Surf's Up!

Part IV

To pass the time as Tsunami fought through the stiff currents, Kushina recounted many of her old adventures aloud. The wild pikachu looked to be nervous and uncomfortable and she hoped to calm and relax the creature with funny stories. If the electrical mouse stayed tense and became startled by something, it could discharge electricity and electrocute them all.

"…And Minato would always complain and call me a pikachu-thief," she said as her gyarados plowed through the choppy water. "He'd mutter it under his breath, but I'd still hear him. The silly boy," she smiled and fingered the heart scale set into her necklace. "He's gotten used to Kiroi ditching him for me by now, though. When he needs her, she's always there for him."

She shifted on Tsunami's back to keep her leg from falling asleep and adjusted the jean shorts she was wearing over her bathing suit. Thunder Island was much closer now, and its high, sheer cliffs were very intimidating. It was no wonder that the tour guide, Sanmaru, had strongly advised against visiting here.

"It was really nice when Naruto called home and showed me that he got a pichu," she continued. "It was sort of like he was taking after his father…although he didn't know it at the time. Really, it's funny how things turn out sometimes."

The blue-eyed pikachu stared up at her intently. It was hard to know how much of what she was saying it understood. Researchers theorized that pokémon that lived in or around urban areas had better comprehension of human speech than those that lived in more rural areas, and those that lived in remote wilderness. But with no way to decipher the language of pokémon, there was no way to test out the theory.

"You don't have to worry about me catching you, you know," she told the yellow rodent. "I only go after water-types. I suppose you could say it's something of a family tradition; the Uzumaki family has run Uzu Town's gym for generations, and it's a water-type gym. There isn't any real chance that the gym would fall to me—I have four older brothers, and I'm a girl—but I like sticking to the personal restriction anyway. It's a challenge of sorts. And I like water pokémon." She tucked a lock of red hair that had escaped from her ponytail. "For me to take an exception, I'd have to find something really special…"

The female pikachu blinked at her.

"Say…do you think I could give you a name?"

This request startled the little yellow mouse, but she didn't seem to be against the idea.

"I was thinking 'Aoi'," Kushina explained. "It means 'blue' in the old language, and you have blue eyes, so…what do you think?"

The wild creature didn't appear to understand, so Briny flew closer and the pelipper croaked out some sort of explanation.

"So…?"

The little pikachu gave her a timid nod.

"Oh good," she grinned. "I was thinking 'Nami' at first because you were washed up by the waves, but that could get confusing with Tsunami here."

Her gyarados rumbled and she patted the blue armored scales.

"So, it's nice to formally meet you," she joked with a wave. "My name is Kushina Uzumaki."

She held out her hand to the creature but, not knowing to shake it, the pikachu just sniffed her fingers and pawed at her palm. Kushina snickered and very gently clasped the pikachu's dexterous paw and gave it a little shake. The little yellow monster seemed fascinated by the handshake.

"Hmm… Oh look, we're here!"

They had finally reached the cliffs. This part of the island was very steep with no beach—rocky or otherwise—between it and the surrounding sea. But it wouldn't be a problem.

"Okay, Briny, it's time to test out those new-and-improved wings of yours."

Pelippers were big birds, but while they were sufficient for carrying children it was a bit tricky to give a full grown adult a lift. It took some arranging while Briny floated on the water's surface but Kushina found a way to sit on his back that worked. And then, with Aoi sitting in her beach bag, Briny strained his wings and slowly lifted out of the water.

Here we go!

It was a slow but steady ascent. Once they were high enough, Kushina recalled Tsunami to her pokéball so as not to leave the gyarados down in the water all alone while she visited. After a few minutes they cleared the cliff and landed safely on some level ground. It didn't look too inviting—a lot of rocks and some stunted trees—but they'd made it.

"Hah! We're here!"

Aoi immediately leapt out of her bag, looked around, and skittered through a gap in some boulders.

"Huh," Kushina blinked. "That was quick."

Shrugging, she put Briny away so that he could rest (sometimes recently evolved pokémon could grow fatigued easily until they adjusted to their new forms) and followed the trail that Aoi had scampered along.

The rocky, almost barren part of the island didn't last long. After Kushina slipped past the boulders, she found that the ground sloped downwards into a lush forest. Scanning what she could see of the island, it looked like it was bowl-shaped—like it was a crater or a collapsed volcano.

Huh, it's like the island is a fortress or something.

Carefully picking her way down the slope Kushina came to a relatively flat stretch of ground…and there were pikachu everywhere.

They were coming out of the bushes. They were up in the trees. They were playing in the grass. There had to be at least twenty of them that she could see.

With so many of them, it was impossible to pick out which one was Aoi.

But that's fine. She's home now. And now it's time for a few pictures, a little exploring, and then it's back to the mainland for me…

Aoi was happy. She was safe and she was home. And everyone was happy to see her here.

They cried with joy when they saw her. They cuddled and groomed her and rubbed cheeks with her to share electricity. And they brought her food as she told them all about her unintentional adventure.

Everything she said only confirmed what they all thought: the wider world was an unhappy place.

:See?: an older male chastised his unruly son. :I tell you and tell you not to stray too far, and that's why. The world is unfriendly beyond our shores. Do you want to get lost out there?:

:I won't get lost,: the younger scoffed.

:You say that now…:

Aoi turned away from the minor disagreement and looked for the human. Kushina was nice, and Aoi should do something nice for her. The red-haired human wanted to see the island so…perhaps she should show the visitor around?

She threaded her way through the crowd of her fellows and searched for the woman who had helped her. It took a while to find the human, but Aoi eventually located her by the lake at the heart of the island. The woman was fiddling with a small, boxy human device, occasionally holding it up to her face.

:What are you doing?: Aoi asked as she tugged at her ear.

Kushina paused and glanced down at her. "Aoi?"

The pikachu nodded.

"Hold still for a minute, please…"

Aoi blinked and sat still while the woman held up the square object again.

Click!

"There we go!" Kushina grinned. She turned the device around and held it down so that Aoi could see it. "Don't you look cute?"

On the boxy object there was a square shape with the image of a pikachu frozen and trapped in it.

:…Ah! That's me!:

"I think that picture turned out really nice." Kushina sighed, looked up at the sky, and then glanced at something on her wrist. "Only an hour until dinner. I should get going…"

:You're leaving?: Aoi was dismayed. :But you just got here.:

"You have a nice little island out here," the woman said as she walked away from the lake towards the edge of the island. "It's a good thing it's so hard to get to otherwise it would be overrun with tourists."

Aoi timidly followed after the woman. :Why not stay longer?:

"Perhaps I'll come back here after the seminar," the woman mused aloud. "If I have time; I want to get some good quality fishing time in, too."

:What's so great about fishing?: Aoi sulked. :It's a lot more fun over here. I haven't introduced you to anyone yet.:

The red-haired woman picked her way up the gentle slope to the cliffs at the island's edge. There she released the pelipper and climbed aboard him again. Aoi perched on a nearby rock and drooped.

"You be careful now," Kushina said with a smile and a wave. "No more getting swept away from your island, okay? Bye-bye!"

And then she and the pelipper soared off the cliff and out over the sea.

The pikachu sat on the rock and watched them until they faded out of sight.

Why…?

:So that was a human, huh?:

Aoi flinched and turned to find the young male who'd been arguing with his father earlier. His eyes were sharp and a blue several shades lighter than her own. He boredly stared out over the sea in the direction that Kushina had vanished in while he tossed a shuca berry from paw to paw.

:I don't see why the elders are so worried about them,: he remarked. :It didn't seem to be all that dangerous. It needed a pelipper to fly!:

:Oh shut up!: Aoi snapped.

:Ooo, somebody woke up on the wrong side of the nest this morning,: he teased.

Aoi glared at him and sprinted off back into the forest, hoping to lose him.

Stupid boy!

Kushina's timing was excellent. Just as she and Briny made it back to the mainland shore, it started to rain. By the time she returned to the hotel it was starting to storm in earnest.

Heh, well they do call this jungle a rainforest for a reason…

She squeezed all the excess water from her hair, toweled dry, and then cracked out the hair dryer to finish the job. While she worked on her long, red tresses, she focused on what she needed to do for the seminar, which started tomorrow. It was a lot more productive than thinking on how sad and dejected the pikachu had looked when she left Thunder Island.

I didn't come here to catch new pokémon, she reminded herself. I certainly didn't come here to make an exception to my personal rule. As cute as Aoi is and as strange as her eyes are, she isn't shiny…

When she'd been younger, she thought the only oddly colored pokémon possible was a red gyarados. Ever since it had been revealed to science that such a creature was not just a myth red gyarados were popular in movies and television (either a gyarados was dyed somehow, or footage would be edited to change its color). But when Naruto had brought Demon home she'd looked into information on other "shiny" pokémon.

Some were less than impressive. The difference in color was subtle and it was only really noticeable when they were photographed beside an average member of their species. But some were quite astonishing—a shiny charizard for instance, which was black instead of orange.

I wouldn't mind breaking my rule for something like that, she thought as she put away her hair dryer and picked up her brush. I don't think anyone could fault me for that… And anyone who would, would just be jealous!

Shaking out her hair, she went about dressing for dinner. She would meet the professor down in the hotel restaurant within the hour. And after they'd eaten, it was time to make final preparations for the seminar.

Hopefully all that science babble won't put me to sleep tomorrow…