[Woo! Chapter four :3 May have spoilers and one or two minor swears, just warning ya.]
The Konoha ninjas sat quietly on the edge of the trail, eating apples from a nearby tree. Well, all of them except Kakashi. He had claimed he wasn't hungry, and this was a let down for the ones who wished to see his face. Sasuke was finally opening up to the group about why he returned, and his comrades listened eagerly to every word, some even leaning closer.
"..and once I found my brother we battled, though he died in it. Apparently he was sick and dying before the I challenged him," Sasuke sighed, biting a piece off of his apple and gazing into the sky, "it was a let down. Afterward I met Madara.." Kakashi seemed shocked at this name. "He also mentioned something about when Itachi killed the clan. He did it as orders from Danzo." The Uchiha boy's fists clenched and emotions whirled through him.
The group seemed shocked, wordless and unsure if he was telling the truth.
As Sasuke continued on with his story, the pokemon that had been stalking him crouched nearby, pounced, and forcefully pushed the boy over, getting a surprised shout from its target.
The group that had been listening jumped, startled, and looked at the thing that was now sitting comfortably on Sasuke's side. It had mostly blue fur, and black fur beneath its neck and beneath its torso. It had a golden, four-pointed star at the end of its tail. Golden rings went around its front legs. On its head were big ears with a golden star-shape on them, and it had big, golden eyes and a pink nose. Its two top canines stuck out from its mouth. Once, it licked Sasuke's cheek, causing the boy to twitch and sit upright, grabbing and holding it at arm's length.
"Its. SO. CUTE!" Sakura squealed, looking at the small creature, which tilted its head.
"Yeah. Too cute," came an irritated Sasuke's reply.
"What is it?" Naruto questioned, getting closer to it. The small pokemon opened its mouth, leaned closer, and bit Naruto's nose. The boy yelled and moved away, the others laughing slightly.
"It doesn't seem to like you much, Naruto," Kakashi pointed out, "but it does seem to like Sasuke."
"Great," the raven-boy muttered.
"Shinx." was the pokemon's reply. It pawed at the Uchiha clan symbol on his clothing, then turned to the woods and let out a loud cry of its name. Calling something. As if on cue, a group of pokemon moved out from the bushes. The first was a large pokemon that resembled a wolf. It had blue fur, with a yellow mane and yellow tufts of fur on its hind legs and front paws. Its eyes were the color of amber, and a scar went along one eye. Manectric.
Next out was a horse pokemon, its body covered in a cream-colored fur. That wasn't what got the ninjas' attention though; what got their attention was the mane this pokemon had, made completely out of flames. Ponyta.
Last, but certainly not least, was a smaller pokemon with a round body, stubby legs, and a big head. It had blue eyes and a dark grey body. On its head and parts of its body it was covered in steel armor, that had small openings in various areas. Aron.
The pokemon and the ninja's had a sort of staredown, neither side approaching the other, for what may have been several minutes. Then, Shinx nodded in greeting and the pokemon moved closer. At first the ninjas tensed, then seemed to relax as no attacks were made. Aron bounded over to Naruto and knocked him over accidentally with a light-hearted tackle. Ponyta nudged Sakura with its snout. Manectric sniffed Kakashi before stealing his Make-Out Paradise book from his pocket and plopping onto the ground, chewing on it.
"Noooo!" Kakashi wailed. His comrades shared a light chuckle.
They started to get to know their pokemon better, sharing faint laughs, all of them to caught up in the moment to realize that an evil presence was extremely close...
~Meanwhile, somewhere in the mountains..~
"What the Hell are these things, un?" came a male voice. The owner of it had long, blonde hair, most of which was in a ponytail, and part of it hiding half of his face. He wore a black cloak with red clouds designing it.
Purple rats were surrounding him from all sides, and he was cursing and stomping on them, or trying to. Every now and then one would bite his shoe or ankle, getting a string of swears to escape his lips.
"I don't know, Deidara. Rats of some sort," his comrade, sitting on a stump, said. He had the same cloak as Deidara on, but he wore an orange mask with one eye-hole. The pokemon, Rattata, weren't bothering him.
The pokemon suddenly scattered, and the blonde shouted at them, "Yeah, run away, you stupid little-" His rant was cut short by a sound similar to that of a piece of machinery. He turned around slowly, coming face to 'face' with a pokemon with a huge build, and around his height. The creature was grey, with a black stripe where its face was, assuming that the seven half-spheres in the shape of a hexagon were its face. The top-half of it had a sphere-like shape. It had black arms with three fingers and cylinder-shaped legs. The orbs on its face glowed, red, and it droned its name.
"Registeel."
"What do you want, un?" Deidara asked. He turned fully around to face it, while Tobi, his masked team-mate, was slowly inching away.
Registeel's body began to become surrounded in a white aura, until the golem seemed mostly black-and-white. Slamming its head into the unexpecting man's stomach with a great amount of force, it sent the Akatsuki member spiraling through the air and into a rock wall. Undefeated by one attack, the blonde stood up and began to walk, slightly pained, toward the steel pokemon.
"Why you.."
Tobi grabbed Deidara's arm and hurriedly dragged him away, while the blonde shaked a fist at the golem, "You'll pay for this, un!"
"Registeel."
~Desert Time!~
Sandslash stood staring down the rock golem infront of it. The Regirock suddenly changed at the smaller pokemon, its forearms beginning to glow white. Sandslash quickly dug underground to escape the attack, and seconds after the Regirock slammed its arms into the spot its target had been, creating a slight crater in the sand. It straightened and looked around for its enemy, before Sandslash burst from the sand beneath the golem, knocking it backwards and hitting it. Giving no time for error, Sandslash jumped into the air. Midair it curled up into a ball, its spines glowing, and began to spin at a high speed, smashing into the Regirock's stomach area. It leapt back, and unfurled, standing before its opponent.
Gaara and his siblings watched in awe, as by itself the Sandslash stood up to the legendary pokemon. Turn-by-turn the pokemon hit each other with moves and attacks never seen by the sand ninja. The Regirock seemed to be on the upper hand of the battle though, until Sandslash struck it with another gyro ball. The Regi staggered backward, droned its name, and sunk into the desert sands.
The group was tense for awhile, before they came to the conclusion it was most likely gone. Yet they proceeded ahead with caution.
Temari didn't doubt Gaara's pokemon anymore..
