October 20, x791.
"Go, Sweetie!" Maes cheered loudly from the viewing area of the largest training room in the Fairy Tail guild hall. "Daddy is rooting for you!"
Little Elicia, the target of Maes' affection, lowered her head in embarrassment at her father's cheering. Usually, something like that would not bother her. However, she challenged Alfonzo to a spar in front of the whole guild. So, it naturally drew attention from the wizards present.
*Smack!*
"Be quiet, Dear." Gracia said sternly. "Can't you see you're embarrassing Elicia?"
"Ah! You're right." Maes said while rubbing the spot where he was just smacked and ducking his head. "Sorry, Honey."
"Man, that guy is whipped." Laxus said while standing on the other side of the room with his arms crossed. "I'd never be like that."
"Were you listening, Laxus?" Saya asked in her usual, somewhat bossy tone. "We need to start clearing out the attic in our house. We'll need more space for my books."
"Yes, Honey." Laxus said in a placating tone. "We'll take care of that as soon as we get back home."
"Don't worry, Laxus." Fried said calmly with a hint of fawning. "I'll come over and help if you so desire."
"That would be great." Laxus said, though his tone did not show just how grateful he was.
"And he has the nerve to call someone whipped." Gildarts said with a grin.
"Like you can talk." Ur said, giving Gildarts a side-eye.
"I never said I could." Gildarts replied with a goofy grin. A moment later, his expression turned curious as he asked a question. "By the way, I haven't seen Gray since we got back. Where did he go? Is he on a quest, or something?"
"Yeah, something about infiltrating a Black Magic Cult." Ur replied flippantly. "I doubt it will take him very long to finish. From what the information said, they're just a bunch of weaklings. And now that he has two [Soul Armaments], I doubt they could even put up a fight if he went all out. Then, there's Juvia, who he took with him. The two of them together are one of the strongest duos in the entire guild."
"Sounds like there's nothing to worry about, then." Gildarts replied with a shrug.
"Alright, are you ready, Little Elicia?" Alfonzo asked after he finished stretching.
"When are you gonna stop calling me little?" Elicia asked, shaking off her embarrassment.
"When you finally get older than my Elicia." Alfonzo said with a chuckle. "So, are you ready?"
Little Elicia's immediate response was to pout. However, because she knew that as long as Elicia was a member of Fairy Tail, she would always be "Little Elicia," she decided to drop it. She then reached down to her belt and pulled a small, red and white spere from one of the clips attached to it.
"Hah! I'm ready." Elicia said as she held up the sphere and pressed the button on it. "Now, I choose you. [Arc of Embodiment: Arcanine]."
As she chanted her spell, Little Elicia threw the sphere. However, at the height of its arch, the spear opened in the middle, releasing a white light that slammed into the ground. And when the light faded, it revealed a creature that was not native to Earth land.
In fact, the sphere Little Elicia threw, although it looked like it was where the Arcanine was stored, actually had nothing to do with her magic. Instead, Alfonzo created it as a focus, something to help Little Elicia's imagery when she cast her magic. As a matter of fact, Little Elicia was fully capable of summoning her creatures without the sphere, or Poké Balls as most people know them. However, in high intensity situations, having the extra push makes things a lot easier for her.
"Awhooo!" A large, nearly 6'3" tall, canine with dark reddish-orange fur, black stripes across its body, and dark grey fur around the ankles of its rear legs, under belly, the elbows on its front legs, on its face, and a flowing mane in the same color with three horns on its head with the center horn being the longest, howled loudly.
Along with the howl, a powerful aura, meant to intimidate weaker foes, exploded from its body, blanketing the entire training room.
"Damn… the little lady's got a pretty powerful beast." Gildarts said in an impressed tone.
"If you call it that, Little Elicia will get mad at you." Ur said while shaking her head. "She calls all her summons, 'Pokémon.' So, don't forget it for the future."
Meanwhile, the Pokémon, Arcanine, finished its howl. Then, it looked around to see what kind of situation it was in. And when it looked behind itself, it caught sight of Little Elicia, causing its tail to wag as it nodded in her direction. Then, it caught sight of Alfonzo…
"*Woof* *Woof*" Arcanine barked happily as it ran forward before tackling Alfonzo.
"Yeah, yeah, who's a good boy?" Alfonzo, now lying on his back, asked in a high-pitched tone while rubbing Arcanine under its chin and behind its ears. "You've been missing those good rubs, haven't you? Yeah, look at that tail wag and that leg shake."
And just as Alfonzo said, under his petting, Arcanine's back right leg was kicking involuntarily while his tail was wagging fast enough to send a breeze at all the wizards who were directly behind it.
*Smack!*
Meanwhile, Little Elicia could not help face-palming when she saw this sight.
"Why does this always happen?" Little Elicia asked in an exasperated tone. A moment later, she raised her head and shouted at Arcanine. "Arcanine, you can ask Alfonzo to pet you later! Right now, we're here to train!"
"*Whine*" Arcanine, while looking back at Little Elicia, whined at the thought of having to leave the petting.
However, as a faithful summon, it eventually got up and walked back to Little Elicia's side. Though, not before covering Alfonzo in its slobber with several loving licks.
"Yeah, I could definitely do without the bath." Alfonzo said as he stood up and wiped his face free of all the Pokémon saliva.
"*Sigh* I knew he liked dogs." Cana said in a wistful tone. "Am I wrong for putting that condition that I want a cat if he gets a dog? I mean, I just think they're cute. But Fonzie really seems to love them."
Alfonzo's other wives and lovers who were present, Elicia, Ultear, Erza, Mirajane, Marin, Lucy, Saeko, and Rika, only shook their heads. The only exception was Sun, who was shaking in fear at the thought of a cat living in the mansion on the Lake.
"No… No cats… No matter what…" Sun muttered in a terrified tone.
"Wow, the Setos really don't go well with cats, do they?" Rika asked in an interested tone. "Well, I guess it makes sense… Because of … you know?"
"Yeah… It's pretty interesting." Ultear said, in her slightly sadistic tone. "I kinda wanna see how they act when---"
"Alright, let's go, Alfonzo!" Little Elicia shouted, interrupting the ongoing conversations while pumping herself up. "I'll show you how much stronger I've gotten. Now, Arcanine, use [Extreme Speed]."
With Elicia's command, Arcanine lowered itself in a position to pounce. Then, without any signs of movement, it vanished from where it stood.
*Swish!*
*Zap!*
At the same time, Alfonzo was cloaked in arcs of violet electricity. Then, he, too, vanished from where he stood an instant before Arcanine slammed through the empty spot.
"Not bad." Alfonzo said as he appeared next to Arcanine. "He's even faster than the last time you summoned him. Looks like your magic power control is getting better."
"That's not all!" Little Elicia shouted. "Arcanine, [Play Rough]."
Immediately after hearing Little Elicia's command, Arcanine turned towards Alfonzo and tried to jump on him to play rough as the command would suggest. And to everyone's surprise, Alfonzo actually let him, letting himself be tackled to the ground as Arcanine bit and pawed at him.
"Alright, alright… Take it easy." Alfonzo said as he swatted away Arcanine's paws and snout. "If you're not careful, I'm gonna have to roll up an issue of Sorcerer Weekly and teach you a lesson."
At the same time, while continuing to play with Arcanine, Alfonzo slapped the floor while his hand was arcing with electricity.
"Let's see how you deal with this, though." Alfonzo said quietly. "This isn't a Pokémon battle like the stories Lici and I told you, after all. [Electromagnetism Magic: Ground Spark]."
With that, several arcs of electricity sparked from Alfonzo's hand and traveled across the metal floor towards Little Elicia.
However, Little Elicia was not taken off guard, as it had been drilled into her from the moment she went down the path of a summoner that she could not let herself be hit during battles. So, as soon as she saw Alfonzo's hand light up with electricity, she reached down to her belt to grab another Poké Ball.
"[Arc of Embodiment: Alakazam]." Little Elicia chanted as she tossed the Poké Ball into the air.
Like last time, the Poké Ball opened at the height of Little Elicia's throw before shooting out a white light. And when the light faded, another creature appeared in the room. However, instead of landing on the floor, this one was floating in the air to Little Elicia's right.
The new Pokémon, sitting cross-legged while sitting in the air was a brown and yellow humanoid with foxlike features, and a short mustache, indicating that it was female, while holding a spoon in each hand. However, those spoons should not be disregarded, as she used them to focus her powerful telekinesis and psychic abilities.
"Alakazam, [Teleport]." Elicia ordered.
"Kazam." Alakazam replied while wiggling its spoons.
In the next instant, both Alakazam and Little Elicia disappeared from where they were just before the [Ground Spark] reached Little Elicia.
"Alakazam, [Future Sight]." Little Elicia ordered. She then turned to look at Arcanine, who had been forced off of Alfonzo by this point. "Arcanine,[Flamethrower]. Then, follow up with [Flame Wheel]."
With Little Elicia's commands, several things happened in quick succession. First, Alakazam, while continuing to float next to Little Elicia, had its eyes light up with its psychic power. Second, Arcanine opened his mouth while aiming at Alfonzo before blowing out a stream of fire.
"Hey, that's just like my [Firedragon's Roar]!" Natsu shouted excitedly. "I wonder how its flames taste."
"Now's not the time, Natsu." Lisanna said sternly. "Right now, we should be cheering for Little Elicia."
"You're right… sorry, Lisanna." Natsu said sheepishly.
"There's another one in the whipped club." Gildarts said with a grin. A moment later, he flinched after feeling Ur's glare. "He's so much like me. Ha... Ha… Ha…"
"Big Sis Elicia is so strong." Miyako said with sparkling eyes. She then turned to her mother, Lisanna, and grabbed her sleeve as she continued. "Momma, I wannabe strong like Big Sis Elicia, too."
"As long as you find the magic for you and train hard, you can be strong just like Little Elicia, too." Lisanna said with a smile as she reached down and stroked her daughter's hair.
While those conversations were taking place, Alfonzo successfully dodged Arcanine's [Flamethrower]. He was then forced to dodge again when Arcanine, wreathed inflames, charged forward to slam into him.
"I warned you, Boy." Alfonzo said as he created a short metal rod with his [Metal magic]. "Now, heel!"
*Bang!*
In the next instant, Alfonzo raised the rod and brought it down on Arcanine's head, right between two of its horns.
*Bang!*
As a result, Arcanine was slammed into the floor before letting out a whine of pain.
After that, Alfonzo turned to look at Little Elicia and Alakazam.
"Alakazam, [Psychic]." Little Elicia commanded again.
In response, Alakazam twitched her spoons in Alfonzo's direction. In the next instant, a layer of purple psychic energy appeared around Alfonzo. Then, Alakazam raised her hands. And to everyone's surprise, Alfonzo began to float off the floor in tandem with Alakazam's movements.
"Not bad." Alfonzo said as he weakly struggled to free himself from the telekinetic hold. "You can hold someone quite a bit stronger than you with this. You've really been working hard, haven't you?"
Little Elicia could not help smiling proudly at Alfonzo's praise.
"But you know this isn't nearly enough to hold someone like me, right?" Alfonzo asked with a smile as he began flexing even harder to see just how much power he would need to break the telekinetic hold.
"Of course." Little Elicia replied. "But I only needed it to hold you long enough for this. It's about time for [Future Sight] to activate, after all."
Then, right on cue, a large amount of psychic energy gathered on Alakazam's spoons before it was shot at Alfonzo, who was still unable to move due to the telekinetic hold from earlier.
"Although [Future Sight] allows Alakazam to know where you'll be in the future so that she can hit you, you're way too fast for it to work." Little Elicia explained as Alakazam attacked. "So, I had her use [Psychic], knowing that you would wanna test how strong it is to see how much I've improved. And while you were immobilized, it would be the perfect chance for [Future Sight] to hit you."
"Not a bad plan." Alfonzo said with a smile. "Using the fact that I'm in teaching mode to set up the board to your advantage. But you forgot something, Little Elicia."
Reaching that point, Alfonzo flared his magic power, instantly breaking the telekinetic hold. Then, he vanished from where he was floating before reappearing behind Little Elicia and Alakazam, resting his hands on their shoulders.
"You're facing someone who can flip the board whenever they want." Alfonzo continued in a cheerful tone. "So, you need to set up more steps before trying something like that."
Little Elicia's pout after being... Well, not outplayed... But completely overwhelmed was vicious. She then turned to face Alfonzo and began raining her little fists on his chest and abdomen in frustration.
"That's not fair!" Little Elicia shouted. "You were supposed to be holding back during the spar. I should have won."
"*Sigh* Is that what you think?" Alfonzo said while pointing towards the spot where he had been floating only a moment ago. "Why don't you take a look and see for yourself?"
Although she was still upset, Little Elicia turned to look in the direction where Alfonzo was pointing. When she did, she saw that Alakazam's attack from [Future Sight] was still being held in place. And where Alfonzo was once floating, there was a ball of spinning magic power sparking with arcs of violet electricity.
"Is that... the [Gravity Ball Rasengan]?" Little Elicia asked in a dumbfounded tone.
"It is." Alfonzo replied with a nod as he started scratching behind Alakazam's ears. "You see, even though I told you I could flip the board whenever I wanted, I still had a way to defend myself within the rules."
"Fine..." Little Elicia said, her pout becoming more pronounced.
"But you did very well." Alfonzo said with a bright smile on his face. "So, to reward you, how 'bout I cook something for you. Anything you can think of, I'll cook it right now. Does that sound good to you?"
Immediately, Little Elicia's expression brightened, and her eyes lit up like flood lights.
"I want Lasagna with burrowing boar sausage!" Elicia cheered loudly. She then grabbed Alfonzo by the arm, completely forgetting to dispel her summons. "Come on, let's go. I'm hungry after the battle!"
With that, Little Elicia completely forgot about everything else in her surroundings and started dragging Alfonzo out of the training room, leaving everyone else to watch them leave with gentle smiles.
Well, almost everyone...
"Sweetie, don't go..." Maes said while weakly holding his arm in the direction Alfonzo and Little Elicia left in. "Daddy wants to congratulate you on doing so well..."