Chapter four time. Now it's Sasuke's turn! The personality we've got here is "proud, capable and taciturn prettyboy whose ambition for battle victory generally consumes him, and when it doesn't, he pretends it does just to keep his mind off other things." And this is what we'll build on. Trigger warning for Sasuke being a sour little douche?
Oh, note for Sasuke's potential name, he made it up during a notable "rebellious phase" around age 11/12 :p
Sasuke Uchiha:
Houndour (potential name, Hellfire) devoted and disciplined
June 23rd, 11:21 AM, the gym in Koga
It was time now. Time to step into the real world. Years of cheerful, supportive training in school and half-smiles from his mother and brother and ignorance from his father and damn near worship of half his hometown led to this: a tunnel to reality, to a gym battle where that soft training would be put to the test in a hard and unforgiving place, led by a gym leader of just the same quality. Whether or not he deserved to be a trainer would be decided here, at his first gym, the Koga gym. The word in every book and on every citizen's mouth was that it was of perfectly average difficulty. Average, and this made Sasuke clench his teeth. He wanted a difficult one. Houndour wanted a difficult one.
A group of bratty kids taking a fieldtrip from their school dashed towards the gym. One of them deliberately pushed him aside to get through the door. Houndour snapped at him and the stupid child ran inside even faster, pushing through his classmates. Houndour looked up at him, watching for his own reaction.
Since he had no family with him, no family anyway, Houndour was his everything. He touched the loyal creature's head gently and rubbed the protruding bone structures on her skull. "Good girl."
"Dourrrr."
She had started as a gift to him, an unexpected egg shoved into his arms before his voice had even begun to deepen. Itachi had helped him hatch her, and feed her and raise her and teach her to breathe fire. Itachi had been the one to tell him he must always be grateful for such a good and devoted soul. A partner. He and his partner walked into the gym with narrowed and burning eyes.
A Pokemon gym was usually nothing but an indoor arena with some grandstands to the left and right for visitors to sit and watch battles. Sometimes a back room where badges were stored. Koga's gym was just so. The schoolchildren from a minute ago were heading up to the left grandstands and fighting over seats while their teacher spoke to the gym leader. The gym leader was only a few years older than Sasuke was, twenty at the most, dressed all in black. There were noticeable...stripes of makeup on the man's face. Long, purple ones that looked like face paintings from a festival. He frowned at that floating purple face over that mass of black. Face painting had irritated more than amused him as a child and it was no funnier on his alleged first challenge.
Sasuke approached the man and made himself known. "Are you the gym leader here or no? I'm here for a fight."
Schoolkids, teacher and gym leader all looked. The man in makeup was the one to respond. He had his arms crossed like a man with too much arrogant to hold in one body. Familiar. "You picked a great time of day. We have spectators for the next two hours. Are you down with that?" Sasuke didn't stop walking and the teacher realized almost too late that he wasn't moving around her. She dashed out of his way and ran up to the stands with her children.
Up close, the makeup looked...aptly applied. The man was used to wearing this idiocy. "I'm Kankurou Subaku. Koga gym leader as of this January, carrying on the posion-type specialty of Koga. You?"
Houndour slowly padded behind him and found a place in the arena to stand ready for battle. "Sasuke Uchiha from Konoha." If he had added that he was a better trainer than this geisha would ever be, it would only delay things. Besides, he was already taking a Pokeball from his belt. No, a Great ball.
"Uchiha? I know your name." But he didn't say anything else, so Sasuke's annoyance at this poison-type specialist lessenged considerably. Perhaps he just didn't want to upset the children. He chose to instead back up and make his slow way to the leader's square where he must customarily stand to direct his Pokemon. "There's no one in line before you, so we can begin right this minute." He tossed his great ball forward, and the zipping white matter formed a Croagunk.
"Well, you're quiet, huh?" the painted leader taunted. "A guy who can't talk much will have a tough time yelling commands as a trainer. Do your stereotype some good and prove me wrong, Sasuke Uchiha. I get two Pokemon, you get three. You can switch Pokemon whenever you please."
"Leer."
Houndour did not waste time.
She bowed her head, and though her back faced him, Sasuke knew her eyes glowed. The Croagunk's eyes widened slightly but it held its ground. The gym leader looked simply astounded. "You just jump right in, huh? Show them what you think of that, Sanshuo."
The Croagunk dashed forward suddenly, with a glowing hand. It was Poison Jab.
"Ember." Houndour jumped up, howling, and came down spitting balls of fire. Sanshuo the Croagunk jumped left and right to dodge, and when Houndour came back down to earth, she kicked it in the chest with her front paws. The schoolkids cheered and yelled and Kankurou gaped.
"Revenge!" he yelled. "Go!"
Houndour finally landed fully on the ground. Sanshuo trapped Houndour's nearest paw in both of his and heaved. The dark dog did a full one-eighty and was slammed on her back. Sanshuo grinned and mockingly hit her in the belly with an extra Poison Jab. Kankurou put a hand on his hip and laughed.
Sasuke clenched his teeth and the schoolkids begged his Houndour to stand up. Silently, he did as well. She would know it wasn't acceptable to lose. Not so fast, not like that.
The kids stood up and stomped when the fire-type leaped up. It was more of a flip, actually, the feline kind of thing that Itachi had helped teach her to do. It would help her not only stand up, but dodge an oncoming attack and land flat on her feet all at once. A contest move, but useful in battle. She ran in a zigzag pattern towards the Croagunk. While she ran, Sasuke had just enough time to shout, "Fire Fang!" and in the next moment Houndour's teeth were aflame and stuck in Sanshuo's arm.
"Gunk! Gunk! Gunk!" Sanshuo flailed his free arm and hit her again and again, and Kankurou shouted "Faint Attack!" again and again. At last Sanshuo listened. He faded in and out of vision like mist and appeared again, only to hit his Pokemon on the head yet again.
'You may as well just hit her on the head without using Faint Attack. Hardly any different.' Sasuke scoffed within himself. Without, though, he smirked at the obvious victory. Sanshuo was surely burned and wouldn't last much longer. 'A final hit will make this faster.' "Now, Bite!"
With a shriek, Houndour tore her fangs from the Croagunk's arm and the fire faded from them—and she sunk them right back in. The Croagunk dropped to the ground. Someone from the stands called: "And the winner is Houndour!" and the kids cheered his name.
Kankurou returned his Pokemon to its ball, gaping again. "When…he first jumped to avoid Poison Jab, he was howling. That wasn't just a howl, that was the attack Howl, to focus his strength. Right?"
"Hmph." Sasuke smirked again and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Didn't think you'd notice it. Houndour is female, and she'll rip you up again."
"Dour-dourrr!"
Looking quite pissed, Kankurou retrieved another Great ball from his belt. A Venomoth burst forth from it. "Kurosu, Gust! Let's go!" The Venomoth sped forward and flapped its wings madly over Hellfire the Houndour, and she was immediately tossed to the other side of the arena. Sasuke resisted the temptation to run over to her, and instead called, "Houndour! Get up!" The kids repeated his plea in high, ear-piercing voices. Kurosu hovered and Kankurou tapped his foot.
One eye opened first, then she began struggling to keep standing—had it really been such a powerful Gust?—and then she started growling. Kankurou was shouting something demeaning in his little corner.
"Stand up." he told her. "We can't fail. You won't fail!"
"Houn-DOUR!"
Kurosu wasn't expecting such a jump. Out of nowhere, Houndour was in the air and barely missed sinking her teeth into Kurosu's wing. She was ready again. "Good. Now use Smog." Houndour now belched a cloud of violet smoke and jumped straight into it.
"What? What?" Kankurou babbled. "Go—Go into it! Use Confusion in every direction!"
"Moth-moth-moth." Kurosu flew straight into the smoke. Sasuke knew Houndour's patterns. She would be walking skittishly and silently just inside the fog, nearly skirting the edges of visibility, and smelling her enemy's location. She would be—
"Houu!" She flew out of the fog and slid nearly to her trainer's feet, her feet twitching and eyes rolling in confusion. Kurosu flew out a heartbeat later, eyes glowing with a prepared psychic-type attack.
"Get up. Use Bite. Hurry!" His Houndour lay still and twitched.
From the other side of the fading Smog cloud, Kankurou shouted, "Psybeam!"
Kurosu's antennae glowed and a rainbow beam shot from between them, striking Houndour on her chest. It seared her and she thrashed in pain, freed from the confusion. She shot up and ran straight through it like a Magikarp going up a waterfall and spat a blazing Ember attack. Kurosu fell immediately, one wingtip still barely aflame.
The teacher stood up. "And finally, the winner is Sasuke Uchiha from Konoha!" The schoolchildren gave appropriately loud cheers and Kankurou looked appropriately dejected.
He returned his Venomoth and then walked forward with a hand in his pocket. Sasuke returned his Pokemon just before Kankurou reached him, and when he did, he dropped a violet, spiked object in the boy's palm. "Here's the Venom badge. Probably your first one, right? Congrats."
He sounded like he wanted to add something like, "you arrogant little jackass" to the end of that sentence, but Sasuke had no more need to speak with this person. He tucked it neatly into his pocket and headed back for the entrance before the kids could come running for his autograph or something. It was not a wise decision in the end; being stuck in a ring of loud fourth graders was preferable to what awaited him just outside the gym.
Naruto's face.
His used-to-be-classmate had his hand on the doorknob to go into the gym and Sasuke had all but shoved the door in his face. (Good.) As usual, Naruto was unprepared for anything so now his head was growing a bruise. "Dude. I wondered when I'd see you. You know, you're the first kid from our town I've seen since I left home! Well I saw Tenten at the very edge of town, but that technically was still in Konoha—"
"I don't care, Naruto, but if you want to fight the gym leader, you'll have to wait." Sasuke gestured to the inside of the gym. "I just kicked his ass and his Pokemon need to rest or at least receive a potion spray before kicking yours."
Naruto did his typical flare-up. "Says you, prick! You should stick around so you can watch me win the Aurora Badge, too!"
"Koga has the Venom Badge."
"YEAH, WELL—"
He shoved past Naruto before anything else could be said. He'd be here till New Year's if Naruto really got on a roll. The gym was at the end of its own special road so he started walking back towards the city. There was no reason to hang around here anymore with a badge won and camping supplies prepared in his backpack, so he may as well start on the road to Kiri. It would be a longer trip than from Konoha to Koga, which could be walked in less than two days…it would probably be smart to head to a store and buy some more food for him and Houndour…
"Sasuke! Hey, Sasuke!"
Arceus himself apparently did not want him to leave yet. Sakura Haruno, another classmate, was coming towards him, with a girl he knew named Hinata a little way behind. She was in his grade and had been in his class almost every year of his school life. She was among the group of girls who were always trying to impress him. To her credit, though, she did it more subtly than the ones who would literally suggest paying him for a date, and as far as he remembered, she had never bragged about ever getting a superior grade than he did.
"Hey." he said neutrally as she jogged down the road. She was wearing red like usual, with a long-sleeved white shirt underneath. Hm.
"Hi!" she said once she reached him. "So you were at the gym already? Did you win?"
She didn't actually think he lost, did she? Why would she think that? "Of course I won." He took the badge out of his pocket and lifted it a little higher to eye level to show it to her. The sight of it brought a big smile to Sakura's face, and the other girl came up to admire it as well. He let them admire for a generous extra few seconds.
"Earned on day two. Should've guessed." Sakura grinned.
"His Pokemon aren't that strong, or coordinated for that matter. Even Naruto's Charmeleon might win. He's there now. And you'll probably do better than him anyway." He pocketed the badge and moved around her, heading towards the city again. "I'm heading to Kiri." He heard Sakura call, "Bye, good luck!" to him but he didn't answer.
(Silly Sasuke, noticing what Sakura's wearing!)
Well, there's Sasuke moody little chapter. He's got a really close bond with his Houndour c: He's the first of the five main characters to get a badge, but obviously Sakura, Hinata and Naruto are close behind. And Sasuke obviously takes being a trainer more seriously than any of the others. Why? I'm sure you'll find out later.