Here we are everyone! Chapter 10 and the first chapter where pokemon are finally caught! I'm so excited, and a bit nervous about the reaction I'll get from everyone at the choice I made. Definitely tell me what you guys think about them though! I find it kinda funny that every team hypothesis I see you guys list in your reviews almost always have an eeveelution…Well, you all are gonna probably hate me for this, but I have no eeveelutions planned to for the trio's teams.

Episode 10: River Water Bully

Traveling with Naruto was shaping up the be as energetic as the boy himself as Sakura watched with an amused smile as the blond swatted at a flock of Fletchling's poking at him with their tiny beaks. This was after the Oodish family they stumbled upon decided he was one of them and tried to greet him with the horrid smelling spores their long leaves would release.

She laughed as the flock decided to fly off bored and the blond returned to her side with a scowl. Pokemon seemed to really like Naruto. Though he didn't really understand it himself, it was always like that apparently from what he told her. Sakura thinks she understood though, Naruto had an air about him that made him seem totally harmless. It was one of the things she liked about the trainer that made him a good traveling companion.

However, one the other hand, compared to Naruto, Sasuke was trying his hardest to ignore the fact they were going in the same direction as him. Looking farther up the path, the female trainer could see the dark figure of Sasuke's as he traveled a few paces in front of them. They had agreed they would no longer travel in a group after Taizaku Gai, however, it felt kind of pointless what with them all heading the next town over in River province, Tanigakure if she recalled.

"So, think we should invite him to our little lunch break?" Naruto muttered close to her ear as Sakura decided that with the sun so high in the sky it was as good a time as any to stop to eat. She turned her attention away from the tree line to spot a good clearing to set up a place for lunch to glance at the brooding teen ahead and shrugged.

"Why not, he's here anyways and he looks like the type to forget to eat when he looks like theirs a storm cloud over his head." She muttered back, just as conspiratorially as the boy. Naruto grinned down at her and gave her a thumb up. He rushed on a head to grab onto Sasuke's neck in a sudden head lock. The dark haired boy yelped and you didn't hear it from her…but it wasn't a very manly yelp.

The two grumbled and yelled at each other before Naruto pointed a tan finger her way. That must have been when the prospect of food was mentioned because two sharp eyes narrowed in on her and she gave a little wave.

"You hungry yet?" she called over. She almost didn't see it, but Sasuke nodded.

Setting up for a little picnic right off the trail was easy enough as the pokemon wandered off on their own. The past few days had been spent similarly as they traveled 'separately' from each other but ate and slept together. All ready, the boys were picking out some of the local berries the three of them had taken to picking off the surrounding trees to put into plastic containers Sakura, of course, had the mind to pack. While the three human's settled down for the moment to eat their berries each of their pokemon came back in turn with more to replenish their little stock.

A jab to her side made the female trainer look up to see Naruto gesturing over to the two grass types. Budew held up a very plump looking Bluk berry in her split bulb on top her head with a pleased smile. Cotonee was following close behind with a glimmer of pride in his golden eyes as the floating cotton ball balanced one too many berries atop its head. Its leafy ear flap waved, trying so hard to get Budews attention on it that it lost a berry or two on its trip back to their humans.

Sakura brought a hand to her lips to hide the amused smile while her blond friend just snorted.

"Hey Sasuke, I think your Cotonee has a little crush." He teased; the tone earned a scowl from the other trainer who cast a look to the small gathering of pokemon.

Vulpix was in the corner, trying so very hard to eat her Leppa berries and not cast a glance at the two grass types. One of which was trying to mind her own business as it handed the dark Bluk berry to Sasuke's Murkrow as the other pushed over a brightly colored berry. Cotonee glared up at the indigo bird pokemon as it cawed in amusement behind Sakura's partner, who at that point, was eating next to Murkrow. She was oblivious to the staring match between Sasuke's pokemon.

And from the groan of exasperation, the other two trainers decided Sasuke wasn't much too pleased either.

"This isn't happening." He muttered mostly to himself as Sakura and Naruto snickered at him from the sidelines.

"Oh don't be such a worry wart Sasuke, once the two of us are out of your general vicinity you won't have to worry about him fawning over Budew like that." Sakura reassured the boy with his head in his hand.

"Shut up." The boy grunted before taking a large, irksome bite out of his lunch.

The break was a short affair and it wasn't long before the three trainers and their pokemon were ready to get on the move again. Sakura had just packed the last of her berries into her bag when she picked up a thermos she kept water in. She went to take a drink only to notice there was far too little for her likeing. Closing the container up she turned to Sasuke.

"Hey Sasuke, do you know if Murkrow spotted anywhere that had fresh water while it was gathering something to eat?" she asked. The bird in question tilted its head when its name was called. Sasuke shrugged and turned to murmur something in his partners direction before it nodded and flew off to land on the pink haired girls head.

"Just follow where he takes you and hurry up, I want to get into the valleys before dark." He muttered.

"Stunky-Head…you realize we are but lowly humans and are incapable of extreme speed, right?" Naruto gave the other a dry look. "Just chill." He threw an arm over the trainers shoulders which he promptly shoved off to go wait under the shade of a tree. Naruto rolled his eyes and went to go collect his vulpix.

Murkrow kept the pace through the forest slow enough as Sakura kept her head inclined to always be able to spot the flutter and flap of dark wings. Through the trip she spotted other wild pokemon in the trees.

A family of Sentret here, a Burmy there.

Sakura had to stop at those points and just look at the pokemon as they went about their scuttling in the trees. She had rarely, if ever saw wild pokemon before leaving home. Maybe a few Meowths and their litter on the side of the street, but someone would always be throwing out food to them at least. And the strays were friendly enough. Her mother often brought pokemon off the streets to care for at the daycare she worked at.

In their natural habitat…pokemon were mysterious. Sakura let out a small squeak when something under her made her stumble into the trunk of a tree. Catching herself before face planting the trainer sighed through her nose then turned back to see what tripped her up. From their burrow, a couple Bunnelby poked their heads out and blinked up at her. Sakura blinked back for a second before shooting a grin and waving down at them, startled, the tan-ish rabbits ducked back down into their home.

A call from Sasuke's pokemon brought her back to the task at hand though and she quickly turned back around to catch up to it. This time she paid a little more attention to where she stepped and narrowly avoided a dashing Zigzagoon darting out of a fern.

Sakura wondered if she should take this chance to catch another pokemon. There were just so many out here as it was, it made the decision so hard. Should she catch that Pichu curling up next to that Pikachu, or maybe one of those Skitty playing with their tails by those flowers? As the trees thinned out again to less grass and more mud and rounded rocks the sound of a river came into her thoughts just in time to see Murkrow land nearby.

She threw the crow a thank you before setting her bag close to the guarding bird pokemon and dug out her thermos.

"Hm…is this even fresh water?" she mumbled to herself as she crouched down on the edge. She cupped her hands and dipped them in the water to fill them and brought it to her lips. However, before she could make sure it really was safe to drinking a cry from farther up the river startled her before there was a pink blur and a jet of water just barely passed her without incident. Still, the sudden threat of attack made her jump back; this in turn made the trainer slip ungracefully into the shallow end of the river with a splash.

Sputtering and spitting, Sakura lifted herself out of the water to just catch the tumble of the small pink blob that was send flying by some kind of water attack. The pink head lifted itself off the muddy ground, a tired and bruised grimace on its round face. It had a bulbous crown atop its head and a white belly. She watched it shake off the damage its body received from its unknown attacker and stretch its body far longer than it really was before its form snapped back to its default size.

Yellow rimmed black eyes blinked up at her then and unsure about what exactly just happened, Sakura blinked back.

The small creature tilted its round head before glancing back upstream. She supposed the pokemon didn't see what it was looking for since it turned back to Sakura then slithered its way towards the river's edge. Sakura watched it stop next to her with an uncertain look. Realizing it must want a drink, the trainer waved her hand at it, hoping it understood it had nothing to fear from her. They seemed to have a somewhat mutual understanding and as the slug looking pokemon bent down to drink Sakura ignored her drenched clothes and turned around to take a drink as well.

It was fresh water after all and with a happy sound Sakura turned back to land to grab her thermos.

There was an unmistakable growl from behind her then and she froze, unsure what type of pokemon was behind her or how dangerous it was. The pink pokemon at her side didn't seem too thrilled either and the frown was back on its elastic face. The pokemon made a high pitched noise and spat out mud.

Whatever it was behind her didn't seem to like that too much as it made a threatening noise of its own over the slashing water. Not wanting to stay to close, Sakura took her chance to jump out of the river and grab her poke ball, ready to release Budew at a moment's notice.

In the water was a fish pokemon about the length of her torso with colors splitting it between a violent looking red and a deep blue, its tail fin was a pop of yellow. It splashed in the water as it tries to shake the mud away from its eyes that had been sealed shut after the slug pokemons hit struck true. The human took that time to make sense of what was going on before getting to her feet and running to her bag to pull out the pokedex. She pointed it towards the two opposing pokemon and their scans came back quickly.

Shellos [West Sea]: Its shape and coloration vary depending on its habitat. Beware pushing too strongly on its squishy body, it tends to ooze an odd purple liquid researchers believe to be a defense mechanism against predators.

Carvanah: Carvanah lives in packs in rivers, their strongly developed jaws and fangs pack the destructive power to tear out the hulls of ships and sink them. Carvanah are very territorial and will attack on sight.

"Oh…well, I guess that explains one thing." Sakura furrowed her brow at the sight of the Shellos being splashed aggressively by the violent pokemon. She and shellos both must be in that carvanah's territory. Putting the dex away and picking up her bag, Sakura decided it was best if she went a little farther downstream to get water.

The shellos, however, seemed quite adamant about getting a drink specifically in this part of the river. Sakura felt a little worried about leaving the pokemon to fight off a pokemon that was much bigger than itself.

"Sakura!"

Jumping at the sudden call of her name, the pink haired girl turned her back to the escalating fight at the river edge just in time to see Naruto leading Sasuke to her. The black haired trainer had an impatient scowl across his features. Brows furrowed, she had almost forgot that they were waiting for her.

"Oh, hey guys, guess I kept you waiting huh?" she held a hand to her hip as the two boys found themselves by her. Sasuke's Murkrow flew off the branches over head just then to return to its poke ball.

"What's taking you, you said you were getting water." Sasuke frowned.

"Yeah…then this kind of happened." She waved a hand down at her dripping clothes and tormented shellos not a handful of yards away being pelted with river water from an aggressively angry fish.

"Whoa, they're really going at it." Naruto commented.

"Yeah...But I kind of want to get that little shellos out of there, it just wants a drink, but that carvanah is really territorial." She explained.

"Eh, then catch one of them." Naruto shrugged an moved his pointing finger from one to the other. The look she gave Naruto like he just dropped a bombshell made the blond snort. That's right…she could catch it. She could, couldn't she…somehow she didn't feel so confident she'd be able to get it away from its fight with the other water type though. Or she would just distract it long enough for that other pokemon to land a dirty blow.

In the midst of her thoughts was when Sasuke stepped up with a pointed look.

"Why not just leave the carvanah to me." He shrugged. Pursing her lips it didn't take her long to agree. Nodding, Sakura release budew and Sasuke his cotonee. The two grass types looked up at their trainers, though cotonee's looked seemed to emote more annoyance than anything.

"Budew, get shellos away from carvanah." The female trainer pointed out the pink slug just a tad larger than budew. It blinked up and sent a determined smile in the direction of its target.

"Just attack carvanah." Sasuke sent a pointed look at his own grass type who flapped its leafy appendages as confirmation. Sakura send one last look Sasuke's way, still a little unsure about battling by him. The dark eyed teen opted to ignore her though and commanded an energy ball attack towards the water.

The cotton ball drifted higher into the air as it gathered green energy over its forehead before releasing it to land just slightly off target. The water came up in a tall geyser. Sakura decided not to watch for too long, else she miss her chance and herded her own targeted pokemon away from the water with the aid of budew's bullet seed.

Yellow rimmed eyes looked up at her in surprise before eyeing up her pokemon and let out a challenging cry. Budew gave her own and attacked with a volley of bright seeds. Under the bright sun shellos's body glimmered just before the bullet seed hit. However, there was nothing but the high pitched sound of multiple little seeds hitting a hard, solid surface and bouncing off to either side.

When budew was out of seeds to attack with the mud was disturbed as a ring of water blasted towards her. Unable to move fast enough, the attack landed and sends the bulb sliding back into the mud. Still, it got up and charged, the glow of seeds building in her mouth.

Sakura told her pokemon to head to the pokemons' side. Easily, budew obeyed, just as shellos spat out the same mud it had over carvanah's eyes at one point. Budew dodged, narrowly, then attacked its challengers side.

Shellos cried out and unable to find traction in the mud and slippery stone for its sticky underside, shellos slid back and was knocked over. With the attack cut off shortly after by Sakura's command all that was left was a heavily breathing and tired slug on its side. It shook its head once then glanced up at budew and then to Sakura with big blinking eyes.

Sakura opened her mouth, but unsure what she would have said, promptly closed it. On Naruto's excited behest, she drove her hand into her bag and produced a red and white poke ball. Her heart thumping madly, the trainer threw the ball in the direction of her target.

Shellos watched the course of the device and let out a cry that was neither bitter nor fearful. Red light surrounded the pokemon before it was reverted back into the poke ball. It twitched maybe twice before confirmation was made, the blinking red warning light ceased and shellos was caught.

A bright smile broke out of her as budew jumped up in down in victory. With her heart still beating wildly in her chest she ran up to grab the poke ball. It was dirty now from the mud, but it was warm with life and that just excited the newbie trainer all the more. Turning back to the boys she caught the tail end of Sasuke beaching the carvanah with a storm of razor leaves.

Sasuke chucked a poke ball of his own and successfully caught the offending pokemon. He picked up his new catch to wipe off the mud and faced Sakura who lifted her own new catch with a happy grin. He didn't bother to comment and turned to walk back to the trail they had left. Sakura rolled her eyes and joined Naruto in the walk back as he cheered and griped all at once wishing he had caught a pokemon now too.

Despite Sasuke's earlier displeasure about arriving in Tani's small town during the night, it wasn't until late after ten that the traveling trainers left the cover of the forest of their home province of Fire for open fields and growing valleys and rivers. The providence where the next town was located was a small respite before the climate became harsh with heat and sun and grass and trees disappeared altogether. That was where the arid deserts of Wind started.

In spite of the late hour, Sakura was sure the Uchiha could still be thankful none of them were in the desert province just yet.

"Hey guys! You gotta come see this." Naruto called over to the two lagging behind on the trail. Sakura lifted her weary head and covered her mouth as she yawn pitifully. They hadn't stopped too much since she and Sasuke acquired new pokemon. A part of her was regretting that.

In all honesty, she and Naruto agreed to skip out on a dinner break because they wanted to make sure Sasuke didn't try and make the rest of the trip without at least short breaks to grab an energy bar from her bag. She was sure that if he had really been completely alone, the dark haired youth would have ignored all hunger if it got him closer to the next town.

Beside her, she heard the dark haired boy groan in annoyance.

"Might as well check whatever it is out…if only to shut him up." She interjected.

"It's too damn late for him to be yelling like that." The youth hissed, she could tell he was trying very hard not to give a sympathy yawn. With a huff he pulled her along up the steep hill Naruto had situated himself on and pointed down to the sight below.

Through her bleary vision, Sakura looked up from her feet only to be assaulted by a vast night sky, clear and cloudless. Its dark canvas speckled with stars and a moon so big and bight it looked like an opal floating in the vast emptiness of space. Below, the road curved down the hill and to the right of a lake so clear and dark it reflected the night scape laid out before the young trainers. In the distance was the town they were heading for, lights twinkling like glitter or stars that fell to earth. Farther, in the distance behind the town where hills that faded the farther they went, swallowed by the darkness of night.

The three were so silent as they stared down at their destination. Sakura heard Sasuke's sharp intake of breath and Naruto's barely contained words of awe. Because really, what could a person say to what they were looking at right this second.

"Its breath taking…" she murmured after some time. No one could argue with that.

"Yeah…" the boys murmured together and without another word the three started their careful decent down the hill, too afraid too much noise could ruin such a sight.

Why do people keep telling me who Naruto's parents are? I know who they are, just because I didn't write out their names does not meant I didn't know. Oh ye of little faith~

And, I know I mentioned this before, but every pokemon in the trio's party was picked as a way to describe a part of them or future character development. I want to ask you guys what you think the pokemon the trio will have at the end of this chapter represent about them.

[Oh my god! You guys just dont know how difficult this chapter was to get passed the first page! It took be two days and a lot of pokemon remix's on youtube to finish this...and its probably sloppy as all hell but whatever!]