Back with chapter two! I'll see how quickly I can get chapter 3 out but in the mean time I hope you all enjoy this one.
(Marshalanime does not own Naruto or Pokemon)
Lost, that was the prevailing theme for Naruto today. Not only was he hopelessly lost in some unknown forest but now he'd lost the only living thing he'd seen in the past few hours. Thoroughly irritated at this point Naruto was finally ready to admit that searching for that fox was probably a lost cause at this point.
"Stupid fox. I didn't even want to bother with it anyway" Naruto told himself as he moved through the under-brush, a new set of scrapes from the chase covering his arms and legs. After coming to this realization the day's fatigue was finally able to catch up with the young child. Letting out a long sigh Naruto's arms dropped to his side like lead weights before he leaned back into a tree and let himself slowly slide down.
How long had he been wandering around anyway? Staring up at the sky again it wasn't hard for him to tell it was getting late as it was slowly beginning to change from blue to a mixture of oranges, pinks, and purples. Guess he was going to be sleeping out here tonight so it'd probably be best to look for a decent place, maybe a hollow tree or cave if he's lucky.
With these thoughts in mind Naruto nearly missed the rustling coming from his right. Lazily glancing over to the bush the question of what it could be barely crossed his mind. Though even if he had given the thought any serious consideration he would not have been prepared for what popped out. Hopping out of the brush was what Naruto would best describe in that moment of time as a walking shrubbery.
Naruto could best describe the tinny thing's body as being shaped like a light green cloud with a collar of darker green leafs around where a neck should be. It's head was as big if not bigger than it's body with it's white face having no noticeable features save for two small orange eyes. Just above it's face was a light green drop shaped bit and similar segments that went all the way to the dark green collar went around it's head. At the very top of it's upside down strawberry shaped head were three rather large leafs that matched the color of it's collar.
The plant, thing, took only a few steps before noticing the blond boy sitting a few feet from it, it's orange eyes locking with his bewildered expression. After a drawn out moment of silence between them the small creature finally reacted as it let out a meek cry, it's eyes widening as it all but jumped out of it's skin. Spinning on the spot it then ran as fast as it could away from the boy.
As he watched the little thing scurry into the bushes Naruto finally snapped out of his daze. Using the tree to push himself back to his feet Naruto shoved away any thoughts of being tired as he gave chase for the second time that day. Clearly he wasn't anywhere near his village and right now that leaf thing was his best shot at figuring out where all of this was.
Bolting through bush after bush the frightened little thing kept running without any regard for where it was going so long as it was away from Naruto. Bursting through yet another bush had it's frantic sprint come to an abrupt end when it tripped over a rock and tumbled forward until slamming into something.
With a whimper it raised it's head, tears forming in the corners of it's eyes as it threatened to cry. Hearing something stir immediately in front of it took it's mind off the scrapes and onto what it was it ran into. What it was met with was a red ring surrounded by light purple before it became a spinning blur. Using the momentum from it's spinning the bug was able to right itself, giving the living plant a better view of it. It resembled a wheel with spikes. Two pairs of spikes, presumable at it's front and back, were much longer than the others and sported black stripes. At the center of the 'wheel' rested it's yellow eyes which were glaring intensely at it, clearly displeased with being slammed into.
Once again terrified the little green creature attempted to spring back up and run as the angry bug's hind spikes were engulfed in a toxic purple glow. Seeing the newly poisonous spikes spin round towards it left the little thing confident that it wouldn't be able to avoid it and so it did it's best to prepare itself for the hit.
With it's eyes clenched shut the small thing trembled when it heard someone shout "Watch out!" just before feeling their arms wrap around it and roll out of the way. Opening it's eyes the small thing glanced up to see the boy it'd run away from before holding it protectively against his chest.
"You okay?" Naruto asked, looking down at the little thing. Seeing the blond's smile brought a wave of gratitude and relief over the little thing as the tears from before began to well up again. Burying it's face into his chest it started to cry tears of joy at being saved. Growing comfortable in the boy's hold it was slightly surprised when he told it to hold on. It barely got the chance to blink in confusion before the blond kid started running off through the forest.
Managing to pull itself up to look over his shoulder it's sense of fear returned to it as it saw the purple bug rolling after them at incredible speed. Seeing it rapidly catching up to them had it freaking out again as a shiver went down it's body.
Today had been largely uneventful for the little black fox. Sure, there had been that odd human kid stumbling through the forest but that was entertaining for only so long. After that it went looking for something else to do but nothing interesting happened. Casually strolling along the forest floor the fox's ears suddenly twitched. Curious as to what it was hearing it stopped and began to look around. What ever it was it was getting closer.
About to head off in the direction the noise was coming from the small fox was startled half to death as the boy it'd watched earlier burst out of the bushes and ran past it's face, causing it to stumble backwards and nearly fall flat on it's tail. Blinking a few times in surprise it turned it's head to stare at the boy's shrinking form, it's maw slightly agape. Wondering what was going on it was unprepared for the boy's pursuer to whiz by and ended up falling on it's tail even more confused than before.
"What the hell did you do to piss it off!?" Naruto cried out as he continued to run away with this green little creature in his arms. It tried to argue in it's defence but it's frantic cries might have been utter gibberish as far as Naruto knew. "Well, what ever it was I'm sure it's taking it way to far!" Naruto said, not caring at the moment weather these things could understand him or not at the moment.
Pushing his way through yet another bush Naruto's eyes widened when he realized he was about to run into a tree. Reacting on instinct the boy jumped up, planting his foot firmly on the bark. A wince of pain shot out from his ankle by doing this but he was able to push himself and his little companion up and over the spinning blur chasing them. As the pair roughly landed in the bushes they'd just run through the purple bug slammed into the tree, blasting away the bark and leaving a sizeable dent in the wood.
Unfortunately for the duo the impact with the tree did little to slow the thing down. Scrambling to get off his back and back to his feet as their pursuer turned itself around Naruto found himself slipping and falling down the moment his foot hit the ground. Turning ever so slightly so that he'd land on his side and not on top of the thing he was protecting he forced down the pained yelp that rose up when his undoubtedly sprained ankle had any kind of weight on it.
Holding the little thing with one arm with the other shot down to prop himself up to his hands and knees Naruto glanced over his shoulder and prepared for the worst as the purple bug slammed into his back. Turning to land on his other side he was sent skidding as the attacking creature continued forward.
Shakily Naruto pushed himself onto his knees, holding the concerned creature in his arms as the other thing prepared to come back around. Glancing down Naruto saw his companion looking up at him and it was clear that it was worried for his safety. The boy couldn't imagine this small thing taking a hit like that. Seeing the angry bug coming back for a second attack and without any hope of out running it Naruto didn't give his options a second thought and turned so his body was between the on coming attack and the living plant he was carrying, he could take the hit far better than it could.
As the spinning bug was about to slam into the boy again it was knocked off course by a blast of what looked like jumbled together black rings hitting it from the side. All three of them, after getting their barrings, turned to find the source of the sudden attack and to Naruto's surprise the stupid fox from before was standing on the other side of the small clearing. With a stern look in it's eyes the small fox began to yelp and bark at the purple bug. Naruto watched as the two went back and forth in their argument, unable to understand anything they were talking about. Eventually the bug, albeit begrudgingly, turned and took off further into the forest.
With a huff the fox's stance softened as it turned it's gaze towards the blond. Seeing the scraped and battered kid holding onto the other creature like that was an odd sight for it and tilting it's head slightly at the thought it started to walk over to them.
"So, huff, decided to come running back after all" Naruto breathlessly remarked. It was obvious that the kid was worn from the day's ordeals despite his best attempts to play the fatigue off but that didn't stop the small fox from rolling it's eyes at the idiot. Now that it was close it took a somewhat more in depth look at the kid. His foot was heavily swollen, the cuts and tears in his clothes gave a good impression of where he had gotten himself cut while running, but the most serious injury it could see was his right shoulder. The sleeve had been torn to shreds and did little to hide the cut surrounded buy a purple hue in his skin. Over all the kid wasn't doing to well.
Hopping up the fox bit into the collar of his shirt and yanked him down with it. Obviously this warranted a response from the boy, "Ow! What do you think you're doing!?". The fox paid him no mind as it started tugging on his shirt with all it's might, but given the size difference it wasn't likely that it'd be dragging him anywhere.
Giving up on it's original idea the fox began to look around for a plan B. It's gaze briefly moved over the little green plant that had squeezed out of Naruto's hold before he hit the ground but even the weak glare it was giving vanished once the fox's eyes past over it and it quickly scurried behind the boy.
Seeing nothing of use in the clearing the fox darted off into the under brush. After a few moments the pair saw the fox's tail pop out of the bushes shortly followed after by the rest of it's body as it drug a sizeable stick into the clearing. Pulling it over the fox dropped in next to Naruto and then looked up at him expectantly.
Glancing from the stick to the fox standing next to it, "What am I suppose to do with that?". Hearing the question the fox's confident expression snapped into one of disbelief. Shaking it's head slightly it then walked over to the boys swollen foot. Pausing to make sure the boy was watching it the small fur ball brought up it's paw and then, with a bit of force, jammed it into his ankle. His reaction was just as the fox expected as he jerked his leg away from it with a loud yelp.
Snickering the fox jumped out of the boys reach as he glared at it with tears in his eyes, on his shoulder stood his companion who was quietly yelling at the fox. With a grin it watched the boy grab the stick and use it to propped himself up. Now that he had the general idea it was only a matter of leading him to their destination.
It took longer than the fox would've wanted but it was able to lead the kid to an old, hollowed out tree before it got too dark for him to chase after it. The kid still had a glare directed at it as is sat comfortably in the center of it's leaf bed. Happy with the results it turned it's attention to the thing on his shoulder which immediately tried to hid behind his head when it noticed. Barking out a few directions to the little thing the fox then jumped up and scurried off into the bushes, finally able to go at a decent speed again.
Naruto was about to try and chase after it when his little friend pipped up. He still had no idea what it was saying but eventually figured out through it's tone and gestures that it wanted him to wait in the tree. He wanted to get back at that stupid fur ball but it's not like he was going to catch up to it in his current condition anyway.
Taking the extra few feet to the tree the boy used the walking stick to slowly lower himself down before placing it at the entrance. The inside of the tree wasn't all to big so he had to scoot himself further in and pull his legs up to his chest to fit in completely. He supposed it'd be better than sleeping outside encase it started to rain. Beside that the sun had already gone down and finding a better place to huddle up for the night wasn't going to happen in the dark.
The time began to pass by and Naruto's little friend had drifted off to sleep on his shoulder. Seeing no point in staying up all night Naruto let his eyes close as sleep called out to him too. His eyes didn't stay closed for very long as he was stirred from his sleep by a familiar yip.
Sure enough the little fox was sitting just outside the tree hollow. "Oh, it's just you" Naruto commented. He was far to tiered to worry about the fluff ball and tried to go back to sleep but the feeling of the fox jumping onto his knees and shoving something into his mouth had his eyes wide open.
Coughing Naruto attempted to push the black fox off of him but it had already jumped off itself. He was about to yell at it when the fox brought a paw up to it's mouth and shushed him while glancing at the little thing still sleeping on his shoulder. Grinding his teeth out of irritation Naruto wanted to scream and shout so badly but waking up his little friend wasn't something he wanted to do.
Smirking at it's small victory the fox then turned around and brought Naruto's attention to a large leaf with pink heart shaped fruit on it. Did it bring those back for him? Thinking about it there was a nice taste in his mouth. "Did you have to wake me up just to eat? I can eat in the morning" Naruto whispered. Sure he hadn't eaten in hours but now he was reminded of that thanks to this fox.
At the blond's response the Fox's smirk turned into a frown as it shock it's head. Grabbing another berry in it's mouth it hopped back onto his knees and held it out for him. Seeing the boy was still confused by it's insistence the fox glanced over at his purple tinged shoulder and then back at his face. He clearly didn't understand what it was so worried about but he did understand that it was worried. Excepting the berry brought a smile back to the fox's face and it quickly jumped back down and grabbed another berry, not letting the boy fall back asleep without first eating all of them.