A Different Chosen

by GodsShadow

Arceus decided that having Ash as his Chosen wasn't a good choice. So what does he do? He unleashes a Maelstrom upon the Pokemon world! Aura Guardian Naruto. Naruto x Harem.

2. A New Leaf!

Chapter Two: A New Leaf!

A tall, blonde, whiskered, young man stands on top of a hill, stretching his limbs from his morning run, as he looked down at the scenery and enjoyed the fresh morning air. His cerulean blue eyes gazed down at the foot of the hill where a small, sleepy town sat. He was wearing his normal Guardian Trenchcoat ensemble, with the addition of a black and blue over-the-shoulder Backpack and a small black X-Transceiver attached to his wrist. The X-Transceiver was a birthday gift from his mother so she would know he wasn't getting into too much trouble. He had gone ahead and gotten the numbers of most of the Order just in case any emergencies popped up that needed his attention.

'There it is,' Naruto thought, 'Now we can really get this Journey started.'

He had just woken up after camping the night in the forest of Route 1. Deciding to make good time and knock-out his morning jog at the same time, he ran almost the entire way to Pallet from just outside of Viridian City.

After the Ceremony, not much happened at Rota, well, not directly involving him at least. They knew he was ready to get moving so after appointing his mother as his Assistant Grandmaster, he left the busy work to her, then grabbed his bag and set out. It only took him the rest of the day to fly past Pewter City and set up camp on the outskirts of Viridian. He could have slept in the Pokemon Center, he supposed, but where would the adventuring spirit be without camping?

'Totally not because sleeping on the outskirts just meant I was that much closer to Pallet Town,' Naruto tried and failed to convince himself.

As for why he was heading to Pallet? Well, he needed to get his official Trainer's License from Professor Oak. While he was an Aura Guardian now, he still didn't have the right to carry Pokemon Officially yet, so a quick stop in Pallet and then he will be set loose.

He took this moment to sit down and take a breather, glancing at his X-Transceiver he noticed it was only half-past six. Considering he has to be at the lab at 8:30 he's got quite a bit of time to burn.

'Guess we'll go early and see if he'll allow it, if not we can always hang around the Ranch or I can train with Grace,' He thought to himself. Speaking of the beautiful white and black Pokemon, she was currently trailing behind him. He had tried to go leave her with Kushina and have her transfer the ball to the lab once his license was verified, but Grace didn't like the idea of Naruto going alone so she refused to stay at Rota.

After a small headache, they found a small solution. People without trainer Licenses were not allowed to carry Pokemon, that was true. However, if Grace's Pokeball was still sitting in Rota who was to stop her from simply following Naruto herself? Perfectly sound and not-at-all Illegal, he still doesn't really want to explain anything to any nearby Officer Jennys so he had just another reason to high-tail it to Pallet Town.

After a bit of resting up, he grabbed his bag and stretched his legs, ready to set off again. Grabbing Grace's attention they both started making their way down the hill. As he got closer, he realized Pallet was bigger than it looked from the hill. Most likely due to the high treeline in the area, which most of the houses were concealed by. There were at least a few dozen houses lined up between him and what he could see of the Pokemon lab, he even noticed a small Pokemon Center beside it.

'Makes sense,' Naruto supposed, 'With a lab that big and fresh batches of Trainers coming in monthly, some sort of medical staff would have to be in town.' He was cut out of his thoughts by the sound of a small crowd chatting about something. They were standing in front of one of the larger houses as if waiting for something. Naruto just raised an eyebrow and continued on his way.

'Must be a local thing,' He dismissed the thought as he arrived in front of the lab. Naruto and Grace entered quickly somehow being completely disregarded by the crowd outside. You'd think the shiny unfamiliar Pokemon would catch someone's eye right?

"Man, it has been a while since I've seen Oak," He voiced his thoughts as he entered the front of the lab. He'd been here briefly with his Mother when he was younger in order to discuss some business with Professor Oak's Ranch. Until the Order had its own Pokemon Preserve set up, they used to send the Pokemon that they had found endangered or homeless to the Ranch. Professor Oak would take care of them and search for Trainers for them, while the Order set up their own. It had finished when he was about twelve, so Naruto hadn't really been back since.

His family still maintained a good relationship with the Professor though, and the Order's Preserve often traded Pokemon with the lab when Trainers didn't want theirs or requested one.

The entrance to the lab was rather simple. It had some small bookshelves lining each side of the room, and some chairs and tables set up for people to wait in case the Professor was busy or out. He walked through the entryway into the main lab, he could see a large machine in the center of the room holding three Pokeballs. Beside the machine was a small bench where a young girl was sitting. He noticed the Professor focused on typing something on his computer, so he took a moment to examine her.

Admittedly, she was cute. Long brown hair flowed down to her back, two bangs framing her face down to her cheekbones. Two doe-brown eyes glanced at him and around the lab, nervously, as she waited for the Professor to finish. She wore a small sky-blue tanktop over a black undershirt. A red skirt covered her thighs and went down to her knees and a small belt wrapped around her waist to hold her Pokeballs. Her outfit finished by a matching pair of red and white Premier Ball hat and sneakers. Beside the bench laid a yellow backpack.

---

Unknown to Naruto, the girl was doing the same. She let her eyes trail over his form, appreciating the muscles he let show through his outfit, and his arms he left exposed. She noticed his hair was brighter than most blondes and he had strange...Scars? Birthmarks? She couldn't tell but they looked like cute whiskers on his face. They made her feel like if she reached out and touched them, he'd start purring in her hand. His eyes stared back at her, his bright blue eyes analyzing her and she felt like he was judging her with his intense gaze. She met his eyes and her heart skipped a beat when he smiled at her. She'd been caught staring. Just as he was about to open his mouth the Professor walked over.

---

"Ah, Naruto my boy! I was told you'd be by today. I didn't hear you come in my apologies." He was brought out of his staring by the Professor who approached him.

"I was expecting you to be by much later though, I have some new Trainers to sort out and was going to get you settled afterward." He said gesturing to the young girl waiting patiently.

"No problem at all Old Man, you looked so immersed in your work I didn't want to disturb you. I made the trip faster than I expected so I decided to drop by and see when you wanted to work with me." Naruto replied.

"I see, well the other trainers won't be here for another half-hour so we can do yours first," Ignoring Naruto's jab at his age, he was well aware Naruto didn't mean anything bad by it. "What specifically was it you needed again? I was busy sorting out the Dexes for the new Trainers I forgot to check your notice." Oak said chuckling a bit at himself.

"I came here to get my License so I could start my Journey. Here is the Pokedex the Order provided I just need you to update it and Verify the License on it." He said handing the Professor a black and blue Pokedex, the symbol of the Order on the back of its case. This caught the girl's attention, she perked up and started focusing on the conversation.

"Of course! It is an honor to be the one sponsoring the Order's Prodigy after all. Give me just a moment and I will update this software for you, I assume you want the Guardian License yes?" The Professor plugged the Pokedex into the computer he was using earlier, running through some basic programs to update the software to access the National Pokedex.

"Yes, the Guardian License allows me to carry an additional team and a few Ranger Balls, in case of emergencies," Naruto explained while watching the Professor work.

Ranger Pokeballs. One of the more useful devices developed by the Pokemon League. While normal Ranger's have their Capture Stylers, they aren't without faults. For one, Capture Stylers can only 'tame' one Pokemon at a time. If there were a case of a Pokemon stampede or something of the like, a Styler wouldn't be that useful. This is where the Ranger Balls come in, they capture Pokemon like a normal Pokeball, except the Ball is designed to either instantly lock into stasis, or automatically teleport to Ranger HQ. This allows Rangers to move endangered or rampaging Pokemon with ease.

As a sign of Goodwill with the Order, the Rangers agreed to send a large supply of these Balls. Given to the highest ranking Knights, and the Masters, anytime they are on a mission to capture rampaging or dangerous Pokemon they can send it to Ranger HQ and let them choose what to do with it.

"Now Naruto, that Lucario behind you is yours, right? You know you're not supposed to have Pokemon with you yet, and such an action could get your License suspended before you even activate it, right?" The Professor said in a stern tone while glancing at the stunning white Lucario behind him silently wishing he could study it for a day. Unfornutely that Pokemon was most likely Naruto's Partner and he knew that asking to run tests on it could end very poorly for him. He knew Guardians and their Partners were extremely protective of each other.

"Of course Professor, I do not have Grace's Pokeball with me, she is my Partner and naturally was worried for me when I headed out alone. Since I had to pass through a few Routes to get here, so she followed me. I was planning on using your Pokeball Transfer Device while I was here to retrieve her Ball from my Mother after you finished my License of course." He said with a cheeky smirk.

Oak wasn't buying it, but he supposed he'd let it go this time, not like there was anything wrong with a Pokemon looking out for someone's safety after all. "Done!" He said sliding the Dex out of the PC and handing it back to Naruto.

"All right you're good to go, if you wish to use the Transfer Device it's opposite my PC, it has a built-in video-phone if you need to make a call first. I recommend you take a look at your Dex before you leave and make sure everything works properly so you won't have to come back later."

"Thank you, Professor! I'll go grab Grace's Ball and then I'll be out of your hair," He said, only getting a dismissive wave back from Oak who was already back to work on his computer.

Naruto pinged his mother on his X-Transceiver letting her know he was in Pallet and ready for the Transfer, setting up the device and accepting the Transfer he only had to wait a moment before it went through.

"Transfering Pokeballs from Cameran Palace to Professor Oak's laboratory... Complete" A mechanical voice said as the Transfer finished and a small black and blue Pokeball materialized on the tray. Recalling Grace, for the time being, he walked over to the only bench in the room.

"Mind if I sit here?" Naruto asked the cute girl who had been silently watching his business with the Professor.

"Not at all," She replied a bit quietly, refusing to meet his eyes as her face turned a bit pink. She was still trying to digest the conversation between the Professor and Naruto. It seemed like Naruto was becoming a Trainer today but half of that conversation went over her head. And what was that white Pokemon? She'd never seen anything like that around Kanto before.

Naruto sat down and immediately opened his new Dex filling out some of the personal information, testing a few of the menus, and setting up apps he needed to connect to his X-transceiver and access the Global Maps.

After he had finished configuring the settings to his liking, he heard a feminine robotic voice call out.

"Greetings Trainer, I am The Adjutant an Artificial Intelligence, designed to assist Aura Guardian Naruto Uzumaki in his travels. I can provide a National Pokedex, Official Identification, access to Global Maps and local regional databases, emergency contact with nearby Police Stations and Pokemon Centers, and a variety of other features."

'Well damn, that's useful, Mom really pulled out all the stops for this didn't she?' Naruto thought completely ignoring the incredulous looks coming from the girl beside him. 'Well that's enough for now,' he thought, slipping the device into one of his many pockets and hooking Grace's Pokeball onto the Pokeball Belt he was wearing. He turned to the girl beside him who was still watching silently.

"So what's your name? My name's Naruto Uzumaki," he said, suddenly feeling very rude by spending the last ten minutes ignoring her to play with his new Pokedex.

"Leaf Green," she replied still a bit nervous sitting here in the lab. "I came here to get my starter Pokemon and my Trainer License but I came a bit too early and have to wait for the other three Trainers."

"Oh, really? What starter do you want? I'm gonna be relaxing here for a while anyway before I head out toward Pewter so you want me to wait here with you? Better than sitting in silence right?" Naruto said, happy he was finally getting her to talk a bit.

"I was wanting a Bulbasaur but I'm not sure if I'm going to get one, there are only three starters but four Trainers are choosing today. I like Grass Pokemon so I was worrying all night about it, and yes I'd like it if you'd stay until I leave. I feel like I've been waiting for hours already." She said once again back into her nervous tone.

He smiled at her reassuringly, "I'm sure you don't need to worry. Considering how much the Professor does this, I'm sure he has a spare set of starters just in case more than three people show up, or two people want the same starter." Naruto said, their conversation cut off by a loud crashing noise. They both looked over to see a suddenly sweating Professor picking up a large stack of books he had dropped.

Leaf didn't seem to make the connection but Naruto definitely did. 'Dammit old man you didn't prepare more did you?!' Naruto thought mildly annoyed, he was well aware of how absent-minded Oak could be when it came to things like this, but still, he'd figure out a way to make it work. At least for his new friend.

Leaf seemed quite relieved at Naruto's words. "Of course the Professor has spares! For some reason, that thought didn't even cross my mind. Guess I was getting all worked up over nothing." She said as she slunk into her seat. This time they both ignored the loud crash and silent cursing being done by the Professor.

Finally after a few more minutes of waiting for the door opened revealing two of the missing Trainers, one was a short spiky brown-haired boy with a strut in his step and a cocky smirk on his face. Naruto immediately disliked this guy, there were VERY few things in life Naruto could say he hated and arrogance was up near the top of the list.

The other Trainer was more normal dressed in simple green trainer gear and a baseball cap, his gait was more determined. As the start of a Trainer's Journey should be. Naruto could tell this one was going far if he challenged the League. His eyes were locked on the left Pokeball in the machine, marked with a small flame sticker.

'Hmm, maybe this will be easier than I thought it would be,' he thought as he also noticed the bratty one staring at the water-drop sticker like it was his ticket to fame. 'Hopefully, the Fourth Trainer isn't looking forward to a Bulbasaur, I think Leaf is too nice to refuse if they asked for it,' The Professor noticed the Trainers lined up in front of the machine anxiously and headed over.

"Gramps! We are all here let's get going already! I've got loyal fans waiting for me!" The bratty one shouted his nose high in the air with his arms crossed in what Naruto could only guess was supposed to be a "dramatic pose."

"All right, we are one short but considering it's already ten minutes past time, we will just have to begin without them. Each of you are about to begin your own Pokemon Journeys so you each will be given a Pokedex, a set of standard Pokeballs, Potions, and finally your very own Pokemon!" He said dramatically loving the awestruck look on the kids' faces.

"Now be sure to take care of each of these items, especially your Pokedex! Your Dex can be used to identify Pokemon, yes, but that is its most basic feature. It is also used as a debit card, Identification, and most importantly your Trainer page! If lost, you will not be able to replace the data that it records, so any Non-League sanctioned battles will be wiped from your profile when and IF the Professor replaces your Dex. These stats may not seem important, but to Gym Leaders and Pokemon League Officials they basically describe your competence as a Trainer." He finished his speech and handed out the items to each one of the Trainers.

"Now all there is left is to choose a starter, we have three to choose from. On your left is Charmander a Fire-type, in the middle is Squirtle a Water-type, and on the right is Bulbasaur a Grass/Poison-type. One of you come forward and choose first," He said looking at the bratty one in particular.

Naruto, though, wasn't having it. Before the kid could step up he cleared his throat getting the attention of the room. "I think it's only fair that the fine lady here goes first don't you Professor?" He said with a small glare, daring the Professor to speak differently.

"O-Of course!" He said nervously knowing not to go against Naruto now that he had the girl's hopes up. "Now come forward and choose whichever you like Leaf," the Professor said gesturing to the Pokeballs.

"Oh, thank you! I choose Bulbasaur!" She said reaching for the Ball marked with a Leaf. She then spun around and showed it to Naruto, who smiled and gave her a small thumbs up. The bratty one seemed to be tired of waiting so he strutted forward and grabbed the Squirtle.

"Only the best Pokemon for the best Trainer! Too bad for you Ritchie but you'll just have to settle for the lizard." The Bratty One said with mocking laughter as he left the lab.

The newly named Ritchie however, didn't even seem to hear him as he seemed to be thinking hard about something. Once he realized it was his turn he grabbed the remaining Ball and released it.

"Charmander," a small orange lizard said as it scanned the room, locating the one who released it, the Charmander ran forward and latched onto Ritchie's leg. "Chaa," it said as it nuzzled into his leg and looked up at him. Ritche bent down to rub it's head when Oak spoke up.

"Well, he seems to like you, Ritchie! This Charmander is male and knows the moves Scratch, Growl, Ember, and Smokescreen. Are you planning on giving him a name?"

"How about Zippo!" Ritchie said, still rubbing the Charmander's head. Hearing a small "Chaa" in approval he let go and said his thanks to Professor Oak before racing outside, Zippo hot on his heels.

"Well they seemed to be in quite the hurry didn't they!" The professor exclaimed watching the boys run out, he turned to the two remaining. "Well, any plans before you start your Journey? I'm interested to see what you are going to be doing first, Naruto," he asked while rubbing his chin.

"I'm heading for the Gym Circuit! First stop in Pewter, so I'll need to head back to Viridian City and probably rest there for the night. I was in a rush on the way here so I think I'll take it slow and look for some team members along the way." Naruto replied with the Professor nodding thoughtfully.

"A solid plan, I wish you luck Naruto. How about you Leaf? Any lofty goals you are shooting towards?" Oak asked the young Trainer.

"Well, when I was younger I always wanted to be a member of the Elite Four. I admired Agatha, the Ghost Pokemon Trainer, and wanted to join myself. Since they each have type specialties, I wanted to be a Grass Pokemon Master. I have always loved Grass Pokemon especially since my Mother has a Weepinbell." She said a little shy about being put on the spot.

"Splendid! The Elite Four are all great Trainers, it is an excellent goal to work toward. You will have to work hard and take your training seriously if you want to make it." He said in a stern tone.

"Well, I wish you both the best of luck on your Journeys. You should probably get moving if you want to make it to Viridian before nightfall." He advised before disappearing back into the lab.

"Well, congratulations on becoming a Trainer, Leaf! I was wondering if you were planning on heading to Viridian today or if you were sticking around Pallet? If you are heading out then we should travel together! It'll be much more fun I promise!" Naruto said his excitement at finally starting his Journey getting the better of him.

"Thanks, Naruto, and I would love to travel with you. To be honest, I was worried sick about traveling on my own. I have experience with Pokemon thanks to my family, but I've never camped out or anything, so being alone would be kind of frightening." She said slightly blushing at the thought of being alone with Naruto for the foreseeable future.

"No worries I have plenty of experience just leave it all to me!" He said playfully flexing his arms and striking a pose. Naturally, this made her blush once again so she covered it up by turning and walking out of the lab, Naruto following after.

Naruto ended up walking straight into the back of a frozen Leaf when they exited the lab. Looking ahead he could see why she was stunned, there was a large crowd of at least 30 people standing outside practically worshipping the Bratty One. He saw signs and banners all wishing the Trainers well on their Pokemon Journeys.

'Well at least they have Town-Spirit, but why are they all fawning over the Brat?' His thoughts were broken by the sound of shrieking, looking past the crowd he saw a small group of... Cheerleaders?

"KYAAA Gary is the coolest!"

"Gary, Gary, He's our man if he can't do it no one can!"

Naruto suddenly was struck with an overwhelming feeling of dread. 'So THESE are those "Fan Girls" Mom spent hours warning me about,' Naruto thought with a shiver. 'Hopefully, I don't gain any on my Journey. I don't think I could live with that.'

When suddenly the crowd noticed Naruto and Leaf standing there, he did the only reasonable thing he could think of.

He grabbed Leafs hand and ran like a Bat-Out-of-Hell.

---

"AHH" Leaf was mercilessly dragged along with Naruto as the fled for the edge of Pallet Town. Once they made it up the hill Naruto had been at earlier, he let go of her hand and they both slumped down to rest.

"Haha, sorry about that Leaf," Naruto said rubbing the back of his head. "But I felt like we would be in some kind of danger if we stayed there any longer."

"Haaa, it's fine I know what you mean. That was just crazy, the Town is normally so peaceful! I'm not really sure what that was about." Leaf said thinking about what changed in the normally sleepy town.

"Well, this is a good time to get introduced! We should at least know a bit about each other if we are going to be together," Naruto said completely missing how his words could be misinterpreted.

Leaf blushed at the double-meaning but decided to ignore it. "Didn't we already introduce ourselves though? Unless you forgot my name already!" She said with a playful glare.

"Nah, that's not what I meant," he said with a light laugh. "I mean properly introduce ourselves, likes, dislikes, that kind of thing."

"Oh, okay, why don't you go first then since it's your idea."

Naruto took this moment to plop down in front of her, sitting cross-legged with his hands on his knees. "Alright, my name is Naruto Uzumaki it's nice to meetcha! I just turned sixteen today. I like to train and eat ramen, I love my Pokemon and my Mother, Kushina, I also love to tinker with Aura" Leaf made a mental note to ask about that as he continued. "I dislike arrogant people and people who look down on others. As for Pokemon, I like all types but I have the most experience with Fighting-types thanks to Grace and my family." He said rubbing Grace's Pokeball with his thumb. "My dream is to become the greatest Pokemon Master ever! I won't let anything stop me from achieving it, and my first step is the Indigo League!" He spoke of his dream with conviction, impressing Leaf with his determination.

"That's a great goal! My name is Leaf Green, and I just turned fifteen two weeks ago." She said noticing Naruto leaned in to focus on her words. "I like Strawberries, Chocolate, and Grass Pokemon. I dislike liars and people who break promises, and my dream is to become a Grass Pokemon Master and one day join the Elite Four!" She finished, appreciating the mega-watt smile Naruto gave her when she talked about her dream.

"That's great we can train our Pokemon together! Are you planning on entering the Indigo League? We can challenge the Gym Circuit together, that would be a ton of fun!" He said getting excited at the prospect of battling and training with her.

Smiling at his enthusiasm she thought about it for a bit, "I think I will register for the League, I'll have to win sometime if I ever want to challenge the Elite Four. It will probably be better if we go together then."

"Alright! Gym Leaders look out because we are coming for you!" Naruto said pumping a fist in the air. Leaf just giggled a bit at his energy.

"Oh yeah, you just got your starter. Why don't you let him out? We can get you introduced and you can scan him for his Move-Set." Naruto advised.

Leaf just blushed in embarrassment when she realized that she had yet to actually meet her Pokemon and reached for her belt. "Go Bulbasaur!" A small flash of red and white later, and a small green quadrupedal Pokemon appeared. Its skin was covered in dark spots and had a small bulb on it's back. Unsurprisingly, Leaf immediately started gushing over how cute it was. Scooping it up in a big hug, mindful of the bulb on its back, she spun around in a big circle with it, giggling all the while.

Naruto just sweatdropped at this, 'Guess she wasn't kidding when she said she loved grass pokemon.' Naruto decided to take this moment to release Grace. Another flash of light and Grace was standing there scanning the area.

"You took longer than you said, Master," She said in her normally soft voice. The unfamiliar voice caught both Leaf and her Bulbasaur's attention, they both were curious about this new figure.

"You have companions." Grace said looking at the two, "I see, so that was the reason for your delay?" She asked looking back at Naruto.

"Yeah, sorry Grace I wasn't expecting it to take so long. This is Leaf and her Bulbasaur, Leaf is taking on the League alongside us so you'll be seeing a lot of these two from now on." Naruto said gesturing to the still hugging duo.

"Greetings, my name is Grace and I am Master Naruto's Partner. I hope we can get along." Grace gave a small bow and smile at the young girl.

"Oh hi! My name is Leaf, forgive me for being rude but are you a Pokemon? I've never heard of a talking Pokemon before!" Leaf said while putting her Bulbasaur down with a final rub on the head.

"You are forgiven. I am a Lucario a Fighting/Steel type, Lucario are usually chosen to be the Partner for Aura Guardians, but are found in Sinnoh. It is no surprise you have never seen one before. As for why I can speak, I'm using Aura to stimulate my vocal cords to allow speech." She said before kneeling down and introducing herself to the Bulbasaur in PokeSpeech.

Leaf walked over beside Naruto "Aura? Aura Guardians? I'm sorry I don't think I've heard of all of this before." She said apologetically. Aura sounds familiar to Leaf but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Ah, it's fine we aren't very well known anymore. Aura Guardians use an energy called Aura in order to imitate Pokemon attacks, among other things. Originally, Aura Guardians traveled around the regions, doing good deeds and searching for apprentices as they traveled. Now we have a base in Rota, where we get sent missions from the Pokemon League and Rangers. These missions can be anything from protecting a known nest of Pokemon, to calming enraged or stampeding Pokemon. We aren't nearly as large as the Rangers, but thanks to our specialties we are much more effective individually. Whenever the Rangers find Pokemon too strong for them to handle alone, they request one of our Knights or Masters for assistance." Naruto explained

"You've probably heard the stories of Sir Aaron? He was a famous Aura Guardian and Hero thanks to his noble sacrifice at the Tree of Beginnings."

"Oh yeah! My Mother used to read me stories about him when I was young." She realized, "Does that mean you are some kind of superhero?" She asked since he had the same profession as Sir Aaron.

"Haha! I guess you could say that!" He said feeling proud of his Order. "Well, I'll explain more about Aura and stuff once we get moving. It's a lot of stuff to cover so for now, why don't you scan Bulbasaur?" He said already pulling out his own Pokedex to scan Grace.

Lucario the Aura Pokemon

Lucario, the Aura Pokémon, and the evolved form of Riolu. By sensing the Aura of its opponents, Lucario can read their thoughts and movements. Lucario is considered to be prideful and is extremely loyal to its Trainer. It also seems to have a natural sense of justice.

Note: The unusual coloration indicates that this Pokemon is Shiny.

This Lucario is Female and has the Ability Inner Focus and has activated its Hidden Ability Justified.

This Lucario knows the moves – Quick attack, Aura Sphere, Force Palm, Endure, Detect, Counter, Feint, Power-up Punch, Bone Rush, and Laser Focus.

While Naruto was praising Grace for being such a Badass, Leaf opened her own Pokedex and scanned Bulbasaur.

Bulbasaur.

It bears the seed of a plant on its back from birth. The seed slowly develops. Researchers are unsure whether to classify Bulbasaur as a plant or animal. Bulbasaur are extremely calm and very difficult to capture in the wild.

This Bulbasaur is Male and has the Ability Overgrow.

This Bulbasaur knows the moves – Tackle, Growl, Leech Seed, Vine Whip, and Sleep Powder.

Naruto whistled at that, "That's a nice starter Move-set, most only know three moves and Sleep Powder gives you a good amount of utility in early battles." Bulbasaur couldn't resist sticking his nose up at the praise, making both the trainers laugh.

"Thanks, Naruto, I'm eager for my first battle already! Grace has a much larger Move-set though, how'd you get your starter so strong?" Leaf asked.

"While I did get my License today I've been training with Grace at my home for quite a while now so we got a bit of a headstart." (1) Naruto explained.

Stretching his limbs, and glancing at the clock on his X-Transceiver he said "Well, I think we should get moving if we want to make any progress before lunch, it's just short of nine right now and I'd like to make it to Viridian a few hours before nightfall so I can get some training in with Grace."

"Okay! I'm ready to get moving!" She said cheerfully, "Are we going to keep our Pokemon out while we walk?"

"Yeah I think that'd be a good plan, Grace usually walks beside me everywhere. Plus your Bulbasaur is still young and could use the workout." Leaf agreed with him and decided to call over Bulbasaur so they could get moving.

They set off, heading down Route 1 towards Viridian City. While they walked Naruto and Leaf discussed the various jobs of Aura Guardians and some basic Aura concepts. If she was going to see him use it occasionally it was better that she understood what he was doing.

---

Timeskip ~12:30

A few hours later and they were searching for a place to settle down for lunch. Bulbasaur was already showing signs of fatigue, not use to long-distance travel since he spent his entire life on the Ranch. They were currently discussing the various Grass-types in the Kanto region, when a loud roar and a shrill scream interrupted them.

Before Leaf could even react, Naruto was on the move, Grace chasing him just as quickly. Speeding down the path and using his Aura to locate any life forces in the area. His worry doubled when he actually recognized one of the Auras. Channeling Aura into his legs he used a makeshift Agility to increase his speed.

"Grace there's a human and Pokemon ahead use Quick Attack and go on before me!" No sooner did he finish his statement did a silver blur flash past him and vanish into the treeline. Speeding up yet again he finally managed to break through the trees into a large clearing. Immediately he noticed a large lake on his left side, sticking it's massive head out was a fearsome Gyarados glaring down at a young girl that had fallen on her backside.

Before the Gyarados could prepare an attack it was struck in the jaw by a well-placed Quick Attack. Unfortunately, the Gyarados was a bit too large to stay down from one hit and responded by coating itself in a dark shroud and slamming its body back into the white Lucario.

Caught by the unexpected retaliation Grace was thrown back toward the lake, skipping on the water a few times before sinking below.

'That was Payback,' Naruto realized, snapping his attention back to the threat he saw the Gyarados focus its attention back on the girl. Summoning a sphere of yellow-orange energy in its mouth it charged up one of its signature moves Hyper Beam.

'Not gonna happen,' Naruto thought. Gathering his own Aura into a sphere, he launched it directly at the mouth of the Gyarados. The Aura Sphere flew faster than it could react and exploded directly in the mouth of the serpent. With a screech of pain, the Gyarados flinched back and fired its de-stabilized Hyper Beam harmlessly into the air.

Knowing that it would take more than that to take down an enraged Gyarados he prepared his Aura for his next move. Jumping in front of the girl, he crouched down and slammed his hands onto the ground. Saturating the air and ground in the area with his Aura, he quickly chose half a dozen locations around the bank and summoned his Adamantine Chains.

As soon as the Gyarados shook off the daze from the blast, it was covered by six Silver Chains. It screeched and Thrashed but couldn't shake off the restraints. Noticing it was about to be captured it let out another mighty roar, and prepared a last-ditch effort. Channeling energy into its tail it was about to fire off a deadly Twister.

Naruto just smirked at the effort, he had hit Grace himself a lot harder than that in training and knew she wouldn't go down so easily. Her pride would never allow herself to fall when Naruto was still standing. "Now Grace! Power-up Punch!" He shouted so she would hear him from under the water. Using her Aura to propel herself up she flew out from directly under the Gyarados and nailed a massive Upper-Cut directly under the beast's chin. Boosted by the Laser-Focus she had prepared while underwater, it did a significant amount of damage despite the type disadvantage. She got out from under it and moved to the side, standing on the water with her Aura.

The Gyarados, now annoyed by the Lucario switched targets and launched it's Twister at Grace instead. The attack moved to fast for her to dodge, hitting her hard and sending her flying back to shore slamming into a tree.

Seeing his Partner get blown away enraged Naruto. Grace was already in a bad matchup fighting a Flying-type, but taking a hit meant for him? This Gyarados is getting an Uzumaki styled beatdown!

Locking his chains in place with a final pulse of Aura, he channeled more into his entire body. Speeding up his reaction time and physical abilities, he rushed forward starting off with one of his favorite Fighting moves, Mach Punch, he slammed his fist in Serpent's chest creating a shockwave and causing it to keel over. Not letting up for a moment he unleashed his strongest move, Close Combat.

"U-" Naruto started, mixing a Sky-Uppercut in with the rain of blows and forcing the Gyarados' head to snap up.

"Zu-" Using a small burst of Flying-Aura to launch himself higher he landed another powerful blow on the Snake's body, practically forcing out of the water despite the Chains holding it down.

"Ma-" Another set of quick blows to the body kept the Gyarados airborne.

"Ki-" Gaining more height he let loose a series of powerful blows on the side of the beast's head

"Naruto Barrage!" He called out his finisher as he finally flipped overhead and let gravity boost his power as he unleashed a powerful Axe-Kick to the back of Gyarados' head, sending it crashing into the bank.

He landed on his feet and went straight back to his Chains. Once he deduced that the Gyarados was truly down, he added another set of Chains and tightened them to the ground. Satisfied that the Chains were tight enough to hold, he glanced over at Grace. Glad to see his friend was already back on her feet, albeit with a limp and clutching her arm. He was a bit worried about that, considering her side had taken the brunt of the Twister, but he had faith in his closest friend. Picking up on her Master's worry she sent a small reassurance through the Aura Bond.

Knowing she was okay for the time being he turned to the girl he had saved. Giving her a quick once-over with his Aura Sight, he was happy to see she didn't have any injuries besides being a bit shaken up.

Crouching down and offering his hand, "Are you okay?" He asked

The young girl before him was dressed in a dark-purple hoodie, with violet accents on the shoulders and black sleeves. The Hoodie she was wearing, while slightly baggy, did not hide her generous DD-cup bust. She wore tight dark blue jeans and a pair of black sneakers. Long beautiful dark-purple hair was done in a Princess-Cut and extends down past her waist, covered only by a light-violet Trainer Cap with a Pokemon Nurse Symbol emblazoned on it. Her eyes were a milky white, with a small shade of lavender, adding to her regal features.

When she finally looked up at her savior, her heart stopped. The form of her dashing hero, was a tall, whiskered blonde, worry evident in his bright blue eyes.

"Naruto?" She nearly whispered tears forming in her eyes.

"Hey, Hinata how've you been?" He said cheerfully hopefully trying to lighten the mood. She did just almost get Hyper Beamed after all.

"NARUTO!" She nearly shouted this time throwing his arms around his neck and held onto him like a lifeline.

Any protest he had died when he noticed her trembling, so he gently wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back and used his Aura to help settle her down. Hinata was an Empath, using her Aura, she could sense emotions of people and Pokemon. Normally, she can turn this ability on or off, obviously, she wouldn't want to feel the spectrum of emotions coming from the random passerby. But by 'Broadcasting' happy and calming emotions with his Aura he found he could calm her down whenever she got hurt or scared. It helped that he found out she was a cuddler when they were kids.

A few minutes passed as she got ahold of herself and basked in Naruto's arms and Aura. His Aura felt like sunshine to her and he somehow always smelled like Nature. Trees and grass with a small bit of earth mixed in.

Slightly separating, she wiped the tears that threatened to fall before they could. "Thank you Naruto, for saving me, it's good to see you again," Hinata whispered, still leaning her side into his chest. "I was just settling down for lunch when that Gyarados attacked me, I had taken off my Pokemon Belt while I was setting up a small camp and couldn't defend myself in time." She said looking down, her voice full of shame at her own faults.

"Hey now, don't start that," Naruto said in a stern but quiet voice, cupping her chin and forcing her to look at him. "It was no ones fault alright? Accidents happen to the best of us." Seeing her give a small nod, he glanced around the clearing. He saw some of her camping equipment set up in the open space but didn't see any other signs of people.

"Are you out here alone Hinata?" He asked gently still not moving away from her.

"Yes, I-" Finally noticing that she was still pressed-up against Naruto's chest, she squeaked and scrambled away from him. Blushing an impressive shade of red, she tried to get ahold of her heartbeat again.

"Hinata?!" Naruto said worried all over again. "Are you okay?!" He wasn't naive, he knew why she was blushing, but she had turned such a bright red so quickly that he was genuinely worried about her health.

"I-I'm fine, Naruto, just need to calm down," She said refusing to get any closer to him. Luckily for her, a distraction presented itself.

"Naruto!" Leaf shouted as she finally came running over.

---

Leaf's Perspective – A few Minutes Earlier

When she heard the screams Leaf was about to suggest that they check it out. Only to notice she was standing alone on the path and there was a small dust cloud where Naruto was standing a few moments before. Not wanting to behind, she called to Bulbasaur and ran after him, following his trail she chased after him as fast as she could run. Bulbasaur surprisingly keeping up with her despite his build and fatigue. A few minutes later and the tree line broke, exposing a clearing.

The next few minutes had to be the most surprising moments of her life. She watched in awe as Naruto took control of the situation. She had arrived just in time to see the Gyarados preparing some kind of Dark move.

She winced when she heard Grace take a blow from all the way over here. Seeing Grace skip across the lake made her widen her eyes. Worried for the Naruto and his Pokemon she was about to enter the battle with Bulbasaur, but something made her hesitate.

Naruto's face was calm and impassive despite his Partner taking a nasty Payback. His eyes flickered with irritation when the Gyarados charged an attack, but Naruto had instantly responded with a powerful Aura Sphere. She had recognized that attack from their discussion on the way here. She watched as Naruto heroically jumped in front of the fallen girl and signaled to his Partner. Grace re-entered the battle with a powerful move, unfortunately, Grace was ill-equipped to handle a Gyarados nevermind an enraged one. She saw Grace take yet another powerful blow and flew off to the side of the clearing. Worried for the Pokemon yet again, she was about to head over until she saw Grace shake it off and climb to her feet. 'Jeez, Grace just won't give up will she?' Leaf thought with a small smile.

BOOM

A thunderclap echoed throughout the clearing.

Her head snapped back to the battle as she saw something that would shake her to the core. Naruto had fury in his eyes and his right arm buried in the Serpent's gut. The Gyarados would have been forced back from such a powerful blow had it not been for the Chains forcing it down.

Just when she thought she'd be surprised enough for one day Naruto lets loose with a ferocious barrage of punches and kicks upon the Gyarados' face, stomach, chin, and every other soft spot he could reach. Finishing his deadly combo with a vicious kick to the end, she was finally snapped out of her stupor.

Being honest with herself, watching Naruto dive in and save the day by viciously Man-Handling one of the scariest and most fearsome Pokemon in the world definitely made her weak in the knees. Even if she wasn't the Damsel in Distress, after seeing everything he had done in such a short amount of time, she was sure he would do the same for her in a heartbeat.

She saw Naruto quickly search for Grace and let out a sigh of relief as he watched her limp over to him.

Leaf looked back over at Naruto and had a soft smile as he comforted the frightened girl. She gave them a few minutes alone, idly noticing Grace was doing the same despite her injuries. Once she saw the girl blushing up a storm and scrambling away, Leaf decided to come to her rescue.

Jogging over to them, she got their attention.

---

Naruto's Perspective

"Naruto!" Leaf shouted as she finally came running over.

"That was insane! Why would you do that?! How did you do that?! Are you okay?! Is she okay!?" Leaf babbled out every question under the sun as they all came down from the adrenaline.

Amused by her antics he decided to cut her off before she started hyperventilating. "Leaf!" He said in a stern tone getting the attention of both girls. "We're both fine, so calm down," He said with a light laugh. Naruto shot back to his feet and looked back at his Lucario.

"Grace! Are you okay? That last attack was nasty, let me take a look at that." Naruto said running over to his Partner.

"I am fine Master, I should have been ready for that attack, but I didn't see it was already charged until it was too late. It will not happen again." She berated herself, already dedicating herself for more training.

"Still Grace, come and sit down so I can fix you up, there is no reason to keep that injury out like that." He said almost forcing her to sit down on a stump so he could grab his Pokemon First-Aid kit out of his bag. Before he even got halfway there, Hinata spoke up.

"Ah- I can help you with that Naruto! Let me go grab my Pokeballs." Hinata said as she got up and ran over to the small campsite she had set up. Grabbing her belt she put it back on and grabbed one of the ones attached. Tossing it out she called, "Chansey, assist me!" A bright pink Pokemon appeared and looked around for the reason she was summoned.

'Right she was training as a Nurse, I had nearly forgotten.' Naruto thought to himself as he examined the familiar Chansey.

"Chansey, I need your help we have an injured Pokemon here!" Hinata said gesturing to Grace.

Chansey saw the injury and went to help, Hinata following behind. They both placed their hands just above the injured arm, Hinata using her healing Aura to Identify the wound and guide Chansey's Heal Pulse directly to it. Grace sighed in relief as she felt the Healers numb the wound and watched in fascination as her cuts visibly closed before her eyes. A few minutes passed as the two healers worked together to heal the damage done by the Twister.

"Alright, we are done for the most part. She ended up with a fracture in her arm and a large number of cuts and bruises, we were able to heal the fracture cleanly but there will still be some minor cuts and bruises we can't quite get so I'd recommend you use a potion as well." Hinata said fully in Nurse-Mode.

"Thanks a million, Hinata! You're so awesome when it comes to healing!" Naruto said as he sprayed a potion over all the visible cuts on Grace.

Hinata visibly blushed at his sincere praise. Admittedly, Naruto blew injuries out of proportion when it came to other people but she couldn't help but love it when he praised her. Naruto always wants to help people and while he can do that with his fists, as he just proved, he greatly admires people that can do it without violence, like healers.

Giving Grace one more check over for injuries he put the potions back into his bag and laid it next to the stump.

"Okay," he said with after taking a deep breath, he looked up at the two girls that were now sitting down, resting, "I'm going to go have a chat with the Gyarados," a small bit a venom seeping into his voice. "Why don't you two take this chance to get introduced? I'm sure you ladies will hit it off immediately." Hearing the two girls start chatting, he left them to it.

---

He walked over to the Gyarados, noticing it was significantly larger than he had originally thought. 'I guess it must be pretty strong then. It did know Payback, which is pretty unusual for a Gyarados especially a wild one.' he mused

Right when he had gotten to its head he saw the left eye slowly open and heard a low groan. He braced his Aura, ready to knock it out if need be, but when it looked at him he saw... Acceptance? That took a bit of his anger away. He decided to just do this the quick way and placed his hands on the Gyarados' Crest. Pushing a small amount of his Aura into the Gyarados he stopped it just on the cusp of the Beast's own. Forming a temporary bond to the Gyarados so he could speak mentally.

"What are you doing to me, Human?" A surprisingly feminine voice growled at him.

"Forging a Connection with my Aura so I may speak to you," He replied not at all intimidated. "I wanted to ask you, why did you attack this young woman? From what I gathered she did not do anything to anger you. Why are you so agitated?" He asked. When he was fighting he could feel the genuine anger directed at Hinata, so much that the Gyarados had ignored him and Grace during the fight until she was forced to respond.

"Done nothing!? You Humans have destroyed the bay that I called home! You came in with your machines and scared off every Pokemon that had lived freely there! Then Destroyed the Reefs and attacked the Pokemon that tried to defend themselves!" She shouted into his mind. He could feel her hatred clearly now, someone had destroyed her home. The feeling of sorrow and anger she was letting slip into his mind nearly made him throw up. He steeled his resolve and made a decision.

"I am an Aura Guardian, any proof you need should be provided by the Aura technique I am using and the Lucario behind me, I would gladly search for your family but I need more information. Did you get a look at them? Most Human criminal organizations have a symbol to identify themselves, is there anything you can remember?" He asked once he felt her calm down a bit.

She felt the truth of his words through the bond. Although he did not permanently complete the bond, it still allowed emotions to pass through both ways. She felt him grieve at her story and felt his Aura flow through her, signifying that he was indeed an Aura Guardian. Considering that a Lucario would only choose to fight for someone they believed was Just. She decided to put faith in this Human.

"I saw two figures inside the strange machine, a female with long Magenta hair, and another with Lavender. They wore matching clothes with a large R on the chest. The R was on the machine as well, is this the symbol you were referring to?" She responded after a moments thought.

Naruto felt his anger truly start boiling now. Team Rocket, Kanto's largest criminal organization and one that believes that Pokemon are weapons to be used for their own selfish gain. One of the Order's largest long-term goals is to take them down. He nearly growled at the thought of these petty thieves so close to Oak's Ranch. Yes, he would deal with this immediately.

"Team Rocket" He spit out, "Yeah, that's the symbol. This one belongs to Team Rocket. They are thieves that run widescale Pokemon Poaching all around Kanto, I'm sad to say that you are not the first to have their home destroyed by these criminals."

"Why do you allow these criminals to run free, Guardian? Isn't it your job to stop them?" She said, anger slowly seeping back into her voice. It died quickly, however, once she felt his sorrow at her words. She also felt anger on the edge of her senses, by another presence, directed at her.

"I am truly sorry Gyarados but I do not have the strength to fight them, nor the resources to find them." He said sadly, "There is hope, however, the Order of Aura Guardians is returning and we are slowly regaining the strength we had long ago. One of our goals is to deal with Poaching in the region, and we will slowly force Team Rocket to yield as we gain strength." He said with conviction.

He despised Team Rocket with all his heart, having several run-ins with them in the past. He understood the type of people that worked for the Organization. They all acted like they were Arceus' gift to man, doing something 'Noble' by stealing and hurting people. They never stooped to murder of any kind luckily, although that was likely just because of the kind of heat that would bring onto their efforts. Going from Poaching to Terrorism was a steep climb on the threat level.

"I have had a few encounters with Team Rocket myself, and I assure you I will stop any of their plots I come across. They have preyed on Kanto's Pokemon for far too long!"

"I will find these two as quickly as I can, I promise you, just please do not attack any more innocent Travelers. All Rocket members wear the uniform, with the large R pasted all over it. It should be easy to spot them." He said preparing to cut the link.

"Wait," She called out, "If you are truly going to fight Team Rocket, please allow me to assist you." His eyes widened at that. He wasn't expecting to capture this Gyarados, just teach it a lesson and be on his way. But if he did he would be adding a powerhouse to his team. On the other hand training Gyarados' is supposed to be extremely difficult due to their temperamental attitude, although this one seems surprisingly intelligent. He would have to worry about water though. While they didn't need it to breathe, they did need it to move so that would be a large obstacle when attempting to use Gyarados. Then again, Naruto's specialty was Adaptation.

He gained a wicked smile as a stray thought crossed his mind. Yes, that would be brilliant. It'd take a while but it would totally be worth it, if only to see people's faces. He had already made his decision but he had to ensure some things first.

"Are you certain? It could take a very long time to find these thieves, and they seem like simple Grunts, even if we take down Team Rocket itself we may never face these specifically." He warned.

"It matters little. While I would like to see these attackers put to Justice, Team Rocket is the true mastermind, as long as we fight Team Rocket I will happily join you." She said already set in her decision.

"I plan on challenging the Gyms and competing in Pokemon battles, some of these I will need your help with. Are you sure you want to join me, knowing I will not be completely focused on Team Rocket?" He warned again, fully testing the Gyarados' commitment.

"I am well aware of that. Not everything can be accomplished in a day, and my desires shouldn't keep you from your own." She replied again, not at all shaken by his doubts.

"But-"

"Master," A third voice interfered, "Stop trying to dissuade her, you are being too stubborn."

"Who is this?" The Gyarados asked curiously, to her credit she wasn't very startled by a third voice suddenly speaking into her mind.

He blinked when he realized he was the one being difficult. "Yes, you are right of course Grace." He said to his Partner,

"Gyarados we would love to have you on board!" He said happily this time. "My Partner Grace is the one who joined us in the Bond. Speaking of which, since you are joining us would you like to make the Bond permanent? It will allow us to speak like this regardless of contact, so you can talk to me or Grace whenever you need."

"Yes, I would like that."

"You remember how it felt when I first connected to you? I just need you to reach out in the same way with your Aura and grasp mine. Think of it like reaching out and taking my hand, but mentally." Naruto said. He felt the Bond slowly sink into place as their Aura's connected. This allowed her to connect to Grace as well, using Naruto as a bridge.

"Nice! It's complete now," He said taking his hand off of the crest. Looking at her, he remembered she was still covered in bruises, and bleeding slightly. "Oh, Arceus! I'm sorry! I forgot you're still wounded, you sounded so normal when we were talking it slipped my mind." He said rapidly waving his hands as he apologized. "My friend Hinata is a Nurse! She's uh - the one you tried to attack I'm afraid. She's really nice though! And she won't hurt you so will you please let her and her Chansey come and take a look at you? They are good people I promise!" Naruto said still speaking mentally.

"It should be fine, if you trust this Human then I will give them my faith as well." She said, idly appreciating the way he talked about Hinata and Chansey equally. "Before you go, you never told me your name."

"It's Naruto Uzumaki! And I totally shouted it at you when I was kicking your ass remember?" He said with a merry laugh. "What about you? Do you have a name?"

The female Gyarados just moaned after being reminded of that brutal combo, "Thank you Naruto and no, I do not have a name." After seeing Naruto's mega-watt smile and expecting eyes, she caved and added, "Although I would be happy if you gave me one"

"Awesome! I'll make sure its perfect for you! I'm gonna go get Hinata while I think about it. Why don't you get familiar with Grace?" He said already running off.

---

With the Girls

They had just gotten introduced with each other as they idly chatted and watched Naruo's face go through a myriad of emotions as he "talked" to the fallen Gyarados.

"Naruto seemed familiar with you. Are you friends?" Leaf asked, curious about the girl sitting next to her. She had seen what she guessed was Aura around Hinata's hands as Grace was being healed. Maybe they knew each other from the Order Naruto had told her about?

"Naruto and I have known each other since we were very young," Hinata started. "My father was killed when I was three and my mother had just given birth shortly before, so we became homeless quickly. We struggled to get by for a while before Mother was found by Master Kushina, Naruto's Mother, and brought in by the Order." Leaf widened her eyes at that, she lost a family member at such a young age? Damn.

"My Mother was a Herbalist but she had a strong Aura potential, once Master Kushina discovered this we were immediately taken in at Naruto's home and treated like family. I was mainly raised by my mother but I spent a lot of time with Master Kushina since my mother had to tend to my newborn sister and focus on her own Aura Training. Master Kushina had a child the same age as me so we were brought up as playmates. I wouldn't call us siblings because it has never really felt like that though, more like best friends." She said with a soft smile.

"When we turned ten we separated a bit, unfortunately. Naruto focused even more on his Aura training, while I joined the Adepts at the Order, studying Healing to become a Nurse. My Aura is naturally attuned as a Psychic-type so I was able to use Heal Pulse with relative ease. I did have to spend a large amount of time studying Pokemon anatomy though. Because of this, we grew apart a bit, only seeing each other briefly every few days. Naruto always stayed my closest friend though and whenever he got injured training, Kushina would take him to me to heal him."

Leaf couldn't help but smile at the girl's story, it seemed the two were very close. While she was a bit irritated this girl appeared out of nowhere and was already closer to Naruto that she was, it was hard to stay mad with a story like that.

After that they let the conversation bounce around to different topics, they noticed they actually did have quite a bit in common. They both loved sweets, flowers, reading, and Pokemon (And a certain whiskered blonde). Leaf also learned Hinata was also planning to become a member of the Elite Four. Although, Hinata brought up a good point when she said she didn't necessarily want to become a member of Kanto's Elite Four, no point in tying herself to this region when she was so young right?

Hinata answered a few of Leaf's questions about Aura, while Leaf answered her's about how she met Naruto. Time passed quickly and the girls found themselves to be friends fast.

---

Back with Naruto

"Hey, Hinata!" Naruto said running over, "I need you to uh – I mean could yo-" Naruto couldn't quite find the way to ask her. I mean how does one ask a young lady to go over and heal the gigantic serpent that just tried to mercilessly kill you?

Luckily though, Hinata was well aware of Naruto's plight. She sighed and stood up dusting off her jeans, "You want me to go heal Gyarados right?" She said bluntly, laughing for a bit at Naruto's mind blown expression. "Naruto, sweetie, we have been friends for over a decade now. I'm well aware of your habit of making friends with everything you beat up." She said playfully. Leaf, however, was confused.

"Wait, what!? You're friends with that Gyarados now? How does that work?" Before Naruto could respond Hinata just let out another exasperated sigh.

"No-one has been able to figure that one out yet, considering Kushina has this strange ability as well. We all just assumed it to be an Uzumaki Thing. Naruto has been making friends with literally everything he has picked a fight with over the years, minus the criminals of course." She said with a small giggle. While she did like to tease him about it, she really admired that trait in Naruto. I mean, how many people can beat down an enraged Gyarados and come out talking with it like you'd been friends for years?

Naruto just blushed and rubbed the back of his head, not really sure what to say about that. While Hinata called over Chansey and fearlessly marched over to the Gyarados. Entering her Nurse-Mode she started scolding the Gyarados for being reckless while she scanned the wounds with her Aura. Seemingly forgetting Gyarados got those wounds by trying to attack Hinata in the first place.

Leaf just glanced between the Nurse and the blonde that beatdown a Gyarados with his bare hands. 'Are all Aura Guardians so weird?' She idly thought to herself. Oh well, beats being normal.

Naruto had finally decided on a name, leaving Leaf to her thoughts he ran back over to Gyarados, only to stop and sweatdrop at what he saw.

Gyarados was holding her mouth open, looking at Naruto with exasperation.

Hinata however, was sticking the top half of her body inside the Gyarados mouth healing the burn marks from Naruto's Aura Sphere.

"She's either far too trusting or insane," He heard a soft voice in his head. Naruto could only dumbly nod at that, he was bit occupied staring at Hinata. Who happened to be sticking out her ass, that she was inadvertently thrusting out in his direction. As she wiggled it back and forth trying to reach further in, the only coherent thought he could form was 'When did Hinata start wearing such tight jeans?!'

He hadn't quite noticed until now, but the ones she had on looked as if they were painted on her legs. Considering Hinata was one of the more well-endowed girls he knew, that combination made for quite a dangerous sight.

When growing up with Hinata she took to wearing baggy clothes and didn't really do much "Girly stuff" she took to stealing Naruto's hoodies and sweatpants often, and sometimes wore them more than he did. Although that may have something to do with being raised by the Tom-Boyish Kushina. She filled out before he noticed, and one eventful day at the Order's infirmary he got a good luck at her in her Nurse's Uniform. That was the day he truly noticed Hinata was a woman. A woman only one cup size short of his mother in fact.

Now seeing his closest friend's bubble butt waving at him, he had to tap into a bit of his training to restrain himself from attacking her right then and there. Didn't stop him from admiring the view though. He was a hot-blooded young man after all.

"Alright I'm done," He heard Hinata call out, silently taking a moment to burn the image into his mind, he walked around to the side of Gyarados to save her the embarrassment.

"I think I've got a good name for you Gyarados," He said aloud mainly to let Hinata know he was there. Taking Gyarados's curious look as encouragement to continue. "How about Scylla?" He asked.

"Hmm, a Sea Monster?" She thought aloud in the bond.

"You know what it means?" He looked at her incredulously. How the hell did a Gyarados learn about Scylla and Charybdis?

"Of course you'd be surprised how many Human stories find their way into Pokemon Culture." She said casually.

Ignoring the potentially World-Changing news, he focused on the name. "So? Do you like it? Personally, Scylla is one of my favorite stories and, while I don't think of you as a monster, I do think it fits the public view of Gyarados."

"Very well, Scylla it is then," She said, oddly happy at being named by her Trainer. She did have to agree with the public view though, most other Gyarados she had met were extremely aggressive and temperamental. Simple Barbarians.

"I think it is quite nice," Hinata said, joining them after finishing her checkup on the newly named Scylla.

"Are you feeling better now Scylla?" She asked patting the Gyarados on her crest.

Scylla let out a small mewl and nudged Hinata with her head. "Hey now, it's okay! It wasn't your fault, everyone is fine so no harm was done." She said having already forgiven Scylla the moment she saw Naruto walk over with a nervous smile on his face.

Smiling softly at the scene, Naruto clapped his hands "Well that was fun, but Leaf and I were looking for a place to sit down to eat lunch before this all happened. Would you mind if we joined you for lunch Hinata?" He laughed lightly when she turned to him with an excited twinkle in her eyes,

"Can I cook?"

---

Half an hour later and we find Trainers and pokemon all surrounding a picnic table covered in a vast feast. Dozens of different courses and types of food lay assorted in front of them. Hinata was bouncing in her seat happily, sending some suggestive imagery to Naruto, as she waited for them to taste their food. Naruto and Leaf, however, were skeptical.

"U-Uh N-Naruto?"

"Yeah, Leaf?"

"Where'd she get all of this food?"

"Hmmm, you know I can't remember"

It was true, one minute Naruto was laughing at Hinata's face as she thought about what she was going to cook. The next he was sitting at the table next to a trembling Leaf. The past thirty minutes were a blur as they vaguely remember flying up and down the forest grabbing anything edible in sight and then emptying the contents of Naruto's magic Backpack.

Now that he thought about it where'd she get this table? And these plates? For some reason every time he tried to force the memories back, he just let out a shiver and they slipped away again. 'Hmm, must be a woman thing' Naruto thought to himself as he finally shrugged off the feeling of demise lingering on him. It all looked fine, but that was what made him so nervous. Well, food was food, right?

Hardening his Uzumaki resolve he grabbed his eating utensils and reached for the nearest full plate. Sensing the eyes of everyone on him he decided to take one for the team. If the Fearless Leader won't bite the bullet who will? Before he gave himself a moment to change his mind he took a quick mouthful of food.

His world exploded.

"I-I-It I-I-Is... DELICIOUS!" He nearly screamed with tears flowing down his cheeks.

'She's a saint! An Angel! No! A Goddess!' Naruto thought to himself as he dug into the greatest food he had ever tasted. Besides his Mother's Ramen, of course, nothing beats Mom's Ramen Recipe.

"Here Naruto I made some Ramen too,"

'Marry me.' He didn't dare say it out loud in fear of actually shutting down Hinata's mind. No one could really tell if that hungry look Naruto was sending was aimed at Hinata or the bowl she was holding.

Seeing that the food was safe the Pokemon all started slowly eating. Even Gyarados had a Snorlax-sized bowl. Seriously where the hell did she get that? The Pokemon seemed to all enjoy her food as well it seems, judging by the fact that some were actually eating faster than Naruto was inhaling that Ramen.

Leaf deemed the food safe, after watching Naruto react so positively she tried some herself.

"Wow, this is good!" She said it genuinely surprised but Hinata didn't seem to notice.

"Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it! I actually learned how to cook so I could make Naruto Ramen." She said with a happy laugh, still over the moon from her Naruto's compliments.

That surprised him he had a feeling Hinata had a crush on him the last few years but to hear she learned cooking for him? Damn, it must have been a lot longer than he thought. He should probably do something about that soon. Leaf seemed to show some subtle signs too, that was either going to be interesting or horribly depressing.

Jokes aside, it was time to address the Donphan in the room.

"Hey, Hinata?"

"Yes, Naruto?"

"Where'd you get a Sneasel?" The thing had been staring at him from across the table for quite a while now. Considering it is found in just about every region EXCEPT Kanto, it seemed quite odd for one to be here.

"One of the Knights found a small group of them at the base of Mt Silver, it seems they migrated to Kanto somehow. This little guy was injured by a group of Poachers and wandered away from the mountain. He captured it to put it in stasis and brought it to the Infirmary at HQ. I was the one tending to him while he recovered and he seemed to like me so the Knight just gave me his Ball and left." She explained

"Hmm, well that's interesting. It's nice that Kanto is getting more variety, but how the hell did Poachers get into Mt Silver? That's one of the most guarded places in Kanto, not to mention the crazy strong wild pokemon there." Naruto wondered aloud.

"No-one knows, unfortunately, but I heard they were doubling the security there."

Not very surprising. Mt Silver was one of the largest Pokemon Reserves in the world and with rumors flying around that some super-rare legendary lives there, it's a Poacher's Dream.

Another question flew into Naruto's head as they finished eating.

"You know Hinata, you didn't answer me earlier. What exactly are you doing here? Alone? I know you're strong enough to defend yourself and everything, especially on Route 1. But I thought you were still Training under Mom. She's not really the type to let you go out on your own like that while you're still studying."

"Oh well I finally passed my exams, you're looking at an Offical League Registered Pokemon Nurse." She said with a bit of pride in her voice. Naruto smiled widely at that, that had been her goal for the last 6 or 7 years at least and she worked just as hard as he had for his Aura. "Kushina decided that I was ready for my Partner as well! I was given a Female Togepi," She said just now noticing the bowl on her left was still untouched.

"Togepi?" She said looking around, not seeing her baby Pokemon anywhere she started to panic. Before she started to freak out, however, she remembered it was her Partner. They always knew each other's locations, reaching out with her Aura she located Togepi's... behind her? She spun around just in time to see an amused Grace walking out of the treeline, a small egg Pokemon riding on her head.

"There is no need to worry Mistress, I noticed the little one run off and decided to keep watch on her while you caught up," Grace said pulling Togepi off her head and handing her back to Hinata, Grace joined her master on his side of the table.

"Ahhh, thank you, Grace I can't believe how quickly she slipped out of my sight, I really hope that doesn't become a habit," Hinata said. Placing Togepi in her lap and the bowl in front of her, Hinata kept a close eye on Togepi while she ate.

"Well anyway, once I got Togepi, Kushina got an emergency report from the Pokecenter in Viridian city, it seems strange things have been happening on Route 1 recently. Trainers came bringing in wounded Pokemon in droves, the most serious injuries being Poison. Joy seemed to believe there was an aggressive Poison-type on the loose in the forests and she sent a request for us to check it out. Kushina thought this would be a good first mission for me since I just became a Nurse myself. And considering its Route 1, I decided to come alone. So here I am," Hinata explained.

'Hmm, a Poison-type going rampant well that's exciting at least,' Naruto thought. If it was strong maybe he'd catch it, Poison could add some good variety to his team. If Hinata didn't want it of course. Although, if it was a Bellsprout or Oddish, Leaf could make good use of it as well.

"Are you planning on catching it?" He decided to ask, no point in worrying about it if Hinata wants it.

"Not really, while I don't have any problems with Poison-types, it seems kind of redundant for a Nurse to carry a Poison-type on her team doesn't it?"

Naruto just nodded at that, "I'd be happy to help you with this mission if you wanted Hinata. You don't have a problem with that do you Leaf? The majority of Poison-types in this area are Grass/Poison types so you could potentially get a new member of your team from this, I don't think Nurse Joy would mind if you kept the Pokemon after we deal with it."

"Of course we can help! To be honest, I don't really want Hinata to leave yet, we just started getting to know each other," Leaf said with a small pout.

"Oh thank you, guys! I would love the help, I'm not very good at tracking and I didn't think about it before I left. Guess I came a little underprepared, huh?"

Naruto just laughed it off with a small wave, "No way! It's tradition to forget something on your first mission, that's why the Masters never suggest you bring anything. And don't worry about a thing Grace is a Badass and will have this Pokemon found in no time," He said dropping more praise on his Partner.

"Of course Master, I will start scanning the area immediately," Grace took a moment to calm her breathing, steadying herself as she prepared her tracking combination. The four appendages on the pack of her head flared to life and her body was covered in a silver sheen. She disappeared right before their eyes, vanishing into the tree line before they could blink.

"Well, while she's doing that why don't we kill some time?" Naruto suggested with a grin.

Both girls just looked at him curiously about what he had planned. Leaf asked, "How do you want to do that?"

Naruto's grin turned absolutely savage. 'Oh no,' Hinata thought already knowing that look, the one he got when he had a target he wanted to fight.

"Hey Hinata," Naruto started.

'Shit.'

"Has you're Togepi had any battle experience yet?" Naruto innocently asked.

Now that confused her, he couldn't really want to fight a baby Fairy-type, could he? "No I haven't found a good battle partner for her yet, she is still young so I didn't want to push her too far."

"Well, Leaf just got her Bulbasaur a few hours ago and hasn't gotten any battles with it either. I figured you two could have a battle to get them both started right?" Naruto said still grinning like a loon.

'Well that seems innocent enough, why does he still have that smile though?' Little did Hinata know, she wasn't the Target.

Hinata agreed easily enough after seeing Leaf and Bulbasaur getting pumped up. And before you know it they are standing in the middle of the clearing directly opposite each other.

Naruto decided to help Leaf through this if she needed it, so he was standing beside her.

He was slightly worried about Leaf's first battle being against Hinata but decided to trust the Nurse enough to hold back in this. Togepi wasn't really a big threat at such a young age, the only attack it can really learn being Metronome. It had the potential to be devastating, but it all boiled down to luck.

Metronome was one of the most unreliable moves a Pokemon could learn. Usually, it was only used by young Fairy-types that didn't have access to any other attacks. Metronome works by taking a random move from almost any Pokemon move there is. It could be anything from a simple growl, to a Draco Meteor. It was always quite amusing to watch a small fairy-type using some of the most powerful Pokemon moves, not to mention extremely surprising to their opponents. The sheer amount of unpredictability made it one of Naruto's favorite moves, even if none of his Pokemon could learn it.

While the potential of the move is great, most Pokemon Trainers find it to be a rather bad choice in battle. Partly due to a large amount of Status Moves, the odds of getting an attack that was both powerful and effective against your opponent was extremely low. Not to mention the problem that arises when a baby Pokemon uses an ability far above their capabilities, while a baby using Flamethrower would still be more powerful than using Ember, the baby simply couldn't use the ability's full power.

Togepi firing a Hyper Beam was pretty much nothing compared to a full grown Pokemon, she could fire a hundred in a row and still do less damage than Scylla's.

Regardless, the match between Bulbasaur and Togepi will be amusing to watch at least. It was always cute watching baby Pokemon fight.

Although Naruto was much more excited to see how Leaf would react to Hinata's little personality quirk.

'That promises to be entertaining at least,' Naruto thought to himself as he watched Leaf give a small speech to pump up her Bulbasaur.

---

Leaf's Perspective

This was it.

Her first battle.

While she had imagined it to be against something a lot more fearsome than a baby Togepi, it was probably for the best.

She didn't want her precious Bulbasaur to get hurt because she was new to this after all.

"Alright, Bulbasaur this is going to be our first battle together! Let's make sure we do our best and start off our Journey with a victory!" Leaf said to the already excited Bulbasaur.

"Our first opponent is going to be a Togepi, she is young but don't let that fool you. Hinata is a great Trainer from what I've seen and I'm sure she already has some tricks prepared for us. This is going to be my first battle as a Trainer, but I'm sure if we work together we can do this!" Leaf said dramatically pumping her fist into the air.

"Bulba!" He agreed, bouncing on the spot, ready to get to the action.

"But before that," Naruto cut in amused, "you should probably scan Togepi with your Pokedex. Knowing your opponent is half the battle you know."

Leaf pouted a bit at Naruto taking the wind out of her sails. She was just getting into it! But she saw the logic in his advice so decided to listen to her friend.

Pulling out her dark green Pokedex she pointed it at the Togepi who was patiently waiting on the side of the field.

Togepi the Spike Ball Pokemon

As its energy, Togepi uses the positive emotions of compassion and pleasure exuded by people and Pokémon. This Pokémon stores up feelings of happiness inside its shell, then shares them with others. A proverb claims that happiness will come to anyone who can make a sleeping Togepi stand up.

"Well that sounds pleasant," Leaf said smiling at the cute Pokemon. "But it didn't give me any information besides some background. Wasn't the Pokedex supposed to tell me its Type and Move-set?"

Naruto just laughed "Nah, it only does that with Pokemon registered to you, the Pokeballs given to you by Professor Oak automatically do that to any Pokemon you catch. If the Pokedex gave information about Move-sets and Typing, Trainers with a Pokedex would have a huge advantage over people in tournaments. You can find out its type by searching for it in the Index, but I'll spare you the trouble,"

Leaf was a bit confused by that, didn't every Trainer get a Pokedex? How did that give her an advantage? She listened in as he continued.

"Togepi is a Fairy-type, it was recently discovered so you probably haven't heard about them yet. They are strong against dark and fighting types, but mainly against Dragon types. They are completely immune to any Dragon-type Ability making them even more feared than Ice-types to Dragon Tamers."

'What the hell?!' Leaf's eyes bugged out, 'That little guy is some kind of Dragon Slayer?' Man, Pokemon really can be deceiving.

"They are weak against Poison and Steel, and their abilities usually focus around Stat Changing. They raise their own attack and defense, while lowering their enemies', most of their moves have Stat Changes mixed in with them, even the attacks." Naruto continued his little lecture, "Togepi however, doesn't learn many Fairy-Type abilities so you don't have to worry too much about that. And since you don't seem to know much about Togepi, I'll let you know a bit about her. Togepi usually only has Metronome as an attacking move until it Evolves. I wouldn't underestimate it though, Metronome is all it needs to win a fight," He finished ominously.

Leaf was beginning to doubt herself now. Maybe the Togepi wouldn't be an easy win after all. She was curious about Metronome though, Naruto seemed to get a knowing smirk on his face when he talked about it.

"So what does Metronome do exactly?" Leaf questioned.

"Nope! Not telling! It's your first battle and you already went in unprepared, it's up to you to dig yourself out of this hole you made now." Naruto laughed.

'Gee, that gives me a whole lot of confidence thanks,' Leaf just sweatdropped at Naruto's change from the helpful mentor to the joking prankster, content to watch with a smile as she crashed and burned.

"Alright, this is going to be a one-on-one battle. Since this is just a mock-battle, victory will be decided whenever one Pokemon Faints or I interfere." Naruto said as he deemed himself the referee. "Are both Trainers ready?" Seeing them both nod he started the match and ran back over to Leaf's side.

"Togepi, use Charm," an unusually stern voice called out before Leaf could make a move.

Togepi eyes grew large and started to water up, barely keeping the tears at bay.

Bulbasaur's energy for his first battle immediately disappeared. He shifted nervously, unsure of what to do with the baby Pokemon now that it was about to cry.

He didn't have to wait long before another command was given.

"Metronome, Togepi," Hinata's frigid tone shocked both Pokemon and Trainer, and they were unable to react before Bulbasaur was crashed into by a surprise Quick Attack.

Leaf felt bad for letting Bulbasaur get hit so easily, but she took a moment to examine her opponent. What she saw shocked her to the core.

Gone was the happy young Nurse she had become friends with so quickly, in its place was a cold taskmaster. Her stance had changed drastically, her normal cheerful posture was now straightened and confident. Her once gentle eyes, were now impassive and distant as she carefully watched her opponent.

'What just happened? She's a completely different person!' Leaf was bewildered by this sudden change in Hinata, she assumed the kind nature of her friend would make it difficult for Hinata to battle. Instead, she seemed to change her personality entirely.

And wasn't that Quick Attack? She heard Hinata call Metronome, and Naruto said Togepi couldn't learn any other attacks yet so what happened?

Leaf shook her head and cleared her thoughts. She'd worry about that later, for now, she needs to focus on the battle.

"Bulbasaur use Vine Whip!" She called, snapping Bulbasaur out of his daze. Two Vines burst out and slammed into the Togepi, who was still to close to dodge, and sent her reeling back to Hinata's side of the field.

"Metronome, again Togepi," Hinata called out, undeterred by the Grass Pokemon's attack.

Leaf watched closely this time, as Togepi prepared her attack. She saw the Baby Pokemon wave its arms back and forth as they started to glow. Then without warning, Togepi stopped and fired a torrent of small fireballs from its mouth. An Ember attack.

"Dodge Bulbasaur!" Leaf cried, she wasn't sure what just happened but fire was bad news for any Grass-type.

Ready for the attack this time, Bulbasaur jumped to the left quickly. A small number of stray fireballs hit their mark, peppering his side and bulb. Flinching at the stinging sensation the fire move, Bulbasaur regained his footing and waiting for his Trainer's command.

"Use Sleep Powder!" Leaf commanded, she had already got a basic combination prepared for her starting battles and wanted to give it a try.

Suddenly, the bulb of the Grass Pokemon shot out a thick cloud of light blue powder, covering the Battlezone entirely. Her opponent's Pokemon had no choice but to be covered in it, the powder already doing its work. Togepi stumbled for a bit, before falling down on her egg-shell and sleeping.

Leaf was happy her Status Move worked and started her combo. "Use Leech Seed while Togepi is immobile,"

Leaf's Pokemon shot a pair of small seeds from its bulb to the ground around the Togepi's body. Small, thin, vines emerged from the ground and wrapped around the shell of the Togepi and started leeching life back to the Bulbasaur.

Leaf smiled, it was working good so far, "Now! Use Vine Whip before it wakes up!" Leaf declared the next step.

Bulbasaur kept his momentum and lashed out with his signature move, slender vines shooting out from the sides of his bulb and whipping the defenseless Togepi across the face.

Hinata, meanwhile, didn't look bothered by the strategy and called out to her still sleeping Pokemon. "Togepi wakeup and use Metronome," She commanded, and sure enough, hearing the voice of her Partner the Togepi's eyes shot open and she started her Metronome dance once more.

'Damn really? That Sleep Powder wore off instantly!' Leaf inwardly groaned, she was planning on getting more damage in with another Vine Whip before the Togepi woke up. Now she had to worry about whatever Metronome did, yet again.

Finishing her small dance Togepi prepared her attack, and launched a battle cry.

"To-ge-Piiii!" The small Pokemon cried as it opened its mouth and launched a powerful gale of ice-cold wind and snowballs. The attack, surprisingly large for such a small pokemon, tore across the field and slammed into the shell-shocked Bulbasaur. A Blizzard attack combined with the type advantage did massive damage to the Bulbasaur.

"What the hell?!" Naruto and Leaf yelled in unison. Naruto couldn't believe Hinata had gotten three attacks off in a row, two of which were super-effective.

Leaf's heart sunk at the unknown Ice attack, striking her Bulbasaur hard. She still couldn't figure out how Metronome worked and it was frustrating to fight against. She had no idea how this little pokemon had such a variety of strong attack moves. Leaf could hardly do anything without Hinata responding even stronger. But the realization that she just likely lost her first battle, crushed her.

Everyone watched as the snowstorm passed, and revealed Bulbasaur sprawled out on the ground with swirls in his eyes.

She fell to her knees beside her Pokemon, tears forming in her eyes as she saw the burns and frozen patches of skin. She gently pulled it into her lap and laid her had on his head. "I'm sorry Bulbasaur," She whispered knowing he was unconscious. She had expected her first battle to be much more exciting than this, but she was met with an unfamiliar Pokemon and unfamiliar moves. Hinata had remained in control the entire time and defeated her soundly.

'And now Bulbasaur is the one paying for it,' She thought bitterly, upset at herself for letting her starter down.

---

Back with Naruto

Naruto was pleased with the outcome of the battle, he knew Hinata was intentionally avoiding using Status Moves. Baby Togepi's usually had Sweet Kiss and/or Yawn, but she didn't use either. Status Moves like that would just end the battle before Leaf even got a chance to move. There were ways to fight against them of course, but Leaf was a Rookie and didn't have much teamwork with her Bulbasaur yet.

Still, he was happy that she did well. Honestly, using the small set of moves she had to create a strategy like that, even if it was a basic one, was impressive. It showed more thought than most Rookie's had. Hell, it showed a lot more thought than he had in his first battle.

He was fully expecting her to win when she had landed that leech seed. It was just a bit of bad luck that caused her sudden loss. Even if Togepi was young, a Blizzard attack on a Grass/Poison still did enough to secure the victory. As the first battle for both Pokemon, they fought well.

Naruto broke himself out of his thoughts as he saw Leaf slink down beside her Bulbasaur. It was always rough seeing your Pokemon go down, especially the first time. Bulbasaur fought well, if you look past the initial surprise, despite an unknown opponent. Naruto hated seeing Leaf so distraught so he waved over Chansey for Bulbasaur and planned to cheer her up himself.

Leaf allowed the Chansey to silently pick up the Bulbasaur and bring him over to Hinata, who was already tending to Togepi. She sat there going over the battle again in her mind distressing over the simple mistakes she made. She gave Togepi a free hit as soon as the battle started and kept slipping up all the way through. While she was lost in her minor pity-party, she didn't notice Naruto sneak up behind her.

Sitting down beside her, Naruto grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into his lap.

"Eeep!" Leaf let out a cute noise and she was forcefully plopped down in her friend's lap. Once she realized that her back was resting against his broad chest and she felt strong arms wrapping around her waist, she instantly turned beet red. "N-N-Naruto! W-W-What are you d-doing?!" She exclaimed squirming in his lap.

Naruto just ignored her question and rested his chin on her shoulder, nuzzling his face into her hair. "Hmmm? You say something?" He said as he rubbed his whiskers against her cheek.

"N-Naruto S-Stop it" Leaf weakly protested, her voice not carrying any real strength behind it. She melted into his arms slowly when she heard a small purring coming from his throat.

"Hmm?" He asked again rubbing small circles on her stomach with one of his hands, "You want me to stop? Are you sure?" He drawled out in a lazy voice, idly appreciating how her body felt pressed-up to his and the warmth her small frame provided.

'She smells like Strawberries,' He mused, enjoying the scent of her hair. He was originally planning to tease her lightly just to snap her out of her depression, but now that he started he found himself not wanting to stop. 'I'm sure it'll be fine if we just stay here for a bit.' He felt her slowly ease into his embrace and they both snuggled closer together.

"Nooo," She shivered at the feeling of his hands stroking her stomach, and his breath against her neck, and shook a bit in his lap. She felt something hard poking her butt and blushed when she thought about what it was. Normally she would have yelled at him for being a pervert but for some reason, she felt happy she forced such a reaction out of him. She had only known him for a few hours and she was already falling hard for him.

"You did well you know?" Naruto whispered as he leaned around to look at her face, noticing she had her eyes closed as she leaned into his shoulder.

"But I lost," She replied immediately an once of sadness still in her voice. "If I had taken it seriously from the start, Bulbasaur wouldn't have gotten so hurt."

"It's good you made such a simple mistake now, rather than having it happen in a Gym battle or something important. Just make sure it never happens again, and next time Bulbasaur will win," He advised, and he wasn't just saying that. If they came across any Trainers wanting to battle on Route 1 Leaf would probably destroy them with Bulbasaur.

Leaf still wasn't convinced though, "But I still let Bulbasaur get hit by that Ice attack! If I had just-"

Naruto gave a gentle squeeze to shut her up, "How do you think my first battle went?" He asked suddenly,

"I don't know," She said quietly, she had assumed Grace usually won her battles considering how strong she looked.

Naruto hummed a bit as he recalled his first attempt at being a Trainer. "Well, I was ten years old and had just received my Partner Grace as a Riolu, the pre-evolved version of Lucario. I trained with her for about a week getting to know her and studying her moves when my Mom approached me about battling. One of the Knights had recently caught a Pidgey and Mom asked them to battle me so I could get some experience." He started. Naturally, the Knight agreed because you simply don't refuse Kushina Uzumaki when she asks for something.

"I was a bit arrogant at the time, to be honest, I thought since I finally had my own Riolu, that I was going to be unstoppable. The battle sobered me up quickly though, the Pidgey only used pecks and quick attacks defeated me flawlessly. My Mother had set it up to try and get me to think about my battles, so she intentionally asked the Knight to only use Contact Moves. I didn't notice at the time, I was too frustrated trying to hit the flying Pokemon with Aura Spheres and Grace's own quick attack. Mom had done it to get me to see that if I just stopped and thought about it, one quick Endure and Counter would shift the entire battle in my favor. I lost though, and spent the next few weeks practicing with Grace before I went back to my Aura Training." He finished with a self-deprecating smile.

"I wasn't kidding when I said you did good Leaf. You used strategy to trap your opponent and worked well with your starter despite the short amount of contact you have had with it. If you expand your Bulbasaur's Move-Set and practice that strategy you showed today you'll go far I assure you of that." He said with another soft hug and a quick peck on the cheek.

Leaf flushed once more but thought about what he said. She hadn't thought about other people starting with the same problems as her before, and she realized now that even the strongest Trainers like Agatha had to start somewhere.

She loved that Naruto was treating her so sweetly, despite her foul mood and was pleased with the physical contact she was sharing with him. 'I think I like where this is leading,' She thought with a soft smile. She'd think more on that later, right now she was just going to enjoy her current situation. "Thank you Naruto," She whispered as she sunk down in his lap and closed her eyes again.

They spent the next few minutes in silence, basking in each other's presence. Listening to the sounds of the Pidgey chirping in the trees, and the wind blowing through the clearing. Feeling Leaf's breathing steady out, he looked down to see her sleeping face. Smiling slightly at her cute expression, he looked for Hinata who he hadn't seen in a while.

Naruto glanced around and noticed she was just now finishing up with Bulbasaur. Their eyes met and he expected to see a lot of things, anger, irritation, even jealousy, but instead, she looked oddly satisfied with his predicament.

Slipping out of his Trenchcoat he laid it on the ground behind him and shifted out from under Leaf. Laying her on his coat, he stopped to take another look at her sleeping face. As soon as he let go of her she curled into his coat in an adorable way. Getting a brilliant idea, he pulled his Dex out of his pocket and took a picture. 'Yep, keeping that one forever,' He thought, taking a moment to save it. Standing up, he walked over to where Hinata was now resting.

"Hey," Naruto said slightly awkwardly as he sat down beside her. He wasn't sure what was going through Hinata's mind right now, but he had a feeling she knew about his situation.

"Hey," She said back, deciding to mess with him a bit. "So if she gets to fall asleep in your arms, while you whisper in her ear, for losing. What do I get for winning?" She asked in a sultry, teasing tone.

Despite knowing she was teasing he found himself wanting to call her bluff. Letting his Uzumaki impulses take over, he leaned over and cupped her chin. Bringing her head up to look at him, he bent down and planted a kiss on her lips.

'Whaaaaaaat?' Hinata inwardly screamed, blood rapidly flooding to her face as her heart fluttered and started pounding. She had expected him to just tease back off or something. Maybe if she was lucky to get a hug or peck on the cheek, like he gave Leaf. She never expected him to just kiss her so suddenly. She had been teasing him like this for the last few years, ever since Kushina had informed her of his problem. But those times he just laughed it off or changed the subject, when did he become this forward?

Naruto had felt Hinata tense up when he kissed her, thinking he had gone too far he was going to pull back, but then she started kissing back with even more passion. Getting a bit braver he slipped his arm around the small of her back and pressed her chest flush against his. Nibbling on her bottom lip, he reached up at started stroking her dark blue hair. When he heard her moan he turn the chance and slipped his tongue into her mouth, happy that she wasn't resisting.

Enjoying her natural taste and smell of cinnamon, he dominated her mouth with his own. Just when things were heating up, however, he felt Grace's Aura shock him as it fluctuated in the Bond.

Hinata whimpered when he broke the kiss, "N-Naruto what's wrong?" She said seeing the irritation on his face. She thought she had done something bad until she noticed the glazed look in his eyes. A few minutes later his head snapped back and looked at her.

"Grace found the Poison-type," He started his voice laced with anger, "And we've got a problem."

---

Author's Notes (Minor Spoilers/Ideas)

And there we go, Chapter 2 down. We got some brief action and my first attempts at some sexy scenes. It was a bit longer than I intended, but who's complaining?

This is my first fanfiction so I'm eager to know how you guys feel about a couple of things underlined below. If you plan on reviewing please be detailed. The more reasons you give about something, the higher chance I'll listen to you. Comments like "no misty ples" Don't tell me anything.

It's a lot of text, sorry about that I got a bit carried away. Just give me your best ideas and I'll sort everything out, you don't have to answer every question.

Harem

Should I add Lemons? I tried my hand at some teasing and Romance so tell me what you thought.

I'm going to be sort of diving straight into the relationships. Mainly because I see a ton of 'harem fics' that don't last long enough to get to the harem part and I know how frustrating that is. I plan on keeping the Harem small for now, just Hinata and Leaf unless a great reason to add someone pops up. (Speaking of which, are there any sexy ladies I'm missing in the Kanto region? People you don't see often like Melanie. Cynthia will probably end up in here too but not until he's in Sinnoh.)

No Misty. I had too many reasons not to put her in, and not enough reasons going for her. And to be honest, I never like the hot-headed female arch-type, it can be good but most of the time they are just abrasive, constantly yelling and bashing the main Hero. Misty/Nami/Sakura/

People were worried about me adding a ton of Naruto girls like Sakura and Ino, that's not going to be happening. Hanabi and Hitomi, (Hinata's mother) are my last crossover picks and I don't plan on adding these two to the Harem. I might add minor characters for some of the Order or minor story arc's just so I don't have to make OC's (Things like Sasuke showing up in the start of a Pokemon Tournament, or Asuma being an Aura Guardian) but if that happens I will probably only use them for one or two chapters.

Kushina Uzumaki

I was surprised to see people request Kushina in the Harem, I'm all for it personally, and it would work well with what I have planned for the Harem. Let me know what you think, I know some people hate Uzumakicest. (Kushina is my favorite character from Naruto)

Pokemon Battles

I'm not too happy with the way these brief battles went, they will be longer in the future these were intended to be short, but I'll work on it.

Each main character is going to have a specific style, Leaf will be Strategic, Hinata Aggressive, and Naruto I'm going to have the most fun with.

Hinata

She's in the Harem, I got some fun ideas with her so I already locked her in. For those of you who don't like Hinata, please give her a few chapters before you complain. If it's the shy, stuttering Hinata, from Canon Naruto, you dislike, you won't find her here (She still is going to be kind). While she was blushing at first it was because she genuinely didn't expect to find Naruto there. (She's also going to be a bit bolder and fun next chapter)

I'm also going to be giving her a Split Personality, I thought this was more a fun way to deal with her meekness to violence.

As for why she's okay with him getting physical with Leaf, that will also have to wait till next chapter.

For Pokemon, her team isn't set in stone yet. Any cool ideas for some of her team members? Please tell me why in the reviews. I'm tempted to give her something awesome just for the contrast, like a Salamance. I like the idea of a gentle girl taking full control of powerful Pokemon.

I plan on putting her in the League too (She IS going to be aiming for Elite Four) but with three people per Gym, I'm not quite sure how to pull that off. I'm thinking only showing the most interesting battle for each Gym (Like showing Leaf for Pewter city since Grace would probably steam-roll it), or maybe making my own considering there are more than 8 Gyms in every region. (Gary had 10 badges in Canon)

Leaf

Her personality hasn't been totally fleshed out yet, I wanted her to feel slightly nervous because she is starting her Journey.

Her team is also up for debate, unfortunately, most of the Grass Pokemon in Kanto are Grass/Poison. So I'll have to find some way around that. (I was planning on doing some stuff with trading, but if you have anything cooler you can think of let me know. Maybe the Safari Zone got imported Pokemon?)

Her battle team is going to be full Grass Pokemon, but I may give her one or two non-Grass just for content.

Naruto

Naruto was a bit weird for me to write, not sure how well I pulled it off, I tried to make him cheerful, energetic, and sometimes a bit silly like his Canon. But I also wanted to show his serious side, this Naruto is smart, experienced, and uses his head. It felt a bit all over the place so I hope I did well.

Naruto's team is a bit more set in stone, I would still like ideas as you could come up with some awesome stuff, but his team is going to be relatively small probably 12 max maybe more when he travels to new regions. He won't 'Catch them all' because that makes him impersonal with his pokemon, that's both boring to write and conflicting with his character. His team is also going to be the only one I'm naming if you suggest a Pokemon throw in a name too it saves me time (Preferably a meaningful one) I don't want too much type overlap in his team (For example he won't be catching a Mankey because Grace is Fighting-type)

Naruto's team can speak to him but I plan on keeping them quiet most of the time, if they joined in every conversation I would spend far too long typing it all out especially since other people can't hear them.

Naruto's team members are all going to have their own fighting styles that I'm going to try and make as unique as possible. Each will have a meaningful Name that ties in with their combat style.

Scylla - Scylla is going to be intelligent, I enjoy the contrast it provides for her. Her name will tie in with her combat style, if you know about Scylla in mythology it shouldn't be hard to guess and even if you don't, I gave you enough clues.

Grace - Will be Loyal and Respectful, like a Knight. Her fighting style will be fun, and I plan on involving some unique abilities with Aura Manipulation.

(1) I said he's had Grace for six years now, normally you'd think Grace would be crazy powerful by now right? Well, I'm gonna say she's only about level 30-40 just for the sake of fair progression. If Naruto started with a level 80, while that would be amusing watching him walk over everything, it would make me never want to use Grace in fights as she would just sweep teams left and right. If you want an "Immersive" Answer. Young Naruto was too absorbed in his own physical and Aura training to train with Grace properly, and he was saving that for his Journey. Grace watched over his training and focused on Aura Manipulation instead so while she is "Weak" she will do things with Aura that no other Pokemon can like talk (Meowth is a cheater he doesn't count) Grace will kick ass soon don't worry.