3/3

"Erza then grabbed her sword from the ground and pointed it at Nic. "I'm impressed. You're speed is remarkable. You were able to anticipate me faster than I could've imagined." Erza complimented. She specifically remembered Nic's speed and how fast he was during the battle with Jose. He was probably faster than her, if not equal.

"Moon Flash!" She then rushed at Nic, who was ready to attack. She then slashed at Nic in a cross pattern.

"Night Daze!" Nic shouted. He emanated a crimson aura and raised his arms above his head. He brought them down, creating a pink and crimson force field that expanded outwards that tied with Moon Flash. The two attacks then cancelled out the other, creating strong winds that made everyone cover up.

"WAAAHH!" Happy was clinging onto Lucy's shoulder as the wind was blowing him away.

"Man, they're cranking up the juice for this fight!" Natsu shouted as the wind ceased.

Erza then paused, as did Nic. Both sides have received no damage from the two attacks. Both sides then grinned at each other, very impressed with each other's skill set.

"Not bad. Requip!" Erza then glowed, revealing that she had transformed into a different armor. It had the resemblance of a cheetah. The breastplate had a cheetah pattern with some armor above it that had fur lining along the edges. The armor had revealing black shorts with a belt holding a cloth on Erza's left thigh. The arms had dark armbands reaching below her shoulders, with her left arm being protected by cheetah-patterned armor with a single pauldron and wide arm guard. Her legs had similar stockings that reached up to her thighs, with armor high-heeled boots, with the left being more armored and reaching up to the knee, which is protected by her cheetah-patterned knee guard; and so, that left the right boot reaching up to her calf. She had a collar and a tail hanging from the back of her shorts, and cheetah ears that were all plushy fur.

Nic then began repositioning himself for a more offensive approach.

"This is my Flight Armor. It increases my speed." She explained. Nic then awaited to use Night Slash, but was cut off guard when Erza was in front of him the next second.

'Holy crap, she wasn't kidding!' He didn't have any more room to think or mentally shout as she slashed at him with two swords, knocking him down and landing with a big thud on his back.

Everyone looked on in shock as Nic was being beaten in terms of speed, not to mention that the battle was escalating rather quickly.

"Oh wow! She was like a blur with spots!" Lucy exclaimed.

"That certain armor enhances her speed, making it a lot tougher for Nic." Mira explained.

"For a friendly battle to relieve Nic's stress, this is kind of getting out of hand." Levy said with a sweat drop.

Nic sat up and watched as Erza was awaiting for Nic to get up so that she could slash at him once again. He got to his feet and saw Erza positioning herself to strike.

"Time to change dynamics." Nic muttered. He jumped into the air and started to glow. He then shifted into his Sky Plate Form and took off into air. Erza began chasing after him and leaped after him. She was at the same elevation as he was and she tried slashing away. Nic, however, had the advantage in the air and used Gust to blow her away, also making her fall to the ground. She landed and skid along the field, regaining her balance and then saw Nic readying his assault.

"Air Cutter!" Nic then unleashed a barrage of wind-slicing energy waves at Erza. She swiftly shifted left and right, jumping about as she avoided the onslaught of Air Cutter attacks. She then leaped upwards and made a cross from her swords. Nic countered with himself using Wing Attack to intercept. Both attacks cancelled out as both backed away, with Erza landing safely and Nic descending to a lower altitude.

Nic was indeed having fun. For some reason, he found this more comforting because no one's life was at risk. It was relaxing, yet still painful, but it's not like he cared or anything. This also counted as a way with interacting with Erza. He got to know her as a very capable fighter. Her perception was impeccable and her sword strikes were powerful, not to mention her speed was way up thanks to that armor. He had to catch up to her speed, and he knew just how to do so.

"Tailwind!" Suddenly, Nic was enveloped in strong wind that was almost pushing him forward. He flapped continuously as the wind picked up, making him gain speed. "Let's go!"

Erza then dashed, and Nic flew close to the ground at the same speed, if not faster. Everyone had a hard time keeping track of them as they were dashing like crazy. Erza went at Nic with a multitude of slashes, as to where Nic evasively got of the way and countered with Aerial Ace, colliding often, as well as Acrobatics. For Acrobatics, it actually got the best of Erza as moved ever so nimbly that her swords didn't keep up and Nic had send her soaring and crashing after a good backhand of an Acrobatics.

Now everyone was stunned to see Nic keeping up with Erza's speed and actually winning. Erza was indeed S-Class, and Nic was keeping up with someone who had more combat experience than he did, yet he's been in battles before, as a Trainer that is, so he knew all of the angles when it came to battling.

"Drill Peck!" A glowing spear-like energy encased Nic's mouth and he rotated at high speed towards her. Erza wasted no time in countering with a sword strike. Sparks literally flew as Nic drilled into the sword. The two people, of whom were somewhat smitten with the other, kept their ground affirm as Nic tried overpowering, instead the sword began to crack and Erza jumped back as Nic followed through with the attack, hitting her on the side. She kept her position in a more defensive manner, as to where Nic soared passed her and swatted her with a Wing Attack from behind. She jumped and evaded the assault, but that left her open in mid-air for Nic to strike with Aerial Ace. Erza saw as Nic zoomed in and past her, hitting her in less than two seconds. She straightened out and landed on the ground and was on one knee, panting. Nic descended to the ground and was beginning to puff out some air as well. His Tailwind had just worn off as well. He was being put through his paces as well.

Some people were just unable to find the words.

"Titania is being beaten by Luminous." "Those two are equal." "I can't believe that those two are at an even match with one another."

Erza then got up on both her feet and grinned. "I'm very impressed Nic. Your skill in battle is clearly advance and should not be underestimated." She complimented. She was having fun as well. You could tell because she was still grinning while huffing and puffing. Nic was the same. Both then did one last change.

Nic glowed and transformed into his Meadow Plate Form. Erza requiped into her Heaven's Wheel Armor. This was where things were going to heat up to an intense level.

"Oh man, now I really wish that were me out there!" Natsu whined.

"Your fight didn't even last two minutes." Happy pointed out.

Erza then took flight, with two swords in hand and a whole wheel of them circling around her. Erza made a battle cry as she and Nic went at one another again. Nic dashed forward with Leaf Blade at the ready. It was time to pit blade against blade.

Erza then slashed in an arc that Nic ducked from. He sprung upwards and attempted an upward Leaf Blade with his right arm. Erza intercepted by angling her other sword and making it collide with Leaf Blade. Nic then took a few steps back and lunged forward with his right arm back and swiped across, and Erza did a double-sword cross and blocked the assault. Nic took a baby step back and leaped into air and came down with the Leaf Blade in the form of a chop this time. He brought his right arm down and Erza intercepted with her two swords in the form of a cross to defend. She had yet to see Nic use his left armed Leaf Blade as he twisted his body and went in a crouch position upon landing for a swift half second before bringing his left armed Leaf Blade in an upward chop, knocking Erza's two swords out of her hands.

Every guild member's jaw dropped as Erza's swordsmanship was on par with Nic's usage of the Plates. For battling by himself, Nic was doing just fine.

Nic backed away and Erza flew upwards and summoned two more swords in place of the ones that were knocked out of her hands. She then grinned at Nic.

"I am very pleased as to how you can manipulate sword moves as well." Erza said.

Nic shrugged and smiled. "There's a lot of sword-like moves, but this one in particular is one of my favorites because it can do critical hits much more easily."

Erza then had the swords around her beginning to dance. They all made a tower around her that was rotating blades clockwise, counterclockwise, and clockwise on the upper part. It somewhat obscure Nic's vision of her, with her armor matching the color of the swords and all.

Nic had to take a risk. He ran ahead a readied another Leaf Blade. He then slashed in a sideways angle, another sideways angle, and a double chop Leaf Blade to finally break through the tower of swords. The swords scattered about in the air as Nic passed through, and Erza was out of sight. Nic was wide eyed as Erza wasn't anywhere. Everyone almost stepped back in surprise, but realized that they're not the ones fighting her.

Nic then turned his head to see that the blades from the tower slowly went upwards and they all shifted their pointed edged and each and every one of them was aimed at Nic. Nic didn't even have time to fully turn around when they all rained down on him. Nic yelped as swords past him and damaged him to a critical degree. They all then angle above and arced upwards and came to a full circle around Erza, of whom was descending from the height she soared to make that attack work.

"Do you concede?" Erza asked him as she softly landed, but she knew his answer all too well. Nic got up fom the ground with a grunt and positioned himself to attack once more. Erza then flew in at Nic as he jumped and used Razor Leaf. Erza had no trouble slicing through Erza leaf and closing in on Nic. Nic almost swallowed when Erza held up her swords in a delta formation.

'Oh crud! I need to cut her off from using that attack!' Nic thought. He then glowed white and puffs of cotton appeared and then disappeared, making Nic's body glow blue for a good moment just before Erza slashed her delta formation at him.

"Trinity Sword!" She then slashed at Nic and had him plummet to the ground in a dust cloud. The cloud quickly vanished as it revealed that Nic was still able to stand. He got up and cracked his back. Erza looked on in surprise as Nic was recovering from her attack. Erza descended and pointed her swords at him once more.

"You seem to have increased your stamina. No one has survived my Trinity Sword attack." Erza noted.

"You can thank Cotton Guard for that." Nic said. He then lunged at her with Needle Arm acting like a mace when Erza went in and slashed past him. Both sides had received some sort of damage in the blink of an eye and no one noticed. They were then stopped by the scene of Erza's swords following through with her attack, via Blumenblatt. Nic yelped as the swords went past him and he fell to the ground, feeling drained. He couldn't even stand on his own two feet.

Erza turned back and saw Nic barely able to stand. She frowned as she considered herself overdoing it, but then again, when doesn't she? She turned ad began to walk away, but stopped and went wide eyed as she saw Nic getting back up."

"I'm not…gonna give up…not ever."Nic struggled to say. Everyone was in awe as Nic began to stand back up. They've seen the great Titania fight before, but not a single person could last this lng against her. It was too amazing. "I WON'T QUIT!" Nic proclaimed.

Erza was almost taken by Nic's will to keep going. He certainly was impressive to her. Taking two major attacks and still being able to stand was no easy picnic, but she knew Nic wasn't going to fall unless she pull out more tricks from her sleeves, or in this case, swords.

She turned to look at Nic and grinned. "I see you've got Natsu's stubborn side. That gives you an incredible amount of stamina. You are the only one to stand after those attacks. Now, let's keep going!"

Erza then flew forward at Nic and stopped when she was twenty feet away. Nic readied a Leaf Blade and watched in a defensive manner as Erza had summoned forth roughly forty or so more swords. She then made the blades dance sort of speak. She made them make a large circle around Nic. Now swords were circling about him in high speed. Fortunately, thanks to his Meadow Plate Form, his senses were enhanced, making him react faster than usual. He then saw a shadow of Erza in a particular direction, and from that direction came a blast of swords. Nic pivoted and slashed at the oncoming swords. He managed to deflect and intercept every one of them. He then saw the shadow in another direction outside the circle and unleashed more swords at Nic, of whom could sense it. He slashed away and managed to knock them all away again.

"Whoa! Nic is awesome!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Yeah, no kidding. Using that form is pretty amazing if you ask me." Gray noted.

Nic kept seeing the shadow appear and reappear in another direction and kept dodging swords and slashed at a few that were coming rather close. He didn't have any room to make a counterattack as the swords didn't dial down.

Nic then remembered a similar situation like this and had the memory flood back into his brain.

He had finally reached Coumarine City and had just gotten off of the train that had the city split into a northern and southern end. Once he had set foot into the Pokémon Center, he immediately went to heal his pokémon and lie down. Sure he was in great shape from the traveling he's been doing, but that doesn't mean he isn't allowed to be tired.

The next day, he went to check out the gym. The gym itself was embedded into a super large tree, the largest tree in all of Coumarine City to be more precise. The sides had lead up to a battlefield at the top. What was also strange was that there was also a small lace there as well.

Nic saw a small old man with his eyes shut, he had on a green hat and had super large scissors. He had a red scarf around his neck and had green shoes, which was topped with black overalls. There was a belt that held his giant scissors. He had a green shirt with black buttons on as well.

Nic walked up to the man and saw him having tea in a chair at a table in the small place. The old man looked content with his tea. Nic didn't want to disturb him, but had to know if he was the gym leader.

"Hey, sorry to disturb you." Nic said. The man had just finished sipping his tea and looked at Nic. "Do you happen to know if this is the Coumarine Gym?"

The old man turned at Nic and smiled. He was rather happy with Nic's manners. He got up slowly and began taking steps forward. "Why indeed. This is in fact the Coumarine Gym. A pleasure. I am Ramos." He explained. Nic nodded and both walked up to the other. Nis was now in front of Ramos and looking down at him.

Ramos looked up at him. "So, I do believe that you have come to challenge me, yes?"

Nic nodded; however, he didn't think it would do any good to do a battle with him in the middle of having some special tea. He didn't want to be a bother and thought that it would be best to come back later since he was just checking out the place.

"To be honest, I had no idea that you were having tea. Sorry to disturb you. I came to check the place out so I know what I would be dealing with. I'll take my leave if you wish." Nic didn't have anything against others or their desires or needs, unless of course they were really messed up, then he would step in.

Ramos shook his head, still having an innocent smile. "Now, now. Don't trouble yourself. Sit down and have some tea, it's pretty healthy and gives you energy to last for a few days."

Nic shrugged and decided why not. He then joined Ramos in having some tea, sipping the liquid slowly. It was pretty delicious, though Nic despised tea, though he did it out of courtesy. It didn't hurt to drink it, but just this once was pleasant enough

Nic had a sense of patience, so he didn't rush anything. He did drink all of his tea pretty fast though. Ramos chuckled at his actions.

"You like it?" He asked

Nic made a thinking face as he did consider it quite pleasant. He nodded. "It was delicious, thank you."

Ramos chuckled. "Now that that's out of the way, would you mind helping me with something?" Upon hearing that he needed help, Nic had no desire to turn away from those in need.

"Sure." Nic said. Ramos then explained that he needed assistance in tending to his plants that were growing on the side of the gym. Nic helped out, though he had it rough. He's never gardened before, so he was just cutting weeds here and there.

Ramos saw this action and went over to him after he had cut an unwanted vine from a grape plant. "Easy whippersnapper. I take it that you're new to this, yes?"

Nic looked up and took his trimmers away from the weeds. "Uh, yeah." Ramos then went over and revealed to Nic a tiny plant that was sprouting around weeds. Ramos uncovered it and showed it to Nic. If Nic hadn't been so observant, he could've cut the plant as well.

"It's okay. It's not easy, especially if it's your first time. It's the little details that you should pay attention to. If you only focus on what's in front of you, you lose sight of what is really you're prime objective.

In Ramos's case, it would be making the plant have room to grow. For Nic, that was a moral lesson that he had applied only a few times.

It was time to apply that quote again. Nic had to be aware that his target was Erza, not the swords. The swords were obscuring his vision of her, and he had to focus on just her.

'I can do this.' Nic inhaled and then exhaled. He relied only on his senses to detect Erza. He closed his eyes and listened, heard, and tried to locate Erza from where he was inside the sword barrier.

Everyone there was confused.

Gray was a bit angry. "What the heck is he doing? Is he giving up?"

Natsu was with him on this one. "Come on Nic, don't burn out yet!" They were both to clueless to realize what he was doing. Mira and Lucy could easily see that Nic was relaxing and focusing.

Nic was brushed left and right with swords coming his way. Though Leaf Blade was still active, he took it while relaxing and zeroing in on Erza. He stepped as he took each blow, which was a count of three. Going to his right, then left. Then right again. Of course he felt pain, but it's not like he paid attention to it.

After ten extra seconds, he shot his eyes wide open. He found her. He then lunged forward and saw more swords flying at him. With precision and speed, he slashed and intercepted each sword. He did a battle cry as he went in for his attack. He didn't slow down as he knocked every sword out of his way without getting hit once. He then darted his way into the barrier of swords, much to the entire guild's shock.

"Is he trying to cut himself?!" Gray shouted.

"Nic!" Lucy shouted.

Inside, Nic crossed his arms and made his Leaf Blade in the shape of an X. He then slashed with full speed and strength and completely destroyed the sword barrier, knocking every sword out of his way. Everyone there, including Erza, was beyond surprised to see Nic able to get to Erza like that. Everyone was even more surprised when Nic leaped into the air and saw now directly under the sun's rays as it caught Erza off guard with her barrier shot down like that.

Nic did a battle cry as he slashed with his left and then right. Nobody saw it as Nic posed behind Erza. After a couple seconds, Erza screamed as she then felt the pain and dust flew about. Parts of her armor shattered, mainly one of the feather lobes on her head band, part of her wings, and a tiny bit of her skirt was torn. Erza stepped back as the dust cleared, she felt that one for sure as she grunted.

"I don't believe it!" Lucy shouted.

"Aye, Nic is actually beating Erza!" Happy shouted. Erza then turned back and then flew in to Nic. Nic looked back and jumped to avoid her as she charged straight through and failed to slash at him. She stopped and turned to see Nic unleashing an Energy Ball at her from above. She pivoted and slashed at it with her sword, cutting the attack in two and making it explode behind her. She then summoned forth her swords that were used to make the barrier. Nic landed and watched as she made them spin.

"Dance, my blades!" She then flew up and all of her swords started rotating around her like a wheel. They were then pointed at Nic. "Circle Sword!" She then forced all of those blades at Nic. Nic didn't pay any attention as he was trying to keep his focus on Erza only. He then sharpened his gaze and then lunged forward as the blades came rushing at him.

"Power Whip!" He then charged straight for her right through the blades. He made his arm turn purple and extend. He then lashed sideways and at consecutive angles as he charge all the way. Power Whip wasn't called that for nothing, as the force behind each and every lash made a large bashing sound.

Nic then got in close and Erza lunged with two swords at the ready. Both were coming in fast at one another. Everyone was about to fall over on the tips of their toes from the anticipation.

"Trinity Sword!" Erza then requiped to a single sharp sword that was ready to strike. S Nic came ever so closer, he ceased his Power Whip and went back to Leaf Blade. He sharpened his eye site even more now, now making his strikes more precise. He then added a twist to things. In conjunction with his Leaf Blade, he had Needle Arm in his left arm, while Leaf Blade was his right.

Erza's Trinity Sword and Nic's Needle Arm collided. Nic kept up his endurance as the Trinity Sword was trying to overpower him, but his Needle Arm was not backing down. With everything he had, he had his forearm facing the delta formation, which also had a straight row of sharp needles, and slashed downwards, cutting the formation into two that went past Nic, much like his Energy Ball when Erza had cut it.

Everyone's heart skipped a beat when Nic then lunged at her and used Leaf Blade in a downward angle, then an upward angle, and then a quick swipe downwards. The blows caused Erza to scream as she almost collapsed. She was hit pretty hard, but she didn't have the defenses or reaction when Nic did a point blank Energy Ball, causing a very large green explosion. The ground shook a little and everyone yelped from the sudden blow.

"Whoa! What power!" Lucy exclaimed. When the dust cleared, Nic was breathing ever so heavily, having exhausted a huge amount of his power and was almost ready to collapse. Erza was lying on the ground, with large parts of her wings shattered, her head band was destroyed, bits of her breastplate chipped off, her entire skirt was torn up, and her sword that she used for the Trinity Sword attack was broken. She grunted as she couldn't even stand.

That was that. Charizard then raised his claw for Nic's side. "Erza is unable to continue, the winner of this battle is Nic!" He called. Everyone was in deep shock now. They were just lost. The great and mighty Titania, defeated by Luminous. As soon as a few people got over their initial shocks, they clapped in congrats of Nic's victory.

"Way to go!" Gray said, clapping for him.

"Yeah, that battle was awesome!" Lucy said with a proud smile and clapping the same as Gray. Natsu still had his jaw dropped, stunned to see that Nic had defeated Erza on his first try.

"What a showoff!" Complained the hotheaded Dragon Slayer. "Now I've gotta keep up with him now! You and me pal, right now!" Natsu stepped forward with a fist ready to fight. As he was approaching, Nic tumbled down onto the ground, wheezing and face turning pale from too much exhaustion.

"I don't think he'll be up for a while now." Lucy said with a sweat drop. Natsu grumbled and just walked back to where he was, disappointed. Nic had been in the guild for only a short while, but he's already made some great promise within people.

Erza requiped back into her usual armor, now conscious once again. She got to her feet and wasn't at all upset about her loss. Yes, it was a deep shock, but it proved how much promise that Nic had in the future.

Speaking of which, she looked and saw Nic panting while on one knee. He looked like he could keel over at any second. Erza looked down and knelt to him so that they were at eye level. The guild was in awe that Erza was taking this loss quite well. Normally, she would be asking for punishment and failure, but she wasn't at all like this.

"Nic, you did great. You're amazing." Erza said with a smile. She was banged up as well, but not as severe as was Nic. Nic still won, but he was in pain. Still in his Meadow Plate Form, he used Synthesis and his body was glowing with sparkles. The guild saw Nic's wounds slowly healing, and he looked much more alive than he was several seconds ago.

After a full twenty seconds of recharging, he changed back into himself and smiled back at Erza. "Thanks. You were amazing yourself." Though Synthesis didn't fully heal him, he was in good enough condition to be going about and talking. It sure was one heck of a battle. Erza was right about him being les stressed, he most certainly did look better now that his mind wasn't fixated on dilemmas. The two gazed at each other in amazement for a few moments before they each started to get a light blush in. When they both saw each other reacting as they were, they both looked away and the guild gathered around the two for compliments.

"Oh man, that was crazy!" Macao said. "Those blade attacks from Nic were insane."

"To think he could beat Erza. He's a real man for that." Elfman said.

Cana went over and patted Nic on the back. "Not too shabby there. You might make S-Class sooner than you think champ!" She blurted out.

Charizard then went over and he and Nic fist bumped.

"You got some sick skills there buddy." Charizard said.

"Tell me something I don't know." Nic responded with a smirk.

"Erza liiiikes you." Happy butted in with a roll of the tongue, answering Nic's question.

Erza then glared at Happy like she was about to skin him alive. "What did you say?"

Happy then tried flying away, but Erza caught him way too easily. She then proceeded elsewhere to give the cat a lesson as to why he had to keep comments like that to himself.

Everyone else just paid attention and gathered around a now healed Nic. They all kept on praising him for his strength and how he managed to take on an S-Class Mage on his own, though he took a toll and was drained afterwards. Everyone then just celebrated for Nic's growth and the pride and joy he was in Fairy Tail.

In the shadows…

Unknown to everyone in Fairy Tail, a figure was hiding among the shadows a safe distance away and out of site from them all. He witnessed everything with mild interest, though gritting his teeth seeing how brutal Nic has gotten since that incident in Freesia. His demon superiors from Tartaros has tasked him to keep a watchful eye out on Fairy Tail, since that was the guild that had caught their attention.

After the incident in Freesia not too long ago, he was to ensure that mistakes like those didn't repeat in the future. They had big plans after all, and they wanted no one interfering with their proceedings, especially a certain individual that could cause them to suffer again in the future.

"Nic Pularis." The man quietly said. He grinned ever so devilishly. "What do you have in store for us? I wonder."

Aaaaannnnnnd done. My god, I overdid it this chapter! No joke, I was well over 16K when I finished! The fight with Jose, then the aftermath, and then another battle!

Hope you guys didn't mind the length of the chapter, but I hope you're not too upset with how this chapter went. Sure, Erza could've requiped into a more deadly armor, but this was meant to be friendly, not deadly. I really hope you guys don't leave comments on how bad the fight with Nic and Erza went, but I wanted to get that out of the way so I didn't have to worry about writing that in the future.

I hope you guys liked how Nic and Greninja's fight with Jose ended. Hope you leave positive comments on said brawl. And hopefully on his fight with Erza as well.

Ugh. I'm beat. I'm running a tad low on ideas, so I'll be shifting over to my other story for a bit until I can stockpile on some material for this series. I got an Original Arc to do and then The Tower of Heaven. To be honest, I only got the name of the next chapter, so feel free to supply me with ideas for an Original Arc.

I've put some thought into it, and I've decided. I know I said I wouldn't include ORAS or anything related in the story, but since I've started playing it a little bit, I am willing to make an exception on Nic having Dragon Ascent as a Legendary Arts when in his Sky Plate Form.

Please Favorite, Follow, & Review if you guys enjoyed this chapter and/or story up to this point.

If you guys can't wait for Nic's last pokémon, then just shoot me a PM and promise me that you won't tell a soul when I say it to you.

Please Review this chapter! Feedback on my fights would be really appreciated.

Next Time: The Scarlet Fever