Wally's Side

AN: This story, and all following chapters, are companions to my other story: Naruto Emerald Version. This chapter corresponds with chapter 11 of that story. Read that before you read this.

Siege of the Oceanic Museum

I sat with my back to a case of water that had apparently been imported from someplace across the Western Sea called the Lake of Rage. In it were all these red scales that glittered as the light touched them, drifting up and down through an artificial whirlpool. I mention this because they were a real pain the butt to mimic with my genjutsu.

It was my job to make it really hard on any Team Aqua grunts that tried to get to the Devon research through the bottom floor, and that meant setting up and managing traps. Setting up traps is easy, but managing them means you have to keep an eye on them, and because the red scales were so beautiful, The Lake of Rage water was featured prominently in the exhibit, right where I needed to be.

It wasn't like I couldn't do it. I did do it. It wasn't even that hard after a minute, but in that moment I was getting angry for the fight, and pointing my anger towards the only thing I could, the water behind me, eating up my chakra.

When I was little, I couldn't breathe well, so I wasn't allowed to practice taijutsu or genjutsu, but I was allowed a genjutsu tutor, so I've been doing it forever. It's my specialty, I guess. I'd set up cloaking fields around Nin, my Sableye, and Tai, my Shroomish, because they were, for all intents and purposes, my big guns. Gen, my Ralts, didn't do much in terms of offense, but set up a nonaggression area around me as I watched where the fighting would be.

But the waiting for the fighting was killing me. I remember checking a nearby clock three times in thirty seconds. Then it began. Four Team Aqua grunts ran through the front door of the Museum, and ran right towards the stairs, and my traps. The four split into two groups of two, each group taking one set of stairs.

Tai, and Nin knew to take the second person in each pair. Nin leapt onto the right stairway's second grunt, and pulled it back into my invisibility zone. Once inside, Nin shoved a lump of shadow matter into the grunt's mouth and sent a confuse ray right into the grunt's eyes. In his delirious state the grunt swallowed the shadow matter, knocking him out.

Tai took a different approach, kicking the back of the knee of the second grunt, causing him to fall back into the invisibility zone, where Tai doused the grunt with Stun Spore, incapacitating him. Gotta say… worked like a charm.

The two grunts that had led the charge turned back quickly once they'd realized their friends were gone. They crept back down the stairs, and each summoned a Corpfish. I nudge Gen, who formed two halos of purple energy, one around each arm, and then hurled them like rings to each Corpfish.

The rings landed on their heads, and instantly confused the Pokémon, sending them into a frenzy. The corpfish on the right stairwell turned on its trainer and attacked, whereas the other one started taking chunks out of the wall with its pincers.

Nin ghosted through the floor, and reappeared behind his Aqua Grunt, a smile on his tiny face. He pushed the grunt forward, over her corpfish, and into the invisibility zone. Corpfish followed, and began to take portions of the wall out next to its trainer's crumpled body. Before the grunt could get up, Nin was standing on her chest, and shoved shadow matter down her throat. Corpfish felt the pain through its bond with its trainer, and collapsed.

Tai sneezed poison powder all over the last grunt, whom was just barely keeping his own Corpfish from taking his nose. The Corpfish collapsed, and the grunt began to foam at the mouth, which suited Tai fine. He kicked them down the stairs and into the invisibility zone.

I turned my attention outside, and saw Shelly, the Aqua Admin I'd hamstrung on what they were now calling the Great Naruto Bridge. She narrowed her eyes and spat, "Where did those grunts fall? I smell that genjutsu brat. He can't get to all of you. Run the Gauntlet and I'll save those he goes after, okay?"

I reached through my bond with Gen, and used his powers to ask Nin to move to Tai's zone, and warn Lady and Hinata that Grunts were coming her way, and an Admin was falling into my lap. Shelly strode into the museum with a noticeable limp, and her grunts charged past her to the stairs.

The half that used the left staircase got up without issue, but the poor saps who used the right watched with growing horror as their friends were falling over screaming after inhaling stun spores, or simply disappeared from their sight to entirely.

Nin would phase through the ground, and drag a few grunts at a time down with him, and throw them into the invisibility zone, where they were subjected to the horrors of Nin's shadow jutsu. Shelly, seeing the confusion, smiled, and summoned her Sharpedo. I got kunai ready to throw when Sharpedo charged into the fray, but it didn't, instead Shelly said, "Hydro Pump."

Sharpedo opened its maw, and sprayed a pillar of water at the Aqua grunts, flattening them as they tried to retreat or recover, going steadily from the right to the left, then, like a grid, Sharpedo moved its attack up a bit, and started moving left.

Nin never stood a chance, slammed into the wall and held there as the water passed him, and Tai was barely standing, only because of his typing. Sharpedo's dark type designation also meant that nothing Gen did would affect it, so I shouted, "Mega Drain!"

Tai drew life energy from Sharpedo, and but Sharpedo just refocused its attack on her. Shelly was looking in my direction, so I began to creep to the right, maintaining the illusion, but I bumped into somebody. I turned and there was none other than Archie, leader of Team Aqua. "Sup, scamp?" he asked, and picked me up by the throat.

I brought both of my kunai at his elbow, and he was able to stop one, but I still ruined his elbow. He couldn't hold me like that, and I managed to back up, right into Shelly. I made the seal of the ram and made them see blinding light.

In trying to grab me they landed a few glancing blows, but I ducked behind the Lake of Rage exhibit and formed a new invisibility zone. With creeping slowness, I moved towards Sharpedo and readied two more kunai.

Tai was still taking life energy from Sharpedo, but the enemy Pokémon was strong enough that it didn't matter; he was doing more damage than he was taking. It was time to change the game.

When I was right behind the enemy Pokémon, I shoved my kunai above its eyes and dragged down. Sharpedo's scales actually moved to tear at my wrists, but it was blinded, and it stopped attacking. Lances of pain went up through my hands and to my wrists, so I couldn't make handsigns or even hold the kunai, but I could still maintain the invisibility zone.

I recalled Nin to his scroll, and whistled, bringing Tai to me. Nearly an instant after, Archie jumped down from the upper exhibit and started looking for me, flailing his arms about. I couldn't fight him anymore, so I retreated upstairs.

The scene upstairs wasn't much better. Shino, Hinata, and May were all locked in combat with a grunt each. I nudged Gen, and used confusion on May's grunts. That little bit of help managed to actually shift the momentum, so I ran behind their line, and dropped the illusion. "Wally!" May exclaimed.

She beat her opponents down, and sent her Pokémon to help the other genin while she ran over to me. "What happened?"

"Archie and Shelly took the bottom floor," I explained, and showed her my hands, "I'm not gonna be much help anymore."

May nodded, "I got you."

She ran over to Shino and pushed him out of his fight, taking over. "Get Steven-sensei and Kurenai!" she shouted.

Shino looked from her, to me, and then to the stairs just in time to see Archie emerge. "Run!" I shouted.

Gen stepped in front of me and threw a confusion halo at Archie, but it glanced off him like he himself was a dark type Pokémon. Tai pulled energy, which slowed him for a moment, but then the blue stone in his anchor pendant began to glow. "Not good enough, Scamp."

Shelly was just behind him, limping but appeared more angry than weak. "I'm gonna pay you double for this!" she screeched and started running towards me.

Tiny, May's Makuhita, cold clocked her, sending her sprawling back down the stairs, but Archie grabbed my friend's Pokémon with his good hand, and threw Tiny out a window. "Where's the head scamp?" he demanded, "The one with the beanie."

I silently hoped that Brendan was having a better time of things up on the roof, but then something landed up there, shaking the entire building, so probably not. In that moment, Brendan would have said something witty to put the enemy off balance, so I said, "He, uh, couldn't make it."

I shuddered with self-loathing. My banter needed work. At least Brendan wasn't there to poke fun at my attempt and May was too busy fighting to hear how bad it had been. Archie looked like he had something to say, but the nearby desk liquefied and grabbed onto him. Once he was fully restrained, Kurenai filtered out from the massive stone over Archie's shoulder. "Picking on genin? Really?"

Archie's muscles bulged with the exception of his bum arm, and he broke through the stone. "I'll pick on anyone I feel like to achieve my dream. A world of water, perfect for Pokémon, and unpolluted by man!"

He back handed Kurenai, but her body turned to stone, and shattered. She and Steven-sensei ran down the stairs, Metagross right behind them. "Do we have to do this again Archie?" Steven-sensei demanded.

Archie looked at his ruined arm, his beaten subordinates, and over his shoulder at the unconscious Shelly. "No. My Team isn't strong enough to take what we need right now. I'll build it up until you don't even recognize it anymore and come at you again."

He smiled at us, the lights went out, and when they came back on, all Team Aqua personnel were gone. Everything was still, and I fell back onto the nearest wall to slide down to a seated position. "That was foreboding," I mused.

A scream, "Noooooo!" came from above us outside, and grew in volume as the silhouette of a person fell to the ground.

Kurenai's eyes widened, and she shouted, "Someone go get a doctor, I'll check on the boys upstairs!"

I lurched forward to run, but May put a hand on my shoulder and shoved me back down. "Stay," she commanded, "Shino's already off."

I nodded sheepishly, and enjoyed the silent comradery. Then May turned to me, and asked, "He, uh, couldn't make it? You couldn't do better than that?"

I chuckled, "I mean, c'mon, I was thinking on my feet. I dare you to do better next time."

May hummed for a moment. "I would have gone with: You don't get to pick who beats you up, I do."

Damn. That would have worked. "Teach me to banter?" I asked.

She patted my head, "When you're old enough," she said sweetly.

AN: So I wrote this because there was a lot of stuff going on during this chapter that Brendan couldn't have seen or been involved with. I'll update this story when Wally is there for something important that Brendan couldn't have seen.