CHAPTER TWO: THOSE FEELS
BY: VANYA ATMA
AN: I do not own Naruto or Pokemon
An hour later my mind had laid out at least a few things, firstly I was not in an illusion. Well I supposed I could be in an extremely powerful one, I'd first cut myself with one of the Kunai I carried in the pouch on my thigh but that had not been enough. Breaking my left pinky had done no better and short of throwing myself off a cliff I had come to accept I would just need to find an alternative way out of this. Somehow.
When I'd come to accept that I was stuck in this Illusion for the time being I had sat on a rock and thought about what I'd experienced since waking. The crazed man had said something about Pokemon, a Machop that was his, which I'd finally come to realize was that blue humanoid thing. My new companion was called a Skrelp and he thought I was a trainer.
Said Skrelp had not left my side even when I'd tried half heartedly to shoo it away. It looked sick and obviously nothing I did could heal it, the last thing I wanted was to catch what it had and not be able to heal myself. I was knocked out of my brooding by the sound of whistling on the wind. My head perked up and down the path to my left a short girl in a pristine white dress was walking my way.
Hoping she would be more inclined to talk and explain to me what was going on I jumped up from the rock and jogged her way.
"O no! You're not getting me like that last trainer!" She exclaimed, her reddish hair bobbing about her pale features. "I just came from the Pokemon Center and I want to catch at least one more Pokemon before I have to go back."
I was ready this time so that I saw the spherical item the girl threw into the air a second before a glow hovered over the sand. A green... Pokemon solidified, yawning to show off a row of teeth.
The Skrelp jumped right in, ready for this battle, it flung itself into the air, rolling as it did so, the strong tail that helped it hop on land struck the enemy Pokemon causing a pulse of purple around it's arched head.
"Gah! That's not fair. Axew use Duel Chop!" The Skrelp hadn't even touched ground when the Axews clawed hands glowed and smashed into it's side. With a screech the sea creature when flying, crashing back into the sand not once, not twice but three times.
Before I knew what I was doing I chased after the Skrelp, falling to my knees to heal it with a soothing green halo of my Chakra. The sea creature shook it's head at me though, rolling from my helping hand and to it's three pronged tail.
"I guess she doesn't want that Potion." The girl sneered. "You really should bond with your Pokemon more before you move on. Now see if you can handle this! Slash!"
The green monster dashed across the space between us as if it were a Chunin going for their next rank with those damn claws glowing again. Not knowing what to do I yelled out. "Dodge it... or something!"
Instantly a cloud of smoke was released from the Skrelps mouth, it met my nose a second later and I was coughing up a lung. Once again at a loss for what to do I used my last breath to choke out. "Attack!" Both trainers had called out something and their companions had reacted, so this was my only hope seeming as how I didn't know my Pokemon's moves.
There was only a heartbeat to think, 'when did the unhealthy little sea creature turn into my Pokemon' before the sound of battle came from deep in the cloud. Surging Chakra to my feet I jumped strait up and out of the giant cloud, landing a good few feet from the globe of smoke. I found myself feeling much like I did when Naruto or Sasuke were in battle and there was nothing I could do to help. This shocked me because those two were my everything and yet I barely knew this decrepit little creature.
"Axew! Axew!" The girl was calling out from the other side, coughing herself as she tried to enter the smoke zone.
As quickly as it filled the area it was gone, one moment there was a mass of blackness the next it dispersed into thin air. What was left was two Pokemon, my Skrelp stood over a knocked out Axew.
"O look what you have done!" The girl exclaimed with a cry, racing to her fallen Pokemon.
I went to mine, a bit slower but that was due to the emotion that was swirling in my stomach.
"Are you ok?" I asked once my shadow eclipsed over it's purple and brown body.
"Kel." It sighed out, looking at the girl as she balled over the Axew.
Glancing up at me the girls bottom lip wobbled. "I can't believe you'd be so cruel! You're an ugly girl with ugly pink hair!" The pink hair comment, only if that was the first time I'd heard that!
Holding out a red and white sphere the girl did something that made the Axew glow and disappear.
"Hey what did you just do?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.
Leaning back on her heels she scrunches her brows at me. "What do you mean? I used my Pokeball to call my little Axew back."
I could hear the confusion in her voice to which I sheepishly raised a hand to the back of my hair and rubbed my head. "I'm, uh, kinda new to this." Yea, that sounded good.
"How can you be new and have such a strong pokemon?" She asked, sniffling. "Never mind, I have to go back to town to heal my Pokemon because of you."
At her full height the girl didn't even come up to my shoulder, she was just a tiny thing. What she was doing out on her own, because there was no way she was from a village, I wasn't sure. But maybe after I got some answers I'd help her find her mom.
"Can I follow?"
"No."
But I did anyway.
The Pokemon Center was surprisingly clean and the pink haired young woman who greeted me with a bright smile had me returning one. At least I wasn't the only odd ball out there.
I had to coax the Skrelp to go with the helpful people into the back so it could get healed. "I just hope it doesn't look so... dead." I commented watching it hop behind a door.
The young woman behind the desk chuckled a little and so didn't the young girl who's name I still did not know. "Besides a few minor cuts and bruises your Skrelp is other wise a very healthy Pokemon."
Momentarily caught up I actually forgot about how odd all of this was. "But, it looks like it's ready to die at any moment, I tried to heal it but that didn't seem to help."
"They do look a bit sickly, but at least they don't smell bad!" The girl said, rocking back on her heels.
Laughing freely once again the young woman spoke in her soothing tones. "Skrelp are a unique Pokemon, the kelp that they resemble help them to camouflage themselves from predators out in the ocean. Just wait till she evolves." I wanted to ask what she meant by evolving but I dared not. I knew I already looked suspicious since a few of the towns people were giving me weird looks as I walked past. It was what I was wearing. The tight spandex shorts and red sleevless shirt and headband with wraps and pouches all up and down my legs. I was definitely not fitting in.
"She said she is just starting out, but if you ask me she's lying, I mean who starts their journey being so old?" The girls snicker had me clenching my fist. Must not pound little child to pulp.
"Now, now Paulette, some people start later rather than sooner." Motioning to a machine along the wall the young pink haired woman continues. "If you want to learn more about your Pokemon go ahead and search through that computer, but I'll warn you now, we don't know everything out there! Kalos is huge! But I'm Nurse Joy if you have any questions just ask."
I stood staring at the mechanical thing for a full minute looking like it was going to come alive at any moment before Paulette came storming over. "And let me guess you don't know how to use this thing either! What have you been living under a rock for your entire life? Here you click this here, it's touch screen, and you type in your Pokemon, Skrelp, and then Bam! Info's."
My eyes dashed to the screen, a picture of my pokemon staring back at me, the first thing next to its name was water and poison type.
"You never did give me your name you know!' Paulette said after a moment, she'd gone to leaning on the wall beside me with her arms crossed.
"It's Sakura, now hush and let me read."
Twenty minutes later someone was tugging on my arm. I had to blink rapidly to uncross my eyes from reading so much but once I did I saw Nurse Joy with my Skrelp. It didn't necessarily look any healthier but at least it seemed happy to see me. In two hops it was beside me, knocking against my bare calf with it's blue arm like appendages.
"It really seems to like you." Her smile was perfect. "Now I thought about this while you were reading, normally you would have to see a professor to start your journey and get your first Pokemon but since you didn't need help getting one I can offer you this at least." Her hand opened to reveal three small red and white balls, the same one's I'd seen Paulette use on her Axew.
"I have no clue what those are." I say honestly but I take them anyway.
"O! That's no problem." But Paulette sneered again, one must not strangle little girls. "These are Pokeballs, you use them to capture Pokemon, it's like a storage ball, sucks them up."
Reaching into the pocket of her white shirt she pulls out a small ball, clicks the button then throws it into the air. A warm glow and then a good sized pink Pokemon with weird looking wings solidifies.
"This is my Clefable."
"Clef!" The Clefable waves at me with a big grin on it's face. I was waiting for reality to hit me at any moment.
"I doubt she'll be able to catch anything, she'll just faint them like she did my Axew!" Paulette pouts, stomping one of her tiny feet.
"Hey, you attacked me first!" I defended then immediately regretted it, what was I doing fighting with a little girl?
"At least she'll defeat Grant, the Gym Leader." Nurse Joy stated, calling her Pokemon back into its ball.
"Gym Leader?"
"Seriously how did you make it this far in life!" I was going to throttle her, the only thing that was holding me back was the fact that I'd still be hunted down even if this was an illusion if I started killing people. "Grant is the Rock Gym Leader Duh, you gotta collect all the badges to get to the top."
The moment I walked outside the Pokecenter I breathed in a deep gulp of fresh air. I'd never known an illusion to be this strong or detailed, usually they took memories from the persons own mind and threw it back at them. Never in my wildest imagination could I have come up with something like this.
"O good! I had worried that I'd missed you!" The glass doors opened behind me, revealing Nurse Joy. "I wanted to give this to you, it's nothing like the PokeDex but you're going to have to see a professor for one of those."
The book that she hands me is a bright red with images of the Pokeballs she'd given me earlier on it. "Now, it has some information but not everything, I hope it helps!"
Opening the pages I see simple images of Pokemon with the basic facts, it was more than I could have asked for. "Thank you." I said for a lack of anything more to offer.
After a final good bye I started my way to get a few important things.
I visited the Pokemart first and bought myself a few more Pokeballs and even some repellent much to the store clerks encouragement. I staid far away from the boutique, that was more in line with Ino. The cafe let me fill up on breakfast rolls and tea, though nothing like home and I was ready for the next step. Through the entire time the Skrelp hoped along, no one seemed to mind that I didn't keep it inside a ball, a few other people had their own out.
The last place I visited was the Gym, outside was pretty unassuming but the moment I walked in I found myself impressed. A huge rock formation jutted up from the ground, there were ledges and stairs but none within my grasp. Walking further in my neck had to crane back to take in the entirety of it.
"Hey you! I know a challenger when I see one! Lets do this Dwebble!" In a heartbeat a crab like Pokemon appeared, it's small pointy legs twitching.
"Why do people just keep on attacking me?" I growl out, pointing at the opponent. "Skrelp, kill that little pest."
I didn't really mean for my Pokemon to kill the Dwebble but apparently it thought I was serious for with a small battle cry it shot through the short space between the two of them and hit it smack in the face with it's blue arm. From what I could remember the Skrelp had just used Feint Attack.
"That was a Dark Type move! Good choice!" The boy stated flicking back his short brown hair from around his face. "But try this on for size! Dwebble use Bug Bite!"
The Dwebble scurried to the Skrelp who had just landed on it's tail, a moment later the Skrelp was screeching loud with the crab latched firmly onto its side with a tiny mouth. I still didn't have a clue what I was doing but you could bet I was going to try. "Skrelp get that thing off, use Water Pulse." I'd read about that one back at the PokeCenter, it was the same one I'd seen the kelp like Pokemon use back on the beach.
A fine mist of water speckled my face as the crab went flying from having a powerful ball of water directly projected into it's body.
"That one isn't getting back up anytime soon." I stated, clenching my hands at my side. "Now you'll answer some of my questions."
"No you don't! I'm not done just yet! Dwebble return, let's do this Relicanth!" In went the crab and out came a fish.
"Seriously?" I stated dumb founded, who summoned a fish on land? But I had no time to gape at it because the thing was hurtling through the air strait at my Skrelp.
Two Pokemon in a row, that was unfair, up till now I'd only thought we could have one Pokemon at any given time. But that doesn't make sense because you were given multiple Pokeballs... Mentally telling myself to shut up I spoke out loud. "Use Water Pulse again and blast it out of the air."
Where the Relicanth had been going towards the Skrelp it was now tumbling backwards only to crash into it's trainers arms. "You win!"
With the Skrelp next to me I watched as the other trainer called his second Pokemon back into it's ball and come to stand, dusting himself off. "You'll have more trouble as you go up, that I'm sure of." He huffed obviously mad that he had lost.
Another wad of money was offered and I had to ask. "What's up with the money?"
I could tell with the way he was looking anywhere but at me that he wanted to be anywhere but here. "Whenever you win a battle the other trainer has to pay out. Now take it will you."
Shoving the cash into one of the pouches on my pants I then spoke. "I have some questions about..." But the boy didn't let me finish.
"I would just ask Leader Grant."
I lifted my shoulders in confusion. "That's great but I don't know where he is."
The boy pointed up. "Leader Grant is on top of the mountain, the only way you can get there is by climbing up the rock face and fighting the other trainers." And then he was gone, probably to take his Pokemon to be healed.
I grinned down at the Skrelp. "It's not the only way."
"Skrel?" It replied back, sounding a bit scared.
Grasping the Pokemon in my arms I shot Chakra down to my heels and jumped.