Chapter Two: The Academy Tryouts.
While Kiba and Sakura were waiting at the stadium, Naruto and Pokémon took the time to explore the school. Other than being a school for trainers, White Academy had an inventive side as well. Most of the buildings were designed after old-fashion European homes, and row after row of blooming berry trees aliened the streets of the campus. Occasionally, students could be seen practicing their fencing, or riding their Rapidash. The school looked as if it had been designed from a Medieval Renaissance fair. Just being here gave Naruto the feeling that a fierce dragon Pokémon like Salamence or Flygon could pass over or possibly attack the school.
But what are the chances of that happening?
After passing by the school's chapel, Naruto had come upon a circular statue. This particular statue was a tribute to the school's protector: Zekrom. Taking a closer look at the statue Naruto reached his hand out to touch the statue, when part of it broke off, and fell to the ground with a thud.
Oh man... At first, Naruto tried fixing the statue back, by placing the broken piece back into its original place. But, as you can guess, things didn't go so well.
Naruto glared at the statue piece. Great...now what am I supposed to do with this? He thought to himself.
Taking off his backpack, Naruto unzipped it, and pulled out the container with his egg inside of it. From there, he'd decided to just hide the statue piece in his bag until he could get his hands on some glue or a bug Pokémon that's able to use String Shot.
"Legend speaks of the Yin and Yang dragons that protected this school hundreds of years ago..." Someone said, causing Naruto jump in the process.
Turning around from the sound the unfamiliar voice, Naruto came face to face with a mysterious pale man wearing a black suit, with a crimson dress tie. His hair was long and black, and his skin was pale.
"It's not very often to see a student so intrigued by this school's history," The man continued, taking a closer look at statue.
"Oh, I'm not a student just yet," Naruto replied. "I still have to take the entry exam."
Instead of redirecting his attention back at the statue, the man glanced at the egg Naruto held.
"This egg of yours...it speaks to me..." he said touching the protective glass, and Naruto raised one of his eye brows. "It says that it's ready to hatch."
Naruto peered at his Pokémon egg. Hmm, I wonder...
It wasn't long before the egg itself had answered that question. Within a few seconds, the egg had started to glow, and eventually, started to crack open. Sitting the case down, and uncovering it, Naruto watched closely as the rest of shell broke away, finally solving the mystery of the egg. The Pokémon that had just hatched appeared to be a small black fox. The creature's ears are triangular shaped with dark insides, and she has a large, whorled scruff of fur on her head, tipped with red coloration. Her eyes appear to have no pupils, and her eyelids and circular "eyebrow" markings are red. Around her neck, was a ruff of black fur which was puffy just like her tail.
"Zorua..." she cooed, and the fangs inside of her mouth became visible.
Before he could do anything else, the Pokétch on Naruto's wrist began making a loud beeping noise signaling that it had scanned Zorua. Naruto tapped it, and Zorua's moves were displayed in a matter of seconds: Leer, Hone Claws, Shadow Ball, and Dark Pulse.
Deciding that he should thank the professor, Naruto turned to look at him with a smile.
"Thanks," he said. "Uh...?"
"Orochimaru," the man said. "I'm a professor here at the school."
After a short introduction, Orochimaru walked off into a different direction, leaving Naruto alone to collect his thoughts.
Naruto crossed his arms. This place just keeps getting stranger and stranger by the minute... And then he smiled, remembering that he had part of the statue in his bag. But, at least his didn't notice the broken statue.
"Numbers 615-625 please report to the battling stadium," a voice over the school's intercom said, and Naruto reached into his pocket pulling out a small red ticket.
"Looks like we're up," he said to his Pokémon. "Let's get going."
Once he had arrived at the stadium, Naruto looked around. Most of the matches from before were already finished. But the match between Kiba and another trainer was about to reach it's breaking point. One side of the grassy battling field stood Blitzle and Eevee. And on the other, were two Pokémon known as Deerling and Aipom.
Aipom appear to be similar to purple monkeys, with beige color on their faces, ear insides, belly, feet and tails. Its face has round eyes and a constantly cheeky smile. Along it's heads are large, oval-shaped ears and a cowlick. Aipom's arms are completely purple with no actual paws nor fingers present, while they do have visible feet instead. The most famous feature of this arboreal Pokémon is the three-fingered hand on the end of its tail.
Deerling on the other hand is a fawn-like Pokémon, most resembling a fallow deer. The upper side of its body is colored pink, and is rimmed and dappled with yellow patterns, with the underside of its body being a lighter beige shade. It also sports a yellowish-colored, floral tuft on its head, and similar yellow coloration on the ear insides of its tapering ears. The tips of its limbs are colored black and its pink tail is small.
"Blitzle use Flame Charge!" Kiba called out to his partners. "And Eevee, you use Iron Tail!"
Eevee dashed after Deerling, while storing power within his tail. To fend off the small the fox, Deerling attacking Eevee with its Take Down attack. Smoothly, Eevee dodged the attack, and then tripped Deerling with Iron Tail. Following up to that, Blitzle tackled Deerling with Flame Charge, and the small fawn was sent flying sky-high into the air.
"Return Deerling," the opposing trainer recalled his Pokémon before it came crashing down onto the field. And then he shouted out his command. "Aipom, attack with Shadow Claw!"
The palm of Aipom's tail began to glow with a strange purple aura, before swiping it at Blitzle. Blitzle didn't have much time to dodge, so the attack was a success for Aipom, and Blitzle crashed to the ground.
"I think so," Kiba growled. "Blitzle get up!"
Shaking off the pain, Blitzle resumed his battle position. Even after being hit with such a critical attack.
"Eevee, you use Bite!" Kiba called.
"Agility, Aipom!" the other trainer shouted.
As Eevee rushed forward, Aipom suddenly increased it's speed, and dodged as Eevee tried chomping it with his sharp fangs. The particular pattern went on for a short while, until Kiba found a loop hole.
"Quick, Eevee! Grab onto Aipom's tail!" he shouted.
Eevee gave a quick nod, and then waited for the perfect moment to clamp his fangs down onto the opponent's tail. Aipom cried out in pain, and tried shaking Eevee off.
"It's time to end this." Kiba smirked. "Blitzle used Flame Charge at full power!"
Blitzle braced himself for the attack by taking in a deep breath. And then, as he charged forward, a coat of blazing fire surrounded Blitzle making him look as if he were a deadly flaming arrow. By then, Aipom had shaken Eevee from its tail, and had attacked him with Fury Swipes. But, nothing had prepared it for what was about to happen. Blitzle tackled the purple primate with every ounce of power hit had. As a result, Aipom was knocked into the air. And, as an added bonus, Eevee use Iron Tail on Aipom before it could hit ground, and sent it flying at its trainer. It was no doubt that Inuzuka Kiba and his team was the winners of this battle.
In the stands, Naruto just smirked as he watched Kiba return Blitzle and Eevee to their Pokéballs. Nice work Kiba. I knew you had it in you.
"Congrats young trainer," a man by the name of Kakashi Hatake was the battling instructor of the stadium along with Asuma Sarutobi. With a friendly smile, he handed Kiba his training card. "I look forward to seeing you in my class tomorrow."
"You can count it," Kiba received his card from Kakashi, and met up with Naruto in the stands.
Back in the stands Naruto was preparing his team for their upcoming match.
"Okay Tepig and Pansage," he said. "You two will be partners for the match."
Tepig and Pansage looked at each and smiled. The two of them shared a brotherly relationship, even though they were two different species.
"But now, what am I going to do with you?" Naruto glanced at Zorua.
Zorua was a newborn. And for her safety, Naruto didn't want to be so quick to send her into battle.
"Wait a minute..." Naruto suddenly reached into his bag, and pulled an item called the EXP. share. The item appeared to be a crown of some sort.
The young trainer placed the item onto Zorua's head, and she began to scratch at it. "With this, I'll be able to train you even though you're not in battle."
"Check it out," Kiba held up his card, causing it to shine in the florescent lighting. "This officially makes me a trainer."
Naruto just grinned. "Not bad. But just you wait; I'll have my trainer card too,"
"Numbers 617 and 618, please report to the battle field." The announcer said.
"Looks like I'm up," Naruto returned his Pokémon to their Pokéballs; all except Zorua, and then entered the battle arena.
"Don't show them any mercy, Naruto!" Kiba called out to him, and Naruto gave him two thumbs up before the match at started.
For this battle, the stadium was going to take place on a rugged mountain platform. On one side of the field, Naruto took his position—and on the other stood another trainer around his age.
"This battle will be double match," Kakashi said. "Nor trainer is allowed to switch out their Pokémon, and item usage is forbidden. Does everyone follow?"
Both trainers nodded.
"Then, go!"
"Tepig, Pansage, come on out!" Naruto tossed the Pokéballs of his partners, releasing them. Both Pokémon took their positions, and waited for the opponent to make a move.
"Let's go, Panpour and Emolga!" she called. From within a burst of a light appeared two small Pokémon. Pansage and Tepig looked at their opponent's taking in each and every detail that they could.
Panpour is a primate-like, blue-and-yellow Water-type Pokémon. The proportion of its head and large ears are similar to that of an Aipom. The upper half of its head and the puffy, wave-like feature atop is blue. Its eyes are shaped like ovals, and the lower half of its face is yellow with a small, dot-like nose. The Pokémon's upper body and its skinny forelimbs are colored yellow, and its hands seem to have no fingers, aside from thumbs. Panpour's lower body is also yellow with small feet, and its wiry tail is tipped with a clover-shaped feature.
Emolga, on the other hand, is a squirrel-like Pokémon, primarily white in coloration, that most resembles a flying squirrel. It possesses facial features include its eyes, a tiny nose, and yellow cheek patches. Its ears are round in shape and black in coloration, with yellow and white sections of coloration in the inside of its ears. Emolga sports a vaguely hood-like patterning of black around its head, with a spiky extension of the pattern above its face. Emolga also possesses wing-like, yellow-colored flaps connected to its three-fingered arms. The creature's feet are white-colored and fairly small and its black-colored tail is in a jagged shape.
Naruto was first to call out his commands.
"Tepig use Ember!" he pointed at Emolga. "Pansage, you use Bite!"
Both Pokémon ran forth and tried attacking Emolga. Tepig snorted out tiny sparks of fire from his nose, while Pansage chomped at Emolga with his sharp fangs.
"Dodge it Emolga!" the female trainer called, and Emolga soared into the air dodging both attacks. "Now use Aerial Ace!"
Not soon after it had flew into the air, Emolga flew overhead of Pansage, and then attacked the small green primate from the air. Pansage crashed to the ground, causing Tepig glared at Emolga and chased after it while using Ember.
"Panpour use Scald!" Seeing that Tepig's back was turned, and his attention was focused on getting revenge for Pansage, the other trainer found that this was the best opportunity to have Panpour attack.
Panpour approached Tepig, and released boiling hot water from the puff on top of its head. Naruto gritted his teeth as Tepig fell to the ground.
Looks like I'm going to have to switch up my tactics, he thought. Let's see if I can turn this battle around.
"Pansage, Tepig, get up." For his first part of his plan, Naruto needed his Pokémon to regain their posture. Even though the two of them had taken critical damage, both Pansage and Tepig shook off their pain.
Now, since items aren't allowed, then Pansage is going to have to something about their health. And then he called to his Pokémon. "Pansage, use Leech Seed!"
Pansage approached Emolga and Panpour, and then released a handful of mysterious seeds at the two of them. Emolga flew into the air to avoid the attack. But Panpour wasn't so lucky. The strange seed released vine-like plants at Panpour, and clung onto it, and began absorbing Panpour's energy. The stolen energy was then transferred over to Pansage and Tepig. An elegant green aura surrounded Naruto's team, healing them on contact.
Perfect. Naruto thought with a smile. Now for part two.
"Tepig, use Tackle on Panpour!" he called.
After regaining nearly all of his health back, Tepig was ready to battle again. The small piglet ran forward, and slammed his body into Panpour's. Panpour had then tried attacking Tepig with its Fury Swipes attack, forgetting the fact that Pansage was still in the battle.
Naruto smiled. "Good," and then he called out to Pansage. "Pansage, now you attack with Energy Ball!"
By drawing in all of the energy from all of the plants around him, Pansage was able to manifest a glowing sphere of energy from them. Pansage threw the glowing sphere at both Tepig and Panpour, but luckily Tepig was smart enough to move out of the way. The powerful attack had caused the opponent's Panpour to faint on contact, and it's trainer recalled it.
Well that's it for Panpour, Naruto thought happily. After that, he glanced back at the stands where Zorua was waiting with Kiba and Akamaru.
Zorua was still scratching at the EXP. Share when a beautiful sapphire aura surrounded her body. Once his Pokétch had started beeping, Naruto knew what this meant-Zorua was leveling up, and quickly.
As a shadow suddenly passed over his head, Naruto had then remembered Emolga was still in battle. Now all we have to do is beat Emolga, and we're in.
"Emolga, use Aerial Ace!" The other trainer shouted, and Emolga dove straight for Pansage.
As Pansage dunked his head to avoid the attack, Tepig glared daggers at Emolga. Pansage may have gotten some of his HP back, but would he survive another Aerial Ace attack from Emolga? Tepig wasn't about to find out. Snorting out steam from his nose, Tepig charged at Emolga as it grew closer to the ground coated in fire.
"Huh?" Naruto looked down at his Pokétch. Tepig's moves popped up onto the screen. And from the look of it, Ember had been replaced by a different move.
Kiba seemed just as surprised as Naruto.
"No way," Kiba was on the edge of his seat. "That's..."
"Flame Charge...?" Naruto questioned as he watched Tepig slam into Emolga, and creating a fiery explosion.
Emolga fell to the ground. But as it got ready to get up and fly again, Pansage send a ball of energy flying straight for Emolga. For second, and final time, Emolga crashed to ground, and it's trainer recalled it, naming Naruto the winner of the battle.
"Alright!" Naruto ran out to the battling field and petted his Pokémon over their heads. "You two did great out there!"
After that, Kakashi approached the young trainer. In his hand, he held Naruto's golden ticket into White Academy-his trainer card.
"Nice work young trainer," the silver headed man congratulated Naruto, handing him trainer card. "Welcome to White Academy."
Naruto happily received his card, returned his Pokémon to their balls, and joined back up with Kiba and Zorua in the stands. Around the same time, Sakura was running towards the two of them with a trainer card of her own.
"Looks like we have our cards now," Sakura said with a smile. "Now, all we have to do is graduate from the school."
"I wonder how long that'll take us take…?" Kiba questioned.
"Let's see...since we just started, we're at an Entei level," Sakura explained. "If we play our cards right, we should be able to reach Raikou level this semester, and then Suicune next semester."
"That doesn't sound too bad," Naruto replied. "It'll give us enough time to train and get to know our partners."
"Speaking of which..." Sakura kneeled down at petted Zorua on her head. Zorua just stared at her. "Who does this little cutie belong too?"
"She hatched out of the egg I found," Naruto answered. "And just before I was called into battle."
While Kiba took a better look at Zorua, Sakura pulled out her Pokédex and scanned the small black fox. Her small pink device made a beeping sound, and Sakura frowned.
"That's odd...my Pokédex isn't picking anything up..." she said quietly.
Then, deciding that one missing entry wasn't a problem, Sakura stood up.
"For now, we need head to our dorms and unpack." She sighed. "I heard that our room numbers are on the back of our trainer ID."
Kiba and Naruto nodded, and then headed east from the stadium where the male dormitory is located for Entei students. Sakura on the other hand, waved to her friends, and then headed north-east where the female dorm is located.
Now that the three of them were trainers, the future challenges and battles that await them will only start to get harder.
Author's Note: And there you have it-another chapter. I had a couple of readers to ask about the people on boat. Everyone knows that the boy with onyx eyes is Sasuke, but the other three will remain a mystery until the next chapter. And, if you all have ideas for which Pokémon Naruto and the others catch, just drop me a review.
Thanks for reading and reviewing.