A/N: Okay, I wasn't expecting that many of you to like this so much but still, thanks for the support guys! Here's the second chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners.
Chapter 2: Viridian Pokémon Center
"What did you say?! Bunta-kun is in the Pokémon Center?!"
Minato narrowed his eyes on the computer screen, where it displayed a frowning Jiraiya and a serious looking Professor Oak. He took a glance at his wife, seeing that her anger was going up by the minute. After all, it was a known fact by them that Kushina liked Gamabunta since the Greninja and the redhead herself both shared the same annoyance when it came to Jiraiya's perverse nature, despite the Greninja having his own unhealthy habit of drinking sake.
Looking back at the screen, he saw Jiraiya nod at Kushina. "Yes, Kushina. Gamabunta was seriously wounded when I had brought him into the Pokémon Center in Viridian City."
"But how?" Kushina asked. "Bunta-kun is your strongest Pokémon! Last I checked, not many Pokémon can beat him, much less actually land a hit on him."
"You're right on that as well," Jiraiya replied. "Bunta-kun is strong, but what we faced was just too damn strong even for him. Gamabunta had to fight Team Rocket."
There was a momentary silence. Kushina's eyes had widened along with the professor's while Minato's eyes remained narrowed as he placed his hands under his chin. "So that organization has decided to bounce back up, huh? You must have faced some strong members if Bunta-kun was hurt that badly."
"We faced the Team Rocket's strongest members, their Executives," Jiraiya said. "While I was snooping around one of their bases, my cover was blown and I was forced to fight one of them. What I didn't expect was for them to attack Gamabunta from every direction when he was fighting one of their Pokémon."
Kushina scoffed as she folded her arms. "That's because they play dirty. You should have known that, Jiraiya. They're an organization that steals Pokémon and sells them by any means necessary, for crying out loud!"
"That was my mistake," Jiraiya sighed. "I underestimated them and paid the price. If I had known better, maybe Bunta-kun would have been able to see his son and Naruto-kun off just now."
"What's done is done, Jiraiya," Professor Oak spoke, placing a hand on the Toad Sage's shoulder. "You can't change the past, you can only learn from it and move on. Team Rocket may have beaten you this time, but I'm sure you'll be able to return the favor to them when the time comes."
A small smile formed on Jiraiya's face as he gave him a nod. "Thanks. I needed that. But moving on, despite my failed attempt, I've managed to at least discover something about why Team Rocket has been quiet and what they are planning to do."
"And that would be?" Minato asked.
"A Pokémon clone," Jiraiya replied. "They've been quiet for the past few years because they were searching all over Kanto for a fossil of a Pokémon that I couldn't identify. Apparently, they think that they're getting close to finding whatever fossil it is that they're looking for. From what I've discovered, they have their grunts scavenging Mt. Moon and they're recruiting discreetly."
Hearing this, Kushina gasped. "Naruto! Isn't he heading towards Viridian City? I heard that the Gym Leader of Viridian isn't back yet, so that would mean that Naruto-kun has to travel to Pewter City and then to Cerulean City for his Gym battles and to do that-"
"He has to go through Mt. Moon after Pewter City," Professor Oak finished with a worried look. "The boy's probably halfway to Viridian City by now. We won't be able to catch him in time. Unless he decides to battle a Trainer and heal his Pokémon, we won't be able to contact him."
"Not to worry!" Kushina exclaimed with a smirk. "I know my little boy and I'm sure he'll call us when he reached Viridian City's Pokémon Center. If not, then Team Rocket will be the least of his worries, ttebane!"
Minato sweatdropped at his wife's words. "Well, other than that, I'm sure I can send someone to watch over Naruto. I'm sure Kakashi wouldn't mind doing just that."
"Oh, Sakumo's boy huh?" Jiraiya smiled. "If it's him, then I'm sure Naruto-kun will be safe. The boy's your student, isn't he? Then I'm sure that he'll keep Team Rocket away."
"You're just saying that because you're hoping Kakashi corrupts my baby!" Kushina cried, pointing accusingly at the Toad Sage. "If it wasn't for you, Kakashi would have been a well-mannered boy but no, you just had to introduce those smut books of yours to him, didn't you?!"
Jiraiya's eye twitched from her words and he gritted his teeth. "How dare you! They're not smut! They're literature!"
"They're smut and you won't admit it, you pervert!"
"And I'll have you know, what you call smut, I call it the true form of literature! Also, I'm not a pervert. I'm a super pervert!"
While the two continued arguing, both Minato and the professor sweatdropped as they turned to each other. "Regardless, I hope your student will make it in time to help Naruto get through Mt. Moon without encountering Team Rocket."
"You won't have to worry, professor," Minato assured with a smile. "Kakashi's skilled enough to protect him. I would have suggested having Obito look after Naruto but since he's busy with Rin on their little trip at Cinnabar Island, Kakashi's all I have."
Professor Oak sighed. "I can only pray for Naruto and hope he doesn't become a pervert like him…"
Kurama sighed as he watched his Trainer staring at his Pokédex in awe while Kichi was puffing out his chest proudly. Apparently, Naruto had found out from reading Kichi's information and move set that the Froakie already learned Double Team earlier than he should have thanks to his father, Gamabunta.
Ever since the Vulpix could remember, Naruto always loved the move Double Team from the moment he first witness the move when Minato's Jolteon was sparring with Kushina's Flareon. Of course, after that, he went up to his father and asked him to help Kurama learn that move as well.
At first, Kurama didn't know why he even allowed his Trainer to have Jolteon train him to learn Double Team. It seemed so useless and unnecessary.
But as time went by, even he had realized the potential of the move. Double Team had allowed him to cause distractions that gave him a slight advantage against his opponents. Most of the time he sparred with the other Pokémon in the family, they would find it difficult to spot the real Kurama amongst his duplicates and even Minato was impressed by it when the Vulpix had nearly taken down his Jolteon.
Because of that, Kurama knew for sure that Naruto would want to have all of his Pokémon to learn it and to be honest, he wouldn't mind it. Sure, it would let every Trainer know that he favored the move and would make plans to counter it, but this was Naruto he was talking about. Anyone could come up with a complicated plan against him and the blond would just wreck it within minutes. He was unpredictable, after all.
"Sweet! You know Double Team!" Naruto spoke, breaking Kurama from his thoughts. "Since you already know Pound, Bubble and Quick Attack, we can focus on speed and evasion to help us in battles. What do you think, Kurama?"
The Vulpix merely nodded.
"This is great!" Naruto said. "At least I don't have to worry about training you Double Team since you're probably good at it already. All I need to know now is how good you are at battling. And I know exactly how we're going to find out."
A smile formed on the boy's face as he looked ahead of his Pokémon, who turned to look in the same direction. They spotted a Pidgey perched on a tree, who seemed to be eyeing them curiously with its head tilting sideways.
"What do you say, Kichi? Want to battle and help us get another teammate?" Naruto asked, earning a croak from the Froakie.
Pidgey didn't really expect this to happen to her at all.
When she had found an Oran berry to enjoy, she expected a nice breakfast and then fly back to her nest where she would continue the rest of the day sleeping. That all seemed to have changed the moment the blond came into view with his two Pokémon. Trained Pokémon.
Oh, how she was so envious of those two! She could just imagine it. She could imagine herself enjoying a luxurious life of being a pampered Pokémon that's trained and nurtured by humans. All the food that she could eat, that she didn't need to find on her own or challenge other Wild Pokémon for! And the naps. That, she couldn't forget about!
Then, she was snapped out of her imagination when she heard the boy spoke. Though she couldn't hear them, she could make out the words the boy was making. It seemed that the boy was praising the Froakie for being able to learn a move called Double Team.
Pidgey huffed. Was that it? She may not know what Double Team was, but it didn't sound so cool to her. Sure, she may be young and inexperienced but that didn't mean that she didn't have her fair share of battles with the other Wild Pokémon. After all, she didn't always have luck when it came to finding berries to eat since she had to compete with other Pokémon.
Suddenly, she felt a pair of eyes watching her. Pidgey looked up and blinked when she saw the blond looking right at her with a smile as his Pokémon followed their Trainer, setting their eyes on her. Then, she saw the boy turn to his Froakie and spoke to him. Apparently, they wanted to battle her.
This was it! Her chance to have the life she had always wanted! All she had to do was impress this Trainer and she'll be taken it. Unfortunately for Pidgey, she was too late to realize that she had stepped into a nightmare from the moment the boy had seen her.
"Alright, Pidgey!" Naruto cried as he and his Pokémon approached the tree where Pidgey was on. "I want to have a battle! You up for it?"
Kurama and Kichi sweatdropped at their Trainer. Who the hell asks a Pokémon if they wanted to battle instead of just attacking? Well, some might oblige but certainly not all and jut attacking was just rude, but still! This was a Pidgey too, one of the weakest Pokémon that any Trainer could catch without any problem. There was no way that it will want to battle.
Shockingly enough, the Pidgey seemed to nod her head which caused Kichi's jaw to drop while Kurama could only shake his head for forgetting who his Trainer was. Leave it to Naruto to make the impossible possible.
Pidgey dropped from the branch she was on and flapped her wings to hover above the ground as Kichi hopped forward in front of Naruto whose grin grew wider. "Alright, why don't you go first, Pidgey? Show us what you got."
The Tiny Bird Pokémon gave him a nod as she gave a flap of her wings and launched herself at Kichi with her beak aimed at him, which Naruto quickly deduced was a Tackle attack.
"It's Tackle, Kichi," Naruto said to the Froakie. "Let's test out your speed first, shall we? Quick Attack to dodge and Pound to counter attack with."
Kichi gave an affirmative nod to Naruto as he was engulfed in a white glow before vanishing in a trail of white, much to Pidgey's shock as he reappeared once more right behind her with his right hand glowing. Before she could react, Kichi slammed his glowing fist against Pidgey's back, sending the Tiny Bird Pokémon crashing into the ground with a pained chirp.
Pidgey got up from the ground and hovered back into the air, aiming a glare at Kichi who gave a sheepish smirk in return as Naruto clapped his hands. "That's some speed, Kichi! Guess being with Ero-Kyoufu and Gamabunta was a good thing for you before joining me, huh?" The Froakie croaked in return as Naruto continued. "Right, back to the battle. Let's test out your Bubble, shall we?"
Several bubbles instantly flew out of Kichi's mouth in response, floating over to Pidgey, who dodged the bubbles with ease before flapping her wings at the ground, causing the dust to scatter in the air around Kichi.
"Sand Attack," Naruto mumbled as he watched his second Pokémon rubbed his eyes to rid himself of the dust, which gave Pidgey a chance for a second Tackle attack. "Kichi, jump up now!" The Froakie nodded and leaped into the air, narrowly avoiding a direct hit from the Tiny Bird Pokémon. "Now shoot Bubble upwards!"
All three Pokemon were confused by what the blond Trainer had said, but Kurama quickly understood the meaning behind it, as did Kichi who complied and fired off several bubbles into the air while Pidgey was still left confused as she attempted a third Tackle while Kichi was still in the air.
"Pound, to your right!"
Naruto's command was again acknowledged by Kichi as his right hand glowed while he swung it to the side, backhanding Pidgey's attack and causing the Tiny Bird Pokémon to stumble back in shock as she stared wide-eyed at Kichi, who smirked at her, despite still having dust-covered eyes from the previous Sand Attack.
How did he do that?
While that question clouded her mind, she was struck by a bubble that dropped onto her back which caused Pidgey to fall to the ground as she looked up, only to see more bubbles raining down as Kichi drop back to the ground.
The bubbles came down with increased speed but Pidgey was lucky that most of the bubbles didn't even land anywhere near her but she soon panicked when she saw a bubble falling onto Kichi, who grinned when his eyes opened. At this point of time, Pidgey's beak was wide open from the realization that hit her. That previous Bubble attack was not only a delayed attack, but it also served as a counter against her Sand Attack. She did not expect that at all!
Kurama and Naruto, however, grinned. It was a tactic that they had developed together during their younger years when they were learning from Minato and his Pokémon on how to avoid or resolve situations where Naruto's Pokémon were blinded by attacks like Sand Attack. It was thanks to that and Kichi's trust in Naruto that they were able to counter Pidgey's attack in advance.
Speaking of Kichi, he was quite pleased with the outcome of the unexpected plan that his Trainer had. His father's Trainer was right, Naruto was definitely a very interesting human to be with. Seems like it wasn't a bad idea to travel with him after all.
"The plan worked after all," Naruto smiled, pleased with what had happened as he folded his arms. "Okay, now let's move on to the next move. Kichi, use Double Team!"
Before she knew it, Pidgey was immediately surrounded from all sides by illusionary copies of Kichi, much to her disbelief as she looked around at the duplicates who were hopping all around her as she tried to locate the real one.
"Let's finish this off with a Quick Attack and a Pound!"
Kichi and his duplicates all halted and turned to Pidgey, letting their bodies glow white, they charged at her. If Pidgey had thought this would have been easy, well, she regretted it now. As soon as she saw Kichi and his duplicates all around her, she tried to fly up. However, she was struck from the side by the real Kichi, whose hand glowed as he slammed her into the ground with a swing of his hand, forming a small crater from the force he had used as dust gathered around it.
Pidgey could only chirp in pain as she struggled to move her wings. Unfortunately, all she could do was make her wings twitch. Then, a shadow towered over her and as the dust cloud scattered, she saw the blond human smiling down at her with Kurama by his side and Kichi on his shoulder.
"That was a good battle, Pidgey," Naruto said, gently lifting her out of the crater and cradling her in his hands. "You might have lost against Kichi, but you were amazing in your own way." This caused the Pidgey to blush lightly at the compliment she received, much to Naruto's amusement. "How do you like to join us?"
Pidgey blinked. She looked at him with widened eyes, then to Kurama and Kichi, who smiled back at her and nodded. Was this it? Was she finally going to get the life she wanted? All the food and naps without worrying about other Wild Pokémon attacking her? This was not something to come by so easily and who was she to complain?
The Tiny Bird Pokémon looked up at Naruto with a twinkle in her eyes as she chirped and nodded.
Naruto smiled in return as he pulled out a Pokéball from his belt strap and clicked the button on it, causing the capsule to enlarge. "Then welcome to the family, Pidgey!" He gently tapped the Pokéball on her head and a red glow emitted from her body before she was absorbed into the capsule. Then, it shook with a beeping noise and this continued for three more times before it stopped and the remained still. The capture was a success.
"Looks like we caught ourselves a Pidgey guys," Naruto said as he secured the capsule back on his belt strap and lifted Kurama up in his arms. "Time to head to Viridian City. We'll heal Pidgey and then we'll challenge the Gym. I can just see it, guys. Our victory is close!" The two Pokémon nodded in agreement to their Trainer as the blond looked back towards the direction of Pallet Town. "Just watch me, dad. The next time we meet, it will be when I challenge you and the other Elite Four, dattebayo!"
Gamabunta was not having the best of days right now.
Right now, he could have been with his perverted partner to see his son off on his journey with Minato's kid. Instead, here he was, stuck in bed with bandages all over his arms, legs, and chest. He blamed Team Rocket for putting him in this mess and giving his left eye a scar, and if he ever saw a single one of those bastards once he was out of the Pokémon Center, he was going to crush them and their Pokémon. No one gets away with wounding him like that, no one.
With a pained groan, he reached for a cup on his right and picked it off the table. He slowly got up in a sitting position and unwrapped his tongue from his neck and let it pull open a drawer that was next to his bed where he picked up a bottle of sake that Jiraiya had sneaked in for him. Bless that super pervert's heart.
He twisted the cap and pulled it off before pouring a small amount into his cup.
Just as he was about to drink it, he felt a hand slapped the back of his head, causing him to drop the cup, spilling the content on the floor. Gamabunta went wide-eyed for a moment before turning to glare at the person who dared to deny him his cup of sake, only to pale when he saw who it was.
"Now what did I tell you, mister? No sake while you're in my Pokémon Center!"
Gamabunta wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he was very afraid of the woman standing right in front of him. With her bright blue eyes narrowed at him, she folded her arms against her white nurse apron. This woman was none other than Nurse Joy. Well, one of the many Nurse Joys anyway.
"Gre…"
"Don't you try to argue with me," Nurse Joy interrupted, making Gamabunta flinch as she swiped the bottle away from his grasp. "I don't know how Jiraiya-sama managed to hide this from me, but I'm not letting you have it until you're all better. When I see that pervert, he's going to pay dearly."
Gamabunta sweatdropped. There was nothing he could say about that but he had to at least pity Jiraiya…not. He deserves the beat down he would probably get when he comes back from Pallet Town. That's what he gets for getting caught peeking at women in the local bathhouse or for 'accidentally' stepping into the ladies' washroom when Nurse Joy was in there.
The Greninja could only watch in horror as the pink-haired nurse tossed the bottle into the garbage bin before giving him a stern look. But just as she was about to speak, her Pokémon, a Chansey, strolled in with a stretcher where a mildly injured Pidgey was resting on and placed it right beside Gamabunta.
"Oh?" Nurse Joy's interest peaked when she saw the Tiny Bird Pokémon and she turned towards Chansey. "Is it another Pidgey recently caught?" Chansey gave her a nod and a smile while the Pidgey chirped happily. "Then just give it the usual procedure. Have the other Chansey use Heal Pulse. Any idea of what the Trainer's name is?"
"No need for that, Joy-san!"
Everyone's eyes turned towards the door, where Gamabunta's eyes widened when he spotted his son perched comfortably on the shoulder of a blond kid who looked like a mini Minato. No doubt about it, the blond was definitely Minato's son, Naruto.
Kichi's mouth curled up into a grin when he spotted his father and he leaped down from Naruto's shoulder before hopping towards his father. "Fro! Froakie!" The two shared a somewhat awkward embrace, no thanks to Gamabunta's still recovering arms and the bandages wrapped around them.
"Ah! Gamabunta! What are you doing here?!" Naruto cried, running over to the bed and placing Kurama down.
Before Gamabunta could reply, Nurse Joy spoke to him. "I see you are quite familiar with Jiraiya-sama's Greninja. Well, to answer your question, young man, this Greninja is here because he needs to recover after getting into a battle that he couldn't win."
"Eh?! Gamabunta lost? How?"
The Greninja in question could only look away from the boy with a twitch in his eye. This was definitely not his day at all. If only he hadn't faced those Team Rocket cowards, he wouldn't even be in this situation. Luckily for him, Nurse Joy spoke.
"Who are you anyway, young man?"
Naruto turned to Nurse Joy with a smile, already forgetting about his question about Gamabunta's loss. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, Kanto's next Pokémon Champion, ttebayo!"
"Wait…Naruto?" Nurse Joy's eyes suddenly widened and she gasped as a smile slowly crept onto her face. "The same Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze who attended Professor Oak's Pokémon Summer Camp two years ago?"
"Uh…yeah?"
This time, Nurse Joy's smile stretched further. "I heard a lot about you, Naruto-kun. My little niece has said quite a lot about both you and Sasuke Uchiha the last time I saw her at the family reunion."
"Wait, niece?" Naruto's mind started refreshing his memories of the Summer Camp his parents had him attend. Who was this niece she was talking about? After a few moments, a memory popped up in his mind of a pink-haired girl similar to Nurse Joy. Sakura Haruno. "Ah! You must be talking about Sakura-chan!"
Nurse Joy nodded, her smile still present on her face. "That's right. I heard from little Sakura-chan that you and Sasuke-kun teamed up with her during the camp. She wouldn't stop talking about your 'little Kurama-kun' either."
Hearing that, Kurama sweat dropped and gave the pink-haired nurse a blank look while Naruto held back a laugh.
"That sounds like her," Naruto smiled. "She had a Happiny with her too, if I remembered correctly."
"Yep," Nurse Joy replied with a nod. "Her Happiny recently evolved last month too when she registered as a Pokémon Trainer." The nurse then let out a sigh. "I still don't know why she doesn't want to follow the family and become a nurse like the rest of the Joys."
"Well, she did tell me that she wanted to be different," Naruto stated.
Nurse Joy shook her head, disappointed but a bit pleased. "Well, if that's what she wants, who am I to say anything." Her face then brightened. "Aside from that, I'm guessing it's your turn to start your journey, huh? And you've already caught your first Pokémon too."
Naruto nodded to her. "That's right! Like I said, you're looking at the next Pokémon Champion!"
"That won't be hard for me to believe," Nurse Joy said. "From what Sakura-chan has told me about you and who your parents are, I'm sure that you'll make it, Naruto-kun. But first, let me heal your Pidgey. It must have been a tough fight."
The blond shrugged. "It was nothing, Joy-san. Pidgey put up a good fight too. She might have lost but she has potential. So I'm going to train her while I'm traveling to the Gyms."
"Just don't overdo it, Naruto-kun," Nurse Joy replied, earning a nod from the boy as she escorted the boy out of the room after letting him give Gamabunta a quick farewell and picking up his two other Pokémon.
They made their way back to the lobby, where Nurse Joy got back to the front desk. "Naruto-kun, since you're planning to become the Pokémon Champion that would mean that you'll have to face the Elite Four, right?"
"That's right."
"So does that mean you'll be competing in the Indigo League?"
Naruto nodded. "Of course I am. Tou-san said that if I want to battle him and the other Elite Four members, I'll have to compete in the Indigo League to secure my spot. Kaa-chan also said it could be a great warm-up before I battle him too."
The pink-haired nurse laughed at the boy's last words before smiling. "If so, then please hand me your Pokédex. I'll need to use it to register you for it." The boy did as he was told, taking out his Pokédex and handing it over to Nurse Joy who quickly turned on her computer.
After a while, she smiled and handed it back to Naruto. "There you go, Naruto-kun. You're registered into the League now."
"Thanks a lot, Joy-san!"
Nurse Joy nodded. "You're welcome, Naruto-kun. Oh! And before I forget, Sasuke-kun is actually here in the Center right now too. He came here to challenge the Viridian Gym but unfortunately, the Gym Leader's not around at the moment so he decided to stay here until the Gym Leader comes back."
"Eh? Sasuke's here? Is he competing in the League too?"
"He is, Naruto-kun," Nurse Joy replied. "He registered for it when he was in Cerulean City. Since he started his journey ahead of you and Sakura-chan, he's already up to three badges. The Pewter Gym's Boulder Badge, the Cerulean City's Cascade Badge and Fuchsia Gym's Soul Badge."
Naruto smirked. "He sure works fast." He had to admit, Sasuke's set was quite impressive.
He remembered during summer camp when Sasuke had told him about how he had planned on surpassing his older brother, Itachi Uchiha, who was almost on par with Minato's skills. Sasuke wouldn't stop about how awesome his brother was and how he was going to challenge him when he becomes a Trainer himself. Sasuke had told him that the only way Itachi would battle him was if he could prove to himself to Itachi but since Sasuke didn't know what he meant by that, he guessed that it would mean that Itachi wanted him to beat all the Gyms, much to Naruto's amusement.
"Sasuke-kun is probably at the cafeteria with his Charmeleon," Nurse Joy said. "He's been battling the local Trainers who came by and he's been winning them every time. If I remembered correctly, he said something about them not giving him a challenge."
A sigh left Naruto's mouth. "That's definitely Sasuke. Thanks, Joy-san. I'll see you again when Pidgey's healed." The pink-haired nurse only nodded as she watched the boy walk away.