Ariana waited for the shocked gasps to seize, before she continued.

"My parents never meant to start an evil team. They were good Pokémon, they just made mistakes." Ariana choked on her words, haunting memories flooding over her. "Our family has been wealthy for generations, and we've had to go to extreme measures to keep our money safe. Because while, my parents had many friends, like Mr. Hikari, they also had enemies, who wanted our family's fortune. They were just afraid. So, my parents hired a team of three Pokemon guards to help keep our family safe. They were legendary fighters, and were known as the Three Ice Titans. The Pokémon who attacked Levy, Marius the Weavile, was one of them. The other two were, Ophelia the Articuno and Garren the Mamoswine. Rumors floated around that the three took orders from a fourth, higher power, but my family chose to ignore them, as they trusted the three Titans. With the money given to the three to help protect us, they started their gang, with full intent on killing my family and taking the entire fortune. My parents didn't discover their intentions until it was too late for them. The Three Titans killed my parents..." Ariana had to stop, because her words were blurring through her sobs.

"Oh, you poor thing..." Lucy scooted over beside the crying Flygon, wrapping her arms around Ariana in a tight, comforting hug.

"T-then..." Ariana continued, her voice wavering, "They went after me." She wiped her tears away, "Another friend of the family, a Garchomp named Shard, protected me, and the Titans and their grunts retreated. Since then, they've been trying to hunt me down. They want my fortune so badly, that they've even tried harassing friends of our family, like Shard or Mr. Hikari."

"Did someone say my name?" Mr. Hikari's head peeked out, followed by the rest of him, as he staggered in awkwardly, his little arms full of snacks and books. "Miss Ariana, are you crying my dear?" He dropped what he was carrying onto the ground, rushing to the Flygon's side.

"I was just..." Ariana paused, sniffing and wiping away a tear, "Just talking about my past, don't worry about it. Whenever I tell anyone about what happened, I get so emotional..."

"Yes, well," Mr. Hikari's gaze grew serious, as he sat up high in the dim light. "Listen you all, Miss Franklin has had a hard time, so don't go blaming her family for this." His eyes glowed as brightly as his tail as he spoke.

"We don't." Ezra said, and the others spoke up in agreement.

"I knew y'all were good folks." Mr. Hikari smiled, gathering up his belongings that accidentally he scattered on the ground. "Now, I brought out the best food I could find in there. Crackers and Sitrus Berry jam, Lum Berry muffins, biscuits and honey, Spice and Mint Pokepuffs." He used his tail to wipe the dust off a table, and he placed the food down before picking up the stack of books he had dropped. While Natsu and Gajeel began digging in at the food table, Mr. Hikari placed the stack of hard-back books in front of the others. "I also snagged a few of my personal reads. Since y'all don't know much about this world, I grabbed a few books that talked about different Pokemon abilities, types, moves and bunch of other stuff." Levy and Lucy both grinned brightly, and he continued, "I'm going to head off to bed now, you guys should get some sleep too."

The Ampharos waved a friendly goodnight to his guests before heading off into the back again, leaving the Mages and Ariana in the dark. The Wizards broke off into small groups, dividing into different sleeping areas.

Wendy looked over at Erza, a confused frown on her face. "Why are they all sleeping in groups?" She whispered, "Why don't we all just sleep in a group togh-"

"Shhh..." Erza silenced the young dragonslayer with a swish of her tail. She watched as Levy peacefully settled in at Gajeel's side, whispering quiet, inaudible words to the Iron Dragonslayer. "You're too young to understand, Wendy, but I think..." Erza trailed off, as she watched Gray and Juvia lying beside each other. Juvia tried to rest her head against Gray, and the Ice Mage pushed her away. Erza chuckled, looking back at Wendy again, her clear blue eyes glowing dimly and her mouth twisted in a light smirk. "I think this is what's going to bring them closer." She said quietly, as Natsu and Lucy, side by side, settled into sleep on the other side of the room...

As dawn light crept through the shop's windows, the Wizards rose out of their slumber, their eyes opening to see the tall form of Mr. Hikari waiting for them to wake.

"Well good morning! Sure took y'all long enough to wake." The old Pokemon laughed, rubbing his small hands together. "I prepared some breakfast for ya on the table, if your interested."

"Oh, I'm definitely interested!" Natsu smirked, rising to his feet rapidly.

"Hold it there, Charizard." Mr. Hikari stepped in front of the Dragonslayer before he could reach the food. "I have something I'd like to give to ya, first."

Natsu tilted his head in confusion, "A before-meal snack?"

"Why would it be that, you idiot?!" Gray exclaimed, and Lucy face-palmed.

"No, not food my dear friend, but much better." Mr. Hikari led Natsu behind the front counter, where the Ampharos opened the drawers, pulling out a pair of stones. The first was orange and red, with a small design inside. The second contained every color of the rainbow, with a design identical to the first on it. Mr. Hikari held them into the light, where they shimmered brightly. "There is such a power known as Mega Evolution, a temporary state of transformation that makes a Pokemon much more powerful. See my friend, all my life, I have searched for stones like these." He held up the rainbow stone first, examining it carefully, "This is the keystone. I was able to get it early on in my life, from an old friend. A keystone, is, well, the key to this mysterious phenomenon. I spent many a year hunting down the companion stone, called Ampharosite. As I am an Ampharos, this stone would cause me to Mega Evolve. My searches for this particular stone failed, but along the way, I managed to find this one." He picked up the orange rock, showing it off to the group. "Charizardite Y. It will make a Charizard Mega Evolve into Charizard Y, an powerful form. I was hoping to save this for one of my richer customers," He sighed, "But finding a full grown Charizard is quite rare these days." Mr. Hikari paused one more time, before picking up the pair of stones and gently placing them in Natsu's claws.

"These are for you, Salamander."

(To be continued...)
(Merry Christmas my friends! I hope you are enjoying this story! I was going to wait another week or so to publish this chapter, but I decided to give it to you for a Christmas gift! I wish you the happiest of holidays, and I'm thankful for all the support I've gotten from all of you!)