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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.
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Author's Note
Hey everyone, this came a bit later than I wanted; I was aiming for posting one chapter a month. However, I'm glad to have gotten it down and hope to post the next one sooner.
Side note: I've gotten my own place with my brother, so I'm very proud of that. Also presented my first sermon in church. My life has been getting better and better, it seems.
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Review Response
Dreaming of the Phoenix: Thanks for your continued support. Yes, I do enjoy giving Kiba bad luck, mostly because I like him. Strange, is it not? As for what happens to Cross and Shiba…that's for a future chapter. If you thought this chapter was informative, you'll think more of this one.
61394: For what happens to Cross, Sasuke, and Shiba, you'll have to wait for future chapters. However, it would be fuzzy to say who would own Shiba, legally- when Cross found him, he was technically wild, and if Shiba had any sort of tracker in him, clearly Team Snake removed it, so it might be difficult to prove that the Houndoom was once Sasuke's. Of course, you'll have to wait for future chapters to really see where this plot point is going. And yeah, Shiba has proven to be a strong and creative battler.
CRUDEN & naruto8764210storyreader: Thanks for your continued support.
elijahlarson03: Yes, I am going with the route of Mew having children. Specifically, I am poaching the idea from the artist TC-96 and their comic, Mew and Mewtwo, so my fic will be following a similar direction regarding this plotline, so spoilers for those who've read the comic. I'm giving credit where it's due, but also note TC-96 is also following an earlier draft for Mew and Mewtwo, before it was changed in the Anime Cannon.
King-Chris 2426: You bring up some interesting points, though I don't agree with them 100%. Yeah, one of the problems with the characters is that they could get rather two-dimensional: Naruto wanted to be Hokage, Sasuke was consumed by his thirst for vengeance, and Sakura loved Sasuke. Most of the characters grew out of this (though I think Sasuke got worse and flatter after the timeskip, while the author admitted that he grew to hate writing Sakura because he fumbled her character and never gave her a real story arch). As for my fic, I'll try and make them more dynamic, but I don't want to go TOO far out from their cannon portrayals. The idea of Naruto being an inventor is one I find ridiculous (contrary to popular culture's portrayal, dreamers don't make the best inventors; that would be craftsmen and workers, who see something in the world bent out of shape, so they work metal and wood around it until its changed to suit their desires). Naruto doesn't have the methodological nature or intelligence that's needed to change the world in that way. However, I will point out that I tried hinting that Naruto's much smarter and more well-educated than he appears. He's shown to be the most knowledgeable of the team when it comes to obscure Pokémon, and he's by far the best at handling baby 'mons. I haven't gotten to show it yet, but I also plan on him being the only one of the group that's multilingual, and he's well-versed in Konoha's mythology, having been taken to historic and mythical areas by Jiraya. In short, Naruto's the sort of person who learns from experience, so while he's not traditionally intelligent, in some ways he's smarter than Sakura. As for Sasuke's ambitions, I did try showing that Sasuke's got the makings of a detective, having learned from his father. I figured it wouldn't be stretch, since the Uchiha were Konoha's police force in cannon. Sakura will further develop her ambitions in Pokémon medicine, though I'll keep what you said in mind (and ironically, this chapter will have a bit on her wanting to study new things in that area), and as for Hinata, I think her first major concern is making peace with her family issues before she decides about her future. She is, after all, a 12-year-old who's still got some sorting-out to do with her life. As a final note, I' try to do better about adding some dynamics to characters other than "Cool Uncle" and such. Thanks for the suggestion.
Guests: The guest bringing up that Naruto's team is largely taken from his relatives does bring up an interesting point, though I am glad to point out that he's not following any one relative's team, and that he'll be changing things up soon enough. Also note that the theme of the past generaton passing down part of themselves to the new generation was an ongoing theme in Naruto- the main three were not clones of the Sanin, however. They were all markedly different- I admit the Naruto series had some weak points in the writing, and some points were things fumbled, but I wouldn't say that was one of them.
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The Hero's Pokémon & Accomplishments:
Naruto Uzumaki:
Team Members: Kubo (Frogadier, male, Starter), Sora (Bagon, male), Kata (Riolu, male, Aura-trained), Prince Sidon Uzumaki, the First (Gabite, male, Shiny, Royalty*)
*Not actually royalty
Badges & Awards: Antidote Badge
Sasuke Uchiha:
Team Members: Bayushi (Eevee, male, Shiny), Togashi (Charmeleon, male, Starter), Akodo (Luxio, male), Hitomi (Dewott, female, genetically altered), Shoto (Arctic Vulpix, genetically altered)
Badges & Awards: Antidote Badge
Sakura Haruno:
Team Members: Ochako (Chikorita, female, Starter), Tetsu (Metang, male*), Mina (Goomy, female), Eri (Mythical Ponyta, female)
*Technically genderless with a male personality
Badges & Awards: Antidote Badge
Hinata Hyuga:
Team Members: Kikyo (Ralts, female, Starter, Shiny), Midoriya (Quilladin, male), Katsuki (Quilava, male, genetically altered)
*Hinata also has an unidentified egg in her possession; it is brown and rocklike, with a ring of orange bumps around it's middle.
Badges & Awards: Antidote Badge
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Pokémon: Konoha Region
Chapter 15
Royal Shenanigans
…Crrck…Crk…Crrrk!
Hinata stirred, trying to dismiss the wriggling, cracking commotion that had woken her. Then she realized that it was her egg hatching and nearly knocked it out of the bed as she shot up, gasping. The egg was only starting to just shine dimly, but it was wiggling constantly and was cracked in several spots.
"It's happening! It's happening!" she squealed, her voice cracking as she scrambled to wake the others, turn on the light, and tend to her egg all at once.
Getting out of bed was a hassle in-and-of-itself. Aside from herself and the egg, there was also Katsuki sleeping on the other side of the egg, Kikyo on the other side of Hinata, and Midoriya sprawled out somewhere at the foot of the bed. And now they were all up and scrambling about to get out of the way, causing them all to get in each other's way.
Still, Hinata managed to jump out of bed. She had tripped over something, but Midoriya caught her with his vines, and she made her way to the light switch and flipped it on. Naruto screamed something about being blinded, Bayushi hissed with surprising venom (scaring Sasuke awake at the same time), and Hinata saw that she had tripped over Sidon. Naruto had managed to get him to sleep on the floor, but only after giving him two blankets and a pillow. The large Gabite glared at Hinata, but then Katsuki had seized hold of him by the horn and pulled him aside. The Gabite wretched free and had half a mind to attack the Quilava, but then he noticed the wiggling egg and decided to let it go.
By now, everyone was awake and aware of what was happening. Naruto, Sakura, and even Sasuke had scrambled out of bed in a flurry of excitement. Hinata placed the egg in the middle of the floor and sat down, beaming with delight. Kikyo was next to her, holding Hinata's hand, while Midoriya was to her left. Katsuki attempted to stay a distance away, only for Midoriya to pull him forward and keep a hold on him.
The egg cracked down the middle. Radiant teal light spilled forth. A form pushed its way out of the eggshell, visibly growing twice its initial size as the light faded. The baby Pokémon tried standing, but it was wobbly and unsure on its new legs. Hinata reached forward and caught it. And her newest teammate cooed and snuggled closely to what instinct told him was his mother. Hinata cooed back, gently stroking the big, strong baby on his head as he opened his eyes for the first time ever and looked at her.
Innocent, wonder-filled eyes of coal black met Hinata's pale lavenders, which held adoration, joy, and more than a little awe.
"Ruunt!" her baby said, pushing his head against her chest affectionately…though there was such strength behind it that Hinata was lifted off her knees and knocked over, the baby stumbling alongside her.
With that, the spell of awe was broken. Naruto was the first to speak.
"I don't believe it!" he gasped, taking a hesitant step closer. "It's a Tyrunt!"
"Tyrunt!" the baby Tyrunt proudly proclaimed, licking Hinata on the face.
"Yes, I love you too, Little Prince," Hinata said, managing to get up and kiss him on the forehead. "And these are your siblings: Kikyo, Midoriya, and that's Katsuki, your big brother."
As Hinata's crew greeted their newest member, Naruto and the others were still in state of shock over what the egg had turned out to be; so was Hinata' truth be told, though she was doing a good job of putting her shock aside.
"It must have been stolen from the Lilybog Gym!" Sasuke was saying. "Yeah, a break-in was announced on the news a few days ago, remember?"
Sakura rummaged through her backpack and pulled out her Pokédex.
"Tyrunt, the Royal Heir Pokémon and a restored fossil," it chimed, pinging to life. "The most iconic of all Fossil Pokémon, due in no small part to the famed 'Fossil Park' film franchise, Tyrunt is nonetheless a rather poorly understood Pokémon, due to great difficulties involved in the restoration process. In the past, the Tyrunt-line has been described as selfish, spoiled, and given to pitching tantrums when not given their way. A recent theory however, states that Tyrunts are used to being pampered by their parents; restored Tyrantrum are very attentive their heirs (the formal name for baby Tyrunts), to the point of being doting, a behavior rarely seen in reptilian Pokémon. When managed by a skilled trainer, a Tyrunt can be caring and well-behaved. However, it must be remembered that Tyrunts do not know their own strength and lack the instincts to be careful around smaller creatures. A Tyrunt merely frolicking might break a trainer's arm if they are not careful, and their jaws are strong enough to bite through sheet metal without difficulty."
As if to prove this last point, the little heir was now crushing Katsuki against the bedpost. He hadn't meant to; the Tyrunt has just taken an instant liking to Katsuki and tried snuggling up. When Katsuki backed away from the baby, possibly afraid of somehow hurting him, the Tyrunt gleefully charged up and rubbed against him, trapping Katsuki between the Rock-type and a hard bedframe. Katsuki struggled for a moment between his phobia of being trapped and the fear of hurting the Tyrunt by trying to push him away. The moment passed, as the Tyrunt was rubbing up against his 'big' brother (who was actually smaller than him) so hard that he was lifting the whole bunkbed off the floor- and Katsuki found his lungs being crushed by the force, unable to do much anything.
"Please, let your brother go!" Hinata said urgently, pulling on her Tyrunt's shoulder.
"Rrr?" the heir asked innocently, letting up as he turned at his mother's request, allowing Katsuki to slump onto the floor.
"You're a big boy, and you have to be gentle, okay?" Hinata explained, speaking firmly but tenderly. She pointed to Katsuki, who was gasping for breath. "You're a lot stronger than him, so please be careful."
There was a moment of eye contact between trainer and Pokémon, and then Tyrunt let out an apologetic chur, looking rather remorseful with his big eyes all downcast and his head held low. It was rather adorable, all things considered.
Katsuki scoffed like it was nothing and propped himself up on his elbows, giving the Tyrunt a 'thumbs-up'.
"See, Katsuki forgives you. It's okay; I know you didn't mean any wrong. You're a good little prince, aren't you?"
As Hinata gently guided the Tyrunt so he could kneel and allow Kikyo to pet his snout, Sakura was troubled by something. She had to voice her thoughts.
"Hey, how're you handling this little guy so well right after he hatched?" she asked no one in particular.
"Eh, it's all in the voice and demeanor," Naruto said, shrugging nonchalantly. "Some people are just naturally empathetic and good with kids, and some people…are like you," he added, smiling wickedly.
"That's not what I meant, you Dunsparce," Sakura said crossly. "I mean, he's only a few minutes old, and he's already able to understand her orders."
Naruto realized she was right. "Hey, now that I think about it, that is pretty odd. I've handled a lot of my mom's baby 'mons, and they're always more rambunctious than this- and the 'dex said Tyrunt are supposed to be hard to manage, too!"
Hinata gave them a cryptic smile, but didn't answer right away, as now her Tyrunt was mouthing on Midoriya's shell. As she gently explained to him that he wasn't supposed to bite down hard on friends, Naruto noticed her eyes shine with a pale lavender light. Then there was a matching gleam just behind her Tyrunt's eyes, who then seemed to process her command and consider it with much more care than would be expected for newly hatched Pokémon.
"You're cheating," Naruto said in a playful way. He pointed a finger at her in mock accusation. "You're using Aura-magic to control the little bugger!"
Hinata giggled but managed to get a bit indignant when she spoke. "Aura isn't magic! The two are virtual opposites in how they work-"
"Magic isn't real," Sakura said, speaking automatically.
"Yes, it is." Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke all spoke unanimously, with Naruto and Sasuke both adding something about having seen real magic themselves. However, Hinata headed them off so she could continue.
"Uh, and it isn't cheating. I'm just using our Aura-link to convey feelings and emotions clearly to the Little Prince. I'm not controlling him. That'd be an awful thing to do!"
Naruto apologized, and Sasuke asked, "I thought it took a while to make an Aura-bond?"
"Technically yes, but it's also possible to bond with a Pokémon while it's still an egg. Many guardians do so, but it's usually with species that are more…Aura-y?" she explained, looking at her newly hatched Tyrunt, who seemed the least-likely candidate to have any aptitude with Aura arts.
He grinned and licked his mommy, having no idea whatsoever what anyone was talking about, but liking the attention he was getting.
For the new few minutes, they sort of drifted with the flow of things. Everyone's Pokémon got a chance to greet their newest teammate, though Katsuki gruffly made sure it was all one-at-a-time, so as not to overwhelm the little tyke. Some of them, like Kubo, Bayushi, and Hitomi, were quite impressed with the surprisingly strong baby. Sidon seemed to size him up for a moment and scoffed, turning away as if dismissing the Tyrunt…which turned out to be a mistake, as his tail brushed against the Tyrunt's nose, who reflexively bit it, drawing an undignified yelp from the Gabite. Naruto had to recall Sidon after that, as he wanted to attack the clueless baby.
The other Dragon-types took an instant liking towards Hinata's Tyrunt. Mina gleefully slipped from Sakura's arms onto his snout. He sneezed, which threw her into the air, only for her to land right back on his snout, to both 'mon's delight. Sora, meanwhile, rushed right up to him and suck his head in the Tyrunt's mouth, apparently curious. Luckily, the Tyrunt proved to be a fast learner, only gently nibbling on his hard head. After that, Mina slipped down onto the floor so Sora and the Tyrunt could bash skulls together- apparently, a Tyrunt's skull was just as thick as a Bagon's.
Other 'mons had more subdued or mixed reactions. Shoto only came up close to the Tyrunt when his sister did, looking dispassionate but mildly curious, only for the Tyrunt to give his face a big lick. Their reactions were instantaneous. The Tyrunt stumbled backwards onto his rump, having no idea what 'cold' was, and he wasn't sure if he liked it or not. Meanwhile, Shoto froze in disgust before bolting to his corner to straighten his mussed-up fur, trying to reclaim his composure and his dignity.
Tetsu found the Tyrunt fascinating, and he floated only a few inches away to get a close look at him. The Tyrunt, however, didn't feel the same way about Tetsu. To the baby dinosaur, Tetsu was a metal monster that didn't look good or friendly at all. He growled and snapped at the Metang, who staggered back and released a metallic shriek in shock. This was too much for the Tyrunt, who turned tail and fled behind his mother-trainer, crying and shivering as he tried curling up in fear.
Immediately, Katsuki had jumped between the cowering Tyrunt and the Metang, telling Tetsu off for scaring him. Tetsu slumped down sadly, looking at his metal hands, as if wondering if they really were scary. Sakura patted him on the shoulder comfortingly.
"Don't be upset, Tetsu. The Little Prince just isn't used to you. You've got to remember he comes from an era before machine Pokémon. He doesn't have any instincts about you, so you're very new and strange to him. Just give him some time, and he'll see there's nothing scary about you."
Hinata, meanwhile, was soothingly explaining to the trembling Tyrunt that Tetsu was a friend, and while she knew he could be a little scary, he was very nice and wouldn't hurt the little Tyrunt.
"I think you hurt his feelings, you know," she said gently. "Do you think you can apologize?"
It took a bit more coxing and some encouragement from both Sora and Mina, but the Tyrunt eventually stopped his crying, came out from behind mommy, looked up at Tetsu, and squeaked something before quickly going back behind her.
Tetsu cheered with delight, bashing his firsts together. He stopped when he realized the noise was frightening the Tyrunt.
"Well, this is going smoothly," Naruto said. He gave Hinata a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "You're doing great. You're a real natural, you know that?"
"Ah, I'm just lucky that bonding with eggs is an Aura art even someone as unskilled as me can do," Hinata said bashfully.
Now Katsuki was getting stern with the Tyrunt, pointing at Tetsu and explaining that the Metang was a total wuss, and he shouldn't be afraid of him at all. Tetsu gleefully agreed with the assessment, too good-natured to be insulted.
Kata cut in, translating everything for the human's sake, and then pointing out that Katsuki was the one who nearly got crushed by a newly hatched 'mon. Katsuki shoved the Riolu, who shoved him back, but before things got worse, the Tyrunt joined in, thinking it was all a game, shoving both of 'em into the wall so hard it made the door rattle. Katsuki once again slumped to the floor, winded, but Kata was able to catch his breath and bolt away…which of course, the Tyrunt thought meant they were now playing chase. Only, with all the Pokémon out and all the humans gathered on the floor, their relatively small room was far too crowded for any kind of roughhousing.
Humans and 'mons alike were pushed aside or trampled. Ochako tried lassoing the wild baby, only for him to get her vines tangled in the bedposts. Togashi stepped up to grab the Tyrunt, but Mina darted between his legs in a panic, tripping him up and causing him to stumble into the Tyrunt. Hinata shouted, trying to get her baby to calm down, and Naruto had to yank her to the side as the Royal Heir Pokémon slid by and crashed into the wall. At once, the Tyrunt burst into loud, pained crying. Hinata scrambled to his side and went to work soothing him, while Kikyo tried applying a Life Dew to his booboo.
Naruto, however, winced. They were making a ton of noise, and considering the time-
Right on cue, there was an angry pounding on their door. Without giving anyone time to answer, it flew open, and there was the Pokécenter's Nurse Joy, in a bathrobe with curlers in her hair. She was livid with fury.
"What in the Distortion World are you brats doing?! It's 3 AM, for Arceus's sake! If you don't quiet the fuc-!"
She trailed off mid-swear, as her angry rant had frightened the Tyrunt into a new fit of crying. Hinata gave her a reproachful look.
Nurse Joy stood in bewildered silence, staring at the supposedly extinct Pokémon that was crying in her Pokécenter. She swayed. And before anyone could do anything, she hit the floor in a faint.
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The Tyrunt snarled, eyes watching the hypnotic quiver of bloody flesh. He lunged, biting into his prey once again and tearing another chunk free. Shaking his head back and forth, he torn the meat up further with his sixty serrated teeth, each one sawing the flesh up into bits that he greedily swallowed, blood flowing down his jowls like red rivers. The Royal Heir Pokémon threw back his head and roared in satisfaction at his victorious hunt-
"Baby, Nurse Joy asked us not to make too much noise; remember that other people are trying to sleep," Hinata said gently, tapping his snout with a gloved hand.
The Tyrunt blushed, revising his table manners immediately.
His 'prey' was a raw, ten-pound steak of cheap chunk meat, and Hinata was dangling it so that it would move and swing as he tore into it with abandon. She wore thick leather gloves, both to avoid getting blood on her hands and to protect her on the off chance that the Tyrunt accidently bite her. However, this had been his third steak already, and thus far there had been no accidents. But he still needed to eat twenty pounds of red meat, so Hinata wisely decided to stay safe and keep the gloves on.
Once Sakura had revived the Nurse Joy with some smelting salts and they explained the situation, she'd proven to be competent at her job (even if she was temperamental for a Joy).
Firstly, she pointed out that the Tyrunt would be horribly hungry, and that he needed to get some meat in him pronto. Joy even called the nightshift staff on the intercom and gave them two orders: firstly, to bring all the raw meat they had to the cafeteria, and second, to call up the Lilybog City Pokécenter and ask them about the specifics of caring for a newly hatched Tyrunt. The person on the other line tried to argue that it was past 3 in the morning, but Nurse Joy sharply rebuked him and told him to obey orders. With that, she had the kids recall all their Pokémon, save for Bayushi, Mina, Kikyo, and Hinata's Tyrunt, and then rushed everyone to the cafeteria.
Nurse Joy explained herself as they quickly walked to the cafeteria: she was no expert on Fossil Pokémon (in fact, her knowledge of them came entirely from what she saw in movies), but she was educated on how to handle baby Pokémon. And she knew that Tyrunts, like Ryhorn or Onix, are much larger than the eggs they come from. Right now, Hinata's Little Prince was about two and a half feet at the shoulders, but a fully grown specimen would be big enough for a small child to ride and could weigh in at 300 lbs. (or at least, that's what her phone's medical database said). Now, in the wild, most Pokémon would simply grow relatively fast over the course of a few months to a year. Domesticated Pokémon matured faster, usually in a matter of weeks. In either case, Pokémon that were naturally big even when unevolved required large amounts of food soon after hatching to fuel their first growth spurts. Moreso, Tyrunt's closest living cousins, the Larvitar-line, needed to eat several hundred pounds of rock immediately after hatching. So while Nurse Joy didn't know exactly what sort of care a newly-hatched Tyrunt would require, it was safe to assume that it would need to eat, and it'd need to eat a lot.
As if to confirm her diagnosis, the Little Prince began to get fussy and cry as they waited in the cafeteria for Joy's assistants to bring in the meat. Hinata's Aura senses confirmed that he was suffering from slight hunger pains, though she had guessed as much before checking.
A pair of Chansey pushed in a cart ladened with enormous slabs of raw, red meat just as a call was patched through for Nurse Joy from Lilybog's main Pokécenter. She motioned meaningful to Hinata as she took the call, and one of the Chansey helpfully offered her a pair of leather gloves.
Smelling the blood, the Tyrunt suddenly lunge forward, snapping wildly as he tried to reach the meat, but it was out of his reach, so instead he started shoving against the cart as if to knock it over.
Hinata cried out and told him to stop, emphasizing the order through their Aura-bond as she pulled on his powerful flanks. Naruto jumped in to help, but even if all four friends had gotten hold, it was unlikely that they'd have been able to restraint the Tyrunt. He was hungry, he was confused, and he wanted meat!
One of the Chansey stepped up and gave the Tyrunt a sharp smack on the snout. He threatened to bite her, but instead of flinching, the Chansey put her hand to his maw and used Charm, releasing a flurry of pheromone hearts. In battle, Charm was used to reduce the target's strength and aggression. However, Pokécenter Pokémon are trained to release a specialized burst of pheromones that calm the subject for several minutes.
Hinata's Tyrunt swallowed the Charm hearts, and the effect was immediate. He paused in place, as if realizing that he'd been causing trouble, and allowed himself to be pulled back, suddenly meek and gentle.
Hinata meant to thank the Chansey for their aid, but she found it somewhat difficult: both of them hadn't lost their cheery expressions at all. Even now, as they started laying out the huge slaps of fresh meat out and getting plenty of blood on themselves, they continued to smile and converse together as happily as ever.
Meanwhile, Sakura had taken out her Pokédex and opened the entry on Tyrunt. She doubted it had any specific information regarding the care of Tyrunt hatchings, but Sakura was sure it'd have plenty of interesting information. One heading stood out to her: Fossil Restoration History. She clicked it, and her 'dex pinged to life, reading aloud.
"Due to several difficulties with the restoration process, the Tyrunt-line was an especially rare Fossil Pokémon. For years, resurrected subjects were largely infertile and possessed aggressive, unfriendly temperaments. Researchers and trainers alike had great difficulty taming these morphs, limiting successful study. However, new fossil reanimation technology developed by the White Serpent Research Department aided in the the process by introducing DNA from the Archen-line, itself a cousin to the Tyrunt-line. This made Tyrunt-restoration not only easier, but also gave the subjects less aggressive temperaments and removed the infertility problem. However, this had the side-effect of giving the Tyrunt-line a mane of feathers that was likely not present in the original species*."
Before Sakura could comment on this information, the Nurse Joy spoke up. It had been the Joy of Lilybog on the phone, who had confirmed that Tyrunts indeed need at least 50 pounds of meat within the first few hours of hatching, after which he should rest for twenty-four hours outside of his Pokéball. Lilybog's Joy had been very specific about that last bit: Fossil Pokémon didn't just grow fast like domesticated Pokémon. They had been engineered to be convenient and grow very, very quickly. Tyrunt would complete his first growth spurt before the day was up, and he'd be fully grown within ten days of hatching. She'd also emailed a list of vitamin supplements he should be given and other needs he might have.
As Hinata fed her Little Prince, she found her mind drifting to a troubling thought: by the sound of it, she would be dealing with a physical mature Pokémon that had the mentality of a hatchling. A very strong, stubborn baby with a tendency to throw tantrums if not taught restraint early on. Inwardly, she sighed, musing that she'd just gotten Katsuki to obey when fate had dealt her this new wildcard.
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…Hours later, Elsewhere…
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Fugaku Uchiha knelt, examined the forest floor, and took out a voice recorder. He checked his watch and spoke into the machine. "6:54 AM. Still going through the Route 11 forest; trail has led us deeper into the woods. Found fresh prints. Less than a day old. Definitely a large, male Houndoom. Whatever made them has a paw-size similar to Genji's." Fugaku looked up at his beloved Houndoom, who was carefully sniffing the area to help him find out what happened. Fugaku took in a deep breath through his nose, smelling the air. "Hmm, in spite of the tracks' freshness, there's no smell of houndpalm lingering." He was referring to the infamous mixture of toxic substances in a Houndoom's gut that created a napalm-like fuel for their fires. It had a distinctly foul smell that could linger for days in some cases. "Considering the evidence indicates that a battle took place here, it can be assumed that Shiba was unable to use his fire, likely due to being in a poor state of heath. Not good."
He clicked the recorder off, rose to his feet, and continued examining the area. On occasion, Genji communicated interesting finds about what had taken place, either barking to indicate something or drawing symbols in the dirt with his tail (careful not to disturb any evidence). Fugaku and Genji had been partners since before Fugaku was Sasuke's age- they had long worked out how to communicate without sharing a language.
After nearly forty minutes, he took out the recorder and began again.
"7:27, same site as previous entry. There was one hell of a battle here. We discovered tracks belonging to both Pokémon and humans; I've identified a few, but will need professional help to ID the rest. Pictures of each track were taken and catalogued. Shiba appears to have been fleeing from at least two of pursuers before turning on them and fighting. He put up one Houndoom of a fight- no pun intended," Fugaku added, wincing at the accidental pun, "-before it appears as through another Pokémon came to his aid. Tracks from the first pursuer suggest an Obstagoon -side note: be sure to thank Mikoto for that book on Dark-type biology and habitats she got me last winter. Second pursuer could not be identified, though we retrieved an unusually long and thick hair from it. According to Genji's nose, it was a Dark/Fairy-type and likely male. Tracks suggest unknown subject is bipedal and big as a human. Side note: we found tracks at an earlier site that indicated a Shiftry had been chasing Shiba before it was driven off with fire. Additional note: it occurs to me that all three Pokémon that were pursing Shiba were rare Dark-types and not native to the area. Likewise, Shiftry and Obstagoon require human aid to evolve. This will require further investigation.
"The Pokémon that came to Shiba's aid seems to have been a bipedal canine based on its tracks, possibly a Granbull, though Genji should have recognized the scent if it was. Can't tell exactly what happened, but it was clearly one hell of a fight. Trees have been damaged and rock has been upturned from what appears to have been an impressive Stone Edge attack.
"Boot prints from the human who I am assuming is the unknown canine Pokémon's trainer indicate a young male of around mid-teens in age, based on shoesize, tread, and design. A partial logo was visible, but it's not one I recognize. Lettering suggests a foreign make. Maybe a trainer from another region?
"We found the tracks of four Mightyena and five people. Their tracks were not distinct enough to tell much, though based on how they tread over some of the marks left from the battle, it can be assumed they arrived afterwards, likely confronting the trainer and his canine. Also found several tracks of three more unknown Pokémon near the unknown male human, suggesting he called them out in response to this. There is no indication that there was any conflict between the Mightyena group and the teen male's group, though. I assume they all decided to back down or that one side intimidated the other into doing so. The tracks then split up, with the larger group of humans and their Mightyena heading backwards while the teen's tracks head in the direction of Steel Blossom City. His tracks are followed by his unknown canine. Shiba's tracks do no go off in either direction. Conclusion: one group must have carried him off…"
Fugaku winced when he finished. That last part was especially bad to think about when he remembered how the Teakgrove fire department had found the remains of a Team Snake Pokéball, partly burned, in the debris of the contest hall that Shiba had set fire to. If that had been his Pokéball, that would mean Shiba could be caught in a new one. Fugaku cursed himself for taking so long to get on the trail. But he had to personally scramble the best team he could muster to investigate Team Snake's involvement in the Teakgrove incident, after Karen's attempted kidnapping. And that took the better part of a day. Had he just gone immediately after Shiba and let someone else handle Team Snake…
Genji noticed his trainer's distress, and rubbed his head into Fugaku's hand, bringing him out of his thoughts. Letting out a deep breath, Fugaku rose, his head clear. There was no point in thinking like that right now. He had to decide which group to follow first. The evidence suggested that the group with the Mightyena were also responsible for the various Dark-types that had been after Shiba. Maybe it was Team Snake, trying to track down Shiba before he was rescued? Fugaku didn't believe it- if Shiba had been loaned to a lowlife loser like Mizuki, then he must not have been of much value to Team Snake. Maybe it was a group of hunters looking for rare Pokémon. That was possible; there were rumors of the occasional Mythical Ponyta rambling through these woods, and only Dark-types Pokémon could reliably hunt down Psychic-types- they can't be sensed telepathically, and they can be trained to disrupt teleportation attempts.
"If a unicorn foal is what they were after, then they wouldn't have been interested in Shiba," Fugaku mused. "They must have realized their mistake and just left the boy alone. In that case, we should follow his tracks-"
Fugaku was taken from his thoughts by his Houndoom's urgent barking.
Genji sniffed the air and growled, indicating towards the Dark-type hunters' trail.
"What is it?"
Genji drew a 'V' in the ground with his tail, growling. It was how he was trained to react to the smell of Venom- the drug produced exclusively by Team Snake.
Fugaku let out an explosive string of profanity.
Maybe they were members of Team Snake. Maybe they were just some Pokémon hunters who'd bought the poison on the streets- it was a popular performance-enhancing drug for illegal blood sports or for unethical trainers who'd do anything for a win. But either way, this was no something Fugaku could ignore. He was betting that Shiba had been taken by the lone teenager, since there hadn't been a struggle, but he had to put that aside. From what he could tell, the hunting party had some connection to Team Snake, either as business associates or as thugs in their employ. They were packing not only an impressive array of Dark-types, but doses of Venom, too. Whoever these people were, they weren't just common crooks.
Praying Sasuke would forgive him, Fugaku turned his back on the teen's trail and went after the hunters, with Genji leading the way.
It took over two hours for them to follow the trail to its end. The hunters had set up camp and apparently waited for a few hours before moving on, traveling several miles off the public road and deep into the heart of the forest.
That was when Fugaku saw the trail of smoke rising up from the forest. He swore, ripped a Pokéball from his belt, and called out his Charizard, Yamoto. "Yamoto, get us over there before the fire gets out of control!"
Yamoto had no trouble carrying both Fugaku and Genji, being an exceptionally well-trained Pokémon, and soon they arrived at the scene of the crime: a glade with a large bramble-bush at its center. The bush was up in flames, and Fugaku could already tell someone had set it on fire on purpose.
Yamoto flew low, allowing Fugaku and Genji both to jump safely to the ground. As soon as he touched earth, Fugaku ordered, "Put it out, double time!", but the pair had already gotten to it.
Traditionally, firefighters employed Water-type Pokémon to help them with their jobs. The Squirtle-line in particular was an iconic firefighting Pokémon. However, in one of the universe's many great ironies, it was quite possible that Fire-types might be better suited for the job. Namely, those Fire-types that possessed the Flash Fire ability. While it normally just allowed the Pokémon to absorb fire thrown at it, a 'mon could be trained to draw in nearby fires and 'devour' them. The only drawback to this trick was that the more fire a Fire-type absorbed, the more calories they burned; if it took in too much at once, it'd burn itself out. Still, many modern fire stations had started employing members of the Growlithe-line as firefighting Pokémon, even if Water-types remained the most popular choice.
Of course, the Uchiha clan claimed to have first thought of using Flash Fire for firefighting, and many of their Pokémon were trained to use the ability in this way. Fugaku's Houndoom and Charizard were no exception (the Uchiha had long ago unlocked the Flash Fire ability in their Charmander-line). Genji attacked the fire from the front while Yamoto came in from above, both of them sucking the flames into their mouths and consuming them.
In a matter of seconds, the fire was nothing more than smoldering embers and smoke. Fugaku signaled, and the pair then started shooting Flamethrowers into the air- a simple trick to bleed off the excess power gained from Flash Fire.
Giving them both a word of thanks, he then called out a third Pokémon. Whoever these hunters were, they had obviously not wanted to leave any evidence of what they were doing behind, and Fugaku seriously doubted that it was just coincidence that he'd come across the blaze only minutes after it'd been set. Furthermore, there were no tracks leading away from the site. There was something rotten here, and Fugaku had a strong suspicion of what that was.
"Asuka, I need to know what happened here. Show me what the last humans here were doing."
Asuka was a Dusknoir. The Dusknoir species could sense and communicate with the afterlife, allowing them to, among other things, detect the presence of ghosts and spirits.
With the proper training, a Dusknoir could commune with the very land itself. After all, in a very real way, the earth had a spirit of its own; learning to speak with it wasn't too difficult when you could speak to the dead.
Asuka knelt on the ground and sank his hands into the earth. He started a strange, chant-like noise, while his one eye rolled back. There was an unnatural pulse in the air- not quite a sound, not quite a feeling, with the sensation that unseen walls were getting closer and closer with each rhythmic beat of a great, unseen heart.
Then all at once, reality shifted. Definitions and lines blurred and then very quickly went back into place.
Fugaku and his team were standing amid several people hard at work. However, they looked poorly defined and somewhat off-color. Sometimes one would fade entirely from view, only to reappear a moment later, or one would suddenly look very vivid and real. 'Memory-projection', as Fugaku termed this particular talent of his Dusknoir's, was difficult to use in the best situations.
It seemed two figures were at the center of the action: a teenage redheaded female and a middle-aged man wearing stylized lab coat and a set of large, green glasses shaped like fava beans. He had thinning blond hair with a high widow's peak, a very thin build with a stooping posture, and an expression of smug superiority. Fugaku didn't recognize him, but the redhead looked like Tayuya Hokumon, one of Team Snake's top enforcers. Around the pair, a group made up of both scientists (in lab coats) and Team Snake grunts (dressed in the infamous uniform) were busy at work, examining a clear area inside the thornbush.
Tayuya and Green Glasses Guy were arguing, apparently. The memory projection's sound was muffled and distorted, but Fugaku could pick up some of what was being said.
"…telling you…found Psychic-type residue…never seen a disturbance like this…we should investigate it!" GGG was saying.
"I saw where the target Teleported north of the forest…must have been something else…stop trying to one-up Kabu-…whatever that was, it wasn't-" Tayuya said in response.
Their argument went back and forth, though Fugaku couldn't make much sense out of it. The memory wasn't clear enough.
A Pokémon that looked to be a cross between a ladybug and a UFO was floating near Green Goggles Guy. Fugaku recognized it as an Orbeetle, a species known for having ESP at ranges of up to six miles. Suddenly, the Orbeetle became agitated, flying in front of GGG's face and motioning franticly.
"So that's how they knew I was coming, using a telepath to sense any humans approaching," Fugaku mused aloud. "They must have been desperate to keep whatever they were doing a secret."
The rest of the memory projection went as Fugaku expected it: Tayuya and the goggles guy got frantic when they realized a cop was on the way, then they ordered their crew to clean everything up. A pair poured gasoline out on the bush before having their Magmar set fire to the whole thing. The only thing that really surprised Fugaku was their escape: Green Glasses Guy called out a Hypno and an Alakazam. They formed a triangle with the Orbeetle that surrounded everyone. Then, in a flash, they were gone, having used a synchronized Teleport.
"Looks like Green Glasses Guy is packing some serious Psychic-types," Fugaku said, motioning for his Dusknoir to dismiss the memory. "And based on what he said, I'll bet his Pokémon know how to scramble any Psychic residue that might be left behind from Teleporting, so we won't be able to track 'em."
He winced, realizing that once again he'd have to put his hunt for Shiba on hold. This was not something Fugaku could regulate to a subordinate. He took out his phone, getting ready to call-in backup. There would need to be a forensics team to try and find out what they were after, and guys from the Psy-department just in case they could find anything on GGG's Psychic-types, not to mention several other cops. They'd also need team to take a look at the other sites Fugaku had found, just in case someone noticed something he didn't.
With a sigh, he made what was sure to be the first of many calls that day.
-0o0o0-
…Back in Steel Blossom…
-0o0o0-
After Tyrunt had finished eating, the Royal Heir had wanted to go to sleep immediately…which he did, right in the cafeteria. Getting the little prince up and willing to walk to their room had been difficult- Naruto nearly lost some fingers when he tried tickling the Tyrunt awake, but they had managed. From there, Hinata decided to sleep on the floor. She'd be able to lay down next to her baby, but there'd be enough room for when his first growth spurt hit. Likewise, she called out her entire team, who joined her on the floor- Katuski found himself caught in Tyrunt's small but surprisingly powerful arms, held close like a heated pillow. He struggled at first, but once he'd gotten in a position where his head was free, Katsuki found his fear of being constrained wasn't affecting him, so he allowed it.
Everyone else returned to their own beds, dead-tired. Sidon took the opportunity to claim Hinata's empty bed, and no one stopped him.
It was around noon when they finally got up. The first thing Hinata noticed was her Tyrunt…or more precisely, how he had grown twice in size since they went to sleep…and that he was on her arm, which she could barely feel now.
"Uh, Little Prince? Can you please move? You're on Mommy's arm," she squeaked awkwardly, trying to safely pull her arm out from under his heavy frame. It wasn't working.
Her struggling alerted Midoriya and Katsuki to her plight, and soon the two were trying to roll the Tyrant off her. Hinata felt the weight on her arm lightened before suddenly lifting off altogether as the pair pushed so hard they ended up rolling him several feet, where he crashed into one of the bunk beds.
-THUD!-
The noise shocked everyone else awake, creating a storm of panic.
First, a half-awake Naruto rolled off and under his bed, pulling his pillow over his head like a helmet. "Those Kumo Bastards are bombing us! HIT THE DECKS!"
"No, that's not it at all!" Hinata said, but it was no use.
Sakura woke up flailing wildly at this, inadvertently knocking Mina out of their upper bunk. The gooey baby dragon fell towards Sidon, who was on the bunk underneath, his head hanging off the side and his mouth open wide as he snored. Plop! Mina landed right into his mouth, scaring the hell out of Sidon as he was suddenly awoken by choaking on something! He hacked and floundered wildly, having no idea what the gooey thing in his mouth was. Sakura, having regained her senses, looked down from her bunk to see what happened to Mina, and let out a high-pitched scream that would have caused a flock of Pidgey to attack each other. That in turn scared Sidon into finally spitting Mina out, launching her like a rocket. She flew right at Sasuke, who had gotten up from his bunk above Naruto's and tried shouting for everyone not to panic. Mina hit his face hard and bounced high. The impact dazed Sasuke, causing him to slump and fall from the bunk onto Naruto, who had partly crawled out from under the bed to try and drag Hinata to 'safety'.
"Get under cover, quick! The Fourth Great War's here, just like Mom said it'd be- GRAH! I'M HIT!"
He shrieked in abject terror when Sasuke landed on him, scrambling to get out from what he thought was a bomb. However, once he had detangled himself from Sasuke, Naruto let out an even louder shriek.
"THEY GOT SASUKE! OH, WHY!? WHY?!" he wailed, holding Sasuke in pietà position. "Damn you, you bastards! I'll get you for this!"
"…I'm not dead," Sasuke grunted.
Suddenly, Mina landed in Naruto's outstretched hand, giggling with delight and completely unharmed.
"-Eew! He's brains got knocked out of his skull!" Naruto whined, suddenly a lot less dramatic.
Hinata sighed, wondering how things could get any worse…
…only to notice that somehow, Akodo had gotten his tail tangled in a lamp and was now running across the room shrieking while the light went on and off, Bayushi's tail had been set on fire by some unknown source, Togashi had a bucket on his head, and at some point, Kata had been frozen by Shoto (he had leapt in the way of Freeze-Dry blast Shoto had shot off when he was scared awake that would have hit Kikyo otherwise), and now Katsuki was trying to thaw him out.
Then the Tyrunt licked Hinata on the face, smiling broadly, clearly believing all this slapstick comedy was for his express entertainment.
-0o0o0-
A little while later, some semblance of order had been restored. Everything was in its proper place, and they had put out the fire. Hinata sat on her bed with her Tyrunt next to her, his head in her lap, while Naruto and Sakura sat on the bed opposite her. Sasuke was sitting cross legged on the floor in front of Sakura; this made it easier for her to wrap a bandage to his head. Sakura had wanted to go the nurse, but Sasuke vetoed that idea- after last night, he wasn't eager to annoy her with more of their antics. Besides, aside from a bit of soreness, he felt perfectly fine.
Luckily for them, they had slept in 'till almost noon, so no one had banged on their door about the noise.
"You better do something about Junior soon; that's the second time today he's caused a ruckus. We'll be kicked out at this rate," Sasuke pointed out sternly.
"Ah, don't be a killjoy," Naruto said. "There's always going to be a bit of havoc with baby Pokémon, that's part of the fun! It's only natural!"
Sasuke scoffed indigently. "There's a limit. Nurse Killjoy won't tolerate much more out of us."
Hinata sighed, absentmindedly stroking her baby's head. "Don't think I haven't thought about all that. I'm really worried, you know."
She noticed her Tyrunt tense up, and Hinata felt a pang of shame, realizing he must have understood at least part of what they were saying. She scratched behind his ear and kissed his forehead, though she wasn't sure exactly what to say or do. She really was worried about it all, but didn't want her Little Prince to think she was blaming him.
Sakura cleared her throat. "You don't have to get all tied up in a knot, you know. Pokécenter rules do acknowledge that there are circumstances in which a trainer's Pokémon inevitably is going to cause problems. Baby Pokémon that are still learning restraint, disobedient or traumatized ones that don't trust humans, that sort of thing. They give some extra leeway in such cases, as long as you don't cause any serious damage, and no one gets hurt. Really, this was all stuff we learned in school. I can't believe no one bothered remembering it."
This made Hinata feel a little better, though not enough to completely forget her troubles.
"So, did you think of name for your Little Prince?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke, Sakura, and all of their Pokémon looked at Hinata, equally curious. Her Tyrunt had raised himself up to Hinata's eye level with a curious expression on his face.
Hinata smiled gently. "Well, I started thinking up a bunch of possible names, since I didn't know what sort of egg we'd found. But I've given it some thought, and I think I'm going to go with Kirishima." She addressed her Tyrunt. "D-Do you like that name?"
Kirishima the Tyrunt cheered with delight and licked his Mommy on the face, delighted at the name he'd been gifted with.
"Three cheers for Prince Kiri!" Naruto proclaimed loudly, raising a fist. "Hip-hip-!"
"-Hooray!"
"Hip-hip-!"
"-Hooray!"
"HIP-HIP-!"
"HOORRAY!"
Everyone joined in giving a hearty welcome to the newly dubbed 'prince'…all save for Sidon, who sulked in a corner and brooded jealously, not liking this rival Dragon-type one bit. Sora and Mina might have been dragons too, technically, but Sora was a doofus and Mina was a small, squishy baby. This Tyrunt, however, was already getting big and strong, so soon after hatching! Plus, Naruto was showering him with lots of attention and praise. Sidon didn't like that at all. Sidon would have to do something, or he'd lose his status as Alpha Dragon.
Soon afterwards, the group decided to spend some time in the Pokécenter's recreational yard. Kirishima was getting restless, and as Sakura quietly pointed out, after eating his bodyweight in red meat, he'd surely have to 'discharge' sometime soon, and that wasn't something anyone wanted happening in their room.
Right away, the four of them, especially Hinata, realized they'd have to get used to people staring, whispering, and taking pictures, to say the least. Between them, they had on their teams: a shiny Eevee, Ralts, and Gabite (not to mention a Quilava that might as well be considered shiny), a Mythical Ponyta (a rare sight outside of Senju Forest), an Artic Vulpix (with an odd-colored eye), and last but certainly not least, a baby T-rex. It was this last Pokémon that really caused the group problems. Once the first person noticed the Tyrunt, this started a clammer of whispering, followed by people calling out questions, taking photos, and even one or two people approaching the group.
"Hey, isn't that a Tyrunt?"
"No way, those aren't real; they're only movie 'mons. It must be a costume or something."
"Nah, look! That thing's real!"
"Whoa, a baby Tyrunt!"
"Ahh, it's nuzzling up to that girl."
"She must have gotten it at that new Fossil World place."
"I thought it wasn't opened yet?"
"Hey, where'd you get that Tyrunt?"
"Do you want to trade? I've got a Dragonair I'm willing to part with."
"I've got a Chansey!"
"Can I touch it?
"Does it bite?"
"How old is it?"
"Hey, is that Quilava black and red?"
"Heh, the universal warpaint of he-who-is-not-to-be-messed-with. It suits him; look at that hate-glare he's giving me."
"Oh, Sweet Arcus, is that a red Gabite!? Who owns him?! I'll trade my Chansey for him!"
"Hey, it looks like that girl owns that shiny Ralts and Quilava, too! How'd she get three rare Pokémon?!"
"Those pale eyes; is she a Hyuga?"
"The Aura Guardian family? Typical; spoiled rich kids get everything!"
"Hey, Ms. Hyuga, did you want to trade-?"
The crowd had long overstepped the boundaries of propriety, and Naruto decided to do something about it, preferably before Katsuki killed someone. He was already starting to smoke and smolder.
"Hey, back up! Back. It. Up!" he shouted, jumping up and physically pushing away the trainer that had gotten into Hinata's personal space to offer a trade of his Chansey for Hinata's Tyrunt.
The teenage boy looked like he wanted to snap something at Naruto for pushing him, but Naruto kept up his momentum.
First rule commanding a crowd: act like you're in charge, Naruto thought, something his mother had taught him was key to Pokémon Coordination. He cleared his throat, motioning to Hinata.
"Yes, as you can see, she has a Tyrunt. No, she won't trade him. No, you can't pet him right now; he's still a baby and getting used to crowds." Then the gears of inevitably suddenly clicked into place in Naruto's mind as an idea sprang into existence- an idea that was unethical, unscrupulous, and one his mother would be very proud of him for thinking it up. "However, as part of the promotional program for Fossil World, we will be allowing people to take pictures with the Royal Heir Pokémon later today…for a fee, of course."
It was Tauros-shit, of course. But it had been said with such panache and confidence that even Naruto's friends bought it for a moment…before what he was saying actually registered.
Sakura did a spit take, wondering what the hell Naruto thought he was doing, Hinata's eyes widened in shock, and Sasuke remained perfectly still, save for a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth that could either be a scowl or a smile trying to escape.
"Yes, for a small fee, you can take a picture with this prehistoric prince! Or even with some of the other amazing 'mons we have with us," Naruto went on, putting an arm around Sidon's shoulder for emphasis. Sidon rolled his eyes but secretly, he kind of liked the idea.
"Wait, does that mean the Gabite's a Fossil Pokémon? I thought he was a shiny. Does that mean we'll be able to catch one in Fossil World once it opens?" one girl asked.
"Good question! And we'll be more than happy to give you full details…later! For now, please give us some privacy! And remember: pictures with the dinos starts at 6:00 tonight. Cash only."
Most of the crowd got the message and dispersed, though a few stragglers, including the boy offering to trade his Chansey, continued pestering them until Katsuki exploded with fire and scared 'em off.
Once they had some privacy, Sakura socked Naruto on the arm.
"OUCH! What was that for?" Naruto cried, rubbing his arm. It felt like it was already bruising.
"What the Houndoom do you think you're doing?!" she snapped, getting ready to punch his other arm, though Hinata jumped up to hold her back.
"What? I just thought it'd be an easy way to make some quick cash! Besides, it got the crowd to leave us alone! You could say 'thank you,' you know," Naruto said.
"They'll only come back later! Besides, maybe Hinata doesn't want to have people gawking at her Pokémon, you doofus," Sakura pointed out angrily.
"And maybe you should ask her what she wants?" Hinata suggested, moving between the two now.
As if to put emphasis on his mommy's words, Kirishima the Tyrunt butted Sakura's butt. He meant only to gently tap her, but a 'gentle tap' from an untrained Tyrunt was enough to knock Sakura off her feet into Hinata who in turn fell onto Naruto, and then all three were down like dominos.
Surprisingly, Sasuke found the sight rather funny, and let out a somewhat cruel chuckle as the three got to their feet, with poor Kirishima stomping about as he tried to apologize and help them up. Of course, being a relatively heavy Pokémon for his size, one accidental step on someone could cause some serious injury. Hinata wisely asked Kiri to be still before crawling over and using his snout to climb up (so that he could feel like he helped while keeping his heavy little feet at a safe distance).
Hinata sighed, wiping dirt from her jacket. "…I'm not sure how I feel about people paying us to take pictures of our Pokémon," she said, bringing them back to their original topic. "Kiri's very…earnest." She put special emphasis on the word as she looked at him. He smiled angelically at her, flashing a set of teeth that could already bite through sheet metal. "Maybe we should put it off…at least until I'm sure we can trust him with strangers."
"Wait, you're okay with this?" Sakura asked in disbelief. "How can you let your Pokémon be degraded by having weirdos take pictures with him?"
"What's not to like? It's free money!" Sasuke suddenly put in. "It's not like we're having 'em walk the streets; it's just a picture. Naruto and I did the same with Bayushi when we were nine."
"Eevee," Bayushi said fondly, remembering that particular scam. It had been Naruto's idea. The boys wanted to buy a new videogame, but didn't have the allowance to pay for it. Then Naruto got the idea of sitting outside of a photography booth and offering to let people pose with Sasuke's shiny Eevee for a small charge. Sasuke even found a top hat and bowtie for Bayushi. They made bank in one hour…which was lucky, because before the second one was done, their parents had got wind of their little enterprise and put a stop to it. Still, Sasuke had given the Eevee a full plate of bacon for cooperating.
"…you're just agreeing to this because you're still broke," Sakura said crossly.
"Duh," Sasuke responded flatly.
"We can always decide what to do later, you know," Naruto said, noticing that Hinata still looked unsure. "If you're not comfortable with the idea, we can always stay at a different Pokécenter tonight so we don't have to deal with that crowd again."
"Heh, maybe," Hinata mused, scratching Kiri on the snout. She moved up to behind his jaw, which drew out a deep sound from his throat that was like a purr, only with the volume turned up so that it was closer to a small avalanche.
They conversed and played with their Pokémon for a little bit after that.
Naruto pulled out a ball and started up simple game of kickball. He was joined by Kata, Kirishima, Sora, Mina, Akodo, Midoriya, and even Katsuki, surprisingly. Naruto tried getting Sidon to join them, but the Gabite scoffed and laid out his treasure hoard, once again polishing it. As they played, Hianta noticed that Sidon kept picking up his shiniest treasures, the Sun and Fire Stones, and polishing them with extra effort every time Kiri got close, only to get dejected when the Tyrunt showed no interest. That was something she didn't like.
Right away, it was clear that they'd have to establish some rules. First off, Naruto kicked the ball over to Mina, only for it to bump into her face and get stuck, causing her to cry…which caused Kiri to cry…which made Sora try to cheer them up by licking Mina, only to find himself stuck to her as well, causing him to burst into tears. Oddly, even Sidon started to get teary eyed, though he quicky put on a grumpy face to cover this up. Vaguely, Naruto remembered that Dragon-types were easily distressed by the cries of their young. Poor Sidon must have been fighting hard to keep control over his instincts.
After Sakura swooped in and soothed her baby, Naruto proposed that she carry Mina and they could be a 'team' of sorts. At this suggestion, Ochako, Togashi, Hitomi, and Bayushi joined in. Shoto and Tetsu looked interested, but they just seemed to enjoy watching everything.
After dealing with the 'Mina problem' a second one arose. Little Prince Kiri had to be reminded of his strength and size; at this point, he was larger than any of his playmates except for Ochako and maybe Togashi and Akodo (the boys were around Kiri's size, but neither one had the bulk to match). Once, Kirishima got too excited chasing after the ball and ended up trampling Midoriya. However, when the Tyrunt realized what happened, he quickly became tearful and apologetic, trying to help his Quilladin friend up, while Midoriya reassured him that he was okay.
Hinata then carefully but firmly explained to her Tyrunt that he was a big little boy, and he had to remember that, because a lot of his friends were smaller than he was. He had to be a good boy and play gently. She then kissed him on the forehead, and they went back to playing.
After that, there was another incident when Kirishima caught the ball and didn't want to let go. Naruto tried to get him to let go of the ball gently, but the Tyrunt snapped at him. At that, Hinata jumped up and firmly ordered Kiri to drop the ball right now. Little Kiri flinched at her command, then dropped it while looking down. Several of the other Pokémon and even Naruto looked equally shocked. Even Sidon had dropped the tin can he'd been polishing before he realized Hinata was talking to the Tyrunt. Not changing her tone at all, Hinata then ordered Kirishima to look at her.
"Young dragon, we do NOT bite people! That is not nice!" she said, trying to channel her father's sternness. She emphasized the seriousness of her words by using her Aura link with Kiri. "If you try that again, you're going to get a timeout, understand?"
"Runt, runt," Kirishima said, looking utterly defeated.
It was actually a very endearing scene, with Hinata doing her best to look foreboding and stern while scolding a baby T-rex who was almost her size and weight.
"Good. Now apologize to Naruto for almost biting him."
He did so, and Naruto told him it was okay and patted him on the nose.
"It's not okay," Hinata said, looking serious. "He could have really hurt you, and after I told him he needed to be gentle. I need to make sure he understands these things now, before he gets much bigger."
She noticed Kiri hanging his head, and gave him a reassuring smile. "Oh, don't worry, Little Prince. You're a good boy. You didn't mean to do that. I just want you to understand, okay? Naruto is our friend. We don't want to hurt him or any of our other friends, right?" She kissed him on the head. Kikyo had come up and put her hand on the Tyrunt, telepathically conveying the message so that everything was as clear as could be.
Kirishima seemed to think things over, then nodded and apologized to Naruto again, who in turn said that he forgave the Tyrunt this time around.
Hinata gave Kiri another kiss. "Okay, my little prince, go back to playing. But be sure to share, okay? That makes it more fun for everyone."
After a bit more play, the group had lunch. Once again, Hinata found herself feeding her Tyrunt slabs of raw meat, though luckily it was a smaller portion than earlier. Akodo and Sidon both got very excited at the sight of real meat, so both of them had to be given a small slice (though Naruto warned them that this was not going to be a regular thing). Between the three meat-eaters, Akodo was surprisingly the most overtly messy and aggressive, growling and throwing his steak to the ground, biting into it and trying to tear of chunks as he held the other end down with his paw. Sidon scoffed and neatly bit his share in half, taking a full minute to crew the meat and savor it before swallowing and starting on the second half- though it was rather unnerving how his eyes rolled back in his head like a shark's as soon as he tasted blood.
Once Kirishima finished his meal, he turned about in a circle near Hinata, curled up, and went to sleep.
Sakura made a comment on Kiri being adorable, and Naruto added something to that, but Sasuke wasn't paying much attention. He noticed Naruto's watch (stylized with the motif and colors of a shiny Froakie). It read: 2:26.
"Is that the right time?" he asked.
"Of course. What's the point of wearing a watch if it doesn't tell the right time?"
"Ah Houndoom, it's way later than I thought it was!" Sasuke said, getting up from his seat. "There was an announcement yesterday that Steel Blossom Gym would be accepting its last challengers at 3:00 today. Then they're gonna close for a week because of the Coordinator's Contest!"
"Oh no, we're going to be late!" Sakura gasped.
"Eh? Why would they close because of the contest?" Naruto asked.
"I'll explain later! We have to get going now!" Sasuke said, whipping out his Pokenav and getting directions to the gym. "Come on, if we hurry, we can just make it!"
Quick as they could be, the three recalled their Pokémon and started for the door. Hinata, however, winced at the announcement.
"Sorry, I don't think I'll be able to make it," she said apologetically.
"Eh?" Naruto said, whipping around in confusion. He was not the only one, as both Katsuki and Midoriya had turned to their trainer for an explanation.
Hinata shook her head. "Nurse Joy said that Kirishima needs to rest outside of his Pokéball for the rest of the day, and I need to take care of him. I need to stay here."
"But-! But-!" Naruto protested, though by now Sasuke had grabbed the boy and started dragging him away, asking Sakura if a taxi would be faster than trying to run it on foot.
"Don't worry! I'll just do it after the contest!" Hinata called.
-0o0o0-
"We made it!" Naruto shouted, holding up his fists in manic triumph.
"Yeah, and it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it'd be," Sasuke said, coming up behind him.
"See? I told you we'd save half the trip by going through that alleyway!"
In order for them to arrive at the gym with 10 minutes to space before 3:00, the Naruto plotted a course that required them to run the entire distance, occasionally jaywalking, cutting through alleyways, jumping fences, and even running through a redlight once. Sasuke had to admit, Naruto had done an admirable job trailblazing the city streets.
Meanwhile, Sakura had a different view of things.
"You…you're both…insane!" she gasped, leaning against a signpost. "We almost got killed when you made us run through that traffic light!"
"Hey, that was the shortest green light I've ever seen!" Naruto responded defensively. "It's not my fault these city lights are on timers!"
"Who cares? We got here on time," Sasuke said simply. "Come on, we've only got a few more minutes before 3:00!"
Steel Blossom Gym was not its own building; in a city of skyscrapers like Steel Blossom, very few businesses could ever hope to own their own property. The gym instead occupied the top three floors of the city's most important location for traveling trainers: the Battle Tower. The facility wasn't much older than the gym itself, but in its short lifetime, it had become a vital part of Steel Blossom's culture and economy. Each of its twenty-five floors were devoted towards competitive Pokémon battles. One floor was a medical center, another was devoted to TMs and Move Learning, and a few handled battle research. However, most of the building housed vast battlefields with authentic designs. Only the most expensive and large of the Konoha League's stadiums could house more than one type of battlefield, and even then, it took time to switch between them, and they still needed to use holograms or otherwise cut corners in the design. The Battle Tower, by contrast, claimed to house every possible battlefield imaginable: grasslands, deserts, swamps. There was even an underwater and volcanic battlefield in the basement levels (for safety purposes). More importantly, the arenas were divided into quadrants based on experience: depending on how many badges a trainer had, they had access to the more difficult areas. This meant that trainers could reliably interact and challenge each other in their own quadrant without there being too much of skill gap between them.
As such, the building was crowded to the brim with trainers, only a portion of which were interested in the gym challenge. The three had to crowd and push their way through the throng before Naruto pointed to the gym challenger administration area…which was already closed. A sign was posted over the kiosk's glass window:
NOTICE TO ALL TRAINERS
All available timeslots to challenge the Steel Blossom Gym have been filled for the day. We further regret informing all potential challengers at the gym will be closed to all future challenges from now until next Monday (8 days from now), due to a last-minute change in scheduling that required the Konoha League to confiscate Steel Blossom Gym for an upcoming coordination event. The gym will remain closed while hosting the event, due to security concerns and other demands. The Battle Tower's staff apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and encourage trainers to use the Battle Tower's other facilities in the meantime, which will be offered at a 10% discount while the gym remains closed.
Naruto read the sign and groaned, hanging his head.
"Darn it, we rushed here for nothing!" he whined.
"We should have tried getting here earlier," Sasuke said, looking grim.
Sakura shrugged. "It isn't that big a deal. We're going to stay in Steel Blossom for the contest anyway, so it's not like we've lost any time, is it?"
Sasuke grunted, but decided she was ultimately right. Still, he'd have liked to have been able to get his badge as soon as possible.
"We might as well make the best of things while we're here; look, the Battle Tower's open, and they're offering a discount on their services! That'll be great for training," Sakura pointed out. An idea occurred to her. "I wonder if they have simulations of contest-style battles available? We could practice for the contest."
Naruto nodded, noting that he and Hinata hadn't really hammered out a strategy for the contest. They had talked over some ideas and tricks, but it was more-or-less the two of them sharing what they knew about contests. Some actual practice was something they definitely needed.
They headed over to the desks reserved for signing up to use the Battle Tower's facilities. Each desk had a line, though because Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all only had one badge, they were in one of the shorter lines.
After about 15 minutes, it was finally their turn.
"Hello and welcome to the Steel Blossom Battle Tower. Ah, you look new here; I'll explain the services we provide," the young man behind the desk asked, pointing to a sign that listed several options. "We offer simulations on standard and double battles in a variety of fields, coordination contests, and monotype training. What are you three interested in?"
"Actually, we were just talking about working on our coordination skills," Sakura said, looking pleased with the idea.
"Okay, just use the pen pad to sign up and register your teams, and then enter in the sort of training you're interested in from the list, and our automated system will find you the best match-up for what you're looking for. Oh, and you'll also want to specify if you're wanting to train as a group or individually."
Sasuke frowned when Sakura automatically entered them for coordination training, but he decided not to make a big deal out of it; after all, she was right in saying that they should practice.
However, when Sakura finished their entry and tried to submit it, a message box popped, stating that their teams matched another trainer's urgent request. Sakura showed it to the youth manning the desk.
"Oh? Let me have a look at that," he said, taking the pen pad and opening the message. "It seems that another trainer put in a request when someone with a Steel-type Pokémon capable of using Magnet Rise showed up in the Battle Tower."
"What, we don't have a Pokémon that can- oh, my Metang!" Sakura said, slapping her forehead. Last time Sakura had checked what moves Tetsu should know, Magnet Rise had been on the list, though she didn't think much of it, since Tetsu could already float.
"Would you like to respond to the request? It seems the poster wants to work on a special technique they're developing and is willing to reimburse anyone who responds to her ad for their time and effort," the clerk explained.
"Ooh, that sounds interesting," Sakura said, getting excited at the prospect. "Let's do it!"
"Hey, I thought we were supposed to practice," Naruto protested.
"Yeah, but they're working on a special technique! It might be something great! Come on, when are we going to get another chance to learn something like that?" Sakura asked.
"Considering how often weird stuff happens to us, by next month," Sasuke muttered.
Still, they offered no further protests as Sakura responded to the request with an affirmative, after which the clerk called up the request's poster. A few quick words, and he hung up and turned back to the trio.
"Ah, well what do you know? The poster's Tenten," he said, speaking more to himself than to his customers.
"Hmm? You know her?" Sakura asked.
The clerk nodded. "Of course, she…works in this building on one of the upper levels." He had paused in the middle of the sentence, as if to consider something. Pressing a few buttons, he brought up her profile and turned the screen to them.
"Oh, she works here? I wonder if she's in the move research department?" Sakura asked, getting excited.
Tenten turned out to be a year older than they were, with brown eyes and brown hair done up in a pair of Pancham-ear buns.
"…she looks a little young to be working here," Sasuke noted, frowning a little. She also looked vaguely familiar, too.
The clerk seemed to ignore the remark. "Anyway, she's here, so you can see her right now. She said she was heading to cafeteria for a late lunch, so you can find her in her usual spot, booth #13. Just take the elevator to the second floor and it will be to the left when you enter."
-0o0o0-
Booth #13 turned out to be in the section of the cafeteria reserved for members of the Battle Tower's special staff. As such, Sakura and the others had to wait for Tenten to arrive before they could be allowed in.
Sakura was buzzing with excitement, though Sasuke's mind was elsewhere. "Hmm, there's only a few private booths, so only the highest-ranking members of the facility could be given one, but Tenten can't be more than a year or two older than us. So, she couldn't have a formal job here. Maybe she's an apprentice, or maybe her daddy's like the head of the facility? …no, that doesn't add up. The clerk said she worked in the building. Plus, I know I've seen her face before…but where?"
"Veevee," Bayushi sighed, standing atop Sasuke's shoulder.
"Yeah, that's the question," he said, nodding.
"Sasuke, you know that talking to yourself is really creepy," Naruto said.
"It's the best way I know to have an intellectually stimulating conversation," Sasuke responded evenly, not bothering to look up. "Besides, technically I'm talking to Bayushi. And my father says speaking the facts aloud helps you organize them better."
"Ahh, don't you think talking to me stimulating?" Sakura asked, trying to snuggle up close to him.
But then there was a spark in Sasuke's eye.
"I remember where I saw her picture before!" he cried, whipping out his Pokénav so fast that Bayushi was thrown from his shoulder, though there was no crashing sound from him hitting the floor. Typing rapidly, Sasuke let out a triumphant chuckle before showing the others what he found. "See?"
It was the Steel Blossom Gym's profile, and there was same picture of Tenten as before, this time under the Gym Leader's listing.
"Meet the Steel Blossom Gym Leader," Sasuke said. "Ha, I knew I saw her picture before."
"Oh, you must be so proud," Tenten said, looking over Sasuke's shoulder.
Sasuke pulled away from the girl and turned to face her in a defensive way, while Sakura and Naruto both gasped in shock.
She was a thin but toned girl, dressed in a silver martial artist's uniform with iron-gray lining. She had a metal band on each of her upper arms, along with a steel guard on the back of each of her hands. Six metal-topped Pokéballs hung from her belt, though unlike the Sound Trio's, which all looked to be made of polished steel, each of Tenten's looked to be handmade from a different metal, and each one had a different design to it. She had a jitte and a kunai in thigh-holsters to her left and right side, respectively. All-in-all, the leader of the Steel Blossom Gym looked to be equal parts martial artist as she did someone with an affinity for metal.
Most surprising, however, was that Tenten was holding Bayushi in her arms, who was looking rather smugly at Sasuke.
"You dropped this," Tenten said, casually handing Bayushi to Sasuke, before turning to Sakura. "You must be Sakura: the girl with the Metang. Hello, I'm Tenten, the Steel Blossom Gym Leader, although it seems detective boy already knew that."
"Hmph," Sasuke grunted.
"Y-yeah, I'm Sakura! Sakura Haruno! Sorry, I'm just very excited…and a bit confused. Why would you need help from a stranger like me? Couldn't you just ask anyone in the Battle Tower? Wouldn't they want to help you, especially if you're working on a new technique?"
Tenten tapped a keycard against the turnstile that separated the private booths from the public ones. "Here, sit down. Order lunch on me. Then we'll talk."
"Heh, I just might like this girl," Sasuke joked as they sat down.
Since Sakura and the others already had lunch, they just ordered some fries and drinks between them. After their food arrived, Tenten finally explained herself.
"You suggested that I could just ask for help from the Battle Tower's research staff? Normally, yeah, I could; however, the technique I'm working on requires a specific move-set and natural abilities. I'm working on a technique that involves magnetic forces- one that should greatly benefit Pokémon with a natural affinity for magnetism."
"Ya' mean like Magneton?" Naruto asked bluntly.
Tenten nodded. "Yes. For now, I've been using the Magnemite-line to my research; specifically, my grandfather's Magnezone. Unfortunately, while he's been very successful at creating an approximation of the effect I'm aiming for, I've had no success with teaching it to any of my own Pokémon! Which is weird, because it should be something that any Pokémon with magnetic potential should be able to understand."
"Eh? What do you mean by 'magnetic potential'?" Sakura asked.
"Uh, basically what it sounds like," Tenten replied. But then she realized that it might not be so obvious for people who hadn't been researching Pokémon and magnetism like she had. "Er, to put it simply, Pokémon with the inherent ability to perceive and manipulate magnetic fields. Most Steel- and Electric-types are included in that category, as well as Pokémon with the Magnet Pull ability, like Nosepass."
"What exactly are you trying to do?" Sasuke asked.
Tenten took in a breath. "Well, to put it simply, I'm trying to perfect a magnetic version of the terrain techniques. You know, like Grassy Terrain or Electric Terrain? Only this one will create a magnetic field with the same effects my gym's magnetic field generators! A sort of 'Magnetic Terrain', if you will (copyright pending)."
She noticed the looks everyone was giving her.
"Er, the Steel Blossom Gym's trial requires the challenging trainer to fight while an artificially generated magnetic field encompasses the battlefield. It was originally my grandfather's design, and he's the one who got the idea of changing it from being machine generated to being a true Pokémon technique…mostly because he wanted to get around having to pay for the generators to get repaired every time a gym challenger got the idea of destroying them in order to get rid of the magnetic field. Our insurance wouldn't cover the costs, the cheap bastards."
While Sakura and Naruto showed open excitement at the idea of a new technique, Sasuke said, "Well, that doesn't explain why you can't get help from the Battle Tower's staff."
Tenten scoffed. "As I said before, I need a very specific Pokémon- a Steel-type that naturally learns Magnet Rise. There are six Pokémon families that fit those qualifications: the Magnemite-line, Forretress, Steelix, the Metagross-line, Probopass, and Togedemaru."
"What's a Togedemaru?" Sakura whispered to Naruto.
"What you get when you cross a Pikachu with a war-mace," Naruto answered.
"A few staffers in the Battle Tower have some Magnemite and one has a Steelix, but I've already got a Magnezone to study, and the Steelix's trainer never realized it could learn Magnet Rise, so they completely forgot the move. Besides, I was really hoping someone with a Metang would respond to my request."
Sakura asked why, and Tenten pulled out her Pokénav, bringing up her trainer ID.
"This is my team," she explained, showing a register of her Pokémon: Mawile, Honedge, Pawniard, Skarmory, Empoleon, and Duraludon. "Three of them (Mawile, Honedge, and Pawniard) can learn Magnet Rise, and I've taught it to them. But they still can't learn Magnetic Terrain (copyright pending). Care to guess what almost all my team has in common that's different from my grandpa's Magnezone? It's something that the Magnezone-line has in common with the Metagross-line."
There was a pause, and then Naruto suggested, "Magnezone's an Electric-type?"
Sasuke scoffed. "None of her team's Electric, but neither is Metang, and it's something Magnezone's got to have in common with it."
Sakura spoke next. "Aside from the sword-shaped Pokémon, your whole team has organic bodies. Meanwhile, Magnezone and Metang are both inorganic Pokémon that lack the physical genders!"
"Exactly!" Tenten said. "I think my grandfather's Magnezone might just have trouble teaching Magnetic Terrain (copyright pending) to inorganic Pokémon, since they're on different wavelengths, so to say."
"So why can't Honedge learn it?" Naruto asked, being the only one who recognized the sword-shaped Pokémon.
Tenten shrugged. "That's what I'm trying to find out. So, are you willing to help me?" she asked, turning to Sakura. "I promise I'll make it worth your while: you'll get partial credit if we successfully codify the technique, and I'll let you all have access to my gym and the Battle Tower for as long as we're working together!"
"Deal!" Naruto said quickly, shaking Tenten's offered hand.
"She wasn't talking to you, idiot," Sasuke said.
"Deal!" Sakura said, shaking Tenten's other hand.
"…" Sasuke sighed, deciding it was a good deal, though he wished they had the sense to haggle more.
"I can't wait to tell Prof. Tsunade that I'm already making history!" Sakura said, rocking back and forth with glee. In her arms, Mina had gotten the hiccups and was spitting up bubbles.
"You know Prof. Tsunade? The Prof. Tsunade?" Tenten asked, rather surprised.
Sakura nodded. "I'm her apprentice."
Steel Blossom's Gym Leader sank back in her chair, letting out a breath. "Whao. I gotta admit, I'm a great admirer of Tsunade Koto- she's supposed to be the strongest woman trainer in Konoha, plus the leading expert on Pokémon physiology."
"She might be a great doctor, but Kushina Uzumaki is the strongest woman in Konoha!" Naruto interjected.
Sasuke argued with him that Kushina and Tsunade had never battled. Besides, Grandmother Kikuko of the Elite Four or his mother, Mikoto Uchiha, the highest-ranking female gym leader, both had a right to that title.
"Uh…so when do we start working?" Sakura asked, trying to ignore the boys' petty argument.
"First, I think you should see Magnetic Terrain in action," Tenten suggested. An idea struck her. "Say, were any of you wanting to challenge my gym?"
Naruto and Sasuke, who had already stopped arguing, spoke up at once. "I do!"
Sakura, meanwhile, shook her head. "I can already say my team's not ready to take on a bunch of Steel-types.
Tenten nodded. "In that case, you and your Metang can spectate. Boys, I accept your challenges; 3-v-3, each. I'll explain the full rules of the gym challenge once we're there. Agreed?"
"Wait, right now?" Naruto asked. "I thought the gym was closed."
"To the public, yes. But it's still my property and home. Nothing stopping me from privately accepting challenges."
"Ah, thanks!" Naruto cheered.
-0o0o0-
…Back at the Pokécenter…
-0o0o0-
Hinata found herself in a very uncomfortable situation. Soon after Naruto and the others left, trainers from earlier had started drifting close to her team. One trainer had come over and respectfully asked if he could take a picture of Kirishima, who was sleeping curled up near Hinata, though she declined his request. It wasn't that Hinata didn't want anyone to take pictures of him without paying (as per Naruto's evil scheme). Rather, she knew if she let him, then another trainer would ask, and then another, and then someone else would want to wake Kirishima up so he could smile for the camera. That was not something Hinata wanted to put her poor Tyrunt through so soon after hatching. In fact, she had decided to tell her friends that she want to go along through with Naruto's money-making scheme, at least not until Kiri had been given time to mature.
However, another trainer had tried snapping a picture of Kiri without Hinata's permission, bolding moving in with his phone out and ready. Before Hinata could tell him to knock it off, Katsuki had jumped out in front of Kiri protectively, snarling with his flame-vents blazing. That scared the idiot off. After that, Hinata had gently prodded her little prince awake and had him move so that she and the table would obscure any clear shots of him from the other trainers. Katsuki curled up next to him, though he wasn't really asleep.
Then another trainer came up to Hinata. The boy from earlier who had offered to trade his Chansey for Kirishima. Hinata sensed what he was going to say.
"Hey, since your bossy friend isn't around anymore, I just wanted to repeat my offer to trade with you earlier: my Chansey for your Tyrunt. That's fair, right?" he said, smiling awkwardly and holding up a polished Safari Ball.
Hinata had to fight down a glare. Thus far today, she had been woken up at 4 AM, had handled over 50 lbs. of raw meat (getting lots of blood all over herself), had to sleep on the floor next to a baby dragon-dino with literally rock-hard scales, and now she had to deal with being mobbed by strangers wanting to poke, prod, pet, and even trade her baby Dragon-type…and she hadn't even had him for half a day yet! Surely, anyone with half a brain could tell that Hinata wasn't going to be interested in any trade offers. In truth, she was half-tempted to let Katsuki, who was literally smoldering with anger, get rid of intruder.
Kikyo, who was sitting next to Hinata, sensed trouble brewing. She put her hand into Hinata's and gave the girl a telepathic prod of soothing emotion.
Hinata smiled inwardly, squeezing her Ralts' hand.
There's no use being upset, Hinata thought to herself. He's just an overeager boy who's too excited to realize he's being rude.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not trading him, now or ever. Besides, he's only just hatched this morning and he needs a lot of special care," Hinata said diplomatically.
"Ah man," the boy sighed, snapping his fingers.
Hinata closed her eyes and used their Aura bond to thank Kikyo for the mental help.
"Oh, what about your Quilava?! Is he up for grabs?" the boy suddenly asked, pointing at Katsuki. "He's no Tyrunt, but he looks cool as %$# with that black-and-red coat! That isn't a dye job, right?"
At this, Hinata couldn't help but level a look of exasperation at him, and Katsuki's rage diel was turned from 'quiet smolder' all the way up to 'silence before violence'.
"Hey, leave the girl alone, dummy. She said she's not interested" a female trainer said, pushing the boy aside and inadvertently saving him from Katsuki's hot wrath. She had been the trainer who offered her Dragonair for Kiri earlier.
Hinata was glad someone understood that her Pokémon were not up for trade.
"Besides, Chansey are overrated. If she's going to trade with anyone, it'd be me!" the girl said proudly, pulling out a tablet and showing it to Hinata. "See, I collect rare Pokémon. Come on, have a look and see if there's anything you'd like to trade for. I could use any of yours, you know: the Tyrunt, either of your shinys, heck, I could use your Quilladin. Ya' willing to part with any of 'em? Don't say 'no' until you see what I'm offering."
Finally drawing the line, Hinata shoved the tablet away, intending on giving both trainers a piece of her mind. However, her team got to it first!
Kikyo had Teleported on the table between Hinata and the strangers and started telling them off, shaking an accusing finger at them with her other hand on her hip. She was so upset, in fact, that Hinata wasn't sure if she was using her telepathy or just haranguing the pair with Poké-speech.
Meanwhile, Midoriya, who had been playing with a deck of cards on the bench opposite Hinata of the table, had gotten up and started pushing the two trainers away, deciding they'd bothered Hinata enough to warrant a bit of force (though not nearly enough to hurt anyone).
Katsuki, for his part, showed great restraint, which Hinata was grateful for. Instead of reacting with violence, he just uncurled and let his flame-vents blaze at full power, glaring murderously.
All the commotion of course, woke up Kirishima. The Tyrunt didn't know what was going on, but from the reactions of his siblings, he could tell that the two strangers were bad people who were being mean to Mommy, so the little prince decided to gallantly help them out, pushing his way out in front of Hinata and hissing loudly.
Luckily, that was when Nurse Joy entered the recreational area.
"Uh, am I interrupting something?" she asked, scowling lightly. "Just so you know, there is to be no fighting in the rec. yard. Clear off."
The two trainers moved away, embarrassed and a bit frazzled, while Hinata's Pokémon calmed down. Kiri, being just a baby, didn't really understand and tried hissing at Nurse Joy, but then Katsuki pulled him away.
"And I have a message for you, Ms. Hyuga…from Mr. Kimimaro Kaguya himself."
"…excuse me?" Hinata asked, not exactly sure what else to say. What would Konoha's newest Elite Four member want to say to her?!
"Yes, he called the Pokécenter himself," Joy went on. "It seems that after getting that call about the propre care of Tyrunt hatchlings, his staff quickly put together that you must have rescued the Tyrunt egg that had been stolen from his gym's lab a few days ago, and they alerted Kimimaro about the situation immediately. Apparently, he wants to thank you for your assistance in the situation personally and told me to reassure you that he'll not be trying to take your Tyrunt from you." Nurse Joy handed Hinata a folded paper, and then held something else. "Also, he sent you this special, promotional Pokéball that his lab developed for catching Fossil Pokémon. He called it an 'Fossil Ball', an upgraded and more decorative version of the 'Dino Balls' that'll be used in the Fossil World Safari Zone."
The Fossil Ball looked like it was made of smooth stone, with a capture button made of polished amber. Its bottom half was an earthy brown, while its top was made of a red rock, with decorative dinosaur teeth set in the rim.
Had Hinata been paying attention, she would have been very impressed with the ball and thanked Nurse Joy, even though technically Joy hadn't been the one to give it to her. Even if it the Fossil Ball didn't match Hinata's preference for simple, elegant designs, it was still a beautiful gift.
However, Hinata really couldn't appreciate it at the moment, or even take the offered paper, which had Kimimaro's personal contact information. Rather, the moment Nurse Joy mentioned 'Pokéball', Hinata realized she had made a serious mistake.
"I forgot to catch my Tyrunt!" Hinata gasped, hands on her face.
"Really? How could you forget to do that?" Nurse Joy said, her tone somewhat derisive.
"Between us waking up in middle of the night and having to deal with all his immediate needs, I forgot!" Hinata explained, blushing a little. How could she have been so irresponsible?
"You don't actually own him?" the boy who wanted to trade his Chansey asked, though he asked it in a quiet, sneaky way, with a wicked gleam in his eyes.
"Here, hurry up and catch him," Joy ordered, shoving the Fossil Ball into Hinata's hands.
She nodded. "Okay, Little Prince, time to- where'd he go?!"
Her un-caught Tyrant was no longer behind the bench, but instead he had wondered over to a Druddigon (the same one that had interacted with Sidon the previous day, in fact), with Katsuki hanging onto Kiri's tail, having apparently been dragged along when he tried holding him back. The Tyrunt was growling and roaring playfully, making mock threat displays, which the Druddigon responded to with mock displays of his own, clearly enjoying playing with the baby Dragon-type.
"Kirishima, get back here this moment!" Hinata ordered. Her tone had caused the Tyrunt to jump nearly a foot into the air and whip around in terror (which in turn whipped Katsuki into the Druddigon's Rough Skin).
And that was when the boy trainer suddenly stepped forward, raising an Ultra Ball.
"All's fair in love and Pokémon!" he shouted, throwing the ball. "MINE!"
Someone screamed, though it wasn't Hinata. She was too busy dislocating the boy's jaw with Force Palm.
In the past, Hinata had always had trouble molding Aura to mimic Pokémon techniques; she had never successfully used one against a non-Aura-using human, since the idea of it made her feel uneasy, like she was 'cheating' by hitting them in a way they couldn't hit back. The closest she ever came to it was when she lashed out against that Sound Trio boy when they were trying to steal Kikyo, and even that had only been hitting the boy with her Aura-charged hand. Had Hinata done to that Sound Trio boy what she did to this would-be thief, he likely wouldn't have gotten back up…on account of having a rib or two broken. Fueled by anger, maternal instinct, and outrage at the idiot's underhandedness, Hinata had hit the boy without thinking, years of practice suddenly slapping into place. She didn't plan to make a Force Palm and use it- she just did it. She had acted on instinct, on reflex. And later, Hinata would realize this and feel mighty proud of herself, once everything had calmed down.
However, nothing was calm right now. The Ultra Ball was still flying into the air straight at Kirishima, who didn't understand what it was, but from Mommy's reaction, it must have been something evil and scary-
And then, just before it hit him, the ball stopped. Kikyo had caught it with Confusion, telekinetically lifting the ball away from her Tyrunt teammate.
"Oh, thank you, Kikyo!" Hinata said, nearly crying with relief.
…Sensed his evil intentions… Kikyo said, glaring at the boy.
He had dropped his Chansey's ball, causing her to pop out and try to aid her trainer…who was curled up in a fetal position whimpering. A broken jaw had that effect on a person.
There was the sound of a scuffle behind them. Hinata looked over her shoulder; Midoriya had tackled the Dragonair girl to the floor and had her in a bind.
"Hey, get offa me! I ain't gonna try and steal nothin' from no one!" she protested, struggling.
"Can you blame him for being paranoid?" Nurse Joy asked, looking unsympathetically as the thief boy's Chansey attempted to force her healing egg down his throat, in spite of his broken jaw.
However, that was when things went wrong.
Katsuki, having untangled himself from the Druddigon, blasted the floating Ultra Ball with Flamethrower, wanting to get rid of it for good. This, however, first caused a small explosion, and then secondly, set off the fire alarm. Which was followed with the sprinklers going off.
And all this terrified the daylights out of little Kirishima.
He let out a terrified scream and panicked, charging off in a random direction as fast as he could. Katsuki dove and grabbed hold of his tail, but once again he found himself being dragged by the larger, stronger Pokémon.
"Kiri, stop!" Hinata shouted, running after him. However, she slipped on the now wet floor.
Several people and Pokémon were now part of the chaos, which one trainer having to jump to the side to avoid being bowled over by the rampaging Kiri, while the Druddigon. It dove and grabbed one of Kiri's legs, the Little Prince was slick with water, and he easily slipped from the Druddigon's grasp. Having a stranger grab at him whipped Kirishima into a full panic, causing him to charge blindly at a gate that led to the outside, with his head lowered and eyes closed!
"Kiri, don't! You'll hurt-!"
-CRASH!-
"-yourself."
The Tyrunt charged straight through the gate and kept on going!
"…that was one hell of a Head Smash," Nurse Joy said.
Hinata was up on her feet, chasing after her runaway baby, with Kikyo and Midoriya at her heels. "Kiri, get back here!"
Midoriya threw out vines, and Kikyo grabbed at him with telekinesis, but neither hit. The Tyrunt was now in the middle of the street, and Hinata was sure he'd be hit by traffic! But the light was red and no one was moving at the moment.
Before they could stop him, Kirishima had stepped onto the trunk of a taxicab and then up onto its room, causing it to buckle slightly under his weight. The cab driver, who had been focused on the light, only just noticed something was on his car and jolted forward in shock, throwing Kiri off-balance. Yelping, the Royal Heir Pokémon jumped nearly 10 feet into the air with his little but powerful legs, landing on the back of a nearby bus. The light turned green, and the bus drove off, which Kiri holding onto the edge of the roof with his jaws, and poor Katsuki stubbornly hanging onto Kiri's tail!
"Kikyo, Teleport us!" Hinata shouted, grabbing her Ralts in one hand Midoriya in the other.
In a blink, Hinata and her team were just above the bus; the girl braced herself to land atop it…only for it to suddenly pick up speed and bolt forward, leaving them in the air above oncoming traffic.
Before they could fall to the asphalt below, Midoriya saved them, Vine Whipping onto a nearby streetlight and swigging them to safety.
Hinata swayed on her feet a little when they landed, her heart racing. "Good…good job, Midoriya!" she finally managed to gasp.
By now, the bus had driven off too far for them to safely Teleport to it.
Kikyo looked up at her trainer.
…What now?...
Hinata looked around wildly. She spotted the taxi Kirishima had climbed over. Its driver had gotten out of his vehicle and was examining the roof.
Losing no time, Hinata ran over to the cab and jumped in.
"Notimetoexplainwe'reinachaseandweneedyoutofollowthatbus!" Hinata said all in one breath, pointing at the bus.
The cabby, still outside the car (and getting honked at by everyone behind him), looked at Hinata with an unimpressed expression.
"Can't you see I'm busy!? If you haven't noticed, something just stomped all over my car, and I'm in no mood for crazy customers-"
"FOLLOW THAT BUS!" Hinata shouted, eyes flashing with Aura. "Right there, on the back of it: there's the Pokémon that dented your taxi! Come on, we need to catch it!"
"…yeah, that ain't happening," the cabby said. "I don't do chases, I don't go after monsters, even miniature ones, and I don't do crazy customers. Find another ride, kid."
"…I'll pay you ten times your fee," Hinata suggested.
In the blink of an eye, the cabby was in the driver's seat, pumping the gas so hard the taxi skid. They learched forward, leaving behind a smoke cloud and the smell of burnt rubber. "Buckle up, kid! We're breaking the sound barrier!"
To be Continued…
Author's Notes:
*The bit on Tyrunt and Tyrantrum being featherless was something I chose to mention due to my personal interest in paleobiology. I'm not formally educated in the subject, but I do find it fascinating. One thing that really rankles me, however, if when media portrays the tyrannosaurus rex (or their fantastical counterparts) as having feathers.
You see, we have no actual proof that the T-rex possessed feathers. In fact, we have lots of reasons to assume it didn't. Most people don't know this, but many fossils are not only the bones of dinosaurs, but also impressions of their hides, showing us if the creatures were feathered, scaled, furred, and so on. We have lots of impressions of the T-rex's body, which show us that the T-rex had a scaley hide. We have scale impressions on their faces, bellies, tails, sides, and legs. The only area we don't have impressions from is the back. As such, some people have argued that the T-rex might have had a feathered back. They back up this claim by saying the T-rex's close relatives were feathered. However, this claim is also pretty moot. The 'close' relatives in question are from separate epochs, during which time a lot can change; beyond that, we can only assume there was a connection between them and the T-rex by similarities in build and bone structure, which is pretty shotty. For example, for the longest time, it was assumed that the megalodon was of the family Lamnidae, class Carcharodon, making it an ancestor of the great white shark; however, recent research suggests that the meg belongs to the family Otodontidae, meaning it diverged from the great white shark, and even this is not 100% accepted. Back to the point at hand, feathers on dinosaurs were theorized to be utilized for heat retention, something an animal of the T-rex's size would not need, as its bulk would allow it to retain heat with ease; most large dinosaurs were featherless, in fact. Note that all of the T-rex's proposed relatives that possessed feathers were much smaller than it.
From talking with paleobiologists and doing personal research, I found out that feathered T-rexes are more popular in pop-media than in actual paleobiology. This because pop-media in general wants to push the image of feathered dinosaurs into the public's eye. Since most people picture the T-rex when they think of dinosaurs, of course paleo-artists would want to change that image to suit the new vogue of feathered dinos, even if it is unlikely to be factual.
And that is why I dislike it whenever any media portrays the T-rex as feathered. As such, I decided to add my own little 'take that' to this fic of mine, just to get it out there. I know it's petty, but it was fun, and I love sharing what little on the matter that I know. Sorry for the rant, but if you've read this far into my work, you should expect it.