Author's Note: Oh my god, it's been almost 2 years...I BROKE MY PROMISE FOR TIMELY RELEASES!

I'll sob later. Welcome back! I'm here with Chapter 22, and my explanation on my delay in the bottom AN. Enjoy!

Also, I do not own Fairy Tail or Pokemon.

Chapter Twenty Two - Spirit of the Fight

"So, Lucy! You gave up on my trial last time, huh?"

Acerola sat with a small Pokémon themed cappuccino in her hand at the Tapu Village Pokémon Center just above the coastline that featured the abandoned Thrifty Megamart. She sat with a slightly cheery expression, but realized things probably were not so cheery for her new Fairy friends that just suffered dual defeats at the hands of her totem Pokémon.

Lucy sighed as her head was still buried in her crossed arms over the table. "No, I never gave up. We pretty much just lost the battle. Both of us."

Natsu was stuffing food into his mouth, with a little bit of rage hanging out of his eyes as he tried to join the conversation. "It was stupid. What the hell are you feedin' that little monster, anyway? He was like a brick wall!"

"Seriously." Happy floated low over the table as he sunk down by Lucy. "He had so many tricks up his sleeve."

Acerola giggled. "Mimikyu is a pretty tough opponent, isn't it? It's a Ghost- and Fairy-type Pokémon. Did you know? Neither type has a lot of weaknesses, so it's tricky to beat."

She then gave Natsu a reaffirmed nod. "You probably want to try Ghost- or Steel-type moves against it. I'm sure you'll beat it next time! Don't give up on my trial yet! I believe in you!"

"Yea, we tried some of those tricks. I had a team of mostly normal Pokémon, and Natsu tried using Dark-types, but I guess Mimikyu is pretty resistant to those..."

"No kidding!" Food flew off of his chop sticks as he gestured toward Lucy. "That stupid little...god, wait 'til I get my own magic back oh I'm gonna..."

"Yea, something tells me this game doesn't work like that..." Lucy leaned back up as she picked a bit of Natsu's thrown ramen out of her hair. She tried to return to her mental drawing board with a fresh new set of ideas. "I feel like the Fairy-type Totem Pokémon is the one we need to beat! It'd be pretty embarrassing if our journey stopped at this one."

Acerola shrugged, and gestured her mug over toward the PC by the counter. "Well you could always take a trip to Poké Pelago and get their affection up! That usually helps me out when I'm trying to fight with newer team members!"

"Poké Pelago?" Lucy said with uncertainty. "What the heck is that?"

Acerola grew more excited. "Poké Pelago! It's like an uninhabited island that exist solely for the delight of Pokémon. The main island lets you collect these little Poké beans that make your Pokémon even better with affection points! It's such a nice little place!"

"Bleh!" Natsu spat his current bite out. "I'm not goin' anywhere on an island if I need a boat to get there. Count me out, Lucy!"

"Okay, Natsu." Lucy turned to give him slight attitude. "Then what's your big strategy going to be this time around?"

"Huh, I dunno..." Natsu pondered on that thought for only half a second. "Probably just ta do what I did before, but use more fire! I think the little rat will hate that little room he lives in if I give him a nice flame bath!"

"Aye!" Happy lit up with a bright light over his screen. "Ka-boom!"

"I like it!" Acerola was encouraging him. "Turn up the heat! Plus, Mimikyu's Fairy half isn't good against Fire-types! He does have that nasty Disguise ability though..."

"Yea he does...but fire?" Lucy always liked learning new things, especially if it could help her out of a pickle later on. "So, what I really need is a Normal/Fire ty...I GOT IT! I know what I'm going to do!"

"What-?" Natsu raised a hand the moment Lucy jumped out of her seat and flew for the door. "Where ya goin'? I still have half a meal to finish!"

"No time, Natsu!" Lucy hated leaving her best friend there, but she wanted to try out these new Poké bean things before her next fight. She let the center doors part open, then raced for the beach side to take part in a second challenge at the abandoned Megamart.

"Man, she really can be a pain sometimes..." Natsu shook his head, and continued eating while Acerola started playing with her hair.

"You two really are a good team!" She laughed at how close Natsu and Lucy were during their time together at the table. "Have you known each other for very long?"

"Of course!" Natsu beamed. "We're good friends from our wizard guild back home! We've been on hundreds of jobs together, all over the world."

"Aye!" Happy exclaimed. "She's our best friend in the world! She completes our team! Even if she can be a little much sometimes...teehee."

Acerola nodded. "Lucy doesn't seem to be a big fan of Pokémon or battling, but she really is a bright person!"

"Yea she is!" The Fire Wizard quickly agreed with her. "She's one of the smartest people in our guild. I feel like my head explodes half the time she talks...either because of that or because she just likes to talk a lot."

Acerola covered up her giggling mouth. "I thought it was really sweet that she tried to cycle in more of her friends for my trial. She might have actually won with her normal team if she didn't try to over think it with Pokémon she just found."

"Nah, she always knows what she's doing." Natsu gave Acerola toothy grin as he reassured her of Lucy's capabilities. "Let's just say her Pokémon team is super close to her back in the real world. She trusts them more than anything in the world."

"I dunno...she seems to trust you an awful lot too, Natsu." Acerola got up and started walking toward the counter for a second cup of coffee. She made sure to give the boy a wink as she tried to softly tease him.

Happy was confused as he stayed staring at the little purple-haired girl on the other side of the room. "Hmm...So what do ya think Lucy's plan is, Natsu? Ya think she's tryin' ta use some secret strategy?"

"I guess!" Natsu started back down on his meal. "I gotta finish this quick or I'm gonna get left behind!"

Lucy ran back in to the decrepit supermarket once again, only this time she had a cocky grin attached to her face as she pushed open the doors to the back storage room.

"Okay little guy, I'm ready for round two!"

Mimikyu was turned toward a corner as he was seen smashing a Pikachu doll into the ground repeatedly, but swiftly turned to see his newest opponent. He jumped in a startled leap, and turned to power on his flashing totem aura, raising his stats, and beginning the battle with the Celestial Wizard.

"Here we go." Lucy was ready for her second round against the teasing little Ghost-type, and made sure to start with a move vetted by brain this time, not brawn. "Go Aries!"

The small pink Flaffy Pokémon sprang from her Poké Ball, and shuffled her hands together in a timid expression. "Um, I'm really sorry Lucy, but didn't I already try to beat this one for you?"

"It's fine, Aries! Trust me! After he hits, use Thunder Wave!"

Aries did not like the first half of that, and had no choice but to tank the first hit from the vengeful Mimikyu. Lucy hated using her spirit like bait, especially one so delicate like Aries, but she needed this to work if her plan would have any effect.

"GO!"

Aries charged up her static electricity from her wool, and shot a small dart of bolts at the spinning Ghost/Fairy. Mimikyu felt a sharp zap take his spine, but giggled as he tossed up a small brown object, and started chowing down.

"Totem Mimikyu is paralyzed. It may be unable to move!"

"Yes! Score one for Lucy Heartfilia!" She boasted for only a short amount of time before the next flair text joined the fray.

"Totem Mimikyu's Lum Berry cured its paralysis!"

"Aaaand I figured something like that would happen..." Lucy watched her poor Spirit of the Ram take a second hit in a row from the vile Mimikyu, but just as she fell in defeat, a second jolt of electric pain took the spine of Mimikyu by surprise.

"Aries's Static ability has left Totem Mimikyu with paralysis! It may be unable to move!"

"All right!" Lucy jumped in the air with glee. "I've still got this! Thanks, Aries. I'll make sure you're healed first the moment we get back to town. Now..."

Her grin grew even brighter as she unleashed her new plan. "As much as I hated doing it, there's a reason I sent Aries out to take those first few hits. GO LOKE!"

A great white light emerged from her Poké Ball as Leo the Lion landed on the darkened field. The shadowy Mimikyu shielded his eyes from Loke's brilliant aura with his wispy tail, and let a nearby Haunter join the battle as things were suddenly about to get serious.

"Okay, so you're the punk who took down Aries." Loke was still a small Litleo, but the shining fire in his veins was on full power the moment he saw his two opponents. "Couldn't face me alone, I take it? This ought to be easy, Lucy."

"Sounds great!" His trainer replied. "But I need you to focus on that Haunter, first! I need Mimikyu alone. Be careful he knows Hypnosis!"

"One step ahead of you! Lion Brilliance!"

A blinding light lit the field in a golden blanket, and once again Mimikyu and his partner were forced to cover their darkened eyes. Even after trying to cover their vision, though, there was a soft yellow haze surrounding their vision.

"Loke used Flash! Totem Mimikyu and Haunter had their accuracy lowered!"

Haunter waved his hands like a comedic magician, but his flowing Hypnosis attack avoided hitting Loke. The lion Pokémon charged forward from their and slammed into his body with a great ball of fire.

"REGULUS IMPACT!"

"Loke used Flame Charge!"

Haunted floated around in a looping circle as he crashed into the ground by defeat. Mimikyu went to retaliate, but his paralysis acted up and froze him in place. Loke gave the two a smug grin, and turned to address his master.

"I hope you were able to watch that, Lovely. It was all for you."

"Yea yea, brag when you beat them both." Lucy gave him a wink, but then saw an even larger Gengar join the battle after that act. He was unaffected by the earlier Flash attack, and managed to hit Loke with his own Hypnosis without fail. The little lion cub fell to the ground in a soft slumber, and Mimikyu used this opportunity to Play Rough with the little guy and send him back to his own.

"Started braggin' a little too soon there, buddy." Lucy sighed and put his ball away, while she also quickly made a decision for his replacement. "Go, Virgo!"

A large hole formed in the floor of the arena as the bizarrely colored Audino emerged from the ground. Her black and white color scheme hinted to her maid status in the real world, and she quickly turned to follow her master's orders.

"Princess, does this opponent need punished for beating you last time?"

"Ya know?" Lucy laughed and pointed ahead. "I actually think he does! Use Entrainment!"

"Entertainment? If you insist!" Virgo started to perform her extremely silly dance as she flailed her arms up and down in the air. The Gengar started to howl with laughter, but the Mimikyu was only getting further annoyed as he tried to round up his next attack.

Virgo took a hard hitting Play Rough to the face, and then fell fast asleep as Gengar through a quick Hypnosis her way as well. Lucy was fed up with the ridiculous made already, and sent out her next silly spirit to fight for her cause.

"Okay, Baby!' Cancer the Giant Kabutops was slashing his claws about the moment he saw the action in front of him. "Need me to do anything?"

"Cancer! I think Gengar there is lookin' for a new style. Try something dark and edgy for me, will ya?"

"Can do, Baby! YAH!" He cloaked his blades in a shroud of black, and hit Gnegar with a powerful Night Slash. He was barel able to get it off in time, but the Hypnosis sent from Gengar missed at the very end of its stretch and left the round Ghost Pokemon rolling on the floor in defeat.

"Oh yea!" Lucy jumped even higher than before. "That paralysis is really doing wonders for my Mimikyu problem!"

"I supozze it izz!" Rotomdex joined her for the final moments of her fight, and zapped about in an excited frenzy. "Zztt, better watch the Play Rough, though!"

"Don't worry." Lucy was grinning even brighter than before now. "I don't plan on having Cancer make the final hit."

"Low blow, Baby, low blow..." Cancer sighed as he took a powerful Shadow Ball from the Mimikyu, which damaged his already low special attack so much that he fainted in defeat.

Finally, Lucy grabbed one more ball from her belt, and tossed it high in the air. "All right, now it's truly time to shine, you two! GEMINI!"

"Piri! Pikiri!" The blue Gemini twins emerged on the battlefield yet again, and danced for Lucy as they awaited her orders. "We're sorry we attacked so soon last time, Lucy!"

"That's okay, guys! Do the same thing you did before!"

"Uhmmm..." Rotom was confused, and started looking back at his past battle logs for Lucy. "Pardon me, Mizz Lucy, but didn't their Transform ability totally fail last time?"

Lucy took advantage of the now frozen Mimikyu as her Zodiac twins twisted into a newly formed Totem Mimikyu. "Yea, but now that he's a little frozen from paralysis, Gemini has the higher speed stat!

She pointed her foe down, and made her final command. "Okay, it's a good thing Mimikyus have lower Defenses then Special Defenses! USE SHADOW CLAW!"

"Mizz Lucy!" Rotom shouted out with another warning. "You're forgetting Mimikyu's Disguise ability! He can tank any hit thatz thrown at him!

"Right, or he could if that was still his ability..."

"Huh?" Rotom was confused, and his confidently grinning Pokemon Trainer was not helping his state as she tried explaining herself even more.

Lucy turned to give Rotom an explanation. "I had Virgo use a silly move called Entrainment earlier. Thanks to that, Mimikyu adopted her Regenerator Ability! Which means..."

"Its disguise served it as a decoy!"

Mimikyu tanked the hit, despite Virgo's entertaining dance from before. This left the blonde trainer even more furious than her last fight. "But It was supposed to change the ability!"

"Mizzz Lucy." Rotom reluctantly called to his trainer. "Entrainment has no effect on Disguise. It's a newer ability, unique to Mimikyu."

Lucy wanted to throw in the towel again, but just as the opponent went to strike her Mimikyu-ed Gemini, their very own Disguise helped save them from a One-Hit KO, and left the enemy Totem Pokemon wide open once again. Lucy finally turned to stare down her opponent before sending him to his demise. "He no longer has a Disguise to hide behind! GET HIM, GEMINI!"

"Piri Piri! Pikiri!" Gemini slashed down the totally confused Mimikyu with a mirror image of itself, and even though its health was healthy and at 100, that Ghost-type attack sent it over its own edge, and ended the battle for the victorious Lucy Heartfilia.

"Oh yea!" Lucy gave Gemini a quick wink, and thumbs up as she claimed her victory once and for all. "I really do have the best spirits!"

"Lucy!" Natsu plowed through the door, and looked to see his partner claim victory over the now defeated Totem Pokemon. "No way! You beat the guy! That's awesome!"

"I know!" Lucy grabbed his hands, and brought him in for a tight hug. "You should have seen me, Natsu! My strategy actually worked! Er, sort of..."

"Hah!" Natsu was happy to receive a hug from her, and tried to figure out how she did it. "What made it work this time around?"

"Oh?" Lucy grew a little more confident that moment. "Let's just say Celestial Spirit Magic is more powerful than it seems."

"Nice ta hear!" Natsu gave her an assuring thumbs up as he still stood in front of the closed room door. "Well no need ta worry about me! I already beat my little ghost guy as well!"

"Natsu that's amazing! I'm sorry I missed it..." She was sad to miss his fight, but slowly let a smokey air fill her nose. "Hold on, why does it smell like it's burning in here...?"

"NATSU!" The two trainers could hear a virtual Happy yelling from the other side of the door. "ARE YOU GONNA GRAB HER, OR WHAT!?"

"OH RIGHT!" Natsu lifted Lucy onto his shoulders, and turned for the door. "WE GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE PRONTO!"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" She yelled frantically and dug several fists into his back. "Put me down! Why are you running so fast? Did you burn up your room?!"

"Nope!" He laughed as he threw open the closet door to reveal a field of burning embers and flames. "My Pokemon burned down the whole stinkin' megamart except your room!"

"NATSU!" She screamed even more as Natsu hip hopped across the smoldering floor of ruin and rubble. He moved Lucy into his arms, and turned his back toward a large sheet of glass as they both plowed through a bay window out of the store.

Lucy landed safely on top of a now worn out Natsu, while Happy the Pokedex and Acerola giggled from the other side of the field.

"Nice ta see ya, Lucy!" Happy said with glee as he twirled around with the ghostly trial captain. "Natsu's fire Pokemon went a little overboard with their assault on Mimikyu this time, and as a result he managed to catch the entire building on fire!"

"That's totally ridiculous!" Lucy rubbed her sore behind as she tried lifting herself off Natsu. "Why would you let him do that, Happy?"

"The little guy was askin' for it..." Happy suddenly growled with anger. "He tried scarin' us again when we got in the room for the fight."

"Lousy scumbag." Natsu crossed his arms and legs, and turned from the others. "He got us good two times in a row!"

"Natsu..." Lucy pressed her palm over her face. "You had to of seen it coming the second time..."

Acerola was giggling and blushing at both of them when she managed to walk over to the area of grass featuring the broken window. "Awe, you two really are quite animated. Welcome back, Lucy! I can check your pictures right away. Now let's see how you did..."

Lucy handed the little Acerola her Rotomdex, and Happy flew over to show her a picture of Natsu's for good measure. Once she swiped through Lucy's pictures, she spun around in a twirl of delight. "Yup! That's Mimikyu all right! It's pretty hard to catch it on film, so this is a really great attempt! Which means..."

She now revealed two shining purple Z-Crystals, and tossed them to their new owners. Acerola followed up by crossing her arms, and then finished by covering her face, and crouching low to the ground. She swiveled up to mimic a ghost as she emerged to her feet, and spread her legs in a wider stance to sell the act even more.

"If you want to use a Ghost-type Z-Power, then you've got to move like this!"

"Yea, I may pass on that one..." Lucy shook her head with embarrassment.

Natsu stood quickly and started clapping his hands. "Ooo I like that one a lot! Happy and I can use it to scare Lucy next time we sleep over at her place. Do it again for me, will ya?"

"Don't worry, I got it on film!" Happy cooed with delight. "Operation Scare-Lucy-When-We-Get-Home is still good to go!"

Acerola had to cover he giggling face yet again as she carried on. "Since you passed my trial, Natsu and Lucy, you now have my permission to catch Pokémon in the trial site. So, in that old building there...err."

They all turned to see the Megamart was now totally engulfed in flames as the roof collapsed in on itself. Lucy lowered her head in pure embarrassment, while Natsu and Happy howled with excitement and cheered for the rest of the building to fall down as well.

"Well...I guess Tapu Village just got a new light house..." Lucy admitted as she wafted smoke away from her face. "As long as we don't have to pay for it."

Acerola shrugged, and awarded the two trainers with their prize nonetheless. "Oh well, here you go! It's not a bad idea to have some Ghost-type Pokémon on your team!"

"Thanks anyway, Acerola. We can meet you back at town." Lucy led her friends away from the sight for a moment, until a quick thought popped through her head. "Oh by the way...I don't actually remember taking a photo of the Mimikyu."

"Really?" Natsu asked. "That was like the whole point of the trial, wasn't it?"

"Yea!" Happy agreed. "Are you just sayin' that cause my picture is better than Rotom's?"

"No, I'm not." Lucy snarled back. "I'm being serious!"

"What's that?" Acerola finally caught up with what Lucy was saying. "You say the Poké Finder just started up on its own, during your trial?"

"I guess." Lucy thought about it while she revisited her first fight. "The first time I got in the back room the stupid thing scared me too much to think, and the second time I sort of just barreled in there and fought. Rotom or I never flashed a photo."

Acerola covered a smiling face, but a small chill flowed down her spine. "Oooh, cut it out, Lucy! You're trying to scare me, huh? You'll have to come up with something a bit more believable than that! There's not even any room in the back of that shop, for starters! How gullible do you think I am?"

"WHAT?!" Natsu, Lucy, and Happy all yelled out in a craze as they were now told the Megamart had no back room closets in the first place.

Acerola covered her bare arms with her hands as an even chillier gust of air flowed from the darkened night time forest behind the burning building. "Brrr! I feel like I'm getting chicken skin... Like a chill going through me for some reason...even in all this heat!"

Natsu and Lucy had no idea what she was talking about, and tried to figure out the meaning of everything she just said. As they started walking down the cliff face to the sea, though, Happy turned back to the burning building to notice a tiny set of shining eyes staring right back at him and his party.

"AHHHHH!" He yelled with pure fear as he flew down the hill to catch up to his best friends. "NATSU! THAT CREEPY THING IS GONNA PUT A CURSE ON ME!"

It's not a terribly long one, but by god I finally delivered!

Ladies and gentlemen, how is everyone!? My lord teaching has been a roller coaster! I'm still doin' it, don't worry!

So apart from my busy professional schedule over the past year and a half, this was actually a challenging chapter for me to write. I find it hard to write fights against the same opponent back to back, and this story is kind of full of that with the back and forth Lucy and Natsu. I had both of them lose to Mimikyu in the last one, and it took me a little while to come up with a clever twist for a rematch. I'm sorry I skipped out on Natsu's fight! I hope the fiery Megamart made up for it in the form of lols.

Also...hehe...I discovered the Elder Scrolls Online last summer, and that...sort of...stole a lot of my free time this past year. I reached it's max level in a year's worth of playing (CP 810), and I'm still having a blast! Buuuuut, I've been in a super-charged mood for Fairy Tail and I've been going back and updating several stories recently, so I thought I'd add to this one!

Next one will come out when I finish it. Sorry that I'm taking away what I previously said about timely updates. I need time and passion to write chapters, and that second thing comes in waves with me and Pokemon. I mean...I never even bought the new Pikachu and Eevee games. First time in my life I've been okay with ending my Pokemon craze. But this story needs finished! Feel free to comment and tell me how ya've been!

Until then!