Ash covered the ground as far as the eye could see, but that's what happened when you visited an active volcano. This was Mt. Chimney, a sacred place in the Land of Fire, known for its glass flutes made from glass, cookies, and exotic pokemon. "We're here to find a Machop for Sakura, a Numel for Chouji, and a Vulpix for Naruto," I said, "So, Tyra, you said this is the only place in the Land of Fire that we could find all three… lead the way."

She nodded, and started pointing, "Down towards the base there is the Fiery Path, which leads to the center of the volcano, Numels like to make new tunnels down there, and Machop like to train in the intense heat. Vulpix won't be found there, however, but at a sacred shrine at the top of the volcano. I'll lead Sakura and Chouji into Fiery Path, you take Naruto to the shrine."

I nodded to Naruto and we took off up the side of the volcano. Sure enough, near the top was indeed a shrine dedicated to the spirits of the earth, and their pokemon. "This is it, huh?" Naruto asked, "This is gonna be so sick! I can't wait!"

He ran up to the shrine, threw open the doors and ran inside. I took my time walking in, and found Naruto in the main room of the shrine. There were three doors, one to the left, one to the right, and one to the center. "Which way should we go?" asked Naruto, "Nevermind, I'll just create clones!"

Then something happened, The Ruby began to shine, and burned on my back. I drew it to find the blade glowing with blazing red fire. Then it moved my arm and pointed at the middle door. I let the blade lead me, Naruto and his clones following behind. The next room was covered in an inch of dust and cobwebs, but the blade kept leading me on until it touched the back wall. Blue light shone in a specific pattern, and from these patterns, fire burned away the dust and cobwebs, and the room's walls and ceiling lit up, revealing that it was painted and carved to the likeness of a storybook monster. "This isn't a shrine to Mt. Chimney…" I gasped, "This is a shrine to Groudon… the pokemon of the Earth."

"What's a Groudon?" Naruto asked.

"It's a Legendary pokemon, so, if one believes the legends, then it is the spirit of the Earth, personified and given form. It was said to be capable of scorching the earth by walking, causing droughts with a glance… it nearly destroyed the world in its battle with its polar opposite, Kyogre. We shouldn't be in this room."

I sheathed my sword and scampered back to the main room. I was shaking so badly I couldn't see straight. Naruto tapped my shoulder and I flinched, he asked with a concerned look, "Are you okay… I don't understand why that's gotten you so shaken up… is Groudon really that bad?"

"No," I responded, "But people's desire to capture and control it is… in the past, humans unleashed him, and we almost didn't survive the aftermath."

"Do you want to leave?" Naruto asked, "Maybe Tyra can help me catch Vulpix."

"I do want to leave, but I have a responsibility to you, and to my employer, so let's look around some more."

Naruto nodded and we went into the room to the right. Inside was a tablet, which was in a language I couldn't read, but I didn't doubt it was about Groudon. But what interested Naruto was the Golden Vulpix standing on top of the tablet. I handed him Tyra's shock-ball and a pokescroll and said, "Use the shock ball to weaken it, then open the scroll, think about the Vulpix, and push chakra into the scroll."

Naruto nodded and did exactly that, capturing the pokemon with ease, "I… I did it! It was so easy too!" he cried.

I picked up the shock ball and we headed back out to the place where we'd split apart from Tyra, "Don't tell anybody about what we saw in the shrine… okay Naruto?"

"I don't really get it, but it must be important. Okay."

While we waited I taught Naruto how to summon his pokemon and the basics of battle and training. Naruto named his Vulpix kage, either for his favorite jutsu or his desired prefession. Kage had taken a liking to Naruto's jacket collar and was currently doing her best impression of Akamaru. "She's warm…" Naruto noted, a dumb smile on his face.

It was that moment that Tyra, Sakura and Chouji returned, their new pokemon in tow. Sakura had bandaged Machop's legs, giving it the impression of shorts, and was looking at it with an eyebrow quirked up. Chouji was munching on chips and occasionally handing a chip or two to Numel. "Why don't you introduce your new friends guys?" I asked.

"This is Chip, because like me, he likes chips," Chouji replied, "I even caught him using a trail of chips, he's perfect!"

I smiled and looked over to Sakura, who responded, "This is Tai, and I didn't know pokemon could be humanoid… I know he doesn't have any visible… parts… but it seemed indecent to have him parading around in his birthday suit… What's that Naruto! It's so cute!"

Kage winced, the sound of Sakura's voice hitting unknown octaves. Its eyes flashed red and it spat flame in her direction, thankfully missing, but singeing Naruto's jacket. "Whoa! Calm down Kage!" shouted Naruto, "It's just Sakura, she's a friend. Uh, this is Kage, because I'm going to be Hokage," (I would like to note here that I did, in fact, call it) "and she's a Vulpix. A fox that is both fiery and spiritual."

"Don't steal my lines…" I rebuked, I had told him that on the run over.

He scratched his head and grinned at me mischievously… maybe giving him a pokemon known for its mischievousness was a bad idea. Too late now…

"Alright, that aside, everybody caught the pokemon they wanted, mission complete, let's head home," I said with my own grin. I nervously glanced up at the shrine, and noticed three people in strange red outfits hiking towards said shrine. "Who's that?" I asked.

"It took us so long to get through the security… I guess someone came in after us?" asked Chouji.

"No," Sakura responded, "This site contains a sacred shrine to the Hidden Leaf, only leaf ninjas are allowed in, those are trespassers."

"Time to test our new pokemon!" shouted Naruto.

Chouji grinned and Sakura nodded. "Scatter," I whispered.

We all took paths to come up in front of them, and we all reached our positions before the trespassers had even realized they weren't alone. They wore red and black clothes, they looked fire-proof and odd hoods with a stylized 'M' on them. "Team Magma I take it?" I asked.

"You've heard of us?" asked one with a smirk, "then you know we use pokemon, genin like you are no match for us!"

"We have pokemon too!" shouted Naruto, and Kage leapt out of his jacket.

Tai jumped in front of Sakura and Chip puffed smoke and snorted at the Magma grunts.

"Remember, your scrolls say what kind of moves your pokemon can use," I said, "Become acquainted with what those moves are and it'll get easier, for now, refer to your scrolls."

All three nodded and the Magmas scowled and replied, "We've been battling for a bit longer than you clowns… we have the advantage."

The Magmas locked glares with a genin and released their own pokemon. Kage was fighting a Zubat, Tai was up against a Poochyena and Chip glared balefully at another Zubat. Naruto looked at his scroll and shouted, "uh… Ember?"

Kage breathed in and shot out a burst of flame directly at the enemy Zubat, scorching it. A normal ember attack wouldn't have been so strong, but Vulpix had the home field advantage, and scored a one-hit Knock Out. Tai went for a Low Kick on Sakura's say-so, taking out Poochyena through type advantage and Numel shot out some fire of its own, ending the other Zubat. The Magmas called back their pokemon and went into a screaming retreat. Naruto and Kage chased them down, spitting shuriken and fire respectively. "Those two suit each other…" Tyra noticed, "He's good with pokemon, he's already rubbing off on Kage."

"What do you mean?" asked Sakura.

"Certain people believe that as pokemon and their trainers grow, they become more alike. Naruto is a good example to that theory."

"So, what?" asked Chouji, "Is Naruto some kind of pokemon genius?"

"Impossible!" shouted Sakura.

"Nah, the only genius around here is Brendan," Tyra said with a sideways glance, "His pokemon haven't been with him for very long, but they adore him."

"You flatter me," I said.

"Oooh, and a gentleman," Tyra teased.

Sakura tilted her head as she looked at me, as if studying a mystery. Then she said, "Meh, Sasuke is so much cooler though."

"As I recall I beat him… and you… oh and Naruto," I said, counting off my fingers, "So, uh… look at the scoreboard before you talk shit."

"Burn!" shouted Chouji.

"shaddup!" Sakura snapped, blushing, "he beat you too!"

Chouji chuckled and waved her off, I looked back down for Naruto and he was huffing, jumping up and down and waving his arms to get our attention. He was holding down one of the Magmas with a triumphant manner about him. After tying up the Grunt, we started the trek back to Konoha. As we approached the village, we were greeted by ANBU ninjas, the black ops division, who took the terrified grunt into custody. In the hokage's courtyard, the three genin presented their new pokemon to the Third Lord and went to go train. After they left, he looked over to me and asked, "So… why do you think that Team Magma was at Mt. Chimney?"

"Did you know what's in the shrine there?" I asked.

"As far as I am aware it was a place used to train under extreme heat, with a shrine to the volcano's spirit."

"It was a shrine to the Groudon, the pokemon of the earth and bringer of droughts. Maybe they idolize Groudon, and were there to pay their respects."

"hm… I'll put the shrine under watch. Could you tell me more about the abilities of Groudon?"

"It is not a pokemon meant to be controlled by man. I was raised on stories of why not to mess around with anything Kyogre or Groudon… it frankly makes me nervous to talk about them. I could get you an old book… It's a long book, but it tells the entire story of the Three Super-Ancient Pokemon."

The third lord chuckled and nodded, saying, "I'd like that, I'll pick it up from you tomorrow when you take Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka and Sasuke Uchiha to capture their pokemon, okay?"

I nodded and left to return to my house. I collapsed in my bed and slept through dinner. I woke up to the smell of bacon. My mother had made me a meal for two. "You didn't get dinner and you have a big mission today right?" she asked.

"I'll probably be gone for a couple days, Meteor falls is in the Land of Wind. Three days traveling there, as long as it takes to catch some pokemon, and then three days back."

"I'll pack some food for my big ninja then."

I sighed in exasperation, what was I? A five year-old? I shrugged and inhaled the food, I ended up being hungrier than I thought. I checked my equipment and grabbed some supplies from my mom as I ran out the door. I nearly forgot the book I had promise Lord Hokage, but I grabbed it from my dad's desk on the way out. At the gate, Ino was standing a bit too close to be polite to Sasuke and Shikamaru was laying on his back staring at the clouds. The Third Lord was standing a bit off to the side, silently smiling at the genin. I handed him his book, which he gratefully accepted and promptly left. "Ready to go?" I asked.

Sasuke nodded, Shikamaru sighed and Ino was too busy staring at Sasuke to notice I had arrived. I felt the tick marks cover the back of my head, I did not like to be ignored. I flicked her ear with a bit of chakra and she jumped and squealed. "Some ninja… eh, dummy? And I got Lazy today too. Hey Sasuke, you ready to go, cause these two clearly aren't. Ino, where is your backpack and supplies? Shikamaru brought those, but I think he might be asleep…"

Ino glared balefully at me and asked, "I thought we were just going outside of the village, why would I need a backpack and supplies?"

"We're going on a week-long excursion to the Land of Wind, which is where we can find all three of your desired pokemon. Tyra would be here, but she isn't allowed in the Land of Wind on pain of death, don't ask why… you don't want to know."

Even Sasuke looked intrigued, so I sighed, "She might have… used her pokemon to terrify the Feudal Lord after he called her flat-chested. She had her Plusle and Minun run around his office, shooting off sparks of electricity strong enough to kill a mouse."

"How troublesome…" Shikamaru sighed.

I shrugged and we set off. We camped out in the forest and upon entering the Land of Wind, I had the genin take off their headbands. "What we're doing here would be frowned upon by the feudal lords, we have an alliance with Suna… but we're not that close with them, so the headbands go away, without them, we're just mercenaries, under my command, clear?"

Sasuke nodded, Shikamaru nodded and Ino sighed and then nodded. I rolled my eyes and we continued on towards Meteor falls. Contrary to popular notion, The Land of Wind is not all desert, just the majority of it. In the north-eastern area is a cave system called Meteor Falls, famous for its towering waterfall, meteor craters, and rare pokemon. It was in fact, the only place in the world that Solroc and Lunatone could be found. As we entered the caves, I marveled at the strange orange rock that the caves were made of. I reached for my pack, pulled out the shock balls and three photos. I handed the picture of Abra to Ino and said, "It's extremely weak in its first form, but once it evolves it is quite formidable, it teleports, so don't hesitate, hit it with the shock ball and then capture it using the pokescrolls you brought. Got it?"

She nodded and I motioned for her to get started. Then I gave a picture of Solroc to Shikamaru and said, "Different deal with you, Solroc is a rock-type, the shock ball won't do anything against it. So we'll fight it with my Sui. And as for you Sasuke, the shock ball doesn't work well against dragons either, so we'll fight him with my Kotetsu. This is what Bagon looks like, I want one too, so tell me when you find one."

He nodded and began the search and we all turned on our radios. Shikamaru and I found a Solroc floating about near the top of the caves. I called out Sui and shouted, "Water Gun!"

Sui shot a bullet of water to a direct hit. Solroc turned to look at us, and rushed at us. Once it was close to the ground I shouted, "Mudshot!"

Sui shot a stream of mud directly at the solroc, immobilizing it. Shikamaru sent out his pokescroll and captured the enemy Solroc. I gave him a high-five and said, "Sweet, we'll meet up with you outside the entrance, find a place that you can hide, can't be too careful."

He nodded and leapt out of the cave. Ino was screeching with what sounded like rage near the waterfall. An Abra was teleporting around her rapidly and her scroll couldn't latch onto it. I watched in amusement for a minute and realized that it was warping around her in a circular pattern, so I waited, and then grabbed hit, holding it still long enough for Ino to capture it. I clapped and said, "That was quite the show… but it would've been easier if you'd done as I'd said and used the shock ball… which I need back now."

She handed it over and said, "I tried… but I missed."

"Ah…" I said, "Well, I won't tell anybody, find Shikamaru outside and make sure he doesn't fall asleep."

She nodded, composed herself and headed outside. "You guys got permits to catch pokemon here?" asked a man near the cave entrance.

I winced and said, "I didn't think I'd need to, this is a public space and wild pokemon are free game."

"The pokemon division of the Village Hidden in the Sand disagrees," said the guy.

He was wearing running shoes, blue jeans, a yellow shirt and a red vest, he had the dark chocolate skin of a person not native to the Land of Elements, but had no accent and his hair was done in cornrows, died purple alternately. "They don't have one… I checked," I bluffed.

"Did some research huh? Not enough, I'm in charge of starting it, just like, if I'm right you are, but for Konoha," he said.

"I'm not from Konoha…" I lied.

"I've heard of you Brendan… from Professor Birch. Your actions here would be frowned upon by Suna…"

"You're friends with Professor Birch?" I asked hopefully.

"He learned how to make pokescrolls from my father, Bill."

"Small world," I noted, "How're we gonna go from here?"

"I don't care…" he said, "I care about the Team Magma creeps messing with the pokemon around here, you see 'em you take 'em out for me?"

"Done," I said.

"Great, oh, and I would avoid the Suna shinobi I brought with me… they might care."

"Noted," I said.

"By the way…" the guy said, "You can call me Satoshi…"

I nodded as I contacted Sasuke, he'd gotten up the waterfall and was looking for Bagon, so I climbed up too. I found him in a small cave near the back, crouched behind a rock, two Bagons were charging at each other and banging their heads against each other. One was shiny… they were supposed to be rare, but I sure seemed to bump into a lot of them. "I call the green-ish one," Sasuke said, "he's the one winning… go!"

I jumped up and shot out a pokescroll of my own to catch the regular Bagon. "I'll call him Ryu…" I said.

Sasuke smirked at his pokemon and I said, "head out to the entrance, Imma do a sweep for some malcontents, stay out of the way."

He nodded and we both exited the small cavern. Sasuke jumped off to meet up with Ino and Shikamaru, so I checked other caverns, but I didn't find any Magmas. In the main cavern, a Suna kunoichi was fighting against a Magma grunt, but she didn't have any pokemon. She was losing. She had a giant fan, but the Magma's Numel shot magma at her, forcing her to ditch it. She fell to one knee and the grunt laughed. I jumped in between them, punched the guy and then kicked his Numel to the other side of the river that lead to the Waterfall. "You fight cheap!" I shouted, "Let's see if you can pick on someone your own size."

I released Sui and shouted, "Mud shot!"

Numel was down with one shot, and I noticed scratch marks on it, this girl had down damage to a pokemon, impressive. I looked over to her, she glared up at me and demanded, "Who are you?"

"I'm saving your ass," I said, "You don't need to know more than that."

The Magma shouted, "You're the better trainer, but I have this!"

I recalled Sui as he threw a bomb up to the stalactites decorating the ceiling. They started to rain down on us, so I grabbed the girl and jumped off and into the river below. We hit the water like a brick wall, I felt my arm break as it protected the girl. I screamed and inhaled water. I thought I was going to drown, defending a girl I didn't know… what a stupid way to die. But she pulled me out of the water and onto the shoreline of the cave. I groaned as I hit my arm wrong as I plopped down on the ground. The girl groaned and said, "You hurt yourself for me… and you don't even know me. What's wrong with you?"

I looked at her, and her teal eyes entranced me. "I don't know what came over me…" I said.

"I could have handled the rocks with my fan," she said, "did you think that I was weak because I'm a girl?"

"Ha, no…" I said, "I saw that you hurt that Numel… only a really strong shinobi can hurt pokemon."

She looked at me strangely and asked, "What… do I have something on my face?"

"I've never seen quite that shade of blue before…" I said.

She blushed and asked, "Are you hitting on me, at the bottom of a cavern… with a broken arm that was completely unnecessary?"

I chuckled to myself and asked, "Is it working?"

She didn't say anything until she had finished splinting my arm. Then she asked, "So… seriously, what's your name?"

"You first."

"Temari of the desert."

"I'm Brendan of the Little-Root town. You here to catch pokemon?"

"I was thinking about it… what kind of pokemon was the one you used?"

"Marshstomp…" I said, "It wouldn't suit you… I think you would want a pokemon who uses air attacks like you…or maybe a fire pokemon to augment your wind into an inferno."

She looked over at me and said, "You're from Konoha… I can tell by your clothes. I'm betting a pokemon trainer mercenary. We could use people like you in our village, we pay better too."

"I'm a one village kind of guy…" I said with a smile, "But that may not always be true. You're an interesting one… strong, and I bet fast, and only a genin like me. I'm sure we'll meet again, but next time I'll remember not to break my arm."

"You suck at flirting…" she said with a huff.

"You're smiling… that means you like it."

She blushed and said, "It's a pity smile."

"Oh… so cruel. Probably the Cruelest Kunoichi I've ever met."

"Damn right," she barked.

"But I can see a soft light in your eyes…" I teased and she blushed in earnest and sputtered, so I continued, "That's not a bad thing. I rather like it."

"I don't like you."

"Don't lie to yourself."

She punched my broken arm and I barely held in a scream and the accompanying tears. "We'll meet again," I said, "and I personally can't wait. But for now… I have to go, genin to train and all that."

I stood up and walked toward the entrance, leaving Temari in the cave by herself. Outside, Sasuke and crew were waiting. Ino freaked out about my arm, but I waved her off and we started off for home. Once we got there, I had the genin present their pokemon to the third hokage, and satisfied, he dismissed them. I told him about my encounter with Satoshi, Team Magma and then Temari (leaving out the flirting with the enemy part, of course) and he said, "You know, in three weeks, the Chunin exams are taking place it'll be a good test for these genin with pokemon. Go to the hospital and get that arm looked at, next week you start training them and their pokemon each team getting you for a day every two days until the exams come around. You will of course participate as well as a benchmark."

"I understand," I replied and left with a fresh manila envelope filled with my paycheck. I dropped the envelop off at home and headed to the hospital where a medical ninja fixed my arm in about fifteen minutes.

A week later Team Kakashi was waiting for me at training ground three, their pokemon released. "Do we get a rematch today?" asked Sasuke.

"Nah," I answered, "I've given you guys some time to combine your ninjutsu with your pokemon's moves, show me what you guys have come up with. Starting with you Sasuke, you eager beaver…"

I hoped that he heard the sarcasm in my voice, but he didn't let it affect him if he did and he and his Bagon shot off simultaneous Grand Fireballs. They had good coordination of movement, they had obviously practiced together, and then Sasuke stopped moving and commanded Bagon to go through his entire moveset, it included a powerful Head butt, the grand fireball, a Swagger, and Dragon Rage.

I nodded my approval and said, "You figured out that pokemon can use the ninjutsu that they see, rather like your sharingan. Good for you. Next up I want to see Sakura."

Sakura had her Tai do his moveset, including Low Kick, Foresight, Bulk up and Strength. They moved perfectly together, so that Tai covered any weak spots in Sakura's taijutsu and vice versa. "Good Teamwork, but that's not really what I was looking for, you and Sasuke or Naruto could fight like that, this needs to use Tai's specialties to your advantage. Next up, Naruto, show me what you got."

Naruto nodded and said, "Well I figured that out too, sort of accidentally, when Kage did Shadow Clones just like me, let's show 'em!"

Suddenly the forest was filled with Naruto and Golden Vulpixes, but they dispersed rapidly, the real Naruto and Kage looked at each other and Naruto said, "Show him your moves!"

Kage knew Confuse ray, Ember, Will-o-wisp, and Shadow Ball, but then Naruto pulled out two demon windmill shuriken, glistening oddly in the sun, he snapped them open and shouted, "And now, for the grand finale! Demon Flame Wheel Jutsu!"

Kage blew flames onto the shuriken, which lit up in instants, they had been covered in oil! Then Naruto threw them at a nearby tree, and upon connecting, they exploded out. The flaming shrapnel had destroyed the trees and lit a couple nearby ones on fire. "Put 'em out you idiot!" I shouted and Naruto went into a panic to put the fires out.

That was a dangerous move, but it was what I was looking for. "Naruto got the idea through…" I said as said knucklehead put out the fires he'd caused, "he amplified his own jutsu with his pokemon. Sasuke, you taught it a jutsu, and Sakura used great team work, but Naruto created a new move that only the two of them together could make. Do you understand? The rest of the day is yours to use to figure out what I'm talking about… Naruto could you help them out?"

Naruto nodded, beaming. And so I turned and left the training ground. I spied on Team Kurenai and Team Asuma on my way out of the forest, they were having the limited success that Team Kakashi had had too. They still had time before the chunin exams. I smiled to myself and headed home to sneak in a nap.

END CHAPTER

Trainer Card Color: Green

Name: Brendan

Pokemon:
Sui – Marshstomp
Ka – Combusken
Tsukuyomi – Dustox
Ameterasu – Beautifly
Kotetsu – Beldum
Ryu - Bagon

Badges:
STONE BADGE
KNUCKLE BADGE

COMPANIONS:
Tyra, the Pokemon Breeder and her Shiny Plusle and Minun