Chapter 4: Mischief in Viridian Forest
Usually, when you call your parents, you would feel a sense of joy. Hearing their voices after not having been in contact with them for so long would put a smile on your face. However, the opposite could be said for Naruto as he dashed towards one of the many phones that the Pokémon Center had.
Sweat was profusely falling down the sides of his face as he and his paled Vulpix partner stopped at one of the phones, both panting heavily as Naruto raised his hand up to wipe his sweat. Then, he fearfully reached for the phone and dialed his house's number.
As the phone began to ring, anxiety swelled within the two as they looked up at the computer screen in front of them, which was trying to receive the call. Soon, the screen turned on. On it, was Kushina, whose long red hair was somehow levitating behind her, giving the impression that she had nine tails as she glared at the two with a phone against to her ear.
"Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze!" The redheaded woman bellowed through the phone.
"M-m-mom," Naruto stuttered out, his hands gripping around Kurama tightly as the two shivered in fright under her glare.
"Tell me, son," Kushina said. "What was the first rule I told you when I said that I'll let you become a Pokémon Trainer?"
"T-To always call you whenever I reach a city with a Pokémon Center?"
Kushina nodded, her eyes never leaving them. "That's right. And from the way you two look, you've already forgotten it, didn't you?"
"Y-Yes, but I had a reason for it, mom!" Naruto exclaimed as soon as he saw his mother's glare hardened. He waited for a moment before he continued. "I forgot to call because I was getting my new Pokémon healed. Then I found Gamabunta here as well and then Joy-san told me that Sasuke was here, so I had to see him as soon as possible."
When she had heard the Greninja's name as well as Naruto's friend, Kushina's anger seemed to have lessened as her hair slowly fell back down. Her glare had also softened slightly as she let out a sigh. "I see. Sasuke-kun, huh? I heard from Mikoto-chan that he was already a Trainer with a few badges.
Sensing that he had avoided danger, for now, Naruto gave his mother a quick nod. "That's right. Sasuke's already gotten himself three badges."
"That may be so," Kushina replied. "But I'm sure that you'll be able to catch up to him in time. After all, with all the training your father and I put you and Kurama through, you two will have all eight badges by the end of the year."
"It's going to take me that long?" Naruto asked, giving a disappointed sigh which his partner imitated. However, they looked up to see Naruto's mother laughing at them with her hand covering her mouth as she continued.
"A year to gather all eight badges is actually the fastest time any Pokémon Trainer could achieve. Most Trainers usually take more than a year and a half to two years before they could reach the seventh."
This time, Naruto blinked at his mother's words. "Really? Are the badges that hard to get?"
Kushina shrugged. "Well, I don't consider them to be hard. But thanks to Blaine-san setting his Gym at Cinnabar Island, many Trainers have to find different means to get to his Gym. Many had to take ferry rides to get to the island while some used their Pokémon to get there but they could take longer due to the ever-changing weather. Other than that, the Viridian Gym Leader also doesn't show up most of the time. But when he does show up, very few Trainers are able to receive the badge because he's a strong Gym Leader."
"Does that mean I have to warn Sasuke about the Gym Leader when he shows up?" Naruto asked.
A snort escaped the redheaded woman's mouth as she shook her head. "There's no need to do that, Naruto-kun. The Uchihas don't back down from tough challenges. Sasuke-kun has probably inherited his family's drive to be the best at everything, so I don't see a reason why you should tell him. Besides, I'm sure he knows what he's doing. You just focus on yourself for now."
The whiskered blond gave his mother a nod and a grin. "You got it, mom! Once my new Pokémon heals up, I'll head straight to Pewter City and get my first badge, ttebayo!"
Kushina nodded with a smile of approval. "That's good, Naruto-kun. Be sure to catch more Pokémon while you're at it! I can't wait to see what kind of Pokémon you'll catch. Oh, and before I forget, while you're at Pewter City, make sure to buy a flashlight. Mt. Moon's quite dark inside once you step in."
"I understand, mom. See you again once I've reached Pewter City!"
"Bye, Naruto! Tell Sasuke-kun I said hi too!"
As the screen was switched off, Naruto placed the phone down and let out a sigh of relief as he turned to Kurama. "We dodged a major bullet there, pal." The Vulpix nodded in agreement as he leaped into the boy's arms. "Now that that's over, let's go see if Sasuke's finish with his talk with Sakura-chan."
Minato watched as his wife placed the phone down and smiled at her. "So I take it that he made it to Viridian City?"
"He did," Kushina replied. "Apparently, Mikoto-chan's younger son is in the city right now, waiting for the Gym Leader to come back so he could battle him for his fourth badge."
"Knowing Giovanni-san, I'm sure that's going to be a while," Minato chuckled. "I wonder why he hasn't decided to travel to the other Gyms yet to get the other badges. That way, he'll be saving time to train for the Pokémon League."
His wife rolled her eyes. "Well, he is an Uchiha. Once they get their minds set on something, they won't stop until they get it. So it's going to be a while before Sasuke-kun is going to get his Gym battle."
Just then, Kushina's Pansear entered the house with a letter in his hand. He closed the door and leaped over to the two humans and handed the letter to Minato.
Once Minato received it, he thanked Pansear for delivering it to him and opened the letter. His eyes traveled to the name of the sender and he smiled. "Looks like Kakashi isn't wasting any time. He's already sent me a letter."
"What did he say?" Kushina asked.
"Kakashi wrote that he has gathered his Pokémon and he's making his way to Pewter City as soon as he can. He's also sending the news to Obito and Rin about Team Rocket and to keep an eye out for them."
A smile formed on Kushina's face as she folded her arms. "As always, Kakashi-kun is very reliable. But should we tell the others about this problem as well? I'm sure the rest of the Elite Four has to be informed about this so they can deal with the problem."
Minato nodded. "That's what I'm planning to do at the next meeting we have. I just hope we can stop Team Rocket before they accomplish whatever plans they have." Then, he placed both his hands on Kushina's shoulders, slightly startling her as he asked. "Do you think your family can help support us?"
Kushina blinked for a moment before she replied. "I'm not sure about that. I mean, my family's still living in Alola, so I'm not sure that they will want to travel to Kanto. But I'll try and ask them to see if they can send some help."
"You have my thanks, Kushina-chan," Minato smiled back as he gave her a kiss on the lips, which she eagerly returned.
"Oi, Naruto…" Sasuke grumbled as he approached the whiskered blond. He tossed two Pokéballs at him, which Naruto caught without any effort. With a sigh, he spoke. "Next time, could you just hand your Pokémon to Joy-san yourself? You ran by her counter just to get to the phone. Is Kushina-obasan that strict about you calling her?"
After placing Kichi's and Pidgey's Pokéballs on his belt strap, he looked up at the black-haired boy. "If you were in my position, you'd know. But thanks for helping me out, Sasuke. So did you get to speak to Sakura-chan?"
"Coincidentally, when I reached the counter, Joy-san was on the phone with Sakura-chan. So when I handed our Pokéballs to her, she handed me the phone so I could speak to her. I've told Sakura-chan about our meeting and our battle. When I told her about you heading to Pewter City, she said that she'll be waiting for you once you reach Cerulean City."
"Huh? Why?" Naruto asked, tilting his head slightly.
Sasuke continued. "Apparently, Sakura-chan's been waiting for a chance to get out of her mother's Pokémon Center and explore the region. Since I was heading here when we met back at Cerulean City, she didn't follow me because she's been here before and she didn't want to walk back to Cerulean City just to head out to the other towns cause she thinks her mother will probably forbid her from traveling."
"I see," Naruto said, nodding his head. "So I'm her ticket out of Cerulean City. As long as she's willing to heal my Pokémon along the way, I don't mind. But won't Mebuki-obasan be upset?"
Sasuke waved his worry off. "I'm sure Sakura-chan knows what to do. All you've got to know is that she'll be following you all around Kanto. Who knows, maybe we'll meet each other again someday."
"So you're still going to wait for the Gym Leader to come back so you can battle him?"
"Of course I am," Sasuke replied. "I came for a battle, Naruto. Nothing's going to make me change my mind. Win or lose, I'm going to get that battle. Once I have my battle, I'll leave and head to Vermilion City and get the Thunder Badge. Until then, I'll see you next time, Naruto."
With that, Sasuke walked off, making his way back to the cafeteria with his hands stuffed into his pockets.
As he left, Naruto couldn't help but shake his head with a smile. "He was always the dramatic one. Let's get going, Kurama. We've got a lot to do! Pewter City, here we come!"
Kurama yipped as he raised a paw up alongside Naruto's raised fist and with a grin, the whiskered blond took off with the Vulpix still in his arms.
It wasn't long until both Trainer and Pokémon were at the edge of Viridian City, where all they could see were endless clusters of trees that were well known to many people as the Viridian Forest. With one final glance at the city behind him, Naruto made his way down the path that led into the forest.
Excitement was beginning to build up within the blond boy as he recalled what Nurse Joy had told him as he was heading out of the Pokémon Center.
According to her, numerous children would occasionally head into the forest to catch the Bug Pokémon that reside within it and, much to the pair's delight, the children would challenge passing Pokémon Trainers so that they could prepare themselves for when they become Trainers.
Without a doubt, as soon as they had heard that, the two of them were too eager to enter the forest and since some Pokémon from the Johto region had decided to migrate to the Viridian Forest, Naruto was hoping that he could catch a few of them as well as train his newly caught Pidgey and Kichi so that they could at least gain some experience.
"What kind of Pokémon do you think we'll catch in here, Kurama?" Naruto asked, his eyes shifting to his partner. In response, the Vulpix shrugged. Naruto chuckled as he petted Kurama's head. "Well, whatever we find, hopefully they'll want to join us. Can't wait to see our team grow bigger."
Kurama yipped, making the blond nod in response. "That's right, partner. Can't forget about those kids Joy-san talked about. Our first official Pokémon battle together. How are we going to do it, Kurama? Wanna take it easy on them or go all out?" Another yip from Kurama was his answer. "You're right, Kurama. We never hold back. We're going to give it our all!"
The Vulpix nodded in agreement and was about to give another yip but froze. Without any warning, he leaped out of Naruto's arms, surprising the boy as Kurama faced their back, glaring around at the trees and let out a growl.
"Kurama, what's wrong?" Naruto asked worriedly as he looked around at where his partner was glaring at. However, he couldn't seem to understand what had made Kurama act so aggressive all of a sudden. It was as if he was spooked. He bent down and picked up the Vulpix, that's when he saw it. Naruto let out a sigh of relief when he spotted a tiny string of web stuck on Kurama's fur.
Naruto laughed. "You got scared by a web? You don't have to be so jumpy, Kurama. It was probably one of those Bug Pokémon that lives in the forest coming out to greet us. There's nothing to worry about."
Kurama's glare remained for a few moments before he sighed and looked away. Perhaps his partner was right. Maybe he was a little jumpy, probably because he's looking forward to a fight with another Pokémon.
"Ah, we forgot to ask Joy-san how we're supposed to find our way out of here…"
The Vulpix sweatdropped at his partner and sighed. Maybe this was the time to feel jumpy after all.
However, as the two continued their walk deeper into the forest, a small Pokémon seemed to be snickering to himself as he peeked out of his hiding spot on a tree. Seeing as he was not spotted by the Vulpix, the Pokémon crawled out into the open.
Happy with his work, his red mandibles clicked a few times, causing a string of web to shoot out of his mouth as he leaped off the tree and swung his way to the next, closely following the two who had captured his attention.
It's been a while since he had seen an entertaining Pokémon Trainer. From what he had heard from the human's conversation with the Vulpix, it was probably safe to say that following them would be worth his time. Who knows, maybe he might like them.
"Pika?"
A Pikachu looked up from the Oran berry it was enjoying when it saw Naruto sitting down in front of it. The blond smiled at it and placed Kurama down as he looked back at the Pikachu, glancing at its tail. From its shape, Naruto knew it was a male Pikachu he was looking at.
"Yo," Naruto greeted as Kurama did the same.
"Vul~!"
The Pikachu smiled at them before looking back at his berry. He raised his paws up and offered his berry to them.
Naruto's smile remained as he accepted the half-eaten berry. "Thanks, little guy." He split the berry further, handing half of it to Kurama who gladly ate it as he ate the other half himself. Naruto stretched his hand out and stroke the Pikachu's cheek which the Pokémon seemed to enjoy as he squeaked delightfully.
"Hey Pikachu," Naruto said. "My partner and I just came into the forest not long ago. We're hoping if you could show us the way to the other end of this place."
The Pikachu gave him a nod and rose up on his feet and scurried away from the two, stopping for a few moments to look back at them and gesturing them to follow him, which the two complied.
"Thanks for helping us, Pikachu," Naruto said. "Without your help, Kurama and I would have been stuck here for who knows how long." This, of course, made the Vulpix roll his eyes at his Trainer which the blond saw and quickly offered a silent apology to his Pokémon, who ignored him.
Pikachu smiled amusingly at them as he continued to lead the way, listening to the boy's attempt to apologize to the Vulpix.
For about an hour, there wasn't much for Naruto and Kurama to see. So far, the Pikachu with them was the only Pokémon they had encountered in the time they've spent in the Viridian Forest. No other Pokémon had appeared nor had any of the children Nurse Joy spoke about. In short, their time in the forest was a complete disappointment which was also visibly expressed on their faces.
On the other hand, Pikachu seemed to be anxious.
Unlike the two with him, Pikachu knew the reason for why there wasn't any Pokémon showing up. After all, he was an inhabitant of the Viridian Forest, so he knew what was going on. When they had asked him to show them the way to the other side of the forest, Pikachu had decided to take the fastest way there.
However, the fastest path to the other side was also quite dangerous. The reason? Beedrill. Along the path he had used to guide Naruto and Kurama was the colony of hundreds of Beedrill, Kakuna, and Weedle. To add to that problem was the fact that this was also the time when the Kakuna evolved into Beedrill which will only increase the amount of Beedrill they had to watch out for since they are extremely territorial.
"Not to be rude or anything, Pikachu," Naruto spoke, gaining Pikachu's attention as he continued. "But isn't there supposed to be, like, tons of Pokémon living in the forest? Why haven't we seen any of them?"
Stopping in his tracks, Pikachu turned to face them. Then, he looked towards Kurama and spoke to him, much to Naruto's disappointment as he could not understand what the two Pokémon were talking about. But judging from the way Pikachu was speaking softly to Kurama and how the Vulpix seemed to tense as he listened to the Mouse Pokémon, Naruto made a guess that there was something that's causing the silence.
When Pikachu was done, he continued walking down the path while Kurama made his way back to Naruto.
"What is it, Kurama? Did Pikachu tell you what's going on?" Naruto asked, earning a nod from the Vulpix. "Let me guess, we might be in trouble, right?" Another nod. "Great…"
It's been over an hour, and the human hasn't done anything to impress him. All the human has been doing for the entire time was walk! He was getting impatient. He wanted to see what the human was capable of doing with his Pokémon.
That's when he came up with an idea.
He realized that they were walking through the part of the forest which the Beedrill were occupying. Additionally, he remembered that another human boy had entered the forest since this morning who was heading straight for the Beedrill nest.
With a click of his mandibles and a grin, the small Pokémon produced a web and swung off towards the nest of the Beedrill.
More time has gone by since Pikachu's talk with Kurama and all was going well for the group. According to the Mouse Pokémon, they were close to the halfway mark of the Viridian Forest, much to his relief. However, even though they had been safe throughout the way, Naruto and Kurama were still as disappointed as they had been a while ago.
They both knew that staying safe was a good thing since it would allow them to avoid a stern lecture from Naruto's mother, but they couldn't help it. They were itching for a fight, damn it! In fact, Naruto had even considered just picking up the two Pokémon and walking off the path so that they could search for a Pokémon for them to battle. However, he restrained himself. After all, what good is a fight when you don't even know what you're going to find in the forest to battle?
"Pika, Pika?" And it seems Pikachu had also noticed the look on Naruto's face as well since he had stopped to turn and face the blond.
Naruto chuckled, waving off the worry the Pikachu was showing. "It's nothing, Pikachu. I'm just bored, that's all. Kurama and I haven't gone this long without a battle ever since the time we had to see through a lesson on identifying berries."
Kurama nodded in agreement, his tails wagging to keep his boredom to a minimum.
"Do you think Sasuke felt this bored when he was crossing this forest?" Naruto asked as he faced the Vulpix, who seemed to shrug.
"Pika, Pika, Pikachu," the Mouse Pokémon spoke as if trying to reassure the two that they were closer to their goal.
But as they were about to continue on, a scream caught their attention.
"AAAAAHHHHH!"
Their heads turn to the direction of the scream and Pikachu almost paled when he realized that the scream was coming from the direction of the Beedrill's nest.
"Someone's in trouble," Naruto said. "Looks like being patient has finally paid off, don't you think so, Kurama?" Of course, the Vulpix nodded with a sense of rejuvenated excitement filling his body. As Kurama leaped into Naruto's arms, the human turned to the Pikachu. "Sorry about this, Pikachu. But we're going to have to stop here for a while. Whoever it was, they need our help."
Just as Pikachu was about to voice out his complaint, the two had vanished into the greenery, leaving the Mouse Pokémon out in the open. Pikachu let out a sigh and shook his head dejectedly before he steeled himself and approached the trees. If those two were going to hurt themselves fighting dozens of Beedrill, then they're going to need some help.
As the screams got louder, the smile on Naruto's face grew wider. "Alright, Kurama. We're close to whatever's causing it. Once we see what's going on, get ready for our first battle!"
"Vul~!"
"Someone help me!"
"Don't worry, I'm coming!" Naruto cried as he burst through the bushes. As soon as he saw the sight in front of him, the smile on his face vanished and was quickly replaced by a shocked look. In front of him, a swarm of Beedrill was all that clouded his vision as they flew all over the place in anger.
His eyes then looked down to see the shivering form of a small boy, who looked to be younger than him, with his back pressed against the tree behind him. The boy wore a straw hat which he was using to cover his face. He also wore a white sleeveless shirt and blue pants which had a few tears on them, probably caused by the stingers of the Beedrill.
The boy lifted up his straw hat, noticing Naruto. "Please help me!"
Apparently, it was enough to make Naruto remember why he was here. Naruto dropped Kurama and spoke. "Alright, Kurama. We've got to help that kid out. Use Flamethrower and make sure to not hit the kid."
A smirk formed on the Vulpix's face as a sphere of flame formed in his mouth. Without any hesitation, Kurama fired a stream of fire from his mouth towards the Beedrill swarm. The flames struck the middle of the swarm, causing the Beedrill to disperse in all directions which gave Naruto the opportunity to run up to the boy with Kurama following closely behind.
"You alright kid?" Naruto asked as he placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.
The boy slightly winced but he managed to answer the blond. "I-I'm alright. But I can't find my Metapod. We got separated when the Beedrill suddenly attacked us."
A Beedrill flew down towards them, which Kurama was prepared to burn with another Flamethrower but instead, a lightning bolt struck the Bug type Pokémon, causing the Beedrill to fall as Pikachu jumped over its body and landed in front of the group. "Pika! Pika, Pika!"
"Nice one, Pikachu!" Naruto smiled before he looked around him in hopes of spotting the boy's Metapod. However, with the amount of Beedrill in the area, there was hardly anything he could see other than black and yellow. With a sigh, he turned to the boy. "I'm sorry kid, but I don't think we can find your Metapod at the moment. There's just too many Beedrill. We'll have to look again later. For now, we have to leave."
The boy seemed hesitant to leave at first, but when Kurama had to chase off another Beedrill that had gotten close to them, the boy balled his hands into fists and gritted his teeth as he gave Naruto a nod with a tear slowly forming in his eye.
"Kurama, use Flame Charge this time. We need to clear a path to get out of here!"
With a nod, the Vulpix's tails rose up and in an instant, Kurama was engulfed in a ball of flame as he charged into the Beedrill swarm in front of him, knocking most of the Beedrill away as Naruto led the boy and Pikachu out of the swarm.
As the Beedrill recovered from Kurama's attack, they gave chase to the group.
Seeing this, Naruto gave Pokémon another command. "Kurama, block their path with a Flamethrower, and make it a big one!"
"Vul!" Kurama replied as he spun around, charging up a ball of flame in his mouth. Then, he fired a stream of fire. This time, however, the fire had tripled in size. As soon as the fire hit the ground, a wall of flame erupted which stopped the Beedrill from advancing closer to them. Unable to continue their pursuit of the group, the Beedrill flew back to their nest.
With a click of his mandibles, the small Pokémon watched as the Beedrill returned to their nest and he grinned to himself. As expected, the blond boy was definitely an entertaining Pokémon Trainer to watch.
He had thought that the Trainer would have made his Pokémon battle the swarm head-on, but he had proven him wrong by retreating instead. Not only that, it was the first time that he had seen a Flamethrower used in such a manner.
It excited him to know that there was such a Trainer. In fact, he wanted to know what else the Trainer was capable of. Perhaps it was time to test the boy out. Maybe a battle to suffice.
Once the Beedrill could no longer be heard, Naruto had called out Kichi to put out the flame, which the Froakie did with his Bubble attack. As he was the only Water type Pokémon in the group, it took him quite a while to put the wall of flame out. By the time Kichi had extinguish the flame, night had already arrive.
"We'll rest here for the night. Is that alright with you guys?"
The Pokémon nodded in agreement. The boy, however, was barely listening to Naruto as his eyes were still facing the direction of the nest while he sat with his arms hugging his legs. "Do you think Metapod's alright?"
Naruto smiled at the boy as he sat down next to him. "I'm sure nothing bad is happening to your Pokémon. You've got to think positive." There was a pause between the two for a while as the two watched Kurama and Kichi eating berries that Pikachu was kind enough to gather for them. Then, Naruto spoke again. "I'm Naruto, by the way. What's your name?"
"S-Sammy," the boy replied.
"What were you and your Metapod doing in the forest anyway? Were you planning on catching a Pokémon?"
Sammy shook his head as he looked at Naruto. "No. I was planning on helping my Metapod evolve. You see, Metapod evolved a few days ago while we were in the forest so I wanted to come back here to find some Pokémon for Metapod to battle so he could evolve. We couldn't find any Pokémon to battle and I thought we could try finding a Weedle to battle."
"Let me guess, you ended up finding a Weedle, but there was more than just that one Weedle, right?"
"Yeah. We walked right into the whole nest," Sammy replied. "All of the Beedrill were asleep when we found the nest so I thought we could leave without waking them up. But then one of the Beedrill suddenly woke up and it alerted the whole nest. Metapod tried to protect me, but one of them grabbed him and flew away and the others just attacked me. That's when you came."
"I see," Naruto muttered to himself. As he processed Sammy's words, his mind began to recall a lesson that Iruka-sensei had taught him back in one of his lessons in camp which was about Bug type Pokémon.
"Remember this, kids," Iruka-sensei had said. "If you ever encounter Weedle or Kakuna during your time as a Trainer, do not ever attempt to battle them if there are Beedrill close by. They are extremely concerned with the welfare of Weedle and Kakuna, and they will respond aggressively to those that disturb them."
That's when a thought came up in Naruto's mind, making the blond grin as he turned to face Sammy. "You have nothing to worry about, Sammy. Your Metapod's going to be alright and I'm sure of it."
"But why?"
Seeing the confused look on the boy's face made Naruto chuckled as his grin grew wider. "That's because the Beedrill will probably think that your Metapod is one of their Kakuna, so nothing bad will happen to your Pokémon."
A look of hope appeared on Sammy's face as he leaped to his feet. "Are you sure?"
Naruto nodded. "I'm sure. Tell you what, when it's morning, we'll go back to the nest and find your Metapod. How does that sound?"
"Really? You'll do that for me?"
The boy received a nod from Naruto. "That's right, Sammy. We'll head straight for the nest in the morning and get your Metapod. It's a promise, dattebayo. So for now, we'll need to get some sleep. Kurama, you mind giving us a small fire?"
Kurama gave his partner a nod as he got up and trotted over to him before blasting an extremely small Flamethrower onto a few wooden sticks that Kichi had picked up around them, which created a small bonfire.
Unknown to them, however, was a small Pokémon who had overheard what Naruto had said. The Pokémon clicked his mandibles a few times to himself, as if he was snickering, as he crawled away into the cover of the tree he was on as the group was preparing to fall asleep.
Morning had soon arrived and Naruto had kept his promise to Sammy, seeing as the blond had already up before the younger boy was. Naruto had returned Kichi to his Pokéball and with the leftover berries from the previous night, they quickly set off towards the Beedrill nest.
As they approached the nest, they took cover behind a few bushes which were facing the side of the tree where they spotted the Kakuna and a few Beedrill sleeping. However, what caught their attention was a green cocoon that was placed right below the Kakuna. Naruto had been right, the Beedrill had thought that Metapod was a Kakuna.
"How are we going to get Metapod without waking the Beedrill up?" Sammy asked.
"Easy," Naruto replied. "Kurama and I will be going to grab your Metapod and bring him back to you."
Sammy's jaw dropped at the blond's words. "You can't be serious, Naruto-san. What will you do if the Beedrill wakes up while you're there? It's too dangerous!"
Naruto simply smiled at the younger boy. "Relax, Sammy. Kurama and I will be fine. This will be like hiding from my mother when she's mad. And if we could hide from my mother, then I'm sure Kurama and I can handle sleeping Beedrill. Besides, if anything goes wrong, Pikachu's here to keep you safe." The Vulpix and Pikachu nodded in agreement, with Kurama confidently puffing out his chest and Pikachu giving off a few sparks of electricity from his cheeks.
"Just be careful, alright? I don't want you to end up almost getting stung like me."
"There's nothing to worry about, ttebayo," Naruto said as he and Kurama silently crawled out of the bushes and began approaching Metapod.
Fortunately for them, Metapod was wide awake when he heard a soft rustling from the grass beside him. Metapod glanced to the side and was met by a grin from Naruto as he quietly raised his arms out and lifted up the Cocoon Pokémon.
"We're getting you out of here, little guy," Naruto whispered as he slowly got up to his feet and turned around.
As quickly as they could, Naruto and Kurama ran back to the bushes with Metapod in their possession.
A sigh of relief came out of Sammy's mouth when they stopped right beside him and a smile formed on his face as his eyes met Metapod's. "Are you alright, Metapod?"
The Cocoon Pokémon gave what seemed to be a smile to his Trainer. "Meta~" Sammy's smile widened and he hugged the Pokémon tightly to his chest while Naruto, Kurama, and Pikachu smiled at them as Sammy faced Naruto. "Thanks for helping me get Metapod back, Naruto-san."
"It was nothing, ttebayo," Naruto replied as he scratched the back of his head. "Now let's get out of here before they wake up." The others agreed with the blond and they got up to take their leave.
However, just as they were about to leave, Kurama suddenly yipped, catching the attention of the others as they turned towards the Vulpix who had looked back in the direction of the tree where the Beedrill were resting on. Much to Naruto's shock, a string of web was found on Kurama's back which resembled the one he had found on the Vulpix's back the previous day when they had entered the forest.
Kurama bared his teeth at the tree's direction and the others looked towards it.
When they did, Pikachu's eyes widened and he let out a surprised squeak as soon as his eyes met those of a small green Pokémon who was staring back at the group from a branch on the tree.
From the perspective of the group, they would have not known much about the small Pokémon they were looking at except for the fact that it had angered Kurama. But to Pikachu, who had grown up in the Viridian Forest, he knew who the Pokémon was. He was none other than the Viridian Forest's resident Pokémon prankster, Spinarak. And if he was here, then things were probably going to go south for them.
"A Spinarak?" Sammy muttered. "What's it doing here?"
Naruto shook his head. "I don't know. But whatever the reason, it can't be good." As much as Naruto wanted to prove himself wrong, he couldn't.
The Spinarak grinned at them and clicked its mandibles at them as it turned towards a nearby Beedrill who was sleeping on the same branch it was on. Before anyone, except for an extremely frightened Pikachu, could guess what Spinarak was about to do, it shot a string of web at the Beedrill before leaping off the branch and crawling away.
Awoken from its sleep, the Beedrill furiously swiped at its face with its stingers to rid itself of the web. When it was done, the Beedrill looked up and spotted the group. Apparently, it recognized them as it quickly hovered off the branch and buzzed around the tree as quickly as it could. Its buzzing woke the rest of the Beedrill up.
Within seconds, the entire tree was shaking and from it, dozens of Beedrill flew out into the open with their eyes all glaring straight at the group.
"Do you think they remember about yesterday?" Sammy managed to ask as his body began shaking in fear.
The Beedrill swarm charged forward, causing the group to start running as the swarm chased them down.
"I think they do, dattebayo!" Naruto cried out. "Kurama! Anytime you're ready!"
Kurama gave an affirmative yip as he stopped in his tracks for a moment to produce a sphere of fire in his mouth before firing off a Flamethrower at the swarm and running off to join Naruto's side again.
"How are we going to get rid of them this time?!" Sammy yelled, not wanting to turn his head around.
"I don't think a fire wall is going to work this time," Naruto replied. "Running away won't work since they can fly to keep up with us, but the only thing I can think of now is to fight them."
"What?!"
"I know, crazy, isn't it?" Naruto chuckled. "But if we want to make it out without too many injuries, we'll need to fight them." Naruto immediately stopped, followed by Kurama as they turned to face the fast approaching swarm. "I don't mind if you go on, Sammy. But I'm not going to run. You hear that, Beedrill! I am Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze and I don't run from a fight, ttebayo!"
As the swarm came closer, Naruto reached for his belt and removed Kichi's and his recently caught Pidgey's Pokéballs. "Kichi! Pidgey! I'm gonna need your help here!" Their Pokéballs enlarged to fit Naruto's hands and split opened to release the two Pokémon from their capsules.
The Froakie smiled as soon as he was out and hopped to Kurama's side, looking as excited as he could be.
On the other hand, Pidgey had emerged while still in her sleep. Though from the sound of the swarm's buzzing, she woke up and mentally grumbled to herself as she tried to figure out why she was out in the first place. Only when she noticed the swarm, did she became fully alert of the situation she was in.
Before Pidgey could panic, Naruto continued to speak. "We're going to Pewter City and nothing's gonna stop us! Kichi, distract them with Double Team. Kurama, charge up a Flamethrower. We're gonna need a really strong one."
The two Pokémon gave their Trainer a nod as they began to execute their orders. Kichi leaped forward, producing as many copies of himself as he could to confuse the swarm, leaping in all directions while Kurama steadied himself with his mouth wide open as another sphere of fire formed, slowly growing bigger with every minute passing.
Pidgey shook in fear as she estimated the amount of Beedrill in her field of vision. Don't get her wrong. She wasn't scared of Bug Pokémon, what made her terrified of the current situation was the sheer number of them. One of them, she could handle, but dozens of them? That was way out of her league! What the hell was her new Trainer thinking sending her out against them?!
"Pidgey."
Hearing her Trainer's voice, she turned around to see Naruto as he continued. "I'm gonna need you to help Kichi out. Even with that many copies, Kichi won't be able to hold them off on his own like that. So I need you to use your Sand Attack to blind them. Think you can do that?"
Pidgey gulped nervously as she looked at the swarm, and then back at Trainer before looking back at the swarm. Reassuring herself, Pidgey took a deep breath and flapped her wings to lift herself off the ground. She flew close to the ground and flapped as hard as she could to generate a dust cloud.
Kichi saw this and quickly reached for the Frubbles on his neck, bringing it up to cover his face to act as a mask as the dust cloud engulfed him, his copies and the swarm. Thanks to his Frubbles, Kichi was able to avoid having his vision clouded, unlike the Beedrill who were struggling to even fly straight as some of them began colliding with each other.
"Kichi, use Quick Attack!"
A white glow emitted from Kichi's body as he leaped forward, disappearing in a flash as he rammed into several Beedrill, sending them crashing into the ground.
Unfortunately, that seemed to have helped one of the Beedrill as it was launched out of the dust cloud by Kichi. With a shake of its head and a rub from the smooth surface of its stingers, the Beedrill turned its attention to Naruto and dived down towards the blond human with its stingers out as it prepared a Twineedle attack.
"Naruto, look out!" Sammy cried out as he ran towards the blond. Seeing as the blond did not move, he could only guess that Naruto had not heard him. He tightened his grip on Metapod and looked down at him, only to see that Metapod had a look of determination.
Then, a thought came to his mind as he looked at the diving Beedrill and back to Metapod. With a nervous gulp, he spoke. "Metapod, I know this is going to be crazy, but I hope you'll trust me on this." The Cocoon Pokémon said nothing, only rocking to show that he was nodding to his Trainer. "Okay, then I hope you're ready to help Naruto-san out." Sammy raised Metapod up, letting him face the Beedrill. "Fire your String Shot!"
Metapod released a string of web at the Beedrill, catching it off guard as it was instantly covered in web. The Beedrill swerved to its right as the web immobilized its wings, causing it to crash right in front of the whiskered blond, who flinched in surprise before turning back with a smile.
"Nice one, Sammy!"
Sammy smiled back at him. "Metapod and I are not running away, Naruto! We're going to help you!"
"Meta~!"
"That's nice to know," Naruto replied as he turned back to his Pokémon. "Keep it up, Kichi, Pidgey! Kurama's almost done!" His Froakie gave him a nod in return while his Pidgey felt like she wanted to be called back into her Pokéball as she ducked under a Beedrill's attack.
Sammy placed Metapod on the ground and with a determined look of his own, he spoke. "Metapod, let's help Naruto out. String Shot!" Metapod complied, firing another string of web at a few Beedrill that had tried to corner Kichi, allowing the Froakie to leap away as the Beedrill all turned around to begin their attack on Metapod.
Fortunately for the pair, the String Shot had helped to slow down the Beedrill, which gave Sammy enough time to give out another order to his Pokémon. "Metapod, use Harden and then use Tackle!"
A green glow emitted from the Cocoon Pokémon's body as the Beedrill lunged at Metapod together. However, their stingers were deflected the moment they made contact with Metapod's body. Metapod then leaped, tackling one of the Beedrill to the ground before jumping off its body as the others continued their assault.
Once more, Metapod had used Harden to protect himself as soon as they came too close to him.
"String Shot again!"
Another strong of web coated the Beedrill, courtesy of Metapod, and they began to slow down, suddenly feeling heavier than they were before.
Just as Sammy was about to give another order to attack, a lightning bolt flew passed him and struck the Beedrill, causing them to collapse as sparks of electricity crackled around their bodies. Sammy turned his head back and smiled when he saw the Pikachu that had been with them, his cheeks sparking and a confident smirk on his face as he scurried towards the boy.
"Glad of you to join us, Pikachu!" Naruto had yelled, having glanced back when he saw the Thunderbolt being used on the Beedrill.
"Pika, Pika, Pikachu!" The Electric Mouse Pokémon spoke as he stood alongside the Metapod, who rocked forward as if nodding to the Pikachu.
Naruto smiled to himself. "Guess I can add defeating a Beedrill colony to my accomplishment. Kurama, hold on a bit longer. Get ready to fire that Flamethrower on my command."
Kurama didn't reply. Instead, he nodded while keeping the shape of the fire sphere in front of his mouth.
"Kichi, fire Bubble into the air!"
Hearing his Trainer's command, Kichi lowered his Frubbles and inhaled before he fired off several bubbles into the sky. The bubbles quickly descended down, making contact with some of the Beedrill which knocked them out of the air and onto the ground.
"Pika~Chu!"
A lightning bolt soared overhead Kichi and much to the Froakie's surprise, it struck two Beedrill above him. Looking back, Kichi gave a thumbs up to Pikachu who nodded back as Naruto spoke. "This seems to be alright. Kichi, Pidgey, come back. Kurama, let it out. Flamethrower!"
In an instant, a burst of flame engulfed the area.
Kichi, as quick as he was, managed to avoid being burnt while he retreated back to Naruto's side. Pidgey, on the other hand, just barely got out of it with a slight burn on her tail feathers, which she made known by squawking as loudly as she could before blowing it out.
The flame was immediately put out and the group heaved sighs of relief when they saw the beaten Beedrill all flying away.
"Told ya, nothing's going to stop us," Naruto chuckled as he returned Kichi and Pidgey back to their Pokéballs after thanking them. "You alright, Sammy? How's your Metapod?"
"We're both fine, Naruto-san," Sammy replied, hugging Metapod close to him. "That was an amazing Flamethrower, Naruto. It's got to be the strongest one I've ever seen!"
The blond Trainer smiled as he ruffled the younger boy's hair. "I'm sure Kurama appreciates the compliment, but my mother's Incineroar has a much stronger Flamethrower than Kurama does, isn't that right, partner?"
Kurama reluctantly nodded. Though he was sure that his Flamethrower was strong, there was no denying that the Pokémon who taught him the move was even stronger than he was when it comes to it.
"But there's no doubt about it," Sammy continued. "With that kind of power, you can totally beat the Gym Leaders without any problems!"
Naruto laughed. "I don't think the Gym Leaders are that weak, Sammy. But there's no way Kurama and I will lose to them because a Pokémon champion never loses a fight, isn't that right, Kurama?"
The Vulpix didn't reply back, causing Naruto to look down at his furry partner. Naruto saw that Kurama wasn't even looking at him and was instead looking in the direction of an unconscious Beedrill and growling at it.
The others turned their attention to the unconscious Beedrill and they gasped, all except Naruto, who had narrowed his eyes. On top of the Beedrill was the Spinarak from before.
"Looks like the fight isn't over yet," Naruto said as he stepped forward and folded his arms. With his eyes still on the Bug Type Pokémon, Naruto continued. "I don't know what your problem is, Spinarak, but waking those Beedrill up was not funny."
Kurama's growl grew louder as he stood next to his partner, ready to pounce on the Spinarak as soon as the blond Trainer tells him to.
Spinarak, however, eyed the two with curiosity and interest. This human in front of him was special, he was unlike other humans he had encountered before. And the Vulpix? For such a small Pokémon to release a massive Flamethrower, it had caught him off guard to see such a spectacle. He wanted to see more of what this pair had to offer, and for him to see more, he knew he had to do one thing.
Pikachu observed Spinarak with a confused look. For as long as he knew, Spinarak was the kind of prankster who would laugh at the misfortune of others who he had pranked and leave the next moment without any word or action. To see the Bug Type Pokémon staying still and staring at the blond human worried him. Then, something unexpected happened.
A string of web was fired in front of the pair by Spinarak, who clicked his mandibles at Kurama.
To the two humans, it seemed like Spinarak was not done messing with them just yet, which made Naruto's brow twitched as he tried to control his anger while watching Kurama and Spinarak converse with each other.
But to the Pokémon, Spinarak had challenged Kurama to a battle, which surprised Pikachu as he had never seen Spinarak engaged in a Pokémon battle before. The Vulpix, however, thought nothing of it. Instead, he grinned with excitement visible in his eyes. All he could think of now was how he was going to defeat Spinarak for all the trouble that the Bug Type Pokémon had put him and Naruto through.
Looking back to his partner, Kurama yipped at Naruto and got into a battle stance that the whiskered blond knew all too well. Naruto gave a grin that seemed identical to Kurama's as he spoke to Spinarak. "So you want a battle, do you? Fine. We'll give you one that will blow you away!"
Satisfied with the outcome, Spinarak leaped off the unconscious Beedrill and started off the battle with Poison Sting, sending multiple needle-like projectiles at Kurama. Fortunately, that wasn't a problem for the Vulpix.
"Dodge those, Kurama."
Kurama did as he was told, dodging each of the projectiles with ease as he leaped from spot to spot. Once the Poison Sting assault was over, Naruto began his turn. "Kurama, Quick Attack!"
A white glow emitted from Kurama's body as he dashed forward, slamming into Spinarak and sending the Bug Type Pokémon flying into the air as Naruto quickly gave the next command. "Now use Flamethrower!"
Releasing the flames from his mouth, Kurama blasted it towards Spinarak, who had landed on the side of a tree. Seeing the stream of fire heading his way, Spinarak fired a web and swung off, escaping the Flamethrower thrown his way as he landed back on the ground.
"Not bad, Spinarak," Naruto complimented, impressed by the Bug Type Pokémon's evasion. "Too bad for you, it takes a lot more than that to escape Kurama's attacks. Let's see how well you do against this, Double Team!"
With those two words, Kurama knew what his partner had planned for Spinarak and he couldn't wait for it to happen. So, he began creating duplicates of himself all over the area.
Seeing that he was surrounded, Spinarak leaped into the air and spun around and fired off his Poison Sting once more. His projectiles struck most of the duplicates but Kurama and some had managed to dodge a few before Naruto spoke again.
"Get him while he's in the air, Kurama! Quick Attack!"
Launching himself forward, Kurama glowed once more as his speed increased dramatically. Then, as he was getting closer to Spinarak, the Bug Type Pokémon had stopped spinning and was looking right at him with a grin.
Without any warning, Spinarak shot a string of web at Kurama, wrapping him up with the web as Kurama fell onto the ground. A red glow emitted from the Vulpix and within moments, Kurama cried out in pain as he felt his energy being drained out of his body.
"Naruto! Spinarak's using Absorb on Kurama!" Sammy exclaimed, hugging his Metapod close to him as he began to worry for Naruto and Kurama.
Naruto, however, scoffed. "A cheeky move like that won't surprise us. Kurama, end this with Flame Charge!"
Kurama's cries halted and a foxy smile formed on his lips as his body was engulfed in flames, burning away the web on his body as he leapt towards Spinarak, who had been taken aback by the flames that it made him flinched, and slammed his body into the Bug Type Pokémon.
Coming to a stop, the flames on Kurama's body faded away and he smirked down at the unconscious body of the Spinarak in front of him. He had won the battle.
Naruto simply nodded as he walked up to the Vulpix and petted him on the head. "Great job, Kurama. We won."
"Vul~!"
"That was awesome, Naruto-san!" Sammy said. "The way you and Kurama handled yourselves in that battle was amazing."
"Of course it was," Naruto replied. "I'm going to be the next Pokémon Champion, Sammy. Don't you forget that, you hear me?"
Sammy gave an excited nod. "You got my support, Naruto-san! With the way you fight, I'm sure that you'll become the Pokémon Champion in no time!"
Naruto said nothing, only giving him a smile as a thought went through his mind. "Sammy's starting to remind me of Konohamaru…" Then, he turned to Pikachu and spoke to him. "Now that that's out of the way, how about we get back to helping me and Kurama find our way out of the forest?"
It took a few moments for Pikachu to realize that Naruto was talking to him and he quickly gave him a nod. Pikachu was still in a state of shock after what he had witnessed. To see the forest's resident prankster lose his first battle wasn't all that surprising, but what did surprise him was the way he was beaten. Never before had he seen a one-sided battle and he had never expected it to be Spinarak who was the one being beaten.
Naruto faced Sammy and ruffled the boy's hair one last time as he spoke. "Well, I won't be coming back to Viridian City for a long time, Sammy. I'm going to be traveling Kanto to challenge the Gyms. But when I come back to battle the Viridian Gym, I want to see how much you'll grow. So would you mind if we have a Pokémon battle when I come back before I take on the Gym?"
Hearing this, Sammy's jaw dropped. "W-what? You want to battle me? Why?"
"Why not?" Naruto shrugged. "It'll be nice to see how you'll improve yourself. That, and since you'll be a Pokémon Trainer in a few years, I figured I'll give you what it's like to be in a Pokémon battle between two Trainers. So how about it, Sammy?"
As he stretched his hand out, Sammy grabbed onto it and shake his hand. "You got yourself a deal, Naruto-san! When you get back, Metapod and I are going to give our all!"
"That's the kind of attitude a Trainer needs," Naruto smiled. "I'll see you again once I've collected the other Badges. I'll be looking forward to our match, Sammy. That's a promise, ttebayo!" With a firm shake of their hands, the two smiled at each other as they separated.
Kurama leaped into Naruto's arms and he gave Sammy a yip as the two walked off, following Pikachu on their path to Pewter City. All while Sammy was waving to them as he watched them leave. "Goodbye, Naruto-san! Good luck on winning those Gym Badges!"
Though he knew he didn't need it, Naruto appreciated the good words that Sammy gave him, and so did Kurama. And as they walked on, Naruto couldn't help but think of the future battle he would have with Sammy once he comes back to Viridian City.
A/N: That awkward moment when I could have finished this last month but decided to procrastinate and leave it until today to finish up. But nonetheless, it's been posted. Well, don't expect the next chapter any time soon cause it will take a while to write it down. But I hope you enjoyed it, though the ending for this chapter could have used a little more work.