimes you just stand your ground."

This coming from Joey left Isaac mortally shocked. He eyes Joey with wonder at his whimsical hopefulness. The man he perhaps loathed for being with his daughter was encouraging him. "You…"

The doors suddenly opened, two guards hurrying in. "Sir!"

Isaac turned to face them. "What is it? Did Victor finally confess to what Anthemusa really was?"

The guards gave him unison salutes before one of them decided to speak. "Sir! We've interrogated his soldiers just like you asked. Unfortunately they have no knowledge of Anthemusa."

"I see."

"And sir, one more thing." The second guard added. "It's about Victor, he's told us that his father will be coming here soon, with a fleet of battleships!"

The news shook Isaac. "What?! Are you absolutely positive about this?!"

The guard nodded. "No doubt, sir."

"A fleet heading here?" Dereece had a worried look in his eyes. He started shuffling away. "Oh no…not again! I-I'm gonna have flashes again!" Before he started panicking, a hand smacked his back.

"Stay with us, Dereece! This is no time for you to be freaking out!" Joey berated. "Even though…it kinda is…"

Erza turned towards her husband. "Nic, send word to the Cambire Foundation. We're having enemies who will be using Pokémon to fight us. We'll need extra precaution if we're to keep the Moon Drip from being tainted."

Nic's brow furrowed. "I can try, but why do I have to be the one to…" He was silent when Erza gave him a cold stare. One that could've frozen him in his place. He sighed in defeat. "Okay, okay. I'll do it. Levy, you still got that lacrima?"

Levy nodded. "Right, I sure do."

Erza turned towards Isaac. "Isaac, we'll get into contact with our allies at the Cambire Foundation. You needn't to worry. We'll do everything we can to help."

Isaac had a sympathizing smile. He looked relieved and nervous, but he was starting to feel a little more secure now thanks to the lessons he's learned. "Very well. Thank you…mages." He slightly strained. He turned towards the guards. "You two, keep an eye on Camilla. Make sure she's safe, no matter what."

The guards understood and left the room.

Joey looked out the window, staring off into blank space. "Camilla…"


At the Cambire Foundation, Marie stood beside Arthur as they overheard the message that he was being given by Nic. A frown was on her face, but Arthur folded his fingers as he understood.

"I understand. Thank you, Nic." He nodded to the screen, in which Nic's figment faded. Arthur gravely sighed as he scooted back in his wheelchair. He took a minute to process everything before he came to a conclusion. "It's happening again."

"Sir, will you be alright?" Marie asked worriedly, walking over and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Arthur looked up, smiling at his assistant. "I'm fine, Marie. Just thinking is all." He looked back to his desk. "Seems we have another mislead with the usage of Pokémon in another act of violence. I honestly expected better of Earthland to learn from its mistakes…but no sense in dwelling on what happened. It's time we do our part as well." He put a finger up to his ear, pressing into an intercom. "Charlotte, did you hear all of that?"

"Yes, I did." The intercom replied back.

In open air, a long drench coat shifted in the coastal winds. A blonde-haired woman faced the sly as she was facing away and talking to the earpiece. A smile was seen on her lipstick.

"Good. Then I'm leaving the rest to you. You know what you have to do. Support our allies, and make sure Glacidia is safe."

"Don't worry, Arthur…consider it done." The intercom message faded, leaving Charlotte to her own thoughts. A devious smirk crossed her lips. "To think that the great Nic Pularis asks for our help. Must be a calling of fate…now it's our turn to show the world who they're messing with."

Charlotte found herself in front of a massive load of cadets and Rune Knights. They all held magical weapons as various Pokémon were beside them. She walked in front of the massive row with hands behind her back. "Listen up, all of you! You have voluntarily elected to join this unit on behalf of your sworn duty to the Magic Council. And in turn, loyalty to the Cambire Foundation. Therefore, you fall under our jurisdiction. I will not tolerate any means of subordination, no hanky-panking of any sort, and especially no buffoonery. Your job is one and one only: To follow my example, and follow my lead. Now then, are there any questions?"

The Rune Knights said nothing. They held their tongues out of respect and slight fear of Charlotte.

"Good…then let us depart." She reached out ahead at the soon-to-be fleet at her command. "Let us prove to all of Earthland the combined force of magic and Pokémon!"

They all cheered as they raised their weapons high. Charlotte confidently smirked.


Nic walked back towards everyone. "I just made the call. He's sending reinforcements to intercept the fleet."

"That's great." Lucy smiled. "Do we know how long?"

"He said Charlotte will be here in a day and a half. In the meantime, we need to get everyone prepared." He turned towards Isaac. "Isaac…I'm sorry. You knew this would happen eventually, didn't you?"

Isaac looked away, staring somberly at the ground. He composed as his stature returned to normal. "…I wish I didn't." he turned towards them all again. "All this time, I thought that solemnly mages would be the bane that would bring ruin to Glacidia. Never would I have changed this thought…that is, until now. I'm still disbelieving that I must rely on Fiorian mages to id me in this fight…but I must ask you…" He got to his knees, bowing ceremoniously at them. "Please, I implore you. Help me and my people, mages. Please…protect them."

Everyone looked to one another, resolute stares as clear as day. There was no way they were going to let poor souls fall at the hands of this threat, or any threat. If he was this desperate after belittling them before, this was serious.

Erza summoned a Poke Ball. "In that case, it's our responsibility to show these people how to care with Pokémon. We'll need everyone's cooperation if we're to prepare for the worst."

Everyone nodded.

"We won't know if the fleet will be too late, so we'll have to teach them how to train." Vanessa instructed. "We won't have much time to prepare, but we'll wok with what we have."

Dereece looked around, seemingly looking for something.

"Dereece, is something the matter?" Wendy asked.

Dereece fully scanned the room, but found something gone wrong. He looked out towards the window, watching snow fall in a field of white outside. 'Captain Joey, don't tell me you…'


Joey trudged over the snow, dodging snow mounds and clumps as he raced towards some point in the frosted overworld. Despite snow layering on his head he persevered. He had to get to somewhere, or rather, someone.

He jumped over a group of Snorunt, using his Barrier-Make to create a slide to slick down and up. He plopped and continued his path. 'Where is she? She has to be here somewhere…and I think I might have an idea where.' In a matter of time, he found himself at the base of a bridge, the same one he saw Camilla last night. As if by knowing, he looked at the middle of the bridge, seeing the same woman fixated on the cold water river flowing beneath.

"Camilla!"

Hearing her name, Camilla turned towards Joey as he raced up to her. "Joey, it's you."

"Camilla, I'm so glad I found you." He sighed. "Listen, we have a problem. We have a big fleet heading our way, and we need to prepare. We gotta find some place for you to hide, that way they won't get to you." He noticed something off though. Camilla was still staring out. It was like she wasn't even hearing him. "Camilla…? Camilla, a-are you okay? Camilla…?"

Camilla finally turned towards him, a depressed look on her face. "I'm sorry, Joey. This is my fault you're in."

"What are you talking, Camilla? What fault?" Joey questioned. "You didn't do anything wrong."

She looked away. "It's not what you think. There's a lot that you don't get. It's…complicated."

Joey blinked. "Complicated? Look, Camilla, I'm not sure what you mean by that, but if you need to talk about it, just tell me, remember what I said last night?" He thought back to what he told her last night. "So if you need to let something off your chest, just do it…I won't judge ya."

Camilla gave no reply. Her strong silence only served to make Joey's concern that much more assertive. As much as she wanted to hide it, the balled fist she had clutched at her chest wasn't helping. Her eyes were hidden beneath her bangs as she frowned.

"Camill-!" Before he could finish, a force wrapped its arms around Joey's back, holding him tight. White ignited around the background as time slowed down. He stared ahead with a shocked expression as Camilla gave him a tender hug. Her body felt so warm, it left Joey's cheeks a little red and speechless. "C-Camilla, what are you…"

"You're a good guy, Joey." Camilla pulled away. "But I can't be around you. There's a reason why my father hates mages…why he thinks they're a burden to me."

Joey fell silent. He almost forgot the prejudice Isaac bestowed them when they came here.

Camilla looked down towards the river again, watching snow fall into its dark waters. "You see, it all started with my mother. From the time I was born, I was diagnosed with Cardiac Magia. My mom was a mage, and she married my dad in a political marriage. Things were looking well…until she became pregnant. Her Magic Power was uneven between herself and my own. So my cells were rapidly deteriorating…I was supposed to die within a week after being born."

Joey's eyes were wide as he looked over to her. Hearing this from her was a whole new game-changer for him.

"We didn't have any magical doctors, so there wasn't any cure to get my body to stabilize. So my father had to make the ultimate prayer. Under the full moon, my parents took me to the Moon Drip pool. They placed he inside, where the purifying liquid helped eat away at the bad magic inside my body. I was going to live."

"Camilla…"

"My father came to realize that what happened was a result of magic. He damned it because it's what cursed me, and what put my mother to rest." She clutched her chest tightly. "If it wasn't for Moon Drip, I would be dead right now. So you see, that's why I have to do whatever it takes to ensure that the Moon Drip is safe. If my father believes that marrying will keep it safe from harm, then I will gladly do so. But…"

Joey stepped forward. He wasn't liking where this was going. "But what?" He suddenly felt Camilla's palm touch his chest. He looked down, seeing a bright glow from her palm reacting to his chest.

"I hoped that this didn't have to be taken personally, Joey. But the truth is…you didn't win that match…I did."

Joey's eyes were widened in horror. As he felt her palm against his chest, he started feeling weak in the knees.

"My magic is the ability of Luck. I'm able to take and give luck from one person to another. I took away a portion of Victor's luck from last night and saved it, and then before the battle, I gave you some of it."

Joey gasped. He recalled the hand that tapped his shoulder. He was wondering why he felt so funny when that happened, now he knows. 'So…this was all her doing? She really…'

After the glow faded, Camilla retracted her hand and frowned. She lifted her head, giving Joey a somber stare. "This is to ensure that I live long enough. My father wanted me to master this for that very purpose. I understand if you'll hate me for this, but please…don't come near me. For both our sakes."

"C-Camilla…" Joey reached to her.

"I'm sorry!" Camilla's misty eyes shut as she took off running off the bridge.

"Camilla? Camilla!" Joey tried to follow after her, but the frozen ground suddenly made him slip. In comedic showing, he somersaulted from the slip and faceplanted in the bridge. "Ow…" He groaned as he clutched his face. "Man, that's gonna sting…" He looked up, watching Camilla run off in the distance. The ache he was feeling was leaving him more depressed with every step she took from him. All he could do was sit there as snow flaked on him. "Camilla…"

Camilla ran off with her eye misting. She felt incredibly guilty for what she had to do, but she had to do it. There was no choice. 'Why did it have to be this way? Why is my heart hurting even more than it did before?' She felt guilty in all the wrong places. The more she imagined Joey and everything they went through, the more it hurt. 'Why did this have to happen to me? Make it stop! Please~!'

She whimpered as she dashed off, leaving her tears to freeze behind and flutter like snow in the wind.


Vanessa exhaled deeply, her muscles relaxing with each breath she took. With stress on the mind, she gradually took control of it and faced forward with crossed arms. "Again." She ordered.

All at once, the large group of civilians line up reached forward, giving unison commands to the Water and Ice-type Pokémon. Long-range attacks were fired at target dummies set up. A majority of the attacks took them down, but some of them missed their target.

"Don't aim for the abdomen, aim for a higher target." Vanessa instructed. "The more likely you are close to the chest area, the more likely you are to make them lose breath and recover." She demonstrated this by reaching to the side at a random practice dummy. With her hand enveloped in teal aura, she shot an Emanation Beam straight through the chest area. The whole dummy fell over, with a massive hole where the chest was supposed to be.

Many of the Trainers watching the demonstration gulped at how intense that was. They knew she was a mage, but not one this powerful…or serious. They could only guess it's because of her war experience.

"Alright, let's try this again." She reached forward. "Once more!"

As the younger Pularis girl was playing practitioner, Sophie was busy preparing her own group with her own strategy. She had mock battles with a few people using her Dewpider. At one point, Dewpider hissed as he came down with a Bug Bite, making the Snover scream and fall on its back with a thud. The Memory-Make Mage held a serious expression all the way through. 'We have a lot of work to do. We can't let a single second stop us. We have to keep working!'

Everyone else was the same. Natsu was using Darumaka, and Gray was using his Snover, with Juvia pitching in with her Eevee included. Gajeel and Levy were demonstrating with Aron and Klink, and Erza was demonstrating human and Pokémon combat by parrying with Cloyster.

While everyone was off training, Cana was indoors with Nic. She was using her Fortunetelling to try and find the right time when their forces would be here, so that they would be prepared.

"So around sunset it looks like. That's their most reasonable time." Cana concluded.

"Which means we've got less time than we've anticipated." Nic realized. "I'll go ahead and head to the front. I'll see if I can try and make glaciers and icebergs to draw them a distance from Glacidian waters. That'll give us a little more time to ready a bordered defense."

Cana looked down to her cards, pointing at another. "And it looks like the weather is gonna be clearing up tonight, meaning the snow isn't gonna work with us this time around."

Nic turned away, glowing into his Icicle and Splash Form combined. The majority of it was his Splash Form, save for the parts of his Icicle Form as the sleeves and the sash around the waist. "That case, we can pile up the snow we have to border the houses. I'll go tell Isaac so that way the people can evacuate to a safer location."

"I'll see what else I can find."

"Okay then. Let us know if anything comes up." He walked away. "We're counting on ya."

He left, leaving Cana alone to tend to her woes. She went to focus on her fortune and planning, but she noticed something staring. Something blue off to the side slipped away again, leaving her blinking.

Outside, the Piplup from before was hiding around the corner, looking unnerved from that close call. 'Phew. That was a close call.' He thought. 'I almost swore she almost saw me there. Good thing she didn't or I'd-!'

"Hey there." A finger tapped his flipper.

"WAAAAH!" Piplup jumped in fright at the tap. When he turned around, he paled upon seeing Cana hover over him with a sly smirk.

"I was wondering who might be watching me. Guess I found out, you little perv." She curtly teased.

Piplup backpaddled as beads of sweat ran down his face. "Uh-uh…i-i-it's not what it looks like!" he panicked. "I'm not a perv!"

Cana reeled backed with a laugh. "Relax, I was just playing jokes to you. Man, you really need to lighten up."

Piplup puffed his cheeks as he turned away.

"So why you stalking me? Can't find piece in mind out on your little yard I take it? Or did you come here to make sure I wasn't gonna be going anywhere."

Piplup stoutly raised his head. "It's none of your business. I have my own reasons."

Cana turned away, shrugging. "Suit yourself. But you know…" she cheekily smirked. "If you're lonely, I'm sure someone will be willing to throw some attention your way if you play nicely."

Piplup's blush never went away. The more Cana teased him, the more embarrassed he got. It was bad enough he wasn't be taken seriously, but she was just testing his patience. Still, he remained stubborn.

"Hmph! I don't know what you're talking about. I'm perfectly fine handling myself." He beamed.

Cana shrugged. "Alright. Well, you better find some cover, because we're expecting a big mess to head this way. And if you're not intending to fight…" she looked back, and for the first time to Piplup, showed a dead serious glance. "Then you better watch your back."

Piplup recoiled at the sudden change in emotions Cana displayed. As he watched her walk away with an added sway in her hips, the little penguin felt himself a little conflicted with what to do. But he was caught shocked when a pile of snow fell from above, burying him beneath. Moments later, he popped out, shaking the snow off with a groan.


Inside a cold-steel cell, there were no windows to give view of the outside world. Victor sat in the middle of his empty cell, head down in the shadows with nothing to show.

"We're going to be asking you again." A guard stated. "What is Anthemusa?"

Victor remained silent. He may have warned them before about his father coming, but nothing beyond that, a warning. He said nothing for about two hours now. Even he's impressed with his silent treatment.

"Look, we took away your Poke Balls, so you can't fight back." The second guard said. "If you want them back, you need to answer the required questions we give." He stepped closer towards the cell bars. "We have families, too you know. And some of us would like to see them live to see another day. I'm sure that you can relate."

Victor scoffed. That was the only verbal response he's given in a while.

The guard sighed and backed off. "He's not talking."

"You think? C'mon, we haven't given him anything to eat or drink. Maybe we need to try that." As he suggested the idea, he was unaware of a black erosion eroding from the side.

"That'll work. We'll tell the next guards on shift to postpone his meal until he…" He started sniffing the air, catching an odd but very gross smell. "Dude, you smell that?"

The other guard started sniffing as well, his nose wrinkling. "Ugh, man, what is that?" He started coughing as a black cloud started engulfing them both. They fell to their knees as they were inhaling too much of it, leaving them open.

With the black cloud, they weren't able to see or talk to one another. They were so out of it that they weren't aware of a small black figment that crawled up to them.

"*cough cough* God! What is all this?! It's like-!" Before he could finish, something hit him in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious.

"Gabe?! Gabe!" the other guard coughed. "Where are you?! Where'd you go?!" He, too, was struck from behind, instantly knocked unconscious.

When his body hit the ground, the gas cloud finally settled. Standing with a wagging tail, keys in its mouth in front of Victor's cell.

Beneath the shadows, Victor showed the faintest amongst all smirks.


Camilla walked through the streets as snow covered her tracks. She looked more upset than ever after what she did to poor Joey. She wanted to go back and try to fix it, but she was too afraid to do so. Her duties lied elsewhere. She needed his luck, and from what she got from him, even she was amazed at the amount of luck he had. But with Joey on the mind, she couldn't seem to get any better. She actually felt worse than before.

"So if you need to let something off your chest, just do it…I won't judge ya."

Her muscles tensed as Joey's sincere words struck a chord in her heart. The whole time she was with him, she wasn't being sincere. She was lying to him, and she had nobody to blame but herself. Her father instructed and trained her to use this magic for her own good, and when she used it many times on other people she was okay with it…but after hanging out with the booty shaker himself she can't lie to herself when this time it actually hurt.

"Lady Camilla!" a voice from afar called.

Camilla perked up, hearing the sound of guards. She turned around to find 2 of them running to catch up to her.

"Lady Camilla, ma'am!" one saluted. "We've come to escort you back to the estate. Your father's orders."

"I see…" Camilla turned away, looking shameful. "Can you tell father, that I'll be on my way?" she turned fully away. "I need to be alone."

A guard approached. "But ma'am, your father ordered you to-!" When he reached out, he was socked in the face by something sharp and heavy, knocking him out.

"W-what the-?!" The other guard was cut off.

The unpleasant sounds made it to Camilla's ears. When she turned around, her eyes widened with shock as she saw that both guards were down on the ground, each of them looking to be holding onto gashes in their guts. One guard was gagging blood, causing Camilla to step back from fright. As she stepped back, a pair of feet shuffled behind.

"Hello, darling."

The voice stunned her in place. Slowly, she slowly turned her head, showing her shrunken eyes. She saw the smirk of someone she wished was the last thing she saw. "Victor…"

Victor smirked. "Did you miss your fiancé?"


Erza approached her friends, her Cloyster by her side. "I've done showing them the basics. Has everyone done the same?"

Natsu grinned. "Yeah, got'em all fired up now

"Well actually, Natsu and Darumaka charred a lot of them in a couple rounds, so I'd say they're more than fired up." Happy commented.

"Shut up! They learned!" he countered. "…kinda."

"Well I don't know about you, but I think they picked up pretty quick on my end." Gray commented.

"It must be because you're so gifted at Ice-types, my dear." Juvia prodded. "It makes sense, considering that a majority of them are in fact Ice and Water-types."

Erza nodded. "Exactly. Which is precisely why Cloyster and I handled the brigade in our end as well. They should be more than ready."

From afar, Nic was walking with Isaac. They were both approaching the gathered members. Erza's smile widened. "So how did the barricade go?"

Nic grinned. "It's going as we speak. Isaac's got his forces padding down bunkers and houses as we speak. And I just finished fortifying the distance."

Outside of Glacidia, the expanse of the massive ice glacier they used as a wall had completely morphed thanks to Nic's Icicle Form's powers. It had ice spikes instead of a smooth wall. Out farther towards the sea, there was a thin layer of ice that had thick ice clumps gathered to withstand hauls busting through at full force.

"That should slow them down at least if they don't use long-range attacks." Nic continued. "But if they do, we at least have layers of snow over roofs to cushion attacks from above."

"Sounds like we're making a warground instead of a sanctuary." Cana teased.

"Yeah, it's what I expected either." Wendy answered.

"Well it's not like expecting the worst doesn't bring effort." Carla responded. "We'll need all the hep we can get if we're going through with this."

"To think that centuries of fine culture and high stature could be reduced to all this." Isaac sighed as oversaw his entire capital. Looking at it now, it was the total opposite compared to what it was a few days ago. He mourned quietly as he knew what would come next. "I suppose this was bound to happen eventually. Emmanuel was right…I guess I couldn't hide forever."

"I wouldn't think so either." Nic mournfully pointed out. "I learned a lot of thing during my time here on Earthland, and one of them is that you can try hiding from the world…but the world won't feel the same way. The sooner I realized that, the quicker I realized that I had to stand my ground and show them who I am." For a brief moment, Acnologia came to mind. Years of being seen as evil and hating Nic for a lot of things made him realize how Acnologia could've felt. 'That's probably how he felt as well…'

Isaac snickered.

"What's so funny?"

"It's nothing. It's just hearing all this for the first time…I never really thought about it that way."

Nic grinned. "Well better late than never as they always say." He and Isaac shared a meek chuckle.

Not too far away, Joey sighed. He was still hung over on what happened earlier, even Dereece couldn't perk his spirits. "Joey, it'll be okay man." He assured. "I'm sure she's just going through a phase. Give her time."

He was hoping his words would alleviate Joey even a tiny bit, but from the meek hum he gave, it only made it even worse. He didn't know what else to do.

He sighed as he shook his head. "Great. More problems." Beside him Duncan scoffed.

A guard hastily ran up towards Isaac. "Sir!" he saluted. "We have a problem!"

Isaac faced him. "What is it? Spit it out already."

The guard caught his breath, finally able to speak. "Sir, it's about your daughter Camilla. There's a situation. We can't find her."

Isaac gasped. Behind him, Joey's eyes also widened, getting his attention.

"The two men you've sent were found wounded the last place she was seen. They were in critical condition and had to be taken into intensive care."

Isaac looked down, distraught at the words spoken. "But, Camilla…did she…she couldn't have…" Footsteps came from the side, revealing another guard. "My daughter! Did you find her?!"

The guard shook his head. "No sir, there's another problem…"

Isaac gasped once again, overwhelmed with shock to the bridled bone. Everyone behind looked to each other as they had the same feeling.


The lacrima screen flickered, revealing Emmanuel with a knowing smile on his face. "Isaac, well, isn't this surprising." He said nonchalantly. "Never thought I'd get a call from you of all people."

Isaac slammed his hands on the table where the lacrima sit. He and everyone were gathered in a small lounge area inside his domain. "Emmanuel…" he snarled. "What have you done?!"

Emmanuel snorted. "Don't get ahead of yourself, Isaac. I'm above what you think I do for a living."

"Where is my daughter?! Where is she you bastard?!"

Emmanuel frowned, displeasure shown on his face as he turned around. "Why don't you see for yourself." The lacrima ball turned, showing everyone Victor standing beside a purple-haired woman in magic-sealing stone cuffs on her knees, a Salandit hissing at her.

"Camilla!" Joey gasped.

"No way." Lucy gasped, hands over her mouth. "Did they really take her?"

"How did that happen so quick?" Wendy worried.

Isaac was seeing red, anger boiling to a sizzling point. He seethed daggers as he darkly stared at Emmanuel. "Emmanuel…you. You had Victor come here to take her after all, didn't you?!" he accused.

Emmanuel scoffed. "Don't you think you'd know me by now, Isaac? As if I'd stoop so low as to steal my rightful collateral. Victor just wanted a bonus to our insurance policy, that's all."

Isaac wasn't buying it. He growled so low he was like a feral animal.

"Now, Isaac. We have an agreement, and you've been trying to back out of it for nearly 6 years now. I am giving you one last chance to pay your dues. If you ever want to see your daughter again, you will give to me legal custody of your little sacred shrine. I am counting up to 10. Don't test my patience this time…1…2…3…"

Isaac was shuddering. His heart was beating at a rapid pace that he was barely keeping track. Whatever he wanted to do, he couldn't do right now because of the debate he was having.

"4…5…6"

Everyone looked towards Isaac expectantly as he was making the most difficult choice. He shuddered as his fists were balled.

"7…8…"

"Camilla." Joey looked at the screen, seeing her in the background. When she looked up, she looked miserable as she saw Joey's look. She looked down in shame, unable to meet him again.

"9…"

Isaac was clutching the table so hard that veins were popping out of his hands. He couldn't bring himself to do it. He valued his people and his capital with all his heart, but he worshipped the family heirloom and sacred world treasure as well, and that goes for Camilla as well. But in his head, he couldn't decide which one held more importance. His daughter, or the one thing that could end the world in the wrong hands. Something he made, and something he treasured. He just didn't know. He closed his eyes, painfully looking away.

"…10." Emmanuel finished. "Well, Isaac, what will it be?"

Silence filled the gaps in the cold air. No one made a sound. As snowfall howled outside, it became clear what it came down to.

Emmanuel sighed. "So be it."

"Emmanuel, please…" Isaac murmured, his composure breaking down. "Please…just give my daughter back."

Emmanuel paused before he humbly lowered his chin. "Then you should've thought of that when you had the chance. You've made your choice, Isaac…now you'll learn the consequences of those choices. One way or another, that Moon Drip will be mine, or else. Consider this your final warning."

The lacrima screen finally turned off, leaving the air to chill. Isaac lost all composure as he sunk to his knees in a shuddering mess, tears running down his face. He meekly cried aloud, pitying himself for what he's done.

"Dear god…how could this have happened? What have I done?" he murmured. "I…I…Camilla." His pity turned into frustration, his fist crashing into the ground.

As he was soaking in his own pity, a shadow casted over him. "Hey…you can stop crying."

Hearing a voice, Emmanuel turned around. He was shocked to realize Natsu was standing in front of him.

"You really think just crying and hiding will solve your problems pal? Look at yourself, you really expect to see your daughter again looking like that? I thought you would've learned a thing or two by now about standing up for yourself."

"Natsu." Lucy hissed.

"We didn't come here to see other people cry, we came here to bring smiles and laughs, to share new memories with others along the way. Now, you wanna see that and your daughter again…or you wanna stare at your own tears. And you know only one of those is gonna get it done."

Isaac stared up in disbelief. He was once again at a loss for words.

"I'm with you on that one." A voice called. Everyone looked over to find Nic walking up.

"Nic." Erza said.

"Look, I don't know much about business, but one thing I do know bout it is that deals may never hold up." He turned towards Isaac. "Maybe you've made a mistake…but, it's not too late to try and fix it. It's your choice to fight with us or not, but we're doing this the same reason you are." He glanced over his shoulder. "Right, guys?"

Everyone tensed up. They knew what was coming was definite at this point. There was no way around it. But being mages who came to accept and relish fighting and battles, they needed to prove and stand their ground.

Natsu rammed his fist into his palm, eagerly smirking. "Alright then, let's get all fired up."


Torches were lit around iron bars, but the light of the flames did little to cast light on the look of Camilla's face. She sat on a well-furnished cushion like a statue, making no subtle movements. She didn't know how long it's been since she last moved, but that didn't bother her. What bothered her was how miserable she was, for a number of reasons.

The sound of cell doors opening was what snapped her out of it. Looking up, she immediately felt disgusted by the face of Victor. He looked serious, so serious in fact that his look alone was enough to leave her unable to talk. He approached her until he stood a few feet in front of her.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked. He knew that was the last thing she felt, but he felt like it had to be said.

"…" Camilla barely made a sound as she dully stared up to him like someone possessed.

"Look, we'll make this work, promise. You and quite possibly your old man can live happily, and we'd get what we want from each other. It'll be like one big happy family. You want that, right?"

Again, no response. Camilla looked no less happy than she did a second ago.

He bent down to her level. "Hey, look, I'm sorry, alright? But I've been patient long enough, and my old man agrees. This has gone on long enough. So tell me, why don't you marry me already?"

For the third time now, Camilla gave no response. The silence in the air was so intense that the embers flickering from the torches were the one sound available.

His patience finally at an end, Victor slammed his palm into the wall behind Camilla, getting into her face. "Hey, I asked you a question, Camilla! What's the deal?!" He irritably gritted his teeth as her eyes were a little wide. Something inside was making him realize what the answer could be. "It's because of that jackass, am I right?"

Camilla's brow furrowed. It looked like he got it right on the mark.

"What do you even see in that loser anyway? He's just a lowly mage, don't you get it? I'm not sure what a jackass mage like him's got, but it ain't anything I already have. Well?"

Camilla didn't answer. Or rather…didn't know how to answer. In truth she didn't really know herself what compelled her to hang around Joey this long. But the longer she pondered, the angrier her fiancé got.

"Well you tell me, is he even more successful than I am? Look at me! You have no idea how hard I had to work in reaching this spot! I've spent days breaking my back over and over just to show everyone who I am, and I bet all he does is dance his ass off to avoid problems. And unlike him, I most certainly ain't no pushover!" He turned away and started out the cell. "And I'll prove it the next time I see his scrawny face, too…" He stopped and looked over his shoulder at Camilla. "And you're gonna help me."

Camilla gasped. "What…do you mean?"

Victor smirked. A bad feeling crept up Camilla's spine.


All of Glacidia was in a mess. There were people who were handing clumps of snow to one another, others helping guide passageways elsewhere, and there were also signs of a few people wrapping up their practice out by the training dummies. And besides almost every one of them, there were Pokémon of either Water or Ice-type cooperating the same way everybody else was.

Fairy Tail was helping out in the routes as well. Erza was directing many people to various posts, she, as well as her Cloyster beside her, were taking charge as the Dragon Slayers were talking to one another about their strategy. Gray and Juvia were seen looking out at the sea before looking to one another confidently. And Cana was using her Fortunetelling to help the head guards coordinate an attack plan.

While Glacidia from afar was spiraling into a warzone, Joey stood off to the side. He looked far from him jovial mood as he had the face of a man ready to embrace death with fighting hands. As he looked out at the setting sunlight peering beyond the clearing sky, Isaac walked to his side.

"…young man." He started. "I hope you understand what's about to happen."

"I know." He answered. "You know too, right?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so…you know, I still don't trust you."

"I know."

"But as much as I want to hate you right now, rescuing my daughter is more important. So I'm going to tell you this. I beg you…make sure you bring my daughter back in your arms. I want to see her once more."

Joey's eyes reflected sunlight as the fading light brought back flashes of Broly. The image of the man's smile and compassionate nature sparked a fire in Joey, one that killed off any sense of dancing. With a steeled glare, he fixed his sights on the shorelines. "Don't worry. I've already lost somebody important once…I won't let that happen again."

Near the icy creeks, Dereece was using his magic to steady himself. He used the flowing water to walk from one side to another to carry supplies. From ice block to another, he moved them to each side so they could assemble forts and fortify defenses.

Popping out of the water, the Seel looked up, seeing Dereece hard at work. "Oh golly. It's him again." Recognizing Dereece, she wanted to ask what he was doing, but something from the look on his face made it clear something was…different. He looked more devoted, not to mention that by the way he was trudging that he was working hard. Taking a look at her surroundings, she saw the same thing from everyone else. Rather than pry further, she took heed and jumped back into the water.

Dereece looked over just as he heard the splash. 'Huh? What was that?' He looked at the flowing river, seeing nothing. 'That's weird. I could've sworn I heard something.'

While readying for battle, Sophie took a moment to realize something. "Hm? That's strange…has anybody heard from Nic in a while?"

Unlike everyone else who was preparing for battle, Nic was elsewhere. He was off by the glaciers again, overlooking everything at the peak of a mountainous slab of ice. It wasn't like him to prepare for war like Erza would. She was the one who takes initiatives. Nic on the other hand was something else. He already did his part with the ice…now something else was on his mind. With everything going on and the moon to be bright once more, that strange feeling he had before arose.

"…"

In the pit of his gut, he could still hear the cry of the moon, if it was the moon. A part of him was skeptical about it, but no way was he denying this clue. 'Something's out there…but what does it want?' He stared coldly as a frosted breeze passed him. 'Moon…just what are you really trying to tell me?'


"Almost at our destination, sir. We're to arrive within the next sun's setting." The helmsman's voice echoed through the intercom of Emmanuel's chamber. He was currently sitting on a throne with Arcanine by his side.

The man slyly smirked. "Good. Maintain the course. Have all personnel on standby for when we reach Glacidia…I look forward to seeing what our forces can do."

"Yes, sir." The intercom went silent, leaving Emmanuel alone in his chamber with his Arcanine.

Finally at his peace in mind, Emmanuel sighed heavily. His chair turned around, facing the sunset from the massive glass from around his high point on the ship. "You see, Arcanine? Life itself is a virtue, just as patience is a virtue…but like the sun and the moon, there comes a time when the cycle must stop somewhere, for it to move onto something else. Your virtue stays true to your resolve, but like human spirit, the purity of life itself can also be changed…and that, my friend, is when you take matters into your hands." He held up his staff, the black bauble on top as black as night itself.

"The more precious something is to you, the harder it is to accept losing it…that's why, Isaac, you will learn this virtue, even if I must take it away from you myself."


A day had come and gone, and everyone else was finally settling into their new arrangements. The kids and moms were safely tucked inside their homes, in basements while family members outside were finishing up the last of the defenses. Some opted for routine perimeter checks to look for potential enemies, and on top of which Pidove circled around the ice shield. Duncan's Honchkrow was perched on an ice spike, priming his feathers while Pidove remained active.

Erza oversaw everything once more. She was so lost in the mobilization that she almost didn't acknowledge Nic as he walked to her side.

"Someone's looking anxious." He started. "You okay?"

Erza nodded. "I wish I was, but as you can see…"

"Yeah." Nic looked out. His wife's trailing off made him realize how busy the capital was turning out to be. "This isn't what I had in mind either when we first came here."

His wife huffed amusingly. "So I wasn't the only one thinking that, huh." Now it was her turned to look over to him. She saw the frown on his face. "Are you still hearing that same voice?"

Nic looked down, his focus on the shadows of the ice. "Yeah."

"Is it still bothering you?"

"Not during the day, just when it became night." He looked to the fort nearly miles away. It was so large it blocked out a majority of the sunset. "It's strange, but I feel like the moon is speaking to me…but I just can't make out what it's saying. I wish I knew."

Erza's gaze softened. It wasn't often she saw him this transfixed on something. Normally he'd be off in his little world for no reason but to enjoy the serenity of nature, but in a case like this, it's one type of focus she couldn't wrap her head around.

"But I won't it stop me." He declared. "Don't worry, I'll do everything I can to make sure as many get out in one piece. The people and Pokémon take priority right now, and you guys." He felt a hand on his cheek. He looked over to see Erza smiling comfortingly at him.

"I know, and you take priority as well." She responded. "Don't worry, I'll be there by your side to make sure you're focused. That's my job to look after you after all."

His wife's commentary made him think for a moment before he smirked. "That's funny. Aren't I a big enough hassle when I'm always slipping off?" he teased.

Erza chuckled. "You never seem to make it easy."

"Where the fun in that be?"

As the two were bemusing the other, the sounds of Pidove and Honchkrow's caws echoed from the fort. They looked out towards the fort once more. All over the capital, everyone who was minding their own business began hearing the caws of the two bird Pokémon. What they had heard they were prepared for. And yet many were still looking unnerved.

"Looks like they're here." Gajeel acknowledged.

"Yeah, I hear'em alright." Natsu said, his Dragon Slayer hearing and nose picking up a strange smell. "There's a lot of 'em."

Wendy braced herself. "Well, this is it, Carla." Beside her, Carla huffed in her human form, with Swablu fluttering on her other side preparing for battle.

"Looks like that's the signal." Nic glared ahead. "You ready?"

"Yes." She jumped down the slope. "Let's move it!" she yelled, to which Nic glowed and shot skywards instead.

Once Honchkrow and Pidove circled around with their caws, they were returned from below by Duncan and Joey. Joey looked towards them to see they were ready – Duncan scoffed like it was no big deal. Joey faced forward. He was ready to do his part. 'Camilla. Don't worry, I'll save you this time. Nothing's gonna push me down again…I swear it.'

Outside the borders, thin ice sheets were shifting, only to be mowed down by the fleet of ships at Emmanuel's disposal. With his ship being the biggest, he was at the front, with three medium-sized ships following behind. Each ship held a different general and Captain, of whom he hand-picked and trained personally. Each one looked just as ready as he was. Victor sneered as he was shadow boxing in the dark, with Camilla off to the side, depression on her face.

The helmsman at the top looked through his binoculars, seeing the spiked fortress beyond the field of jagged ice sheets. He turned back towards Emmanuel. "Sir, we've reached the destination. Their defenses have been fortified, just like you said."

Emmanuel smirked as he chuckled. "Typical Isaac. All bark, no bite." He reached to his earpiece, communicating with the lacrima inside. "General Bigge, Ebna, Tangath, I leave the rest to you. It's all yours."

"Yes, sir. As you command." Speaking into the lacrima piece was Bigge. He reached ahead, giving the signal. "All units in first wave, ready the heat cannons!"

At his command, people started lining up long-nosed cannons with technological bases. People operated them as they began the sequence for warming them up. At the bases of the cannons, massive heat lacrima were glowing, giving power that made the cannon noses steam.

"Ready…" Bigge instructed. "FIRE!"

The two to three cannons on each of the ships all open fired. Long, fiery streams shot in arches from the sky and fell like rain. Each stream of fire burst through the ice. Each eruption fumed ahead until it melted, leaving steaming water. The shots that went farther out broke into the ice spikes in the wall. The ice erupted, with steam, mist, and melting ice dripping into the banks.

Bigge turned around from the melting mist, reaching for his ear. "Copy that. General Ebna, General Tangath, we are clear to advance. Over."

"Understood, over." Ebna turned towards his helmsman. "All helmsman and battalions, ready the advances! Set a course for-!"

"General!" a soldier called out.

The disgruntled general turned back forward. "What is it?"

"It's up ahead! The temperature headings from our heat cannons upon impact are dropping!" The soldier gestured to the scanner he had. When he held it up, it showed inferred, and the heat levels were rapidly being shrunken down.

Ebna walked over and seized the scanner. "Let me see." He looked at the readings, seeing that what he said was in fact true. 'This is weird. I've heard about hot water freezing in midair in winter, but what could've-!'

The sound of freezing got his attention. He looked up, seeing something. "Hm?"

In front of everyone, a massive wave of ice was speeding across the water in a bright blur. Closing in on their forces, Ebna and everyone's eyes shuddered before they were enveloped in a bright flash.

The flash faded, and the generals all uncovered. When they saw ahead, they gasped upon seeing a sight to behold. The entire ocean was frozen over, with thick ice sheets freezing the ships – all 100 – in place.

"You…you've gotta be kidding me!" Ebna yelled. "What just happened?! Did we just freeze over?!"

Tangath's expression narrowed as he spoke. "How did this just happen in one second?" his eyes widened upon realization, "Unless…" He seized a pair of binoculars from the soldier beside him. What he saw made his suspicions come true. "I should've known…"

A smirk was seen on lips. "That'll hold them down for a while." A cool voice said. He got up, his shirtless figure beside a woman with blue hair, and like him, she was partially naked, save for the girdle she had. "Phase 1 is a go, you ready?"

"Always, my love."

"Good…" The two people were none other than Gray and Juvia, holding down the front lines. They took stances, ready for their next attack. "Then let's get to it!" he finished.

Tangath's eyes narrowed. "Mages."

Emmanuel stood up with Arcanine, both observing the spectacle from the observation deck's glass. Emmanuel smirked expectantly at the scenario. "Well, well…this should be interesting."

Juvia's hands were covered in blue magic seals as they shined brightly. Gathering as much strength as possible, she screamed loud and plunged her hands into the ice. The ice quaked as gushed of water cracked beneath, surging a tremendous tidal wave that she conjured to head into the ships. Gray roared as he reached down, freezing the water up to where the wave would be at its pinnacle. As the wave water arose, it became a raging wall of ocean that frightened many soldiers. They were stunned before the wave suddenly froze in a second, leaving them spared, but a humungous tidal wall of thick ice.

A soldier uncovered, backing away in shock. "W-what?"

"Where did that come from?!"

"Did that tidal wave just…freeze on the spot?!"

With the confusion and status of their current situation, Bigge grunted. The other two generals frowned.

"Alright, we've got them cut off." Gray smirked. In his head, he was thinking back to the plan they've made last night while in the conference area. He could still hear Erza's voice from here.

"Our main targets are the ships themselves, that's how they'll be coming in to attack. Gray and Juvia, you both can use your magics and make sure they're barricaded far enough away. Freeze the ocean far enough for them to be out of range."

"Looks like Erza's plan worked." Juvia acknowledged.

"Yeah, maybe. Now it's onto Phase 2."

Taking the initiative, Tangath reached for the stretch of ice. "Melt the ice! Fire the cannons!"

The cannons all raised high and fired again. Streams of fire rushed in arches into the glacier, barreling through portions, but the ice was so thick that only small chunks were melting away.

"Keep firing!" Bigge shouted. A cannon behind him readied another blast, charging up intense power.

Up in the air, something swift shot down.

A soldier busy focused on his cannon still firing barely noticed the glint heading his way. "Hm? What the-?!"

It happened so fast. A glint of orange zipped across the deck over three ships at once. Once the gleam vanished, the next second, they exploded in loud bursts. Soldiers handling them were engulfed in the flames and blown away. Others were blown off the rims and sundered to cold ice. In a row of smoke, many cannons were taken out.

"But how?!" Bigge exclaimed.

"Sir! We lost all cannonfire in wave 2!" a soldier reported. "Soldiers are reporting substantial damage on decks as we speak!"

Bigge's eyes widened. He turned his head towards the sky. He was seeing the glints move around at lightning-fast speeds. His eyes narrowed as he saw the figments at a closer angle. "What?!"

"FAIRY TAIL'S FLYING DRAGONS ARE BACK IN BUSINESS!" Natsu bellowed at the top of his lungs. Along with him, Gajeel and Wendy were held by their respective Exceeds as they were sailing through the skies at fast speeds.

"Aye, sir!" Happy shouted.

Below, even more soldiers were at a loss for words.

"Wait, are those mages?"

"Yeah, and how the heck are they flying?!"

"This is getting weird!"

Emmanuel maintained his smirk as he and Arcanine resumed observing from the deck. Meanwhile, Natsu flew in an arch at the fleet below. With an eager grin, Natsu thought of the words to phase 2.

"After their forces are held in place, they'll probably have long-range magic assembly. We need to take that out as soon as they recover. Natsu, I need you and the Dragon Slayers to handle that. Can you keep them on you for as long s possible?"

"Don't worry…!" He flipped off Happy, stomping afoot on the deck. "NO PROBLEM!" Upon landing, he unleashed a shockwave of flames that rushed beneath the deck at the cannon ahead of him. The soldiers barreled out of the way and ducked as the flames disappeared beneath the canon, before seconds later exploding into shrapnel and blazes. With the deck ablaze, Natsu turned towards the sky. "You hear that guys?! Go crazy!"

"Right!" Wendy soared off, winds twirling around her. "Sky Dragon's Roar!" With an empowering cry, a tornado of harsh winds swallowed the cannons on one ship. The cannon closest was pried off the deck, capsizing into the other one. This caused a misfire that sent a fire stream into another cannon on another deck, casing that cannon to explode.

Gajeel grinned. "Well I can't have them get all the fun. Let's go, Lily!" He rushed with Lily behind, roaring as he dropped to a knee on a deck, fisting the ground. A straight row of iron columns shot up, knocking soldiers away as the cannons were penetrated by iron. Gajeel turned around, facing away as explosion blazed behind. He snickered as he was lifted to the air again.

As the Dragon Slayers were on the move, cannons directed their shots into them.

"Don't let them get away!"

"Open fire!"

The canons let loose on them. Fire streams arched into Wendy and Gajeel, to which they maneuvered around. As they dodged, the streams heading for Natsu made him eager. Opening wide, he inhaled as the stream of fire shot right into his mouth. He swallowed all of it, leaving a tremendous gulp as he sighed.

"N-no way!" a soldier stammered. "You seeing this?!"

Natsu's body was steaming as flares ignited. "You saw that alright, but now you're gonna see THIS!" Taking a huge breath, he mustered up Magic Power and let loose as much fury as possible in one breath.

"FIRE DRAGON KING'S ROAR!"

A monstrous tsunami of roaring blazes expanded from his maw, becoming an intense beam of pressurized fire that almost looked like a laser of flames. The erupting blast wave instantly incinerated decks and numbers as cannons exploded, causing further devastation to the numbers.

With a gaping mouth, Bigge watched Natsu glide around overhead, circling to attack again. As he looked around, he was seeing Gajeel and Wendy unleashing roars as they flew over decks, more specifically cannons. 'They're taking out our long-range offense.' He looked up at the massive ice wave blocking them. 'Wait…did they plan this from the start? How did they get so coordinated so fast?' His glare intensified. 'Doesn't matter. We still have numbers on our side.' He turned away, ignoring the explosion that happened on the deck behind him. "Yeah, this is General Bigge. All registered soldiers initiate the launch pods. I repeat! All soldiers assigned to the launch pods, get in and fire!"

Natsu dodged another cannon blast and looked down. With his Dragon Slayer sight, he noticed cylindrical compartments open up along the ships' docking. "What's going on now? More weapons?"

Inside the holes, compartments slowly eroded out of the darkness. In a sense they looked like pods. Once they were all lined up, lacrima-powered propulsion shook the ground beneath as they all suddenly shot like missiles high in the air.

"Incoming!" Happy chirped.

The Dragon Slayers ascended s high as their Exceeds could carry them out of range. With the missile-like pods whistling past them, they looked back over to find the missiles going over the ice wave, shooting right at Glacidia.

"They got missiles now?" Gajeel grunted. "Great, so much for making this easy for us."

Wendy nose wrinkled as the air had a multitude of smells. She looked back at the hundreds of guided missiles leaving smoke trails behind. "…Guys, something tells me those aren't missiles."

Carla moved her shoulder to her ear. "Lucy, this is Carla, can you read me? We have a problem…"

Lucy and everyone were inside the walls. They were all patiently waiting for the enemy. As they looked up, they could all see a mass of pods angled down onto the city. The blonde reached into her earpiece, hearing Carla's notion. "I gotcha, Carla! We'll take care of it, you guys just focus on keeping them busy!" The message ended, and Lucy looked up with a readied glare. "Klefki!"

Klefki jingled the keys she held. "Ready!"

All the pods arched over the border walls, some even landed right on the top, where some guards were blown away screaming. Once the pods' heads landed in the snow, five armed soldiers from each pod jumped out, pulling out Poke Balls, Great Balls, and Ultra Balls.

This happened all over, and not just the walls. The fastened snow Nic and Isaac worked on proved to be helpful in saving houses from being struck by the barrage. The pods erupted on the ground, housetops, and in snow piles. From them, more soldiers came out and jumped to the ground.

Several jumped in front of Cana and Sophie, who were ready for them.

"Here they come, you ready?" Sophie questioned.

Cana whipped out a tarot card. "Like we have a choice." With one swipe, she ignited the card in her magic and sent a comet of flames threw the air. "Sun's Strength!"

The card made it to the soldiers, exploding flames around them, causing them to scream out in pain.

Sophie decided to add insult to injury. She pointed a finger to her forehead and flicked it up as a chain of memories flourished behind. "Memory-Make: Charge Blades!"

The soldiers scattered looked ahead as they only saw lightning erupt from the ground. They all screamed in shock before an immense fissure broke beneath, expelling a blast of lightning that bolted skywards.

"That's showing 'em." Cana chimed. She turned her head, noticing something from an angle above. "Get down!" in a hurry, she pushed Sophie down moments before Embers passed over their heads, exploding right behind them.

When Cana looked up, she saw the culprits being three Salandit and two Houndour. They hissed and barked from the same roof, trying to intimidate them.

"Great, guess we got this now." Cana huffed.

The Salandit and Houndour opened their maws and expelled more Ember attacks. The girls jumped back and slid along the snow to avoid the sparks. With room, they jumped down from their perches to corner them, just as more soldiers came up to get.

"Cana, let's use our Pokémon!"

"Good thinking."

Pulling their arms back, Cana and Sophie threw Poke Balls, calling out their Abra and Purrloin. Both stood in front of their respective Trainers and prepared for battle.

"Since I remember Psychic-types are strong against Poison-types, we'll be targeting Salandit. Abra, Psyshock!" Sophie shouted. Abra conjured a ball of purple energy between his hands and chirped as he shot a multitude of beams from it. The beams shot through the air, erupting upon impact with the shocked Salandit.

Cana reached out. "Now, Purrloin! Fury Swipes!"

Using the smoke as cover, a hole ripped open as Purrloin shot through, claws glowing brightly. "Made ya look!" She slashed into a Houndour once, then again to make it recoil. She smirked. "That'll show ya-woah!" She jumped in time when two more Houndour went to bite her from both sides. She landed beside Abra, her claws providing traction.

"Phew!" Purrloin huffed. "Okay…I can see why that blue cat isn't too fond of dogs now."

The snow cleared, showing growling Houndour and Salandit gathering from all around. They quickly surrounded them, as well as their trainers, leaving no blind spots.

"Not good." Cana grunted.

A soldier reached his arm out. "Now Bite!"

Cana looked above to find a Houndour pouncing onto her with glowing fangs. She readied a tarot card, but the reaction was faster than what she imagined. 'I'm barely gonna make it.'

"Bubble!"

Suddenly a barrage of bubbles struck Houndour from the side. The Dark Pokémon shot into its other companions, who were also jetted by bubbles that repulsed them. They all recoiled away, allowing a blue penguin to take centerstage from above.

"Don't worry, I'm here to help!" he boldly declared.

Cana's eyes widened. "Piplup?"

"You know this Pokémon?" Sophie questioned, pointing at Piplup for reference.

"You can say that." Cana looked ahead, smirking. "Thanks for the save there little buddy, looks like you're a real man now."

Thousands of miles away, Elfman sneezed. "Ugh." He sniffed. "Geez, someone talking about my manliness?"

Piplup beamed high with pride. "Hmph! Well don't get carried away with it." He huffed. "I just happened to be nearby is all. Nothing to it."

"Sure you were. Well now, since you're here…" She spun around, sending tarot cards everywhere that exploded in soldier and Pokémon. "Mind if I borrow ya for a bit!" she yelled through the explosions.

Piplup huffed again with reddened cheeks. "Hmph! Well, if you really need me-!" He looked over as a Houndour went to attack with Bite. He jumped up and avoided the fangs, and he bounced off the head and got straight up. Once high enough, his beak glowed as he dove down onto Houndour.

"Peck!"

He dove down, scoring a sharp blow to Houndour's head. The dog scowled as it was pushed down again, and Piplup used the momentum to flip back into the air.

"Alright, give me another Bubble!" Cana shouted. Complying, Piplup took in a deep breath and exhaled. Blue bubbles rained down onto the Houndour pack before him, blowing them away.

Sophie glared elsewhere. "In that case, we'll target the Salandit! Abra!" She swiped her arm, giving Abra the command. Also complying, Abra released Psyshock once more, causing an eruption that swallowed more Salandit ahead of him.


All around the city, soldiers reached out and commanded their Fire-type Pokémon. Slugma, Numel, Pansear, Magby, Torkoal, and many others were expelling Ember if possible. Snow was melting into water everywhere, and the people of Glacidia were firing back using Ice and Water-types. It was a big mess, but as attacks were being drawn, some dodged, leaving snow to melt or freeze over, only to return fire.

"Forward!" A solider aimed his blade forward, making the troops behind kneel or stand as they fired magical rifles. The energy beams struck down many Glacidians, with their Pokémon being blown away by explosions by Fire-types.

As one wave was falling over, Lucy and Klefki arrived on scene. "Looks like they're pushing through hard!" Lucy gasped. "Klefki!"

Klefki whipped her key ring and handed a key to Lucy. Lucy held the key high as it shined.

"Open: Gate of the Lion – Loke!"

The Celestial Spirit appeared in front, adjusting his cuffs. Behind, Lucy had also changed to her Star Dress Leo Form. "You call, beautiful?" he smirked.

"Yeah, let's crash the party!" she ordered.

"Music to my ears!" Loke flipped into the air, spiraling down with gold around his heel as he crashed in a wave of Fire-types. He blitzed right through, knocking them away as he attacked more armed men with intense reflexes.

Lucy reached out. "Alright Klefki, Astonish!"

Klefki ascended, a dark aura igniting as she released a dark illusion with sinister red eyes at a soldier ahead. The shockwaves caused him to backpedal and flinch. With the opening, Lucy rushed ahead with all her might, reeling her leg back.

"Regulus Lucy Kick!"

Ignited in golden light, her heel swung around, kicking the soldier off the street. He screamed as he plunged to the icy cold water beside them. The other soldiers looked to the water and back at Lucy.

"There's plenty more where that came from!" She declared. "Let's go, guys!"

"Right!" Loke rushed in, with Klefki zipping behind. Lucy followed as she flipped into the air, coming down with another golden kick.


Soldiers continued their advance elsewhere around the city, attacking other armed guards and their Pokémon. When a wave of soldiers darted deeper into the heart of the streets, a wave of teal aura blew them away, revealing Vanessa.

The Aura Mage had a serious look on her face as Goodra was right behind her. The Dragon-type frowned with her Trainer as they were soon surrounded by soldiers with daggers and blades. At their sides were all Numel, Quilava, and even some Vulpix.

"Identify yourself!" one soldier ordered.

Vanessa didn't listen. She could tell by her aura that they had no intention on standing down. She could even feel some lust in their aura. She was used to it by now, but relishing in her own beauty would have to wait. She closed her eyes.

"Goodra, Muddy Water!"

Goodra craned her head around as she conjured a vortex of brown water beneath her. She cried out as the cyclone expanded outwards towards the guards.

"Aaah!" The shocked guards and Pokémon were all swamped by murky water. They gurgled as they were repulsed, with waves carrying them elsewhere.

Vanessa casually reached up, teal aura enveloping her hands. "Lustrous Spire!" Crossing her hands loosely overhead, the teal aura shot up in a combined helix that shot far up. The spire reached a pinnacle before the two beams curved into one another, expelling a flash and teal meteors expanded downwards. Teal rained down around Vanessa and Goodra. Anything that was in sight of these comets was instantly bombarded by pressurized aura, creating eruptions in their background.

Slowly opening her eyes within the teal flames, Vanessa's glare reminded many of Nic's serious gaze.


Though some didn't make it over the border, there were those on the wall who were using lacrima-powered heat guns to shoot hot plasma at soldiers stationed there. When one blast came close, a Snorunt from the side used Headbutt into the soldier's side, knocking him off the wall and plunging. The defended guard looked back, seeing the Snorunt nod at him.

As cooperation was starting to bud, that didn't thwart the soldiers that were crawling up the snow and ice by using each other as bridges skywards. The pods they used were pinned into the ice, making excellent footholds to gain ground.

Down by the ships, Tangath grunted as he reached out. "All units! Abandon ship! Forward!"

Soldiers used rope to slide down on and landed on the ice. Hundreds to thousands still up after the Dragon Slayers' attack planted their feet on the ice and grabbed their gear. They all charged along the ice, working their way around the massive frozen ice wave through small holes made by the heat cannon fire. Once they crawled through the other side, they charged for the entrance, where Juvia and Gray were.

Both pulled out Poke Balls, three in Gray's case. "You ready?"

Juvia nodded. Together, they threw the capsules, summoning Marill, and Gray summoned all three of his Ice-types, With Snover out, the Pokémon hollered as his Snow Warning Ability activated, creating hail that pelted down all around them. Snorunt, of course, was eating ice beneath, leaving the others confused.

The soldiers and their Fire-types out were buffeted, leaving them open to being attacked.

"Alright guys, let's chill them out!" Gray shouted. "Use Icy Wind!" Altogether, Snover and Bergmite readied. Snorunt was busy chewing on the ice beneath before he realized what was going on. When he stood back up, all three took in a deep breath and exhaled a chilled blizzard. The attack rushed across the land, stopping all the forces in place. It was so cold their teeth chattered as they couldn't move.

Juvia and Marill took the opportunity.

"Water Nebula!"

"Bubble Beam!"

A cyclone of water mixed with bubbles rushed across the ice and rapidly spread into the soldiers ahead. The enormous swell caught many enemies as they gurgled and were shot away.

Gray smirked. "That's what I'm talking about." He swiped his arm, freezing the foes trapped within the blue and bubbly maelstrom. The new ice formation cut off a number of brigades as they had to go around, leaving ample opportunity for them to brace themselves.

"Oh boy!" Snorunt was ready for the fight, but then saw more ice created nearby. Unable to resist his urges, he pounced on the ice and chewed on it.

"Hey, focus! Would ya?!" Gray ordered.


As more soldiers charged ahead, they were finding ways through the ice. "Don't stop, men! They're just two wizards!" one guard declared. "We can take 'em!"

As they charged onwards, they didn't notice the ice splitting apart until it was too late. The ice ahead broke, with something breaching and twirling in midair with the sprays of arctic waters. They all stopped in their tracks and looked up, seeing something with long red hair as time slowed down.

Pivoting in midair, looking over her shoulder down at the soldiers, Erza Pularis glared with a demeanor that froze them all in place. Her Sea Empress Armor fixed with her body as she plunged her Lightning Empress spear into the ice. A shockwave of lightning spills through cracks along the ice heading towards the soldiers, electrocuting them. With them petrified, she used her spare arm to requip her Sea Empress Sword and swung her arm across, creating a blue shockwave that cut down dozens of people in a long, angular swing.

The men far away were paralyzed by the sights as their own men were sent flying over their heads. They could only remained still as Erza held her two weapons on both sides.

"We won't let you pass further." She declared. "Summon your bravery…and come at me if you dare."

One soldier unable to accept the mock drew his blade. He pointed forward with his Pansear beside him. "Don't let them get away with this! Open fire!"

The soldiers all commanded their Pokémon at Erza, causing them all to spew some form of Fire-type attack. Ember and Incinerate attacks shot through the atmosphere, turning into a massive wave of fire that Erza refused to dodge. Not budging, she was engulfed in the flames, erupting in a fiery blitz.

"Yeah! That showed her!" a soldier cheered.

"Against this fire power, even a high level Pokémon can't last long!" another smiled.

"Don't be too sure."

The strange voice was what caught many off guard. When they looked at the diminishing smoke, they saw a brown eye belonging to flowing red hair, but a turquoise shield rippled ahead of her. A Cloyster using Protect stood in front of her, leaving his Trainer without even a single scratch.

"No way! For real?!" a soldier shrieked. "How can it withstand that kind of power?!"

Rather than answer their questions through words, Erza promptly did so by action. She reached forward, giving a command. "Cloyster, Hydro Pump!"

Cloyster grunted as he took in a deep breath. Once ready, he expelled a massive blast of pressurized water that pulsed through the air into a wave that swallowed many men and Fire-types at once. Within the sprays and gushes of water, Erza streamed through and cut clean through the waves, along with each men caught inside.

As time slowed down around her, the redhead held a slash position as men fell like rain around her. 'We'll be the vanguard to their brigade. That just leaves you…Nic.'


Plopping along the ice, Seel dragged herself as she looked down. "Oh, what in tarnation…! Now how did this get here?" Annoyed by the ice, she growled before she used her tail to leap. Once high enough, she pointed straight down.

"Headbutt!"

Her little horn hitting the ice, she ploughed through the ice sheet, ending up underwater. With the cool water against her once more, Seel barreled along merrily. "Ahhh~, much better." As she began to relax, she took notice of something in the distance. She squinted. "Hm? Now, what is that?"

In a hemisphere of water beneath the ice, oxygen was plenty still as Nic was in his Water/Ice Form again. He looked above his water veil at the massive ship Emmanuel was on. Beside him, The Freaks were kneeled and conserving their energy.

"And you're absolutely positive she's up there?" Dereece asked.

"Yeah, there's no question about it." Nic answered. "I can sense the Magic Power from down here. This is as close as we get." He took notice of Joey as he was awfully quiet for a while. "Joey, you sure you wanna do this?"

Joey had a serious expression on his face; it almost worried Nic but he didn't show. "There's no other choice for me. It's my fault anyways that Camilla ended up this way anyway." He started getting up. "Her Dad left it to me to make sure she gets back…and I intend to do the same."

Nic nodded in understanding. He felt the exact same way. "Well said." He looked up. "Alright guys, brace yourselves, this is gonna get very bumpy!"

The Freaks held on as Nic began to glow an icy blue. The temperature around them started dropping rapidly that it was freezing the sphere around them. The freezing wave expanded skywards towards the haul of the massive battleship. The entire ship rocked beneath Emmanuel and the cadets on the ship as ice speared through the walls of the insides. The ice penetrated steel and iron entirely, until the mass of the ice became so massive that a spear-like glacier hoisted the ship off the already frozen ocean.

"What this?!" Emmanuel stammered across his domain until Arcanine was used to support him. He looked off to the outside, his eyes growing wide as he peered down at the mountain of ice penetrating their stronghold.

A random cadet slid into his quarters. "Sir! Some kind of underwater glacier shot us from below!" he said.

Emmanuel continued facing down. He seemed to be thinking.

"The haul has been severely damaged, sir! We've got at least a third of our crew trapped in the ice, and a couple probably knocked out. Our ship is stuck, we can't get anywhere…sir? Sir?"

Emmanuel's expression turned to a smirk. He could feel it, even from here. He had a feeling who was behind this act. "Well now, this is a welcoming gift. It seems we did in fact draw a certain someone's attention after all."

Along the quaking deck, the crew was running around like scared and trapped guinea pigs. A massive mountain of ice penetrated from below the deck, leaving the middle of the deck in a mess. With one soldier looking up at the mound, he could've sworn he saw figures inside.

"What the…?"

"Sorry, but you're not going anywhere."

The cool voice gave the soldier chills. Before he realized it, he was frozen in place, a statue amongst dozens of others as the mist and frost cleared, revealing Nic standing still and collective. In an all-around formation, The Freaks had Chespin, Heracross, and Torterra all present for battle.

With every individual soldier on the deck frozen over, cadets from below ran up to the deck and saw what happened. Even they were shocked.

"What happened?!"

"Is this all ice?"

"Yeah, and who are they…wait, is that…!"

"Crap, it's Nic Pularis!"

Rather than give them a moment to process, Nic slammed his foot down hard creating a mountainous pillar of water from below, via Water Spout. The attack shot below the men, shooting them above and sailing either off the ship or elsewhere along the deck, unconscious.

"Is this really the plan?" Duncan bluntly asked. "I thought you wanted to sneak on."

"Don't think that you have me figured out yet." Nic chided. "And besides, I'm sure they'd have traps waiting inside. Don't worry, I'm still sensing Camilla's power…she's still inside somewhere." He turned around. "You should go, Joey."

Joey nodded. "Right, let's go Chespin!" He and Chespin took towards the deck's lower doors.

"I'm coming, Joey." Dereece followed with Heracross to join Joey, as did Duncan, though slowly.

Nic understood and promptly nodded. He was going to head his way but then he had a funny feeling crawl up his spine as his back was turned to the open canals to the lower deck. His gaze unchanged, he felt a malefic magic behind and turned around.

A pair of boots stepped out of the shadows. "Greetings, Fairy Tail Mage…or should I call you Nic Pularis?"

Nic was face to face with Emmanuel from across the deck. The middle-aged man had an all-around calm and confident disposition around him, one that even ice couldn't freeze over. Rather smugly smirking, the man graciously stood still in challenge.

A strong silence set in between as their eyes locked onto one another.

"I was hoping that I would get to meet you in person, such an honor it is to meet someone of your caliber and infamous reputation on my ship." Emmanuel exaggerated.

Nic glared. "So, you're the guy who's been making Isaac scratch your back, is that right?"

Emmanuel scoffed. "Well, I'm sure that itself is a half-truth. Isaac must have told you a lot about me."

"He did."

"Then let me ask you this: How is it that you managed to sway his subzero heart into letting these…Pokémon become part of his tribe?" Emmanuel hummed. "Were you anticipating our arrival so you can defend a selfish man?"

"I never said I was fighting for him." Nic admitted, pulling out a Poke Ball. "To be honest, I can't exactly say that he's not the brightest person. He's made a lot of selfish choices that I would wanna condemn him for. But that would be wasting breath." He held out the Poke Ball. "We're here to help and see the people make better choices with Pokémon, better ones than you're making right now."

"So, you're fighting for yourself and your beliefs is what you're saying?" Emmanuel inquired. "Interesting…but, do you also not believe that a deal is still a deal? I held up my end of the deal; I have enough sense to do that. I'm a man who believes that it's fair to do his part…but Isaac needs to learn to pay what he owes. Do you not believe that my actions are justified?"

"That depends, is destroying an entire city of innocence that worth it?"

Emmanuel smirked darkly. "It's all…business."

"I see…you can settle your business with Isaac for all I care…but the Moon Drip and the people not fighting stays out of this."

Emmanuel sighed heavily. "I was hoping you'd be more understanding of my situation, Nic Pularis. A man like you who believes in getting what he wants the hard way would probably understand my pain…but I guess you'll need some convincing. Arcanine!"

Arcanine pounced before him, exerting a menacing bark with a proud posture. Nic turned on his heel and swung up, bringing the Poke Ball above. Summoned below in a beam of energy, Charizard craned his head around and exerted a heated shockwave as he roared. Both Fore-types snarled at one another, with Arcanine grunting as his Intimidate Ability made Charizard's Attack fall.

"It's time I showed you guild mages show how serious the business world takes to its debts…Arcanine, go!" Emmanuel ordered his Arcanine, to which the creature roared.

"Same goes for us Trainers, too. Charizard!"

"Ready." With lust for battle, Charizard spread his wings, preparing for combat.


Finally getting onto the icy ocean, Ebna, Bigge, and Tangath all heard a bloodcurdling roar from Emmanuel's ship. They all turned towards the massive ice slab, shock on their faces.

"Is that who I think it is?" Tangath asked, though he sounded more genuine surprised than feared.

Pulling up binoculars again, Bigge looked into them and saw a man who had a frosty aura around him, yet his Charizard's heat was making mist between. But from his stature and this strange nerve crawling up his spine, he had a feeling who it was.

"Here, you take a look." He handed Tangath the binoculars. Unlike Bigge, he gasped.

"It can't be! Is that…!"

"Yes, no doubt about it." Bigge's eyes narrowed. "That's Nic Pularis, in the flesh."

Ebna's fixation intensified. "Emmanuel is fighting him himself. This is bad."

"Agreed. Let's go back him up." Tangath advised. "I bet he won't suspect a surprised triple ambush."

"And neither would you!" The three generals heard the sound from above, making them see a blaze drop from above. The eruption of steam and ice pushed them all away. Tangath pulled out a sword and used it to block a majority of the shockwaves, leaving him as a bunker for the two to stand behind until the frost cleared. They saw a pink-haired man on a knee, his scarf swaying in the winds.

"Sorry buddy…" Natsu stood up, just as Wendy and Gajeel joined him. "But you're in the wrong league if you think you can compete with just him."

Tangath snarled. "Mages."

Natsu pulled up a Poke Ball. Wendy and Gajeel followed suit. "I think it's about time we bust out our little friends, what do you guys think?"

"Right, let's do it." Wendy agreed.

"Alright…come on out!" They all threw their Poke Balls, bringing out Darumaka as he jumped up and down happily. Aron and Swablu were beside him.

Tangath and the generals pulled out Poke Balls of their own. "You arrogant mages think you've got power over years of intellectually advanced military training. Well prepare to realize your places!" Together, the generals sent out their Pokémon. Bigge sent out Simisear, Ebna sent out a Torracat, and Tangath brought out a Magmar.

The three Pokémon growled as they were prepared to face their opponents.

"Yeah, I'm all fired up now!" Darumaka eagerly cheered. "Let's go guys!"

Natsu smirked. "Just what I was thinking."


The full moon was once again showing itself in the night sky. With its ever-bright radiance allowing the night to be seen, Isaac looked up with concern.

"Is something the matter?" Levy asked. She was currently with Isaac at the Moon Drip pool, acting as his bodyguard while deciphering some more old texts from books she held onto.

"…no, never mind." He said. "Just…thinking is all."

Levy didn't buy it. She could clearly see the concern on his face. "You're worried about your daughter, aren't you?" By the silence she was given, she hit the nail on the head. "Look, don't worry. My friends are doing everything they can to get her back and save everyone. Just try and hold a little faith is all…I know I do."

Isaac looked away with guilt. He wished he could believe that was simple, but faith was never something he held much value in. He was traditional and solemn custom. So much was happening he didn't know how to think anymore.

"It's just like Nic said. There's a first time for everything." Levy gazed towards the full moon, smiling in its basking glory. "Besides…you're not the only one who wants to protect something precious to them."


There was a dark cell with nothing inside. The torches had long gone out, leaving the room as cold as the ice that hung around the ceiling.

"Camilla!" Joey sprung from the side, looking into the empty cell with lase hopes. "Camilla…?"

"She's not here?" Chespin questioned. "But I thought her trail lead to here."

Dereece finally caught up, looking inside the cell with surprise. "Wha-?! What happened? What did I miss?!" he asked Joey. "Did you take a wrong turn?"

"Don't go pointing fingers." Duncan scoffed as he walked behind. "Look, they obviously moved her someplace else in the ship. Nic's ice froze a lot of exits closed so they can't have gone very far." He glanced to the end of the hall. "Odds are they sensed us and head the other way."

"Okay, but which way is that? This place is a freaking maze!" Dereece lashed. "If we take one wrong turn, we'll get lost and…"

As he droned on about the repercussions, Joey was lost in his own little world. He looked down at the floor, his brow furrowed and his throat humming. His insides irked at the many thoughts spiraling inside his warped mind. One thought was Camilla, especially the last time they saw each other.

"You're a good guy, Joey…but I can't be around you. There's a reason why my father hates mages…why he thinks they're a burden to me."

He thought deeply about the way she turned away from him, how she looked like she was about to cry. 'Camilla…'

"Joey! Joey, look!" Chespin brought him back to reality as he pointed down to strands of purple hair heading down a hall. It stretched on out towards the other hall, far out of sight.

Heracross blinked. "Is that…hair?"

"Yeah. Yeah!" Dereece raced over and kneeled to the hair. When he looked at it for a long period of time, he turned towards Joey with anxiousness. "Captain…"

Joey looked down again. It didn't take long for him to remember what he came here for. "…let's go."

"Hmph, this is a trap, you know that right?" Duncan reminded his Captain.

"I know…but you told me to be better prepared, didn't you?" He shot a look at Duncan. "Well I say I'm ready. I have to be if I wanna save Camilla. There's something I have to say to her…something she needs to hear."

Dereece gave a somber stare. "Captain."

Joey turned forward. "Let's go!" Without hesitation, Joey stepped, but then he slipped. He plopped on his face again, for probably the fifth time now.

"Oh!" Dereece and Chespin flinched.

Joey strained to get up, despite the bruises on his face. Shaking his head, he tried to man up and growled as he darted at the trail of hair. As he followed it. He narrowly avoiding metal plates dropping from the ceiling, skimming side to side comically. When an icicle dropped, he squealed as he wormed around it. A lot of obstacles were dropping all around him, but he wasn't giving up. With Camilla on his mind, he dared not stop his path. 'I'm not gonna lose someone important to me again.' He declared. 'I swear it!'

Eventually, the trail led the group to outside. Once they reached cold, nightly air, they found themselves on the back-deck, with someone who immediately got Joey's attention. "Camilla!"

Hearing her name from a familiar sound, Camilla slowly turned around, her eyes widening upon seeing a blonde. "Joey." She gasped.

"Are you alright?!" he shouted.

Camilla hesitated to answer. Duncan looked around, feeling tension in the air. 'Wait, something's not right here. This is too open…'

Dereece took notice of Duncan's tension. Almost immediately he picked up on the issue. "Captain, wait-!"

Joey walked forward, reaching out towards Camilla. "Camilla? What's going on?"

Camilla didn't answer. She stared blankly in worry.

"Camilla!"

With a violent roar, Victor rushed from out of nowhere and swung his heel around. Joey didn't catch it in time and was shot to the side away from his companions.

"Captain Joey!" Dereece shouted. But he suddenly picked up on something from the corner of his eye. Using his magic, he stepped up to evade an Ember from above. He and Heracross rejoined as they turned around, seeing a Salandit that hissed at them. "Not good…."

Duncan and Torterra looked around them. They saw a number of soldiers with Fire-types coming from different corners to pin them.

Chespin got to Joey's side as he tried sitting up, but someone glared him down. "You. Bastard!"

Joey looked up, gasping as he was seeing Victor again. "You…"

Victor stood beside his Monferno, sneering angrily after the sucker punch he threw before. "Why am I not surprised?" he watched Joey get to his feet. "The same tomato jackass that's been bugging me since coming here, and he follows me back, like some leech…what is it with you not listening?"

Joey's shock turned to seriousness as he wiped the scrapes from his cheek, where he was knocked at. Victor scoffed again.

"Well this time little man, if you're not gonna listen to me, I'm gonna have to beat it into. I told you before last time what would happen, that I would make sure you wished you'd stayed on the ground, right?" He held up a fist. On it was a bracelet with a teal lacrima crackling static. "Well I don't bluff. This time when I push you down, you're not getting back up."

Joey put up his dukes next. "I'll get up as many times as it takes if it means getting her back from you."

Camilla's eyes softened. "Joey…"

Victor chuckled. "You always know how to make me laugh, man…it'll be the one thing that I'll miss about ya."

Chespin looked readily at Monferno as Joey was flashing back to events. Being on a boat again, fighting against someone who wanted to kill him…brought back bitter memories. Flashes of the Machia Knights battling Broly and fatally wounding him left a drastic scar on Joey, one that left him crying in the rain with Chespin. The memories themselves made him shrivel, but he knew better. 'This won't be like last time.' He told himself. 'I didn't take it seriously until it was too late. Maybe Bro took it with his life, as he did everyday, and that's what I did. Every morning, I pushed myself to get better, so that I won't let the same mistake happen again. This time! I won't lose someone!' "Chespin!"

Chespin stepped forward. "Let's make Broly proud."

"Yeah."

Victor smirked. "Alright…" He reached to the side, giving a command. "You guys, keep his posse busy…this guy's all mine. I'm gonna show him just why I'm second in command around here. Camilla!"

Joey's eyes widened when he heard her name. From the side, Camilla silently walked to Victor's side.

"Do it."

She didn't want to, it was written all over her face, but she did it anyway. She lifted her hand and touched Victor's shoulder. A faint glow emanated from the hand, entering Victor's body.

Joey gasped. He could see the vicious smirk on Victor's face widen as he was looking eager. Once Camilla finished transferring her luck, she humbly stepped off to the side while Victor stepped forward.

"Alright, now we're talking!" He paced forward and took a massive leap. Joey looked up with shock at the height he leaped. Victor flipped and came down with his boots crackling in green static with a big smile. Joey brought his forearms forward and conjured a barrier that Victor stomped on. He flipped backwards onto the deck, but he advanced with a sneer and seized the edge of the barrier. He swung around it, getting his heel around Joey. When he realized it, he moved enough to block, but the blow shot him in a tumble across the deck. Victor landed on a knee and git into runner's position. Joey was stunned at how vicious and fast Victor was coming at him and flinched as he created another barrier in the nick of time. When Victor punched it, the shock of the attack was enough to make Joey backpedal from his barrier, despite taking no damage.

'He's crazy fast!'

Victor sneered as the barrier blocked his path. He easily jumped over and twirled in the air, coming down to attack with an energized axe kick.

Nearby, Monferno and Chespin were in a parry of Fury Swipes and Vine Whip. As Chespin lashed, Monferno clawed, easily blocking the whips. After finding an opening, Monferno raised his hand high to rake down, but Chespin jumped away – barely in time – as the claw broke the boarding where he would've been.

Like Joey, Chespin backpedaled away, weary as Monferno looked at him. Taking a second to take the surroundings in, Monferno's tail glowed via Iron Tail as he whipped it to the ground, sending the broken boarding at Chespin. Caught off guard, Chespin used his forearms to block the barrage, but was buffered back and stammered away. Finding the opportunity, Monferno smirked and closed the gap for another Fury Swipes.

He raked into Chespin repeatedly, first once, and then twice. Then a third time. "This is for payback with that trash bag!" he shouted.

Chespin screamed as he was getting buffered repeatedly, unable to find an opening as claws raked at him.

Victor punched again, only to be blocked by another barrier. "Hey, c'mon, is blocking all you can do?"

Joey grunted. He felt like it was bait, but he wouldn't take it. When Victor was off his heel, he dispelled the barrier and morphed it around his fist.

"Barrier-Make: Smash!" Joey jabbed forward, only for his foot to press too hard into the deck, causing him to get snared. 'What-?!'

Seizing the opportunity, Victor grabbed Joey's extended wrist and twisted. Joey winced as Victor pulled him towards him, planting a heel to his chest again that sent him on flying back.

"Tough break, kid. It's too bad." Victor flipped again, getting above and soaring with an axe kick. Joey looked in time to see the attack and rolled to the side. The heel stamped on the ice and wood, sending shrapnel that Joey was unfortunately pelted with.

"Gngh! My eyes!" he complained.

Victor swung his leg around with green electricity again, hitting Joey's side with his guard down. The pain widened his eyes as he gagged.

"Joey!" Chespin screamed for his Trainer, only for Monferno to Mach Punch him when he wasn't looking.

Both shot across the deck, plopping onto their stomachs as they were dazed. Joey's teeth gritted at the amount of pain he was in. He could've sworn one of his ribs was bruised.

Victor looked over his foes, frowning in displeasure. "Unlucky bunch."

"Ah, man…that's gonna hurt in the morning." Joey winced as he staggered back up, only to fall to a knee when he slipped on ice. The shock to the knee got him hard. "Ow!"

"Hehehe, like I said. Unlucky." He insulted.

Joey got up again, only this time slower to avoid slipping. He grunted at the stinging where he was hit. 'Man, why am I slipping a lot? It can't be my shoes, right? I just bought some last week.' His brow furrowed. 'Hold the phone, what did Camilla say before about luck? Did she…'

"Guess I better connect the dots for ya by that stupefied look on your face. You see, Camilla just transferred her luck over to me…including the luck she stole from you." He gestured over to Camilla, who had a humbled look on her face. "How's it feel to know that someone you loved turned their own fortunes on you? Not very pleasant, right?"

Joey looked in shock over towards Camilla. "Camilla…is that true?" He was answered with silence. It was clear what the answer would be. 'Then that means…' He thought back to when they were on the bridge again, when she took his luck during their warm embrace. That sorrow began turning into frustration as he looked towards Victor.

"When you mix Luck Magic with my Athletic Magic…" He spread his feet apart, the lacrima crackling. Victor smirked. "Alright, let's kick this turd and his bucked-tooth pet to the curb, Monferno!"

"I'm all for that!" Both the monkey and Victor lunged for their targets with primal shouts.


A Flareon lunged ahead, only to be knocked away by Heracross' Horn Attack. Once the Fire-type slammed on its back, Heracross braced himself as he did his best to fend off against the horde of Pokémon he was up against. A Darumaka using Rollout and a Pansear using Bite tried to rush him, but he jumped and allowed them to hit each other. He landed and bashed them away with Horn Attack, allowing clearance for a Ponyta to charge ahead with a Tackle. Bracing himself, Heracross reached out and stopped the horse in its tracks.

With the distraction, Salandit hissed eagerly as he focused on Heracross.

Heracross looked over just in time to see a blue mass charging up. "Oh no-!"

"Dragon Rage!"

Salandit fired a beam of draconic blue energy across the deck. As it closed in, Heracross had to think fast. Throwing Ponyta in the wake of the attack, the horse took the full blunt, hollering in pain.

"That was a close one." He breathed, but an orange glint got his attention from the other side. A Torkoal shot an Ember at him just as he turned around, blowing him back.

Salandit smirked.

Men charged and swung their weapons around, making Dereece hurriedly used his magic to run up into the air. He stayed high over their heads, keeping a safe distance from the enemies. 'Gotta keep my distance.' He told himself. 'I can't get near them without Heracross backing me up.'

"Fire!" a soldier pointed up, with others firing pressurized blasts of fire up at Dereece.

Dereece's eyes dilated when he saw the barrage of beams heading his way. In a hurry, he comically dodged in the air. He hollered and shrieked with every close call, until he finally lost balance. "Oh no…NOT AGAIN~!" He squealed as he plummeted. He plummeted on his back behind Heracross, who slid back from taking another attack.

Stepping forward, Salandit sneered. "Now we got him!" He whipped his tail around, sending flames at Heracross. "Ember!"

As Heracross was recovering from the last attack, he found himself unable to dodge as the Ember scored a direct hit. His body ignited in a burst of flames, signaling a burn.

Dereece struggled to get up when he saw Heracross in pain. He gasped in horror. "Heracross…Heracross!"

With Heracross screaming in pain, Salandit wagged his tail excitedly as the Fire-types grouped around him. "Heh, too easy."

The reinforcements all closed in to finish Heracross off. Inside the flames, a red aura ignited around his body as his eyes dilated. With a violent shout, Heracross whirled his horn around, the intensified force clearing away the battlefield as Salandit was shocked.

"What?"

Heracross' body was leftover embers flicker as he glared at Salandit. 'Heracross' Guts Ability activated.' Dereece thought to himself. 'I just hope this gives us enough time before it's too late.' He looked over, seeing his Captain in trouble. 'Just hang in there a little longer, Captain. We'll think of something-!'

Weapons blasted at Dereece, causing him to squeal from a near-headshot. Soldiers advanced, weapons armed and blasting away at him once more.

More men nearby charged, only for Duncan to bat them away with his metal pole. He exercised his kendo training with superb reflexes as he twirled the pole overhead as guys from all around rushed him. When she swung around, he infused his magic again and swung with as much force as possible. The results knocked away the guards who then earned a swing to the face, knocking some out.

Similarly, Torterra raised one of his front legs. He roared as he slammed it down, using his Stone Edge attack right at the pack around Duncan.

Duncan raised his staff high and slammed it on the ground, creating a negative repulsion that shot him over the group as Torterra's attack caught them off guard. Smoke and rock exploded, and Duncan landed without drawback.

Joey gritted his teeth as time slowed down with him and Victor, the last thing to be seen was an uppercut with his name on it.


Simisear puffed his cheeks before shooting out a longue, via Lick. The tongue closed in on Darumaka, but he evaded the long appendage and landed right on top of it.

"Alright Darumaka, use Headbutt!" Natsu ordered.

Darumaka eagerly smirked as Simisear's long tongue retracted with him on it. He rammed his head into Simisear's face, causing him to fall over. "Ha! Someone's a little tongue tied." He joked.

"On your feet, Simisear!" Bigge ordered. Simisear complied, getting up with some strain. That attack knocked the wind out of him.

"We're just getting started pal." Natsu reached forward. "Now use Rollout!" Darumaka curled into a ball and began rolling over the ice. As he closed the gap, Simisear braced itself.

"Predictable." Bigge chided, swiping his arm. "Use Flame Burst!"

Simisear closed his maw and readied a charge, but a glint above got their attention. Looking up, they saw Swablu chirping as her beak glowed for Peck. As she closed in, Simisear was off guard and Darumaka's Rollout got him in the stomach, whereas Swablu pecked the head, forcing him backwards.

Swablu and Darumaka reconvened. "Nice job, Swablu!" Wendy praised.

Tangath reached forward. "Don't let them gain the upper hand! Magmar, Smog!" His Magmar inhaled deeply before his bill opened a little, expelling a dark cloud of toxic breath right at Swablu.

"Wendy!" Natsu shouted.

"Don't worry, Natsu. We can handle this." She assured. As the attack closed in, her breath began sucking in wind.

"Sky Dragon's Roar!"

A massive cyclone expanded from her mouth, immediately dispelling Smog. The cyclone blew into all three generals, forcing them to cover up as they tried holding ground, but to no avail.

As Wendy was expelling the whirlwinds, Gajeel took advantage of the situation. "Okay, use Rock Tomb!"

Aron glowed inside the whirlwind as conjured up gray rocks in a ring. Once was ready, they were unleashed through the spinning winds. The rocks were picked up by the winds and spiraled into Magmar. The added force created a smoke surge that repulsed Magmar.

"Not bad." Gajeel snorted.

Through the dissipating winds, Ebna grunted. 'That one with the metal body, that's the biggest threat. I better take it out quick.' He reached forward, giving a command. "Torracat, use Fire Fang!"

Torracat meowed as he jumped into the air. Once high enough, his fangs lit up in flames and he dove for Aron. The attack landed an explosive bite, which repelled Aron across the ice. Torracat sneered before he also picked up on Darumaka and Swablu swooping and rolling from both sides. The feline was quick on his feet and pounced above at the last second.

Darumaka and Swablu blew right into one another, recoiling gradually. With both suspended, Torracat turned around, pointing his back legs into both. His Double Kick landed one blow on each, pushing them on their backs.

Torracat landed, his companions slowly getting up beside him. They faced against the Dragon Slayer's Pokémon as they all rebuffed and got back up.

Tangath reached forward. "Stop them in their tracks! Use Fire Spin!"

Magmar aimed his mouth at Darumaka and unleashed a spinning fire that shot across the ground. The blast wave closed in, but at the last second Natsu stomped on the ground, appearing in front the swallow the flames heading his way.

Tangath and the generals looked shocked. They were witnessing Natsu devour fire again/ Once the flames were fully consumed, Natsu wiped his mouth with a serious look.

"Woah! You can do that?!" Darumaka gasped.

Natsu grinned. "Yeah, you got that right." He looked dead ahead, his disposition turning so intense that embers flickered around his body. "Looks like these guys aren't playing around either. Ready to get serious, guys?"

Wendy nodded.

"I already thought you were." Gajeel retorted. "Aron!"

The little armored being with Darumaka and Swablu prepared themselves once again, while Bigge and the generals scoffed angrily as they braced for battle.


Emmanuel reached out, and Arcanine was outlined in an orange aura. The Fire-type zipped across with Extreme Speed, heading for Charizard. In response, Charizard used his momentum and pivoted when he came close. He seized Arcanine and dragged him in a circle before hurling him to the side. The creature grunted from the strain of the paws against the ice, providing no traction. Charizard, however, lunged dead ahead and outstretched a claw, gripping Arcanine's snout before lifting him and sundering him onto his back, making ice shatter.

Meanwhile, Emmanuel was so shocked that he almost didn't realize his lower-half was already frozen over. Looking, down, icicles prodded to pierce his chin if he made one small misstep.

He looked ahead, seeing Nic wasn't moving. Wind shifted around him as he didn't even try. 'He's subduing me faster than I anticipated. This guy…'

Arcanine was pinned by the neck by Charizard, but he managed to open his maw and electricity crackled. In a hurry, Charizard flipped as Arcanine rocked forward for Thunder Fang. With Charizard flapping behind, Arcanine turned around to be smacked by his tail. As he slid along the ground, Charizard ascended, only to come down the next split second with his feet stomping on his side, via Fly. Arcanine gagged as everything for him went white for an instant.

Emmanuel looked towards Nic with shock, seeing him transform to his Spooky Form. 'So this is his power…'

Nic swiped his arm, creating golden orbs in the air around him. "Confuse Ray!"

The spheres closed in on Emmanuel, everything for him igniting in gold before it all went white for him as well.


Victor swung his leg around, which the barrier blocked. He jumped and spun around, planting two more kicks before he landed on a knee and shifted around the barrier to get Joey's side. Joey extended the barrier in time to avoid the barrages that Victor was unleashing.

'It's no good. He's too quick on his feet!'

Victor landed once more on the deck. He snorted before he stomped on the one board that was between him and Joey. Like a teeter totter, the board picked Joey up and he comically planted against his barrier. He groaned as he slowly slid down until he slumped low enough, the barrier dissipating.

"Hahaha! Man this is way too easy!" Victor jumped and flipped again. When Joey looked up, he tumbled to the side again, avoiding an axe kick that shattered the board beneath. This time he covered from the shrapnel, but Victor reappeared in front, shoving Joey onto his back. "Like I said, you're nothing more than a lightweight."

"Joey!" Chespin rushed over, getting in front of his Trainer to defend against Victor's advances.

"Monferno, Mach Punch!"

Chespin didn't realize before it was too late. A glowing fist knocked him from the side, sending him away by Monferno as Victor soon stood over Joey.

"You think that a little turd like you had any chance against someone who had years of training? News flash amateur, reality is much harsher than you think!" He kicked Joey's side, causing him to roll over and scream. "I'm sick and tired of you constantly getting in my way. If it weren't for you, Camilla wouldn't be in this mess! It's your fault!"

Joey lazily sat up in time to see another foot. Flinching, he created a small dome barrier that Victor repeatedly stomped on.

"What kind of man hides behind shields all day and not take action, huh?! It's big talkers like you who don't even know what they're doing!" He didn't stop. Either out of frustration or needing to get a point across, he refused to let up stomping on his shield. "Why did it have to be you that Camilla had to meet?! That's total bullshit! You're nothing but an amateur, so stop acting like a hotshot because you haven't got money, or power like I do!" He teeth gnashed together with anger. "Camilla is mine, ya hear?! She will never be yours!"

That last part is what made Joey snap. Silently gasping, his eyes shrunk as everything around him slowed and brightened as his conscience drifted again. For the umpteenth time, he started thinking about Broly. From his strong disposition, to the trust he passed to Joey.

The one part Joey remembered most vibrantly about him…was his fighting. The way he fought, to an iron will, to encouraging Jory to keep going.

Victor raised his foot again, bringing Joey to reality. He growled as he found a resolve.

The man stomped again, but suddenly the barrier vanished, and two hands caught the spiked heel. Before he realized it, he was the one pushed to the floor.

Camilla's eyes widened. She couldn't believe it.

"Gnngh, man that hurt." Victor rubbed the back of his head while a pair of feet stood up again. When he looked up, he saw Joey standing once more. "You!"

Taking a deep breath, Joey growled and created a barrier. He aimed and roared with everything he had.

"Barrier-Make: Crash!"

He launched the barrier across the deck into Victor, slamming him like a truck with no brakes. The elite screamed as he was sent flying across the deck, crashing into the other side.

Monferno looked back with shock. So much that he almost forgot about Chespin. 'An opening!' Chespin quickly spat out Leech Seed at Monferno as he turned back, creating vines that entangled the monkey's body. He hollered as the vines and roots began sucking away his health.

Chespin attacked with his guard down, using Bite on Monferno's face. The impact caused him to recoil before a pair of vines jabbed his abdomen, knocking the air out of him as he fell backwards as well.

Joey and Chespin reconvened, both standing tall in spite of odds.

"Joey…" Camilla was once again speechless. She saw how serious Joey was. This wasn't the same goofy nutcase who showed her a good time from before. By the way he was standing, he was in it to win it.

As a cold air shifted, Joey and Chespin stared forward at the dust cloud that dissipated. Victor stood once more, actual pain on his face. "You…bastard…!" he snarled beneath his breath.

"Chespin, stay close to me." Chespin complied to Joey's demand. Both readied for the next attack.

"That was a cheap shot! Bur this won't be!" Victor pointed forward. "Monferno, Fire Pledge!"

Monferno fought through the strain and hollered as he slammed his fist into the deck. A straight shot of fire pillars went in a straight line towards them. Joey swiped his arm, creating a sphere-like barrier just as flames ignited from below. Once the flames waves dissipated, Joey was about to release when Victor swooped in.

"You bastard!"

He kicked the unbreakable sphere like it was a massive soccer ball. Joey and Chespin both blinked before they found themselves fumbling and ricocheting off every corner of the ball. The sphere slid along the deck uncontrollably, until it was heading right for Victor again. With enough force, he roundhouse kicked the sphere and sent it towards Camilla.

The purple-haired woman gasped as she saw the dazed duo head her way. Too shocked to move, she braced herself.

"CA-MIL-LA!" Joey lurched with every roll, before he finally broke his own barrier. He fell right on top of Camilla, with Chespin plopping on the ground beside them.

"Tch, my bad." Victor scoffed. He didn't look sorry in the very least.

Joey groaned as he was still lying atop of Camilla. His body ached all over that he wasn't sure how he was still conscious. Whether this was by dumb luck or natural muscle he built up, opened an eye to stare down. "Camilla…are you okay?"

Camilla groaned as she looked to Joey. "Yeah, I think so…lucky enough." Her face fell when she saw the bruises all over Joey's adorable face. "You shouldn't be here, Joey. This is all my fault."

"Camilla…" Joey was about to trail off, but he steeled himself and leered at her. "Camilla, this isn't your fault. Stop saying that."

"You know it's true, Joey. Just look at you…you can barely stand, and it's going to get worse if you don't stop." Her eyes started misting. "I'm begging you, please…just leave me alone. For both our sakes."

There was a long silence as Joey gleamed into Camilla's eyes. She looked terribly sorry for someone he came to really like. In a way, he knew that what she said had some kernel of sense, but another part of him said a different thing entirely. He sighed as he caught his breath.

"Sorry Camilla…but you've been alone long enough." Joey grinned. "You can try and push me away, but we both know that's not what you want, is it?"

Camilla turned away. She was too shameful to look at him now.

"Look, I get it. You're selfish. You have to be if you wanna stay alive. You need other's luck to make sure you get to the next day…but the cycle ain't going anywhere if you don't mix it up. You always wanted that, right?"

Camilla hesitated to respond. "…I…"

"So maybe I don't have much luck…I don't need it. What I need is for you to trust me again. I trust you, I always have." Camilla's shock was clear on her face. "You're one of the most beautiful woman I've ever met since coming to this world. I mean sure, maybe I wasn't lucky when you tricked me…but if you ask me, my greatest luck is meeting you. You really made my time her in Glacidia all the more worth it."

Her eyes started watering. Even after taking away his luck, Joey still wasn't giving up on her. She didn't feel she deserved any of this from him, but here he was, giving that goofy big smile that she saw when they danced, when she let loose in the first time in her life. "You…you stupid fool." She whimpered to his face, tears running down her face.

Joey stood up, rejuvenated. "When I said I'm not leaving without you, I mean it. Camilla, I-!" A heel smashed against his back, making Joey gag as Victor angrily kicked him off and away.

"I thought I told you to stay away from my fiancé!" Victor rudely scolded.

"Victor!" Camilla gasped.

Victor looked down at her and noticed the few scratches she had on her face. "That punk rough you up, didn't he?" He grunted as he rubbed the back of his head. "Damnit~! This is not going the way I want it to."

"Well nothing always does!" A call from the distance got them to turn. Panting heavily, Joey staggered back up, wiping the blood from his lip.

"You still standing, after all that?" Victor crossed his arms. "You're a glutton for punishment, kid. You should've dropped by now. Why are you even standing when she's mine?"

Joey expectorated to the side, blood mixed with the saliva. "You know, you ask too many questions."

Victor raised a smug brow. "That right? Well then, what are you gonna do about it?" He noticed Joey smirking, making him irk more. "What are you so happy about?"

Joey chuckled. "Nothing…" he raised his head. "It's just, now I gotta ask you something: Tell me…are you feeling lucky?"

Confused by Joey's question, Victor was caught off guard when he almost lost footing. Slipping on the frosted deck, the man fell on his back with a thud, gagging from shock.

"Gnnngh…what happened…?" he groaned. "I thought…that my luck was…" He weakly opened his eyes, his pupils shrinking as he stared up at Camilla as she frowned at him, her hand covered in a golden light. "Camilla, you-!" Before he finished, the deck suddenly gave in, dropping him and Monferno the next floor below them.

As a crash sound was heard, Camilla huffed and humbly walked across the deck.

"Camilla…" Joey looked to her as she walked up to him. She took his hand and held onto the fingers. She placed her other hand over his, gingerly smiling. When Joey looked down, he saw a bright glow enter his palm. The radiant light filtered into his system, and it was leaving shocked. 'My body…is my luck coming back to me?'

Camilla continued holding Joey's hand. The glow continued as she humbly smirked. "You really are a stupid fool, Joey."

Joey blinked and smiled. "Well hey, I'm a stupid fool with dumb luck. It's a win-win!"

The deck suddenly burst ahead, getting them to turn ahead. Victor and Monferno glared at them, and they were pissed.

"Here they come." Joey's seriousness returned. "Camilla, keep your half of the luck…I'm gonna use my power to win you back." He walked forward with Chespin, leaving Camilla to watch him go.

"You…BASTARD!" Victor shouted.

Joey grunted. They both lunged screaming, meeting in the center with fists in static and barrier.


Heracross slid back across the deck on all fours. He lifted his body, only to falter again when flames engulfed him. Salandit approached, hissing as his tail wagged. He seemed elated despite how almost all the other Fire-types were defeated.

"C'mon, Heracross, just a little more!" Dereece urged.

"Gngh. I'm…trying…" The bug raised again, but was straining incredulously.

Salandit smirked. "This is too ease. Just like the chestnut." His foes locked eyes with him as he opened his maw, surging power for a Dragon Rage. The men around him readied lances for heated cannons. "Say goodbye!"

Dereece and Heracross braced themselves. They had nowhere to go and had little to hope for.

As Salandit reared his head back, a blue water jet shot from above, catching everyone's attention.

"What the-?!" Dereece stammered.

Salandit looked up, stunned as the water missile coming from above. Trying to ready his attack, he was unable to reacted when the Aqua Jet smashed into his back, causing the blue energy to dissipate as he screamed in riling agony.

Dereece and Heracross watched the water dissipate. They were all stunned. Met with shock, they saw a certain someone on top of the unconscious Salandit. And she wagged her tail. Dereece tried to make sense of it, but words couldn't describe how he was feeling right now.

"It's…it's you. Seel!"

Seel clapped. "Howdy, did I miss the show?"

"W-what are you doing here?"

"Well, I'd be seeing you again, and I just thought I'd tag along and see what the hubbub was all about." She looked at the men and Fire-type surrounding her. "Now I see why that rush was big. Phew!"

Dereece was confused, but he'll take what he can get. 'I don't know what's going on…but I can use the distraction.' He reached into his pockets, getting out two medicine sprays. A Burn Heal and a Super Potion. "Okay, here goes nothing…Heracross!"

Heracross was suddenly sprayed by the two medicines. The cloud he was in poofed for a few moments before fading. When he blinked once, then twice, he suddenly turned serious as he stomped on the ground, releasing a hiss. He was back on top, with not many injuries showing.

"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about!" Dereece declared, pointed at the people still left. "Now let's take them out! Aerial Ace!"

"You got it!" Heracross lowered his horn and shot across the deck. He roared as he bolted through numbers again like a bulldozer, leaving many suspended.

"Oh, golly! Guess I should contribute since I'm still here." Seel turned towards the men behind. "Icy Wind!" She exerted a cold wind right at their faces. The men all backpedaled from the wake of the Ice-type move, only to be perpendicular to flying bodies. They too were blown away by bodies in the distance as Heracross reconvened with her.

Dereece balled a fist. "Okay…let's do this!"

"Right!" Heracross and Seel yelled.


Soldiers fired heated blasts at Duncan, who used the metal pole to defend by twirling. With an opening, he reached forward.

"Torterra, Leaf Storm!"

Torterra released a violent cry as his body had a bright green aura around it. A massive maelstrom of leaves erupted from his back's tree and swallowed the soldiers ahead of them. They all screamed in agony as they plundered off the ship, leaving Duncan scoffing.


Whirling around, Victor went to trip Joey, but using dancer moves, he spiraled behind. Victor did a back kick that Joey wormed away from. Turning around, Victor wet to punch, but Joey put up a barrier that blocked the blow, which also rung up some shock through his joint.

"Barrier-Make: Crash!"

He slammed the barrier into Victor, forcing him to repel across the domain. Victor slid and flipped, but his ankle twisted upon the landing, causing him to grunt. With the opening, Joey ran up, embedding his foot in a barrier and kicked. Victor used his armguard to take the blunt of the blow, though it winded him.

"Gnngh, lucky shot." He grunted. "When I get back up I'm gonna-!" He suddenly slipped again, this time landing on his elbow. "GAH!"

Monferno shot at Chespin with an Iron Tail from above. Chespin shot back to avoid the wake of the attack. When he saw Monferno's tail wedged into the boarding, he grunted and charged ahead, using Bite again to cause him to flinch and jerk away.

The four battlers stood a fair distance from each other as they shot glares.

"A weakling like you…you can't be serious." Victor sniped.

"Deadly serious." Joey rebuffed. "You might be faster, but that doesn't mean that you can be a pushover either. Chespin! Let's do this!"

"I'm with ya, Joey!" Chespin released a loud cry as he began storing up power. A green aura engulfed his body, igniting into a bright light that took up the small portion of the deck.

Everyone who wasn't engaged turned towards the light. "What's that?!" Dereece gasped.

"What?!" Victor yelled, with Monferno in equal shock.

Camilla was left speechless. Joey almost forgot how to speak. "Chespin…"

The light glowing, Chespin's body began to grow, almost to meet Monferno's height, if not taller. His body shape had also gotten rounder, with the tail sharpening. When the glow exploded, the light waves made everyone cover up for a second before looking back.

Chespin now looked like a large, round mammalian Pokémon with a long nose with a pink snout. His bottom half had a dark brown coating with stubbed limbs. He's also gained some claws. On top of his head, he had two very sharp horns with pink-orange tis as well. The newly evolved Pokémon puffed out his chest and let out a cry.

"You know how Joey and I roll! We go big or go home!" he declared.

"I don't believe it. It…transformed?" Victor gasped.

'Chespin…he just evolved…' The realization dawned on Joey. "Quilladin!" Joey pulled out his PokeDex, analyzing the evolved Quilladin.

"Quilladin, the Spiny Armor Pokémon. It relies on its sturdy shell to deflect predators' attacks. It counterattacks with its sharp quills."

"So cool…" Joey eagerly smiled. "Okay then, let's show them what we're made of, Quilladin!"

"The only thing you'll be showing is your face in the deck! Monferno, Fire Pledge!"

Monferno let out a loud shriek as he plunged his fist into the ground. Fire pillars shot up from below, heading for Quilladin. Using his rounder body, he rolled off to the side to avoid the pillars. He darted ahead with his arm reeled back. Once ready, he jumped in the air, crying out as green energy enveloped his arm, becoming needle-like. He came down on Monferno's head, sundering him onto his back.

"No! Monferno!" Victor panicked.

"That's so cool." Joey awed at his Quilladin. "You just used Needle Arm. That's amazing!"

Quilladin returned the smile. "Thanks, but now we gotta get in the action, shouldn't we?"

Joey nodded. "Right let's do it!" Together, they ran ahead to meet Victor and Monferno. The latter's health was sapped again as Leech Seed was still in play. On the defense, Victor put up his armguards and blocked Joey's first punch embedded with barrier. He grunted as Joey advanced, alternating as he put one foot ahead of the other. Upon the fourth strike, Joey cried out as he punched with all his might. The results shattered the lacrima Victor had in one guard and slid back.

Joey slid back, panting heavily. He and Chespin were exhausted.

"You…you weakling!" Victor shot across the ground, time slowing down for him and Monferno as they made one last charge.

As time was slowed, Joey balled his fists as the look on his face grew more violent by the second. Energy crackled around his body as he growled.

"Joey, remember everything I've taught you. Okay?" Broly told Joey behind him. "This is a life and death battle. Be ready for anything."

'Bro…you have no idea how much I think about you. It's because of your guidance that I'm still here today.' Joey's eyes shrunk as he started screaming at the top of his lungs. 'And I will remember everything, and use that to move forward! Because that's what you wanted me to!'

"JOEY~!" Victor pulled back a fist, putting as much force in this next attack, while Monferno blasted forward with a Mach Punch.

Seeing the face of Broly once more, Joey's barrier energy morphed around him. It shaped into a Chinese dragon.

"Barrier-Make: Dragon Ram!"

Mustering all his might, Joey screamed out as the barrier stretched into Victor, while Quilladin readied a Needle Arm. As the adversaries closed in, they found themselves tripping once again. Time slowed down as the turquoise and the green attacks reflected in their eyes. They were helpless when a spiked arm socked Monferno across the face, while Victor hollered in agony. The dragon-shaped attack stretched far up to the observatory where Emmanuel originally was. With a deep impact, the glass shattered as Camilla, Dereece, and many soldiers still left were in deep shock. Monferno slid across the deck to a halt, where he was fainted. And at the top, Victor was on his back, all his lacrima weaponry broken along with his face.

Camilla was speechless. What she saw only served to leave her stunned. She watched Joey's back as his coat shifted in the cold wind. 'I…I can't believe this. He did it…he actually beat Victor.'

Joey panted heavily as he was looking down at Quilladin. Both looked thrilled as they stared ahead, seeing the damage done.

Camilla softly smiled as she saw how brave Joey was. 'Joey…you truly are amazing. You never gave up on me, even when I did…thank you.'

Joey suddenly sank to his knees while Quilladin slowly faltered. Exhausted of all his power, both started collapsing. "Joey!" Rushing over, Camilla caught Joey in time. She held him in her arms, seeing the dazed but glorified face he had. She sighed in relief, tears dripping from her face onto his cheeks.


From afar, the crash could be heard, catching the three generals off guard.

"Hey, what was that?" Tangath asked.

"It sounded like it came from Emmanuel's ship." Ebna realized.

"Wait, this Magic Power…" Bigge realized it. "Lieutenant Victor!"

'An opening!' Natsu saw the opportunity and turned towards Wendy. "Wendy, now!"

"Right, let's do it!" The Sky Dragon reached out. "Swablu, use Disarming Voice!" Her Swablu floated in the air above and exhaled. She expelled soundwaves in the form of pink hearts that engulfed Torracat, Magmar, and Simisear, causing them to cover their ears.

Tangath and the two generals covered their ears as the atrocious melody sunk into their heads as well. "What…is this racket?!"

"Okay…now it's my turn!" Natsu balled a fist. "Darumaka, Rollout time!"

"Yeah! Now we're talking!" Darumaka closed into a ball and began rolling. He rolled in an arch from the side, drilling into the three Fire-types like bowling pins.

"Do it now, Gajeel!"

Gajeel smirked. "You don't have to tell me twice! Aron, use Rock Tomb!"

Aron craned his head around and hollered out when he created gay rocks above. As he swung his head, they were launched into all three foes just as they recovered. The backlash of the attack caused an intense dust cloud to erupt and dissipate. When it did, it revealed all three opponents unable to continue.

"No! Torracat!" Ebna hollered.

Natsu eagerly smirked. "And that's how we roll in Fairy Tail!"

"Aye, sir!" Happy cheered.

Left with no choice, the three generals withdrew their defeated Pokémon and glared at the Dragon Slayers. They looked far from pleased, and they weren't going to let Fairy Tail off that easily.


Nic reached his arm out. "Charizard, Flamethrower!"

As Arcanine attempted one last charge, he roared with all his might, only to run into a heated beam of broiling fire. The flames engulfed the canine, making him shriek s the burning shockwaves repulsed him across the deck. When the flames dissipated, Arcanine was seen embedded into the wall, spirals in his eyes.

Charizard craned his head and spat out flames.

Nic used the opportunity to close in on the disoriented Emmanuel, who was unable to think straight after being confused. Nic slammed his foot into the ice, shattering it completely to fragments. The impact left Emmanuel's eyes devoid of pupils as he fell back, with Nic over him.

Emmanuel was still dazed, but he was trying to speak. "Gnngh…not a sweat taken…you really are…what the rumors say."

Nic stood tall, grunting. "I don't know what rumors you're thinking about, but I'm not here for rumors. I'm here for answers."

Emmanuel snickered. "So you say…"

Nic's brow furrowed. Something about this felt off. He and Charizard exchanged knowing glances and looked towards Emmanuel. 'Something about this feels wrong. It was almost too easy.' Nic's eyes narrowed. 'Unless…'

"Looks like you've figured me out. I wish I could stick around and answer those questions…" Slowly his body began to decompose, turning to a makeshift grime that slowly dissolved. "…but I'm afraid that my business lies elsewhere."

Nic and Charizard went wide-eyed as they were seeing his body break down.

"I had fun entertaining you for a short while, Nic Luminous Pularis…I wish to do so after Anthemusa. You said before that my business with Isaac was too myself, thanks for letting me know."

The decomposing grime echoed in cackling laughter. It, and the staff, both broke down into a black blob that dissipated into the deck. The battle was won, but Nic couldn't believe it.

He was fooled. A clone.

"Charizard!" In a rush, Nic latched onto Charizard's back and shot skywards. They sailed up towards the observation deck, where they saw the broken glass and Victor's body lying off to the side. After processing that, he looked out towards Glacidia, seeing smoke rising from behind the wall.

He looked up at the moon, seeing it directly above him.

"…"

Hearing strange distress call again, Nic knew what was happen. 'I had a bad feeling about this…'


Trainers with Ice-types were commanding them to attack. Already the city was a disaster, and the many lives at stakes didn't help either.

Lucy swung a kick around, knocking another soldier down. "Loke! See any sign of the others?"

Loke recoiled to her side, uncovering his arms. "No, I can't see much from our point. We're being swamped."

"Fire!" a soldier called out, commanding the Fire-types to expel Ember and Fire Spin at them. From the side, a pink, sparkling wind dissipated them, revealing Klefki.

"Nice save, Klefki!" Lucy praised. She looked ahead, seeing the soldiers still coming from all sides. In a matter of time she found herself surrounded. Her fists balled as her teeth gritted.

Vanessa's eyes widened where she was at. She turned her head in the carnage, looking up at the domain. 'This aura…'

A figure walked calmly through the path provided, his tracks barely made out by the many guards and soldiers behind him. They all groaned as they separated the man walking away from a pod that was shot with the others.

Looking up towards the moon, Emmanuel held his staff to his side, the black fog inside swirling with moonlight radiating it. "Like I told Isaac before, a deal…is a deal." He snickered low, continuing his path through the snow towards his destination: The end of Moon Drip.

All while the moon seemingly shrieked in silence.


I'll be honest, I thought I could've written more, but I felt that this was a good stopping point. I think I did a good job keeping the word count and scenes to a minimum, and still get under 25K. Hope you guys liked this chapter!

I'm also not gonna lie, I fell ill when I was writing the second half of this chapter, so I felt the scenarios were VERY hard for me to write since I was bedridden. Hopefully by next chapter I'll be in better shape.

Anyways, next chapters will be the finale to the Glacidia Arc. Hope you guys share your thoughts and thanks!