Shikamaru's Adventure: Sinnoh

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D/C: I own nothing

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Day: 17 of 243

Time: Late Afternoon

Location: Oreburgh City

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"No."

"No?"

"Yes."

"Yes?"

Shikamaru let out an annoyed sigh, resting the urge to take a nap. He stared at Sakura with a bored look. "What's your reason for traveling together? Besides your parents' reason, why are you asking a complete stranger?"

Sakura looked taken aback by the question. She looked away from Shikamaru her hold on her Pokémon tightened. "A lot of the other kids our age already left with their own friends… and I wasn't…friends with a lot of them."

"Happiny." Rosie looked up at Sakura worriedly. "Happiny, Happy."

"You weren't well like, eh?" Shikamaru asked, he tilted his head to the side and arched an eyebrow.

Sakura opened her mouth to demand how he knew that then she remembered of his ability. She glared down at Rosie for telling such personal information. Shaking her head, Sakura looked back at Shikamaru to realize he had actually fallen asleep. A dark aura seemed to emetic from Sakura as her lips twitched uncontrollably. Slowly she raised her arm…

Bam!

"Ugh…" Shikamaru sprawled on the ground moaning out in pain. "No wonder…troublesome woman…"

"What was that?" Sakura growled out standing over Shikamaru.

Shikamaru laid there moaning out in pain while mentally cursing. He lifted his head up to give Sakura bored stare. "It's still a no."

"I bet you're not any better than me." Sakura growled glaring at Shikamaru who slowly got up patting off dirt and soot off himself. "At making friends with that attitude of yours."

"Just for your information." Shikamaru drawled, the urge to take a nap overtook him severally. "I have two best-human-friends. We've known each other since we were in our diapers and they put up with me just as much as I put up with them in turn. I-"

A soft ringing sounded out from Shikamaru's rucksack. Shikamaru and Sakura both turned towards the source of the noise. The lazy trainer slid off his rucksack and pulled out Pokégear. Opening it and answering the call, Shikamaru actually looked surprise at whom he saw through the screen. "Guys?"

Choji Akimichi and Ino Yamanaka appeared on the other side of the screen of the Pokégear. Each of them had familiar starter Pokémon in their grasp. Choji has a Squirtle and Ino has a Bulbasaur, Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at the respective Pokémon. "Kanto?"

"Gee… What gave it away?" Ino rolled her eyes, she held up her Bulbasaur. "Meet Ivy."

"Bulba!" Ivy gave Shikamaru a wave.

Choji held up his Squirtle. "Bubbles."

"Squirtle." Bubbles gave Shikamaru a thumbs up.

Shikamaru stared at the Pokémon, taking their appearance in. For what seemed like a long time, Shikamaru gave a small smile. "Hello to the both of you, I'm Shikamaru. A friend of your trainers."

"Squirtle/Bulbasaur?"

"Choji is kind, polite and caring…you just need to work on his self-confidence." Shikamaru said to Bubbles and turned over to Ivy. "Ino is kind, outspoken, mostly outspoken… she's bossy… very bossy…"

Ivy nodded in confirmation. "Bulbasaur, Bulba."

Bubbles only laughed and waved him off. "Squirtle!"

Choji and Ino glanced at each other knowingly. Once again Shikamaru forgot about them and focus solely in conversing with a Pokémon. Then again, that was the reason for the call. They wanted a sort of confirmation for their Pokémon. To ensure said Pokémon who they are and what to expect from them. Something they always did, taking their Pokémon to Shikamaru and have him ensure their Pokémon along with themselves.

"I know… Ino is…very eccentric." Shikamaru nodded in confirmation.

"What was that Shikamaru?" Ino demanded of Shikamaru.

Shikamaru raised his free hand in a sort of surrendering and defensive manner. "You wanted me to be blunt with them, I am."

"He has a point…" Choji pointed out to her, he nervously looked away from Ino when the blonde shot him the evil eye. "Anyway…We just wanted to tell you that we are going to take on Kanto while you take on Sinnoh. Since you know…"

Shikamaru shrugged knowingly. "Yeah, yeah. Try to get all eight badges and we'll pick it up from there."

"Who's that behind you?" Ino pointed towards Shikamaru's left.

Shikamaru turned to see Sakura peeking over his shoulder, when she saw that she got caught, Sakura laughed hesitantly. "Sorry…"

"Are you two traveling together?" Ino asked, smiling widely. "That will make things better. Especially for you Shikamaru."

"Ino we-" Shikamaru attempted to say but Ino continued to prattle on.

"You need one on one human interaction, Shikamaru." Ino chided Shikamaru, Bubbles copied her movements and words. "I swear, people are going to think you are delusional one of these days for understanding Pokémon's speech."

Shikamaru expression soured listening to Ino. Of course she would say all those things…

Ino then turned her attention to Sakura. "My name's Ino and this is Choji." "Hey." "Keep an eye out on Shikamaru. He's as lazy as a Slowbro and needs all the intimidation he could get his butt on hyper drive. We'll keep each other posted, see yeah later!"

With that, Ino ended the call.

Sakura and Shikamaru stared at the Pokégear in silence. Not even Rosie said made a noise.

Shikamaru head drooped forward and muttered out his common catchphrase as he stuffed his Pokégear into his rucksack. "Troublesome blonde…always getting me into more trouble."

Swinging the rucksack over his head, Shikamaru stuffed his hands into his pants pockets and trekked towards the mine. After taking several steps away, he looked over towards Sakura to see her rooted in the same spot. "Well…come on. As much as I hate training… it has to be done."

Sakura blinked several times in an attempt to comprehend what Shikamaru had just told her. "Does this mean that…?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Congratulations…you are now part of Team Procrastination."

"Munchlax!"

"Chimchar!"

"Abra!"

Munchlax, Chimchar, and Abra beamed out of their respective poke-balls and pose around Shikamaru. Their human blinked slowly, a sure sign of annoyance for him and promptly took out three poke-balls to return them.

Sakura and Rosie watched as Shikamaru attempted to put his Pokémon in their respective poke-balls with little to no successes. Munchlax had ran off towards the mines, Chimchar had latched himself on top of Shikamaru's head and Abra disappeared and reappeared around Shikamaru. "Do you need help?"

Shikamaru shook his head and Chimchar giggled at the movement. "Nah, I'm good. Go talk to your parents and tell them that you are finally going on an adventure."

Sakura eyes widen in realization. She grinned, nodding her head in agreement. "Okay."

"I'll be at the mines." Shikamaru said turning around and headed towards the direction of said location without another word.

"Happiny?" Rosie glanced up at Sakura.

Sakura looked down at the Happiny wondering what Pokémon has just asked her. "At least I'll have Shikamaru as a translator."

Rosie let out a loud huff, once again…nothing.

-.-.-

Day: 17 of 243

Time: Much later Afternoon

Location: Oreburgh Mine

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"Man…what a drag…" Shikamaru dragged out as another Zubat made its appearance. This must be the tenth Zubat he encountered entering the cave and he could still see the entrance of the mine. "Chimchar."

Chimchar jumped forward and quickly disposed of the Zubat ensuring to leave the Pokémon with enough strength to run away. "Chimchar."

"Just keep moving, we have to find Munchlax." Shikamaru sighed, moving forward. He walked in a slower pace as Abra kept a tight grip on his pants leg. It seemed that Abra is afraid of the dimly lit mine. "We need to train together. As a team…and I don't want to chase after him all night."

Chimchar nodded in confirmation and began to sniff the air attempting to get a clue on where Munchlax ran off to. Abra nervously clutched tighter to Shikamaru, he looked up at him questioningly. "Abra, Abra?"

"We are going to go up against the city's gym-leader who specializes in rock types." Shikamaru replied, he kept glancing around keeping an eye out for trouble. "Chimchar is at a disadvantage and you only know the moves, teleport, thief and confusion. Good set but we need to get you prepared."

"Hey, you wouldn't happen to be the Munchlax's trainer, would you?"

Shikamaru looked over to see an older guy, maybe in his late teens and is wearing a miner's uniform of the sort. "What did he do this time?"

"Nothing bad per say, he ran off into the restricted section of the cave." Said the older teen uneasily. He scratched the back of his head as he spoke. "The cave is going to be closed soon…"

"Ugh…of course he would go to the restricted section." Shikamaru cursed under his breath. "Did he do anything else?"

"Er… He might have defeated the miners Pokémon to get through…"

"This is why I can't take him anywhere." Shikamaru shook his head, he couldn't help but smile fondly at Munchlax's actions. "Where exactly is he?"

-.-.-

"This could be my only chance to go on an adventure." Sakura pleaded with his parents.

"And who this young man?" Mebuki asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"He's name is Shikamaru Nara." Sakura began to explain to her parents about the trainer from Johto. Unbeknownst to the females, the only male mind raced as he recognized the surname.

"Nara? Like the Factory Head Shikaku Nara?" Kizashi asked, interrupting the growing argument between his wife and daughter.

"Factory Head Shikaku? I don't know…" Sakura looked taken aback by his question. "Shikamaru's father did call him with a…what was it again…? Oh! A Pokégear, Shikamaru told me it's almost like a Pokétch but way different."

"For all, we know this boy could be a total hoodlum." Mebuki finally said expecting an end of the argument.

"Eh, come on Mebuki." Kizashi attempted to pursue his wife to change her mind. "Give the kid a chance, you won't allow Sakura to go out on her own and now she has a chance to go on an adventure. I bet the kid is more than capable of taking care of her."

"Please?" Sakura begged her mother.

"And your dreams of becoming a becoming a Pokémon doctor? Hm?" Mebuki countered with a deep frown.

"There's only so much I could learn in the Pokécenter, I need hands-on experience." Sakura said getting tired of the same constant argument against her mother. "You already forbade me time after time from going, you promised me that I could go on an adventure if I travel with someone…after all, you scared off any possibility of me going with anyone."

"You did promise her, Mebuki." Kizashi said, he looked down at his daughter with a reassuring smile. "Go pack up for your things that you will need."

Sakura squealed out loud, she gave her father a tight hug before she ran up towards her room. "Thank you!"

"We agreed th-"

"We agreed that Sakura will not go alone, she found someone that will accompany her." Kizashi placed his hands-on top of his wife's shoulders. "And you know it was cruel to make her promise that especially after you knew she had problems keeping friends because of you."

"She's not ready." Mebuki attempted to retaliate back, rather weakly though.

"No, but she will learn."

"We don't even know who this…friend… is!"

-.-.-

Shikamaru kept his head down as he passed the miners who were tending to their injured Pokémon as he followed the older teen. Who the Nara found out to be the city's Gym Leader, Roark and head of the Mine. They ended up in front of a closed of portion of the mine that was formally covered with planks of wood. There was a giant hole right in the middle as if someone, Munchlax, ran through it.

"Why does he do these types of things?" Shikamaru shook his head at his Pokémon actions.

"The main reason we have this portion of the mine closed off is because of the possibility of fossils." Roark said pulling out the broken pieces of wood away. "The second reason… there's a chasm…"

"What a drag…" Shikamaru helped Roark pull the planks of wood to get through. "Out of all thing things Munchlax could have done."

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"Munchlax, Munchlax, Munchlax~" Munchlax transverse the cave singing a tune that reverberated throughout the area around him. He carried a small pile of shiny stones in his arms that grew every time the Pokémon stopped to pick up another stone. The cave gave off such a relaxing scene for him and he was taking total advantage of it.

Of course, there were random Pokémon here and there that Munchlax had to take care of to ensure the peace and quiet. After beating them up, they learned their lesson to keep their distance from him.

Distinctive whispers began to reverberate through the cave, Munchlax paused, head twitched over towards the direction of the source of the noise. Oh great…here comes that troublesome human of his. Why can't he just leave him on his own… Then again, if Munchlax placed himself in Shikamaru's shoes. Then the Pokémon would do the same thing.

With a huff, Munchlax continued to proceed forward all the while continuing with collecting the strange looking shiny rocks. "Munchlax~"

"Munchlax! Get your fuzzy butt over here!"

"Munch!" Munchlax cried out in defiance against his trainer. He began to run off deeper into the cave, all the while picking up shiny rocks. Turning his head again to yell out again, Munchlax felt his left leg hit nothing and his instincts kicked in. Standing still, arms filled with rocks and sweat beading down his neck; Munchlax felt one wrong move and he'll fall into the…deep…seemingly bottomless pit… "MUNCHLAX!"

"Munchlax!"

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"Munchlax!" Shikamaru called out in panic, he ran into the cave.

"Careful!" Roark yelled after him, quickly running after the preteen.

"I told you to stay put, things happen." Shikamaru whispered to himself as he continued to hear Munchlax's cries for help. Once he came to the location, Shikamaru came to a halt when he saw Munchlax having trouble maintaining his full weight on one foot. "Munchlax…"

"Munchlax…" Munchlax cried as he struggled, the stones that he picked up were weighing against him and he started to feel that the earth beneath his other foot began to give way. "Munchlax."

"Stay calm..." Shikamaru reached into for his belt and pulled out Munchlax's Pokéball. It seemed that the time he reached and pulled out for the item, the ground around Munchlax began to give along with the Pokémon's pleas of help. "I'll get you out of there…"

"Munchlax…" Munchlax sniffled, the more the felt the earth move underneath him and the more he whimpered. The whimpering caused a couple of the stones to escape his grasp and the fact he didn't hear it land caused the whimpering to grow. "Mu-u-u-u-n-c-h…"

"Oh no…" Roark finally made it where Shikamaru and Munchlax were at. He watched as Shikamaru slowly approached Munchlax saying soothing words to calm the Pokémon down. The preteen pressed the button of the poke-ball he had in hand, warned the Pokémon he would return him and not freak out once he was summoned. The moment that Shikamaru returned Munchlax back into his poke-ball and the spot that the Pokémon once stood gave way. The stones that Munchlax once had in his grasp fell into the chasm. Shikamaru quickly stepped away from the edge of the chasm with a sigh. "That was a close one."

"Too close." Shikamaru muttered, he let out a sigh of relief that he had his other Pokémon in their poke-balls and did not see what happened. "Never seems to learn, he'll be back to his normal self by the end of the week."

"Er…Do these types of things happen to him?" Roark hesitantly asked, he slowly approached the preteen.

"More so than I like." Shikamaru sighed, he stood up stretching a bit. He turned around to head over towards the exit of the cave. "Come on, last thing we need is Munchlax escaping and running off again. Troublesome Pokémon always trying to make my life hectic."

-.-.-

Chimchar and Abra hung out at the entrance of the mine playing a game of cards. The Fire-type was teaching the Psychic-type how to play poker. So far Chimchar is regretting teaching Abra to play…he swore she was cheating. How? He does not know, he just knows.

"Chimchar…" Chimchar eyes narrowed down at Abra hiding his cards from Abra.

"Abra." Abra giggled hiding a grin behind her cards. "Abra, Abra."

"Chimchar." Chimchar growled as he threw his cards in front of him to show a flush.

"Ah." Abra showed her own hand, a full house. "Bra."

"CHIMCHAR!"

To be continued...

R/R