Chapter four is done!
Introducing more characters and letting Naruto learn more about the world he's in this time around so there's more dialog then the previous chapters had. Hope you all enjoy reading it and I'll be working on the next chapter.
(Marshalanime does not own Naruto or Pokemon)
It had taken nearly three hours to find a safe path down the cliff but Naruto was positive that it'd be worth it. He'd suggested that they just climb down at first put the fox shot the idea down before he could even finish his sentence. Once they were down it was back to trudging through the forest like before, just with a few stops here and there for the black fox to climb to the top of one of the trees to make sure they didn't veer off course.
Eventually, "Uuuugh, are you sure we're going the right way? We've been walking for hours" Naruto complained, his shoulders dropped down as he leaned heavily on his walking stick. Sure, he'd often spent the day running around the village doing this and that put at least there he could easily find a bench to sit down on or a shaded tree to lay under when he got tiered without fearing any waste of time.
His little furry companion rolled it's eyes at his complaining but a loud grumble from his stomach reminded all three of them that they hadn't eaten in hours. "Oh man I'm starving" the boy said as he turned to lean against the nearest tree, his hands resting across his belly. His other companion sitting on his shoulder to the initiative to ask the fox, what Naruto assumed to be, if there was any food near by. Unfortunately their furry friend had never gone past the cliff before and new nothing about this section of the forest. After letting it's companions know this all three of them let their heads drop down as their stomachs complained at the lack of food.
As they were lamenting their situation an enticing aroma waft by them. Breathing in deeply a bit of drool began to poke out of Naruto's mouth. Pushing himself off the tree and without a second thought the boy began following his nose. "I don't know what it is but it smells delicious" Naruto said, his mouth watering at the thought of having a good meal again. His little green friend didn't have any complaint about going along with his train of thought and while it was usually wary of just blindly chasing after something their third companion was too hungry to worry about that and quickly followed behind them, it's tail wagging behind it.
It didn't take long for the trio to find the source of the sent as they burst through the bushes and into an open space next to the dirt road they'd spotted up on the cliff. Once they exited the forest the three of them immediately froze up. Having been so focused on filling their stomachs they forgotten to consider who might own the food, and the woman sitting next to the boiling pot, for her part, was just as stunned to see them as they were to see her.
After the initial surprise Naruto and his friends were invited to join the woman for lunch. With his belly rumbling Naruto gratefully accepted the invitation and joyfully thanked her for the bowl of soup she poured and handed out to him. She'd then gotten up and walked over to her light green jeep and started rummaging through the back.
In between bites the blond kept glancing up to take in the woman's appearance better. If he had to guess he'd say she looked to be around her mid-twenties. She had long wavy dark brown hair that just about covered her behind. She wore a light blue-green sleeveless dress shirt, light grey dress pants, and black short healed sandals. Her body didn't have any defining curvature to it though her jaw line could be described as such. She didn't have any noticeable make-up on and the most prominent feature of her face were her bright green eyes that seemed to shine with optimism.
Nearly finished with his bowl the blond went to grab the ladle and pour himself a second helping. "You've got quite an apatite" he heard her gentle voice and glanced up with his hand on the ladle to see her walking back over. In her arms she was carrying two food bowls and a cylindrical canister. "Don't mind me, there's plenty there so go ahead and get some more if you want" she told him with a smile as she knelled down near him and put the bowls on the ground and then proceeded to pour the contents of the container into them.
The fox stepped forward and sniffed the food with a bit of a skeptical look and Naruto's other companion continued to hid behind him like it'd been doing since they ran into the woman. "It's really yummy, promise" the woman said with a warm look as she reached her hand out to pat the thing's head. Her hand stopped and her warm expression faltered a bit though when it's eyes darted up to lightly glare at her hand. "Guess, you like your personal space then" she said with a nervous grin as she pulled her hand back to her chest.
Well the fox didn't seem to want to interact with her so her eyes shifted over to the little green thing meekly staring at her from behind the boy. "Your petilil is a shy one isn't it?" the woman commented hoping that she could strike a conversation up with the young boy.
Hearing her Naruto stopped eating and his spoon came to rest in the bowl. "Petilil?" the blond asked as he looked behind himself at the little green thing who's head tilted up to look back at him.
This got the woman to blink in surprise as she wrapped her arms around her knees. "Oh, so you didn't know what type of pokemon it was" the woman concluded. It wasn't like it's a situation that could never happen, especially with someone as young as him.
Looking from the woman, back to the petilil, and then back to the woman he asked something that nearly made her fall over from her position "What's a pokemon?". Completely dumbfounded she just stared at him for a while. Even if he's still young he should know what a pokemon is. He was even traveling with a petilil and zorua! How could he not know what a pokemon was?
Jolting up into a standing position she immediately went into her own question "How do you not know? Surely there were people with pokemon where you grew up!". Naruto just stared at her in confusion. Was it really something he should now about?
Seeing the look the boy was giving her flipped a switch and she darted back to her jeep and began to toss suitcases and luggage out looking for something. Seeming to find what she was looking for she darted back over with a black knapsack in hand. Reaching into it she triumphantly pulled out a laptop. Flipping it open she wasted no time in turning it on and bringing up what she wanted. Meanwhile Naruto, petilil, and zorua just watched her in slight amazement at the sudden change in her demeanor. "Fear not, eh uuuhmm" the woman blurted out only to realize that she'd never gotten the boys name.
Realizing why she suddenly pause he told her with a big grin "Naruto Uzumaki!".
"Right! Naruto!" the woman said, her boisterous energy flaring up again. "Fear not Naruto! I, Audrey Florin Maple, will help you to understand the wonderful creatures we know as pokemon!" Audrey declared before handing her laptop to the boy. "The document I have up there is a research paper I put together during my time in collage. It should help you understand some things better as I go over the fundamentals" she said with her arms crossed proudly over her chest as the boy glanced at the screen. How was he suppose to use this thing? By coincidence he figured out the the buttons with arrows on them let him scroll down to see more. Scanning over the entire screen he noticed a line that had informed him that there were a hundred and forty-seven pages of this. Yeah, he wasn't going to be reading this.
Looking away from the screen Naruto turned his attention back to Audrey. "Now, in this world both humans and pokemon live together. We work together, play together, and generally help each other out. Many people have them as pets while others" Audrey was telling him when she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small red and white ball. Naruto was amazed when she tapped the button in the center and the ball expanded as she continued, "Others become trainers and travel around catching and befriending pokemon and work with them to become stronger" she told him as she tossed the ball up in the air to witch it opened up and a beam of light spilled out.
Naruto watched in wonder as the energy took shape in front of him. Standing there was now a blue penguin who's lower body was a light shade of blue with four white ovals that along with the darker upper body and back made it almost look like it was wearing a suit. It's yellow beak had two off shots that went up between it's blue eyes, stretched up like two frills and connected behind it's head. Just above it's beak there was a W pattern the same shade of light blue it's lower body had as well at the area around it's eyes and the tips of it's wings.
Seeing the boy so happy at seeing her dear pokemon brought a sense of pride to Audrey as she held out her hand and caught her pokeball as it dropped back down. "This here is my dear friend Prinplup. I received it as a piplup when I turned ten and we've been inseparable from each other ever since" Audrey told him with a smile as she watched her prinplup soak in the attention Naruto was giving it. He'd all but jumped out of his seat when he saw it, nearly forgetting to put the laptop down before doing so. Petilil was stuck between staying near the boy and approaching prinplup but ultimately wanted to stay as close to the blond as it could.
Looking up from the prinplup as it struck a pose to look cooler Naruto asked "Are you a trainer?".
Hearing the question Audrey let out a small chuckle as she started rubbing her chin with her left hand as her right arm went back to resting over her chest. With her eyes closed in thought "No. Becoming a trainer was never very appealing to me. Where others idolized gym leaders or league champions I looked up to those like Prof. Rowan and Prof. Juniper and while it was a long and difficult path I" Audrey was saying, her eyes snapping open as she reached into her knapsack again. Pulling out a white lab coat she did a quick spin as she slipped her arms into the sleeves and finished with a wide stance and her fists resting on her hips, her lab coat flared out behind her from the motion. "Am I pokemon professor"! Audrey cheered as her prinplup rushed over to take a matching pose in front of her.
"A pokemon professor?" Naruto asked as Petilil climbed it's way up to his shoulder. He understood what a professor was and had a rough understanding of what pokemon were but the concepts were still foreign to his young mind and he couldn't help but ask the question.
"Basically were the ones who study pokemon and try to figure out everything there is to learn about them" Audrey told him as she started to take her lab coat off, a faint blush dusting her cheeks from sudden enthusiasm. Draping the fabric over her arm a question came to her mind, "Is your home close by?". He didn't look old enough to start a journey so it was only rational to assume that his home was near by or at the very least he was traveling with someone. Seeing his big smile slowly shift into a slight frown Audrey had no idea just how much meeting this boy would change her life.