Got the next chapter ready for all of you. Hope you all enjoy.
(Marshalanime does not own Naruto or Pokemon)
Where could he have come from? That was the question that ran through Audrey's mind as she sat on the hotel room's bed. He didn't have any idea how far away his home might be and his explanation for how he ended up in the forest didn't make much sense either. She'd hoped that the police would be able to help them but they were just as confused as them. They said they'd contact her if anything came up but she wasn't so sure they'd be able to help at this point.
Being told that no one could help him, she was sure Naruto would've been devastated but his happy attitude barely faltered let alone shatter. "Hey if I found my way here then I can find my way back" that's what he said after the news sank in but it still didn't feel right to her. Throwing her arms out and falling back onto the bed she let out a long sigh. If it had been her in his situation she would've burst into tears without a doubt.
Finding out that he was a lost orphan just pulled at her heart strings and every part of her wanted to help him but she was quickly running out of options. She'd cancelled her flight plans and gotten this room for them but was that really all she could do? Give him a temporary place to stay and hope for the best.
Glancing over at the bathroom door she wondered how long he'd be in there. When they got into the room she told him that he should take a bath seeing how he was filthy from running around the forest, what with twigs sticking out of his spiky hair and patches of dirt here and there. It only took a quick once over of himself for him to agree and ran over to the bathroom, tossing his shirt off and to the floor in the short distance as his two friends followed right behind.
Rolling herself off the bed she walked over and leaned down to pick the garment up. Spreading it out by the shoulders wasn't necessary to tell it was tattered but it gave a better picture. There's no way she could le him put this back on.
It was during that thought Audrey's lips curved up into a smile as she got an idea. It wouldn't be much but every little thing helped. Draping the shirt over her forearm she reached into her pocket for Prinplup's ball. Letting the pokemon out she told it to watch the room and to let Naruto and the others know she was running an errand. Seeing her prinplup puff it's chest up at the new responsibility it had she turned and left the room.
"Will you just hold still!" Naruto all but yelled as he did all he could to hold onto Zorua. Holding the little fox against his chest with his left arm he struggled to get shampoo on it with the other hand. Zorua on the other hand was squirming and struggling with all it's might to get away. It had watched the boy fill the tub up with warm water, soak himself with the shower head, and then rub soap all over himself. It had watched him playfully spray Petilil and itself and neither of them minded getting wet, but it was not about to let him pour that frothy stuff all over it's fur!
Gritting his teeth in frustration Naruto was stunned and lost his grip on the small thing when it threw it's head back and into his nose. Landing as Naruto grabbed his nose Zorua frantically ran out of the shower. Hoping up the little fox grabbed hold of the doorknob and managed to open it before dropping back down and squeezing out.
"Fine! Just don't come complaining when you start to stink!" Zorua heard him yell out as it stopped in front of the bathroom door and shook the water out of it's fur, not caring if it got the floor or walls wet.
"Prin prinplup" Zorua heard as a white towel was thrown over it. Thrashing it's head back and forth until the cloth over it's head fell onto the rest that was draped over it's back the fox glared up at the blue pokemon.
Prinplup had watched it come out and get water every where. Grabbing a towel it trudged over to it and tossed the cotton fabric at it and then proceeded to fold it's arms and stare sternly at the damp fluff ball as it shook the towel off it's head. "Prinplup prin!" the penguin said as it first pointed at Zorua then to the water droplets around it and then back to Zorua.
Rolling it's eyes with it's head matching their movement Zorua went to simply walk past Prinplup. As the towel finally slipped off it completely Zorua let out a small yip as Prinplup grabbed it by the scruff of it's neck and lifted it off the ground. Zorua tried to wiggle it's way out of Prinplup's grasp but gave up when the blue pokemon directed it's attention back to the mess it had made. "Prin" Prinplup said with a stern look and followed shortly by Zorua's sigh.
A bit of time later and Naruto and Petilil have finished up their shower and come out of the bathroom. "Does anyone know where my shirt is?" the boy asked as he entered the room with his scuffed up shorts on and his towel wrapped around his shoulders. Glancing down he raised an eyebrow in slight confusion when he saw Zorua wiping up the floor while muttering to itself.
"What are you doing?" Naruto asked as he starred at the fox, the issue of his missing shirt forgotten for the moment. Glancing up as it was nearly finished soaking up all the water it shook off earlier Zorua grumbled as Petilil came up to it, a blissful look to it from being sparkly clean as it examined what it's friend was doing.
"Prinplup" the blond heard and looking over at the other side of the room saw Prinplup opening up it's food container as it looked over at him. He was sure it was trying to explain what had happened as it went on but it's not like he was going to understand anything it said. Though the last thing it said got Petilil and Zorua's attention. Following Petilil who cot a head start on it Zorua perked up as Prinplup got the food open.
They spent a bit of time at the police station after arriving in town so it had actually been a while since they've eaten now that Naruto thought about it. Looking at the pellets the three of them were going to eat had him doubting he'd enjoy that and hoped that there was something for him to eat in here.
Holding the food in one arm Prinplup reached into the bag with his other and flipped three food bowls out. In an effort to show off it then proceeded to catch them one by one with the same flipper and toss them over it's shoulder and onto the food container till all three of them were perfectly stacked.
Petilil simply adored the display and cheered happily, to which Prinplup soaked up. Zorua on the other hand quickly grew irritated with Prinplup taking it's good old time giving them their food and let it know with an annoyed bark. It's posted ego put aside the moment Prinplup gave the black fox a flat look but it had to admit to itself that it was just as hungry as them.
Placing the bowls down Prinplup went to pour the food into them. Just as they watched the first few pellets fall out they were stunned into silence when all of them were grabbed out of the air before they reached the bowl. With stunned expressions the three of them glanced over to see a pokemon covered in black feathers standing there. It was obviously a bird with jet black feathers. Going into more detail it had what looked like the end of a broom for tail-feathers. It's body was bigger than it's head if you didn't count the part that looked like a tri-pointed hat with a rim that went all the way around it's head. It had a comparatively large beak that curved down slightly at the end and matched the very light yellow of it's legs. It's eyes were semicircles that seemed like they got cut off at the top by it's 'hat' and it's pupils were white with a red ring around them followed by more white.
"Murkrow" the pokemon crowed before taking advantage of their surprise by grabbing the rim of the food container and taking it with it as it left back through the open balcony doors. Seeing this snapped the three of them out of their shock as they freaked out at the theft and turned to see the black bird perched on the balcony railing with their food next to it.
Seeing it dip it's beak in and pull out another bite for itself pissed off Zorua as it started yelling and running towards it. Murkrow took hold of the container once more and fluttered up as Zorua went to scratch the spot it was just in.
All of this got Naruto's attention as he and the other pokemon ran out onto the balcony to stare up at the thieving bird. "Hey you stupid bird what do you think you're doing!? That doesn't belong to you!" Naruto shouted at the Murkrow as the others cried out similar remarks.
Murkrow didn't seem to care and with one final glance at the group it turned to fly up and over the roof with it's loot in hand. "Heyyyaaah!" Naruto was going to yell again when Zorua leapt of the railing and used his head as a spring boards to get up to the roof. "Zorua!" Naruto called out as he watched the fur ball pull itself up and disappear onto the roof.
Well he couldn't just let it run off after the thieve by itself. In nothing but his shorts and a towel the young boy didn't hesitate to start scaling the wall in pursuit. He was surprisingly agile and quick for someone his age as Petilil barely had enough time to grab hold of his leg and climb it's way up to his shoulder not wanting to be left behind.
Prinplup, panicking at a bad situation turned worse, attempted to grab hold of the boy before he took off but was just a hair too slow and ended up helplessly watching him and Petilil take of as well. Not good! Not good! If Audrey comes back only to find out it let all of this happen on it's watch she was going to be so pissed! Panicking Prinplup went to follow after them but it's attempt as climbing the wall was far less successful than Naruto's and it couldn't even get a foot of the ground before falling off and onto it's back. Groaning as it propped itself up Prinplup started to hope there was a ladder near by.