Disclaimer
Let me just start out with the standard Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Pokémon, or any of the associated or mentioned franchises/companies, and I am not making a profit on this.
The image I am using was made by BlissfulGold on , and I am using it with their permission. Please check out their DeviantART page sometime.
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Review Response
MYK-ON: Normally, I strongly dislike giving names or traits to a character's unnamed relatives, for various reasons (such as the character later being named or having a personality opposite that the fic-writer has given them), but I couldn't find a way to avoid naming Hinata's mother this time, so I just used what I felt was a safe bet, considering the Hyuga family's theme to names (light-related names beginning with 'H'), and besides, Hinata and Naruto's son is named after Naruto's father, so it seems right that Himawari is named after Hinata's mother.
As for who will participate in the upcoming contest, it will be Hinata, Sakura, two original characters that appeared in previous chapters, and one Naruto character that has yet to appear; that's all the hints I'm giving on that. And as for Pokemon Performances, well, Performances and Coordination can easily just be rolled into the same thing, just with different themes and slightly different focuses, so in my fic, just count them as the same thing.
ultron-6: Puck's antics are always fun to think up and write, hence why he gets so many. It helps lighten the mood and remind everyone that this fic is set in the Pokémon World.
cruzcartoon: Thanks for your reviews and welcome to my fic. I hope you continue to enjoy it; I've explained Naruto's early arrogant behavior a number of times now, so forgive me for not repeating myself again; just check out the Review Response in the next few chapters.
Dreaming of the Phoenix: Glad to see you continuing to enjoy my work. Being involved in the field of teaching, I understand the need for good parental interaction in childrearing, so I do try to include it in my writing; Kushina seemed to be the maternal-type while retaining a lot of fire and moxie to her, making her a good role model for both Sakura and Hinata. As to why Kushina's a Coordinator, the answer's basically I wanted to underline her having a full and fulfilling life, even with her husband having a 'breadwinning' job. As she mentioned, Kushina was almost a League Champion of more than one region, so she's a tough battler. She just took up Coordination and Breeding first because it enhanced her skills in battling, and later out of shear enjoyment. Plus, it reflects her inner-confidence.
DaOneInDaCorner: Whoa, lots of reviews, all helpful. Haha, I did not have a Beta-Reader until around Chapter 8 or so, I think, so yeah, lots of mistakes in my earlier chapters. My Beta and I are now working to correct those. As for your preferred pairings, I must say I don't necessarily ship them, but I can see why people would like Sakura and Naruto (if in no small part due to Kishimoto admitting he loved ship-teasing those too), and as for Hinata and Sasuke, it is far from the worst pairing possible. I plan to include some more ship-tastic moments between them all in any case. Oh, and my Beta agrees with you that I should stop asking for suggestions and the like, for much the same reasons you mentioned. Haha, fair point, fair point. Thanks, and I hope to see more of your reviews.
Emmerlaus: Yes, each of the characters' favorite Zelda games were carefully chosen, with help from my brother (who could be a fairly good video game critic, it seems). It's a fun way to reflect a lot about each character through a simple question.
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The Hero's Pokemon thus far:
Sasuke Uchiha's
1. Bayushi, a male Eevee with a rare snowy white coat.
2. Togashi, a male Charmander
3. Akodo, a male Shinx
Naruto Uzamaki's
1. Kata, a male Riolu
2. Puck, a male Furret
3. Jet, a male Buizel
Sakura Haruno's
1. Waterlily, a female Azurill
2. Jane, a female Mankey
3. Owlowiscious, a male Hoothoot
Hinata Hyuga's
1. Rhapsody, a male Totodile
2. Waltz, a male Butterfree
3. Aria, a female Buneary
-0o0o0-
Pokémon Konoha
Chapter 16
Part 3
"AAAAAAHHH!" Naruto screamed, unable to help himself. "It's Jason, and he's gonna kill us all!"
The giant recoiled back a few steps, raising his arm defensively in shock. "Huh?"
"Quick Bayushi, use Take Down!" Sasuke shouted, hoping to get the jump of the chainsaw-wielding monster.
"Veevee!" The Eevee bolted across the icy floor and launched himself at the giant's gut.
"Stop that!" the big man shouted, grabbing Bayushi in midair. Holding the Eevee by the scruff of the neck, the giant turned to the kid and dropped the chainsaw in his other hand. "SEE?! I'm not going to kill you! Now, what are you doing here?!"
"We were just trying to follow the kid!" Naruto shouted, pointing at the boy in the striped hat. He was off cowering in a corner, looking terrified. "He ran in here before we could stop him. Besides, what are you doing here, huh?!"
"I work here!" the big man said. "Now, get out of here before-"
He was cut off as a deep roar echoed throughout the cavern hall, followed by a gale of ice shards and cutting winds. The blast of cold threw everyone sprawling across the floor, but it was aimed the big man, who instead was lifted off his feet and slammed against the cavern wall, slumped to the floor, unconscious.
Spitting the snow from his mouth, Naruto pushed himself up and looked at the source of the attack. Standing at one end of the cavern was a towering monster of a Pokémon, equal parts yeti and evergreen tree. It raised its arms and roared, sending out a spray of snowflakes from its mouth.
"Th-That's an Abomasnow," Naruto sputtered, shivering from both cold and fear.
The beast glowered down at the group of children, unexplained anger burning in its eyes. It advanced menacingly, preparing a second blast of its Blizzard attack-
"Back off, Frosty! Bayushi, Hidden Power!" Sasuke shouted, jumping up.
"Vee!" Bayushi blasted the Abomasnow with a ring of sky-blue orbs; the attack was clearly super effective, as the Abomasnow lumbered backwards, howling in pain.
"Don't be shown up, Akamaru," Kiba added, "press the advantage with Fire Fang!"
"Grrrrowl!" Akamaru snarled, leaping at the wild Pokémon with teeth ablaze with orange flames. The Growlithe latched onto the Abomasnow's arm, resulting in a satisfying cry of pain.
"All right," Naruto said, getting to his knees and grabbing a Pokéball from his belt, "now it's our turn to help, Kata! Go!" He tossed the ball and his Riolu started to materialize-
"ROAR!"
The boy was cut off by the Abomasnow's Roar attack, which echoed through the cavern with such force the walls rattled. The attack overpowered Bayushi, Akamaru, and Kata's minds, forcing them to retreat back into their Pokéballs.
"Man, I hate that attack!" Naruto whined; Kata hadn't even stopped glowing when he was force back into his ball.
Nursing his injured arm, the Abomasnow glowered down at the boys. Sasuke glared right back at it, slowly reaching for Togashi's Pokéball; if he wasn't careful, the thing might attack him before he even had a chance to call his Fire-type out.
A gasp of fear broke the tension. It was the boy in the hat; having been ignored in the commotion, no one realized that they had driven the Abomasnow dangerously close to where he had fallen. Now, he looked up at the violent and large Pokémon, frozen in fear.
"Abomasnow!" the beast spat, opening its mouth and building up icy-blue power.
"Look out, kid!" Without thinking, Naruto dove between the boy and the Abomasnow, pushing the kid out of the way just as the Pokémon attacked with an Ice Beam.
The beam hit Naruto around the midsection, sending a wave of cold biting pain throughout his body; worse yet, ice materialized all over his torso and shoulders, nearly immobilizing him. His breaths were short and labored, his whole body freeing cold.
"Naruto!" Sasuke cried out in horror; not wasting another second, he called Togashi out. "Get that thing away from Naruto! Drive it back with Flamethrower!"
"CHA!" Togashi let out a gout of flames that nearly swallowed up the Abomasnow.
Shirking in pain, the beast tried to use Ice Beam, but Togashi blasted it in the face with more fire. Faced with its greatest weakness, the Abomasnow fled down the tunnel, with Togashi and Sasuke chasing after him, screaming vengeance.
"G-Good job," Naruto shivered. He struggled to move, and found that with the ice over his shoulders and chest, he couldn't lift himself up, and could barely use his arms. He looked over at the boy he had protected, still laying on the ground. "H-Hey kid, c-can you help me?"
The boy didn't respond, and after a moment Naruto figured out why: he had fainted, likely from fear.
"F-Figures," Naruto grunted, teeth chattering. He tried to see if he could move his arms down to his belt. "If I can j-just reach my Pokéballs..."
"Need a hand?" a voice asked. Kiba moved into Naruto's vision, giving him a goofy smile.
"Thanks, K-Kiba," Naruto said. "Grab the m-middle Pokéball on my belt, p-please."
"Sure thing," the wild boy nodded, doing as he was told.
Jet was called out, shivering a little before spotting his trainer's distress.
"Get me out of h-here!" Naruto pleaded.
"Bui!" Taking a moment to size the situation up, Jet used his Slash attack to carefully cut away the ice encasing his trainer. Soon, Naruto was free.
"Th-Thanks, b-buddy," Naruto shivered, wrapping his arms around himself.
"Buizel," Jet responded, affectionately punching his trainer on the shoulder.
"Naruto, are you okay?" Sasuke and Togashi had returned from chasing off the Abomasnow.
"F-Fine," his friend said, though this was not entirely true. He was chilled to the bone, and his entire body was filled with biting pains. Ignoring this, Naruto winked at Togashi, saying, "You were p-pretty awesome there, Togashi."
"Char-char!" Togashi laughed bashfully, rubbing the back of his head.
"S-S-So it look's l-like you've now got an Abomasnow?" Naruto asked, winking at Sasuke. "G-Good; you can teach him a s-some manners! (If only you have some yourself.)"
Sasuke shook his head. "Nope, I didn't catch that thing. No way am I gonna add a crazy Pokémon like that to my crew. It tried to kill you and that kid! Uh-uh, there are plenty of Pokémon out there who'd make better teammates."
"Aaah, Sasuke, y-you've had a growing moment," Naruto teased, leaning in and acting overly affectionate. "Quick, someone find a camera."
"Back off, or I'll bury you in the snow!" Sasuke hissed.
"Speaking of which, we need to get you warmed up," Kiba said. He pulled his jacket off and handed it to Naruto.
"N-Nah, I'm f-fine, really," Naruto responded, shoving the jacket back to Kiba.
"You don't get a choice in this," Kiba growled. "Hold 'em, Sasuke."
Ignoring Naruto's protests, the two boys forced the jacket onto him, while Togashi set his tail-flame to its highest heat, holding it carefully close to the freezing boy.
"Stop b-babying me!" Naruto cried.
"Come on, Naruto, drop the act," Sasuke said sternly. "You're so cold you're stuttering more than Hinata!"
"But unlike her, you're not cute when you do it," Kiba added, winking.
Naruto opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it, thinking about what was just said. It was true! He really was stuttering more than Hinata did, even when they first met. He started to giggle and snort with uncontrollable laughter at the very thought of it.
The laughter proved contagious, as Kiba, Togashi and Jet all broke out into a fit of it, with even Sasuke giving a light chuckle.
"Okay, enough of that!" Sasuke ordered, doing a cutting motion with his hand. "We've got to take care of Naruto and the others." He motioned at the boy and the large man, both still unconscious on the cold ground. "And we still don't know if anyone was caught in the earlier cave-in."
"I'll see if I can get the big guy up," Kiba said, walking over to the giant. He leaned over and gave him a shake, followed by a light slap to the face when that didn't work. "Hey, you dead?"
"Check his pulse, j-just in-case he is!" Naruto suggested.
"Yeah, he's alive," Kiba called back, "don't worry."
"Naruto, call the cops on your Pokénav," Sasuke suggested, trying to shake the boy awake. "If we can't get the big guy up, we'll need...their...help..."
Sasuke trailed off because he heard something echoing faintly through the cavern's halls. It was too faint to make out, but it sounded like a person.
"...what's that?" Naruto asked, straining to hear.
"I think someone else is in here," Sasuke said, pulling out Bayushi's Pokéball and calling him out. The Eevee took a moment to shake off the disorienting feeling of being forced back to his Pokéball, with Togashi patting him on the back. "We'll check it out. Come on you two!"
"Be careful!" Naruto called after them.
"Got it," Sasuke called back over his shoulder.
Soon, Sasuke could clearly hear the voice, which sounded like it belonged to an older man. "Hey, is anyone there? Please, someone help!"
"I hear you!" the boy called, running down the cavern hall; it looked to have been freshly dug, having been carefully carved out of the mountain to be wide and tall, with piles of stone and dirt neatly arranged along the hall's length. Unlike the earlier parts of the cavern, this one was fairly straight and the floor was made to be clear and easily tread upon. At the end of it, Sasuke found who was calling for help.
It was an old man, his right leg trapped beneath a chunk of rock; the ceiling had caved-in, nearly burying him. Not only that, but a layer of frost covered the walls and floor, clearly from an Ice-Type attack, with two large chunks of ice at one end of the cavern.
"Ouh, I don't know who you are kid, but I'm glad you're here," the old man said. He winced in pain. "Rrr, come on, see if you can get this Houndoomed rock offa' me!"
Sasuke could already tell the rock would be too heavy for him to just lift it; however, he had an idea already. "Okay, Gramps, you better stay still. Togashi, see if you can use Metal Claw to turn those rocks to rubble!"
Nodding, Togashi raises his claws, now shining metallic, and slashed away. Bits of rock and dirt went flying everywhere.
The old man flinched slightly, but otherwise did as his best to stay still. In a matter of seconds, the boulders trapping him where reduced to pebbles. Once the rubble was cleared away, however, both the old man and Sasuke could tell his leg was broken.
"Great...now what?" Sasuke sighed, face-palming. He thought for a moment. "My friend's already calling for help on his Pokénav. I guess we'll just have to wait for professional help; I don't think it'd be a good idea to move you like this."
"Ain't you a bright lad?" the old man asked sarcastically; the pain in his leg was making him even more surly than he normally was. Growly, he shifted slightly and looked over at the two chunks of ice. "Oi, can you have your fire lizard thaw out those two? I think they'd appreciate that."
"Those are people?!" Sasuke gasped in horror. Now that he thought about it, both of those ice chunks were just as big, if not bigger, than he was.
"No! They're Pokémon, boy," the old man explained. "They be my digging crew. Now thaw them out, before they get frostbite, if you would."
"You heard the man, Togashi, get to it!" Sasuke ordered.
The Charmander nodded and went to work, breathing out a steady and careful flow of flames over the frozen Pokémon, steadily defrosting them.
As Togashi freed his team, the old man seemed to relax a little. "I'm Tazuna, boy. Architect and contractor by trade. Thanks for helping me out."
"I'm Sasuke Uchiha," Sasuke said, looking over the two Pokémon emerging from the ice. He recognized both species: the first was a Gurdurr, and the second was a Boldore. Both looked pretty old, and after they were freed, they just collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Tazuna recalled them, whispering some comforting phrases before putting both away.
"What happened? How'd you end up like this?" Sasuke asked.
Tazuna grunted. "Bah, might as well humor you...we got nothing else to do. My team and I were busy carving out this new tunnel when this horrible high-pitched ringing started going off in my ears. My Pokémon could hear it too, and it was freaking them out. I tried finding out what it was, but the sound became unbearable all of a sudden and all I could do was fall to my knees and try to shut it out. That lasted for a few seconds, and suddenly, it was gone as quickly as it came. I got up and was checking up on my crew when a roar echoed through the cavern, punctuated with a blast of ice and snow. It was an Abomasnow, a wild one. The thing was crazy and looking for a fight, you could tell by the look in its eyes. The beasty sent a Blizzard attack screaming down the tunnel at us; Concrete and Support (my Boldore and Gurdurr) jumped in to protect me from most of it. They took the blunt of it, and the Abomasnow got a lucky shot, freezing them both, while the rest of the attack threw me against the cave wall before I could do anything. That wasn't all the damage done, either. The blast also caused part of the tunnel to collapse and fall on me; that was the last I remember before losing consciousness." The old groaned, trying to ignore the pain in his leg. "Stupid beast's lucky I left the rest of my crew at home to rest...I'd have whooped the dirty coward for coming up on an old man like that!"
Sasuke smiled a little. "If it makes you feel any better, Togashi and I ended up doing that for you; the Houndoomed monster attacked my friend and a little boy before we drove the thing off screaming."
"A little boy?!" Tazuna to jumped up and grabbed Sasuke by the shoulder, seemingly not caring about the pain such movement caused his leg. "Was he wearing a blue and white hat?!"
"Yeah, yeah he was!" Sasuke answered, shocked and a little scared at the change old man's demeanor.
"My Word, that's my grandson, Inari!" Tazuna gasped, clutching Sasuke tighter. "Is he hurt!? What happened to him?!"
"Calm down, he's fine!" Sasuke said, pulling away from the old man (whom was starting to frighten him, though he wouldn't admit it). "Naruto (my friend) shielded him from an Ice Beam and then Togashi took care of the abominable snowman before anything else happened. The kid fainted, but I don't think he's hurt."
Tazuna let himself fall to the ground, his breathing returning to normal. "Oh bless his heart," he sighed. After a moment, he looked at Sasuke again. "Your friend saved him, you say? How's he doing?"
"Don't worry about him. Naruto's tough as a Tauros, and we got him out of the ice real quick," Sasuke said.
Tazuna thought for a moment. "He still risked his neck for my grandson...and you've just saved mine. Once we're out of this mess, I'll have to show my undying gratitude for you to you two properly."
Sasuke chuckled and looked away, hiding the fact that he was slightly blushing at the old man's sincerity. "Careful, Old Timer, or people might start to think you're not as bitter and cantankerous as you first let on," he joked.
"Ah, bite me ya little whippersnapper," the old man grunted.
-0o0o0-
Up above the main entrance, from another cave not easily seen from the ground level, the Sound Trio watched as an ambulance drove up with a police car behind it.
"That was easy," Kin laughed as a gurney was rushed into the caverns. "Nice job there, Zaku."
Zaku smiled and looked affectionately at the great, big blue and purple bat flapping about in the air, clearly enjoying the chance to stretch his wings. "Hehe, Beatbox hasn't gotten a chance to be out in such a long time.* It's good for him to get to have some fun."
The Golbat screeched in delight, flying around his trainer some more.
Zaku turned back to watching the main entrance as the Ice Caverns were evacuated. "We could have taken those twerps, you know, and gotten payback for all the misery we've been through so far."
"Yeah, and then what? They don't have the eggs with 'em," Dosu pointed out. "What's the point of beating up a bunch of boys and exposing ourselves? We've got better things to do.
"Speaking of which, time for the next phase of the plan," the bandaged-faced boy added. "You got your part down, right Zaku?"
The other boy nodded, winking. "I got it; it'll be a piece of cake."
He snapped his fingers. "Come on Beatbox, let's Fly!"
"Golbat-Golbat!" Beatbox grabbed his trainer by the shoulders, flapping extra hard. In a moment, they had lift off.
"Remember to stay out of sight, you two!" Dosu called as the pair flew down the mountainside.
Zaku responded with a thumbs-up and was soon out of sight.
-0o0o0-
"Okay Waterlily, you're up," Sakura said, tossing her Azurill into the air.
"Zu-rill," Waterlily cheered, landing perfectly on their side of the battlefield
"Get ready Waltz," Hinata said, calling him out of his Pokéball. The Butterfree laughed and twirled in the air a bit before settling down.
The girls had moved from Kushina's room to the hotel's battling area; after reviewing their teams' moves and going over appeal ideas, Kushina wanted to go over the battle stage of a Coordination Contest. She was using Kurama's Illusion power to change her appearance again to her 'Mrs. Uzumaki' disguise and sat on the sidelines, watching the two girls and giving them instructions.
"Now, before we begin, you both know the basics of the Battle Stage, right?" Kushina asked.
Both girls nodded. "Gym Leader Haku explained the basics to us," Sakura explained, "Trainers fight each other in a timed battle, but the point is to show off your skill rather than knock out your opponent, though that does count as a win if you do. During the battle, both trainers can lose points in various ways, such as being hit or failing to perform an attack, or they can make their opponent lose points through skillful displays."
"Nicely summed," Kushina said. She turned to Hinata. "Can you add anything to that?"
The other girl nodded excitedly. "Yes; you can make your opponent lose points by avoiding or skillfully deflecting the enemy Pokémon's attacks, or if you pull off something that is clever or creative. Also, if your Pokémon knows attacks that are very rare or unusual for their species, that will impress the judges, but using the same attacks over and over will result in point loss."
"Very good," Kushina said. "Now, like Hinata said, if you can avoid or deflect attacks with great skill, you'll quickly start knocking off your opponent's points. I've seen Coordinators win Battle Stages by staying purely on the defensive. So, you two are going to practice that; Sakura, I want you to have Waterlily try and attack Waltz in any way she can. Hinata, you and Waltz are to avoid attacks and stay defensive. Okay?"
Both trainers and their Pokémon nodded in agreement.
"Now...Begin!"
Sakura was the first to go. "Alright Waterlily, you heard the Lady! Start this off with Bubblebeam!"
"Zu!" The Azurill fired off a steam of glassy bubbles at the butterfly Pokémon, who hurried off to the left, evading the attack.
"Follow him! Don't let up!" Sakura instructed.
"Keep on flying," Hinata countered.
Waltz flapped his wings hard and flew just ahead of the steam of Waterlily's attack, going up, down, and zigzagging all around to avoid it.
Meanwhile, Kushina watched, and shook her head disapprovingly. "You both better shape up; Hinata, Waltz doesn't look impressive at all flying around like that. Sakura, using the same tactics like that is getting boring. Now show me some real appeal!"
Sakura gritted her teeth, thinking. "Okay Waterlily, jump up after him, and then fire out your Bubblebeam in a spread. Got it?"
"A-zu-RIll!" Waterlily punctuated each line by hopping higher and higher, chasing after her opponent. After the third jump, she let out a cone of bubbles right as Waltz was changing direction in the air.
"Quick Waltz, use Whirlwind!" Hinata cried.
"Free-free!" Furiously, the Butterfree flapped his wings, letting loose a blast of wind, blowing Waterlily's attack aside. The gust kept going, though, catching the Azurill in the air and throwing her to the ground.
"Zu!" she cried, shaking herself to try and clear her now dizzy head.
"Oh, sorry!" Hinata squeaked. "We didn't mean to actually attack you!"
"Bree-free," Watlz shrugged proudly, not really feeling sorry at all.
"Don't worry," Kushina called from the sidelines, "sometimes attack is just part of defense. You were still staying on the defense."
"And we'll just break though that defense!" Sakura cheered, pointing at Waltz. "Okay Waterlily, let's stop fighting at a range; hit him with Bounce!"
"Waltz, fly to the edge of the ring farthest from Waterlily and zip away to the other side when she comes at you!"
Both Pokémon moved to obey; Watlz flew to the left side of the arena while Waterlily got back atop her tail and started jumping up and down. After building up enough momentum, she launched herself into the air, flying tail-first right at Waltz.
"Freeee!" Waiting until the last moment, Waltz dodged the Azurill's attack. However, unlike earlier, he did it with a midair barrel roll, finishing his dodge by lightly tickling Waterlily's ear with his wingtip just as she sailed past him. With a flourish of his antennae, he flew off to the other side of the ring.
"Oooh, nice one," Kushina catcalled, whistling.
Hinata blushed. "Keep it up, Waltz!"
"Don't be discouraged Waterlily," Sakura said, not changing her tone at all. "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!"
"A-zu!" Once again, Waterlily Bounced at Waltz, and once again, he evaded the attack; this time, with a summersault.
"Third time's the charm, Waterlily!" Sakura shouted before her Pokémon even landed. "One more time!
"Yeah," Kushina sighed, "this is getting old, really fast."
Using the momentum from her landing, Waterlily threw herself into the air at Waltz, who prepared to evade her attack again. However, this time it would end differently.
"Quick, Water Gun!" Sakura shouted.
"Azuuuuu!"
"Free?!" Taken by surprise, Waltz panicked in air at the oncoming jet of water, which hit him square in the face. Sputtering, he was then unable to avoid Waterlily as she slammed into him, tail-first.
"Waltz, quick, use Confusion to throw her off you!" Hinata cried.
"Don't let him," Sakura countered, "Bubblebeam now!"
Still falling to the ground, Waterlily blasted Waltz in the face just as his eyes started to glow magenta with psychic power. Waltz took the attack at point-blank range, followed by him crashing into the ground with Waterlily slamming atop him. To so the least, he was not enjoying himself.
"Waltz!" Hinata rushed to her poor Pokémon's side, cradling his head. Waterlily jumped off him and asked if he was okay, though the Butterfree was really too dazed to do much anything.
"Freeee..." he moaned, eyes unfocused.
"...that was cool," was all Kushina could say, eyes wide.
"Are you okay, Waltz?" Sakura asked, walking over to the others.
Clearing his head, Waltz got to his feet and flapped the water off his wings, spreading them proudly once they were dry. "Breee-Free!" he shouted defiantly, flapping back into the air...only to fall back to the ground. Hinata caught him and told her Pokémon to take it easy.
"Okay, clearly, we have a winner," Kushina said, stepping in. "Good job, Sakura. That was really smart of you, tricking your opponent into overconfidence and changing tactics. You've trained Waterlily well to be able to react to you orders so quickly."
"Ah, go on," Sakura chuckled, blushing.
Meanwhile, Waltz deflated in shame, hanging his head so low his antennae touched the ground. "Free.."
"Your flying was very fancy there, Waltz," Hinata reassured him, batting him on the back. "I think you did wonderfully."
This perked him up a little.
"Fancy it was," Kushina agreed, then added, "However, you now know never to think you've won the fight. It's easy to turn a match around in a normal battle, let alone during a Contest."
"Now," she went on, "we'll give these two a rest and practice with your other Pokémon. This time, Hinata will be the one on the offense, and you'll defend, Sakura."
-0o0o0-
Meanwhile, at Whitestone Corp's Tower, Tsurugi City...
Mr. Orochimaru glared at the dilemma set before him. Truly, he was facing a vexing challenge, with many roads to take, but to make the wrong choice...it would lead to disaster!
Sitting across from him, his opponent held a neutral expression of relaxed contentment. His was like a statue from the Hellenistic period, with marble-pale skin, beautiful, shimmering white hair, and delicate attractive facial features, with a calm, archaic smile playing across his pretty face. To complement his statue-like appearance, he was dressed in the traditional clothing of ancient royalty, white and pale green in color. His luminous, moon-blue eyes watched Orochimaru carefully, emotions of wonder and curiously shining through his calm exterior.
Of course, considering that he was a twelve-year-old boy, and they were playing a game of chess, one might not take the situation as seriously as Orochimaru was. Orochimaru, however, seemed to be taking nothing in the world as seriously as contemplating his next move. Which is exactly why he didn't even bother looking up when the door to his office opened, only grunting, "Go away, Pamela, I'm busy."
"It's Kabuto, sir," his prize assistant said, not looking up from his clipboard. Ignoring his boss, he walked across the room to his usual place, reading off his list of notes. "Okay, I've got fiscal reports from all branches I need you to look over before they're okayed, then I've got updates on those medical reports-"
"What about the Otogakure project?" his boss interrupted, "Any news on that? -Ah-ah, I've got you now!" He suddenly grabbed his queen and moved her, taking the boy's Knight.
Kabuto grit his teeth and sighed. It was difficult getting his boss to take interest in the everyday workings of both his legitimate business and criminal empire when he was fixated on a project. "Yes Sir, I have the reports for that, both the public ones and our illicit operations there, including some news from Dr. Fuji-"
Kabuto looked up and saw the boy for the first time in his life, who waved 'hello' at him and smiled lightly before turning back to the board.
"Oh, hello there," Kabuto shrugged, looking back at his papers. "Boss, tell me next time you have a guest, please. Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, now, as I was saying, according to Dr. Fuji, he believes they have discovered- WAIT A SECOND! There's a kid here!" The young assistant jump back and pointed accusingly at the boy.
"Why, yes there is, Kabuto!" Orochimaru said in mock surprise, putting his hand to his chest. "Truly, nothing escapes you, does it? ...also, it's rude to point, you know (and you have such good manners most of the time)."
"Ye-...but, wait-?!" Kabuto stammered gibberish for a few seconds, shock twisting his tongue. Finally, he was able to manage, "What's he doing here?!"
Orochimaru glared. "Don't be so rude! Stop shouting and being so frantic. Dear Little Toneri here's acting perfectly rationally; maybe you should take a leaf from his book, eh?"
Kabuto took in a deep belly breath and let it out through his mouth, forcing a calm to take hold of him before his spoke. "Boss...I'll ask you again; what...is that boy...doing here...while you and I...are discussing...things?"
"Things like my secret life as a crime boss?" Orochimaru asked bluntly. "Ah, don't worry about it; Toneri already knows about that? Isn't that right, Little One?" He turned to the boy.
Toneri, as Orochimaru was calling him, nodded silently, looking up at Kabuto with a smile.
Slowly, the bespectacled man breathed in, turning back to his boss. "Sir, I know you have made it something of a hobby to find young, talented people and turn them to...your style of life, but normally, you first ensure they'll be loyal and faithful to you before letting them know hints at your true identity, let alone just up and telling them everything without talking to me first! What is the big idea now?!"
Orochimaru allowed himself to glare ever so slightly at his underline's attitude. "Kabuto, what do you think you are, my wife? Shouldn't it be the Boss of a crime syndicate giving orders and demanding answers? Not the mere assistant?" However, Kabuto's hard stare did not change, so Orochimaru knew he better stop teasing him, lest his assistant find some way to punish him later. "However, I was planning on telling you soon anyway, so now's as good a time as any: I've decided to adopt an heir!"
What followed was about an minute of loud silence. Then Kabuto was able to breath in again.
"WHAT?!"
"You're shouting again," Orochimaru drolly reminded his assistant, looking rather annoyed. Was all this drama necessary?
"Why would you do something like this without even thinking of telling me first?" Kabuto demanded, forcefully lowering his voice.
His boss shrugged. "...because you'd try and stop me if I did."
Silently, Toneri watch the two adults argue about him, a glare slowly but surely growing across his pale features.
"Sir, why on earth would you want an 'heir' anyway?" Kabuto went on. "And what does that even mean? What are you really plotting? And seriously, why keep everything secret from me in the first place?"
"Kabuto, it is kind of hard to answer your questions when you won't stop asking them," Orochimaru pointed out smoothly.
After the young man shut up, the boss continued, "Now, as to why I'd want to have an apprentice and heir, well, for starters, just about every famous evil mastermind has one, so of course I grab one to stay in fashion."
"No jokes please," Kabuto grunted, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Okay, okay, I'll stop," Orochimaru smiled, steepling his fingers. "The truth is, dear Toneri here has amazing...potential, and I have big plans for him."
"Oh really?" Kabuto asked skeptically. "Like what? Aside from suffering from what looks like oculocutaneous albinism type 1B, I don't see what's so special about him-"
Kabuto found himself cut off as the light suddenly dimmed and the air took on the feeling of an icy mist. The whole room seemed to shake, while shadows crawled across the walls. A sickly wailing sound could barely be heard, seemingly coming from all around, followed by haunting laughter. Kabuto cried out and looked around for an explanation, and saw Toneri's blue eyes glowing with eerie power.
"That's enough," Orochimaru ordered, not raising his voice.
The eerie glow left the boy's eyes, and all at once, everything returned back to normal. Kabuto just stood where he was, his glasses dangling from one ear.
Toneri blinked, then turned back to the chessboard. Thinking for a moment, he reached over and moved his Bishop. "Checkmate." It was the first thing he had said since Kabuto entered the room.
"W-What was that?" Kabuto finally asked, looking at the pale boy with wide, fearful eyes.
"That," Orochimaru said with satisfaction, "is exactly why I've taken Dear Little Toneri under my wing."
-0o0o0-
Naruto sat in the Winterborn Police Station, bundled up in a blanket with a cup of hot coco in his hands. Sniffling, he sipped his drink and tried not to tremble too much. Kiba and Sasuke sat at the table with him, both given cups of coco as well (though Sasuke hadn't touched his).
"Here you go Sweetie," a policewoman said, walking over and setting down a box of tissues. "Just try to keep warm, okay? We've got all the answers we need from you, so we'll let you go soon."
"Thanks," Naruto sniffled, taking a tissue and blowing his nose. After the lady left, he sneezed loudly. "This sucks! I thought Sakura said you couldn't get a cold from being cold! She lied to me!"
"You don't have a cold; your nose is just running from the sudden temperature change, I think," Sasuke explained. "You'll be fine soon enough, just like the guy in the ambulance said you would."
"It still sucks!" Naruto sniffled some more and blew his nose again. After finishing, he added, "You know, I'm surprised the cops didn't call my mom and have her pick us up or anything."
"And as long as you don't tell them your mother's here, they won't," Sasuke said slyly. "I told them we're just your everyday young trainers traveling away from home. No reason for them to think otherwise."
"So why are we still waiting here, if we've got nothing else to do?" Kiba asked, scratching Akamaru behind the ear as the Puppy Pokémon lapped up his cup of (Pokémon-safe) hot chocolate.
"Old Man Tazuna said he wanted to talk to us at his house after his doctor finished putting a cast on his foot," Sasuke said, stirring a spoon in his untouched cup, "Something about wanting to thank us properly, I think."
"That's nice of him," Naruto said. He looked over at the other side of the room, where boy Inari sat brooding in a corner. "What you do think his problem is, giving us the cold shoulder after we saved him?" In fact, the boy hadn't even thanked Naruto for taking that Icebeam for him.
"Maybe he's still in shock, or maybe he's shy?" Kiba suggested.
Sasuke grunted and shot a cynical glare toward the kid. "Yeah, and maybe he's just an ungrateful little-"
"Inari!" Before Sasuke could finish saying exactly he thought of the boy, a motherly woman with long, dark hair rushed over and took hold of Inari, hugging him tightly. Behind her was the policewoman from earlier, along with the big man in the cave (who's name the boys still hadn't learned, incidentally).
"You cannot imagine how worried I've been, ever sense I got the call from the police!" the woman said. She let Inari go and looked him over. "You're not hurt, are you?!"
"I'm fine, Mom," he said, avoiding eye contact.
"Yeah, and it's thanks to those boys over there," the policewoman said, pointing proudly at Naruto and the others. "In fact, the blond shielded him from an Icebeam!"
Inari's mother gasped, and the policewoman started giving her a quick run-down of all that had happened. As soon as Inari's mother heard the whole story, she started making her way over to the boys, eyes beaming.
"Uh-oh, mom-alert," Kiba whispered, watching the woman approach, "You better watch what you say, Sasuke, or you might just upset someone."
"Why should I care?" Sasuke whispered back darkly, "If her boy's a brat, I ain't gonna sugarcoat it."
"Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!" Inari's mother cried. "I'm Inari's mother, Tsunami. You saved my family! I can't think of what to do to make it up to you."
"For starters, how about getting your son to say thanks?" Sasuke snapped before Naruto could stop him.
"Huh? What?" Tsunami looked at her son, who shrunk a little, and then back up to the boys. "I'm sorry, Inari's just...being a little shy and shocked at all that's happened." She pushed him forward a little. "Come on now, don't be rude."
Inari looked down at his feet, shuffling them a little before looking up slightly and muttering, "Thanks."
Naruto frowned at this half-hearted 'thank you' while Sasuke rolled his eyes and Bayushi outright hissed at the kid. Tsunami sighed and lead Inari away a bit, whispering something to him.
While she did so, the giant man from the cave stepped forward. He was still wearing his mask. Now that Naruto had a chance to look at him without being in a panic, he realized that the giant's mask didn't look as much like a hockey mask as it did the face of a Glalie; it even had a Glalie's black horns, something that was hard to notice at first because the man's hair was black and messy. "We haven't been properly introduced," the big man said, taking Naruto away from his thoughts, "They call me Wulfric, and I am Gym Leader Haku's personal assistant. I'm also a professional ice sculptor."
"Ah, so that's what you were doing with the chainsaw in the Ice Caverns," Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah, uh, sorry for screaming and saying you were gonna kill us and all...but in my defense, you're a big guy wearing a mask and wielding a chainsaw. What was I supposed to think?"
"Speaking of masks, why is it you're wearing one anyway?" Kiba asked.
"It's for my job at Haku's gym," Wulfric explained quickly. "Haku likes to keep up a theatrical theme to things, so all employs dress up in different styles. Plus, it doubles as a safety mask when I'm carving up ice."
Sasuke, who had been listening to the conversation and looking thoughtful, spoke up. "So, you're like Haku's right-hand man, right?"
Wulfric nodded. "You could say that." From his tone, it was clear that more could be added, but he didn't elaborate.
That was good enough for Sasuke. "So, what can you tell me about her as a Gym Leader?"
Wulfric gave a chuckle. "Ah, I see...you're here because you wanted to challenge Haku to a Gym Battle."
"Isn't that why most people come here?" Kiba asked, thinking it obvious.
"Actually, we've been getting more Coordinators recently," the giant admitted. "So many that Haku felt it wouldn't be that big a deal to shut down the gym for maintenance for a week."
"Do I look like a Coordinator to you?" Sasuke asked sardonically.
Naruto didn't miss a beat. "Well, now that you mention it, your hair is fabulous and well-maintained."
"Can it, Shorty," Sasuke hissed, shoving him.
"Don't call me that!" Naruto growled, shoving back. "I'm due for a growth spurt anytime now, and then I'll be as tall as my dad!"
"Keep telling yourself that, Short-stuff" Sasuke chuckled.
"You lovebirds done yet?" Wulfric asked bluntly.
"We're not lovebirds!" both Naruto and Sasuke shouted in unison.
"Keep telling yourself that," the big man repeated mockingly. "Anyway, seeing as you guys helped out Old Man Tazuna, and how you're clearly eager to battle my boss, I'll talk to Haku and see if we can arrange something."
"Awesome!" Naruto cheered, pumping his arms.
"Thanks," Sasuke agreed, quieter but smiling softly.
"Excuse me." It was Tsunami, walking back over to them. "I know my father wanted to thank you properly for what you've done. However, I've talked to his doctor, and they're going to need to keep him at the hospital overnight. But tomorrow, why don't you come over to dinner, as a way of my family showing you our gratitude."
"That's very generous of you," Naruto said; a home cooked meal sounded very appealing. "Uh, not to be rude, but we've got two other friends traveling with us; would it be too much to ask if they can come, too?"
Tsunami shook her head. "Not at all. On the contrary, having lots of people over would be a nice change of pace."
"Thank you very much," Naruto smiled.
Sasuke cleared his throat. "It's getting dark, and the others are probably wondering about us."
Naruto nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Uh, thanks for everything, Mrs. Tsunami; we'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
"Thank you, and have a good night," the woman responded as the boys took their leave.
As the three started walking down the way, Naruto took out his Pokénav. "I think I'll call up the girls and give them the news about dinner."
Sasuke nodded. "While you're at it, you might as well tell Aunty about our little escapade."
At this, Naruto gulped. "Yeah, you're right. Man, why does trouble always follow us around, anyway?"
-0o0o0-
Zaku sneezed, nearly dropping the set of lock-picks he was carrying. "Lousy cold weather!" he hissed, pulling his scarf up around his mouth and nose. "I hate it! And it makes this so much harder to do; do you have any idea how difficult it is to pick a lock in midair, let alone while wearing gloves?"
"Bat-bat," Beatbox shrugged, doing his best to stay steady as he held his trainer aloft.
The two were flying just outside of Gato's office window at his resort. Just as Dosu predicted, it was empty, with Gato off to capitalize on the damage they had inflicted on the tunnel project. Beatbox's echolocation proved doubly valuable for such a task; aside from being able to check if anyone was inside or even nearby the room, it could also be used to detect any motion alarms or the like. It wasn't hard to see why many criminals employed the Zubat line in their work.
Zaku sighed, doing his best to ignore the cold, "Hey, Beat, buddy, start a tune to work to."
The Golbat started to half hum, half screech, out a melody, to which his trainer started to sing along.
"There's a man who leads a life of danger," Zaku sang, moving to the beat as he started on the lock. "To everyone he meets he stays a stranger! -yeah, good choice Beatbox! Real fitting!- With every move he makes, Another chance he takes! Odds are he won't live to see tomorrow."
Right on time with the song's chorus, the lock clicked and the window swung open. Considering Zaku was moving in time to the beat, this was less coincidental than it appeared.
"Secret Agent Man! Secret Agent Man!" Zaku went on, diving into the office and rolling, doing what he considered a 'James Bond' style pose. He motioned for Beatbox to follow him him, and then overly sneakily moved behind Gato's desk, sitting down and booting up the computer. "They're giving you a number and taking away your name!"
Chuckling to himself, Zaku went to work, humming the tune as he went. While he may not have been the smartest kid in school, he didn't consider himself stupid, and the fact that he had a knack for computers only proved this in Zaku's eyes; Kin, however, would always point out that even a blind Pachirisu found a nut once in a while. As he started to access Gato's personal files, Zaku wondered to himself what she'd be saying now? Chuckling, Zaku had to admit hacking this computer so far proved fairly easy. Gato must not have felt the need for serious computer security in a little town like this.
Smiling, Zaku continued to hum along with Beatbox as he pulled out a flash drive and plugged it in. Tapping his hand in time to the song's beat, the young man started looking through Gato's files for what Dosu asked him to find.
"Ah, there you are!" Zaku said softly, finding it. "Everything on Ol' Mayor Gato's gold mine, and now it's ours." He copied it to his flash drive, as well as anything that looked remotely related to any illegal activity, just like Dosu told him to.
In just a few minutes, Zaku's work was complete. He turned off the computer, grabbed his flash drive, and did a quick check of the desk and room, being sure to leave everything just as Gato had left it. Satisfied with his work, Zaku had Beatbox use his echolocation to make sure there would be around to spot them, and then the two were off, flying up to the Sound Trio's room, finishing off the last verses of the song as they did so.
-0o0o0-
"Girls, you and your Pokémon were just awesome," Kushina said, smiling big.
After almost an hour of practicing for Contest Battles, the girls had decided to call it a day and were now resting back in Kushina's room, with all their Pokémon out, enjoying some fruits Kushina had ordered from room service.
"You're much too kind, Mrs. Uzumaki," Hinata said, passing a section of the orange she was peeling over to Waltz. "I think Sakura is more adapt at this than I am."
"Not really," Sakura responded, frowning a little. "You did just as good as I did, and this fancy dodging stuff is like second-nature to Aria even!"
"Buneary," Aria squeaked proudly. She had an interest in dancing around even as a wild Pokémon, so when Hinata told her to try to dance and battle at the same time, the Buneary was more than happy to do just that. It only took a little bit of practice for her to really get the hang of it, too.
"Well, that's Aria's talents, not my own," Hinata said quietly, twiddling her fingers.
Both Aria and Sakura were about to say that Hinata was plenty talented and good, but Kushina held her hand up, signaling she wanted to speak.
"You know, I haven't known you for a day yet," Kushina said, "and yet, I can't help but notice you really seem to put yourself down a lot." She turned to Sakura. "She do that often?"
"All the time," Sakura replied bluntly. "Naruto and I both do our best to say otherwise whenever she does."
"I see," Kushina sighed. She paused, thinking of how best to phrase her next question. "Uh, Hinata dear...something tells me...uh...your family life...okay, look kid, just straight out tell me: your dad's not the supportive type, is he?"
The shy girl gasped, and hesitated to answer. Which was all the answer the others needed, really.
"Ah, so that's why you've got no self-esteem," Sakura said, "I figured it was like your dad being a distant jerk or something-"
"My father loves me!" Hinata cried out very quickly, looking very defensive. "He just...has trouble showing it sometimes! I-I mean, it's complicated...he's got lots of pressures and troubles, being the Clan Head and all...and me not being able to use aura." She looked away and downward.
Sakura, taken back, mentally kicked herself for her lose tongue, and looked to Naruto's mother for advice.
Wincing, Kushina put a hand on both girl's shoulders. "Listen, no one means any insult or harm, okay? And Hinata, if your father has trouble showing you affection...that's neither your fault nor anything to be ashamed of. Nor is it anyone's fault that you're not an Aura Guardian. I'm sure he does love you the way you are." Inwardly, she thought she sounded like when Mikoto was reassuring Sasuke of his father's love. What was is about Clan Heads that made them second-rate fathers anyway?!
Hinata nodded silently, wishing the conversation never happened. Rhapsody reached up and gave her hand a loving squeeze, doing his best to show he cared. His trainer smiled gently and squeezed back.
"Uh, Hinata, if you don't mind me asking, what are some things that made your father proud of you?" Sakura asked slowly, hoping to turn the conversation to a more positive note.
For a while, Hinata was silent, and Kushina desperately hoped that there was something that Hinata's father was proud of. Then, slowly, Hinata blushed and said softly, "H-He used to say I danced like mother...that it r-really made him happy."
"You can dance?" Sakura asked, smiling. "Can you show us?"
The other girl blushed again, and shyly began fiddling with her fingers again. "I don't know...I've only really danced for my family and teachers. I'm not sure I'm good enough to do it in front of...well, other people, I guess."
"Well, there's a first time for everything," Kushina said. "Come on, don't be shy, we won't judge you. Besides, I bet you're much better than you say you are."
At this, Sakura brightened up with an idea. "You know, Hinata, if you're very good at dancing (which I bet you are), maybe you should do a dance with your Pokémon for the contest!"
Waltz, Rhapsody, and Aria all cheered at this idea. Rhapsody even started to dance in an effort to show his enthusiasm at the thought.
"I do like a good dance," Kushina admitted, "I think that sounds like a wonderful idea. But," she added, "if you really don't feel comfortable dancing in public yet, we certainly won't make you."
Hinata looked at her team, who all had big, bright, expectant eyes, then at Kushina, who waited calmly, and then at Sakura, who was holding her breath waiting for her answer. Thinking about how her mother looked dancing up on stage, she sighed. "You're right; it'd be silly to learn dancing and expect never to perform in front of people."
A round of cheers broke out as Hinata got up and moved to the center of the room. Breathing nervously, she started to move and stopped, realizing she forgotten the music. Blushing slightly, she looked over at Sakura. "Uh, could you play some music on your Pokénav, please?"
"Oh yeah, of course!" The pink-haired girl quickly got her nav out and turned it on. "Do you want anything in particular?"
"Uh, well, father made sure I took lots of different dancing classes," Hinata admitted. She giggled lightly. "Mother loved trying different forms of dancing in her Appeals, and father was very proud of that. So I guess anything is fine."
"Anything?" Sakura asked; she playfully flipped on the first Heavy Metal song she could find, causing Hinata and a number of Pokémon in the room (including Waterlily) to jump in shock. Laughing lightly, she turned it off. "Seriously Hinata, any ideas?"
"Okay, okay, fair enough," Hinata said. She thought for a moment. "Well...my sister really, really liked the movie series, 'How to Tame your Dragon-type,' so we used to sing and dance to its soundtrack. So, maybe you can just play something from that?"
"Okay," Sakura said, searching her device for a few seconds before selecting 'Into a Fantasy.' "How about this one?"
Nodding, Hinata nervously took in a deep breath, telling herself there was no reason to be shy or nervous; she was among friends, after all. Letting her breath out, Hinata began moving in time to the music; starting off gentle and flowing, turning in wide circles while holding her hands out and positioning them in time to the rhythm.
"That's pretty good," Kushina commented fairly.
"You're doing great!" Sakura called, "Keep going!"
"Th-thank you," Hinata said, not stuttering, but laughing. She starting twirling a bit faster, with her hands flowing like water. Smiling, she took a bow and flourished at her audience and skipped backward, jumping about in a circle as the song grew in power. She moved with the grace of Beautifly, fluttering with pride that Sakura rarely saw in her friend.
Spinning gleefully, Hinata enjoyed the admiration she was getting from everyone; she may not have liked being the center of attention, but having people appreciate her and her talents was something else entirely.
From the sidelines, Rhapsody jumped and down, clapping, while Aria and Waltz cheered as their trainer continued her joyous dance. And it was not just them; Jane and Waterlily were cheering as well, while Owlowiscious watched everything intently. Kitsune, like her trainer, sat and quietly watched Hinata dancing, using her tails to keep Kurama and Sonata in line. In particular, she noticed Sonata had gotten very excited and was getting ready to jump in and join Hinata, something Kitsune would not allow. The Ninetales knew exactly what the Fennekin was planning on doing, and she wasn't going to allow it; it was Hinata's turn to show off, after all.
Hinata looked over at her Pokémon, with a mischievous look forming over her smiling face. Twirling in times to the song, the girl spun over to them, and in one fluid action, leaned down, scooped up Rhapsody while motioning for Waltz and Aria to follow, and then danced onward, not breaking her rhythm of movement.
Laughing in delight, Rhapsody took hold of his trainer's hand as she held him in her arms and started to 'dance' with her; at Hinata's feet, Aria spun and pirouetted about, doing her best to mimic the girl's movements. Flying in the air beside them, Waltz happily flew about, fluttering and twirled, giving out sing-song cries of joy. The whole display was a delight for the audience, even if Waltz and Aria's dancing were off-tempo and imperfect.
Sakura jumped up and cheered, "Go, Hinata, go!" She had never seen her friend so happy, so open! It was wonderful. Jane and Waterlily were happily twirling together now, and Owlowiscious had flown down next to them and was tiling his head in time to the music, humming contently as he did so.
Next to her, Kushina began to clap happily in time to the music, which would be ending soon. As she watched Hinata and her team, she mused to herself that they had most certainly found Hinata's appeal for the contest.
Meanwhile, Kitsune had been so taken by the growing display before her that she slacked her tail's grip on Sonata, who seized the moment and wiggled free. The Fennekin jumped to the floor and scurried for center-stage even as her foster mother barked for her to get back here.
As Sonata smiled and jumped along to the music, Sakura looked to Kushina with a confused look. "Eh, what's going on?"
"Uh-oh," was all Kushina had a chance to reply before the Fox-Pokémon took in a deep breath and added her own 'performance' to the show.
"FeN-nE-KIN!"
Sakura balked and automatically clamped her hands over her ears. Sonata was singing, if it could humanely be called that. Every note was strained and off-key, like a dying Weezing screaming for someone to please put it out of its misery.
"fEN-FeEEnEee-kin-FeN!"
Wincing, Sakura looked over at Kushina, who only shrugged in embarrassment. "She really likes singing," the woman explained loudly, flinching as Sonata now hit a high note that surely would shatter glass. "It's just...she's not very good at it!"
"That's a bit of an understatement!" Sakura hissed sardonically. "Can you please do something about her?"
Kushina looked over at Kitsune, who was alternating between coving her poor ears and looking up to bark scolding condemnations at the Fennekin, with poor Kurama cowering in her tails to try and down the dreadful sounds out. Nodding to Sakura, the woman pulled out Sonata's Pokéball and was about to recall her when she realized something was wrong.
Hinata, Rhapsody, Waltz, Aria, Waterlily, Jane, and even Owlowiscious were all still dancing. In fact, they barely seemed to notice Sonata, or her terrible singing. Aside from moving to avoid hitting her, they all just kept on dancing like nothing had happened; they didn't even notice that the song just ended!
"What in the world is going on?" Kushina asked in bewilderment. She cleared her throat. "Hey, Hinata! What're you doing?"
However, Hinata didn't respond, continuing to dance, as did the Pokémon around her. Now their movements were more chaotic and messy. Kushina then noticed the girl's face had on a sleepily, trance-like look. Well, that wasn't a good sign.
"HEY, WAKE UP!" Kushina shouted, jumping to her feet and clapping.
Hinata suddenly gasp, spouting off a bit gibberish and falling to her feet. Her eyes were wide with shock and she breathed heavily, like waking up from a nightmare. "Wh-What? Why all the shouting?" She then noticed that both her and Sakura's Pokémon were doing as she was, acting like they'd just been woken up with a splash of cold water. Except for Sonata, whom Kitsune had grabbled and buried between her tails while scolding her. "What's going on?"
"That's what we want to know," Sakura said, moving to settle her Pokémon down. "It was like you were possessed or something."
For a moment, Hinata just blinked. "What?"
"How do you feel? Do you remember what just happened?" Kushina asked, helping Hinata up and leading her over to her seat.
"Uh...I, uh..." Much to her surprise, suddenly her memory a bit blurry. "...well, I was dancing, and I was feeling...very proud...and then I noticed how much fun Rhapsody and everyone were having, so I decided to pull them in and have fun together...and..." She trailed off, straining to think of what came next.
"Yeah, and then you and most of the Pokémon went all trance-like, dancing even after the music stopped and Sonata started to 'sing'," Sakura explained, finger quoting the last part.
"Sonata was singing?" Hinata asked, perplexed. She didn't recall that.
"If you could call it that," Sakura spat. "Nails on a chalkboard would be gentler on the ears.
From Kitsune's tails, Sonata gave a muffled cry of outrage, but no one really played much attention.
"How...odd," Hinata said slowly. She most centrally didn't remember anything like that happening!
"It's more than odd," Kushina said solemnly. "It's suspicious and dangerous. Something was happening to you, and it was also affecting your Pokémon."
Hinata took a step back. "B-But, we don't know-"
Kushina cut her off. "No beating around the bush. I want to get to the bottom of this. Now, tell me if anything like this, or any other strange happens, occur before this one?"
Hinata bit her lip, while Sakura wringed her hands uncomfortably, torn between telling the truth and her loyalty to her friend.
Kushina caught on to this in an instant. "I told you, whatever you did...whatever is happening to you, could be dangerous! Please, now tell me the truth! Has this sort of thing happened before?"
"Uh," Sakura started off, looking apologetically at Hinata. Much to her relief, the other girl nodded approvingly. "Well, you see..."
So, the girls started making a list everything that had happened to Hinata and seemed strange: Hinata's case of night terrors, her odd reactions to Puck's fear of needles, how she seemed to get sudden and unexplainable headaches. Sakura even mention how Hinata could tell how the Altaria had been hurt back in the cave a few days ago, though Hinata didn't know if that counted as 'strange.'
Kushina listened attentively, only asking questions for clarity. When they finished, she nodded. "Hinata...your family...they've got a knack for Aura powers, right?"
"M-most of the Hyuga do, yes," Hinata said, and then added, with some shame, "b-but I don't have the potential for it."
"Really? 'Cause that would explain a lot of what's been going on, I think," Kushina said bluntly. "The weird headaches, the strange feelings, yeah, that sounds pretty supernatural to me."
For a moment, Hinata looked a little hopeful, but then she deflated. "N-no...it doesn't work like that. You're almost always either born with the gift or you're not; that's what Father says. And the experienced Aura Guardians can tell if you've got the potential to use Aura or not." She paused and turned away slightly. "Father did everything he could to try and find some way to 'unlock' the Aura powers he was sure I possessed. He kept insisting that I was just a late bloomer or his fellow Guardians were wrong somehow. Eventually, he was starting to become a bit of a laughingstock amongst the Aura users' community. Mother finally convinced him to just accept that I was the way I was. Luckily, Hanabi was born with a strong Aura potential, which took a lot of pressure I had caused off Father."
"But, perhaps he was right?" Sakura suggested. "I mean, with everything that's been happening to us, that doesn't sound too unbelievable, does it? After all, at this point, I wouldn't be surprised if Naruto's father was the Head of the Team Snake or the Konoha League Champion!"
For some reason, Kushina snorted and nearly gagged, but she quickly recovered, saying, "Don't get her hopes up yet, dear."
"Yeah," Hinata said slowly, looking down.
"However, you know, I've been around the block a few times," Kushina went on, rubbing the back of her neck and looking upward. "And, I've met one or two Aura Guardian, a few psychics, some witches, and even a channeler who could see and speak to ghosts. So I can tell if something supernatural is going on, and trust me, Hinata, there is."
Hinata fiddled with her fingers some more while her Pokémon crowded around her in an attempt to make the girl feel better.
"I've got a theory," Kushina went on. "I'm not really that familiar with Aura powers, but I do know a bit more about psychics. After all-"
"Let me guess, Naruto's got a psychic cousin?" Sakura cut in quickly.
"That's right!" Kushina said, smiling, "how'd you guess? Did Naruto tell to you about 'Crazy Cousin Karin?'"
"Nope, never heard of her," Sakura shrugged. "It just seems to be a safe bet that Naruto's related to everyone who's important or special or strange."
"Smart Aleck," Kushina grunted playfully. "Uh, where was I? Oh right. Now, like I was saying, seeing as we've got a psychic in the family, I gotta admit, what you're going through sounds a lot like maybe you've got latent psychic powers."
"Psychic powers?" Hinata whispered slowly.
"Yeah, I mean, with this trance-like dance, and you're strange headaches," Kushina explained. "Not to mention, it seems a lot of psychics gain their powers as they age, sometimes only when they hit puberty. Maybe that's what's happening right now."
Slowly, Hinata nodded, doing her best to take in the news without fainting.
"Hey, maybe that's why you can't use Aura too?!" Sakura asked Hinata wildly; she was much more excited by the news than the girl going through it all was. "Maybe a person can only be an Aura user or a psychic, not both? Have you ever heard of any psychics in your family?"
"N-Not one," Hinata admitted, getting dizzy with nervousness. Couldn't they all calm down for a minute and let her think for a minute?
"Come on, Sakura, settle down," Kushina gently reprehended. "Now, we don't know for sure what it is Hinata's going though. It might be psychic powers, or Aura, or anything else. I'd suggest you go see a professional about this. Maybe a visit to Mr. Hyuga is in order-?"
"Please don't tell him!" Hinata cried. She leapt out of her seat and grabbed the woman's hands, as if to beg her.
The small outburst took everyone by surprise...even Hinata.
Taking in a breath, Kushina sighed. "Hinata, I told you, this is a serious matter. You really should talk to someone who knows what they're doing."
"I-I know," Hinata stuttered nervously, "it's j-just...please don't get his hopes up just to dash them! I...I don't want to disappoint him again."
Kushina winced at the sorrow in Hinata's words; it must have been harsh...being 'branded' normal in a family of 'special' people. Carefully, Kushina put her arm around the girl and squeezed gently. "Look, Honey, I get it. I understand that your father is-" She paused, wanting to say 'a paternally challenged nitwit,' but knew better. "-he's a busy, busy man, and you don't want to go running home right after you started your journey. Fair enough. But you do need to see someone about this, okay?"
"What about Naruto's cousin?" Sakura suggested, popping into the conversation. "You know, the one you called, 'Crazy Cousin Karin?'"
Kushina laughed. "Sorry honey, but she lives in Amegakure, the Eternal Danger Islands-" suddenly, a look of surprise, followed by joy, slowly spread across her "-and I forgot that she's visiting Konoha soon and will be staying in Ambersky city by the end of the month! Oh, you're brilliant Sakura!"
"Really, she'll be here in Konoha? That's oddly convenient," Sakura said.
"She's on her Pokémon journey, so she's traveling around a bit," Kushina explained. "You're just lucky a got a postcard from her; she's a distant cousin, so I normally don't hear from her branch of the family that much."
"Any particular reason she's Ambersky City?" Sakura asked.
"I think she mentioned wanting to go to some sort of Fan Convention being held there," Kushina mused. She turned back to Hinata. "Anyway, here's the deal: instead of seeing your father right away, I'll contact Cousin Karin and ask her to meet up with you in Lilyport, and see if she can help you figure out what's going on. However, as soon as you do, please promise me you'll tell your father?'
Hinata nodded vigorously. "O-Of course! Thank you for all of this! And for helping us with the contest too!"
"Ah, you're too sweet kid," Kushina said, smiling. "Oh, and speaking of the contests, I think we should talk about that."
"Oh, please don't make Hinata pull out!" Sakura begged, having already guessed that Kushina would insist on it giving Hinata's strange...condition. "I mean, just because some strange things happen once in a while doesn't mean she has to, right? We're both so looking forward to it, and I really think she'll do well, especially if she gets to dance up on stage! Didn't you see her? She was doing great!'
"Sakura, you know, I was going to say the same thing," the redheaded woman laughed, ruffling the girl's hair affectionately. "Though, I do admire your loyalty to your friend."
"...seriously?" Sakura asked, "after the trance thing? You're not worried that might happen again?"
"Of course I am, which is why I'd like Hinata to practice it some more, every day before the contest," Kushina explained. "I'm hoping nothing else will happen for now, but if it does, then we'll be there to help Hinata with it. And then we'll all talk and decide if she shouldn't be competing or not...but first, that is okay with you, right Hinata?" She rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry, we were talking about your future, and it seems we've already decided it without asking. Tell us what you want."
Hinata smiled gently. "No, it's fine, really. I'm very glad that you two are ready to do so much to help me. And I'm grateful, too! I'd really like to enter into the contest now, more than ever!"
Kushina smiled. "Oh? Why's that, if you don't mind me asking?"
"I...I want to finish what I've started," Hinata said, steadying herself. "I don't want to run away because things are strange or hard. I want to be proud of myself, and to be someone Father would be proud of, too. I want to dance up on stage with my Pokémon, even as everyone watches, just like mother did. I want to try follow in Mother's footsteps, at least once. I'm not sure I really want to be a Pokémon Coordinator, but I'm sure I want to do this!"
When the girl was finished, Kushina started to clap, with Sakura and the Pokémon following suit, making Hinata turn red as a cherry.
"If this is what you want, then I will help you get it," Kushina said, winking. "You know, seeing as this contest is going to be on TV, are you going to tell your Father about it, so he can have the chance to watch you?"
At this, Hinata froze for a moment; was she good enough for her father to see her on stage already? She was just starting off, after all. "Y-Yes, I will!" she said stubbornly, deciding not to let her doubts get the best of her. Besides, Hanabi would really want to watch, too. It wouldn't be fair to keep this all secret.
Kushina nodded at the girl's determination. "You girls are really making me proud of you, in this short time I've known you." She patted Hinata on the shoulder. "Naruto's really lucky to know you two."
Hinata found herself blushing yet again, but in an entirely different way. 'Y-You r-really think so?" she asked nervously.
Kushina raised an eyebrow. "Of course I do," she said, and then, getting an idea, added, "And I'm pretty sure Naruto knows how lucky he is to have you for a friend, from what he's said."
As she suspected, Hinata turned redder, and looked away, but she smiled faintly.
Kushina glanced over at Sakura, who just shrugged and smiled knowingly. Hmm, I think I'll keep a closer eye on how this girl interacts with my son, Kushina thought to herself. She then noticed Hinata fiddling with her fingers. Now that I think about it...there's something slightly familiar about this girl, especially when she twiddles her fingers like that...I'll Google her mother's name later and see if anything rings a bell.
Kushina was shocked out of there thoughts when Sakura's Pokédex phone went off, playing Phelba Starly's** rendition of 'The Legend of Zelda Theme.'
"Hey, it's Naruto!" Sakura said, answering it, "I wonder if the boys did something exciting?"
To Be Continued...
Author's Note
*For those of you wondering why Zaku suddenly has a Golbat, know that I originally intended for Zaku to have him from the start, though, probably as a Zubat that would later evolve. Canny readers might recall back to his first appearance, Zaku challenged Naruto to a 2-on-2 match, though he never got to send out anyone but his Voltorb Boombox. After that, I could never find an appropriate way to introduce Beatbox; the few times I tried, they only made things stranger and complex. Luckily, the only real time it would have made sense for Zaku to send out Beatbox was when he was searching for Boombox in Chapter 12, and that can be hand-waved to him not thinking straight after crashing in the forest. So, overall, no big deal, considering the few times Zaku actually got to send out his Pokémon And on that note, I'll remind my readers that Dosu too has a second Pokémon, one which he has tried, unsuccessful, to send out against our heroes several times. I've been saving that one for an upcoming chapter, seeing as it's the Sound Trio's Ace Pokémon.
** Phelba Starly is a playful parody/tribute to the violinist Lindsey Stirling (Phelba is the name of her "#1 Fan"). Feel free to look her up; I greatly enjoy her music myself. And yes, Phelba may just play a roll in a later chapter (hence why I made a playful parody rather than mentioning the person themselves).