A/N: Hey guys, here's another chapter that I managed to work on with my spare time. I apologize for the momentary lack of uploads, my mom and I both came down with extreme cases of food poisoning, and then my computer had a little meltdown and wouldn't work. We finally got it fixed and all my files persevered somehow, thank god. Anyways, you didn't come to hear about me, you came for the next chapter of Sinnoh's Shadow Fox.
What's in a Name?
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"Naruto. Naruto. Come on Naruto, wake up dear." Naruto heard a voice, clear like water running over the rocks, calling to him as he tried to open his eyes.
At first they wouldn't respond, and stayed close until he squinted as hard as he could, then forced them open with sheer willpower as he looked up into pitch darkness. Looking around, he saw the person who had called him, standing resplendent in a shimmering white robe. Naruto tried to take in her features, but they seemed to glow with some inner light that blinded him if he looked directly into it.
"Who, who are you?" He asked as he shielded his eyes.
"You tell me." She said as she extended her hand to Naruto, the blonde placing his hand in her's as he blacked out, memories flooding his mind.
Naruto looked over a railing at a girl, her blue hair cut short, and her cream jacket dirty from a fight. Across from her, Naruto saw a boy, his face set in a disgusted expression, both fighters with their hands extended as if going to high-five each other, yet Naruto somehow knew that wasn't what was going to happen.
"Why do you still stand, when Fate has already declared me the winner? Give up now, Lady Hinata, for no matter how much they may wish it, someone can never change their destiny, and a genius of hard work can never beat a genius of skill!" The boy shouted as the girl coughed up blood, the red substance staining the stone floor.
"Haha, is" *cough* "that what you" *cough* "tell yourself. As long as we" *cough cough* "never accept our fate, we can change it. I never give up" *cough* "because that is my Nindo, my shinobi way!" Hinata said as she started to fall forwards, only for the boy to grow angry and charge her, intending to kill her.
Only to be stopped by a man in a skintight green spandex bodysuit.
"Neji, come on, you promised you wouldn't let your feelings for the Main Branch get to you in this fight." The man said to the boy as he tried to break free. Having enough, Naruto leapt over the railing, using one hand to propel himself as he landed on the cool stone floor.
As the medics picked Hinata up and placed her on a stretcher, Naruto bent down, dipping his fingers in her blood as he stood, pointing a finger at Neji.
"On this blood, I swear, I'll beat you and prove to you that you can change your fate! For that is my nindo, my own shinobi way!" Naruto declared as the blood dripped from his fingers.
"Don't you know who I am?" A little boy asked, his long blue scarf dragging across the ground as he looked at Naruto with awe.
"No, and why should I care, little brat." Naruto said, sticking his tongue out at the boy as he stumbled back as if struck.
"How dare you, I'm 'The Honorable Grandson'! I'm the Hokage's grandson!" He declared as he thumped his chest, puffing it out as he looked at Naruto like he expected him to bow down before him.
"Really, well I don't care if you're Jiji's grandson, I don't even care if you're his mother! Respect is earned, not given freely like some trinket!" Naruto cried back as the boy stumbled back once more as the look of awe returned.
"You, you don't care that I'm the Hokage's grandson. Well, I'll show you, I'm going to be Hokage and then you'll respect me." The boy argued as he stood up straight, trying to look dignified.
"Haha, and how do you propose you become Hokage, you're just a brat, and you'll have to get through me if you want that title." Naruto said as he pressed his forehead to the boy's.
"Please, it'll be easy with the lessons Ebisu-sensei is teaching me." The boy said as he shut his eyes and nodded before Naruto burst out laughing.
"Haha, that's a good one. Let me teach you a lesson to then, there's no easy ways to Hokage, no shortcuts, only hard work will earn you the privilege of leading this village!" Naruto said as he puffed out his chest, giving his best 'believe it!' look.
"NARUTO!"
"SASUKE!"
Naruto shouted as he leapt at the raven-haired boy, a sphere of condensed chakra in front of him. He could see his arm was covered in red energy, but couldn't remember what it was from as he flew through the air at a diving Sasuke.
At the same time, Sasuke dove at Naruto, a ball of condensed lightning in his hand as he pushed against Naruto, both trying to overpower the other's best attack.
Sasuke yelled as he pushed through piercing Naruto's chest as the lightning coursed through his body, Naruto trying in vain to stifle the screams of pain as Sasuke turned and left him for dead.
However, as he reached the edge of the forest, he untied the headband around his head, throwing it to Naruto, a deep cut through the metal from Naruto's attack.
"Don't come after me, the only reason I'm sparing your life is to show Itachi that I can beat him with my own power. Goodbye, Naruto." Sasuke said, whispering the last part as it floated through the air to rest in Naruto's ear as he fell unconscious, the rainfall wetting his prone body.
"We need something with claws or fangs. I'm not so good with controlling my chakra, so I'll supply the chakra, and you form the image in your head. Now focus clearly, because we're only going to get one shot at this!" Naruto heard as he looked straight ahead at a giant deformed creature made of what appeared to be sand. On the head, imbedded half-way into the sand was a boy who looked to be asleep, the only way Naruto could see him was his bright red hair.
"Okay, here we go." The voice said once more as a giant smoke cloud enveloped Naruto, and the owner of the voice as the wind blew it away to reveal a giant fox with abnormally large ears, and nine flowing tails behind him.
"A fox, how ironic." The voice said again before leaping at the giant creature, sinking his new fangs into the shoulder, his claws gripping tightly as Naruto leapt off his head, running up the sand as he headed for the boy.
Remember boy, all you need to do is wake him up, a good hit should do the trick." The now fox grunted through his closed teeth as Naruto nodded, racing toward the boy, his fist reared back as he approached him.
Only for Naruto to sink into the sand, feet away from him as the sand held his hands down. Try as he might, Naruto couldn't work himself free from his bindings.
"No, no, I refuse to let it end here, I won't lose now!" Naruto shouted as he leaned back, forcing his chakra outwards for second as his body came loose, and Naruto head butted the red-haired boy as hard as he could as blood came from his head as the boy awoke, the creature crying out as he turned back into sand, and the boy's tumbled through the air before landing on the treetops.
Forcing his body to respond, Naruto got on his knees as he crawled towards the boy, the crimson-haired child trying to crawl away as he feared for his life.
"No, no, don't kill me!" He cried out as Naruto crawled closer before falling down beside him.
"How, how did you beat me, Naruto Uzumaki?" The boy asked as he still tried to move away as Naruto laid there.
"I told you already Gaara; I fight for my precious people, not myself, that is how I beat you. You should try it sometime, after all, you have two siblings who seem ready to defend you if you'd let them." Naruto said as he sighed, looking into the sky as he closed his eyes, and drifted off to sleep.
"What was that? And who are you, who were those people?!" Naruto cried as he reached for the voice only to find he was yards away from the owner of the voice, as if she moved him and left him. Standing to his feet, the blood rushed through his head.
"Who they were is none of your concern, after all what's in a name?" The voice said as Naruto swayed slightly.
"Hinata Hyuuga, Genin, uses Gentle Fist style Taijutsu, Neji Hyuuga, Hinata's cousin, also uses Gentle Fist Style Taijutsu. Konohamaru Sarutobi, Academy student, was the Third Hokage's grandson. Sasuke Uchiha, Missing-nin, left the village for Orochimaru's cheap offers for power. Gaara Sabuka, Genin, possesses the One-Tailed Bijuu, and the ability to use sand in battle." Naruto mumbled under his breathe as he lifted his head quickly, looking the woman in the face as his eyes began to water within seconds, but still he looked.
"Now tell me, who are you?" Naruto demanded as he was forced to look away for fear of permanently damaging his eyes.
"As I said, what's in a name?" The woman said as Naruto charged her.
However, the distance between them only seemed to grow the faster he went. The woman continued talking as Naruto got closer.
"You have done well to retrieve your memories of your friends; hopefully those memories will keep you motivated. You will see me again, when the Green Tower Bell sounds thrice. Then, we will speak again, and, depending on what happens, I may let you have some more of your memories." The woman said, and started to vanish as Naruto barely managed to touch the tip of her hand as a name shot through his head.
"Cr-" was all he got out before his eyes shut again, and when he awoke this time, he was returned to the forest.
"Z, Z, wake up, come on." Zoey mumbled as she tried to wake Z up from his stupor brought on by the attacks. Slowly, his eyes opened as he let out a long groan of pain as his joints felt like they were welded in place. Then, he forced them to respond as he sat up, only to hiss in intense pain from the burning sensation that flooded his body.
"Okay, obviously you shouldn't do that. Now stay still and I'll try to find some help, we're only a couple of miles from Orebourgh City." Zoey said as she stood, turning quickly as she ran off in the supposed direction of civilization. Naruto counted in his head how long she was gone before he, forced himself on to his feet, forcing his chakra to respond as he changed his appearance.
"Now this could be useful." Naruto grunted out before changing back as he stumbled around, searching for his hat, and by proxy, his Pokémon. Finally, he found that it had blown into the high branches of a tree due to the wind generated by the massive attack.
"Grand, just bloody frickin' grand. Now I can't get to my Pokémon, and I have to wait on Zoey to get back, which could take hours. Guess I'll just have to deal with sorting out my memories for now until my body feels more up to getting that hat back." Naruto said as he slowly turned around, pressing his injured back against the tree as he sat down, propping his body up as he closed his eyes, taking a short power nap while sorting out his mental puzzle.
Then, an hour later, he heard a rustling noise as he felt a familiar weight on his head as he reached up to grasp the silky brim of his hat. He gave a faint smile as he tapped the side, Shadow falling out of the black abyss, followed promptly by a thud as Blaze fell through as well, landing on his head.
"Ow ow ow ow ow, what happened to those two really powerful Pokémon?" Blaze asked as he rolled over, rubbing his head to clear the pain from it, looking around hesitantly for Leafeon and Gallade.
"Our trainer decided to play the hero and sacrifice himself to protect us." Shadow answered the fire monkey as he nodded, Z watching with veiled amusement at the two.
"Oh, so I take it we lost?" Blaze asked; his head growing a new knot as Shadow hit him into a tree, the Fire type sliding down the side. Turning away from him, Shadow walked over to Z, nudging him with her head as she nuzzled into his chest.
"Don't do something like that again; I thought I had lost you for a second." Shadow said, showing a different side of herself as Z held her, petting the Dark type fox to comfort her.
"Trust me; I don't intend to do that again anytime for the foreseeable future." Z assured his first Pokémon, and best friend as she nodded, and Blaze pushed himself back to his feet. Walking back over to the snuggling pair, he blushed as he held his arms open as Z sighed, bringing him into the pile as he squeezed Z.
"As Shadow already said, don't do that again. I refuse to lose the only person who can give a chance at beating that fricking penguin! And Idon'twanttolosemybestfriend." Blaze admitted, turning away and speaking the last part fast as to prevent Z from hearing him.
"And as I told her, I won't Blaze. Now then, shall we get going to Orebourgh City to catch up to Zoey, and to get you guys some much needed rest and food." Z said as he stood up, his bones protesting and creaking as he almost fell before Blaze steadied him as he began walking to Jubilife City.
They had got about 500 yards before they ran into someone being chased by a swarm of Combee as they came running right towards Z and his Pokémon.
"Blaze, use Flamethrower to take them out, Shadow use Shadow Ball to pick off any stragglers." Z ordered as he extended his hand towards the Combee as both Pokémon nodded, taking a deep breathe as they fired their respective attacks.
Blaze's Flamethrower swept over the group, taking out a large number as Z's Pokédex beeped, informing him that Blaze had gained a level, now standing at a decent level. 23. Nowadays, he disabled the feature as it served no real purpose other than consuming memory space.
Meanwhile, Shadow fired three Shadow Balls in quick succession as a rather wily Combee dodged the first two; only to get blown up by the third as se fainted as well, joining her swarm on the ground in a collected pile.
Z sighed in relief as the person stopped, looking at the wrought destruction behind her as Z noticed that she was a girl with shoulder-length black hair, a tight black tank top, and a jacket tied around her waist like a skirt while she had on a pair of dark blue sweatpants and black trainers. Looking back to Z, she bowed immediately, thanking him for his help.
"I didn't mean to anger them, I was just training with my Pokémon, when an attack went wide and hit their tree I guess, after that they started chasing me for the past ½ mile." The girl said, still bowed as Z sweat dropped before she stood up, and Z could see that her top was stretched tightly over her developed bosom.
Z felt a blush growing, so he looked away as she pulled out a bag from nowhere.
"Hey, you want to have a Pokémon battle, your Pokémon look pretty strong, and I could use the practice?" The girl asked as Z nodded in assent, the girl smiling brightly as she took her place further down the road as she pulled out a weird looking device, and a Pokéball.
"One vs. one fine with you, I don't really have any other Pokémon?" The girl asked as she tapped a button on the device.
"Yeah, my name's Z, what's yours?" Z asked as she smirked, sticking out her tongue at him as his eye twitched at the childish girl.
"Who cares, all you need to know is that I'm going to give it my all!" She declared, as Z chuckled softly at her enthusiasm.
"If you say so, just know that I'm not going easy on you just because you're a girl." Z said as he grabbed a Pokéball from his Tophat, replacing it on his head as he got his look of cool confidence back, tilting the hat slightly to overshadow his eyes.
"Let's do this, Jolt!" She shouted as she threw her Pokéball, the sphere opening to release her chosen battler, a Jolteon that barked staring Z down trying to intimidate him as he chuckled once more, tossing the Pokéball out into the road.
"Blaze, Contest Forme." Z called out as Blaze appeared in a flash of white, somehow returning to his Pokéball before being released once more in battle. He landed on the paved stone of the road, beating his chest as he declared himself 'King of the Jungle'.
"Okay, let's go! Jolt, use Quick Attack." The girl commanded as Jolt nodded, speeding off towards Blaze, who took the attack in stride, wrapping his arms around the Electric type Eeveelution as he tried to bath the Jolteon in flames with a Flamethrower, only to get a face full of Pin Missile as Jolteon leapt away, turning on him and growling.
"Bring it, Tinderbox!" Jolteon taunted, her voice feminine as the Jolteon bounced around Blaze's efforts to hit her. Every time, he lead with his left hand, despite Z's orders to use long-range combat. Obviously, the boy's lack of experience was showing.
"Okay, use Thunderbolt, Jolt!" Her mistress ordered as she charged her body up and released the attack at the fire monkey, who used Dig to dodge.
Jolteon looked around as she tried to guess where Blaze would come back up, finally using Agility to get faster as she never stopped moving before following Blaze into his hole.
Seconds passed before a giant burst of lightning shot up, Blaze's body at the peak as he began falling in mid-air. Spinning around, though, he fired off a quick Flamethrower to block Jolteon's follow-up of Pin Missile as he used Flame Wheel to slam into her, plowing her into the ground as she gritted her teeth to endure the hit.
"How about you get out of my way, Sparky!" Blaze taunted as Jolteon released another Thunderbolt which Blaze dodged by using Flame Wheel to cover himself in flames and sparks as he hit Jolteon who cried out from the combination attack.
"Oh, you want combos, how about this, Thunder Missile!" The girl shouted as Jolteon nodded, charging her body with a Thunderbolt attack, only to release it with a Pin Missile, thee attack changing from its usual white to yellow as the electricity coursed through attack which Blaze barely managed to dodge, despite being hit in the side with it.
"Oh, come on, that barely tickled me!" Blaze said as he blew out another fast Flamethrower, the flames hitting the ground as Jolteon was thrown back, landing on her feet.
"Okay Jolt, time for the big finish. Start with Thunder Wave!" The girl commanded as Jolteon let off a weak bolt of lightning which hit Blaze, momentarily paralyzing him as Jolteon went into the next step, circling him using Agility and Quick Attack before releasing a storm of Pin Missiles into the sky as they spiraled down, pounding Blaze beneath the relentless attack as he cried out.
Finally, it ended as he looked at Jolt before falling forwards, fainting as Jolt jumped around happily, the girl catching her as she nuzzled her head. "Good job Jolt, you did wonderfully." She said as she set Jolteon down who bounced around her feet, celebrating her victory.
"Very nice combination there at the end, you did well. Now will you tell me your name? Or perhaps what that device is you're holding?" Z asked as he returned Blaze to his Pokéball to allow him to rest after the two draining battles.
"Nope, you'll never know my name, Hatboy. And this little beauty is my Battle Recorder." The girl said as she showed it to Z, who looked at it in confusion.
"Battle Recorder? What's that?" He asked, the girl looking shocked at his apparent lack of knowledge.
"Battle Recorders are used to record battle, so you can go over them and review what you did wrong, so you can correct your mistakes for next time. Some coordinators, such as myself, use them to see how different attacks react to each other, so we can plan them for our appeals. If you want one, I can give you my extra one?" The girl said as she dug around in her bag, before pulling out a second one and handing it to Z, who thanked her as he placed it in his hat.
"Well, it's been fun, but I gotta run!" She exclaimed as she ran back down the road, heading towards Twinleaf Town. Naruto watched her leave, hearing huffing as he turned back to see Zoey coming towards him, stopping in front of him with her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath.
"Z, do you know who that was, what were you doing talking to her?!" Zoey asked frantically as she looked after the girl who was gone by now.
"No, she wouldn't give me her name, and we were just having a battle with each other." Z explained the situation as Zoey listened, her eyes getting wider with each word.
"Well, I can guess why she wouldn't give her name to you. She probably thought you were a stalker or something, or would go to the press if you knew who you were battling. That was Alexis Noire, last year's Top Coordinator!" Zoey exclaimed, her hands on Z's shoulders as she shook him.
"Really, but why are you having such a conniption fit over that, there are lot's of Top Coordinators, Dawn's mom, Fantina the Gym Leader, maybe one of us." Z pointed out as he removed her hands and started to walk off when her next words froze him in place.
"Yeah, but how many do you do of that died just ten minutes after winning?" Zoey asked as Z turned to look her in the face, both their eyes wide.
What's in a Name indeed?
A/N: Hey guys, I finished this chapter relatively easily. The first 3000 words or so just flowed out and then I just added this small battle at the end for some fun. But yeah, how many of you have read or seen 'The Crucible'? We just finished it in English, it's pretty good, anyways, my point is the final ten minutes with John Proctor yelling about his name, I was just like, yes. And if you think I'm done with her already, well guess again guys. Oh yeah, I have to add Pokémon of the chapter.
The Pokémon of this chapter is… Jolteon:
Jolteon shares the same species name with Electrike. They are both known as the Lightning Pokémon.
Jolteon and Zapdos's Japanese names (Thunders and Thunder, respectively) are almost exactly the same as each others', with a final s being the only difference.
