I wrote the last chapter many months ago, and since then I've been to and returned from both Germany, France and Otakon, (an anime convention in Baltimore) become president of my school's anime club for the second year, basically become in charge of my school's library, and trained a Bulbasaur named Shan to level 90 on my HeartGold. What's happened in this story in those six months? Nothin'. Let's change that.
Anyway. This chapter gets us back with that one guy from the first chapter, Naruto. Remember him? (Side note: I feel like I have to dumb down my writing abilities for Naruto's POV, since his thoughts aren't particularly complex. Lolz.)
666
July 1st, 2:01 PM
666
"Oh. My God."
Naruto hadn't the breath for anything else.
He slumped down in front of a tree, expecting to look around for the hundredth time, see the same freaking trees for the hundredth time, berate himself for losing his map for the hundredth time. But no. This was so, so much better. Like, to infinity. Poking up into the sky beyond one wall of trees he saw the famous Ice Tower of Kiri. He remembered it from his history classes, a giant ice sculpture said to be made by an ancient Lapras.
He started towards it. The massive bruise on his leg he'd gotten from a charging Nidorino two hours ago felt a little less painful. The soreness that covered him from falling backwards down a hill—backwards—charged his movements with fewer thunderbolts of pain. (Heh-heh. Thunderbolt. Electrike.) He was here. Kiri. The gym. A hotel. A shower. Sleep!
He kept the trials of going through the woods on his mind, even the ones that had hurt him. It kept out the thoughts about Kakashi's Jolteon and the people who'd stolen it and made it bleed so bad it lost consciousness, and the guys who threatened to make their Pokemon kill him, who the hell told their Pokemon to kill a person, you could be put in prison for that hey a hotel! Yes! Hotel!
No, not a hotel. At least not the kind he could afford. Naruto walked past the Arceus Glow Hotel, watching two women in a Rapidash-drawn carriage step out and go inside with their shimmering clothes blinding everyone around them. 'Like I have the money for that,' He thought, looking up at all ten stories of the place. It was easily the biggest building in Kiri. Was this place popular with rich people or something? Sakura would know, he thought. She knew everything, and he always liked that.
It took another three blocks for the "big city" part of the town to fade away into a more suburban shopping area. The street went a little uphill and on his left he saw a sign for another hotel. He walked up the little gravel driveway to it. It looked like a big, homey house, complete with flowers on the windowsills and an outdoor eating area like a patio. This place just had to be in his price range. It had to be.
Inside, he talked to a elderly lady and paid to have a room for two nights. Two nights instead of just one quick one, that second night being a backup plan, downtime. Take that, Sasuke. You're not the only guy who can plan ahead.
Charmeleon and Electrike sighed and plopped down together on the Pokemon-bed in the corner of the room once he released them. It was big enough to fit a small Snorlax, and the blankets were enough to make a fort out of. Charmeleon was careful to keep her tailtip weakly burning so as not to catch fire to the blankets. It was weird, seeing Charmeleon be careful about anything.
His Pokemon were asleep in a matter of minutes, and Naruto watched them happily for a minute before walking drowsily to put his clothes and spare outfit into a washer, and then himself into the shower. He came out fresh and ready to sleep the day away, which he did. When he woke up, it was to Electrike jumping on his back in an effort to tackle Charmeleon. Naruto thrashed and his eyes caught the clock by the bedside: 7:58 PM.
"You guys! Hey! Hey, stop!" When neither one listened to him, Naruto growled and joined the chase himself. The window was open, so someone looking up might have seen a blonde teenager in boxers chasing a Charmeleon and wondered what the hell was going on.
Charmeleon didn't see him in time and she ran straight into him. She bared her teeth and might have been about to use Bite on him when Naruto found her Pokeball on the floor and tapped the button, returning her.
"Trike! Trike, trike." Electrike sat down and panted gratefully at his trainer, apparently glad to not be chased anymore.
The blonde sighed and patted his new Pokemon on its big head. "And you guys playing together just fine a couple hours ago."
Something barked outside so both he and his electric-type looked. Their cozy hotel was up a short road separating it from most other buildings on the street. At the end of this road, they could both see a Poochyena chasing its tail, and a Beedrill floating above it.
"Poochyena, snap out of it! Please!" It was a battle, and the Poochyena was confused. Naruto snickered and remembered years gone by in school. Charmeleon acted like a complete drunk when she was confused.
'Rested up! Time to go out and get something done,' he thought, smiling. His clothes were washed and dried now and he put on the spare outfit. The orange-and-black jacket had made him an icon at school, something no kid ever copied. 'God I have to get my head out of these memories. What am I, my mother?' Well, his mother would have smacked him for that, and her Vulpix, too.
Today was definitely the day (okay, evening) to head for the gym and try his luck, or at least get some training done with some trainer on the street. He left the hotel and jogged into town, blinded occasionally by the harsh light of a setting sun. Gyms tended to be near the center of the town. Not this street. Not this street. Not—dude was that a fucking Cresselia?
It was. It absolutely was. A woman in a long, black coat was standing nonchalantly while her Cresselia circled some poor guy's Nidoking. The battle had two dozen or more spectators and if a carriage or vendor came rolling down the road, it was doubtful anyone would get out of the way.
Was it normal for trainers with legendary Pokemon to just flaunt them in the street, flaunt a Pokemon so rare there were maybe fifty in the entire country? Nobody at Konoha did that, but maybe Konoha was weird. This kind of battle was absolutely, incredible rare. Naruto slowly joined the crowd, keeping his eyes on the moon Pokemon at all times. He fumbled in his pocket for his cell phone to try and take a picture of it. Lee, Sakura, his parents, hell, nobody would never believe it if he didn't get a picture. He shoved his way to the front of the crowd.
"Can you see his left leg, Cresselia?" the woman was asking. "I'm sure you know what to do."
"Liii," the Pokemon keened back.
"Will you tell your Pokemon to fucking do something?" the Nidoking's owner barked.
"Will you tell yours to stop waiting for mine?" the woman replied. People in the crowd hissed, "Burrrn!" and laughed. Naruto tapped the screen of his phone and got a good sideways shot of the Cresselia looking down at the ground. Her trainer's blue hair poked into the corner of the photo, but who cared? Sasuke would have nothin' on this!
The Nidoking started rumbling, but didn't look that angry or determined. His trainer ground his teeth and said, "Crank, when she's right in the middle…when—Now! Thunderbolt!"
To the purple Pokemon's credit, it reacted quick and stomped his foot on the ground while a bolt of golden lightning shot from its horn at the Cresselia. The moon Pokemon was in the middle of floating back and forth and got hit when she was directly in front of Crank, the Nidoking. The lightning surrounded her and her head thrashed back in pain. Her trainer didn't look fazed.
"Yes! Again!" Nidoking's trainer shouted.
The Nidoking roared and used Thunderbolt again, but this time Cresselia dodged to the side, her eyes still closed in pain.
"Not even looking!" scoffed a man in the crowd.
"His left leg," the woman reminded her Pokemon. Cresselia opened her eyes…and disappeared.
Two girls in the crowd started screeching and yelling about what spot it was bound to appear in. Crank curled his tail protectively to the right, protecting his side. "Use Protect!" his trainer shouted. A shield formed around the Pokemon and he held his arms straight out.
Two clones of Cresselia appeared in front of it in an instant, products of a Double Team move. "Psycho Cut," said the trainer.
The Cresselia glowed faintly pink. "Cre-ess!" both cried. Two heads ducked, then lashed it to the right. The sharp edges of its crest slammed against Crank's shield and it broke into glittering pieces that faded into nothing. The poison-type stood there looking unbelieving and his sputtering trainer did nothing different.
"Again, please." The woman said. The Cresselia on the left faded, and the one on the right covered the tiny distance separating it from the Nidoking. A few people in the crowd yelped suddenly at the harsh sound of Cresselia's head slicing against the hard skin of Crank's left leg, a fast but ugly nails-on-a-chalkboard sound.
"Kiiiiii!" the Nidoking screeched, and more than a few people yelped. He fell over instantly, keening in pain and covering his cut leg with both hands.
"Crank, come on! I know you can do this!"
"I think Crank's done." The woman firmly said. Her Cresselia floated back to her side and stopped when her head was level with her trainer's. "You should work on teaching him to anticipate. A Pokemon can think as much as you can. Also, his left leg has a very obvious infected cut."
Crank's trainer muttered something frustrated about his second grade teacher telling him that, and stalked over to hand her the reward for winning. He gave seven dollars, an okay amount for losing a battle, but he'd fought a Cresselia, and seven dollars didn't do shit for getting to see a Cresselia. (One man in the crowd shouted at him, "Isn't that payment a little light for seeing a legendary, kid?") Naruto got his phone again and got a picture of the Psychic-type's trainer rubbing her palm against her Pokemon's shoulder. His mom would like that.
A dozen or so people were coming up to her now, and Naruto made sure he was one of the first ones to talk. "Your Cresselia's amazing!" he gushed immediately. He couldn't stop himself. "It's like you were doing half the battle each—not, like, you didn't do enough work, but like you both knew what to do! You get what I mean?"
"I get what you mean." She smiled, and Naruto noticed she had a piercing on her lower lip. Badass.
"Where'd you catch Cresselia?" a man in a red jogging suit asked. "Have you been to Sinnoh?"
"I found her on the coast of Sinnoh, yes," she replied. "On the edge of a beach, looking out in the direction of Kanto. I think she planned to fly over, but she's actually scared of water." In response, Cresselia pressed her head against her trainer's arm and averted her eyes. Someone in the crowd said, "Aww!"
Someone's phone started ringing, and the Cresselia woman reached into her pocket, showing it was hers. She tapped a button on the big screen and held the thing to her ear, and stood there for about ten seconds while people gazed and took a couple more pictures of her Pokemon. When she put the phone away she reached for a great ball, and returned her Pokemon. "I've got someplace to be. Goodbye!" She started towards the center of town at a brisk pace, black coat billowing impressively behind her. As she went down the crowded road, Naruto did a double-take. Sasuke was sitting at the curb with his backpack by his leg, and looking as red-hot angry as his T-shirt. Well, this was the second time in a row he'd met Sasuke around a gym. Naruto grinned and couldn't help himself.
He sauntered up to his former classmate and said, "S'up. You see that lady with the Cresselia? She looked like she could kick both our asses—"
"I don't care, Naruto."
In response, Naruto plucked Electrike's ball from his belt and tossed it lightly with his hand. It bounced off Sasuke's backpack and Electrike appeared, totally invading Sasuke's space. Sasuke looked like he was about to tell the electric-type to get away, but then appeared fascinated with the scar on his face. "Haven't even been to two gyms and I got a Pokemon with battle scars already. You done anything exciting this week?"
The raven exhaled briefly. "I went to the gym early this morning and only the assistant was there. His Vaporeon beat Houndour." Naruto wanted to snicker, or note that he hadn't lost any battles since leaving home, but he still was very familiar with the feeling of losing. He kept silent while Sasuke looked down the street. "I spent all day training today. The gym leader's back now, but there's too many people in line before me. I'm fighting him tomorrow at one."
So there were already people signed up to fight the gym leader here. "Are you the last in line? I'd go right after you if the spot's open." Sasuke was still looking down the street. "Dude, I'm talking to you, it's kind of rude to just…" He trailed off when he saw what Sasuke was looking at.
There was a grocery store about a hundred feet down the road. To each side of the door there were stands with apples in neat rows. The one on the right had been bumped and now apples were falling into the street. A Cyndaquil stood next to the stand, rubbing its snout.
"Well, that little guy's blind," Naruto laughed. He reached for a Pokeball but slowed when he saw the Cyndaquil was running, three-legged with the fourth still on its nose, right towards them. A cashier came out of the store and yelled, "Cooper! Come fix this!" and the Cyndaquil dodged behind a trash can. He was still rubbing his sore nose and definitely looking right at Sasuke.
"Is it yours?" Naruto asked, putting the Pokeball away.
"No. I dropped part of my lunch today and that thing found it. It's been following me ever since." The Cyndaquil dashed not-very-covertly behind another trash can, a little closer to them. Sasuke unzipped a side pocket on his backpack and removed a Pokeball. "If it doesn't stop begging for free food, I'll have Houndour chase it away for good."
"I swear to God, if you saw a baby Growlithe, you'd kick it, wouldn't you?" Naruto snapped. "It might not want free food, moron. Maybe it wants you to be its trainer."
"Wild Pokemon don't want to be captured, Naruto." he replied back carelessly.
"Just see what it does," the blonde insisted, and Sasuke frowned, but did just that. Still with Houndour's Pokeball in his hand, he watched while the Cyndaquil covered the last stretch of the road towards them. It slowed and stopped and put its tiny front paws on Sasuke's leg.
"Quiwl. Quiwl." It peeped, with what sounded like a baby's lisp. Its squinty eyes didn't move from the raven's face. It didn't move when Electrike leaned in near its face to sniff it. It didn't move when Naruto fished out a Pokemon treat and dropped it on the ground.
"See, it doesn't want food. It just likes you." He said, and smiled. Forget the Cresselia, a picture of this moment right here was what he needed to show people.
There were a couple more moments of staring before Sasuke's face contorted and he ducked his hand inside his backpack again. This time he held a great ball instead of a Pokeball, and tossed it callously at the fire-type's head. Cyndaquil yelped when it got hit, but the sound dissolved as Cyndaquil did, and got sucked into the great ball. It closed and Sasuke shoved it in his bag. "There. I caught a Cyndaquil."
"So go train it!" Naruto suggested.
"I think I'd rather focus on Houndour." Sasuke replied as he stood up.
"Did you hear that little guy's voice? He's just a little baby; you gotta train him so he won't be so freakin' defenseless." Sasuke started walking off so Naruto followed him. A few steps later he said loudly, "I happen to have some training time, duckbutt, and I think we both could use it. I'll help you train your Cyndaquil."
"No, thank you."
Sure paid to be civil. Well, then. "What, you gonna find the girl with the Cresselia and challenge her instead? I'm just trying to help. Why can't you say 'okay,' and just not be a jackass for a day?"
They went another half a block before his old classmate replied. "Are you really going to follow me?" Naruto nodded. "Fine. Let's go out of town, or at least in a park. There won't be many people in those places this time of day. I've got a few potions to spare, anyway."
"You know, I could totally picture this as, like, a children's book," Naruto remarked, and once Sasuke had given him the predictable 'what are you talking about' look, he elaborated, "Once upon a time, Papa Sasuke and Baby Cyndaquil went for a picnic in the sunny forest—"
"Shut it."
Brushing him off like nothing, like he'd done forever. Perfect excuse for a fight. "How about you get Houndour to shut it for me? And Cyndaquil, too?"
Sasuke stuck his hands in his pockets and the two of them branched off the town road towards a more green area, a big, open park. "And beat your lazy Charmeleon into the ground again? Fine. Pick a spot."
"Wish we had an audience so some people could see my Pokemon eat yours alive," Naruto grinned, and then looked off to his left. Almost all sunlight was gone, but he knew his eyes weren't tricking him when he saw Sakura standing at the peak of a hill while Hinata followed her. Well, maybe they'd have an audience after all. His eyes fell on her, illuminated by a bit of sun, but she was always bright. He
He ran towards her, and called out happily, "Sakuraaa!"
666
A fair ending point. Next chapter is a Sasuke-Naruto battle. I'll make it as epic as I can, considering the non-too-intimidating Pokemon the trainers have thus far. Oh, and that woman with the Cresselia is important. I left one hint as to who she is, but whether or not you figure that out, I can tell you she was meant as a distraction while somebody else performed a dark deed somewhere in the city. You'll find out eventually.
On the subject of Pokemon names from the last Author's Note…I'm still undecided. T_T Presently, I personally want names, though as some reviewers suggested, some trainers might only name a couple of their Pokemon. If it'll sway your decision any, here are a few that I've thought up already:
Sasuke's Pokemon would all have rather dark names, for obvious reasons. His female Houndour would be named "Hellfire". I haven't got one for his (also female) Cyndaquil yet.
Sakura is big on knowledge and is clearly something of a romantic, so her Pokemon's names would play off of those things. Her (male) Squirtle would be "Romeo" (since he' so dang loving) and her (female) Mareep would be "Sunset".
Naruto wants his Pokemon to be impressive and badass, but he's not the most creative guy in the world. He would name his (male) Electrike "Scarface". I haven't got a name for his (female) Charmeleon yet.
Those are all I have. If you're in favor of names, you're free to suggest some for the remaining Pokemon if you like ^^