Fairy Tail Eeveelution

Chapter 7: Settling In

Gray held Natsu in his fist with an arm ready to punch as they looked at me. "I can challenge both of you! Just not right now."

"But, why not?" Natsu asked in question.

"Well, I don't know where I'll be staying, first of all." I realized how late it was getting. I remembered that it was daylight when I first walked into Magnolia. The sun was now just setting under the mountains. "Also, I'm pretty tired after what happened to us today..." Just remembering the pressure of Palkia's pink bubble on my body made me shiver.

"She's right, Natsu." Lucy backed up. "She and her team must be exhausted."

"You could always stay in the Fairy Hills Dormitory. That's where most of our guild members stay." Mira suggested.

"But the rent there is expensive," Wendy said. "I barely make enough during jobs to stay there."

"That's true," Carla said. "I have to remind her to pay for it most of the time."

"Wendy, remember that you're staying there at a discount." Mira told her.

"Yeah, but that still doesn't mean that I can pay for it, even if you did give me a discount..." I really didn't think this through. How was I going to stay for awhile if I didn't have any money to pay for my own place?

"I've got it!" Lucy smacked her fist into her hand. "You can stay with me for free!"

"What?" I couldn't believe what she was offering. "No way, Lucy. I couldn't ask you to do that."

"Why not? It's just me at my apartment, and I have enough room for the both of us." Her brown eyes were gleaming in excitement.

Ugh. How could I say no to that expression? "Well...okay." She squealed and pulled me into a quick hug. I pushed her away after smiling. "But I'm not staying with you for free! I have to pay you somehow!"

"Oh, don't worry about that!" She winked and gave me an okay with her hand. "You can do that with jobs that we'll go on together! That way you can help pay your end of the bargain."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea." Erza chimed in. "It'll be fun going on jobs with you."

Natsu wrapped his arm around my shoulders again and laughed. "We'll be the strongest team in the guild with you by our side!"

I chuckled nervously. "Um...and what team is that?" I was getting uncomfortable for how close Natsu was to me. It's not everyday someone just drapes their arm over my shoulders without any consent. He let go after a minute, but was still grinning at me.

"It's Team Natsu," Gray answered. "It consists of me, Erza, Lucy, Natsu, and Wendy."

"Hey, what about me?" Happy cried.

"Yes, you too, Happy. And Carla, too." Wendy answered.

"Huh." I thought about this, and smiled. "I guess that would be okay. You'll just have to give me the low down on everything that were to happen...pretty much with anything here."

"Of course!" Lucy exclaimed. "I can tell you all about Magnolia, no, about Fiore! Let's go to my place to get you settled in."

I nodded and grinned. "Okay!"

~~

"Your bath is amazing!" I stepped out of Lucy's bathroom with a towel wrapped around me and my hair wrapped up in another. "I can't remember the last time I had a bath that relaxing..."

"I know, right?" She smiled. "I love this place! You won't get anything like it at the dormitory, and it's so much cheaper!" Eevee was curled up into her lap as she gently stroke her.

"Eevee really likes you." I commented, and then saw some blue pajamas folded on her bed. "Are those for me?"

"Yes. I noticed that you didn't bring any luggage or anything when you got here, so I'm lending you mine." She then gave me a look. "Why don't you have any luggage?"

Uh oh. I couldn't tell her about Palkia, because then I would be revealing one of the biggest secrets of the Pokémon world. Since I was only there for less than a day, I couldn't possibly reveal that secret so easily to her. No, I just had to lie about it, even if I was terrible at it. "I lost it on the train here." I said, hoping it was convincing enough. "I forgot it when I was rushing off, and it was a one-way train."

She blinked with a blank look. "Okay. We really need to work that."

"Work on what?" I blushed in embarrassment.

"Elena, I know you're lying." She then stood up from her spot on the floor. "Look, I understand if there's something that you don't want to tell me, but you don't have to lie about it. Remember, we're guild mates now. You don't have to keep secrets from us."

I looked away in sadness. "I'm sorry, Lucy. I can't tell you yet. Not until I really know that I can trust all of you."

I felt her stare at me as she took this in, and then smiled. "All right. That seems fair enough. Why don't you go get changed now."

I nodded, and quickly changed into the pajamas in the bathroom. I felt horrible for telling Lucy what I did, but I couldn't just tell anyone about it. The legendaries have to be one of the, if not the most sacred part of the World of Pokémon. I would've felt like I was putting my world in danger, if anything. I yawned, and stepped back out of the bathroom. "I'm going to go to bed."

"Okay. I'll sleep on the floor tonight."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it. I know that you need it after today."

I didn't argue with that, seeing how comfy her bed looked with her pink bed spread. My eyes started to droop. "Eevee," I called, and she twitched her ear to wake up. She saw where I was going, and quickly stood up to hop up on the bed. "Goodnight, Lucy. Thanks again for everything." Eevee snuggled up next to me as I pulled the sheets over.

I barely heard her say goodnight back as my eyes closed into a deep sleep.